In One Person by John Irving

In One Person is the story of William Abbott's life.  An author now nearing seventy, Bill or Billy as most knows him, looks back over his life and thinks about the influences that have made him the man he is today.  Bill is a bisexual man, and his life growing up in Vermont was spent coming to terms with his differences.

There is a wide cast of characters.  Billy's father is absent and he has no memory of him.  His male influences are his cross-dressing grandfather and his stepfather, ten years younger than his mother.  He has a domineering grandmother and aunt, and a rebellious lesbian cousin.  Bill attends an all-male academy, from which his closest friends come.  Elaine is a faculty daughter as Billy is a faculty son.  They have a close, sustaining relationship.  There is Tom, who has a crush on Billy, and who later becomes his first male lover.  There is Kittredge, a swaggering athlete, impossibly beautiful, who Billy adores and fears in equal measure.

Then there is the town librarian, Miss Frost.  She recognizes Bill's intellectual curiosity and becomes his friend, guiding his reading and shoring up his self-esteem.  Bill loves her and not just platonically.  When as a senior, their friendship progresses to the physical, it turns out that Miss Frost was formally Al Frost, a former wrestling star at the academy.  After leaving school, Al became the transgender Miss Frost.

The book follows Billy's life.  It explores the AIDS epidemic, which takes many of Billy's friends and lovers,  It explores his relationship with both male and female lovers.  Finally, it documents Bill's creation of his own family of choice.  He realises that what he needs cannot be found 'in one person' and takes what he can from those around him to carve out a satisfactory life.

I am a huge Irving fan.  Many of the motifs seen in other books are here; the New England setting, the wrestling background, and the offbeat characters striving for validation in a world where they are different from the mainstream.  Billy is a strong character, refusing to feel like less of a person because of his differences.  Characterization is one of Irving's strengths along with his championing of those who are different.  This book is recommended for Irving fans  and for those interested in self-actualization.

A Thousand Pardons by Jonathan Dee



Ben and Helen Armstead are living a perfect suburban life.  Ben is a lawyer while Helen is a stay at home mom to their teenage daughter, Sara.  This world falls apart, though, when Ben admits he is terminally bored and ends up creating a scandal that makes retaining any part of their lives untenable.

Left to support herself and Sara, Helen manages to find a job in the city in public relations.  Soon she is known for her specialty; helping clients move past their own scandals by publicly admitting blame for their actions and asking for forgiveness.  Helen is promoted and is in vogue; anyone with a scandal wants her at their side. 

As she becomes consumed by her career, Sara starts to go off the tracks.  When Helen takes Sara to a movie premiere, she reconnects with her earlier life and finds herself seated by the movie's leading man, Hamilton Barth.  She and Hamilton grew up in the same little town, but had not seen each other in years, and Hamilton actually doesn't remember Helen.  But when he finds himself caught up in a scandal, he remembers her new career and calls her in.  Can Helen handle Barth's problem, and if so, at what cost to herself and Sara?

Jonathan Dee has written an intriguing novel about how humans handle their mistakes.  We all need a pardon eventually for some hasty, misbegotten action, or some expedient action meant to solve an issue that instead makes it worse.  We all have to make decisions about when and if to pardon those who have wronged us.  Dee explores this situation with deft understanding.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction, and those interested in the human condition.

Jack Absolute by C.C. Humphreys

It is the start of the American Revolutionary War, and spirits are high in England.  Surely this will be a short war as the British have the premier army in the world.  Jack Absolute, former Captain, is in London for only a short time before he heads to the Indies to try to restore his family's fortunes.  He is dismayed on his short trip to discover that his playwright friend, Richard Sheridan, has written a play about Absolute's life and loves and that he is the talk of the town.

Jack finds himself caught up in a duel over the favors of an actress in the play.  When the duel turns from a fight with honor to an assassination attempt, he flees and is rescued by his old general, Burgoyne.  In return, he asks Jack to re-enlist and serve his King and country once again with his fighting and intelligence skills.  Against his best judgement, Jack agrees.

The book follows Jack's adventures in America fighting against the Colonials.  There are spies within the top councils of the General, and Jack's job is to ferret them out.  There are allies from Germany, organizations such as the Illuminati whose loyalty is at question, beautiful women, and battles and military missions.  Jack's blood brother, the Iroquois Ate, fights by his side.  Will Jack be successful or will these be his last battles?

This is a rollicking historical fiction with a larger than life figure.  Absolute is many things; a rogue, a lover of beautiful women, a master spy and fighting machine.  Above all, he is a man of honor and a character the reader will fall in love with.  My first reaction after turning the last page was to immediately order more novels about Jack and his adventures.  The viewpoint of the American Revolution from the British standpoint was intriguing and unexpected.  This book is recommended for readers of historical and military fiction.

The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin

It is 1974, and Anne Morrow Lindbergh and her children have brought Charles Lindbergh, Lucky Lindy, home to die.  As Anne sits with him in his final days, she reflects back on their lives and what sharing a lifetime with such a famous man has been like.  Anne is a senior at Smith College when they meet, while Lindbergh has already completed the solo transatlantic flight from the United States to Paris that made him a hero wherever he goes.  He takes her flying, and she instantly adores the sensation.  She can't believe that such a man has chosen her as his wife, and agrees, unable to believe her luck.  Anne feels she is living a fairy tale.

But there is a dark side to hero worship.  The couple is mobbed wherever they go, the photographers and reporters fighting to get an inch closer, to get their shouted questions answered.  They print every detail of the Lindbergh's lives that they can discover.  When the couple's toddler son, Charles Junior, is kidnapped and killed, the press is unbearable.  Anne can't help but feel that they played a part in the tragedy by singling them out and reporting every detail of their lives.

Anne comes to realise that life with Charles is on his terms.  He is the bravest man she has ever met, and he has an unerring sense that he is always right.  Distant emotionally, he plans every minute of his day and expects to plan Anne's also.  She is his co-pilot and navigator in those early years, leaving behind her babies whenever he wants her to.  As the years go on, she begins to resent his assumption that he and only he knows best in every situation.

Yet Anne stays with him loyally, unable to imagine a life without this man she loves.  She sticks with him during the war years, when his hero's mantle is tarnished by his campaign to keep America out of the war, and by his statements that make him appear anti-Semitic.  She stays during the war when Charles finally gets involved and leaves her alone to manage the household and children.  She stays during the long years after when he stays away for long stretches, leaving her to raise the family while he attends to business.  Anne learns to carve out a life on her own terms, with writing as her saving grace.

Melanie Benjamin has done a masterful job with this novel.  Most readers will learn many things they didn't know about the Lindberghs, who will always be defined by his heroic flight and the kidnapping that was one of the first nationally reported crimes.  I didn't know Anne was a pilot in her own right, or that after Charlie's death, they went on to have five other children.  This is an interesting book sure to catch the interest of any reader.  It is recommended for all readers.

The Bay Of Foxes by Sheila Kohler

It is 1978 and Dawit is in Paris.  But this is no fairy tale.  Dawit is an illegal immigrant from Ethiopia where he grew up rich and secure due to his father's high position in the government.  That all changed when the rebels came.  Dawit went from riches to absolute poverty as his family exploded.  His father dead, Dawit and his mother sent to the prisons where few ever emerge.  After weeks or months of torture, Dawit manages to escape and eventually makes his way to Paris.

