Closing Cases in L.A.

Harry Bosch is on the job again. Michael Connelly's creation is, in The Closers, back to work for the LAPD, but this time in the Open/Unsolved Unit. His job, along with his old partner Kiz Rider, is to dig into old, cold murder cases and turn over new leads to try to solve the cases. Harry and Kiz are, in a way, "speaking for the dead." Harry, in typical fashion, takes one particular victim to heart, a teenage girl abducted from her bedroom and later found murdered. Connelly is talented at drawing us along in these police procedurals, and the dialog between characters is perfect. After reading a couple of these novels, you will feel as if Harry Bosch is an old friend. And it's good to have him back in action.

No Forgiveness Needed

Forgive Me is Amanda Eyre Ward's newest novel (after How To Be Lost). It's a terrific read about a young woman, a successful journalist, who risks life and limb to cover stories in the most dangerous parts of the world. But she is always RUNNING. Running from love, running from commitment, running from home. We gradually learn about a tragic event in Cape Town, South Africa, that sent Nadine on the run again to a long stint in Mexico and seems to be part of the reason she lives her life so nomadically. After she is assaulted in Mexico, she is sent back home to recover at her father and stepmother's house, but she chafes against anyone taking care of her and insists that she needs to work again. She ends up back in Cape Town to cover the amnesty hearing for the apartheid-era murder of a young man who grew up near her home in Massachusetts. There, she faces her demons and learns the true meaning of forgiveness. I liked this book because in addition to peering into Nadine's life and trying to figure her out, I also learned a bit about what went on in South Africa during apartheid and its aftermath.

Get on the Same Page in Carroll County

This is the second year for the Carroll County on the Same Page project, in which everyone in the county is invited and encouraged to read the same book. Our 2007 selection is The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It is a memoir written by a successful young woman who overcame some very unusual odds. She was raised in a highly unconventional family, with a daredevil father and an excitement-addicted mother, neither of whom was well equipped to raise and support a family. The author writes candidly of her parents, not with anger or resentment, but with love and empathy. It is a story of survival, in a way. Rave reviews are coming in from the many people who have already read it in our community. Copies are available at the Delphi, Flora, and Camden public libraries. Even if you don't have a library card, come in and request a copy. We'll loan it to any county resident. We want to make sure everyone gets on the Same Page! (Book discussions will be scheduled throughout July. Delphi's book group will talk about The Glass Castle on July 27, at 9 a.m.)

Fighting the Fog

Michelle Richmond's The Year of Fog is a real page-turner, but not in the typical murder-suspense-whodunnit sense. It is so achingly real and heartbreaking that you must keep turning pages to see what happens next. During a morning walk on a foggy beach, a child disappears. Emma vanishes into the fog. Abby spends the next year searching through the fog--the literal fog that shrouds San Francisco, the analogous fog that shrouds her memory of that day, and the fog of sorrow that causes everyone except Abby to give up the search. The book takes us through the painful year of Abby's search. In flashbacks to her past, we are shown the full range of Abby's self and come to understand and emphathize with her. She is a professional photographer who is trained to view things analytically, so she returns again and again to her last views of Emma, searching for a clue that will lead to the lost girl. You'll have to read the book to discover whether Abby's persistence pays off.

Another Hit for Anita

Anita Shreve's newest release, Body Surfing, will not disappoint her many fans. Shreve has a remarkable way of telling a story. Her prose is not flowery or fancy. She just tells it like it is. This character did that. That character thought this. The effect is amazing--a truly sensitive and subtle rendering of real life. You CARE about the characters. You sigh and gasp and smile. And the house that has popped up in many of her books--The Pilot's Wife, Fortune's Rock, etc.--is a major part of the story. Although set in a beach house, it is not a typical "beach read," but it's a winner.