The Road Beyond Ruin | 
pickThis book took a little getting into but eventually gripped me as the slow, tantalising reveal progressed. It is the plot that intrigues rather than the writing delights as it is, at times, a little lacklustre. I love that you don't know exactly what's going on or if the characters are who or what they say they are. It shows the destruction of war but also the things that survive war - love, loyalty, resilience and ... revenge!
This one next. Though I'm not sure if can start it straight away as I'm still a bit stunned by the last one (Tin Man).
pickAll is not what it seems to be in this story about an Italian POW walking home through Germany after WWII. Told from the perspective of three characters, this is a complex novel with secrets galore. It gets a little too complex towards the end—one part left me confused. But kudos to the author for making it work for the most part. This was an Amazon 5-star Kindle first pick. I give it 4 stars.
As I understand it, a German chef moved to Beeville (in the middle of nowhere) and opened this very authentic restaurant. So I had lunch there today. If the food didn‘t confirm it, the music in German sure did. The Berliner Schnitzel was terrific, while reading the tagged book, which coincidentally is about post-WWII Germans and Italians dealing with its aftermath.
So here I am in Beeville TX and checked out a highly recommended local dive, while reading the tagged book.
Starting this Amazon first pick Kindle book during my regular bout of insomnia tonight. This one has 5 stars. Looks sad though.
panI'm usually a fan of historical fiction, but this was just not good. I'm a fairly intuitive reader, so I usually have a good idea of where a plot is headed. I'm usually happy to be surprised, but this is only the case if the plot twist is well-executed. This book has a few twists, but they are so poorly thought out that it makes what could have been a great novel terrible. The twists don't make sense. 2 out of 5 stars.
“You have a leg to walk on, not like others.”
He nods more somberly. “I suppose I should be grateful then.” He means it to some degree, but there have been times when he wasn‘t grateful, for anything, not even his own life.
