Christy's Bookshelf.

Mockingjay

Suzanne Collins

Scholastic Press

557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 3999

9780439023511, $8.99 Hardcover, $5.98 www.scholasticlibrary.com

The third book in The Hunger Games finds Katniss, along with her family and Gale, living with the rebels in District 13. Katniss has no idea what has become of Peeta and fears he is dead. She unwillingly and reluctantly has become the symbol of the rebellion and the rebel leaders urge her to exploit this via video feeds to the 12 Districts. Katniss at first feigns infirmity but eventually caves in after negotiating an agreement with the rebel leaders that they will not harm Peeta or the other Hunger Games survivors if they assume leadership. Much as she was manipulated by the government, Katniss now finds herself in the same circumstance with the rebel leaders. When Peeta is rescued, Katniss is greatly relieved, but Peeta has been tortured and brainwashed to the point that he is no longer the same person. Katniss vows to kill President Snow for what he has done to Peeta and joins the rebels in trying to overthrow the government. When her chance comes to kill the president, Katniss does something unexpected that could lead to her death.

Collins ruthlessly depicts the war between the Capitol and rebels in a grisly, violent fashion, leaving nothing to the imagination. Once again, she proves adept at peeling away layers of personas of pertinent characters. Katniss is portrayed as a young woman who wants to live a simple life and does not care for her perception as a heroic young woman ready to lead the cause for freedom yet finds herself thrust again and again into this role. The ending will surprise some readers, although this reviewer sees no other way it could have concluded.

Penumbra

Carolyn Haines

St. Martin's Minotaur

c/o St. Martin's Press

175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010

www.stmartins.com

0312351607, $TBA, Kindle $2.99, www.amazon.com

Post World War II, Jade Dupree owns her own beauty shop and is also the undertaker's assistant in the small Southern town of Drexel, Mississippi. Jade is half black, her white mother Lucille Longier having handed her over to her black handyman and his wife to raise. Jade's white half sister Marlena is married to Lucas Bramlett, the wealthiest man in Drexel. Although Jade's skills as a hairdresser are sought after by the rich, white women of Drexel, she understands she will never be considered anything but black and these women are not above pointing this out. When Marlena is brutally raped and her daughter disappears, Jade begins to spend time with her sister, hoping to find out who raped her and where her daughter is. Sheriff's deputy Frank Kimble is investigating the case and he and Jade share an attraction for one another which Frank is more than willing to pursue but Jade reluctant.

Haines excels at portraying the temperamental atmosphere of a small Southern town's racial infrastructure. There is a melancholy cast to the story, told from Jade's point of view, that brings to heart the biases blacks faced during that era, as well as the prejudices some held against whites and their own race. The mystery isn't a complex one and more tertiary to the story than the complexities of and interactions between characters.

Christy Tillery French

Reviewer