THAT PART WAS TRUE by Deborah McKinlay

Delightful, delicious That Part Was True is a journey for two people and a reminder for us of the intimacy of words and the power of shared sensibilities.

Best selling American author Jackson Cooper has not only been successful but is also evidently still quite a hunk as his 50th birthday approaches.  He doesn’t lack for women after his wife has left him for a woman, and he has a good friend, Dex, who is on the verge of becoming a major movie star.   This plus money, a home in the Hamptons, a houseboy who tends to his needs, and beautiful blonde Adrienne aren’t enough.  Jack suffers from writer’s block, and the feeling that despite book sales he’s never written anything of value.  He turns his attention to cooking and soon becomes absorbed in it.

Clear across the pond lives Eve Petworth, a wealthy, long divorced woman of Jack’s age who lives a somewhat reclusive existence with her three-times-a-week housekeeper, Gwen.  Eve putters about her garden and cooks - she loves to cook.  Her daughter Izzy is about to be married which has simply increased Eve’s anxiety disorder to think of parties and the attendant nuptial plans.  Izzy is all but a stranger to her as she left the girl’s upbringing primarily to her late overbearing mother, Virginia, who wasted no words in describing Eve’s inadequacies.  The result was Eve believed what her mother said and continues to believe she is flawed even though her mother is no longer there to remind her.

Although Eve is certainly an unlikely candidate to pen a fan letter to an American detective novelist, this she does primarily to praise his description of a scene involving food.  Jack in turn is somewhat surprised to receive a handwritten letter from England, and he responds to it.  In this way the two discover their mutual love of food and cooking; a correspondence develops, a friendship blossoms.

Jack impulsively suggests that the two meet in Paris and enjoy a few days of gustatorial pleasures.  How impossible for Eve who suffers a panic attack even when going to London!  Or is it?

Filled with well-drawn characters, insightful revelations re emotional issues and the pleasures found in good food That Part Was True is a gem with a perfect finish.

- Gail Cooke

20TH CENTURY JEWELRY & THE ICONS OF STYLE

For a time collections of precious jewels was only the province of kings, queens, emperors and maharajas.  However, the years following World War I brought about many changes and one of them was the ownership of jewels once belonging only to royalty.  Or, perhaps the new owners may be thought of as royalty of a different kind - celebrities, socialites, and the newly wealthy.

20th Century Jewelry and the Icons of Style focuses on 11 woman who amassed the most incredible, eye-popping personal collections of precious gems imaginable.  Obviously, their financial resources were great, and also clearly they loved their jewelry because they often redesigned their pieces so they would always look fresh.  It goes without saying that they patronized only the best jewelers and also expected the jewelers to offer them only the finest gems.

This gorgeous volume not only treats us to 398 photographs of these collections but also gives us a bird’s eye view of the way these women lived, their lifestyles, habits and preferences.  For instance, when Daisy Fellowes acquired a 17.27 rose-pink diamond the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli (whose clothes the stunning Daisy wore) created the color Shocking Pink to complement the color of the stone.  This amazing diamond believed to have been owned by Catherine the Great was stolen in 1939 and has not yet been found.  You see, 20th Century Jewelry and the Icons of Style is not only visually beautiful but also fascinating reading.

Among the 11 women featured along with Daisy Fellowes are Marjorie Merriweather Post, Lydia, Lady Deterding, the Duchess of Windsor, Countess Mona Bismarck, Barbara Hutton, Merle Oberon, the Maharani Sita Devi of Baroda, Maria Callas, H.H. The Begum Aga Khan III, and Nina Dyer.  Just imagine a party with all of these ladies present wearing their most amazing pieces of jewelry!

Stefano Papi has worked as Senior European Specialist in the jewelry departments of both Sotheby’s and Christie’s.  Co-author Alexandra Rhodes is a Senior Director of Sotheby’s and a Senior International Specialist of the jewelry department based in London.  Together they have given us a one-of-a-kind volume sure to be returned to again and again.

- Gail Cooke

KING AND MAXWELL by David Baldacci

With the author’s previous five books starring King and Maxwell all #1s on the New York Times bestseller list Baldacci has every right to rest on his laurels - no way.  He’s back again with the sixth thriller featuring the dynamite duo of Sean King and Michelle Maxwell and it’s better than ever.  True to form he begins with a zinger and continues at high speed carrying readers along with an imaginative plot, can’t-resist characters, and imminent dangers.

