May 2017 Wrap-Up

I read several books in May and here are my capsulized reviews:

First up, The Executor by Jesse Kellerman. Well, out of 5 stars I would give this 2 and a half. At times it would get too pretentious. The lead character, Joseph Geist, is a struggling philosophy student at Harvard (the pretentious part) who reads an ad for someone seeking good conversation and he meets Alma, an elderly lady who was also a student of philosophy. They talk, Alma comes down with mysterious aches and pains, and a ne'er-do-well nephew shows up. My favorite part was watching Mr.Geist unravel and how at times he felt he was justified and at other times just felt guilty in his actions. Not bad, and I never skipped a chapter in impatience.

Next up, The Mother's Promise by Sally Hepworth. This book gets my rare 5 star review. Ms. Hepworth does an incredibly accurate portrayal of the burdens of social anxiety in teen Zoe. Zoe's mom is dying of cancer and Zoe must learn to reach out....it's just exceptional. Why is this not a #1 Best Seller on every book list available?? Writing, plot, characters, all are top of the line. Really, I can't rave enough.

Just wrapped up The Client by John Grisham. Gets my 4 out of 5 star review. I loved the point of view of the crime being burdened upon the 11 year old boy and the mature way he has to handle it. It's not new Grisham, it's from 1993, but it was new to me and I loved it. My favorite Grisham novel out of all I've read so far. Confession: I skipped just a few of the pages when it dealt with the mobsters. Never been a mafia fan. The rest? Riveting.