THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 by Ruth Ware

 Finished We 11/12/25

This is a trade paperback that Janny loaned me. I was partway through the novel when I realized that I had just seen the movie. It starred Kiera Knightley and I wasn't that impressed with the film or the novel. 

A young travel reporter is asked to cover the virgin cruise of a lavish passenger boat off the coast of Norway. The premise is that the billionaire owner of the ship is trying to use the cruise to cover the murder his wife and then claim that she left the cruise and disappeared. What happened is that he brought his lover on board to pose as his wife. That's where I thought it was a bit hard to believe, but I guess it was slightly possible. The  young female travel reporter heard someone going overboard, but nobody on the ship believes her. 

The level of writing was about what you would expect- James Patterson, Agatha Christie or Jonathan Keller. It's not bad, and very readable, just not very memorable. 

From 'AI Overview':

"In The Woman in Cabin 10, travel journalist Lo Blacklock sees a woman thrown from the luxury cruise ship's cabin 10, but all passengers are accounted for. She becomes obsessed with proving a murder occurred, while facing skepticism and being targeted by those who want her to drop the investigation. The plot follows her attempts to uncover the truth behind the disappearance, revealing a complex conspiracy involving the ship's owner and a look-alike meant to impersonate the heiress." 

THE CELLAR by Richard Laymon

Finished Su 11/9/25

This is another one of my ancient paperbacks that I had never read. Richard Laymon now has over forty novels to his credit and this is his first book. Now he is known for his transgressive and lurid style. In 1980, when this book was released, it must have been quite radical. There is a pretty graphic description of the rpe and murder of a ten year old girl. There is lots of blood and sexual situations. 

From 'TheStoryGraph.com':

"This was a fantastic book, well it was fantastic right up until the unsatisfying and demoralizing ending. But I am not going to hold the last 3 pages against a book, even though those are the pages I can't get out of my head.

First I want to warn you this book is not for everyone. Richard Laymon pushes some boundaries, and some people, me included, have to wonder if they all needed pushing. I personally think the book could have done with a little less description of child rape. That is my big complaint here, Laymon does everything he can to make Roy the most despicable person imaginable, and he suceeds very well in that regard, the first and probably worst scene of child rape comes and I think that is horrible, well we won't have to deal with that again. Richard Laymon has established the character and surely he won't do that again, but he does, and again after that. I can't remember how many times and he does at least get less descriptive of it, but it felt like he wanted to keep his reader uncomfortable. As a result of that you are constantly worried for Donna and Sandy, even after their protector Judge shows up.

There are two points where this book is a massive success. First is the house itself, you are instantly interested and curious about Beast House, and the way Laymon morsels out nuggets about it only serves to make you more curious. A need to know what is going on inside Beast House would push you on to the ending alone. But the second point is the book has fantastic characters. They lack a certain amount of believability but that doesn't make them any less likable. Judge is a little too quick to offer to kill the Beast of Beast house for a guy he had never met before. And Donna and Judge get way too close, too fast to be anywhere near believable. But they are likable and you are instantly fond of them as much as you instantly hate Roy. You become invested in the characters of the book very quickly.

I am not going to spoil the ending here, even though I detested it, but you should know that it is very unfufilling and you will feel slightly cheated when you get there, but don't let that ruin what is otherwise a great little horror story."

{I interpreted the ending as the mother and daughter joined in the 'sexual games' at The Beast House....I guess}

BALLROOM OF THE SKIES by John D. MacDonald

 We 11/5/25

This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I had never read. This is a Science Fiction novel written by the author of the Travis McGee series. 

The premise is that a race from another galaxy has been orchestrating 'progress' on the planet Earth. The idea that in order for growth in the universe to occur, there must be strife. And 'the powers that be' have been using this planet as a kind of petri dish to 'grow conflict & dissension' so that this strife can flourish and make the 'universal race' tougher. 

Also, there are excercises that 'teach' how to 'mentally push back' against mind control. The book was light years from the daily life on the 'Busted Flush'. 

From the book's page at Wikipedia:

"Ballroom of the Skies is a 1952 science fiction novel by American writer John D. MacDonald. Though MacDonald was primarily a mystery novelist famed for his Travis McGee series, he did write some science fiction short stories and novels. Other titles include Wine of the Dreamers (1951) and The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything (1962).

Plot summary

The story involves Earth sometime after World War III, with Brazil, Iran, and India as the prevailing superpowers. The plot reveals the reasons behind humanity's history of perpetual war and strife, which is that leaders of an intergalactic empire are always chosen from among humans but must first be tested by extreme hardship."

VIDA by Marge Piercy

 Finished Sa 11/1/25

This is one of my ancient trade paperbacks that I had never read.

I loved the book and I had never read anything like it. It really delved into the personal lives of the anit-war movement people in the late 60's and early 70's. 

Although the political objectives were explained it was more about the intimate lives of the people themselves. 

