Bloom

Oppel, Kenneth. Bloom. Book 1 of the Overthrow series. 2020. 313p. ISBN 9781524773007. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

What if an alien invasion of Earth was done by plants? Petra is allergic to water. She breaks out in hives and is in danger of dying anytime water hits her skin. Imagine being a teenager and not being able to swim, or even to take a shower. Anaya has wicked asthma, and can barely breathe. She's always been sick, or on the verge of being sick. Seth has gone through more foster families than he can remember. In his dreams, he has wings and can fly. It's a persistent dream that never goes away.

All of them live on an island on Canada's west coast when a black rain comes from the sky. That rain strikes everywhere around the globe at the same time. Petra is hit by some of the water as she rushes into the car, but notices that she is not hurt. In fact, the water feels pleasant. Petra bottles some of it, and uses it to take her first bath in forever. Anaya's asthma clears up, and she can now breathe. Life for both girls, who used to be friends, is now looking up.

Except that the next day, strange seeds start to sprout everywhere, rising up as black vine plants that twine around trees and houses. These are difficult to cut, grow insanely quickly, and smell of petroleum when burned, causing toxic fumes. Reports come from around the world that more and more plants are spreading around. The plants bloom, releasing a pollen that is deadly to some people. They also form pods that resemble Venus flytraps, except that they like to consume humans through dissolving them in acid. 

But Anaya, Petra, and Seth appear to be immune to the toxic plants. They can still get grabbed, they can still get hurt, but the pollen does not affect them, nor the plant's digestive acid. Why would three Canadian kids be immune to a plant no one has ever seen before? With time ticking as the plants spread and cause destruction, these three high schoolers must discover a solution to save Earth before it is too late ...

Fans of suspense and of end-of-the-world stories will appreciate this fast-moving tale of destruction and despair as Petra, Seth, and Anaya navigate treacherous high school waters as well as attempting to save the world!

The Last Battle: The Classic History of the Battle for Berlin

Ryan, Cornelius. The Last Battle: The Classic History of the Battle for Berlin. 1995. 571p. ISBN 9780684803296. 

By April 1945, Nazi Germany was being attacked on two fronts, with combined American, Canadian, British, and French armies attacking from the West, and Soviet armies marching from the East. The situation was growing desperate, and the capital city of Berlin was under constant aerial bombardment. The end of the war was near, and as a result the Nazi regime was growing desperate. The defense of the city had never been envisioned, but with Soviet units mere miles away, it suddenly became a growing concern. Adolf Hitler decided to make his last stand in Berlin, and planned to take Germany down with him since it had failed him.

The Allies, meanwhile, were in a race to see who could capture Berlin first. Plans in early 1944 had been drawn that divided Germany into three conquered and occupied areas, with the Soviets in charge of Berlin. But as resistance remained stiff on the Eastern Front, German armies were less effective on the Western Front, allowing units to move up to 50 miles a day on their drive to the German heartland.

With a population already under siege, the city of Berlin would soon find itself surrounded for one last ditch attack that would essentially end the war in Europe. The Battle of Berlin was the climax of five years of war and destruction.

Fans of history will appreciate the details documented by the author, and will follow well-known individuals as well as regular inhabitants of Berlin as the city fell under the bombs and soldiers of its enemies.

Soul Eater, Vol. 8

 Ohkubo, Atsushi. Soul Eater, Vol. 8. 2012. 192p. ISBN 9780316071123. Available in the graphic novel section of the library. 

Following their trek to the Czech forest to infiltrate and destroy a facility in Soul Eater, Vol 7, Black*Star and Tsubaki confront Mifune and Mosquito, agents of Arachnophobia. Using the infinite sword technique, Mifune is able to block all of Black*Star attacks, infuriating the DWMA student. However, this is all of the distraction Sid needed to steal Arachnophobia's demon tool before destroying the facility.

