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!
It's hard to believe
that a story that takes place entirely within the
walls of a 16th century convent could command the
listener's attention for 15 hours, and leave her
yearning for more, but it does, and then some. Santa
Caterina, a convent in Ferraro, is home to a diverse
group of Renaissance women who have abandoned the
difficulties of the secular world and now are citizens
of an equally complex and confusing spiritual one...[More]
(10/22/09)
Realizing that
his children understand little of their ancestors'
struggle to survive the bigotry and hatred of the
Jim Crow era, Alex Cross decides to write a novel
based on his great uncle's life. The result is the
story that becomes the core of this audio book...[More]
(9/24/09)
Beck Shaw lost
more than her father the night his boat capsized
off Mackinac Island. Although she managed to survive
the accident, her sister Carrie could not face the
role she might have played in their father's death.
She ran away from the emergency room, leaving Beck
alone with her mother and older brother...[More]
(9/9/09)
Action-packed and
fast moving, this is a book that keeps listeners
engrossed throughout. At the scene of a murder,
Lt. Vincent D'Agosta of the NYPD is surprised to
see an old friend, FBI special agent Aloysius Pendergast.
The agent tells Vincent that he is not there for
the FBI but to help his old friend with the murder
case. Vincent scoffs at him and tells Pendergast
he is not needed since the case is a slam-dunk.
He knows who did it. They just have to find him...[More]
(8/28/09)
Laura Lington is
persistent -- if not especially successful -- especially
when it comes to business and romance. Perhaps that's
the reason Great Aunt Sadie chooses her to undertake
a very important mission...[More]
(8/14/09)
Jack Reacher could
have stepped into any car on the 2:00 a.m. uptown
subway, but he stepped into the one occupied by
four ordinary-looking New Yorkers and one very peculiar
woman. On seeing the woman, Reacher's investigative
instincts kick in. As he mentally checks off each
of the 11 characteristic behaviors of a suicide
bomber, he realizes that he has to confront the
woman before she triggers a bomb that will kill
him and untold numbers of people...[More]
(8/7/09)
This is a strange
and very compelling story that will hold your interest
as you try to understand the behavior of a married
couple, Jason and Sandra Jones. They live in a modest
house in south Boston with a precocious four-year-old
daughter, Clarissa, who they call Ree. Sandra was
five months pregnant when she married thirty-year-old
Jason, and during the four years since their marriage,
Jason and Sandra have not had sex... [More]
(7/31/09)
When Scientific
American columnist Jeremy Marsh decides to investigate
the mysterious lights that appear in a cemetery
in rural Boone Creek, North Carolina, he has no
idea that his life will never again be the same.
Raised in New York City and living a sophisticated,
fast-paced life of urban pleasure and international
travel, Jeremy plans to apply his scientific background
to quickly debunk the Boone Creek myth and... [More]
(7/24/09)
Do not allow the
title of this book to let you pass it by. This is
a fantastic story of a psychotic killer who gets
paid for his acts. No, he is not a hit man who puts
down his victims with two shots to the back of the
head. He is a killer without remorse who not only
enjoys his work but is highly paid by a group of
super wealthy people for providing them with videos
of his work... [More]
(7/24/09)
They were "Beautiful
Girls" in 1937 Shanghai, girls whose provocative
poses on calendars and advertisements earned them
celebrity status in the cosmopolitan city along
with a small amount of money. The money was initially
of little consequence because they are also the
privileged and pampered daughters of a successful
rickshaw business owner. Their world of couture
clothing and nightly partying changes abruptly when
their father's gambling losses causes him to sell
them as wives for the sons of a Chinese American...
[More]
(7/10/09)
The title of this
book could have been "First Lady," since
she is the character who seems to be in control
of things and is at the heart of most of what happens
in this thrilling story. When her favorite niece
is kidnapped after a birthday party at Camp David,
First Lady Pam Dutton asks former special agent
Sean King to assist the FBI in the investigation.
Early in her husband's career, Sean King had saved
the then-Senator's reputation and career. Impressed
with his skill and loyalty, the First Lady once
again turns to Sean... [More]
(7/10/09)
Remarkable! Explosive!
Gripping! These are some the words that befit this
fine book. The author's previous book, Child
44, was just as outstanding, and at its
conclusion left the listener wanting more. This
book continues the saga of Leo and Raisa three years
after the end of Child 44. Leo is working
with the special homicide division in Moscow 1956,
and Raisa has returned to teaching. Stalin is gone
and Khrushchev is now the ruler... [More]
(6/12/09)
Jason Green's apparent
suicide seems like one more example of a teenager
escaping the pressures of society by turning to
drugs. When his body is discovered in the surf on
a New England beach, it is assumed that Jason's
abuse of steroids caused him to become depressed
and to act irrationally. Not believing that the
boy's death was a suicide or an accident, Terry
Novak, an aspiring boxer, decides to investigate.
His interest in the case soon attracts attention
and inspires threats, but with all the bullying
and intimidation, Terry grows more determined to
uncover Jason's killer... [More]
(6/5/09)
Alex can almost
see the dollars flooding his bank account, not to
mention the professional acclaim he'll receive when
his client finalizes his patent application for
Obsidian, sure to be the biggest "dotcom"
of the decade. When the inventor fails to show up
for a meeting with venture capitalists, patent attorney
Alex Treven's world suddenly collapses. The murders
of both the inventor and the only other person familiar
with Obsidian send Alex into hiding and force him
to... [More]
(5/29/09)
When a young woman
is assaulted in her apartment, sex crimes unit assistant
district attorney Alex Cooper is called to investigate.
