Friday, November 23, 2012

What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman

    Are you kidding me? Why have I never read anything by Laura Lippman before now? This book was amazingly written. The clues were given to me one itsy bitsy bite at a time. The characters were incredibly original.

    After a car accident, a disoriented woman is picked up with no ID. When pressed, she hints that she is the younger of the two Bethany sisters who disappeared the day before Easter in 1975 without a single witness or clue left behind. When the police begin investigating, she asks her social worker to get her the best lawyer that can be found and begins doling out information that may, or may not, prove she is Heather Bethany. There are many wild goose chases, information that is unverifiable, but most believe the woman is who she says she is.

    But Kevin Enfante, Baltimore police detective, just can not buy it.  He will not call her Heather and he intends to prove she is lying. Where has she been and why did she wait 30 years to come out into the open?

    This story moves from one point of view to another point of view of several characters and over decades. A little over half way through the book, as they search for the still living mother of the two missing girls, we were given a piece of information that caused me to have to rethink all my previous assumptions. That's how this book held me.  Just when I thought I knew, I didn't.

    The story will not leave me.  I rehash it still.  I highly recommend this book.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

77 Days in September by Ray Gorham

    It is hard to run through a list of recently published books or bestsellers without coming across an apocalyptic story . . . or two . . . or three.  This is the one I chose to read and it wasn't bad.

    Kyle Tait is at the Dallas airport getting ready to fly home to Montana after a business trip.  Just as his flight is taking off an EMP is set off above the central United States, destroying electrical devises and bringing down the power grid.  His plane crashes just seconds after take-off. (Lucky him!) Only slightly injured, he is determined to get to his family in Montana, no matter what he has to do, no matter how long it takes, hoping and praying his family has actually survived to this point. With the world forced back into a 19th century life style, Kyle sets out on his 2000 mile trip - and it won't be easy. In fact, he meets the best character in this book in a Wyoming blizzard. There are killers and theives and good people along the road home.

     Back in western Montana, his wife Jennifer and his two children have survived but are not prepared for life without conveniences and no supplies coming to their rural town any time soon. They are lucky enough to have an older couple next door with life skills lost to most Americans and together they work to survive. Jennifer believes Kyle is alive and waits for his return. But not without hardship and terror of her own.

    This turned out to be a pretty good book. I was saddened by how unprepared the people were and reminded that we must not lose the ability to make things and care for ourselves without being able to make a trip to to the nearest Walmart.

   

   

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

     As a rule, I love Kate Morton books. Her stories always hold my interest, have endearing characters and make me work to solve the mystery from the past involving one of those characters that is always a mainstay of her works. This book was no different and I enjoyed it very much.

    The Secret Keeper takes place in the early sixties with Laurel as a teenager and Laurel 50 years later as a grown woman, famous character actress and daughter faced with the fact that her mother is dying.  She is the eldest of the five children in her family and the only one to witness a murder committed by her mother many years before.  The story they told to the police at the time, was not quite as it happened, and as her mother Dorothy's mind begins to go, things are said that bring it all back to Laurel.  It just does not seem to fit the woman they all knew as a loving and attentive mother for all of their growing-up years. With time running out, Laurel knows she must put together the pieces and find out what really happened that day and what things in her mother's past led to her stabbing a man who had called her by name.

    In stories told by those Laurel interviews and actual scenes from Dorothy's past, we put together just what happened to Dorothy, Jimmy and Vivian in the wartime London of 1941. Part of the story figured out easily, but there were twists that kept me wondering to nearly the end.

    As the eldest of six children myself, this book was a reminder of how we each have our place in a family, and how little we may actually know about our parents, our siblings, and ourselves.

    Another enjoyable read from one of my favorite authors.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Before Her Eyes by Rebecca Forster

    Dove Connelly is the sheriff in a remote mountain community. When a local grocer, Dove's friend, is killed and a woman is abducted by those killers, he has no time to lose figuring out who the two murderers are and finding Tessa Bradley.

