Dear Great Book Guru, Spring is surely in the air with the beautiful month of April upon us!  Do you have a good book to start off the month - I’d love a thriller with historical background. April Admirer

Dear April Admirer, Every year, I look forward to the newest John Grisham and this year’s is a particularly fine addition to his collection: THE RECKONING.  Pete Banning, a Mississippi landowner, is a returning World War II veteran when the novel opens. Shortly into the book, he murders the young pastor of his family’s church. No explanation is given and Pete is stoic throughout his trial and the verdict. Throughout the book, we wonder what could have caused this supposedly good man to have done this.  His children, his sister, his wife - are all collateral damage as they struggle with the aftermath of Pete’s crime.  Time shifts and we are cast back to his childhood, courtship, and then in the most graphic part of the story, we learn of his suffering and bravery in the Phillipines during the war. Again there is a time shift forward and we see to our horror the racism underlying all we have seen.  This is perhaps Grisham’s starkest commentary on the banality of evil. Highly recommended!