The Almost Moon, by Alice Sebold

 Fiftysomething Helen Knightly, divorced with two grown daughters, lives in a suburb of Philadelphia.  She supports herself by working as a model for art classes but it’s not much of a living.  For the past twenty some years she has cared for her widowed mother, Clair.   A former lingerie model in her younger days, Clair has become increasingly difficult and erratic as she has aged—and also agoraphobic.  Helen has had a love-hate relationship with her mother for most of her life—always trying to win her love and approval but with little success, leaving her frustrated and resentful.  Now, her mother is eighty-eight and feeble—but still very acerbic—and has Helen largely wasted her life?  At the beginning of the novel, Helen has just killed her mother on what should have been simply another normal, uneventful day for both of them. The rest of the story shows how she reached that point—and what happens next.  Sebold’s novels can be disturbing but I think she is immensely talented.

The Uncommon Reader, by Alan Bennett

 The uncommon reader is Queen Elizabeth II, who comes across a bookmobile on the palace grounds one day while chasing her beloved dogs. Being polite, she stops and has a conversation with the librarian and decides to check out a book that he recommends.  Not really intending to read it, she nevertheless does—and finds herself hooked on books.  Soon she is carrying a book with her everywhere she goes.  To the consternation of the palace staff, she begins to neglect her many official duties—preferring to open a good book to opening yet another hospital or bridge.  And, she finds her outlook on the world changing as her reading expands.  Well, things surely can’t continue in this frightful manner can they?  This delightful novella, by the author of The History Boys, is wonderfully entertaining but done too soon.

The Broken Window, by Jeffery Deaver

 Lincoln Rhyme, the paralyzed New York criminologist, receives word that his cousin, Arthur Rhyme, has been arrested for murder.  Lincoln and Arthur have been estranged for many years—you’ll find out why--but family is family and Lincoln reluctantly decides to look into the case, with the help of his partner and lover, policewoman Amelia Sachs.  Although there seems to be a lot of evidence pointing to Arthur’s guilt, he claims to be innocent and some things don’t seem right to Lincoln.  When he and Amelia do some deeper digging, they find several cases that look similar to Arthur’s.  Soon, they determine that their unknown suspect, dubbed “522”, has been able to ingeniously plant evidence to falsely convict people in a number of crimes.  The information used to plant the evidence may have come from a large data mining company called Strategic Systems Datacorp, which maintains vast information databanks on millions of Americans.  With his detailed knowledge of both his victims and patsies he has chosen, “522” has no trouble committing his crimes and hanging them on someone else.  But, who is this “522”—and how will Lincoln and Amelia ever discover the identity of one so clever at using data and covering his tracks?  Deaver is one of my very favorite authors and his latest is terrific—both in its mystery and suspense and its disturbing take on personal information gathering.

Hit and Run, by Lawrence Block

 Keller—sort of sounds like killer—is an amusing hit man who has had some interesting, wacky adventures as he has gone about fulfilling his contract hits in this enjoyable series by Block.  It may seem strange to have a series with a killer as the main character but when he’s not working Keller is a pretty normal, nice guy.  Heck, he’s even a stamp collector!  Keller’s been doing his contract hits for a number of years and he’s finally amassed enough money to retire—after he does one last hit in Des Moines.  While he is there waiting to get the go ahead for the hit, the governor of Ohio is assassinated while visiting Des Moines on a campaign stop during the presidential primaries.  The governor wasn’t Keller’s hit—he would never accept such a high profile contract--but Keller’s been set up to take the fall with evidence planted that links him to the assassination.  Suddenly, Keller’s mug is being flashed nationwide and he’s the object of a massive manhunt.  Now what’s he to do?  This may or may not be the final book in the series but whether it is or not, it’s definitely the most entertaining and satisfying of them all.  Well done!

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