    Tessa is an aging, world famous model. Wounded, she has escaped from her abductors and is running for her life.

    This story is told in two points of view. One follows Dove as he questions locals and tries to piece together the connection between the killers, the grocer and Tessa. Another side of the story unfolds from Tessa, as she struggles to stay alive in the forest, cold, hungry and fighting the demons of her past.

    The characters are all original and clear. Cherie, Dove's wife, was my favorite. Tessa's daughter, my least favorite. Small town police corruption, Dove's own internal struggles, as well as famous types from Tessa's runway past, fill this book with interesting people. This story tugged at my heart over and over again, while the suspense kept me up past my work-night bed time.

    This was a 'no put down' book.  And the ending?  I never saw it coming.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Redfield Farm by Judith Redline Coopey

    Historical fiction story about Ann Redfield and her family just before and during the Civil War. They are a large Quaker family, strongly against slavery.  Ann is devoted to her older brother Jesse, and as he gets involved with the Underground Railroad and begins helping slaves escape from the pre-Civil War south, Ann soon becomes a part of his activities.

    Interwoven are the stories of the nearby white-trash family's daughter Pru, the man Elias, who Ann expects to marry, and Josiah, the deathly ill slave Ann nurses back to health. Each character, including several siblings and their life choices, help form Ann into the amazing women she becomes as this story takes us from Ann the child, to Ann, the old woman. Many of the secondary characters on and around Redfield Farm were colorful and amusing.

    I enjoyed this story and could see this turned into a good movie. There were times when I was a little skeptical of the reactions of those around her, as I think some of the ramifications for her actions would have been more severe.  I also found the number of landmark events a bit of a stretch, but not enough to keep me from reading straight through in one day.

    I do recommend this book to Historical Fiction readers.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

15 Seconds by Andrew Gross

     Henry Steadman is a very successful plastic surgeon.  He has a beautiful daughter in college, a congenial ex-wife and enough money for all of the amenities.  On his way to deliver a keynote address at a plastic surgeons conference in Florida, Henry is pulled over by an officer for a minor traffic violation. In minutes he is handcuffed, arrested and put into the back of the police car. None of it making sense, his pleas and explanations ignored, he is frantic, when just as suddenly he is released and given only a warning ticket.

     Henry, relieved but still puzzled, prepares to leave when a blue sedan pulls up beside the cop car and, as he watches in his side mirror, the officer is shot and the killer races away. After checking and finding the officer deceased, Henry pursues the vehicle while talking to 911.

    Big mistake.

    Now he has fled the scene of the crime.

    And when he returns, the new officers that have arrived take a shot at him.

    Bad turns worse when he calls his lawyer/friend who is certain this can all be cleared up but is also dead before Henry arrives at his house. And then the murderer somehow has his daughter. It seems he is on his own as he attempts to find the man who appears to be trying to destroy his life. Alone, unless that one friendly voice on the phone believes him . . .

    This was an enjoyable, fast read, 'usual' thriller.  Nothing out of the ordinary, except a slight twist of the plot that was less typical. A little implausible in a few places, but well worth it for a quick, action packed , fun read.



   

   

Monday, July 30, 2012

Wired by Douglas E. Richards

     This was the number one bestselling Kindle book for all of 2011 in two major categories: technothrillers and science fiction, so I thought I would give it a try. I thought my son and grandson might enjoy it, if nothing else.  I read it in eight hours.

     Once a member of special forces, David Desh is asked by the Colonel, his friend and former commanding officer, to find Kira Miller. Kira is a brilliant genetic engineer who has made amazing breakthroughs in mental enhancements that can give a person seemingly unlimited intelligence and perception.  Problem is, she has disappeared and left the dead bodies of many, including her own family, as she went.  The Colonel is convinced she is now working with terrorists.

     Desh and a computer hacking genius named Matt begin tracking her down.  But before they can do much of anything, Kira contacts them, and tries to convince Desh that she is not a killer or a terrorist.  It soon becomes unclear who can and cannot be trusted.  There is  a lot of excitement and twists in the plot and Kira is a very interesting character. I can see 'Wired' as an action movie with Angelina Jolie.

