Monday, December 26, 2011

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Cruen*****

I recommend this book highly. Very well written and researched. The author just leads you in gently and bam you're flipping pages like pancakes. I like the tone, her writing style, easy flowing storyline. Begins with a 90 yo gentleman in sort of a home who dreams and remembers his life after college. His parents both died in a tragic car accident and he missed his veterinary exams due to his depression, hopped a train which turned out to be a circus and thus the meat of the story begins.

The way animals were treated in circuses back then (the 1930s) wasn't very nice but with Jacob helping out it seemed better for some of them.

It's a romance, a man reaching adulthood story, mean people that karma catches up with. There's laughter, tears and that's what a good book is. It carries you into a world of someone else's imagination. Liked this one a lot.

Friday, December 23, 2011

SORRY by Zoran Drvenkar **

Not my type of book at all. Some loser kids in their twenties get drunk and invent a company that apologizes. Like one example; a boss screwed his secretary and the company "Sorry" apologized in his place then made her an offer of jobs at other companies that her boss would recommend her for. Dumb shit.

I didn't get to any killing or intrigue I'm on page 61 and I got better stuff to read than this. Bored.

EVE by Iris Johansen **

I wasn't crazy about the writing style. There are 2 guys and one chick all intertwined. One is Joe Queen the other is John Quinn. Can ya make em any closer without using the same name? Every female in the story has had a child kidnapped and killed. Child molester/serial killers work for some cop guy who keeps the serial killer out of trouble even tho he knows he's a killer. I don't get all the killers running around with  kudos from other cops. COPS hate child killers so this story is too far out in the netherworlds to be believed. Then you have the girl Eve's boyfriend Joe and his friend Catherine helping to chase down bad guys. The entire novel was written to find out where Eve's kid Bonnie is buried and guess what folks? You have to read the next novel to even know if that'll happen.

Book with no ending. Lots of things leftover. Hate it. Can't tolerate reading 377 pages of nonsense (written poorly) to have no ending. Sure some bad guys die but you don't know if Eves boyfriend lives or if the housekeeper lives, or if the kid gets back to her mom or anything else. You never know how or why stupid Eve has an adopted daughter, how or why she believes Black is the killer. I guess I was supposed to read the first two books to gain any knowledge. Not happening.

The writing is immature, repetitive and dull. I had very little interest in continuing so I don't know why she thinks I'm going to go out and find the next stupid book. NOT GOING TO.
Buh bye.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

YOU'RE NEXT by Gregg Hurwitz *****

Guy with a mysterious past finds himself being chased by people determined to eliminate him and his family. Lots of hiding, using friends to get help figuring out his past and why these people are trying to kill him. The cops are involved so he can't go there. Wife is badly injured and he has to hide his kid while he and his criminal foster brother figure out the danger and where it's coming from.

This tension is reminiscent of a combo Koontz/King story and has you pushing pages pretty fast. Liked it a lot and the premise of the thing was almost realistic so I would buy it. Good reading.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The HELP by Kathryn Stockett *****

Couldn't put it down, it was engrossing and powerful writing.

I'm not from the south, as in having grown up there but obviously the writer was deeply ingrained in living life with 'help' coming in daily to cook, clean and care for children. The 'help' seem to have done quite a bit of living with white families as workers but also it was a part of their own lives.

One of the maids is very clever in teaching a toddler from the time she can talk how it's wrong to judge people by their skin color and when reading that I wonder why ALL the 'help' weren't changing the south in the same way as a means of forwarding their own cause and to help the next generation be more tolerant. Seems simple enough to work with the children they raise to learn to love each other no matter the color. To encourage change so simply seems obvious but I suppose it would have been dangerous if they were exposed by some of the more conservative families.

I really enjoyed the book and recommend reading it.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

The NIGHTMARE THIEF by Meg Gardiner ***

Where to begin. Very fast moving page turner but with lots of coincidences that I'm not happy about. This rich girl meets up with a childhood scary guy who just happens to work for EVERYbody bad in the book, even the rich girls dad. There are about 40 names you're bombarded with in about 40 pages.
There were stupid moves by smart people. No one tried to escape. I mean REALLY escape. EVER. They just hung around in one general area to get bumped off one at a time.  People have been known to hide successfully in wooded areas for weeks. It's called getting lost and no one finds them for a long long time if they're any good at it.

It's a page turner, and suspenseful but so many "wow I can't believe HE showed up THERE". It's sort of suspend your disbelief for the entire book and don't get analytical and maybe you'll like it. I'm way to saavy a reader to put up with the coincidences and stupidity of the supposed smart people.

What it's about: rich girl has party about being kidnapped or something and meets her personal nightmare bad cowboy (who coincidently works for EVERYONE) the ending is supposed to be the  kids are successful and happy. Someone in dads old employ has a score to settle so he and some buds of his decide to kidnap the entire party for real during the fake kidnapping. Then the kids coincidently run into 2 sort of special ops people to help save them. Meanwhile lots of the little tweenies are killed. Most of the bad guys get what they deserve but you'll need to read it yourself and decide how out of this world it is.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

BURIED PREY by John Sandford *****

Great reading yet again. Murder happened to two girls about 20 yrs ago and Davenport is back on the case when the bodies are found buried under a building complex being torn down. Got some return to the past events, then back to the future chasing of the perp.

Descriptions are good, I have read so many Lucas Davenport stories and Virgil Flowers that I feel like I know them already. Bad guy got what he needed at the end, esp. since he killed cops during his flight. Needed a little more pain for the vic..like tell me how bad his wound was and how much it hurt and what he was doing while they were hunting him down. Would have liked more of that. How he's scared the cops are getting closer etc. That part was ignored too much for my taste but otherwise you are getting what you pay for-a well written, page turning Sandford novel.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

CHARADE by Sandra Brown ****

I would give another star if it wasn't such a sexually explicit romance. There was a lot of intrigue, lots of red herrings, tons of people. Very long involved story line with at least strong women characters-some were at least. Some were weak or stereotypical man chasers. I didn't hate it, I kept turning pages and read it between the other book I had so much trouble reading.

If you're into a complicated heart transplant story with more than a few victims, suspects and love interests you'll like the book. I don't really like the disgusting 'opening her labia and getting his tongue involved' sort of low brand writing. Too much information. And somewhat voyeuristic. Gross.

Friday, December 2, 2011

EXPIRATION DATE by Sherril Jaffe **

I was bored to tears. Not my kind of reading at all. Some old bats, mostly related, a mom, her daughter and maybe another daughter all contemplating old age and their aches and pains.
Somehow they find men to date. One thinks she had a dream that she was going to die on her 60th birthday, that's the premise of the book. I really hated it. I had to read other books in between this one so I could continue on about wealthy old biddies and their bridge games. There isn't any defining feature of any character. They could all be the same person. Nothing stands out to separate them mentally at all. Just so much wandering boring idle thoughts.
Just happy it's OVER.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

TRIAL by Larry D. Thompson****

Story about families, how they interact with each other and how they react to a bad illness brought about by taking a drug approved by the FDA because the FDA and drug companies have hands in each other's pockets.
Some courtroom stuff, at home family stuff beginning with childhood of the victim and on to adulthood which seems a little over the top. The whole time I was wondering why I care about this girl and had to know her entire life story and teenager mishaps until she takes the trial drug. That's about where the story  should have started, IMO.
So a drama family style to beat a large drug conglomerate. Well written, good library find.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

DOUBLE DEXTER by Jeff Lindsay *****

What's better than curling up in a dark house, little flashlight in bed reading a Dexter novel? huh? I gotta say not much can beat that. There's a little business he takes care of in the beginning and then his mixed up crazy life takes over for awhile, he gets suspended while they investigate a murder he certainly didn't commit while the wife is house hunting and distracting him from his work. She's such a ditz.

All that and little Astor gets her hands wet as Dexter deals with his newest stalker. Makes one embarrassed to live in Florida, but otherwise; killer stuff here!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

BLACK LIGHT by 3 guys Melton, Dunstan, Romano

Wow really don't get it at all. I think it's about a guy; Buck, who sees ghosts, or travels to their world.  Or swallows them and regurgitates them or all three. So unsure because this book has so much rambling nonsense it's unreadable.

He meets spirits who know his mom/dad and comes out of it with no information about them whatsoever. Found roaming a desert....WTF? A child dies without much of a story to go with it. Short and meaningless. He has a girlfriend he doesn't even care about. WHY? What's the point? Don't even mention her then.

Gangs want a "piece of his action" (whatever his action is) and somehow he avoids that. Some half ghost living-dead arrangement named Darby protects Buck after Buck kills him. WTF? No explanation.

I'm only up to page 61 and that's all folks! Miserable rambling pointless waste of paper brought to you by the last writers of the SAW series, not the good ones with some humor, but the last 3 or 4 of them that sort of sucked. I would have my author pic in the dark shadows too if I wrote this shit.

Friday, November 18, 2011

GHOSTING by David Poyer **

I'm not and never will be a fan of people who are being tortured throughout a movie or book by bad guys. The entire story ends for me at the beginning. Most everyone dies cept maybe one survivor so why bother wasting my time. It also frustrates me how stupid the author turns people. Like a brilliant brain surgeon would NOT behave like this one. He would of course research boating, take boating lessons even with family members, know which boat to buy for his needs, know everything there is to know about sailing before throwing his family aboard one and heading out to Burmuda. When a more experienced boater friend (in his own boat)  says a storm is ahead and he is cutting the trip short this brilliant surgeon would NOT risk his nor his family's life by continuing on. Not reality.

But say I believed that. What is stopping him from telling his friend later approaching his boat about the killers on his boat and to turn around and get the hell away from there no matter what he thinks he can do to help. Gonna die anyway, scream at them to leave. Instead he got another family murdered. He was a wasteful hunk of flesh during the entire novel and if that's what the author thinks a 'man' is I hope he's wrong. Especially I believe the author had fun kicking the doctor's ass because he's a weekend sailor, I'm sure Mr. author is a proficient boater but no doctor, no man would be as wimpy and pathetic as the one described in this story. Only an alcoholic idiot would behave like the coward the doctor is portrayed as.

I guess the authors' vision of naked women submitting (or not) to drunk asshole kidnappers is a fun chapter or two, and was his big thrill. The killers were disgusting, dehumanized, filthy drunks who probably couldn't even get it up. And it would be more than simple to shove each one overboard. Talk about sad stories this one is right up there.

A supposed raped and degraded teenage female isn't even smart enough to save herself. A dead corpse tells her how to sink the boat and live. So phd's are worthless as humans, women are stupid,  and only men (dead corpses) can save one. Apparently.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU by Dan Wells **

Teen monster story. A teen hero (16) with friends who all own their own cars, which BTW are driveable even after being smashed and crashed. This is part of a series, part 3 I think. Very repetitive on the sociopath info. Sort of a Dexter wannabe but a bumbling idiot teenager.

