John Staughton, Senior Reviewer

A poignant tale of family, hard times, and injustice born from our unprecedented modern world, A Divination of the Dog by A.M. Farrow is a sometimes-manic but uniquely strange delight. With multiple narrative perspectives and a time-jumping plot that gradually pieces together a mystery, this complex work is undeniably captivating. Touching on everything from police brutality and political incompetence to the importance of father figures and the value of psychiatry, this striking piece of fiction is timely, confident, and smart. The text needs a thorough edit to fix countless errors, formatting mistakes, and typos, but the prose itself is witty […]

Steeped in wartime drama and driven by storybook romance, The Secret of the Grand Hôtel du Lac by Kathryn Gauci is a riveting work of historical fiction. Peeling back the lore of the French resistance during World War II, this novel is both a gripping spy thriller and a deeply personal adventure of a dauntless rebel in uncharted territory. With a mesmerizing ability to transport readers into barrooms and battlefields as readily as quaint French towns and dense forest landscapes, Gauci weaves a rich, well-constructed tapestry of language, suspense, and history in this enthralling, page-turning read.

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A dark and ominous thriller, Rites and Wrongs by Holly Harrison is a deep dive into history, faith, and their occasionally violent intersection. With descriptive writing that brings southwestern landscapes and mysterious traditions to life, this book is research-rich, penned with confidence, and armed with a consistent narrative voice. Though the pace slows in some passages and chapters, this is a deeply engrossing read overall, backed up by exceptional storytelling chops, a strong ear for dialogue, and engagingly flawed characters that are hard to forget.

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