Returning to DWMA, Sid follows Shinigami's request that the demon tool be placed in the secret vault underneath the school. His decision to bury the tool instead of destroying it puzzles Sid. Is Shimigami planning on building his own demonic weapon?

Meanwhile, Medusa, who in fact managed to escape from Dr. Frankenstein, decides to confront her sister Arachnophobia in her lair. Having planted agents in her sister's organization, Medusa is playing the long game, hoping to dethrone her sister.

Students at DWMA hold a party at Death the Kid's home, but Kid himself is tasked to head to the Sahara to seize another demon tool. There he confronts witches and an agent of Arachnophobia, both intent on taking the tool for their own organization ...

The story continues in Soul Eater, Vol. 9.

Dear Killer

Ewell, Katherine. Dear Killer. 2014. 362p. ISBN 978-0-06-225780-2. Available as an ebook from Overdrive.

Kat is not your typical British high schooler. She doesn't stand out at all at school, but at home, only her mother and her know that she is in fact the Perfect Killer, someone trained from a young age to kill without leaving any clue. Kat's mother was the Perfect Killer before passing the mantle to her daughter. Unlike killers who kill for money or revenge, Kat kills because she can, because she's good at it, and because she enjoys it. Killing defines who she is. Nothing is right, nothing is wrong. People reach out to the perfect killer by leaving letters in secret places, and Kat wades through the letters, deciding who deserves to have their wish met. Her call sign is leaving the request letter behind, usually identifying the person who asked for the murder in the first place. Yet, letters keep coming.

Then her mother invites Alex, the inspector charged with investigating the Perfect Killer, into their home. Kat finds him both endearing and annoying, but still feels the need to prove that she is smarter than the police by providing them information about the killer while continuing her life of crime. Kat is soon surprised when she received a letter, asking her to kill one of her schoolmates, Maggie. Maggie has been harassed by Michael, who seems to be growing increasingly unhinged. Michael is clearly the author of the letter. Worried about hitting so close to home, Kat is nevertheless thrilled by the prospect. But when Michael gets a little too close to Maggie, Kat must make a difficult decision. Should she kill Michael, even though she doesn't have a letter asking for his death, or should she wait at the risk of him killing Maggie for her? With the police searching for clues, and with time running out, Kat's game of cat and mouse is about to take a dangerous turn.

Fans of murder mysteries will enjoy reading Kat's adventures, trying to figure out how she will deal with Michael and Maggie while avoiding discovery by the police. Not for the faint of heart, this book demonstrate that moral nihilism is all relative.

1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

Mann, Charles C. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created. 2011. 557p. ISBN 9780307265722.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus reached the Americas. Up to then, contact between the landmasses of Europe, Africa and Asia on the one side and the Americas on the other had been sporadic and intermittent, with potential Phoenician visits in antiquity and a short Viking stay in the 1000s. But the colonial system Columbus brought with him not only radically changed the face of these newly discovered continents, but altered the rest of the world as well. 

What became known as the Columbian exchange saw the large scale transportation of plants and animals from one side of the globe to the other, changing landscapes and forever altering diets and human history. Economic exchanges became truly global, and plants from one continent soon became staple foods elsewhere, fostering explosions in human populations but also creating tragedy when diseases and infections affected crops that had no defenses. 

Other tragedies like slavery and civil wars followed first contact, as the wealth of a continent became drained for the profits of a few. 1493 describes the impact that Columbus' so-called discovery had on the world and why we still suffer through the consequences more than 500 years later. Fans of history will appreciate the grand scope of events that led to Columbus, and, more importantly, those that then shaped the world we now life in.

The Memory of Light

Stork, Francisco X. The Memory of Light. 2016. 336p. ISBN 9780545474320.

Viewed from the outside, Vicky Cruz's life is fantastic. Her father is rich, her sister is attending an Ivy League school, her house has a pool, and she has a nanny that prepares meals and cleans the house. Vicky had a poem published in the high school literary review, and though her grades are not great, she participates in the debate team. But ever since her mother died from cancer, Vicky has not felt well. Her father quickly remarried, her sister is mad at her, and no one talks about her mother anymore.