He "sees" bad spirits or whatever he calls them in people and is all too ready to slaughter everyone with very  little proof. Then he finds- in a corpse -a thick ashy gooey substance the frickin cop forensic investigator missed (right) and decided THAT was the invader of normal people. What we don't ever get explained is if the goo is in the dead body how did it move into another body without taking itself?  Why bother explaining that to a teenage reader? So he's a killers killer trying to find all the guilty murderers.

Some stuff you read: Teenagers slashing their wrists plus a guy stabbing other people then sticking poles in their shoulders like flags and stabbing them over 50 times AND a bullet wound to the head, hands and tongues removed. None of which was explained to my satisfaction. He caught both killers, and of course his mum got the ashy goo in herself, ran into a burning car and died the death of a hero. Don't make the mistake of thinking the hero "John Cleaver" is the hero because he seems just as likely to kill his friends for no reason as to kill someone deserving. He seems very psychotic.

He has "dreams" of embalming his girl'friend'.  Real normal reading for a teen. Very social misfit who thinks he's only killing to rid the world of monsters. Give me S.King at least he sets better examples. Good is good. Bad is bad. No in between. Didn't find it "Brilliant" altho "creepy" is a nice description on the cover.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

SAIL by James Patterson *****

Yard sale find for me. Good one too. Keeps you turning pages relentlessly. It's actually a quite simple story told very well and not long winded. There isn't a word there that's not necessary to forwarding the story line. I so wish more authors knew how to do this.

Great beach read, for bedtime, between other heavy duty reading, whatever. I'm not going to say it was intellectually stimulating or anything but if you like to read -this book goes hard and fast. The ending I wish was a little more punishing for the perp (court-wise) but he does get what he deserves.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

DRY ICE by Bill Evans & M. Jameson ***

Some parts of this weather control story are very technical and boring. Then there's a story about some woman in the country killed by a storm with her animals while we are left wondering WTF and never get a reason for that when it takes place. I guess I'm supposed to connect dots at the end. Not sure.

A maniac Simpson, controls a weather facility in Antarctica and he manipulates everything in the software so IF he happens to be replaced all hell will break loose and there's no way to stop it. The hackers hired on at the same location can't stop it. The new boss, Tess can't stop it. The whole time I wonder why a plug or energy line can't be pulled/shut off and take the damn thing offline and it's over. I still don't understand why that wasn't reasonable. Meanwhile  tornados, earthquakes, floods, ice melts and all sorts of weather havoc are killing families of people he doesn't like along with a million others.

The president gets involved and the most reasonable end would be take out the facility (some reason they can't). Lots of reasons why things "can't" be done meanwhile instead of killing a few people at the facility millions are dying everywhere else. Has some sort of happy ending. Wonder how the other countries are dealing with that. Like Israel which was sort of bumped off the map.

The only thing scary about this is that it's probably likely someone DOES and IS controlling aspects of our weather. Instead of global warming it's more likely to be global tampering. Many other countries are in this race as well as the US. Otherwise I didn't find it very good story telling in the beginning nor the end. The middle was so-so.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP by S.J. Watson *****

Very good writing, tense and page turning. Woman has no memory due to an "accident" she doesn't remember and needs to be told over and over daily what her life is like, where she lives who she is etc. She begins to keep a diary and gets a doctor without her husband's knowledge and as she begins to write and reread the journal things about her life become more and more peculiar. She discovers a lot of lies being told to her etc. Oddly enough the dangerous life she is now leading is what cures her.

Psychological thriller. Enjoyable reading, good descriptions, nice confusion of events. Just why wasn't anyone trying to find her? At all? Abandoned to fate I suppose. Even her doctor should have been looking for her records and had more information about her past than he did.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

The KNOWLEDGE of GOOD & EVIL by Glenn Kleier ***

I'm not really into religion, god or any manifestations of novels depicting such but if you like that sort of fantasy this is surely the book for you. Takes a guy who wants to visit hell and heaven with priests trying to kill him to protect the church's secrets. Not a bad read if you're into that sort of thing.

I found it sort of bogged down in repetition, but the characters were ok. Most depicted well, and with their own personalities. Angela...well she sticks by her man way beyond what's healthy for a normal woman. But that's my opinion. You're entitled to your own.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

The VAULT by Boyd Morrison ***

Its sure a lot of book to read. There's every death imaginable; gunshots, falling, drowning, boiling, being blown up, belt bombs, phosphorescence bombs, people turning to gold by the Mida's touch, I think car accident was covered as well. Involved are the mafia, some language expert, engineers, Greek manuscripts and more.

People are forced by having relatives kidnapped into doing whatever the evil characters have in mind, which is finding Midas' tomb and taking home all the gold and the "disease" that causes whatever is touched to turn to gold.  Only thing missing are aliens, spacecraft and zombies. JK. Lots of chasing, involving cars, running, etc. I forgot to mention how someone wants to radioactivate the world and blame it on muslims -the villain of the month.

Took me a long time to read it. So much going on it's not easy to keep up with it all. People held for ransom blown up, survive, others think they're doing stuff to keep them alive and 2 factions after the Mida's touch thing. Never sure of anyone's true motives here and it's somewhat overdone but not the worst book I ever read. Give yourself a lot of time to get thru it tho.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

TOYS by James Patterson ***

A strange futuristic tale about robots and humans. The robots were created by the humans for labor and took over parts of cities eliminating humans. Some guy in the middle of these robots with no clue finds out he's really human and he goes back and forth from being a robot to a human and from being in love with his fake wife Lizbeth and kids to his friend/sister Lucy. Some toy dolls are invented with evil intent and you gotta read it yourself and decide what you think.

I thought it was sort of shallow, confusing in some areas, like we never really know what 7-4 means and we never saw how he was born and why he has no memory of his childhood as a human. Where did he finally end up changing into an Elite figure who knows. I read it all and have about 100 questions, which isn't a good sign.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

The SIXTH MAN by David Baldacci *****

Fast moving, lots of characters to learn but worth it. There's FBI, and alleged serial killer genius who needs a lawyer, Sean King and his girlfriend Michelle Maxwell. Things get confused and more confused with the gov't against people working for the gov't. Traitors and egos bigger than the planet.

Takes some work keeping people in your head but after awhile it gets easier. It was a good story, well told, no leftover questions and satisfying ending. Good reading.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

YOU BELIEVERS by Jane Bradley *

Keep on walking, nothing to see here.
Bunch of professional rambling in between nothing going on.
Some girl gets kidnapped or something, it's hard to tell- then the kidnappers are in a kitchen rambling on about whatever and at the end of the chapter you learn kidnapped girl ran off. I think. Not sure cuz I began to skim thru quickly. I was bored to tears.

There is so much explaining, describing, going back to birth stories, of everyone. Just really dead. Anything else would be more interesting. The encyclopedia for example. Momma this grandmomma that. Egads. Could not finish I was too bored. Hated it.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

FORBIDDEN by T.Dekker & T. Lee ***

It's readable. It's futuristic or mythological however you want to see it. Story about life without what the heart of life is, sort of dead people going thru the motions of living but mostly about the wealthy inheritors and their battle for control of the world. 5 people drink some blood and spend a bit of time 'feeling' emotions. Lack of emotions is called the Order and most people rigidly follow along altho you don't really see any day to day of people's lives.

Of course I don't like books without an ending and this one you need to read more- this is a series "The Books of Mortals" and there's a lot of repetition which is another thing I don't really like. Expect love, death, carrying hearts around, headless corpses, battle for supremacy and stuff like that.

Your call if you like series-type mythological stuff or not. I'm not on that bandwagon. I esp. hate the non ending. I read 376 pages with the expectation I would 'get somewhere'. Didn't really happen.

Friday, September 30, 2011

DOMINANCE by Will Lavender ***

Ok for a library find. I spent most of the time reading it confused. There were 2 murder events that took place 20 years apart with some of the same players. Back and forth 1982, 1994 & Present Day. With most of the same players you just get so confused you don't know which direction you're facing.

Some guy gets acquitted of the first pair of murders by a Dr. Alex whatever so he holds some kind of class from jail AS IF that could happen, half the time he's having a seizure. Everyone in the room is a suspect, even the cops guarding Mr. Criminal. Someone wrote some books, stupid students think they have a secret message and pretend to act it out OR SOMETHING I don't really know it wasn't clearly explained as most of the novel. Threads and missed loops here and there.

Reading it makes you wonder WTF you're bothering for. It's just so internal, self centered, for the select few only to understand and the reader isn't one of them. It's a mixed stew and if you think you're game enough to separate years, people and killers read on. Don't forget to keep a score card. I was lost in space.

Monday, September 26, 2011

A DOG'S PURPOSE by W.Bruce Cameron ****

Not a bad library find, guess he has more friends than other authors and knows how to sell himself. Sometimes it sounds like he read Backyard Dog which is much more intuitive than his book. The 'purpose' is up in the air for me, so is a dog supposed to be reincarnated until he returns to his original owner? Dogs start their lives without any previous knowledge or we'd have puppies as knowledgeable as adults. The reincarnation thing doesn't work for me, as the puppies telling their own life stories in Backyard Dog, outlining the lives of a litter of 10 puppies. A much better angle to the subject.

If I had to choose between 2 similar writings I would definitely go with Backyard Dog, the author has much more history and experience with dogs and it shows in the writing. Clearly this author likes dogs but he just isn't there inside them the same way Benzel is.

Friday, September 23, 2011

SANTA FE EDGE by Stuart Woods ***

There are a lot of people involved. Most of them are all fucking each other or strangers they meet during their various travels. It's not romance, it's more gratuitous fucking. So between all the fucking is a murderess running around loose after she escapes a Mexican prison. Her husband Ed Eagle put her there but Barbara has other ideas. There have been past murders (of just about everyone she's met) and she runs around from one fucking relationship to another trying to have Eagle killed. Eventually; even with his 2 non-body guards he gets shot. At the end of the book, one of the bitch's dead husbands has his will changed in her favor, she gets billions of bucks. Eagle decides to go after her and there's the end of the book. But not before the evil murderess marries a man she met in one day. LOL Must be love.

Most of the people have simple personalities and similar ones at that. They are sometimes hard to tell apart. There's no satisfaction in any of the little vignettes because no one ever gets killed who deserves it, no one catches anyone else and no one goes to jail, no one is punished for any illegal activities and all are rewarded with airplanes, Bentleys, mucho fucking, sucking and other bodily -ings. I wasn't crazy about it but it wasn't a difficult read. I could do without another Woods book.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The LAST LIE by Stephen White *

Ok, so you wanna write a novel and your objective in the first page, first line even is to engage the reader. Get them right into the story. Shove the story hard and fast so they want to finish the book. Am I right?
Then tell me why a cop meets a woman outside a cop station and it takes 10 pages, an entire chapter before she says "I was raped." WTF?

