Bringing Adam Home by Les Standiford

The kidnapping and murder of seven-year-old Adam Walsh was one of the most notorious crimes of the last fifty years.  Adam had gone shopping at Sears with his mother, Reve, and was fifty feet from her in the store.  She was looking at lamps; he was looking at and playing with the video game display with other boys.  When they got rowdy, the Sears security guard, a seventeen year old girl, sent all the boys outside.  All went home with their parents, but Adam, disappeared that day.  His head was discovered floating in a canal two weeks later; his body never found.

Bringing Adam Home details the investigation of his murder for the long twenty-seven years that the murder went unsolved.  Although there was a viable suspect who confessed early and often, the overwhelmed police force of Hollywood, Florida, refused to believe him guilty.  The man was in jail for other murders and the police in charge felt that he was making up his confessions.  Over the years, the police left leads uninvestigated, forced facts into wrong theories, and even actively blocked other investigators from helping solve the murder. 

The parents, John and Reve Walsh, went on to dedicate their lives to fighting the crime of missing children.  John Walsh became the public face of one of TV's blockbuster shows; America's Most Wanted.  The show highlighted unsolved cases and asked the public's help in finding suspects.  It was considered one of the first reality shows.  In addition, the Walshs went to Congress several times as proponents for various laws to protect missing children.  From this emerged the national crime database for missing children.  The case also changed parental views of the world.  Many readers remember childhoods where it wasn't unusual for kids to leave the house in the morning and come home again at supper.  It is almost unimaginable today to consider leaving a child unsupervised in that way.  Parents shuddered at the Adam Walsh case and kept their children a bit closer from that point on.

The book is well-researched, and readers are taken inside a complex kidnapping-murder investigation.  One of the main contributors of the book was Detective Joe Matthews, the detective who in his retirement solved the case once and for all by going back through the case files and creating such a strong case that there could be no doubt who the killer was.   Matthews was the main investigator on America's Most Wanted after his retirement, and a personal friend of the family.  Solving Adam's case was his personal goal and obsession, his gift to the grieving family.  This book is recommended for readers of true crime, and for all parents.  Evil is out there and it will in a moment take your family and tear it apart.

Rules Of Civility by Amor Towles

The year is 1938 and three young people are thrown together on New Year's Eve in a jazz bar.  Eve Ross and Katy Kontent are young women who have come to Manhattan to make their way in the world.  Eve is from a rich family in Indiana while Katy is the daughter of Russian immigrants and grew up in Brighton Beach.  They met in a boardinghouse and soon become fast friends, recognizing a fellow feeling of joy and determination to take life on their own terms.

Tinker Gray is the man the girls meet.  Obviously from wealth, his every move betrays perfect manners and a sense of belonging wherever he is.  They become a trio and the book follows them throughout the year, as they form alliances, come together and move apart, and go through the changes common to the young as they make their way and choose their life paths.

Eve and Tinker are together for a while, leaving Katy behind, then the pieces are shaken up and new alliances form.  Along the way, the reader meets other people; the rich widow who takes what she wants with no regard for the opinions of others; the ultra-rich who assume the world is theirs for the taking and are distinguished by their manners; the hard-driving boss determined to make a go even if it kills his workers, the artists who portray the lives around them; the working class individuals striving to improve their lot.

Amor Towles has written a fascinating look at the moneyed class in the era coming out of the Depression and between the two great wars.  His characters are finely drawn, especially Katy, who is the mirror through which the reader experiences this world.  This book is recommended for lovers of historical fiction, and those interested in a great story that transports the reader to another place and time. 

Releasing Gillian's Wolves by Tara Woolpy

Nearing fifty, Gillian Sachs feels that she doesn't know what she wants.  She has been trapped in a loveless marriage for years due to her husband's multiple affairs.  She hasn't left him, though, since he is a Senator and the breakup would be front-page news and she doesn't know any other life.  She paints but has never exhibited since she wasn't sure if it would be her talent getting a show or the novelty of a political wife being an artist.