Although the woman agrees to go to the hospital
for an examination, she disappears, and Alex is
left without a victim. Shortly after, another is
found murdered in the woman's apartment, and Alex
adds the role of homicide detective to her job of
sex crimes investigator. She and her partner, Mike
Chapman, follow clues that lead them to the rare
book collections at the New York Public Library
and into the private libraries of several wealthy
and eccentric collectors... [More]
(5/22/09)
One would think
that a small coastal town named Paradise would be
a place of peace and quiet. It has a non-conventional
police chief who likes people and prefers being
on a first name basis with everyone. However, the
tranquility is broken when Police Chief Jesse Stone
is called to a junior high school where a crowd
of parents is ready to lynch the principal. Jesse
has Mary, the only woman on the force, accompany
him to find out what is going on. From this point
on the town of Paradise is in a quandary, as one
bizarre event follows the other... [More]
(5/15/09)
Marcelo Sandoval,
a 17-year-old boy with a condition similar to Asperger
syndrome, is looking forward to summer vacation
when he can start his summer job caring for the
horses at the special school he attends. His plans
change when his father, a prominent attorney, insists
that Marcelo needs to see what life is like in the
"real world" and bribes him to accept
a job at his Boston law firm for the summer. The
payoff will be that Marcelo can return to his special
school in the fall if he works at the law firm for
the summer. If he refuses, he will be forced to
go to public school in the fall... [More]
(5/4/09)
"Grey's Anatomy"
and the rest of the television doctor shows remind
us that the medical professionals upon whom we depend
in our times of stress and distress have outside
lives that provide them with drama, also. In this
warmly engaging book by Maeve Binchy, we meet the
staff of St. Brigid's Hospital in Dublin, and unlike
their American TV counterparts who seem to live
only in the hospital or in the neighborhood bar,
they invite us to observe their private lives outside
of hospital... [More]
(4/3/09)
Mike Bennett, homicide
detective and top hostage negotiator for the NYPD,
is confronted with a psycho killer who calls himself
"The Teacher" in this sequel to Step
on a Crack. Killing people in broad daylight
and making no attempt to do so without witnesses,
the Teacher's mission is to rid the world of anyone
who is obnoxious, arrogant or inconsiderate of others...
[More]
(3/27/09)
Museums are supposed
to have vast stores of treasures waiting to be studied,
cataloged and displayed, but they don't typically
have mummies in the basement. When a mummy is discovered
in the basement of the Crispin Museum in Boston,
Dr. Maura Isles, a Boston medical examiner, is invited
to examine it. In the course of the examination
it becomes obvious that the mummy, Madame X, is
not an ancient artifact, but rather a modern murder
victim... [More]
(3/6/09)
When the parasol
with the brightly painted koi is brought up from
the basement of the Panama Hotel, Henry Lee, a middle-aged
Chinese-American Seattle native, flashes back to
a lifetime of memories centered around the newly
renovated hotel. Situated between Seattle's Chinatown
and Nihonmachi, or what used to be Japantown before
thousands of residents were removed to internment
camps, the Panama Hotel is the only remaining testament
to the once thriving pre-World War II Japanese-American
community... [More]
(3/6/09)
Logan Thibault
arrived at the town of Hampton, North Carolina,
after a long, unusual journey. Unusual in that he'd
walked all the way from Colorado, long in that it
had started in Iraq. Finding a photo of a hauntingly
beautiful girl buried in the sand, and unable to
find the soldier who'd dropped it, he carried the
photo home to Colorado where he examined every aspect
of the photo and finally determined that it must
have been taken in one of several possible locations.
He began a slow hike with his dog across the U.S.,
trying to find the girl in the photo. At first he
can't believe that his buddies were right, that
the photo holds magic powers... [More]
(2/13/09)
The Camel Club
is back and ready for action. Oliver Stone, aka
John Carr, is struggling in the cold waters of the
ocean after his fall from a 30-foot cliff. He manages
to get ashore and knows he is now the most wanted
man in the country after killing two high-profile
government men. When he returns to Washington, D.C.
to leave a note for his friends from the Camel Club,
he tells them to forget the past happenings and
to stay safe. He asks them not to try and find him.
Luck is on his side when he saves a young man from
a gang of thugs and the young man takes him home
to the remote coal-mining town of Divine... [More]
(1/30/09)
Money can't buy
class, but it can buy a showy estate in the ultra-elite
area of Long Island, known as the Gold Coast. When
Mafia don, Frank Bellarosa, buys the mansion next
to WASP tax attorney John Sutton and his aristocratic
wife Susan Stanhope Sutton, becoming their neighbor,
they are stunned by the difference in values, beliefs
and lifestyles between them and the reputed murderer.
At first they avoid the vulgar man and rebuff his
attempts at neighborly friendship... [More]
(1/23/09)
What is this country
coming to? President Vanderdamp has publicly stated
his opposition to presidents choosing to serve 2
terms, but when Congress passes legislation that
would constitutionally impose a one-term limit,
he feels he has to run for a second term as a protest
against the restriction. As his first term is ending
he finds that he must appoint a Supreme Court justice
to replace the senile justice who has taken to showing
up in court with his ears wrapped in tinfoil...
[More]
(1/16/09)
Although cosmetic
surgery carries some degree of risk, that risk doesn't
usually include strangulation and death. Rhonda
Gradwyn couldn't know that the decision to change
her appearance would be the most serious one she
would ever make. Opting to have her surgery as a
"private patient" in a manor house in
the country, rather than in a London clinic, Rhoda,
an investigative journalist with more than a few
enemies, falls victim to one of them... [More]
(1/16/09)
This book is one
part thriller, one part social commentary and one
part historical analysis. All the parts add up to
a very satisfying and thought-provoking third novel
for the author of Emperor of Ocean Park and New
England White. Leaving the engagement party of his
former girlfriend, Eddie finds the body of a prominent
white man on the grounds of one of Harlem's landmarks.
Even more puzzling than the incongruity of finding
a white man in 1950s Harlem is Eddie's discovery
of an unusual cross in the dead man's hand... [More]
(12/22/08)
Place this book
on your "must read" list. It is a very
absorbing story told in an unusual manner. Each
character describes his or her role in the scandal
that rocked Avery Academy, a private school in Vermont.
This one incident ruins so many lives and ultimately
takes the life of one individual. The headmaster
of the school begins Chapter One -- titled "Mike"
-- with his reaction to a video tape that is sent
to him. Upon viewing the video, the headmaster is
shocked to see three of his top students, 18-year-old
seniors Silas and Rob, and J-Dot, a post graduate,
drunkenly involved in sex acts with a young female...
