With all the blockbuster movies coming out this summer the one I have been waiting for (somewhat impatiently) is “R.I.P.D.”  It stars Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds and concerns a recently deceased cop who is recruited to work for the Rest in Peace Department that try and keep law and order with the evil dead.  I ran across a new book that has some similar qualities.  The title is Reviver: Death Won’t Silence Them by Seth Patrick.  Revivers are able to wake the recently dead, and let them bear witness to their own demise.  Twelve years after the first reviver came to light, they have become accepted by an uneasy public.  The testimony of the dead is permitted in courtrooms across the world. Forensic revival is a routine part of police investigation. 
      In the United States, that responsibility falls to the Forensic Revival Service.  Despite his troubled past, Jonah Miller is one of their best.  But while reviving the victim of a brutal murder, he encounters a terrifying presence.  Something is watching and waiting.  His superiors tell him it was only in his mind, a product of stress.  Jonah isn’t so certain.  Then Daniel Harker, the first journalist to bring revival to public attention, is murdered, and Jonah finds himself dragged into the hunt for answers.  Working with Harker’s daughter, Annabel, he becomes determined to find those responsible and bring them to justice.  Soon they uncover long-hidden truths that call into doubt everything Jonah stands fork and reveal a threat that, if not stopped in time, will put all of humanity in danger.

Who Killed the Professor?

Compound Murder is the latest Dan Rhodes Mystery by Bill Crider; and I have to tell you it was such a pleasant and easy read, that I finished it in just a couple of hours. Small town Texas sheriff, Dan Rhodes, just wishes the local Dr. Pepper manufacturer would go back to using real cane sugar in their formula, so that he could enjoy his daily caffeine. While musing over his boycott of the beverage, and staring at the Mr. Pibb bottle in front of him, the phone rings. Police dispatcher, Hack, tells him that the local beauty shop has been burgled and the thief made off with the hair! When sheriff Rhodes arrives, he finds that someone has broken in through the bathroom window and stolen all of the wigs and hair extensions made of natural hair--a pretty expensive bounty. Just as he is telling the owner to leave everything as it is and to cancel all of his appointments for the morning, Hack calls Rhodes again and tells him to get over to the local community college; there's a dead body. Math professor Seepy Benton, a graduate of the Citizens' Sheriff's Academy, is trying to keep all of the students and faculty away from the crime scene, but he's having little luck. The sheriff helps herd the students and professors inside and takes a look at the body, but before he can get into any real police work, a car peels out of the parking lot and Rhodes give chase, leaving Seepy to guard the area. A high speed chase ensues that winds up with the suspect's car smashed into a tree with its trunk wide open and Rhodes' windshield cracked and sagging. Turns out, the driver is 19 year-old Ike Terrell, son of the local doomsday prepper, Able Terrell. Rhodes finds the missing hair in the open trunk of Ike's car. The Terrells are thought to be gun-toting, survivalists that have fenced themselves inside the family property. Ike is unwilling to talk, so Rhodes has no choice, but to book him. This is all just the first couple of chapters. Sheriff Rhodes also has to deal with copper thieves, wrestle a pot-bellied pig, calm trigger-happy deputies, all the while trying to find out who murdered English professor Earl Wellington. By all accounts, Wellington was not liked. He was a picky when it came to his students attendance and work and he lacked the social skills necessary to make friends. Rhodes' investigation is fraught with red herrings and the diversions of small-town America and peppered with the humor and frailty of the human condition. I can't reveal anymore without giving away the story, so you'll just have to give it a go!

Remembering September 11, 2011

On this day, the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library invites you to remember the lives that were lost and celebrate the heroes of this day.  May we never forget their sacrifices.

Girl in Progress

I was working the library's audiovisual desk this week and I stumbled across the cutest movie!  Girl in Progress stars Eva Mendes, a carefree waitress with a teenage girl named Ansiedad who desperately wants to grow up and be an adult.  Ani is very disappointed in her mom 's behavior, because her mom acts more like a teenager than she does.  Ani decides to create her own "coming-of-age story" by becoming a nerd, attracting the attention of her teachers, then having an abrupt spiral downwards into "bad girl mode" by partying, suddenly making bad grades, shirking her chores and other duties and getting involved with the popular girls in school and dating the "baddest" boy in school.  What follows is a hilarious romp through the life of a teen.  The story is set in Seattle and features some of the famous landmarks in the town.  The movie is rated PG-13 and is perfect to watch with your own teenage girl!