Sam Wingo, an outstanding soldier who had been painstakingly vetted for an important mission was in the middle of nowhere, a country still mired in the ninth century, carrying a cargo weighing 4800 pounds.  He wasn’t wearing his uniform but the clothes he’d been given, and had driven countless miles in a box truck.   Nonetheless, he was close to his destination where everything should go according to plan.  However, it didn’t, definitely did not.

First, he was almost out of gas, apparently someone had miscalculated.  Secondly he was met by a gun put in his face by a man identifying himself as a CIA agent who said plans had been changed.  Wingo knew that wouldn’t happen.  Barely escaping with his life he reaches Kabul where he calls his commanding officer only to be told that the people he was supposed to meet were at the appointed place, where was he?  Wingo is accused of being a traitor and keeping the cargo for himself.  Further, he is told that his son, Tyler, has been told he was killed in Afghanistan.

Shift to King and Maxwell who are driving at night through driving rain.  Michelle sees a boy running like the very devil is chasing him.  She tells King to stop and takes off after the boy; he is perhaps fifteen and carrying a gun.  He is Tyler Wingo.  And so begins one of the most dangerous jobs ever undertaken by King and Maxwell, which is saying quite a bit.  It is also the opening of one of the most inventive, exciting stories penned by David Baldacci, which is also saying quite a bit.

While I’m a person who needs her sleep I couldn’t close my eyes until I’d finished this one.  Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

NO MAN'S NIGHTINGALE by Ruth Rendell

Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford may be retired, however he’s just as smart and intuitive as ever.  Well, perhaps he is a tad more crotchety, especially when his reading of his beloved Decline and Fall Of the Roman Empire is interrupted, but for this reader that makes him all the more endearing.  While he’s reasonably content in retirement he does miss investigating crimes so when Detective Superintendent Burden asks his old boss to join in the chase Wexford doesn’t hesitate.

As it turns out this is an especially intriguing case - the Rev. Sarah Hussain, recently appointed vicar of St. Peter’s Church has been strangled.  To say that her appointment was greeted with enthusiasm would be a gross understatement.  She is not only female but biracial and a single mother.  Seems that bigotry and racism are alive and well in Kingsmarkham.  But would that be enough to commit brutal murder?

There is no shortage of suspects from Dennis Cuthbert, a church member who not only objected to Sarah but to her modernization of the liturgy, Gerald Watson, an old flame of Sarah’s who had taken to what some might stalking her and more.  In addition to the coterie of suspects subplots abound including the jam ne’er-do-well Jeremy Legg has gotten himself into by the return of his ex-wife when Jeremy is illegally renting her flat.  As it happens his tenants are Jason Sams and family.  Jason is the son of Wexford’s non-stop gossipy cleaning lady.  Then, who is the father of Sarah’s daughter, Clarissa?

Burden arrests gardener Duncan Crisp for the murder.  Wexford doesn’t believe the man is guilty which causes a rift between the two investigators.  Days aren’t at all sunny in Kingsmarkham and environs, which isn’t due to the weather.  All of this makes for intriguing reading and a reminder of what an ace writer of crime fiction Ruth Rendell truly is.  My one caveat is that for this reader too much space was devoted to subplots which tended to detract from the story’s building excitement.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

CUT TO THE BONE by Jefferson Bass

If you’ve not yet had the pleasure of reading A Body Farm novel by the estimable writing team of Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson Cut To The Bone is a perfect place to start.  This book  takes us back to 1962 when our fictional hero Dr. Bill Brockton was a much younger head of the Anthropology Department at the University of Tennessee.  He is working to create a unique research facility, a place where bones can be kept and studied.  Now, if you’re already a fan of this series you know you’re in for another entertaining, exciting read - superb crime fiction.

While Brockton would much prefer to spend his time in forensic research he’s often called upon to investigate what may be a crime scene.  In this case it is an especially chilling one.  Initially, it is believed that the similarities between the current case and Brockton’s past investigations is mere coincidence.  Not so.

As more and more bodies are discovered it becomes obvious that coincidence is not involved.  All bear quite distinct resemblances to cases from Brockton’s past, and it now appears that Brockton himself may be the next victim.  Somehow, there must be a way to discover the killer’s identity.  Little do they know that he is a deranged murderer, a man disgracefully discharged from SEAL training.  This disgrace “had cut deeply; it had cut to the bone, and it had left him scarred as surely as his stepfather’s cigarettes had scarred him.”