Author: You didn't get my interest. You bored me. Returned to library.

DELIRIOUS by Daniel Palmer ***

It was about a high tech guy who begins to think he's losing his mind, has a crazy (as in psychotic/hearing hallucinating) brother and mom to care for. Goes downhill from there. He loses his job, he starts to hear voices (specifically controlled device aimed at his ear only and no one else in the vicinity can hear it) stuff like that. Sort of "OHHHHH, one of THOSE why didn't I think it was ONE OF THOSE. I'll tell ya why cuz THEY DON'T EXIST that's why. A lot of that going around.

So on and on and on this goes. He keeps thinking he's crazy, his brother helps him get out of trouble along with his therapist. And this could be a better short story but it just rambles on and on. I found it not a stinking bad story but a boring not page turning one. The ending is so so. Didja think one of the dead people did it? Well think again Agatha.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

LIVE WIRE by Harlan Coben ****

Very good story telling. At first tho I had trouble figuring out what the 'mystery' was that was being solved by Myron and his detective agency. Lots of family crap. His bother is missing, SIL a heroin addict, dad in and out of hospital and meantime people are being shot in the head over the mysterious musician who seems to be missing. For like 15 years and now is causing all sorts of mayhem with people's lives.
Keeps your interest altho it's like reading an obit. The whys and wherefores. I didn't think it was the hottest book I ever read but it's a good library find for sure.

Friday, September 9, 2011

The DEVIL SHE KNOWS by Bill Loehfelm **

I really gave it everything I could.  I read more than half. Some girl sees some guy giving blowjobs to a candidate wannabe (not president or he'd not be in this rinky dink town -or book to begin with). So suddenly the blowee Dennis turns up dead. The rest of it is mostly threats to our alcoholic smoking over sexual heroine Maureen from Mr. Candidate-Sebastian. For seeing a blowjob in a bar? WTF? Now suddenly there are tapes which are being hidden around which she never knew about until the big "THREAT" occurred. Also there are over stuffed bras, skimpy clothing.....o it's so hard to tell a guy is writing this, whoda thunk?

I don't know why some candidate is trying to intimidate or threaten Maureen over a blowjob and I read far enough into this crap to have been told of another reason if there is one by now. Cuz now it's too fuckin' late and I don't care anymore. I have  been bored with her moving around from her friends house, her friend's boyfriends house, her moms house, her car, someone else's car, the bar, someone elses bar. Her make believe tough girl attitude who calls the cops anytime she sees a shadow. This has taken me days on end to read also. Slow, monotonous, boring and I just don't have time for this shit when I have other books.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

PACIFIC HEIGHTS by Paul Harper *****

Masterfully told story. All the characters are believable and vulnerable. Two women from a therapist are being stalked and manipulated. Marten Fane a former intelligence officer is hired to figure out what's going on and why.

The women are given different fake names by the stalker (Kroll), he seems to be reading their minds and at first they're flattered at the interest then become more and more fearful.

Lots of twists and turns, page turning psychological thriller keeps you right in the story and not wanting to quit. Very good novel, good writing, no boring parts for me at all. Really liked it a lot.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The CONFESSION by John Grisham ***

I found it very dry and it had an agenda, promoting a commission to review cases in TX to see if people are innocent or guilty. So it was a case study of a sort and the entire beginning you feel as though you've read this book before. Someone was convicted of a crime, declares innocence. You meet all the players; judges, lawyers, prosecutors and their entire dull families. Then the case is upset when the real murderer confesses. O by the way, the not real killer also confessed, people lied under oath, other people fudged the truth.

So anyways I skimmed thru the entire book. It wasn't that intriguing for me, I didn't find it unique or exciting and barely worth pursuing. Grisham is usually very good reading but this time I wasn't into it for whatever reason. Honestly not sure why that was. The actual story with the priest, his wife, the murderer showing where the grave was (too late of course to save the innocent guy) was long, long boring, long, dragged on and on and wasn't the least bit interesting.

That's my take.

Monday, August 29, 2011

A NOSE FOR JUSTICE by Rita Mae Brown **

Um a pipe bomb doing barely any damage. People buying water rights. Which I never heard of anything so strange. Do they own underground water? Land the water is underground of? Water coming from clouds and landing on the ground someone owns?  Some sort of you gotta live in a desert to understand it and I don't GAS. So that part of the novel is nothing to me.

Then we got someone dug up a 100 yr old or something murdered body. Means diddly squat to me. I could care less. So they're about to go tracking his ring, ID'ing him and making a huge production about finding his killer. How it sat in her barn for 100 yrs who the F knows. No no I mean who the F cares.

So I don't really care about any of it. Nor the jumble of characters saying "Pardon me ma'am" and "here's the thing pardner." Permission given to other people to be fans. Just not me thanks.

SILENT MERCY by Linda Fairstein ***

Hard to focus on a centerpoint of the novel. It wanders back and forth from decapitation, cop house flirtations, bad girls having sex then turning it into rape. Lots and lots of speculation enough to make me crazy. Shit like this bores me: blahblah "the sculpture garden," I said. My mother Maude raised on a dairy farm in Mass by her Scandinavian parents was confirmed in the Episcopalian Church blahlblahblah you lost my interest. This "losing interest" thing just happens to me on almost every page, or at least every 3 pages. I skip a lot of crap.

Half the time I can't tell if her "French" boyfriend is in the bedroom with her or she's on the phone or somehow spirited him into her room while she's on the phone with someone else. He confuses me as much as she does.

I find it verbose, slow, tedious. Not focused enough for me, too many characters non-distinctive at best.
I don't know the story I'm supposed to be caring about. Headless females, gangs interviews, churches, priests and/or religion, her interactions at the station, partners, whatever. I don't really care. I'm tossed from wave to wave on the whim of the writer and lost interest pages ago and I'm not half thru it. Not sure I'll finish.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

FIRE SPIRIT by Graham Masterton **

I wasn't enthused. I would have finished it but it was slow going. Too many background details, too many long drawn out victim scenarios, very few clues as to what's going on. Cryptic daughter sentences. I take it the people from hell are escaping. Didn't have time to finish and no inclination to renew. Not my style at all.

Friday, August 19, 2011

KISSER by STUART WOODS ***

MCP to the max. Meets a chick and within 12 hrs she's naked in his bed, then meets 2 new chicks (don't know each other) who then "explore" his home and he goes upstairs to find them BOTH naked in his bed waiting for him. So true to life. O wait...must be fantasy novel trying to be a mystery. The mystery is; does he dope them up before they fall naked into his bed or does his dick dangle out the bottom of his pant legs.
Screw #3 is a cop for gods sake.

One part of the story is about an actress (screw#1) and her revengeful ex. The other part of the story (screws#2&3) is about a painter and his young about to be wealthy girlfriend that daddy wants to protect. And Stone really really likes to 'take care' of women. Wonder how often he's checked for STDs. In two novels I've read ZIP on the VD check and boy he's gotta be going blind any book now. (syph)

So it's pretty incredible that Stone in ONE NIGHT meets the most beautiful woman he's ever seen (as they all are), screws her, hears her life story, arranges body protection for her, gets her travel arrangements and moves her into his house. Which is weird cuz while he's stuffing the other girls in his crib she's not there. He really sounds like a stalker doesn't he? At minimum oink oink.

As far as writing goes; not bad. Plot; not sure if any good or not. Bated breath factor; nope. Surprises; not many. A story is written everything is predictable and falls happily into place no conflict of which to speak. Ok on the character development but the characters share juvenile traits and behaviors. General age range should be mid 20s-early 30s according to their mindless behavior.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

DISTURBANCE by Jan Burke ****

Good library find but starts out with this indestructible scheming killer who doesn't turn out to be either. Apparently he "planned" to be caught, he "planned" his escape years ago. Everything going on was part of his original plan he made...what....10 yrs ago? Sort of unbelievable in that regard.

Apparently a person can pop sons out all over the country, check on them secretively and then scoff them up pretending they're as cold blooded as he is. Sounds weird. So these women were too stupid to abort the rape, or get them adopted out. Many times adoptions are very secretive. I'd like to know how stupid killer can find out who all kids kids are without any DNA tests. I'm sure some of them aren't even related - remotely. So he just cons people into following him around? He (Parrish) has a very minor role in the story. The protag, Irene Kelly has a past with him, is scared enough for dogs, cop husband, body guards, karate lessons and he's a feeble 50 yo with broken body parts and can barely walk. He was almost paralyzed from the neck down. I was let down because he was built up as this monster in the beginning and turns out to be a helpless scowler. That's about the jist of his power. Scowling at people.

It was ok, liked turning pages and seeing what happens next but there were slow parts or strange stuff, like the Moth club...haha....a billionaire son who disappears at the end when he was in custody at the hospital at one point. Helpless. So where is he now? Goin on a Irene Kelly hunt I suppose for the next version? No that would be too predictable right?

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A CONFLICT OF INTEREST by Adam Mitzner *****

Very good lawyer/courtroom novel with very in depth characters. There are things revealed during the story telling and a lot of the times you wish he'd share more of the main characters' thoughts (Alex Miller) and actions but eventually it all comes together even tho you were frustrated by not having info while it's progressing.

If you like courtroom, lawyer stuff you'll be satisfied, if you like murder mystery and twists and turns you'll be very satisfied. I liked it but boy it really underlines the lawyer jokes/shark stuff.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG by Kate Atkinson

Blah. Brit writer so aside from trying to impress a US reader with her English name dropping she's difficult to understand. The colloquialisms make one batty.

Wanders and roams off topic by the next page I have NO CLUE where we started. Everyone has a history back to their boring childhood.

I ended on page 27. Buh Bye.

DELIVER US FROM EVIL by David Baldacci *****

Was good reading. An old Nazi evil guy is still running around and a crew of vigilantes meet up with a gov't type guy and work together to put an end to him. He's very evil and he's on top of what they're next moves are, so some of them survive and some don't.

Good fast paced storytelling and good with the details and also with character descriptions. Easy to tell who is who and not so many you can't remember them all. Generally liked it.

Friday, August 12, 2011

PORT MORTUARY by Patricia Cornwell *****

As always great reading. Kay Scarpetta is on a case with her husband and Lucy, her neice. Most of the book is internal narrative (she has a healthy ego) and the case is dribbled in small snippets throughout. It's a big book so if you fall asleep make sure the book doesn't fall off the bed and hit the dog down there.

Lots of scary new technology, like flybots and air knives and nano-products. I still don't know why the corpse was bleeding long after death esp. since he was on his back and bled from his face. Did I miss something? One of her colleagues, she's known most of her professional life, becomes a suspect. Lots of people (FBI, Lucy, DoD, probably more) have her office bugged-why? IDK, cuz she's so famous? Lots of coincidences of people being where other people who are either related or in Kay's neighborhood happen.

