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“Up Country” by Nelson DeMille – “Up Country,” a detective/thriller, considers the U.S. involvement in Viet Nam and the sacrifices made by all concerned. Lest we forget, the body bags are always bringing home someone’s brother or father or sister or mother.
“Up Country,” published in 2002, was based on DeMille’s own experiences upon his return to Viet Nam in 1997, almost three decades after his own military service. DeMille is a master storyteller, but in this book, he brings a great deal of himself to the page and in doing that, creates a completely absorbing, gritty tale. One wonders how much is in reality, fiction. DeMille’s other books are great reads, but “Up Country” just may be his best.
“The Dog Year” by Anne Garvin – Surgeon Lucy Peterman loses her family and her perfect life in a car accident. Six months later and back at work, Peterman is stealing anything in the hospital that can be slipped into her pockets. Who could it hurt?
“The Dog Year” is a moving portrayal of grief and its aftermath, exploring the raw emotions that can bring us to our knees. Faith helps some, social connections help others, but I have never met anyone that could go it entirely alone.
There are so many things to love about “The Dog Year.” I cried, I laughed – it made me remember my own times of grief in softer ways. After a while, life does go on, even if we’re not ready for it. We just need to “Choose to find a way.”
“Signal” by Patrick Lee – Patrick Lee’s paradigms of time travel/shifting are intriguing. In “Signal,” Lee’s main characters listen to a radio frequency on a device that streams airwaves from the future – a very specific period of time in the future. In this world, time is fluid and actions can be changed before they happen.
Lee deftly handles the time paradox challenges of adjusting actions in response to hearing the consequences. Any modification in events affects everyone in the timeline continuum for all time, and Lee uses that effectively to keep us absorbed without too much science-speak that might take us out of the story. Imagine if that power was held by people with decades to plan and reshape the future for their own agendas?
Clear your schedule, turn off the computer and the phone (gasp), and be prepared to read straight through to the perfect finish.
“The Reincarnationist” by MJ Rose – A blinding flash from an explosion sends photojournalist Josh Ryder back into another era and into the life he left behind, over 1600 years ago. When he recovers from his near fatal injuries, he is back in the present, but his 21st century world has changed forever.
“The Reincarnationist” takes the reader on a quest to get to the root of Josh’s desperately disturbing images, a quest that uncovers a forbidden love in the time of ancient Rome and secrets for which people are willing to kill, no matter what the century.
Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, you might begin to believe that love has the power to reach across the ages to bring answers to the future that must be revealed.
Enjoy!