     This was not the most well written of books, though nothing glaringly bad about it.  I found Desh a little naive for a man of his profession and experience, but somehow the story still worked and was enjoyable. In fact, I have ordered the sequel, 'Amped.'

     'Wired' kindle edition is only $3.95. Well worth the price.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The Witness by Nora Roberts

    Elizabeth Fitch has lived her entire life doing everything her mother, a gifted doctor, told her to do. How she dressed, what she studied, her spare time - all as she was told. Even her conception was planned with only the best genetic artificial insemination.  But at 16, Elizabeth decides to break the rules.  When her mother leaves for a medical conference, she rebels.  This one time act of rebellion results in the death of her first and only friend and Elizabeth being targeted by the Russian Mafia.  She is placed in the witness protection program and then finds herself on the run alone.

    Twelve years later she is still hiding.  In a small town in Arkansas she is known as the reclusive Abigail Lowery, who lives with her dog just outside of town on a well guarded piece of land.  But Sheriff Brooks Gleason has taken an interest in her, as has his Hippie mother. And that interest is growing - and personal. But her cover is about to be blown . . .

     Elizabeth/Abigail will remind you of TV's Bones.  The story is good, sometimes touching and romantic. All things Nora Roberts is good at.  This was another well done romantic-suspense novel by the author.  I enjoyed it, as always.

   

Saturday, June 2, 2012

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

     Dr. Marina Singh is a pharmaceutical researcher.  She has been sent by her boss (and lover) to check on the research of gynecologist Dr. Anneck Swenson who is working in the Amazon jungle.  The research involves a tribe where women reproduce well past middle age. The two women have a past, Dr. Swenson once having been Marina's mentor, and this makes things a bit prickly.
     Marina is also asked to bring back the belongings and paperwork of a colleague who has recently died at the jungle research area. There is somewahat of a mystery surrounding demise. He is a close friend and yet another unresolved issue for her.  She seems to have many.
     The Amazon jungle comes alive with Patchett's writing.  The characters are kind of interesting and eccentric and the book did keep me going in a continuous nine hour read. However, I am already unclear as to how I should describe these characters and the plot.
     Ann Patchett writes too well for this to have been a bad book, but on a scale of 1-10, it only gets a six from me.
    

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

A Cold Day For Murder by Dana Stabenow

     Detective Kate Shugak is an ex-investigator for the Anchorage DA.  Her retirement came after getting her throat cut while trying to apprehend a child abuser. Now she lives on a homestead just inside the park, reads, listens to music, makes bread and keeps company with her dog, Mutt. Kate has pretty much isolated herself from most of the world living on this property she inherited from her father, especially her old boss, Jack Morgan, who may have been a little closer than just that.

     But Jack and the FBI have now asked her to come out of retirement and find the congressman's son who has disappeared out in the park, and more importantly, the investigator sent to find him has also disappeared. This investigator was trained by Kate. The Alaskan wilderness, the eccentrics, pipe-line workers and Kate's relatives, keep this story interesting as she hunts for the answers in this very different murder mystery.

     I enjoyed this book very much. Kate Shugak is one of a kind and I tend to identify with her and the additional Alaskan characters.  Loved her family!  I can not wait to read the next book in the series.


Saturday, April 21, 2012

The Innocent by David Baldacci

     Will Robie is a forty year-old hitman for the US government.  He never questions orders and always hits his target. He is very good.  Very good at staying alive. But then one day the unthinkable happens.  He is given an assignment, but the target is unexpected and for the first time, he did not kill.  He did not complete his mission. And it looks like a set-up to him. Now he himself is the target running for his life.
    
