A Series Of (Un)Fortunate Reviews

The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand

2009-12-17T18:30:00.003-05:00

Ed was at work trying to figure out "what happened," but Andrea already knew what happened. She had made a promise and then not upheld it. God had waited years and years, but he had come back for Tess.

from page 148

I had previously begun the book Goldengrove by Francine Prose; it's about a girl whose sister drowns and how the girl deals with her grief over the sister's death. However, I started it over Thanksgiving and then got distracted that weekend. Meanwhile, Hold Still by Nina LaCour came in for me, and we all know what that one's about and that I read it because the previous post reviews that novel. I then read The Castaways and in the forthcoming review you shall hear what this one's about, but in a nutshell, it is about death and grief, and therefore, I decided to take a vacation from death and grief and in short order returned Goldengrove to the library unfinished and reserved some other titles.

The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand is set on Nantucket Island (just like all her previous novels according to the book jacket). If you really think about it The Castaways has multiple meanings. It refers to the group of friends that the novel focuses on--and it is recounted how they came to refer to themselves as the castaways. It also refers to how the various members of the group become unmoored and awash, drowning and floundering in the aftermath of the devastation that follows in the wake of an unexpected and shocking tragedy.

Nantucket Island is a traditional, idyllic, small town community of good people. This idyll is shattered one windy summer day when Tess and Greg MacAvoy take a boat out to sail to Martha's Vineyard in celebration of their twelfth wedding anniversary. It is a special one that marks the survival of their marriage in the aftermath of a scandal involving Greg and a female teenage student where he teaches music. Instead of celebrating their anniversary, the couple's boat capsizes and the couple drowns that day.

The MacAvoys leave behind seven year old twins, a boy and a girl, and a group of friends, devastated by their loss, to pick up the pieces, to try and make sense out of what's happened. Tess and Greg and the three other couples were a close knit group friends who saw each other through past personal tragedies, who vacationed together, who celebrated holidays together, and who became an extended family on the island together. The narrative revolves between the perspectives of the Chief and Andrea, Tess's beloved cousin and mother figure; Addison and Phoebe Wheeler, and Jeffrey and Delilah Drake. As the tales of the friendships unfold, it becomes clear that the group was bonded not just by what they shared with the group, but also by the devastating secrets kept in this tight knit group. The tragedies of their pasts are revealed in the greater context of the present tragedy unfolding and enveloping them. It is evident that their pasts have shaped their present, and for better or worse the present will also shape the future of their group. The question here is how will the loss of the MacAvoys impact the dynamics of their close knit group--will this tragedy beget a greater tragedy if they allow it to wreck their friendships beyond repair?

Hilderbrand vividlys and viscerally depicts the grief these friends share; it is even more poignant when held in relief against the stories of the friends' vacations and happier times.

This book is available at the Matthews Public Library; you can also request it from Annville Free Library, Lebanon Community Library or Myerstown Community Library. I recommend you read it.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Hold Still by Nina LaCour

2009-12-14T18:49:00.002-05:00

I took a month long break from reading books and since I wasn't reading books, I didn't have anything to write about for the blog. I was planning on getting something up after the new year. However, I read this book recently and am nearing the end of another one (which means another review!).

I turn my flashlight off and all the light that's left comes from the moon and the living room of my house. A gust of wind comes. All the leaves above and below and around me rustle. It's the sound of losing, or of starting over. I can't decide which. I turn my flashlight on. I read.

from page 184

Hold Still is Nina LaCour's debut novel. I believe she's a teacher somewhere, but I could be wrong about that. LaCour's debut is realistic and raw.

Caitlin and Ingrid are best friends. They confide in each other about everything, and they have no secrets from each other. However, it soon becomes apparent that the issues that Ingrid only hinted at were far more serious and far darker than Caitlin ever knew. When Ingrid kills herself, Caitlin is left behind to pick up the pieces in the wake of this tragedy.

This is the story of Caitlin and her struggle through the guilt, the anger, the devastation and isolation, and the numbness of grief. Soon she discovers Ingrid's journal--hidden deliberately?--in her room. As Caitlin reads through the entries that chronicle both Ingrid's last months alive and her most intimate and darkest thoughts Caitlin discovers that perhaps she didn't know Ingrid as well as she thought. Eventually Caitlin realizes that Ingrid hid the worst of her demons from her best friend and wonders what she could have done and how she could have reached out to Ingrid to save her from herself.

This is the journey that Caitlin follows over the course of a year as she mourns the loss of her best friend; Caitlin's immobilizing grief and isolation are realistically and vividly portrayed throughout the novel.

This young adult novel will appeal the most the teenage girls. I recommend this novel. It is available upon request from Annville Free Library and Richland Community Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

2009-10-29T15:50:00.003-04:00

Three years later, Louis had gone away to college and I married Griff. Damn fairies, I thought to myself now. I don't live in a yellow house, I've never been to the ocean, and Louis didn't love me forever. And my Calli, my dear heart, is missing. All that I touch gets damaged or lost.

from page 115

The title of Heather Gudenkauf's debut novel, The Weight of Silence, has both literal and figurative meaning in this spell binding and heart pounding story. The story is straight from every parent's worst nightmare; however, at its heart it is truly about the cost of the silence it takes to keep a secret hidden and the trauma that would silence a little girl for years.

One idyllic summer day, the Clark and Gregory families wake up early to find that their seven year old daughters, Calli Clark and Petra Gregory, are missing. As the sweltering summer day progresses and the search continues, it becomes clear that the two girls, best friends for years, have not merely wandered off into the neighboring woods to explore together. It is not even clear that the girls are together.

The story revolves among several perspectives: Deputy Sheriff Louis; Antonia, Calli's mother; Ben, Calli's brother; Martin, Petra's father; and Callie and Petra. Slowly the events of the day unfold from each character's point of view and we learn what led each girl to be missing from her respective home. We learn also of the shared and separate histories of each character as brutal family secrets are revealed, including the alcoholism and abuse that the Clark children and their mother suffer at the hands of Griff, their father and husband and the tragedy that led to Calli's muteness.

This is a breath taking, page turning, suspenseful novel ripe with beautiful writing that vividly depicts the terror the children experience at the hands of their father in the midst of his alcohol fueled rages. I highly recommend this book.

The Weight of Silence is available upon request from Annville Free Library and Lebanon Community Library.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

2009-10-14T18:24:00.003-04:00

This is the fourth novel by Maggie O'Farrell, but only the third that I've read. Copies of her debut title, After You'd Gone, are available in the county to borrow; her second title, My Lover's Lover, is available upon request from outside the county, which is how I read it. I've read her first two novels and I recommend them. O'Farrell's most recent novel is The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and it is a complex, tragic tale of the dynamics of family, love, trust and betrayal in 1930's Britain.

The novel switches off among three perspectives: Iris's point of view in present time, Esme's point of view that fluidly moves between her recollections of the past and her perception of the present, and Esme's sister Kitty's point of view that offers extremely disjointed recollections filtered through the fog of the Alzheimer's disease from which she suffers. Each perspective has a subtley distinct voice as each character narrates the story of a shared family history, a picture is slowly revealed of how the Lennox sisters' history effects the life and interactions of the granddaughter, Iris. It becomes clear that through familial dysfunction that lead to tragedy has forever shaped and continues to shape this family's path.

Iris has spent her entire life under the impression that her grandmother, Kitty, was an only child. Then she is contacted by Cauldstone, a psychiatric institution that's in the process of shutting down, regarding arrangements for Kitty's sister, Esme, who has been institutionalized for over sixty years and whose very existence has been thoroughly erased from the family. At a loss as to what to do with the great-aunt she never knew she had, Iris cannot ask her father to shed light on this mystery since he is long dead, and her grandmother, Kitty, cannot tell her how Esme came to be instutionalized and exiled from the family because Kitty is deep in the mires of Alzheimer's.

As the story of the two sisters emerges, one wonders: was Esme truly mentally ill or was she institutionalized because she did not fit society's strictly prescribed, oppressive role for a woman in the early twentieth century? What are the effects of a lifetime of institutionalization on an otherwise healthy and sound of mind woman?

This heart wrenching account from both Esme's and Kitty's points of view, of the mental institution, of Esme's treatment there and by her family. A vicious, vindictive betrayal cuts all the more deeply and sharply for the very fact that it was committed by the one person Esme loved and trusted most: her sister. You won't be able to put this book down until the final, devastating page is read and finally all secrets are revealed.

I recommend you read this book; check it out the next time you visit the library--it is available upon request from Annville Free Library, Lebanon Community Library, and Richland Community Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

206 Bones by Kathy Reichs

2009-09-24T17:35:00.003-04:00

206 Bones by Kathy Reichs is the most recent addition to the annals of the adventures and misadventures of Dr. Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist. This is a must read for die-hard fans of the series. From the gripping, frightening, heart pounding opening lines, the tension is thick and the suspense is high.

In this installment the stakes are much higher than in previous Brennan novels. 206 Bones is not just about catching a brutal murderer of elderly women; the integrity and credibility of the Montreal medical examiner's office is also at stake as well as Brennan's own reputation, credibility, career, and eventually her life.

Brennan awakens in pitch black darkness and cold without any memory of how she got there or the past several days. She is unsure of how long she has been unconscious or how much time she has spent in captivity. Instead Brennan focuses on passing the time by working to free herself from her terrifying, dark tomb while reconstructing her memories of the events of the past few weeks in hopes of sussing out her captors.

In the previous weeks Detective Ryan and Dr. Brennan accompany a body to Chicago where Brennan is accused of mishandling the autopsy by an anonymous call made to the powerfully connected next of kin to the elderly female victim. Upon return to Montreal, more elderly female murder victims turn up and before long it is clear that not only is someone targeting Brennan's credibility, but that person is also targeting the reputations of other pathologists' in the office. On top of this issue is the suddenly toxic working atmosphere of the office thanks to an ambitious recent addition to the staff. Ryan and Brennan race to put a murderer behind bars while Brennan races to put together the pieces of the mystery of who is sabotaging work in the office and how it all connects to her current predicament of captivity.

Fans of both mystery thriller/suspense and the Brennan series will eagerly devour this gripping, suspenseful, frightening, high stakes page turner of a novel. It is available at the Matthews Public Library and upon request from Annville Free Library, Myerstown Community Library, Palmyra Public Library, and Richland Community Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Frozen Fire by Tim Bowler

2009-09-16T18:12:00.003-04:00

"I feel apart from everything and a part of everything ... I wish this pain would go," he muttered. "But it's getting worse ... It's like walking with a shadow you can't shake off. And now this new vision. I can't make sense of it. All I know is it's..." He breathed heavily out. "It's something to do with the light. Something not many people can see. But you can see it. You think your biggest mystery's Josh. But it isn't. It's this other thing." from page 78

Frozen Fire by Tim Bowler simmers with crackling, heart pounding suspense right from the start as the story breathlessly sweeps you up and along in its momentum.

The story opens with a frightening phone call from a mysterious and strange boy who wants to die and who knows things about Dusty that only her long disappeared brother Josh would know. For this reason Dusty thinks the boy knows more about her brother's disappearance and fate than the boy admits. The promise of getting to the boy, saving him and finding out what he knows about Josh lures Dusty out into the cold and snowy night. As she tracks the boy to a nearby park, she is confronted and chased by a trio of menacing men--a father and his two sons--who also chase the boy for far more sinister purposes. The men threaten Dusty and everyone she loves in an effort to coerce her into revealing her perceived connection to the boy and to exploit this connection in order to entrap the boy. Though Dusty doesn't even know the strange boy, she protects what little she does know of him and just how they have connected, in order to give herself a chance to track him down to find out what he knows about her brother.

When the boy contacts Dusty again over the phone, it's clear he is not a normal boy, but what or who exactly is he and what does the strange light he speaks of and that Dusty sees as well mean for her, for him and for her small village? Unfortunately, while the author excels in the suspense and thrills department, he does not excel in the department of answering questions for these are never fully resolved by book's end.

Ultimately made an outcast in her town and targeted by the bands of vigilantes bent on bringing the strange boy to justice for crimes he allegedly committed, Dusty is just as determined to shield him from police and angry mob alike. The mysterious turmoil brought about by the boy's presence and very existence steadily and wildly spins out of control as the story whips through one frightening confrontation between the angry mob of vigilantes and Dusty after another until the final frightening, breath taking showdown.

The lack of answered questions as to the boy's name and nature and what his presence means detracts considerably from the ending's impact potential. While the boy and Dusty are both clearly on journeys of their own that parallel and intersect, the story is mainly Dusty's as she seeks answers and healing for herself and her shattered family as she struggles to grasp the greater meaning of the lessons in the boy's predicament. Ultimately, Dusty receives a heartbreaking and harrowing resolution to the questions she had about her brother's disappearance and who he was as a person.

This book is available in the young adult fiction section of the Matthews Public Library and also upon request from Richland Community Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

2009-09-09T19:06:00.006-04:00

First of all, as a person who has always been interested in names and their origins and meanings, I'd just like to say that the name Deliverance Dane is awesome. Truly awesome--and according to the author's note at the end of the book, it belonged to a real person involved in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 in Massachusetts. Deliverance Dane. I love that name.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is the debut novel of Katherine Howe, a doctoral candidate in American and New England Studies. In 1991, Connie, a Harvard graduate student just beginning her doctoral dissertation research in American colonial history and culture, is coerced by her mother into cleaning up her grandmother's ancient house in Marblehead, Massachusetts. When Connie arrives, the house is in near ruins, having stood empty for about twenty years, the yard's herb and vegetable gardens are overgrown and the house lacks a phone and electricity. One evening Connie happens across an old key hidden in a family bible; the key is labelled with ancient parchment as belonging to one Deliverance Dane. Thus begins Connie's search for the identity of this woman; Connie's early research yeilds the name of Deliverance Dane on a 1692 list of excommunicated persons from the Salem church. She knows what this means: Dane was caught up in the tragedy and terror of the Salem Witch Trials of that year. But who was she and why was her name purged from history? Connie, plagued by puzzling, frightening visions, becomes determined to answer these questions. Interwoven with this story are chapters hearkening back to the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries that reveal the very beginnings of Dane's ordeal in the decade preceding the panic that spawned the witch trials, the trials, and Dane's trial's aftermath on the generations of Dane women immediately descended from Deliverance. How does Dane's story connect to Connie's present? Connie utilizes all her skills as a historian to trace the whereabouts of Dane's spellbook as it is passed down the generations mother to daughter.

With a gripping story firmly rooted in research the intriguing, fascinating and heartbreaking history of the Salem Witch Trials is intermingled with several historical, cultural, anthropological and societal theories explaining the panic that gripped such a small town. The page turning suspense carries the reader quickly toward a heartpounding climax in which Connie realizes that both her history and her future are far more intertwined than she ever could have imagined.

This book is available here at the Matthews Public Library and also upon request from the Annville Free Library. I highly recommend that history buffs, family genealogical enthusiasts, or mystery lovers check it out.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Shadow Baby by Alison McGhee

2009-09-05T14:26:00.005-04:00

Let me tell you a girl of eleven is capable of far more than is dreamt of in most universes ... a girl of eleven is more than the sum of her age. Although it is not often stated, she is already living in her twelfth year; she has entered into the future. From pages 4-5

I told him stories are the way you look at the world. That stories are your salvation. Stories are your salvation. From page 228

There may be no one [my mother] loves more than me, but every time she looks at me she sees my sister ... Warring ghosts fight each other inside my mother's heart, and the battles have made her stern and strong. From page 229

I have a lot to say about this book, and I suppose that means it had more of an impact on me than I initially thought. When I was reading one of the last chapters I was thinking about how I was disappointed in this book... mostly because I felt that nothing really "happened" in it. Upon further reflection I've realized that this is not really true. Perhaps the reason I felt like this is because it's a quiet kind of book that sneaks up on you and also because it is largely a book that depicts the very colorful inner life, internal thoughts, and vivid imagination of an eleven year old girl. Shadow Baby by Alison McGhee is a coming of age story; it is very much a story about how Clara winter (spelled with a lower case 'w'--she has profound reasoning behind this quirk) sees others and the world around her. This is also very much a book about a reader and a lover of words.

Clara loves reading; she loves words--one of her favorite words is ingenuous because it's "perfect ... the way the 'g' slides into the 'enuous.'" She is also fascinated by pioneer history, and she hates the dark and the cold and the desolation of the winter season and what it took from her all those years ago, and that is why her last name is spelled with a lower case 'w.' Clara is an unusually precocious, eccentric eleven year old with an extremely vivid imagination, and one winter she decides to befriend an old man in her town named Georg. Clara likes to make up stories and sometimes she forgets what she's made up and what is the truth; at first I thought she was an unreliable narrator. However, Clara has no trouble realizing or remembering what is part of a story she made up and what is fact. The novel is as much about Clara and the year she puts away childish things as it is about her made up stories and how she uses them to fill in the blanks of her history--namely, the absence of her father, grandfather, and twin sister--that her mother refuses to talk about and to cope with these painful absences. In the short months long friendship between Clara and Georg, she learns a lot from the old man; specifically Clara learns how to see the possibility of both beauty and usefulness in the discarded detritus of others' daily lives. She is forever changed by her friendship with the old man.

This quiet kind of beautiful story with its beautiful writing is meant to be read slowly--to be savored and reflected upon as one reads. This wasn't how I read most of the book and in some ways I regret not taking the time to appreciate the story for what it is-- a coming of age story of a young girl and the account of the year that demarcates where her childhood ended and her adulthood began.

This book is available upon request from Lebanon Community Library. I recommend that you check it out the next time you visit.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Session 9

2009-09-03T15:59:00.004-04:00

Session 9 stars Peter Mullan, David Caruso and Josh Lucas, who, let's be honest, is the whole reason I stumbled upon and watched the movie. It's too bad Lucas plays an insensitive jerk, but I guess it's good for his career not to be cast as the romantic lead/hero in every movie he's in. At the end of this movie, I thought "Whoa. Wait a minute. What just happened?" And apparently the catalyst behind what happens in this film is up to much debate and interpretation in the cyberuniverse where the ultimate consensus is that it is in the eye of the viewer as to which interpretation one believes. I will say that while I expected this movie to go in one direction --that is, the supernatural/horror path--it really went in an altogether different direction for me. One bit of advice for viewing this movie: watch closely because there little details that will clue the viewer into what is happening.

Jeff, Mike, Hank, Phil and Gordon make up the hazardous materials clean up crew hired by the city to clean up the Danvers State Mental Hospital building so that the structure can then be converted into city government office space. The crew has just a week to finish the job if they want to collect the $10,000 bonus that's been offered to them. The guys undertake the job in the creepy hospital, and it quickly becomes apparant that stress and tension threaten to endanger both the team and the job. Are the cracks that threaten the team's cohesiveness the result of something more sinister at work that's preying upon the men's psyches and fears? Or are the cracks the result of various outside stressors occurring in the men's outside lives to create a perfect storm of infighting and tensions on the job site? Gordon has tension at home, Hank is a jerk, Phil starts having doubts about Gordon's leadership, Jeff fears the dark, and Mike becomes obsessed with a box of old session tapes that may or may not reveal the dark secret the hospital harbors. There are nine session tapes in all and it is from the ninth tape that the movie takes its title. How does the story related in the session tapes parallel what's happening in the movie's present?

Wicked scary, creepily freaky more than adequately describe this film, a psychological thriller in every sense of the word; you'll be viewing it from the edge of your seat by the end of the movie. After the movie's over, you'll wander if it was something supernatural that lingered in the hospital or was it the residual effects of treating so many mental illnesses for so many years in one building that haunted the team.

I highly recommend you check out this movie the next time you visit the library. It is coming soon to the Matthews Public Library's DVD section.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Fractured by Karin Slaughter

2009-08-24T18:43:00.004-04:00

I have now read every Karin Slaughter book out there and must now wait for the next one. I believe I talked about Slaughter's penchant for the wicked twist in a previous blog entry; whether it's in the opening chapters or at the end, she's got a talent for them. Another thing I like about Slaughter's books is how the mystery of whodunit is revealed and resolved. She makes the resolution believable and organic--though this does not mean it was necessarily predictable by any means and is often quite the opposite. Maybe it's a testament to Slaughter's meticulous development of characters throughout the story that one never feels that the culprit appears suddenly from the mists out in left field.

Fractured opens in an affluent, Atlanta neighborhood. A wealthy teenage girl has been beaten to death and quite possibly raped during the course of her brutal murder. Before the sun sets on this murder, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has taken over the case and agent Will Trent is searching for another girl, who has been kidnapped. Throughout the course of the investigation an extremely unfavorable portrait is painted of a cruelly manipulative girl for whom causing trouble and wrecking lives soon becomes a blood sport. The investigation also introduces Trent to Atlanta homicide detective, Faith Mitchell, his future GBI partner.

While I love the characters of Mitchell and Trent, I can't say as much for Trent's "fiancee," Angie. If that woman jumped off a cliff, never to be seen nor heard from again, I would be very happy.

This is a gripping page turner dripping with suspense as Trent and Mitchell track down leads and clues, putting the pieces of the puzzle together as quickly as possible. But will it be quickly enough to save the girl who's been taken and is surely suffering unspeakable horrors at the hands of her captor?

I highly recommend you read this book. It is available on shelf at Matthews Public Library; it is also available upon request from Annville Free Library, Lebanon Community Library, Myerstown Community Library, Palmyra Public Library, and Richland Community Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

TripTych by Karin Slaughter

2009-08-18T18:54:00.004-04:00

I'm a big Karin Slaughter fan. After reading Undone and the last two Slaughter books outside of the Grant county series that I hadn't read yet, it's like I'm rediscovering why I'm a Slaughter fan in the first place. Now that I've read all of her books (a review for Fractured is forthcoming), I am giddy with anticipation for the next novel coming out in 2010 and desperate for information on what it's about. I'd settle for knowing whether or not it'll feature both Dr. Sara Linton and GBI agents Will Trent and Faith Mitchell like her current release does.

I remember when TripTych first came out; I started to read it and then stopped after the first couple chapters. Something about the character of Michael Ormewood just turned me off. A couple years later after I finished reading Undone and decided I had to read Slaughter's other novels that featured Trent, I gave TripTych another try, and I am so glad I did. In a way it is different from her other novels in that its parts focus on the story from different character perspectives. Through my recent experiences with Slaughter's books, I've realized that she has a penchant for throwing wicked twists at the reader, and the twists she throws into this story will make your jaw drop.

In 1985 the daughter of an Atlanta assistant district attorney is brutally raped and beaten to death; in short order her murderer is caught and brought to justice. This portion of the story is related through newspaper clippings. Cut to 2006 when teenage girls are being raped and beaten in a similar manner; Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Will Trent is tracking these crimes. Then an Atlanta prostitute is murdered and mutilated in a manner that matches previous rapes in other parts of Georgia; the pattern of crime matches the others in all ways except victim profile. Atlanta Police homicide detective Michael Ormewood catches the murder of the prostitute and the unique method of her mutilation catches the attention of agent Will Trent, who joins the investigation in an advisory role. The investigation is barely hours old before the serial rapist/murderer strikes again, this time in Ormewood's backyard. How do the murders connect to the rapes that took place in other parts of Georgia? How do the current crimes connect to the murder from 1985?

Slaughter crafts another intricate mystery that has several threads that in the end are all tied together in a messy, little knot. She produces yet another twisty, turny, unputdownable page turner of a novel. Your heart will pound when the murderer is revealed early on and then your fear will be whether or not Trent and Ormewood put the pieces together in time to prevent another life from being taken and to bring the murderer to justice.

If you haven't already read this book, I highly recommend you do. If you love a suspense filled mystery with vivid characterization, you will love this book. It is available on shelf at Matthews Public Library; it is also available upon request from Annville Free Library, Palmyra Public Library and Richland Community Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Undone by Karin Slaughter

2009-08-13T18:29:00.003-04:00

I started reading Karin Slaughter's Grant county series a few years ago and quickly fell in love with the characters of Dr. Sara Linton, coroner to rural Grant county and her husband, Jeffrey Tolliver, the local police chief. Slaughter says that in these novels she tells the story of Sara. While this may be true, I've noticed that for novels that are supposed to tell Sara's story, the focus of the story is often on Tolliver and his crime solving rather than Sara. The same is true for the latest (highly anticipated) installment of the series, which picks up Sara's story three years later.

Undone is the latest installment of Karin Slaughter's Grant County series that features a cross-over with the characters of Will Trent and Faith Mitchell, Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents that were featured in a previous novel by Slaughter. I can only hope this means that we'll see more of Trent, Mitchell, and Dr. Sara Linton sharing the pages of new installments. (The next Slaughter book is due out in 2010 and I can hardly wait for it; luckily, I have her other two stand alone novels to help hold me over until then.)

In the suburban backwoods of Atlanta, Georgia, a woman, who has been brutally tortured, runs out into the road; as if this woman has not suffered enough, she is struck by an oncoming car. She is brought to Grady Hospital's emergency room where Dr. Sara Linton treats her. Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents Will Trent and Faith Mitchell catch the case (or more accurately, wrest it from the jurisdiction of the ignorant, local police authorities). Before the night is done, Trent is searching the same woods from whence the woman came for the place where she was kept and tortured. Soon it becomes apparent that the woman was not the only one being held captive and that there is another woman out there somewhere in those woods. Then another woman, matching the description of physical features of the first victim, is abducted in broad daylight in front of her son from the parking lot of an Atlanta grocery store. Now Trent and his partner, Mitchell, must race against time to find the third victim, figure out if and how the victims might be connected, and track down the murderer before it's too late to save the last woman that has been abducted.

Is the recent abductee really connected to the torture victims or is it a separate case? Trent and Mitchell must contend with a turf war between the GBI and the local cops on the case in addition to a case that yields few leads.

In addition to being a talented writer, Slaughter also has a gift for creating powerfully and vividly drawn characters. Slaughter graphically portrays Linton's grief over a brutal, personal tragedy suffered three years prior that the reader feels Linton's pain over the loss. I will also be reading the previous novel that featured the characters of Trent and Mitchell. In short, this book was extremely hard to put down and when I was away from it, I was wishing I was at home reading it.

I highly recommend you read this book --or any book by Karin Slaughter. It is available here at the Matthews Public Library; it is also available upon request from Annville Free Library, Myerstown Community Library, and Palmyra Public Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Knowing

2009-08-11T16:50:00.002-04:00

The film Knowing stars Nicolas Cage and Rose Byrne. I'm not sure why I expected more from this movie than I did; I should know by now that sometimes Nicolas Cage's films don't always live up to what they should be. The film starts out as a supernatural thriller before morphing into an apocalyptic disaster story about half way through the movie. In the end there were strange parallels to the recent remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still (starring Keanu Reeves who also has one acting mode like Cage, however, Reeves' one mode annoys me far less than Cage does) that made me feel like Knowing was really a rip off of The Day The Earth Stood Still with a far more bleaker ending.

In 1959 a young girl puts a piece of paper covered with an extremely long series of numbers into her class's time capsule. Half a century later that time capsule is unearthed and unsealed and John's (Nicolas Cage) son, Caleb, receives the girl's 'vision of the future.' John, a functioning alcoholic who uses liquor to dull the pain of a recent personal tragedy, becomes obsessed with the numbers' sequence and spends an entire alcohol fueled night deciphering the meaning behind the numbers. He is shocked to discover that the numbers reveal the location, date and number of casualties for every major disaster over the last fifty years. However, the last several numbers are for dates set several days in the future. John then tracks down the daughter of the girl who recorded the numbers and enlists her (extremely) reluctant help in solving the mystery of the disasters foretold for the last three dates. It is at the point of finally resolving the puzzle of the last disaster that the movie drastically swings in a different direction before hurtling on to the cheesiest, hoakiest ending of a movie that I've witnessed in a long time.

You can see this movie for yourself or don't. It is available upon request from Annville Free Library, Palmyra Public Library, and Richland Community Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

2009-08-05T18:11:00.004-04:00

In 1913 a four year old girl is boarded on a ship bound for Australia. When the ship reaches its Australian port, it is clear the girl has been abandoned and that no one is there to meet her. The port master and his wife take in the little girl, name her Nell and raise her as their own. On the night of Nell's twenty-first birthday her father reveals to her the family secret and her world, her identity, her family, her life and her future are irrevocably altered.

At the center of the book is the mystery of Nell's identity and life prior to boarding the ship. Eventually Nell follows the mystery all the way to England to find the answers to the questions about her parentage and of how she came to be on that ship alone in 1913. While Nell makes remarkable headway in solving the mystery in 1975, circumstances at home conspire to keep her in Australia and Nell goes to her grave without ever knowing her true origins and why she was sent on a ship to Australia. In 2005 upon her death Nell's granddaughter Cassandra is told of her inheritance of a remote cottage in the Cornish countryside of England--a cottage that Cassandra never knew Nell owned. Now it is up to Cassandra to pursue the missing pieces of the puzzle and when the complete picture is finally assembled it is more twisted and heartbreaking than she could have ever imagined.

Morton relates the story from alternating points of view--each chapter switches between 1913, 1975 and 2005; each one revealing a little more the mystery of the family Nell never knew. It is a story of family secrets, cruel manipulations, and, in the end, of resolution and redemption. For Cassandra, solving her grandmother's mystery will lead her back to the land of the living and help heal the grief of a personal tragedy suffered a decade ago.

Although the story is slow moving at first, once the reader reaches the thick of it, it will be hard to put down. While the switching off of time periods illuminates the story from other character perspectives and serves to connect the reader as much to the events occurring in the far distant past as those in the present of the book, I still found this plot device irritating.

This book is available upon request from Myerstown Community Library, Annville Free Library and Lebanon Community Library. It can also be found in adult fiction at Matthews Public Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Bone by Bone by Carol O'Connell

2009-07-08T17:50:00.003-04:00

A batty old man of the cloth had once described the Hobbs boy as a joke of God's: an archangel of the warrior cast and a beacon for women with carnal intentions. An angel. Would that he had wings.

from page 1

Bone by Bone is a poetically written mystery suspense novel by Carol O'Connell who also writes the popular Kathy Mallory mysteries. Bone by Bone is a stand alone novel that focuses on a different set of characters from the Mallory series.

Twenty years ago 15 year old budding photographer Josh Hobbs walked into Coventry's woods with a green knapsack and his camera and never walked out. After an exhaustive search that turns up neither Josh nor any clues as to his fate, town life slowly moves on. He's never seen nor heard from again until his bones start showing up one by one on his father's front doorstep.

Josh's older brother Oren, a newly retired agent from the Army's Criminal Investigation Division, has not set foot in his hometown for twenty years, but he returns home to Coventry when the family's beloved housekeeper writes him a cryptic letter about buying coffins. In the course of looking into his brother's death, the townsfolk's secrets are dredged up from the dark past and a portrait is painted of Josh. It is one of a boy photographer who silently stalks his unwitting subjects capturing them and their secrets on film and revealing the secrets to the town in the name of art. What secrets led to Josh's disappearance and death? And how many secrets will be revealed before the mystery of his death is finally solved?

This page turner was hard to put down. The revealing and piecing together of secrets in this small town is like the piecing back together of the lives forever destroyed by the death of a son and a brother. Though O'Connell writes beautifully, her plot can be a little twisted around and convoluted at times confusing the reader with the myriad secrets and the connections between townsfolk and secrets alike.

This book is available at Matthews Public Library and upon request from Annville Free Library and Myerstown Community Library. I recommend you pick it up the next time you visit the library!

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Origin by Diana Abu-Jaber

2009-07-03T15:01:00.005-04:00

I know what it means to be set loose in the world. Damaged children are all of the same tribe: I can look at any adult and recognize one instantly ... we're everywhere. Lost childhood lingers like tribal scars ... there's always some sign.

from page 59

Origin by Diana Abu-Jaber is a mystery thriller that follows two mysteries that in the end are so closely intertwined that one would not exist without the other; in fact, one mystery spawns the other and only by pursuing leads in both mysteries can either be resolved. The mysteries themselves really take a backseat to the character of the narrator, Lena, a young and expert fingerprint examiner for the crime lab in Syracuse, New York; the meat of the story focuses on the inner workings of Lena's thoughts as she struggles to come to terms with her past.

Lena was a foster child, she was raised by Pia and Henry who never tried to legally adopt her. Before she came to live with her foster parents at the age of three, she only remembers the dense green foliage of the rain forest where she believes she was raised by an ape mother until she was rescued by humans and brought to Syracuse where Pia and Henry took her in. Her foster mother is reluctant to share any details of the hospital or orphanage from which Lena came.

Recently several infants in Syracuse have died unexplained deaths. Ultimately SIDS is ruled as the cause of death, but when Lena begins taking a closer look at the evidence and the cribs brought into the lab, a much more sinister cause emerges. Spurred on by the intuition that these recent SIDS deaths are connected to the dark secrets of her past and her biological parentage, Lena pursues the mystery of her own origin in order to get at the true cause of the infants' deaths when it becomes clear the criminal investigation won't yeild any physical evidence to lead them to the answers.

Abu-Jaber is expert at vividly portraying the awkwardness of Lena's personality and social skills and her self-imposed isolation. This gripping story draws the reader in from the first page as the story of Lena and her past is unspooled.

This book will soon be available at the Matthews Public Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

The Lovers by John Connolly

2009-06-29T18:35:00.003-04:00

I tell myself that this is not an investigation. It is for others to be investigated, but not for my family and not for me. I will delve into the lives of strangers, and I will expose their secrets and their lies ... but I do not want to pick and scratch in such a way at what I have always believed of my mother and father. They are gone. Let them sleep.

But there are too many questions left unanswered, too many inconsistencies in the narrative constructed of their lives, a tale told by them ... I can no longer allow them to remain unexamined.

from page 3

So John Connolly released the latest installment of the saga that is Charlie Parker's life earlier this month and I finally got my hands on a copy, read it, and was not disappointed. This new novel is narrated by Parker and focuses on his story; Connolly's previous novel, The Reapers, focused on Louis and Angel. The Lovers returns to the questions first raised about Parker's parentage and history by the Collector in the novel The Black Angel, which was two novels ago (not counting The Reapers) in the Parker series.

Parker, still deprived of his private investigator license and his permit to carry a concealed weapon, works as a bar manager in Maine. Forced to refrain from conducting any formal investigations, Parker is left with time on his hands and, thus, decides this is the perfect time to look into his past and his father's past. Specifically, Parker wishes to know more about the events surrounding the night that his father, an NYPD officer, shot and killed two seemingly innocent teenagers one night before killing himself hours later. Parker wants to know why: why did his father shoot the boy and the girl in cold blood and why did he then kill himself hours later after returning home? Why did his mother always seem emotionally distant from him at times throughout his childhood? Why are two lovers, a man and a woman, determined to see him dead? Parker quickly discovers there are inconsistencies in the very fabric of his own history and in the very essence of all that he once believed true about his own origins. He discovers there are inconsistencies in the account of events surrounding the deaths of the two teenagers and his father as related to Parker by his father's best friend and patrol partner years later. These are not the only problems Parker has to deal with in his life. There is also his relationship with his estranged girlfriend that continues to dissolve. And there is also the writer who has decided to dig into Parker's life and lay out his secrets past and present in a tell-all book about how Parker has made it his life's mission to destroy evil--whether or not Parker cooperates with him. And interwoven with Parker's tale is the story of a girl named Emily who has been running for years from something dark that finds her no matter where she hides. How is her story connected to Parker's?

This is a gripping, engrossing, lyrically written page turner; the story goes fast, and while many questions are answered about Parker's history, others are left unanswered and others are raised. For example, what exactly is Parker's purpose on this earth? Why is evil drawn to him and why does it want him destroyed? I highly recommend you check out this book the next time you visit the library--you won't regret it. And I know that, like me, you'll be looking forward to the next chapter in the Parker series after you finish this one. Parker's story is one you'll think about long after you've read the latest installment.

The Lovers is available at Matthews Public Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

The Likeness by Tana French

2009-06-24T18:10:00.004-04:00

This much is mine, though: everything I did. Frank puts it all down to the others ... while as far as I can tell Sam thinks that, in some obscure and slightly bizarro way, it was Lexie's fault. When I say it wasn't like that, they give me careful sideways looks and change the subject ... But give me more credit than that. Someone else may have dealt the hand, but I picked it up off the table, I played every card, and I had my reasons.

from page 3

The Likeness is Tana French's follow up to her novel In The Woods. The previous novel focused on Rob Ryan as narrator; the follow up is narrated by Ryan's former partner Cassie Maddox and the action commences in the months following the conclusion of the events portrayed in In The Woods. A little tidbit for French fans: her next novel will have for its narrator Frank Mackey, Maddox's old undercover boss who was introduced to us in The Likeness. And while I anxiously awaited her second novel, I'm not sure about the third; Mackey was a character I detested.

In this new novel one of Maddox's aliases from her stint in undercover comes back to haunt her when the body of a woman who could be her twin is found murdered. The woman has slipped seamlessly and effortlessly into the identity of Lexie Madison; it's an alias Maddox used years ago in an undercover operation that ended badly. Maddox's boyfriend, who remains on the Murder Squad, Sam O'Neil has caught the case. Reluctantly he allows Maddox's former undercover boss, Frank Mackey, to engineer a crazy scheme in which Maddox re-assumes her old undercover identity and infiltrates the house that the woman they know only as Lexie shared with four other graduate students to ferret out more clues to the woman's true identity and that of her murderer. All three detectives soon realize that while the four roommates all have their own secrets to hide, Lexie may have had the most to hide.

French infuses a sense of foreboding from the very beginning of her book that can only foreshadow how very badly both the undercover operation and the book will end not just for the roommates, but for the detectives as well. French does this like no other author and this bleak sense of foreboding runs throughout every beautifully, exquisitely suspenseful chapter as she allows the reader to eavesdrop on the intimate thoughts of the narrator as each clue and detail is slowly revealed. And while the ending is sad for some characters, it is hopeful for others and in that way it differs from how In The Woods ended. Ultimately the overarching theme is how life events can destroy our relationships and lives if we allow them to spin wildly out of control, allowing them to beat us down and disillusion us. And while it seems that in the end some characters are broken by the shattering resolution of the mystery, others pull themselves up and are determined to survive it.

I highly recommend this book. This book is available in adult fiction at the Matthews Public Library and upon request from Annville Free Library and Lebanon Community Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Blood and Ice by Robert Masello

2009-06-11T19:06:00.003-04:00

In the suspense novel Blood and Ice by Robert Masello, the most thrilling and unique element is the unusual setting of Antarctica. Not many books or movies are set on that continent.

Blood and Ice tells the tale of the lovers, Eleanor and Sinclair, in mid-nineteenth century England; she is a nurse and he is a soldier who is preparing for deployment to the Crimean war front. These star crossed lovers eventually find each other again in the midst of the bloody business of war. Ultimately, a mysterious and cruel malady befalls them and as a result an even more horrifying fate awaits them. The tale of Eleanor and Sinclair alternates with the tale of freelance journalist, Michael, who is recovering from a brutal, personal tragedy of his own. Michael is offered an opportunity to spend a month at an antarctic research station and report on his experiences there. Little does he know what adventure and danger he will encounter once he arrives and how his story will intertwine with that of Eleanor and Sinclair.

Masello excels at revving up the suspense; unfortunately, the suspense doesn't really go anywhere and the reader waits for something to happen in the story that never really does. While Masello hints at how Sinclair and Eleanor contract their mysterious malady and hints at the origins, he never really fully addresses the origins to my satisfaction. In the end maybe the point of the story is Michael's journey and struggle to move past his own tragedy.

This book is available at Matthews Public Library and upon request from Palmyra Public Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

New Arrivals in AudioBooks!

2009-05-21T18:48:00.003-04:00

The library has recently added an entire of new titles in the AudioBooks. This section is located downstairs along the wall right next to the copier.

New titles of books on CD include Bones of the Dragon by Ted Dekker, Eclipse by Richard North Patterson, and To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and several others! Come visit us at the library to check out these new titles.

New Arrivals in Juvenile Fiction!

2009-04-17T16:25:00.003-04:00

The library is adding several new items to its juvenile fiction section located downstairs in the library. We are adding three titles from the American Girl series, and we also adding some graphic novels to juvenile fiction. These titles include Chrissa Stands Strong J/Fic/Cas; Bone #7: Ghost Circles J/Fic/Smi; Nancy Drew Graphic Novel #13: Doggone Town J/Fic/Pet; and The Hardy Boys Graphic Novel #14: Haley Danelle's Top Eight J/Fic/Lob.

We hope you'll check some of these new titles and others that we are adding all the time here at the Matthews Public Library!

The Life Before Her Eyes

2009-04-15T18:37:00.005-04:00

The Life Before Her Eyes is adapted from a novel of the same title by Laura Kasischke and stars Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood, and Eva Amurri.

Diana and Maureen are best friends coming of age in a small town when a fellow classmate comes to school with a gun and massacres untold numbers of students and teachers. What transpires leading up to that day, in the midst of the confrontation between the gunman and his victims, and in the aftermath of the tragedy is told from the perspective of one of the friends while she continues to deal with the effects of the tragedy during the fifteenth anniversary observance of the incident. Ultimately the viewer must question whether we are indeed witnessing one woman's long delayed emotional and mental breakdown in response to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of an extremely traumatic tragedy or are we witnessing something else entirely?

This movie is both haunting and disturbing; the cinematography captures beautiful imagery. It is also very mysterious and heavy with symbolism and metaphor. For long after you have viewed this film you will think about what really happened or didn't happen in that high school bathroom and what exactly the conclusion of the movie means. I know I had to puzzle it out for a couple hours before I figured out what happened and what the nature of the entire movie really is.

This movie is coming soon to the shelves of the DVD section in the Matthews Public Library, and I recommend you check it out the next time you visit the library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Can You See What I See? On A Scary Scary Night / Spot 7: Spooky

2009-04-08T18:13:00.006-04:00

Can You See What I See? On A Scary Scary Night by Walter Wick is a fun children's book that's filled with picture puzzles. Take a journey from the bottom of the hill to the inside of the castle at the top of the hill. Search the pages for the items listed. Some items will be spotted right away while others will not be.

Spot 7: Spooky is a seek and find book. The pairs of photos in this book of picture riddles seem the same until the reader examines them closely. There are seven differences. Each page contains a riddle for you to solve. If you're up for a challenge, try to find all of the items listed in the front of the book.

Both books are sure to bring the reader hours of fun. Challenge a family member or friend to race to see who can spot the most items first!

These books are both available at the Matthews Public Library in juvenile fiction at the call number, J/793.73 with our other seek and find/picture puzzle books. Check them out the next time you visit the library!

--Reviewed by Ms. Kathy

When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson

2009-04-07T16:34:00.005-04:00

... the field of wheat had closed around her like a golden blanket. [Jessica] was lying with her arms around the body of the dog and their blood had mingled and soaked into the dry earth, feeding the grain, like a sacrifice to the harvest.
from page 11

When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson is actually the third book to feature British private investigator Jackson Brodie. I haven't read the other two. But Atkinson does not write or present this novel like your stereotypical series novel; it is not even your stereotypical mystery novel setup. The story is much more intricate and complicated with several threads of story unspooling simultaneously that in time are revealed to be connected. Each chapter generally shifts from one of three main characters' viewpoints until later in the book when the fourth main character's viewpoint is introduced.

Reggie is a lonely, isolated sixteen year old orphan; she works for Dr. Hunter as a mother's helper caring for Hunter's baby boy. Reggie's tragic history is revealed in pieces of flashbacks throughout the first part of the book.

Jackson Brodie, former soldier, former policeman, former private investigator and newly minted millionaire, is on a mission to prove that his ex-girlfriend's son is indeed his own despite her claims otherwise; ultimately, a massive disaster literally forces his path to collide with Reggie's.

Dr. Hunter, a general surgeon, has survived and thrived in spite of a past devastating tragedy that altered her family forever. Now that the man who caused that tragedy has been set free, Dr. Hunter is missing with her infant son; her squirrely husband appears unconcerned, but Reggie, who knows how to recognize trouble when she sees it, is very worried.

Finally Detective Chief Inspector Louise Monroe is obsessed with a domestic abuse case that sparks its own bloody, violent tragedy, and she searches for the husband involved in that case; meanwhile, a new case involving Dr. Hunter's husband and the mysterious burning of one of his businesses sets Monroe on the trail of this new mystery.

Ultimately the various mysteries set forth involving different characters take a backseat to the focus and attention that Atkinson gives to developing and illuminating her characters' inner lives. These intricately intertwined stories' connections are slowly revealed. This is a beautifully written novel with surprising turns of phrases that illuminate the characters' personalities and brings them to life.

I highly recommend this novel; and perhaps you'll even enjoy the two Brodie novels preceding this one. It is available upstairs in adult fiction here at the Matthews Public Library and upon request from Annville Free Library, Myerstown Community Library and Palmyra Public Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Securing The City by Christopher Dickey

2009-03-31T19:01:00.005-04:00

In the three decades [Dickey's] been reporting on guerrilla wars and terrorist conspiracies, the fanatical hatred of countless groups has focused on New York City like a compass needle quivering toward magnetic north. from page 3

Securing the City: Inside America's Best Counterterror Force--The NYPD by Christopher Dickey is the last of my nonfiction reads and I am now (happily) back to fiction. Securing the City was a riveting and interesting read. Dickey has easily accessible writing and another positive for me was the short chapters (chapter length probably plays too large a role in my enjoyment of a book... the answer lies in my reading process, but that is another post for another time).

The book chronicles the sheer luck and later the sheer diligence of the work that the police put in to prevent many terrorist plots from successfully detonating on American soil. This page turner uses true accounts of countless terrorist attacks both on American soil, specifically New York City and environs, and foreign soil to show the vulnerability of a city and a nation. Some of the most interesting attacks are ones that occurred a hundred years ago that were perpetrated by anarchists and others that were/are not associated with the Islamist based terrorists that one always thinks of today when one hears the word terrorist. The book portrays the growing pains, shifts, and transformations the NYPD endured to become the organization it is today--one at the top of its game in crime fighting and counterterror operations.

Securing the City is a must read for any true crime account lover, police procedural fan, or mystery genre reader. I recommend you check it out the next time you visit the Matthews Public Library; it is located at 363.325 upstairs in adult nonfiction.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie