Book Review | Book Chatter

Outlawed
By Anna North
Bloomsbury Publishing, 9781635575422, January 2021, 272pp.

The Short of It:

A rollicking adventure unlike anything I’ve read.

The Rest of It:

In 1894, young Ada is seventeen and newly married to a man she loves but after a year of not getting pregnant, his family wants to know what’s wrong with her. Ada’s mother is a midwife for the town and her advice is to sleep with another man to get the job done. When that proves fruitless and women in town begin to lose their own babies, the finger is pointed towards Ada. Only a witch like Ada would cause such bad luck to fall upon the town.

Ada is heartbroken. She loves her family but also knows from her mother’s wisdom that the town is out for blood and with a young girl killed at the gallows recently, Ada is sent to live at a convent. But at this convent, she learns of a group of people who might be able to help her. The Hole in the Wall gang are a bunch of outlaws who go through their lives thieving but their freedom and sense of community appeals to Ada so she sets out to find them.

This is a Western but not the kind you’ve grown-up with. This band of rebels is headed up by The Kid. The Kid has vowed to protect outcast women but this proves more and more challenging as their supplies dwindle and the Sheriff from Ada’s hometown takes to the hills to look for her.

There are a few surprises which I won’t giveaway here but this was a completely unique story which I enjoyed very much. I will say, that about halfway through it seemed to drag a little. The group gets comfortable and the action ceases but it quickly picks up again. I blew through this story in just a few hours. What a fun, adventurous read.

Content Note:

The story touches on some sensitive topics and at times discusses the baby Jesus. Just so you know, the two don’t always jive with one another. I wanted to mention this for anyone who might be sensitive to it. Think feminism, women’s rights, gender roles, etc.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

When the Stars Go Dark
By Paula McLain
Ballantine Books, 9780593237892, April 13, 2021, 384pp.

The Short of It:

A grieving detective flees her family for her old hometown and becomes enmeshed in a missing persons case.

The Rest of It:

Anna Hart’s experience as a missing persons detective comes in handy when she returns to her hometown only to find that a girl has gone missing. Anna left home after a tragic event shook her to the core. Trying to put some space between herself and what’s happened, she quickly agrees to help her friend Will when he shares his concern about the case he’s working on. He has no leads and with Anna’s help, he hopes to piece things together and put the suspect behind bars.

Anna’s ability to accurately read young people is a result of her time spent in the foster care system. She understands them better than most because she’s seen how abuse and emotional damage can play a role in how they view themselves and it’s this edge that allows her to focus on certain details that other detectives might overlook. As Anna and Will work together to find this missing girl, Anna can’t help but become obsessed with the case. She must find her and she must find her alive.

What I liked about When the Stars Go Dark, is that the author weaves in actual missing persons cases like Polly Klaas, which gives this story an edge and a realistic feel. I would have liked a little more of a lead-up to the suspect. The big reveal felt sudden and rushed. I was reading a review copy and it’s possible some paragraphs were left out because all of a sudden the suspect was identified. I actually went back a few pages to verify.

Anyway, I was immediately pulled into this story but felt like it could have gone a little deeper into Anna’s past to make it really compelling.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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