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Book Reviews
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Books So Good You'll Miss Your Exit!


Warning! When the book on your CD or cassette player is riveting, don't blame the driver for missing an exit! The titles in this audio book collection have caused unintentional detours from Massachusetts to California!

Novels & Other Fiction (97)

Memoirs (14) & Other Nonfiction (24)

Novels & Other Fiction

Featured Review
READ BY BLAIR BROWN
Killer Heat
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Killer Heat, by Linda Fairstein

The novels that I enjoy the most weave fictional stories within the confines of real places. In this new book by Linda Fairstein, one of the settings is located only about eight hundred yards from lower Manhattan, but it's a place that very few people know much about. Although I doubt that the dungeon under the castle described in the book really exists, my sense of the place has been irrevocably fashioned... [More] (6/27/08)

READ BY DYLAN BAKER & JENNIFER VAN DYCK
Sail
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Sail, by James Patterson & Howard Roughan

This is the third book by Patterson and Roughan in recent years, and it looks to match their previous collaborative successes with Honeymoon and You've Been Warned. In this melodramatic adventure, a dysfunctional family consisting of a driven heart surgeon and her three children embark on a sailing trip in a bid to draw the family closer together... [More] (6/20/08)

READ BY DENNIS BOUTSIKARIS
Child 44
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Child 44, by Tom Rob Smith

This is an outstanding book, one of the best I have listened to this year! The author succeeds in recreating the living conditions in Stalinist Russia and weaving a terrifying novel of suspense, intrigue and horror. The resolution at the end of the book is beautifully set up by the various turns of fate that befall the protagonist... [More] (6/20/08)

READ BY CARRINGTON MACDUFFIE
The Red Necklace
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The Red Necklace, by Sally Gardner

Born with the ability to throw his voice and to read minds, Gypsy orphan Yann Margoza earns his living by teaming with a magician and a dwarf to perform magic acts in pre-revolutionary Paris. After a particularly impressive theater performance, Count Kalliovsky persuades them to appear at a private party to entertain guests of the the Marquis de Villeduval. Not even the ride in the elegant carriage to the opulent chateau can erase Yann's premonition that the evening would end in tragedy... [More] (6/13/08)

READ BY ELLEN ARCHER
Sundays at Tiffany's
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Sundays at Tiffany's, by James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet

Imaginary friends are quite common among eight-year-olds, but the same can't be said for adults. Jane had the perfect imaginary friend, Michael, until her ninth birthday, but then Michael told her that he had to go away forever. He was funny, he was handsome, he made Jane feel loved and accepted. As the chubby, clumsy child of the beautiful, successful dragon-lady Broadway producer, Vivian Margaux, Jane felt neither loved nor accepted by her mother. Fast forward 23 years... [More] (6/6/08)

READ BY SARITA CHOUDHURY & AJAY NAIDU
Unaccustomed Earth
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Unaccustomed Earth: Stories, by Jhumpa Lahiri

Unaccustomed Earth is an apt title for this collection of eight short stories dealing with first generation Bengali immigrants to the United States. The author, Jhumpa Lahiri, a Pulitzer-prize winner for her earlier debut collection of stories, creates characters and plots that engage the listener from the first paragraph. When her newly widowed father plans a visit to Ruma's new home in Seattle, she's jolted into the realization that Bengali custom dictates that she and her husband invite him to live with them permanently... [More] (6/6/08)

READ BY RON McLARTY
The Whole Truth
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The Whole Truth, by David Baldacci

When is the truth really the truth? After this story is over, you'll be wondering if world situations are what they seem or if they're fabrications that money can be used to create. The Whole Truth is about a billionaire using great sums of money to set up situations that cause major conflicts to occur between nations. Taking Russia and China to the brink of war, of course, means that his arms company can sell his products -- weapons of mass destruction -- to all countries that fear attack. Billionaire Nicholas Creel hires perception manager Dick Pender to plant false information via the Internet and create the impression that war is about to break out... [More] (5/30/08)

READ BY GRAEME MALCOLM

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Death of a Gentle Lady, by M.C. Beaton

