Staff Favorites -- Sep 2011

Thirteen-year-old Johnny Merriman's twin sister has been missing for a year. No one believes that Alyssa is still alive except Johnny, who continues a desperate, terrifying search for her. With his father gone and his mother rendered helpless, Johnny is isolated and alone. But he does get help, sometimes from unexpected sources. Then, a second child goes missing...An unbelievable page turner.

Reviewed by Kathy

 

Allende once again gives the reader an historic novel of compelling magnitude. In her straight-forward story-telling style, Allende recreates late 1700's Haiti - bringing the reader to the forefront of the Haitian slave rebellion. The story then moves to New Orleans as we follow Zarite, a domestic slave, in her quest for freedom, family and love. -Reviewed by Lil

Attention all mystery lovers - this is a wonderfully suspenseful first novel. Two crimes occur in a Dublin suburb 20 years apart. Are they connected? The detectives struggle with these bewildering cases, their own pasts, and their relationships with each other. A MUST READ! - Reviewed by Kathy

Three stories in a haunting tale of the ephemeral quality of personal identity. For Lucy and her teacher, George Orson, the need to pick up and start a new life drives them to reexamine themselves; Miles Cheshire searches for his delusional and elusive twin, whose fantasies have always held more substance than reality; and Ryan and his biological father, Jay, perpetrate credit card fraud and assume new identities as a way of survival. A truly riveting novel with a stunner of an ending that grabs the reader from it's shocking first page and refuses to let go. ONE OF MY TOP ALL-TIME FAVORITE NOVELS! - Reviewed by Amy