What We’re Reading

The drowning tree | Carol Goodman

This time the locale is a Hudson River community called Rosendale, home to Penrose College (an exclusive girls college) and the abandonded glass factory of Augut Penrose. Stained glass, and other decorative arts are characters in this novel in which Juno McKay, former Penrose student and single mother, is hired to clean and repair the “lady window” in the college library. She has revived her father’s glass business which is now housed in the former Penrose factory building. She aspires to turn the building into a loft space for artists, similar to DIA Beacon. (There are references throughout to Poughkeepsie, “World’s End”, New Paltz and Beacon to help place Rosendale.)

Her best friend is mysteriously drowned after delivering a lecture on the lady window, a lecture which alludes to a mystery in the Penrose family. Juno uses hidden diary pages of the college’s founder to discover the circumstances leading to her friend’s murder and unravel a mystery hidden in the window.

In addition to the locale, Goodman uses mythology and the arts & crafts movementof the early 20th century to give substance to her story and characters.

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Brother Odd | Dean Koontz

Rating:

Unable to deal with life in his hometown, Pico Mundo, Odd Thomas has retreated to St. Bartholomew’s, where he hoped to find some peace. Telling his secret only to those necessary, he manages for a time to live a quiet life, piquing curiosity, but being left alone. The arrival of bodachs with his first ever snow storm changes all that.

What begins as the mystery of Brother Timothy’s disappearance quickly spirals into an ever-growing and changing puzzle. While Odd knows something is coming and the children must be protected, he can’t explain to anyone what, why or how, which makes the planning more than a little difficult.

Elvis continues to pop in for comic relief as Odd struggles to make sense of things he’s never seen and can barely comprehend. The trusty Boo offers some help as well, but as a dog can only go so far.

In a race against not only the unknown but also the clock, Odd struggles to find a way to communicate with those who rarely do, in hopes of solving the riddle before it’s too late for anyone else.

I’ve loved Odd Thomas since his first story. Apparently some found his second tale to be lesser than the first. I’m not sure I was of that opinion, but for any who were, I can say that this installment should definitely please.

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