Aside from the self-aggrandizement it's good reading, page turning and interesting with the new tech stuff.

Monday, August 8, 2011

The 2 DEATHS of DANIEL HAYES by Marcus Sakey****

Well not a bad read but it seems superficial to me for some reason. Not in depth feelings-wise or heart felt or something I don't know what is lacking I just feel something is.

So a couple are, I suppose, being blackmailed into giving up a half million dollar necklace. The actress wife did some slutty photos in her past and can't let them get out into the public. So meanwhile all this crap happens where the husband is so distraught thinking she's dead that he drives across country to drown him self. Guess there's no water in California? So anywho somewhere near the end husband finds out his wife called the blackmailer and then suspects they're co-conspirators which IS NEVER explained nor dealt with again. So WHY for shits sake did she call him? WTF?

The ending was unsatisfactory and ambiguous. Some guy is left alive when 2 people are supposedly dead. Which one is alive? Guess the author doesn't know because he can't tell his readers. I got no clue. Whyever I don't know. It's a fast read, but not a very deep novel. Like i said, I can't tell you what's missing but something is. The wife has almost no personality to speak of. They seem like mannikins performing functions. My take. Get your own!! LOL

Friday, August 5, 2011

WE ALL FALL DOWN by Michael Harvey *****

Great biological weapon released in the streets of Chicago story. Lots of action, shootings etc. You follow the lead character Michael Kelly a retired cop into the poor sections of the city as he deals with drug dealers, gangs, teenage killers and trying to solve who released the bio weapon killing people who rode the subway.

Nice storytelling, good descriptions, characters are distinct and different. Page turner for sure.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

THE GUILTY PLEA by Robert Rotenberg ***

I would say this was one of the better murder mysteries I've read but I can't because the evidence throughout the entire novel was completely missing. There was a bloody knife preserved with hand and fingerprints (never mentioned) and all other hair and fibers existed but that's it. MENTIONED. No explanation about what they showed. No info on who's blood, who's fingerprint, who who who. No 'this hair belonged to so and so'. How can you write a murder mystery, have a woman put on trial with NO EVIDENCE given any weight thru the novel at all. STUPID. Thru the entire novel I kept waiting for evidence. Nada. Page 229 mentions there IS evidence. But nothing else about it. A huge part of the defense was about what order the knife wounds were. WHY? No particular reason. It made no sense to me at all why this was so important and the KNIFE/BLOOD/PRINT EVIDENCE was ignored!!! WTF?

Then the woman charged with the crime says to her attorney "Let's say 'theoretically', I told you Terry was cutting up some fruit for Simon's breakfast when I came in." Then the stupid ass of a lawyer made up some more of the story instead of asking her to continue, or asking 'is that true' or whatever. Not only that but at the end of the novel HOW DID SHE KNOW that being so innocent and all?? Later you get a confession but geez too late for me to care because I'm so pissed off the evidence is invisible. She also was described in the beginning as a cold bitch who didn't even like her own child but then she answers her lawyer in a shy demure fashion 'guilty' and whispers answers to him pathetically. This goes back and forth a lot: one second bitch, next second demure studious nerd, then sexual predator, then quietly innocent. Not consistent.

Not crazy about the book. If those things were addressed I would say the book was very good. Nice character development/relationships everywhere else, nice climax build up, ok on descriptions and stuff like that. Well enough written that I wanted to continue but without the evidence during the trial I was fed up with the whole thing. So puzzling why the elephant in the room remained invisible for 300 pages.
BIG BIG Elephant. Invisible.

Monday, August 1, 2011

HOLLYWOOD HILLS by Joseph Wambaugh *****

Great storytelling. Lots of action, adventure and comedy. About a cop station in the Hollywood Hills, robbery, blackmail, surfer cops, wannabe actor cops and it's pretty funny. A lot of stories unfold and you get to follow the precinct cops from one misadventure to another. Worth buying so you can read it again someday. Funny stuff. Wanna see the movie made for sure!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

DOGS DON'T LIE by Clea Simon ***

The title is off because it's mostly about cats. This 'person' can talk to animals...sort of. I wouldn't say talk to, I'd say hear one or two repetitious non-critical comments. There's a murder, a dog is blamed and kept quarantined at the animal control while Nosy Parker Pru goes around getting half sentences, partial stories, and non information from other people and animals to solve the case.

So many times I'm confused: Blahblah...cradling the hot china made me as mellow as Wallis in the the sun. I pretended to take a sip and smiled some more, trying to remember just which flower had that same shade of blue. WTF??? WHAT blue??? Again: Blahblah..my student loans had, reasonably, disappeared when I dropped my classes in midterm without explanation blahblah....HOW do school loans disappear?? Did she pay them? Did someone else pay them? Did she declare bankruptcy? What? WTF?? Again: "Delia, I'm so sorry." I could feel the flush grow in my cheeks. If only I hadn't let that damned thrush distract me." HUH? Thrush? Where? When? On what page? WTF??? AGAIN: blahblah...Mack called me a bit after eight. I mean, I like attention too. "Hey doll." There was a warmth in his voice that I didn't quite trust, "Good to hear from you."(HE SAYS) WTF? HE called HER. What is 'good to hear from her'?? WHEN? HOW? WTF???? This is endemic to the entire novel. Confused, disjointed, cut off wherever, unfinished thoughts and it sounds like good medication but so-so story telling.

It feels like 14 people are writing the story. One person starts a paragraph, someone else writes the next one and so on and so on. It isn't by any means flowing and easy to follow.

Monday, July 25, 2011

STRATEGIC MOVES by Stuart Woods ***

Stone Barrington is sort of a lawyer or something doing his own thing. He beds women, that's one thing. And his MO is the same. One dinner at Elaines, get them on his special little jet to a wooded cabin in VT then screw them for awhile. They don't really seem much like people with personalities except to follow him around to praise, admire him and be impressed with his finesse and who he knows.

Then he has 'regular' clients who have problems; like people are after them, or the CIA wants to talk to them, a scandal is happening, rumors are going around or some other crap which he seems to casually handle. Again he awaits the praise and admiration.

It's readable but no page turning, twisting murder mysteries in here if that's what you're into.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

BACKYARD DOG by Ilona Benzel *****

Can't find this in the library but it's a great read about a litter of puppies and how they survive or don't. Not for wimpy readers, this tells the pup's stories realistically and I know a lot of people who should be forced to read it.

Can only find it at lulu.com and it's well worth the cover price. Hard to put down. Emotional, enduring stories that aren't easily forgotten. Based on reality. BEST DOG BOOK I EVER READ.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The SENTRY by Robert Crais *****

Really liked this one a lot, worth paying for. Joe Pike meets an interesting couple and everything goes to hell from there. Chasing, killing, murder, bad agents, twisty turns to keep you guessing. Lots of action packed adventure. Had a hard time putting it down.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

VERY BAD MEN by Harry Dolan ****

I'll start by saying it's readable and kind of keeps you interested. Then lets get to how many people are involved in a 17yo bank robbery gone bad. 4 men were involved and a driver (no one, even those involved in the robbery know who the driver is...strange, no?). 17yrs later for really not much of a reason (nosy journalist & up and coming senator) the past comes back to haunt everyone. Now we got about 20 people either directly or indirectly involved in either covering it up or killing everyone involved. That's a lot of twisted complicated intertwining b.s. Add to that children unknowingly related,  someone marrying out of guilt and to hide stuff and it's sort of off-the-wall becoming more and more unreal.

Like a bad dream you get carried from one oddball scenario to another. One very difficult aspect near the end a teenager hears a conversation, is on a bike (?), beats the cops to the evidence hidden behind a wall he hacks up BEFORE they get there and somehow he steals a gun from the house where he heard the story. The cops go right to that other house and find the evidence and broken wall. Hard to swallow a kid is such a genius. How could he steal a gun at the same time he's knocking down walls?  Oh, so convenient he doubled back....KNOWING the cops wouldn't be there? How lucky for him they weren't!!! Lots of "things" in the story fall into place to support other off the wall and mostly unbelievable happenings.

I enjoy reading, I need a bit of credibility/reality tho. This one is ok library find. Kind of relentless with the unbelievability factors tho.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

MYSTERY by Jonathan Kellerman *****

Great story, murder, Beverly Hills, almost-starlets, with Milo and Alex on the case. Fast read, no crap to slow you down. Characters are all distinct, unique and easy to follow. Never been disappointed reading a Kellerman novel.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

RED WOLF by Liza Marklund

No stars cuz I'm not reading it. NY times best seller!  Boring me. So some journalist is investigating an incident involving planes blowing up or something 30 yrs ago. Her name is Annika, who meets up with Anna...thanks for the repetitious names. Some other reporter wrote a story relating to the 30 yr ago thing and ended up dead, recently.  All this crap takes place in Swedish places like Lulea and other far away frozen tundras.

Not interested and don't care about any of it. Nothing at all is driving me forward. So much for that. Blah.

Friday, July 8, 2011

STRONG at the BREAK by Jon Land ***

It's readable but geez what's with the noun fixation? Ever hear of a pronoun, Land? Every paragraph is Caitlin breathed and Caitlin saw and Caitlin walked and Cort Wesley this and that. Can't he be called Cort? Sick of Cort Wesley, I'm only on page 119 and if I were to have a drink everytime Cort Wesley's name came up I'd be drunk on page 3. Give it a rest, use; he, she, it. WTF.

That crap is so distracting I can barely tolerate the rest of the novel. The story is that some asshole teenager who's name you'll see a zillion times: DYLAN went to Mexico to find his dead girlfriend Maria Sancheza El Paso Sicko Full Namitosis. Daddy Ranger or whatever he is didn't tell him she's dead. Why? Stupidity. So now Caitlin, or Ranger, and Cort I'm sick of you Wesley are off on the chase. I almost wish they'd kill the kid, everyone could go home, get drunk and forget they have proper nouns in every paragraph of the book.

Cort Wesley said. Guillermo Paz said. Caitlin said. They all frickin full name (and middle names) said. Colonel, Ranger. Proper Noun capital of the world said. Dumb ass teenager carves a D in the floor and whooppeee everyone is so damn proud he ran away and was kidnapped. Cowboy story to the max but don't ask why...driving cars and not on horseback. Sheeeit.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The KING OF PLAGUES by Jonathan Maberry ****

I had a little trouble getting into this because it goes back and forth from 3 months ago to the present, then 7 weeks ago and then forward and then June, then December, then 4 months ago, back and forward thru the entire book. With lots of people, cops and bad guys. Lots and lots of them. Conspiracies up the yin yang.