Mrs. Gentle… what a perfect name for such a fine, genteel newcomer to the bucolic town of Lochdubh, Scotland! Hamish Macbeth, the town's constable, may be the only person who suspects Mrs. Gentle is not the sweet, kind old woman she pretends to be. Because he's still a bachelor, and Lochdubh is relatively crime-free, his supervisors decide to save money by closing his station house and moving him to a police barracks in a larger town... [More] (5/9/08)

READ BY CHRISTIAN RUMMEL
Hollywood Crows
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Hollywood Crows, by Joseph Wambaugh

Do not let the title fool you. This is a great story of the LA Police Department. The title refers to a special division, the community relations office, whose members are called the CROWS by the police in other divisions. They deal with calls like noisy neighbors, domestic disturbances, parking problems and other minor crimes... [More] (5/2/08)

READ BY JEFF WOODMAN
The Arctic Event
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The Arctic Event, by James H. Cobb

This entry in Robert Ludlum's Covert One series gives new meaning to the term "cold war." After a research team on tiny Wednesday Island in the Canadian Arctic discovers the frozen wreckage of a vintage military airplane, embarrassed Russian authorities admit the plane was theirs and that it had been carrying 2 metric tons of anthrax when it disappeared 50 years earlier... [More] (4/25/08)

READ BY MICHAEL BECK
The Appeal
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The Appeal, by John Grisham

The Appeal starts with a shocking verdict against Krane Chemical Company in a small town in Mississippi. The plant had been dumping waste into a ravine behind the chemical building without any interference from public or environmental agencies. After a number of years the town water started to taste bad, but the town officials said it was safe. Then people started getting sick, and so many died with various forms of cancer that the town of Bowmore was nicknamed Cancer County... [More] (4/18/08)

READ BY JILL APPLE
The Final Warning
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The Final Warning (Maximum Ride, Book 4), by James Patterson

Maximum Ride, the heroine who is part girl and part bird, not only has to save herself and her flock of 'birdkids," but now she's been assigned the responsibility of saving the world. Just when it looks like she'll have some normal vacation time with her newly discovered mother, room service dinner turns out to be an exploding pizza, and the flock is on the move again. The only safe location appears to be a remote area of Antarctica, in the midst of a science expedition... [More] (4/4/08)

READ BY CAROLYN McCORMICK
7th Heaven
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7th Heaven, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

The Women's Murder Club is pulling double duty in this latest installment in the series. Not only are the ladies hoping to solve the mystery of the disappearance and apparent murder of Michael Campion, the Boy with the Broken Heart and son of a prominent politician, but the rate of arson-related homicides is escalating. While Assistant DA Yuki Castellano conducts her prosecution of Michael's killer, she discovers what she thought would be a slam-dunk is really the most challenging case of her career... [More] (3/21/08)

READ BY JASON CULP
THe Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour
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The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour: Unabridged Selections From The Frontier Stories, Volume 5, by Louis L'Amour

This group of short stories by Louis L'Amour is the fifth volume of the Frontier Stories series, and each story is filled with wild west excitement. The stories are quite different from each other. Each one features a different hero, unlike... [More] (3/14/08)

READ BY ARIADNE MEYERS
The Opposite of Love
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The Opposite of Love, by Julie Buxbaum

What is the opposite of love? Just when she thinks she knows the answer, Emily Haxby discovers new possibilities. On the surface, it would seem that she has the perfect life-a boyfriend who is ready to propose, a promising career as a young attorney with a top law firm, friends and family who love her. Instead of enjoying her good fortune, she sabotages her chance of happiness by "breaking" her relationships with her boyfriend and her employer, and she distances herself from her family... [More] (2/29/08)

READ BY SUZANNE TOREN et al.
Womens Murder Club
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Women's Murder Club (Box Set, Volume 1), by James Patterson

Sometimes even good things come in threes. In this case it's the first three books in James Patterson's Women's Murder Club series featuring San Francisco homicide detective Lindsay Boxer and three of her crime-solving friends. The first book, 1st to Die, finds Lindsay reeling from the discovery that she has a serious blood disease, but her health concerns are quickly put on the back burner when... [More] (2/22/08)

