Zoo Story

By Thomas French

The true story of Lowry Park Zoo of Tampa, Florida.
After some serious problems, with shabby exhibits and poor maintenance, Lowry Park Zoo reinvented itself, with new and better exhibits, key of which was the new elephant area, featuring five elephants, four of which are young elephants, straight from a reserve in Africa. These four elephants were removed from the local herd, which had grown to numerous for the limited resources of the reserve. The reserve managers didn't want to kill them and figured they would be better off in a zoo. And so they were shipped by plane from Africa to Florida to their new home at Lowry Park Zoo.
At the time of the elephants' arrival, Lowery Park Zoo was run by Lex Salisbury, a dynamic and tyrannical leader with a grand vision for the future of the zoo. His story ends rather sadly, when his ambitions extend too far and end up biting him in the ass, accused of dubious dealings and fired from his job and threatened with criminal charges.
But for the caretakers, it is all about the animals. Underpaid and overworked, these people love animals and put up with the minuses just because they want to be with the animals. It is really hard, demanding and draining work, especially when things don't go the way one would want. Things go bad, animals get sick and die and in one sad case, a tiger escaped and had to be killed.

This was quite an interesting and enlightening book, an intriguing look at what goes on behind the scenes at a zoo.
For another review, see http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2010/0721/Zoo-Story-Life-in-the-Garden-of-Captives.

Tuesday's Gone

By Nicci French

A social worker stops by a client's home to check up on her only to find the woman taking care of a dead man. The woman, who has some kind of brain disease, is incoherent and can't tell authorities who the man was or how he came to be in her apartment.
Detective Chief Inspector Karlson, who has previously worked with Frieda Klein, a psychotherapist, asks her to speak to the woman, who is now in the psychiatric hospital.
With Frieda's help, the man is identified as one Robert Poole and further investigation reveals that he was a con man with a whole list of victims, anyone of which may have murdered him.

This was an OK story. The main character, Frieda, comes off as a bit of a cold fish. She also seems to have some baggage, some to do with a previous case and some to do with her own past. I didn't really care for Frieda, I had more sympathy for the confused and tragic young woman living in the boat who I hoped very much would be rescued. All in all, not caring for the main character nor for how the story concludes, I will say it was only a fair read.