The Shack by William P. Young

The Shack

 by William P. Young
$14.95

Paperback: 256 pages

Publisher: Windblown Media; 1st edition (July 1, 2007)

ISBN-10: 0964729237

ISBN-13: 978-0964729230

Annotation/Flashtalk:

One icy day, Mack Philips finds a note in his mailbox.  “Mackenzie, It’s been a while. I’ve missed you.  I’ll be at the shack next weekend if you want to get together. – Papa”   Is this a cruel joke being played on him by his daughter’s killer? Or is it really God (Papa, as his wife Nan calls him) inviting Mack to chat? If it is really God, why would he want to make Mack go back to such a horrific place?

Summary:

Mack, his wife Nan and their children lived a happy existence out in the woods on the outskirts of town.  One day, Mack took the kids on a camping trip while Nan went to Seattle to take a continuing education course.  While camping, the unthinkable happened, their youngest daughter Missy was kidnapped and presumed murdered by a serial kidnapper/killer the “Little Ladykiller.” The only remains they found were Missy’s torn and blood-soaked dress in a rundown cabin about two hours away from where Missy was taken. 

Flash forward to the day Mack found a cryptic note in his mailbox. “Mackenzie, It’s been a while. I’ve missed you.  I’ll be at the shack next weekend if you want to get together. – Papa.” Papa was Nan’s name for God.  Unsure if it was a trap, a cruel joke, or a real invitation from God, Mack makes plans to head back out to the old shack. 

Once at the shack, Mack begins to have an amazing experience. The ramshackle shack is converted a new, and the barren cold and icy landscape is transformed into a beautiful garden paradise.  At the cabin Mack meets God first in the form of a matriarch African-American woman; Jesus in the form of an immigrant carpenter/handyman; and the holy spirit in the form of a graceful and ethereal gardener. Together they explore Mack’s loss, pain, and his questions about faith and God’s plan. 

Genre/Subgenre: Christian Fiction

Evaluation: 2-stars.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Olive Kitteridge      
by Elizabeth Strout
$14.00

Paperback: 304 pages

Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks; Reprint edition (September 30, 2008)

ISBN-10: 0812971833

ISBN-13: 978-0812971835

Annotation/Flashtalk:

 A collection of short stories about life in a small town in Crosby, Maine; the stories are strung together by the common thread of a local resident Olive Kitteridge.

Summary:

The novel is a collection of short stories all linked by the common thread of Olive Kitteridge, a retired school teacher, living in Crosby, Maine.  It is through these stories that we learn about the residents of Crosby, but we also learn about Olive. The novel delves into the Olive’s relationship with her marriage to her husband Henry, and later how she copes with his life after a stroke.  We find out about her strained relationship with her son Christopher, his first wife, and about the family he builds with his second wife and Olive’s grandchild, so far away from the home she and Henry built by hand for him. 

In the first chapter of the novel Olive warns us that as a pharmacist, Henry knows all of the town’s secrets and how important it is not to spread it as gossip; ironically, the novel feels a bit like we are doing just that, reading about the town’s gossip.  As the chapters pass, we learn there is trauma in the lives of the town’s people of Crosby, and tragedy in Olive’s personal life as well.  This is a novel not just about the human condition, but about life, sanity, insanity and redemption.

Genre/Subgenre: General Fiction/Short Stories/Pulitzer Prize Winner

Evaluation: 2-stars.

Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich

Plum Lucky: A Stephanie Plum “Between-the-Numbers” Novel

by Janet Evanovich
$6.99

Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages

Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks; Reprint edition (January 6, 2009)

ISBN-10: 0312377649

ISBN-13: 978-0312377649

Annotation/Flashtalk:

What would you do if you found a bag of money at the end of a rainbow? Stephanie Plum’s Granny Mazur says finders keepers losers weepers and runs off to Atlantic City. The only problem is the money belongs to a Jersey mobster, Lou Delvina.  Can Stephanie keep Grandma safe and return her home in time for dinner?

Summary:

In this “between-the-numbers” novel, we get to meet Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter, and her colleagues, Lula, Connie, Diesel, and Ranger as they track down what happened to Stephanie’s grandmother, whose gone missing after running across a mysterious bag full of money.  Shortly before her disappearance Stephanie sees her grandmother being attacked by a small man in green pants, could he be a leprechaun?  Stephanie and Lula save grandma from the attacker, who escapes in the process. 

Stephanie and the gang, and the man in the green pants find grandma at a casino in Atlantic City.  We find out that Snuggy (the man in the green pants) had originally stolen the money from mobster Lou Delvina. Delvina is now holding Snuggy’s horse for ransom, but grandma won’t give up the money.  Delvina comes to Atlantic City looking for his cash and winds up with Grandma Mazur instead. Stephanie and the gang have less than a day to come up with the money, or a way to rescue both grandma and Snuggy’s horse.