READ BY JANET SONG
The Commoner
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The Commoner, by John Burnham Schwartz

Once upon a time there was a young Japanese girl who was born a commoner but grew up to become the honored Empress of Japan… but that's when the fairy tale ended. Although this book is a fictional account, it is based so closely on the real life happenings of the current Empress of Japan that it seems more like a biography than a novel... [More] (2/15/08)

READ BY JOE MANTEGNA
Now and Then
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Now and Then, by Robert Parker

The author's favorite hero, Spenser, a Boston private investigator, is back in this story. Spenser accepts a job he normally would reject when an FBI agent asks him to find out if his wife is cheating on him. What appears to be a simple case of a wife having an affair turns into a complicated case involving murders and an anti-government group that the FBI is seeking. Susan, Spenser's girl friend... [More] (2/8/08)

READ BY JUDY KAYE
T is for Trespass
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T is for Trespass, by Sue Grafton

Am I my neighbor's keeper? You are if you're Kinsey Millhone, private investigator, and your neighbor is the cantankerous Gus Vronsky. Although the simple background check she's hired to run on Gus' caregiver, Solana Rojas, uncovers no obvious problems, Kinsey has an unsettling feeling that the caregiver is a dangerous woman. What she learns much later is that the sociopath next door... [More] (2/1/08)

READ BY JERRY O'CONNELL
Beginner's Greek
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Beginner's Greek, by James Collins

We all experience the fickle finger of fate at some point in our lives, but Peter Russell's universe seems to be ruled by a god with both hands comprised entirely of fickle fingers. The wistfully romantic Peter imagines that one day he'll encounter the love of his life on an airplane, and when bright and beautiful Holly sits next to him on a cross-country flight, that is exactly what happens. So far, so good. But wait, here comes the first obstacle... [More] (1/18/08)

READ BY ANNE HATHAWAY
The Princess Diaries: Volume II
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The Princess Diaries, Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight, by Meg Cabot

Every little girl probably dreams of being a princess at one time or another, but for Mia Thermopolis the dream is a reality, and it is more of a nightmare than a dream come true. In this second book of The Princess Diaries, Mia Thermopolis continues to adjust to her newly discovered status as the heir to the throne of a small European principality. Because she is to be a queen someday, her Grand'Mere, the current Queen of Genovia, is subjecting Mia to a crash course of "princess lessons". It's tough enough being a teenager without... [More] (1/11/08)

Featured Review
READ BY TOM SELLWOOD
Gods Behaving Badly
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Gods Behaving Badly, by Marie Phillips

Oliver Twist and Tiny Tim weren't the only fictional characters to find themselves in unfortunate circumstances in the cool indifference of London. It's 21st Century England, and the Greek gods and goddesses of Olympus are living together in a house in London's East End. Since their powers are waning and they must save their reserves for truly important work, they can't conjure up money for normal living expenses. To earn money, each has taken a job related to his or her former area of interest or achievement on Olympus... [More] (1/4/08)


READ BY MICHAEL BOATMAN
Blonde Faith
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Blonde Faith, by Walter Mosley

Life is anything but easy for Easy (Ezekiel) Rawlins, and he's getting tired of the struggle. For years he's been the "go to" man for friends, relatives and business associates. Two of his friends have mysteriously disappeared, forcing him to deal with the situations and families they left behind. Christmas Black, the former soldier who adopted the only surviving child after his killing rampage in a Vietnamese village, has left his cherished daughter with Easy without an explanation. Easy's other missing friend, Raymond "Mouse" Alexander, is wanted for murder, and the only way Easy can clear him is to prove that the supposed murder victim is really just a runaway father of 12... [More] (12/21/07)


READ BY PETER J. FERNANDEZ & MICHAEL STUHLBARG
Double Cross
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Double Cross, by James Patterson

