Reviews

Staff Review

The Shepherd's Crown

By Terry Pratchett

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Oct 13, 2015

As he does for everyone in the end, Death has come for Granny Weatherwax.  The finest leader the witches never had, indisputably first amongst equals, Granny bequeaths her legacy to young Tiffany Aching.  Tiffany struggles to do the job in front of her when she has to manage her own steading, Granny's steading, train a new apprentice (and never before has a boy wanted to be a witch!), and stop the elven incursion into her world.  Not to mention reining in the Nac Mac Feegle clan.  Crivens!

Staff Review

Murphy's Law

By Rhys Bowen
Star Rating
★★★

Rated by Heather B.
Oct 12, 2015

Molly Murphy flees 1901's rural Ireland to avoid police scrutiny after she kills a man in self-defense. With all the bad luck the title Murphy's Law implies, she finds herself at the other end of her transatlantic journey in New York suspected of a second man's death. To clear her own name and that of a friend she made on the voyage over, who is another suspect, Molly decides to investigate the murder herself.

Teen Review

A Thousand Nights

By E.K. Johnston
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Jennifer R.
Oct 9, 2015

There are monsters in the desert. They came from the sea and fought with man, but now they wait, picking off their victims one at a time until they see fit to rage against the world of man once more. 

As Lo-Melkhiin rides the storm into Her (there are no names in the book except for Lo-Melkhiin) village, She knows that he is coming to claim a new bride and her beautiful sister will most likely be his pick. Lo-Melkhiin has had three hundred brides already, and each one has met a swift death.

Staff Review

Night of the Jaguar

By Joe Gannon

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Oct 9, 2015

Set in 1986 in Nicaragua, Night of the Jaguar drops the reader into the turmoil of Nicaragua after the Sandinistas have won and are struggling to govern. Ajax Montoya, a former guerrilla, now a police captain, is literally haunted by the ghosts of his victims. He is assigned a case where a man is murdered in the same way that the Contras kill people. Nicaraguan State Security has also involved itself in the case, as has an American reporter, the American Ambassador, and an American senator.

Staff Review

Devoted in Death

By J.D. Robb

Rated by Lisa J.
Oct 7, 2015

"The first kill was an accident. Mostly." And so Darryl and Ella-Lou’s quest to reach New York City begins with a string of bodies in their wake. 

Staff Review

#IHeartU Writing Contest Winner

By Elizabeth Uppman
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Oct 7, 2015

The Read Local committee is pleased to announce Elizabeth Uppman has won Johnson County Library’s #IHeartU Essay contest with her entry Lucia's War. Uppman's essay was chosen for its response to the theme of love, and the juxtaposition of "war" in the title with Lucia's ultimate triumph. We also love the evolution of Lucia's attack, how her "storming the beaches of Normandy" approach slowly transitions to a blunt and irrefutable request.

Staff Review

In a Dark, Dark Wood

By Ruth Ware

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Oct 5, 2015

Leonora (Nora/Lee/Leo) Shaw's past has come back to visit her. With a mysterious invitation to a hen-do (British bachelorette party) in the English countryside for a friend she hasn't seen or spoken to in years, she is forced to get out of her apartment and shed her closed-off personality for a weekend. She doesn't, however, quite know why she is invited and when she begins to ask around, no one else seems to know why they have been invited either. The hostess, Flo, is crazy about the bride, Clare, and puts all of the guests ill-at-ease.

Staff Review

Alive

By Scott Sigler
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Diane H.
Oct 4, 2015

What’s going on? Where am I? Who am I? Both the characters in the story and the reader wonder. Sigler has achieved an interesting balance between a thriller-like atmosphere and a slowly unfolding reality.

A group of twelve-year-olds wake up in older bodies, in coffins, with no memory of who they are and how they got there. Thus begins what is slated to be a trilogy.

Staff Review

Wildest Dreams

By Robyn Carr
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Lisa J.
Oct 3, 2015

Fourteen year old Charlie Simmons is enjoying the summer before starting at a new school in Thunder Point. His very protective mom, Lin Su, is working in Thunder Point as a home nurse for Winnie who has ALS. This is the best job Lin Su has had in a long time and it gives Charlie the opportunity to change schools and get away from the bullies that had been taunting him at his old school.