Weekend picks for book lovers
What should you read this weekend? Paste BN’s picks for book lovers include the twisty best-selling thriller The Widow, and a non-fiction look at teen girls and social media.
The Widow by Fiona Barton; NAL, 324 pp.; fiction
It turns out that having serious trust issues can be a very good thing. At least when it comes to fiction.
Best sellers The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl and Luckiest Girl Alive prove the point. Fiona Barton’s The Widow is a psychological thriller with enough twists and turns to fit perfectly on the shelf alongside the gaggle of aforementioned girls.
The Widow opens in an English university town four years after the alleged abduction and murder of 2-year-old Bella Elliott. The prime suspect remains Glen Taylor, a "mild-mannered" delivery driver whose professional aspirations are never realized and whose childless marriage is put under scrutiny. The only problem is, Bella has never been found and now Glen, released after an unsuccessful prosecution, is dead in an accident.
The result is even more press coverage, more police inquiries and much more pressure for the widow, Jean Turner.
Paste BN says *** out of four stars. “Here is where the brilliance of The Widow lies. Whom do you trust? Whom can you trust?”
American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers by Nancy Jo Sales; Knopf, 375 pp.; non-fiction
Sales talks to young women around the country to learn the extent to which their lives revolve around social media, and the sometimes traumatic effect it’s having on their interactions and aspirations.
Paste BN says ***½ stars. “”A clarion call — or an alarm bell …Offer(s) a harrowing glimpse into a world where self-esteem, friendships and sexuality play out, and are defined by the parameters of social media.”
Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz; Minotaur, 368 pp.; fiction
Invincible, solitary hero Evan Smoak is weaponized from early childhood by a shadowy government program — before revolting, deciding to leave field work and become an anonymous vigilante, deploying his skills on behalf of the public good.
Paste BN says *** stars. “If you fed a sophisticated computer the collected adventures of Jason Bourne and Jack Reacher and asked it to produce a thriller, the resulting book would probably look something like Orphan X.”
The Ex by Alafair Burke; Harper, 283 pp.; fiction
When New York defense lawyer Olivia Randall’s ex-boyfriend is accused of murder, she agrees to take on his case, sure at first that he must be innocent.
Paste BN says *** stars. “Enjoyable… worth the time.”
The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain by Bill Bryson; Doubleday, 380 pp.; non-fiction
Twenty years after his best-selling Notes from a Small Island, Bill Bryson returns to England to trace the “Bryson Line”— his self-calculated longest distance you can travel in a straight line in Britain without crossing
Paste BN says *** stars. “Wonderfully engaging… Bryson is a keen observer of what’s amusing, ironic and absurd.”
Contributing reviewers: Mary Cadden, Charisse Jones, Charles Finch, Don Oldenburg