The Mole People by Jennifer Toth

The author brings to light the existence of a population that humanity seemed to have forgotten. This population are either homeless, addicted, disabled or unable to afford housing and choose to live in the tunnels and caverns under the subway in New York City.

She visits their domains and builds a trusting relationship with them. She gives us an excellent view of what their lives are like and why they preferred this type of living rather than come above ground.  

 

This book is an eye opener. It happened then and still exists today, perhaps in other cities in the U.S. as well.

Rated 4 out of 5 

Reviewed by Joan Boucher

Split Second by Catherine Coulter

FBI Agents Savitch and Sherlock are once again caught up in trying to catch a serial killer. 

It all begins when Savitch stops at the Shop"N Go to pick up some groceries and finds himself in the midst of a robbery.  Story introduces two new agents, Lucy Carlyle and Cooper McKnight and as expected a romantic relationship develops. Very fast paced, keeps you glued to your seat and unexpected ending.

Rated 5 out of 5

Reviewed by Joan Boucher

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

Stephen Wraysford, a young Englishman, goes to France to live with an older business partner and his family and falls in love with the partner's younger wife. Stephen and Isabella run away together and later when she finds she is pregnant with his child runs out on him. When he can not locate her, he returns to England and when WWI breaks out enlists in an English regiment and goes back to France to fight the Germans. He becomes an officer in a Brigade that digs tunnels and listens for German movement beneath the earth. Stephen is a tortured soul and does not bond with his men nor feel their sadness when some of them are killed by the tunnels collapsing or being shot when the Germans come upon them in the tunnels. 

The writing is such that you feel you are there fighting along side these men and experience all their horrors and agonizing deaths. The story stayed with me for quite awhile after reading it. As in any was the toll on human lives hits right to the core of all human emotions and failings.

I found the book to be very informative about the war and its effects, not only on the soldiers but on the civilian population in the war torn areas. The tactics of using tunnels to fight the enemy was very interesting. 

Rated 4 out of 5 

Reviewed by Joan Boucher

Crystal Gardens by Amanda Quick

 Evangeline Ames is a paid companion and an undercover investigator who works for the Flint & Marsh Agency where all their employees have hidden talents. While working for the Agency, Evangeline exposes a fortune hunter who later attacks her and he meets his death in an usual manner. She takes a month long leave from her job and rents a small cottage in Little Dixby, England to work on her book.

She is once again attacked late at night but makes her escape by running into the mysterious Crystal Gardens near her home. She is saved by Lucas, the owner of the estate which the gardens are on. Thus begins her adventures.

A very fast paced read which is full of suspense and mystery, romance and the paranormal. 

Rated 5 out of 5

Reviewed by Joan Boucher

Kisser by Stuart Woods

 Not the greatest of the Stone Barrington books. Very little crime and mystery. Too much sex with the female characters and high class socializing. very disappointing. It seems that Woods just threw a story together.

Rated 1 out of 5

Reviewed by Joan Boucher

Ebola by William T. Close

  

The caption on the front of the cover of the book sums it all up--"A documentary novel of its first explosion in Zaire by a doctor who was there." This book was a stunning, in-depth look at the lives of the people affected by the Ebola outbreak. It tells the tale of the missionary nuns running a mission that included a hospital, church, school and farm. When people sick with a fever start showing up at the mission, they assume it is malaria, not knowing the true horrors that await. Both the bravery and humanity shown in this novel made it a great read. Fair warning to the faint of heart--some descriptions of the illness and its aftermath can be a bit graphic, but this is necessary to convey what happened in Zaire. This book is a great look into the lives of people willing to try and save lives while risking their own. I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for some medical or historical reading. 

Rated 5 out of 5 

Reviewed by Ashley Rahill

A Secret Kept by Tatiana De Rosnay

Every family has their secrets. Some are good, while others can devastate and tear the family apart once they are revealed. This is a story about a brother ans sister who are confronted with a family secret about a beautiful mother; a secret shrouded by taboo and how it effected their past and present lives.

Antoine Rey gives his sister Melanie a surprise weekend at the seashore resort where they had spent many happy summers as children until the mother's sudden unexpected death. They hoped by going back to the resort they could find the answer and come to terms with her death. At the end of the weekend they are no closer to the answer. On the way home, Melanie remembers something about her mother and as she begins to tell Antoine, she becomes highly emotional and causes an accident and is critically injured. 

Antoine can not leave the unresolved matter alone. He visits Melanie often but continues to seek answers to their mother's death. This is not his only problem. He is a torn man, unhappy in his career, life, and relationships with his divorced wife and children and with Angele, the colorful unconventional mortician who he met in the hospital where his sister is recovering. 

Can these two recover and begin to lead normal lives? 

Submitted by Joan Boucher 

Rated 3 out of 5 

A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin

Great book. I have read the four previous books in the series, and this book certainly was not disappointing. The characters have really grown throughout the series, but the reader truly gets to see many of the plots and hidden agendas coming to light. The ending leaves you begging for more. I cannot wait until George R.R. Martin finishes the next installment in the series so I can find out more about the characters that I have grown to love and some that I have grown to despise! If you love fantasy stories, give this series a try! 

Rated 5 out of 5

Submitted by Ashley Rayhill 

Blood Orange by Drusilla Campbell

This is a story about a disabled missing child and the adults with their many secrets which may have contributed to her abduction. The father, David is a Defense Attorney who spends time away from his family defending a man accused of murdering a young child, a situation his wife and others can not comprehend. Dana, the mother hates her life, the people around her and God because she feels she has given up too much of her life because of her disabled child. The answer to her problem is to get away. She goes to Italy to study art and has an affair with an artist, the trouble brother of her best friend Lexy who is an Episcopalian priest and a recovering alcoholic.
This story has many complex characters and story lines that at times are confusing and difficult to follow. Yet, the story is very engrossing and hold your interest until the end.
It is also a story of forgiveness, for without it, no one can be healed.

 

Rated 3 out of 5

Submitted by Joan Boucher

Once in Every Life by Kristin Hannah

Have you ever thought about Reincarnation? Does it really exist? If you are a believer, you may want to read this book about Tess Gregory and her return to earth. 

Tess was a deaf but brilliant scientist who was killed by a bus and given a chance to come back to earth. Her guide, Carol gives her a chance to choose from a dozen suitable men, yet special candidates that would give her the love ad family she never had in her past life. She selects a man who seems to be experiencing real pain and dark emotions, feelings she herself had experienced in her unhappy past life. 

She arrives back on earth to find herself in another era, the wife of Jack Rafferty who had just died giving birth to his son. Jack is a sheep rancher living on San Juan Island in 1873 and the father of two older daughters.
Tess is challenged by the fact that her new family is afraid of her and they did not know how to communicate or interact with her. She has to find a way to gain their love and the source of the horrors that consume Jack in order to make this family whole again; a most difficult task for Tess. 

One can only wonder if they were returned to earth, what situation they would encounter.

Rated 4 out of 5 

Submitted by Joan Boucher