Never Change / by Elizabeth Berg

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Elizabeth Berg is an American novelist gifted with an ability to generate sympathy for largely unappealing characters. Her novel Open House was an Oprah Book of the Month in 2004. In Never Change, lonely middle-aged Myra Lipinsky plods through her spinster existence until her job as a hospice nurse reconnects her with an old friend from her teenage years, a man now terminally ill with a brain tumor.

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"I am the one who sat on a folding chair out in the hall with a cigar box on my lap, selling tickets to the prom..." p.5

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Self-characterized as something of a dateless wonder throughout her youth and into adulthood (though she "would have gone if asked"), 51-year-old Myra Lipinsky has become accustomed to the reclusive, independent lifestyle. Her nursing career's been rewarding enough to acquire what she feels is relative contentment and she does have her dog, Frank, for companionship. But when, by chance, she becomes caretaker to her long-ago hearthrob Chip Reardon, Myra finds that the unrequited love she once had in high school is still going strong, even if Chip is dying of cancer.

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Thirty years later, Chip is still the same ("the boy Chip dressed up as the man Chip") and single, never having married though never lacking opportunities. His diminishing condition withstanding, Myrah finds to her delight that remnants of the pair's affable relationship from high school are still intact, progressively becoming more intimate as time passes. The mutual accountability warranted by Chip's illness and Myra's affection and compassion soon gives way to genuine chemistry shared by each, manifesting a "something-more-than-friends" kind of bond as Myra seizes the opportunity she'd secretly longed for so long ago while there's still time.

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Berg is a very pleasant writer, "reassuringly predictable"* in her premise, story arc and resolution, depicting ordinary, anti-glamorous protagonists amidst equally run-of-the-mill situations. Though unpleasant and perceivably heartbreaking events are guaranteed to occur, rarely does the reader sense that Berg's heroines, in this case Myra, won't be able to overcome it. Emotional growth and enlightened revelations are major spotlight issues (i.e., Chip really can love Myra the way he's loved more attractive women, Myra really is cared for at large, even the most severe grief can be gotten over, etc.).

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*Publishers Weekly

There Goes . . .

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The Neighborhood / by S.K. Epperson

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Hospice nurse Abra Ansen thinks she's made a smart career move when she moves into the quiet home of bed-ridden Thomas Conlan, a man slowly dying of AIDS . . . or so she's been told. In actuality (and as Abra soon finds out), Mr. Conlan ails from a completely different illness; one that's just as deadly but far more infectious--smallpox. Supposedly a disease which was wiped out decades ago, Conlan suffers from a unusually volatile strain which has somehow been re-introduced into the natural world. But why would such a bizarre illness be attached such a harmless old man? And why the lie in the first place?

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Meanwhile the world outside concerns itself with the sudden disappearance of Cindy Melo, a local teenage girl seemingly having vanished into thin air a little over a week ago. The search for the missing girl ongoing, Abra steadily begins to learn more about her new neighbors; things like retired cop Zane Campbell's home business involving prosthetic eyeballs and creepy Craig Peterwell's assortment of exotic pets all eerily interconnected somehow amidst some very strange and sinister dealings. Slowly does Abra realize what's truly at stake concerning Mr. Conlan and his neighbors.

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S.K. (Sharon K.) Epperson may be the best kept secret within the thriller genre and, more particularly, within the context of psychological suspense. From the very first page all the way to the end, the story is uncannily original with the reader perpetually drawn to the plot. Yet unlike many traditional thrillers where action and suspense are the central attributes, it's the characters--primarily Abra, Zane and Craig--which evoke the most intrigue, Epperson's well-crafted involvement of each's motives and their successive contributions to the story subtley making for a rewarding read.