The Devil's Song

By Lauren Stahl

Akashic Books     2016

312 pages          

Legal Thriller

A fast read for a very cold New Year’s Day. I rushed through getting all the Christmas stuff put away so I could read in front of the fire. Aah! Peace, quiet, warmth, and a good book. What more could a person want?

The Devil’s Song by Lauren Stahl is a legal thriller with a female assistant district attorney as the protagonist. Kate Magda comes from a legal heritage—her father is the “President Judge” for the county. ( I had to look that up—it means “chief judge” in Pennsylvania.) Kate lives with her cousin Tess in a house supplied by Kate’s father, who was also Tess’s legal guardian as she was growing up. The two cousins shared a horrific event when they were very young, when Tess’s crazy step-father tried to kill them both. They continue to be haunted by the experience, but their lives are in the process of diverging. Kate is not sure what is happening to Tess, who seems to be drinking and drugging to excess.

A serial killer is on the loose, but he/she is only killing redheads, and redhead Kate is assigned to the case. She realizes very early that the killer seems to be sending a message to her, letting her know that she shares a personal link with the killer, and as a result, Kate fears for her life. The chief detective on the case, Sam Hart and Kate have had an on-again, off-again relationship, and he fears for her as well. 

There are a couple of twists and turns, and although the book starts slowly, it builds to an implausible, but effective conclusion. There are some clumsy moments, but in all The Devil’s Song is an engrossing read from a first-time author. I liked how Stahl uses her knowledge of the politics of being a district attorney to her advantage to create a subplot that is just as interesting as the main killer plot. The Devil’s Song most likely is the first in a series, and as Stahl concludes this episode, Kate has survived near death at the hands of the killer. In the final pages, we are fed hints of where the future of ADA Kate Magda may lay. 

The title, The Devil’s Song, has very little to do with the plot. It comes from a quote by H. H. Holmes, America’s first identifiable serial killer, who said, “I was born with the devil in me.” This idea, is only obliquely alluded to in the novel. Another title might have been more appropriate. I did enjoy a quote in the first couple of pages when introducing Kate. It came from the novel, Defending Jacob, which said that the key to being a successful prosecutor was to “Lure. Trap. Fuck.” I read and reviewed Defending Jacob in 2012 and loved it. Pleased to see Stahl quote that excellent novel.

Kate is a little hard to like. Tess, even less likeable. Actually, there are not very many likeable characters in the book. That may have been the intent of the author, but it made it hard to engage in the book at the beginning. Additionally, Kate is haunted by her past, but the reader is not helped to empathize with her past, horrifying though it was.

One of the things that I did like was that there were more action scenes than courtroom scenes. Sometimes legal thrillers can get stalled in the courtroom. Some authors I have reviewed try to show just how clever they are in the courtroom, and the reader is going, “Ho-hum!” Kudos to Stahl for staying out of the courtroom. I hope that as Stahl continues her series she uses her legal experience to probe more deeply into the political backdrop of her characters. That was part of attraction of The Devil’s Song.  The Publisher’s Weekly reviewer liked the book. “Stahl keeps the reader on a roller-coaster ride with unexpected twists and turns to the end.”

Best of 2017

This was not one of my stellar years for reading. In part, it was because I read a lot of sub-par books for publicists. Sometimes, it is apparent that I don’t know how to say no. On the other hand, I read several great books that I wouldn’t have read if I hadn’t gotten an advanced reader’s copy from the publisher. Not sure what the solution is to the problem of too many books and too little time.

 Memoir

Hillbilly Elegy: A memoir of a family and culture in crisis  by J.D. Vance. This was, of course, one of the year’s most popular books. In it, JD Vance tells about a childhood in Ohio, but his family was attached deeply to Kentucky. Vance became an eloquent voice of conservative Republicanism and Trump followers during the election. My husband and I read this book during the weeks following the election.  

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. Oops, for some reason, I didn’t post a review of this book, but I loved, loved, loved it. Read it for my book club. Then in November, Noah was in town at our local auditorium. He is a brilliant commentator on society, in part, because of his childhood in apartheid South Africa. This is the theme of his book. Besides, you gotta love a guy who gives credit to his mother. 

The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alesandria Marzano-Lesnevich. This book purports to be two things—a true crime nonfiction narrative and a memoir. In actuality, the memoir is far more engrossing than the true crime, but in combination, the book is so compelling that it made it to my list of favorites for the year, primarily because it is genre busting. 