In Paris, he wanders the streets penniless during the days.  At night, he can sleep in an apartment crammed full of other Ethiopian immigrants and grab a few bites.  One day Dawit manages to make a bit of money working for cash and wanders into a cafe where he can order a coffee and sit at peace for a while in the kind of surroundings he used to take for granted.  Also there, Dawit recognizes the famous woman author, M.  For some reason, when M. sees him looking at her, she beckons him over.  Soon they are talking, and M. seems impressed by his beauty and obvious education.  The encounter ends with her asking Dawit to come to her apartment in a few days time.

When he goes, M. quizzes him more about his former life.  She ends up offering him shelter in her apartment.  Dawit's life undergoes a dramatic change.  Now he acts as her secretary, arranging her life and serving as her editor.  M gives hm money and buys him beautiful clothes.  Dawit knows this is due to his youth and beauty, but makes an uneasy bargain.

As summer approaches, M tells Dawit they will be going to her summer home, a villa on the island of Sardinia.  Things start to fall apart.  M is becoming impatient that Dawit will not give her the physical love she craves.  Things escalate when Dawit falls in love with another and M starts to realise it.  How far will M go to get the payback she believes is her due?  What will Dawit do to maintain his precarious climb out of poverty and obscurity?

Sheila Kohler has written a beautiful, chilling spellbinder.  The writing is languorous, echoing the hot country of Dawit's birth and the island luxury he finds himself in.  The question of motives, of what we owe those who help us, of reciprocation of desires, is hauntingly raised.  This book is recommended for readers of general and literary fiction.

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

In Christina Baker Kline's Orphan Train, she narrates the story of a practice meant to be kind that was often cruel.  Due to the waves of immigration, epidemics of illnesses and the difficulty of living in poverty, many children were left as orphans.  Many families had multiple children who were set adrift when their parents died or disappeared.  Organizations sprang up to help with the problem and the orphan trains were created.  Large numbers of children from the big Eastern cities were shipped to the Midwest where couples looking for children could adopt them.

That was the way it was supposed to work.  In reality, many families were only looking for free labor.  Boys were taken as farm hands while girls were used as maids, nannies and other darker occupations.  Families were torn apart and the children were often even stripped of their names and renamed to suit their new families.  It was, in many ways, indentured servitude.

Vivian Daly, a ninety-one year old widow, was one of those children.  She came over in the great Irish immigration and lost her family in a tenement fire.  Handy with a needle and desperate for an education, she grew up in a series of households, never quite belonging anywhere or to anyone.  As she nears the end of her life, Molly Ayer enters it.  Molly has a similar background in modern America,  Her father was killed in a car accident, her mother couldn't cope and was hospitalized, and Molly entered the foster care system, where she also bounced from family to family.  When she needs community service hours to avoid juvie, she meets Vivian and agrees to help her sort out her lifetime of possessions.

As they sort through Vivian's possessions, the older woman starts to share her memories of that painful time with Molly.  Molly instantly relates and a relationship develops between the two women regardless of the decades in age separating them.  They are sisters under the skin, both belonging to the group that never fit in anywhere or who could afford to trust anyone.  Slowly, as the trunks and boxes are sorted, they also sort out their feelings and secrets and learn to trust each other.

This is a charming novel.  The reader will be sympathetic with Vivian and Molly, and ache that there is no better solution for the children left alone in the world.  Although we no longer use mechanisms such as the orphan train, for many foster children the end result remains the same.  One of the most surprising things is the time period.  This occurred around the 1920's, not in the 1800's.  Both the main characters are believable and strong and the reader will hope for a better life for each of them.  This book is recommended foe readers of more recent historical fiction and those interested in reading how the human spirit can overcome tragedy.

A Cottage By The Sea by Ciji Ware

Blyte Barton Stowe has rented a cottage in rural Cornwall for the summer.  After having her messy divorce from award-winning movie director Christopher Stowe splashed across the media in gory detail, all she wants is a chance to get away and evaluate her life.  The fact that the manor house that owns the cottage is named Barton House is appealing.  After all, her grandmother always insisted that their family had ties to the landed gentry in England.  Raised on a ranch in Montana, Blyte doesn't believe that, but its fun to dream about.

Complications soon arrive.  Blyte starts to have visions of the former inhabitants of Barton House, particularly four of the current owner's ancestors.  The Barton estate was combined with that of the neighboring one owned by a family named Tremayne.  The merger was accomplished by the marriage of an earlier Blyte Barton to Christopher Tremayne, although her heart belonged to the younger Tremayne son, Ennis.  After a mystery that involved all three disappearing or dying, the estates ended up with a cousin inheriting everything.  This cousin, Garrett Teague is the direct ancestor of the current lord, Jack Teague.  Why does Blyte feel such a strong attachment to people she never even heard of six months before?

Jack is a widower with a young son and is desperately trying to keep the estate going,  Blyte, who was a production creative force in Hollywood, helps Jack develop a business plan to save the estate, and becomes his business partner.  A romance blooms, although there are many issues working against a successful ending.  Can Blyte and Jack become a couple and resolve these issues, both current and those going back for centuries?

Ciji Ware is best known for her historical fiction.  A Cottage By The Sea draws on that strength, while bringing in a mix of other genres.  There is historical fiction, romance and some paranormal aspects such as past life regression.  Readers will be entranced by Ware's careful balancing of the genres to produce a compelling story that will enchant.  This book is recommended for readers in all three genres.

War Of The Seasons: The Human by Janine Spendlove

Story isn't sure where she is or how she got there.  A teen, angry with the world due to the loss of her family, she has gone spelunking and fallen through into another world.  A world where the first beings she encounters are an elf and stump-like creatures trying to kill him.  Story instinctively saves the elf, but things keep getting stranger.

Eirnin, the elf,  seems transfixed by Story.  She matches the description of the one who will be sent to save the land and it's inhabitants.  A land where fairies are evil, and who have blighted the elf clans and sealed their fate to become extinct.  A land where mermaids and dryads exist.  A land that Story wants nothing to do with.

Thus begins the saga of War Of The Seasons.  Story forges a partnership with Eirnin.  He will take her to his queen for help to get Story back to the world she came from. Story will do what she can to help the elf clans, even though she doesn't really believe the legends and especially, her designated role as the savior of the land.  Along the way there will be many dangers to overcome and a tentative relationship between human and elf, as each learns the culture and ways of the other.

Janine Spendlove has written an engaging fantasy.  This is the first book in the series, and readers will find themselves anxious to read the next, which has already been published.  The novel's audience is that of the young adult, as Story is seventeen and facing typical teen dilemmas of finding out who she is and forging relationships.  The book is interesting enough, however, that adult readers will also enjoy it.  This book is recommended foe fantasy and young adult readers and is a strong debut novel.

Creature Features by Tim Rowland

Creature Features is a compilation of articles about Tim and Beth Rowland's life on their farm with an assortment of animals.  There are cows along with a clueless bull named Dim Dan.  There are geese which terrorize every creature around them,  The goats are more stable, until one tries to get them to do something against their inclination.  The two large horses are docile, but outshone by the miniature horse who believes himself to be master of all he surveys.  Pigs are friendly in Tim's experience, but difficult to convince of the wisdom of doing what their owner wishes.  The battles in the hen yard and the difficulties of the few roosters are daunting.  Then there are what most people consider pets; the dogs and cats.  Hannah is an English bulldog while Opie is a large bouvier des Flandres herding dog.  Julie is the head cat, a Siamese, while Genna the stray who comes to live on the farm while pregnant (is there such a creature as a stray cay who isn't pregnant?) is biding her time to take over.

