American archaeologist Page Brookstone is on a routine dig in Meggido when she is approached by an Arab couple about excavating the grounds beneath their house in Anatot, Israel.  The couple, Ibrahim and Aisha Barakat, claim the ghosts of two lovers haunt their home and cast an amorous spell on anyone who enters the dwelling.  Page is one of many archaeologists the Barakats have tried to interest in solving their mystery.   Intrigued by the Barakats’ claim and ignoring the scorn of her peers, Page agrees to investigate the site where she is immediately overwhelmed by an undeniable force.  After Ibrahim shows Page hard evidence of a cistern located beneath his living room floor, Page is hooked. 

Soon Page makes an incrediable discovery in the cistern:  the bones of the prophet Jeremiah locked in an eternal embrace with a woman named Anatiya.  Buried along with the entwined skeleton are scrolls written by Anatiya, which challenge the prophet’s story and create a worldwide fervor intended to silence the truth about the lovers. 

Page finds herself unexpectedly caught up in a forbidden romance with an ultra-orthodox Jew whose organization opposes the efforts to unearth the skeletons.  Under seige from both religious zealots and harsh critics, Page puts both her life and her professional reputation on the line to deliver Anatiya’s words to the world. 

This book is a nice blend of romance, mystery and historical fiction.  The author, Zoe Klein, is a Jewish rabbi with an expert’s grasp of ancient texts.  The book reflects Rabbi Klein’s hopeful vision of the Middle East where boundaries between Christian, Jew and Muslim evaporate.

Mary Beth – York             ISBN 9781416599128

Not your typical mystery, Emily Arsenault’s first novel is an interesting look in the world of lexicographers and the Samuelson Dictionary Company.  Philosophy major, Billy Webb is thrilled to have found his first job after college.   He is a lexicographer in a dictionary company.  There he looks for new words, defines them and answers questions from the public about words.  It’s a solitary occupation, a large room filled with cubicles filled with people doing similar tasks but with almost no interaction.   Billy and fellow lexicographer, Mona find a citation that references a book that doesn’t appear to exist.   They come to believe that someone has planted the citation and others to tell a story.   As they find more citations they find they are putting together the story of a murder.

The story is told with humor and has a sweetness to it that has you rooting for both Billy and Mona.  

Karen – Fort Mill                     ISBN  9780553807332

Jeremy Stroeb has left college and his upper middle class family in Miami to backpack across Europe and decide what he wants to do with the rest of his life.  When his parents are murdered he flies home, planning a short stay and then back to his nomadic lifestyle.   He is astonished to find that he is named guardian of his sixteen year old sister. 

Jeremy believes he can find whoever killed his parents by insinuating himself in their worlds.  He joins his mother’s accounting firm as an intern and registers for classes at the university where his father taught.   His plan works a little too well and he learns things about his parents that he ultimately wishs he had not.   In the end he finds that he is closer to his parents after death than he had been in life. 

This is Sharon Potts’ first novel and it’s a very readable book with a good plot and an exciting ending.

Karen – Fort Mill                  ISBN   9781933515625

Oh boy, was this a good book!  I like nothing better than a book that grabs me from the start and doesn’t let go until the last page.  That is what The Girl Who Played With Fire, the sequel to the best selling novel, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, did to me.

In Larsson’s first book, Tattoo,we are introduced to Lisbeth Salander, the genius computer hacker, punk, vigilante who played second fiddle to investigative journalist, Mikael Blomkvist.  Larsson’s second book puts Salander on center stage.  Fire opens on a sunny island in the Caribbean as Salander is enjoying the fortune she “obtained” at the conclusion of Tattoo. Salander has become estranged from Blomkvist and has taken up mathematics as a hobby.  A freak storm and a dead body soon send her back to her native Sweden and home.

