fiction

Aiden was six when he went missing during a bad rainstorm which flooded the banks of the river that runs through their village. His family and police believed he had been swept away by the river and drowned, having only found his jacket floating in the river and no body. Ten years later his mom is married and in her last month of pregnancy when she gets the incredible news that Aiden is alive. Told from the viewpoint of Aiden's mom, Emma, the Silent Child is a psychological thriller that will engulf you in the chaos of Emma's intense emotions as she tries to figure out who took Aiden.

What

The house where so much of The Girl Before takes place is a minimalist’s dream; a testament to how we can get by with barely any material goods. The latter may seem impossible to those of us who carry our many belongings with us wherever we go. Yet, reading this book, I can see the lure of an uncluttered life.

The house, in fact, becomes a character in the story. More than just a backdrop, the house affects the main characters and seems at times to be an extension of Edward Monkton, the architect of this rule-bound home.

Two women, separated by time, are deemed worthy by Monkton to live in

The term "visual poem" gets thrown around a lot when describing Terrence Malick's most recent work, starting with 2011's Tree of Life. Even before then his films relied heavily on visuals to help tell the story, but his work increasingly favors beautiful imagery and strives towards creating feelings and moods more so than a continuous narrative thread. Thus, dialogue is intermittent and often jumps around. I can certainly see why this might not appeal to people. That being said, Song to Song is my favorite of Terrence Malick's recent "visual poems," and my favorite film of his since 2005's The

On the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) is a tracker and hunter of threatening wildlife on the reservation, protecting the people from dangerous animals. Cory finds the corpse of a teenage girl when patrolling the reservation. Young FBI agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) is sent in to investigate. New, inexperienced, and idealistic, Jane is quickly in over her head trying to solve the murder while adjusting to the culture shift on an Indian reservation. Cory knows the land and the people of Wind River, and Jane enlists his help. To say more would start to

I had high hopes for The Accountant​, a thriller with no shortage of fine actors like Jeffrey Tambor, Jean Smart, and Alison Wright (of The Americans).

The main character, Christian Wolff, is played by Ben Affleck.  By day, Christian works as a certified public accountant from a nondescript office in a strip mall. But this is no ordinary CPA. Christian's house is bare but his trailer, filled with original paintings, blocks of gold, and military grade weapons, is worthy of James Bond himself. Yes, he works for some shady clients. Through flashbacks we also find out that he is autistic, and

An eternal entity that goes into a sort of hibernation comes back every 27 years, feeding on the fears of children and creating all sorts of chaos in the town of Derry, Maine. The book IT is divided into five parts, moving from the summer of 1958 to 1985.

In the summer of 1958 Georgie, Bill's little brother, goes out to sail a paper boat and is the first to meet the entity during this visit. It does not end well for Georgie.  Bill and a group of other eleven-year-olds then get tangled up in the horror in Derry. They give the entity the name IT and themselves the name The Losers Club. After

Little Fires Everywhere is a spectacular title for Celeste Ng’s latest novel, as she carries that imagery throughout the story. Set mostly in Shaker Heights, Ohio, an affluent suburb of Cleveland during the mid-1990s, we meet the Richardson family (mother Elena and children Lexie, Trip, Moody, and Izzy) and the Warrens (Mia and her daughter Pearl). Artist Mia and Pearl have always lived a transient existence and have kept mostly to themselves. But when they settle in to Shaker Heights to stay, their lives intersect with the Richardsons' lives in unexpected and irreversible ways. I loved how

The Portrait follows the journey of Pierre-François Chaumont, a married Parisian attorney. As a boy, Pierre is influenced by his uncle to become a collector of objects. He begins with scented erasers, but quickly raises the level of sophistication and moves on to antiques. By the time the reader finds Pierre in present day, his collection is massive and a point of contention between him and his wife. It is his latest purchase, a portrait of a man, which really puts their marriage on shaky ground. As a result of a heated auction bid, Pierre pays way too much for the piece, but he has to have it

On Turpentine Lane is purely entertainment. I was hooked from the beginning when Faith decides to buy a cute little house with 1950's decor . . . sans her fiancé or any idea of who had lived there previously. Both are signs that something isn't right. We soon learn about Faith's fiancé, Stuart, and his decision to walk across the country to find himself. One of my favorite parts is Faith reminiscing about her engagement to Stuart and the red string she wears as a ring. I found the characters to be interesting, sometimes bordering on extremely quirky, but fairly humorous. The story offers

The Reminders is a story about loss, friendship, and recovery. It’s told in the alternating perspectives of Gavin, a man in his late thirties whose partner has recently died; and Joan, a 10 year old girl whose parents are old college friends of Gavin's.

Shortly after Gavin's partner dies he becomes overwhelmed by the reminders of their life together and throws their belongings into the yard and sets them on fire. A neighbor takes a video of it and it makes the news. Joan's parents happen to see this and insist that Gavin come and stay with them for a while.

