Where is your Bookmark?

[Carol]

The Cyclops Initiative By David Wellington
5★'s

From The Book:
To save an innocent friend, soldier and spy Jim Chapel will risk his own life and reputation to stop a deadly conspiracy from threatening the country. Jim Chapel pledged his life to protect his country from its enemies. But now, the one-armed Special Forces soldier turned spy is on the wrong side of the law. The person he trusts most in the world, the brilliant hacker known only as Angel, is suspected of terrorism. When his boss calls for Angel’s arrest, Chapel—certain it’s a frame job—has only one option: to go rogue. To protect Angel—a woman he’s never actually met—Chapel must clear her name. But first he has to find her, before a deadly Marine sniper, a drone aircraft gone feral, and the entire intelligence community closes in. With the aid of old friends and his ex-lover Julia, the search to find who framed Angel leads Chapel deep into the dark and lethal underbelly of the covert intelligence world . . . to a conspiracy with deep roots that shocks even this hardened veteran—and a plan that will destroy the United States as we know it if it succeeds.

My Thoughts:

The Cyclops Imitative has many sub plots going at the same time and characters that constantly overlap between good and bad. Introduced into this story is the character of Brent Wilkes ...a Marine sniper that works on the theory of "find, fix, finish", and will kill on command without a second thought. Jim Chapel is a one-armed Army vet working for the same people as Brent Wilkes but his philosophy is to use his wits and his sniper training and kill as a last resort. It becomes obvious that the two are going to have to combine their skills if they are going to survive, save their comrades and protect the nation they would both die for. Also combined into the story is an interesting contract between present and past generations and how America honored her returning soldiers. Author, David Wellington summed it up well in his quote about the book...“I wanted to write about how those veterans who lost limbs still have a meaningful life. I hoped I showed how they cope differently, that their life will never be easy, and now it is much more complicated. For me, the struggle they are going through is just as heroic as anything they did on the battlefield. We as Americans should understand that war is so complicated, dangerous, and serious. It is not as depicted in the video games that turn it into a cartoon.”

[Carol]

Motion to Suppress by Perri O'Shaughnessy
Nina Reilly series Book #1
4.5★'s

From The Book:
Returning from her late shift as a barmaid at a casino in Lake Tahoe, Misty Patterson struck her violently jealous husband in self-defense. She admits that–but did she kill him? She says she can’t remember. Like so many times before, Misty blacked out and the rest of the evening is a blank. Now her husband has disappeared, leaving behind a trail of blood, and she’s the number-one murder suspect with no one to turn to for help.

San Francisco attorney Nina Reilly is also on the run—from a bad marriage and a worse career setback. Relocated to Lake Tahoe, Nina is resolved to recover her spirit, give her young son a secure home, and build up a small solo practice. But, when Misty Patterson walks in the door, a blond Barbie doll of a cocktail waitress accused of murder, it triggers a harrowing series of events that will change both women’s lives forever.

My Thoughts:
In this first book of the Nina Reilly series we are introducted to Nina who is a truly likeable character. We learn how Nina's marriage to Jack ends, and how as a newly-single mom, heads off to Tahoe to start a new life. We are also meet Sandy Whitefeather, Nina's receptionist, Nina’s brother Matt Reilly and his family.

Usually first novels are set in larger towns but Lake Tahoe works out well for the setting. I liked how the author provided so many possible suspects for Anthony’s murder. She never ruled out Misty or Anthony’s ex-wife, her husband, Misty's lover, Misty's therapist and his wife, and employees at the casino where the couple worked all have possible motives. Even Misty's parents cast suspicion on themselves with their strange behavior. There's enough crime to form a great story and deliver a good level of suspense right up to the trial. The court proceedings are quite dramatic, similar to that which you would find on television. Real justice is rarely that exciting. The story is easy to follow and relatively light, making this a quick, fun read.

[Carol]

The Burn Palace by Stephen Dobyns
2.5★'s

The novel is set in a quiet little Rhode Island town called Brewster but the opening is anything resembling quiet. A nurse…Alice “Spandex”…so called for her shapely uniforms is the duty nurse in the maternity ward and has managed to lose a newborn baby while she was “entertaining” one of the doctors. The bassinet isn’t empty however…it now contains a six-foot snake…harmless in it’s nature…but able to produce hysterics in Alice Spandex. Not so much as the baby is gone…eaten by the snake is Alice’s opinion…but she is now in danger of loosing her job if she tells the truth. Then Woody Potter arrives on the scene and finds the hospital is full of cops checking under beds and in broom closets for snakes. Woody, a newly single Desert Storm veteran is known locally for having a cool head and a deceptively overwhelmed demeanor that makes him stand out as the novel’s hero. Woody can’t figure out the local’s reaction and that in the crucial early moments of the investigation, people are acting as if the nonexistent snakes…Woody doesn’t believe for a moment that the hospital is crawling with reptiles of any type… are more important than the missing baby.

Since paranoia and mass panic are the main themes throughout the book…the reader is set for the remainder…to believe anything. The book has an enthusiastic endorsement by Stephen King so that helps to add to the expected excitement. Unfortunately the book seemed doomed from the first few pages after the snakes. It had a mechanical feel to it and way, way, way too much character introduction. This type of hoped for horror works best when it comes quickly and is to the point. This drags out for 464 pages. I have read this author’s Church of Dead Girls and Boy in the Water and I assure you they far surpass this…so I know he’s capable of so much more.

[Marilyn]

July 15, 2016 Currently Reading:

TEXT - The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman and Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult for a library book club

Personal AUDIO - Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

[Carol]

Her Final Breath by Robert Dugoni
Tracy Crosswhite series Book #2
5★'s

From The Book:
Homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite has returned to the police force after the sensational retrial of her sister’s killer. Still scarred from that ordeal, Tracy is pulled into an investigation that threatens to end her career, if not her life. A serial killer known as the Cowboy is killing young women in cheap motels in North Seattle. Even after a stalker leaves a menacing message for Crosswhite, suggesting the killer or a copycat could be targeting her personally, she is charged with bringing the murderer to justice. With clues scarce and more victims dying, Tracy realizes the key to solving the murders may lie in a decade-old homicide investigation that others, including her captain, Johnny Nolasco, would prefer to keep buried. With the Cowboy on the hunt, can Tracy find the evidence to stop him, or will she become his next victim?

My Thoughts:
This, the second book in the Tracy Crosswhite series is just as good, if not better than first...My Sister's Grave. Robert Dugoni is fast becoming one of my favorite authors....and Tracy Crosswhite one of my favorite characters. The action is well paced and suspects are everywhere. Just when you think you have it all sorted out...the focus changes. There are also plenty of the "good guys" that are less then they should be and you can spend some time hoping they "get what's coming to them" also. Anyone that enjoys a good suspense thriller needs to add this to their collection. The story flows smoothly without anything to take you away from the characters. Several are easily liked while others are easily despised. A well earned 5 stars.