If you suspect that a menagerie like this provides plenty of stories a newspaper columnist can use for benefit, you'd be right,  If you suspect that the animals are running the farm, you wouldn't be far wrong,  If you suspect that the resulting book is a hilarious telling of daily life, you would be as pleasantly surprised as I was.

Be careful; this book can be hazardous to your health, if the standard for healthy individuals doesn't include someone cackling manically as they quietly read.  Readers who enjoy stories of rural life and man's attempt to be lord of his estate will be pleasantly surprised to meet Tim Rowland.  The articles are short and easy to pick up for a few minutes between tasks, but different enough from each other that sitting down and gulping the entire book in one sitting is definitely possible.  This book is recommended for animal lovers as well as those who love humor.

In Sunlight And Shadow by Mark Helprin

Harry Copeland, a war hero, has arrived back in New York City, his time as a paratrooper in Europe during World War II over.  While much is familiar, there are lots of changes and issues to resolve.  He meets Catherine Hale and is instantly enthralled.  However, it turns out that Catherine is an heiress; the only child of an old and extremely wealthy family.  Then there is the fact that Harry is Jewish, which makes him an anomaly in monied circles.  Finally, there is the fact that Catherine is already engaged to another man.

Then there is the matter of Harry's family business,  Copeland Fine Leather is known worldwide for their quality goods, and the business thrived under Harry's father. Now that Harry is in charge, problems have arisen.  The business is targeted by the Mafia and the protection money they extract each week is draining the business dry and putting its survival at risk,

These two issues form the backbone of the novel.  Mark Helprin fans will be delighted to see him return to the locale of his A Winter's Tale, his wildly popular novel of 1983.  The same lyrical prose and compelling story lines carry this novel.  The reader is transported to the various locales Harry's story unwinds in; Broadway, the New York manufacturing districts, Long Island mansions, Central Park and war-torn England and Europe.  Helprin does not shy away from the big questions of what makes a life worthwhile, the role of love, or the meaning of the law if it does not protect those who need it.  This book is recommended for all readers.

Exciting News For Fantasy Fans; 2014 Author Calendar!

I've just heard about an exciting project going on that fantasy fans can help with!  Lauren Zurchin, a marvelous photographer and fantasy bibliophile, has decided to create a fantasy calendar for 2014.  Each month will have a photograph of an amazing fantasy author, dressed in a costume symbolic of all things fantasy.  Here is the lineup of authors:

Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles; The Curse Workers Series)

Gail Carriger (Soulless; The Parasol Protectorate)

Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments; The Infernal Devices)

Lauren Kate (Fallen)

Gregory Maguire (Wicked; The Oz Chronicles)

The Merry Sisters of Fate- a trio of authors consisting of: Tessa Gratton (Blood Magic; The Blood Keeper), Maggie Stiefvater (Shiver; The Scorpio Races; The Raven Boys), and Brenna Yovanoff (The Replacement; Paper Valentine)

Brandon Mull (Fablehaven; Beyonders)

Lauren Oliver (Delirium; Before I Fall)

Christopher Paolini (The Inheritance Cycle)

Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind)

Brandon Sanderson (Wheel of Time; Mistborn)

Tad Williams (Otherland; Memory, Sorrow and Thorn)

Here's how you can help make this exciting project a reality.  Lauren needs some help geting started.  She has created a Kickstarter where you can donate to help with the funding.  Donators will get some amazing prizes; signed calendars, signed prints, bookmarks, computer wallpaper, chats; all kind of marvelous things.  In order to see the various prizes and to donate if you've so moved, go to the Kickstarter page .  Booksies has made a contribution and can't wait until the calendars are ready!

Heart Of Ice by P.J. Parrish

Louis Kincaid is at a crossroads in his life.  He has been making a living as a private investigator in Florida, but that's not where his heart is.  His heart is in Michigan.  Michigan, where he has just discovered that he has a daughter, Lily,  whose life he wants to be involved in.  Michigan, where his former girlfriend lives as do his foster parents.  But he can't be a policeman in Michigan due to being blackballed in a case that went south.  He might be able to become a policeman again in Florida.

But, for now, Kincaid is getting to know his daughter.  He has brought her to one of the scenes of his childhood, Mackinac Island, for a short vacation on which they can become acquainted.  Kincaid turns his back for a second, and his daughter slips away and enters a deserted lodge.  Before he can get to her, he hears her fall.   Luckily, she isn't badly injured, but that doesn't mean all is well.  Lily has fallen into a basement and landed on a heap of bones.

The sheriff on Mackinac isn't used to handling crimes like cold case investigations.  Cold cases are Louis' specialty, and the sheriff asks for his help.  The bones are a young girl's.  Further investigation determines that they are probably twenty years old.  The two men research all the missing girl cases from that time, and one stands out.  Julie Chapman was the daughter of a rich man, and disappeared on New Year's Eve twenty years ago.  Is this Julie, and if so, can Sheriff Flowers and Kincaid discover what happened to her?

This is the latest in the Louis Kincaid mystery series by P.J. Parrish, two sisters who have banded together to collaborate.  Fans of the mystery genre will welcome another novel in the series, and the chance to explore more of Louis Kincaid's personality and history.  The mystery has a satisfying resolution after many twists and turns.  This book is recommended for mystery lovers.

The Sound Of Breaking Glass by Deborah Crombie

In this fifteenth novel about London detectives Gemma and Duncan Kincaid, the couple's lives have changed.  They are foster parents now to three year old Charlotte and Duncan has taken leave from work to stay at home with her.  Gemma has gotten a promotion and is eager to show her expertise in her first assigned case.

Someone is killing barristers.  Two men have been found killed, each bound naked and strangled.  There seems to be little that connects the men.  Victor Arnott was an older man, sixtyish, powerful and at the top of his career.  He made a habit of picking up women in bars and taking them to a seedy hotel nearby.  Shaun Francis was a young barrister just starting out and feeling his way in his profession.  There seems to be no connection between the two men except that no one seemed to like them much, and they both lived in the same part of town, near the Crystal Palace of historical importance.

As Gemma delves into their lives, connections start to appear.  Both seemed to have been involved with a young guitarist who is about to make a breakthrough in his career.  Andy also comes from the neighborhood and has connections with both men.  Could he be involved?  Gemma's new detective sergeant, Melody Talbot, hopes that this is not so, as she has felt an instant connection with Andy.  Andy's manager is a man both Gemma and Duncan know.  Should Gemma continue to work the case when she and her team have personal connections to the participants?  If she does, can they solve the case before more men are killed?

Fans of Deborah Crumbie's Kincaid series will welcome this new chapter in the series.  Crumbie mixes the details of a police investigation with just enough information about the personal lives of the police investigating it to draw the reader in and make them feel as if they are revisiting old friends.  The story is satisfactorily complex and the personal relationships move the plot along as the line between work and home responsibilities is finely drawn.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

The Mongoliad, Book Two by Neal Stephenson and others

In this second book of the trilogy, those banded together against the Mongols continue to make plans to overthrow the invaders by assassinating the Khan, Ogedei.  The main group in those banded together against the Khan are the Shield-Brethren who have vowed their mission to defeat the Khan even at the cost of their lives.

