Bookreporter.com Bets On...

Trust Your Eyes by Linwood Barclay

September 2012

Typically, Bookreporter.com Bets On selections are based on books that I love, but in the case of TRUST YOUR EYES, a thriller by Linwood Barclay, my husband and son, Greg, are voting with me. I have been a huge fan of Linwood’s for years, but the depth of his talent is shown in a whole new way in this book. There were so many aha moments, twists, turns and surprises that even a quarter of the way through I was thinking this is sooooo cleverly done. The plot revolves around two brothers. One is a schizophrenic and rarely leaves the house. Instead he explores the world through a website called Whirl360 (very similar to the Street View on Google Maps). As he “wanders” down a street in New York City "visits," he sees what appears to be a murder. He convinces his brother to investigate it further, and from there the action gets really wild. NONE of us could put this book down once we started it.

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In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner

August 2012

Two copies of IN THE SHADOW OF THE BANYAN by Vaddey Ratner arrived in the office a few months ago. My son, Greg, grabbed one and read 100 pages on his train ride home and emailed me from the train to say, “This is an incredible book.” By the next day, he had finished it and was hounding me to read it so we could talk about it. When I got a few pages in, I saw why and knew that the voice of seven-year-old Raami was not going to be one I forget anytime soon. The book is set in 1975 after the Cambodian Civil War as Cambodia is overtaken by the Khmer Rouge. Raami and her family, who have a prosperous life, are ousted from their home and held in the clutches of the Khmer Rouge, who move them from camp to camp, where survival under primitive and abusive conditions become the world of her childhood. The genocide during this time kills more than two million people.

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City of Women by David R. Gillham

August 2012

CITY OF WOMEN, a debut novel from David R. Gillham, is set in Berlin during World War II at a time when the city has become a city of women as the men are off fighting on various fronts. Picturing wartime Berlin, we typically think of the Nazis with swastikas and artillery moving through the streets, or the faces of Jewish families being ushered from their homes. But what of those left behind? Who were they, and what were their stories?

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The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

August 2012

My older son, Greg, loves lighthouses and has visited more than 300 of them. It all started when he was nine, and we were in Georgia at the St. Simon’s Lighthouse. His most recent “light trip” was to Cape Lookout National Park in North Carolina, where he camped on the beach in April. As a result, we have spent a lot of time with him climbing --- and looking at --- lighthouses.

Thus, THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS by M. L. Stedman drew me in with its cover as it brought back some nice memories. But as I started reading, my own thoughts faded into the background as I was plunged right into the story from the six-page prologue. The moral issue that will be at the heart of the book is there from the start as we meet Tom and Isabel, a young couple manning a remote lighthouse off the coast of Australia on Janus Rock, which is situated on the Indian Ocean. A boat washes up on shore with a crying baby and dead man, and from there, decisions are made that set up entirely what comes next.

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Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann

July 2012

TIGERS IN RED WEATHER by Liza Klaussmann is a wonderfully ambitious debut novel --- told in five voices with twists and turns --- that completely delivers as it rolls from page to page. The setting for most of the story is a vacation home called Tiger House on Martha’s Vineyard, which has been enjoyed by Nick (note: Nick is a woman) and Helena’s families since they were children. Following World War II, Nick married a man named Hughes, and Helena has married as well and moved to California.

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Gold by Chris Cleave

July 2012

You probably know Chris Cleave as the author of LITTLE BEE, which was a bestseller and book group favorite. His latest, GOLD is set in Manchester, England, with the protagonists Zoe and Kate, two world-class female cyclists who have known each other as both friends and rivals since their first day of Elite training. They are both in the hunt for their last Olympic gold. The chance to even be in the race has eluded one of the women for two Olympics, and at her age, this is her last shot. She has a young child who is desperately ill, and balancing the emotions that swirl around her as she tries to calculate her daughter’s odds for survival with her training raises the stakes and the tension.

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The Woman at the Light by Joanna Brady

July 2012

THE WOMAN AT THE LIGHT by Joanna Brady opens on Wrecker’s Cay in 1839, where Emily Lowry soon learns that her lighthouse keeper husband has not returned from a trip in his boat. Suddenly she is alone with her three young children, keeping not only her hearth and home, but also the lighthouse beacon burning. Wrecker’s Cay is isolated, and life there is lonely. So when a young black man with manacles attached to his hands washes up on their shore, there’s definitely time for tension to unfold. Who is he, and what is his story? Can he be trusted?

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The World Without You by Joshua Henkin

June 2012

Many of you may remember Joshua Henkin’s book of a few years ago, MATRIMONY, which was eagerly embraced by both book clubs and readers. Just out this week is THE WORLD WITHOUT YOU, which is set over a few days around the 4th of July in 2005 as the Frankel family gathers at their vacation home in Lenox, MA, to commemorate the unveiling of their son/brother Leo’s tombstone on the first anniversary of his death.  Leo, the only son, was a journalist who loved adventure, and his death while on assignment in Iraq was devastating. The book opens with his parents awaiting the arrival of the rest of the family, and we learn the bombshell of a secret that they plan to share over the next few days.

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Heading Out to Wonderful by Robert Goolrick

June 2012

As many of you recall, I was just crazy about A RELIABLE WIFE by Robert Goolrick, which was a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection. In his latest book, HEADING OUT TO WONDERFUL, Goolrick again grabbed my attention with a bold story and a group of flawed characters.

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Gilded Age by Claire McMillan

June 2012

GILDED AGE, a debut novel by Claire McMillan, is set in Cleveland, “the Rust Belt,” and shows a stylish side to that city that I never expected. Readers meet Ellie Harr, who makes her return to her native city after a divorce in New York and stint in rehab. But she learns that what while her beauty is dazzling, her sexual reputation matters as much as her family heritage and bankbook. Her more grounded childhood friend is living a respectable Cleveland life, and the divide between their worlds exacerbates Ellie’s troubles all the more.

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