     Soon, another complication.  While on a bus trying to flee the men now assigned to find him, Robie witnesses another hitman making an attempt to kill a fourteen year old girl. This he could stop, but now he is on the run with baggage, a girl named Julie from the DC foster care system, who is in as much danger as he is and he can't seem to leave her. They are on the run together. But Robie has to find out what is going on and who is behind the attempts on his life. And now he also must find out why Julie is a target while keeping her alive. Will FBI Special Agent Nicole Vance be a hindrance or a help?

     But neither Agent Vance or Julie or certain they can trust Robie.

     This was a really good read that I enjoyed very much. Robie was believable, as was Julie and I became fond of both of them as I read. The plot moved quickly as if I were watching a Bruce Willis movie or an installment of Mission Impossible.

     Oh! It was David Baldacci! Of course!
    

Sunday, April 15, 2012

The Thirteenth Tale - Revisited

     The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield is the best books I have read in years.
 
     Margaret Lea, who has already written one biography but who's life is mainly books and her fathers book store, is asked to write the life storey of Veda Winter, a famous writer. Veda does not always tell the truth and the story is not what Margaret had expected.  And why was the book titled The Thirteen Tales on  the first edition when there are only twelve in future publications?

    But it is not the mystery uncovered at the old house where Veda lives that makes this book wonderful. It is Setterfield's writing. Her use of words and mood kept me on the edge of my seat and glued to the pages long after I should have been in bed on a work night. The story within a story was incredibly well done. 
     Before I gave the book to my daughter to read, I placed a sticky note on the page containing the following paragraph, asking her to call me so we could talk about it when she finished reading that page.

"I have always been a reader; I have read at every stage of my life, and there has never been a time when reading was not my greatest joy. And yet I cannot pretend that the reading I have done in my adult years matches in its impact on my soul the reading I did as a child. I still believe in stories. I still forget myself when I am in the middle of a good book. Yet it is not the same. Books are, for me, it must be said, the most important thing; what I cannot forget is that there was a time when they were at once more banal and more essential than that. When I was a child, books were everything. And so there is in me, always, a nostalgic yearning for the lost pleasure of books. It is not a yearning that one ever expects to be fulfilled."

     She was also moved by the words. This so completely described our own experiences with reading we were amazed.  I read the paragraph several times on discovery and find myself, years later, still picking up this book, just to reread this and other parts I have marked throughout.

"There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic."

     Sigh! Diane Setterfield, you have expert hands.  I impatiently await your next book.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Out of Time by Deborah Truscott

     One of my favorite books ever is a time travel book. (The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser.)  There have been others, like Outlander, that have been good, but most miss the boat somewhere.  Out Of Time kept me going and did not cause me to roll my eyes every other chapter.

     Kathleen Findlay has separated from her unfaithful husband and is living in limbo.  Her mother, Lila, is trying to help, but marriage is not her expertise, divorce is.  She's had several of them.  Kathleen is doing her best to keep her two children's lives as normal as possible, even as her own world seems to be falling apart. When her Uncles dies and leaves her his Revolutionary War-era house, it gives her something to focus on.  She will fix it up a little and sell it.  She leaves her children with her mother and contacts a realtor.

     While searching for a rake in the gardening shed, Kathleen encounters a man, dressed as a revolutionary British officer. Colonel Robert Upton has apparently fallen through time. And he has a vague feeling he did not come alone.

     Yes, it is a love story and I found Robert charming. There is a little suspense and was historically well done. This book has a plot that is much more believable than most and characters I actually liked, especially Lila, who was very real to me.  Roberts encounter with the 21st century was often amusing and sometimes thought provoking. There was a point about half way through the read that I had to force myself to press on, but it was brief and the ending of this book surprised me. Kathleen is also very believable as she finds herself.

     A very good romance read.

Saturday, March 31, 2012

The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson

     Eve and Dom have a whirlwind romance. They move to an abandoned home among the lavender fields of southern France and happily begin to renovate. It is here that the mystery of the house and Rachel, Dom's first wife, begin to eat at Eve and change her relationship with Dom.  Why is he so secretive about Rachel? Where is she now? Why has Dom lied to her? There is also the matters of missing young women in the area and a possible haunting of their dream home. And then they begin digging the new pool . . .

