I have some great “thriller” stories for you, but they build slowly and are full of suspenseful moments.
“All Colors of Darkness” by Chris Whitaker is a book to delve into, full of adventure, secrets and a few love stories, and over almost 600 pages it lets the reader participate in the complicated lives of its characters.
In 1975, in Missouri, a one-eyed boy named Patch has a best friend, a girl named Saint; they are both 13. One day he saves a girl from an attacker, but then disappears. He is not the only one; in recent years, several girls have disappeared from the area. Saint sets out to find him and tells her adventure in a beautiful text: “Trees swayed as Saint parted the shelter of a willow to its roots, which rose like upward hands, urging caution with every step. She passed the trembling aspens, their white trunks thin and strong and darkly scarred. An old metal sign had rusted through, the letters too pale. The forest grew thicker. She smelled dust and Christmas.”
Patch is rescued, but he remembers a girl who was trapped with him. It was always dark, so he never saw her, and others believe he made her up. He doesn’t even know if she survived, but he dedicates his life to finding her and other lost girls, using his uncanny ability to paint pictures of girls he’s never seen. Is his captor still alive? Is the girl alive? Was she real, or just his way of coping with being alone in the dark?
This coming-of-age story of enduring love and friendship follows Patch and Saint over three decades, so the reader gets to know the characters well enough that the ending is very moving. So beautifully written.
“The God of the Forest” by Liz Moore has a complex plot, ghost stories, shifting timelines… oh, and a serial killer.
In 1975, 12 and 13 year olds are living their lives at Camp Emerson in the Adirondack Mountains when a camper disappears. She is Barbara, the daughter of the wealthy owners of the campground and the nearby nature reserve. The family history is complicated. Barbara’s brother, 8 year old Bear, had already disappeared in the same area in 1961 and was never found.
Where is Barbara? Has she been kidnapped? Is there a connection to her missing brother? What is all the secrets, lies and betrayals about? Camp staff, other campers, Barbara’s drug-addicted mother and her cold-blooded father – all of them and others could be involved in Barbara’s disappearance. And the convicted serial killer known to roam these woods has escaped from prison.
The author writes well and makes me feel like I’m in the forest. When a girl is alone in the forest looking for Barbara, we are told, “She doesn’t even have a watch. Later she will understand how foolish she was, how disrespectful she was to that forest – to think that she could enter it so carelessly, without a watch or compass, without long pants or even water, disregarding everything… that they were painstakingly taught.”
It’s so good you can’t put it down and it has a satisfying ending where all the mysteries are solved. At nearly 480 pages, it’s not to be sniffed at when it comes to getting involved with the characters either. Wow! That’s quite a journey.
“Camino Ghosts” is John Grisham’s third book set on Camino Island in Florida. It stars bookseller Bruce Cable and author Mercer Mann. You don’t have to have read the previous books to enjoy this one.
Mercer’s last book was a bestseller, but she’s having a hard time coming up with a new plot. Then Bruce comes along and gives her an idea for a book: the story of a nearby barrier island where runaway slaves found freedom. The island is part of Florida, which was not a slave state, but borders Georgia, which was a slave state. So runaway slaves from Georgia had established a small community there. A local named Lovely, now 80, wrote in her memoirs about the island and how her slave ancestors had been part of that community. She is the last survivor and says the island is hers, but some real estate agents say there is no proof it is hers and claim the right to build a casino on it. They would even pay her a lot of money, but she won’t sell it. Why? “It’s sacred ground. Her people are buried there.” A retired lawyer takes Lovely’s case.
Lovely’s ancestor Nalla “was an African medicine woman, a kind of voodoo priestess.” We get flashbacks to Nalla’s story in Africa in 1760, when she was brutally captured by slave hunters and shipped to America. The ship ran aground on the barrier island, and Nalla and the other African survivors were rescued by the runaway slaves there. Nalla has cursed the island: white people who visit it for nefarious reasons disappear or die – from disease, poisonous snakes, panthers, and more.
Nalla’s story is the best part of the book and reminds me of Roots. A Grisham book is always a good read.
“Eruption” belongs to the genre of “techno thriller”. The book was written in part by the late Michael Crichton and finished by the ubiquitous James Patterson. It is a story in itself.
The setting and premise are all Crichton’s work, a sort of cross between Jurassic Park and Andromeda, but instead of dinosaurs and alien lifeforms, we have volcanoes and a man-made problem that could wipe out all life on Earth. In Hilo, Hawaii, nature is sending out threatening signals. Plant biologist Rachel notices that a strange phenomenon is killing plants in the botanical garden. Geologist Mac knows from recent earthquakes that Mauna Loa will erupt very soon. Signs suggest it could be “the biggest eruption of the century.” The press and local authorities want him to predict when and where the eruption will take place. He tells them: “Volcanoes are a little – or a lot – like wild animals. It’s different and dangerous to predict how they will behave.” While local authorities try to warn people, the military throws a wrench in their plans: can you build a wall to stop the lava flow? While some work to save the local population, others work in secret to save the world.
After Crichton’s death in 2008, his wife discovered that he had done extensive research on volcanoes and had already started this book. She didn’t want the work to go to waste, so she waited for an author she thought could finish the story. Eventually she turned to Patterson, who has worked in several genres. I’m not sure if you can see Patterson’s fingerprints on the manuscript, but the ending feels contrived, and some of the “scientific” elements are puzzling; you really have to put your skepticism aside. Still, it’s an entertaining journey, like all of Crichton’s work.
Enjoy reading!
Mary Louise Ruehr is a book columnist for The Portager. Her column, “One for the Books,” previously appeared in Record Courierwhere she worked as an editor.
