BOOK REVIEW: One Upon A Time

Some books are just a delight to read, like watching kittens wrestle or hearing children laugh. When that delightful experience is directed by some of the best fantasy writers in modern literature, what can we do but enjoy?

The list of names on the book jacket caught my eye. Here was a list that included some of my favorite authors: Anne McCaffrey, Terry Brooks, Lester Del Rey, and Isaac Asimov. If Asimov was on the list how could it be anything except wonderful. I started ONCE UPON A TIME with great anticipation.

I promised myself that I would read the stories in order--not jump from favorite to favorite. To my delight. the first story was by Isaac Asimov, to me one of the most respected authors of modern literature.

Asimov’s  contribution had the intriguing title, “Prince Delightful and the Flaming Dragon”. Fairy Misaprop must have had her hand on the wrong end of her wand when she gave the new prince her gift. The other fairies had done the proper things, but her gift was “gracelessness”. Now to pass his test into adulthood, he must fight a dragon who is also a little unusual. Asimov is not known as a fantasy author and his story is probably the weakest in the collection but his sly sense of humor made this a fun read.

“Imaginary Friends” by Terry Brooks does not have quite the humor of Asimov, but is the touching story of Jack,  a thirteen-year-old boy with cancer. Jack is befriended by an Elf who introduces him  to the wonders of his world.

My personal favorite was “The Quest of a Sensible Man” by Anne McCaffrey. Prince Bieregard of Mundesland is on a quest to find a mare worthy of his stallion, Vard. Vard is of direct Pegasan lineage and horses with his ancestry have all but disappeared.  Travelling through an enchanted forest, Birregard stumbles on Castle Barnacane in a kingdom that has been isolated for years and fallen into dire poverty. Once the masters of Barnacane had been known for their beautiful winged steeds, now the herd is down to five mares. After a terrific battle with the evil magician who placed the curse on Barnacane, all ends well.

These stories are not written for children, but you may want to share them with a discerning child. The characters are not the stereotypes typically found in “once upon a time” stories. They are heroes with flaws facing some everyday problems disguised as dragons and elves. This is an anthology that will stay on your bookshelf to be shared and enjoyed for years to come.

BOOK REVIEW: The Disappearance

Please add another author to my reading list. I just finished J.F. Freedman’s THE DISAPPEARANCE and will be hunting more books by him.

Three fourteen-year-old girls have had a busy day at the mall and during the sleepover that night, one girl thinks that she dreams that a body is being carried out of the bedroom. She goes back to sleep.The next morning their hostess Emmas can not be found.  

Emma’s family is well known in the community. Her father is the wealthy owner of the television station and her mother is active in social and charitable affairs. When Emma’s battered body is found half buried near a remote hiking trail, the town  wants nothing more than to see the guilty person executed.

Ex-prosecutor Luke Garrison is pulled out of his self inflicted exile to defend the accused man. All of the evidence points to a close family friend, popular TV anchorman Joe Allison,  and, because of the horrific circumstances, the town does not want any verdict except, “Guilty”. Luke starts to uncover the many secrets surrounding the young girl’s murder and he soon finds his own life in danger.

Freedman has given us an unlikely protagonist. Luke Garrison comes back to the town that had once seen him as a hero as a failure. His reputation as a prosecutor in the judicial community was well established, but the execution of an innocent man had caused him to leave town in disgrace and he has been living a guilt-ridden, isolated life.The story is as much about Luke’s fight with his own demons as it is about finding the murderer.

Freedman paints most of his characters with an unflattering paint brush. If Joe is innocent, he never gains our sympathies. He has too many unsavory secrets and too many lies.The characters in THE DISAPPEARANCE are very much like the rest of us, both good and bad.

Thanks to a lifetime of reading Dame Agatha, I suspected the guilty person very early in the book. Agatha Christie has taught us to suspect the least “ suspectable”. The circumstances, however, may be a surprise to you. The author builds well to the conclusion and is consistent with the clues...always an appreciated part of  any good mystery.

THE DISAPPEARANCE is a good, entertaining book. J.F. Freeman has been around for a while and, although, I am just now discovering him, I will read more.

BOOKS: Holiday Wish List 2014!!

Once again it is time for Auntie Pattie Clause to come to your aid with last minute Christmas gift ideas.

Mike Greenberg’s ALL YOU COULD ASK FOR really surprised me. Men might be more familiar with Greenie as a sports analyst, but this is not a book about sports. It is a sensitive story of three women who face the challenge of cancer.  *Very readable and relatable.