When Vicky wakes up at the hospital, she's surprised to be there. She meant for the pills she took to kill her, but she was discovered by her nanny before it was too late. Now Vicky finds herself on the 5th floor of the hospital, in the mental ward, where she meets Mona, Gabriel, and E.M., three other kids who are all here because of their own issues. Working with Dr. Desai, Vicky soon identifies her issue. She suffers from depression, a disease that creates large black clouds and even blacker thoughts, that she calls the uglies. These thoughts tell her that she's worthless, that no one loves her, and that the world would be better off if she were dead.

Her father is reluctant at first to leave her there for two weeks. He has arranged for a well-known psychiatrist to take care of Vicky, but Vicky for once stands up to him and demands to stay here. After two weeks, she heads out with the other kids to a ranch where they do physical labor while working on learning techniques to deal with their issues. But a series of incidents at the ranch forces Vicky to return to her old life prematurely, before she feels ready to go. With her father pressuring her to resume her old life, with people at school knowing what she did, and with her sister only now coming around, Vicky will need to find the courage to continue living.

Based on the author's own life experience dealing with depression, The Memory of Light explores how one recovers from a suicide attempt, and how one learns again that life is worth living.

The Shallows

Carr, Nicholas. The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains. 280p. ISBN 9780393339758.

Anyone who has grown up in the 1980s and early 1990s shake their head at the children of today, who are coming of age in an era where the Internet is ubiquitous. Back in the last decades of the 20th century, it was important to learn phone numbers, memorize dates, state capitals, and learn how to retrieve information in encyclopedias. Now, this information and more is available one keyboard or dictation away. In The Shallows, Carr argues that though this is all wonderful, the Internet is also making us dumber, as we rely on it more and more instead of actually learning information.

The Internet provides access to a wealth of knowledge, but paradoxically it undermines our ability to read deeply, and think about what we read. Neurological studies have demonstrated that our brains are being rewired as we move away from reading books into the more shallow waters of the Internet, leading us away from an ability to concentrate and reflect on what we read and what it all means. Far from being a panacea, the Internet is causing us to become more shallow versions of what we have been. 

Readers who are interested in what the Internet means for human development will appreciate this deep dive into the impacts a worldwide network of computers is having on the human brain, on how we interact with each other, and on how we pursue knowledge.

The Golden Hour

Smith, Niki. The Golden Hour. 2021. 256p. ISBN 9780316540339. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

Living in Kansas, Manuel was in the room with his art teacher when the outside door opened and an intruder came in and shot her multiple times. Manuel ran out, and pulled the fire alarm, saving the teacher's life as she would have otherwise bled to death. Returning to school, Manuel is plagued with PTSD and has trouble focusing. Forced to sit at a different table by the substitute art teacher and forced into a group project, Manual meets Sebastian and Caysha, and they become fast friend. In therapy, Manual is told to try and anchor himself to a situation when he feels flashbacks, and he uses his phone to take gorgeous photos.

Invited to spend time at Sebastian's house, on a farm outside of town, Manual begins to slowly heal, and his friends provide him with the support he needs to grow and understand what happened to him. As his affection for Sebastian grow, Manuel must navigate a rocky path filled with obstacles but also opportunities to become a better person.

Beautifully illustrated, with gorgeous colors, readers will cheer Manuel on as he learns about himself as a person and develop techniques to lessen the grips of PTSD on hi life.

Sebastian lives on a grass-fed cattle farm outside of town, and Manuel finds solace in the open fields and in the antics of the newborn calf Sebastian is hand-raising. As Manuel aides his new friends in their preparations for the local county fair, he learns to open up, confronts his deepest fears, and even finds first love.

28 Days

Safier, David. 28 Days. 2020. 416p. ISBN 9781250237149.