Joan can recall every detail of

If you enjoy the television series Blacklist and black-ops stories you will enjoy this surprise offering from Twilight author Stephenie Meyer.

The Chemist is a former black ops government employee known for her ability to use various drugs, poisons and their antidotes to chemically torture people with information the government needs. However, "The Chemist" has been on the run since discovering that those in charge are perhaps operating by their own agenda and survival depends on disappearing. Once you get past the initial few chapters the story takes off and doesn't let up until the final

Fans of Khaled Hosseini’s earlier works will not be disappointed in this continuing story of a culture he knows well: the people of Afghanistan.

And the Mountains Echoed opens with a father telling a story from Iranian Mythology to his children. It's a story about a poor farmer who is forced to give up one of his beloved children to a div (evil giant), and it sets the stage for the emotional rollercoaster that follows. Each character lives with his own brand of misery and a heart-wrenching grief that ties them together. How much can any of us do to relieve the suffering of others? How much

Kate Morton is one of my favorite authors, and she does not disappoint with The Lake House. The story moves through several time periods beginning in the present when Detective Sadie Sparrow (who is on enforced leave from the department due to leaking a hunch to the media) goes to Cornwall to stay with her granddad. There she discovers the remains of a grand estate buried in the woods, and her curiosity is piqued. She learns that the estate was abandoned in the wake of the disappearance of the one-year-old son of the house, who was never found. The detective in Sadie rises to the fore, and she

In the trailer for Nocturnal Animals, Amy Adams's character (Susan Morrow) says, "my ex-husband use to call me a nocturnal animal . . . recently he sent me this book that he has written. It's violent and it's sad and he dedicated it to me . . . ." That line holds some creepy possibilities, but what plays out on screen is unexpected, with themes of loss, regret and revenge. Directed by Tom Ford and based on the book Tony and Susan, it's a stylized, uncomfortable, tense and foreboding neo noir.

A manuscript arrives for Susan just as she is at a low point in her life -- she is in a loveless

Léon: The Professional tells the story of a child-like hit man named Léon and his relationship with (and subsequent training of) a 12 year-old named Mathilda who is orphaned at the hands of insane, corrupt New York cop Norman Stansfield. It features that unique French mixture of absurdity and realism: In what world does a 12 year-old boldly shoot a handgun out of a window without consequence? How is that Léon and Mathilda's relationship is simultaneously creepy and sweet? How can a cop so violently corrupt as Stansfield not be in federal prison? This constant contradiction of everyday minutiae

I admit that I watched this movie because of Essie Davis: our very own Miss Fisher. And I found her performance quite memorable in The Girl with a Pearl Earring.

In The Babadook, she is unrecognizable as Amelia, a frazzled, soft-spoken and accommodating single mom. Amelia works part-time at an old folks’ home while raising her six-year-old son, Sam (played by Noah Wiseman). She was widowed on the same night Sam was born. And Sam has major behavioral issues.   

The first half of the movie is from Amelia’s point of view. She is unhappy and exhausted, mentally and physically. One night, Sam

I was swept away by this miniseries. Not fully knowing what to expect, the first episode traps you in an engaging story of anxiety and murder. The set-up feels like the first half of The Stranger by Albert Camus. Every detail, small or otherwise, will be taken into account in later episodes that depict the trial of one of the protagonists.

The show is spearheaded by John Turturro who plays criminal court attorney John Stone. Stone can be described as an "ambulance chaser" but clearly has a soft spot for people in general and his family specifically. His struggles with eczema mirror the

Have you read every book Laura Ingalls Wilder has ever written? Did you watch every season of Little House on the Prairie over and over again and can you hear Melissa Gilbert cry “Pa!” just as clear as can be?  Did you even read Roger Lea MacBride's spinoff series about Laura’s daughter, Rose? Perhaps you’ve visited all the museums and still have documentation stating you belong to a LHOTP fan club you joined as a child. If you're nodding your head yes to everything I've asked you should pull out your calico bonnet and curl up in your distressed rocking chair with Caroline. Caroline is a

I despised cheerleaders when I was a teenager. They were the ones who bullied my outcast friends and me. They were so—well—cheery. Didn't they notice that the world all around us is falling apart? I’m much older and somewhat wiser now, so I understand that it’s dumb to assume that all members of a group of people are the same. I comprehend that just because the particular cheerleaders I knew in high school were mean doesn't mean that all cheerleaders are mean. I mean, I try to stay open-minded. Still, cheerleaders. Blech. How superficial, boring, and dumb.  

Needless to say, I never noticed

Love. Pain. Death.  Family.  These are the main themes of this excellent Amazon production. 

Set among the cold and beautiful New England scenery, the story follows Lee (played by Casey Affleck) as he goes back to his hometown to take charge of his teenage nephew, Patrick (played by Lucas Hedges) after the death of Lee’s brother.   

