Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife

Science writer Mary Roach is known for tackling unusual subjects (her first book was Stiff: the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers) but always does so in an accessible and entertaining manner.  Being somewhat skeptical of the subject, I hesitated to read Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife but did so (actually I listened to it) after enjoying her newest book, Packing for Mars: the Curious Science of Life in the Void, widely considered one of the best nonfiction titles of 2010.

There were parts where I found myself tuning out, but overall, Spook did not disappoint. Roach tells of reincarnation research in India, tries to record messages from the beyond and even goes to medium training. The research I found most interesting was that of Duncan MacDougall who, in 1907, weighed patients at the moment of death trying to determine the weight of the soul. And since Roach is skeptical herself, I didn't come away feeling that she was trying to persuade the reader one way or the other about any of the afterlife research she examines.

Fall for Anything

Courtney Summers's Fall for Anything has received starred reviews from several sources, and the summary  reminded me of the popular 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher.  Seventeen-year-old Eddie's father, a famous turned photographer turned recluse, has just committed suicide and her mother is left immobile with grief. Her mother's friend Beth moves in and and takes control to get Eddie's mother together, but no one takes care of Eddie who is struggling to understand why her father ended his life. She returns nightly to the abandoned warehouse where she found her father and ends up meeting Culler, her father's secret student, who shares Eddie's feelings of loss.  Culler has discovered a series of numbered photographs taken by Eddie's father and together Eddie and Culler follow the trail of clues hoping to find answers.

Fall for Anything has everything: tragedy, complex family relationships, romance, a love triangle and twists and turns that keep you guessing until the end. Luckily it was a quick read because once I started, I couldn't put this book down. I felt a little disappointed in the conclusion, but still worth the reading time.

Box 21

Set in the dark underworld of Stockholm, Box 21 is a gripping thriller full of unexpected twists. While working to nail the man responsible for a tragedy that left his wife an invalid 25 years ago, police detective Ewert Grens is called to the scene of a vicious attack against a young prostitute, Lydia Grajauskas.  While recovering in the hospital, Lydia plots to make sure she will never be beaten again and that her truth will be heard. She takes revenge in her own hands in ways that shock those working on her case, as well as the reader. As the prostitute's story is revealed, we learn more about Stockholm's sex trade industry and the young girls taken from their homes with false promises of a better future.

Swedish authors Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström have been called the heirs to Steig Larsson, and fans of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will not be disappointed. With fewer holds (at least until awareness is increased) Box 21 is a great choice while you wait for books the Millennium trilogy.

The House Next Door

Our book of the month for February, selected by Mary, is The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons. While Anne Rivers Siddons is typically known for contemporary women's ficiton, this novel, originally published in 1978, is horror.

The house next door to Colquitt and Walter Kennedy is haunted by an all-pervasive evil - an evil that takes away whatever the occupants hold dearest. Colquitt and Walter are about to become witnesses to an overwhelming force that will strip away the veneer of civilization that surrounds and protects them.

A stunning feat of architectural imagination and skill, the house is built by Kim Dougherty for his first clients, the Harralsons - newly married, rich, and expecting a baby. They become the first victims of an all-engulfing force they cannot comprehend. But the tragedy of the Harralsons is only the beginning, for the fabric of the Kennedys' lives is also ripped apart. And when the Sheehans move in next door, the house destroys them too. But it is from the Greenes that it will take the ultimate prize.

Colquitt and Walter alone understand the subtle, awful toll the house exacts. Their warnings go unheeded, their fears are dismissed, and it seems that if they are to survive they must themselves destroy the house. But it is something more than they know, this extraordinary evil, and they must either be embraced by it or die. Summary from book description.

One Grave Less

One Grave Less by Beverly Connor is the ninth book in the Diane Fallon mystery series. Diane is a forensic anthropologist and museum director in Georgia. At one time she had also been a human rights investigator in Peru. When Diane was in Peru she adopted a small girl she named Ariel. Sadly her daughter was killed in a horrible massacre at a school Ariel was attending.

Brokenhearted, Diane returns home to Georgia. When at last she feels able to work again she takes a job as director of the River Trail Museum of Natural History. In the book's first chapter Diane is at the museum after hours checking on a new exhibit. She discovers two wounded people, one an old friend from her days as a human rights activist. Within days someone tries to steal Diane's identity and she's accused of murders that occurred recently in Brazil. To find the persons responsible for the attacks at the museum and the threats against her, Diane must learn who caused the killings in Peru years before and why.

This is an entertaining series, fast-moving and smart. This may be the most satisfying book of the series yet.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz

Vera Dietz has had a hard year. Her best friend Charlie died, but they had stopped talking long before his death when Charlie betrayed her. Now haunted by thousands of Charlie ghosts, only Vera can clear his name. Vera has kept Charlie's secrets since they were 11, can she stop keeping them now? Both heartbreaking and suspenseful, this was a book I couldn't put down.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King is a 2011 Printz Honor Book (best book written for young adults), a 2011 Edgar Award nominee (presented by Mystery Writers of America) and received starred reviews in Kirkus Reviews, Publisher's Weekly, and Booklist.

The Devil in the White City

I've had The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson on my "to read" list for well over a year, and after hearing good things about it from numerous friends, family and patrons, I decided it was finally time to move it up the list. Larson alternates between the story of architect Daniel Burnham's mission to make the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 surpass the Fair held in Paris and that of serial killer Dr. H. H. Holmes, who capitalized on the timing and location of the fair to lure young, innocent women to his "castle." A fascinating history that is both suspenseful and disturbing.

Next on my list: Three Seconds by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom, who've been called the heirs to Steig Larsson.

The Attenbury Emeralds by Jill Patton Walsh

Writer Dorothy Sayers was one of the mystery authors from the "Golden age of detective fiction." Along with Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen and Josephine Tey, Sayers brought crime novels into popularity  in the 1920s through the 1950s.  In 1996 award-winning novelist Jill Patton Walsh was commissioned to complete Sayers's unfinished last book, Thrones and Dominations. Now The Attenbury Emeralds is a new novel inspired by Lord Peter Wimsey's first case. It's now 1951 and World War II has been over for six years. Wimsey and mystery author wife Harriet Vane live in London with their three sons.

Now thirty years after the first incident the present Lord Attenbury is having financial problems and wants to sell the large emerald. When Wimsey and his wife look into the trail of clues they find a chain of murders linked to the jewels. Fans of period mysteries will hope for more in this series.