Little Bee

• Chris Cleave
• Amazon Link

I stumbled on this gem, while I was trying to fill my cart in Amazon to get to the $25 minimum that would get my books shipped for free. This one was highly recommended by all the top Newspaper critics and nominated for a bunch of awards. The race to make a movie had begun as well and for me that instills a sense of urgency as I am loathe to read a book after I have seen the movie. The whole premise of the book is to tease the reader with a little information that something ominous has transpired in the little protagonist's past and the author is going to release this key information at his own pace.

Now for the real treat; the book is "un-put-downable". I normally take weeks to finish a book and am embarrassed to admit that often-times the weeks spill over to months. But once I started this book there was no stopping. I had to force myself to pause after a couple of hundred pages to go to bed, only to wake up and pick it up again until there were no pages left to read. The little girl who is aptly named "Little Bee" has a story that is dripping with horrors and atrocities that you are compelled to turn the pages to learn about. The story is alternately narrated by the two main women characters in the book and it is one smooth passage. The horrors of the past are revealed in measured doses and the reader is hooked from page one. This one is a guaranteed crowd pleaser and it is easy to see how it is recommended by all the major critics and has been on the New York Times Bestseller List for several weeks now. Read this book and you will not be disappointed.