Spring reading Library staffers review their favourite spring selections No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay (Fiction) What would you do if you woke up one morning and your entire family had disappeared? Initially, 14 year-old Cynthia thinks her parents have left for work and her brother has gone to school. But as the day progresses, it becomes apparent that they are missing and the disappearance becomes part of a police investigation that is never solved. Were they murdered, or did Cynthia's family leave without her? Fast forward 25 years, and Cynthia is married with a daughter. Suddenly she starts getting odd phone-calls and email messages hinting that her parents are alive. Library Journal describes the book as a "top-notch thriller"; it is available in print and as a downloadable digital audiobook from www.downloadcentre. library.on.ca. Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson (Non-Fiction) Greg Mortenson's first memoir, Three Cups of Tea took the bestseller lists by storm. In it he described how a mountaineering accident led him to build a school and create the Central Asia Institute, a non-profit organization that has established more than 130 schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. In this sequel, Mortenson' describes more of the work of the Central Asia Institute as they build school after school, many of them schools only for girls, on their way to constructing a special school in the Pamir Mountains. Over time, Mortenson expands the CAI's programs to include earthquakeproof buildings, schools with playgrounds and even scholarship programs to help girls pursue post-secondary education. Along the way, he describes the friends he makes and the people he persuades to support both his cause and the education of women and girls in general. Reviewed by Clare Hanman The Two Minute Rule by Robert Crais (Fiction) Max Holman has just been released from prison for a bank robbery he committed 10 years earlier. Clean and totally reformed, he's anxious to start a new life and reconcile with his estranged son, who just happens to be a police officer. But when Max learns that his son was murdered just days earlier along with three other uniformed cops, his agenda changes. Finding the killer becomes his focus, and he contacts former FBI agent Katherine Pollard to help. Together they form the ideal odd couple; their characters are imperfect but they keep the story real as it twists and turns with action. The Two Minute Rule is an absorbing crime novel from the author of the popular Elvis Cole series. It is available in print and as a downloadable digital audiobook from www.downloadcentre.library. on.ca. The Whole Truth by David Baldacci (Fiction) Shaw (no first name, just Shaw) works for a multinational intelligence agency, constantly putting his life in danger to keep the world safe. A controversial video clip circulates the Internet, threatening a return to the cold war. The video is a hoax, masterminded by Nicolas Creel, the head of the largest defence contractor in the U.S. and his public relations minion Dick Pender. When Shaw's fiancée is massacred in London, a massacre directly related to Nicolas Creel's campaign, Shaw reluctantly joins forces with reporter Katie James to find the killers. An interesting cast of characters populate this international thriller. It is available in both regular and large print, and as a downloadable digital audiobook from www.downloadcentre. library.on.ca Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Fiction) Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, winner of the 2009 Booker Prize, is about Tudor England told from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell, from his childhood as a blacksmith's son to his unexpected rise to political power as Henry VIII's chief advisor. Determined to rise above his circumstances, Thomas escapes from his abusive father and flees to France and Italy. He gains experience as a soldier, cloth trader, banker, studies law and becomes fluent in four languages. As Henry's chief advisor he orchestrates Henry's abandonment of wife and church to marry Anne Boleyn, the dissolution of the monasteries, and the execution for treason of Sir Thomas More. The book is rich in detail and portrays the dangers and brutalities of the time. A sequel is in the works. 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