This is a unique story featuring Alex Cross, the famous homicide detective. In this book, Cross is out of police work and has his own therapy practice. He is content with his new life and the time he can spend with his family. He is also dating a woman, Bree Stone, a homicide detective who works with John Sampson, Alex Cross's old partner and good friend. They are now working on a case which is baffling them and they seek Alex's help... [More] (12/14/07)


READ BY A CAST OF ACTORS
The Collected Bowdrie Dramatizations
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The Collected Bowdrie Dramatizations, Volume III, by Louis L'Amour

This collection of six short stories is a must not only for Louis L'Amour fans but for anyone who likes exciting tales of the old west. The dramatizations are well played by actors and actresses, and the sound effects are excellent. The lifelike sounds of gun shots near and far, the hoof beats of the horses, the loading of a rifle and all the other sounds add to the enjoyment of the stories... [More] (12/7/07)


READ BY LOU CARIOU
The Overlook
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The Overlook, by Michael Connelly
Detective Harry Bosch is awakened in the middle of the night
by a call to investigate a murder at a scenic overlook. He's not thrilled about working with a new partner, Ignatius Ferras and can't bring himself to call him "Iggy" as the younger man has requested. The murder victim, a scientist who has access to radioactive material, has apparently been killed for a container of missing cesium... [More] (11/23/07)


READ BY THE AUTHOR
The Lovely Bones
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The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
If you like off-beat approaches to story telling
, this is one for the books. Suzy Salmon, a 14-year-old girl who has been raped, killed and her body dismembered, tells her story from heaven. It is not the heaven one ordinarily thinks of -- with golden-winged angels -- but just a regular place like earth. As she watches her family and friends react to her murder, she can see and hear everything that it is taking place on earth... [More] (11/23/07)


READ BY CHRISTOPHER EVAN WELCH
Playing for Pizza
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Playing for Pizza, by John Grisham

Where does a third-string NFL quarterback go
when he loses the big game, antagonizes the fans and humiliates himself by earning the title of biggest "goat" in the history of football? Would you believe Parma, Italy? A small group of Italians, passionate about American football, are thrilled that Rick Dockery agrees to play for the Parma Panthers. Although Rick would much rather play for an American team, his agent assures him that Parma is his only option... [More] (11/16/07)


READ BY HOLTER GRAHAM
The Choice
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The Choice, by Nicholas Sparks

Life is full of choices
, but some bear more serious consequences than others. When they first meet, Gabby Holland does not particularly like Travis Parker, and since she assumes she'll become engaged to her college sweetheart, Kevin, she certainly does not have any romantic feelings for Travis. When she accepts his invitation to join him and his friends for a barbecue, some boating, and a picnic she discovers that Travis is a warm, sensitive family man and not the womanizing cad she'd imagined... [More] (11/9/07)


READ BY LARA QUINTAL
Junie B, First Grader
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Junie B., First Grader, by Barbara Park

That girl is something else I tell you!
I started to listen to this audio book very serious and what do you know? It's a real fun collection of books about a very funny little girl, so I made a big smile and enjoyed getting to know Junie B. Jones. Here's the thing, people. There are eight complete books on these six CDs! [More] (10/21/07)


READ BY ILYANA KADUSHIN
Eclipse
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Eclipse, by Stephanie Meyer

Being a teenager in love is hard enough without having to cope with decisions about choosing immortality and disturbing the natural order of the universe because of the choices you might make. Isabella Swan, know as Bella to her friends and family, is in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen, and is best friends with a werewolf, Jason Black. Werewolves and vampires are sworn enemies but have agreed to coexist peacefully in tiny Forks, Washington, as long as boundaries are maintained and treaties respected...[More] (10/7/07)


READ BY JEREMY DAVIDSON
The Bourne Betrayal
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The Bourne Betrayal, by Eric Van Lustbader

