Latest Reviews
For decades, Nick Burns has been haunted by a decision he made as a young soldier in World War I, when a French artist he’d befriended thrust both her paintings and her baby into his hands --- and disappeared. In 1974, with only months left to live, Nick enlists Jenny, a college dropout desperate for adventure, to help him unravel the mystery. The journey leads them from Paris galleries and provincial towns to a surprising place: the Museum of Tears, the life’s work of a lonely Italian craftsman. Determined to find the baby and the artist, hopeless romantic Jenny and curmudgeonly Nick must reckon with regret, betrayal and the lives they’ve left behind.
All four Solomon siblings must return to North Carolina to save the Kingdom, their ancestral home and 200 acres of land, from a development company that has their sights set on turning the valuable waterfront property into a luxury resort. The siblings also must save themselves from the secrets they've been holding onto. Junior, who is married to his wife for 11 years, is secretly in love with another man. Mance can't control his temper, which has landed him in prison more than once. CeCe, a lawyer, has embezzled thousands of dollars from her firm's clients. Tokey wonders why she doesn't seem to fit into this family, which has left an aching hole in her heart that she tries to fill in harmful ways. As the Solomons come together to fight for the Kingdom, each of their façades begins to crumble and collide in unexpected ways.
Erebus Resort, occupying a magnificent, hundred-thousand acre valley deep in the Colorado Rockies, offers guests the experience of viewing woolly mammoths, Irish Elk and giant ground sloths in their native habitat, brought back from extinction through the magic of genetic manipulation. When a billionaire's son and his new wife are kidnapped and murdered in the Erebus back country by what is assumed to be a gang of eco-terrorists, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frances Cash partners with county sheriff James Colcord to track down the perpetrators. As killings mount and the valley is evacuated, Cash and Colcord must confront an ancient, intelligent and malevolent presence at Erebus, bent not on resurrection --- but extinction.
SFPD Sergeant Lindsay Boxer, Medical Examiner Claire Washburn, Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castellano and crime writer Cindy Thomas gather at one of San Francisco’s finest restaurants to celebrate exciting news: Cindy is getting married. Before they can raise their glasses, there’s a disturbance in the restaurant. A woman has been assaulted. Claire examines the victim. Lindsay makes an arrest. Yuki takes the case. Cindy covers it. The legal strategy is complicated by gaps in the plaintiff’s memory --- and the shocking reason behind her ever-changing testimony. As Yuki leads the prosecution, Lindsay chases down a high-society killer whose target practice may leave the Women’s Murder Club short a bridesmaid…or two.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy inherited an ill-conceived, poorly executed invasion of Cuba that failed miserably and set in motion the events that put the U.S. and the Soviet Union on a collision course that nearly started a war that would have enveloped much of the world. THE SHADOW OF WAR brings to life the many threads that lead to the building crisis between the Soviet Union and the United States in 1962. It is told from a multitude of perspectives and voices --- from the Russian engineer attempting the nearly impossible task of building the missile launch facilities in Cuba, to the U.S. Navy commanders whose ships are sent to "quarantine" Cuba, to the Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev, desperately trying to maintain a challenging balancing act between the conflicting demands of various powerful forces.
Ru Evans taught herself euclidean geometry at age seven, has an eidetic memory, and is about to enter college at 13 years old. Boarding at a house near campus 150 miles from home, Ru meets 17-year-old Gabriel, an outsider himself who, like Ru, has trouble making friends --- until they form a fast sibling-like bond. Finding a relatable someone in the world to talk to is a first for both of them. But when Ru’s mother dies and the threat of living with her miserable aunt looms, Ru hatches an escape. It’s an impulsive road trip that takes Ru and Gabriel from California to Canada, where Ru can fulfill her ultimate dream: to see Atlantic puffins in the glorious wild. Mile by mile, Ru discovers the joy of friendship, found family, dark night skies and the aurora borealis, and she basks in going from being a smart person to just a person.
Nashquitten, MA, is a decaying coastal enclave that not even tourist season can revive, full of locals who have run the town’s industries for generations. When a young woman dies at a house party, the circumstances around her death suspiciously unclear, the tight-knit community is shaken. As a mother grieves her daughter, a teacher her student, a best friend her confidante, the events around the tragedy become a lightning rod: blame is cast, secrets are buried deeper. Some are left to pick up the pieces, while others turn their backs. And all the while, a truth about that dreadful night begins to emerge.
Ever since that night, twin sisters Cassie and Lenora have been inseparable. As the sole permanent residents of Cabin Two, their refuge on an isolated Tennessee campground, they manage to stay away from prying eyes, probing questions and true crime junkies. The peace and quiet is almost enough to make them forget what happened all those years ago. Almost. Until a teenage girl camping at the neighboring cabin goes missing, and the memories come rushing back. As the crime becomes ever more recognizable, each sister suspects the other knows more than she's letting on. Trapped in the isolating, claustrophobic wilderness, Cassie and Lenora must piece together the truth of what happened --- and the sinister truth lurking in their own pasts --- before it's too late.
As kids, Amelia and Kylee were found unharmed in their upstairs bedroom the night their teenage cousin Grace, who was babysitting them, vanished from the farmhouse in Beaumont, Missouri, leaving blood all over the kitchen. Grace, the first in their family to go to college instead of getting married and working at the meatpacking plant, had been on the verge of escaping their dead-end town. Her disappearance is a warning to any local girl who dared hope for better. Now, as their own high school graduation looms, Amelia and Kylee dream about fleeing Beaumont, but the likelihood of that happening seems as low as that of Grace being found. When human remains are discovered in town, the sisters think they finally know who took Grace --- but as they dig deeper into her past, they unearth long-buried secrets and a growing list of suspects.
It was supposed to be a romantic getaway weekend in New York City. Breanna’s new boyfriend, Ty, took care of everything. But when Bree comes downstairs their final morning, she’s shocked. There’s a stranger laying dead in the foyer, and Ty is nowhere to be found. A Black woman alone in a new city, Bree is stranded and out of her depth --- especially when it becomes clear the dead woman is none other than Janelle Beckett, the missing woman the entire internet has become obsessed with. There’s only one person Bree can turn to: her ex-best friend, a lawyer with whom she shares a very complicated past. As the police and a social media mob close in, all looking for #JusticeForJanelle, Bree realizes that the only way she can help Ty --- or herself --- is to figure out what really happened that last night.
