Books: 807

“Agnes Sharp and the Wedding to Die For”
Leonie Swann
Soho Crime
$29.95

A time to rejoice, a time to grumble. A member of Sunset Hall is in love, engaged, about to marry and move away. But for Agnes Sharp, “Once a member of Sunset Hall, always a member of Sunset Hall.” Along with Agnes are other members of the crew reviewed here in “The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp” and “Agnes Sharp and the Trip of a Lifetime”: Marshall, ex-military; Edwina, ex Secret Service; Lilith, “dead and in a tin”; blind, besotted Bernadette, bride-to-be of Jack, former contract killer and others. But someone is out to put the kybosh on the festivities, no matter what it takes; and that, even for Agnes Sharp, becomes pyrotechnic. The final in this series is, like the wedding, something to die for. What next?

“Stay Alive: Berlin, 1939-1945”
Ian Buruma
Penguin Press
$35

1939 Berlin: a city of 4.3 million, under Nazi control for the past six years. Buruma’s father, Leo, then a Dutch student, was conscripted into forced labor in the metropolis in the spring of 1943. Surviving through nightmare times and Berlin’s ultimate destruction, he finally returned to his homeland in May 1945. Buruma first visited Berlin in 1972 with Leo. His father’s own letters, later found in a tin box, prompted Buruma to expand, sifting through personal diaries, citizens’ letters, Jewish memoirs, journalists’ columns — including Joseph Goebbels’ ravings — to recapture the tenor of those years. The parting phrase of the time was no longer an equivalent of “See you later,” but rather “Bleiben Sie übrig” — “Stay alive.” A chilling chronicle of a past time; perhaps a playbook for today.

“Someone to Cook For”
Maiko Seo tr. Laura Taylor
Europa Editions
$18

Yuko has been brought up in several quite different families, attending various schools under four surnames. (If you’re expecting an agony-aunt sob story, this isn’t it.) Yuko’s mom died when she was three, and her blood father married Rika. When learning, he must leave Japan to work abroad. Yuko chooses Japan and Rika with the life and friends she knows. Life continues to complicate as Rika marries a wealthy man so Yuko will have access to a fine piano, then … well, circumstances continue to evolve, as do new fathers. Rika comes and goes, but Yuko, ever pragmatic, is always secure in the knowledge that those around her care, that there is family. Then she falls in love and finally learns how to complete the circle of belonging.

“We Burned So Bright”
TJ Klune
Tor Publishing Group
$25.99

It’s to be neither water nor fire next time, but a Black Hole, cruising randomly towards our solar system, an immense Pac-Man, greedier than anything ever spawned on Earth. It’s devoured the outer planets, and Earth is in its path, in a matter of weeks — maybe days. Jupiter’s gone, and soon there’ll be no trace of our Moon, nor Everest, nor humanity. Some flee, some pillage and a septuagenarian gay couple set out to Washington State to reach their son. Through those they encounter on their journey, during the long miles alone together in their decrepit RV, Don and Rodney re-examine their 40-year commitment: choices they made, and what — if anything — they would, or should or could have done differently. Was it all worth it?