Now playing at a bookstore or library near you, the paperbacks on which several current movies are based:THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN; By Jacquelyn Mitchard; Signet; $7.50.
Mitchard's best-selling first novel about a mother whose toddler son disappears is utterly absorbing. Although it is as suspenseful as any thriller -- what really happened to Ben Cappadora? -- Mitchard is most interested in the mysteries of family and identity. The Cappadoras, who are shaped and altered over the years by Ben's absence, emerge as real, flawed human beings with messy, complicated lives. When Beth Cappadora spots a 12-year-old boy she thinks is her missing son, the resulting events are not predictable. They are, however, wholly satisfying.
OCTOBER SKY; By Homer H. Hickam Jr.; Bantam; $6.99.
Titled "Rocket Boys" when it was issued in hardcover last fall, Hickam's memoir tells the affecting story of his teenage years in the small mining town of Coalwood, W.Va. Inspired by the sight of Sputnik, Hickam and his buddies launch their own rocket-building program, encouraged by their science teacher if not by Hickam's distant dad, who said, "Well, don't blow yourself up." They don't -- although a garden fence and some cooking pots don't fare too well. Eventually, though, their rockets soar, and Hickam goes on to become a NASA engineer.
HILARY AND JACKIE; By Hilary du Pre and Piers du Pre; Balantine; $12.95.
Jacqueline du Pre received a cello for her 5th birthday, made her professional debut at 16 and then had a brilliant musical career until she was crippled by the multiple sclerosis that eventually claimed her at age 42. Here, her siblings tell the behind-the-scenes story of their family, of how Jackie's talents and complexities affected their lives and relationships.
TRUE CRIME; By Andrew Klavan; Dell; $6.99
Frank Beachum is an auto mechanic convicted of killing a convenience store clerk and just 24 hours from being executed. Steve Everett is a renegade reporter with a drinking problem. The two mens' lives memorably intersect when Everett, at the last minute, is assigned to interview Beachum and becomes convinced of the prisoner's innocence. But can he prove it before time runs out? Klavan's tense, fast-paced tale also raises provocative questions about capital punishment.