“I knew my life would forever be divided into Before and After.” Lisa Scottoline, What Happened to the Bennetts. The Bennett family is on their way home from 15-year-old Allison’s lacrosse game when a pickup truck tailgates them on a dark stretch of road. They are forced to stop, and two men jump from the pickup and pull guns on Jason, demanding the car. What happens next will change their lives forever. Later that night, Jason and his family receive a visit from the FBI. The agents tell them that the carjackers are members of a dangerous drug-trafficking organization, and Jason and his family are now in their crosshairs. The […]
Read more...Category Archives: Literature
The Foundling Book Review
“I trust you’re familiar with the type of girl I’m referring to,” she tells the audience. “You’ve seen her slinking in and out of bawdy houses and illegal drinking establishments… she may seem normal enough—in fact, she’s often quite pretty. Until you see her again, a few years later, ruined and destitute, begging for handouts, surrounded by her own diseased and illegitimate children.”—Ann Leary, The Foundling. So says Dr. Agnes Vogel, the administrator of the Nettleton State Village for Feebleminded Women of Childbearing Age. It’s 1927 and eighteen-year-old Mary Engle is hired to work as Dr. Vogel’s secretary at an institution for mentally disabled women. She’s immediately in awe of […]
Read more...
The Compass When I Stray
I read this in the author’s note at the end of a wonderful novel by Erin Bartels. Here’s my review: All That We Carried.
Read more...
Path of the Assassin Book Review
People who took themselves too seriously not only were no fun, but could also be very dangerous.—Brad Thor, Path of the Assassin. I read Brad Thor’s debut, The Lions of Lucerne last year (originally published in 2002). I was obviously late to the party, but I was excited to find a new political thriller author. In Path of the Assassin, Navy Seal turned Secret Service agent Scot Harvath is taking on one of the world’s deadliest terrorist organizations. After rescuing the President from kidnappers, Harvath vows to capture or kill those responsible for the plot. A trail of clues points to Hashim Nidal, the planet’s most ruthless terrorist, who has […]
Read more...
The Diamond Eye Book Review
“Snipers must make themselves calm in order to succeed, and that is why women are good at sharpshooting. Because there is not a woman alive who has not learned how to eat rage in order to appear calm,” Kate Quinn, The Diamond Eye. With each of her historical novels, Kate Quinn gets better. After her 2021 book, The Rose Code, I didn’t think that was possible, but The Diamond Eye is a stellar achievement. In the snowbound city of Kiev, history student Lyudmila “Mila” Pavlichenko’s life revolves around her job as a library researcher and caring for her five-year-old son, Slavka. But when Hitler invades Russia, she forges a different […]
Read more...
The Hotel Nantucket Book Review
There’s nothing quite like lying on the beach soaking up some vitamin D with a great summer read. It may be the third week of August, but summer isn’t over yet—why not grab a fun beach read before daylight hours shrink too much? Elin Hilderbrand’s books are a perfect distraction. New York Magazine dubbed her the “queen of beach reads” for good reason. They are just fun… period. The Hotel Nantucket is a 2022 LibraryReads Favorite, which means librarians voted it one of the year’s best books. I concur. Synopsis: After a tragic fire in 1922 that killed 19-year-old chambermaid, Grace Hadley, The Hotel Nantucket went from a gilded age […]
Read more...
Man’s Search for Meaning Book Review
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” ― Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning is widely recognized as one of the most influential books of our time. It chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate and describes his psychotherapeutic method of finding meaning in all forms of existence, even the most traumatic ones. Frankl was so precocious and intuitive that he first spoke publicly about the meaning of life when he was only 15 years old and began corresponding […]
Read more...
The Woman in the Library Book Review
“I am a bricklayer without drawings, laying words in sentences, sentences into paragraphs, allowing my walls to twist and turn on whim…no framework…just bricks interlocked…no idea what I’m building or if it will stand…no symmetry, no plan, just the chaotic unplotted bustle of human life.” — Sulari Gentill, The Woman in the Library. The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet until the tranquility is shattered by a woman’s terrified scream. Security guards take charge, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who are sitting at the same table, pass the time in […]
Read more...
Lights Out Book Review
“Choose fear or choose faith, but only one choice will bring peace.” — Natalie Walters, Lights Out As a CIA analyst, Brynn Taylor developed a new program to combat terrorism, and invited members of foreign intelligence agencies to America to foster cooperation between countries. Now one of them, Egyptian spy Remon Riad, is missing. Jack Hudson has been working for the Strategic Neutralization and Protection Agency (SNAP) for almost nine years and takes the lead in hunting down the missing spy. But he isn’t at all pleased to find out Brynn is involved. It’s hard to trust a woman who’s already betrayed you. Every lead they follow draws them dangerously […]
Read more...
On the Mountain of the Lord – Book Review
“This is the land where prophecy is fulfilled,” Lev said. “Where the temporary and the eternal meet. Can’t understand the things of today without studying the words of yesterday.”—Ray Bentley and Bodie Thoene, On the Mountain of the Lord. Submerged in doubt after a brutal car accident ripped his wife, child, and faith from him, Dr. Jack Garrison travels to Israel on a fact-finding mission. When he experiences inexplicable visions within hours of landing, he knows he’s in over his head. Join Dr. Garrison as he teams up with longtime friend Lev and a dauntless female Israeli Border Police officer to battle a furtive yet deadly enemy. His journey will […]
Read more...