Queen of the Night by J. A. Jance

Anna Faktorovich's academic study on mysteries and romances which I reviewed here, led me to try the mystery author J.A. Jance, who I'd never read before.  I was intrigued with what Faktorovich wrote about this author in her study.  So I took a look at descriptions on Goodreads of the books she'd written,  and decided that I'd probably enjoy reading this one.  It's a crime thriller rather than a mystery.  Readers won't need to see the major serial killer case solved.  The suspense lies in how the perpetrator's crime spree will finally be stopped. 

Queen of the Night is actually #4 in a series, but reading out of order never dismays me.  I believe that books ought to stand on their own.  If they don't, it's not my responsibility to remedy the situation by reading other books.  I will only read more books by the author if  I am hooked by the first one I tried.  That's why I'm so careful about my choice of first read by an author.  The Queen of the Night has a story line that deals with the legends and customs of the Tohono O'odham of Arizona.  I tend to like mysteries and thrillers that involve Native American background.  I definitely knew that I'd come to the right place when I saw that Jance had dedicated the book to Tony Hillerman.

                                             

The book opens with a really wonderful Tohono O'odham legend that is both feminist and anti-war about how the night blooming cereus flower came to be.   The annual blooming of this flower is a pivotal event in the plot.  I also loved discovering the concept of  "ghost scent".  This means that the scent of the night blooming cereus reminds the Tohono O'odham  of its story.

Yet it was a quote from Psalms that kept on running through my head when I thought about the stories of a number of the characters in this book.  I heard it  sung in Hebrew in my mind, but the best English version of the quote is:  "The stone that was rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone." (Psalms 118:22) Over and over Jance shows that people who are despised triumph.  I'm fond of underdogs, so this is very heartwarming to me.  The backgrounds of Dr. Lani Walker and Dan Pardee are the most compelling examples.

I do feel that Jance reached deep for the full humanity of all the prominent characters including the serial killer.  I don't mean that they were all sympathetic, but I understood where they were coming from.  We saw the heart of some of the relationships depicted in this novel.  The relationship between Diana Ladd and Brandon Walker was particularly moving.

This was a strong book that also taught me a bit about the Tohono O'odham.  I will definitely want to read another book in this series soon.                                              

                                                     

Hooked by Liz Fichera

"The boys had expected me to fail--wanted me to fail. I'd sensed it. And I wasn't about to give any of them an ounce of satisfaction."


This novel is about a strong young Native American girl (Fred) who loves to play golf. She's good, so good that the high school team coach practically begs her to be on the team...but the boys don't like it.

HUGE class difference. She lives on a reservation. Her mother works in a restaurant. Her father tends the very grounds her teammate's fathers pay to play on. She's the only girl on the team. She replaced a loser kid named Seth... There's a lot of animosity aimed her way, but this girl lifts her chin...well, she does stare at the ground a lot and I wanted to tell her stop it, but I also understood...and plays a damn good game, even when  her arm is about to fall off due to a little sabotage incident.

I expected more struggling to be accepted in a male dominated industry than romance, but I got more romance. I don't mind a good teen romance at all, but I really don't care for the love interest in this.

This guy, Ryan, is a wuss. He just sits there and lets his friends bully Fred, talk smack about her, call her names, make fun of her, and he doesn't have the balls to do anything. He sits there and smiles. I don't care if it's a half smile, if you just sit there and let your friends be nasty, you are no better than them. And yet Fred likes this guy? I get he has a rough home life, but so does 75% of the country. It doesn't give you a free pass to be a jackass.

Not until 82% does this guy show any promise and even then, he refuses to snitch on his evil best friend bugged the heck out of me. If he had said something the first time, his friend wouldn't have a second chance to go after Fred...or a third. Even as the book ended, I questioned just where this guy's loyalties lay. I felt he should have told the truth to prevent what happened next.

That's my only complaint besides I would have liked the mother's issues explained. She's hateful, mean, bitter, and I wasn't sure why. Felt I was missing something there. I did not like Ryan and to enjoy a romance, you sorta need to like the hero. But the golfing, the reservation, and the heroine herself I really liked. I also felt the switching back and forth in narrative was well done, not jarring as it could have been. Fizchera knows how to write. Though I didn't LOVE this one as I did her other two, I did like it. She's still on my watch and read list. I must commend her for for tackling all the different issues and story lines she does.

There were other characters in this novel I liked. Trueblood, Hank, Sam. I'd like to read more about Sam. Something really drew me to him. Matter of fact, I was honestly hoping Fred would choose him, not Ryan. LOL

Three bikes. Very entertaining YA read. I received this from Netgalley.