But what in the world could his shame possibly have to do with Brockton?

- Gail Cooke

THE GOLDFINCH by Donna Tartt

If you read but one book this year let it be The Goldfinch, seven years in the writing and well worth every day of waiting for the incomparable pleasure it brings.   Donna Tartt’s prose sings, dances, makes you smile and breaks your heart.  Each word is carefully chosen, so perfect in placement that it is as if a master craftsman had set it there.    And why not?  Tartt is a master craftsman creating fully drawn characters and revealed to us in all of their complexities.  We not only see them but share their ruminations as they reveal their thoughts on life, love and the power of art.

At heart this is the story of New Yorker Theodore Decker and The Goldfinch, a painting by Dutch master Carel Fabritius.  We meet Theodore or Theo at the age of 13 when he and his beloved mother take shelter from a rainstorm in a museum.  His mother means everything to Theo and when she is killed in a horrific explosion at the museum he realizes “...the daily, commonplace happiness that was lost when I lost her.”  For him that is so true.  Somehow he manages to escape the carnage physically sound but psychologically damaged.  He takes with him the Fabritius painting, an object that becomes as necessary to him as breath.  But how can he keep it when eventually the world will be looking for the masterpieces lost in tragedy?

Initially Theo returns to the apartment that he shared with his mother sure that she will return.  But once convinced that she is dead he ricochets from place to place, steps ahead of the social service workers.  His father deserted the family years ago, and he is alone.  Theo finds a temporary home with a wealthy family on the Upper East Side, the Barbours, whose son Andy had been a playmate of Theo’s  years before.   Then, quite suddenly, his father appears with Xandra, a woman as different from his mother as any woman could be, and announces that they are taking Theo to Las Vegas.

So begins an odyssey for the boy with thoughts of his lost mother ever near.  Readers are propelled by the narrative that carries us from Park Avenue to casinos to drug dealers’ dives to auction houses to Lower East Side bars.  Later he finds work in the antiques business where he quickly develops a talent for shady dealing.  Throughout The Goldfinch we are introduced to unforgettable characters - Hobie, a skilled craftsman with a “rough but educated voice” who befriended Theo and gave him shelter, Boris, a Ukrainian lad who introduced him to every kind of hallucinatory extant and says, “None of us ever find enough kindness in the world, do we?”

Donna Tartt has given us a rare gift that has been called a “...trenchant, defiant, engrossing and rocketing novel..”  It is that and so much more.

- Gail Cooke

STAY UP WITH ME: STORIES by Tom Barbash

Authentic, heartrending, perceptive, tender, all of these words apply to Stay Up With Me: Stories by Tom Barbash.  He’s an amazing author, one who is able to capture a life in as little as 20 pages.  He chooses details with restraint and strength, each revealing another facet of a character.  All of the players in his stunning collection are known to us.  Why?  Because we share with them times of grief, disappointment and loss.

For instance in The Break a mother recently separated from her husband welcomes their son home from college for Christmas break.  And best of all worlds “She liked the person he was becoming, liked the way he treated others.”  What she did not like, in fact, resented abhorred was his choice of lovers.  She does not know how to handle the situation.  Calls to her husband for advice are futile - he only reminds her that their son has his own life to live.  Slowly, painfully we watch her try to control the young man’s life, choose a proper partner for him.

With “Balloon Night” we meet Timkin who lives in a “three-bedroom eighth-floor apartment, on West Seventy-Seventh Street between Central Park West and Columbus.”  That’s a choice location, is it not?  The apartment is where Timkin grew up, it was given to him by his parents a few years back, and the block it is on is called the balloon block.  An apt name because that is where the humongous characters in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade are inflated the night before.  Naturally, that’s quite a sight to see so residents welcome one and all to their apartments to enjoy.  Timkin had gone to his first balloon party when he was just six years old.

He is especially proud of the party he and his wife Amy host on Thanksgiving Eve; it is a night of celebration lasting well into the morning hours.  They see old friends they have not seen since the last party as well as strangers who wander in.  It is the day of the party and Amy had left him earlier that week.  He had been too depressed to tell anyone.  Guests will be arriving in a few hours - how can Timkin explain Amy’s absence?

