"Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn

419 pages

On the morning of her fifth wedding anniversary, smart and beautiful Amy Dunne disappears from her home on the Mississippi River near North Carthage, Missouri. Her husband, Nick, becomes a suspect almost immediately. Amy didn't take out any big sums of money before she left, and Nick doesn't have an alibi. Passages of Amy's diary reveal that the two of them were having marital problems for quite awhile before she disappeared. And, most damningly, Nick just doesn't seem as upset as a man in his position should. But Nick and his twin sister, Margo, insist that he's innocent and begin their own investigation, during which they uncover some odd things about Amy's past. Did someone else take Amy? Or is Nick just trying to divert attention from himself? The mystery unfolds in chapters that alternate between Nick's story and passages from Amy's diary leading up to her disappearance.

This is one of the most intense books I've ever read. I couldn't put it down. When I did have to stop reading and, you know, go to work and stuff, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Oh, how it messed with my head. I loved the first 90% of it, but I HATED the ending. I just hated everything about it, and I thought it made no sense. I won't say any more to avoid spoilers, but let me know if you've read it because I'd love to talk about how much I despise the end. That said, I know a lot of people who disagree with me about the conclusion. And I have to admit that, as much as I hated the way things went down, this is still an amazing book. The storytelling is perfect in the way it sucks you in, and there are so many details that fit together just right. I'd be thinking "What the heck? There's no way she can explain that" and then, boom, she did. Plus, it just freaked me out, in an interesting way. It's one of those stories that's going to stick with me for a long, long time. 

"Defending Jacob" by William Landay

421 pages

Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in Massachusetts for more than twenty years. He is respected in the community and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and teenage son, Jacob. Then a shocking crime rocks their small town: a fourteen-year-old boy has been stabbed to death on his way to school. Andy and Laurie are afraid for the safety of their son, just like all the other parents in the area. But when Jacob is charged with the murder, they are both completely astounded. For the first time, Andy finds himself on the other side--the defense--and he will stop at nothing to prove his son's innocence. 

This book does pretty much everything a good thriller is supposed to do. It kept me guessing. It freaked me out. It got my heart pounding. I really like the structure of the story. Throughout the book we get glimpses of the transcript from a future case, in which Andy is telling the story to a prosecutor but we're not exactly sure who's on trial, or for what. At the end--a very, very shocking conclusion that completely took me by surprise--it all comes together. In addition to the pure can't-put-it-down entertainment value, this book raises some moral dilemmas that are quite fascinating. How far can someone go to protect their child? Should our loyalties lie with the law or with our loved ones? How much of criminal behavior is nature as opposed to nurture? All interesting things to think about. I recommend this one for fans of John Grisham and other authors of legal thrillers...or any thrillers, for that matter.

A Good and Useful Hurt by Aric Davis

293 pages, 2011

Pain, whether physical or mental, is simply a fact of life. Sometimes we bring it on ourselves and other times it is cast upon us despite our every effort to keep it at bay. This novel brings them all together and reminds us that there is such thing as "a good and useful hurt." Experiencing pain and overcoming it helps us to grow and become stronger individuals and helps to remind us not to take life for granted, a point driven home on more than one occasion by Davis.

A piercer by trade, Davis provides excellent background information and realistic descriptions of tattoo and piercing practices as they relate to the book. But if you are a little squimish, don't worry, there's no over the top descriptions of either.

For only his third novel, I think Davis is embarking on a successful career. While some of the action was a little predictable, the overall focus is strong and some elements will keep you guessing until the end.

"Dead to You" by Lisa McMann

243 pages

We begin this story with what is supposed to be a happy ending. Ethan was abducted from his front yard when he was seven. Now he's sixteen, and he's just been reunited with his family: his parents; his brother, Blake, who is two years younger and witnessed the kidnapping all those years ago; and Gracie, the six-year-old sister he's never met. As happy as the reunion is, Ethan is struggling. He can't remember anything about his life before he was taken, so everything feels foreign. He feels like he doesn't fit in and wonders if he's been gone too long to become part of the family again. As time goes on, he becomes more and more troubled by missing memories, from both before and after the abduction. What terrible thing is his mind blocking?