In the middle of Jack's latest reelection run, it becomes more than Gillian can bear as she watches him start an affair with a campaign intern younger than their own daughter.  Gillian agrees to stay until after the election, but moves out to a cabin on their property.  Most of the money in the marriage is hers, so that isn't an issue. 

After the election, Gillian slowly starts to rebuild her life.  She reunites with her daughter, their estrangement a casualty of her daughter's refusal to have anything to do with her father.  Gillian goes to Amsterdam to visit friends, and while there starts painting again.  She also meets Luke, a well-known sculptor who starts to make her feel alive again.

As she starts to heal, everything back home falls apart.  Jack is involved in scandal and this time the FBI are also involved.  Gillian is called back home by the various law enforcement agencies doing the investigation.  Will she find the strength to break away or will Gillian be pulled back into Jack's sordid world?

Tara Woolpy has created a strong, sympathetic character in Gillian.  She embodies the longing many have as they reach their middle years to find what really matters in life to them, and to take whatever chances are needed to live their lives happily.  This book is recommended to readers who are also searching for that magical something that makes lives interesting and vital.

With Just One Click by Amanda Strong

Amanda Strong explores what happens when three women decide to join the online world of Facebook.  Chloe is a career woman, successful at her reviewer job but not at relationships.  After she joins Facebook, an old love looks her up and sends her a Friend invitation.  Will stirring up old ashes reignite a new love?

Morgan is a stay-at-home wife who uses Facebook as a social outlet, finding validation of her life choices and advice from her friends on her life as a busy young mother.  One fly emerges in the Facebook ointment; her relationship with her husband becomes strained as she gets jealous over the women who chat with him; especially a former girlfriend from high school.

Brynn has it all; two teenage children and a successful husband; a big house and no money worries.  But she is feeling left out and lonely and strikes up a friendship on Facebook that has to potential to tear her family apart.

Amanda Strong has cleverly used the microscope of this increasingly familiar social networking site to examine the way women support each other, find love and dissension, and filter their lives through the way others view them.  She examines the positive and negative sides of the site, leaving the reader with the realization that Facebook just shines a light into whatever is going on in people's lives; it can neither make nor break their relationships.  This book is recommended for romance readers and for those interested in the effect of technology on modern lives.

Arcadia Snips And The Steamworks Consortium by Robert Rodgers

Mad math and science are afoot in the 19th century in the city of Aberwick.  There are tales of mad scientists who caused the fire that never ends and flying machines and machines that can not only do calculations but talk machine to machine without human intervention.  All these inventions are centered around the Steamworks Consortium, and the populace is unsure if the Consortium is a force for good or evil.

The most maligned name in the annals of mad scientists/mathematicians are the Daffodil family.  The grandparents were mad, and the grandmother lives in an asylum still.  Their son and his wife were credited/blamed with losing an hour of time with all the tragedies that entailed.  The current generation, William Daffodil, works at the Steamworks and tries to remain under the radar and live down his family's reputation.

But something is afoot.  There are stirrings of a plot, a plot that will be worse than anything that has gone before.  The forces of evil are arrayed against the forces of good.  These include Daffodil, an intrepid feminist named Miss Primrose, a madman who runs a detective agency and Arcadia Snips.  Born into a mad scientist family, Arcadia ran away at an early age to make her way on the streets.  She is a vagabond, a thief, and perhaps the savior of all mankind.

Robert Rodgers has created a rollicking steampunk tale of high adventure.  Steampunk is defined in Wikipedia as "a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually the Victorian era Britain—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology or futuristic innovations as Victorians may have envisioned them; based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. This technology may include such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne."

Those readers who have wondered what steampunk literature is all about will be interested to explore it in such an accessible work.  Fans of high adventure will be delighted with all the action, while those interested in finding new and admirable characters will fall in love with Arcadia Snips, an unlikely heroine who is unforgettable.

Summer Of The Bear by Bella Pollen

Nicky and Letty have it all.  Young, in love with a great marriage and three beautiful children, they are posted in Bonn with Nicky's diplomatic career and rumored to be in the running for the Ambassador's job in Rome.  Then tragedy strikes.  Nicky falls from a roof on the Embassy and is killed.  Letty, her world destroyed, takes the children back to the island in the Outer Hebrides where they spend every summer to try to put their world back together and figure out how to go on without Nicky.

