Spring break is a good time for reading

You can dive into the sometimes funny, mostly gritty life of a Los Angeles cop (Joseph Wambaugh), the moral complexities of an organ transplant (Jodi Picoult), the social politics of a horse barn or the glittering and salacious New York publishing scene (Alex Witchel). Take your pick.

by Jodi Picoult (Atria, 447 pages, $26.95)

You'll be tempted to race through Picoult's latest, but don't. Savor the story and all the complex moral issues it raises. June Nealon's life has been a series of tragedies: Her husband is killed in a car accident. Her second husband and older daughter die violently in a confrontation with Shay Bourne, a handyman she hires for a project. Her other daughter, Claire, will die unless she gets a heart transplant. Bourne has been convicted of the murders and sentenced to die. In prison, he sees a TV report on Claire's plight and becomes convinced that he must donate his heart to save her. Meanwhile, Bourne has become a messiah figure reminiscent of John Coffey in Stephen King's "The Green Mile" by performing what appear to be miracles and spouting Christlike teachings. June must decide: Will she accept the heart of this man she despises to save her only living child? And the courts must decide: Does Bourne have the right to make such an offer? The story takes many surprising twists and turns, and the last sentence is a shocker. But don't rush to get there.

JUDY ROMANOWICH SMITH, NEWS DESIGNER

by Joseph Wambaugh (Little, Brown, 352 pages, $26.99)

Hollywood you know about. "Crows" are Community Relations Office police who do outreach work and look into citizens' complaints for the Los Angeles Police Department. As the novel unfolds, various Crows and regular cops -- a pair of surfers, a wannabe actor, a candidate for Alcoholics Anonymous among them -- cross paths with Ali and Margot Aziz, a strip-club owner and his ex-stripper wife. They're going through a messy divorce with lots of money and a child at stake -- and with homicide on their minds. To its credit, the novel is long on Wambaugh's stock in trade: anecdotes of cop life, some funny, some unusual, some wrenching. There's a hijacked ice cream truck, a bird seized in a cockfight raid that's left in a hated police supervisor's car, a horrid killing in an immigrant family that you won't soon forget. But "Hollywood Crows" comes up short in providing reasons to care about any of the key characters. It's only at the very end, as Wambaugh ties up loose ends, that a bit of redeeming humanity emerges.

STEVE RIEL, NATION AND WORLD EDITOR

The latest novel by the "Shopaholic" series author offers a not particularly memorable soap opera of a young woman with plot-convenient "severe focal retrograde amnesia." Lexi Smart wakes up in a London hospital, sure that it's 2004 and that she has "the worst job title ever," "Dracula" teeth and a jerk boyfriend. But it's 2007, and she has a successful career, pearly whites and a rich, handsome developer husband -- none of which she can remember acquiring. Her life somehow has fallen "magically into place." But why does she feel no connection to her fastidious husband or their stunning loft? How did she get promoted so quickly? Why do her old friends hate her? What is the nature of her relationship with a sexy architect named Jon? And how did her sweet little sister become a juvenile delinquent? Once Lexi starts trying to unravel these mysteries and solve a huge work crisis, "Remember Me?" finally gets interesting. It's too bad Kinsella didn't fast-forward through the tedious setup.

MARCI SCHMITT, FEATURES LAYOUT EDITOR

by Alex Witchel (Knopf, 294 pages, $23.95)

The New York media and publishing scene is full of glitter and prestige, at least on the pages of Witchell's "The Spare Wife." It's also full of juicy details about the wealthy and the powerful, what they wear, where they live and with whom they sleep. Witchell ought to know: She's a staff writer for the New York Times, wife of columnist Frank Rich and author of an earlier novel, "Me Times Three." Ponce Morris, title character, is, at 42, an attractive, rich widow dubbed "the Spare Wife" because she is able to maintain genuine friendships with both people in a couple. Former model and trophy wife, she's an attorney who does pro bono work for good causes and is actually a nice person with enough flaws to keep it interesting. When sex kitten and would-be magazine writer Babette Steele makes it her ill-conceived mission to achieve status by revealing that Ponce is more than just a "spare wife," friendships are mangled, marriages threatened, reputations sullied. But because none of the main characters is truly likable -- even Shawsie, Ponce's plain-Jane smart-girl best friend and the most sympathetic character, tears into Ponce with misguided and somewhat selfish rage near the climax -- you won't find yourself taking sides with anyone in particular. And still, you won't want to put down this flashy, fast-paced story of people you want to watch, but wouldn't want to be.

SHERRI HILDEBRANDT, COPY EDITOR

Kristi Bentz has been beaten and chained, tormented by psychos and nearly killed -- twice -- by neurotic madmen. And now the 27-year-old is dabbling in danger again. This time, she returns to her alma mater, All Saints College, over the objections of her famous and overprotective cop father. The headstrong (and, of course, stunningly gorgeous and athletic) Bentz wants nothing of it. She's convinced that an untold crime story lurks behind the disappearance of four coeds -- "lost souls" with troubled pasts and few who cared about them. Before long, Bentz is immersed in vampires and cults, and spends her nights trying to figure out what's up with two-faced students, hunky professors and creepy college administrators, who happen to be men of the cloth. Jackson balances her taste for the dark side and a predictably cheesy romance with a wickedly delightful foray into vanity. Botox would have been so much simpler.

JACKIE CROSBY, BUSINESS RETAIL REPORTER

by Danielle Steel (Delacorte, 323 pages, $27)

Steel cranks out bestsellers every few months, and this book feels like it. Steel herself defined the book's problem in the first chapter, as heroine Carole Barber, an Oscar-winning movie star, attempts to write her first novel. "The story line was eluding her, the characters still seemed vague, the outcome and development seemed to be tied in a knot somewhere in her head." Barber travels to Paris, where she is nearly killed by terrorists and loses her memory, but overcomes it all and finally delves into writing that book. Unfortunately, Steel doesn't delve at all. Her characters remain vague and the plot absurd. "Honor Thyself" was my first -- and last-- Danielle Steel novel.

KAREN LUNDEGAARD, ASSISTANT BUSINESS EDITOR

With compassion and keen observations, first-time author Kyle shows the many ways in which love splits us open, with sometimes disastrous results. Her protagonist, Alice Martin, is a 12-year-old beset by loss. Her idolized older sister has run off with a rodeo rider, her mother has retreated to the safety of her bedroom, and a classmate has drowned. With an intellect to match her longing, Alice tries to fill those gaps, only to discover that her new friends -- a privileged riding student, a woman boarding her horse at the stable and a dissolute teacher -- are doing the same. Like her grieving father, Alice tries to focus on moving forward and keeping their stable afloat. Both, however, find a way that's devoid of sentimentality to nurture and learn from their broken dreams. Alice's unlikely deliverance at the end is the only false note in an otherwise wonderful debut. Event: 7:30 p.m. Tue., Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls.

KATHE CONNAIR, FEATURES COPY EDITOR