Never

 Fiction by Ken Follett

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book took over a week to read, which is a long time for me. It's pretty dense prose and complicated; every word needs to be understood with no skimming. I've read other books by this author, mostly historical fiction, and those were all good enough for me to devote the time to this one.

In this novel, the author takes the events that led to The Great War, or World War One as it became called, and modernized them into a slowly escalating world crisis that ends up making war inevitable. But in modern times, we have nuclear options available, and World War Three doesn't end well for anyone.

This was a good story with great characters, but it was chillingly easy to see how the USA and China, in particular, could be maneuvered into war even with moderate and decent people in change, which in general we never have...

I also read by this author: Circle of Days

The Survivor

 Fiction by Gregg Hurwitz

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At the beginning of this book, Nate Overbay has climbed to the eleventh floor of a bank building and is preparing to jump off a ledge when he sees a robbery in progress through the window. Will he give up on his suicide plan and try to intervene? So begins an exciting thriller with lots of surprises...

I also read by this author: Tell No Lies

Fun for the Whole Family

 Fiction by Jennifer E. Smith

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

The four Endicott siblings grew up together more or less normally, until Gemma, the oldest, was 12. At that point their mother Frankie disappeared from their lives to pursue Art, leaving them with a dad who worked all the time and only reappearing for summer visits. For the next seven summers, Frankie would take them on a whirlwind road trip, darting randomly around the country with the vague goal of eventually visiting all fifty states.

As adults the siblings remained close until a big fight blew a hole in their relationship. Then Jude, the youngest of the kids, makes a big effort to get everyone back together in North Dakota of all places. Secrets will soon come out...

This was a really well-written bunch of characters. I really liked this book.

The Color of Light

 Fiction by Karen White

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

I had some trouble getting interested in this story; I'm not sure why.

The Wondering Years

 Nonfiction by Knox McCoy

https://www.audible.com

This was a fun and funny memoir about the author's life and faith journey.

The Sideways Life of Denny Voss

 Amazon Prime Kindle Fiction by Holly Kennedy

https://www.amazon.com

At the beginning of this story, Denny Voss is arrested when he tries to take a sled full of firearms and ammunition over a snowy hill in his small town of Minnesota. Although Denny is a full-grown man, he is developmentally delayed and like a child in many ways; therefore he is unable to explain what he is doing to the police officers who swoop in to stop him from taking the weapons any farther. 

Indeed, even the reader is mystified about the sled full of guns. (The psychologist examining him in jail asks him what could have been a better choice to make, and Denny ventures, "Call the police station and tell them I was coming?" Um, no...)

Once Denny is in custody, things get worse. A man in town was recently murdered, and it was one of the guns Denny was transporting that killed him. 

This was a really good story with great characters, and a few surprises as well. I will definitely look for more by this author!

I also read (free!) from Amazon Prime Kindle: The Taken Ones

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

 Fiction by Fannie Flagg

https://www.audible.com

I had read this novel years ago, but I thought I'd try it on audio book. It was doubly good with the Southern lady narrator!

I also read by this author: The Whole Town's Talking