This is a book review about pleasant surprises, cherished longtime friends, and new genres. See, a couple weeks ago, I got together with one of my oldest good friends, Leah Beil. Leah and I went to high school together and I could write a book, let alone a blog entry, on our friendship and the concept that we’ve known each other for two decades.

After some cheerful catch-up chat, a -great- movie enjoyed together, and a stop at Barnes and Noble, where Leah used to work, she made me an interesting offer. She wanted to buy me a book. Sometimes friends come in and go out of your life, but it’s a real joy in the world when one person shows you genuine kindness over huge fractions of your lifetime. I know we’re only talking about a book here, but I found the offer really touching, so I made her a counter offer... I asked her to pick the book. I wanted her to pick a book that she loved; that represented her. She was surprised, but happy. Leah and I are both readers, to be sure, but we have quite dissimilar tastes in genres, no doubt, but I wanted to experience something that was meaningful to her, so she picked a book she said was one of her favorites.

Sleeping Beauty, by Phillip Margolin, was the book she selected. It’s a murder mystery and while it was a great portrait of Leah’s tastes in books, it reminded me of my grandmother, as she was ravenous reader, particularly of murder mysteries.

Leah presented it as a page turner, but it took me a few weeks to read only 20 pages. It always seemed like it was something I’d get around to later, but once I gave the book even the slightest of chances, Leah’s proclamation proved perfectly accurate. It took me 13 days to read just under two dozen pages. It took me two days to read the other 360 pages!!

I eagerly recommend this book to any fan of fiction, mystery, or thriller stories! I get nervous reviewing fictional books as I don’t want to give away the story, but in this case, the review requires a little set-up, simply because the ending is such a surprise!

I’m that guy who, a few minutes into a mystery movie, can normally figure out where the twists will be occurring or just generally speaking, who did it, but in this case, I really didn’t see the end coming.

Traveling across different points in time, the story paints the picture of Ashley Spencer and the unspeakable tragedy that strikes her life at the hands of a serial killer. I dare not say more, but the character development is of high quality and with the exception of some curious character over-development in places where the story really needed to move forward, I felt the pacing of the book was fairly good. Any time you think you’ve got the whole thing wrapped up only a third of the way into the book, you know you might be in for a wild ride for the rest of the novel and this was certainly true for Sleeping Beauty.

I’m not sure that this book will change my tastes to murder mysteries, necessarily. I still enjoy reading non-fiction and learning more about the world I live in or reading silly sci-fi stories that are pleasant little brain-vacations or fun romps, but I can’t deny this book's appeal.

Above all though, I remember why I have this book in the first place. Thanks are in order for my friend Leah. One of the joys of holding childhood friends close is remembering all the ways they’ve contributed to the richness of your life. The gift of this book is only one chapter in the story of our friendship... a book with many, many, many wonderful chapters!