The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King

Sherlock in his late 50's meets and apprentices 14 year old Mary Russell. The partnership thwarts several crimes as well as their own potential demise by hand of "Russell's" university math tutor, Donleavy (who happens to be Moriarty's daughter).
 

Perfume by Patrick Suskind

Jean Baptiste Grenouille is born in 1738 in Paris to a mother who abandons him.  He is discovered to not have any scent himself, although his sense of smell is powerfully refined.  His goal is to become a perfumer and create the ultimate perfume, the scent of love.  In order to do this, he brutally murders young pubescent girls to capture their smell.  I'd give it only 3 out of 5, although it is intriguing.

Never Let Me Go

This NYT bestseller by Kazuo Ishiguro is about children growing up together in a private school in England.  As you read, it doesn't appear that they're being groomed for anything like college or a career, but that they're just existing.  Kind of haunting to learn what they're being bred and groomed for.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Intriguing story from a 9-year-old's perspective.  In the early 40's Bruno's father is promoted to Commandant and sent from Berlin to a remote area in Poland.  Out his bedroom window he sees a fenced-in area where there are thousands of people, and hundreds of children in striped pajamas.  He befriends one of the boys and develops a relationship over a period of time because he has no other children with whom to play. 

"The Moment" by Douglas Kennedy

The Moment by Douglas Kennedy is a haunting novel.  It begins with our main character (on a whim!) buying a ramshackle house on a bleak Maine Coast.  He has not discussed the purchase with his wife.  And he knows that this undiscussed purchase will probably be the "straw that broke the camel's back" in his marriage.  He is not wrong.

When a package from Germany arrives at his "new" coastal home,  it picks the scab off forty year old memories the author would rather not re-live, memories from when he was a budding travel author stationed in Berlin.  When he met the love of his life....

The Moment takes you back to Germany when the Wall between East and West Germany was one of the most dangerous crossings in the world.  And the lover of our author is caught in a web that may cost her her life...

Since reading this book several months ago, I have been haunted by the idea that a person can make a decision that is "no doubt about it, RIGHT" and yet, be so-o-o-o-o wrong.  I think this book will stay with you forever.

Lies and liars

Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett is a masterpiece. It is the story of Rose, a young woman who comes to a home for unwed mothers in Kentucky. Rose is married and unlike the other girls who have their babies, give them up and leave, she has her baby, Cecelia, but keeps her and stays on at the home. This book also tells the story of the hotel that was taken over by the nuns and became St. Elizabeths, the home for unwed mothers. The lies are gripping and tightly woven into the story. STE

5 stars

Cross by James Patterson

Alex Cross, FBI and DC police consultant, pursues The Butcher, a serial killer, rapist and paid assassin.  Patterson's books are always quick, easy reads that are page turners.  3 out of 5 stars.