I recommend "Sharp" to any reader who loves someone struggling with emotional or mental illness. The story is an insider's look at the painful descent into illness and back and how the illness affects everyone surrounding the author. The story often evoked tears and visceral feelings of fear, anger and frustration. I would enjoy following the author through a sequel!

"Cloudland" has all the ingredients for a terrific murder mystery. The ingredients, however, do not mix well. The storyline has the potential to be terrific. Instead, it merely average due, in large part, to poorly-developed, flat characters. Very few of the characters It is necessary to re-read sections of a number of the chapters because a number of the characters are fungible. As an avid reader of psychological thrillers, I expected subtle clues sprinkled randomly throughout the story to throw the reader off course and to make the reader want more.

"Ten Thousand Saints" centers around a group of down-on-their-luck teenagers and their dysfunctional extended families. Each of the characters, and indeed the entire book, lacks a sense of purpose. The adults in the story act primarily as grown-up teenagers and seem to be missing even the most basic parental instincts. Rather than provide their teens with appropriate guidance (followed up with appropriate discipline), the adults show little regard for providing familial structure.

Perhaps I was searching too hard for redemption in the story. The characters remain largely one-dimensional and unchanging at their core. As dysfunctional as the teenagers grow up in the story, there is little indication the cycle will be broken for the next generation.

Overall, the book is a fast read and quite good. The plot is very interesting and familiar. The plot twist is unexpected and delightful and converts a familiar story to a unique story. The only real weakness is a lack of character development in all but Tess' character. Perhaps such development is not necessary as the story is Tess plus the plot. However, a bit more rounding out of some of the other characters, particularly Crow and Whitney, would provide depth to the story to make it a great read.