[More]
(12/22/08)
Theirs should have
been the kind of life that other couples only dream
of…two bright, young attorneys, in love with
each other and with the profession they've chosen,
envied by their peers for their skills and for their
beauty and charisma. Instead of a fairy tale existence,
though, their life becomes a horror story with the
most frightening consequences. After a near-fatal
career misstep, Sara Tate lands a job as an assistant
D.A. Eager to stand out among the new hires, she
grabs a case intended for a senior attorney. The
nightmare begins when her husband, Jared, is hired
as the defense attorney in the case, and it's clear
that both their lives depend on the outcome of the
trial. What she'd thought was a simple burglary
case is soon found to be much more as the bodies
pile up... [More]
(12/12/08)
From the moment
her grandmother mistakenly calls Alice Lindgren's
8 year old boyfriend a girl, to the days of her
bumbling husband's presidency, Alice knows the pain
and embarrassment of defending blundering loved
ones. Born in 1946, Alice grows up in the social,
political and economic cocoon of the fifties. It
isn't until her senior year, when she runs a stop
sign and causes a fatal accident, that Alice's world
loses its innocence. Not only is she devastated
by her complicity in causing the death of another,
she finds herself in need of an illegal abortion...
[More]
(11/28/08)
At last, the sequel
for DeMille's most renowned book, The Gold Coast,
is finally here. It opens ten years after the ending
of the earlier book. The affluent Long Island location
is the same, as are many of the characters. There
is a new mafia don, Anthony Bellarosa, the son of
Fran Bellarosa who was killed in the previous book.
Tax attorney, John Sutter, tells the story in a
manner that effectively presents the events of the
earlier book. After divorcing his wife, John first
spent three years sailing around the world, and
for the next seven years he worked in London as
an American tax lawyer. He has returned to the Stanhope
Hall estate because a client is dying, and he now
lives, not in his former home, but in the gate house...
[More]
(11/14/08)
Micky Haller, emerging
from a self-imposed hiatus from his career as a
defense attorney, suddenly finds that instead of
zero cases, he has 31. When an associate, Vincent,
is murdered, Haller is informed that as Vincent's
heir, he now has 31 clients to defend. The most
high-profile client with the most urgent need is
Walter Elliott, a multimillionaire Hollywood producer
who has been accused of killing his wife and her
lover... [More]
(10/31/08)
Lutie McFee, while
helping herself to samples -- aka shoplifting --
in Wal-Mart, has no idea that her difficult life
is about to become almost impossible. Fifteen-year-old
Flutie and her little brother, Fate, were living
with their father's ex-girlfriend, Floy, after he
abandoned the motherless children. At 300 pounds,
Floy wasn't in the best of health, and when she
drops dead at the check stand in Wal-Mart, Flutie
and Fate evade child protection services, steal
Floy's car, and take off for Las Vegas to look for
their father. The tragedies of the misadventures
of the two children escalate... [More]
(10/17/08)
The "bird
kids" are back in the air, this time in an
airplane, as they take their quest to save the planet
to Europe. This is a book of revelations-Itex is
discovered to have a sinister interest in the school
and in all the mutant life forms that the school
has produced. By using genetic engineering, Itex
plans to populate the planet with only superior
human beings, and that means reducing the current
population by half. Max discovers the true identities
of both her mother and her father, and realizes
that she is not the unloved freak she's imagined
herself to be... [More]
(10/10/08)
Cast out of Mesadale
as a "lost boy" at 14, Jordan Scott has
survived life on the street for six years and is
finally establishing a stable life in California,
complete with job, van, loving friends, and faithful
dog, Electra. When he sees a news account of a 19th
wife killing her polygamous husband, he recognizes
his mother and father as the attacker and victim.
Although she'd abandoned him on a lonely highway
6 years earlier, he cannot believe she'd ever murder
anyone, so he returns to Utah to find the real killer...
[More]
(9/26/08)
It's difficult
to review this audio book without revealing plot
spoilers. Suffice it to say that Bella gets her
wish to become immortal and join her beloved vampire,
Edward, for the rest of eternity. In the course
of doing this, though, she and Edward create a new,
hybrid life force that forms an alliance with Jacob.
While this would seem to ensure that the vampires
and werewolves can now live in harmony, it creates
a host of situations that put mortals, vampires
and wolves in danger of annihilation... [More]
(9/12/08)
Dedicated to helping
others as a surgeon for Doctors Without Borders,
Dr. Jonathan Ransom has not vacationed in years.
When he is transferred back to the home office in
Switzerland, it seems like the perfect opportunity
to take his wife, Emma, on a ski vacation in the
Alps. Tragedy strikes when Emma falls and breaks
her leg. Reluctantly, Jonathan leaves her to go
for help, but when he returns, he finds that she
has crawled away and fallen into a bottomless crevasse...
[More]
(9/5/08)
Gripping in its
raw presentation, this is one of Pelecanos' best.
The story starts in the early '70s in the Washington,
D.C. area. One hot summer night, high on beer and
pot, three white teenagers ride into a black neighborhood
with intent to hurl racial slurs for kicks. The
result of that visit changes their lives dramatically.
Violence occurs and leaves one white teenager dead
and one badly injured and permanently disfigured...
[More]
(8/29/08)
Career success
and recognition at middle age can be a bittersweet
blessing as Thomas James and Linda Fallon discover
when the accomplished poets find themselves speaking
at the same Toronto literary festival. High school
sweethearts whose lives have taken different paths
since they were 17, they have seen each other only
one other time since -- in Kenya when they were
26 and married to others. Now Thomas and Linda are
both 52 years old, single and ready to rekindle...
[More]
(8/22/08)
When Susannah Connolly
finally honors her late mother's request to visit
the Camargue region of France, she finds not only
the famous white horses, but a life she never thought
possible. Trained as an anthropologist, Susannah
has traveled the world exploring ruins, caves and
ancient cultures. Her mother's dying wish for her
to see the white horses of Camargue coincides with
an opportunity for scholarly research, so she makes
the journey to France... [More]
(8/15/08)
Not unlike Clark
Kent with his alter ego Superman, Cotton Malone
would like to enjoy a quiet life as a man of letters.
In his case, it's as the owner of a rare books store.
But like Clark Kent, when the forces of evil need
to be contained, Cotton is society's "go-to
guy," and the mild mannered bibliopole becomes
a relentless seeker of justice... [More]
(8/15/08)
Anyone watching
the three attractive women and the two adorable
children enjoying a sunny day at the beach on Nantucket
would assume that their lives are blessed with a
special kind of happiness reserved for the beautiful
and privileged. What can't be seen by an outsider
is the anguish and distress each of the women carried
with her to the Nantucket shore, hoping the summer
sun would ease her torment and provide answers to
her dilemma... [More]
(8/8/08)
Like binary code
used to program a computer, the end of the world
is linked to a series of numbers -- 121212, or December
12, 2012. What starts out a literary quest to decipher
the poetry of Cedric Owen, and to find the relic
to which he refers, turns into a life and death
mission to save the world from total annihilation.