Mia and her family are prosperous Poles who, though nominally Jewish, are not practicing. As a young girl, Mia watched with indifference as Hitler took power in Germany, but grew increasingly concerned at the rhetoric and the actions of the Nazis. Then in September 1939, the Germans invaded Poland from the West, quickly followed by the Soviet Union from the East, effectively ending that country's independence. At first not much changed, but then strict laws controlling the lives of Jews were put in place. Soon, Mia and her family found themselves forced into Warsaw's ghetto, a small space where hundreds of thousands of Jews were crammed, with very small possibility of employment and never enough food to eat.

Mia, who looks Aryan, the Nazis' standard for the perfect race, is able to smuggle herself out of the ghetto to go and acquire food she can bring back and sell at a large profit. On one particular instance in 1942, she is stopped by bounty hunters, but is saved by a man she does not know, and who kisses her to make it seem she is his girlfriend. This was Mia's first kiss. Over the next weeks, life in the ghetto becomes worse, and there are rumors that it will soon be emptied and everyone will be forced into concentration camps out east, or suffer an even worst fate.

Then Mia runs into the boy again, who is Jewish and works for the resistance. Mia quickly joins and begins to fight back against the Germans. Her mother and younger sisters are killed during German raids to empty the ghetto, and with nothing to lose Mia throws herself into a deadly fight where the only triumph is surviving one more day ..

Armed with small-caliber guns and homemade petrol bombs against the Germans' superior weapons, armored vehicle, and training, the Warsaw ghetto Jews nevertheless manage to repulse their assault to destroy the ghetto for 28 days, marking the longest and most violent resistance against German occupation in the history of the Second World War.

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman

Massie, Robert K. Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman. 2011. 625p. ISBN 9780679456728. 

Catherine is one of the most powerful women to ever rule a kingdom or an empire. Born and baptized as Sophie in 1729, she was the second daughter of a minor German noble family. A meeting with Peter III of Russia allowed her to showcase her intellect and beauty. When Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, sought a bride for her son, she cast her attention to the young Sophie, whose limited prospects and lack of ties to the Kingdom of Prussia, Russia's enemy, made her a decent choice for the young Peter who would eventually become Tsar.

Well educated by tutors and a voracious reader of Enlightenment philosophers such as Montesquieu, Sophie, now baptized Catherine in the Orthodox faith in honor Elizabeth's own mother, was wed to Peter, but either through physical incapacity or lack of interest, the marriage was not consumed for 9 years, to Elizabeth's lasting shame as she sought an heir to ensure the survival of the Romanov family. When Catherine's first child Paul was finally born, Elizabeth took him away and raised him. 

Peter and Catherine's marriage was not a happy one, and rumors abounded that Elizabeth would change her will and bypass Peter altogether, nominating instead Paul as the next Tsar. When she died, however, Peter secured the throne and ascended as Peter III. With the risk of being sent home increasing, Catherine watched Peter's mismanagement of the empire and his close contacts with the Prussian King with alarm. When the opportunity presented itself, Catherine overthrew Peter, had him arrested and killed, and took the throne with popular support.

Catherine used her vast knowledge and correspondence with luminaries such as Voltaire and Diderot to reform Russia. She implemented vast changes that improved infrastructures, increased territories, and revamped laws. During her long reign, she also supported cultural expansion, and was responsible for creating the largest European art collection in the world. Unhappy in love, Catherine had many lovers but most disappointed her.

A central figure in European history, Catherine lived through the French and American revolutions, watched the Kingdom of Prussia grow powerful, dismembered Poland, and fought the Turks in several wars that expanded Russia. Upon her death she left Russia a more powerful state. Fans of history will enjoy reading about Catherine's life and how she outmaneuvered men at every corner, securing for herself a place in history!

All the Light We Cannot See

Doerr, Anthony. All the Light We Cannot See. 2014. 531p. ISBN 9781476746586.

