Odd Apocalypse

Odd Apocalypse
By Dean Koontz
Bantam Books, 2012. 355 pgs. Fiction

Odd Thomas, the boy who sees the ghosts of the dead, continues his adventures in Odd Apocalypse. While traveling with the mysterious and very pregnant Annamaria, Odd finds himself a houseguest at Roseland, an opulent estate owned by a reclusive billionaire. As usual, Odd attracts the attention of a local unhappy spirit, this time in the form of a beautiful woman astride an equally impressive horse. Her silent pleas for help lead Odd on a dangerous and unexpected journey into a world where reality is uncertain and basic truths are called into question.

Odd continues to be an endearing character, though this new adventure was not my favorite. I keep wanting to see more development to his character and story. Maybe we’ll see that in his continuing adventures.

CZ

The Descendents

The Descendents
By Kaui Hart Hemmings
Random House, 2011. 297 pgs. Fiction

The King family descended from Hawaiian royalty and remains one of the largest landowners in the state. That may all change if Matthew, who wields the deciding vote in the family trust business dealings, decides to sell a large portion of his family's legacy to a new development. The stress of this important decision is made more complicated when Matthew’s wife ends up in a coma after a boat-racing accident. As he and his two daughters try to deal with the drama, Matthew will learn a great deal about his wife, his history as a husband and father, and what family is really for.

This book is filled with very weighty issues but surprisingly never gets too dark thanks mainly to Matthew’s feisty ten-year-old daughter, Scottie. Matthew’s narration keeps the tone on the lighter side as he mocks himself and his situation. A brilliant family drama.

CZ

Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction

Good Prose:  The Art of Nonfiction
by Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd
Random House, 2013.  195 pgs. Nonfiction.

The subtitle of Kidder and Todd's remarkable new book is "stories and advice from a lifetime of writing and editing." They are as good as their word, and their word is very good.  Kidder, who won the National Book Award for Non-Fiction and the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1982 for The Soul of a New Machine, and who has written a number of fine articles and books ranging from Among Schoolchildren, a school year long stay in a fifth grade classroom, to House, a narrative history of the building of a home.  Todd is Kidder's no less gifted editor and the two team up to deliver an amiable, readable, remarkable editorial, if you will, on why good writing is such hard work, but why that work is worth it.

LW

Kingdom of Strangers

Kingdom of Strangers (Katya #3)
By Zoe Ferraris
Little Brown and Company, 2012, 363 pgs. Mystery

A woman’s body discovered in a desert sand dune outside Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, leads to the discovery that a serial killer has been systematically killing women for more than ten years. His victims are the most vulnerable in Saudi society, women who have come to the Kingdom to work as maids for wealthy families. When they disappear everyone assumes they have run away so they are rarely reported missing. Even identifying the bodies is nearly impossible. As Katya works on the serial murder case, the distraught head of the homicide department comes to her for help in finding his missing mistress – a crime which he can’t possibly report since adultery is illegal in Arabia.

In this third in the series of mysteries featuring Katya, a forensic specialist, and Nayir, her fiancée, Ferraris gradually reveals the horrific murders and simultaneously introduces the reader to the complex and frightening realities of life in the Kingdom for expatriate workers. And Katya, too, offers the reader a view into the difficulties of life for Saudi women. Recommended for mystery readers looking for a complicated plot in a highly unusual setting. SH

The Expats

The Expats
By Chris Pavone
Crown, 2012, 326 pgs. Fiction

Kate has quit her job in Washington, D.C., and packed her two children and necessary possessions to follow her husband to Luxembourg. In spite of having traveled a great deal for her previous job, she is having trouble adjusting to life as a full time mom and expat wife. Everything around her somehow seems off-key. What exactly is her husband doing at work and why won’t he tell her more about it? Those other friendly expats, who are they and why are they trying so hard to be friends? And why isn’t she happy when she always thought she’d like to stay home with her children?

