December 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.

 

A Marked Man, by Stella Cameron
Nature Girl, by Carl Hiaasen
Santa Cruise, by Mary Higgins Clark
Capital Crimes, by Jonathan & Faye Kellerman
Treasure of Khan, by Clive Cussler
First Impressions, by Nora Roberts

This Month's Great Escapes
by Bill McCleary  




Lost Lake, by Phillip Margolin

Ami Vergano is a young single mom and a slightly struggling lawyer with her own practice in Portland, Oregon.  In order to help her finances, she has rented out the apartment over her garage to Dan Morelli, a furniture maker she met at a craft fair.  Ami and her son, Ryan, are getting along well with Dan and he even offers to help coach Ryan’s Little League team.  At one of Ryan’s games, though, there is a violent altercation and Dan ends up being arrested for assaulting a police officer.  Ami agrees to represent Dan until a lawyer more experienced in criminal law can be hired.  Although she wants to be off the case as soon as possible, Ami finds herself caught up in events from Dan’s past—including the murder of a congressman—that will turn her life upside down.  This was a pretty good thriller and I liked the character of Ami.


Digging to America, by Anne Tyler

I have to confess that I don’t read too much of what is usually called ‘good’ fiction but one of the authors I always make an exception for is Anne Tyler; a new book by this author is always something to look forward to.  On a hot summer evening, two different couples, along with some assorted relatives, have traveled to Baltimore-Washington Airport.  The couples are there to meet and bring home their adopted Korean babies for the first time.  As they await the plane’s arrival, the couples get acquainted.  The Donaldsons are born and bred typical Americans; the Yazdans are more newly-minted and have an Iranian background.  Although they have just met, Bitsy Donaldson feels a connection with the Yazdans and on an impulse she invites them back to her house for an arrival party she has planned to welcome her new Korean baby.  And, thus begins an enduring friendship between the two families as they raise their adopted babies, compare notes on childrearing, cope with sickness and death, and experience new love between two members of the extended family. The greatness of this warm, enjoyable novel is seeing the experiences of the two families over the years through the eyes of a variety of the main characters, each with a different take on things.  Outstanding—I think one of Tyler’s best.


Crisis, by Robin Cook

Dr. Craig Bowman, a Boston doctor, is about to leave for the opera when he gets a call from the wealthy husband of one of his patients.  His wife, Patience Stanhope, is complaining of not feeling well.  Patience is a chronic hypochondriac but Dr. Bowman agrees to make a house call to check on her.  When he arrives, he finds Patience to be near death and he orders an ambulance to take her to the hospital.  Despite his emergency care, Patience dies shortly after her arrival at the hospital.  Months later, Dr. Bowman is sued for malpractice by Patience’s husband, Jordan.  Enter Dr. Jack Stapleton, a medical examiner for the city of New York, who just happens to be the brother of Dr. Bowman’s wife, Alexis.  Sensing that her husband is about to lose the malpractice suit—which she feels would devastate him—Alexis asks Jack to come to Boston to take a look at the case.  Although Jack is about to be married, he agrees to fly up and lend his assistance.  After studying the case, Jack decides that Patience needs to be exhumed and an autopsy performed.  And, that’s when things get interesting—and Jack gets threatened.  And, the Bowman children get terrorized.  Someone doesn’t want the autopsy performed.  What mystery did Patience take to her death?  I usually like Cook’s medical thrillers but I’m getting a little tired of his novels featuring Jack Stapleton—and most of the characters in this book weren’t very sympathetic.   This was just ok.


The Afghan, by Frederick Forsyth

When a terrorist agent is captured, American and British intelligence agencies are able to find out that a huge operation is being planned by al-Qaeda that will dwarf 9/11.  Unfortunately, that is all that can be determined.  What is needed is a secret agent to get inside the planning of the operation.  But, this agent would need to be able to pass very close scrutiny; any false moves and he would be immediately discovered and killed.  Cut to a rural farmhouse in England, where British Special Forces agent Mike Martin has settled after retiring from the forces.  Mike was born and raised in Iraq and has the language skills and looks to pass as a native.  But, not just any native.  In order to infiltrate the higher echelons of al-Qaeda, Mike needs to become a real person with a real history.  And, that person is Izmat Khan, a Taliban leader known as The Afghan, and now imprisoned at Guantanamo.  A fake release of Khan is engineered and publicized but Mike will be taking Khan’s place.  Khan, meanwhile, is sent to a remote location in the American far West to be kept in isolation.  That’s the setup for a terrific international thriller by the legendary Forsyth, who is a genius at stitching together multiple plot lines and locations all over the globe that come together in an increasingly suspenseful read.  Couldn’t put it down.  Didn’t want it to end. What more could you ask?



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Revised Nov. 30, 2006

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