Peachy Reads

Here’s another book about expats that is based, at least in part, on the tragic and confusing events of the Amanda Knox case a few years ago, in which an exchange student in Perugia, Italy, was involved (to what extent?) in the murder of Meredith Kercher. Author Katie Crouch recreates a similar setting in the fictional town of Grifonia (Perugia’s symbol is the griffin) and gives a rather credible, but fictional, rendition of how things might have come about. It’s an interesting glimpse into the world of young expats abroad running amok with many temptations in an unchaperoned setting. Who has time to study and learn the language when there’s wine, and campari, and cigarettes, sex, drugs and parties? There are some interesting love triangles here and some great interpersonal tension, but it’s almost a bit over the top. It's a little like Donna Tartt's A Secret History meets The Da Vinci Code ( the compagnia subplot). Separating the known facts about the real case from thi...

I enjoyed The Expats by Chris Pavone quite a bit, so continued with this title.   Thematically it's a good one to follow Galbraith/Rowling’s The Silkworm , since it deals with the inner machinations of the publishing world, this time stateside.   Isabel Reed receives an interesting submission—a manuscript so explosive in its content, that people are willing to kill to prevent it seeing the light of day.   Anyone who previews a copy is soon dead.   Isabel guesses fairly quickly what is happening, and goes on the run, trying to erase all traces of her escape.   In the meantime, the reader gains glimpses into the damning revelations of the book, a secret history of a global media titan, who it seems has some very powerful protectors.   I liked this book, but the story was sort of all over the place.   Many characters, many settings, and shifting timeframes. There was even a cameo from Kate from The Expats .   An interesting premise, but o...