THE ECHO MAKER
by Richard Powers
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux October 2006
Reviewer: Judi Clark
Amazon readers rating: from 42 reviews

On a winter night on a remote Nebraska road, 27-year-old Mark Schluter flips his truck in a near-fatal accident. His older sister Karin, his only near kin, returns reluctantly to their hometown to nurse Mark back from a traumatic head injury. But when he emerges from a protracted coma, Mark believes that this woman–who looks, acts, and sounds just like his sister–is really an identical impostor ... (read review)

THE LAST FRIEND
by Tahar Ben Jelloun
Publisher: Penguin January 2007 in paperback
Reviewer: Poornima Apte
Amazon readers rating: from 3 reviews

Once upon a time there were two fast friends--Ali and Mamed who were as different as could be. Yet they struck a friendship that lasted nearly 30 years. The setting for this story is Morocco but the essential truths that pervade this slim novel by award-winning writer Tahar Ben Jelloun, are universal ... (read review)

THIS BLINDING ABSENCE OF LIGHT
by Tahar Ben Jelloun
Publisher: Penguin Jan 2006 in paperback
Reviewer: Guy Savage
Amazon readers rating: from 3 reviews

This Blinding Absence of Light from Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun is the fictionalized account of the imprisonment of a young Moroccan soldier for his involvement in a coup attempt against King Hassan II in 1971... (read review)

WHEN THE DEVIL HOLDS A CANDLE
by Karin Fossum
Publisher: Harcourt July 2006
Reviewer: Mary Whipple
Amazon readers rating: from 8 reviews

The undisputed queen of psychological horror, Norwegian author Karin Fossum takes an up-close view of three deaths in this novel in which Evil even touches Inspector Konrad Sejer's own family.  ... (read review)

HE WHO FEARS THE WOLF
by Karin Fossum
Publisher: Harvest Books July 2006 in paperback
Reviewer: Mary Whipple
Amazon readers rating: from 12 reviews

From the dramatic opening paragraphs, in which a person believes that his face is sliding off and his insides are falling out, Fossum captures the bizarre inner worlds of several characters barely holding onto their sanity.  ... (read review)

DON'T LOOK BACK
by Karin Fossum
Publisher: Harvest Books July 2005 in paperback
Reviewer: Tony Ross
Amazon readers rating: from 8 reviews

After being widely translated in Europe, it's about time that Fossum's excellent police procedurals are becoming available in English.  The story starts with the disappearance of a young girl in a small Norwegian village, but adroitly segues into a murder investigation as the search for the girl turns up an unrelated naked corpse. ... (read review)

A DEEPER SLEEP
by Dana Stabenow
Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur January 2007
Reviewer: Eleanor Bukowsky
Amazon readers rating: from 8 reviews

Kate Shugak is the heroine of A Deeper Sleep, Dana Stabenow's fifteenth novel in this long-running and successful series. Kate is a "120-pound package of strength, and courage and intelligence and humor" who, after spending five years as an investigator for the Anchorage District Attorney's office, went into the PI business for herself ... (read review or excerpt)

THE KNITTING CIRCLE
by Ann Hood
Publisher: W.W. Norton January 2007
Reviewer: Guy Savage
Amazon readers rating: from 4 reviews

After the sudden death of her five-year-old daughter, Stella, Rhode Island writer Mary Baxter finds herself unable to function. As Mary wades through her fog of grief--barely able to feed herself regularly--she receives a phone call--an invitation from “Big Alice.” ... (read review)