Dune Messiah / Frank Herbert / 256 p.

Dune Messiah is the 2nd novel in the Dune Chronicles series.  The first novel left the reader feeling that the Atreides were perhaps the only family with morality or basic decency in the entire empire.  This book immediately calls that belief into question.  The dreaded jihad has begun and hundreds of thousands have been killed in the name of Muad'Dib - the name Paul Atreides chose for himself when he meets the Fremen in Dune.


Dune Messiah focuses on the feelings of Paul as he is caught up in his own legend and forces beyond his control.  As the empire aligns against him, can he forge a path for himself and Chani that enables them to live peaceful lives and raise children?

Sanctum / Madeleine Roux / 343 pages / November Challenge (horror)

This second novel in Roux's YA horror series is a wonderful sequel to Asylum.  Dan, Abby, and Jordan have begun their senior year at separate high schools.  They stay in touch through texting and social media until they discover that they are all still plagued by nightmares about their stay in Brookline Asylum for a college prep summer program.  After each of them receive a postcard with a creepy carnival picture and a combined message of "You're not finished," they finally decide to go back to Brookline to confront their fears, and hopefully put the summer firmly behind them.  Once at the campus, things once again seem weird to them.  College students wander around with glazed eyes - and they can't quite believe that it's all due to drugs and alcohol.  Documents are missing from the campus library, and the trio discovers more mysteries after breaking into abandoned houses all over town.  The clues and discoveries will have readers staying up late to finish this book in one sitting.  The final book in the series is Catacomb.

Snap Shot/Lis Wiehl/309 pages

A picture from a civil rights parade brings Lisa back to Texas after years apart from her father, a former FBI agent who helped investigate the shooting of JFK. When Lisa was just four years old in 1965, her father took her to the parade while he was off-duty. She sat next to another little girl who happened to be African American and attending the parade with her mother. As Lisa's father started taking pictures of them, shots rang out and the main speaker, Benjamin Gray, fell to the ground. Lisa's memories of that day are hazy, but when her father calls her to come help him free the man he thinks was falsely convicted of the shooting and now scheduled to be executed, she goes home to see what she can do to help. The mystery they uncover leads them to a dangerous cover-up.


Based on a picture taken by the author's father, Wiehl has woven a intricate story of a fictional shooting with the real-life events of the time period. Wiehl's father is also a retired FBI agent who investigated the Kennedy shooting. He consulted with Bill O'Reilly for O'Reilly's book, Killing Kennedy. The book includes an author's note, an interview with Richard L. Wiehl  and two essays: one by O'Reilly and another by Juan Williams. An interesting read, but ultimately, I was hoping for something more intricate and in depth about race relations in America.

The First Prophet/Kay Hooper/390 pages

Sarah Gallagher suffered a head injury, and when she woke up from the coma, she had pyshic abilities that scared her and the people closest to her. When her house is set on fire in an apparent attempt to kill her, she turns to a new-found friend to help her understand what is going on around her and possibly change her future. Is her vision of her death a prophecy or a prediction and can either of those be changed?

This is the first in a new series called The Bishop Files. For those fans of Kay Hooper's FBI Special Units series and Bishop himself, be forewarned that he plays a very small role in this book. But, it is still a great story.