Fine Her/Lisa Gardner/402 pages

      Find Her is the 8th book in a series about Boston detective DD Warren.  This story finds DD recovering from injuries sustained in her previous case that seriously injured her shoulder making it difficult to hold a gun properly so she is on restricted duty--but still in the thick of the investigation when the call comes in that Flora Dane (a survivor of a 15 month kidnapping from five years earlier) is involved in the death of a bar tender who had the misfortune to attempt to kidnap Flora.  It turns out that Flora has armed herself with training and self-defense moves and has put herself in danger on a regular basis maybe hoping to be able to get back at the low life who commit these crimes.  Then, just when you least expect it, Flora is again snatched in a horrible turn of events that is very unsettling.

     The chapters are staggered in a three way switch between the story of Flora and her current captor, Flora and her original captor and DD working through her own problems but determined to find and solve Flora's mystery.

     Even though the storyline borders on the unbelievable, this is a solid mystery/suspense novel with a different twist.  Characters are realistic and believable.  Good read.

Bookseller/Cynthia Swanson/349 pgs.

Kitty Miller is living in two worlds. In one world, she is single, and owns a bookstore with her friend, Frieda. In the alternate world, she is known as Katharyn Andersson, wife to Lars, and mother to triplets Missy, Mitch, and Michael. When she goes to sleep at night, she doesn't know in which world she will awaken. So, which world is her reality? As the story unfolds, the reader is given glimpses of how all of this has come about for Kitty/Katharyn. It was an interesting novel, but not one of my favorites.

The Girls/Emma Cline/355 pgs.

In her debut novel, Emma Cline creates a novel reminiscent of the Charles Manson cult in the late 1960s. Evie Boyd, 14 years old,  bored, and with minimal parental supervision, becomes part of a culture of young men and women living on a ranch in northern California. The head of the ranch, Russell, basically brainwashes the girls to do his bidding. It's a time of free love, hippies, drugs, and anything anti-establishment. Anyone familiar with the Charles Manson cult will see the similarities almost from the start of the novel. Recommended.

The Ice Queen / Alice Hoffman / 224 pgs

I feel a bit like I just got off of a roller coaster. This book started out so slow and pessimistic and biting. The main character, who is also the narrarator just sounds like she has the biggest chip on her shoulder. Obviously, she had to deal with a lot of loss, but I've never heard as much bitterness in someone's voice as I did listening to the narrator (who by the way, is actress Nancy Travis).  The story got good as the mystery surrounding Lazarus Jones built, but the answer to the mystery was a bit of a let down. Still the story got good again towards the end when it turned towards the narrator's brother and sister-in-law.  In all, the title of the book is very apt.

The main character is a small town librarian in New Jersey who has lived the existence of an icy woman, one who never feels and is obsessed with death, ever since her mother died on an icy road when she was little. The librarian is invited to move to Florida to be near her brother and his wife, both college professors. There, she is struck by lightning and has to live with the permanent feeling of ice in her chest and the inability to see the color red. She meets a fellow survivor, a man called Lazarus Jones, who was dead but came back minutes later. He is her exact opposite, all fire and heat, and she is fascinated with his ability to cheat death. Will their romance be enough to melt her icy heart?

In the Blood / Lisa Unger / 342 pgs

The main character Lana Granger has many secrets and lies.  As a child Lana spent some time in Mental Hospital facilities for her severe manipulative and aggressive behavior.  Now Lana is a senior in college and is doing everything she can to keep her past locked away.  Of course Lana is majoring in Abnormal Psychology, and has taken on the side job of babysitting a psychotic "troubled" boy named Luke, whose behavior is very much reminiscent of her younger self.   When Lana's roommate, Beck, mysteriously disappears her life is turned upside down.  Is someone trying to set Lana up?  Is Lana crazy and not remembering things correctly? Can a little boy pull off a murder?  This story keeps you guessing until the end.  Recommended!

Margot / Jillian Cantor / 338 pgs.

This thoughtful story imagines a history where Margot, the sister of Anne Frank, does not die during the Holocaust, but manages to escape and establish a life in Philadelphia, PA.  She  finds work as a law secretary and assumes the identity of "Margie Franklin" in part to attempt to leave behind the painful memories of the war and to escape the stigma of

being a Jew. Margot's past and Margie's carefully constructed present begins to collide when the Jewish law firm where she is employed takes on the case of a Holocaust survivor.  That coupled with the release of the movie version of the popular book The Diary of a Young Girl unleashes emotions of survivors guilt coupled with fear, attempts to reclaim lost love, and budding feelings of new romantic love.

The Woman Upstairs/Claire Messud/253 pgs.

What an amazing novel--thank you Kathy K. for the recommendation! The story centers around, and is told in the first person by, Nora Eldridge. At the beginning of the novel, Nora is in her late thirties, single, and an elementary school teacher in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her initial dream was to be an artist, but instead settled for teaching, which later turned her into a "woman upstairs"--the reliable friend, the "good" daughter, the helpful neighbor, etc. Then, the Shahid family enters her life: first, Reza, who becomes her student; second, Sirena, who is on her way to becoming an acclaimed artist; and finally, Skandar, a Lebanese professor, who has come to Boston because of a fellowship at Harvard. Nora becomes more and more sucked into the Shahids' lives, resulting in a fascinating, compelling read. The book grabs you right from the start, and continues that way until the end. This would make a great book discussion book!

of Bees and Mist / Erick Setiawn / 404p

A story about a young woman, growing up in a dysfunctional family, in an unnamed land, believes she'll find refuge in her married life. She finds that this is not always true. All the characters in the story seem motivated by grief, jealousy, greed and thwarted love and are emotionally immature.

I do think the symbolism of the bees and mist are well thought out and descriptive of how, when we harbor feelings as stated earlier, they would manifest themselves visually and eat away at an emotionally healthy life.

Now You See Me/S.J. Bolton/395 pgs.

This is my first S. J. Bolton book--amazing! It's a British police procedural told in the first person of DC Lacey Flint, who becomes involved in solving the identity of a Jack the Ripper type serial killer. That, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. This book grabs you from the first page and takes you on a wild roller coaster ride up to the end!

I'd Know You Anywhere / Laura Lippman / 373

In the summer of 1985, when she was fifteen, Eliza was kidnapped by Walter and held hostage for almost six weeks. He had killed at least one girl and Eliza always suspected he had other victims as well. Now on death row in Virginia for the rape and murder of his final victim, Walter seems to be making a heartfelt act of contrition as his execution nears. Though Eliza wants nothing to do with him, she's never forgotten that Walter was most unpredictable when ignored. Desperate to shelter her children from this undisclosed trauma in her past, she cautiously makes contact with Walter. She's always wondered why Walter let her live, and perhaps now he'll tell her—and share the truth about his other victims.