(Jane Rizzoli & Maura Isles, #8) Tess Gerritsen’s newest Rizzoli and Isles book is suspense fiction that could easily be a stand alone novel. Maura Isles lives a self-complicating lifestyle, quickly noted by her conflicting relationship with Father Daniel Brophy. This hidden relationship seems to be hidden only to herself, as almost all of her colleagues have knowledge of it.
The story begins with her attending a somewhat mediocre medical conference in the middle of nowhere Wyoming. It seems that part of her purpose for going is to clear her head and heart, so she might sort out the many conflicts influencing her life.
At the conference she meets an old colleague and his friends that persuade her to take a devil-may-care mini vacation to a ski-resort. She almost forces herself to see an attraction with her friend Doug to test the waters of her current relationship.
All the free-spirited intentions come to a screeching halt when the group falls prey to an unexpected blizzard and wrong turns while traveling up the mountain road.
The plot then takes a well deserved twist into the hands of some reclusive cult activity.
The novel makes a much needed detour from the relationship foray of the first part of the story. To say more would include spoilers...
Ice Cold delivers a believable time line of events, weather conditions, and possibilities for the gruesome. It is a quick read, which in my opinion was crunched into a much too compressed ending… which is why I gave it three stars. It was an easy four stars (or more) if not for the "avalanche" of events at the end.
Very well worth the time, with a high entertainment value!
Buy it, read it.
Praised as an alternative to the New Age Jesus presented in The Shack by W.P. Young, Rooms gives us another perspective of the relationship with the D...morePraised as an alternative to the New Age Jesus presented in The Shack by W.P. Young, Rooms gives us another perspective of the relationship with the Divine.
Our main character, Micah Taylor, has inherited a mysterious house build just for him on the Oregon coast. The announcement comes posthumously in the form of a letter from his long deceased great uncle Archie, that he barely remembers.
Micah is presented as a self-made man with personal assets in the multi-millions, in the limelight, admired, respected, and sought after for his elite cutting edge software. After a begrudged conversation with his father, Micah decides to visit his new asset and quickly sell it. Upon his first visit, he finds a 9000 sq/ft ocean view mansion that takes his breath away, and puts off turning the property over to a Realtor for dissolution.
Immediately, strange events begin to happen in the house that at first glance would be considered an extreme haunting. So strange that Micah seeks out local help for answers, and by chance meets Rick, a man with uncommon wisdom and a friendly disposition.
Other characters assemble and join with the house in attacking Micah's sanity and life choices.
Rooms then begins to present an image of God, Jesus, and His Spirit based on relationship instead of religion.
The next view of this relationship displays the Creator as one that allows us to suffer the consequences of our bad decisions. One theme religiously driven home was the parable of "The Pearl of Great Price" admonishing Micah to give up all to purchase a better life, or face rejection from the relationship with God he so desperately seeks. This theme seemed to ignore the fact that no worldly possession, no matter how vast can purchase the free gift of that relationship. The intention of the parable was to show how a Savior gave up his heavenly estate to purchase us, His pearl of great price.
Finally, Rooms will make the reader think and is highly recommended as well-written, heart felt, Christian fiction.(less)
The Angel of Darkness is easily compared to a late 1800's version of a "Criminal Minds" episode.
The story is set in Manhattan and the ...moreThe Angel of Darkness is easily compared to a late 1800's version of a "Criminal Minds" episode.
The story is set in Manhattan and the fringe area around New York, and includes many familiar historical and political characters, as well as businesses of the era.
The author does an excellent job of portraying the common "thought" of the era. At every juncture in history before the dawn of a new century (1897) there appears to be some mile-markers that resonate in the minds of the population. Some notable, some notorious. The author paints this well in his plot.
The story narration, comes from one of the characters, Steve Taggert (alias- "Stevepipe", given for his adept ability with an 11 inch piece of lead pipe). With only a few months to a year left to live, he looks into the past to give us the inside facts of how the tale unfolds.
Several viable characters quickly assemble themselves as a task force to apprehend an elusive and criminally manipulative villain by the name of Elspeth Hunter (alias- Libby Hatch), a ruthless mass murderer of children and black widow to a few hapless husbands.
The team: Psychologist- Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, an investigative journalist- John Schuyler Moore of the NY Times, a private investigator- Sara Howard, a pair of Jewish police investigators- Lucius and Marcus Isaacson, along with Stevie and Cyrus- Dr. Kreizler's assistants.
The story surrounds the detailed investigation, apprehension, and prosecution of their suspect.
The story is rich in content with frequent morbid and gruesome scenes for the macabre enthusiast and fairly fast paced for 626 pages.
The Angel of Darkness will seem to get off to a slow start to those which have already read part one, The Alienist, by Caleb Carr, but to those which are jumping in on this, part two, will be rewarded by a standalone sequel.
(less)
Loading...