Nonfiction

The Runaway Species: How Human Creativity Remakes the World by Anthony Brandt and David Eagleman. My husband and I read this book aloud and we were entranced. The book discusses the creative process and how it bends, breaks, and blends with the scientific process. This book is really important as people learn how science and the arts are so intimately connected.  

Literary Fiction

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan. This is my favorite book of the year. Egan is a master of intense and complicated plots, but this book is much more traditional than her groundbreaking A Visit from the Goon Squad, which won the Pulitzer Prize. World War II New York City and a feisty young woman.

A Hundred Small Lessons by Ashley Hay. A lovely, reflective book about choosing and being chosen, about motherhood, and a meditation on the many decisions that a person makes that changes the course of a life.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. A most incredible novel with the slimmest of premises: an aristocrat stuck in a hotel (albeit a grand hotel) for 30 years. A meditative book with a breathtaking and ingenious ending. 

Mystery and Thriller

I read a lot of mysteries and thrillers over the course of the year. Far and away the best books were those by Louise Penny. As you probably remember, I was in Three Pines, Quebec, the home of Inspector Gamache, for the launch of Penny’s thirteenth mystery. Here are the ones I reviewed this year: Still Life; A Fatal Grace; The Cruelest Month;  A Rule Against Murder;  and Bury Your Dead. 

Audio

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. We listened to this book, read by the author, on our way to our summer trip to Norway. Equally brutal, poignant, and humorous, the retellings were a perfect introduction to my imagination. We learned the legends of Odon, Thor, Loki and Freya in a clever, non-threatening way

.

Al Franken Giant of the Senate by Al Franken. Although we loved listening to Al Franken read his humorous memoir, I hesitated to put it on this list because of the sexual allegations surrounding him and his resignation from the US Senate. On the other hand, we really loved listening to the book. Hence, I put it on my list.

Other notables.

Most Overrated: The Woman in Cabin 10  by Ruth Ware

Biggest Surprise: Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo by Stephanie Storie

Most Painful to Read: Homesick for Another World  by Ottessa Moshfegh

Best Kid’s Book: Whatis Hip Hop by Eric Morse and Anny Yi

Best Book Title: Deadbomb Bingo Ray by Jeff Johnson

Most messed up: Ill Will by Dan Chaon

The Wife Between Us

By Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

St. Martin’s Press      2018

352 pages     Thriller

The best thing I can do to introduce you to this thriller is to paste the publisher’s lead:

When you read this book, you will make many assumptions.
You will assume you are reading about a jealous ex-wife.
You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love.
You will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle.
Assume nothing.
Twisted and deliciously chilling, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen's The Wife Between Us exposes the secret complexities of an enviable marriage - and the dangerous truths we ignore in the name of love.
Read between the lies.

I began reading the psychological thriller, The Wife Between Us, expecting it to be similar to Best Day Ever or Gone Girl or one of the several other unreliable female narrator thrillers that I have read over the past few years. About 1/3 of the way through, I sat up straight—what did I just read? I had to go back, reread, and I still wasn’t sure what had just happened. The first twist is amazing, and then the plot just keeps twisting and twisting. The female characters are at once vulnerable and powerful; the philandering husband is just what you would expect; and the decisions made by the characters are haunting. The thing I liked most about the women is that these are women that you know, women who think that they are going to “have it all” when they marry well, but nothing is as it seems at first glance. 

There is really not much more that can be said about the book that won’t give away the plot. This is all you are going to get out of me. I want you to jump up as I did and shout, “What did I just read?” All I can say is that revenge is sweet. 

The Wife Between Us is the first novel by the writing duo of Hendricks and Pekkanen. I was very intrigued by their partnership. Hendricks was Pekkanen’s editor for seven of Pekkanen’s novels, and they became fast friends and now writing partners. They wrote the pages of this novel separately, and then met once a month to edit what they wrote and share ideas. The writing is seamless and very skillfully done. Here is an article about their collaboration. The Wife Between Us is not out yet (January 9) but it has already been optioned for a movie by Stephen Spielberg’s company. 

Although the Kirkus reviewer was only mildly intrigued by The Wife Between Us, both Publisher’s Weekly and Library Journal gave it starred reviews. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.