The Woman Who Walked Into Doors

The Woman Who Walked Into Doors (1996) by Roddy Doyle. This is a harrowing story about an Irish woman who marries the man of her dreams, only to discover as the years pass that he is a mean drunk and a wife beater. The woman in question is named Paula Spencer; she is 39 years old and alcoholic. One gets the impression that she was quite good looking when she was young, but that life and poverty -- and all those beatings at the hands of her husband -- have worn her down. Paula is now a cleaning lady, struggling to reclaim her dignity and her life. This book has perfect pitch as she describes, in her own voice, what it was that brought her to where she is today. Grade: A

What the Dead Know

What the Dead Know (2007) by Laura Lippman. Thirty years ago two young sisters were abducted from a shopping mall. Not a trace of their bodies was ever found. But now a woman has appeared, claiming to be one of the long-lost "Bethany Girls." Could she be what she claims? If so, why has she waited so long to come forward? The parts of this mystery are all very interesting, but somehow it doesn't hang together very well. Grade: B

What's So Funny?

What's So Funny? (2007) by Donald E. Westlake. A gang of bumbling crooks is hired to steal a solid-gold, jewel-encrusted chess set. Antics ensue. Some of the characters are amusing, but it all adds up to very little. Grade: B

Nineteen Minutes

Nineteen Minutes (2007) by Jodi Picoult. Nineteen minutes is how long it takes Peter, the "hero" of the book, to walk into his high school and shoot 29 of his fellow students. Ten of them die. The book jumps back and forth in time, from the time of Peter's birth to a year after the massacre. It traces the lives of Peter, his mother and father, and of Alex Cormier, a judge, and her daughter Josie, a high school girl who narrowly escapes being one of Peter's victims. Although the subject matter is ripped from the headlines, this book somehow failed to grab my imagination. Grade: B