From the start, it is obvious that something more than grief is going on.  Lee is very reluctant to go back.  There are nudges and whispers by the townspeople at the sight of him.  Why does everyone treat him with kid gloves, and why is Lee such a jerk to them in

This Is Us is a dangerously addictive show about a family over multiple generations and the extreme challenges they face. The pilot episode hooks you into a compelling drama by intertwining the lives of all the characters in a unique way. The story continues with complexities that match real life and yet what we see seems more surreal than reality.

This show is emotional. Not the setup/payoff kind of emotion but rather suffocating you with emotions until they find the right string to pull that will choke you up. This approach works in two ways: it pulled me in and then pushed me out. The

Paterson is a quiet, beautiful love story.  It depicts a week in the life of a bus driver named Paterson (Adam Driver) and his wife, Laura (Golshifteh Farahani). They live in the town of Paterson, New Jersey, which William Carlos Williams immortalized in his poetry. In his spare time, our Paterson writes poetry, mostly love poems about his wife. He writes down his poems wherever he can: in a small cupboard in the basement, in the bus before he starts work. He derives his inspiration from life around him so that the subtle rhythm of an average day becomes the beat of his poem. When Laura tells

Hurricane Harvey in the news raises the relevance of this novel to a category five. The fact that we're bringing Julie Murphy--one of the best contemporary realistic fiction authors in the country--to town for a Meet the Author visit means you must put this book on your radar. I listened to the audio version. It's fantastic. The narrator is a perfect fit for Ramona's voice. Ramona is a high school senior living with her overworked and underpaid father and her nineteen-year-old pregnant sister in a too-small trailer in Eulogy, Mississippi, right off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. When Ramona

Arrowood is a grand mansion on the banks where the Des Moines River meets the Mississippi River. Arden Arrowood spent her childhood living in the family home until the tragic disappearance of her two-year old twin sisters drove her family to abandon the house. Now, almost 20 years later, Arden returns to  Arrowood and the memories of her childhood and her sisters. Will she finally be able to find out what happened on that fateful day so long ago?

Arrowood is an absorbing story with a strong lead character that holds your interest throughout. The sense of place (the mansion on the river and

David (Jesse Plemons) is having a rough year. He’s a comedy writer pushing 30 whose pilot wasn’t picked up. His boyfriend just dumped him. And now he’s moving home with his parents, to help take care of his mother (Molly Shannon) while she dies of cancer. These are setbacks that are supposed to befall other people, he confides in an old classmate who tells him, “Now you’re other people for other people.” It’s with this dazed adrift quality that David goes through the next several months, struggling to spend as much time with his mother as he can while figuring out a way to get his life back on

Britt-Marie is reasonable, punctual, and practical, thank you very much. The best life lived is one of order, no shenanigans necessary. But recently sixty-three year old Britt-Marie has had to make some changes in her life. She's walked out of her loveless marriage and found herself a temp job in Borg, a decrepit town ruined by the financial crisis.

Britt-Marie becomes the coach of the local kids soccer team, quite by accident. She doesn't really know how to coach, but at least they will have clean uniforms. Since her arrival, the rec center has never been cleaner; and the resident rat makes

Bruce Cable is living the life he always wanted and has worked hard to attain. He lives on Camino Island and owns an independent bookstore that over the years has become the hub of culture and literature on the island. Bruce is a collector of many things: first editions, rare books, and works by young women. His bookstore hosts several book signings a month and he is a regular on most author's book tours.  

When the original F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts go missing from the Firestone Library at Princeton University the world of literature is in an uproar. The FBI and Princeton's insurance

“Everyone who is alive has a ghost inside them, don’t they?” 

Get In Trouble is Kelly Link’s third collection of short stories for adults, and her best work to date in my not-so-humble opinion (I loved her last collection, Magic for Beginners, so that’s saying something). Link is a master of creating different story shapes and then telling them from innovative angles. Her writing is wholly original without being intimidating or hollow, comprised of fully fleshed-out characters and intriguing scenarios. Many of these stories explore loss and identity in ways that are thought-provoking yet

Small Great Things is the story of Ruth Jefferson, an African American labor and delivery nurse with twenty years of experience working in hospitals on the East coast. When a couple requests that no person of color touch their baby, the hospital complies and assigns a new nurse. But later, due to an emergency, Ruth is left in the nursery by herself, and the baby goes into cardiac arrest. She hesitates before performing CPR, but there is no way to save the baby. Ruth then finds herself dismissed from her job and on trial for the death of the baby.

Ruth is represented by a white public defender

It is 1974 and Gwendy Peterson is a twelve-year-old living in Castle Rock, Maine. She meets a strange man named Richard Farris, who says he has been watching Gwendy and that she is the person to whom he is entrusting a button box. The box has eight buttons and two levers. Farris is vague about the function of the buttons, but Gwendy quickly comes to her own conclusion about what they do. Almost immediately, she learns the result of pulling each lever, and is eager to repeat this for the prizes she receives.

At first, she is apprehensive about the buttons, and concerned about the consequences