This story has a very interesting premise, but I was disappointed. I wanted more character development. This is such a complicated issue, but I felt like I didn't know any of the characters enough to really get invested in the story like I could have. Also, Ethan's family's reaction seemed totally unrealistic to me in many ways. Ethan returns out of the blue after being gone for almost a decade, missing most of his childhood, leaving his parents thinking that he was dead, and yet the family basically goes about their business as usual immediately after he returns. They go to work and take Gracie to soccer or whatever the very next day and even make Ethan go to school the Monday following his Friday homecoming. It just didn't ring true. Yeah, I know I'm nitpicking, but I reserve the right to complain about whatever bugs me in my reviews :). There's some decent enough suspense leading up to the end, but it's ultimately pretty predictable due to clues throughout the story. It's too bad, because this could have been a really good story.

"The Dragon Factory" (Joe Ledger #2) by Jonathan Maberry

486 pages

In "Patient Zero," Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences (DMS) saved the world from a plot to unleash a zombie virus upon the United States. Now Ledger and his colleagues are back, and this time they're up against two competing groups of genetic scientists. The first group is mixing genetic material to make dangerous mercenary armies. The second has an even more evil purpose: to use modern technology to fulfill the Nazi mission of wiping all non-white groups from the face of the earth. The clock is ticking, and the stakes have never been higher.

Maberry delivers another exciting thriller with this one. It took me a little longer to get into it than "Patient Zero," but I'm not sure if that's because of the story itself or because I've been particularly ADHD lately (Oh, is that something shiny over there?!? No? Okay, where was I?). Nevertheless, once I got about a third of the way through I couldn't put it down. Joe Ledger is a really interesting character. There's almost a Wild-West feel to his personal moral code. He has strong convictions and he'll fight to the death for them. This particular story is not only thrilling but also quite thought-provoking. The Nazi psycho-scientists demonstrate how dangerous a few extremists can be when they come into some power and money, and they show how racism and prejudice are hazardous for everyone. It's like the Martin Luther King Jr quote "None of us is free until all of us are free" but in reverse: None of us are safe when there are crazies who want to eliminate certain groups of people. Not to mention the fact that these plans are just plain evil. This story also got me thinking about the idea that history repeats itself. The value of understanding what's happened in the past is that it helps us learn from our ancestors' mistakes and prevent atrocities from happening again, if possible. It's not fun to think about, but it's good to be aware of the bad things that people have done to each other in order to stop them from reoccurring. And if you can be entertained at the same time, as with this novel, then all the better.

Before I Go to Sleep

by S.J. Watson, 360 pages

This novel has an interesting premise: the main character is amnesiac: she doesn't remember anything of her life after she sleeps. Each morning she has to re-learn who she is and who the man sleeping beside her is. Think 50 First Dates with a sinister twist. As Christine finds out she has a secret doctor and begins to piece together her life through a daily journal, a pervasive sense of unease permeates the book. Though some aspects of the plot are telegraphed early, Christine's tense situation is enough to keep you reading to find out what will happen next. I thought the novel was a bit long and the character of Christine too trusting at times, but overall the sense of growing menace kept me going to the end.

"Before I Go To Sleep" by S.J. Watson

360 pages

Since she had a terrible accident more than 20 years ago, Christine has suffered from amnesia. As she sleeps, her mind erases everything she did that day. She wakes up the next day thinking she's still a young woman with her life ahead of her. Through it all, her husband, Ben, has stayed with her, trudging through the daily frustration of introducing his wife to her reality. So why doesn't she trust him? That's what Christine has to figure out when she wakes up one day, finds her secret diary, and discovers the words "DON'T TRUST BEN" etched across the front page.

