Happy Almost New Year!! It's been a down year for me, hopefully it will rise up in 2015.
      
My last recommend of the year is Uncle Janice by Matt Burgess, author of   Dogfight: A Love Story. This is a cop story set in NYC, very good and fast moving. Protagonist is a female patrol officer trying to make detective in the Narcotics division. Fast read.

For the oldies but goodies, I want to recommend the Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey, starting with the book of that title. This series is aimed at a younger crowd, more your True Blood niche, but is witty and well thought out.

    Another Southern Gothic nominee, This Dark Road To Mercy , the second novel by Wiley Cash, author of A Land More Kind Than Home.  This is a wonderful novel about two little girls who are rescued from foster care by their deadbeat dad after he steals a  LOAD of money from the kind of man you don't steal from (local Dixie Mafia boss). The point of view alternates between their guardian ad litem, an ex-cop named Will Brady, and the oldest (age 12) girl (Easter). A psychotic hit man and the FBI are also involved. All packed into 230 pages! Best bet of the year.

      I did a Staff Pick for MPL for this one, so I'll repeat it here: Tawni O'Dell 's  One  Of  Us, out last August.  Family history, family mysteries, and unsolved crimes in Pennsylvania coal country. Very good, as all of hers are.

    On the other end of the spectrum (from 4th of July Creek), a slick little thriller from Shane Kuhn (also a first-time novelist) titled The Intern's Handbook. Human Resources, Inc., is a murder-for-hire organization that sends its employees (hitmen) into the companies where their targets work as interns, on the premise noone is lower on the totem pole and therefore less noticeable than an intern. The fast pace and dry sense of humor (it's first-person), keep it light and enjoyable.  Another review said "Picture Dexter in 'The Office'".

    More non-fiction: Mother of God : An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon by Paul Rosalie.  Just to open up your world view a little if for no other reason. The native Amazonian people, and the animals!

   Late last spring (sorry) I read a modern-day rural poverty story, Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson. This one is so good I can hardly believe it's a debut novel. The main character, Pete Snow, is a social worker dealing with families in Tenmile Montana - the starting incident concerns Benjamin Pearl, the malnourished, nearly-feral son of a local survivalist. At the same time his own family has imploded, addict wife divorced and daughter dissappeared. At one point he says to her "My job is taking kids away from people like us". Anyway it's well worth reading. I can hardly wait for more from this author.

  In nonfiction, my latest favorite is The Thing With Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human  by Noah Strycker. I know I overuse the term but it is fascinating,
 about the behavior of birds and what they can do. Just the part about carrier pigeons is worth it. It also ties in well with  Birders: The Central Park Effect by author Jonathan Franzen, about the birdwatchers in Central Park.

"Note to the reader: These stories are meant to be read in order. / This is a book, not just a collection. / "DON'T SKIP AROUND." This note appears in the front - of  Praying Drunk - stories, questions  by Kyle Minor. It is a VERY VERY good book. Minor is a risk-taker, but the stories are all connected. Don't miss this one.

     Just finished reading  "Mr. Mercedes" this weekend.  It was pretty good, but somehow I don't think it was really written by Stephen King. Not all of it anyway. It just didnt sound like him. Oh well. Its still a good read.

     Mother died, very peacefully, at home on January 24.  I was holding one hand and Caroline the other. Well, it was just the way she wanted to go. Morphine, but no chemo, no radiation, no machines, and God forbid, no nursing home. Hope my end is that good. She would have been 89 on March 29.