The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni

aired the week of February 19, 2024

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni is a stand alone novel by mystery author Dugoni.  Sam Hill is born with ocular albinism which makes his eyes appear red.  He is bullied and shunned for his looks but his mother has always told him he is extraordinary.  As an adult Sam becomes an optometrist.  In his practice he meets a young girl who is going blind.  Her circumstances mirror events from his own childhood and maybe he will be able to help young Daniela.  For fans of The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout or Fannie Flagg's The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop.

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

 aired the week of February 12, 2024

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill is a twisty story with in a story mystery.  Freddie Kincaid is trying to work on writing her novel at the Boston Public Library when everyone hears a scream.  A woman has been murdered in the library.  This event brings together Freddie and the three other twenty-somethings sitting at her table as they try to solve the murder themselves.  For fans of Anthony Horowitz's Magpie Murders.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 aired the week of February 5, 2024

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Nora is unsatisfied with her life, filled with regrets from the choices she's made.  She finds herself in a place called the Midnight Library where she has an opportunity to undo any choice she made and see how her life would have changed with different decisions.  As she explores new lives, she is faced with the question: what makes a happy life? If you are participating in the Great Reading Challenge, this book would meet February's challenge of reading a book with "library" or "librarian" in the title.

aired the week of January 29, 2024

Raft of Stars by Andrew J. Graff follows 10-year-old Fish and his best friend Bread.  The boys decide to disappear into the woods of northern Wisconsin after shooting Bread's abusive father.  Fish's grandpa and the local sheriff take out tracking the boys into the woods hoping to find them and bring them back before something awful happens to them.  A coming of age story for those who enjoyed Ivan Doig's Last Bus to Wisdom, William Kent Krueger's This Tender Land or Amor Towles' Lincoln Highway.

 aired the week of January 22, 2024

Don't Look for Me by Wendy Walker is a thriller that will appeal to fans of Gillian Flynn, B.A. Paris and Mary Kubica.  Molly Clarke sometimes wonders if her family would be better off without her.  6 years ago she was involved in an accident that resulted in the death of her 9 year old daughter Annie.  When a hurricane hits and Molly runs out of gas her car has found abandoned.  Did she make good on disappearing or has something more sinister happened to her?

 aired the week of January 15, 2024

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett introduces Lara Nelson who is riding out the pandemic on her family's cherry orchard in northern Michigan.  As Lara and her adult daughters pick cherries she tells them about the summer she spent at Tom Lake portraying Emily in a theater production of Our Town with famous actor Peter Duke.  A family story for fans of Anne Tyler, Sara Gruen and Celeste Ng.