Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty

First sentence:

"A sentient space station should have perfect temperature, Mallory Viridian thought."

Description:

"Mallory Viridian would rather not be an amateur detective, thank you very much. But no matter what she does, people persist in dying around her--and only she seems to be able to solve the crime.

Now the law enforcement agent who hounded Mallory on Earth has come to Station Eternity, along with her teenage crush and Mallory's best friend from high school. Mallory doesn't believe in coincidences, and so she's not at all surprised when someone in the latest shuttle from Earth is murdered.

Only this time she has more than a killer to deal with. Between her fugitive friends, a new threat arising from the Sundry, and the alarming behavior of the sentient space station they all call home, even Mallory's deductive abilities are strained. If she can't find out what's going on, a disaster of intergalactic proportions may occur. . .." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this second book in The Midsolar Murders series. I especially liked how Mallory had to convince the sentient ship Eternity that something was wrong and how the rambunctious Gneiss, Tina, played a very big part. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Infinite Archive.

Date read: 8/25/2025
Series: The Midsolar Murders, #2
Genre: SF/Mystery
Rating: 4*/5

ISBN-10: 0593098137
ISBN-13: 9780593098134
Imprint: Berkeley
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Year: 2023
# of pages: 366
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

First sentence:

"When people ask me what I do--taxi drivers, dental hygienists--I tell them I work in an office."

Description:

"Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life, where weekends mostly consist of from pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling IT guy from her office, whose big heart will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

While Eleanor Oliphant is not always a likeable character nor easy to get along with, I found her interesting and a worthy person to know. Her discovery of the world through her friendship with Raymond was a journey I will remember.

Date read: 8/20/2025
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4*/5

ISBN-10: 0735220690
ISBN-13: 9780735220690
Imprint: Viking
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Year: 2017
# of pages: 325
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty

First sentence:

"Nobody ever believed murders 'just happened' around Mallory Viridian."

Description:

"From idyllic small towns to claustrophobic urban landscapes, Mallory Viridian is constantly embroiled in murder cases that only she has the insight to solve. But outside of a classic mystery novel, being surrounded by death doesn't make you a charming amateur detective -- it makes you a suspect and a social pariah. So when Mallory gets the opportunity to take refuge on a sentient space station, she thinks she has the solution. Surely the murders will stop if her only company is alien beings. Her new existence is peacefully quiet at first. . .and markedly devoid of homicide.

But when the station agrees to allow additional human guests, Mallory knows the break from her peculiar reality is over. After the first Earth shuttle arrives, and aliens and humans alike begin to die, the station is thrown into peril. Stuck smack-dab in the middle of an extraterrestrial whodunit, and wondering how in the world this keeps happening to her anyway, Mallory has to solve the crime--and fast--or the list of victims could grow to include everyone on board. . .." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this first book in The Midsolar Murders series. I liked how Mallory learns why murders happen around her and how important she is in solving them. I also liked the various aliens on the sentient ship, Eternity, particularly the Gneiss. I look forward to reading the next book, Chaos Terminal.

Date read: 7/24/2025
Series: The Midsolar Murders, #1
Genres: SF / Mystery
Rating: 4*/5

ISBN-10: 059309811?
ISBN-13: 9780593098110
Imprint: Ace
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Year: 2022
# of pages: 453
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Deadspawn by Brian Lumley

First sentence:

"'Harry,' Darcy Clarke's voice of twitchy on the phone, but he was trying hard to contain it. 'There's a problem we could use some help with. Your kind of help.'"

Description:

"There's a maniacal murderer on the loose, brutally slaughtering young women with a ferocity that rivals that of the vampires Harry Keogh has spent his life combatting. The Necroscope's been asked to solve the crimes. . .asked by the dead spirits of the madman's victims.

Harry cannot turn down a request from the dead. . .even if it costs him his soul. In the climactic battle with the vampires, mankind prevailed and purged the vampires from earth -- thanks fo Harry, his team of psychically-gifted spies, and Faethor Ferenczy, long-dead 'father' of the world's vampires, who betrayed his own kind.

But Harry's alliance with Faethor has a terrible cost -- Harry's very humanity is under attack from the vampire evil coiled in his mind!" -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

It was a long time since I had read this series, so I was glad to read an extensive recap at the beginning of this book. I enjoyed this book about Keough and how he's changing and I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Blood Brothers.

Date read: 6/26/2025
Genre: Horror
Series: Necroscope, #5
Rating: 4*/5

ISBN-10: 0812508351
ISBN-13: 9780812508352
Imprint: Tor Book
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates, Inc.
Year: 1991
# of pages: 602
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The Dark Side of Nowhere by Neal Shusterman

First sentence:

"Ethan died of a burst appendix."

Description:

"Jason is having a bad day. The kind of day when you just don't feel like yourself. Only, for Jason, it's not just a feeling. He really isn't himself. Not anymore.

Who is he? That's the problem. Jason isn't sure. And it's not just him. Everyone in town is acting weird. His friends. His parents. Everyone. Billington is usually such a normal town. As Jason is about to discover, nothing will ever be normal again." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this book about teenagers who discover that their town isn't as ordinary as they thought and neither are they nor their parents. While it seemed to be a bit rushed at the end, it was still a fascinating and enjoyable read.

Date read: 5/1/2025
Genre: SF
Rating: 4*/5

ISBN-10: 1442422815
ISBN-13: 9781442422810
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Year: 1997
# of pages: 230
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Revisions of by Goodloe Byron

First sentence:

"The following passage he read aloud."

Description:

"Nathan First is a childlike biography, making barely enough from his writing to survive. His only source of contact with the outside world is his sister, whose recent marriage has left Nathan to his own devices. 

Moved by a paltry obituary that he reads in the paper, Nathan sets out to compose his masterpiece; a biography of an ordinary man. But this will be no ordinary book, as Nathan becomes increasingly ambitious, the project blossoms into a study of dark matter, and appears to contain the abandoned history of the world." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This is an interesting book about a man whose self-consciousness gets in the way of his work and relationships. I liked how Nathan wanted to write a biography, but not how he interacted with others.

Date read: 4/13/2025
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4*/5

Publisher: Brown Paper Publishing
Year: 2009
# of pages: 238
Binding: Trade Paperback
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The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates

 First sentence:

"'In animal life the weak are quickly disposed of'"

Description:

"In 1936, the Schwarts, an immigrant family desperate to escape Nazi Germany, settle in a small town in upstate New York, where the father, a former high school teacher, is demeaned by the only job he can get: gravedigger and cemetery caretaker. After local prejudice and the family's own emotional frailty result in unspeakable tragedy, the gravedigger's daughter, Rebecca, begins her astonishing pilgrimage into America, an odyssey of erotic risk and imaginative daring, ingenious self-invention, and, in the end, a bittersweet--but very 'American'--triumph. 'You are born her, they will not hurt you'--so the grave digger has predicted for his daughter, which will turn out to be true.

In The Gravedigger's Daughter, Oates has created a masterpiece of domestic yet mythic realism, at once emotionally engaging and intellectually provocative: an intimately observed testimony to the resilience of the individual to set beside such predecessors as The Falls, Blonde, and We Were the Mulvaneys." - from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This is a book that will probably stay with me for a long time. I admired Rebecca and the way she found strength and purpose in her life. Despite, or maybe, because of her early years, she made sure she was always there for her son, and, most importantly, knew when to drop back as he found his own way in the world. 

Date read: 4/4/2025
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5*/5

ISBN-10: 0061236829
ISBN-13: 9780061236822
Imprint: Ecco
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2013
# of pages: 582
Binding: Hardcover
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