Forty Words For Sorrow - Giles Blunt

Mystery/Drama

Rating: 7.5/10

Sadness, desolation, unhappiness, grief, misery, distress, heartache, anguish, suffering, woe, pain, affliction, wretchedness, dejection, depression, mourning, lament, disconsolate, melancholy, torment, gloom, ordeal, burden, tribulation, remorse, hurt, despondent, harrowing, pangs, crestfallen, throes, blue, daunted, despair, forlorn, tragic, agony, pensive, requiem, regret.  I love a title that evokes the story strung together between the covers.  This tautly drawn mystery follows a small-town policeman with a mentally ill wife, a past with choices not always on the straight and narrow and an uncertain future.  It’s beautifully written with tangible suspense and loneliness in equal measure.

Footnote: Thankfully, there are as many if not more words for joy.