Untamed Shore Review

Untamed Shore

In this dark coming-of-age noir, a “Patricia Highsmith-like tale of grifts and con artists” (Crime Time), a young woman becomes embroiled in a web of lies and deceit—with potentially deadly consequences—from the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night "Untamed Shore is a fever dream of a thriller, a coming-of-age tale set amidst disturbing and dangerous circumstances."—Book Page Baja California, 1979: Viridiana spends her days under the harsh sun, watching the fishermen pulling in their nets and the dead sharks piled beside the seashore. Her head is filled with dreams of romance, travel, and a future beyond this drab town where her only option is to marry and have children. When a wealthy American writer arrives with his wife and brother-in-law, Viridiana jumps at the offer of a job as his assistant, and she’s soon entangled in the glamorous foreigners’ lives. They offer excitement, and perhaps an escape from her humdrum existence. When one of them dies, Viridiana, eager to protect her new friends, lies—but soon enough, someone’s asking questions. It’s not long before Viridiana has questions of her own about the identities of her new acquaintances. Sharks may be dangerous, but there are worse predators nearby, ready to devour a naïve young woman unwittingly entangled in a net of deceit.

Nevada Public Affairs Review

Road to Ithaka

Born in England during World War II, author Diane Campbell Thompson, a war child, tells of bomb shelters, air raid sirens, meager food, and clothing rations. In Road to Ithaka, she narrates an honest account of her life beginning with her birth in 1941. Raised on the rugged north east coast, the beach and sand dunes become a happy playground. But as Thompson happily built sandcastles in the sand, her father built castles in the air. Home became shifting sand, and a series of moves eventually saw the teenager leave the family to live on more stable ground with her grandmother. Through selected journals and short stories, she shares the stories as she traveled across Spain on the famous Santiago de Compestella, trekked the meanest thirty-three miles in history, drove a dog team in the Yukon, spent afternoons with a grandchild, and watched forlornly as a parent descended into that abyss known as Alzheimers. Sometimes introspective, sometimes humorous, always amusing, the stories and journals in this memoir reflect a free spirit in a world of endless possibilities.