Took me a long time to care about anyone or anything going on but once I finally did (about the middle) I'd say it began to sound like a real story. So tough investment and lots of pages. Religious clap trap, bible references, Cabals, Black ops, secret societies, lots of blood and gore.

An issue is that people get coerced into performing for the secret society, like this: If you don't do what we want your family will die and we are watching every second. But Amber Taylor got to live by picking up her kids, hiding in her house till the hero arrived and got her. No one tried to kill her. No one at her place of work tried to kill her or tried to carry out the mission- which in all the other coerced stories there were many people in on the act to be performed. Lots of people at the same location were coerced to perform bad stuff but not in her case. The only case. So wasn't happy about that difference. Why only her? HUH?

I think it's an okay library book but you really have to want to continue. You need fortitude for this one. Lots of it. Courage, fortitude and notch up your toughness rating then go for it.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

CHOSEN by Chandra Hoffman **

Outside my 'like' meter. Something about adoptions, case worker Chloe, divorces, couples and their stupid pregnancy problems. One of the birth fathers, an ex felon steals the baby of (coincidently) another couple Chole knows. She gathers money for this felon and his creepy girlfriend so both can escape the kidnapping charges and they both get off because she's too much of a bimbo to actually call the police.

I thought a lot of the people in the story were weak, somewhat alike personality-wise and hard to separate because of their similarities. They just weren't distinctive enough or different and mostly I really didn't GAS about them or their stupid baby problems.

Slow mover and you really should be a people loving person to care about any of the couple's stories at all.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

CHASING FIRE by Nora Roberts ****

Good library find, big book takes time to get thru. Lots about fire and people who fly out to the woods to fight them, throw in a romance and a couple murders and you're somewhat inspired to turn pages. I'm not saying it's a thrilling murder mystery or steamy romance, but it's not a bad read, goes sort of on the slow side. Has a lot of characters but they have distinctive names and personalities so it's not hard to remember them.

The lead character Rowan, for some reason the story focuses on HER being the reason for all the mayhem with shootings and deaths etc when she really isn't the core of the problem. I didn't hate it, didn't love it and I didn't get sick of it anywhere. I really am past giving a shit about all the fucking but I suppose Nora isn't.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

The KENKEN KILLINGS by Parnell Hall ***

Mostly dialogue; clever or not so clever repartee with the "puzzle lady" who only does kenken puzzles and has a daughter or daughter in law do crosswords. How anyone could mix that into a murder mystery is beyond practicality. Two murders occur during Cora the puzzle lady's kind-of hearing of her alimony. The ex who is on his 5th bimbo wants to stop paying. Another ex wife bimbo is right behind the cheating ex husband of Cora.

It's a lot of back and forth supposed jokes, pointless repeat of clues and what ifs, who done it's and big mouth nosy Cora even acts as a lawyer in court AS IF that is the least bit realistic. So of course she solves the case, manipulates people to do things for her to prove it and voila! Case closed.

Personally I wasn't crazy about it. If you like labeled murder mysteries you might if you can get over the self importance of the main character. I read a LOT and didn't like it much. Just my opinion.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The DOG PARK CLUB by Cynthia Robinson ***

It's readable; somewhat, sometimes entertaining. What's entertaining about it is the pomposity of the people in the novel. Unintended I think, the clothing name tags, etc Prada, lining up nail polish by color, shoe brand names- actually I found all that comical and absurd and writer is very comfortable with all that crap. Almost chick lit-ish and don't think of that as a compliment. The characters are mostly all alcoholics, recreational drunks, pot heads, homeless or "do not label me" types. Men wearing caftans for example. Noticing a hair out of place etc. I think glorifying alcoholics went out in the 70s but I could be mistaken. The book is almost "Bridgets Diary-ish" but not nearly as funny and these characters take themselves way too seriously.

The mystery? Hmmmmm some pregnant slut screws around on her husband and disappears. Big whoop. The ending hints that she embezzled from her company and ran off with one of her screw mates. But you are never actually sure of this. And there are other disappeared/dead pregnant females thru the story with no explanation for them either. Ambiguous ending. So in actuality there is no finale. I didn't like it. Once the cops were on the scene. Once. They then became as disappeared as the pregnant slut.

Doesn't have much to do with dogs, or a dog park other than that's where these name brand cretins met each other. Main character is an opera singer...traveling around with his opera company being blase about his life and all his friends in general. The MYSTERY is; WTF happened to the missing pregnant female and the ANSWER is; you will not know by reading this book.  If I want to read mysteries with no ending the newspaper is full of them and I don't have to know what frickin tags were on their articles of clothing.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

The NIGHT SEASON by Chelsea Cain ****

The book is in pouring rain throughout the novel, flooding etc. An old body from another flood shows up just to make things more twisty. So the dead body's son who kidnapped a kid awhile ago (fruitcake) goes around killing people with octopi. Yeah, don't ask me I didn't write it.  In one scene where the octopi are swimming around in ice cold flood water apparently they can still be alive and kill when they are salt water creatures who would probably be more concerned with survival than looking for victims if they even had the strength to bite someone. Meantime lots of people die by octopi. Couple cops and nosy reporter are on the case.

Thing I really despise is the references to the past book...a series. Please spare me. And there aren't too many people who would take someone serious as a writer (like main character) if they had purple, pink and all the colors of the rainbow for hair with rainbow boots. She has a goat in her house. Really. I mean.....really. When I worked at a newspaper I didn't see one nose ring, tattoo or any purple hair. It was unprofessional and lots of children are led around to see how newspapers are made, along with reporters needing to be taken seriously at crime scenes and in court with lawyers etc. Grow her up or kill her off.

Please stop the series repeat nonsense. If you are going to force me to read books in some kind of order I will not read your books. Keep your main characters, assume we read the last book and move along. STFU about the past. It's past, keep it there. Actually the references were few but not few enough.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

ZERO DAY by Mark Russinovich ***

Way too many hackers involved in creating a virus to knock out the US internet system and either create havoc or create lots of tragedies, like plane crashes, dam malfunctions, power plant errors etc. due to our dependence on the internet. There are way way too many spies/secret societies involved, & it's always said the more people involved- the more chances for exposure by any one of them. This novel is difficult to swallow in that regard.

Is it Russians? Chechens? Mafia? Muslims? Single individual? Arabs? New characters intro'd on page 162 which is too far into this mishmosh of people for me to even GAS. Some of the spies have multiple names, online names, alias's, nicknames there are way too many hackers most of the time I have no idea who's the good guys and who's the bad guys which causes me to lose interest.

Some crap about Yousef too far towards the end of the book, and his complicated life from birth to now I just skipped that chapter. Then after learning words like "triggers" and other hacker terms, author throws in other hackers different terms for same words like red, yellow etc representing 'triggers' it gets too deeply detailed and I just drift off into lala land. Some actual action happens around chapter 50 or so but by then you've been dulled into wanting to read something else.

Less is more. What happened to that? There's too many people, too many conspiracies, too many individuals, too many hackers, too many viruses and worms and whatever. Too much of too much.

Friday, June 10, 2011

MURDER in PASSY by Cara Black **

Looks like author drinking tea or demitasse on back flap...shoulda had a clue but I picked it up anyways. Flics apparently are cops. Lots of other French terminology crap to go with that. I'm only around page 60 but I'm skipping over a lot of descriptive b.s. cuz I'm trying to stay awake. Of course the PI is so much more intelligent than the flics and her godfather is being accused of a crime. He goes to jail, gets beat up and at the end goes right back to his cop job. Protag Aimee Leduc doesn't seem all that bright, or the French PI's have less technology to work with. Not horrible enough to quit reading but not intriguing enough to drag around from room to room either. Something about Basques, old vendettas or promises and who all knows. I couldn't figure it all out. Confusing.

Aimee is on the case, get used to all the French-isms and plan on going slow. Not my cup of tea. If the title was Murder in Pussy; well that would be interesting wouldn't it? LOL Meanwhile brace yourself for a slow mover. Books like this; why? and who publishes this crap? I have read 1,000 better books. Bottom of the barrel. I still don't know where all the American mystery writers have gone. Sick of foreign crap.

The ILLUMINATION by Kevin Brockmeier

Boring. Tedious. From one person to the next with injuries that light up. No explanations for the "illumination". No scientific queries. No suggestive ideas. Nothing like that. Just people with their boring lives being boring. If they have a cut it lights up. That's about it folks.

GOOD THIEF GUIDE to VEGAS by Chris Ewan **

In one section this killer used a crowbar to break into a car trunk to kill someone or dump the body then later on the protagonist (a thief) just needs a key to open the trunk and find the body. Now wouldn't the key be unnecessary with a broken trunk? DUH

Then the entire novel is based on someone stealing a "juice list" WTF is that you ask? I read the book and still am confused. Either investors? Or people to blackmail? Or some such nonsense. The ending is so confusing with so many criminals and people involved in whatever the book is about (who knows) that it takes an entire chapter to explain it all IF you happen to be able to remember all the characters, their names and parts played.

I really don't GAS what happens to a main character who is a thief. He steals, robs and pilfers anything he touches. Bet he won't enjoy his girly position in jail. Hated him. Story was barely tolerable.

I hate this stuff too: I locked onto her eyes (OUCH) and held them (DOUBLE OUCH), nodding as sincerely as I could. Blahblahblah

Monday, June 6, 2011

The TERROR of LIVING by Urban Waite **

There are 3 guys; one Hunt who boards horses with his wife used to be a criminal. His best horse just got shot and it's not even discussed at home. Then Drake who's father is in jail and Drake is a cop after Hunt, he caught Hunts companion who just got offed in jail. I have no idea how the killer in jail gets out without being caught but anyways there's the boss of Hunt, Eddie. So far lots and lots of past history back to childhood in some cases. For each character in the novel. I really don't GAS about that stuff. It's way too rambling for me, and over descriptive. Not interested in continuing. I like fast reading and this slows me way down with the detail crap. I'm at page 65 and am closing shop. Not interesting enough FOR ME to continue. Someone else may get engaged and like it but that person isn't me.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

COME AND FIND ME by Hallie Ephron ****

Sort of suspenseful, easy to read novel. Not really a mystery. Some dumb bunny hacker Diana falls in love with a hacker Daniel, who it really seems is gay (not verified) with his boyfriend Jake. They've been planning on destroying sort of the Big Brother network of having everyone who is born's information. DNA, GPS, Satellite crap. The two guys planned this years in advance, picked up dumb bunny somewhere then faked Daniels' death. Why? Not a good reason. How'd she get involved when she seems to know so little about hacking in general? IDK. Because of her fake boyfriends fake death she is almost agoraphobic...adds a little more dumb to her bunny. Anyways that's the entire gist of the situation.

Have no idea why she let the boyfriend run off into the world without any punishment whatsoever even tho it was planned to destroy all 'virtual' evidence in existence. Only Jake gets nailed for accidently kidnapping her sister. She's really a lightweight in the 'men' department.

