Having already received my personal invitation to AARP, I confess I am at an age where the phrase, "I am too old for this" passes through my head almost daily. Perhaps that is why I was drawn to Samantha Downing's book.  Or maybe it was the image of a well-dressed senior citizen holding a clawfoot hammer behind her back that enticed me. I love a good thriller!  Either way, I was drawn in and totally hooked by the first chapter.

 

Lottie Jones is not your typical senior citizen. She leads a quiet life in a small town, attending weekly BINGO at her church. Her biggest frustrations are the judgment of her fellow church ladies on her store-bought food trays and her middle-aged son who will be marrying his twenty-something expectant girlfriend any day now. What makes Lottie different is that she is a retired serial killer.  At least, she thought she was retired.

 

Enter Plum Dixon, an investigative journalist determined to prove that Lottie was wrongly accused of several murders two decades earlier. Lottie, once known as Lorena, had endured nonstop media attention and watched her young son get bullied because people believed his mother was a killer, and survived the relentless pursuit of an overzealous homicide detective.  She thought she had left that life and identity behind her. Lottie has no idea how the young journalist tracked her down. But one thing is clear: Plum plans to make the documentary with or without Lottie's permission, which proves to be a tragic mistake.  

 

The narrator of the story is Lottie herself and what a clever and surprisingly likeable character she is. Lottie discovers getting away with murder isn't as easy as it used to be. Watching her deal with aching joints, smartphones, and modern tracking technology is both suspenseful and hilarious. While this 75-year-old serial killer might be weaker in body, her mind is still as sharp as the clawfoot hammer she wields. 

 

Too Old for This is a fast-paced, darkly funny book.  If you enjoy the mystery and humor of The Thursday Murder Club series or fast-paced thrillers like those by Freida McFadden, this is a great pick for you.

Meg Shaffer dazzled me with her debut novel The Wishing Game. She did a marvelous job balancing fun and whimsy with sincerity and emotion, reminding lifelong bibliophiles of why they enjoyed books so much as children. Naturally, I had to check out her second novel, The Lost Story.

 

Jeremy Cox has an almost preternatural gift for finding missing people – and even lost things. Over the years, he’s gained international fame by helping solve seemingly unsolvable cases and reunite many girls with their families – though sometimes the best he can bring to loved ones is closure. Emilie has just lost her adoptive mother, and she finds herself wanting to be reunited with her long-lost sister. After some convincing, Jeremy agrees to help her but explains this will require the help of an old friend, who, unfortunately, he is on bad terms with. His friend Rafe eventually relents for Emilie’s sake more than Jeremy’s, and the trio head off into the woods of West Virginia where they find a portal to a magical realm that Jeremy promises will bring Emilie the answers she is seeking about her sister.    

 

In The Lost Story, Shaffer looks at why so many young readers dream of visiting the fantastic worlds of C. S. Lewis and fairy tales: to escape reality. However, the tale is also a cautionary reminder that the traumas and tragedies of life never truly leave us. Characters are still forced to confront the emotional horrors that haunt them, even in a seemingly magical and idyllic land.

 

The Lost Story is a good pick for fans of Shaffer’s first novel as well as those who enjoy Alix P. Harrow and John Connolly’s Book of Lost Things series. Readers who appreciate exploring the dark side to fairy tales and fantasy should also check this one out.