I Am Not Who You Think I Am is a dark, ominous tale from the beginning, when an eight-year-old sees his father shoot himself. The boy keeps secret a note which says "I am not who you think I am." The story is framed as a series of events that happened years ago, by a police note - and then we step into the story. Mysteries and suspicion fill the pages as the the boy, grown older, tries to unravel why his father killed himself. The language was sometimes overly poetic for me (scoliotic trees) but did a great job of conveying atmosphere.

The Appeal is told through an interesting device, mostly texts and emails. Two young lawyers are assigned to read through a legal file and draw conclusions on who was involved in crimes. The interactive nature of more questions being fed in would make this a good play-along for readers who want to solve a mystery before the author reveals the solution. This novel is set in the world of community theater with jealousy and performances intertwined with personal feuds.

Both stories played with grand characters and dramatic action. The suicide story had, for me, the feel of someone who didn't fit in and tried desperately to solve the event that changed his life. The legal puzzle had the same element of an outsider trying desperately to fit in - this one an adult who wants to be needed and wants friendship.

In a lot of ways, both are meditations on what friendship is, how it's created and destroyed, and what makes the bonds of friendship last.