Noah' s Compass, by Anne Tyler

"In the sixty-first year of his life, Liam Pennywell lost his job." is the first sentence of Noah's Compass. Anne Tyler has always had a knack for capturing me from the start, but I found this hook extraordinarily effective.

Pennywell experiences a second disaster almost right away, and with these events, Tyler introduces us to another of her very human--quirky, selfish, out-of-it--characters, and his family, which is also singular; yet, isn't there some platitude about all families being crazy when viewed up close?

Another terrific read from one of my very favorite authors.

The Fifth Witness, by Michael Connelly

This is a Mickey Haller, The Lincoln Lawyer, novel.

In it, Haller takes the case of Lisa Trammel, a woman who is accused of murdering the banker that foreclosed on her house.

The plot is fascinating, as is the writing, and twists all the way to the end of a difficult court case for Haller.

The book features a terrific ending, and in no way disappoints. Connelly is a sure-fire writer of this type of fiction.

LA Times review