Nothing seems to be working.  Georgie, the oldest girl, tries to fill in mothering her younger siblings as Letty is barely coping.  But Georgie is ready for University and starting to discover men.  Alba, the middle child, has developed a cruel streak that she takes out on everyone, especially her little brother, Jamie.  Jamie, the only boy and eight years old, is more lost than the others.  No one has told him his father is dead; just that he is "lost".  Jamie obsesses about finding him and about a circus bear that has escaped and is loose somewhere on the island.  He is an unsophisticated, innocent child who just wants to make everything right again.

Bella Pollen has created a magical book about families coming together and building their lives on the treasure they have in each other.  The book is told through alternating views of each character, allowing the reader to slowly piece together the puzzle of what happened in Bonn and how to move on in their lives.  The people and culture of the little-known Outer Hebrides Islands is lovingly portrayed.  This book is recommended for all readers.

The Savage City by T.J. English

The Savage City is the exploration by T.J. English of the forces driving the dynamics of New York City in the sixties and early seventies.  This was the time of hippies, peace and love, protests against Vietnam.  It was the peak of the Civil Rights movement with Martin Luther King, Jr. as the Afro-American spokesman.  There was also an underside; racial discrimination, the rise of the black liberation groups such as the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army to combat racisim, and the police that often were more interested in the graft they got than any kind of even-handed dispirsement of justice.

On the day Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., two white girls were murdered in their apartment. Emily Hoffert and Janice Wylie were exemplars of rich young women working on careers and their deaths were shouted from the front pages of newspapers for weeks on end. 

English uses this case as the filter through which he follows the lives of three men:

1.  George Whitmore was a young, unsophisticated black man who had the bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  He was swept up by the police in another borough and before he managed to win his freedom ten years later, had been charged with the Wylie-Hoffert murders and those of two other women.  His treatment by the police was one of the key cases that led to the establishment of the Miranda warning.

2.  Bill Phillips was a New York City policeman and part of the "blue wall".  He spent as much time finding ways to make money on his beat as he did solving crimes and was part of the corruption in the police force that became evident. 

3.  Dhoruba Bin Wahad, a black man hardened by his time in prison, was an influential member of the NYC Black Panther party.  His views on the white police and power structure led him to a series of crimes that controlled his life.

T.J. English has done a masterful job of research these divergent lives and bringing them together into a cohesive whole to explain the environment of these times and the factors that influenced everyday life.  This book is recommended to those interested in reading how social mores influence our lives, as well as those who lived through these turbulent times.

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

The newspapers are full of a shocking story.  The artist, Robert Oliver, one of art's modern up-and-rising figures, is arrested in a museum where he has attacked a painting; the painting that is the image of Leda and the swan.  He gives no explanation, in fact, he refuses to talk at all.

Andrew Marlow is the psychiatrist in charge of the mental hospital where Oliver is confined.  He takes Oliver's case himself as Marlowe is also a painter and thinks it may help unravel the mystery surrounding Oliver.  For Oliver is mute, and refuses to talk to anyone.  As the weeks go by, Dr. Marlow becomes more and more intrigued by Oliver.  Desperate to understand Oliver, he begins to research his life.

Marlow takes a trip to the mountains of North Carolina where he spends time with Oliver's ex-wife.  She tells of their lives together, first in New York and then later at the college in NC where Oliver is put on staff.  The ex-wife talks about the early signs of Oliver's mental illness, but also about her growing suspicion that there is another woman.

Marlow also finds this woman and learns more of Oliver's life.  Oliver paints one woman over and over and Marlow finds clues about her and the importance to Oliver's life, but there is no definite knowledge to be found.  He makes trips to Mexico and later to France where he finally discovers the secret to unlock the bars of the mental prison Olivier is caught in.

