The Children's Crusade by Ann Packer

I like this author. I recall Dive From Claussen's Pier fondly so couldn't wait to get this book from the Library. I did like it, but it frustrated me a bit. I wanted to understand Penny, the mother, a little better. While I respected her as a feminist and an artist trying to find her "soul" through her art, her character seemed distant and cold.
Here is a review from Booklist:

Told in the most elegant prose, this extraordinarily compassionate tale, set in the Bay Area and spanning 30 years, follows a doctor, his wife, and their four children. Bill Blair is a gifted healer and near-perfect role model who worries that his wife Penny's unhappiness will traumatize their children. With the birth of their fourth child, Penny is suddenly deeply unhappy with her domestic role and opts to turn their garden shed into an art studio, where she spends most of her time. The children, meanwhile, feel her absence deeply and try to lure her back into the fold, with mixed results. Years later, three of the children still reside near their family home: headstrong Robert is, like his father, a doctor; Rebecca, always so helpful as a child, is a psychiatrist; and dreamy, sensitive Ryan is a schoolteacher. But when rootless James, the youngest and always the problem child, suddenly turns up, the family is thrown into disarray and must find a way to recalibrate old dynamics. Packer fully captures the intimacy of this family's life and, by extension, the way the children's interactions impact their adult lives. A masterful portrait of indelible family bonds.

After I went back to read the Times reviews, I found that one reviewer really didn't like the book at all, but the other one did! Not surprising.

Missing You by Harlan Coban

Publisher's Weekly Review:

An unlikely bond develops between NYPD detective Kat Donovan and 19-year-old Brandon Phelps in this page-turning, stomach-churning standalone from bestseller Coben (Six Years). While exploring a dating site called YouAreJustMyType.com, Kat discovers the photo of Jeff Raynes, her ex-fiance, who dumped her 18 years earlier. Brandon's widowed mother, Dana Phelps, has also met someone from that site and is now missing. Several puzzles emerge. What happened to Jeff? What is happening to Dana? What is the real story behind the murder of Kat's cop father, Henry Donovan, years before? Who is Titus Monroe, the man pulling the strings on the dating site? Coben orchestrates his story perfectly as Kat begins to sense the magnitude of horror at work and Titus becomes aware of her investigation. Once again, Coben has brilliantly used a current trend, in this case Internet dating, to create a can't-put-it-down thriller.

The Stranger by Harlan Coben

Library Journal Review

Adam Price's biggest concern is whether his son will be part of the high school's traveling lacrosse team. During a team draft meeting, a stranger approaches Adam, giving him devastating news about his wife, Corinne. When Adam confronts Corinne, she asks him to give her some time and disappears, leaving him a cryptic text message. This begins Adam's nightmare as he tries to find out the truth, protect his sons, and find his wife. He must also come to realize what Corinne had told him: it isn't what he thinks, and many things are not what they seem. Coben (Missing You) deftly weaves many seemingly disconnected characters into one cohesive tale of suspense, with an expertly realized New Jersey setting. Verdict Coben's latest stand-alone is a great story for people who like to examine the ephemeral nature of those strings that bind our dreams to our reality. And while it is a slight departure from his usual type of thriller, this book will be enjoyed as well by Coben's many fans.

Us by David Nicholls

I loved this book!  Here's Kirkus Review:

In his picaresque fourth novel, Nicholls (One Day, 2010, etc.) artfully unveils 25 years of a couple's relationship.
Shortly before Douglas Petersen, his wife, Connie, and their 17-year-old son, Albie, are to take a “Grand Tour” of Europe, Connie makes a surprising announcement: She thinks their marriage “has run its course” and is thinking about leaving. Connie is panicked at the thought of Albie going to college at the end of summer, leaving her and Douglas alone in the house. Douglas, a straight-laced biochemist who “had skipped youth and leapt into middle age,” came along at a time when Connie, artistic and free-spirited but directionless, needed someone sensible. Despite the announcement, Connie still wants to take this holiday together, and as their journey begins, so does Douglas’ examination of his marriage. Part travelogue, part personal history, Douglas’ first-person narration intersperses humorous observations of their travels, during which Douglas usually finds himself out of step with his art-loving wife and son, with his wistful recounting of their back story, from his unlikely courtship to his recent positioning as a misfit in his family of three. After a ruinous morning in Amsterdam, when Albie unwisely confronts a trio of arms dealers and Douglas intervenes in a way that infuriates his family, Albie runs away, and the “Grand Tour,” deemed a failure, comes to an end. Yet before it’s too late, Douglas seizes a chance to find his son, win back the affections of his wife, and make this journey, both literal and figurative, a heroic one after all. Nicholls is a master of the braided narrative, weaving the past and present to create an intricate whole, one that is at times deceptively light and unexpectedly devastating. Though the narration is self-conscious at first, it gradually settles into a voice that is wistful, wry, bewildered and incisive, drawing a portrait of a man who has been out of his league for a long time.
Evocative of its European locales—London, Paris, Amsterdam, Venice, Madrid—and awkward family vacations everywhere, this is a funny and moving novel perfect for a long journey.

The Harder They Come by T.C. Boyle

Not my favorite Boyle book, but I did enjoy it.  As usual, Boyle explores lots of themes - and the environment plays a big part, too. There are three interesting characters in this book and one "real" hero from the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Sten Stenson, the 70 year old ex-Marine, recently retired as a high school principal and on a trip to Costa Rica, murders a man who was robbing their entire tour group. Sten becomes a hero as a result and when he returns home to Mendocino, CA, continues to be recognized as one by the locals.  He soon finds his life complicated by the antics of his schizophrenic son Adam, who is delusional and unstable and hooks up with an woman involved in a right wing anarchist group.  Adam also believes he is John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition who was a true survivalist.Lots of interesting ideas here, as usual.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Waited a long time to get this book from the Library. Everyone is reading it and it's a fast and furious read about some disturbing events and characters. I would label it a "Gone Girl" wanna-be, but it's actually quite different, in the end. (USA Today actually called it "the next Gone Girl.")
It's a fast and compelling read, told from the point of view of the three women in the book: Rachel, Anna and Meghan. It's also told over the course of time, but jumps back and forth, which made me have to go back and refer to the dates from time to time. Luckily, each chapter is marked by the narrator and the date, even the time of day. Events and dates are very important in the unfolding of this story.
The last 100 pages move quickly and I had to read them in one evening; I couldn't put the book down.
In the end, I am glad I read it for what it is - a nicely crafted intriguing book about some really unpleasant women. In the end, Rachel ends up in your good graces. She's very flawed, but you sympathize with her in the end.

Canada by Richard Ford

I had never read a novel by Richard Ford, but he's long been on my "want to read" list and now I wonder why I waited so long. He is a creative writer who really gets down into the characters depicted in emotionally engaging writing.
This book is told from the point of view of Dell Parsons, who looks back on his life and one big event that changed the entire course of a life that could have been quiet, uneventful.

“First, I’ll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later. The robbery is the more important part, since it served to set my and my sister’s lives on the courses they eventually followed. Nothing would make complete sense without that being told first.”

Right away the reader is hooked. But then it's the writing, not the story, that keeps you hooked. Again, from the NY Times review:

"But “Canada” is blessed with two essential strengths in equal measure — a mesmerizing story driven by authentic and fully realized characters, and a prose style so accomplished it is tempting to read each sentence two or three times before being pulled to the next."

Time to pick up another Ford novel. Sorry I waited so long!