Reservation Road

Reservation Road (1998) by John Burnham Schwartz. A family stops at an out-of-the-way service station so that their daughter can use the bathroom. While they're going about their business, a car spins out of the night and hits their 10-year-old son -- who is standing too close to the road -- and kills him. The hit-and-run driver hesitates, then continues on his way. Thus begins "Reservation Road," Schwartz's novel of grief and guilt. The fates of two families are intertwined as the mystery plays itself out -- the police are unable to locate the guilty party, and the grieving father eventually takes justice into his own hands. It makes for an entertaining read, although I felt the ending fell a little flat. Grade: B+

No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men (2005) by Cormac McCarthy. By turns elegiac and violent, this book is a real page-turner. Llewelyn Moss, a man in his 30s, is hunting antelope one day when he happens across a scene of grusome carnage. Several men have been shot dead, there is a large quantity of heroin, and over two million dollars in cash. When he decides to take the cash, he sets off a series of events that resemble a drug war in Texas. Grade: A-

Lucky

Lucky (1999) by Alice Sebold. The author of "The Lovely Bones" tells the harrowing story of her rape as a college freshman at Syracuse. Although she pursued her rapist successfully in court, the sexual assault left emotional scars that lasted for years. Sebold knows how to tell a story, and this is a riveting one. My only complaint is that the book is too short, and there's so much more I wanted to know. Grade: B+