     Alternate chapters also tell the story of Benedicte and her sister during the first half of the 20th century. We learn of their horrible brother and the perfume industry of that time. And there is a mystery surrounding them that eventually connects to Eve and Dom.

     This book was compared to DuMaurier's Rebecca in reviews but, other than a mystery about the first wife, there was no similarity. And the suspense did not begin to compare. I did enjoy the read, though I don't think it is a 'keeper'.

     Even so, The Lantern brought me out of my reading slump, so right now I am feeling quite fond of it  . . .

   

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

The Reading Slump

All readers have them - the dreaded reading slump.

During a slump, no book beginning catches your interest. No suggestions from friends pan out.  The stacks of books beside the chair (All of them you just had to have!) do not contain a single volume with a back cover or jacket flap that reveals a plot line or character you think you could give a flying leap about.  So what if you have 269 books downloaded onto your Kindle?  They all seem to be BORING.  

This has happened before. During these times I sit around, after the kitchen is cleaned from dinner, gazing at a TV I don’t really see.  I wonder into the study.  I stare at the books.  There must be 1000 – more counting the e-books. None call to me.  I go to my old favorites.  On occasion, I find I can enjoy the familiar lines; I can care about my loved characters. I sit and begin to read. Slump over! Other times it takes a dry spell of several days – a week – two weeks- before something about a certain title or discription of a scene will catch me and I’m off and reading for months!

What ever will work, I need it now. Life is weird.  Nothing is right. I feel as if I have a missing limb, or my best friend has moved away.

All readers have them - the dreaded reading slump.

Monday, February 27, 2012

The Legacy by Katherine Webb

    This book had a slow start, but by the fourth chapter I was hooked.  I could not put it down, and even though I figured where the plot was going, I did not know how it would get there.

    Erica and Beth are sisters who must live at the house in Wiltshire, England they have inherited from their grandmother, Meredith, or the property will be sold and all proceeds donated to charity.  Though Merideth was not a pleasant or loving grandmother, the sisters spent much time at Storton Manor as children. Until that summer when their cousin Henry disappeared.  This event seems to be missing from Erica's memory. And her sister Beth? She has an eating disorder and an ex-husband who wants to take sole custody of their son. We also meet Dinny, the grown-up gypsy boy who was a big part of their lives during those visits.

    Interwoven by alternate chapters is the story of Caroline that takes place in 1902 New York and Oklahoma.  How her story leads to some answers for Erica and Beth now, keeps the reader impatiently pressing on.

    A very good book by a British author I will be watching.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Taken by Robert Crais

    I have always loved men with an 'edge'.  Bogie, Sean Connery, Steve McQueen, Bruce Willis, Daniel Craig . . . You get the picture.  I suppose that is why I like detective stories.  PI's tend to have that edge.

    Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are private investigators and do have an edginess. They are hired by a successful Latino woman to find her missing daughter.  The woman believes her daughter is faking her abduction to get money to marry her boyfriend. The girl is an honor student at Loyola Marymount and Cole doesn't think that adds up.  Soon it becomes apparent that this abduction is no fake. Both the girl and her boyfriend have become the prisoners of bajadores who steal immigrants bound for the US border and hold them for ransom. Something, it seems, that is a huge and profitable business.

    There are twists and turns, one being the true identity of the girl's boyfriend and another being the presence of Korean Mafia.  Some of the violence and graphic scenes are not for everyone. This book is tense, fast paced and filled with edgy agents, detectives and mercenaries. 

    I liked it . . .

    This is the fifth book of the series but can be read separate from the others with no problem. Each case in the five books can stand easily alone. Reads like an action movie, including the mayhem and chases.



