Dear Great Book Guru, This past weekend, at breakfast with
friends, we all agreed we were looking for a good suspenseful book that we
could read in a day and then get back together to discuss. Any recommendation? Breakfast Banterers
Dear Breakfast Banterers, I was back and forth to Brooklyn
on the LIRR this weekend and read just the book you are looking for: MOUTH TO
MOUTH by Antoine Wilson. This short
novel (192 pages) opens in a JFK airport ticket booth as our narrator learns
his flight has been delayed. Over the loudspeaker he hears the name Jeff
Wood being called. A Jeff Wood had been a casual acquaintance twenty years
before at UCLA but what were the chances it was the same person? So begins a
mystery thriller where chance plays a pivotal role. Jeff invites our narrator
to join him in the first-class lounge where he tells him a story that he has
supposedly never shared with anyone. Years before - shortly after graduation - Jeff
was housesitting near the ocean when he saw a man drowning. After bringing him
to shore and giving him CPR, the man began breathing on his own. Afterwards, Jeff
became obsessed with finding out more about this man he had saved and - more
importantly - was he worthy of having been saved. He learns he is a very wealthy art collector
and soon stealthy infiltrates his life. Throughout, the reliability of both the
narrator and Jeff is in doubt with the truth constantly shifting until the
final terrifying sentence. Highly recommended!