Sue Monk Kidd gives a well crafted story of real historical figures mixed with characters who might have been involved with them in THE INVENTION OF WINGS. *Good coverage of some little known people who made a difference in our history.

Kurt Vonnegut is such an American treasure that any book of his, not previously read, would make a great gift. His LOOK AT THE BIRDIE is new, but for someone who has not read him, WELCOME TO THE MONKEY HOUSE is a good introduction. *Comments on life that still make sense.

John Green may be considered a teen author, but he is worth looking at no matter what your age. Any of his books would make a terrific gift. *Not just for the youth market.

Greg Iles has started his new trilogy with NATCHEZ BURNING, I personally was counting on the next book for Christmas, but it looks as if I will have to wait. Some of his books stand alone and some, as NATCHEZ BURNING, deal with Penn Cage and his family. Watch, if reading series in order makes a difference to you. *One of my favorite authors.

Judy Coopey has also started a trilogy with THE FURNACE. Again any of her books would be appreciated. I really loved her REDFIELD FARM. *A not-just-for-women author.

Bentley Little can be counted on for terrifying novels. THE COLLECTION is the most nightmare producing collection of stories I have ever read. *Bram Stoker Award winner-and deservedly so.

Oh, and gift cards are always safe and a treat for the bookaholics in your life.

PS, let me know if you get a book that you loved and we can share it. I am always looking for that “new “ author.

BOOK REVIEW: All You Could Ask For

If you are a big sports fan, or, as in my case, married to one, "Mike and Mike in the Morning" is a regular part of your life. I have to admit that I watch the show because of the personalities of the two hosts, Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic. Naturally, I had to read Greenberg's book, ALL YOU COULD ASK FOR to see how well he could write.

Brooke, Samantha, and Katherine are three women with very different lives. Brooke has been married to her college sweetheart for fifteen years. They are the parents of twins and her life is perfect. She works hard to keep it perfect. Samantha is on her honeymoon in Hawaii when she accidently finds proof of her new husband’s infidelities. The marriage lasts all of two days. Katherine is very successful. She has a power job, a penthouse, a personal driver, and a broken heart.

These women come from different lives, do not know each other, and each has her very individual story. With the news that cancer is now a part of their lives and with the help of social media, three very different women form a bond that, at least in one case, will last a life time.

At first, I could not get the fact that this book was written by a male sports analyst. Few male authors can capture a woman’s voice and this is definitely a book about women and their reactions to life’s challenges. It did not take me long to get lost in Brooke, Samantha and Katherine.

The book is rich in character development. My first reaction to the ladies changed as their stories moved along.

At first, I really liked Brooke. Her devotion to her family was admirable. I loved that she considered a nude photograph of herself as the perfect fortieth birthday gift for her husband. I could identify with how hard this to pull off with two youngsters in her life. By the end of the book I wanted to shake her. I will wonder how her life continued long after the book is back on the shelf.

Samantha came across as the naive, rich, spoiled, daddy’s little girl when we first meet her in Hawaii. (By the way, I LOVED the secret password on her husband’s computer). Her hidden strength and her loyalty were a beautiful part of the story.

My original opinion of Katherine was “powerful bitch”. Here was a woman with all the trappings of great wealth, beating herself up because a man had done her wrong. Instead of feeling sorry for her I wanted to scream at her to get over herself and move on. By the end of the book she was the one who impressed me the most; the one whose development brought a tear to my eye.

The book stands on its own as a good read, but to add that extra something, Greenberg tells in his acknowledgments the story of his friend Heidi and her battle with cancer. This a touching tribute to everyone who has battled cancer and lost. I will see Mike Greenberg with different eyes each morning and wait to see if he has another good book in him.

Mike and his wife Stacy have created a foundation called Heidi’s Angels and all proceeds of this book will go to the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research.

BOOK REVIEW: The Invention Of Wings

It is sad to say that until I read THE INVENTION OF WINGS by Sue Monk Kidd, I had never heard of the Grimke sisters. THE INVENTION OF WINGS is a fictionalized, well researched, account of Sarah and Angelina Grimke, early abolitionists and mothers of the women’s movement.

Born to wealth in Charleston, South Carolina, eleven-year-old  Sarah Grimke tries to refuse the birthday gift from her parents, the young slave girl Hetty. However, Sarah is not allowed a say in Hetty’s ownership and thus begins the story of two young girls, their relationship and their individual fight for freedom.

