Mystery, Kidnapping and Royal Intrigue

Sixkill by Robert B. Parker

Sixkill may be a bittersweet read for fans of Robert B. Parker’s long-popular Spenser series. Parker died in 2010, and this thirty-ninth novel in the series is described in the liner notes as “The last Spenser novel completed by Robert B. Parker.” In Sixkill, Spenser investigates Jumbo Nelson, an actor whose bad behavior may or may not have included rape and murder, and acquires an unlikely protégé in Zebulon Sixkill, a Cree football player turned bodyguard. Parker’s characteristic witty dialogue, fast action and unique characters are all very much on display in Sixkill.

Room by Emma Donoghue

A powerfully moving story told through the eyes of Jack, a five-year-old boy whose mother is kidnapped seven years earlier when she was a 19-year-old college student. Jack and his mom live in a soundproof eleven-square-foot shed in her kidnapper’s yard. Their only glint of the outside world is a roof-top sky light. The “room” has a TV that Jack believes is imaginary. “Ma” breaks up their monotonous days by teaching Jack math and reading, playing exercise games, and making imaginative makeshift toys. His mother, desperate to break out of their prison, eventually tells Jack about her kidnapping. Together they plot a harrowing escape that is nail-biting and intense.  Once they get to the outside world, they both must deal with their own discovery, recovery and trauma.

Princess: a true story of life behind the veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean Sasson

Sasson tells the candid and fascinating story of “Sultana,” a Saudi Arabian princess born to monumental wealth. Sultana is a member of the Saudi royal family, closely related to the king. Although she has everything she could ever want, she lives in a gilded cage. She has no freedom, no vote, no control over her own life, no value but as a bearer of sons. When she has her own daughters, she decides to take the ultimate risk of punishment or death if discovered, and to speak out about the life of women in her country. Sasson's gripping story of Sultana is a fast-paced, enthralling drama, rich in detail about the daily lives of the Saudi royals and packed with vivid personal sketches of the ruling clan and sharp opinions about the sexual mores, politics, religion and culture of this still-feudal nation.