Once home, things continue to be complicated for Salander.  Her fingerprints turn up on a gun used to murder two investigative reporters who were working on a sex-trafficking story that was to be published by Blomkvist in his magazine, Millennium. Everything points to Salander’s guilt but Blomkvist steadfastly refuses to believe the evidence againt her.  Other people who know Salander (and her violent tendencies) slowly rally to her defense but the evidence of her involvement is overwhelming.

Salander is a more solid character in this book and the connection between her and the people trafficking girls is at the heart of this story.  The reasons for Salander’s dark past and why she is so emotionally damaged slowly come to light leaving the book with a stunning and emotionally draining climax.

The Girl Who Played With Fire ends with a good many loose ends that I imagine will be addressed in the third and final book by this author.  I, for one, can’t wait to see what happens next!

Mary Beth – York                               ISBN  9780307269980

The Last Song…another excellent story as Nicholas Sparks “sparks” emotions through his real characters who deal with tragic & compelling life events. Another keeper..but his books always are! 

Nicholas Sparks has become one of my favorite authors…I have seen him use so many emotions & situations that are “real” that sometimes I use his books as therapy to get through difficult situations.

Told from the perspectives of the  4 main characters : Steve (the father) Ronnie(the teen daughter) Will( Ronnie’s boyfriend) and Marcus (the “evil character”) their views of how the summer in Wrightsville Beach transpired. Ronnie and her younger brother come from New York to North Carolina to visit their father for the summer.

This story is one of love & forgiveness not just forgiveness of another but of yourself and how this helps to make new beginnings possible. I would recommend this to teens as well as adults.

Page – Rock Hill                                    ISBN  9780446547567

The Defector is the latest action packed spy thriller featuring the enigmatic art restorer and Israeli assassin, Gabriel Allon.  Six months after the dramatic conclusion of Daniel Silva’s previous novel, Moscow Rules, Allon returns to Umbria to resume his honeymoon with his wife, Chiara, and finish restoring a 17th century altarpiece for the Vatican.  Gabriel soon receives shocking news from London that will once again throw his idyllic world into turmoil: the defector and former Russian intelligence officer, Grigori Bulganov, who saved Gabriel’s life in Moscow, has vanished without a trace.  British intellegence fears Grigori was a double agent all along and has redefected to Moscow.  Gabriel investigates Grigori’s disappearance and proves Grigori was coerced into returning to Russia by the muderous Russian oligarch and arms dealer, Ivan Kharkov. 

At a time when western leaders are pursuing economic diplomacy with Russia, Gabriel’s prepation to undertake the near impossible rescue of Grigori finds disfavor with both Britain and the United States.  A terrible event soon forces the two allies to join Gabriel in his quest for Grigori’s release.  Gabriel and his team of operatives find themselves in a deadly duel of nerve and wit that will take them from London and the shores of Lake Como, to the glittering streets of Geneva and Zurich and finally reach a climax in the snowy birch forests outside of Moscow.  Gabriel will be tested in unimaginable ways and his life will never be the same. 

I have long been a fan of Daniel Silva’s books but I think The Defector is Silva’s best book yet.  I simply could not put this book down and I highly recommend adding this title to your reading list!

Mary Beth – York                                    ISBN  0399155686

In his South of Broad, Pat Conroy brings us a wonderful man in the character of Leo King.  Leo is so many things, but always kind, sensitive, smart and smart-mouthed, the product of the gentlest of fathers and most determined of mothers. Haunted by his brother’s suicide, he is considered peculiar and not very good looking, suffering the cognomen, “Toad.” His mother, the high school principal where he attends, forces him to befriend newcomers, with whom he ultimately forms a loyal and diverse coterie that survives the years.  They see each other through AIDS, Hurricane Hugo, infidelities, children, parents, racism, and some crazy situations. It is melodrama written in gorgeous prose, the plot at once disturbing and facile.  I once read a review of Sally Fields’ acting in Steel Magnolias.  Paraphrasing the critic, “Oh boy. Here it comes.  Ms. Fields puts on those little acting shoes and you know you’re going to get it.”  That’s Conroy—-he hauls out his heavy duty pen and lets go.  The whole shebang (Sheba is actually one of his main characters who, of course, becomes a metaphor).  There are mythical mystical animals and the tragic nutcases, the main character included, and the smiley-face killer.  One surprise is in the character of the narrator’s father, in whom Conroy creates a prince of a man, unlike in his previous work.  Ironically, it is one of the victims of the smiley-face killer who comes to Leo in a dream and convinces him to cure himself by smiling. 

