Defending Jacob is a legal thriller with the heart and soul of a family drama. It is the story of Andy, a DA in Newton, Massachusetts whose own 14 year old son is arrested and tried for the murder of a classmate. As his parents wonder about his innocence, questions of responsibility, parental guilt, and family history come in to play. At some point you have to wonder, who is really on trial here?

Jacob's father feels great guilt that he may have passed on a "murder gene" since his own father is in jail for murder. What lengths will he go to to absolve his son, and thereby himself, of guilt? Jacob's mother wrestles with her own demons - could her son be guilty and what is her responsibility to society if he is? Meanwhile, Jacob proclaims his innocence and says little else. Add in an overly zealous new DA (Andy is quickly taken off the case), Andy's own alternate suspect and a mystery man parked in front of the house and you have a great legal thriller.

There comes a point in this book where the characters and their story have fully hooked you and it becomes very hard to put it down. Even after finishing I kept thinking about Andy, Jacob and Laurie. Landay has a wonderfully polished style does a great job of leaving no loose ends or using implausible events to move the action forward (not often the case in legal thrillers, if you ask me). This is a very satisfying book right to the very last page - I spent a full 20 extra minutes on the elliptical machine at the gym so I could finish it! 

Lucy Hull is a Hannibal, Missouri children's librarian who keeps an eye on her favorite patron, 10-year old Ian. Ian's mother only allows him to take out books "with the breath of god in them" but Lucy smuggles him what he really wants: "Tuck Everlasting", "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" and "Matilda". When Ian runs away from home he and Lucy embark on a road trip that some just might call kidnapping. But who kidnapped who? The ensuing adventure is smart, engaging and funny. (When the duo eventually end up on Church Street in Burlington, you will laugh out loud). Lucy faces moral issues - she knows she's right to keep Ian from his uptight mother and the anti-gay classes she sends him to - or is she? As Lucy becomes more aware of her own family's past and how it has influenced her, she wonders if she really can save Ian from his mother. Richard Russo called Makkai "sneakily ambitious" and I can't disagree. This is an entertaining read with an underlying message about the choices we make in life. Makkai has a stream of consciousness style of writing in which she interjects wonderful takes on classic children's stories (you'll learn what Lucy and Ian eat on the road in the form of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.). Who are we, where do we come from and where are we running? Lucy and Ian just about figure it o

What a juicy, creative novel to sink into! Here's the set-up: Suddenly millions of people around the world disappear into thin air without explanation leaving confused and grieving family and friends behind to wonder what happened and what happens next. Some think it's the Rapture yet there's no hint of religion involved; believers and non-believers, sinners and the virtuous alike were taken. The Sudden Departure was random. The residents of suburban Mapleton are among the leftovers who must cope in this new and frightening world. Not surprisingly, people react in a variety of ways. New religions, cults and holy leaders are formed, some eschew a religious connection altogether. In other words, there's a lot of lost souls wondering what to do with their lives. The story starts three years after the Sudden Departure as the leftovers continue to try to cope. The reader can't help but see parallels between the leftovers of this novel and America's reaction to 9/11. But this isn't a 9/11 novel, it's about survivor's guilt and the survivor's choice of remembering and bearing witness vs. moving on with their lives after an event that can never be forgotten. Perrotta very imaginatively creates a world where the full spectrum of reactions are possible and all are believable. One main character joins the Guilty Remnants, a cult focused on making sure everyone remembers, always. A young man drops out of college when he finds a newly minted holy man to follow but ends up hiding among the pleasure-seeking Barefoot People, complete with bull's eye on his forehead so that God can find them next time. Others simply dive into depression or drinking. What stands out in this novel is the clear, clean narrative and the utterly engaging characters. Each, no matter what direction they take, is believable and fully drawn leaving the reader feeling the validity of any reaction in response to an agnostic apocalypse that may just be more scary than a religious one. As Stephen King said in his review, is, simply put, the best 'Twilight Zone' episode you never saw".

The story of Hannah Payne is so engrossing I finished this 352-page book in one day. When She Woke takes place in one of fiction's scariest places: the dystopian and chilling near future. Clearly different than where we live, yet close enough that we can see how it could happen. After a "Great Scourge" that left women barren, a Second Great Depression and terrorist attacks that leave LA in rubble, the evangelicals have taken over politics and law enforcement. Without enough jail space for offenders, the guilty are instead "Chromed" - their skin is genetically altered to a new color to announce their crime. We meet Hannah Payne, a devoutly religious young woman in Texas (of course) just after she's become a Red, colored as a murderer for having an abortion. Life as a Red is not easy, she quickly comes to realize. In order to survive she has to leave her evangelical family behind, put her trust in strangers and embark on a road trip to her freedom. She also has to question the teachings of her narrowly religious upbringing. Jordan's speculative world is imaginative and hauntingly realistic and I enjoyed being immersed in it. The comparisons to The Scarlet Letter and A Handmaid's Tale are obvious, but this is very much Jordan's own story. After the names and the basic premise of a woman being "branded" for her sins, When She Woke is original and compelling. The less obvious comparison is to Russell Banks's latest novel The Lost Memory of Skin that also examines how our society brands and banishes our undesirables and leaves them to fend for themselves in an increasingly hostile world. The political messages in this book are not subtle nor is Jordan's disdain for evangelicals. But when we're confronted on a daily basis by presidential candidates trying to out-God each other in our real lives, it seems there's a place for this in fiction. Likewise, Hannah's growth from unquestioning church-goer to feminist warrior sometimes lacks nuance but is ultimately satisfying. When She Woke is a well-paced, thought-provoking book with an engaging story and style.