Under The Radar Books.

Category: The Reviews.

  • The Living and the Lost

    The Living and the Lost By Ellen Feldman

    Synopsis.

    Millie Mosbach and her brother David escaped to the United States just before Kristallnacht, leaving their parents and little sister in Berlin. Now they are both back in their former hometown, haunted by ghosts and hoping against hope to find their family. Millie works in the office responsible for rooting out the most dedicated Nazis from publishing. Like most of their German-born American colleagues, the siblings suffer from rage at Germany and guilt at their own good fortune. Only Millie’s boss, Major Harry Sutton, seems strangely eager to be fair to the Germans.

    Living and working in bombed-out Berlin, a latter day Wild West where the desperate prey on the unsuspecting; spies ply their trade; black markets thrive, and forbidden fraternization is rampant, Millie must come to terms with a past decision made in a moment of crisis, and with the enigmatic sometimes infuriating Major Sutton who is mysteriously understanding of her demons. Atmospheric and page-turning, The Living and the Lost is a story of survival, love, and forgiveness, of others and of self.

    The Review

    The Living and the Lost

    Ellen Feldman

    This book is just what the Dr. ordered…

    It’s officially the end of summer, and to break open my fall reading season, I picked up the latest Historical Fiction (out today 9.7.21) from Ellen Feldman. This one is called The Living and the Lost, and it is like literary candy corn.

    It’s light on the trauma that tends to be associated with most historical fiction but still has the charming antiquity of history that fans of the genre will love.

    It took me a bit of time to warm up to the main character, but by the end of the book, I was rooting for her and her conquests.

    I read this one in an afternoon, and it left me wanting to add more of her works to my fall reading list.

    4 stars!

    Thanks to St. Martins Press for this advanced copy!

    Have you read anything from Ellen Feldman?

    Which one was your favorite?

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  • False Witness

    False Witness by Karin Slaughter

    Synopsis.

    AN ORDINARY LIFE

    Leigh Coulton has worked hard to build what looks like a normal life. She has a good job as a defence attorney, a daughter doing well in school, and even her divorce is relatively civilised – her life is just as unremarkable as she’d always hoped it would be.

    HIDES A DEVASTATING PAST

    But Leigh’s ordinary life masks a childhood which was far from average… a childhood tarnished by secrets, broken by betrayal, and finally torn apart by a devastating act of violence.

    BUT NOW THE PAST IS CATCHING UP

    Then a case lands on her desk – defending a wealthy man accused of rape. It’s the highest profile case she’s ever been given – a case which could transform her career, if she wins. But when she meets the accused, she realises that it’s no coincidence that he’s chosen her as his attorney. She knows him. And he knows her. More to the point, he knows what happened twenty years ago, and why Leigh has spent two decades running.

    AND TIME IS RUNNING OUT

    If she can’t get him acquitted, she’ll lose much more than the case. The only person who can help her is her younger, estranged sister Calli, the last person Leigh would ever want to ask for help. But suddenly she has no choice…

    The Review

    Have you ever wondered what the characters in ALL THE UGLY AND WONDERFUL THINGS are up to? They’re starring in Karin Slaughter’s latest standalone thriller, FALSE WITNESS. No, but seriously, it’s eerily similar.

    Reading it felt a little like déjà vu. It’s set during Covid times, mid-lockdown, or, I guess, in between.

    If that doesn’t trigger you enough, there’s plenty of other triggers to go around, including rape, PTSD, drug abuse, violence, trauma, and so on.

    But what else is new with Karin?

    Not much….

    This book stars sisters. (Karin loves female duo dynamics). Passages are as traumatic as her characters’ lives. The whole time reading it, I felt like I was reading trauma porn, holding my breath. Only pausing to pray for everyone in the book.

    So why I do sign up again and again for this kind of torture?

    Why am I a Karin Slaughter fan?

    As far as “psychological thrillers” go, Karin Slaughters are towards the top.

    She has done just enough research to make the plot believable and has an expert hand with a dictionary, proficiently using her words to carve out whatever is left of your reader’s soul.

    Her characters walk out of the DSM-5, fully formed, like scarecrows. Haunting my every waking hour.

    Do you want to know what boundaries look like to an addict?

    Read this book…

    Do you want to know why a person holds onto their secrets beyond the point of absolution?

    Read this book…

    And come back here and tell me why humans are scarier than demons on any given day.

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  • The Shuddering

    The Shuddering By: Ania Ahlborn

    Synopsis.

    Ryan Adler and his twin sister, Jane, spent their happiest childhood days at their parents’ mountain Colorado cabin — until divorce tore their family apart. Now, with the house about to be sold, the Adler twins gather with their closest friends for one last snowboarding-filled holiday. While commitment-phobic Ryan gazes longingly at Lauren, wondering if his playboy days are over, Jane’s hopes of reconciling with her old boyfriend evaporate when he brings along his new fiancée. As drama builds among the friends, something lurks in the forest, watching the cabin, growing ever bolder as the snow falls — and hunger rises. After a blizzard leaves the group stranded, the true test of their love and loyalty begins as the hideous creatures outside close in, one bloody attack at a time. Now Ryan, Jane, and their friends must fight — tooth and nail, bullet and blade — for their lives. Or else surrender to unspeakable deaths in the darkened woods.

    The Review

    It’s September 1st, and 80 degrees here in California, and I’m still shuddering thinking about the fucking creatures in this book.

    With the most phenomenal setting and chilling atmosphere, Ania Ahlborn doesn’t take her foot off the gas in her 2013 release, THE SHUDDERING.

    I call this kind of horror, “anxiety horror.” The writing is set at such a fast pace, throwing so many different variables at you. And it’s creating a thrumming or pulse of anxiety. It’s thrilling and so much fun to read.

    What a fun way to start off my fall season of reading… I cannot wait to read more from her.

    Have you read Ania Ahlborn? If so, which one was your favorite?

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