Perkins’ ‘House’ is as eerie as it’s delightful
Coben’s Nap endearing, witty
‘There’s Someone Inside Your House’ (Dutton Children’s Books), by Stephanie Perkins In Stephanie Perkins’ latest young adult novel, “There’s Someone Inside Your House,” teen romance and grisly murders crawl into the backseat of the car for a make-out session, producing a read that is as eerie as it is delightful.
Makani Young has yet to fall in love with her new life in Nebraska with her grandmother. Though she’s made a few friends, she still misses the food, the waves and the weather of Hawaii. The good news is that nobody in her new school knows who she is or what she did last year. The bad news is that a serial killer is busy targeting the students of Osborne High.
As the body count and panic rise, Makani; her two best friends, Alex and Darby; and new love interest, Ollie Larsson (a boy that classmates are side-eyeing in suspicion that he may be responsible for the deaths), try to piece together a connection between the victims. They also work on staying alive.
The Nebraska cornfields provide a glorious backdrop for blood-soaked scenes and prove equally as valuable in framing the love story. Multifaceted characters and fresh dialogue add texture, while the teetering status of Makani and Ollie’s relationship combined with the hunt for the killer creates suspense from all angles.
Perkins has a knack for the unnerving. Frightened teens stumble upon hair-raising oddities: rearranged furniture, a set of keys in the vegetable crisper, an egg timer positioned atop a welcome mat. She also overlays her work with a flair of carnival sideshow, weaving in sinister humor amid the horror. When readers hear the squelching sound of a victim’s head coming off, they may wonder if laughter is permissible at a time like this. The answer is yes, but remember to check under the bleachers for any knife-wielding assailants first.
“Don’t Let Go” (Dutton), by Harlan Coben A New Jersey detective finds himself still haunted by events that occurred 15 years earlier in Harlan Coben’s latest thriller, “Don’t Let Go.”
Napoleon “Nap” Dumas spends his time working for the police along with discreetly conducting vigilante justice against men who physically abuse women. One day two police officers arrive on his doorstep with some news. A fingerprint along with DNA he put into the system years ago has come back with a hit at the scene of a police officer’s shooting at a traffic stop. The DNA matches his girlfriend who mysteriously disappeared 15 years earlier, shortly after the death of his twin brother and his brother’s girlfriend.
Nap never believed the official report of their death, and has questioned everything about that fateful night.
The more he investigates her sudden reappearance, along with her involvement in a police officer’s murder, will lead Nap down a rabbit hole that will cause him to lose trust in everyone he loves.
Coben tells the story from Nap’s point of view, so following the mental steps he takes to find the truth adds an extra layer to both the readability and the puzzlement of the story. When the reveal happens, the other characters have always assumed that Nap knew the truth but was in denial. Readers know that is not the case.
The likeability of Nap is paramount to this story, and even though he sometimes steps a bit outside the law for his own brand of justice, he is both endearing and sometimes quite witty. Coben is the master of these types of characters while exposing the hidden layers of suburbia.
There are a few elements that don’t make sense in the grand scheme of things, but it doesn’t matter. This is all about Nap and his quest.
“What Is It All but Luminous: Notes from an Underground Man” (Knopf), by Art Garfunkel
Art Garfunkel once envisioned a simple life as a mathematics teacher. He earned a master’s degree and was well on his way to becoming a PhD That plan was derailed when he and Paul Simon became famous as the folk-rock duo Simon and Garfunkel.
“What Is It All but Luminous: Notes from an Underground Man” is a charming book of prose and poetry printed in a digitalized version of his handwriting. In it, he reveals his thoughts and feelings about his turbulent life.
Garfunkel’s accomplishments are many: With Paul Simon, he won six Grammy Awards, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. As a solo singer, he scored three Top 20 hits. He also won acclaim for his film roles in “Catch-22” and “Carnal Knowledge.”
In 1970, S&G broke up after dominating the pop charts for five years. In 1981, he performed with Simon before more than 500,000 fans in New York’s Central Park and belted out his signature vocal “Bridge over Troubled Water.” In 2010, he temporarily lost his voice due to a vocal cord problem and struggled to regain it.
His poems in “Luminous” are witty, candid and wildly imaginative. He comes through as a highly intelligent man trying to make sense of his extraordinary life.
By Christina Ledbetter
Justice
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NEW YORK: First week sales for Bill O’Reilly’s latest book were enviable for virtually any author who isn’t Bill O’Reilly.
“Killing England,” the latest in O’Reilly’s blockbuster series of history books, sold 65,000 copies in hardcover. According to NPD BookScan, only one nonfiction book sold better, although its author has long been a political foe of the conservative commentator. Hillary Clinton’s “What Happened” sold 93,000 copies in its second week, a drop from its opening sales of 168,000 copies, when pre-orders also were included. First week numbers for “What Happened” were the highest for any nonfiction book in five years.
According to BookScan, which tracks around 85 percent of the print market, O’Reilly’s “Killing the Rising Sun” opened last year with sales of 145,000 copies. O’Reilly has long been one of the most popular nonfiction authors, but “Killing England” is his first major release since being forced out from Fox News amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment. While initial sales have been slower than for his earlier works, “Killing England” has gained momentum. It jumped into the top 5 on Amazon.com on publication day, Sept 19, and was No. 1 for much of Wednesday. “Killing England” also was in the top 5 on Barnes & Noble.com. (AP)