Last week, I reviewed the first episode of Around the World in 80 Days, a series currently being shown on PBS Masterpiece. Tina reviewed the book Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney, another thriller like the one I'm reviewing today - but this one is set in Scotland.
Book: 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Publication date: 2021
Source: Audio ebook, borrowed from library
You can already spot opportunities for a thriller in this short summary. But what you're thinking probably isn't as thrilling as what's going on in this story.
Thoughts: I picked up 56 Days after Tina reviewed it. I was fascinated that there was already a published novel that included our current global pandemic.
The pandemic added an entire other level of thrill on top of this story. I enjoyed how it triggered memories of things that happened in the spring of 2020 that I'd nearly forgotten. And I liked feeling like I knew more than the characters about where this pandemic was headed.
I listened to the audio version and really enjoyed hearing a story set in Dublin told by an Irish reader.
Appeal: I'm not usually attracted to thrillers and I liked this one, anyway. So give it a chance, if the setting of Dublin interests you or if you're intrigued by a novel that uses the pandemic as a major plot point.
Have you read this book? What did you think?
About Joy Weese Moll
a librarian writing about books