Stella Cody is a caver, and when her new husband
asks what she'd like as a wedding present, she says
she wants to explore a cave that no one has ever
been in... [More]
(7/23/08)
"My name is
Rumpy, and I live at Flutbein's Hotel." Unlike
Eloise, the little girl who lived at the Plaza,
Rumpy is a pig. Jimmy Buffet's lighthearted, comical
tale of a family who lives at a posh New York City
hotel and hides their pet pig was inspired by the
actual experience of illustrator, Helen Bransford.
Wait a minute! A pig in a five-star hotel? An illustrator
for an audio book? What's going on? When Jimmy Buffet
saw his friend Helen's photo-illustrations and commentary
about hiding her pet pig at the Carlyle Hotel, he
said, "Swine Not?" He wrote the book and
included her illustrations on CD #5 of the audio
book... [More]
(7/11/08)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows delivers
everything that Harry and J.K. have promised since
the first of the seven books in the series...
[More]
(8/5/07)
READ
BY SCOTT BRICK
Simple
Genius, by David Baldacci
This action-packed book starts with an explosive
opening chapter and continues like a runaway train,
with complex and surprising situations through
to its conclusion. Sean King and Michelle Maxwell
are back, but this time the usually cool Michelle
is confronted by inner demons which are affecting
her behavior. After she nearly gets herself killed
by starting a fight in a bar, she agrees to enter
a facility and undergo psychotherapy with Sean's
friend, Dr. Horatio Barnes. Not convinced that
she has a problem, Michelle checks herself out
of the institution and joins Sean where he is
investigating an unusual death...[More]
(5/27/07)
READ
BY NORMA LANA
Wish
You Well, by David Baldacci
David Baldacci is known for his suspense novels,
but this book is not of that genre. Jack Cardinal,
an award winning writer, is driving back to New
York City with his wife Amanda, and their children,
12-year-old Louisa Mae, who answers to Lou, and
seven-year-old Oscar, who is called Oz. A crash
kills Jack and leaves his wife wheelchair ridden
and in a catatonic state. The children are unharmed
but now homeless. Their only relative, Jack's
grandmother who raised him, lives on a farm atop
a dome mountain in the Appalachians of Virginia...[More]
(5/13/07)
READ
BY L.J GANSER WITH AIMEE JOLSON & RICHARD
MOVER
The over-the
hill gang from the Camel
Clubis back, and this time they're joined
by beautiful con artist Annabelle Conroy, a woman
with a tender heart and nerves of steel. When
Caleb's boss, the head of the rare books department
at the Library of Congress, is found dead, the
rest of the Camel Club members, Ruben, Milton
and Oliver, join Caleb in investigating his boss'
secrets and finding his killers... [More]
(10/29/06)
READ
BY JONATHAN DAVIS
The
Camel Club, by David Baldacci Who says conspiracy theorists
are kooks? The Camel Club is a group of four
eccentric government watchdogs, but their observations,
research and actions prove that they are anything
but demented. Their leader is a mysteriously resourceful,
knowledgeable, physically fit 60-year-old who
has assumed the name Oliver Stone. Together with
Rueben, the three-time Vietnam veteran, Milton,
the OCD computer whiz, and Caleb, the rare books
librarian, he uncovers a plot that could lead
to the annihilation of six million people and
the end of any hopes of world peace...[More]
(12/18/05)
READ
BY THE AUTHOR
The
City of Falling Angels, by John Berendt "Beware of falling angels"
is the sign that greeted visitors to Venice
before restoration was completed on the Church
of Santa Maria della Salute, and it provides the
title for John Berendt's captivating exposé
of the social elite of this city of mazes and
masquerades. La Fenice, Venice's historic opera,
destroyed by fire three days prior to Berendt's
arrival in January of 1996, becomes the focus
of his investigation of the enchanting, haunting,
enigmatic city and its aristocracy...[More]
(11/20/05)
College student
Laurel Estabrook's normally peaceful bike ride
through the Vermont woods turns violent when she
is attacked and left for dead. Although her interest
in photography and her volunteer work at a homeless
shelter are helping her recover from the brutal
assault, she remains distant and withdrawn from
her family, coworkers and friends... [More]
(4/15/07)
What does a Columbia
University professor of Russian literature have
to do with Bobby Blue Eyes and the other regulars
of the Freemont Avenue Social Club? FBI special
agents Connor O'Brien and Laura Russo want to
know, too, joining the mob's search for the missing
professor after hearing his name mentioned during
a wiretap of the crew's hangout. The riddle is
solved in The Good Guys, told by
Bill Bonanno, former head of a crime family and
former FBI agent Joe Pistone, AKA Donnie Brasco.
Hijacked trucks, sexy coeds, clandestine love
nests, Italian rituals, violent acts, and the
Russian mafia all populate this insider's guide
to the mob, circa 1985...[Read
more] (5/1/05)
READ
BY JANEANE GAROFALO
Boomsday,
by Christopher Buckley
The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Oh
wait, that's the wrong generation and the wrong
story. This story is about the "Whatever
Generation" and their very real concern that
they will spend their lifetimes paying for the
retirement benefits of the Baby Boomers who will
be starting to retire and collect social security
on Boomsday. Cassandra Devine works in public
relations by day, helping clients put a positive
spin on questionable actions...[More]
(5/20/07)
Claire Truman had
an idyllic childhood as the beloved only child
of kind, wise, and accomplished parents. It was
her adult life that became dysfunctional. When
a chance meeting with her college crush leads
to new career opportunities and romance, she finds
that what she'd always dreamed of is, in reality,
a nightmare. Claire lands a plum job with publishing
legend Vivian Grant, only to learn that Ms. Grant
is a ruthless, abusive, heartless, selfish, vindictive,
tyrannical employer. Luckily, Claire has found
the perfect boyfriend in the handsome, successful,
romantic Randall Cox -- or has she? [More]
(3/4/07)
The author's
favorite homicide detective Harry Bosch is
back for his twelfth investigation. After returning
from retirement, he is working in the Open-Unsolved
department with his partner, Kiz Ryder. Still
haunted by one of his own unsolved cases from
13 years earlier, the disappearance of Marie Gesto,
he continues to study the files, hoping to find
out what happened to the missing girl. His prime
suspect at the time was the son of a very wealthy
family with friends in very high places. Harry
is still convinced that the son is guilty, but
he cannot prove it. After a routine traffic stop
during which a van is found to contain assorted
body parts, Harry is called to the D.A.'s office
to hear a different man confess... [More]
(1/7/07)
After 3 years of retirement, Detective
Harry Bosch is once again on active duty with
the LAPD, this time assigned to the newly formed
Open-Unsolved Unit. His former partner Kizman
Rider and he are charged with using new technologies
to find the answers to previously unsolved murder
cases. A DNA hit has found a link between a weapon
used to kill a beautiful mixed-race teenage girl
seventeen years earlier and a man with White Supremacy
ties. Although there were too few clues to solve
the murder when it occurred....[Read
more] (6/12/05)
Don't miss this
book which is one Patterson's best. From start
to finish, it is filled with drama, intrigue and
emotion. When the beloved wife of a former president
dies unexpectedly from an allergic reaction to
peanuts, her funeral service is conducted at St.
Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. The security
inside and outside is very high, because in addition
to the former president and the mayor of New York,
the mourners include dozens of celebrities, dignitaries
and business leaders. After the doors are closed,
a group of heavily armed men appears and announces
that they are taking over the church... [More]
(2/11/07)
This book is easily
one of the most intriguing of DeMille's John Corey
stories. John , a former NYPD detective now working
with the anti-terrorist task force, is still a
wise- cracking, loose cannon who almost never
follows orders. When a suspected terrorist gives
himself up and claims to want to seek asylum,
the FBI and CIA put him on a flight to JFK. Although
he is handcuffed and escorted by FBI and CIA agents,
the mind-numbing terror begins when the plane
lands with all 310 people aboard dead and the
prisoner missing... [More]
(2/5/07)
Where is John
Corey when we need him? If the terrifying
scenario described in Wild Fire is based partially
on actual events, does that mean that there are
anti-terrorism experts like John Corey? It would
be hard to believe, but it's also hard to believe
that responsible members of the government could
plot to blow up an American city as an excuse
to wipe out most of the Muslim world in apparent
retaliation....[More]
(12/3/06)
READ
BY
KEN HOWARD
Up
Country, by Nelson DeMille Although the title is a military
phrase used during the Viet Nam Conflict, this
is not a war story. It does tell the story of
a murder involving an Army captain killing an
Army lieutenant during the Tet Offensive in 1968.
For some unexplained reason, the government wants
a retired homicide investigator to go to Viet
Nam and find the enemy soldier who witnessed the
murder...[More]
(3/12/06)
On July 17, 1996,
TWA Fight 800 left JFK Airport on route to Paris.
At approximately 8:30 pm, it exploded off the
coast of Long Island, sending all 230 passengers
and crew to their Atlantic Ocean graves. After
investigation by the FBI, CIA, and various police
agencies, the tragedy was declared an accident,
but there were many cries of a cover-up and conspiracy.While attending a fifth year memorial
anniversary of the event with his wife, Kate Mayfield,
who was one of the original FBI investigators,
John Corey becomes interested in the circumstances
of the explosion...[Read
more] (5/15/05)
With so many movies, plays, adaptations, and spin-offs
in circulation, it's a wonderful treat to return
to Charles Dickens' yuletide yarn in its pristine
glory. Random House's new unabridged audio CD version
of A Christmas Carol is a marvelous way to enjoy
Ebenezer Scrooge's excellent adventure in the manner
Charles Dickens must have envisioned when he wrote
it. If ever a story was meant to be read aloud,
it's this one...[read
more] (12/21/03)
READ
BY
RICHARD E. GRANT
In
the Company of the Courtesan, by Sarah
Dunant Fiametta Bianchini's luck has run
out. Regarded as one of Rome's most desirable
courtesans in 1527, her beauty, political contacts,
wit and charm cannot protect her from the invading
barbarians in Renaissance Italy. After being scarred,
beaten and shorn of her signature golden curls,
she and her faithful friend Bucino swallow their
only assets, a handful of precious gems, and make
their way to Venice where she once again becomes
a sought-after courtesan...[More]
(3/12/06)
This is a thought
provoking and very intriguing book that takes
place during the 1940s when times were so different
from today. Prices of things, expressions and
clothing are obvious differences, but the most
surprising difference is how police were allowed
to operate 60 years ago. Back talk to a cop would
cost a person his teeth, and brass knuckles were
standard attire for an interrogation. At the start
of the book one cop says to his buddy and partner,
"Cherchez la femme," and these become
the words around which this story revolves...
[More]
(3/11/07)
How would you
like to take a virtual road trip on the American
frontier circa 1800? Charles Frazier has given
us the opportunity to do just that, complete with
descriptions of accommodations, food and traveling
companions of the period. Will Cooper, a 12-year-old
orphan and "bound" boy is sent to the
edge of civilization to run a trading post in
early 1800s. ...[More]
(11/19/06)
Once again Lisa
Gardner shows that she is one of the better authors
of the "whodunit" genre. She weaves
a story that will hold your interest from start
to its shocking conclusion. The story starts with
a 32-year-old woman who has recently returned
to Boston. Annabelle lives in a small apartment
with her Australian sheep dog, works in a Starbucks
and is living a drab life. Looking at the morning
paper she finds out that she is dead... [More]
(4/22/07)
From the beginning,
this book is action packed. South Boston policeman
Bobby Dodge responds to a domestic hostage situation
and is forced to kill a man who is aiming a gun
at his wife and child. The shooting is proper
and justified, but all hell breaks loose the next
day, when it's discovered that the dead husband
is Jimmy Gagnon, son of the most powerful judge
in the state... [More]
(4/1/07)
READ
BY
ELAINE ERIKA DAVIS
Memoirs
of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden To say that things are not always
what they seem is a huge understatement when it
comes to Memoirs of a Geisha. This beautifully
and sensitively told tale of a young girl's journey
from poor fisherman's daughter to famous geisha
is not really a memoir, but a novel. And it's
not written by a Japanese woman, but by an American
man. Even knowing that before listening to the
book, it's hard to believe that the author is
anyone other than someone who has experienced
the training and the rituals involved with being
a geisha...[More]
(4/9/06)
READ
BY SCOTT BRICK
American
Outrage, by Tim Green When things start to go wrong, it often seems
that they snowball and go from unfortunate to
disastrous in a heartbeat. Jake Carlson, co-host
of the TV show "American Outrage," whose
focus is presenting exposés about famous
people, has been missing deadlines. His boss warns
him that his lucrative job is in jeopardy... [More]
(7/22/07)
READ
BY FRANK MULLER & MICHAEL BECK
The
Summons/The Brethren, by John Grisham This two-book volume by John Grisham combines
exciting courtroom-based dramas that stand alone
as separate stories. The first, The Summons, is
about two brothers who are as different from each
other as oil and water. Their father, a very prominent
and well-loved judge in a small town, is dying
when he summons his sons to his house on a certain
date... [More]
(7/29/07)
Tourist Season is laugh-out-loud funny,
but it's also macabre. Carl Hiaasen's classic
whodunit is a dark tale of man-eating alligators,
crazy journalists, a wannabe terrorist, a millionaire
Seminole Indian, and a beauty queen. The bad guys
get it in the end, but you'll find yourself wondering
what's worse — people who kill a few tourists
or developers whose greedy voraciousness is destroying
the natural splendor of southern Florida. (12/15/96)
READ
BY BECKY ANN BARKER, TOM WOPAT, DAVID CHANDLER,
and JONATHAN DAVIS
The
Widow of the South, by Robert Hicks Based on a true story, this
extraordinary book about one of the last great
battles of the Civil War is a must. Carrie McGavock's
teenage decision to wear only black was a foreshadowing
of the life she would lead. The privileged daughter
of a plantation owner, she sank into depression
after the deaths of three of her five children.
