Dear Great Book Guru,   I hope you can help me- everywhere I go in the beautiful village of Sea Cliff I am assaulted by visual spam.  Our streets and sidewalks are cluttered with signs advertising services, events, real estate, politicians, garage sales….on and on and growing in number every day. Is there anything we can do to stop this scourge on our landscape and, if not, can you at least recommend a good book to distract me?    Down on Signs

Dear Down on Signs,   Oh, how I agree with you and let us hope the populace will rise up against these intrusive blemishes but until this happens, I do have a wonderfully distracting book to recommend- GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn. A psychological thriller of high literary caliber, this book is the story of a marriage gone really, really bad  in an economy gone really, really bad. With lost jobs, foreclosed McMansions, failing industries and empty storefronts as  backdrop, former Brooklynites Nick and Amy Dunne prepare to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary in Nick’s hometown of North Carthage, Missouri.  The day’s festivities take a dark turn when Nick returns home to find Amy missing, the house in disarray, and a life built on lies beginning to implode . The reader is cleverly manipulated throughout as the story shifts in time and perspective until a shocking but very satisfying conclusion.  A good read, indeed!