The book starts in 1803 when slavery was accepted not only as an economic necessity in the South but proof of social standing as well. Sarah and Hetty both tell their stories in alternating chapters and we see the cruelty of slavery through the eyes of a black girl who lives it and a white girl who feels the immorality of the system.

As a child Sarah had witnessed a brutal whipping of a slave and she had never got over it.  But, the event that was to change her life was being caught teaching Hetty to read. Teaching a slave to read was against the law and Hetty was publicly lashed and Sarah was banned from the books in her father’s library crushing all of her dreams of becoming a lawyer. This incident started Sarah on the path that would lead her to become an avid abolitionist and early fighter for women’s rights in our country.

When her sister Angelina is born, Sarah convinces their mother to name her Angelina’s godmother, despite Sarah’s young age. With Sarah’s influence, Nina grows to be the independent, outspoken woman that would lead the sisters’ important  war against slavery.

I really liked this book. Sarah Grimke, her sister Nina, and other people who played an important part in our history became very real. We forget the personal sacrifices that had to be made for some social changes to happen. I found it interesting that in speaking out against slavery, Sarah and Nina caused the start of the women’s liberation movement. For a woman to speak in public was not accepted and in fact caused as much of an uproar as the subject of slavery.

The character of Hetty was beautiful. Sarah Grimke had owned a slave named Hetty but not much is actually known about her. The fictional Hetty, or Handful as her mother named her, was a creation of Kidd’s. In the book,Hetty and her mother Charlotte were excellent seamstresses and responsible for all of the clothing and linens for the estate.

To tell her history, Charlotte made story quilts, always with black triangles someplace on them. These, she told Hetty, were the wings that would carry them to freedom some day. I loved the image of wings used throughout Hetty and Charlotte’s part of the book. Charlotte even tells Hetty that her skinny shoulder blades are the remnants of wings to set her free.

Sue Monk Kidd is an interesting author. She explained this novel by saying that she wanted to write a book about sisters and Sarah and Nina were a good choice. I felt that she carried that theme also through the relationship between Sarah and Hetty.

This is an author that I will continue to read. I liked her Secret Life of Bees, did not like The Mermaid’s Chair, and loved THE INVENTION OF WINGS. You will want to read any of Monk’s books with a group of friends. There are always so many points to start discussion.

BOOK REVIEW: The Furnace

Judy Coopey’s THE FURNACE, is the first book in her The Juniata Iron Trilogy. The three books will follow a fictional family’s rise and fall with the iron industry in Pennsylvania. Family sagas give an author an opportunity to develop a vast variety of characters as well as providing the reader with a personal glimpse of history. If THE FURNACE is any indication of what is to come, Ms. Coopey is going to do just that.

The year is 1816 when we first meet Elinor Bratton. Ellie is young, beautiful, privileged and in love with her handsome, equally privileged, neighbor Robert. Their relationship results in Robert going to Philadelphia to study, leaving a pregnant Ellie behind to face the shame alone.

Over Ellie’s objections, she finds herself married to a man who is a complete stranger; her father has bought her a husband. Adam MacPhail has nothing that made Robert so perfect in Ellie’s opinion. He is poor and has none of the social graces that are so important in the wealthy community in Berks County.

Adam does have an obsession. He wants to make iron in western Pennsylvania. The Bratton money will allow him to buy the iron furnace that he so desperately wants. Ellie has always had servants to pamper her, now she is forced to live in the middle of nowhere, with primitive conditions, a stranger for a husband and expecting a baby fathered by the man she loves. So starts our saga of the MacPhail family.

One of the things that I count on in a Judy Coopey book is a chance to meet interesting characters and THE FURNACE is full of them. The reader may not approve of Ellie - she certainly has her flaws- but I found myself rooting for her. As I fell in love with Adam, I kept wishing that she would do the same.

The author also keeps us guessing who among the citizens of the growing iron community are good, bad, downright evil, or some combination of these traits.When a foreman goes missing, the fact that several of the men in the town hated him enough and were mean enough to have murdered him creates a mystery that may not get solved.

If you have read any of Ms. Coopey’s earlier books, you know that real life happens to her people. Unexpected deaths, natural disasters, dangerous temptations, petty jealousies, and moments of pure joy.

As in any good trilogy, this first book made me want more. We know that two books will follow this one and I will warn you that the ending is a true cliffhanger. I want to see what happens as the children grow and take over for their parents. I want to meet Ellie as an old woman. I want to see what happens to several neighbors that became friends of mine. In other words, I want the next book as quickly as possible!

