I'm Not Scared / by Niccolo Ammaniti; trans. from the Italian by Jonathan Hunt

In the sweltering Italian summer of 1978, residents of the sparse hamlet of Aquo Traverse do their best to keep cool and comfortable. Adults mainly stay inside, dissuaded from their normal tasks and irritable to be around, while children are left to explore on their own, largely unsupervised as they roam the surrounding countryside. On one outing, 9-year-old Michele Amitrano accepts a dare to enter an abandoned farmhouse alone. What he finds there, lying in a hollowed-out portion of the foundation, is what he presumes to be a corpse, that of a boy around his own age though he doesn't tell his friends or let on about anything out of the ordinary. Someone must be told though as news of this sort is obviously noteworthy and, soon afterwards, Michele discloses the situation to his father only to have the elder Amitrano mysteriously brush him off, actually telling him to forget the whole thing and indicating (in aggressive fashion) that this is the last he wants to hear about it. A confused Michele, too curious to stay away, ultimately returns to the scene and discovers that the boy in question is in fact not dead, only deathly weak, disoriented and mostly unable to account for his presence. In the following days, with aid from the food and water Michele brings him, a pieced-together story of kidnapping, ransom and cover-up involving every adult, Michele's parents included, in the small village is recounted. The evidence of the abducted boy, what he's able to recall and the mutual conspiracy by practically every grown-up he's ever known are largely out of Michele's reach. From his limited perspective, the situation's not only unfathomable but contradictory. And yet he knows something must be done. At a moral as well as developmental crossroads, Michele decides to act. Will it be the right move?

There are lots of coming of age novels. There are lots of growing older novels. There are lots of recollective, anecdotal stories written by grown-ups of early youth and confronting reality. But there are precious few truly great 'books about childhood written for adults'. This is one of them. Not a thriller, not suspense. Not nostalgia, not YA, not an abuse testimonial and probably not even a kid-centered horror tale à la Stephen King's It or "The Body" (those had relatively happy endings) though similar elements are involved. I'm Not Scared is something different, something inadvertently real and starkly rendered, not too far removed from Italian Neorealism itself in which self-consciousness in storytelling is intentionally absent. It's incredible how convincing Ammaniti is in writing the mindfulness of a nine-year-old. Michele's a character with not a lot of maturity but not a lot of despair, possessing plausible fears and believable errors. He's curious and at times impetuous without the foresight to know different and always, always in the moment. At no point is he looking at things with adult goggles. Ammaniti has been on the radar as a celebrated Italian novelist since the mid-nineties and this book clearly defines why. It's not one to miss. (FIC AMMANITI)

The Cold Kiss / by John Rector

Fleeing a past they'd rather forget, Nate and Sara are two twenty-somethings driving from Minnesota to Reno to get married when they stop in to a diner to have lunch. There they meet a man, Syl White, who's car won't start. Syl also seems to be desperately ill though he vehemently denies it, saying he just needs a lift to Omaha for which he openly offers Nate over $500 in cash. Despite reservations, sympathy gets the better of them and they agree to give the stranger a lift. But as the trio set off, a furious snowstorm practically strands them on the road until by chance they stumble into a shabby motel, The Oasis Inn, where they discover that there passenger has not only been shot recently, but that he's (practically) dead. Owing to the storm, emergency relay is virtually impossible and further arrangements have to be delayed. But that's not all. Inside his coat pocket he's got over $20,000 in crisp new bills, a discovery startling both Nate and Sara until they get a look at what's inside Syl's briefcase--almost $2 million in cash.

In a panic over what to do and knowing that to take the money would mean having to lie about their encounter with the stranger, Nat and Sara spend the night restlessly trying to handle their little situation, ultimately deciding to abscond with the cash the following morning since nothing more can be done for their now decidedly dead passenger. That night Nate tries to hide the body, dragging it out of the car and into a nearby field where presumably it would be hidden from view. But someone sees him and before long, the couple's little plan becomes a desperate attempt to cover up their maneuvers as the ever-worsening blizzard keeps them snowed in at least for the next few hours and the curious story behind the money steadily unravels.

Having written nothing but short fiction before Cold Kiss, his first novel, Rector doesn't waste any time introducing his story and his ill-fated characters which he tailors into a fast and manageable read, one which maintains a steady stream of abrupt turning points throughout the narrative. There's nothing all that original about the plot--large sum of money of vague origins falling into the hands of some not-terribly-bright individuals/handful of strangers stuck together under confined conditions. But the author seems to know where he's headed. That is to say he knows where his characters are headed, all eight of them, who, while they may not jump off the page, are enough of an assortment imperfect people to both scrutinize and evoke sympathy simply because, not unlike real life, they're people who just can't seem to learn from their mistakes. (FIC RECTOR)

'SCANDALICIOUS' AMERICAN HISTORY

Puppet Master: the Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover
by Michael Hack
A figure of enormous scrutiny both before and after his death, J. Edgar Hoover held the office of FBI Chief from its inception in the 1930’s (himself the founder) until his death in 1972. Often deemed the most powerful lawman in America by enemies and contemporaries alike, his career spanned 6 presidential administrations and five decades. His legacy, however, has been continuously flogged by rumors concerning his somewhat bizarre private life.

The Warning: Accident at Three Mile Island
by Mike Gray
At a Nuclear Plant in Eastern Pennsylvania in 1979, several overlooked mechanical failures caused a reactor meltdown resulting in a severe radiation fallout. While the accident was, in actuality, only a near fatal catastrophe (the meltdown was stopped in time to prevent widespread damage) not equal to Russia’s Chernobyl disaster, the incident created a panic throughout the country and within the core of American industrial bureaucracy. How safe was nuclear power and to what extent were security measures side-stepped in place of higher production levels? A fascinating look at nuclear power and its potential for destruction.

The Great Monkey Trial
by L. Sprague De Camp
At the time it was the trial of the century. The Scopes Monkey Trial of Tennessee in the 1920’s pitted evolution against the religious right after a school teacher, John Scopes, was fired for teaching the theory of evolution contrary to overwhelming local convictions of Biblical creationism. Lawyer, statesman, and one-time presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan was selected as part of the litigation team while the case engaged a huge media frenzy that soon became popularized in book form. Later it formed the plot for the movie Inherit the Wind starring Gene Kelley and Spencer Tracy.

Teapot Dome: Oil and Politics In the 1920’s
by Burl Noggle
The secret sale of government owned oil-reserves in Wyoming by members of the Harding administration in the 1920’s created one of the largest political scandals of the day. Noggle’s book goes in depth to uncover the background and hidden secrets behind these covert operations even investigating as to whether Harding himself, who died in office prior to the scandal, had any direct knowledge about the sale.