This book totally had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. The premise (which is like the movie "50 First Dates" but with an ominous rather than humorous tone) is so interesting and unsettling. If you forgot everything every 24 hours, who could you trust? How would you even figure out who you could trust? If you did figure it out, how would you make sure you knew the next day? The diary format made it feel extremely personal, like I was as insecure and unsure has Christine. The details got a bit confusing and it was difficult to keep everything straight as far as what Christine knew on any given day, but I couldn't find any holes in the story. The super-intense ending is a complete surprise. Although the conclusion is a bit too rushed for my taste and I would have liked some more closure, I did find it satisfying. Overall, one of the better thrillers I've read lately.

"I'd Know You Anywhere" by Laura Lippman

373 pages

Eliza Benedict lives a peaceful, ordinary suburban life with her husband, Peter, and children,13-year-old Iso and 8-year-old Albie. But her tranquility is shattered when she receives a letter from the last person she ever expects—or wants—to hear from: Walter Bowman. He's the man who kidnapped her when she was fifteen and held her hostage for almost six weeks. He'd killed several other young girls at that point, but for some reason he let Elizabeth live. Now he's on death row in Virginia for the rape ad murder of his final victim. Though Eliza wants nothing to do with him, she knows that Walter was most unpredictable when ignored. Desperate to shelter her children from this trauma in her past, she cautiously makes contact with Walter. She's always wondered why Walter let her live, and thinks that perhaps now he'll tell her—and share the truth about his other victims. Yet as Walter presses her for more contact, Eliza realizes that he is after more than simply forgiveness.

I checked this book out because I thought that the premise was very interesting, and it was, but that turned out to be the most intriguing part about it. I enjoyed the way that it went back and forth from the present day to the summer of 1985 (when Eliza was kidnapped), but I thought the ending was anticlimactic. Overall, I thought it was a quick, entertaining read, but there wasn't much about it that made it stand out as a good book.

"Killing Mr. Griffin" by Lois Duncan

256 pages

Mr. Griffin is tough on his high school English students. He won't accept late assignments and he never gives As, so group of students decide to get revenge. They're a motley crew: Mark, who originally has the idea, is cold and cunning; David is sweet but insecure; Jeff is outgoing; Betsy will do anything to be popular. Susan is the real misfit, as she is quiet, mousy, and shy and doesn't hang out with the rest of the kids, who are the "in crowd." But she's got a big crush on David, so it's not too hard for him to talk her into helping them with their plot to get back at Mr. Griffin. All they're going to do is kidnap him, take him out in the woods, make them think that they're going to kill him, and make him beg for his life. They aren't really going to hurt him. But of course things go terribly wrong, and the kids end up with a dead body on their hands. No one can agree about what do to--and it soon becomes clear that one member of the group will stop at nothing to keep from getting caught.

I enjoyed the idea of this book and the message behind it, but I didn't really have that much fun reading it. The plot is pretty predictable and the characters fall flat to me, for the most part (with the exception of David's Gram). Also, the specific book that I read was an updated version, which confused me at first because I knew that the book was published in the late 1970s but they were talking about iPods, Google, and DVDs. Even after I realized that the book had been updated, it still seemed odd because other details were old-fashioned (the kids' names, the dialogue, etc). I don't see why they felt the need to update a book like that. It's like they think that kids these days can't concentrate on a book that doesn't have tons of computers, phones, and fancy stuff. That's probably true in some cases, but that doesn't mean we should go around changing all the older books. Okay, I'll get off my soapbox...as I said, this book isn't my favorite but it has some redeeming qualities.

Chasing Fire

by Nora Roberts, 472 pages

Rowan Tripp followed in her famous father's footsteps and risks her life through the Montana dry season as a smoke jumper.  She has a rule to never get romantically involved with anyone on her team and follows it religiously until she meets one of this year's new recruits, Gull Curry.  Gull tempts her to break her rules, and a little back up is just what Rowan needs as an already dangerous job heats up with a little man made destruction.

