Shark Heart

Emily Habeck Fiction 2023 | 419 pages In 21 years of reading The Deschutes Public Library community read, this is the first book I didn’t care for.  I may not have finished it, if it weren’t for its central place among those who read in Bend. A first novel by Ms. Habeck, but one that…

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The Art Thief

Michael Finkel Nonfiction 2023/ 225 pages Stéphane Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend Anne-Catherine, is believed to be the most prolific art thief of all time, conducting 239 heists, typically in broad daylight, from 172 museums, and amassing $2 billion in art works. Different from most (all?) other art thieves, during his heyday, he never sold…

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Ninth House

Leight Bardugo Fiction 2019/ 455 page Galaxy (Alex) Stern has seen Grays all of her life.  “Grays” is a Yale Lethe term for ghosts.  Alex enters Yale, and, in her first year, she becomes “Dante ” … the young novice who will eventually rise to a place of greater power by her senior year ……

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Simply Lies

David Baldacci Fiction 2023/ 432 pages I have not been reading much of the “psychological thriller/mystery” genre lately, so perhaps what I am about to type is not very relevant, but once again, I found the mystery, it’s development, and it’s resolution, overly complex. Mickey Gibson, a single mother with two young children, and a…

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