Not murder, not mystery, nothing grabbing you to turn pages but you do it to see if any damn thing will happen to make it more interesting when it actually gets less and less interesting, less details of what's occurring etc. So, ok library book. Wouldn't pay for it.

Monday, May 30, 2011

INDULGENCE in DEATH by J.D. ROBB ***

This is a sort of murder mystery taking place in the future 2060 which I don't know why because there aren't that many futuristic 'things' that would require moving the date up. So far I noticed an ID thing that you can program or scan someone and ID them, like a dead body. Big deal. They talk of vids, and wrist doodads that have a lot of techie stuff but otherwise can't understand it. People still deal drugs, pay for sex, murder for sport. There are robotic type of people but nothing really stands out for it being futuristic like say Orson Wells or Doug Adams....I tend to look for brilliant creativity when reading about a futuristic society.

This book, while I continued to read it, wasn't overly exciting. In fact there was so much repetition I had to skim thru a lot of the repeat stuff, repeatedly. You got your investigator lieutenant Eve and her doting, adoring, unrealistic husband Roarke who owns half the town. You have Eve's crowd of helpful detectives working in the background. So some rich guys are playing a game of murder trying to outdo each other. Not giving anything away cuz it then takes the rest of the book to get evidence. This takes time. Slowly.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

NOW YOU SEE HER by Joy Fielding ***

It's readable but not much of a story considering how many pages it is. Would be better short story far as I'm concerned. About a stupid self deluded woman who doesn't think her daughter is dead, goes to Ireland (for some bizarre reason thinks that's where she is), runs around trying to find an Audrey who she believes is her hiding daughter Devon. When she finds the Audrey and it's not her she is still running around looking for Audrey like a blind mouse in a maze.
No wonder everyone thinks she's frickin nuts. She's so stupid she's practically screwing anyone who says she's attractive. I would say she's naive but at 50 she's really quite beyond an idiot. No murder, nothing remotely exciting. Just continuous sexual references, men complimenting her, moving from hotel to hotel and wow...that's about it so far. Her room gets robbed when one of her "boyfriends" (36yo) takes her out. Not even a suspicion he's involved somehow. Too flattered by his attentions to have a brain. Anyway almost but not quite done. So far not recommending cuz it's so blitheringly boring.  Much ado about nothing.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

AFRAID of the DARK by James Grippando ***

It took me a long time to really settle into the book. There were too many characters, too many seemingly disassociated events. Probably half thru the book things started to get clearer and more cohesive but it was hard work getting there. Too often people's names are switched from last to first and it was confusing constantly, and also irritating.

I didn't toss my arms up in frustration so it had a certain amount of appeal to continue. A cop Vince Paulo and a lawyer Jack Swyteck are investigating a murder connected by a friendship of the murdered girls father Chuck. The mother of the murdered girl really deserved to be murdered herself for her involvement. So there's a "Dark" guy who begins killing people who had anything to do with the demise of his sister brain washed into being a human bomb years ago; I guess. Far fetched activities (religious, porn, online video porn, sex slaves, FBI, cell phone listening capabilities) leading to far fetched scenarios (murder, collusion of parent, sex slaves, poison murder, Jamal in Gitmo) and you have to work to keep up with it all.

Really if Andie and her whole stupid FBI story was eliminated it would have made the story easier to follow and less nonsensical. That was a red herring and completely off-the-track bullshit woven throughout the novel. Everything to do with her should have been deleted. Ditto Jamal in Somalia, Gitmo, tortured, foot cut off--he played an important role in the story as boyfriend of dead girl, suspected killer and son of Dark's sister's murderer but just now putting that down in writing is so off the wall. There was just too much of everything. Over kill.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

SEIZURE by Rick Oldham

Boy --small book with plethora of characters. Brit writer yet again. First off, fishing charter in Puerto Rico with Flynn and female client and he plans to fuck her. Major topic. Then they find a bunch of immigrants dodging sharks and bring them into the boat. That's over because now we're with some stupid police officers in an English hospital visiting a security guard who got shot and dies, one cop also gets to visit his MUM in there. That's over because now we're back with Flynn fucking the client, back to Henry and Rik two detectives in England then back to Flynn being yelled at by his boss for having a gun on the charter boat, then back to England eating bacon, then Flynn with his new fuckmate bringing the press to interview him saving people. Now Felix Deakin in jail chatting with his solicitor. I'm dizzy from the back and forth. It's all pretty boring and no one has had a seizure yet. (RE: TITLE). BORED BORED.

The back and forth the inundation of characters- the Brit terminology. WTF happened to all the AMERICAN writers? Why so many Brits? Sick to death of em. Had enough. BYEBYE.

HANDLING THE UNDEAD by John Lindqvist **

Zombie story. One day people die, a few days later worms drop from the sky and awaken the dead. There are several 'families' the writer selects to follow thru their ordeal. What a boring read this was. It kept see sawing from one stupid family with a dead relative to another. The police gather the reliving and not much happens there. No one has a diagnosis. Nothing even mentioning anything scientific happening.

Then people suddenly can read each other's minds around these reliving or read the dead's mind, lost me there. Then black masses come out of the darkness with hooks and I don't know....grab back the worms? So unexplained. Unformed ideas. Leaves you confused or bored or a combination of both. I didn't like it at all. Some girl keeps seeing her own self everywhere WHATEVER THAT MEANS. Foreign writers....AVOID them is my future motto. They suck.

At the end what happens? I have NO CLUE. Worms leave the dead people and either pop or die or turn into butterflies. LOL Author doesn't really have a clue so neither will you.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

VENOM by Joan Brady **

I found this barely readable. It's not cohesive, during a meeting with 2 people (him/her) talking about why he and her dad argued then suddenly the author delves into the female's dad going blind, the reasons, theories, then the next paragraph is about London fog, sense of direction, then we FINALLY return to the story of them talking to each other. This crap happens CONTINUALLY. So distracting and brings you out of the immediacy of the story over and over again. There are way too many people involved in way too many conspiracies for my taste. Hard to keep track of them all. Who is good, who is bad, who works for who, hard to figure that out as well. Writer seems to like to keep you confused.

Since the writer is a Brit there are confusing terms to deal with one ex: "All I got to do is put the wind up her a little." WTF is that? Blow her up like a sex doll?

The basic story is absurd, some guy owns bees, their venom cures radiation and lukemia or whatever. That part of the story isn't the meat of the book (I wish). It's mostly about the girl who owns the property of where the bees are (I think) and how companies want the product; espionage, try to kill other people over it, some guy tries to marry her for the patent. It's all pretty ridiculous back and forth with mysterious murders not even delved into. Backgrounds about places you could care less about. Not enough details you WANT to read about. I didn't like it at all. I was confused pretty much MOST of the time. I try to avoid Brit writers they waste my time with stupidity, paragraphs and boring paragraphs of it.

I really would have loved the idea more deeply written about the bees, the venom, the owner. How it works, why it works, why they preferred the beekeeper over other people, a scientific look at its manufacture and the people involved in this work. That would have been more interesting for me. Maybe toss in a few competing companies wanting the product but more more more of the venom. Less of the espionage crap.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

ELECTRIC BARRACUDA by Tim Dorsey ****

Must be a guy thing.
A criminal/killer and his friend producing a 'fugitive tour' online or something. Not sure what "online" means as there's really no description of that. Blog? Web page? Including photos? Not specific so don't know.

Lots of chasing, some murder, man-jokes, Florida swamp tours and bars and crap like that. Some cops on the trail, one of whom speaks 1930 language no one understands. He sounds like a blithering idiot. If you want to know more about secret FL hideaways, rumored history, bootlegging, swamps, gators and some sideline murders of like- child molesters- then this is for you. I'm not all that into it. But then I'm not a guy. Some humor here is strictly man-only-funny. Altho I found what happened to the bounty hunter pretty funny...sort of reminds me of....what's his name...think tv ostentatious bounty hunter...

The OMEGA THEORY by Mark Alpert *****

Very good book, great writing, page turning and hard to put down. A physicist wife and Science historian David Swift have to save their adopted genius son Michael who has been kidnapped in order to stop the world existing as a computer run theory. The final theory explains the equations that define the forces of nature and bad people want to stop the world.

Hard to explain it all and it's an intriguing idea, fascinating really and I had a hard time putting the book down because of all the chasing, killing, good vs evil type stuff. Worth cover price.

Books such as this are why I enjoy reading. To see inside thinking and theories of other people. It makes minds fascinating for me.

Monday, May 9, 2011

EXPOSURE by Therese Fowler **

So far I've been bored into reading 50 pages. Really slow, overly detailed and bogged with misc. crap I don't care about. Teenage love from someone it seems is unfamiliar with the male point of view, maybe even teen love in general.  I mean the boy sounds like a girl. Meanwhile the rest of the story isn't compelling enough for me to continue. Girl's (almost 18) dad files charges against boyfriend for lurid pix or whatever so I'm about done and library on Weds.

Somewhere on back it says what a page turning story this is...and it's NOT by any means.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

DOUBLE PREY by Steven F. Havill **

Geez one kid of a family tips his ATV over and dies and it's pages and pages of following his boring ass trail to nowhere. Something about a skull, an old gun, a bullet. First the whatever an  'undersheriff' is goes out there herself, then with her boss (under him, under covers?), Gastner who demeans her by calling her sweetheart all the time, then she goes out again with a photographer, then the kids dad. BORING. Over and over and detailed repeat crap. Not only that but some secret information is supposed to be found in some old guys frickin 1916-36 diaries no one seems to have time to read, which coincidently will have pertinent info on this case. In actuality this had NOTHING to do with the story and went nowhere.

If I have to read about going on that trail one more time I'm going to vomit. As it is I'm going to skip over most of this chapter with daddy along cuz why do I want to revisit after being there 2x?? WHY? Extremely repetitive and tons of characters to memorize. Sheesh. Good sleeping material here. Also weird terminology, like Casey girl; Padrino, a father who calls his son, "you found the boy." The boy. Not Freddy or my son or whatever.

If you like wild west rambling dull characters who can bore the skin off a cat this is for you. Now idiot (dead happily) son was going out on this trail to shoot prarie dogs or DOG DOGS, not sure. Still reading and merrily skipping over pages and pages.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

The TAKING of LIBBIE, SD by David Housewright *****

Hooked from the first page and hard to put down. I ate, drank and fell asleep trying not to miss anything. An ex cop McKenzie gets kidnapped to Libbie, SD; a case of mistaken identity but he remains in town to solve all the crimes that then are committed during his stay.

