Follow Me To Ground by Sue Rainsford is another unique and compelling fantastical novel that I've wandered across this year (actually, it was a birthday gift from my son). Like the previous books I'd include in this list, by Ryka Aoki and Gemma Files, I had no idea what to expect. This one may be my favorite and that is saying something given my obsession with the other two authors.

Now I am obsessed with Rainsford too.

The magic, the fantasy, Rainsford invokes is far different from that of Aoki or Files. Not as sweet as the former nor quite as dark as the latter. Files book is truly creepy. This one is KIND of creepy and KIND of sweet and it leaves the reader's imagination, or knowledge of folklore, to fill in gaps.

Or not fill in the gaps.

I am fine with the gaps. I don't need to KNOW everything. Authors who need to tell you everything can be tedious and this book is never that.

The basic story is about forbidden romance. A young girl and her father (well, sort of...) live near a small village and busy themselves healing the sick. Forbidden romance intervenes. This description is less than you'll find on the book's dust jacket. Any more description is pointless really. Just read it and find out.

by Patrick Ogle

The Secret Hours by Mick Herron is another spy novel by our generation's John LeCarre. Yes, I have gone on a tear reading his books. I challenge anyone to start the "Slough House" books and not do the same.

The Secret Hours is not, technically, a Slough House book as it isn't specifically dealing with the denizens of that specific home for wayward spies but it is about that same world and is, essentially,  back story related to those eight novels. It is part prequel and part a contemporary tale from the time of those books.

It is also one of the best of the efforts from that world (and that is saying something). I actually tried to read these slow because I didn't want to be waiting around for book 9. Yet, that is where I am, waiting.  Of course I DO have the collected Slough House-related novellas sitting on the shelf, unread.

One thing that is worth noting; when I read series they are often horror or sci-fi. I rarely read spy novels. These are irresistible. Berlin also is the best setting for any spy novel, far better than London, Moscow or Washington DC.

by Patrick Ogle

Chronicle of a Death Fortold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is, of course, masterfully written and I am not going to presume to CRITQUE  a book by one of the world's greatest writers.

This is not Love in the Time of Cholera, The Autumn of the Patriarch or The General in his Labyrinth. It is a brief book, novella length. It doesn't have the scope and it doesn't develop the characters in the same way his novels do.

Yet every bit of it makes you want to know more. It is the story that is compelling. This is probably true of his longer works but those, obviously, have more time to develop characters and make you feel for them. It isn't as if he doesn't do that here, for a shorter work he does sketch each character finely but you do not necessarily feel you KNOW them. Part of this is the number of characters introduced. Thinking on it, it is remarkable he created memorable characters in just a few pages for some of the characters.  Other books I've found myself having to go back to remember WHO a character is.

"Wait...is Joe the mailman or the butler?" That is never the case in this book.

I finished this a few weeks ago (nearly a month) and I still feel like I've yet to digest it and this is another thing it has in common with the author's longer works.