Over the Top

by Jonathan Van Ness

Jonathan Van Ness, beloved grooming expert on Netflix’s Queer Eye series, came out with an eye-opening memoir filled with struggle, hurt, and most importantly, love. The effervescent TV personality comes off as a strong, confident, person with plenty of self-love to go around so it came as quite a surprise to find out this was not always the case. From early childhood, Jonathan experienced terrible trauma that shaped their life in unspeakable ways. Told from a place of brutal honesty, Jonathan delivers the hard truths of his childhood and young adulthood in hopes that this story will allow others to open up about their own trauma, and hopefully begin the healing process.

I was advised to read this as an audiobook by a friend and am very glad to have done so. Read by the author, it was a pleasure to really listen to this story from the totally unique voice of Jonathan Van Ness. Their optimism, honesty, and desire to do better and be better is truly inspirational and translates so well in the telling of this story.

While this book definitely hits on many hard topics from child abuse to drug addiction, prostitution, and HIV, Jonathan manages to bring a positive perspective, thus making a hard conversation, something digestible and meaningful. I am very grateful to have read this story as it opened my eyes to some issues people in communities that differ from my own.

The Family Upstairs

by Lisa Jewell

Flipping between past and present, this weaving mystery/thriller follows the story of a beautiful mansion in Chelsea and what happened behind closed doors. On Libby Jones’ twenty fifth birthday, she receives an inheritance from her dead parents: a multi-million dollar mansion in Chelsea. Shocked at her reversal of fortunes, she excitedly takes possession only to discover a series of unsettling mysteries surrounding her birth parents and the people they kept in their home. Twenty-four years prior, her parents had been found poisoned along with an unidentified body while Libby’s ten-month-old self lay happily cooing in a crib.  

Who was the unidentified body? Who reported the dead bodies? Who was taking care of baby Libby while her parents lay dead? As these questions begin to be answered, more questions arise! Full of unreliable narrators, misdirection, and suspense, The Family Upstairs keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way through. As the story weaves between past and present, and between character story lines, Jewell leaves just enough of a cliff hanger that you are desperate to get back to that thread thus making for a very fast read! 

I loved how this book started with what seemed like four or five completely unrelated stories, each interesting on their own, and managed to work them together tighter and tighter until they all connected. A well crafted mystery, in my eyes, ties up all the loose ends in a satisfying way, and I feel that happened in The Family Upstairs. 

If you like this style of mystery thriller, I would recommend The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks, or anything by Liane Moriarty.

The Zig Zag Gi

By Elly Griffiths

Edgar Stephens, an inspector in Brighton, is a rather boring man. He has nothing going on in his life, he gets no respect from his underlings at work, his family is distant, his friends have all moved on with their lives… All he has is his unusual skill at solving crosswords and an exciting past as a special operative with The Magic Men during the war. That is, until a horrible parcel is delivered to the station addressed to him. A woman has been cut into three pieces in the same way that the famous magic trick, the Zig Zag Girl, would have been if the trick failed.  This is the first casualty of the magic trick murderer! As the bodies pile up, it seems that Edgar and his intriguing past just might be at the centre of this murder spree.  Will Edgar be able to find the killer before it’s too late?

This murder mystery set in the 1950s has a lot of charm. While I would not say that it is nearly as clever as some of Agatha Christie’s brilliant creations, it does hit many similar notes and tones to the famous author’s style. What made this book particularly unique was the centre around magicians and the dying variety show entertainment circuit. I loved the references to the old glamour of live theatre and the skepticism and distrust of the ‘tackiness’ of early television. 

As Edgar investigates, we get to meet all his colleagues from the war. These supporting characters really bring the story to life. Max Mephisto, Edgar’s best friend, is a successful magician at the decline of his career. Full of Mediterranean charm and sarcastic humour, he really plays well off of Edgar’s bland persona. Mix in a stodgy military captain, a hilarious 80 year old trickster magician Diablo, and a charming young girl with a secret, Ruby, and you have a fun crew to escort you through a light murder mystery!