As before, there are multiple threads that move the novel along.  Some of the Brethren have been taken hostage and are forced to do battle for entertainment in the Khan's Circus of Swords.  Between fights, they recruit others who have also been forced into this slavery as gladiators for the pleasure of their captors.  Father Rodrigo has received a vision and has made his way to Rome to deliver the message he believes he has been entrusted with.  He arrives as the current Pope has died, and becomes mired in the struggle between the various Cardinal enclaves as they fight to have their own candidate declared the next Pope.  Lian, the beautiful Chinese slave who is teaching Gansukh the ways of the Khan's court, has determined to try to escape.  Gansukh is torn between his mission to help the Khan and his love of Lian.

As the story advances, some characters die  and others join the group.  The reader needs to be vigilant to keep all the characters in order.  Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey, E.D. de Birmingham and Cooper Moo have created an intricate fantasy that leaves the reader eager to continue the story in Book Three.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.

The Dinner by Herman Koch

Two Dutch couples meet for dinner.  Serge and Paul are brothers; their wives Babette and Claire sisters-in-law.  But these are not close brothers.  These are brothers for whom sibling rivalry has defined their lives, and Serge is definitely the winner.  Serge is in the race to become the next Prime Minister and is expected to win, while Paul has been unemployed for nine years.  Everything about Serge sets Paul's teeth on edge.

The two couples each have a fifteen year old son who are cousins and close friends.  Serge and Babette also have a daughter and an adopted child from another country.  The purpose of the dinner is to discuss the sons.  They have committed an act that has the potential to ruin not only their own lives, but those of the parents.  How far will these four adults go to shield their sons from the consequences of their actions?

Herman Koch has written a compelling suspense novel.  The reader will not soon forget the narrator, Paul.  As the story begins he seems like the guy next door, although a bit supercilious about his brother and quicker than most to take offense.  As the book progresses, the secrets in each family are slowly revealed, pulling each family unwittingly down a path from which they cannot return.  This book is recommended for suspense readers and those interested in familial relationships.

Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie

On February 14, 1989, Salman Rushdie, one of the era's preeminent novelists, awoke to find that he had been sentenced to death.  Not by a court of law after a long trial of evidence for some heinous crime.  Not by a doctor who after exhaustive tests had determined that he had a fatal disease.  No.  Rushdie had been put under a fatwa by radical Islamic extremists who objected to his latest novel, The Satanic Verses.  Most had not read it, but decided that it was blasphemous and that he must die for his ideas.  For the next thirteen years, Rushdie was a marked man who had to live under the strictest security imaginable.

Joseph Anton is Rushdie's memoir of this time in his life.  Joseph Anton was the pseudonym he chose, Joseph for Joseph Conrad and Anton for Anton Chekhov.  For thirteen years, this was his name as he lived undercover.  He was moved from location to location, rarely having the luxury of being in the same place for more than a few months.  Airlines refused to fly him and countries refused to let him enter due to the security issues.  He had four policeman who lived with him for those years.  Imagine how this works.  You are trying to live a family life but there are four strangers always there.  Strangers who decide what you will be allowed to do.  You can't go to your child's school functions, and there are whole months that you can't even see your child.  You can't decide to walk down to the corner store or go see friends.  You can't even go outside to check your mail. 

During this time, life did go on after a fashion.  Friends came and went.  Children were born and they grew, knowing only the reality of a restricted life and the constant fear that their parent would not be there tomorrow.  Marriages were made and broken; a constant wonder about whether love would have lasted without the artificial restraints it was lived under.  Governments showed courage at times, but often only political expediency, and the constant recalculation of whether standing up to the terrorists was a smart political move.

Salman Rushdie has long been one of my favorite authors so I knew I would like this book.  The writing is superb as he takes the reader through the long years of disenfranchisement and constraints.  The issue about whether freedom of ideas and speech is indeed an issue we are willing to protect is paramount.  Does one stand up for that right knowing that death may be the result, or cave in to those who would take it from you?  While Salman survived, there were those who didn't; translators and editors who were targeted and killed, rioters who lost their lives.  Can a society give in to the fear that a dedicated group of extremists is willing to die to defeat?  All these are important questions, and Rushdie's book gives the reader the ability to frame the discussion and make a decision. 

Friendfluence by Carlin Flora

In Friendfluence, author Carlin Flora does an exhaustive survey of the literature and research surrounding friendship.  She discusses the desire for friends that we all are born with, and how our friends allow us to develop our personalities fully, providing support for our hopes and desires.  She goes back to the roots of friendship, talking about the research on how children find and make friends as small children, and how their success or failure impacts their later life and even their career and marriage successes.  She then moves on to the teen years, when friends are the most important influence in an individual's life, as they move to create themselves as individuals outside of their nuclear family structure.

There are many types of friends and friendships.  The work friendship is different from that of two people who share a common interest.  There are friends who have influence for good in our lives, and there are friends who impact us in a negative way.  Flora talks about how to disengage from a negative friendship, which is a skill set many of us are not familiar with.  She also discusses the difference in male-male friendships, as opposed to male-female friendships, and how those differ from love relationships. 

In an interesting chapter, the author discusses the way that virtual friendships are dominant in many people's lives, and how these friendships can fill voids when no one in the everyday routine meets the specific needs of an individual.  The pitfalls of this type of friendship is also covered, along with the research on whether the new paradigm of online time changes the core relationships an individual might have.

While exhaustive, the book does not read like a textbook.  Rather, the author has written in an engaging style, and includes many examples that illustrate points in a manner that is familiar to the reader.  The reader will finish the book both validated in their own friendships and with ideas how to extend and expand their friendship circle.  This book is recommended for many types of readers; parents struggling to help their children establish friendships, those interested in the role friendship plays in our lives, and those with friendship issues they need to resolve.

Rally 'Round The Corpse by Hy Conrad

Amy has started a new travel agency, and has had a wonderful idea.  Instead of the traditional European tour, she has contracted with a mystery writer to offer a tour based around solving a mystery.  Not sure if it would be popular, she was pleased to see the tour sell out. 

As the tour progresses, Amy starts to see issues.  Shepherding twenty-four strangers from place to place is more difficult than she thought, with conflicting personalities and lots of demands.  Amy gets a call from her mother back home who shares the news that the writer of the mystery has been murdered; not a auspicious start.  It also becomes apparent as the days go by that instead of creating a new mystery the writer appropriated the details of an unsolved murder he had heard about.  Even worse, there are members on the mystery tour who were involved in that unsolved murder.

Still, the tour ends in Rome on time, and the winners are chosen.  Everyone seems to have had a grand time until one of the participants is killed at the celebration dinner.  Who could have done this and what was their motive?  Was it dislike generated during the tour or did it hark back to the original murder?  Can Amy and the mystery tour participants solve the murder before the Italian police can?

Hy Conrad was the writer and producer of Monk, the TV show built around the quirks of an intelligent detective unsuited for everyday life by his obsessions.  Fans of the show will love the book as it has much of the same charm.  Those unfamiliar will also enjoy the book as it is offbeat enough to be interesting but the pacing and plot are professionally done.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

Stone Maidens by Lloyd Devereux Richards

Young girls are disappearing in the Midwest.  When found weeks or months later, their bodies show that their killer has removed all their internal organs and left them hollowed out.  Except for one thing.  The killer has inserted a carved stone figurine in their throats.

