Scientific Ethics in Thriller Format

Booklist's critic called McEuen's debut, Spiral, the best thriller he'd read in 50 years of writing reviews. What bibliophile, mystery-lover or no, could resist? My only worry: Such a glowing report almost guarantees disappointment.

Too impatient to wait for my name to come up on the public library's hold list and too cheap to buy the hardcover, I ordered up a Kindle edition, which automatically uploaded last month. I've been neck-deep in another stunning debut, Skippy Dies by Paul Murray, however, and thought I'd finish that first before getting to Spiral. Down with the flu this weekend, I gave up and dove in. Spiral does not disappoint!

The tale moves along quickly, involves political, military and scientific intrigue aplenty. Although I'm not a scientist, I did not feel intimidated by the well-explained and well-used elements of biology, robotics, physics and chemistry. If anything, McEuen has done a fabulous job of making issues of scientific ethics the center around which his story spins and is frighteningly believable.

The tale begins in the Pacific Ocean at the end of WWII, when Liam Conner confronts the reality of the Japanese Camp 731 -- a historical reality in which horrific medical experiments were performed on prisoners. Sixty years later, Conner has become a Nobel prize scientist enjoying his great-grandson, but he holds a dark secret. His murder precipitates the non-stop race by his granddaughter Maggie and fellow instructor Jake Sterling to discover Liam's secret research.

Besides an intelligent and exciting yarn, Spiral is ripe to inspire conversation about whether or not science is always good. Or if scientific information should always be made readily available in the digital age. Or if discovers of scientific breakthroughs have a responsibility to keep their governments informed of their advances. And if a scientist feels obligated to somehow control the information he discovers -- how exactly does one go about that?

Although clearly written for an adult audience, McEuen's title will no doubt inspire young thinkers to dig further into any number of scientific disciplines. I doubt that this was McEuen's intention when he penned Spiral, but it's certainly a happy result.

Harlan Coben: King of Twists

In an attempt to find a title that I, a self-acknowledged book snob -- I can't bring myself to join book groups because I refuse to give up claim on my reading life to others' whims -- and my advisory of high school juniors would enjoy reading over the summer, I discovered Harlan Coben. The kids said they'd like to do something "like John Grisham." When it comes to Grisham, I'd really prefer to wait for the movie. But I went on the hunt for something similar.

I found Caught, Coben's recent title nominated for a 2011 Edgar Allan Poe Award. If you think you can anticipate the plot turns before they arrive on this one, my hat's off to you! I found this an exciting, fun and all-round excellent reading experience. It has led me to read or listen to several of his other novels, none of which I like quite as much, with the exception of Hold Tight. Both titles are solid mysteries and, since I'm chief-in-charge of organizing my school's summer reading program, I recommended Hold Tight to a teacher looking for title to sponsor. Turns out he'd already read it and now our program sports two Coben titles! While I think Caught is the better of the two books, Hold Tight has a theme of teens in trouble and cyber-privacy that high school students will enjoy. Let's hope Coben's hitting streak stays strong for next year!

Remake by Connie Willis

Just finished this short but wonderful novel. I'm not sure there are many science fiction authors who manage to imbue the future with nostalgia, but Willis has done just that in Remake. Apparently, Ms. Willis is a movie-buff and she puts her hobby to work in this story of a future Hollywood  that reuses old films to make new ones -- obviating the need for new talent. Alis, a young woman bent on dancing in musicals, will not be deterred from her dream despite the utter lack of demand. This is a wonderful story anyone who refuses to be told something is impossible and maybe even more wonderful for those who already believe it. Excellent!

Bernie Kosar, Pittacus Lore and I am Number Four

I got taken in by the hype. I seems every time I Am Number Four crossed my radar someone was telling me, "You know, there's a movie about this coming out!" Barely out of the blocks, and already a movie? I should have been suspicious. Novels becoming films were at least an indication that lots of folks liked the book -- even if most of them later echoed the lament: "The book was so much better!" Now that I've read this first in a series of (ugh!) six I can only hope the movie isn't that bad!

