Here is a crime novel that isn't: Rape and murder cases drive the action, but the best stuff in this book has little to do with detective work. When young cop Cindy Decker finds a newborn in a Dumpster, a series of investigations brings her into contact, both professional and personal, with a male nurse named Yaakov (Koby) Kutiel. Like her, he's Jewish, but she's a white woman from L.A., and he's a black man originally from Ethiopia.
Their romance and its impact on her family become the focus of this 15th book in Kellerman's bestselling series about L.A. detective Peter Decker (Cindy's dad) and his wife, Rina Lazarus. That pair fade into the background this time, though Peter does pitch in to help Cindy, who slowly begins to show a flair for investigation. There isn't much suspense; the Decker-Lazarus subplot about finding the killer of Rina's grandmother seems like an afterthought. On the bright side, Kellerman still has a warm and wry flair for describing Orthodox Jewish culture. And she captures the complexity of young people who have to meander a while before finding each other. Lovers of romantic schmaltz, dive in. (Warner, $25.95)
BOTTOM LINE: Mediocre mystery, decent love story
By Peter Duffy
Critic's Choice
Everyone knows about Oskar Schindler and his list, but the heroism of the Jewish brothers Tuvia, Asael and Zus Bielski has largely been unsung. In World War II, the Russian trio saved 1,200 Jews from death camps by hiding them in a village they created in a forest in Belarus. The village, one Polish survivor recalled, "was like Minsk," a thriving cultural center.
This moving account reports how the Jews at the camp evaded both nearby traitors and Nazis, who at one point came after them with a 900-man commando unit.
The Bielskis, whose parents died in the Holocaust, were forgotten. Asael died in combat, but the other two made it to Brooklyn. Tuvia died in 1987 and Zus in 1995. Their little brother, Aron, once a 12-year-old scout in the forest, now lives in Florida. (HarperCollins, $25.95)
BOTTOM LINE: As amazing as Schindler's List
By Nina Solomon
Lifelong Manhattanite Grace Brookman tolerates her husband Laz's periodic disappearances; he is a prize-winning journalist who works hard and keeps late hours. But at the start of this frothily good novel Laz casually walks out and doesn't return.
Concealing her plight from her maid and friends, Grace concocts an elaborate lie that Laz never left. She leaves the dishes in the sink and the toilet seat up. Her ruses lead to plenty of funny moments, but there's also a stirring meditation on independence and marriage. Grace realizes she's been living Laz's life, not hers, and rediscovers her interests in sculpting and writing. In the end, absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder, just stronger. (Algonquin, $23.95)
BOTTOM LINE: Uplifting laughs
By Alice Hoffman
The women in Jenny Sparrow's family possess special gifts. An ancestor, Rebecca Sparrow, who was persecuted as a witch in 18th-century Massachusetts, was immune to physical pain. Jenny's mother can detect lies, and Jenny can see other people's dreams. Now Jenny's 13-year-old daughter Stella has discovered her own gift: She can foresee deaths.
As she did in Practical Magic, Hoffman finds a lot of girl power in the occult. Her plot is bewitching, in spite of a few cloying moments and a clutter of subplots. Too many characters clamor for attention, and the most interesting thread—Stella's visions—sometimes gets lost in the jumble. Still, the imagery is bursting with life, and the story—by turns dark, tender and ultimately redemptive, as a fairy tale should be—makes for a diverting read. (Doubleday, $24.95)
BOTTOM LINE: Practically magic
As if Drew Barrymore didn't turn up often enough in the marketing blitz for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, these days she's even in the dictionary. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, the nation's bestselling lexicon, is just out with an 11th edition that cites Barrymore as a source for the word "gnarly." "As opposed to its traditional good connotation," says the book's associate editor Maria Sansalone, "it means bad and nasty now. She said, 'He has some pretty gnarly karma coming.'"
Here are some other unlikely figures who made it, and their words:
Ex-Surgeon General Dr. M. Joycelyn Elders, "ism": "We all have got to come to grips with our isms."
Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells, "let go": "He let himself go and got real fat."
NYPD Blue producer Steven Bochco, "wazoo": "We've got lawyers up the wazoo."
Novelist Tom Clancy, "workmanlike": "reporter who turned out workmanlike copy."
- Contributors:
- Ron Givens,
- Andrea Higbie,
- John Freeman,
- Michelle Vellucci.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