It wasn't until a confederate general commandeered
her home as a hospital and she tended the wounded
soldiers of the Battle of Franklin that she discovered
her true purpose in life...[More]
(9/18/05)
Judge Carey
Moore knew her ruling of disallowing the admission
into court records of Karl Dahl's "prior
bad acts" would be an unpopular decision,
but she could not have predicted the impact her
decision would have. Although the evidence was
circumstantial in Karl Dahl's arrest for the brutal
murder of a mother and two children, the police
felt that Dahl's criminal past would seal his
fate and lead to his conviction. When Carey refuses
to allow it, and she is attacked in a parking
garage, cynical, unsympathetic police detective
Sam Kovac is assigned to protect her...[More]
(6/4/06)
READ
BY
ERIK DAVIES
Kill
the Messenger, by Tami Hoag The provocative title of this
book is meaningful from beginning to end.
The messenger in this case is one of those daredevil
bikers seen speeding and weaving in and out of
traffic in cities like New York and Los Angeles.
One of the messengers, J.C. Damon, or Jace to
his friends, is given a late, last minute delivery.
He picks it up at a lawyer's office and when he
gets to the drop-off address, he finds that it's
an empty lot. Puzzled, he looks around and sees
a car speeding right at him...[More]
(4/23/06)
"Between"
should have been Nonny Frett's middle name
instead of the name of her hometown. Born to a
rebellious Crabtree teenager but raised by a deaf
and blind, gracious Frett, Nonny's life consists
of contrasts and contradiction. The Fretts and
Crabtrees have been carrying on a Hatfield-McCoy
existence for generations, but the disclosure
of Nonny's actual genealogy crystallizes the animosity
between the two factions in the tiny town of Between...[More]
(9/10/06)
READ BY
MATT DILLON
First published
in 1957, Jack Kerouac's semi-autobiographicalOn
The Road is still the best-known novel of
the American road trip. Matt Dillon's excellent
narration brings Sal Paradise's gritty adventures
with Dean Moriarty to renewed life, making this
audio version a particularly vivid way to get in
touch with your inner angry young man. (12/15/96)
Maybe it takes
a shopaholic to love a shopaholic, or maybe Becky
Brandon is just a universally endearing character.
In Sophie Kinsella's latest Shopaholic saga, Becky
is not only delighted that she's pregnant, she's
thrilled that she now has new shopping pursuits-baby
clothes, baby furniture, even a baby doctor. When
she hears that celebrity obstetrician, Venetia
Carter provides new mothers with lotus water births,
Thai massages and designer goody bags, she moves
heaven and earth to become one of her patients.
Come to think of it, Becky does a lot of heaven
and earth moving... [More]
(3/18/07)
In this prequel
to Through
a Glass Darkly we meet Alice Verney, a
maid of honor in Charles II's court, who will
become the Duchess of Tamworth in the later book.
Alice returns from France, suspecting that Princess
Henriette has been poisoned by the paid assassin
Henry Ange. She immediately becomes immersed in
the intrigue, politics, romance and glamour of...
[More]
(1/21/07)
The nice thing
about historical fiction is that it's, forgive
the pun, timeless. Through a Glass Darkly
has seduced and enchanted readers since its publication
in 1988. Now, thanks to audio books, multi-tasking
commuters and road trippers can also immerse themselves
in the 18th-century world of Barbara Montgeoffrey...[More]
(12/3/06)
You do not have
to be a Louis L'Amour fan to enjoy this collection
of short stories. Each disc contains one of the
six featured short stories: More Brains than
Bullets, The Road to Casa Piedras,
Bowdrie Passes Through, Where Buzzards
Fly, South of Dreamland and Too
Tough to Brand. The main character in each
story is Texas Ranger Chick Bowdrie, a two-gun
ranger who is known to have lived with the Apache
Indians as a youngster... [More]
(4/8/07)
READ
BY
JAMIE ROSE
Ride
the River, by Louis L'Amour I reckon a body could live an
entire lifetime and never put ears to a Louis
L'amour audio book, but truth to tell it'd be
powerful shame. Sixteen-year-old Echo Sackett
is charged with the responsibility of traveling
to Philadelphia from her Tennessee mountain home
to claim an inheritance that will give her family
much needed money. In 1840, such a journey is
no simple trip, since Echo has to travel by stagecoach,
by horseback, by river steamer and by foot. Echo
might be a country girl, but she manages to outsmart
the big city charlatans ...[More]
(5/21/06)
READ
BY STEPHEN HOYE
The
Strangler, by William Landay
This book is primarily about three brothers
and their involvement with the mob and police
corruption in Boston during the early sixties.
Joe Daley, the eldest of the brothers, is a homicide
detective with a gambling addiction. He owes a
bookie over $20,000, which really means he owes
the mob that amount since they own the bookmakers.
