Friday, October 3, 2014

September Books




*The Heist  by Daniel Silva is the latest  in the adventures of Gabriel Allon, art restorer and occasional spy/assassin  for Israel who plays a dangerous game of high stakes international intrigue as he searches for a stolen masterpiece by Caravaggio. Allon has joined the pantheon of great fictional secret agents, including George Smiley, Jack Ryan, and Jason Bourne.  Don’t worry if you haven’t read the previous Allon books as Silva manages to recycle the  highlights of his previous hits. Despite the reminders of past exploits and the predictable, formulaic storyline,  Heist is still an engaging read. 

**Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty , the New York Times best-selling author of The Husband's Secret,   follows three mothers, each at a crossroads, and their potential involvement in a riot at a school trivia night that leaves one parent dead in what appears to be a tragic accident. She explores the reality of modern parenting,  playground politics, ex-husbands and ex-wives, and fractured families. In a “ pitch-perfect way, she shows us the truth about what really goes on behind closed suburban doors”  with witty, insightful dialogue (internal and external).

 **The Good Girl by Mary Kubica is an engaging debut novel about a well-planned kidnapping  that surprises the family, the villains and readers alike. The daughter of a prominent Chicago judge and his socialite wife by her one-night stand who, instead of delivering her to his employers, hides her in a secluded cabin in rural Minnesota. It is difficult to tell who is hero and who is villain in this “additively suspenseful and tautly written thriller.”