Summer House with Swimming Pool

Herman Koch, author of The Dinner, continues to intrigue us and challenge us in this multi-layered book. Koch incorporates psychological thriller with a deep look at relationships and inner motivations in this story.

When a medical procedure goes horribly wrong and famous actor Ralph Meier winds up dead, Dr. Marc Schlosser needs to come up with some answers. After all, reputation is everything in this business. Personally, he’s not exactly upset that Ralph is gone, but as a high profile doctor to the stars, Marc can’t hide from the truth forever.

It all started the previous summer. Marc, his wife, and their two beautiful teenage daughters agreed to spend a week at the Meier’s extravagant summer home on the Mediterranean. Joined by Ralph and his striking wife Judith, her mother, and film director Stanley Forbes and his much younger girlfriend, the large group settles in for days of sunshine, wine tasting, and trips to the beach. But when a violent incident disrupts the idyll, darker motivations are revealed, and suddenly no one can be trusted. As the ultimate holiday soon turns into a nightmare, the circumstances surrounding Ralph’s later death begin to reveal the disturbing reality behind that summer’s tragedy. (source)Z

Eleanor and Park

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This is a love story. I am saying this up front because, even though the story is solid and has some twists and turns, it is ultimately a love story. It is certainly an unlikely love story. It starts out, after all, in a high school bus on the way to school. Park gets stuck sitting beside the “new” girl. Theirs is not a relationship born out of conversation, rather a shared open comic book or a mix tape.  What seems as a casual beginning becomes a matter of life and death as time goes by. Rainbow Rowell carries you along and it is easy to associate your own experience with young love. A good read for the romantic at heart.