The mob's enforcer, known as "The Animal"
because of his viciousness and tendency to resort
to murder, gives Joe two choices if he doesn't
pay off his debt in 24 hours. Joe can work for
the mob or have his wife or one of his kids killed...[More]
(6/10/07)
Invariably when
one hears about twins born conjoined in one
way or another, the questions that come up are
numerous. How can they do this or that? Do they
think separately? Does one hurt and not the other?
This book relates a most amazing story that will
help answer many of those questions, but more
importantly, it describes the lives and personalities
of Rose and Ruby...[More]
(6/4/06)
When a Beverly
Hills veterinarian arrives in the small town of
DeClare, Oklahoma, he has little idea that his
interest in finding his birth mother will lead
him on a trip into the past that will change his
life forever. Shoot the Moon is the engagingly
well-told tale of a young man's quest to find
out who he is and what really cut his mother's
life so short.While Shoot the
Moon is not a road trip book per se,
I found it to be a wonderful accompaniment on
a trip I took recently. It's a story of personal
odyssey, and Billie Letts does a great job...[Read
more] (10/17/04)
READ BY TIM
PIGOTT-SMITH
Peter Mayle is best known for his memoirs of
life in Provence, but Hotel
Pastis is just as good. It's the engaging
story of a recently divorced London advertising
executive who gives up his jet-set career to revamp
an old police station in southern France into
a "boutique hotel." A second plot revolves
around an endearing gang of robbers who plan a
bank heist and end up accidenatlly kidnapping
of the son of an American billionaire. In addition
to a delightfully woven story and an elegant cast
of characters, Hotel
Pastis serves up food descriptions so
vivid you can probably gain weight just by reading
them. (12/15/96)
This is a fast
moving, action-filled book that keeps the
listener wondering who, what and why from beginning
to end. Wes Holloway, President Leland Manning's
personal aide, feels responsible for the tragedy
that occurs at a NASCAR race when shots are fired
at the President and his entourage. The President
and First Lady are unharmed, but the deputy chief
of staff, Manning's best friend, is killed and
Wes is badly injured...[More]
(9/24/06)
This is an appealing
story that depicts love in an unusual manner.
It tells the tale of two boys, one black and the
other white, who for the first six years of their
lives are raised as brothers in the home of a
prominent white doctor. Born with a hole in his
heart, Thomas survives infancy thanks to the skill
of Dr. Nolan. Recently widowed, Dr. Nolan falls
in love with Thomas' beautiful, dark skinned mother...[More]
(6/4/06)
In 1965, the race riots
in the Watts area of LA were in their fifth day,
and things were beginning to simmer down when
a white man was pulled from his car by an angry
mob and beaten. He escaped into the neighborhood
and became the chief suspect when a young black
woman was found brutally murdered. The police,
concerned that this murder of a young black woman
might incite more rioting, convinced a black man
who was well known to the Watts people to help
them find the killer...[More]
(9/4/05)
Dominic Cavello,
the boss of the New York mafia, has been the
elusive obsession of FBI Senior Agent Nick Pellisante
until he locates him at a wedding in Montauk,
Long Island and arrests him after a shootout.
All through the four months prior to his trial,
Cavello laughs and swears he will never be convicted.
After three of his former aides turn against him
and testify, it seems as if the Don is doomed...[More]
(8/27/06)
Not everyone
on Beach Road in the Hamptons is rich and famous.
Tom Dunleavy, a mediocre lawyer and former hometown
high school basketball hero, suddenly finds himself
in the media spotlight after one of his young
friends is accused of murdering three other local
boys. The accused, Dante Halleyville, is destined
to be the next Michael Jordan until a fight at
a pickup basketball game is followed by the brutal
execution of three white boys, and he's the prime
suspect...[More]
(8/20/06)
If the subtitle
of this book weren't enough to ensure an enthusiastic
young adult audience, the thrill-a-minute exploits
of Max and her adopted brothers and sisters would.
In the first Maximum Ride book, The Angel Experiment,
Max and the Flock escaped the Erasers who were
sent to kill them. Now the delightful band of
2-percent avian, 98-percent human children faces
another treacherous predicament - going to school...[More]
(6/16/06)
Have you ever
wondered what it would feel like to stretch
your arms and be airborne, flying over buildings,
trees, lakes and mountains? The 6 mutant children
(98% human and 2% bird) introduced in Patterson's
Where the Wind Blows have that luxury. Unfortunately
they also have an assortment of problems related
to that ability. Born of normal parents, they
were taken to a laboratory where their DNA was
altered, giving them wings and other extraordinary
features. 14 year old Max and her flock of "angels"
have escaped their cages...[More]
(6/16/06)
READ
BY PETER J. FERNANDEZ, MICHAEL LOUIS WELLS, &
MELISSA LEO
Mary,
Mary (Alex Cross Novel), by James Patterson This is a most interesting story
since it starts with a storyteller who states
he is writing a story that will be a blockbuster.
However, he states he must live the moments, and
so he must commit murders in order to feel the
emotions of a killer. His first crime is a triple
murder in New York City, and, feeling successful,
he returns to his hometown of Los Angeles. Soon
after, the entertainment columnist the Los Angeles
Times receives an email that is addressed to a
Hollywood producer. The message tells the female
producer that she is being killed because she
is an unfit mother. The murder is described, and
the email is signed Mary Smith. To the columnist's
horror...[More]
(1/15/06)
READ
BY HOPE DAVIS & SCOTT CAMPBELL
Honeymoon,
by James Patterson & Howard Roughan Nora Sinclair, a beautiful woman
who is a highly regarded interior decorator,
is also a black widow serial killer. She is presently
involved with a former client-a multimillionaire
who adores her. She also has a wealthy husband
living in Boston who also adores her. Neither
is safe from her lethal omelets. Unbeknownst to
her, FBI agent, John O'Hara, posing as an insurance
claims adjuster, is investigating her possible
involvement in her first husband's death...[More]
(12/4/05)
Ned Kelly, lifeguard, pool
boy, and chauffeur to the rich and influential
of West Palm Beach, is waiting for the perfect
score. A passionate afternoon with the beautiful
Tess MacAuliffe and anticipation of the million
dollars he'll collect for the evening's endeavor,
a simple breaking and entry, has him dreaming
of the life he'd always hoped to have. Instead,
Ned finds himself on the run from both the Miami
police and the FBI, a suspect in the deaths of
his best friends and Tess, and accused of stealing
over $60 million worth of valuable paintings.
