Murder By The Book - Where a good crime is had by all!

Sally Woods at Murder By The Book since 2011

Sally has been in the bookselling biz for almost 20 years.  She comes to MBTB via various Houston indie bookstores.  She did have a life prior to bookstores, bvut that seems long ago.  She is also somewhat new to the mystery genre and is learning about new authors all the time.

Some her favorite authors include: Stephen King, John Sandford, Dean Koontz, Sue Grafton, Kevin Brockmeier, Dan Chaon, Gillian Flynn, Joyce Carol Oates (especially the short stories), Margaret Atwood, and newly discovered Peter James.  

The Lifeboat (Hardcover)

By Charlotte Rogan

$24.99

ISBN-13: 9780316185905
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Reagan Arthur Books, 4/2012

Other Editions of this Title

Sally's review: It seems to be the year of the debut, and The Lifeboat is  a very good one.

 

Grace Winter is twenty-two, a newlywed, a widow, and on trial.  Set two years after Titanic, a luxury liner suffers an explosion and the lifeboats are cast out to sea. Grace is on her honeymoon, and her husband manages to secure her a seat on a lifeboat of strangers. Soon, the

survivors discover, they are on a lifeboat that is too small, and with too many people. Now, decisions must be made in order for any 

them to survive.

 

Written in the form of Grace's journal; a journal not kept on a day to day basis on the lifeboat, but afterwards with the  benefit of  hindsight, you are left to wonder what exactly is the truth. You learn how Grace and her husband, Henry, met.  What her motives may or may not be. The Lifeboat is a page-turning story, filled with moral dilemmas, narrated by a woman who is determined to fight for her place in the boat and preparing herself  for a battle once they are rescued. 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed The Lifeboat. I discovered that you don't necessarily have to like a character in order to relate to them, or even cheer for them.  And you are left to wonder, "what would I do?" and "could I do it?"

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Stay Awake: Stories (Hardcover)

By Dan Chaon

$25.00

ISBN-13: 9780345530370
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Ballantine Books, 2/2012

Other Editions of this Title

Before the critically acclaimed novels Await Your Reply and You Remind Me of Me, Chaon made a name for himself as a renowned writer of dazzling short stories. Now, in "Stay Awake," Chaon returns to that form for the first time since his masterly "Among the Missing," a finalist for the National Book Award.

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