‘No Time to Wave Goodbye’ (book)

In “Deep End,” Jacquelyn Mitchard tells the story of Beth Cappadora and her family’s struggle to deal with unending heartache after 3-year-old Ben is kidnapped. It’s a beautifully written story that deserved its best-seller status.

Now Mitchard takes up the family’s story years later in a sequel. The children are grown. Ben is married, with a child of his own. After all these years, he’s still feeling uncomfortable with his birth family.

Ben’s brother, Vincent, a troubled teen when last seen, is now a documentary filmmaker experiencing his first big success. His film, “No Time to Wave Goodbye,” looks at five families of kidnapped children who have never learned what happened to them.

At the moment of triumph, the family again plunges into disaster. Ben’s baby is kidnapped.

Mitchard tells the story in poignant detail. The characters are well drawn, but the premise is strained.

‘Black Gives Way to Blue’ (music)

AC/DC did it. So did Black Sabbath. Van Halen did it, but not everyone was happy. INXS didn’t do it. Nor could Queen. And Motley Crue probably shouldn’t have even tried.

The rock bands who succeed in a second wind without their original lead singers are few and far between. Alice in Chains is hoping they’ll beat the odds.

The Seattle-based rockers this week release the 11-song “Black Gives Way to Blue,” their first CD since the 2002 drug overdose death of their lead singer, Layne Staley.

The quartet includes Mike Inez on bass, Sean Kinney on drums and new guy William DuVall, who takes on co-guitar and co-vocalist duties.

The album cover shows an unsentimental, almost medical drawing of a human heart, and it doesn’t take the band long to acknowledge their personal pain.

‘Love Unstoppable’ (music)

Just when you think Hammond has fully mined his expressions of love for God, he comes out with another album full of treasures.

On “Love Unstoppable,” Hammond’s high-ringing tenor, circuitous phrasing and jazzy chord changes are applied to joyous, uptempo praise tunes and the intimate, slow-burning worship songs that his listeners have come to appreciate in his nearly 30 years in the industry.

Thematically, the album could be a “Vol. 2” to “Somethin’ ‘Bout Love” released in 2004. “Awesome God” is a funky send up that sets the tone, and the gentle refrains of “You’re Good” show Hammond cozily in worship leader mode.

Check this track out: On “Lost in You Again,” Hammond again welcomes us into the intimacy of his private prayers. The song’s slightly off-kilter rhythms make it sound like a serenade.