Tom Barbash is a writer to celebrate.  His prose is tight yet never constricted.  All of his characters are fully defined, made human.  Of his 13 stories I cannot possibly choose a favorite - each one is stellar.

- Gail Cooke

THE OUTCASTS by Kathleen Kent

Seamlessly blending history and fiction Kathleen Kent once again proves herself to be a master of this literary form. Passionate, intelligent, gripping The Outcasts is a marvel of a story taking us to Texas in the 1870s. Kent’s prose is, at times, almost poetic as she describes characters, emotions or scenery. How easy to see in our mind’s eye a longboat heading for the Tropic of Cancer, “and the Yucatan which lay beyond it like a pale virgin sleeping, reflecting the light of countless stars.” The lives of Civil War survivors are painterly detailed, so vivid are Kent’s words that these people appear before us to touch our hearts, engage our minds.

Lucinda Carter, an unwilling occupant of a Fort Worth brothel where she has worked for practically naught, makes her escape. She takes with her a pouch full of money belonging to her parsimonious landlady, Mrs. Landry. Lucinda travels to Middle Bayou, Texas, a place noted only for the rumor that Jean LaFitte buried his gold near there. She gained a teaching position in that community under false pretenses, and waits for her lover to fulfill his promise of a new life made possible by the riches of a pirate’s gold.

At approximately the same point in time a young fellow from Oklahoma, Nate Cannon, has joined the Texas State Police. He’s a fine man with an active conscience and clear ideas of right and wrong. But, he has never been in service before. His first assignment is to accompany two legendary law men, Capt. George Deerling and Dr. Tom Goddard who for years have been tracking William McGill, a ruthless killer who shows no mercy to women or children. Initially Deerling and Goddard are unenthusiastic about traveling with an inexperienced soldier but Nate eventually earns their respect and comradeship.

It seems apparent early on that Nate and Lucinda will eventually meet. But before this happens what each experiences and the lives they intersect are luminously described. Kent is not a waster of words but chooses each with care to frame word pictures both beautiful and shocking, a boon for the reader.

The Outcasts is that rarity, a book one wishes would not end simply because reading it gives so much pleasure. Don’t miss it!

- Gail Cooke

THE ART OF SLEEPING ALONE by Sophie Fontanel

Frank, perhaps a tad shocking, beautifully written Sophie Fontanel’s memoir The Art Of Sleeping Alone is a can’t-stop-reading memoir.  In a series of vignettes Fontanel tells us why she abruptly gave up sex, the reactions of others to this surprising decision, and insights into societal expectations.  That’s quite a bit for 151 pages but this author carries it off with aplomb.

Perhaps we needed a French woman to openly discuss this subject, whatever the case the translation of her first book to be published is unputdownable.  Fontanel’s observations and insights are sure, straight to the point, expressed in style.  (And why not?  She’s an editor at Elle France.)

This chronicle of her experiences may well be a touchstone for those who also might decide to do things differently.  Her admissions will be valued by young women and perhaps empowering to some.  As Fontanel has written, “Those who set themselves free have the whole universe before them.”

When she met her lover to tell him of her decision he was disbelieving.  He saw her shining face,  dancing eyes and could only conclude that she had fallen in love with another.  Her decision was surely a puzzlement to many.  She remembers this with poignancy and humor.

A woman friend disapproved of her appearance, thinking she should dress more attractively, we assume to interest a man.  The woman especially disliked Fontanel’s flat-heeled boots.  The author didn’t have the heart to tell her that these were the same style boots Chanel had worn, they were bespoke and she had to wait nine months for them.

And so it went in Fontanel’s remarkable journey.  Written with intelligence and flair you won’t want to miss The Art Of Sleeping Alone - promise your next book discussion group won’t be a dull one.

- Gail Cooke

THE GOOD THIEF'S GUIDE TO BERLIN by Chris Ewan

Like some smiles in your mystery?  There are quite a few to be found in The Good Thief’s Guide To Berlin, another masterful blend of mirth and mystery in Chris Ewan’s Good Thief series.  Seldom has a fellow with such a distinctly larcenous bent been as likable as novelist/thief Charlie Howard.  He’s self-effacing (always good for a chuckle), clever and ofttimes foolhardy -  this time in rainy Berlin.

