Come Closer - Sara Gran

I don't usually read books in the horror genre, but I picked this up after it was mentioned in the NY Times Book Review. This slim volume can be finished in one sitting, and makes for an entertaining couple of hours.

Amanda works for an architectural firm, and is contentedly (if not blissfully) married to her husband Edward. Her career and marriage unravel as she begins having dark thoughts and acting out hurtful behaviors that she becomes unable to control. Come Closer is unique because it is written in the first person, so it is not clear to the reader whether she is becoming mentally unstable or if she is truly possessed by a demon.

This book is not gory or make you sleep with the light on scary, but it is very creepy ad readable.
Come Closer: A Novel - Amazon info page

The Collaborator of Bethlehem: An Omar Yussef Mystery - Matt Beynon Rees (mystery/thiller)

The Collaborator of Bethlehem is an foreign take on the classic amateur detective story, but this one is definitely not a cozy! Omar Yussef is a middle-aged school teacher living in Bethlehem. When one of his favorite former Christian students is accused of collaborating with the Israeli army in the assasination of a local violent Palestinian activist, Yussef abandons his quiet intellectual life to prove his student's innocence. His investigation forces him to confront those with whom he shares ideals, but who have turned to the extremism and violence that he cautions his students against.

The murder plot itself is not particularly novel, but the insight Rees' provides into life in the Palestinian camps is. Though not overly political, this book is mildly anti-Israeli. However, Rees is very balanced in his treatment of the Palestinians - he is sympathetic to their cause, but critical of some of their means.

This is the first in a series of murders featuring the school teacher/detective. I have added the second to my wishlist. I highly recommend this book to mystery lovers who are looking for something different.
The Collaborator of Bethlehem: An Omar Yussef Mystery (Omar Yussef Mysteries) - Amazon info page

Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why it Matters - Bill Tancer (business, technology)

The author of Click works for Hitwise, a company that tracks what people are doing online. In this book Bill Tancer shows how monitoring the terms web users search for using engines such as Google and click streams (the trail of sites visited during a surfing session) can be used to predict the next breakout band, the success of a new website, whether housing sales will rise or fall, and even the next winner of Dancing With the Stars. Tancer explains all this in a jargon-free way and his references to numbers and statistics are minimal, making this a surprisingly fast read. Along the way we learn mini histories of popular sites such as Wikipedia and Myspace, and the point at which celebrity interest turns to obsession.

My only complaint about this book is that he sticks with some topics a bit too long: I don't care enough about prom dress buying patterns to want to read a whole chapter on the topic. This gripe is relatively minor though, as most of the topics are current and interesting.

This book is sure to appeal to fans of Malcolm Gladwell. Tancer's book is shorter and easier to read than Gladwell's works however, which is probably a plus for the short attention spanned users of the Web 2.0 that Tancer describes.
Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why it Matters - Amazon info page

Choke - Chuck Palahniuk (fiction)

Like others, I saw the film Fight Club but had not read any of Palahniuk's books before. This book had been sitting on my TBR shelf for a while, and with the upcoming release of the movie I figured it was time to give it a try.

The word "sick" seems to occur frequently in reviews of Palahniuk's work. After reading this book I understand why. Many of the images in the book are quite disgusting, but "sick" is also a good word to describe the world as Palahniuk portrays it. Despite the high gross-out factor, this book is at times laugh out loud funny - indeed I could not decide if some of the scenes were for shock value or attempts at dark humor.

The protagonist Victor behaves in an appalling manner, but because the book is written in first person we can almost understand why and feel sympathetic towards him. However, whenever Victor starts to become likable, Palahniuk quickly does something to make us gag or laugh again. What a strange book.
Choke - Amazon info page

Child 44 - Tom Rob Smith (mystery/thriller)

This thriller is one of the most hyped books this summer. The story follows one man's hunt to catch a serial killer of children. In typical thriller fashion, different chapters reveal what is happening with the protagonist, the killer, and occasionally victims or other side characters. Most chapters end with a cliff hanger before checking in with another character in the next.

Where Child 44 differs from the usual Safeway novel thrillers is in its setting - the story takes place in a Soviet Union ruled by Stalin. Clearly the author did quite a bit of research into that era, and he does a good job of showing the horrors and difficulties of life during that time. Much of the novel is spent developing the characters and setting - the murder investigations don't really rev up until the second half of the book.

Although the dialog is sometimes over-earnest and the who-dunnit aspect of the story is not very exciting, this book is still worth a read because of the dark but fascinating world and time it draws the reader into. This book should appeal to mystery/thriller fans, as well as those who enjoy historical fiction.

Child 44 - Amazon info page

The Big Girls - Susanna Moore (fiction)

The Big Girls tells the stories of four people whose lives are interconnected. Most of the story focuses on Louise Forrest, a psychiatrist working at a women's prison, and Helen who is her patient there. Helen is incarcerated for the murder of her children, yet Dr. Forrest feels sympathetic towards her and tries to help her. The other characters whose stories are told in first person are the prison warden, and Annie, and aspiring actress who happens to be dating Dr. Forrest's ex-husband and is the object of Helen's interest.

Sound confusing? Although the narrator alternates randomly, it is not as confusing as it sounds because each character has a distinctive voice - once you get to know them it is clear after reading a section or two of each section who is speaking. What was confusing to me was whether or not there is a point to this book. There are lots of references to violence, lesbian relationships in prison, and gross things in jail bathrooms, but ultimately I didn't find much redeeming value to the story other than being slightly shocking entertainment.
The Big Girls - Amazon info page

Bad Things - Mike Marhsall (horror, mystery/thriller)

John and Carole Henderson live separate lives as they attempt to move on following the drowning death of their young son Scott. Carole tries to give a sense of normalcy to their surviving child Tyler, while the once successful John is now a recovering alcoholic spinning his wheels working at a local Italian restaurant. When John receives an anonymous email suggesting that Scott's death was not an accident, John returns to the small town where his son died in an attempt to find the truth.

John's efforts are thwarted by local law enforcement and members of a tightly knit community who do not want their dirty laundry to be aired. John realizes that his former neighbors are hiding something, but as an outsider he has no way of knowing that he is dealing with supernatural forces outside of his power to control.

Mark Marshall's novel begs comparison to the best works of Stephen King, in that the story relies on other-worldly powers yet is genuinely scary in places and not the least bit cheesy. The dark tone of the book reminds me of Gillian Flynn's "Sharp Objects," but the descriptions of John's struggles and mourning are worthy of literary fiction - Marshall's book works because his characters and locations are so believable. "Bad Things" is a welcome change of pace from mindless horror/suspense novels.
Bad Things: A Novel - Amazon info page