There's an unhappy-lover murder, a town robbery, bullys, lots of action packed adventure. The characters are all distinct and mostly likable. Got no complaints about nuthin'. Worth the money if you buy it and a great catch at the library.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

TRIPLET CODE by BB Jordan ***

A Dr. Celeste, does biology type stuff and publishes papers and apparently there's a lot of competition in the field for publishing results of experiments and findings. Meanwhile as that is boring you, male scientists are murdered during traveling, conferences, speeches, dinners and other truly boring background material.

There's a touch of romance nothing very inspiring or hot, more clinical, for ex: her and the boyfriend talk minimally about marriage and have only been dating about a month, altho known each other longer. Anywho they screw and wake up engaged. It just seems unemotional and forced. Like someone said in order to make this mystery more interesting add some stress to her life (her tenure dilemma) and throw some sex in. The murders and solving it are as dry as the rest of the story. I don't know what "triplet" and "code" have to do with the basic story line either.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

The OTHER LIFE by Ellen Meister ****

Story about Quinn, a sort of bimbo who can't decide if she wants her old writer boyfriend or to stick with her husband. She has either an ability to travel to a parallel world in chimney cracks and join her ongoing old life with the writer or she's delusional. She can't seem to live without her deceased mom, don't know how she got to mid 30s without mommy hanging off her every egotistical word.

She has 2 men who love and over protect, dote on her (haha so lifelike) and found out she's pregnant with a girl fetus that has a brain issue so she may die before birth, during birth, after birth or cost the health care system billions of dollars and she won't entertain abortion. Better to have a disabled child with no sense of self.

Not a murder mystery but sounded intriguing. It would really be so much more entertaining if she traveled to somewhere other than another stupid ass relationship. It's hard for me to care about long dead mommy, deformed non-viable baby and her obsession with these men. Maybe it's just that she's so provincial it turns me off. Like really...worse shit can happen to people than losing mom when you're a teen. Also about the baby, should have had the abortion before naming and waiting for all these tests...geez not like she can't get pregnant again and again and again, waffle-head. Lets go over this realistically: Fetus is BRAIN DAMAGED and DISABLED. I'm guessing the "other life" is escapism from her horrific tragic pregnancy. Was hoping for better story line than that. Still not bad for a library book. I continue to read it and am interested in finding out how it ends. I am way too pragmatic to appreciate the "dilemma".

Saturday, April 30, 2011

FAT TUESDAY by Sandra Brown ***

Found this at a yard sale it's ca 1997. Murder, kidnapping, cops, bad cops, worse lawyers, hookers, shootings, alligators, Louisiana bayou shacks and stuff like that. Not a bad read but nothing special either. Could have lost a few chapters and been a better read.

NEXT by James Hynes *

Guy is on a plane, disembarks, gets in a taxi. Meanwhile you get all his past about high school, an old girlfriend, the sound of tires on cement, imaginary bombs, every lousy detail of his life past and present. Couldn't finish chapter one. Blah. So much narrative rambling crap- I am done.

TUTANKHAMUN by Nick Drake *

Boring, couldn't finish one chapter. There is a murder so if you have a lot of fortitude and like egyptian history this one's for you.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The INSANE TRAIN by Sheldon Russell ***

This 'mystery' is written in the past (like mid 1900s?) it seems but the author is never specific about what time frame. There aren't many descriptions, a few of some characters but none about locations, towns, houses, or rooms or the train. Have no idea what the train car looked like or how the insane were located in each car. Were beds involved? Were there just seats? Curtains, windows? Food service? Other people aside from the travelers? Who cooked the meals?

Hook (protag) works for a railroad and for some odd reason unrelated to his normal job needs to accompany a bunch of loonies to another location on a train. No idea how many days passed, what day of week, time of day it was. Meanwhile people were being selectively murdered in various methods (unlike other serial killers) and at the end not many motives were explained for each one. Just the murderer had nothing better to do I guess? She was retaliating for the murder of a family member and didn't believe in an insanity verdict. Meanwhile somewhere in the story she states "These are NOT criminals, they are insane" when they were deemed by a jury or judge to be CRIMINALLY INSANE. So....yeah they are criminals... DUH. Or not? Confusing?

Phrases that are bizarre besides almost every character using stupid "GODDDANG":
"I have business to take care of blahblah so I might be out of pocket for a few days."
"I'm not much of a catch for a woman. Some say I'm too quick to drop the hat."
"The railroad isn't happy about putting rip-track up in no hotel."
"And tell Frenchy to lay up when his trick's over."
"Should have packed those journals in the yard."
These stupid phrases are distracting and WTF do they mean and do I care? NOPE.

Wasn't very enjoyable reading for me. I didn't like the stupid phrases, the bizarre off the wall murders without explaining each one, how, why, when, how'd Miss Murderer get it done. Wasn't much of a murder mystery for me. More like hobo-dirty under-the-bridge roughnecks breaking the law with regularity but turn out to be make believe good guys. I wouldn't think ANY of them 'good' in any sense of the term but maybe writer does? Even lead character is an asshole as well as his miserable loose running killer dog. It's readable but puzzling.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

WHAT THE NIGHT KNOWS by Dean Koontz *****

Can't go wrong reading DK. Family haunted by dad's past life and evil overcomes the house and strangers all intent on finishing them off. With a golden retriever's ghost of course--he only has a bit part but he's there.

I love reading Koontz but this one has some convoluted ideas atop other convoluted ideas but you can make up your mind about that. Supernatural killing is over my head I suppose. Too much 'taking over' for my likings.

On page 358...."he would pray for....everyone who knew pain, which meant everyone who wore a human face." Animals feel pain as well, tho technically not "who's".

CROSS FIRE by James Patterson *****

Action packed adventure. Alex Cross marries and his arch enemy Kyle is back. Lots of political work stuff, murders, snipers and lots of intrigue. The writing is terse and well done as usual.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The DEAD DETECTIVE by William Heffernan ****

This was pretty good but there were some trouble areas for me. The detective Harry, was killed along with his brother as a child, by their mom, but he was revived his brother not so lucky. So his mom is in jail. Lots of molesting women in the book. He gets a new female partner Vicky, to handle a murder of a ....guess.....female child molester and she's sort of stupid. She works with another detective and gullibly follows along everything he suggests throughout the novel without her own brain intervening.

One cop, Nick, is suspected as the killer so he supposedly kills someone then types up a suicide note (yeah TYPED) explaining the kid he killed was "onto" him and had a big mouth. Then they find that cop dead by "suicide". So why would he defeat his purposes? He would either have A) killed the kid and continued to evade detection or B) kill himself --but both?? Any cop (Harry/Vicky) believes that fiction is an asshole. Mr. Suicide is found with ONE feather on him. So if a feather pillow was used to suppress the gun shot why not a room full of feathers? HELL one??? ONE? Don't think so. Too unbelievable. Writer should use a feather pillow to suppress a gun shot before writing about it. MESS. A down couch looses 10 feathers a day or so. And just sits there doing nothing. If somebody shot it I think it would be irritated enough to bleed feathers all over the place.

The female cop is on a surveillance of a suspects house (Nick the supposed suicide) beginning at 5am then she leaves her post to pee at 5:30 am. Really? Um....women CAN pee in a jar too if necessary ya know. And why didn't she pee before she came on duty? Somewhere near the end Harry HAD to say what a crappy cop she is. But nope. The surveillance was done with two of his bestest cops and Nick still ends up murdered. Why isn't Harry more pissed, confused, upset, angry? IDK. He should have fired them both. And his boss should have fired HIM.

That's it. Done writing on the margins. Not a bad book otherwise, just don't be too logically minded - ignore the above and it's good for entertainment value.

Friday, April 15, 2011

WHEN THE THRILL IS GONE by Walter Mosley ****

I wasn't sure at first I was going to like this because the cryptic messages just trip over themselves one after another. I like the basic story, I like some of the internal stuff but it does grow old before the end of the book. Here's a sample: I was also a predator that lived on the invisible ether of personal information. (whatever that means) Not digital bullshit, I stalked people's souls, took from them their most precious possessions, their secrets...blahblahblah. He does a lot of that self admiration/self congratulatory/philosophy all thru the book. Everyone in the world lies- is his major philosophical outlook. Everyone lies all day long to everyone and ourselves. We never ever ever tell the truth. HUH?

What does "he could see funeral lights going up behind his eyes" mean? Funeral lights? And there's a magic wheel goes round and you always come back to where you started. HUH? So cryptic-weird like that.

It's about a private detective from either Harlem or someplace similar. A woman pays him a lot of money (when she really could have ran away and hid for a year) to protect her or her sister. I'm still not clear on that nor why she was murdered.

The protagonist thinks he's King Stud Muffin. He's married and screws (or wants to) everything moving towards him. He's also such a wonderful person to everyone, doing nice everywhere he goes to almost everyone he meets unless an enemy natch. His wife is also screwing around but sheesh he doesn't consider HIMSELF the problem. Or HIS screwing around. Lotta self delusion going on. He stuffs a woman he just screwed into the home of another he regularly screws and everyone is just hunky dory with that. Right.

The killer is someone not really a major player and for all the fake outs I was disappointed. Basically I did want to continue reading it, it flowed along well but very slowly, I would recommend you borrow it at the library. It's sort of different, not run of the mill at least.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The POSTCARD KILLERS by Patterson+ *****

Needs no explanation or rating from lowly me. Just your Guinness record setting NY Times best seller in action. Detective Jacob Kanon lost his only daughter to serial killers and is after them thru other countries with a semi-reluctant journalist, Dessie for company.

You're swept along with the realistic characters, get frustrated when they do and are anxiously looking forward to the killer's capture. Good one!

What's with all the (predominantly female) co writers? So much blahblahblah on the cover there's no room for artwork. Also who GAS who is tickling what?

Monday, April 11, 2011

COLD SHOT to the HEART by Wallace Stroby *****

Well written, all details attended to, suspenseful page turner. Hard to put this one down as it moves from one set of actions to another. Crissa is a criminal but she's never killed anyone. She takes a job, meets with the other people to rob a private card game when someone surprisingly gets killed by one of her partners putting her life in danger.

Now a stone cold killer wants the money she risked her life for and he's coming at her with a vengeance.

Great story and I think I was holding my breath a few times.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Mr MONK on the ROAD by Lee Goldberg *****

Funny tongue in cheek humor. Monk and his brother go on a road trip with Natalie in a camper. As anyone who knows the series can imagine setting Ambrose (agoraphobic) and Adrian Monk loose on the general population under totally normal circumstances -it is fraught with peril. Debunking a "vortex" tourist attraction, bleaching the table that becomes Natalie's bed, recalled- and there fore- dangerous cereal, 10 minute mysteries and more amusing frolics across the CA highways and byways.

One shouldn't eat or drink while reading -liquids hurt coming out your nose.
Enjoyable reading.

