Critical Mass, by Sara Paretsky

Critical Mass by Sara Paretsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

V.I. Warshawski's friend Lotty Herschel came to the U.S. via London while escaping the Holocaust. When Lotty hears from Judy, the daughter of Kitty - who escaped to London, then the U.S. with Lotty - saying that her life is in danger, Lotty asks Vic to help Judy in Critical Mass by Sara Paretsky.

Critical Mass begins with a flashback to Lotty's childhood, bringing in bits of her escape from Vienna as a child; these flashbacks throughout the book give substance to Lotty's life and how Kitty, Judy, and Judy's son Martin fit into the story.

Vic is pulled in several directions: First, she treks to an old farmhouse where Judy - a drug addict with a past - had been hiding out, and where she'd since left when someone started shooting up the drug addicts in the house, which is where we first find Vic. She then must find Kitty in order to get a little more background, and to try getting a lead on where Judy might be. Judy's son Martin has also disappeared, leaving a good job where he used his skills as a software designer.

As Vic struggles to find Judy and Martin, Kitty is killed by those wanting to kill her daughter and grandson. It becomes a race as to who will find the two first, Vic or those wanting to silence the two.

For anyone wanting a fast-paced book, especially but not exclusively fans of Sara Paretsky V.I. Warshawski series, Critical Mass is sure to please.

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At Risk, by Alice Hoffman

At Risk by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Have you ever gone back to reread a book that you were first introduced to, and found that it still holds up? Then you'll know how I felt upon rereading At Risk, by Alice Hoffman.

Written during the 1980s, during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, the book follows Amanda Farrell, an 11-year-old gymnast who dreams of being a pupil of Bela Karolyi. Her parents, Ivan, a scientist, and Polly, a photographer, take Amanda to her meets, bringing along her eight-year-old brother Charlie, whose fascination with dinosaurs (and science, in general) rivals Amanda's love of gymnastics.

The book opens with Polly getting ready to bring the children to one of Amanda's meets, as Ivan heads for work. Amanda has been fighting what her parents thought was a summer cold that lasted a little too long. It is after the meet when Polly goes to find Amanda that she and Ivan realize that it might be more than just a cold. In fact, it turns out to be AIDS, picked up from a blood transfusion during an appendectomy, several years earlier.

The book follows the family's first few months of Amanda's illness, and the small New England town's dealings with the family.

While science has advanced to where people living with HIV/AIDS are able to live a longer, more productive life, the book shows how the disease affected patients during the 1980s, letting the reader see that no one "deserves" the disease.

For anyone who has never read the book, or hasn't read it in years, Alice Hoffman's At Risk is well worth the read.

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11/22/63

Note: This was originally posted February 8, 2018. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For years, I wouldn't read anything by Stephen King, as I had never been a fan of horror stories. But after devouring King's Dolores Claiborne one rainy day, I learned what Stephen King fans have known for years: King is a wickedly good writer.

While 11/22/63 is not King's longest novel, by far, its 849-page length might put off readers. However, the only thing about this novel that one needs to fear is the inability to put the book down once started; it captivates the reader, holding one through its final paragraphs.

Thirty-five year old high school English teacher Jake Epping earns extra money teaching GED classes in the evening. An essay by student Harry Dunning describing the night his father killed his mother and siblings, and nearly killing Harry, leaves its mark Jake.

Shortly after Harry receives his GED, Jake gets a call from his friend Al, who owns a nearby diner. Turns out Harry was not the only one with secrets: Al insists on showing Jake the diner's storage room which has a portal to 1958.

Jake has wondered how Al has aged so rapidly in such a short period of time, until he learns that no matter how long someone is in the past, when that person comes back through the portal to Al's diner, only a few minutes have passed in the present time.

Al, who is now dying, has one request: for Jake to stop the assassination of President John Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald. Jake goes through the portal several times, sees how changing one or two lesser histories affect the present, then agrees to try to stop JFK's death.

The one thing that Al warns Jake about is that every time one goes through the portal to 1958, the previous changes are erased: a girl who was saved from a paralyzing gunshot in one trip is reinjured after Jake reenters 1958, as well as several other changes.

Jake spends five years in the past, manages to save JFK, but at a heavy cost to himself, as well as those around him. And the present he comes back to is drastically different from the one he left. Does he go back through the portal to reset history, or leave it as changed?