Vida is married (I guess 'estranged' from her husband. He's a leftist radio host living 'above ground' and she's 'underground'), but welcomes lovers of both sexes. And, I think that it's put in such a way that you could believe that she is striving for something that 'might work'. Vida is definitely revolutionary in her sexual choices. I loved the book.  

From THE SUNDAY TIMES-

"Many people consider Vida to be one of the most important American political novels. It may well be, but when I sat down to write this piece I realised that I don’t care about Vida’s politics. (I have an unhappy feeling that Piercy, best known for her feminist sci-fi classic Woman on the Edge of Time, would disapprove, mightily, and wouldn’t want to be friends with me.) Instead, I love this novel for the absorbing details of Vida’s life underground, and the unmatched character development, and the racing narrative, and the sumptuous, sparkling prose. It’s a powerhouse of a reading experience, and I’m wildly jealous of anyone who gets to read it for the first time.

It’s impossible — literally impossible — to read Vida without questioning your own existence. What if you had to run, right now? Who would you turn to and how would you contact them? I have spent untold hours speculating with my husband about emergency meeting plans in the unlikely event that I become a fugitive. We’ll meet in the café in Queens Park. Or we’ll have a “brush contact” in the tunnel under the Finchley Road — the tunnel is perfect because the slight curve prevents visibility from either end. We’ll meet the third Saturday of every month at the Science Museum (down near the Wonderlab in case he has the boys with him and needs to keep them entertained).

What would your life be like if basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing and healthcare became nearly unobtainable luxuries? What if, like Vida, you had to deflect the sexual advances of those who offered you refuge without offending them? What if you had to watch from the shadows as your husband found a new love? What if you had to be constantly vigilant, never allowing yourself to relax totally with a good book or a glass of wine or a delicious meal (not that you could afford those things anyway)? What if you couldn’t visit your mother in hospital or call your sister just to hear the sound of her voice? How would you stay relevant personally and professionally while living a marginalised existence (a struggle still as real for many people today as it was five decades ago)?

It’s also impossible not to sympathise with Vida. Yes, the limits on her life are her doing, but Piercy’s character development is subtle and nuanced. There are throughout hints that Vida doesn’t believe her own propaganda. When her boyfriend suggests that they stop running and get a small house somewhere, Vida reminds him sharply that she didn’t go under to hide, she needs to remain politically active. Yet privately she’s “astonished at the wave of nostalgia” she experiences just thinking about it.

When Vida’s former husband marries his young girlfriend, Vida has a straight-up jealous meltdown about whether her embroidered Cretan tapestry is still hanging above their bed. She wants it back pronto, and never mind that she has nowhere to hang it. Yet Piercy doesn’t make Vida an antihero; she makes Vida a hero, the character whose fate matters most to the reader. And that, my friends, is a dazzling feat of novel writing.

Vida’s politics are questionable at best, her actions criminal, her justifications transparent, her sense of entitlement shocking, yet, oh, how I love her. I love her intelligence and her complexity and even her stubbornness (although she’s wrong about the armed struggle thing). I care about her the way I care about all my loved ones. I want her to find love and happiness and an undocumented yet fulfilling job that will allow her to buy a remote farmhouse with a large hot water tank (Vida loves baths) so she can drink coffee with cream every morning in her pyjamas in her very own kitchen.

If I sound a little possessive, it’s because Vida long ago burst from the confines of the novel and now lives her fringe existence in my world. I see her in every woman who hides her face behind a newspaper in a café, every woman who keeps her head turned towards the window on a bus. It’s not exaggerating to say that my life would be duller without Vida in it, that if I had never read this novel, the loss to my creative life would be incalculable. And that makes one thing very clear: Marge Piercy has talent to spare."

BREAD UPON THE WATERS by Irwin Shaw

 This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I finished on We 6/2/93. There was no comment on how I felt about the novel, but this time I really enjoyed it.

A few of the ideas are more than a little outdated, but the story was engaging. The treatment of heart attacks was positively mediveal. "Rest, naps, and absolutely No Stress". 

Basically, it's the story of a family that is befriended by a very rich man- Mr Russell Hazen. 

Father- Allen Strand

Wife- Leslie- misunderstood artist

Caroline- beautiful daughter/ Eleanor- competent, married to newspaper editor/ Jimmy- young music producer 

From Kirkus Reviews:

"The basic story is as familiar as TV's The Millionaire, as old as fairy tales about granted wishes: what happens to a reasonably happy, just-getting-by family when a chance encounter opens the doors to all sorts of experience and opportunity? The family is that of Manhattan public-school teacher Allen Strand, 50, who couldn't afford to be a historian and can't afford a vacation but otherwise is fairly content--with lovely wife Leslie (a piano teacher), tart daughter Eleanor (an ambitious businesswoman), guitar-playing son Jimmy. . . and tennis-playing Caroline, who one evening saves rich, powerful Wall St. lawyer Russell Hazen from muggers and brings the injured brahmin home for bandages and dinner. From that night on, lonely Hazen (estranged from his wife and daughters, guilty over the O.D. death of his homosexual son) gratefully adopts the Strands: he gives them concert tickets, invites them to his Long Island seaside manse, arranges for Caroline to get a scholarship to an Arizona college, introduces Jimmy to a music-biz titan, helps Eleanor's boyfriend to realize his dream of running a small-town newspaper. But soon--after Allen has a serious heart-attack while swimming at Hazen's--the benevolence turns sour: a recuperation trip to France is ruined by a nightmarish visit from the abusive Mrs. Hazen; Eleanor suddenly marries, moves to Georgia, and quickly faces real danger; Caroline (now with a beautifying, Hazensponsored nose job) becomes a freshman homewrecker; Jimmy turns into a ruthless showbiz clichÉ; Leslie starts spending time away from Allen in France, developing her artistic talent. ""The family was finished."" And, in the book's weakest subplot, Hazen (himself now falling apart) gets Allen a low-key private school job in Connecticut, also arranging a scholarship there for Allen's Puerto Rican protÉgÉ--an unconvincing genius-in-the-raw type who reads Gibbon but won't give up his violence. Throughout, then, the point is clear: ""opportunity is a two-edged weapon,"" fragmenting a family, bringing secrets to the surface (Allen learns that his family has always protected him from the truth), testing moral character. Unfortunately, however, to make that point, Shaw has filled this novel--his most serious book in years--with inconsistent characterizations and soap-operatic turns. And Strand, who ends up back where he started (but alone), is a fuzzy, if vaguely appealing, protagonist. Still, Shaw remains a genial, seductive storyteller, especially adept with money matters and comfy milieus." 

I enjoyed the book, but it really seemed to be stuck in the 70's and maybe that was the biggest part of it's appeal. 

UNNATURAL HISTORY by Jonathan Kellerman

 Finished Tu 10/14/25

This was a paperback that Janny loaned to me and it features 'Alex Delaware'.

I almost quit this one, but I kept going because it had one interesting idea. A photographer was using the homeless in LA ffor portraits. The first shot would be how they looked now, and the second picture was what they would look like if they were 'the person of their dreams'. Instead of homeless, they could be a doctor, explorer, astronaut, or president. 

Also, there is a subplot about a billionaire who is marrying woman, having one kid, and then divorcing. He would then go on to marry another woman and repeat the process. The reason for this behavior was never addressed. I guess he was 'just like that'.

A silly novel.... 

THE DEVIL'S PUNCHBOWL by Greg Iles

Finished Tu 10/7/25

This is a very large paperback that Janny loaned to me and I really liked it. I just read 'THIRD DEGREE' by Iles and I liked this novel even more.

Set in Natchez, Mississippi and concerns a riverboat gambling operation that is laundering money and is also providing dog fighting and prostitution and this is highly illegal. The crime bosses are part of the Irish IRA and they are bankrolled by a Chinese billionaire.

There are lots of scenes that involve bloody dog fighting. I didn't know that it's even a felony to 'watch' one of these shows. 

From Bookbrowse.com:

 "As a prosecuting attorney in Houston, Penn Cage sent hardened killers to death row. But it is as mayor of his hometown -- Natchez, Mississippi -- that Penn will face his most dangerous threat. Urged by old friends to try to restore this fading jewel of the Old South, Penn has ridden into office on a tide of support for change. But in its quest for new jobs and fresh money, Natchez, like other Mississippi towns, has turned to casino gambling, and now five fantastical steamboats float on the river beside the old slave market at Natchez like props from Gone With the Wind.

But one boat isn't like the others.

Rumor has it that the Magnolia Queen has found a way to pull the big players from Las Vegas to its Mississippi backwater. And with them -- on sleek private jets that slip in and out of town like whispers in the night -- come pro football players, rap stars, and international gamblers, all sharing an unquenchable taste for one thing: blood sport -- and the dark vices that go with it. When a childhood friend of Penn's who brings him evidence of these crimes is brutally murdered, the full weight of Penn's failure to protect his city hits home. So begins his quest to find the men responsible. But it's a hunt he begins alone, for the local authorities have been corrupted by the money and power of his hidden enemy. With his family's lives at stake, Penn realizes his only allies in his one-man war are those bound to him by blood or honor.

Together they must defeat a sophisticated killer who has an almost preternatural ability to anticipate -- and counter -- their every move. Ultimately, victory will depend on a bold stroke that will leave one of Penn's allies dead -- and Natchez changed forever.

After appearing in two of Iles's most popular novels, Penn Cage makes his triumphant return as a brilliant, honorable, and courageous hero. Rich with Southern atmosphere and marked by one jaw-dropping plot turn after another, The Devil's Punchbowl confirms that Greg Iles is America's master of suspense." ken