Elizabeth Kostova has written a complex, intriguing tale.  The plot unfolds slowly and the reader learns about the characters a bit at a time, like a stripteaser slowly revealing her charms.  Along with the plot, the reader is exposed to the art world and how painters relate to the world around them.  This book is recommended for readers of modern literature and those interested in love stories that change lives.

Bad Boy by Peter Robinson

Fans of Peter Robinson's series featuring Inspector Alan Banks will be interested to know he has written another.

Banks has gone on a vacation to the United States.  In his absence, horrors take place.  Bank's daughter, Tracy, gets involved with a local charmer.  Jaff is the son of the local bookie and a gorgeous Bollywood Indian actress.  He dabbles at the fringes of mob activity; a little money laundering, a little drug dealing.  He is charming and good-looking and the boyfriend of Tracy's best friend, Erin.  When Erin gets into police trouble by taking Jaff's gun, Tracy goes to warn him and ends up going off with him.

What seems like a lark at first and a chance to get to know Jaff better turns into a nightmare as she does just that, gets to know him better.  For Jaff is a true bad boy; narcissistic, ready to harm anyone who gets between him and anything he desires.  Tracy goes from a willing participant to a hostage as the situation gets more and more serious.  Inspector Banks returns home to find a crisis with his daughter in danger.  Can he resolve things and save her life?

Peter Robinson and his Inspector Banks series are well-known and respected.  He has been a finalist for the Los Angles Times Book Prize, a "Best Book of the Year" recipient by Publisher's Weekly, a "Notable Book" winner by the New York Times and a "Page Turner Of The Week" winner by People magazine.  Robinson has won numerous prizes including the Edgar Award, the Anthony Award and the Grand Prix de litterature Policiere.  This book, although the latest in a series, stands alone, as it was the first of Robinson's books that I'd read.  This book is recommended for mystery lovers who enjoy police procedurals and an inside look at how police forces really work.

Birdie's Book by Jan Bozarth

Birdie is excited and scared.  She is off to visit her grandmother, who she doesn't remember at all.  Her mother and grandmother have been estranged for years.  Birdie doesn't know why as her mother refuses to discuss it.  But her father thinks Birdie should know her family so he has sent her to visit while her mom is traveling on business.

Birdie has one overriding interest, plants.  She knows them all, their characteristics, how to grow them, their Latin names.  Imagine her joy when she discovers her grandmother lives on a large piece of land with hundreds of varieties of plants, and a greenhouse.  She makes her living selling various plants.  Her land has large gardens, with mazes and some of the largest trees Birdie has ever seen.  While exploring, she discovers the tree that is the heart of the land, but also discovers that it is dying.

This discovery leads her grandmother to tell her of her family history.  They are the guardians of the plants, but the plants are slowly dying.  The trouble started when the Singing Stone was broken in half.  That night, Birdie has a dream that takes her to another land, Aventurine.

She is confused about why she is there, but meets friends along the way.  There is Kerka, another girl who is there to help Birdie in her mission.  The girls meet river maidens (known as mermaids elsewhere) and fairies.  Each reveals another piece of Birdie's mission and how she can achieve it.  She must heal the land, and to do so, she must heal the Singing Stone and the heartland tree.  Can Birdie heal the land, and her family at the same time?

This is the first book in Jan Bozarth's Fairy Grandmother Academy series.  Elementary and middle-school girls will be entranced with this story.  There is a related website with games, places to write dreams, meet friends, etc.  At this point, four books have been written in the series.  This book is recommended for young readers, and for parents and grandparents looking for books to buy for their daughters or granddaughters that are exciting and provide a good message about what we are sent to do in the world.

Phone Kitten by Marika Christian

Emily Winters has a problem.  Well, several problems, but they really aren't her fault and anyhow, she can explain it all.  Emily has always hid her light under a basket, it's safer to be ignored.  But after being fired from her newspaper job unfairly, she starts to take control of her life.  She's losing weight, working out, going back to school and has even met the man of her dreams.  Is it fair that things don't work out for like she planned?