The Good Thief series not only boasts intriguing characters but painterly descriptions of settings, witty aside to cover almost any situation, and well honed plots.  Now, Charlie has one guiding principle - “Don’t Get Caught.”  Plus, he has a list of rules such as he doesn’t leave a mess after breaking in, doesn’t steal anything of sentimental value, etc.  And this time out he needs to add a new rule - “Don’t admire the view.”

At the behest of his agent, Victoria Newbury, Charlie is supposed to be working on his next novel.  Instead he’s taken on a new client, in part because he believes he’s doing a service for the British government.  This is a rather complex case - a British embassy representative is offering him a tidy sum to retrieve something that he’s unable to describe, simply saying
You’ll know it when you see it.”  Charlie is supposed to search the homes of four people, each of whom may have the valued object.

The first apartment he enters seems to hold nothing of value.  But as Charlie was in the habit of smoking and staring out a window when he “was feeling thoroughly vexed” he almost did just that save for the fact that he never smoked inside a place he had broken into.  So he simply stared out a window and saw a murder being committed across the way.  What to do?  He placed an anonymous call to the police then was thoroughly baffled when he saw them come out of the building without a corpse or a suspected murderer.

This haunts him until he and Veronica are confronted by those who would stop at nothing to take what they believe Charlie has.  Plus, he has three more places to search.  There’s never a dull moment in The Good Thief’s Guide to Berlin and never a lack of humor.  Enjoy!

= Gail Cooke

THE LONGEST ROAD by Philip Caputo

“It’s almost as good as being there” - I’ve said that about some things - a film or a painting.  Now, add to that list “The Longest Road” by Philip Caputo, the story of his epic drive across America, literally from one end to the other.  He perfectly captures not only places but people, their voices and their opinions of America today.  He’s a keen observer armed with a quick sense of humor - the ideal travel companion.  And, when finishing the book I really felt it was almost as good as being there.

Perhaps Caputo inherited his enchantment with the road from his father who was a traveling machinist for a canning company.  Each summer the family would be bundled into the car and join his dad for three months as he traveled from town to town.  Caputo loved those times.  After his dad died Caputo remembered his dad’s description of his work: “There was nothing like it.  To be in a car with everything you need, nothing more, and an open road in front of you.”
So in 2011 filled with sadness due to his father’s death and approaching 70 Caputo decided to fulfill a dream of his own and perhaps answer a question: with all of the problems besetting our nation, a feeling of fragmentation across the country, what in the world keeps us together?  In his words, “What made the pluribus unum?”

To do this he would have to drive a total of 11,741 miles.  This he did in a rented Airstream camper accompanied by his wife, Leslie, and two English setters.  He drove from Key West, Florida to Deadhorse, Alaska.  Along the way he interviewed a host of different people from small towns along his route - a husband/wife missionary team, a still hopeful young man on an Indian reservation, teenagers on a commune, and many more.  Americans all - each with an idea of what keeps us together.

His prose at times is almost poetic as he describes the beauty of our land as seen on roads less traveled.  He is reminded of Cather’s words, “Men travel faster now, but I do not know if they go to better things.”  Many of the words spoken by those he met will remain with you.  Truly, The Longest Road is a journey to the heart of America.  Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

HERE COMES MRS. KUGELMAN by Minka Pradelski

After years of studying the effects of the Holocaust on survivors and their children Minka Pradelski has given the world a gift - a loving, whimsical, heartbreaking debut novel.  Pradelski is not only a sociologist, documentarian and daughter of survivors but a writer with the rare capacity to tread effortlessly between comedy and tragedy with graceful prose.  

Here Comes Mrs. Kugelman introduces two unforgettable characters although Mrs. Kugelman takes center stage.  Narrator Tsippy Silberberg immediately tells us that she has been remembered in her late Aunt Halina’s will.  A lawyer sent her an itemized list of her inheritance:  “One small brown suitcase, approximately seventy years old, and one silver chest containing eight forks and nine knives of a fish service...”

Well, Tsippy is not about to ignore such a lavish bequest so she hops a plane to Tel Aviv to collect it in person.  She hasn’t had time to settle in her hotel room when there is a loud knocking on her door.  Her unexpected caller is an old woman, Bella Kugelman, a Holocaust survivor who is determined to tell stories about Bedzin, the Polish town in which she grew up.  Her stories are rich in detail describing not only the town but those who lived there.  She is convinced that by telling these stories she will somehow keep Bedzin alive in people’s minds and hearts.