Pittacus Lore is a pseudonym for what? A publishing company that launches a book series and a movie simultaneously? Are we now faced with the literary version of the boy band? Is this what the Harry Potter-inspired love for serialized adventure has devolved to? Did a bunch of suits get together and say, "Hey, let's make a Twilight for guys? Best throw in the blond cheerleader, the blond cheerleader's mouth-breathing ex, superpowers, a chase (if you count running in and out of a high school a chase), and some of those dementor-things. And Godzilla! Don't forget big lumbering creature face-off (Sorry about that Bernie Kosar)!  Yeah! It'll be great!"

Hellhound on His Trail

You gotta love the title! And the writing matches up in Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for his Assassin by Hampton Sides

Although it's hardly a page-gripper -- Hampton Sides takes the slow, rich approach -- the story of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Earl Ray is fascinating. Sides starts the story several weeks before the tragedy and interlaces the movements and the lives of the two men together until they fatally intersect and then part again.

Like Sides, I was very young when King was killed. I was too old for the story of the civil rights movement to be included in my history class and too young to remember it. For better or worse, I'm more familiar with the mythic proportion that King was elevated to since (possibly, partially as a result of) his death. Sides' reportage, then, for me at least, provides some badly needed historical context.

Clearly, Sides has done his research and does an excellent job of piecing together the myriad fragments to put the whole picture together. He removed more than one blind spot in my perception of the period, including the reminder of how hated King was by not just the racist South but politicians who considered him and what he represented a threat. Bringing King back to his humanly flawed reality brought the man to life for me -- and, ironically, has made me appreciate even more the remarkable gifts he had as a single-minded man in pursuit of a selfless goal.

Ray was a shameless racist -- as were many in his day -- and Sides does little to explain what, beyond that, drove him to murder King. He doesn't attempt to apply more modern psychological assessments or criminally profile Ray and all but dismisses any suggestion of a conspiracy. The research and the writing don't warrant such conjecture. Sides leaves that to others. His stands as excellent and highly readable history.

NPR's Three Books series

I find NPR's book reviews among the most reliable out there, so when I ran across this website, I couldn't have been more thrilled. Leave it to the bibliophiles at NPR to come up with the beautifully simplistic idea of serving up three book recommendations based on a theme! Find "Three Books to Help You Enjoy the Apocalypse," "Three Books for the Contemplative Comic," and "Three Books For Your Motorcycle Road Trip" among several more mini-lists! NPR's Three Books

A fine read...

When I dropped The House of Tomorrow on my "Best YA book I've read lately..." wall (see right and below), I expected it to linger there for a nice long while. I didn't expect to read another top-shelf YA book so soon after that one. But Chris Lynch's Hothouse is just that. Russell and DJ, neighbors and friends and sons of friends so tight that they were named after each other's firefighter father, have suffered the simultaneous and horrific loss of those men in a tragic fire. They spend last half of the summer before their senior year dealing with their own grief as well as the grief of an entire community. The novel is predominantly Russell's story and speaks from his perspective entirely.

Not only has Lynch anticipated a host of situations that make life difficult for Russell -- way beyond the predictable ones -- but he carefully and beautifully depicts the wrenching mixed feelings that go along these experiences. While not a novel of action and event, it remains a roller coaster of emotion as Russell struggles to heal, live through memorials staged less for his benefit than his grieving neighbors, and negotiate subsequent rumor and official inquiry into the incident. It is a novel about love, friendship, courage, forgiveness and the human need for heroes. The depictions of Russell, DJ, and friends Adrian and Melanie are finely drawn. The dialog is crisp and perfect. There is not a wasted line in this novel.

From the looks of his author photo, Lynch is no longer a teenager -- which is surprising, because part of his brain -- the right part as far as YA lit is concerned -- functions in great detail like a much younger man. I will allow The House of Tomorrow  linger on the wall a bit longer; but it's nice having an excellent replacement on deck.