January 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.

 

The Lighthouse, by P. D. James
Night Fever, by Diana Palmer
Forever Odd, by Dean Koontz
All Night Long, by Jayne Ann Krentz
Every Breath You Take, by Judith McNaught
Hostage, by W. E. B. Griffin


This Month's Great Escapes
by Bill McCleary



Polar Shift, by Clive Cussler

With the character of Dirk Pitt aging and slowing down a skosh, Cussler has been turning to Kurt Austin for some of his adventure novels.  Austin, who also works for NUMA, the National Underwater and Marine Agency, is a younger version of Pitt.  The story begins with the harrowing escape from Russia of a talented scientist in the waning days of World War II.  This somewhat mad genius has invented a formula that could cause a cataclysmic change in the world with a massive polar shift.  Fast-forward to the present. The scientist has died but his formula has gotten into sinister hands.  The scientist regretted inventing the formula all his life and he left the antidote to just one person, his granddaughter—who has no idea she even has the formula.  But, the evil forces know and they want her dead.  With the fate of the world at stake, Kurt very much needs her alive.  This is a good read but I would have liked a little longer prologue and a little less scientific jargon.


School Days, by Robert B. Parker

Spenser, our intrepid Boston private eye, is on his own in this latest offering in the series.  His friend Hawk, featured in the last book, is AWOL this time around and his lady friend, Susan, is at a psychiatric conference in North Carolina.  Luckily, man’s best friend hasn’t deserted him and he has his dog Pearl to keep him company.  In a tony Boston suburb, two students wearing hoods went berserk and shot up their prep school, killing seven students and teachers.   One of the students was caught and the other escaped.  The escapee, Jared Clark, was fingered by the arrested youth and Jared admitted to the crime under intense interrogation.  But did he do it?  Jared’s grandmother, wealthy Lily Ellsworth, thinks he is innocent and she wants Spenser to look into the crime.  Spenser tries to dissuade her but in the end agrees to take the case—which gives him an opportunity to go back to school.  Spenser’s school days apparently weren’t particularly happy but he’s the Big Man on Campus this time around!  This is loads of fun—as usual from Parker.  You’ll love going back to school with Spenser.


Chill Factor, by Sandra Brown

It seems like it has been awhile since I’ve read a Sandra Brown novel; Chill Factor is her latest.  Magazine editor Lilly Martin, of Atlanta, is in Cleary, North Carolina, to close up her mountain vacation cabin, which has just been sold following her divorce from Dutch Burton, the local sheriff.  Cleary is normally your typical small town but for the past two years it has been haunted by the disappearance and presumed murders of five local women.  At the scene of each abduction a blue ribbon has been left.  Dutch, understandably, has been under a lot of pressure to capture the culprit.  On a bitter cold day with an ice storm moving in, he and Lilly have met at the cabin to finalize the cabin’s sale. Dutch leaves first but Lilly lingers; by the time she departs the ice storm is in full force.  On the way down the mountain she hits a hiker and wrecks her car.  The hiker, Ben Tierney, is slightly injured but together they manage to make it back to the cabin, where they are stranded with no cell phone reception and no way to get off the mountain.  Meanwhile, two FBI agents have arrived in town to assist in the abduction cases.  Their prime suspect?  One Ben Tierney.   Sandra Brown is a master at atmosphere and suspense—I was shivering from both the cold and the exciting story.  Terrific!


Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, by Alexander McCall Smith

This is the second novel in the Sunday Philosophy Club series.  I’m not sure why the series has this moniker because I don’t think the club has actually met in either of the books.  However, the club does have one delightful member and that is Isabel Dalhousie, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics.  (And, isn’t it nice when ethics are applied?)  Isabel is fortysomething, attractive, single, rich, and a resident of Edinburgh, Scotland.  Most of all, though, Isabel is curious.  Isabel is minding her niece Cat’s delicatessen for a few days while she is away when she meets an interesting customer named Ian.  Ian, a retired psychologist, has recently had a heart transplant.  Medically, things are going well with his new heart but Ian is haunted by a recurring violent image; a memory he believes belongs to the heart donor.  Ian fears his health will soon suffer if he doesn’t find an explanation for what he is experiencing.  Isabel, curious thing, is intrigued by the idea of cell memory and she decides to investigate the circumstances of the anonymous donor’s death.  Could the donor’s cell memory be of his killer?  This is an enjoyable addition to this new series. As with all of the author’s books, the characters are interesting, complex, and likeable.  Both books in this series end somewhat weakly but I am enjoying my visits to Edinburgh.




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Revised Jan. 9, 2006

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