Man in the Empty Suit

Readers will most likely compare this book to the movie Inception or maybe Memento.  I can always get behind a good story if it requires some problem solving. This book, however, I couldn't really get behind.  The main character is a time traveler who travels to New York City, 2071 to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of his birth.  Along for the celebration are all his previous and future selves.  He gives these other selves nicknames like "The Drunk", "Yellow Sweater", "The Nose", and "Screwdriver".  These nicknames were problematic for me.  I am an orderly person and would have much preferred that the nicknames simply be the age of the guy.  There is one guy nicknamed "Seventy" because he's around seventy years old, but that's it.  It would have been easier to track the characters and their linear location in life if they were numbered based on age.  The twist in the story comes in the form of a murder.  When he is 39 years old, his 40-year-old self is murdered at the party so he has to travel back in time to figure out what happened and stop it.  Mind you he's been coming to this party every year but this is the first year he finds out about the murder.  Presumably, there is a murder every year because the party doesn't change.  Throw into the mix that a lady named Lily also happens to show up at the party that year (or has she been there every year?) and you have a mind-bending story that leaves you with more questions than answers.  I don't profess to know all the ins and outs of time travel writing, but I think this could have been written a little more clearly. It has a good premise, but it wasn't carried out to its fullest potential.

Gone with a Handsomer Man

This book was just plain old FUN summer reading. It was fun to read, and a quick read at that. I would recommend it as an escapism summer/beach/vacation read. It's a love story and murder mystery rolled into a storyline ripe with Southern hospitality and food (including recipes in the back of the book). The author did a decent job of making the journey enjoyable. Just what a nice escape should be. I laughed out loud at a few scenes (if you are familiar with Southerners and "their ways" you will laugh too). In my mind I'm already secretly casting the movie :-)

In The Woods

Finally!  I feel like I've been reading this book forever.  It opened really well, dragged in some parts, but overall was a good mystery.  It kind of reads like an episode of SVU: Special Victims (but based in Ireland)

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

SO GOOD!!!!  You begin by thinking you're reading about a crime (several crimes) but really this story ends up being about redemption and they way we judge/treat people in this world.  Some have been comparing it to "To Kill a Mockingbird".  I can see the resemblance.