[Carol]

Noah's Wife by Lindsay Starck
3.5★'s

Book Description:
When young minister Noah and his dutiful wife arrive at their new post in the hills, they've reached a gray and wet little town where it’s been raining for as long as anyone can remember. Noah’s wife is determined to help her husband revive this soggy congregation but soon finds her efforts thwarted by her eccentric new neighbors, among them an idiom-wielding Italian hardware store owner, a towering town matriarch, and a lovelorn zookeeper determined to stand by his charges. Overwhelmed, Noah’s wife fails to realize that Noah, too, is battling his own internal crisis. Soon the river waters rise, flooding the streets of the town and driving scores of wild animals out of the once-renowned zoo. As the water swallows up the houses, the telephone poles, and the single highway out of town, Noah, his wife, and the townspeople must confront not only the savage forces of nature but also the fragile ties that bind them to one another, all before their world is washed away.

My Thoughts:
The setting for this whimsical tale is a spot that was once a charming tourist destination in the hills but which, after the nonstop downpour, has become almost a ghost town. Throw in that it's the 21st century... complete with TV, cars and trucks, and a visiting weatherman who warns the townsfolk that no end to the rain is in sight and that they are doomed unless they evacuate within the next week. Of course the townspeople ignore his advise...when has the weather people ever been right after all? The local zoo animals aren't fairing so well so the townsfolk set about a rescue. This is where the comedy in the situation comes to light with penguins in the walk in freezer...ostrich and emu's in the general store... and Noah...who is the town's new, young minister, sadly fails to live up to his predecessor in the Bible whose name he is either fortunate or unfortunate to share. As the waters continue to rise the towns people learn to work together for a common cause...the animal's show them the way to safety....and Pastor Noah and Mrs. Noah learn a valuable lesson about life and love. Overall, it is an upbeat, and fanciable tale and well worth the read. And my mother handed me the book and said "Here, read this." Can't argue with Mom.

[Carol]

Among the Wicked by Linda Castillo
Kate Burkholder series Book #8
4.5★'s

From The Book:
Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is called upon by the sheriff's department in rural, upstate New York to assist on a developing situation that involves a reclusive Amish settlement and the death of a young girl. Unable to penetrate the wall of silence between the Amish and "English" communities, the sheriff asks Kate to travel to New York, pose as an Amish woman, and infiltrate the community. Kate's long time love interest, State Agent John Tomasetti, is dead set against her taking on such an unorthodox assignment, knowing she'll have limited communication - and even less in the way of backup. But Kate can't turn her back, especially when the rumor mill boils with disturbing accounts of children in danger. She travels to New York where she's briefed and assumes her new identity as a lone widow seeking a new life. Kate infiltrates the community and goes deep under cover. In the coming days, she unearths a world built on secrets, a series of shocking crimes, and herself, alone... trapped in a fight for her life.

My Thoughts:
The clues were staring us in the face the whole time and I didn't see them and start putting 2 and 2 together until the last 20 pages. Linda Castillo is a fantastic writer and presents Kate Burkholder as a capable, dedicated Chief of Police in the small Ohio hamlet of Painters Mill,...loyal to her small staff of officers but haunted at times by her strict religious past. In this book we again get to intermingle with the Amish and see what happens when the worlds of the "plain people" and the "Englishers" collide. The entire series is more than worth anyone's reading time and all the others have received a 5 star rating. The only reason that this one didn't was I wasn't especially happy with the ending that gave the reader no real explanation for the actions of the perpetrators.

[Book Concierge]

July 17 – currently reading

TEXT – Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes / Elizabeth Bard
AUDIO in the car - The Little Paris Bookshop / Nina George
Portable AUDIO - Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission / Hampton Sides

[Carol]

Wolf Lake by John Verdon
Dave Gurney series Book # 5

The plot plays out in the latest in the latest Dave Gurney thriller at Wolf Lake Lodge, in the remote Adirondacks. It is certainly not without a tantalizing history. Shortly after it became an inn in the early 1900s, wolves devoured its founder on the property. The entire setting screams gothic horror starting with the raving gray man carrying an axe and raving about a hawk that knows evil. The inn itself reinforces this concept with it’s creepy vestige standing in the shadow of two mountains with names that continue the theme…Devil’s Fang and Cemetery Ridge. We then have vague cell phone service…wolves howling, and an attic that holds a terrifying tableau…all adding to the festering scene. Add in that the crimes that Dave Gurney is there to investigate…while not letting the client know that he’s investigating…all take on a horrible, unbelievable life of their own. Four men…all from different parts of the country have allegedly committed suicide after being hypnotized by the same man…Richard Hammond…and have experienced the same nightmare involving the wolves. The story now takes on the resemblance of The Shinning on steroids. Madeline…Gurney’s wife that has accompanied him is greeted in the bathroom of the inn by the vision of a former lover of hers dead in the bathtub. Our hero, Dave Gurney keeps a steady hand and a cool head and begins the task of sorting out this giant mess that the local police have somehow managed to botch and answer the glaring question of the century…can a nightmare be used as a murder weapon? I loved the book. The entire idea was intriguing and held my interest from page 1. Lots of clever twists, plenty of good… though sometimes unusual characters, and a creepy, isolated old inn with a sordid past….what more could you ask for?

[Carol]

Silent Voices by Ann Cleeves
Vera Stanhope series Book #4
4.5★'s

From The Book:
When DI Vera Stanhope finds the body of a woman in the sauna room of her local gym, she wonders briefly if, for once, it's a death from natural causes. But closer inspection reveals ligature marks around the victim's throat . . .Doing what she does best, Vera pulls her team together and sets them interviewing staff and those connected to the victim, while she and colleague Sergeant Joe Ashworth work to find a motive. While Joe struggles to reconcile his home life with the demands of the job, Vera revels being back in charge of an investigation. Death has never made her feel so alive.
And when they discover that the victim had worked in social services – and was involved in a shocking case involving a young child – it seems the two are somehow connected.But things are rarely as they seem .

My Thoughts:
There are a lot of characters in this book and they are mostly all potential suspects. Vera is...well she's just Vera. Love or hate her...I don't think she would care very much either way. The reader does get a better view and understanding of what makes her what she is and the way she is. Since this was the book that set the scene for the television series...it may have been structured to help the viewer as well as the reader. There are quite a few twists throughout the story and I changed my mind about who I thought was guilty many times. I love the way Vera comes to the end conclusions. It's been an interesting journey watching Vera and her team grow and learn. I wish that Ann Cleeves would be a tad more kind to Vera in her looks but then...I guess that just wouldn't be our Vera.

[Carol]

The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza
Erica Foster series Book #1
4.5★'s

From the Author's Page:
Her eyes are wide open. Her lips parted as if to speak. Her dead body frozen in the ice…She is not the only one. When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation. The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound and dumped in water around London. What dark secrets is the girl in the ice hiding?

My Thoughts:
It is an interesting and intriguing beginning of a new series. Erica Foster didn't want the case...she wasn't even ready to return to work..but she found herself as lead in the investigation of a rich and powerful man's daughter. Not only did she need to tread softly with the family...but she found that she was not so popular with the team she has been tasked to lead. Actually the only flaw I found with the book as a whole was the relationship between Erica and her boss, Marsh. He allowed Ericka to push him so much that it began to seem unrealistic on his part. There were loads of potential suspects and a few red herrings for the reader to try and find the killer among, that the minor flaw become unimportant as a whole...but it was the reason it lost half star in my opinion. I will certainly pick up the next book in this series.