This action-packed book does not slow down
until the final page. Jason Bourne is shocked to hear his most trusted friend Martin Lindros has been missing for a couple of months. When he went to Ethiopia to locate a terrorist named Fadi who supposedly had information about a group planning a nuclear attack on a major city like Los Angeles, New York or Washington and didn't return, word was that his group was killed and Martin taken prisoner. Jason is sent to find out if Lindros is still alive and if he is, to rescue him. Jason locates him and brings him back to the Central Intelligence where no one doubts that he is Lindros, even though he looks bad and his voice sounds different... [More] (10/7/07)


READ BY AMBER SEALEY
Jinx
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Jinx, by Meg Cabot

What's in a name?
Apparently everything for Jean Honeychurch, AKA Jinx, because she truly is cursed by a history of accidents, clumsiness and messes. When a stalker refuses to leave her alone, her parents send her from their rural Iowa home to live with her wealthy, sophisticated New York City relatives. There she attends private school with her cousin Tory, Tory's friends, and handsome neighbor Zach. Jinx adapts well to everything in her new environment except the drugs, alcohol and witchcraft that are the focus of Tory and her friends' lives... [More] (10/7/07)


READ BY JODI LONG
Peony in Love
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Peony In Love, by Lisa See

As her 16th birthday approaches
, Peony can hardly contain her excitement. Her father has arranged to have the famous opera, The Peony Pavilion, performed in their garden in her honor. Unlike most of the women of the time, she is well read and is obsessively familiar with the tragic love story of The Peony Pavilion. Although she has never been permitted to leave the grounds of her 17th century Chinese home, when she spots a handsome young man at her father's performance, she slips outside to meet him... [More] (10/1/07)


READ BY STEPHEN HOYE
The Chicago Way
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The Chicago Way, by Michael Harvey

Michael Kelly, private investigator and former Chicago detective
, is asked by his ex-partner, now retired, to help him with a serious problem. Years before he partnered with Kelly, Gibbons was involved with a rape case where the victim was stabbed so many times Gibbons thought she would die before she got to the hospital. Now, over 10 years later, Gibbons has received a letter from a woman who claims to be that young girl who was raped and stabbed... [More] (9/23/07)


READ BY MICHAEL BECK
A Time to Kill & The King of Torts
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A Time to Kill and The King of Torts, by John Grisham

This is a two-book package
by John Grisham, and it would be difficult to say which book is the better of the two. In A Time to Kill, the main character, Jake, is a young, small-town lawyer in a predominantly white Mississippi town. He must defend a black man, the father of three young boys and a 10-year-old daughter. The girl was repeatedly raped and beaten and left for dead in a marsh field.... [More] (8/26/07)


READ BY SAM FREED
Sisters
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Sisters, by Danielle Steele

Everyone knows at least one-the seemingly golden American family
that has it all-successful, happily married parents, beautiful, healthy, well-adjusted, loving children and enough money to make anyone's dreams come true. Danielle Steel introduces us to one such family and lets us join them for a joyous, traditional holiday gathering, before she shatters their perfect world with a tragic accident and exposes us to the reality of pain and disappointment that all families suffer at one time or another... [More] (8/19/07)


READ BY MARY STUART MASTERSON
The Quickie
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The Quickie, by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge

How can NYPD homicide detective Lauren Stilwell keep from going out of her mind?
One day she is the loving, trusting wife of a wonderful man, and the next she is a revenge-seeking woman involved in a one-night stand. Her life becomes more complicated when she witnesses a brutal murder, recognizes her husband as the murderer and learns that she has been assigned to head the investigation of the crime... [More] (8/12/07)


READ BY SCOTT BRICK
Deep Storm
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Deep Storm, by Lincoln Child

What could be more terrifying than being shuttled to an undersea city in the middle of the North Atlantic?
Dr. Peter Crane is about to find out when his expertise as a disease specialist causes him to be invited to investigate an unusual medical situation on an oil rig. Once at the rig, he's told that the real location of his patients is many miles below the surface in a scientific research facility know as "Deep Storm..." [More] (8/12/07)


READ BY JIM DALE

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter, like all good things, must come to an end
. No, that's not a hint about Harry's condition at the conclusion of the last of the Harry Potter books; it's just a lament that the fine series of books by J.K Rowling has finished.