Monday, February 6, 2012

The Last Cato by Matilde Asensi

    OMG! (As any of my grand-daughters would say.)  I can not believe I had this on my bookshelves for two years before I read it! I love this book! It is not for everyone.  The history is THICK.  But the writing is wonderful, the story complicated -  so I did not figure it out in the first half as I usually do - and the characters were unusual but believable. This book was originally written in Spanish but is about an Italian family. Yes, that is what I said.  And Dante's Divine Comedy is what holds the clues to the whereabouts of the artifacts for which they are searching.

    'They' are Dr. Octavia Salina, a nun, who is a paleographer for the Vatican, asked to decipher the tatoos and markings on the body of an Ethipian man recently killed in a plain crash, her helper (Keeper?) Kaspar Glauser-Roist, from the Pope's Swiss Guard and an Egyption Archeologist, Farog Boswell. Before long, the three find themselves tracking an acient order called the Staurofilakes, sworn to protect the True Cross of Christ. And this order is now stealing all the peices of the cross that have been kept in various religious sites around the globe. Soon Octavia, Kasper and Farog are jumping around the world, in and out of danger, tracking these Staurofilakes.

    I had to think while reading this book, but I enjoyed that.  You might also need to like, or appreciate, history to truly 'get-into' reading The Last Cato.  It has been compared to The Da Vinci Code, but I did not think it was much like it. Written before Dan Brown's novel, I think it is a much better book. For me, this is just the type of read I crave. 

    Asensi has one other book that has been translated into English and I am hot on its trail . . .

Saturday, February 4, 2012

The Blue Hallelujah by Andy Straka

    I will start with saying that I fell in love with retired police detective Jerry Strickland. Though his heart could give out at any time, he has things to do.  He must redeem his wife, who died in prison after shooting a murder suspect in cold blood and he must help find his granddaughter, who has been abducted from her day camp. And this abduction is eerily similar to the abduction and murder committed by the man his wife killed years before. But no one, not even his old police buddies, wants to listen to what Jerry has to say about it. With his teenage grandson, Colin, Jerry begins his own search for the abductor and sets the record straight, in writing, about what really happened years before with his wife, Rebecca. Rebecca's story is revealed in excerpts from this written story as we follow Jerry and Colin through their own dangerous investigation.
   
    This was not a long book and I read it in five hours.  It was fun, heartwarming, exciting and original.

    Another very good quick read.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Paper book? E-book?

     I do not believe that book lovers should be afraid of electronic books and e-readers.  I love my library of paper books.  I love the smell, the feel and just sitting in my study recliner looking at them in the bookcases.  I take great comfort in there existence and the fact that they are mine! I know how many years I could read before I had to start repeating if I am unable to buy more.  I know which books I would take if I could take only one box full, or an arm full or only two books if it were TEOTWAWKI. (Dear God forbid it! Two books? I shudder.) I find it hard to believe paper books will disappear because of Amazon and the fact that I have a Kindle.
   
    Am I wrong? 

    I have already purchased one of my e-books in hardback because I know it is a re-read and that means I NEED a paper copy. I think I will continue to do so.  I love dropping my Kindle into my purse and knowing I have almost one hundred books at my beck and call with only the touch of my finger. But that is only until the battery loses its charge. I love browsing the free and cheap e-book list that is e-mailed to me each day, but, it is not the same as standing in the used book store breathing in the dust and old paper odors and that 'second-hand-book-smell'. It does not replace the excitement on the face of a grandchild when I say 'Want to go to Barnes and Noble with me?"

    I hope I am correct.

    My Kindle is in addition to, not instead of, and I would like it to stay that way.    

The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan

    Because I almost always read two books on any weekend, here is my second review.   

    The Mill River Recluse lives in a marble mansion atop a hill over looking the small Vermont town.  The people of the town know little about her and few have even seen her. She is the widow Mary McAllister who suffers from an anxiety disorder and from the mistreatment of an abusive husband.  We learn about her life, mostly from the memories of the elderly local Priest who is her connection to the outside world, and has been for 60 years. A priest who has an obsession with spoons . . .