[Marilyn]

July 22, 2016 Currently reading:

TEXT - A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini for a library book club

Portable AUDIO - Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen for its red cover (been on my wish list at the library for a while!)

[Carol]

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
2 ★'s

From the Book:
Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong.

My Thoughts:
The book sounded as if it would be a really good read but when I saw the comparison to Agatha Christie...I knew this was going almost nowhere for me. I am not an Agatha Christie fan but I can 100% guarantee you she was so much better than this on her worst day. The heroine was a drunk and absolutely obnoxious and whiny. She didn't care about anyone ...not even herself. No one believed she had seen a body dropped overboard because she was roaring drunk at the time. DUH! There were so many incidences tied together without any explanation of how they came to be to start with. I can't even tell you what the plot of this story was supposed to be.

[Book Concierge]

July 24 – currently reading

TEXT – Zia Summer / Rudolfo Anaya
AUDIO in the car - Beloved / Toni Morrison
Portable AUDIO - Not My Father's Son / Alan Cumming

[Carol]

Pyramid by David Gibbins
3.5★'s

From The Book:
For thousands of years, Egypt was a rich, ingenious civilization. Then it became a fertile hunting ground for archaeologists and explorers. Now the streets of Cairo teem with violence as a political awakening shakes the region. In the face of overwhelming danger, Jack Howard and his team of marine archaeologists have gathered pieces of a fantastic puzzle. But putting it together may cost them their lives. Howard has connected a mystery hidden inside a great pyramid to a fossilized discovery in the Red Sea and a 110-year-old handwritten report of a man who claims to have escaped a labyrinth beneath Cairo. For that his team is stalked by a brutal extremist organization that will destroy any treasure they find. As people fight and die for their rights above ground, Jack fights for a discovery that will shed an astounding new light on the greatest story ever told: Moses' exodus from Egypt and the true beginnings of a new chapter in human history.

My Thoughts:
I have read and enjoyed several of these books but eve though it is a good story, you really need to be interested in Egyptian and biblical history to really get into it. It’s a very fast moving book and at times it is difficult to keep up with what is taking place. I especially enjoyed the parts that featured Jack Howard and the under water archaeological finds. However this is a series that is greatly in need of a glossary or a list of character bios since one book builds on the previous one and often touches on the next... I had trouble remembering who was who in the previous books. Overall it was an enjoyable read and I would certainly recommend it to fans of historical thrillers but it is a series that diffidently should be read in order. 3.5★'s and I think that's the lowest rating I have ever given a book in this series.

[Carol]

The Dramatist by Ken Bruen
Jack Taylor series Book # 4
3 ★'s

From the Book:
Seems impossible, but Jack Taylor is sober---off booze, pills, powder, and nearly off cigarettes, too. The main reason he's been able to keep clean: his dealer's in jail, which leaves Jack without a source. When that dealer calls him to Dublin and asks a favor in the soiled, sordid visiting room of Mountjoy Prison, Jack wants to tell him to take a flying leap. But he doesn't, can't, because the dealer's sister is dead,and the guards have called it "death by misadventure." The dealer knows that can't be true and begs Jack to have a look, check around, see what he can find out. It's exactly what Jack does, with varying levels of success, to make a living. But he's reluctant, maybe because of who's asking or maybe because of the bad feeling growing in his gut. Never one to give in to bad feelings or common sense, Jack agrees to the favor, though he can't possibly know the shocking, deadly consequences he has set in motion. But he and everyone he holds dear will find out soon, sooner than anyone knows,

My Thoughts:
I discovered the Jack Taylor series quiet by accident and I have really enjoyed the first three books. This one seemed to lack the excitement and the character development that the previous ones had and the search for the killer was put on the back burner until almost the last pages and then Jack suddenly discovers who it was. The Dramatist was the shortest of the four books so maybe that was the problem. I did begin to become acquainted with Jack Taylor through the movies and started reading the books afterwards so there was probably some pre conceived ideas as to how the books should be as a result. I love the atmosphere of Galway and the Irish life style that the Jack Taylor series portrays. So many of the people remind me of my grandmother…those that aren’t killing people that is.) Looking forward to book five.

[Carol]

The Magpies by Mark Edwards
4★'s

From the Book:
When Jamie and Kirsty move into their first home together, they are full of optimism. The future, in which they plan to get married and start a family, is bright. The other residents of their building seem friendly too, including the Newtons, a married couple who welcome them to the building with open arms. But then strange things start to happen. Dead rats are left on their doorstep. They hear disturbing noises, and much worse, in the night. After Jamie's best friend is injured in a horrific accident, Jamie and Kirsty find themselves targeted by a campaign of terror. As they are driven to the edge of despair, Jamie vows to fight back—but he has no idea what he is really up against .

My Thoughts:
A quote from the book cover pretty much says it all. "[The Magpies] is a gripping psychological thriller in which the monsters are not vampires or demons, but the people who live next door. It is a nightmare that could happen to anyone."

It seems from the authors note in the back of the book that that is exactly what happened to him. When he was in his late 20's...the same age as the main characters in the story... Jamie and Kristy. He ad his then girlfriend had rented a ground floor apartment and soon were besieged with hoaxes, and complainants that were not so the average. They even complained that they were being too noisy when cleaning the toilet bowl. When coming up with ideas for a new book he thought of that and build on the idea of "what if". What if these acts were carried to the extreme and what if the good guys decided to try to fight back? What if??? It isn't a supernatural story but in some ways so much more scary than ghost or monsters. It's human nature on steroids at it's very worse. You find yourself feeling all kinds of emotions for Jamie and Kristy.

The author says that while it's not a series he intends to build on one of the "bad guys" in his next book. I'll be waiting.

[Carol]

On The Edge by Peter Lovesey
3★'s
From The Book:
Soon after World War II, two former co-workers in the operations room of a Royal Air Force squadron meet in the street. Their lives have diverged dramatically but each wants to get rid of her husband. And so a mutual-assistance pact is made. Rose and Antonia had a good war. As WAAF plotters they had all the excitement and independence of a difficult and fulfilling job, and all the fun of being two women on an RAF base. But peacetime is a disappointment. Rose’s war-hero husband has turned brutal out. Antonia, bored with her rich manufacturer, wants to move to America with her lover. But what are plotters for, if not to plot? Antonia’s ruthless scheme would give them what they both want. If Rose doesn’t lose her nerve, they could get away with murder.

My Thoughts:
I can't actually say that it was a great book but it had some very good historical elements and a story that is reminiscent of Strangers on a train. The book was turned into a British TV movie... Dead Gorgeous that was broadcast on the PBS Mystery series. Of the two women Rose Bell was the much more interesting as the reader watches her evolve from an innocent to an accomplice in a murder. Not exactly what i would label a mystery but it does hold a great deal of intrigue. I love the opening paragraph..."Smiling serenely in the September sun, Rose Bell strolled along Regent Street. Mentally she was miles away, having her husband neutered like the cat." Now how could you not continue reading after that?

[Carol]

Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah MacDonald
-1 ★'s

From The Book:
In her twenties, journalist Sarah MacDonald backpacked around India and came away with a lasting impression of heat, pollution and poverty. So when an airport beggar read her palm and told her she would return to India—and for love—she screamed, “Never!” and gave the country, and him, the finger.

