Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese

In a Ethiopian hospital called Missing by locals mispronouncing Mission, twin boys are born in secret to a nun and a surgeon. The boys, Shiva and Marion, are orphaned by their mother's death and their father's disappearance. They are adopted by two doctors at the hospital and grow up there. The doctors take care of the boys out of a sense of duty but soon fall in love and create a family. Marion narrates the story of their childhood and his flight from political turmoil in Ethiopia and family betrayal. This is such an outstanding and well written book, I can't wait to read what he writes next. -JM

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, 667 pages; Knopf, 2009.

5 olives

The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbo

Jo Nesbo is one of my new favorite authors. He is part of the Scandinavian crime writer phenomenon that includes Henning Mankell and Steig Larsson.

Nesbo's protagonist is Harry Hole (yes, really), an alcoholic, pain in the ass and truly outstanding detective. He has a heart but it is drowning in booze. Because he is such a good detective and the only one experienced with serial killers, Harry is protected by his boss and allowed to continue working cases. In this book, he is obsessed with finding out who killed his partner, Ellen. Harry is convinced it's a cop who is, unfortunately, a favorite with the higher ups in his division. Meanwhile, Harry is not much a favorite of anybody's. Given one last case before he has to retire or be fired, Harry must discover who is killing women, taking a finger and leaving a pentagram shaped diamond with the bodies. As with all Nesbo books, the plot is intricate and very well written. The characters are well developed and really twisted. -JM

The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbo, 464 pages; Harper, 2011.
 
5 olives