FBI Special Agent Christine Prusik is heading up the investigation into these serial murders.  A forensic anthropologist, her ability to make the most minute evidence speak has propelled her to the forefront in the agency.  But this case, her first as a lead investigator, has her confused and uneasy.  The method of the killings seems to mimic that of native New Guineans; a remote tribe that practiced cannibalism.  This tribe was the focus of Prusik's doctoral dissertation years ago, and she barely escaped with her life.  How can murders in Indiana mimic cases in New Guinea, which are known only to a few people?

The case progresses, and a suspect is identified.  His actions seem to shout guilt, yet Christine is unsure that he is the correct suspect.  The forensic evidence doesn't support the circumstantial evidence that has led to his arrest.  Has the Bureau made a mistake, or has Christine's past clouded her vision?  Can she unravel the clues to explain the mystery before another girl goes missing?

Lloyd Devereux Richards has written a fascinating debut thriller.  His background as a law clerk in the Indiana Court of Appeals, is clearly demonstrated by the inside knowledge of murder cases and the investigative process found in the novel.  The question of genetic inevitability is raised and left to the reader to decide.  The pace is fast enough to be compelling, and the reader will turn the last page with a racing pulse.

Life Among Giants by Bill Roorbach

Lizard Hochmeyer is a giant.  Not literally, but he is 6'8" tall and the star quarterback of his high school football team.  He is taller than those around him.  But Lizard also has a giant heart.  His concern for others, especially his family, takes him on a tailspin that starts his senior year and is finally resolved decades later.

Lizard's parents are mysteries to him, as parents mostly are to their children.  His mother comes from money but in the Midwest.  She marries Lizard's dad who she sees as glamorous, since he comes from the East.  Unfortunately, he is a charismatic guy who cuts corners and makes his way through life more on charm than skill.  Their marriage is rocky, two disparate individuals who share nothing in common but the kids and an undying lust for each other. 

As are his parents, Lizard can't figure out his sister, Kate.  She is gorgeous, bright and full of secrets.  As the book starts, she has gone to Yale.  Then there are the neighbors.  Not your ordinary country club couple, although there are plenty of those folks in town.  No, the neighbors in this case are one of the world's power couples.  Dabney is a major rock star, one whose every action is followed by the press.  His wife is Sylphide, a ballerina considered to be the world's best talent.  Their house is shrouded in more mysteries.  Ordinarily the two families' paths would never cross, but Dabney and Sylphide have a son, Linsay, who needs constant care, and they hire Kate to be one of his main caretakers.  Soon Kate is full of new secrets she learns at the house of Dabney and Sylphide.

Tragedy strikes.  Lizard's dad is arrested, part of a major financial scandal.  He agrees to turn state's evidence.  The family gathers for a final luncheon before he enters protective custody, and in front of Lizard and Kate, the parents are gunned down. 

Years pass.  Lizard becomes the star quarterback at Princeton and later has a mediocre career in the NFL.  He can't move past that senior year.  He and Kate are consumed with the desire to discover what went on and who killed their parents.  Over the years, Lizard has met and become entangled with Sylphide, and he tries to push through the concealments and secrets there to determine if she is involved in his parent's death, as Kate believes.  He can't move into a love of his own as Sylphide comes and goes in his live, picking him up occasionally for a few weeks, then jetting off to do whatever she wants to do.

Bill Roorbach has written a fascinating novel, full of intrigue and vividly drawn characters.  Readers will retain memories of Lizard long after the last page is turned.  The book deftly draws the line between the falseness and damage of secrets held, sometimes for decades, and the clarity found when the truth is known.  This book is recommended for readers of family conflict and any reader looking for a wonderful novel to get lost in.

The Big Exit by David Carnoy

Richie Forman is slowly putting his life back together.  He spent years in prison after being convicted of vehicular manslaughter.  In a messy case that made the headlines, Richie's car hit another on his way home from his bachelor party and killed the other driver.  Richie acknowledges he had been drinking, but doesn't remember driving.  Was he the driver as the evidence says, or did his best friend, Mark McGregor,  swap places with him after the wreck when he saw that Richie was passed out?  The possible betrayal goes even deeper when Richie finds out that Mark used the time of Richie's sentence to woo and marry Richie's ex-fiance, Beth.

Whatever happened is now in the past, Richie thinks.  He is out, making a living with his singing at night, and starting a new job at a law firm set up to exonerate those falsely convicted.  His life is starting to come together again.  All that changes when Mark is found hacked to death in his garage.  Beth came home and found him.  Is she the main suspect or is Richie the obvious candidate with his bitterness about Mark's actions? 

The evidence linking Richie to the murder starts to pile up.  One of the main detectives in his first case, Hank Madden, seems convinced that Richie is the culprit.  Beth has hired a lawyer, and it turns out to be the prosecutor who tried and convicted Forman.  Is history repeating itself?

David Carnoy has written a fresh, interesting mystery.  The characters are engaging, and the book's pace is such that the reader is drawn along.  The plot is intricate, and the police procedures are satisfactorily researched rather than being unrealistic as is often the case with mysteries.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  They will turn the last page satisfied and ready for another Carnoy novel.

Blood Innocents by Thomas H. Cook

Detective John Reardon can't believe this is the case he's been assigned.  Two fallow deer have been killed in the Central Park Zoo, and since they were donated by one of the wealthiest, most influential men in the city, it's a top priority case.  Although he doesn't agree, Reardon treats the case with the same doggedness and integrity he has given all his cases over his career.

The scene is similar to a butcher house.  One deer has been hacked to death by fifty-seven blows with something such as a hachet or axe.  The other deer was killed by one blow.  There is a two written in blood at the scene.  Why the savagery of one death and the relative ease of the other?  Was this targeted at the deer themselves or at the wealthy donor?  Who would be willing to kill with such a savage nature?

The stakes are soon raised.  A day later, two career women, roommates, are killed.  Their deaths seem to mimic that of the deer.  One woman is killed with one blow while her friend is hacked to death with fifty-seven blows.  This time the word Dos is written in blood.

Surely the two cases must be related.  As Reardon follows the trail of clues, the political pressure mounts.  The case must be solved quickly, and sure enough, soon a suspect is arrested.  There is evidence against him, and everyone is quick to congratulate themselves on a case solved.  But Reardon doesn't believe the suspect is guilty.  His investigation is leading to a different suspect, but can he fight the administration that is desperate to close the case?

This is Thomas H. Cook's first novel.  Mystery fans know him as one of the masters of the genre, and the features that make him a first-rate author are easily found in this early effort.  The plot twists and turns, and there are psychological issues that must be resolved.  This is a very satisfactory start to a stellar career.  This book is recommended for readers who enjoy mysteries and suspense.

French Illusions by Linda Kovic-Skow

When Linda Kovic-Skow was turned down for a job as a flight attendant on an international airline due to not speaking another language, she came up with a plan.  She would move to France by advertising her services as an au pair, and learn French by immersion.  She put the plan into action and quickly found a job.  There was one catch; the family wanted an au pair already fluent in French.

Desperate to get to France, Linda let the family believe she met their criteria.  Thus, her first experience meeting the family was a confession that she had come to France under false pretenses.  The family was not happy, but agreed to let her stay.  It was a wealthy family, living in a large castle-like home.  There was a young girl and a boy, and the mother delivered a baby girl shortly after Linda started with them.

Things did not go as well as she had hoped.  While Linda was willing to do whatever was needed, the mother in the family quickly stepped over the line.  She started assigning Linda tasks that were not in the au pair job description, and often had her working at household tasks for up to twelve hours a day.  While she got along well with the son, the daughter was haughty and refused to follow Linda's directions.