But eleven years later, the prophecy comes true. When the love of Sarah’s life is posted to India, she quits her dream job to move to the most polluted city on earth, New Delhi. For Sarah this seems like the ultimate sacrifice for love, and it almost kills her, literally. Just settled, she falls dangerously ill with double pneumonia, an experience that compels her to face some serious questions about her own fragile mortality and inner spiritual void. “I must find peace in the only place possible in India,” she concludes. “Within.” Thus begins her journey of discovery through India in search of the meaning of life and death.

Holy Cow is MacDonald’s often hilarious chronicle of her adventures in a land of chaos and contradiction, of encounters with Hinduism, Islam and Jainism, Sufis, Sikhs, Parsis and Christians and a kaleidoscope of yogis, swamis and Bollywood stars. From spiritual retreats and crumbling nirvanas to war zones and New Delhi nightclubs, it is a journey that only a woman on a mission to save her soul, her love life—and her sanity—can survive.

My Thoughts:
I read this to complete a challenge and the cover looked interesting. Both bad reasons to read a book. Shame on me! I found her entire approach to "investigating" the people and beliefs of this country to be obnoxious and condescending. No one forced her to return to India and I'm sure the people of India were more than happy to see her backside getting on the plane. The author's attitude toward India and Indians combines the worst of both the old and the new west by patronizingly sneering at a culture she doesn't understand and obviously has no desire to, much less offer any sign of respect. I guess I've read worse books but I can't remember when.

[Carol]

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
3.5★'s

From The Book:
On the day she was abducted, Annie O'Sullivan, a thirty-two-year-old realtor, had three goals―sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she's about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all. Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent captive in a remote mountain cabin―which unfolds through sessions with her psychiatrist―is the second narrative recounting the nightmare that follows her escape: her struggle to piece her shattered life back together, the ongoing police investigation into the identity of her captor, and the disturbing sense that things are far from over.

My Thoughts:
The most enlightening part of the entire book was the sessions that Annie has with her therapist. She recounts her yearlong ordeal of being held hostage in a mountain cabin and being raped, beaten, and controlled by the psychopath who kidnapped her. Te story is then told from a present perspective and a past perspective. That would be fine except it's like two entirely different people are telling it. A few of the psychological elements were too convenient as a result they just didn't ring true. But overall it was an entertaining and sometimes chilling novel.

[Carol]

The Dogs by Allan Stratton
3★'s

From The Book:
Cameron and his mom have been on the run for five years. His father is hunting them. At least, that’s what Cameron’s been told. When they settle in an isolated farmhouse, Cameron starts to see and hear things that aren’t possible. Soon he’s questioning everything he thought he knew and even his sanity. What's hiding in the night? Buried in the past? Cameron must uncover the dark secrets before they tear him apart.

My Thoughts:
Cameron is a very likable character. He’s 15 years old and has moved with his mother 4 times already in just a single year to escape a father that has the uncanny ability to stalk and fine them wherever they go. Needless to say Cameron has problems making friends so it wasn’t really surprising when his best friend was reveled to be the ghost of a boy that had died on the farm that Cameron and his mother are renting…or is he an active figment of Cameron’s imagination? This is a YA book but it was a page turning little offering. It is a quick read with a good plot and a surprising ending. I don't believe you have to be 12 years old to enjoy it.

[Marilyn]

July 29, 2016 Currently reading:

TEXT - Her by Harriet Lane

Personal AUDIO- A Murder of Magpies by Judith Flanders

AUDIO in the car - Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission by Hampton Sides

[Carol]

Lockdown by Sean Black
Ryan Lock series Book 1
3.75★'s

It may be Christmas Eve in New York, but for ex-military bodyguard Ryan Lock it's business as usual. His task: to protect the CEO of the world's largest bio-technology company from a group of radical, and highly determined, activists. When a failed assassination attempt leaves the streets of midtown littered with bodies, and hours later the son of the company's chief research scientist is abducted from his Upper West Side prep school, Lock's hunt for the boy turns into an explosive game of cat and mouse. Through the corporate corridors of power and dark alleys of Manhattan, Lock's search leads him towards a deadly confrontation with one of the world's most dangerous women, a deadly Chechen black widow seeking revenge against America. As the clock ticks towards midnight on New Year's Eve, and the crowds gather in Times Square, Lock realizes that not only is his own life in terrible danger but so are the lives of millions of others.

My Thoughts:
After giving it a great deal of thought I realized that there is no way that I can cover the ratings for this book in a single number of stars. This book was written in 2009 so there are already 7 books in the series but since they were only just released in the United States I’m treating this as a new series.

The characters: The chief characters of Ryan Lock and his friend and co-worker, Tyrone (Ty) I would have to give them a 5. Both are competent and likable characters with a lot of promise for future novels. I hope that Angel, the rescued dog, stays in the series also. She gets a 5 all by herself.

The series overall: This is the start of a new series...at least in the U.S. that fans of David Baldacci, Vince Flynn, Lee Child and other great thriller writers will more than likely enjoy and find that the characters of John Puller, Mitch Rapp, and Jack Reacher have a lot in common with Ryan Lock without being carbon copies. Since this is only the first book I will cautiously give the series a 4 but have expectations of it being one that I will add to the mountain of series I already read.

The story line: Here is where I had the most problem with the book and I’m sure that it is going to present a problem for other readers. I wish that Sean Black had kept this subject in reserve and used it in book 3 or 4 instead of the first that many will judge the entire series by and be afraid to take a chance on another one. The story is about a bio-technology company that does research on animals and has graduated to living human beings. I found that the animal part was so much harder to take than the human…since they were hardened criminals and the animals had done nothing to find themselves in this situation. Having said that…I would have to give the story line a big red 1 with maybe even minus signs. Animal lovers and people with a soft heart will hate the subject.

Since I do have hope for this series I will await Book 2 in the series Deadlock.

[Carol]

Hour Game by David Baldacci
5 ★'s

From The Book:
A woman is found murdered in the woods. It seems like a simple case but it soon escalates into a terrible nightmare. Someone is replicating the killing styles of the most infamous murderers of all time. No one knows this criminal's motives...or who will die next.

Two ex-Secret Service agents, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, have been hired to defend a man's innocence in a burglary involving an aristocratic family. Then a series of secrets leads the partners right into the frantic hunt that is confounding even the FBI. Now King and Maxwell are playing the Hour Game, uncovering one horrifying revelation after another and putting their lives in danger. For the closer they get to the truth, the closer they get to the most shocking surprise of all.

My Thoughts:

It will come as no surprise to the people that have known me for a while that I would give this book, and for that matter this entire series 5 stars.

Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are indeed most memorable characters who are in business together as private investigators in small-town Wrightsburg, Va. David Baldacci has brought this dynamic duo together in this utterly absorbing, complex mystery-thriller that spins in unexpected directions many, many times during the story. From the opening of the book we meet characters that seemed to have almost stepped from a comic book... a murderer who's whose selection of victims appears random but we soon see that his/her modus operandi, differing from kill to kill, and mimicking the work of notorious serial killers—the Zodiac killer, John Wayne Gacy, etc. Add to that a dysfunctional southern family straight out of the worst television production you have ever had the fortune or perhaps misfortune to view. Just about the time that you think you have the whole thing sorted out...have a second thought because your main suspect just got murdered. As the bodies pile up and your head begins to feel that it's going to explode...you will begin hoping that someone will be left to be the killer. If you are a reader that likes trying to solve a well done mystery with a different twist at every turn then Hour Game is right up your ally.

[Marilyn]

8/1/16 Currently reading:

TEXT - Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys for a senior book club

Personal AUDIO - The Girls by Emma Cline for fun

[Carol]

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
3.5 ★'s

From the Book:
“Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.” In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable…..something impossible. Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe. Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bending strange and profoundly human—a relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.

My Thoughts:
It’s a book about “What if’s”. What if you could live the life that you always thought you should have had? What if you could change anything about the life you have that you don’t like? What if??? Dark Matter asks the reader to remember a time in their life where they made a decision that made them who they are now…the moment that defined them. If given that chance, would they make that same decision? If you knew the second chance offered you the wealth and prestige you let slip from your grasp, would you take it? But with those questions comes the biggest one, at least for me….what if the family you created and loved was not a part of that second chance? Would you regret your final decision?

It was a fast paced, exciting, sci-fi adventure with a lot of possible outcomes.

[Carol]

The Interrogation by Thomas H. Cook
4.5★'s

From The Book:

Albert Jay Smalls sits in an interrogation room accused of an unspeakable crime. The police have no witnesses, no physical evidence, but they are certain he is hiding the truth. With less than twelve hours before he must be released, Smalls will be put through one final interrogation. It is a search that leads into the shadowed recesses of one man’s shattered mind–and to the devastating secrets buried in a desolate seaside town. It is a quest that takes three desperate cops down a dark, twisting road as they race against the clock to find out what really happened one rainy autumn afternoon in 1952. The answers will be more shocking than anyone can imagine, blurring the boundaries between pursuers and prey, between the innocent and the guilty, between the truth that sets us free and the tragedies that haunt us to the grave.

My Thoughts;

It was basically based in the police stations interrogation room with a small man that was suspected of killing 8 year old Cathy Lake in the park next to the playground. The two veteran police detectives in charge of getting the truth from the suspect had been at it for days and still the man declares his innocence...but they know that he's guilty of something if not the murder of Cathy. From there the story spreads out to include a junk dealer...a small time con man...two trash collectors...and several other police officers that are on several levels from dishonest to hiding secrets that would put hem off the police force if not in jail. How will these people all come together? With an explosion that will rock your mind. This has been an incredible journey through the darkest depths of human nature.

[Carol]

Everything She Forgot by Lisa Ballantyne
2.5★'s

From The Book:
Some things aren't meant to be remembered . . .

They're calling it the worst pileup in London history. Margaret Holloway is driving home, but her mind is elsewhere—on a troubled student, her daughter's acting class, the next day's meeting—when she's rear-ended and trapped in the wreckage. Just as she begins to panic, a disfigured stranger pulls her from the car seconds before it's engulfed in flames. Then he simply disappears. Though she escapes with minor injuries, Margaret feels that something's wrong. She's having trouble concentrating. Her emotions are running wild. More than that, flashbacks to the crash are also dredging up lost associations from her childhood, fragments of events that had been wiped from her memory. Whatever happened, she didn't merely forget—she chose to forget. And somehow, Margaret knows deep down that it has something to do with the man who saved her life.

As Margaret uncovers a mystery with chilling implications for her family and her very identity, Everything She Forgot winds through a riveting dual narrative and asks the question: How far would you go to hide the truth—from yourself?

My Thoughts:
A first book for this author so I didn't expect it to be outstanding...but I did have a reasonable expectation for it to be more closely related to the what the description described. It started out with the accident and the stranger saving Margaret's life. It was a good exciting start...then it switched to a mob type man...George McLaughlin's story of his lost love and the seven year old daughter that he hasn't seen since her birth. When it returns to Margaret she seems to just be drifting through life and spending every moment she can with the man who saved her life and is now in a coma. Back and forth it goes between 1985 and 2013. Both stories by themselves would have made an excellent book but together...they are just two stories with no merging.

[Carol]

Until Thy Wrath be Past by Asa Larsson
3★'s
Rebecka Martinsson series Book #4

From The Book:
the body of a young woman surfaces in the River Torne, in the far north of Sweden. Meanwhile, Rebecka Martinsson is working as a prosecutor in nearby Kiruna. Her sleep has been disturbed by haunting visions of a shadowy, accusing figure. Could the body be connected to the ghostly young woman in her dreams? Joining forces once again with Police Inspector Anna-Maria Mella, Rebecka is drawn into a murder and missing-person investigation that becomes entangled with old rumors of a German supply plane that mysteriously disappeared in 1943. Shame and secrecy shroud the locals' memories of the war, with Sweden's early collaboration with the Nazis still a raw wound. And on the windswept shore of a frozen lake lurks a faceless killer determined to keep the past buried forever beneath half a century's silent ice and snow.

My Thoughts:
This is a mystery novel with a not too complex storyline, time shifting from the WWII, to the present day, to the spirit world. Parts of the story are told by the spirit of the young diver left to drown under the ice long with her boyfriend. A word of Warning The author has a penchant to include horrific animal abuse in her stories. some people won't mind. I do. I don't think I'll be reading another one.

[Marilyn]

August 7, 2016 Currently reading:

TEXT - Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo for a nonfiction book club and
On the Move: A Life by Oliver Sacks--interesting autobiography of the doctor who wrote Awakenings, made into a movie with Robin Williams about Parkinson's Disease

[Book Concierge]

August 7 – currently reading

TEXT – Murder in Belleville / Cara Black
AUDIO in the car – A Fatal Grace / Louise Penny
Portable AUDIO – La's Orchestra Saves the World / Alexander McCall Smith

[Carol]

The Fall by [[John Lescroart
Dismas Hardy series Book #16
4.5★'s

From The Book:
Late one night, a seventeen-year-old African American foster child Tanya Morgan falls from the overpass above San Francisco’s Stockton tunnel, landing on the windshield of a car driving on the street below. She is killed instantly. But did she fall...or was she pushed?

My Thoughts:
Rebecca is the star of the show, as she struggles to put together a defense, and then learns the ropes of presenting that defense in Court. The court room scenes are well done and you find that you are becoming frustrated with the justice system and the way it works. The narrative is dynamic and interesting alternating among the different characters and their particular perspective about the case. I thought how it was going to resolve and I was wrong about my early assessment but not disappointment by the outcome. I highly recommend this series for all court room drama buffs.

[Marilyn]

August 11, 2016 Currently reading:

Personal AUDIO - As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley--as something lighter than other books I've been reading lately!

AUDIO in the car - The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough--about to take a short road trip, and this should do the trick!