Told in alternating chapters that flashback to various times in the past (the present is the smallest part of the action), Kate uncovers layers of secrets and reveals layers of her own secrets. Kate is a flawed protagonist but the European setting is interesting and the secrets keep pulling the reader in. This is a great choice for a female reader who likes spy and mystery novels. I found the ending to be a bit weak but it is probably a set up for a sequel that will continue revealing secrets and tying up loose ends. SH

Perfect Scoundrels

Perfect Scoundrels
By Ally Carter
Disney/Hyperion, 2013. 328 pgs. Young Adult

Kat and Hale have finally started dating, but their relationship hits a rather large snag when Hale's grandmother leaves him her billion-dollar corporation and Kat suspects the will might have been part of an elaborate con. As she and her crew set out to figure out if there's more going on than meets the eye, Kat knows she risks hurting Hale, but she also knows they need to figure out the truth of what's going on--and why.

The third book in the Heist Society series is just as much fun as the first two--and actually maybe a little bit more since we get to see a little more romance between Kat and Hale. As usual, there are lots of twists and turns as the plot moves along, and even though readers can predict that things will work out all right in the end, they'll enjoy the process of seeing just how that happens.

AE

Hysteria

Hysteria
By Megan Miranda
Walker, 2013. 326 pgs. Young Adult


After Mallory killed her boyfriend Brian in self-defense, no one in her town looks at her the same. Brian's mother is stalking her and Mallory can feel his presence as well, although she can't remember all of the details of what happened. Her parents send her off to a boarding school, and things there aren't much better. Although one classmate, Reid, is interested in getting to know her better, everyone else seems to know what happened and either steers clear or makes life harder for her. And Mallory is certain someone is following her, sneaking into her room, and even threatening her. And then something happens that shows Mallory and her classmates might be in more danger than ever.

Holy smokes! This book is one heck of a ride! It's so interesting to follow Mallory as she trying to figure out if she's just experiencing hallucinations or if something is really happening and trying both to remember and to forget what happened the night that Brian died. Absolutely gripping, with a nice little romance angle as well. Highly enjoyable.

AE

No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel . . .

No Crystal Stair:  A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller
by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Carolrhoda, 2012.  188 pgs.  Young Adult

Hard to determine the exact best audience for this fine book, a fiction/nonfiction mix about a young black man who started life out as a petty thief, went on to work for his brother's Church ministry, and eventually opened a bookstore in Harlem which carried only books written by or about blacks. Lewis Michaux's vision of the importance of educating black people about their own history and culture led him to establish The National Memorial Bookstore with "five books, a building, and a hundred bucks." From that unpromising beginning Lewis parlayed his business into a store containing hundreds of thousands of books which became, if not the heart and soul, at least the brains of Harlem--poets, civil rights' leaders, kids from the neighborhood, political leaders, all flocked to the store where if you couldn't afford to buy a book, Lewis had a room in the back where you could read whatever you wanted for as long as you wanted.  More than just the story of the Harlem bookstore, No Crystal Stair . . . is the story of Ms. Nelson's family.  Lewis was her great uncle, and the story of his life, juxtaposed with those of his two brothers, one a nationally-known preacher and one a gambling man who later settled down to a factory job to support his family. Names to conjure with from the Civil Rights movement are here:  Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, along with literary figures--Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin. The difficulty with finding an audience for this volume lies primarily with  "kids nowadays" not knowing much about what transpired between the Emancipation Proclamation and now, and where black citizens had to come from and how they got to where we are now--far from perfect, but exponentially better. This is a fine book of historical fiction with lots of history included. An excellent street-level view of the history of race relations in the United States.