THEATER REVIEW: Six Characters In Search of an Author

Our local high schools are exceptional examples of what educational theater should be. In the past three years. Bellefonte Area High School Theatre Department has given us plays by Elton John, Oscar Wilde, and  David Ives. This year they really conquered a big challenge by presenting SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR by Luigi Pirandello. The name of Luigi Pirandello may have become eclipsed by playwrights who followed him, but he is very important to the history of modern drama.

The storyline of SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR is very simple. On an empty stage a director has started rehearsals for a play when six fictional characters appear, a father, a mother, a son, a step-daughter, a young boy and a young girl. The father insists that the six of them need an author to finish what another author has left undone. The story is obviously a sad one because all of the family are in mourning except the two young children. As the story unfolds, the characters raise questions concerning reality vs. illusion, the importance of words, and the point is made that real people change, characters in plays are locked in.

Jordan Emery as Father is to be commended simply for the amount of very difficult lines he had to master. Pirandello uses the character of the father to sermonize the basic idea of this play and Jordan had to make the audience “get it”. Because he is a character in a play, he does not always understand when the director tries to explain that real people are different than fictional characters. There were times that Father’s lines were a little hard to hear. This may be due to the acoustics in the auditorium, not the actor.

Mother’s mourning was captured perfectly by Dori Puzycki. The mother is the very consummate figure of grief and Dori took a part that could be easily overdone and played it with great sympathy. Her unbearable grief made the final act even more impressive. When Father explains to the Manager that this is not a woman but Mother, we understand Dori’s part perfectly.

The emotional role of Step-Daughter was handled by Kaitlyn Whitesell. Kaitlyn had a chance to pull out all the stops as the seductive, sometimes vicious, Step-daughter.  I liked that she went from being cruel to most of her family to being tender to the young child.

I kept watching Zachary Spaw as Son. It is hard to play the aloof, quiet part. Son was always alone in the background and when he did speak it was to tell us that he wanted nothing to do with the action. Zachary has the stage presence to keep us aware that he is going to be important at some point. I kept watching for that point.

Alyssa Hamaty as Manager/Director had the role that grounded the play. Her job was to help the audience see the difference between a work of art and real life. Her stating that “Drama is action” seems ironic in a play that relies on words more than movement. Again, this is a part that is very important in helping the audience to understand the play and at times her lines got lost.  

Background actors impress me when they stay in character and the ensemble was perfect. Several actors to keep your eye on in future plays are Jordan Corman, Emma Holderman and Andrew Uhring. We have seen them before in featured roles and, I am sure, will see them again.

Thank you Shaun McMurtrie and Luke Skerpon, directors and faculty advisors,  for remembering that a playwright born in 1867 can still be relevant  and entertaining.

BOOK REVIEW: The Year of Fog

To be honest, I had to be pulled, kicking and screaming, into reading THE YEAR OF FOG by Michelle Richmond. I had started it over a year ago and simply could not get beyond the first chapter. It was choosen as this month’s discussion book for our library book group and I was told to give it another try.

Walking hand in hand with her soon to be step-daughter,Emma, Abby Mason has just begun to feel that she might actually be a good mother to the little girl. Letting go of Emma’s hand and turning to look at a dead seal puppy, Abby turns back to the child to find that she has disappeared in the fog. We learn how life can change in an instant

Told in the first person, Abby takes us through the year following Emma’s disappearance. She becomes obsessed with hunting for Emma and researching all that she can find on memory. These searches take her everywhere in the San Francisco area. Some areas are dangerous, but for the most part people seem to care. During the search she learns how many children go missing and how many are never found. Time can be very important.

The fact that Abby is a professional photographer with an eye for detail adds an overtone to the story. At times she makes the comparison between memory and photographs that have been over or under-developed, or even double exposed.

The characters in the book, besides Abby, are mostly casually drawn. As in a fog some appear more clearly than others or they are there and then fade back into the fog. The fog is almost a character in itself. This is one of the reason that San Francisco was a good setting for the story.

I have to admit, that once I got into Abby’s life, I was mesmerized. Richmond tells an honest story. We read of loss, grief, redemption, and if not a neat happy ending, always love and hope.

Once in awhile the timing is off to read a certain book. There are books that hit too hard on a personal level and maybe we need to wait until we are in a better place. Or maybe, we need a bossy librarian telling us that, “Yes, you will love it.”