Marie-Laure lost her sight at age 7. Living in Paris with her father, she spends her days wondering the Museum of Natural History, where he works as a locksmith, learning about the past and the present of animals and man's relationship with nature. Marie-Laure is especially attracted to seashells and the ocean, even though she's never been. Grumbles of war threaten their existence, however, as Germany rearms and seizes territories in Eastern Europe. Following France's declaration of war in September 1939 and a swift German invasion in 1940, Marie-Laure and her father flee to Saint-Malo, where he has family. Her father has been entrusted with a cursed jewel from the museum's collection, and he has been tasked with protecting it.

Werner is a German orphan. Growing up, he is destined to work in the coal mines. Using scraps, he fixes a radio, and suddenly the orphanage catches music and words from around the world. Especially fascinating is a regular broadcast in French aimed at children, which the woman in charge of the orphanage translates for the children. His affinity for electronics and radio allows him to escape his future. He instead finds himself training in the German army to locate radio signals. Having left his little sister behind at the orphanage, Werner knows he is not suited for war, but fears the mines more. In 1944, following D-Day, his unit is sent to Saint-Malo to track down the signals of a resistance cell that is broadcasting German secrets to the allies.

Sergeant Major Reinhold von Rumpel is a gem appraiser who has been tasked by the Nazis to identify jewels and turn them in to the government to finance the war. von Rumpel searches for the gem that was hiding at the Museum of Natural History. Even though it is rumored to be cursed, causing no end of suffering for the person who owns it, it also possesses curative powers, and as he is dying from cancer, he would gladly trade suffering for healing.

As the allies intensify their bombing of Saint-Malo, the story of these three characters become intertwined in a deadly confrontation ...

Rise of the Wolf

Nielsen, Jennifer. Rise of the Wolf. Book 2 of the Mark of the Thief series. 2016. 352p. ISBN 9780545562041. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

While Nic and his younger sister Livia now live in Rome, away from the slave mines where he was forced to work in The Mark of the Thief, dangers continue to surround him as his grandfather, General Radulf, moves forward with his plan to destroy the Roman Empire from within, using cunning and magic. However, Radulf's enemies, the Praetors, are themselves on the move, and they seek to awaken the Mistress, a Vestal virgin who was buried alive after betraying Julius Caesar three hundred years ago. She possesses a powerful magical artifact that can then be used to craft a Jupiter stone, delivering power to their faction. Their ultimate goal is to help the goddess Diana overthrow the gods and, by extension, Rome.

Despite his misgivings and his fraught relationship with Aurelia and his grandfather, Nic finds he has no choice but to help the Praetors, for they hold his mother captive. Short on time and ideas, Nic makes one more bargain with their leader, Brutus. In four days' time, there will be a chariot race, and Nic will compete against whomever the Praetors want to send against them. If he wins, they will leave him alone, free his mother, and never seek to use his magical abilities again. If he loses, he agrees to go with them and sacrifice himself to create the Jupiter stone.

With his life and that of his friends and family, yet alone the fate of Rome, in the balance, Nic is about to discover whether his magic is powerful enough to defeat an ancient threat ...

Blue Exorcist, Vol. 5

Kato, Kazue. Blue Exorcist, Vol. 5. 2011. 192p. ISBN 9781421540764. Available in the graphic novels section of the library. 

A scandal rocks the True Cross Academy when it is revealed that the Right Eye of the Impure King, an artifact harvested by Knights of the True Cross hundreds of years ago, has been stolen right out of a fortified vault by a skilled agent. With threats made against the Left Eye, students of the Academy are partnered with certified exorcists to prevent the Left Eye from being stolen. Rin and his friends are sent to Kyoto. Suguro and the rest of the students are concerned that Rin could go off again, and unease remain between them all.

At the temple, Rin discovers that Suguro's father is not really involved into defending his own temple, and seems to not have any leadership sense. The clans that support the temple are divided amongst themselves, and are seeking new leadership. With the exwires there, and the Left Eye at stake, can Rin manage to mend enough fences to block the planned theft of this artifact?

