The Half Life by Jonathan Raymond; 2004; Bloomsbury, New York; 355 pages; Fiction Raymond/1-58234-448-5; 3/28-3/31

The story of three different couples, Cookie and Henry, Cookie and King Lu and Tina and Trixie. Cookie and Henry are trappers in the Oregon Territory, who meet deep in the wilds while Cookie is with a Lewis and Clark type group. They become good friends and live together then they decide that they have a product that the Chinese will pay good money for. They sign on to a ship sailing to China and meet with a merchant who purchases the product. After meeting with the merchant they unknowingly enter the forbidden city, where Cookie is arrested and thrown in prison. In prison he meets King Lu and they grow close and travel to Portland, where they grow old together.

Tina and Trixie are teenage girls who meet in a ramshackle neighborhood of shacks on the edge of Forest Park. They grow close together doing many things together, and become the friends who love and loathe each other at the same time. The loathing is hidden, but the love of sisters is shared warmly. They plan on making a movie together and are in the process of raising money for the movie, when the lives of one of the other couples from the past intrude on their lives.

Jonathan Raymond doesn’t always get the exact geography of Portland right, but he has a knack for Portlands’ personality. I started out thinking I wasn’t going to like this but ended up thinking it was pretty good. RRr

Escape from the Carnivale, A Never Land Book by Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson; 2006; Disney Editions, New York; 134 pages; j Barry/078683789-6; 3/28-3/28

An adventure that takes place on the island where Neverland is but Peter is not at home for this chapter in the story. When Princess Scallop of the Mollusk tribe and two of her young mermaid friends venture where they are not supposed to, one of the mermaids is captured by the crew of the ship the Carnivale. The Carnivale circles the globe collecting very unusual sea life to display at home in their carnival sideshow. Since Peter is away and all the Mollusk tribe is involved in a sacred ceremony it falls to James, one of the lost boys, Princess Scallop, the other mermaids and the dolphins to rescue the mermaid. Complicating the rescue is the fact that hook and his crew are planning on boarding the ship and sailing it back to England. RR

World Without End by Chris Mooney; 2001; Pocket Books, New York; 390 pages; Fiction Mooney/0-671-04063-4; 3/25-3/28

Steve Conway, an operative with a black ops unit of the CIA, has narrowly escaped death twice. As he sets up to capture Angel Eyes, a thief who steals highly classified military gadgets, his team is devastated. As he thinks the love of his life has died, he is conflicted by reports that their is a mole in the CIA and that Angel Eyes is really the better of the people after him. All kinds of great action with one of the bad guys losing his life in a metropolitan aquarium. The question here is are things in our lives really black and white or are there shades of grey in everything and how does that affect how we live? RRr

The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe; 2002; Atlantic Monthly Press, New York; 391 pages; Fiction Vanderhaeghe/0-87113-912-X; 3/18-3/25

Simon Gaunt has disappeared into the wild of the United States to convert the red man to the white man religion. His father sends his twin, Charles, and his head strong, militarily minded, perverted brother Addington to search for them. When they get to Missouri they team up with the half breed scout, Jerry Potts, Custis Shaw, an alcoholic bible reader and Lucy Stoveall, a woman with revenge on her mind. They trek across vast expanses of the American west, having all kinds of adventure many of them due to Addingtons’ headstrong ways. The first part of the book reads very much like a Dickens novel, while the Englishman are center stage. After they are moved to the background, it reads much like a Zane Grey novel. RRr

The Martyr’s Song by Ted Dekker; 2005; WestBow Press, Nashville; 128 pages; Fiction Dekker/0-8499-4499-6; 3/18-3/18

In a story spanning from a small village in Bosnia in 1944 to a current day high school. Eve is a participant in both stories. As Eve tells the story of a sadistic Army captain and his torture of the people of the village, Marci becomes part of the story. She is transformed by becoming part of the story. As in so many of Dekkers stories he allows us to see into two worlds at one time. It is a story of love and how that love can affect others. RRRR