BOOK REVIEW: The Forgotten

David Baldacci introduced a new protagonist, Army Special Agent John Puller in Zero Day and I wanted to learn more about this special investigator, plus it was a good read by an author that I usually enjoy. I picked up THE FORGOTTEN with the hope that there would be more information about the brother who is serving a life sentence in a federal prison for treason and the military hero father who is in a VA hospital with dementia. Only some questions were answered.

As is typical Baldacci, the book pulls the reader in with an action scene. This one  takes place on an oil rig off the coast of Florida’s panhandle. The “forgotten” of the title refers to the people who have been captured by slave traders and are smuggled into the United States by way of the deserted oil rigs in the Gulf. One man escapes from the long line of dispirited people by jumping into the Gulf of Mexico. Thus begins our introduction to the mysterious, and extremely focused, Mecho.

In the resort town of Paradise, Florida, an elderly woman mails a letter, returns to her home and is murdered. The letter was sent to her baby brother, John Puller Sr. a retired three-star general and the father of our hero, John Puller,CID. John’s aunt had hinted, strongly, that something was not right in Paradise and wanted to talk to John Jr.  

When John arrives in the beautiful beach town, he finds that he is the only person who believes that his aunt had been murdered and in the process of his investigation is pulled into the world hidden beneath the beautiful exterior of the town. His life becomes involved with the local mixture of characters as well as with Mecho and his hidden agenda.

This was not the best David Baldacci book that I have read. There are quite a few holes in the plot and many solutions that the reader has to “go along with”. There are times when John Puller seems to be too much of a comic-book hero. Although a large, strong man he is practically useless without his duffel bag and with the amount of things that he pulls out of that bag, it must is a wonder that he can carry it. (Batman’s belt seems much more efficient).  

For a protagonist that is going to be carrying a series, the author has not done a very good job of giving us a character that we will see grow. I am not saying that I will not read any of the follow up novels because I do want to know how John’s brother ended up in a federal prison and because David Baldacci is capable of better things. You can watch for more John Puller reviews in the future.

THEATER REVIEW: Rose the Riveter

By now those of us who follow Bald Eagle High School’s Drama Club should have complete trust in their choices. The play ROSIE THE RIVETER was unknown to me and I was expecting a light, fun evening.  The show is so much more.

The time is World War II, the Invasion of Normandy to be precise. In Middle America, a car manufacturer has turned his factory into the production of war planes at the insistence of his Girl Friday, Rosie. The audience watches the conflicting viewpoints of the women who fill the jobs that the men, now fighting overseas, had done and the society women who feel that Victory Gardens and knitting scarves are enough. We also see how war can touch us in very personal ways.

The staging of ROSIE was exceptionally good. Placing several scenes on stage at the same time can be a disaster; at no time did one distract from the focused action. The scene that had the women reading their letters from loved ones was effective. Placing the actresses throughout the audience made it very touching.

Director Eric Brinser’s most important talent is his ability to cast his shows. His actors are well trained for high school students, but he seems to be able to match the right actor with the right part. The cast of ROSIE was a good example.

Mackenzie Basalla as Rosie was riveting (pun intended). She was full of energy, delivered her lines with power, and had a chance to show that she could run a wide range of emotions. Very impressive.

Meghan Shiels, as her counterpart Helen, has the natural dignity to pull off the local leader of proper society. I liked the growth that her part called for.

I am beginning to believe that Colton Lucas can be whomever he wants to be. As the brash, self promoting factory owner, Eddie, Colton showed a stage maturity that I cannot wait to see develop. Colton is a sophomore so just sit back and watch.

There has to be room here to mention some of the supporting cast. I really liked Alice Statham as the “brainy” Katherine. Alice is a Freshman, meaning that we should see more of her in future plays. I thought that Matthew Blaylock was a Senior, but was happy to note that we will have this versatile actor for one more year. He made a good romantic lead in ROSIE.

The ensemble was too large to mention individuals, plus I am afraid that I would get the names wrong. It is always impressive to see a show where this group stays in character, especially when the “camera” is not focused on them. Special applause to each of you.

ROSIE THE RIVETER is an example of why I am so dedicated to high school drama. Students learn so much from “putting on a play” and in the case of ROSIE a very personal view of an important part of history. Good choice.

BOOK REVIEW: Vacation Reading

Vacation allows me time to read without feeling guilty that I really should be doing housework. It also gives me the freedom to read some good old bodice rippers… books that would not fill the space of a long review. Here are a few of my favorite “just-for-fun” authors.

