Review of "People of Abandoned Character" by Clare Whitfield

 

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Susannah Chapman is orphaned at the age of five and raised by her grandparents in Reading, England.



Susannah chafes at the dull life in Reading, and in 1885 - after both her grandparents have died - Susannah moves to London to become a nurse.



By 1888 Susannah is working at the London Hospital in Whitechapel, which serves the impoverished residents of the surrounding slums.





Susannah hopes for security and a better life, but the work is grueling and her ghetto living quarters are small and spare.



Susannah brings the filth and stink of the Whitechapel slums to life with her vivid description, "The parishes of these parts didn’t have shitrakers, because tenants couldn’t pay, and nor could we afford lighting, so the streets were deep in foul-smelling rubbish and swilling with blood and urine from the tanneries and abattoirs...Everywhere stank, thick with the stench of sweat and shit and whatever odour came with the trade of that court’s inhabitants: phosphorus, smoked fish, meat....A few years living like that and our lungs never recovered."



So when handsome Dr. Thomas Lancaster comes courting, Susannah is happy to embark on a romance.



Susannah doesn't consider herself pretty and isn't in the upper class, but she accepts the surgeon's professions of love.

Susannah and Thomas marry quickly, and - on their honeymoon - Thomas introduces Susannah to passionate sex and laudanum.



Susannah envisions a wonderful life together until the newlyweds return to Thomas's house in Chelsea. The house is large and well-appointed, but Thomas's long-time housekeeper, Mrs. Wiggs, is cold and haughty and has no use for Susannah.



For her part, Susannah is cowed and intimated by Mrs. Wiggs, and takes to staying in her room and using her 'little drops.'



To make things worse, Thomas's personality changes completely. He becomes contemptuous and abusive and subjects Susannah to humiliating sexual practices. Thomas also stays away from the house for days, claiming to be doing important work that will make his career.



On one occasion, Thomas comes home in the early hours of the morning, disheveled and covered with blood. At other times, Susannah observes Mrs. Wiggs whispering with Thomas in the hallway and washing bloodstained shirts.



It's at this time that the Whitechapel murders begin. The first victim is a prostitute named Mary Ann Nichols, who's found dead and mutilated in London's Whitechapel district.



Over time, more prostitutes are killed, each one being butchered in a manner that suggests the killer has surgical skills. The Whitechapel murderer is eventually dubbed Jack the Ripper.

With nothing else to do, Susannah becomes consumed with the Whitechapel homicides. She scours the newspapers for stories, cuts out articles, makes notes, visits the sites of the murders, and imagines the killings in her mind.



Susannah notices that the prostitute murders coincide with Thomas's absences from home, and she suspects her husband might be Jack the Ripper.

Worried and feeling unwell, Susannah consults Dr. Shivershev, a physician she knows from London Hospital.



Susannah talks to Shivershev about the Ripper killings, but he fobs her off, suggesting this isn't an appropriate interest for a woman. Susannah has nowhere to turn, and continues to obsess about her abusive husband and miserable marriage - which she can't escape because of Victorian mores.

Things take a dramatic turn, and Susannah demonstrates courage, mettle and intelligence as she confronts danger and depravity.

This unique take on the Ripper legend is a page-turner filled with secrets, twists, and surprises.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "Liege-Killer: Book One of the Paratwa Saga" by Christopher Hinz

 

Two hundred years ago, toward the end of the 21st century, an apocalypse brought on by unbridled technology made the Earth uninhabitable.



As the catastrophe approached, measures were taken to save a portion of humanity. The Star-Edge Project constructed a large fleet of starships to search for other colonizable worlds......



.....and the Colonies Project constructed over 200 habitable cylinders around the Earth.



Hundreds of thousands of people left on the starships and millions of people moved to colonies in the cylinders.

Something went wrong with the Star-Edge project, and conflict among the starships expanded into armed combat. The last message sent from the vessels reported nuclear detonations and it's assumed that all the starships were destroyed.



The cylinders did better, and are now home to billions of people.





The cylinder colonies are governed by the Irryan Council, which consists of five members.



⋆ Rome Franco is head of E-Tech, which severely limits technological advancement (colonists don't even have cell phones).

⋆ Nu-Lin is Councilor of Intercolonial Affairs and head of the Commerce League (trade).

⋆ Elliot Drake is head of the Intercolonial Credit Net (bank).

⋆ Augustus J. Artwhiler is the Supreme Commander of the Intercolonial Guardians (police).

⋆ Lady Bonneville is a wealthy socialite who hosts parties and fundraisers.

Like all politicians, the counselors are constantly jockeying for power, trying to get their own programs enacted, and making deals to get their way. Moreover, an organization called la Gloria de la Ciencia (the glory of science) is ACTIVELY trying to re-institute the use of advanced technology.

As the story opens, a bioengineered assassin created before the apocalypse, which had been put into stasis, is re-awakened. The killer is a Paratwa, one of the most heinous technological excesses of the 21st century. A Paratwa, or binary, has two non-identical bodies governed by a single mind.



