Book Notices | True Fiction by Lee Goldberg / Neighborly by Ellie Monago

Lee Goldberg, True Fiction

Amazon   TV writer and novelist Ian Ludlow is in Seattle plugging his latest Clint Straker thriller when he discovers that a terrorism plot he once conjured up has been turned into horrific reality, an attack on American soil that leaves hundreds dead. Ian soon realizes that he's a target, since he knows who's behind the attack, and that he has in fact been one for some time: he's dodged a few bullets already out of sheer dumb luck. The story that follows is a fun one, with Ian teaming up with his publisher's book tour guide, Margo, in an attempt to survive further attempts on his life. But can our everyman protagonist summon his inner Clint Straker and prevail against the professional assassins his nemesis throws at him? A few months ago, I described Lee Goldberg and Janet Evanovich's novel The Heist as "a fun mix of light comedy and crime and likeable protagonists. It's the literary equivalent of watching a feel-good TV crime show." The same can be said of True Fiction. I enjoy Goldberg's style, his nods to classic TV, his light, entertaining plots. He's got, I don't know, maybe a zillion novels under his belt (a few less, maybe: http://leegoldberg.com/books/) in addition to TV writing credits, and that competence shows on the page. I'm just glad we're going to be seeing Ian Ludlow again. Book two in the series, Killer Thriller, is coming in 2019.

Ellie Monago, Neighborly

Amazon   Kat and Doug have just moved into a small house in Aurora Village, a seemingly perfect community where kids can roam unattended and the neighbors have your back. But from the get-go things seem off. There's a Stepford vibe to the place, and soon Kat is being harassed by an anonymous note leaver. The neighbors, it turns out, have secrets, but Kat has secrets too, and at least one neighbor seems privy to them. The story is told mostly from Kat's perspective, with conversations with a therapist interjected between the narrative chapters. Since Kat's telling the story, there's room to wonder whether her perception is skewed, which adds to the book's interest. I found this a compelling read, with a couple of caveats: (1) It's very hard to keep the secondary characters straight, as most of them don't have defined personalities. And (2) toward the end of the book there's a bit of an information dump, when all is revealed. Apart from that, I enjoyed the read.