Since she lost her job, she had to have money, right?  Being a phone sex talker isn't a job you write home to mother about, but it's money and you never have to see your clients.  It couldn't possibly be her fault if one of her customers gets himself killed and she just happened to be in the restaurant he was dining at his last night, could it?  What can a girl do?  Why, obviously, she should take up detecting and solve the murder herself!

Marika Christian has written a light, frothy detective story with an engaging heroine, a believable cast of characters, and laugh out loud situations.  Emily is a can-do kind of gal, never at a loss for an idea of what to do next and brave enough (or naive enough) to follow through on her plans.  Readers will laugh out loud and immediately look for  more of Marika Christian's work when the last page is read.  This book is recommended for mystery and chick-lit readers. 

The Believers by Zoe Heller

Joel and Audrey Livinoff have been lions in the radical and socialist circles of New York, always at the forefront of every political demonstration, determined to champion the rights of the downtrodden. Now Joel has been stricken; the victim of a stroke suffered in court. He survives, but is left in a vegetative state for months.

Zoe Heller’s The Believers follows the Livinoff family during this time of turmoil. Audrey has been married to Joel for forty years. She is still fiercely committed to the principles they have spent their lives defending, passionate about ideas but much less so about her family. Like many caught up in the fight for mankind, she doesn’t actually like individuals very much at all, finding everyone deficient and not committed enough. She castigates those around her for failing to live up to her ideals.

The three Livinoff children are working through their own struggles as adults. Rosa, the child most like her parents, has returned from four years in Cuba where she lived in a dirt hut, strangely disoriented and unsure what she believes in. Surprisingly, this daughter of fiercely atheistic parents is drawn to discover what Judaism is about, to find out if it’s tenets are what she can believe and commit to.

Karla is a social worker, married to Mike and constantly sure that she doesn’t measure up as a woman, a child to her parents, a sufficient wife to her husband. Unable to have children, she and Mike are trying to adopt. Along with this struggle, Karla struggles to make peace between the fiercely fighting members of her own family.

Lenny, the Livinoff’s adopted son, is a recuperating drug addict, who has never made his way in the adult world, and who seems always on the verge of another relapse. Strangely, the independent Audrey is most closely attached to Lenny, and refuses to hear anything negative about him or about her enabling of his dependence.

Then there is the scandal that emerges during Joel’s long hospitalization. The secret makes each of the Livinoff question what their family stood for, and what the truth of their relationships are. Audrey is unsure if her marriage has been nothing but a farce, while the children wonder if their parents are responsible for their adult difficulties.

Zoe Heller has written an incisive book that examines the morass of family relationships and how tangled they are and what effect they have on the participants’ life choices. Readers will examine their own lives in the shadow of the truths that are become evident as the Livinoff family and its conflicts are laid bare. This book is recommended for readers interested in family dramas and how these first relationships have lasting effects on adult lives.

Take Good Care Of The Garden And The Dogs by Heather Lende

Heather Lende writes a weekly newspaper column for the small town of Haines, Alaska.  She also writes the obituaries for the townspeople.  Take Good Care of the Garden and The Dogs is a series of essays illuminating her life in Alaska as well as the lives of her neighbors and friends.  The reader is transported to this different way of life, and emerges understanding what draws people to this remote location.

The essays talk about various items, often touching on tragedy.  There is a chapter about Lende's bicycle accident.  She was run over by a truck and her pelvis was crushed, nearly killing her.  Since Haines has no hospital, seriously ill or injured people have to be airlifted to the States.  She spent three weeks away from home and then months recuperating at home.  She writes honestly about her feelings, how she felt towards the man who drove the truck that injured her (being a small town, she already knew him) and her gratitude for her recovery as well as the guilt of seeing others who did not survive illness and accidents.

Essays talk about local tribal customs of the native people who make up much of the town, of such disparate items such as bear hunting, peace marches, making raspberry jam, cooking, religious ceremonies, sailing, choirs, and exercise.  Throughout every essay runs the thread of the pioneering, study spirit that characterizes the population of Haines, Alaska and the surrounding land.