Genre/Subgenre: Mystery/Humor

Evaluation: 2-stars.

His Wanted Woman by Linda Turner

His Wanted Woman
by Linda Turner
$4.99

Mass Market Paperback: 216 pages

Publisher: Harlequin (November 1, 2009)

ISBN-10: 0373276559

ISBN-13: 978-0373276554

Annotation/Flashtalk:

 Mackenzie Sloan is a suspect in the theft and sale of documents from the National Archives, when Special Agent Patrick O’Riley is put on the case, can he keep from letting his feelings for Makenzie from clouding his judgment?

Summary:

Mackenzie Sloan inherited an antiquarian book shop from her father when he died.  Her father was a well-respected seller of antique books and maps; however, his reputation may be in jeopardy and it may be taking Mackenzie down with it. It seems that documents known to be stolen from the National Archives turn up in connection sales her father has made.  Knowing this can’t be true, Mackenzie works to clear her father’s name and her own.  

Special Agent Patrick O’Riley is put on the case.  In an effort to size up the situation, Patrick tries to sell Mackenzie a document he has borrowed from the Archives. Mackenzie is insulted and thinks Patrick is a thief and a fraud.  He wonders if it’s not just a ploy to throw him off the track, but he alwo wonders how this feisty, beautiful and intelligent woman could really be mixed up in all of this.

After a break-in at the shop it becomes clear that someone is setting Mackenzie up. Mackenzie and Patrick must work together to find the real thief.  In the mean time, a recently-divorced Patrick must keep his broken heart from falling into hands of Mackenzie Sloan, or it may compromise the investigation and endanger her further.

Genre/Subgenre: Romance/Suspense

Evaluation: 2-stars.

The Last Good Man by Kathleen Eagle

The Last Good Man
by Kathleen Eagle
$15.00
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Avon; Other Printing edition (May 1, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 038081014X
ISBN-13: 978-0380810147

Annotation/Flashtalk:
Savannah Stephens was prettiest girl in all of Sunbonnet, Wyoming, and Clay Keogh loved her since they were kids. Savannah left Sunbonnet and made a life for herself as a model, and Clay he stayed behind to tend to his family’s ranch. One day Savannah returns to Sunbonnet, with a child who is the spitting image of Clay’s older brother Kole, and sequesters herself in a room above her aunt’s store. Something is obviously wrong, but will she open up to Clay?

Summary:
Savannah Stephens escaped Sunbonnet, Wyoming, and Clay Keogh did not. Savannah got herself a modeling job, and almost everyone in Sunbonnet kept her catalogs. Clay, on the other hand, collects horses. He’s a sucker for horses and he can’t stand to see them neglected or forsaken. He takes them in on his family’s ranch, even if it means times will be tighter on the ranch with the extra horses to feed.

One day, without warning, Savannah returns to Sunbonnet with a child who is the spitting image of Clay’s older brother Kole, and sequesters herself in a room above her aunt’s store. True to his nature of caring for wounded animals, and his long-held love for Savannah, Clay feels that he must help her overcome whatever the problem is. Embarrassed and depressed, Savannah refuses everyone, including Clay’s, help. It is during his quest that Clay spends time with Savannah’s daughter, the witty and wise-for-her-years, six-year-old Claudia. Together with Aunt Billie, Clay and Claudia, work to get Savannah out of her seclusion, and try to convince her that Clay is truly the last good man.

Genre/Subgenre: Romance/Western

Evaluation: 2-stars.

The Summer of the Big Bachi

The Summer of the Big Bachi

by Naomi Hirahara

$12.00

Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Dell (January 29, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0440241545
ISBN-13: 978-0440241546

Annotation/Flashtalk:“In Japanese, bachi was when you snapped at your wife, and then tripped on a rock in the driveway. You didn’t suffer your punishment in another lifetime, but within the same life, even within the next few minutes.” This is the first thought that came to mind when Mas Arai heard that Joji Haneda was dead.

Summary:Mas Arai, a mild-mannered gardener to some of the finest homes in Pasadena, is forced to play detective when a well-dressed man from Japan shows up at the local lawnmower shop asking questions about people and events from Mas’ childhood in Japan. Many of the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the hibakusha, who immigrated to America, live quiet and unsuspecting lives; however, now, memories are unearthed by this unsuspecting visitor, and lives are put in danger. It is up to Mas to get to the bottom of it all, but is it for the love of his friends, or because he is protecting himself from his own bachi?

The tale is filled with Japanese phrases and some Japanese-accented English.

Genre/Subgenre: Mystery/Detective/Asian-American

Evaluation: 2-stars.