I highly recommend Stephen King's 11/22/63 to anyone looking for a good read. The book is sure to become one of King's fans' favorites; for those readers who have avoided King's works as I did for years, this book is sure to change one's mind into wanting to read more of King's work.

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The Art of Mending, by Elizabeth Berg

The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There are times when siblings growing up under the same roof experience very different family dynamics without realizing it until years later. That is the theme of The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg.

Every year, Laura Bartone and her siblings meet up at their parents' home in Minneapolis for their annual family reunion and the state fair. It's an event that is usually happy, until this year.

Upon her arrival, Laura realizes something is drastically wrong with her sister Caroline. Their brother, Steve, has trouble coming to terms with Caroline's changes, while Laura is, at least, willing to listen. The things that Caroline reveals about her past with their parents show a side of the family dynamics that rattle Laura to the core. As she tries coming to terms with her sister's truths, the siblings are thrown another curve when their father dies.

The siblings must come to terms with what they are learning; by the end of the book, Caroline's truths are proven true when their mother and aunt state how different things were for all three siblings.

The Art of Mending is written wonderfully, as is usual for books by Elizabeth Berg. This is worth the reader's time, especially if curious about family dynamics.

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Breakdown, by Sara Paretsky

Breakdown by Sara Paretsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A group of tween girls, a ritual, an abandoned cemetery at night, and an actual corpse...what could possibly go wrong?

When V.I. Warshawski's cousin Petra contacts V.I. about several missing girls from a book group that Petra helps with, Vic finds the girls performing a ritual inside an abandoned cemetery, where a man has just been murdered in Breakdown, Sara Paretsky's 15th V.I. Warshawski mystery.

Several of the girls are members of powerful families, including someone running for Congress, and one of the world's richest men. The murdered man - another solo private investigator - was working for someone trying to keep secrets under wraps.

As Vic follows leads, she runs into an old law school friend, who ends up hospitalized before revealing info to Vic. Several deaths occur, including the friend; one of the girls from the book group almost dies, too, saved only because V.I. finds her.

As V.I. gets closer to finding the multiple layers of truth, she comes close to dying, saved only by someone looking for his stolen fishing boat. Murray Ryerson helps Vic out the person responsible for many of the deaths and near deaths.

If you're looking for a fast-pace read with a strong female lead, this is sure to please.

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Dolores Claiborne, by Stephen King

Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For years, I refused to read anything by Stephen King, as I was not into horror books. Then, I discovered Dolores Claiborne.

I first read this more than a decade ago, and figured it was time to reread Dolores Claiborne, and am glad I did. This well-written book is done from Dolores's point-of-view, telling what happened both when her late-husband died and the events leading up to the death of her employer, Vera Donovan. While the book is not within the horror genre, it does have a certain grittiness and tells of several deaths that were within Dolores's inner-circle.

For those who have seen the movie on which this was based, you know the book's basic premise. Whether you've viewed the movie or not, though, this is one book that is well worth the read.

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Body Work, by Sara Paretsky

Body Work by Sara Paretsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When V.I. "Vic" Warshawski decides to take an evening off to go clubbing, a woman is shot and dies in Vic's arms in a back alley in Sara Paretsky's Body Work.

V.I. has decided that if "Doctors take days off, why not PIs?" Her cousin Petra (introduced in Hardball) has started working at Club Gouge, an edgy new nightclub. A new act at the club, the Body Artist, a woman who allows people to paint on her naked body, has created quite a stir, increasing the crowd at Club Gouge. When one painter's drawings on the Body Artist cause anger in an Iraqi war vet with PTSD, and the painter is subsequently murdered, the police figure it's an open-and-shut case. The vet's parents, however, don't think their son did it, and hire Vic to prove his innocence.

At first, Vic isn't sure what to make of the murder; she had seen the vet's anger. But she agrees to sort out the facts of the case.

As she gets closer to finding out who really shot Nadia Guaman, and the threads connecting the vet, Ukrainian mobsters, an angry off-duty cop, and others, V.I.'s life is in jeopardy.

While this 14th book in the Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawsky series might be a little difficult to get into, it is well worth the reader's time, and won't disappoint.

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