At first Tsippy does all she can to discourage Mrs. Kugelman from returning and telling more stories. At one point Tsippy accuses Mrs. Kugelman of making Bedzin too perfect, which incenses Mrs. K.  She asks Tsippy when she will get it into her head that there is nothing bad about Bedzin, and if there were someone would have had to make it up.  But with time Tsippy becomes enthralled by the tales and begs Mrs. K. to tell her more.

Eventually Mrs. Kugelman’s stories are of the unforgivable as Nazis overrun Bedzin and leave a trail of horrific atrocities.  Hearing all of this Tsippy reevaluates her own life and that of her parents who refused to tell her anything about their early years.  She finally understands her aunt’s rather odd bequest.

As for the readers, we are reminded of the importance of sharing experiences and understanding when words do not come easily for others.  Many thanks to Minka Pradelski for a story laced with wit, wisdom, and truth.

- Gail Cooke

THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF NATHANIEL P. by Adelle Waldman

Adelle Waldman’s debut The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. Has been called “the best debut novel of the summer.”  Now, whether it is or not I cannot say as I’ve not read all the debuts, but it certainly is first-rate.  Simply couldn’t put the book down.  Part social commentary and part character study it is an astute, witty, elegant look at modern day romance.

Seems Brooklynite Nate Piven would be a catch for any woman - he’s smart, an on-the-way-up author, and he really likes women.  Problem is he always seems to let them down, which has won him an unenviable reputation.  His past relationships have been marked by missteps, usually on his part.  He does have the best intentions but things always go awry - just ask Juliet or Elisa.   “Contrary to what these women seemed to think, he was not indifferent to their happiness.   And yet he seemed, in spite of himself to provoke it.”

Waldman traces the literary scene, Nate’s relationships with various women, and his friendships, most notably with Aurit who tries to offer advice.  This author is quick to take on apt descriptions of those who fail and persevere again in today’s attempts to achieve and maintain intimacy.  Finding love in the big city, we are reminded is not an easy task.

When he was around 25 Nate thought that women were unavailable - they were either in a relationship, didn’t care to be in one or had set their sites on other goals.  When he reached his 30's Nate thought he was surrounded by women who only cared about relationships.  Then, at last he meets Hannah, a writer who seems to have been made in heaven just for him.  But, will he be able to do everything (or at least most things) right this time around?

The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. Is to be enjoyed - it’s a contemporary comedy of manners filled with insights and penned in lovely prose.  Can’t wait to see what Adelle Waldman will come up with next.

- Gail Cooke

MASSACRE POND by Paul Doiron

There’s little that pleases me more than the arrival of a new book.  I look forward to this with eager anticipation, especially when the book is by a critically acclaimed author - in this case the estimable Paul Doiron.   Re Doiron’s Bad Little Falls the AP wrote, “The plot is riveting, but as always in a Paul Doiron novel, the greatest attraction is the stark beauty of the language and the vivid portrayal of his native Maine.”  Very well put and also describes Massacre Pond, the fourth novel featuring game warden Mike Bowditch, a memorable character who brings both the beauty and the danger of Maine’s north woods to wide-screen life.

As Massacre Pond begins the usually peaceful residents of Washington County are now complaining loud and long about animal-rights activist Betty Morse purchasing thousands of woodland acres and turning them over to the government as a site for a national park. This is problematic for many, especially hunters and forest product workers who would be out of work.   Sometimes folks have clear but frightening ways of showing their displeasure - five butchered moose are discovered on property belong to Morse and her daughter is killed in an automobile accident.

Bowditch is not winning any popularity contest with the higher-ups, thus even though he was the first on the scene of the moose slaughter he’s told to stand aside.  However, there’s more violence and Bowditch isn’t one to stand by and watch it.

The perfect read for a hot summer or in Doiron’s hands for any time of year.  Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

THE IMPOSSIBLE LIVES OF GRETA WELLS by Andrew Sean Greer

Who among us has not wondered how different our life might have been had we been born at another time?  Imaginative writer Andrew Sean Greer explores that possibility in this time-traveling tale which transports the troubled Greta Wells between three very different periods of time.  She will find the same characters she knows in her present life but very different Gretas.

