The Blinds

A bunch of criminals who have had their memories erased live in a small secluded settlement in the middle of a Texas desert with no contact from the outside world. No one knows they're there and they themselves don't remember who they were. They're part of an experiment that wants to see if the mind can truly be erased and if hardened criminals can really change their stripes. For the seventy or so residents of The Blinds life is alright if not a little boring. It's always the same people to talk to, the same magazines and books to read. The only thing current is the news which they can watch to their hearts content. Fran is sick and tired of the same routine every day, she always think she might leave, but she doesn't have the money or the contacts to stay. When she was taken into The Blinds eight years ago she was pregnant and her son, the only true innocent, is the only child in the place. It's a lonely existence. Things gets shaken up when a resident is murdered at the bar. Suddenly everyone is on high alert. Was it the four new residents brought in the day before? Was it an outsider? Who knows who they really are? It's fast paced, unsettling, and raises great moral questions. A fun, inventive read.

The Glorious Heresies

I love reading novels written in dialects and slang not of my own. The Glorious Heresies is set in Ireland and the characters think, speak, and feel in Irish, it is... glorious. Alternating stories slowly become intertwined throughout the book and as the title suggests they're well meaning (mostly) heretics. From the teenage drug dealer to the prostitute to the "off her rocker" old mother who accidentally kills a burgler with a holy relic all characters find themselves questioning the direction of their lives. It's dark, gritty, amusing, witty, and above else impossible to put down. Even when the characters are at their worse the reader somehow finds themselves rooting for them, hoping that these glorious heresies can get their shit figured out.