Leverage by Nancy Thompson

I waited for Nancy Thompson’s sequel to her high-tension debut novel, The Mistaken, with a lot of excited anticipation. And it lived up to my expectations.

Leverage takes place a few years after where The Mistaken left off and follows Tyler, Hannah, and Hannah’s son Connor as evils from their past, which they thought had been long-buried, return with vengeance. Connor believes his college friend was pushed off his balcony to his death rather than having jumped, and then he falls in love his dead friend’s girlfriend. Tyler looks into the death of Connor’s friend to find that the Russian mafia folks he thought he’d dealt with a few years ago may be back for him. Tyler will do anything to protect his family from the rage and menace of the mafia, even if it means committing the one act he promised himself he’d never do again: murder.

Leverage has a high level of suspense, even more so than The Mistaken. The non-stop action makes it impossible to put down. The plot points are strung together will skill at a perfect pace, forming a cohesive story that is satisfying emotionally. Similarly, the characters have realistic emotions that are relevant to their situation and are superbly portrayed in the writing on every page. The only times where the characters’ reactions are a bit strange are when they have sex at relatively unrealistic times, like when they are in extreme danger. However, these scenes are written well and will have romance fans enjoying the story and these sensual scenes immensely. Nancy Thompson shows her skill in developing and conveying her characters’ emotional depth to great reader satisfaction in Leverage.

While all the protagonists are super attractive (which is sometimes hard to believe but definitely fits as a trope of the romance thriller genre), their personalities are what shine in the story. Tyler's flaws are real and scary, making him a very complex protagonist. His anger issues and secret-keeping are part of what makes this novel so emotionally engaging. Since his character is so well developed, I felt true frustration when he did something he thought was for the best but which definitely was not. Tyler's perspective makes sense based on his prior experience. He doesn't succumb as a character to being too good or bad to be true: he feels like a real person, and his personality is consistent throughout the book. Same goes for Hannah and Connor. It's because they are not perfect protagonists that they feel real and therefore emotionally compelling.

It's hard to tell if there could be a third book in the series, based on the book's ending. But no matter what happens, I will be eager to read the next book Nancy Thompson publishes!

You can find Nancy Thompson on her blog here, and on Twitter here.

Books I Read This Month - April 2014

A Wounded Name by Dot Hutchinson
This retelling of Hamlet following Ophelia and taking place in a boarding school is written with gorgeously flowery prose. The pacing, setting, and literary style are perfect. The only problem I had with the book is quite a major problem, in that the young Hamlet is violent and abusive toward Ophelia, and Ophelia simply deals with it, making excuses about his behavior. Thematically, it could be that the book is saying this behavior is unacceptable, but it might have been too subtle. Highly recommended for the writing style, as long as readers keep this in mind.

Child of God by Cormac McCarthy
This is definitely not for the faint of heart. It’s written in the class McCarthy style, with the characters speaking in vernacular, and solidly “showing,” not even a hint of “telling.” This technique makes it for an interesting read because McCarthy withholds judgment against the disturbing behavior of the main character. Excellent, though with extremely mature content.

Rosehead by Ksenia Anske
Dark and creepy, suspenseful and mysterious, quirky and hilarious. A little slow sometimes and requires a little extra suspension of disbelief, but perfectly delectable for children and adults alike. Lilith makes for a strong, intelligent young heroine.

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
I love this author. The story starts out a little odd, in a good way, and continues on to grow more and more supernatural, with a dreamlike tone. All of Murakami’s works that I have read are written in this same spectacular manner. This one follows a teenage boy and an older man whom both are suffering from mental and emotional disturbances. Fascinating and winding, and I was completely unable to put it down. Recommended highly, though beware that it is a bit weird. But good weird.

Books I Read This Month - March 2014

The Child in Time by Ian McEwan
A children's book writer struggles with the emotional downfall of his marriage after his three-year-old daughter is kidnapped in a supermarket. While the book is slow in parts, especially when it deals with the man's serving on a political board that makes policies concerning literacy in education, it goes really deep into his psyche and details how the loss of his daughter has affected all facets of his life. The themes of childhood innocence and the social construction of adult behavior pervade. It's a tough read sometimes, but worth it for those who are able to slog through. I still love Ian McEwan after this book. He's still my favorite author of all time, even though this isn't one of my favorites of his books.

The Cold Song by Linn Ullmann
Another book where a girl goes missing, and a writer is involved, but very different from The Child in Time. The missing girl here is teenage Milla who is nannying for two young girls for a summer. The parents, a writer and a chef, are having struggles in their marriage, and a few other members of the community receive narrative focus along with this family. This digs into the pain we feel when someone we know goes missing or dies, and how this pain can separate us from those around us. The writing is gorgeous.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
A nine-year-old boy who is rather naive moves with his family to a house outside a concentration camp, because his father is a highly-ranked officer of some kind stationed there to make decisions about the camp. The boy secretly walks along the fence one day and meets another nine-year-old boy, a Jew inside the camp. Their friendship builds the core of the story and is touching, especially when the main character's naivety shows through where the reader knows what's going on and he doesn't. The ending does not seem realistic to me at all, and neither does the extent of the main character's ignorance, even though he is only nine, but the message of the story is powerful enough to make up for the places where the book stretches the reader's suspension of disbelief.

Looking for Alaska by John Green
This book affected me more than I thought it would. In the aftermath of the book, I was quite sad for a day or two. I've read The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns by John Green, and this one made me cry nearly as much as TFIOS, even though the premise is completely different. This is a bit similar to Paper Towns, though I didn't like that one nearly as much. A socially awkward boy goes to a boarding school and falls in love with a wild, passionate, self-destructive girl who only loves him back as a friend. Her character is obviously selfish and a bit bitchy, but still, as a reader, I sympathized with her and empathized with Pudge, the narrator. Halfway through the book there is a twist that turns the narrative on its head and calls for some emotional reeling. I wish I had read this book a long time ago, when I was a teenager. But I'd still highly recommend it now.