The story continues in Blue Exorcist, Vol. 6.

The Clumsy Ghost and Other Spooky Tales

Jessiman, Alastair, and others. The Clumsy Ghost and Other Spooky Tales. 2011. 151 mins. ISBN 9781843795049. 

Ghost stories are as old as time. Told to entertain us, to spook us, and often time to teach us a lesson, In this short audiobook, seven stories of haunting present frightful and no-so-scary tales. A man who was clumsy in life died when he tripped over an empty bag of chips and fell in front of a moving bus. As a ghost, he chose to haunt a dilapidated mansion. Wanting to be helpful, he tries to assist the family who lives there, but is clumsy enough that his efforts instead are perceived as malevolent. His presence, however, soon attracts visitors, and the money from tickets helps restoring the house to its former glory.

Other stories present locations as exotic as ancient Egypt, where sons of Ramses hunt for a powerful item in a tomb, and a pirate ship that stalled out at sea, with no winds and no hope. Fans of spooky stories will enjoy this light-hearted yet frightening collection of ghost tales.

The White Rose: Munich, 1942-1943

Scholl, Inge. The White Rose: Munich, 1942-1943. 1985. 146p. ISBN 9780819560865.

Not all Germans supported Hitler, but most did not offer resistance to the Nazis. Following the start of the war and the expansion of the eastern front, Hans Scholl and his sister Sophie Scholl determined to fight back against those who were leading Germany astray. Born into a family of devoted faith, Sophie grew up as the country descended into madness, with books banned, freedom of thought circumscribed, and political oppression of all enemies, real or imagined. Entering the university in the footsteps of her older brother Hans, Sophie quickly discovered that he was involved in a group that wrote and published pamphlets opposing the Nazis and their senseless war, predicting correctly that it would bring ruin to Germany. Sophie found it invigorating to defy the regime. 

\When they were caught by the Gestapo, they were interrogated, condemned to death and executed. Others followed them to the guillotine, but everyone, even Sophie's executioners, admired her courage and dedication. Written by Inge Scholl, Sophie's younger sister, in 1947, The White Rose was aimed at younger students, and attempted to explain how so many adults were willing to embrace, or at least tolerate, the abuses that their society was committing in the name of a new and prosperous Germany. Based on letters, diaries, published pamphlets, and conversation with fellow prisoners, The White Rose tells a story of courage in the face of overwhelming odds, and clearly explains why some chose to resist.

Anya's Ghost

Brosgol, Vera. Anya's Ghost. 2011. 221p. ISBN 978-1-59643-713-5. Available in the graphic novels section of the library.

Anya is an immigrant to the United States. Her mother is Russian, and Anya only arrived in time to start primary school. Now in high school, Anya has lost her accent, and adopted a different last name (honestly, who can pronounce Borzakovskaya?). Despite that, she has only one friend, feels ostracized by her classmates, and resents the attention she receives from Dima, another Russian immigrant who is a more recent arrival in her private school.

Cutting class and smoking are Anya's favorite activities in school, something she does often with her friend Siobhan. Angry one day, Anya runs through the forest near the school, only to fall into an old abandoned well. Recovering from her drop, she discovers a skeleton, and meets the ghost of Emily, a girl who fell in the well 90 years ago and was never found. Emily tells her her parents were murdered, and she barely escaped the house, only to fall here and die of thirst and of a broken neck. Emily is stuck in the well, as her ghost cannot abandon her skeleton. Fearing for her own life, Anya spends the time nursing her small stash of food, and smoking cigarettes.

Rescued by a passerby, Anya finds that she spent two days in the well. When she wakes up the next morning, she realizes that she must have picked up one of Emily's bones by accident, because Emily is with her. At first Anya is annoyed at this ghost that is always there, but she soon realizes there are advantages to having a ghost. She can get answers on tests. The ghost can be her wingman as she tries to woo Sean, who is perfect Elizabeth's boyfriend.