Teresa Medeiros writes mostly Regency Romances, sexy and fun and usually with a twist. In her SOME LIKE IT WILD her heroine is the illegitimate daughter of an actress. Her mother has died in a suspicious fire leaving her and her beautiful sister penniless. To save the two girls from having to resort to “selling” themselves, she must locate someone to impersonate a duke’s long-lost son. Fortunately, the highwayman who stops their carriage is perfect. My opinion?...funny, sexy, with a highly improbable plot.

Pamela Morsi sets most of her books in the Old West. She can be counted on for warm, human stories with a touch of humor. WILD OATS is a classic story of mis-identification. Cora Briggs is a divorced woman in the small town of Dead Dog, Oklahoma. Her ex-mother-in-law has done all that she can to ruin Cora’s reputation. Therefore, it only makes sense that when Jedwin Sparrow, Jr., local mortician, wanted a woman, but did not want to marry just yet, he ended up at Cora’s door. Then it became difficult for everyone to maintain a”good” reputation. One of the best things about this book was the citizens of Dead Dog. I was happy to see that there is a spin-off with an interesting minor character titled Runabout. I will be hunting that one down.

Usually I read Kat Martin for her historical Western romances. AGAINST THE ODDS is set in modern West Texas. Sabrina has inherited a vast tract of land in the middle of no-where from her eccentric uncle. Uncle Walter had sworn that there was a silver mine that would make him rich beyond imagination. To get to this land, Sabrina hires private investigator and former navy fighter pilot, Alex Justice. Accidents start to happen before Sabrina and Alex even reach the deserted mine and Uncle Walter’s three children may be to blame. This was a fun, adventure tale. The culprit gets caught and I thought the crimes were solved and then Ms. Martin threw in an ending that I did not see coming. I like that in a book.

Mary Jo Putney is an award winning best seller best known for her Regencies.  I like her because she can develop characters who are flawed making them believable. I picked up TWIST OF FATE thinking that I would be transported to Regency England and at war with Napoleon. Instead I met Val Covington a high profile lawyer who has decided to open her own practice. Before she is settled into her new office her assistant pleads with her to save a man from being executed for a crime that he did not commit. With the help of her new landlord, Val gets involved with a case that is literally a matter of life and death. I still prefer going back to the 1800’s with Ms. Putney but this was an entertaining read.

There has to be a connection with the characters for me to enjoy a book, no matter what the genre is. These are authors that I know that I can count on for entertaining plots, fun characters and maybe just a bit of bodice ripping.

BOOK REVIEW: Lone Wolf

Some of Jodi Picoult’s books I really enjoy, i.e. Keeping Faith, The Pact, and My Sister’s Keeper; some I felt were a waste of my time, Songs of the Humpback Whale, Plain Truth, and Mercy. Recently I read LONE WOLF and felt that it will fit somewhere toward the top of my “enjoyed-list”.

Luke Warren is married and the father of a nineteen year-old son, Edward, and a pre-teen daughter, Cara. His passion is the study of wolves. Leaving his family behind, he spends two years in the wilds of Canada where he is accepted as a member of a pack of wild wolves. He comes home to find that he is no longer the family man that he was. As a result his marriage falls apart, his son disappears, and his daughter is no longer the little girl that he remembers.

Six years later, Edward is teaching English in Bangkok when he receives a phone call that his father and sister have been in a near fatal car accident. He arrives home to find his father in a coma, his sister full of hatred, and his mother re-married. Soon he is involved in a legal battle over who has the right to make the life/death decision to pull the plug on his father’s life support system.

LONE WOLF is written in alternating points of view. Picoult is one of the few authors who does this well. No two people see the same incident in the same way and this style of writing gives the reader a chance to draw his or her own conclusion.

Jodi Picoult also does dramatic courtroom scenes well. It might not be realistic for “surprising” facts to be shouted out in the middle of a trial, but it is good drama. The fact that the brother and sister are both young and have been hiding family secrets for years makes these scenes more believable.

Aside from this being a very readable novel, the facts about the living habits of the wolves was fascinating. We see the pack hierarchy in the wild and how important it is to honor that  in captivity. I did not know that rank even dictates which wolf eats what part of the prey or that one of the ranks is that of “nanny” and that several wolves will “audition” for the position.

Ms. Picoult is also known for the ambiguity of her endings. Often her last sentence will make you re-think the whole book. I like that, but I have to admit that it took me several seconds to “get” the last chapter of this book. It is beautifully done.

If you like family dramas with a strong wild nature background, LONE WOLF may be just what you want.