May New Popular Books

The following new books have been added this month to the Popular Reading Collection located next to the circulation desk.   These books and any other titles currently checked out can be placed on hold.
See a staff member at the circulation desk for assistance.

 

Long Spoon Lane, by Anne Perry
Two Dollar Bill, by Stuart Woods
No Place Like Home, by Mary Higgins Clark
Pretty Woman, by Fern Michaels
True Believer, by Nicholas Sparks
The Year of Pleasures, by Elizabeth Berg
The Breakdown Lane, by Jacquelyn Mitchard
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, by Alexander McCall Smith
Prep, by Curtis Sittenfeld

This Month's Great Escapes
by Bill McCleary


The Final Solution, by Michael Chabon

Here’s a small book of only 131 pages that you can read in one sitting.  It’s July 1944 and World War II is still raging.  We’re in the British countryside, where a famous detective has retired to raise bees.  Also there is a young Jewish German boy and his parrot.  The boy has escaped Germany and is being kept safe at a boarding house.  The boy scarcely talks but the parrot recites all sorts of numbers.  Also at the boarding house are several rather suspicious men—who seem to be very interested in the boy’s parrot.  Could the parrot have the key to breaking a German code?  When one of the men is murdered and the parrot is stolen, the ancient detective decides to come out of retirement to test his skills one last time.  This was rather a trifle for the talented Chabon but nevertheless an enjoyable little novel. 


Alone, by Lisa Gardner

Massachusetts State Trooper Bobby Dodge, a member of an elite hostage team, is called to a wealthy Back Bay townhouse in Boston where an armed man is holding his wife and son captive.  Bobby positions himself in a home across the street where he has a clear view of what is happening in the townhouse.  Through a large picture window, he sees the highly agitated man bring his gun up to his wife’s face and tighten his grip on the trigger.  In that instant, Bobby must decide whether to watch the wife die or kill the husband.  Bobby chooses the latter--and so begins his troubles.  In short order, Bobby is suspended from the force, vilified by the press, ordered to see a psychiatrist, and sued by the man’s father—a powerful judge.  Was the killing righteous—or did the man’s wife manipulate the hostage situation to rid herself of a husband who was about to divorce her?  This was an ok novel but I had trouble warming up to any of the characters.


Alice in Jeopardy, by Ed McBain

Ed McBain, aka Evan Hunter, usually writes about the 87th Precinct, a wonderful series.  Now and then, though, he’ll surprise us with a non-series novel and that’s what we have here.  Alice Glendenning has been a widow for about eight months; her husband was lost at sea in a boating accident.  Alice is still trying to cope with his death while raising their two small children alone.  Alice is also waiting for a $250,000 insurance payoff but meanwhile she has started working as a real estate agent.  One particularly unfortunate day, she is unsuccessful in finding a home for a client, is hit by a car and breaks her foot, and arrives home to find that her kids have been kidnapped.  The kidnappers think she has been paid the quarter million and they want the money or the kids are toast.  And, there’s the usual don’t go to the police.  Yes, I guess Alice is in jeopardy.   But, being on her own has toughened her up and, with the help of her sister, she might just get herself out of jeopardy.  This was a fun departure for McBain and I enjoyed every word.  But, paging editing!  Mercury has not made a convertible in decades so a character could not have rented a new one.  A Ford Taurus sedan can by no means be called a ‘sporty’ car--at least not in my book.  I know of NO real estate agents who are given expensive Mercedes automobiles to drive—and this would be especially unlikely with a new agent who has yet to sell a single house.  And, finally, the 7 % real estate commission in today’s market is just a fond dream for agents. 


Prince of Fire, by Daniel Silva

With A Death in Vienna, I thought we might have seen the last of Gabriel Allon, the art restorer who moonlights as an Israeli secret agent.  But, happily, he is back in this latest Silva suspense novel.  Gabriel is working on a restoration in Venice when he learns that the Israeli embassy in Rome has been almost destroyed by a car bomb, with many casualties.  Soon, Ari Shamron, Gabriel’s quasi spy boss, is on Gabriel’s doorstep enlisting his help to catch the terrorist behind the bombing.   Gabriel returns to Israel and assembles a small, highly talented team of agents and they soon think they know the identity of the terrorist.   Unfortunately, they also believe the terrorist is striking on specific dates commemorating significant events of the past and the next likely date is only a few weeks away.  Gabriel and his agents will be hopscotching over Europe and the Middle East desperately trying to find the terrorist as the time ticks down.  This was another winner by Silva.  If you enjoy international spy thrillers, the Gabriel Allon series is one I think you will like.


 

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Revised April 27, 2005

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