Things were not all bleak.  Linda went several times a week to a nearby town where she started college classes as another way to learn French.  She met some fellow students, and then Adam, who was a gorgeous man who also seemed interested in her.  These weekly classes quickly became her escape from drudgery.

Things went from bad to worse with the mother starting to make demands on Linda's limited free time and making comments about her sexual nature.  When things got to the absolute limit, Linda knew she had to make a change.  Could she change her relationship with her family or would she have to find another way to extend her journey abroad?

Kovic-Skow has written an entertaining memoir of her time in France.  It is full of her adventurous nature and the pitfalls that a young person alone in a foreign country can encounter.  This book is recommended for readers who enjoy travel writing and those who like memoirs.

As It Is On Earth by Peter M. Wheelwright

Peter Wheelwright has written a wonderful debut novel.  As It Is On Earth follows the stories of a New England family with roots going back to colonial times, and even further through some Native American blood.  Taylor Thatcher is the protagonist and has lost his way.  He is teaching but feeling out of touch; he has lost his love due to his inability to share his feelings, and he is worried about his brother Bingham. 

While Taylor lives in the theoretical world, Bin, as he is known, is his opposite.  He is a prosaic scientist, interested in the relics of the natural world that tell us of our place here on Earth.  Bin and Taylor are half-brothers and cousins.  Their father married twin sisters, each of whom died very young after having a son.  The two boys were raised by a nurse/housekeeper named Esther.  Esther was a strong woman who came to New England from her Louisiana upbringing to escape a violent husband.

Now the boys are grown, and Taylor believes that Bin has lost his way.  He thought Bin was set up on the family farm with a strong love with the girl next door, but Bin has unexpectedly left that life.  He shows up in the town where Taylor is teaching and is showing signs of strain, such as sleeping on the fire escape.  Taylor decides that it is his mission to make Bin's life better and he believes that he has the solution.  He has met a woman photographer, Miryam, who he believes can solve all of Bin's issues.

The novel explores the role of family, and how tangled familial relationships can affect all parts of one's life.  Taylor cannot move forward in his own life until he resolves the role that family secrets from his childhood have had on his adult life.  Wheelwright has created a strong character who seems lost but his love for others is the strength that will save him.  This book is recommended for readers interested in books about how families make us who we are as adults, and those interested in how individuals can get unstuck in their lives when they aren't making progress.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

It is 2044, and Earth is not a place most people enjoy living.  Due to over consumption, energy is massively expensive so most do not travel.  Living quarters are cramped with multiple people sharing houses.  Jobs are scarce and most people just live off the grid. 

But there is one thing that makes life worth living.  OASIS.  OASIS is the next generation Internet, and gives everyone the ability to live in a totally virtual world where they can be anywhere as anyone, anytime.  OASIS is the brainchild of James Halliday, and he became so rich that he made sure it would be free for everyone.  When Halliday died, he left his entire mega-fortune to whomever could solve a series of riddles he had concocted around his fascinations; coding, video games and the cultural icons of the 1980s.

Wade Watts is one of the people who lives virtually.  The virtual world is so much better than his reality where he shares a trailer with 18 other people when his aunt lets him in the door.  Socially inept, his only social contacts are in the virtual world, where he attends school and has become known for his gaming knowledge. 

After five years of frantic searching for the answers to Halliday's riddles, the search has died down.  That all changes when Watts figures out the answer to the first riddle and becomes an instant celebrity.  He becomes friends with those who also figure out the riddle, and they all fight against a huge corporation whose only purpose is to solve the riddles, gain Halliday's fortune and take over the OASIS as a moneymaking venture, ending life as it is now.  Can the group of underdog friends use their knowledge and skills to outsmart the minions of the corporation?

Cline has written a wonderful novel.  The pace is fast, the plot satisfactorily twisted.  The real draw, though, is to those interested in technology, fantasy and gaming.  The book will remind all computer nerds (like me!) why they fell in love with technology and remind them of the mindless obsession that can keep one up all night getting to a new level or solving a technical issue.  This book is recommended for anyone interesting in a fast-paced quest with a satisfying resolution.

Dinner At Deadman's by C.J. West

Lorado Martin isn't your average guy.  At over three hundred pounds, he makes a living not at some company job but at doing the things he loves.  Renovating foreclosures for affordable housing for those down on their luck.  Renting apartments to drug addicts trying to reclaim their lives.  And his biggest love, closing out estates and getting to find the treasures left behind.

Lorado is on his latest estate, a Mrs. Newbury.  He had met her six months before since she was the grandmother of one of his workers.  Newb was one of the drug addicts that Martin tried to help; he paid him ten dollars an hour to help with the construction and hauling his activities entailed.  Mrs. Newbury had just died and Martin is there to clear out the house and get it ready for an estate sale.  Staying overnight to continue his work, he becomes violently ill.  So ill that when his wife discovers him the next morning, she has to call an ambulance.  The verdict?  Lorado has been poisoned. 

Lorado is sure someone is trying to kill him.  Too many things are happening.  Like a brick thrown through his windows.  Like his son getting beat up on his way home from school.  Like having thousands of dollars of copper and wiring stolen from his latest big renovation project.  The question is who would want to kill him?  Some addict he had refused to help?  A dealer mad about Lorado's interventions? 

But things get even more complicated as he realises that the real motive may be more sinister.  He starts to realise that Mrs. Newbury's death might not have been natural but that she might have been murdered.  If so, there is a real motive for someone to get Lorado out of the way before he can discover their identity.  Can he find the killer before the killer gets to him?

C.J. West has created an outsize, interesting character in Lorenzo Martin.  Lorenzo is a mass of contradictions.  He spends his days working to house and feed those down on their luck, but resents the entitlements those same people feel they are owned by everyone else.  He works hard and plays hard.  His love of finding treasure among junk will ring a bell with those interested in TV shows such as American Pickers and Storage Wars.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

Istanbul Passage by Joseph Kanon

 
The year is 1945, the place Istanbul.  Leon Bauer is marking time in the city.  He works for an American tobacco company and would have gone home before now but his wife is confined to a clinic; she has been in a coma like state for many years as a result of a bad experience trying to save people on a boat that sank.  Leon is at odds in his life, drifting as he waits to see if Anna will make it back to health, bored and ready for something more exciting.

That chance comes when a friend of his, Tommy, who works at the American consulate, asks Leon to get involved in the periphery of some clandestine activities.  Leon is Tommy's help in getting people across borders at times, an exciting job that enlivens his boring existence.  Everything changes one night when Tommy is killed as he and Leon bring in another exile.  This man is someone that everyone is desperate to get.  The Americans want him for his knowledge of the Germans, as do the Russians.  The Turkish embassy wants him to sell him to the highest bidder.

Leon manages to get Alexei into hiding and then, as he tries to plan an escape, finds out why Alexei is so important to so many.  He was a Nazi actively involved in the Jewish massacres; now there are many who are ready to get revenge.  Leon wonders what is the ethical way to choose when the only options are bad choices?  Should he try to get Alexei out of Istanbul, knowing that he is saving an evil man?  Should he do nothing and allow Alexei to be captured, knowing that he has basically agreed to Alexei's murder?

Adding to Leon's confusion is a new relationship.  Kay is the wife of another embassy employee, a man Leon has worked with over the years and who is trying to recruit him to fill Tommy's position.  When Kay comes to town by herself, she and Leon fall into a relationship, full of sexual tension and the knowledge of betrayal of bonds.