[Carol]

Mariana by Susanna Kearlsey
5★'s

From The Book
The first time Julia Beckett saw Greywethers she was only five, but she knew at once that it was her house. Now, twenty-five years later, by some strange chance, she has just become the new owner of the sixteenth-century Wilshire farmhouse. But Julia soon begins to suspect that more than coincidence has brought her there. As if Greywethers were a portal between worlds, she finds herself abruptly transported back in time. Stepping into seventeenth-century England, Julia becomes Mariana, a beautiful young woman struggling against danger and treachery, and battling a forbidden love for Richard de Mornay, handsome forebear of the present squire of Crofton Hall. Each time Julia travels back, she becomes more enthralled with the past, falling ever deeper in love with Richard...until one day she realizes Mariana's life threatens to eclipse her own--and that she must find a way to lay the past to rest, or risk losing a chance for love in her own time.

My Thoughts:
This was such an intrigue book from start to finish. The small town life that Julia acquired when she bought Greywethers and the townspeople were among my favorite parts but my absolutely and undoubtedly favorite part was the time travel. 300 years before it had been the home of a young woman named Mariana. Julia, unwillingly at first begins to experience a series of time regression events at which time she realizes that she is Mariana. Julia begins to eagerly welcome these time trips as she is anxious to know more about Mariana and the events in her life . As the past unfolds it Julia sees Mariana's romance with a neighboring aristocrat, Richard. When Julia learns what happened to Mariana and Richard, she realizes that in order to close the circle, find happiness for herself and closure for Mariana, she must find the present-day man who embodies Richard just as she embodies Mariana. It's not a gooey romance but it is a delightful tale of an old house retaining the passions of past events with just a smidgen of the supernatural.

[Carol]

[The Book of Fate] by Brad Meltzer
4★'s

From the Book:
"Six minutes from now, one of us would be dead. None of us knew it was coming."

So says Wes Holloway, a young presidential aide, about the day he put Ron Boyle, the chief executive's oldest friend, into the president's limousine. By the trip's end, a crazed assassin would permanently disfigure Wes and kill Boyle. Now, eight years later, Boyle has been spotted alive. Trying to figure out what really happened takes Wes back into disturbing secrets buried in Freemason history, a decade-old presidential crossword puzzle, and a two-hundred-year-old code invented by Thomas Jefferson that conceals secrets worth dying for.

My Thoughts:

I loved the story line and will say that I had given the book a 4.5 star rating with the expectation of a perfect 5...until... It had exciting action at every turn. A story with characters that you could love and trust in one chapter and hate and distrust before the next page. Everyone could have been the good guy and everyone could have been the bad guy. So what happened? An ending that went on and on and on and then an epilogue that was about ten minutes longer than it needed to be. Just didn't have the punch that the first 114 chapters had, not to mention that we never really found out what the tie in was with the Masons. That being said...it was an enjoyable book. I loved Brad Meltzer's television series, "History Decoded" so I will certainly read another of his future books.

[Carol]

[book:

Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder by Shamini Flint
4.5★'s

From the Book:
The portly, methodical Inspector Singh is a thorn in the side of his bosses on the Singapore police department, so they send him off to Malaysia to monitor the trial of Chelsea Liew, a Singaporean beauty queen accused of killing her abusive millionaire ex-husband. The plot, revolving around the difference between secular and Islamic custody laws, is unexpectedly intricate and surprising. But the keenest pleasures of this book center on Inspector Singh, and his attempts to see justice served while somehow maneuvering around his excessively zealous sergeant, keeping his white sneakers clean, and scoring the occasional tasty snack.

My Thoughts:
I really liked this book and will plan to read the remainder of the series. The story had everything a good murder mystery novel should have....very well written...many interesting characters... many suspects with good motives to have committed murder, and it brought focus on the destruction of the Borneo rainforest...and don't even get me started on that topic. I couldn't figure out who the killer was and that is always a good thing for me as it encourages me to use the old gray cells. Overall an excellent book and the beginning of a promising series.

[Carol]

Smooth Operator by Stuart Woods
Teddy Fay series Book # 1
4.5★'s

From The Book:
When President Kate Lee calls Stone Barrington to Washington on an urgent matter, it’s soon clear that a potentially disastrous situation requires the kind of help more delicate than even he can provide... and he knows just the right man for the job. Teddy Fay: ex-CIA, master of disguise, and a gentleman not known for abiding by legal niceties in the pursuit of his own brand of justice.

My Thoughts:
Teddy Fay is one of the most fascinating characters that Stuart Woods has ever imagined. He has appeared at some point in all of the Stone Barrington, Holly Barker, Will Lee and Ed Eagle books and brought a touch of adventure, excitement and intrigue to what was already a good story. Teddy rides the fence between being a good guy and a bad guy...dispensing, when called upon...his own brand of justice. I thought from the very first time I met him in a Stone Barrington book that this character should have his very own series. If Teddy's book #1 is any indication Mr. Woods has an automatic hit on his hands. I just hope that he will continue along the lines that he has written in Smooth Operator and doesn't feel that it is necessary to turn this amazingly wonderful character into a sex crazed manic as he has some of his others. I will have to say that he has toned down the hormones in his other characters in the last couple of books. Great beginning Mr. Woods and thank you.

[Carol]

Betrayals by Kelley Armstrong
Cainsville series Book #4
3.5★'s

From The Book:
When Olivia's life exploded--after she found out she was not the adopted child of a privileged Chicago family but of a notorious pair of convicted serial killers--she found a refuge in the secluded but oddly welcoming town of Cainsville, Illinois. Working with Gabriel Walsh, a fiendishly successful criminal lawyer with links to the town, she discovered the truth about her parents' crimes in an investigation that also revealed the darker forces at work in the place that had offered her a haven. As if that wasn't enough, she also found out that she, Gabriel and her biker boyfriend Ricky were not caught in an ordinary sort of love triangle, but were hereditary actors in an ancient drama in which the elders of Cainsville and the mysterious Huntsmen who opposed them had a huge stake. Now someone is killing street kids in the city, and the police have tied Ricky to the crimes. Setting out with Gabriel's help to clear Ricky's name, Olivia once again finds her own life at risk. Soon the three are tangled in a web of betrayals that threatens their uneasy equilibrium and is pushing them toward a hard choice: either they fulfill their destinies by trusting each other and staying true to their real bonds, or they succumb to the extraordinary forces trying to win an eternal war by tearing them apart.

My Thoughts:
I couldn't really get into this one as it was a great deal like reading book 2 with some slight character and plot changes. Rick needs to go wherever unnecessary people in Cainsville go. He's a slick, snarky character and the story would read better without him. In all fairness to Rick... he did do the "right thing" in the end and he might have come off in a better light if the plot hadn't been so weak. It's not a bad series it's just becoming repetitive. It got the 3.5 rating because the new myth was very good even if the plot in this one was a bit on the silly side.

[Carol]

Deep Dark by Laura Griffin
Tracer series Book #10
3.5★'s

From The Book:
The moment detective Reed Novak steps onto the crime scene, he knows the case is going to rock his world. A beautiful young woman murdered at home. No sign of forced entry. No motive. She’s obviously not the killer’s first victim, and Reed’s instincts tell him she won’t be his last. Reed’s first clue comes via a mysterious text that links to a dating profile, but even more intriguing than the clue is the person who sent it. As a white-hat hacker in the Delphi Center’s cyber investigation unit, Laney Knox sneaks into some of the deepest, darkest corners of the Internet looking for predators. Laney would prefer to stay away from Austin PD’s most recent murder case, but she can’t ignore the chilling similarities between that crime and her own brutal attack years ago. Laney offers to help the sexy lead detective, but he wants more from her than just a promising tip—Reed wants her trust. Laney resists, but as their relationship deepens she’s tempted to reveal the closely guarded secrets that could make her a key witness…or the killer’s next victim.