While Greta is living in New York City in 1985 she is dealt two shattering blows.  First, she is heartbroken by the AIDS death of her beloved twin brother, Felix, and her lover, Nathan, leaves her for another woman.  Unable to cope with two such devastating losses she falls into serious depression and turns to electroconvulsive therapy to find relief.  This begins an unexpected result - magical time travel following each of her sessions.  She sleeps only to awaken in a very different life.  Under the care of Dr. Cerletti she usually awakens to a new world every Thursday and Friday.  The time spent in each of these worlds varied, sometimes a day, at other times a week.  She was powerless to dictate the length of her stays.

When she awakens in 1941 Felix is alive and Nathan is her husband.  In 1918 Nathan is away at war, Greta finds a handsome young lover, and Felix is alive although very much hiding his homosexuality.  Quite obviously, no period is perfect, each has its challenges as well as its rewards.  Perhaps most moving of all are the times involving Felix, as we’re reminded of the difficulties faced by gay men in years past.

For Greta each of these time periods proves to be just as full of pitfalls as the one she actually inhabits.  It is for her to choose which one will be her own.

Andrew Sean Greer (The Confessions of Max Tivoli) has once again taken us on a magical journey - enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

LOST by S. J. Bolton

The story is chilling; the storyteller, S. J. Bolton, is extraordinary.  While random murder is horrific, what could be more heartrending than the killing of 10-year-old boys?  Yet that is precisely what’s happening in south London.  The boys are found with their throats slashed lying together as if asleep.  Websites pop up about the boys, and someone by the name of Peter Sweep posts about Dracula while criticizing DI Dana Tulloch’s investigation of the heinous crimes.

Early on we hear the voice of Dana:

“I shouldn’t say this,” said Dana.  “I wouldn’t to anyone else.  I haven’t the faintest shred of___”

                                                       “Dana, just say it.”

                                                       “I think it’s a woman.”

                                                       “Silence for a heartbeat, then, “Oh?”

Somehow, the thought that a woman might be the killer makes the crimes even more unthinkable.  While trying to recover from a traumatic ordeal Lacey Flint is taking time off from her job with the London police force.  Lacey’s next door neighbor is Barney, an 11-year-old boy who has been searching for his mother, a woman he has not seen since he was four-years-old.  He also spends time with his friends trying to solve the crimes as he believes his father may be responsible.  It made sense to him because his dad is fascinated by Dracula, and two of the bodies were found on his boat.  Obviously, Barney has a lot on his plate and thinks maybe Lacey can help him.  But, Lacey is fighting demons of her own.  She will have nothing to do with the man who loves her, she doesn’t trust her therapist, and begins cutting herself.

Dana observes Lacey’s behavior and thinks she might be the serial killer of the boys.  Hence, whether she likes it or not or is ready or not Lacey is irrevocably drawn back into police work.  And everyone is running out of time.

With Lost Bolton once again displays the mounting suspense and complex, multi-layered plotting we have come to expect from her.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

BIG BROTHER by Lionel Shriver

Never one to shy away from hot button issues, tackling them astutely, openly and honestly, Lionel Shriver now brings us a perceptive story focusing on family and food, in other words obesity.

Our narrator Pandora and her brother Edison are the offspring of a once popular television star.  Pandora, a former caterer, has settled in a small town in Iowa where she has a successful doll manufacturing business.  She’s married to Fletcher, a self-employed cabinet maker.  While Pandora who loves to cook may be a tad on the chunky side Fletcher is a physically fit biker.

Pandora’s choice of a lifestyle is a bit modest compared to Edison’s who is a New York jazz pianist.  However, things go a bit off-key in his business, so he calls Pandora to suggest a visit.  She’s delighted at the thought of spending time with her brother after too long, but is shocked to see him because he has gained hundreds of pounds.  He is what our society might call morbidly obese.  Further, as it soon becomes obvious he is far from being an ideal houseguest with a braggadocios streak and a tendency to eat, eat, eat.  Needless to say Fletcher is not the least bit fond of his brother-in-law.

What to do?  Pandora opts for intercession - she will move out of her home and into a rental apartment with Edison while they both lose weight.  This is a decision that may not only not work but also imperils her marriage.  It is at this point that Shriver  begins to explore familial relationships, the kinship of siblings, responsibilities to others and ourselves.  She does so insightfully, enriched with warmth and wisdom.

Big Brother is not only compulsively readable but it speaks to us today about the way we think about our bodies, the way we look at others and at ourselves.  Shriver is a masterful writer and we are her beneficiaries.

