Written by two authors who write under one pen name, this young adult novel will resonate with teens.
Outsiders, Jenny and Ben, become unlikely friends when strange circumstances push them together. Jenny has always been able to feel and envision the past with her hands. She hides this condition behind gloves, but a Ouija board session forces her to confront her gift. Someone "out of time" is looking for her. Will she be able to protect her soul mate from the Order?
Endless was an enjoyable novel from start to finish. Readers will find the love triangle, and Ben, in particular, intriguing. Ben comes across as even more alluring than Jenny' out-of-time soul mate, Nikolai.
In his astonishing short story collection, Fountain gives readers humorous, politically-aware stories. Several stories are set in Haiti where political tensions run high but others are set in South America and Asia.
In "Asian Tiger," an American golf pro finds himself in over his head in Myanmar where he is hailed as hero. He's paid well to be an instructor, but, in exchange, he is expected to participate in illegal deals.
Inevitably, heroes face betrayal by those they trust the most. In "Near Extinct Birds of the Central Cordillera," an idealistic graduate student is kidnapped by revolutionaries.
He feels betrayed, however, by the Americans who airlift him out danger. Being rescued ensures the destruction of the near extinct parrot he is studying.
Like the hero in "Asian Tiger" and "Near Extinct Birds," most of Fountain's stories heroes find themselves facing absurd, self-serving bureaucrats.
For instance, in "Bouki and the Cocaine," two brothers who try to do the right thing are targeted by unscrupulous officials.
In Fountain's stories, criminality is normal while honorable actions (returning the cocaine, in this case) is crazy:
"I"m just looking for a little justice in this life."
"See what I mean?" said Alcide, rolling his eyes. "Totally nuts."
A UN observer in "Reve Haitien" finds himself drawn into the counter-movement's desire to free Haiti from an oppressive regime. The UN observer agrees to smuggle art work for the cause with unexpected results.
The best story, "Into the Lion's Mouth," is about a jaded peace corp worker who nearly crosses over to the dark side--becoming a diamond smuggler's accomplice. That she can go from that to the courageous heroine in the end is testament to Fountain's writing abilities.
Lisa Unger returns to The Hollows, a fictional town near New York City, for her latest thriller, In the Blood. Emotionally-fragile Lana Granger, a college student, narrates the story.
Since its first person and since she's emotionally scarred by a crime she witnessed, readers might expect the narrator to be largely unreliable. They would be right.
Lana has told so many lies to herself and others, she cannot even recognize the truth anymore.
A mentor suggests she take a job since her trust fund is drying up. A babysitting job pits Lana against a troubled eleven-year-old boy who seems to know a lot about the disappearance of Lana's friend, Beck.
Lana and Luke play a dangerous game, a scavenger hunt, that breaks Lana's façade and puts her and everything she holds dear in peril.
The novel moves a break-neck speed; it can be read as a stand-alone novel or as part of Unger's The Hollows series. In The Blood was an Indie Next pick.