Moreover, the Paratwa can change it's appearance at will.



Before the apocalypse, Paratwa assassins were directly responsible for the deaths of over one hundred and fifty million human beings and indirectly responsible for billions more.

The re-awakened Paratwa, named Reemul, has been brought back by covert conspirators with an agenda. The secret accomplices plan to have Paratwas take power and rule over humans.



Reemul goes on a killing spree, and Councilor Rome Franco - who's desperate to stop the assassin - takes countermeasures.



He brings two Paratwa killers, a little person named Nick.....



and a muscular tough guy called Gillian, out of stasis.



Before long Reemul and the Paratwa killers are playing a cat and mouse game, trying to wipe each other out.

Things are far from that simple, however, because the secret cabal that awakened Reemul has a long-range plan. Part of the plan involves sapient supersedure - the process of killing an individual and substituting a lookalike that assumes his or her identify. Thus some VERY powerful people - who appear to be human - are really Paratwas.



The story is action-packed - with abductions; murders; battles; secret meetings; chicanery; and more. There's even an elegant cocktail party.



As the story unfolds the nefarious long-term plan of the Paratwas is exposed, and it's a corker!

Additional characters in the story include an antique dealer named Paula and her 12-year-old son Jerem, who survive contact with a Paratwa; a band of pirates called the Alexanders, who swear revenge against the Paratwa; a computerhawk called Begelman, who expertly navigates electronic archives; Security Chief Pasha Haddad, who doesn't trust Nick and Gillian; a priest called Bishop Vokir, who heads the Church of the Trust; a madam called Miss Vitchy, who prostitutes boys and girls; and more.

The story contains descriptions of the orbiting cylinders, and the characters use cutting-edge weaponry, but I wouldn't call the book hard science fiction. It's more like enhanced soft science fiction. Still, I enjoyed the story and recommend it to sci-fi fans.

Liege-Killer is the first book in the Paratwa Trilogy, which continues with Ash Ock.

Thanks to Netgalley, Christopher Hinz, and Penguin Random House for a copy of the book.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "A Boring Wife Settles the Score: A Novel" by Marie-Renée Lavoie

 

In the first book in this series, 'Autopsy of a Boring Wife', Diane Delaunais's husband Jacques leaves her for a younger woman after 25 years of marriage. Diane becomes undone and acts out in a series of dramatic (and often funny) ways.

'A Boring Housewife Settles the Score' opens two years later. Diane is now almost 50-years-old;



sharing a Québec duplex with her best friend Claudine;



looking for a new job; and speculating about romance at her age. I listened to the audiobook version of the novel.

As the story opens, Diane has more or less moved on after Jacques betrayal and is looking for new challenges. Not wanting another office job, Diane gets a position as a kindergarten aide in a primary school. The divorcée is soon dealing with a classroom of active children - some of whom are more idiosyncratic than others.



One boy smashes toys; one boy won't speak; and one girl obsessively counts cards. Given the job of talking to the the toy-breaker's father, Diane is told the child is 'too smart', shown by his ability to do Legos above his age range. Meanwhile the other teachers, who've heard it all before, are giggling behind their hands.



In any case, Diane is a fine aide and goes out of her way to connect with the kids.

One perk of working at the school is the presence of a handsome contractor named Guy, who's doing renovations on the building.



Diane knows Guy slightly, and - encouraged by her friend Claudine - considers making a move on him. Diane and Claudine first try to determine Guy's relationship status, but they can't find it on the internet.....and Diane takes a bold step to find out what's what.



Diane also has a couple of interactions with her ex-husband Jacques: one time when she sees him in the pharmacy and another time when he crashes his bicycle and gives her number to the hospital. In addition to being stressed by his postpartum girlfriend and their newborn, Jacques wants Diane to be friendly with his new family (he always was a bit obtuse). However Diane has other thoughts about this.



In their spare time Diane and Claudine socialize with friends at Happy Hour;



drink wine; eat pizza, and dine on cassoulet;







and talk about getting a man, which (they think) isn't so easy for mature ladies. In one hilarious scene Diane is on the verge of getting lucky when Claudine's teenage daughter Adèle strolls into her apartment without even knocking.

Additional characters add amusement and interest to the story. These include Diane's colleagues at school, such as an overstretched secretary, a cantankerous teacher, and a restless twentysomething;



Claudine's eighty-four year old mother, who takes charge when young Adèle gets too defiant;



a nonagenarian lady with too many cats;



Diane's three-legged feline;



Diane and Claudine's VERY handsome acquaintance;



Diane's grown children; and more.

In this book middle-aged women CAN go on after desertion and divorce.....and the cheating hubbies who left them may not have it so easy. Is this realistic? Probably sometimes.

The sequel isn't as laugh out loud funny as the first book, but provides some smiles and is worth reading. The book is translated from the French, and the audiobook narrator does an excellent job with tone and nuance.

Thanks to Netgalley, Marie-Renée Lavoie, and Dreamscape Media for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3 stars