Book Talk

Hidden Secrets

The Invisible Harry Gold, by Allen M. Hornblum, tells the story of a little known but tremendously important Russian spy. From 1935 to 1950, Gold was the handler of physicist Klaus Fuchs. The connection allowed him to send Russian agents detailed information about Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project. His testimony after his arrest implicated the Rosenbergs and many others in espionage.

NPR correspondent, Michele Norris, planned to write a book about the racial dialogue taking place in the United States in the post-Obama election years. The book soon evolved into the story of her own family and the secrets they had avoided talking about. In The Grace of Silence she shares the painful stories withheld from her.

If you like to plan ahead, read The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization’s Northern Future, by Laurence C. Smith. And the good news is- we are in the right place. The eight Arctic Rim nations, which include the U.S., will become increasingly prosperous. The countries closer to the equator will face water shortages and coastal flooding.  California may face decades of drought. Contrary to expectations, temperatures rise faster in the winter than in the summer. Rochester will remain a great place to live.

Fiction

For those of you who never believed those Lutherans in Lake Wobegone were as fine and upstanding as they appeared, the truth is at last revealed in The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten by Harrison Geillor. The dead are rising and Pastor Inkfist and Father Edsel form the Interfaith Anti-zombifcation League. But in Lake Woebegotten, of course, the zombies all are above average.

The history of the ship Dark Echo is full of tragic accidents, including fatalities. Martin Stannard falls in love with her anyway and plans to sail across the Atlantic with his wealthy father. Martin’s lover Suzanne investigates the yacht’s past and finds not accidents, but evil. F.G. Cottam has crafted a good old fashioned ghost story!

A small item on the evening news warned Kimberly and Rachel that their old lives were catching up with them. That evening DC Goodhew arrives at a fire. Rachel’s home is burning and Kimberly’s son Riley is missing. Goodhew finds Kimberly is surprising uncooperative, obviously hiding something. In The Siren by Alison Bruce, Goodhew must convince Kimberly that only the truth will save Riley.

Experience Detroit in 1910 in The Detroit Electric Scheme by D. E. Johnson. Drunk and brokenhearted Will Anderson can barely keep his job in his father’s electric automobile manufacturing company. Called by a friend to meet, he arrives to find him murdered and the police walking in the door. Panicked, he runs. The murder for which he was framed is only part of a wider conspiracy.

Writer/director Guillermo del Toro continues his first book, The Strain, with The Fall. The vampiric virus continues to spread, but war breaks out between the old and new world vampires. The prize is an ancient book of vampire’s history which will make the owners all-powerful. Caught between the warring factions are the powerless humans.

Virginia Cooper
Adult Services Librarian