This book was excitement from beginning to end.  I'm always amazed at how quickly Roberts sells me on her characters- it never takes more that a couple of chapters before I'm hooked.  I had a pretty good idea of whodunit midway through the book, but that didn't stop the suspense from building.  This is a great summer read, so pick it up if you're headed on vacation (or just wish you were!)

All Clear by Connie Willis

641 pages

The engrossing sequel to Blackout, All Clear follows the same three time travellers as they try to make it home to the year 2060. Polly, Eileen and Mike join forces to discover another way back to Oxford. In the mean time, they are stuck in London and its suburbs during the dangerous time of the Blitz.

Again, while this is a time travel book, it feels very much like historical fiction. The characters go through the same deprivation and horrors as the residents of London. As our intrepid travellers search for another way back to the future, they are thwarted at every turn. It's almost as if the time web is trying to prevent them from returning home. But they know they don't belong in London in 1940-1941 and fear that their very presence in the past may have cost the Allies their victory over Hitler. The plot takes some sharp twists and turns, and you are never sure who will survive and who will not. I teared up in several heart-wrenching moments, but still found it a very satisfying read.

I enjoyed both Blackout and All Clear enough to go back and read them again. I wish there was a 3rd, but I don't see how Connie Willis could manage another one in that time frame. I would recommend this to anyone interested in time travel or historical novels of World War II.

Mercy Street

by Mariah Stewart, 302 pages

A small Pennsylvania town is shocked when two high school students are killed in a park and two others go missing.  When the police begin to suspect the missing teens of the murder, the missing boy's grandmother decides to hire a private investigation to find him.  Father Burch who runs the school that the teens went to convinces his billionaire cousin, Robert Magellan to fund the investigation.  He hires former police detective Mallory Russo who joins the hunt for the teens with the help of her replacement on the police force, Detective Charlie Wanamaker. 

I actually downloaded this one and listened to it.  Joyce Bean reads it and does an excellent job.  This was billed as romantic suspense which might be why the ending was fairly easy to pick out early in the story.  The story moved quickly and there were several side-stories going on along with the main plot of the missing teens, so I expect those will play out later in the series.  It was an entertaining read and not really "romancey" which might be a bonus for some and a drawback for others.

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

1938/410 pgs

About the Book: The novel is told from the point of view of an unnamed narrator. From the beginning we get the sense that the story is a flashback and the narrator is reflecting on a time in her life that continues to haunt her. Her story starts when she is visiting Monte Carlo with Mrs. Van Hopper, who is her employer. The narrator works as a paid companion to the elderly woman who is always keen on gossip. One day while dining, Mrs. Van Hopper notices a man at a table nearby that she recognizes as Max de Winter, the owner of Manderley. His wife recently passed away in a boating accident and rumor is he can’t get over her death. Mrs. Van Hopper intrudes on the man’s meal and thus begins the relationship between the narrator and Maxim de Winter. After spending time together in Monte Carlo, the narrator begins to realize she loves Maxim, even though he is more than 20 years her senior. On the day she and Mrs. Van Hopper are supposed to leave, the narrator cries to Maxim that she will miss him very much and he proposes. After a whirlwind honeymoon, the pair return to Maxim’s home of Manderley. At Manderley, the new Mrs. de Winter is constantly haunted by the presence of Rebecca, Maxim’s first wife. The household staff don’t respect, the people in the community compare her to Rebecca, and Rebecca’s touch on Manderley echoes throughout the entire house. Secrets begin to unravel and the truth about Rebecca is slowly uncovered.

