New Books are Waiting for You

Reviews by librarians Jennifer Niederhausen, Dona Stein and Heather Timko,
Adult Services Division, Strongsville Branch Library:

In a reading rut? Stop by your local library for a reading recommendation from one of our librarians on staff. Or come check out one of these great new books.

Happy reading!

Hell or High Water By Joy Castro, July 2012, 338 pages. 

This psychological thriller and first in a series is set in 2008 New Orleans, where hundreds of registered sex offenders who went off the grid during the Hurricane Katrina evacuation have never been found.  Nola Céspedes, an ambitious young reporter at the Times-Picayune is assigned this story. As her research progresses, Nola is gradually drawn in to an underworld of violent predators--a world she struggles to keep separate from her middle-class professional life. Raised in poverty by a single mother, Nola has her own secrets to hide.  Fans of Dennis Lehane and Joy Fielding will find this riveting.

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving By Jonathan Evison, August 2012, 288 pages.

Benjamin has lost virtually everything—his wife, his family, his home, and his livelihood. With few options, Ben enrolls in a night class called The Fundamentals of Caregiving, where he is instructed in the art of inserting catheters and avoiding liability, about professionalism, and on how to keep physical and emotional distance between client and provider. But when Ben is assigned to tyrannical 19-year-old Trevor, who is in the advanced stages of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, he soon discovers that the endless mnemonics and service plan checklists have done little to prepare him for the reality of caring for a fiercely stubborn adolescent with an ax to grind with the world at large. Bursting with energy, this big-hearted and inspired novel ponders life's terrible surprises and the heart's uncanny capacity to mend.

Those We Love Most By Lee Woodruff, September 2012, 336 pages.

This is the debut contemporary novel by the wife of ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff. After the tragic death of her 9-year-old son at the hands of her teenage neighbor, Maura Corrigan is swept away in a devastating aftermath of secrets and betrayals that force her to question everything. Fans of authors such as Sue Monk Kidd and Anna Quindlen will enjoy this new work of fiction.