Book Review: Dead Man’s Wake (Mike Bowditch #14) by Paul Doiron

Dead Man’s Wake by Paul Doiron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you to Net Galley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. I have read all the Mike Bowditch series and thoroughly enjoy the characters, the varied plotlines and most of all Doiron’s writing style and the way his writing is so descriptive it helps me visualize the landscape and scenery.

Mike and girlfriend Stacey Stevens are finally engaged. His stepfather and his in-laws to be (Charlie and Ora Stevens) have planned an engagement party for them deep in the Maine countryside by the side of a lake. The evening is about to commence and while they are taking in the view, Mike and Stacey witness some type of crash or boating incident on the lake. It’s dark and therefore difficult to see what exactly happened, but by the sound of it – a crash, it wasn’t good. They immediately head to the scene to see if they can help.

Not long after, they spotted a severed arm floating like flotsam and jetsam in the lake that they suspect was caused by the boat propeller. Realizing that this means there is more – they continue searching and come upon not only the body that was once attached to the arm – but the body of a woman as well. Something isn’t right about the entire scene, as it doesn’t seem as if it were a murder/suicide — more likely a murder. But why? And what about the boater who is now nowhere in sight?

Among the obvious suspects are the wide of the now one-armed man and the biker-gang husband of the woman found nearby. Neighbors who had a view of the lake aren’t cooperating and a lake patrol officer who is a Warden wannabe (he applied but was turned down) is creating a mess.
It was a good book. The plot is a bit dark and to me, the book culminates with a weird kind of out of nowhere conclusion.

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Book Review: The Stars Don’t Lie by Boo Walker

The Stars Don’t Lie: A Novel by Boo Walker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Outstanding book. Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Lake Union for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

After a tragic incident in his senior year of high school, Dr. Carter Livingston hadn’t been back to his home town in 20 years. Afterwards, and with time, he was able to pick up his life again thanks to some heartfelt help from two people very dear to him – his teacher Mrs. Cartwright and her husband. He became a successful veterinarian and patented a brilliant product that can help dogs recover from a common injury that requires surgery to repair. But he couldn’t face his family and friends and all that being home would dredge up for him emotionally.

When his mother calls to inform him she and his father are getting a divorce and she needed his help and support, after much cajoling, Carter decides he’ll return briefly and secretly for the sake of his mom. That doesn’t go as planned as soon he is reconnecting with his former high school love interest Shannon, his best friend Elliott and Mrs. Cartwright; all the while trying to figure out how best to help his parents and trying to maintain his sense of self.

It turns out the situation with his parents isn’t exactly as it seems on the surface, the woman he’d been pining over for the past twenty years was not his soulmate after all, and the teacher who motivated him in high school needed his help most of all.
Carter is a wonderful character full of blocked emotions and angst over what happened that senior year in high school. In coming home, he, in time, realizes that trying to pretend that year never happened wasn’t helping him – it was dealing with it head on that helped him heal.

I loved his relationship with Mrs. Cartwright and the wisdom she gently imparted to Carter – especially how it relates to the title and using the stars to realize how we are all part of something much bigger than ourselves. I thought his father was marvelous. We want to disapprove of him but we don’t realize at first that he is the strong, silent type who protects those he loves even while putting his own needs aside. All characters have flaws, and Carter’s mother reveals hers as the story unfolds much to the surprise of her son.

Highly recommend.

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