Caitlin, her brother Sean, and their parents are thrown into a nightmare every family fears. Caitlin is abducted, leaving her brother Sean injured by the side of the road.
Very few clues, no explanation as to why she was taken. No ransom demand, no witnesses, nothing.

Thus spirals her family into a state of living without living. Will the family survive her disappearance? Will the parents' marriage survive? Each of the characters deals with its own set of emotions, the most prevalent of which is guilt. Guilt she got taken. Guilt they allowed her (age 18) to go for a run. Her brother's guilt that he was unable to save her. The parents' marriage starts to fracture. Months go by. In the meantime, we meet Caitlin with her captor and see the nightmare she is living, separate, but connected to her family's nightmare.

It's a page turner and shows good character development as the story goes along. Kept my interest. The only fault I'd assign is that I would have liked to have known what happened once they all got back together...what's the next chapter?

This was a very interesting premise...Peter Leigh, man of God goes to distant planet to interact and share the Good News with alien beings. It was enjoyable, but for me, it took too long to get to the basic differences between the Oasans (aliens, native to the distant planet) and human beings. It also tends to leave you hanging because we read emails from Peter's wife Bea, about many tragic disasters that are befalling Earth while Peter's away. However, we never get to see what is causing those disasters, what happens to Bea as Peter prepares to return to Earth, or what happens to Grainger, another member of the team integral to the story. I enjoyed reading it, but felt unsatisfied with the ending. Too many questions remain unanswered.

I really don't know what to say about this book...it's about a family of 4 kids, with an OCD and possibly agoraphobic/bipolar mother, and tolerant but feckless father and children with all kinds of problems. It was very hard to like any of the people in this book. The mom was very narcissistic to the detriment of her marriage, her hoarder-to-the-max home, her children and her own health. I follows the family from young children to adulthood with their own children. There's a lesbian affair, a suicide, a father who hooks up with the mother of his grandchild, philandering husband, drug-dealing brother. You name it, it's in there. The writing was good, I just couldn't feel to much about any of the people in the book. It ended on a good note, but you had to slog through immense drama to get to it.

When you read the back of the book, you assume this is a sunshine and roses type book. It's not...it's more about how the donor's family and the recipient's family both cope with the event. They do intersect at one point, and it becomes a focus of the book.
However, it's not the only focus. There's spousal abuse, etc, among the other themes.
I don't want to give too much away, but it was a good, fast read, without being too maudlin.

Once We Were Brothers is an impressive (I'm assuming) first offer by Mr Balson. It sucks you in from the first chapter and you will be up all night reading it. It follows a potential lawsuit, going back and forth between the past and the present as the two separate and then collide. Ben Solomon wants to sue a person he claims was once his 'brother' during pre-America's entry into WWII, who is now a wealthy philanthropist in Chicago. What we don't know is: Is the 'brother' who Ben Solomon says he is? and, Did he do the things Ben Solomon says he did? It follows a village in Poland from pre-Nazi takeover, through the end of WWII, into post-WWII and present Chicago. Compelling read--a mystery, with a historical lesson. We all know what happened, in an esoteric way, in Germany and the smaller East European countries under Hitler's rule, but after reading this, you will KNOW viscerally.
I HIGHLY recommend it...you will not be sorry.

But, I ended up enjoying it. It was interesting that the diagnosis of Freya, the baby in the book, is the same diagnosis of the author's own baby girl. According to the afterward, this is the only similarity. It was an unusual premise, but probably more true to life than would appear, that the entire book revolves around Freya's birth, the defect of the baby, and how everyone reacts to it. The interplay between the parents as they grow to love the baby, is interesting as well. In general, I enjoyed it, and also enjoyed the character development of Anna's mother, as she also grows to love the baby. The characters in the village where the two protagonists buy the farmhouse, are also fun. All in all, it was a slightly uncomfortable, at first, premise, but it grows on you

This book was a surprise...it started out slow (the letter at the beginning piques your interest) but the details about crew were slowish. But toward the middle it picks up, and you get swept into the lives of the main characters. It's written from two viewpoints-the past and the present, interwoven into several members of the rowing crew and their experiences at an upper crust prep school. Rob and John, both members of the crew, meet, are on the same team, and become involved in a tragedy which affects both their lives. It's not just a book about sports, so don't let that stop you from reading it. It is a book about how the sport cements relationships, and teaches lessons for the future. As I said, it started out slow, but it picks up in the middle and the ending is definitely worth it. I recommend it.

I loved this book. It is a study in ethics versus law in the case of Nicole, who is very ill, and her cousin, almost like a brother, Art, who has the means to possibly change her life.
You watch as the family units both draw close, then start to unravel as the situation intensifies.
Each of us, as we read the book, will make judgments about what we do if we were Nicole or Art...but the bottom line is that they both did what they felt they had to do to protect their family.
Highly recommend this book. Will be a great book for book club discussions.

Loved this book as well...the cover reviews compare it to Gillian Flynn's 'Gone Girl'...very much along the same lines. This book kept me up at night to finish it. You don't know at first just who can be trusted, who is deceiving, who is being deceived. As the author builds the psychological profiles of the main characters, you have no idea who is 'normal' and who has a screw loose. Fun, fun read, and will keep your interest through the entire book. The ending is a shocker. Highly recommend this book.

I enjoyed this book a lot...as with most first offers, I'm sure if Ms Masterman continues this series, there will be more character development. But it was enjoyable to read about a woman of a certain age who was tough and smart. Good book if you like Sue Grafton type heroines, and lots of action. I read it cover to cover in one sitting. I'd recommend it.