            Though the towns people are unaware of it, Mary has had an influence for the good on Mill River.  She has, and will again, change the lives of those she watches from her bedroom window.  There is the local Deputy raising his daughter after his wife’s death from cancer.  We have a teacher who has moved to the town where no one knows she was once fat. And we even have an eccentric who makes love potions for Valentines Day.

    This was a good book.  It was heartwarming and amusing.  I do recommend it for a quick, pleasant read.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

    This was a great Gothic ghost story. The writing style brought to mind books from another time.  This style added to the eerie feel of the narrative.

    The story unfolds when Arthur Kipps recalls the events of an earlier time in his life after a family gathering where ghost stories are being told.  He has never mentioned to his family the experience he had with ghosts.  His haunting encounter happened when Arthur is a young attorney trying to advance in his profession. He is asked to go to the town of Crythin Gifford to attend the funeral of Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House and then go through her papers and settle her affairs. From the moment he arrives he is aware of the adverse reaction everyone has when they find out why he is visiting their town and what he is doing.  He soon discovers the reason when he sees the woman in black at Mrs. Drablows funeral as well other mysterious sounds and happenings at Eel Marsh House.  Not to mention the obviously terrified property manager who will not set foot on the place.

     I am not easily frightened, but the book was eerie and I did jump about a foot into the air when my phone rang about 3/4 of the way through the book.  I enjoyed the spooky feel of the story and the old fashion quality of the read.

    A nice - and scary- well written book. Now waiting to see the movie  .  .  .

http://www.amazon.com/Woman-Black-Movie-Tie--Vintage/dp/0307745317/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328134168&sr=1-1

Sunday, January 22, 2012

The House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons

In 1938 Elise is 19 and living in Vienna, Austria with her professional singer mother, Anna, and her father Julian, who is a successful writer. Life has always been easy and pleasant for Elise and her sister Margot, who is now married to Robert, but things are becoming dangerous. The Landaus are Jewish and the Nazi take over is changing their lives. Margot's Robert accepts a position at a university in California and Elise is hired as a maid by Christopher Rivers of Tyneford, in England.  Their daughters sent to safety, Anna and Julian await a visa that will take them to New York, where they assure their family of a reunion in the near future.

Learning to be 'invisable' and care for the needs of those who once might have been her peers, is not easy for Elise, but she does not give up.  Nor does she give up the hope of her family being together again, even as things in Europe grow worse. When the heir to Tyneford returns from school, he and Elise form a friendship, that turns to something more. And then the war begins.

I admit, I am a romantic at heart.  I prefer my stories tied with nice little bows and happy endings for all.  I did not get this with The House at Tyneford, but loved the book all the same.  Natasha Solomon brought each person, from the aged butler to Mr. Rivers, to vivid life. And there is, at least, a satisfying ending.

A very nice read.

http://www.amazon.com/House-at-Tyneford-Novel/dp/0452297648/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328134108&sr=8-1

Friday, January 20, 2012

The Hunter by John Lescroart

     Wyatt Hunt is a PI in San Francisco.  He was raised by a loving couple who adopted him as a young child. One day he gets a text reading: “How did your mother die?”  As Hunt becomes determined to answer this question, he discovers allegations of child neglect and an old murder trial that ended in a hung jury – twice.  This was his father’s trial for the murder of his mother. And according to whoever is sending the text messages, the killer is still out there. There are many twists, emotions, and tense moments before Hunt has his answers. And the answer involves an infamous person I would never have expected to turn up in this story.

            The Hunter was a good book that kept me going, but I did put it down and finished it over several days. The characters are interesting. I have not read any of the other Hunt Club books but this one stood alone nicely. I think I will be reading more about Wyatt Hunt and his friends.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

The Bungalow by Sarah Jio

1942 and twenty-one-year-old Anne Calloway, engaged to her long time boyfriend Godfrey, sets off to serve in the Army Nurse Corps on the Pacific island of Bora-Bora with her impulsive best friend Kitty. Once there, Anne meets a handsome soldier named Westry and they find an abandoned bungalow on the beach. They decide to fix it up and begin leaving each other notes. Their friendship turns to love. Of course, there is a war going – and we must not forget impulsive Kitty, who brings unwanted events upon them all. Then there is the murder . . .

