The Drop by Dennis Lehane

This is the second Dennis Lehane book I've read; I first became interested in him when Mystic River came out and he did a radio interview in which he talked about his experiences working in the child welfare system.

But everyone's a grown-up in this book.  I really did enjoy it, although I found the violence surprising and somewhat unsettling, as I did when I read A Drink Before the War (although not as much).

But for all its grit, this novel has a great happy ending payoff that includes a dog.  What more could you ask for?  Good writing, deft characterization, suspense, happy ending and a dog!

This is an easy, quick read.  I think it took me three to four hours.  It has something for everyone: suspense, a heist, a mystery, a romance and a dog!  Oh, and it starts over Christmas!  If you like suspense in an urban setting, and you don't mind a happy ending, I would definitely recommend this novel.  

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital

I've just begun this Pulitzer Prize-wining nonfiction account of Memorial Hospital in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

It's already easy to see that the health professionals inside the hospital went from feeling confident about their ability to ride out the storm to being frightened and stressed by the heat and other factors due to the loss of electricity for several days.

It seems that there are some obvious policy recommendations.  Hospital generators need to be reliable for at least four days rather than hours.  Hospitals need to designate on-site decision makers, and need to prepare them for making major administrative decisions if they are not hospital administrators.  Perhaps hospital administrators should be required to remain on-site during hurricanes and other storms than can remove electricity, and should be required to try to get to the hospital if the electricity goes out.

White Princess by Philippa Gregory

I read this title for a book group, and I didn't expect to like it since I know quite a bit already about Tudor history and thought I would not enjoy a fictionalized account, especially one with elements of the supernatural.

However, I was very pleasantly surprised.  I found the story interesting.  As some reviewer of The White Queen said, Gregory makes The War of the Roses/Tudor history interesting despite the fact that we know how it ends.

I was a little disconcerted by the point of view of Elizabeth of York:  her view of Richard III as a tragically lost lover and her view of Perkin Warbeck, which really surprised me (she views Perkin Warbeck as being, possibly, her brother Richard, the Duke of York (presumed lost/murdered in the Tower of London).  For one thing, I had not thought that there was any uncertainty about whether Richard, Duke of York had perished in the Tower.  I do remember reading somewhere, with some incredulity, that there is some thought that Richard III had an illegitimate son who succeeded in escaping notice.

Gregory's characterization of Margaret of Beaufort as an old battle ax may not be far off the mark although it does not quite answer the question I've always had, which is, how did Margaret Beaufort think that she could put her son on the throne given that the Beauforts were expressly excluded from the succession by an act of parliament.  Perhaps the answer is simply "that was then, this is now."

Her portrait of Henry VII as a man obsessed with keeping his crown perhaps explains the "bloody" nature of the Tudors.

I was a little disappointed by the ending, which seemed to me to trail off without conclusion.  However, it occurred to me that no ending is perhaps needed when you know that another chapter in the saga will appear in a year's time.

Given that this story is the basis for Games of Thrones and many other books, I perhaps should not be so surprised that Gregory has been able to mine it for much more drama.