Romance fueled by quirky banter
If Emily Henry makes herself laugh at the character’s dialogue in her own books, it’s understandable. She is a master at witty repartee.
In her latest novel, “Book Lovers,” Henry introduces Nora Stephens and Charlie Lafra. Nora is a literary agent, and Charlie is a book editor. The two meet once about a prospective book Charlie could edit and both make a poor impression. Minutes prior, Nora was dumped by her boyfriend over the phone. She arrives late, and Charlie is grumpy. He’s also not a fan of the book that Nora is pitching, calling it “unreadable.” The two debate the book and go their separate ways. Is this the last of Nora and Charlie? Of course not, but you have to read to find out what happens next.
“Book Lovers” isn’t just a romantic love story but also a love story about two sisters, Nora and her younger sister, Libby, whom she puts before all else. Their mother died years prior, and Nora has felt over-protective of Libby ever since, and wants to solve all her problems (to Libby’s annoyance). When a very pregnant Libby declares she wants to get away for a few weeks and visit Sunshine Falls, North Carolina, a quaint small town she has read about, Nora naturally says yes.
Just about every Hallmark movie — and plenty of romance novels — feature protagonists from a big city who find themselves in a small town where they learn about themselves, what they want in life and, of course, find love. While “Book Lovers” has that scenario, it also deconstructs it. Nora is unapologetic about working hard and not wanting children of her own. She’s not looking to change her ways or her lifestyle. — Alicia Rancilio, Associated Press
‘Bad Actors’ is Mick Herron’s eighth novel
chronicling the exploits of the “slow horses,” a motley unit of disgraced British secret-service agents condemned to live out their days in pointless tasks at Slough House. The place is a near-derelict London office building, a fitting habitat for the group’s boss, Jackson Lamb, a slovenly, flatulent, foul-mouthed tyrant. (The books have spawned an excellent TV series from Apple TV+.)
Although grinding office drudgery is meant to be their lot, the slow horses invariably get sucked into lethal intelligence-agency and political conspiracies. And, one way or another, these byzantine affairs involve the ruthless schemer and backstabber, Diana Taverner, now “first desk” at Herron’s version of MI5.
“Bad Actors” treats us to a nasty piece of work called Sparrow, enforcer and special adviser to the prime minister. Sparrow has been using his loosely defined position to arrogate power to himself and, thanks to the prime minister’s ineptitude and inattention, he is succeeding.
Sparrow has set in motion a plot to remove Taverner from the picture and place MI5 under his control. Even to begin to summarize the scheme’s twisted nature would be to give too much away — but, yes, Russians are involved.
Herron’s plots are masterpieces of convolution and elegant wrongfooting. Beyond that, his action scenes are fastpaced and thrilling — there are a couple of high-octane doozies in this installment. But the real draw of the series is its dark, dark humor. Much of it is interpersonal, but the most biting of all concerns the state of Britain, a country beset by Brexit, COVID-19 and incompetent, if mercenary, leadership.
If there is bad news, it is that you really should have read some of the previous Slough House novels in order to get a handle on this party of rejects, their histories and capabilities. Further, if you are a veteran of the series, you may have become a little weary of Lamb’s extravagant foulness and his habit of magicking cigarettes and even himself out of nowhere. That said, this is still one of the most enjoyable series I have ever read.