July 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 Unquiet, by John Connolly
A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini
The Overlook, by Michael Connelly
The Good Guy, by Dean Koontz
Play Dead, by David Rosenfelt
Kabul Beauty School, by Deborah Rodriguez
Whitewash, by Alex Kava
Cat of Nine Tales, by Jeffrey Archer
Innocent as Sin, by Elizabeth Lowell
The Lady in Blue, by Javier Sierra
Michael Tolliver Lives, by Armistead Maupin
Secret Asset, by Stella Rimington
Blaze, by Richard Bachman
The Navigator, by Clive Cussler
On Chesil Beach, by Ian McEwan


This Month's Great Escapes
by Bill McCleary  



The Collectors, by David Baldacci

Mr. Baldacci’s latest novel takes us back to Washington, DC for another outing with The Camel Club, first introduced with the book by that same name.  The Camel Club, for the uninitiated, is made up of a group of friends that are eccentric to say the least.  But, each member brings a certain expertise to the club and the sum is definitely greater than its parts.  Their leader is Oliver Stone—no, not the movie director—formerly of the CIA.  The club likes to investigate happenings in DC and as our story begins, two murders have just taken place.  First, the new Speaker of the House has been assassinated while at a party, culprit unknown and at large.  Then, a short time later, the director of the rare books room at the Library of Congress is found dead in one of the vaults at the library.  Caleb Shaw, a Camel Club member, worked with the dead director and he thinks his death is suspicious—and he wants the Camel Club to investigate.  Meanwhile, in a seemingly unrelated story, Annabelle Conroy, a gorgeous master con artist, is planning an elaborate grand heist against a vicious casino mogul, who murdered her mother years ago.  The parallel stories intersect wonderfully and the result is a terrific entertaining read.


Cross, by James Patterson

Cross, of course, is Dr. Alex Cross, the criminal psychologist formerly with the Washington, DC police and now working for the FBI.  Well, at least he is working for the FBI at the beginning of the novel.  After one too many working nights away from his family, Alex decides to resign from the FBI and set up his own psychological practice.  At something of a crossroads, Alex is rather unsettled in his personal life and, after ten years, he is still feeling the loss of his wife, Maria, murdered all those years ago and her killer never caught.  Now, Alex and his former partner, John Sampson, have gotten interested in a string of rapes and murders in DC.  The crimes look like the work of Michael Sullivan, a ruthless mob hit man known as The Butcher.  Sullivan was also in DC at the time of Marie’s murder but then he disappeared.  Now that he is apparently back, can Alex finally solve his wife’s murder?  I like the character of Cross that Patterson has created and this should have been an interesting and suspenseful story but, quite honestly, it was more of a slow slog with too many needless murders and nothing in the way of thrills.


Wild Fire, by Nelson DeMille

Chilling.  Totally chilling.  This book’s plot will scare the living daylights out of you.  The novel begins innocently enough with Harry Muller, a member of the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force, dispatched on a Friday to upstate New York to investigate a right-wing group called the Custer Hill Club.  The club meets at a luxurious lodge on a vast piece of forest property.  Harry’s assignment seems pretty simple—to take some pictures and record license plate numbers—but first he goes missing and then he is found in the woods shot to death.  Enter fellow taskforce members John Corey and his wife, Kate Mayfield.  John feels partly responsible for Harry’s death because he had originally been scheduled for the Custer Hill assignment.  He and Kate are tasked to find out what happened to Harry—and give the mysterious Custer Hill Club a closer look.  What they find…  Well, it’s an outrageous scheme that’s terrifyingly real in today’s world.  DeMille is one of my very favorite authors and he has once again delivered a terrific suspense novel.


High Profile, by Robert Parker

Once again we are in the seaside resort of Paradise, outside of Boston.  The ‘high profile’ case is that of Walton Weeks, a controversial national celebrity talk show host.  Walton has been found dead in Paradise, strung up on a tree.   A couple days later, Carey Longley, Walton’s assistant, is found dead in a dumpster.  Carey was pregnant with Walton’s child.  Both have been murdered and Jesse Stone, Paradise’s chief of police, suddenly finds himself up to his neck in reporters clamoring for information and a suspect.  Well, Jesse has plenty of suspects, including two ex-wives and Walton’s current wife.  As if Jesse doesn’t have enough on his hands, Jenn, his ex-wife, tells Jesse she has been raped and is being stalked.  Luckily, Sunny Randall, Jesse’s current squeeze and a Boston private eye, is available to assist with Jenn—but does anybody think that’s a good idea???  This is a fun, breezy page-turner from the witty mind of Robert Parker


Magic City, by James W. Hall

Mr. Hall has a nice series going featuring a Key West native by the name of Thorn—just Thorn.  Thorn flies under the radar for the most part and does a little of this and a little of that—tying fishing lures, for example.  He likes to stay in the Keys but he has decided to venture to the big, bad city of Miami to assist his girlfriend, Alex.  She will be away for a week doing police training and Thorn has agreed to stay with her dad, Lawton, a retired cop who is slowly succumbing to Alzheimer’s disease.   Thorn and Lawton are starting their first day together when their house is broken into by two young Cuban-Americans.  The only thing stolen is an old black and white photo of the 1964 Miami prize fight between then Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston.  Thorn tries to mind his own business as he goes about his life but, try as he might, he seems to be drawn into, well, intriguing mysteries.  And, he’s got another mystery on his hand now.  Thorn manages to retrieve the photo but then Alex is kidnapped.  She will be released in exchange for the photo.  So, why is this photo of a long-ago fight of such importance?  Thorn, in his laid-back way, will uncover the secrets caught in the photo.  If you like novels with a Florida setting and maybe want a little more edge than novels by Carl Hiaasen, Hall’s your author.  This was great.
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Revised June 30, 2007

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