Feb. 28, 2020: 'The Rule of Four: A Novel' by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason

The Feb. 28 book is "The Rule of Four" selected by Tony. From Amazon.com:

Princeton. Good Friday, 1999. On the eve of graduation, two friends are a hairsbreadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a Renaissance text that has baffled scholars for centuries. Famous for its hypnotic power over those who study it, the five-hundred-year-old Hypnerotomachia may finally reveal its secrets—to Tom Sullivan, whose father was obsessed with the book, and Paul Harris, whose future depends on it.

As the deadline looms, research has stalled—until a vital clue is unearthed: a long-lost diary that may prove to be the key to deciphering the ancient text. But when a longtime student of the book is murdered just hours later, a chilling cycle of deaths and revelations begins—one that will force Tom and Paul into a fiery drama, spun from a book whose power and meaning have long been misunderstood.

Jan. 17, 2020: 'The Dinner' by Herman Koch

Stacey has selected the January book: "The Dinner" by Herman Koch. From Amazon.com:

An internationally bestselling phenomenon, the darkly suspenseful, highly controversial tale of two families struggling to make the hardest decision of their lives—all over the course of one meal.

It's a summer's evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened.

Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act; an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.

Skewering everything from parenting values to pretentious menus to political convictions, this novel reveals the dark side of genteel society and asks what each of us would do in the face of unimaginable tragedy.

Dec. 13, 2019: 'The Fix' by David Baldacci

Shadonna has chosen her book for Dec. 13: "The Fix" by David Baldacci. We are continuing with the FBI theme! Here's a description from Amazon.com:

Amos Decker witnesses a murder just outside FBI headquarters. A man shoots a woman execution-style on a crowded sidewalk, then turns the gun on himself. Even with Decker's extraordinary powers of observation and deduction, the killing is baffling. Decker and his team can find absolutely no connection between the shooter -- a family man with a successful consulting business -- and his victim, a schoolteacher. 

Nor is there a hint of any possible motive for the attack. Enter Harper Brown. An agent of the Defense Intelligence Agency, she orders Decker to back off the case. The murder is part of an open DIA investigation, one so classified that Decker and his team aren't cleared for it. But they learn that the DIA believes solving the murder is now a matter of urgent national security. 

Critical information may have been leaked to a hostile government -- or worse, an international terrorist group -- and an attack may be imminent. Decker's never been one to follow the rules, especially with the stakes so high. Forced into an uneasy alliance with Agent Brown, Decker remains laser focused on only one goal: solving the case before it's too late.

And some reviews:

"A compelling puzzler...Baldacci is a truly gifted storyteller, and this novel is a perfect "fix" for the thriller aficionado." - Associated Press

"The set-up for THE FIX is one of the best this master of the thriller has ever come up with, and there is no letdown as Amos and his associates dig into an increasingly bizarre case ...[Baldacci's] plotting is more masterful than ever, and THE FIX is nothing less than terrific from start to finish." - Connecticut News

Nov. 1, 2019, Book: 'Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit' by John E. Douglas

I'm not sure if you've watched the series. Well, there's also a book. Sam has selected "Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit" a the Nov. 1, 2019, book.

From Amazon.com:

Discover the classic, behind-the-scenes chronicle of John E. Douglas’ twenty-five-year career in the FBI Investigative Support Unit, where he used psychological profiling to delve into the minds of the country’s most notorious serial killers and criminals.

In chilling detail, the legendary Mindhunter takes us behind the scenes of some of his most gruesome, fascinating, and challenging cases—and into the darkest recesses of our worst nightmares.

During his twenty-five year career with the Investigative Support Unit, Special Agent John Douglas became a legendary figure in law enforcement, pursuing some of the most notorious and sadistic serial killers of our time: the man who hunted prostitutes for sport in the woods of Alaska, the Atlanta child murderer, and Seattle's Green River killer, the case that nearly cost Douglas his life.

Sept. 20, 2019: 'Death of a Rainmaker' by Laurie Loewenstein

April is hosting and the book she selected is "Death of a Rainmaker" by Laurie Loewenstein. A summary from Amazon.com:

"The murder investigation allows Loewenstein to probe into the lives of proud people who would never expose their troubles to strangers. People like John Hodge, the town's most respected lawyer, who knocks his wife around, and kindhearted Etha Jennings, who surreptitiously delivers home-cooked meals to the hobo camp outside town because one of the young Civilian Conservation Corps workers reminds her of her dead son. Loewenstein's sensitive treatment of these dark days in the Dust Bowl era offers little humor but a whole lot of compassion."

Some reviews:

"This striking historical mystery...is brooding and gritty and graced with authenticity."
--NPR, A Best Book of 2018

"The Depression and a 240-day-long dry spell drive the desperate townspeople of Vermillion, OK, to hire a rainmaker, but he's murdered, leaving sheriff Temple Jennings to investigate. Loewenstein's terrific historical mystery wears its history lightly and its humanity beautifully. The first in a series, it's a realistic, expertly drawn novel with characters you'll come to love."
--Library Journal, A Best Book of 2018

NEW DATE/TIME: Sunday, Aug.4, 2019, 6 p.m.: 'The Kitchen House' by Kathleen Grissom

As you know, we take a break in June and July. We reconvene at Kris' house on August 9 to read "The Kitchen House" by Kathleen Grissom. Here's a synopsis from Amazon.com:

Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her adopted family, though she is set apart from them by her white skin. Eventually, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles opium addiction. Lavinia finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When she is forced to make a choice, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare, and lives are put at risk. The Kitchen House is a tragic story of page-turning suspense, exploring the meaning of family, where love and loyalty prevail.

This book is available from Amazon as a printed book or Kindle here.

This book is available from Amazon's Audible.com audiobook here.

February 22, 2019, Book: 'Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster' by Stephen L. Carter

Brent is hosting February 22 and he has chosen "Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster" by Stephen L. Carter. From Amazon.com:

She was black and a woman and a prosecutor, a graduate of Smith College and the granddaughter of slaves, as dazzlingly unlikely a combination as one could imagine in New York of the 1930s―and without the strategy she devised, Lucky Luciano, the most powerful Mafia boss in history, would never have been convicted. When special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey selected twenty lawyers to help him clean up the city’s underworld, she was the only member of his team who was not a white male.

Eunice Hunton Carter, Stephen Carter’s grandmother, was raised in a world of stultifying expectations about race and gender, yet by the 1940s, her professional and political successes had made her one of the most famous black women in America. But her triumphs were shadowed by prejudice and tragedy. Greatly complicating her rise was her difficult relationship with her younger brother, Alphaeus, an avowed Communist who―together with his friend Dashiell Hammett―would go to prison during the McCarthy era. Yet she remained unbowed.

“A vivid portrait of a remarkable woman.”―Kirkus Reviews

“With artful storytelling and a narrative-like delivery, Carter tells Eunice's story in the best way possible, offering a compelling, unputdownable read with as much value in social history as legal appeal. Not to be missed.”―Library Journal (starred review)

May 10, 2019: 'Everything I Never Told You' by Celeste Ng

Tifiny has graciously offered to host May 10 after some shuffling of schedules. Thank you, Tifiny! She has selected "Everything I Never Told You" by Celeste Ng. From Amazon.com:

“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

We're looking forward to it -- our last meeting until August.