Month: October 2010

Shutter Island

By Dennis Lehane

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Harper, c2003, 2009

Genres: Suspense, psychological suspense, mystery, historical fiction

ISBN: 9780061703526

Intended audience: Adult

Number of pages: 369 (385 including excerpts from other works)

Setting: Shutter Island, MA (off the coast from Boston)

Time period: 1954

Plot summary: In 1954, US Marshal, Teddy Daniels, and his partner, Chuck, are summoned to Shutter Island to find a missing patient.  Located on the Atlantic Coast near Boston, the island houses a mental institution for the criminally insane.  Somehow one of the patients, Rachael Solando, managed to escape barefoot from a locked room and disappear.  While Teddy and Chuck begin their investigation a hurricane blows in, isolating the island and its inhabitants from the rest of the world.  As the marshals work to reveal the secrets of the island, they increase their risk of never leaving.   Nothing is what it seems on Shutter Island – except the nightmares. Continue reading “Shutter Island”

Shadow of the Wind

By Carlos Ruiz Zafón; translated by Lucia Graves

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Penguin Books, c2001, 2004, 2005

Genres: General fiction, historical fiction, mystery, romance, suspense

ISBN: 9780143034902

Intended audience: Adult

Number of pages: 487

Setting: Barcelona, Spain

Time period: 1945-1966 (although some events occur prior to 1945)

Plot summary: As a boy, Daniel Sempere, finds a copy of The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax and immediately becomes engrossed in the story.  When he tries to find other works by Carax, he discovers that someone has been mysteriously buying all of Carax’s books and then setting fire to them.  It is possible that Daniel holds the last known copy of a Carax book.  As Daniel grows older, the mystery of Carax gnaws at Daniel until he begins his own investigation of Carax.  As Daniel dives deeper into the past, he discovers many horrors of love and war intertwined with Carax’s fate.  Daniel continues his quest, until the past slams fully into the present and Daniel’s own life is in danger from the knowledge of Carax and his life. Continue reading “Shadow of the Wind”

From Dead to Worse

By Charlaine Harris

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Ace Books, 2008

Genres: Mystery, fantasy, dark fantasy, contemporary fantasy, paranormal, romance, paranormal romance, vampire

Series: Southern Vampire Mysteries (Sookie Stackhouse); 8

ISBN: 9780441015894

Intended audience: Adult

Number of pages: 359

Setting: Bon Temps, LA

Time period: Contemporary (post Hurricane Katrina)

Plot summary: Sookie has recently returned to Bon Temps from the vampire summit in Rhodes, where many of the attendant vampires were injured or killed.  While Sookie yearns for life to return to how things were prior to the summit, she knows that this is unrealistic.  The vampire community of Louisiana was heavily impacted by both Hurricane Katrina and the Rhodes summit.  She also has not seen or spoken to her boyfriend, Quinn, since Rhodes.  On the bright side, however, a mysterious stranger appears in town who wants to meet Sookie and may have a positive impact upon her life. Continue reading “From Dead to Worse”