Joseph Kanon has written a fast-paced thriller heavy with the mystique of Istanbul, the cross-currents of conflicting loyalties and actions that have far-reaching consequences.  Nothing is as it seems on the surface; there are hidden motives that remain hidden until the last minute.  The plot twists and turns, showing all sides of Leon's actions and the compulsion that moves him forward to a startling climax.  This book is recommended for lovers of historical fiction and the spy genre.

Nevada's Golden Age Of Gambling by Al W. Moe

Al W. Moe has written an interesting well-researched reference book about the start of gambling in Nevada, and the golden years of 1931-1981.  Two factors created Nevada as a gambling haven.  The first was the passage in 1931 of a state law authorizing gambling as a legal activity when done in a club licensed by the state.  The other factor was the building of the Hoover Dam nearby, with hundreds of men stuck in the desert with nothing much to do with their pay.  The clubs grew up to support them and then went nationwide with their advertising and customer draw.

Moe talks about the Mafia and underworld figures that started many of the most famous clubs.  He discusses Bugsy Siegel and other figures and documents which clubs they owned for how long.  He also devotes a chapter to Howard Hughes, who lived in Las Vegas his last years as a recluse.  Although he owned casinos, he wasn't involved enough to make sure they were profitable.

Most of the clubs and casinos changed hands many times over the years.  There was a core group of investors who owned them, but their interest in any one club was often short-lived and they would move on to another club.  Moe painstakingly researches and draws the trail of ownership of the various establishments. 

Hollywood and the entertainment world was always heavily involved, as the casino owners knew that having high calibre talent would draw customers.  Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack were fixtures, as was Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.  Many of the country's best African-American entertainment celebrities did stints in Nevada.  Along with the celebrities came famous gamblers such as Jimmy The Greek and others.

While Las Vegas is the town most people associate with gambling, Moe documents the other towns that allowed and thrived on gambling.  Lake Tahoe and Reno were two of the larger cities.  But there were many smaller towns also such as Elko, Winnrmucca, Sparks and Carson City.

This book is recommended for readers interested in the history of the gambling industry in Nevada.  Moe spent many years in the industry himself and his love for this area of the country is clear to the reader. 

Phantom by Jo Nesbo

After his last case, the pursuit of the serial killer The Snowman, Harry Hole's life has changed.  He left the police force in Oslo and moved to Hong Kong to pursue a new life and try to escape the demons that pursue his dreams.  But, plans often don't work out as one plans, and Harry's plans are not working out either. 

Harry is drawn back to Oslo when news arrives that Oleg, the closest he will ever have to a son, has been arrested for murder.  The victim?  Oleg's best friend and unfortunately, his partner in crime and addiction, Gusto.  For both young men had become addicted to violin, the synthetic heroin that has overtaken the Oslo drug scene.  They soon turn to selling the drug to support their habits, and now Gusto is dead and Oleg fits the mold as the killer.  But Harry is not able to reconcile the young boy he loved and helped raise with a cold-blooded killer and drug addict. 

Harry is not a policeman anymore, but that hardly seems to matter.  His old friends on the force and in various jobs throughout the city still are willing to help him.  Soon, Harry has peeled away the skin of the setup Oleg has been fitted with, and is deep in the search for the men who have brought violin to Oslo, and those in the government and perhaps the police that have joined with them rather than stopping them.

Fans of the Nesbo series will not be disappointed, and those who are reading the series for the first time will be enthralled.  Harry is definitely not the average policeman, but there is no one better at determining the truth than this deeply flawed man.  The plot becomes increasingly tense as the book progresses, and the reader will find themselves putting the book down periodically just to take a break from the tension.  This book is recommended for mystery lovers who will be thrilled to read of another Harry Hole investigation.

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

The year is 1972, and Serena Frome has just graduated from Cambridge.  She hasn't exactly covered herself in academic glory and is unsure what to do with her life.  When she is recruited by M15, based on the recommendation of her tutor and lover, Tony, who worked for the service for many years she accepts.

Much to her dismay, women's liberation has not made its way through the doors of M15.  Women officers are delegated to secretarial work and expected to be grateful for the task.  After months of this, Serena is excited to be given a chance to do something worthwhile, something that will make a difference.  The service is starting a new operation; one that will support authors who seem to be fighting the liberal bent.  They will be given enough funds to allow them to concentrate on their writing without having to work at menial jobs.  In return, without the author realising it, the government's views will be out there serving as a counterpoint to the established liberal bent.   Serena, known as a reader, is given the task of signing up Tom Haley, an up and coming author.

Serena goes to meet Tom, posing as the employee of a foundation.  The foundation exists, it just doesn't advertise that its money comes from the government.  Tom is sceptical, but soon realises he can't pass up this marvelous opportunity.  Neither can he pass up Serena.  Soon they are madly in love, spending every weekend together.

The book focuses on the dilemma Serena faces.  She never expected to fall in love with Tom.  If she comes clean about how they came to meet, he will undoubtedly leave her for her deceit.  Of course, she would also lose her job.  But can she really continue to fool Tom about her part in his career?  Will he decide that he has no talent but that of echoing the sentiments the government finds most pleasing, or if so, can he ever forgive Serena?

McEwan has written an interesting story, full of plots and counterplots, ethical dilemmas and the ways we fool ourselves to get what we want.  There are layers upon layers of intricate plans and secrets, betrayals and loyalties which are tested.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction and for those interested in how love can work and if it can ever survive betrayal.

The Malice Of Fortune by Michael Ennis

The year is 1503 and the place, Italy.  The country is caught up in a maze of intrigue as Popes and Princes and men of influence all maneuver to control the different principalities that make up the country.  Under the political maze, another fear exists.  Women are being killed and dismembered, their bodies used to play a game of influence by creating fear and wonder.

Many of the players' names are still known today.  Pope Alexander VI, who before he became pope was Rodrigo Borgia of the influential Borgia family.  Leonardo Da Vinci, who in addition to his painting, roamed the halls of influence, valued because of his architectural and scientific knowledge.  Niccolo Machiavelli, most famous now for his book, The Prince, which details the routes of power and the options for gaining it while clearly dissecting human behavior.  Duke Valentino (Cesare Borgia), who was The Prince Machiavelli wrote of.   He is the bastard son of Pope Alexander and spends his life trying to gain his approval.

As the book opens, Valentino is using his armies to try to unite Italy.  Machiavelli is serving as an emissary for Florence and follows Valentino to report his actions back to the city leaders.  He meets Damiata, the most famous courtesan of the time.  She has had relationships with Valentino and his brother, by whom she had a son.  The Pope, who mourns his son's death and suspects, Damaita of being involved in the plot, kidnaps her son and tells her that he will keep him until she learns the truth of the plot that resulted in his son's death.  Suspecting that Valentino is involved, she also ends up in the town where he has his headquarters.  She meets Machiavelli and they join forces as they attempt to unravel Valentino's intentions, find his brother Juan's murderer and discover who is killing prostitutes and witches in such a grisly fashion.

This is a wonderful book.  Lush language, court intrigue, the first serial killer, deceptions and far-reaching plans, a political observer who may be the first forensic profiler, all pull the reader in and entwine them in the plot and language. The events call on enough historical fact to make the plot seem entirely believable and the reader is fascinated by the personalities and their complex interactions.  This book is recommended for lovers of historical fiction as well as for mystery fans and anyone interested in a compelling read.