Strangely, his biggest supporter is Ellie Shurtleff,
the FBI agent...[More]
(9/4/05)
The story starts
off with a bang -- actually with many bangs, and
none by fireworks. When the bangs stop, San Francisco
Police Department Lt. Lindsay Boxer and her partner
Warren Jacoby have both been shot twice. The shooters
are kids, one dead and the other seriously wounded.
Days later the kids' father, a prominent doctor
in San Francisco, sues Lt. Boxer for $50 million,
claiming wrongful death, police brutality, and
not following police procedures. Relieved of duty
and awaiting her trial, Lindsay Boxer decides
to escape the media frenzy and take refuge...[Read
more] (5/29/05)
READ
BY ANNE HECHE & JANE ALEXANDER
Sam's
Letters to Jennifer, by James Patterson
Since I still associate James Patterson with thrillers
like Along Came a Spider, it's hard for me
to get used to the idea that he's also good at writing
love stories. "Sam's Letters to Jennifer"
is exactly that, the story of two women, the men
they love, and their love for each other. This audio
version is the ideal way to enjoy the intertwined
tales, and it's a great road trip accompaniment.Sam is Jennifer's grandmother. When an accident
leaves Sam in a coma, Jennifer, a young newspaper
columnist, travels to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, to
be at her side. She stays at her grandmother's house,
where she discovers a sheaf of letters...[read
more]
6/27/04
The year is
1985, and several community gardens in Washington,
D.C., yield a very strange crop, planted by a
killer the police call the Night Gardener. Three
teenagers are found in the gardens, murdered under
similar circumstances. Sgt. T.C. Cook, the detective
examining the last one, notes the many similarities
of each. They all are shot in the head and show
signs of sexual abuse, each missing a lock of
hair. However, one similarity is bizarre. The
names of the victims, Ava, Otto and Eve, are all
palindromes, causing the media to refer to the
killings as the palindrome murders...[More]
(10/15/06)
Harry Potter is in his sixth
year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,
and along with his friends, Ron, Hermione and
Ginny, learning to use new magical skills and
potions and spells to achieve his goals. In his
quest to defend the wizard world against the evil
forces of Lord Valdemort and to learn more about
the boy who became the murderous villain, Harry
is aided by private instruction from Professor
Dumbledore. Although it seems that he is also
being helped by the mysterious Half-Blood Prince,
disaster strikes, and Harry learns once more that
things are not always what they appear....[More]
(7/31/05)
This action-packed, fast-paced
novel takes many detours before its ending.
An American couple goes to Bogotá, Colombia,
to adopt a baby. After Colombian insurgents kidnap
the couple and their baby, the husband, Paul,
is sent back to the United States on a mission
for the rebels. He has eighteen days to complete
the mission, or his wife and baby will be killed.
He encounters many obstacles on his quest, such
as drug smuggling, the Russian Mafia, arson, murder,
suicide, and a rogue DEA agent...[More]
(8/14/05)
READ
BY LOLITA DAVIDOVITCH
Body
Surfing, by Anita Shreve
No! This is not a book about body surfing.
It is a beautiful story of a woman named Sydney
who is seeking what she believes to be a perfect
life -- to love and to be loved, to share moments
of pleasure with the right companion. She had
all that on two occasions, being married twice.
Each started happily, but both ended sadly, leaving
her heartbroken for years. Now approaching thirty
years old, she is fearful of getting involved
again since she is both a divorcee and a widow.
When she takes a summer job...[More]
(5/6/07)
READ
BY LINDA EMONDS
A
Wedding in December, by Anita Shreve Add an intimate wedding celebration
at a bed and breakfast in the Berkshires between
reunited high school sweethearts to a reunion
of their best friends from prep school, and you
have a feel-good book about happy endings, right?
Wrong. Just as in everyday life, things are not
as they seem, and as the weekend progresses the
former best friends discover truths about themselves
and each other that they've hidden or dodged since
the tragic death of...[More]
(10/16/05)
Nicky Dillon feels
that although she is only twelve, she already
has led two separate lives. After the tragic accident
that killed her mother and her baby sister, Clara,
Nicky's grief-stricken father moved her from their
beautiful suburban New York home to a rustic farmhouse
six miles outside a small town in northern New
Hampshire. While snowshoeing near their home,
they discover an abandoned newborn baby in a sleeping
bag in the frozen forest. The baby lives, and
after the mother of the baby visits them, Nikki
befriends her, helping her to evade the detective
who is trying to find the people responsible for
leaving a baby to die. ...[Read
more] (5/22/05)
READ
BY BRIAN KEITH LEWIS
Triptych,
by Karin Slaughter Triptych -- it's a strange title but
a fast-moving and exciting book. The author explains
the meaning of the title, and it fits the situations
in the story. Although the characters in this
book are very dissimilar, they all interconnect
to bring the story to a plausible, if shocking,
conclusion. Angie, also known as Robin when she
is working the streets, is a vice detective...[More]
(6/17/07)
This audio book
consists of two novels. The first tells the
love story of Noah Calhoun and Allie Nelson. From
opposite ends of the social scale, the teens fall
in love and spend a romantic summer together until
their romance is sabotaged by Allie's mother.
Love triumphs and they find each other after several
years, rekindle their love, marry and enjoy more
than 40 years of happiness. As an old man, Noah
reads Allie a notebook...[More]
(12/3/06)
Easter Sunday,
1873, Colfax, Louisiana. Before listening
to Red River, this day and place held no significance
to me, but they are now seared into my consciousness
as an example of a shameful date in U.S. history.
For 10 years after the Civil War, black men and
women in the South lived with the hope and promise
of a bright future for themselves and their children.
Reconstruction saw black men owning property and
electing candidates to local and county offices
in Colfax, Louisiana, but that changed when white
supremacists decided to ignore election results
and forcefully install their own choices. They
called the Easter Sunday carnage of more than
100 black men a "riot by troublemaking coloreds,"
but Red River gives the more accurate account
of a horrific massacre of black citizens defending
their freedom... [More]
(1/7/07)
This story about
the daily lives of the men and women stationed
in the Hollywood division of Los Angeles Police
Department is an adventure that is sure to keep
listeners absorbed from beginning to end. Wambaugh,
a best selling author of police stories for many
years but recently on hiatus, has come back with
a bang... [More]
(1/14/07)
