Leaving Time

by Jodi Picoult

    "Leaving Time," the most recent novel by bestselling author Jodi Picoult, will require of the reader what Samuel Taylor Coleridge coined "a willing suspension of disbelief." It is a most unusual story and its main character Alice has earned her doctorate studying the habits of African elephants in the wild. She has primarily devoted her observations to their cognition and coping mechanisms with grief and loss, and has found them to be not only highly intelligent creatures, but also deeply compassionate. From this book, you will probably learn more than you ever wanted to know about elephant behavior, but somehow Picoult blends the information she has so assiduously researched and weaves it so seamlessly into the plot that it holds the reader's interest. Another character who shares Alice's obsession with elephants is Thomas, who visits her at the Wild Animal Reserve where she works in Africa, becomes her husband, and returns with her to New Hampshire where he has established an elephant sanctuary. There he treats and cares for elephants that have been abused or held captive in zoos and circuses. At first, Alice feels she has found her soul mate, but discovers there is a dark side to Thomas. At some point in the story, Alice disappears following the suspicious death of one of the employees at the sanctuary, her husband is institutionalized following a nervous breakdown, and her daughter Jenna seeks the assistance of a psychic and a detective in finding her mother. It is not even certain that her mother is alive, and there is even a possibility that her mother  was a victim of spousal abuse and may have been responsible for the death of the employee. There are so many unanswered questions, and as Jenna and her two aides follow clues, signs, and instincts, reality and unreality become very blurred. Toward the end, it is suggested that two of them are spirits rather than actual living persons. Throughout, Picoult is comparing the way elephants deal with loss and death to how humans cope with the same. As in an earlier novel "The Story Teller," Picoult employs some degree of spiritualism or the supernatural in this novel. As for subject matter, "Leaving Time" is not your standard fare, but the fact that it so different may well appeal to the reader who enjoys an unconventional tale full of surprises.

Gray Mountain

by John Grisham

John Grisham's most recent novel, "Gray Mountain," focuses on a young female lawyer, Samantha Kofer, working for a high pressure law firm in New York City. When she is down-sized from her firm, she accepts a temporary job at a legal aid clinic in Appalachia. There, she becomes aware for the first time of the hard-scrabble existence of poor coal miners and their families. Many of the workers suffer from black lung disease (which their employers refuse to acknowledge.) Samantha takes on these cases as well as those common to the residents there. One involves a woman, the victim of domestic abuse, who seeks legal help getting a restraining order against her husband, as well as a divorce and relocation.  Another client, an elderly lady, needs assistance in drawing up a will securing her property from her five money-hungry children who are intimidating and pressuring her for their inheritance. The most daunting work in which she becomes involved is investigating "Big Coal" companies that have wreaked havoc on the lives of their workers as well as the surrounding terrain. They are the cause of rampant deforestation, erosion, and contaminated water, resulting in illness all around. Her work becomes dangerous when she meets Duncan Gray, who is building a case to sue one of the biggest companies, Krull Mining, intent on proving their responsibility for the loss of life and land in this rural area. After Duncan is found dead, his brother Jeff convinces Samantha that Krull Mining was behind it. Jeff seeks Samantha's help in getting those hidden documents to the proper authorities. It is at this juncture that Samantha realizes this is a dangerous, lawless, corrupt place where "big business" does not play by the rules.

This is a light and easy read, not particularly exciting or compelling, with a plot similar to what one would expect from a Grisham novel. Nevertheless, his fans have placed him once again at the top of the best-seller list, so his popularity endures.

The Girl on the Train

by Paula Hawkins

"The Girl on the Train" is one mesmerizing thriller about Rachel Watson who is at the nadir of her existence, having lost her husband Tom, her home, her job—her entire life—as a result of chronic drinking. Cathy, a kind and sympathetic friend, has offered her a room but is unaware of her unemployment since Rachel takes the train from the suburbs into London every morning pretending to go to work. On that same route everyday, Rachel has the opportunity to look out the window observing the lives of others, particularly when the train slows and stops at a signal. One couple who interests her she names "Jess" and "Jason," but whose real names are Megan and Scott. She assumes that they are happily married, envies their interaction as she frequently sees them cozily having breakfast on their deck near the tracks. It is understandable that she fantasizes about other people because she has no life of her own. In addition, she still yearns for Tom and regrets her unpredictable and ugly drunken behavior which she believes was responsible for the break-up of her marriage. To add to her distress and self-loathing, Tom has remarried to a woman named Anna, and they have a child named Evie. Unable to get on with her life, she harasses both Tom and Anna with frequent phone calls and stalking behavior, particularly when she is on a binge. Even her closest friend Cathy is losing patience and respect for her because in her stupors, Rachel is often unconscious, appears disheveled and ungroomed, vomits on the carpets, and leaves her bedroom and the kitchen a total mess. It is in one of these drunken states that she takes the train out to the suburbs one night to see Tom and Anna and can't remember how she returned home injured, with blood on her hands and a gash on her skull. For weeks she struggles to remember what happened that night, but it is lost to her as a result of the frequent black-outs she is experiencing. In an attempt to regain some part of her memory, she consults with a psychiatrist whom she recognizes as the man she saw kissing Megan while passing by on the train one day. She is suspicious because she knows Megan is married to Scott, but nevertheless she finds herself attracted to the doctor. To add to the mystery, Megan disappeared on the same night Rachel went to the suburbs. Rachel has this nagging, uneasy feeling that she was witness to something violent involving Megan, but is sunk in this hopeless darkness. This story is full of surprises, the author constantly veering from one possibility to another, misleading the reader, provoking tension and arousing suspense. When will Rachel remember what she saw and what part she may have played in it? Read this riveting tale to find out the answers.

Donna DeLeo Bruno is a native Bristolian and a retired teacher of writing and literature. She now splits her time between Bristol and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., where she gives book reviews at the local library as well as at book clubs and women's clubs. Some of her most enjoyable and relaxing hours are spent reading a book beneath the shade of a tree at the foot of Walley Street with the sun sparkling its reflection on the water.