My Thoughts:
It was an excellent murder/crime novel with some outstanding characters. It seemed that the "romance" element was inserted as an afterthought and really did nothing for the story other than that it was there. Fortunately for me...it didn't distract from the story either. People that like or need a little romance in their reading will like it...those that don't can tolerate it. As for the plot...it's doesn't make a lot of sense to start with but it does come together in the end. It will give you second thoughts about using dating sites or any social media for that matter. There is also a lot of geeky computer language but you don't need a phd to understand it or just skip over it. I wouldn't make this a part of my "must read" list but once in awhile is okay.

[Carol]

The Professionals

The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen
Windermere and Stevens series Book #1
5★'s

From The Book:
Four friends, caught in a terrible job market, joke about turning to kidnapping to survive. And then, suddenly, it’s no joke. For two years, the strategy they devise works like a charm—until they kidnap the wrong man. Now two groups are after them—the law, in the form of veteran state investigator Kirk Stevens and hotshot young FBI agent Carla Windermere, and an organized crime outfit looking for payback. As they crisscross the country in a series of increasingly explosive confrontations, each of them is ultimately forced to recognize the truth: The real professionals, cop or criminal, are those who are willing to sacrifice everything.

My Thoughts:
A really great new author for me that was recommended as my Blind Date With A Book. This whole endeavor started for these four young friends as a game that not one of them took seriously until they just tried it once and found that it worked better than they ever imagined. They were selective...they never asked for huge amounts of ransom...they always released their victim unharmed immediately after the ransom was dropped...they moved from state to state never staying in one place very long...and they didn't even have guns. All went smoothly... until it didn't. Luck was always on their side and then it went horribly wrong and from there continued to spin faster and faster out of control taking them on a ride with catastrophic consequences.

The strange thing is that the author makes you really like these kids. You find yourself wanting them to come out ahead even though you know everything is headed south. The FBI agent, Windermere and the Minnesota detective, Stevens are both dedicated cops that just won't give up. Owen Laukkanen has produced a 5 star first book in this series. I have already asked the library for the other 3 and I hope he is busy writing number 5.

[Marilyn]

August 22, 2016 Currently reading:

TEXT - Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris for a library book club and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck as a challenge

Personal AUDIO - In Big Trouble by Laura Lippman, which I'm really enjoying because it's set in Austin and San Antonio, mentioning familiar places, since the author once lived here when she worked for "The Light" newspaper

AUDIO in the car - Still Foolin' 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys by Billy Crystal, recommended to me as a good book to listen to!

[Terris]

Marilyn wrote: "August 22, 2016 Currently reading:

TEXT - Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris for a library book club and [bookcov..."

I love Of Mice and Men and I'm interested in the Billy Crystal book. It's been on my list for awhile & I think it would be a great audio book since he probably reads it. I'll be watching for you review :)

[Carol]

In the Clearing by Robert Dugoni
Tracy Crosswhite series Book #3
4 ★'s

From The Book:
Detective Tracy Crosswhite has a skill, and a soft spot, for tackling unsolved crimes. Having lost her own sister to murder at a young age, Tracy has dedicated her career to bringing justice and closure to the families and friends of victims of crime.

So when Jenny, a former police academy classmate and protégé, asks Tracy to help solve a cold case that involves the suspicious suicide of a Native American high school girl forty years earlier, Tracy agrees. Following up on evidence Jenny’s detective father collected when he was the investigating deputy, Tracy probes one small town’s memory and finds dark, well-concealed secrets hidden within the community’s fabric. Can Tracy uphold the promise she’s made to the dead girl’s family and deliver the truth of what happened to their daughter? Or will she become the next victim?

My Thoughts:
Most of the book deals with a forty year old cold case involving the apparent suicide of Kimi Kanasket, a Native American teenager in Klickitat County, Washington. The former sheriff who is now deceased...was just a young deputy when he answered the call that Kami hadn't come home from her waitress job. He began to keep a file on the case as he couldn't get the investigating detectives to listen to him that there was something very wrong. He had taken dozens of pictures of the crime scene that showed that there had been several people and a truck in the clearing the night that she was supposed to have jumped into the river and drowned... that said it had not happened this way. Forty years later we find his daughter is now sheriff and she has found her father's file. Since it's a small town and may be considered a conflict of interest she asks Tracy Crosswhite...A Seattle detective to work on the case in her spare time.

What actually happened and who the killer is is fairly obvious early on but the way that Tracy follows the evidence that is brought to light by technology that wasn't available forty years ago is amazing as well as fascinating. Knowing how Tracy Crosswhite works the crime scene and how she digs deep for all the unknowns is what I love about her character. Overall this is a great series and well worth the time to meet Tracy and her friends.

[Carol]

Caught in the Light by Robert Goddard
4★'s

From the Book:
On assignment in Vienna, photographer Ian Jarrett falls desperately in love with a woman he meets by chance, Marian Esguard. Back in England, he breaks up with his wife and goes to meet Marian at an agreed rendezvous. Marian fails to show.

Searching desperately for her, he stumbles on a Dorset churchyard full of the gravestones of dead Esguards. He also meets a psychotherapist, Daphne Sanger. She too is looking for someone: a former patient who has come to believe she is the reincarnation of Marion Esguard, who lived in Regency times and, it emerges, may have invented photography ten years before Fox Talbot. But if so, why is she unknown to history? And where is the woman he met in Vienna? Ian sets out to solve a mystery that may be 170 years old. At the end of his search a trap awaits him.

My Thoughts:
Robert Goodard is an author that can, and will, take a topic and construe the most complex story lines around it. This is what he has done in Caught in the Light. Ian Jarrett is a man processed by "true love"...so much so that he constantly throws good common sense into the wind. I became so frustrated with him at times that I wanted to scream at him to just call the police...or use the invention called the telephone instead of driving all over England searching for a "ghost".

One thing that he has done brilliantly here is blend the past and the present to create a plot that has the reader guessing from page 1 if our "hero" is coming or going. He has also shown how seemingly simple it is for a totally outside force to take control of your life and turn your world on it's ear. This is a novel of love, loss, deception and amateur detection. Part ghost story, part historical mystery. I will say that I was a little disappointed in the ending but there was so much more of the rest to the book to more than make up for that.

[Carol]

The Stranger You Know by Jame Casey
Maeve Kerrigan series Book #4
2★'s

From The Book:
He meets women. He gains their trust. He kills them. That's all London police detective Maeve Kerrigan knows about the man she is hunting. Three women have been strangled in their homes, and it appears to be the work of the same sadistic killer. With no sign of break-ins, every indication shows that the women let their attacker in willingly. The victims' neighbors and friends don't seem to remember anything unusual or suspicious, and Maeve is almost at a loss about how to move forward with the investigation.

