Duchess Day Radley, at thirteen years old, is carrying more than her share of responsibility. Her mother, Star, seems incapable of taking care of herself much less Duchess and her five year old brother, Robin. Fiercely independent and ferocious in protecting her brother, Duchess has managed to find food, keep her brother clean and safe while keeping her grades up just enough to avoid uncomfortable questions from the school. Walker, who is the chief of police, knew her mother when they were younger and he keeps a watchful eye on Star and brings her home or takes her to the hospital when she overdoses. Things are rough but they have been manageable, but now Vincent King is going to be released after spending 30 years in prison and Duchess fears things are only going to get worse.
King was convicted of killing Star’s younger sister, and it was Walker who turned in his best friend. Walker has regretted his actions in helping convict King ever since and hopes he can find way to atone for it. For Duchess, King is the person who has caused so much of the pain in her life and his return to town is just one more complication she does not need.
But they are not the only ones impacted by King’s return and the unexpected violence that is unleashed changes each one of their lives forever.
Whitaker has created some interesting characters. Duchess shines with her prickly suspicious nature. King is an enigma, and Walker seems unable to move on from his past. The twists and turns of this story keep surprising you and the redemption at the end is very satisfying. I look forward to hearing more from this author!
Brenda’s Rating: **** (4 Out Of 5 Stars)
Recommend this book to: Sharon, Keith and Marian.
Book Study Worthy? Yes
Read in e-library format.
Titles of books can often be deceptive, but I have never encountered one quite as dissimilar to its content than Matrix by Groff. The title raises up images of that famous sci-fi movie starring Keanu Reeves or the coding process used for computers or for bioengineering. But instead this is a novel about a woman of questionable royal birth during the 10th century who must find her way in the world. Like I said, titles can be deceptive, but once you get past that, this novel is a tour de force, revealing the life of a woman who finds both her calling and her power despite enormous odds.
Constance is estranged from her family, because she accepted a clone as gift from her aunt. Her aunt is a world renowned scientist who created the breakthrough technology that allowed human cloning. Although hailed as a scientific miracle that would allow people’s consciousness to live on much longer, many who could not afford the expense of a clone felt disenfranchised, while others were violently opposed to cloning on religious grounds as an abomination. The other members of Constance’s family fell into that latter category of being militant anti-cloners. So when her aunt offers Constance the opportunity to have a clone, Constance has complicated feelings knowing that this will cause a complete rupture with her family, but decides to accept anyway.
When Ryland Grace wakes up he doesn’t know that he is on a mission to save the world. He can’t even remember his own name and finds it really annoying that the robot, who seems to be in charge of the space ship keeps asking for it. All he knows is that he has been asleep for a very long time, given the state of desiccation of the corpses of his former companions. He knows he should feel something, now that he knows they are dead, but he can’t even remember their names, much less who they were or what they meant to him.
Amanda and Clay have rented a luxurious home on an isolated corner of Long Island for a family vacation. Although it is close to New York, internet and cell service is spotty at best, and it’s a thirty minute drive to the closest store. Amanda thought this would really help all of them disconnect and really focus on being together. They have just begun to settle in, the kids have found the pool and the fridge and pantry are well stocked with groceries they have bought on their way in. It looks like it is going to be a wonderful vacation. Then just around dusk there is a loud noise. The spotty service for the internet and their phones is gone. There is breaking news saying there has been an incident, but then the TV loses all signal. Just as Amanda and Clay are trying to figure out what is happening there is a knock on the door and an elderly black couple who introduce themselves as Ruth and G.H. and as the owners of the house ask to come in.
Jesus and John Wayne is another book that I can now add to this collection of mind opening and enlightening books that give meaning and context to the way the world works today. Beginning with the emergence of white evangelicalism in the South as a reaction to the Civil Rights movement, Du Mez shows how White evangelicals turned away from the the Jesus of the Gospels and instead created a “rugged masculine warrior” Jesus who acted like John Wayne and supported authoritarianism, patriarchy, protected the white status quo, women’s purity, and was against equal rights for women, opposed to BLM, skeptical of #MeToo, and fearful of Islam. They embraced rugged heroes in additions to John Wayne, like Billy Graham, Oliver North, Ronald Reagan and even Mel Gibson to support their belief that God had ordained the US as a White Christian Nation and should be unashamed by political correctness and willing to “tell it like it is.” 
It is summer, 1963. Cork is twelve years old, and he is doing all the things one does in Aurora, Minnesota in the summer: biking around town, swimming in the lake, hanging out with friends. So when Cork and his friends decided to go camping at the old logging site called Lightning Strike, it seems like a great plan. But when they get to there they see something they should never have had to see- a dead man hanging from a tree. Even worse it was someone Cork and his friends knew, a Native American who was greatly admired and respected by the local Anishinaabe tribe.
Marilynne Robinson revisits the characters she made famous in Gilead, Home and Lila, this time focusing on John Ames Broughton (Jack), the prodigal son of the Presbyterian minister in Gilead, Iowa. From the previous books we are aware of the story of Jack’s waywardness, his father’s love and concern, and the ill-fated interracial love affair Jack began with Della Miles. But in this book we now hear from both Jack and Della how they first met and the resistance they encountered from the very beginning from her family and from society at large.
An assassin must fulfill the requirements of the job they are hired to do. Reseng knows this because he was raised by and now works for one of the most famous killers of all time, Old Raccoon, who runs a murder for hire business at The Library. He had never questioned anything asked of him before, so why couldn’t he complete the job as requested? He knew, of course, that plotters controlled the activities of the criminal guilds in South Korea carefully plotting the removal of people for their own ends, but what were those ends and who were these plotters was something that no one, not even Old Raccoon, seemed to know or was willing to talk about.
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