The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Fiction/Literature

The Price family of six travels to the Congo to bring the Baptist faith to the people of the Congo. The couple has four daughters, including twins Leah and Adah. Adah was born with part of her brain not working, suffers a limp, and doesn't talk much but she is incredibly smart. Eldest daughter Rachel is a teenager who only cares about herself and youngest daughter Ruth May is a firecracker.

The Congolese don't take too well to the new faith being shown to them but they don't want the family to suffer either so help out in small unseen ways. Unsurprisingly, things in the Congo don't work like they do in the USA. The family fails at many things and then starts to fail at their relationships as well.

This was a very slow book to read through. There were some uncomfortable subject and some characters that were pretty easy to hate. It's amazing how out of touch the father was.

The ending seemed to just keep going and going. It almost would have been better if the last few chapters weren't included and we weren't given the final update on their adult life. It really just made me feel even more disconnected from the family.

First Line: "Imagine a ruin so strange it must never have happened."

Rating:
(3/5)

The Drop by Michael Connelly

Mystery

Detective Bosch has been a part of the cold case division for a short time. He knows he doesn't have too long left in his career, as he's already back from retirement and can only stay a maximum of 5 more years on the force. He has a young partner, Detective Chu, and a bunch of cold cases to get through. When a hit comes back on DNA, but for someone that would have been a child at the time of the crime, Bosch and Chu are asked to investigate. This comes at the exact same day that ex-Deputy Chief Irvin Irving learns that his son has committed suicide. Irving is now a councilman and against the police department after being ousted. He's never been a fan of Bosch, but Bosch is requested specifically from Irving to investigate his son's death.

Now with two cases, Bosch buckles down. Is the Irving death really a suicide or was there a third party involved? Any why was the blood of a child found at a murder scene? The two cases take Bosch and Chu all over. A new female love interest is introduced and there's already ups and downs in that relationship.

Every Bosch book I've read captures your interest right away and holds you the entire time. I really enjoy Maddie and how her youth allows her to see different things than her dad does. This different perspective and her interest in the police force will make her a very interesting character in the future and she's already starting to impact some of what her dad does.

This is another great book in the Bosch series. Looking forward to reading the next one.

First Line: "Christmas came once a month in the Open-Unsolved Unit."

Rating:
(4/5)