Then the evidence starts to point to a shocking suspect: DCI Josh Derwent, Maeve's partner on the police force. Maeve refuses to believe he could be involved, but how well does she really know him? Secrets Derwent has long kept locked away are coming back to haunt him, and the more Maeve learns about her partner's past, the more difficult it is to dismiss him as a suspect. After all, this is hardly the first time Derwent's been accused of murder.

My Thoughts:
This is supposed to be a mystery??? The only mystery I could see is where was the mystery? In the opening pages a woman is found dead in the trunk of a car. Maeve and her partner, Josh Derwent , are called to the scene. Derwent must think he is the reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes and obviously likes himself a great deal and thinks every word out of his mouth is funny and absolutely the gospel. The entire police force including the commander is dirty. Not a single one that you could say you like even a little. We learned of Maeve's past cases...hope she did more investigating on those and we learned more than we needed to know about her sex life. I guess the woman is still in the trunk but I won't be reading any more to find out.

[Marilyn]

August 28, 2016 Currently reading:

TEXT - The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee--meant to read this earlier in the month for a library book club, but went on a trip instead!

Personal AUDIO - The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner--used to be one of my favorite authors, and stumbled on this National Book Award winner

[Carol]

Ghost Song by Sarah Rayne
4.5★'s

From The Book:
The old Tarleton music hall is the subject of a mysterious building restriction that has kept it closed for more than 90 years. When Robert Fallon is asked to survey the structure, he finds clues indicating that its long twilight sleep may contain a sinister secret. Joining forces with researcher Hilary Bryant, Robert discovers the legend of the Tarleton's ghost, a mysterious figure that was first glimpsed during the era of Toby Chance, a charismatic performer who vanished suddenly and inexplicably in the early 1900s. After almost a century the Tarleton's dark silence is about to end, but there are those who find its reopening a threatening prospect. As Robert and Hilary delve into the macabre history, they both become menaced by the secrets of the past.

My Thoughts:
Loved the whole idea behind this book. The ghost was always there but you were never really allowed to see it...it just lurked in the shadows and waited. The old theater and the people that populated it in it's heyday in 1914 to the people that were curious about the legends and the stories that surrounded it in the present were more than intriguing. The story has several twists and turns as it takes the reader through the decades but it never allows the reader to guess the ending. Highly recommend this to all historical buffs...paranormal enthusiasts and anyone that just wants to brave a dark and stormy night with a shivery tale.

[Carol]

The Glass Room by Ann Cleeves
Vera Stanhope series Book #5
4★'s

From The Book:
DI Vera Stanhope is not one to make friends easily, but her hippy neighbors keep her well-supplied in home-brew and conversation so she has more tolerance for them than most. When one of them goes missing she feels duty-bound to find out what happened. But her path leads her to more than just a missing friend.

My Thoughts:
I first met Vera Stanhope in the television series, 'Vera', played by Brenda Blethyn. I love this series and the Vera character that Ann Cleeves and the television producers created. It's difficult to put Brenda Blethyn's persona with the Vera character of the book. While Brenda isn't fashion model trim...she's not fat, overbearing, and sometimes bull headed as the book Vera is. Frankly if I hadn't seen the TV series I probably would have really disliked what the series began from. I just keep this Brenda "Vera" in mind when reading the books. The cases and the mysteries are the same high quality begging to be solved as only Vera Stanhope...TV or book...and her team can.

I don't believe that this book showed as much investigation as the others. A lot of time was spent interviewing suspects and seemed to be going over and over the same material. But it seems that no case is too much for our Vera. Vera does not waste time with petty issues. She looks for the clues, builds her case, and goes in for the capture. The ending seemed a little off to me after Ann Cleeves spent much of the book with character development. We didn't really learn the "HOW' that lead Vera and her team to the killer or even "HOW" they came to be where they were. It was Vera and I do love the character so I gave it a 4 instead of a 3.5.

[Carol]

The Other Child by Joanne Fluke
5★’s

From The Book:
Where Innocence Dies. . .

Expectant parents Karen and Mike Houston are excited about restoring their old rambling Victorian mansion to its former glory. With its endless maze of rooms, hallways, and hiding places, it's a wonderful place for their nine-year-old daughter Leslie to play and explore. Unfortunately, they didn't listen to the stories about the house's dark history. They didn't believe the rumors about the evil that lived there.

. . .The Nightmare Begins.

It begins with a whisper…. a child's voice beckoning from the rose garden…. crying out in the night. It lures little Leslie to a crumbling storm door and down a flight of broken stairs. It calls to their unborn child. It wants something from each of them….something in their very hearts and souls. Tonight, the house will reveal its secret. Tonight, the other child will come out to play.

My Thoughts:
A small boy huddled in the dark. His mother had promised she would never leave him… not in this awful house… not in this evil town. She was dead and gone and he was alone….accidentally trapped in the root cellar with no one to answer his call or hear his final cry. One hundred years later he has found he has company…a playmate… and best of all…a mother. You almost knew from the time the Houston’s bought the old house what was going to happen but you just had to continue reading. In the beginning the little ghost seemed to be friendly and just lonely but it didn’t take very long before you knew that the time he had spent alone dying in the root cellar and calling for is lost mother, had changed him. From that point on the entire family was doomed in their own way and for individual reasons.

I love a good ghost story. I had only been familiar with Joanne Fluke as a cozy mystery writer. The Other Child is a well done mystery/horror/ghost story that is guaranteed to produce mega goose bumps and is anything but cozy. The story reminds me of the works of John Saul who writes some of the best ghostly horror I have ever read. I see she has a few other books in this vein that I will have to check out very soon. I recommend it to all ghost story lovers.

[Carol]

[Insidious] by Catherine Coulter
FBI series Book #20
3★’s

From The Book:
FBI agents Savich and Sherlock must discover who is trying to murder Venus Rasmussen, a powerful, wealthy society icon. They soon find out that the danger may be closer than expected.

Venus Rasmussen, a powerful woman who runs the international conglomerate Rasmussen Industries, believes someone is poisoning her. After Savich and Sherlock visit with her, someone attempts to shoot her in broad daylight. Who’s trying to kill her and why? A member of her rapacious family, or her grandson who’s been missing for ten years and suddenly reappears? Savich and Sherlock must peel away the layers to uncover the incredible truth about who would target Venus.

Meanwhile, Special Agent Cam Wittier leaves Washington for Los Angeles to work with local Detective Daniel Montoya to lead the hunt for the Starlet Slasher, a serial killer who has cut the throats of five young actresses. When a sixth young actress is murdered, Cam comes to realize the truth might be closer than she’d ever want to believe.

My Thoughts:
I have read this series from the very beginning and always liked agents Sherlock and Savich. I liked their camaraderie and their often times humor in situations that weren’t particularly humorous. This book…? I’d have to say just so..so. I know it’s book 20 but I’ve read other series that had 40 or more books and they have thus far remained fresh and exciting. This one… not so much. To start with there wasn’t much plot and what plot there was really didn’t make a great deal of sense and the motive was left to the reader’s imagination. The dialog that had in the past been humorous was just silly. I’m not sure if I’ll read the next one or not. I know every author has an occasional let down so perhaps this was the case here. I gave it a 3…for old times sake and a sincere hope of better things to come.