Need For reads

Fiction Painful secrets IDYLL HANDS A Thomas Lynch Novel By Stephanie Gayle 304 pp. Seventh Street Books Stephanie Gayle is back with the third entry (the previous entries are also reviewed on this site) in her Thomas Lynch mystery series set in late 1990s New England and featuring a compelling hero cop protagonist with a refreshing twist. After serving for 15 years as NYPD detective, Thomas Lynch left the mean streets of New York City to become the police chief of the quaint, quiet, affluent, and aptly named New England town of Idyll, Connecticut. Unlike most cops, Lynch has a secret – one that could derail his career in law enforcement. Thomas Lynch is a gay man working in a profession that’s traditionally homophobic – fiercely homophobic. The town’s none too bright and intolerant mayor already made it clear to him that he was only hired because of his impeccable record with the NYPD. So, afraid of being fired for the slightest reason, (and living and working in a conse...

NONFICTION Not the movie ADRIFT A True Story of Tragedy on the Icy Atlantic and the One Who Lived to Tell about It By Brian Murphy and Toula Vlanou 162 pp. Da Capo Reviewed by Marty Carlock It’s not surprising that a book about the sole survivor of a shipwreck in the North Atlantic in 1856 and a film about a contemporary woman trying to sail boat singlehandedly should bear the same title. But what else can you call stories of determined survival on the sea? The hero of Brian Murphy’s Adrift – the book – is a New Bedford seaman named Thomas W. Nye. He shipped on the packet John Rutledge , out of New York bound for Liverpool, in the winter of 1855. The trip east, with the prevailing winds at its stern, was easy. But returning to the west – this is a sailing ship, hard to tack upwind – with the threat of winter ice, was a disaster. Murphy spends some time chronicling the history of the moment. The habit of leaving port at will, whenever the weather permitted and the craft h...

Non-Fiction Perhaps not so impossible POWER IN NUMBERS: The Rebel Women of Mathematics By Talithia Williams, PhD 224 pp. Race Point Publishing Reviewed by Diane Diekman Talithia Williams wrote Power in Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics to give back. It fulfills her dream of making participation in mathematical sciences a reality for more women, by showcasing these role models and thanking mentors such as the ones who helped her. Williams was a high school student when her math teacher told her she should major in math in college. “It was the first time an older white man affirmed my intellectual ability,” she writes. “Even though I never saw myself as a mathematician, he saw me as one. The conversation changed me. It changed my life.” She went on to earn a master’s degree in math at Howard University and a PhD in statistics at Rice University, where she was the only female and the only African-American in her class. Power in Numbers tells the stories of female mat...

Fiction Crime that’s out of this world BLOOD ORBIT A Gattis File Novel By K.R. Richardson 495 pp. Pyr Reviewed by Eric Petersen Author K.R. Richardson (actually Kat Richardson writing under a not-so-secret pseudonym) offers the first in what promises to be an intriguing series that blends police procedural, crime noir, and thought-provoking science fiction. In the distant future, the exotic, corporate owned planet Gattis serves as a tourist haven where vice drives the economy. The corporation that owns Gattis promised the two native, human-like races that live on the planet, the Dreihleen (who have yellow skin) and the Ohba (who have blue skin), prosperity and the good life that comes with it. Instead, both races have felt oppressed and disenfranchised for generations. Unfortunately, they hate each other more than the corporation, and the corporate leaders are experts at stoking racial tensions and using them to keep both races down. The Dreihleen have it the worst; while t...