Library Lines ...

Extremely cold weather has hit our area along with some much-needed moisture. All of us are suffering from weather whiplash as temperatures went from around 70 degrees recently to below zero. That is ambient temperature, not wind chill!

Here at Rhoads Memorial Library, we have several new books to entice you when you can venture out. Newly released books that have arrived and are ready for checkout include:

"Outlaw Country" (a Smoke Jensen Novel of the West) by William W. Johnstone;

"Robert Ludlum's The Treadstone Exile" by Joshua Hood;

"Serpentine" (an Alex Delaware novel) by Jonathan Kellerman;

"The Fortunate Ones" (a novel) by Ed Tarkington.

That last book, "The Fortunate Ones", is a "fresh and remarkably sure-footed take on "The Great Gatsby", examining the complex costs of attempting to transcend or exchange your given class for a more gilded one," according to critics. It follows Charlie Boykin, who, raised amid the working-class side of Nashville, is content living with his single mother. That changes, however, when he becomes a scholarship student to an elite private school.

There he encounters a world where money cushions its inhabitants from the vagaries of everyday life. Put simply: Charlie sees that an excess of money can allow one to bend--and break-- rules and still end up untarnished. He becomes friends with Archer Creigh, an upperclassman whose affluent, alcohol-soaked family treats Charlie to a world of lavish parties and easy summers spent poolside at perfectly appointed mansions.

Over time, though, Charlie tires of covering up for Archer's constant deceit and bigotry, begging the question: at what point will the attraction of wealth and prestige wear off enough for Charlie to take a stand? "The Fortunate Ones" conveys both the seductiveness of the moneyed world and the corruption of people who see their ascent to the top as their birthright.

If you are in the mood for a "pulse-pounding thriller featuring murder and intrigue," according to critics, "Run for Cover" by Michael Ledwidge is available. It follows Michael Gannon, fresh from a lethal entanglement with some of the most dangerous actors in the global intelligence services. Ready for a break, Gannon visits a secluded Utah ranch that is home to one of his oldest and closest war buddies.

Yet the thought of relaxation evaporates when the friend's brother is found dead in the rocky foothills of Grand Teton. Gannon wonders if his death is connected to a string of grisly murders occurring around national parks, or something more sinister?

Until next week, Happy Reading!