Readers will be instantly charmed by these narratives.  In addition, there is much food for thought and how the reader would process various items.  A common reaction to the book is mine; as soon as I turned the last page, I went out and bought the author's other work as I couldn't stand to have my time with this town ended.  This book is recommended for all readers.

Revelations by Laurel Dewey

Jane Perry is yanked from her work world as a Detective in Denver by her boss.  He tells her that she will be accompanying him to the small town of Midas.  A fifteen-year-old boy, Jake,  has been kidnapped and the police chief has requested their assistance.  The chief is an old buddy of her boss, and he has promised their help.

When they arrive, Jane quickly finds that all is not as you would expect.  The chief is openly hostile to her, and argues with each discovery she makes.  The parents don't seem to be as upset as one would expect, and even seem to be working against the police by refusing to allow Jake's picture to be put in the paper and by pulling the reward money.  They are close-mouthed and fight against any information being released about their family and it's secrets.

They are in the right place to guard secrets.  Midas is full of those with secrets and everyone is fine with that.  Those whose secrets are known are scorned.  The top suspect in the kidnapping case is Jordan Copeland.  Copeland spent more than thirty years in prison for killing a young boy, and his land abuts the bridge that was the last known location Jake visited, so he immediately falls under suspicion.  When Jane meets him, he stuns her by forming a connection with her and telling her that the case will never be solved until all the secrets are out.  Can Jane discover the truth before it is too late?

Readers of Laurel Dewey's other Jane Perry books, Protector and Redemption will be glad to read this newest episode of her work.  Jane's personality and secrets are further revealed in this book, and the secrets that make up the framework of the book are steadily uncovered without straining credulity.  This book is recommended for mystery lovers.

The Last Letter by Kathleen Shoop

The Last Letter opens as Katherine Arthur opens her home reluctantly to her dying mother and her sister, Yale.  Katherine has been estranged from her mother for years, bitter about how their family fell apart after attempting to homestead on the plains in the late 1800's.  But, with her mother dying, Katherine discovers letters between her mother and father, and between each of them and their neighbors that opens a door of understanding for her.  She looks back at that time with the eyes of an adult rather than those of a child.

The Arthur family comes to the plains in disgrace.  Wealthy businessmen, the Arthurs were successful bankers until it became evident that they had used the money to finance their lifestyle.  Bitter at the scandal her father caused and the loss of all their money, Jeanie Arthur moves from a mansion to a dugout on the plains; she, her husband Frank, and their four children crammed into a hole in the prairie.

Jeanie attempts to make the best of things, but the plains are harsh and unforgiving.  There are bugs and snakes, burning heat, sudden weather changes such as tornadoes and blizzards, and what seem like Biblical plagues of grasshoppers.  Life is brutal and a daily struggle to survive.  The Arthurs would not survive without their neighbors, and the friendship of the other women is all that holds up Jeanie in this difficult challenge.  But tragedy strikes, and the family leaves the plains and splits up.  Can Jeanie and Katherine be reconciled?

Kathleen Shoop makes the lives of the pioneer women come alive.  The dirt and disease and hard work that is a part of daily life are outlined in a way that is uncommon, transporting the reader to that time and place.  She also recreates the interdependency between neighboring families and how strong those friendships were.  This book is recommended for historical fiction readers, as well as readers interested in family dynamics.

The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill

Sir Wilfred Hadda, known as Wolf to his friends, leads a charmed life.  He has risen from a poor childhood where his father was a woodcutter on a lord's estate, to wealth and power.  He has married his childhood sweetheart, daughter of the lord who ran the estate where his parents lived and worked.  He is a baron of industry.

All that changes one morning when he awakes to find the police at his door.  They believe that he is guilty of child pornography.  Desperate to clear his name, he runs from the police, straight into traffic, where he is hit.  He awakes from a coma months later, minus an eye, most of one hand, and crippled.  His trial for child pornography and financial fraud is quick and he is convicted.  His wife divorces him and marries his lawyer.  All his friends now despise and revile him.

Hadda is committed to a psychiatric hospital where hard cases like his and various serial killers are kept.  He is a model prisoner, totally disconnected from his surroundings.  That changes when he is assigned to the new doctor at the hospital, Alva Ozigbo.  She helps him delve into his past, and when she is satisfied that he has faced his crimes, she helps get him released on parole.