    The book is wonderful, yes, and especially so for me, because while I was reading it, I visited Charleston, and walked her lovely streets amidst a load of other tourists, lunched at 82 Queens, stood on the deck watching the ferry we had just missed on its way to Ft. Sumter, visited the ecology-oriented aquarium where my little grandson was to pull the fire alarm and evacuate everyone but the fish, and chatted with the librarian at the Charleston Library Society—third oldest library in the country.  Rainbow row.  Sultry heat.  Perfect. South of Broad is vintage Conroy, where Charleston is the main character, in whose embrace Leo would choose to wake every morning of his life.

Rita – York                  ISBN  9780385413053

Betsy Tobin’s second novel, set in Iceland, A.D. 1000, takes a journey into the ancient past and myths of the gods.  Tobin relies upon variations of Norse mythology to recreate a past age where the gods were not so distantly perceived.  The main character is Freya, an Aesir (god) and the Norse goddess of love, but the mortal characters also play key roles in this entertaining tale.  Christianity has just begun to introduce its “authority” into the lives of the rugged Icelanders.  Amid the untamed beauty of the Iceland’s landscape, the rumblings of Hekla the volcano are becoming edgy and irritable.  There’s sex, love, blood and passion, and the story is both sensual and violent.  Complete with dwarves, the god Odin and a dangerous band of giants, one reviewer writes that Tobin “aimed squarely at the Mists of Avalon audience and hits it big.”

Jennifer L. – York                          ISBN  9781906021344

A different type of book…and not different meant in a bad way…Told through the murdered character, a 14 year old girl Susie Salmon…it isn’t just about the murder…it is about how a family deals with or doesn’t deal with grief, it is about the mind of a killer, a different view what heaven may be like so many things rolled into one interesting book. Having lost a step-child who was a teen I see how others deal with grief and understand the emotions. Looking forward to seeing the movie!

Page – Rock Hill                          ISBN 0316666343

The latest offering in Cara Black’s Aimee Leduc series takes place in the 5th arrondissement of Paris and, as in all the titles in this series, Paris itself is as much a character as security expert and investigator, Aimee Leduc.  If the reader has visited Paris, Black’s maps and descriptions will bring a Parisian’s eye to the little café where you stopped for coffee after wandering aimlessly through the narrow streets of Latin Quarter or remind you of the peculiar light breaking off the Seine at night.  If you’ve never been to Europe’s most romantic city, these books will give you an intimate look at the Paris tourists don’t see. 

In Murder in the Latin Quarter, Leduc, searching for a woman claiming to be her sister, becomes involved the Paris’ Haitian community, political corruption, and, of course, murder. Unfortunately, the book does not live up to its promise. The mystery doesn’t quite take off, the characters are blurred or formulaic, and Black has her protagonist tearing through Paris streets and alleys in a confusing tangle of chase scenes and suppressed emotions.  Clouding the already obscure plot is Aimee’s relationship with her godfather and her ongoing search for information about the mother who abandoned her. 

The series itself is worth the read.  The earlier books introduce a range of brilliantly drawn criminals and a set of returning characters both sympathetic and interesting. By the time you get to Murder in the Latin Quarter, keeping up with the travails and loves of Aimee Leduc will have become so addictive you’ll forgive Black this less than stellar outing.

Vicky – York                             ISBN  9781569475416