As time passes, Emily becomes more demanding, and the lifestyle changes she's promoting don't seem right to Anya. How do you back away from a ghost who's trying to control your life?

Chasing Helicity

Zee, Ginger. Chasing Helicity. 2018. 204p. ISBN 9781484780381.

Almost done with middle school, Helicity has always liked the weather, and the stronger the weather pattern, the better. Her parents, however, don't share her interest, and they generally prefer her older brother, a football star heading to college on a full scholarship. Helicity, who was named after her grandmother's favorite weather phenomenon, the spinning of a tornado, loves that her grandmother was a pioneer in weather predicting and in studying storms.

Escaping a party at her home, Helicity heads to the local peak with her horse, only to see a freak tornado forming in the distance. When it destroys her home in Michigan, Helicity finds herself living in a motel with a brother who's been hurt looking for her. Helicity has to contend with the guilt that her brother may never play football again, even as he begins abusing pain killers.

When an opportunity to study storms present itself, Helicity takes it with her parents' begrudging permission, and she heads out west chasing storms. But sometimes, the chaser becomes the person being chased, and storms do not care for humans. Helicity's choices are about to change her life ...

In Cold Blood

Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. 1994. 363p. ISBN 9780679745587.

Nothing interesting ever happened in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas. The 300 people who lived here knew each other, went to church on Sundays, and lived normal lives. The Clutter family owned several hundred acres. Herb Clutter was a deeply religious man who did not tolerate drinking, and who never carried cash. He was a fair employer, and had four children, two of whom still lived at home. His wife had an undiagnosed mental illness, while his daughter Nancy was a senior in high school who was appreciated by all, and his son Kenyon was a musician and athlete.

On November 15, 1959, the four members of the Clutter family were slaughtered, shot at point blank range after a robbery. Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, two criminals who had done time together, had planned the "perfect" score. Based on information from another inmate that Herb Clutter had a safe in the house that had at least $10,000, they constructed an alibi, then drove 400 miles to rob the house. When they were unable to find the safe, they tortured and killed Herb, and then killed his wife, Nancy, and Kenyon to eliminate any witnesses.

At first the police could not find any evidence. Nothing but a small radio seemed to have been taken. Nancy's boyfriend was an early suspect, as was a man who believed himself wronged by Herb. The fact that Herb had just taken out a life insurance policy the day before was also suspicious. But through a lucky photograph that revealed boot prints, and through investigative work, the police were soon on the trail of Hickock and Smith, who  thought they had gotten away with the perfect murders, even if they found no money.

Reconstructed from newspaper and court records, and from investigation reports and witness interviews, In Cold Blood reconstructs the sequence of events that led to one of the most violent and senseless crime to take place in the United States.

Bacchanal

Henry, Veronica G. Bacchanal. 2021. 352p. ISBN 9781542027816.

Eliza has always been able to talk with animals. Well, not talk, but at least communicate feelings and ideas. Unfortunately, her eagerness to communicate usually leads to the death of the animal, and Eliza has never figured out why this happens. Abandoned by her family, Eliza ends up living in a small rented room in a boarding house, doing odd cleaning jobs in the 1930s Baton Rouge. Born on the wrong side of the color line, Eliza has no prospects and no hope of ever reuniting with her younger sister ... until she is recruited by the Bacchanal Carnival, where she meets other African-American folks with strange and wonderful talents.

Tasked with figuring out a talent for the carnival, Eliza works with some of the artists and begins to grasp the limits of her power. But others also have strange powers, including the enigmatic resident of the red caravan. And everywhere the carnival goes, people die or disappear.

As the carnival travels through the South, encountering racism, Eliza continues to search for her sister. But finding her will put her in even more danger as the evil that dwells within the carnival is also searching for the growing threat that is Eliza ...