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SheriC

Portable Magic

Reading, for me, is entertainment and an escape from the real world. But it can also inform and stretch the boundaries of the life I live.

Currently reading

A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, #1)
Ursula K. Le Guin
Whisper Network
Chandler Baker
Progress: 54 %
Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
Progress: 28 %
The Mystery at Lilac Inn
Carolyn Keene
100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories
Gary Raisor, Richard Chizmar, Al Sarrantonio, Avram Davidson
Progress: 70/512 pages
Leading Change
John P. Kotter
Peanuts Classics
Charles M. Schulz
Progress: 66 %
The Bungalow Mystery
Carolyn Keene
Progress: 192/192 pages
The Bungalow Mystery #3
Carolyn Keene
Progress: 192/192 pages
The Mystery at Lilac Inn
Russell H. Tandy, Mildred Benson, Carolyn Keene

The Lost Man ★★★★★

The Lost Man - Jane Harper

I just finished this and Wow. Just... wow. No idea how to review this without spoiling the plot, but this is the second Jane Harper book I've read and both have been excellent, compelling reads. Unlike The Dry, it's not detective fiction, but I think the story is better for it. She has a way of creating believable, nuanced characters that I can empathize with, although none are fully likeable. Her ability to immerse the reader in the setting had me feeling hot and thirsty, feeling the grit of the Outback on my skin and in my clothes. She skillfully dropped hints and clues into the story so that the big reveal was not a surprise or a cheat, but I wasn't entirely sure of it until the very end. And that end is hopeful, but not HEA either. 

 

Hardcover, borrowed from my public library. So very glad I came across it on the New Fiction shelf by accident. 

 

I read this for The 24 Festive Tasks 2019, for Door 3 Melbourne Cup Day,Read a book about horses, with a horse or with roses on the cover, about gardening, or set in Australia, or written by an Australian author. This book is set in Australia, written by an Australian author, and it does have horses that serve a definite purpose in the story.