Sarah Teenlibrarian Says: I had always wanted to read this book, so when I had the chance to for class I decided to finally read it. I loved it and am eager to read more of Du Maurier’s work now. The writing is wonderful and really places the reader into the story. It’s easy to get caught up in the book and get lost in the story. The author puts the reader right into the narrator’s shoes and I felt as though I was upset and haunted by Rebecca just as the narrator is. There were lots of twists and they were surprises which I always like-I hate when I can figure out the story. It is a chilling, psychological story and I even wish there had been a bit more to it-especially about Rebecca as she’s a fascinating character, especially for not even appearing in the novel! I wouldn’t say this book is the stuff of nightmares, but it is suspenseful and very creepy-the author does a fantastic job of setting up Manderley to be an odd, strange, creepy sort of place. I read the entire book with a sense of foreboding, especially since you never really know the truth or who to trust. I did think it was interesting how at first the author makes you not really sure about Maxim de Winter, but then switches things up and makes you like him at the exact moment you really shouldn’t be liking him!

(SPOILER ALERT) I mean, really, we discover the truth about Maxim and what happened to Rebecca and that he killed her, yet at this point, I didn’t find him creepy and strange anymore. I had been all annoyed at him for never telling the narrator he loved her, yet he confesses everything and says don’t you see, I really loved you all along. I wanted him and the narrator to make things work. How twisted is that? Props to the author for making me suspicious of Maxim and then when I find out the truth, I like him more!

"The Confession" by John Grisham

432 pages

In 1998, a popular white high school cheerleader named Nicole disappeared from Slone, Texas. One of her black classmates, Dante, confessed to raping and murdering her, though he and his lawyer maintain that he is innocent and was forced into confessing after hours of interrogation and threats from the police. Even though Nicole's body was never found and there was no evidence linking Dante to the crime except for his disputed confession and an uncertain witness, Dante was convicted and sentenced to death.

Fast forward nine years. Only a week remains between Dante and execution. In Kansas, young Lutheran minister Keith Schroeder receives a visitor who claims to be the actual killer of Nicole. His name is Travis Boyette, and he's just finished serving time for a different rape. He has a brain tumor that is expected to kill him within a year, so when he saw the news about Dante's upcoming execution, he decided to do something right at the end of his life by confessing to the murder and saving Dante from lethal injection. Keith vows to help Travis take responsibility and stop the execution, but he soon discovers that it won't be as simple as he initially thought. Travis keeps changing his mind about coming clean, and officials would rather believe that Travis is a nutcase than admit their mistakes. As the execution time gets closer, the fight to clear Dante's name comes down to the wire.

This book is INTENSE. My nerves were going crazy as I read. I cared deeply for the characters and what happened to them, though I think this was due more to emotions about the situation than connections with the characters themselves. Grisham is obviously very much against the death penalty, and even I, who agree with him, think he beats readers over the head with his message. Although in my opinion he went a little overboard and oversimplified the issue, he makes some good points that will stick with me. The situation he presents is outrageous and overdramatic, but it demonstrates things that have actually gone wrong in capital punishment cases in the past. "The Confession" is bound to create plenty of thought and discussion.

Three Fates

By Nora Roberts 496 pages

Moments before the Lusitania sinks, a thief steals a small silver statue from the stateroom of an antique dealer.  Several generations later, his descendants must recover that same artifact after it is stolen from them.  This pursuit takes three siblings from Prague to New York dodging an enemy with murderous intentions.

This is a fast moving, action packed novel from romance favorite, Nora Roberts.  If you're in the mood for a globe trotting, treasure hunting adventure with a little spice, this is a great pick!

The Villa

by Nora Roberts 421 pages

Sophia Giambelli and Tyler MacMillan have just been named heirs in the newly merged Giambelli-MacMillian wineries.  Their inheritance hinges on their ability to lead the company successfully into the future while holding on to the tradition valued by both families.  This task becomes complicated as corporate sabotage and murder threaten everything the families hold dear.

Nora Roberts is usually a sure bet for romance fans, and she doesn't disappoint in The Villa.  This is a complicated tale of friendship, family and fighting together for what matters.  The love stories weave through several generations as do the lies and deception.  The Villa is the perfect story to enjoy with a glass of wine.