Hadda goes back home to his parent's small house, which is one of the few things that he still owns.  He goes about his life, walking the woods and talking with no one.  But those involved in getting him imprisoned start to have incidents occur to them.  Is Wolf taking his revenge for his conviction?  Was it a fair conviction or was he railroaded?

Reginald Hill cannot write a bad mystery.   Most readers know him from his wildly successful Pascoe and Dalziel series.   His books are full of believable characters and the plot moves along rapidly.  Readers will be compelled to like Wolf against their will and end the book by cheering for him.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

The Stormchasers by Jenna Blum

Karena Jorge is a successful reporter; most people would love to have her life.  But she is thirty-eight and has no outside life; no husband, no lover, no children.  Her father is in a nursing home and she doesn't have a relationship with her stepmother, dubbed The Widow.  Strangest of all, she hasn't seen her brother in twenty years.  Her brother, the person she was closest to her entire childhood and teenage years, her twin.

Then a phone call changes her life.  A hospital calls to inform her that her brother was admitted.  Charles has been living under the radar since his family had him admitted to a mental hospital when he was eighteen after a suicide attempt.  He is bipolar; his obsession tornadoes.  He lives as a stormchaser, moving from town to town to witness their fury.  Off-seasons he works a series of cash jobs to finance his obsession.

Karena is determined to find him this time and have him back in her life.  She joins a stormchaser tour group as a reporter and follows them on a journey to find storms.  These aren't Karena's first storms; being Charles's sister meant that she had experienced others.  But she was terrified then and the experience hasn't changed for her with one exception.  She is drawn to one of the tour leaders, Kevin. 

Jenna Blum has written a compelling story of what it means to be a sibling; what we owe to our family and how much we should be willing to sacrifice for them.  The reader learns much about the people who are stormchasers and what draws them to focus on such a dangerous activity.  Readers also explore the meaning of being bipolar and what effect it has on those around one with the disorder.  This book is recommended for all readers.

Ferral's Deathmarch Army

In Prince Kristian's Honor, Tod Langley gave readers the opening book of an exciting new fantasy series, the Erinia Saga.  Ferral's Deathmarch Army is the second book in the series and lives up to the promise of the first book.

As the book opens, Kristian's army has been defeated and he and only two comrades have survived the battle.  His fiance, Allisia has been captured by the evil sorcerer-king, Ferrell, who swears to make her his own, but only after torturing her to force her to comply.  Kristian flees to regroup, but what is left to do?  Who can supply the men and arms to help him?

Ferrell has raised an army the like of which has never been seen.  His evil powers have allowed him to reanimate the dead and his army is composed of dead men, women, and children.  The dead feel no pain.  They need no supplies.  They never stop fighting; if hit, they rise again.  There is no sophistication in their fighting; it is all brute force, but brute force wins when it is overwhelming in numbers and determination to never stop. 

As Kristin and Mikhal flee to regroup, they are joined by several individuals representing two warring tribes.  Although the tribes are sworn enemies, having fought ruthlessly for a thousand years, there are those in each tribe that recognize that Ferral is their common enemy and if he is not defeated, no one will exist in any land. Kristin is also joined by Cairn, a mysterious swordsman who travels the land, taking revenge for the deaths of his family and love.  Can this ragtag group hope to defeat the powerful Ferral before he destroys anything?

Fantasy readers will be well-advised to read this second book in the Erinia Saga.  Kristin has matured since the first book, and there are interesting back stories and threads that Langley skillfully weaves together to move his story forward.  The pacing is excellent, and the reader finds themselves quickly reimmersed in the saga.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.

Prince Kristian's Honor by Tod Langley

Prince Kristian, soon to be ruler of Erand, has been sent on a mission.  Rumors have been circulating that Erand's ancient enemy, Belarn, is preparing to go to war and try to conquer the kingdom.  Kristian has been sent to Duellr, where he is to propose to the princess Allisia, and cement a relationship between the two countries so that they can oppose Belarn.

