John Grisham’s novels usually involve legal thrillers, and the attorneys who star in them are usually heroes. They are out for justice and righting wrongs. In his latest novel, “The Widow,” Grisham presents an attorney who is neither hero nor fighter for justice.
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Catherine Ryan Hyde’s novels deal with the human condition; our complex natures, our frailties, the mistakes we make, as well as our ability to forgive, to learn, to change, and to show compassion to others. All of her novels feature, to some extent, unlikely people who forge families. In “Falling Apart and Other Gifts from the Universe,” we meet Addie Finch, a tough security guard who hides her emotions behind the brittle walls she has erected around herself.
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Author William Kent Krueger’s latest novel, the twenty-first entry in his Cork O’Connor series about that small-town sheriff and detective, is filled with fascinating, superbly drawn characters, but it’s certainly more than just a character study. It’s a complex and puzzling murder mystery featuring so many likely suspects that we readers are as stumped as O’Connor himself in trying to figure out not only who committed the murder, but where to even begin the investigation. The most confusing situation is that the murder he must solve happened twenty-five years before the present day.
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In many ways, Mary Alice Monroe’s “Where the Rivers Merge” is an ode to the ACE Basin, a place in South Carolina where three rivers join. The main character, Eliza Rivers, shows us the beauty of this place as we learn about her life growing up at Mayfield, a large property that belonged to her father’s family.
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Jennifer Weiner draws us into her newest novel with a mysterious event in the past, as she introduces us to two estranged sisters, and the daughter who ultimately brings them together again. In “The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits” we meet Zoe and Cassie Grossberg, two sisters who could not be more unlike each other. Zoe, pretty and vivacious, always knows just what to wear, what to say, and how to make friends. Cassie, on the other hand, is homely, shy, insecure, and her only joy is making music.
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While Sarah Damoff’s debut novel, “The Bright Years,” has subject matter that might seem, one the surface, to be grim—death, loss, addiction—she creates an uplifting story about people who choose to love in spite of failings, in spite of problems, in spite of what might seem insurmountable issues. Ultimately, this is a novel that is filled with hope and a promise that the human soul is capable of unlimited love.
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In Julia Dahl’s newest mystery, “I Dreamed of Falling,” all of the main characters are people who have failed at parenting during at least one point in their lives. Parents of these neglected children (some of whom are now adults) were not married and the conception of said children was completely accidental.
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In “House of Glass,” bestselling author Sarah Pekkanen creates a brilliant symphony of clashing melodies as Stella Hudson, appointed as a best interest attorney (BIA) to young Rose Barclay, must listen carefully to the song being sung by Rose’s family to determine the truth under those false notes. And while she is tasked with determining which parent Rose should live with as a result of their divorce, Stella realizes that what she really needs to find out is who killed Tina, Rose’s nanny, who fell from a third story window in her attic bedroom to her death on the patio. It was witnessed by Rose and her grandmother Harriet.
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Author Rob Hart’s “Assassins Anonymous” is a unique entry in the action-spy-mystery novel universe. On the one hand, it does boast many of the usual exciting action novel features: bloody violence; mano-a-mano combat; powerful heroes and equally powerful villains; clever and deadly spies; hit men (and women) galore; the CIA, of course; and most of all, murders. And murderers, as the title indicates.
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Much has been written and admired about “Louder Than Hunger,” John Schu’s brutally, almost painfully honest book about his near-death experience with anorexia nervosa. I think this is a book that will become an important personal experience to each person who reads it as each reader uses Schu’s fictionalized experiences as a mirror that might reflect certain experiences in the reader’s life.
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As fascinating as the murder mystery “The Murder of Mr. Ma” is, the afterward and acknowledgments at the end are almost, but certainly not completely, as intriguing as the actual mystery itself. Cowritten by John Shen Yen Nee and SJ Rozan, this series opener introduces two Chinese men, Lao She and Judge Dee Ren Jie, who are actual historic figures from China’s past. These two men collaborate to investigate the murder of a Chinese man, which death is quickly multiplied when more Chinese men, all of whom knew each other, are found murdered by the same weapon, an unusual butterfly sword.
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Addiction is an issue that directly or indirectly plagues all of society. It is the inability to escape a habit that haunts its victim, the “user,” the addict. It is an illness that carries a perfectly awful stigma, an illness which must be fought with the entire being of the sufferer if it is to be conquered. Dr. Michael Cowl Gordon, who has devoted his career and his life to the goal of leading addicts on the road to sobriety, has provided all of us with the knowledge, the guide, and a concrete plan to achieve that victory with his remarkable book, “The Twelve Step Pathway; A Heroic Journey of Recovery.”
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