The browser: An Irish country Christmas

The sequel to "An Irish Country Doctor" and "An Irish Country Village" is just as sweetly hokey as the first two books. Set in County Down in Ulster in the 1960s, the series follows the day-to-day life of two doctors: the curmudgeonly old Fingal O'Reilly, and his new partner, the eager young Barry Laverty. There's not a lot of plot to these 500 pages, just a meandering story line about quirky patients, a Christmas raffle, a budding romance for the old codger and a floundering one for the young doc. Patrick Taylor's sometimes plodding writing is workmanlike at best, and you can see all the loose threads that he left dangling, no doubt to be picked up in a future sequel. But if you like small-town Ireland and you don't mind a little schlock, just look past the flaws and enjoy the trip. LAURIE HERTZEL, BOOKS EDITOR

Chris Adrian, a pediatric oncologist and Harvard divinity student, writes weird, bone-chilling tales that demand to be read straight through in one jittery sitting. His bent, however, is closer to philosophy than horror, his bizarre plots more Kafkaesque than Stephen King-ish. Among the freaky characters in this collection are the spirit of a dying woman who follows hospital workers around; a murderous little girl and her disturbed sidekick, a mute boy grieving for his dead twin; a girl whose father was killed on 9/11 who learns from an Ouija board that her teenage friend is the anti-Christ (it's news to him), and a changeling child possessed by evil spirits whose father can return him to his old, normal self only by stabbing himself. Sound sick? It all is, a little, but also fascinating and profound and inexplicably moving.