Kristian is a young, spoiled man, unloved by his country due to his superior attitude and determination to have to his own way regardless of the merit of his plans.  He is furious at having to propose to please his father, the King,  and be used as a pawn in the country's future plans.  When he actually meets Allisia, though, he is instantly charmed and pleased at her beauty.  He proposes and is disconcerted to realise that she is no happier about the marriage than he is.  But as they talk, they begin to form a relationship, and Kristian starts to realise that he has a long way to go in terms of likeability and interactions with others.

Then tragedy strikes.  In Belarn, the mad prince, Ferral, has used his unholy knowledge of the dark arts to kill his father and take the throne.  He undergoes a ceremony that brings a demon-woman to life, and sends her to Duellr.  The demon appears in court, kills the Duellrian king in front of Allisia and Kristian and then kidnaps Allisia, taking her back to Belarn where she is under Ferral's control.

Pandemonium erupts in Duellr.  Kristian realises that it is time for him to grow up and take leadership, whether he is ready or not.  He rallies his guard and the Duellrian army, and they start to Belarn to defeat Ferral and rescue Allisia, leaving word for his country to raise an army and come to their support. 

Still headstrong and unpracticed in military matters and leadership, the war does not go well.  Kristian makes decisions against the advice of his military staff, and along with the evil magic of Ferral, these decisions lead to a massacre of the troops.  Reeling from the disaster, Kristian and two of his military staff flee, the only survivors.  Can Kiristian grow up and take control as he is destined to do?  Will he be able to rescue Allisia from Ferrel's control before she is killed?

A new voice in fantasy, Tod Langley has created an exciting new world.  Krisitian is not the typical hero.  He is vain and stubborn, detested by the men he needs to lead.  The other characters are skillfully drawn, and the plot is engrossing.  Prince Kristian's Honor is labled Book One of The Erinia Saga.  Readers will be well advised to wait for the rest of the series to see if Kristian can become the ruler and man that he needs to be.  This book is recommended for fantasy lovers.

Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch

Jaffy Brown meets Mr. Jamrach as a young street urchin in London.  Mr. Jamrach is a wild-animal importer, supplying zoos and private collectors.  A tiger escapes and Jaffy, entranced, walks up to him and strokes his nose, no fear evident.  Mr. Jamrach recognizes that Jaffy has an affinity for caring for animals and hires him to help in his establishment.  Jaffy loves his new job and soon has a best friend, Tim.  Tim is another boy in the yard and alternately the best friend and a cruel enemy to Jaffy.  Tim has a twin sister, Ishbel, and Jaffy is friends with her also, and feels the start of adult feelings towards her.

As Jaffy grows, he and Tim want more adventure.  They find it when word reaches one of Mr. Jamrach's collectors that a real dragon has been spotted.  He funds an expedition on a whaling ship to hunt the dragon and capture it to become the centerpiece of the collector's private zoo.  Full of excitement, Jaffy jumps at the chance.

Life as a sailor and on a whaling boat is new to Jaffy, but he soon settles in.  The work is hard, but he has known nothing more.  Birch gives great insight into what a whale hunt was like in those days, the breaching of the whale, men taking to the sea in small boats to defeat these gigantic creatures who could kill them with a swish of their tails, the brutal killing and work of extracting the oil. 

After weeks of whale hunting, the boat approaches the remote island where the dragon has been spotted.  The Jamrach expedition sallies forth and manages to capture the mystical beast.  Loading it back on the ship, they cast off to make their fortune back in London.  But the beast brings bad luck and the boat sinks, leaving a few survivors to try to make their way back to their former lives.

Carol Birch's book has been longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction for 2011, and it is evident why it was selected.  Her forte is description, and she effortlessly transports the reader to another time and place.  The reader feels what it must have been like to grow up poor in London, to fight the large beasts of the ocean, and to be shipwrecked.  She explores the nature of friendship, and what men will do to survive. The reader cannot put the book down, drawn to find out what happens to Jaffy and his comrades.  This book is recommended for all readers.