CRITICAL MASS by Sara Paretski

CRITICAL MASS by Sara Paretsky is very good.  If you are a history buff you will especially enjoy it.  Private detective, Warshawski is called by her best friend to find a patient who was in trouble.  When Warshawski gets involved in finding the caller, she discovers there is more than meets the eye to this case.  There is the Holocausr, the nuclear arms race, and a missing grandson.  I don't know my history very well but we are introduced to the scientists who worked on the bomb during World War II.  If the names are accurate I couldn't tell you.  But it is very interesting to hear the stories of these people behind the detectives work which also get my interest.  I would recommend this book.

THE RETURNED

THE RETURNED by Jason Mott is strange.  I'm not sure if I liked it or not.  The returned are those who have died but now have come back to earth.  They are found in various places in the world not always wher they lived in life.  At first they are sent back to family until so many returned.  Lucille and Harold lost their son, Jacob at age 8.  He drowned in the river.  He returns but is it really their son?  They are not sure.  But Harold and Lucille love him just the same.  I'm sure theirs a moral here but I cannot find it.  As I said I am not sure if I liked it or not.  It is a bit wordy with unnecessary description and conversations.  

Weapon of Choice

WEAPON OF CHOICE by Patricia Gussin I was a little surprised that the book was set in the past but it worked.  There were many different twists in the story.  A surgeon whose daughter is infected with a drug resistance staph infection.  A scientist who is out for revenge against his scientist colleague.  A CDC scientist very prejudice against blacks with a vendetta. These characters are all intertwined in some way and this is the good part of the story.  There are two very virulent strains of bacteria released on a portion of the population and they must be contained before it is spread to the world.  We know who the culprit is but how they commit their crimes and how they are caught is the mystery.  Very good book and I recommend it.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

"This book is the book you have just read." Neil Gaiman. This pretty much says it all about THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE by Neil Gaiman.  It is true to Neil Gaiman form.  I read this book in one sitting.  It isn't long but that is not the reason.  It is hard to put down.  A reviewer says, " told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human."  So very true. The main character has come home for a funeral but before he leaves he visits the house down the lane from where he grew up.  While sitting on a bench by the pond, he relives events from his childhood that he is not quite sure happened.  Old Mrs Hempstock is there for him as she always was growing up but could it really still be her?  A must read..

WHISTLING PAST THE GRAVEYARD by SusanCrandall

Excellent book,  I highly recommend it.  Starla, a ten year old girl runs away from her grandmother's house to find her mother.  Starla jumps before she thinks.  How will she get all the way from Mississippi to Nashville, what will she eat on the way?  Starla is picked up by a black woman as Starla walks down the road.  But she doesn't know what she is in for until she gets to Eula's house.  The setting is a time when civil rights was very much an issue.  Starla learns about family, real life away from a small town, and the difference between white and black people during this time in the south.

HUMAN REMAINS

HUMAN REMAINS by Elizabeth Haynes is great.  What a strange main character.  Colin Friedland thinks he is helping people commit suicide. No one seems to catch that there are many more decomposed bodies found than normal for the year and the area.  Annabel, the police analyst, discovers the problem and brings it to the department's attention.  Not until a reporter gets wind of the story, does the department take an interest.  Colin is quite different and possibly emotionless.  So how does Annabel get mixed up with him?  Do you know your neighbors; would you know if they are dead or alive? 

The Tilted World

THE TILTED WORLD by Tom Franklin is excellent.  The story tells about the great Mississippi River flood of 1927.  We see the events through the eyes of Dixie Clay and her natural enemy, a revenue agent.  Dixie Clay is a moonshiner and she meets Ingersoll, the revenuer.  Then besides the flood disaster Dixie Clay's life begins to change.  She gets a child, her husband is a saboteur, and she falls in love with her natural enemy.  Tilted World is historical fiction and love story.