Friday, April 8, 2011

TERRIBLE PRIVACY..MAXWELL SIMBY by Jon.Coe

Yuck. Other people attempted to read this, I could tell by the dog ears left in place but once I got past chapter 5 or so no one had continued. This is newish to the library. Lots of internal ramblings that sound like dreams in dreams, the past is rehashed over and over. Written first person and seems to be about this Simby guy, his bad marriage or it's crippling effect on him, or his job or changing his job. Lots of confusion there.

He like almost had an orgasm over finding an email in between spam mails. He reads other people's letters, or stories and everything sounds exactly as if this writer wrote it. Boring and tedious. The ex-wife...boring, Sims...boring, his friend Clive....boring...all sound the same boring reflective tone with non stop boring references to past more boring history. There are just pages and pages of rambling narrative...one instance covered almost a chapter while Simby is following a GPS. It seems as if all the new tech stuff over impresses Mr. Writer. Yeah...we know about GPS, sim cards, we know about emails and spam, we know we know. Geez. Couldn't continue and the first chance I got to pass the library I ran it in scorching the pavement on my way. It was almost painful.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

HEAVEN's FURY by Stephen Frey ****

Too early to rate but I really like it a lot so far. Reason I'm starting this is cuz these super wealthy people live on the edge of a gorge or something in an otherwise rinky dink town. So Sheriff Summers is in love with one of the wealthy (billionaire) daughters since high school, Cindy. She of course turns up dead in her house after a night of people following her etc. most of which seemed pre-planned by her. What is very puzzling is why don't these rich people have top of the line burglar alarms? Not in this story. So; frightened Cindy answers the door to a gang of murderers? Or a couple of them? No alarm system in sight? WTF? I mean- get the killer around the system, fine with me, but shit, wealthy people have burglar systems....goes without saying. What doesn't fly is not even mentioning anything remotely protective in the house.

People's alibi's remain questionable till the end. How'd daddy miss the killers in his house? How'd he miss his daughter having sex with the husband and the cop? How'd the husband miss it all if he didn't make the drive home until very late? Lots of leftover endings here undealt with.

Ok so I'm finished and I really couldn't put it down, it was a page turner and I had very little idea what direction he was going in chapter to chapter. Twists, turns, surprises and unexpected. So the cop Sheriff Summers has very little respect in town and has always been bullied by Cindy's wealthy daddy. Meantime, we got drug dealers in the woods, a cult involving plenty of townspeople and they murder people selected by someone else in town. I'm not going to give stuff away but the ending was a disappointment for me because I didn't like the stripper and I did like the best friend. So the ending was bass-ackwards for me.

And I wasn't taking notes about who was where when and why didn't so and so trip over the other so and so if they were all pretty much piled on top of each other on the murder nights.
Could use some unraveling and who is running the sheriff's dept now? huh? How'd that all end? Waiting.....

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The NEIGHBORS r WATCHING - Debra Ginsberg ***

This is about a bunch of neighbors and all their supposedly dirty secrets (Desperate Housewives? Sort of). Husband Joe, screwing neighbor slut, Jess, his pregnant teenager Diana, moves in with him. You get a lot of internal narrative, little dialogue and rarely any action. I read 94 pages before there was even a hint teenage pregnant outcast's baby has a daddy. Then of course it was an 'accident' she got knocked up.

Some stuff is so subtle I don't have a clue what the point is. Like when Jess/Joe are screwing and some kind of point is trying to be made about their relationship? Or what she does for a living? Or why they didn't use the master bedroom? WTF? IDK. That happens more often than I'd like. I don't have ESP, I actually need to be told stuff that's in someone else's imagination. u?

Start off; one day pregnant girl shows up at pops. Time passes...whoosh you are now into her 9th month...time passes again "somehow" and boom she has a kid. It's like on a stage with the winged cardboard sign "TIME PASSES" flitting from stage left to stage right. Diana rarely does any of her own thinking or talking, or expressing of herself but everyone else does. Someone (Sam?) thinks about preggo's horrible shitty life...and um...how the fuck would she know?

Then after delivery of child, mommy goes missing and the cops aren't called for DAYS (or weeks), her mom isn't notified for WEEKS...I mean, really???

I guess I'd call it psychological angst- the internal narrative dialogue that I can't stand. This book is pretty much all that b.s. It's not too horrible really, but seems I push on 'tediously'. I wouldn't have a problem suddenly dropping it past the expiration date. There must be readers thinking this is some intellectual, current-topic literary work but I'm not in that illustrious group.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

VELOCITY by Alan Jacobson **

Who or what is Karen Vail, should be title of book. Is she a lowly cop? A captain? She sure acts like it bossing everyone around. A crime scene pro? She pretends to be. A profiler? She brags about how she should "come on" to the "narcissistic" killer and in what manner. A hotheaded bitch? You decide.

Mayfield is considered, and in hospital, for being "Crush Killer" which I was never told until 70 pages in WHY he's called that. He crushes their windpipe I guess. So Mayfield the (now contract) serial killer is in the hospital yet when the star cop goes to his house there is no crime scene tape, no CSI have been there, she just goes ahead and breaks open the door. She also is held back (right) by recent knee surgery....and is running around chasing perps everywhere, thru hill and dale against orders from everyone, without search warrants or back up like she's superwoman with a sidekick (Dixon).

There are way too many old crimes mentioned before even beginning to read any part of what I'd call the story. Chapter 1 a guy kills someone then you don't hear about that again for 60 pages. In between is Star cop-bitch Karen Vail with blood on her from a colleague who died (Lugo last book?). So one guy who died, her boyfriend is missing, a disc is missing, wives and sons kidnapped ad nauseum, Sheriff Stan Owens stepson is dead who by the way started a shed fire as a teenager (WTF do I care?), Dixon's boyfriend is dead too (again, WTF do I care?), a serial killer is in the hospital (like one out of 4) and the bitch orders people around like they're characters in a fiction novel. Even her own boss. Absurd. You got all the last letters of the alphabet in the names; Vail, DiXon, BriX, OWens, too many people to learn, way beyond TOO much past history. They're all cops, killers, victims or a combination.

I don't need to read the last book to read this do I? Some people take their fiction too seriously.

Writing one book and continuing into the next book is a pet peeve. I want the book I read FRESH, not a rehash of last book like it was yesterday (as in this book) cuz I'm tired, dizzy, sick of names before I hit chapter 3.  Innocent bystander picks up a book in the middle of all hell breaking loose. Not sure how much more I can stand.

Right now I'm in the middle. Vail blew Robbie's undercover ID so he could be dead cuz of her. Then she gets on speakerphone to her friend Dixon and tells everyone on her police force about drug cartels and all the private secretive information she just received about her UNDERCOVER boyfriend. What a frickin idiot who just keeps putting other people in danger. Someone shoot her before everyone else dies CUZ of her. I got another book. Library tomorrow....too much crap to digest and not interested enough to wade thru it.

Friday, April 1, 2011

ALTAR of BONES by Philip Carter *****


Really involved novel and I liked it a lot. It's about a generational line of women who inherit a secret "altar" that supposedly contains the fountain of youth. Goes thru a few generations of Russians and the secret altar is in Siberia. There's myth, love, adventure, blood, gore, car chases, murder, guns and the Russian mafia.

Interesting read and it stays in your head while you're reading it. Keeps you guessing, has surprises. If you like to read Dan Brown you'll enjoy this book too, I think.

I want to be the next proofreader tho, found a few errors. Hey -spell check can only do so much.


Tuesday, March 29, 2011

WORTH DYING FOR by Lee Child *****

Action packed adventure with John Reacher saving everyone in a small town who are under siege by one disgusting nasty family. Hard to put down.

There's not much else to tell without giving away stuff so it's about Reacher finding this town in trouble, making a few friends then dealing with lots of muscular rough necks (violently), and other bad guys all much deserving of punishment. Well written, great story line, no questions or complaints. EXCELLENT book!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

DAUGHTER of DARKNESS by V.C. Andrews ****

Either you're familiar with her stuff or where you been? Prolific writer. Mostly teenybopper sort of stuff or maybe what is labeled chicklit nowadays. This is a strange vampire story. The vampires lead a stranger than fiction life. They go out during the daylight hours, don't much resemble bats, are fun loving daddies and are brought men-only to suck on by their harem of little women. One harem bride decides to break off from the pack in this book. Which by the way is only the sordid beginning. PART ONE<--That's what it should say on the cover but doesn't. Meaning....you don't get all the information you expect at the end of this book. Leaves you hanging mercilessly wondering WTF that was all about and is it possible for the writer to tie up any loose ends at all or does this just go on for eternity.

This book is like watching an accident: You wonder why you are still watching it because you really don't want to be caught looking at it but because you can see things unravel before your eyes it keeps you staring in amazement.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

RUSSELL WILEY is OUT TO LUNCH by Richard Hine ****

This is something like a satire on newspaper publishing. First person, a few weeks about a guy who sells ad space or is in marketing. His internal angst isn't quite Woody Allen whiney but almost, if it had gratuitous sex with underage minors it would be spot on.

Confusing and not interesting was some terminology; cost-containment perspectives, brand permission research. People who suck at their job are quickly promoted. Dilbert much?

Adventures, misadventures of Wiley's life, his bad marriage, his friends and colleagues. Sometimes I cared other times not so much. Having also worked for a (smaller) daily paper I felt it was heavy duty pouring on of the 'self-importance'. Meanwhile -at the end the entire thing takes on a circus-like atmosphere with Barbie's singing their way thru ad spots, having limos dropping them at work blahblah, fans screaming at the door...so weird. Must be a NYC thing. Anyways made for some interesting and different reading. Not sure if that's good or bad.

Not a murder mystery...'something else'.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

SECRETS to the GRAVE by Tami Hoag **

It was so repetitive to me. I realized I read one of her books before but I made notes along the way before realizing it.

A cop was way over personal with some guy so he could bully him into a fight and beat him up. Who BTW had nothing to do with any murder. Stupid cop.

A man is named FRANNY and a female is MILO. A social worker, Anne, who was a victim in some other story, was in charge of a kid who saw her mom get murdered but of course can't remember or tell anyone WHO it was, and keeps yapping about her cats no one GAS about. No concern there about abandoned cats. This kid knows Anne a few days and calls her mommy Anne for some incredibly bizarre untold reason. The killer is Bad Daddy who the child only recognizes as the killer at the end of the book.

Anne...I wished throughout the novel she would keel over and die. DIE BITCH. She has no backbone, she is a born victim for the writer and everyone down to children has a stab at her. Literally.

Gina fell in a well and ad nauseum I have to hear her stupid internal b.s. along with everyone else's. It's nonstop internal crap. Just so stupid. I wonder why this is a best selling author. Must be good as tranq's or something. I wished for the Evelyn Wood Speed Reading Course to get thru it. I skimmed...read first paragraph of chapter, skip to end and read a few there...continue on....less painful. POOR ANNE. O my POOR ANNE!!! She's so stabby!