LW

Suspect

Suspect
by Robert Crais
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2013.  309 pages.  Mystery

When Maggie, a bomb-sniffing German Shepherd fresh home from Afghanistan and from the loss of her handler, and Scott James, an LAPD officer are teamed up in the K9 Unit, good and frightening things begin to happen for both of them. Scott is back on the force after being severely injured in a shootout that killed his partner and has had to play the compassion card to not be forced into medical retirement. Maggie and Scott are both still in recovery from physical, mental, and emotional wounds but as they train together, and help each other on Scott's still unsolved case, they begin to bond, heal, and make significant progress towards finding the men who killed Scott's partner and nearly killed him. Robert Crais is a bang-up (you'll excuse the expression) writer of police procedurals, never skimping on characterization and setting for action's sake, or vice-versa.  Readers will find themselves cheering and fearing for Scott and Maggie as they draw ever closer to finding the killers and saving their own lives in more ways than one.

LW

Endangered

Endangered
By Eliot Schrefer
Scholastic Press, 2012. 264 pgs. Young Adult

Sophie's mother runs a preserve for bonobos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sophie goes to visit during the summers. Although this year, she's reluctant to visit, she quickly becomes more involved than she's ever been before when she basically adopts a malnourished, mistreated young bonobo, Otto, and essentially becomes his surrogate mother. When the country breaks out in war and the preserve is attacked while her mother is away, Sophie and Otto escape to the jungle, and it's up to Sophie to try to save Otto once again.

Schrefer does a great job portraying a fictitious--and yet entirely plausible--conflict and the way that it affects people. In the midst of that background, he also builds a beautiful relationship between Sophie and Otto, showing their attachment to one another and the difficult decisions Sophie faces as she tries to save Otto, who to most people is only a pet at best or a source of food at worst. Sophie is a strong, smart girl whose determination to save Otto will endear her to readers, and Otto is adorable. This is one that I debated whether or not to read, and upon completion, I'm thrilled that I didn't miss out on a such a wonderful story. There is some off-scene violence and a few descriptions of the repercussions of that violence.

AE

The Maid of Fairbourne Hall

The Maid of Fairbourne Hall
By Julie Klassen
Bethany House, 2011. 414 pgs. Romance

Margaret Macy is set to receive an inheritance on her next birthday, and her stepfather wants to make sure that money stays in the family. Therefore, he's determined that she will marry his lecherous nephew--and tells him to make that happen by any means necessary. To protect herself, Margaret disguises herself as a maid and runs away. She winds up working at Fairbourne Hall--the home of not one but two of her former suitors, Nathaniel and Lewis Upchurch. Having rejected Nathaniel in favor of Lewis, only to have Lewis's interest wane, Margaret is desperate not to have either man recognize her and to maintain her disguise until her birthday comes. But as she's working in their home, she can't help but make new observations about both men and make an important discovery about her own heart.

I've read a few of Julie Klassen's books, and I liked this one the best. Both Margaret and her male counterpart (I'll leave it to you to see which brother gets to play the love interest) are likable and the plot line was interesting. Very enjoyable.

AE

My Ideal Bookshelf

My Ideal Bookshelf
Art by Jane Mount; edited by Thessaly La Force
Little, Brown and Company, 2012.  226 pgs.  Nonfiction

Mount and LaForce's book is simple in concept and great fun in its realization.  They approached over 100 creative people--writers, designers, musicians, cartoonists, dancers,  graphic artists, and chefs (interesting) to share a shelf of books that "represent you . . . your favorite favorites." The results are sometimes predictable but mostly fascinating and sometimes funky.  Alex Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, chose the score of Mahler's Ninth Symphony as one of his favorites; Stephenie Meyer's picked Little Women, Jane Eyre, and several other counterintuitive-to-vampires titles; more participants than you can possibly imagine chose Anton Chekhov's short stories, and, in fact, Francine Prose's entire bookshelf is Chekhov, bookended by characters from Where the Wild Things Are.  Even the Hardy Boys and volumes from Childcraft find place here, as do a sparkling sufficiency of titles we can add to our own To Read and To Reread lists. Almost all the respondents are from the West or East coasts, but the unwashed masses of the rest of the country may participate as well because the book's creators have also included a "My Ideal Bookshelf" template which you can copy, color in your own favorite spines-o-books, and send scans or photos to idealbookshelf.com.  Some fun!

LW