- Gail Cooke

MASARYK STATION by David Downing

     Shsssh!  Sorry but I cannot be interrupted (even for a Prada half-price sale!) because I'm totally engrossed in Masaryk Station, the final John Russell novel.  While all five of the previous Russell stories (Zoo Station, Stettin Station, Potsdam Station, etc.) have intrigued the final one is especially riveting and revealing as it answers many questions that have piqued curiosities and gone unanswered until now.

     Readers will remember that we first met Russell in Zoo Station where he was introduced as "a politically disillusioned English journalist living at the heart of Hitler's Reich."  We are on the brink of World War II and Russell is seen as a person of interest.  A former card-carrying communist the Russians are quick to use him, which is only the beginning.  What toll is taken on the man?

     Downing's works have been favorably compared to that of John Le Carre, beautifully crafted, compelling thrillers.  The Washington Post said "Downing is brilliant at evoking even the smallest details of wartime Berlin on its last legs."

     Along with a multitude of others I'm sorry to see Russell's journey come to an end, so I'm relishing every word of Masaryk Station.

   

THE KILL ROOM by Jeffery Deaver

Jeffery Deaver is simply one of the best thriller writers working today.  His prose scorches, sears - in another writer’s hands shattered glass would be just that - “shattered glass.”  In Deaver’s hands it is “Glass turned to a million crystals of blowing snow...”  Imagery par excellence!  This in addition to his ingenious plotting makes reading his books highly pleasurable for thriller fans.  The Kill Room, the latest installment in his series starring forensic expert Lincoln Rhyme is one more triumph.

Government sanctioned murders?  A frightening thought but this is a Deaver book and no holds are barred.  An American citizen who has sought safety in the Bahamas is shot by a skilled killer who targeted him from a mile away.  The victim, Robert Moreno was well known for his anti-American sympathies.  Also killed were his guard and a reporter who was interviewing him.  Enter Nance Laurel, the New York assistant district attorney, who believes that the assassinations were orchestrated by an undercover government agency.  How to prove this?  The assistance of quadriplegic Rhyme and his partner Amelia Sachs is needed.

This assignment proves a bit more problematic for Rhymes than with most investigators because the crime scene is well over 1,000 miles away.  The Bahamian police are uncooperative to say the least so Rhymes flies to the Bahamas only to find the crime scene devoid of any evidence....in fact, the room has been thoroughly cleaned and is now being painted.  As if uncooperative police weren’t roadblocks enough Rhymes soon finds that he has become a target.

While Deaver has received numerous accolades and awards for his books, my favorite has to be the British Thumping Good Read Award.  Well put.  The Kill Room is a thumping good read - don’t miss it.

- Gail Cooke

IF YOU WERE HERE by Alafair Burke

The story is chilling; the storyteller, S. J. Bolton, is extraordinary.  While random murder is horrific, what could be more heartrending than the killing of 10-year-old boys?  Yet that is precisely what’s happening in south London.  The boys are found with their throats slashed lying together as if asleep.  Websites pop up about the boys, and someone by the name of Peter Sweep posts about Dracula while criticizing DI Dana Tulloch’s investigation of the heinous crimes.

Early on we hear the voice of Dana:

“I shouldn’t say this,” said Dana.  “I wouldn’t to anyone else.  I haven’t the faintest shred of___”

“Dana, just say it.”

“I think it’s a woman.”

“Silence for a heartbeat, then, “Oh?”

Somehow, the thought that a woman might be the killer makes the crimes even more horrific.  While trying to recover from a traumatic ordeal Lacey Flint is taking time off from her job as with the London police force.  Lacey’s next door neighbor is Barney, an 11-year-old boy who has been searching for his mother, a woman he has not seen since he was four-years-old.  He also spends time with his friends trying to solve the crimes as he believes his father may be responsible.  It made sense to him because his dad is fascinated by Dracula, and two of the bodies were found on his boat.  Obviously, Barney has a lot on his plate and thinks maybe Lacey can help him.  But, Lacey is fighting demons of her own.  She will have nothing to do with the man who loves her, she doesn’t trust her therapist, and begins cutting herself.

Dana observes Lacey’s behavior and thinks she might be the serial killer of the boys.  Hence, whether she likes it or not or is ready or not Lacey is irrevocably drawn back into police work.  And everyone is running out of time.

With Lost Bolton once again displays the mounting suspense and complex, multi-layered we have come to expect from her.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke