When everything on hold comes in at once

Okay, not everything came in, but virtually everything I had on hold came in at once this week, to wit, two books I had had on hold for several months on ebook at The Free Library of Philadelphia:

1. Wonder Valley by Ivy Pochoda
2. Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke

AND…another one that had just come in earlier in the week, on ebook from my home library: American by Day by Derek B. Miller.

Then at the end of the week, just to make things even more interesting, I checked out a physical book, The Lonely Witness by William Boyle, that a patron had said was pretty good.

So come Friday night, I was faced with choosing one of the four for my weekend read, which really would be Friday night and Saturday since I was/am going to visit my father for Father’s Day. Since I already had started American by Day Thursday night and was enjoying it even in the early going, I decided to stick with it, read a little Friday night, finished half of the book by noon on Saturday and then the other half later in the afternoon.

I don’t know if I realized that Miller had another book coming out until a blogger (I can’t remember who) recently mentioned this one. I previously had read Norwegian by Night, which was published in 2012, and which was one of my favorite books from that year, and American by Day is a sequel of sorts. Why I say of sorts is that this one features Sigrid Ødegård, a Norwegian cop, who from what I remember wasn’t a major character in the first one.

The story picks up from where the previous story left off, but I don’t think it’s necessary to read Norwegian by Night to understand this second one. Here, Sigrid is sent to America by her father to find his son/her brother Marcus. Of course, it isn’t that simple as Marcus is suspected of the murder of his girlfriend. As serious as the story sounds, and at times is, Miller also injects a fair amount of humor into the novel, especially with the interplay between Sigrid and Irving Wylie, the county sheriff who is looking for Marcus. The story also is absurd at times (no spoilers, but if you read it, you’ll see what I mean), but I went with it because I was enjoying the book so much at that point.

Next up: I should read Pochoda’s book since I think I had the book on hold since February, but we’ll see. I have enjoyed Locke’s books in the past, so I might just go with that. I’ll keep you posted.

What did you read this past week? Anything good, anything worth recommending? What is on your radar for this coming week or the next couple of weeks?