A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers by Xiaolu Guo

Zhung is a young Chinese girl who is sent to London for a year to learn English by her parents, factory owners, so that she can fit more easily into the new Chinese economy.  She arrives with very little English, tossed into the ocean of new faces, words, meals, customs and cultures.  Her most useful possession is her Chinese-English dictionary, which she uses incessantly as she tries to learn enough to maneuver through this foreign environment.

Her days are taken by attendance at the English language school; her nights are lonely since she knows no one and has no idea where she might go.  Finally, she discovers the cinema and starts going there at night.  She meets a man there and moves in with him within a week or two of their meeting date.  She lives with him for the next year, experiencing England through his eyes and how he perceives the world to work. 

Zhuang, or 'Z' as she comes to be known for convenience, finds the gap between how she has experienced the world and how her lover does to be extremely wide and difficult to bridge.  To her, moving in with her lover means they are exclusive and that he will satisfy every need she has.  To him, while he professes to love her, his need is for some space and time for him to pursue his relationships with his friends and even former lovers.  Z has a difficult time understanding this.  Their time together is marked by her attempts to get her lover to commit to only her, and to his withdrawal and anger at her attempts to restrict his life.  Throughout the time, she learns more and more about the English language, but the English outlook on life continues to elude her.

Xiao has created an interesting novel.  Each segment is started with a word from the dictionary, the definition of that word in a formal sense, and then how Z experiences what that concept means in this foreign environment.  The reader is allowed to watch her grow and learn and to see how her culture differs from the one she finds herself in.  This book is recommended for readers of modern fiction and for those interested in how people relate to each other.

Carry The One by Carol Anshaw

Our lives all contain momentous minutes.  Minutes when our world changes, sometimes joyfully, sometimes tragically.  Moments when a decision made echoes down the years following.  Carry The One is about such a minute.

The book follows the lives of three siblings, Carmen, Alice and Nick.  Their momentous moment happens after Carmen's wedding to Matt.  After the reception, everyone piles into a car, too high to be driving but full of bravo and a belief in their invincibility.  As the careen through the night, suddenly there is a young girl running across the road.  They hit her and she dies at the scene. 

Over the years following, the siblings continue to live their lives.  They fall in an out of relationships, start and end careers, try to find meaning in their lives.  Regardless, that one moment has ensured that they will always be different, that they will always 'carry the one'.

Anshaw has created a stunning novel.  The story is told in brief vignettes, flashes of their lives that carry the book forward through the decades.  The story is tightly plotted but the flash of each scene hides the complexity of the skill it has taken to create this work.  I heard a lot of buzz about this book, and it is definitely well deserved.  Carry The One will be on many Best of 2012 lists.  This book is recommended for readers interested in how life works, how our decisions influence what happens afterwards.  It is an excellent book by an excellent author.

Edge Of Black by J.T. Ellison

It's happened again, this time in Washington, D.C.  Someone has released a deadly airborne toxin in the metro system as commuters are headed to work.  Those expose emerge gasping for breath, and three people have already died from the exposure.  What is this poison and more importantly, who is responsible?

Dr. Samantha Owens, Sam for short, has come to D.C. from Nashville to start over her life.  Sam, a forensic examiner, had a wonderful family and a satisfactory career with close police ties in Nashville.  The flood changed all that.  Her husband and two year old twins were lost in the flood, and Sam's life was lost along with them.  She has a new job outside the morgue, teaching her craft to students, a new home and a new love.  Xander is a former army man who now lives and works off the grid in the national forests.  He has come back from war a changed man also, and he and Sam are trying to help each other heal.

The first thought of everyone is that the attack is from terrorists.  Sam's good friend, DC Detective Fletcher, is sent to Homeland Security to try to discover the culprits.  As the day progresses, it starts to appear that this may not be foreign, but rather homegrown terrorists.  The three victims are a U.S. Senator, an anthropologist, and a student.  As odd as it seems, it appears that these three may have had a connection.  Is this the work of foreign or American terrorists?  Are the victims random or were they specifically targeted?  Can Owens, Xander and Fletcher discover the truth in time to stop any further releases?

J.T. Ellison has written a fast-paced, compelling mystery.  Fans will recognize Sam Owens from earlier books set in Nashville; this book is the first in a spin off series.  The characters are interesting, the plot satisfactorily intricate, and the reader is drawn into the chase.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

Tributary by Barbara K. Richardson

Claire Martin is an American hero.  She's not a politician or a cowboy or a military leader.  Instead, she is a woman in the frontier days of Utah and Idaho who does whatever it takes to carve out a life for herself.  Born with a birthmark that covers half her face, she never feels accepted in any social situation.

Claire's life starts with her as an orphan; handed from one Mormon family to the next as people needed someone to work for them.  Work is something Claire is familiar with and wherever she goes she gives a full days's work.  She finally finds solace when working for Ada, another strong Mormon woman.  Claire believes she has found a home, but when the son of a local church leader starts making advances to her, she realises that her only option is to leave and start over.

She chooses New Orleans, where she believes her mother came from before she left her as a small child.  The only work she can find is as a laundress in a hospital, a job not many people are ready to take on.  Claire works there, not caring that this is the African-American hospital, and that the patients there are considered not really worth saving.  While there, she becomes attached to a young boy, Tierre, and soon considers him her son.  When Ada's son writes Claire and asks her if she will come and help him start a sheep ranch, she leaves, taking Tierre with her.

Sheep farming is no easier than the other hard jobs Claire has worked at.  With hard work and persistence, she and Stephen and another farm hand make the ranch a going concern.  Things seem to be working out until Stephen gets religion and decides that he and Claire must marry.  Claire is determined to never be owned by any man and it causes another life crisis. 

Barbara Richardson has written a historical novel that details a life that is seldom thought worth mentioning but which created this country.  It is the life of one of the millions of hard-working women and men who carved out a living from persistence and labor; from simply refusing to give up.  Claire is a character readers will long remember; her pluck and fortitude make her the prime example of 'bloom where you are planted.'  This novel is recommended for readers of historical fiction and those interested in how the West was won.

Cold City by F. Paul Wilson

Cold City is the start of a new trilogy about F. Paul Wilson's incredibly successful character, Repairman Jack.  Wilson has written fifteen novels about Jack, and three about his childhood.  This novel picks up on Jack as a young man, out in the world deciding how to live his life.

Jack has cut ties with his past.  He has dropped out of college, become invisible to his former friends and isn't speaking with his family.  He feels at odds with himself and the world, a world where someone's unfeeling act deprived his mother of his life.  Now he has to make his way in the world.  He starts with a deadend job and when that falls through, is desperate enough to take a job that skirts legality.  A friend of a friend is looking for a driver to bring cigarettes from North Carolina to New York, where there is a major profit for counterfeit goods.

The money is good but Jack isn't sure this is what he wants to do.  He is right to be unsure; before he knows it he is mixed up with Muslim terrorists and a child sex slave ring.  In addition, his neighborhood bar is about to go under due to a loan shark with Mafia ties.  When Jack dives into the underworld, he gets a full dose.  Jack negotiates his way, trying to make moral decisions and help those who are deserving. 

Fans of Repairman Jack will welcome this book.  It is interesting to read this prequel and see how Jack's decisions as a young man have made him into the character so widely known.  Wilson is a master at unfolding a plot that makes the implausible seem plausible and bringing the reader into the moral compasses of his character.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.