Book Reviews

Watcher in the Woods by Kelley Armstrong

The fourth installment of the Rockton series by Kelley Armstrong follows Casey Duncan, a homicide detective in a small, isolated town set in the vast wilderness of the Yukon territory in Canada. Armstrong provides readers with her signature fast-paced thriller with shocking plot twists and turns. Rockton is a town, that to the world, doesn’t exist and is filled with citizens that have backgrounds worth escaping from. It is a place for those who need to run from their past, like Casey Duncan who escaped her dark history by becoming the town’s new homicide detective. Leaving off from the third book in the series, Casey is desperate to find help and turns to her estranged sister. Situations become further complicated when a US Marshal comes to the secret town demanding information on its citizens. The secrets of Rockton are plentiful and keeping a town with a group of potentially dangerous citizens running is more than enough work to keep detective Casey on alert. The Watcher in the Woods is a mystery thriller that will enthrall readers with the town of Rockton. This installment is riveting and may work as a standalone, but it is highly recommended to start with the first book The City of the Lost as the fourth book leaves off immediately after the cliffhanger of the third book. - Reviewed by Dalila

Cool Beans by Joe Yonan

Cool Beans is one of the few cookbooks I’ve come across that is devoted solely to bean cookery. The author takes a global approach in his recipe choices—the book includes 125 recipes, including Ethiopian, Ecuadorian, and Armenian specialties as well as the more familiar American, Mexican, and Indian dishes. The recipes as written are vegetarian, although carnivores could easily add the meat protein of their choice to almost any of the soups, casseroles, or sandwiches. Some of the ingredients called for may be a bit of a challenge to source in local grocery stores, but substitutions will be easy to make, and many of the items called for can be obtained online. The book could’ve definitely used more photos—as the old saying goes, “You eat with your eyes first,” but the variety of the recipes offsets this lack. Cool Beans is a good choice for cooks interested in finding inspiration to widen their bean dish repertoire. - Reviewed by Amy

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See You on Sunday by Sam Sifton 4

See You on Sunday is a cookbook that mostly concentrates on dishes that can feed a crowd, be it a family or a gathering of friends. However, the book is also useful in that it provides basic recipes for popular dishes that can easily be customized to the cook’s taste—and of course, when not cooking for a crowd, these recipes can be scaled down for fewer servings or made as is in order to provide leftovers for later meals. The author, who is the food editor of The New York Times, is known for encouraging playfulness and spontaneity when cooking; therefore, few exotic ingredients are included in the recipes and substitutions are easy to make. While this volume also suffers from a lack of photos, the book would make an excellent reference for a new cook with mostly traditional tastes. - Reviewed by Amy