The Right Book at the Right Time

Title: Night Strangers

Author: Chris Bohjalian

Publisher: Crown, 2011

Summary: The beginning of Chris Bohjalian’s latest book is riveting.  It had me gasping for breath as I read about Chip Linton, a seasoned pilot, who had to ditch his jet in Lake Champlain after jamming into a flock of geese.  The normalcy of being seat belted into a chair and the next minute hitting the water and going under is frightening.  The body count, thirty nine deaths.

Chip, his wife (a lawyer) and their twin ten-year old girls move to New Hampshire in the hope that they can rebuild their lives.  However, in a musty dirt floor basement in the corner of the room sits a door that has long been sealed with 39 six-inch-long carriage bolts.  39 bolts, 39 deaths on the plane. It only gets spookier from there.

This novel is for sure a psychological thriller but it’s also a domestic drama and the story of a family coping with the aftermath of a horrible catastrophe.

The ghost story develops when Chip begins to see some of the dead from the plane crash, but there are also herbalists aka witches who play a huge part in the demise of this family.  As you read through you begin to build your own dread on what is going to take place.  The ghosts know exactly what they want and Chip is beginning to understand what he must do to help them.  Meanwhile you begin to understand that this cult of women, in this tiny town, is definitely moving this plot into a not so happy ending.  They are a strong and fearful group to reckon with and Chip and Emily’s twins will play an important role in their desires.

I haven’t read a ghost story in a long in a while but I really enjoyed this one.

Recommended by: Nancy, Deputy Town Librarian

Who will like this book?: Those who are already fans of Bohjalian, or those who enjoy psychological fast-paced thrillers

If you like this, try this: Other Bohjalian books, or other psychological thriller authors such as John Sanford or Jeffrey Deaver

Does this look like something you’d like to read? Visit the Fairfield Public Library catalog to put a hold or check availability!

Title: Without a Map: A Memoir

Author: Meredith Hall

Publisher: Beacon, April 2007

Summary:  If you think you had problems as a teen, try finding yourself pregnant at 16, being disowned by your family, and shunned by everyone in your community.  This memoir takes place in the 1960’s in a small New Hampshire town.   Hall’s parents are divorced.  She is sent away from her family, friends, and school to live with her father and stepmother where she is basically ostracized in an attempt to hide her pregnancy.  She is forced to give up the baby and then spends her early adulthood wandering and longing for the baby she gave up and the parents who betrayed her.

 She eventually reconnects with her son when he is a young adult, but it is bittersweet as he has been adopted by a family who lived in poverty and had abused him.  Hall ultimately helps to care for her aging parents, offering them what they were never able to offer her.  She is brutally honest in recalling her life.  She takes responsibility for her mistakes.  Hers is a story about hope, survival, and finding forgiveness.

 Recommended by: Barbara, Head of Children’s Services