BOOK REVIEW: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein is a book told from the point of view of one man’s dog, Enzo. That may sound stupid, but it’s not. And the book doesn’t spend a whole lot of time having the dog ponder his dog-ness. Instead, it’s about the tribulations of a race car driver’s life as viewed through the lens of his faithful companion. There’s a viewpoint that I wholeheartedly agree with: Dogs have souls. If you don’t subscribe to that viewpoint, you’re probably not a dog owner, and this book probably isn’t for you. But if you do understand that there’s a “person” inside of every dog, then this book will make you laugh, cheer, and, ultimately, break your heart. But if you think you know how it ends, you don’t…and you’ll never see the last chapter coming. Good luck trying not to cry. Five Stars.

BOOK REVIEW:  Steve Hamilton is one of those authors that is much loved by reviewers and major crime writers as well. With the start of his new series, The Second Life of Nick Mason, I decided to give him a try…and I wasn’t disappointed. A guy is released early from jail. The catch? The guy who got him out is a career criminal who “owns” him now and demands he pick up the phone when he’s called. To repay his early release, he becomes a hired hitman, and about halfway through the book, everything goes off the rails and the rules change. It’s a well-written and entertaining book, but I never felt like I couldn’t put the book down. Perhaps it’s just because I’m burned out on crime thrillers and felt like I’d read books like it before. Four Stars.

BOOK REVIEW: The Royal Succession is the fourth book in The Accursed Kings series by Maurice Druon, and is famously the model for Game of Thrones. If it was difficult to see the parallels in those two series in the first three books, this book leaves no doubt that George R.R. Martin was inspired by this series. Once you introduce infanticide into a plot, pretty much all bets are off. This is a series that makes political intrigue fascinating–even politics from 16th century France. Probably the best entry into the series, and it leaves you anxious to read books five through seven. Five Stars.

BOOK REVIEW: I’ve been reading Stewart O’Nan since his first book, Snow Angels. Each book is short and deals with wildly differing locales, characters, and plots. His newest book, City of Secrets, is no different. This time, we’re witness to the Israeli underground in the aftermath of WWII as refugees made for Palestine. The problem with this book is that you can never get attached to any of the characters. They’re far too distant, so when they’re in peril, you really don’t care. And the fact that the plot relies on knowledge of the history of this little-known period–and isn’t explained at all for the unenlightened–makes this not only a difficult book to understand, but also a pretty dry one to read as well. Two Stars.