Underrated Reads

Keep Walking, Your Heart Will Catch Up: A Camino de Santiago journey – Cathay O. Reta

Posted on December 15, 2020 by J D Jung

(reviewed by JD Jung) “There is something mystical, magical about the Camino…I’m seeing a profound connection between the body, the mind and the heart. I’m finding a deep shaking as they join forces and get on the same page.” Newly widowed Cathay was lost and depressed. She was looking for direction for the next part…

Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Philosophical reads, Travel, Your Best Self | Tagged camino de Santiago, memoirs, New Age, self-discovery, Spain, travel | Comments Off

No Room at the Morgue – Jean-Patrick Manchette, Translated by Alyson Waters

Posted on December 10, 2020 by J D Jung

(reviewed by JD Jung) “They’re going to lock me up. I’m the perfect fall girl. My fingerprints are everywhere, even on the knife that belongs to me, and I got blood all over me.” Maybe another reason that this femme-fatale, who goes by the name of Memphis Charles, refused to go to the police is…

Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, French Literature, Lost and almost forgotten, World Literature | Tagged French literature, noir | Comments Off

The Sins of Others – Florian Schneider

Posted on December 4, 2020 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Jeyran Main) The Sins of Others is a historical fiction set in 1933. It tells the story of Ben Heimlich and his estranged mother, who happens to be a militant fanatic on the run. Jane Abbott, an English journalist, is the one who gives him information and saves him in Bosnia. Many years…

Posted in Historical Fiction | Tagged Bosnian war | Comments Off

The German Client: A Bacci Pagano Investigation-Bruno Morchio

Posted on November 30, 2020 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “If Germans and fascists don’t shoot us, Americans bomb us.” Private Investigator Bacci Pagano doesn’t have an easy relationship with the past. He grew up poor as his mother worked in a cigar factory and his father was a communist laborer. So, when Professor Hessen came to him for help,…

Posted in Historical Fiction, Italian Literature | Tagged Genoa, Italian literature, translated world literature, WWII | Comments Off

One for the Money (Cat Caliban Series Book 1) – D.B. Borton

Posted on November 26, 2020 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Pat Luboff) ”Suspicion is second nature to any woman who’s raised three kids.” I’m going to say something about this book that I don’t think I’ve ever said about a book: I loved every word! It gave me such a feeling of joy as I read it. I felt like it was written…

Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Reviewers' Top Picks | Tagged cozy mystery, light humor | 1 Comment

Root and Branch – Preston Fleming

Posted on November 24, 2020 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by Jeyran Main) Root and Branch is a political thriller written about Rogers Zorn, who is a security contractor. He learns that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been using his companies’ discoveries in order to achieve their own disturbing purposes. The plan is to deploy Zorn’s security threat assessment technology into…

Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Political fiction | Tagged political thriller | Comments Off

Yes, we’re still here!

Posted on November 23, 2020 by J D Jung

(JD Jung) Dear readers, So you're wondering why it takes us so long to post reviews and why there is so much time between posts. I assure you that we're still working. We are constantly reading, searching for those literary gems to share with you. Unfortunately, most of them don't meet UnderratedReads' standards of at…

Posted in Let's talk | Tagged book reviews | Comments Off

The Forger’s Daughter – Bradford Morrow

Posted on November 12, 2020 by J D Jung

(reviewed by JD Jung) “…I had an epiphany that, notwithstanding my every effort to steer my gifted daughter clear of the precincts of forgery, she possessed more of the counterfeiter’s mental and physical tools than perhaps even I did.“ Will had reformed his life. Now married to Meghan, father to two daughters, and living in…

Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers | Tagged calligraphy, Edgar Allan Poe, forgery | Comments Off

The Well of Ice (An Inishowen Mystery Book 3) – Andrea Carter

Posted on November 9, 2020 by J D Jung

(reviewed by Ann Onymous ) “It always amazes me how any version of the same story can circulate in a small town.” If you love an Irish mystery - and who doesn’t? You’ll enjoy this story given to us from across the Isle. Our local solicitor, Sarah Benedicta “Ben” O’Keeffe is trying to keep her…

Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers | Tagged cozy mystery, Irish literature | Comments Off

Sorry, it’s my fault

Posted on November 8, 2020 by J D Jung

(J.D. Jung) I apologize for the long stretch between reviews, but I was nervously awaiting the U.S. election results, with no sleep, totally immersed in the drama. With our democracy* at stake, little else seemed to matter. Though now we see light, millions of people still voted for Donald Trump and his authoritarian form of…

Posted in Let's talk | Tagged authoritarianism, democracy, Joe Biden | Comments Off