Monthly Archives: May 2013

The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles Graeber

American Literature

Synopsis: Charlie Cullen was a hospital administrator’s dream–a nurse who took any shift and worked harder than anyone else–but to his patients, he was an “Angel of Death” who killed upwards of 300 people. Review: It’s been awhile since I read a true crime account, but when I heard a radio interview with The Good Nurse author Charles Graeber I knew I had to pick this one up. Charlie Cullen’s story is fascinating because of the institutional protection he received over his career as a…

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Beyond Belief by Jenna Miscavige Hill

American Literature

Synopsis: Subtitled: “My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape.” Review: Beyond Belief is one of the best ex-cult memoirs I have ever read. Not only does it go into great detail about the inner workings of Sea Org, the religious order of Scientology, but it’s extremely well written. I was on the edge of my seat wondering when Jenna Miscavige Hill (niece to Scientiology scion David Miscavige) would come to her sense and realize that she had been systematically abused physically, emotionally, and…

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Blood Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff (The Huntress/FBI Thrillers)

American Literature

Synopsis: This sequel to Huntress Moon follows Special Agent Roarke as he tracks a female serial killer who sets prostitutes and abused children free from their captors, while wondering if a cold case holds the secrets to her deadly sojourn. Review: Blood Moon was an outstanding follow up to Huntress Moon and I cannot wait to find out what happens next. I only like crime when the writing is top notch and often I find that most crime novels rely on sensationalistic descriptions of crime…

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Sober Mercies by Heather Harpham Kopp

American Literature

Synopsis: Subtitled: How Love Caught Up with a Christian Drunk. Review: Sober Mercies is first and foremost an addiction memoir, showing the secrecy and the deception and the havoc wreaked by Heather Harpham Kopp’s need to drink as much alcohol as possible every single day. What makes her story stand apart is that Kopp was (and still is) a professing Christian at the time of her addiction. She believed that alcoholism was only a sin problem, not an addiction or a disease, and so she…

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The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble

American Literature

Synopsis: After a car accident, Jenna’s stoner older brother starts acting really weird, like all perfect and helpful and otherworldly–and then announces that someone is trying to poison her. Review: The plot mechanism behind The Sweet Dead Life was a little clunky in parts, but the voice that Joy Preble came up with for Jenna absolutely won me over. I also loved that the story was set in Houston, not just because my mother-in-law lives there but more because it gave the book a great…

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The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive, Volume 1) by Brandon Sanderson

American Literature

Synopsis: The first installment in a planned 10-book series set in a world where the remnants of long-forgotten magic may prove to be the undoing of all mankind. Review: My brother has been begging me to read The Way of Kings for ages, and he finally went and bought it for me. I’m ever so glad he did because it was a highly enjoyable read and a cut above Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy, which I enjoyed but found a bit flat. I am going to have…

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Homeward Bound by Emily Matchar

American Literature

Synopsis: Subtitled: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity. Review: Here’s what really gets me–we finally get to a point in history where most men acknowledge that women can have a voice in both their own lives and in the future of our country. And what happens? Women decide to take over the job of telling each other “yer doin’ it wrong.” Homeward Bound is yet another polemic against women who dare to decide that the corporate world is not for them. Leaving aside everything…

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