This story unfolds as Anne tells her granddaughter about that time in her life many years later. The writing is good and the main characters, the islanders and Bora-Bora came to life as I read. And the read was a ‘no-put-down’ six hours.

I must tell you, that when I finished this book, there were tears in my eyes.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

A very unusual book . . . in a good way. It was a mystery, but also the story of two very different men who had been friends for a short time when they were children. Silas Jones is the constable in a small Mississippi town and Larry Ott is a mechanic and the local outcast, suspected of the disappearance of a young woman many years before. When Larry becomes the prime suspect in another case, secrets begin to come out, the least of which is the long hidden friendship of a black boy and a white boy many years before.

I enjoyed this book, but not necessarily the mystery part, though there are some good surprises as you near the end. I took more pleasure from getting to know the two troubled boys, who grew up to be troubled men. I also enjoyed the righting of wrongs, maybe after too long, but righted none the less.

This story stayed on my mind for many days after I finished. I recommend it and will read this book again in the future. Tom Franklin is a author who makes you think about what he has written.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas

     This is the story of two women living in 1936 Middle Swan, Colorado. Middle Swan is a small mining town in the Rockies. Young Nit Spindle and her husband are new in town where her husband has found a job at a local mine.  There is a depression going on and Nit is greatful for her husbands job and their new home, even if it is little more than a shack. Hennie Comfort is in her eighties and has been in Middle Swan since just after the Civil War. Hennie has resigned herself to the fact that her Daughter will soon be moving her from Middle Swan to live with her in a fancy big house.
     The two women meet when Nit sees the old sign ‘Prayers for Sale' outside Hennie’s house and asks to buy a prayer from her. The sign had been placed there years before by Hennie’s husband, but even though she will not accept money for prayers, Hennie sees herself in Nit and the two form a strong friendship. As the two women work at quilting, Hennie gives advice and support to Nit. Through her stories told to Nit, we learn about Hennie's life of heartbreak, hardship and joy. And there are even some unexpected twists that surprised me.

     I loved this book.

Friday, January 6, 2012

The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew

This story reminded me of The Help and The Secret Life of Bees. Anna Jean Mayhew is in her early 70’s and this is her first book. I am impressed.

     It is 1954. Jubie is thirteen and living in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her family decides to have their summer vacation in Florida, where her uncle lives, and heads south in their Packard along with the family’s black maid, Mary Luther. Along the way 13 year-old Jubie, who tells this story, becomes more and more aware of anti-integration signs and the racial tension.
     There is also the disintegration of Jubie’s family for her to deal with, something that is eased by Mary’s strong, calm presence. Oh, and there is a brief love/friend interest for Jubie, who always seems to come out with the short straw in her family when affection is being doled out to her and her three siblings. The life lessons, historical facts and a story that takes you where you least expect, made this a no-put-down read. 
   
I was a child in the 1950’s. I had forgotten. This reminder of how far we have come as women, as well as with racial civil rights, warmed my heart and then broke it.

I highly recommend this book.
                                         

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Before I go to Sleep by S. J. Watson

     Every morning Christine wakes with no memory.  Oh, she remembers some vague things, like expecting herself  to be a very young women when she wakes, only to find she is middle aged. Not much more. She does not remember the day before, nor the year before, her husband, her surroundings. Each night, as she goes to sleep, she knows that the few memories from that day will be gone when she wakes.

     So, who do you trust when you have no way of knowing who is telling you the truth? At the suggestion of a man who says he is her doctor and is trying to help her, Christine begins to write in a diary which she reads each morning.  But the facts from the people she has contact with do not seem to match the glimpses of the past that begin to flash into her blank slate of a memory. Why is she afraid? What really happened to her?

     The suspense is well done - chilling at times. I could not put this book down until I reached the very surprising end.