Hiding in Plain Sight

This book starts out with a bang, or a flame, and we learn right away who the arsonist is in a rural Virginia firebug spree. That worried me. I assumed that without the mystery of discovery, I would be unmotivated to continue. Wrong-oh. Somehow, the author manages to keep things at a thriller pace, through the myriad and proverbial stones that were definitely turned, the multiple clues tracked unsuccessfully, and the countless dead ends. Gripping, sad, mystifying--should be a movie.

But Maybe They Are . . .

A Brooklyn neighborhood finds itself becoming whiter and whiter, while suspicious things keep occurring. Sydney, a born and bred, deep-rooted member of her community, has seen too much to ignore, so she starts digging. And digging. An unlikely co-conspirator, Theo, is helping her--or is he? While this story has a hefty dose of "Get Out" vibe (a crazy movie, but was it, really?), I will never, ever see gentrification in the same way. Who's to say these things don't happen? Do you really know?

Bodies and Cultures Clashing

When Trent Powers relocates his family to Arkansas from California for a last-ditch coaching job, things aren't rosy. Local folks live and breathe football, and a big win is within their grasp. However, a hardscrabble existance makes life tough for a star runningback, and in his efforts to help the boy, Powers encounters complications he may not be equipped to manage. A combination of Friday Night Lights and The Blind Side, plus a heavy dose of Agatha Christie makes this story hum right along.