Friday, June 25, 2010

Private by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Started: 6/21/10
Finished: 6/25/10
Year: 2010
Pages: 385
Genre: Mystery
Grade: C
Reason for reading: review for MyShelf.com
Blurb (from back cover): "Former Marine helicopter pilot Jack Morgan runs Private, a renowned investigation company with branches around the globe. It is where you go when you need maximum force and maximum discretion The secrets of the most influential men and women on the planet comes to Jack daily-and his staff of investigators use the world's most advanced forensic tools to make and break the case.
"Jack is already deep into the investigation of a multimillion-dollar NFL gambling scandal and the unsolved slayings of thirteen schoolgirls when he learns of a horrific murder close to him: his best friend's wife, Jack's former lover, has been killed. It nearly pushes him over the edge. Instead, Jack pushes back and devotes all of Private's resources to tracking down her killer.
"But Jack doesn't have to play by the rules. As he closes in on the killer and chooses between revenge and justice, he has to navigate a workplace love affair that threatens to blow the roof off his plans."
Opinion: I really wish that Patterson would take the time to actually write. This book just had too many plotlines that made it ugh. For a more complete review, please check out MyShelf.com in the upcoming months.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Kiss and Kill by Dale Hudson

Started: 6/14/10
Finished: 6/21/10
Year: 2008
Pages: 352
Genre: True Crime
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: grabbed off the TBS shelf
Blurb (from back cover): "Rick Pulley was a highly respected member of his Virginia community, a youth pastor and music director at his River of Life Church. When his devoted wife mysteriously vanished, few would suspect that Rick was somehow involved. Three-and-a-half years later, police found Patty Jo's decomposed body under a bridge, and a cold case suddenly turned red hot.
"Soon, the dark secrets beneath a life of lies were brought to light, with sordid details of adultery, phone sex, rage, madness-and finally murder. As a dramatic trial unfolded, a shocked community realized that Rick Pulley had nearly gotten away with the cold-blooded killing of Patty Jo.
"This extraordinary true story looks inside the hear of a close-knit community, behind bedroom doors, church doors, and jail cell doors-where a diabolical drama led to murder, a relentless investigation shattered innocence and illusions, and a monster was finally convicted of murder in the first degree."
Opinion: Another strong true crime novel by Dale Hudson. What is sad that we will never have another one by him since he passed away this past week. RIP Dale.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Fever Dream by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Started: 6/4/10
Finished: 6/14/10
Year: 2010
Pages: 405
Genre: Mystery
Grade: B
Reason for reading: review for MyShelf.com
Blurb (from back cover): "At the old family manse in Louisiana, Special Agent Pendergast is putting to rest long-ignored reminders of this wife Helen's tragic death, only to make a dreadful discovery. Helen had been mauled by a large and vicious lion while they were big game hunting in Africa. But now Pendergast finds that her rifle-her only protection from the beast-had been deliberately loaded with blanks. Who could have wanted Helen dead...and why?
"With Lt. Vincent D'Agosta's assistance, Pendergast embarks on a quest for justice. It is a journey that sends him deep into his murdered wife's past, where he is stunned by how much she kept hidden from him. Helen Pendergast had nursed a private obsession with the fame naturalist-painter John James Audubon and spent years hunting for an infamous, long-lost painting of his known as the Black Flame.
"In a night of shocking violence deep in the Louisiana bayou, Pendergast gains some answers to the riddle of his wife's death, but he is left with an even greater mystery: Who was the woman he married?"
Opinion: I felt like I was on a little adventure while reading this book. For a more complete review, please check out MyShelf.com in the future months.

Friday, June 04, 2010

These Dreams by Barbara Chepaitis

Started: 6/2/10
Finished: 6/4/10
Year: 2002
Pages: 308
Genre: Literature
Grade: A
Reason for reading: grabbed off the TBR
Blurb (from back cover): "When a stranger poses this question in a supermarket checkout line, Cricket Thompson is jolted out of her everyday life to face a startling revelation: She has a loving husband and two wonderful teenage daughters and feels profoundly and utterly alone. The tides of change are slowly pulling her toward something new and barely recognizable: another man. But before she can even contemplate this internal shift, an act of deadly violence erupts at the local shopping mall, causing Cricket's whole world to come crashing down. Through the prism of this surreal crisis, Cricket's life is irrevocably altered...and without her knowledge or consent, she is lunged into the kind of cataclysmic event that by its very nature breeds transformation. An exploration of the solace of dreams and the fragility of being wide awake, These Dreams is an astoundingly powerful and heart-wrenchiing novel that no reader will soon forget."
Opinion: A truly powerful story that will get you thinking.

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

The Cloud of Unknowing by Thomas H. Cook

Started: 5/30/10
Finished: 6/2/10
Year: 2007
Pages: 310
Genre: mystery
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: borrowed from library
Blurb (from book jacket): "David Sears grew up in the shadow of his brilliant younger sister, Diana, convinced by their father that she would accomplish great things. Instead, she married and had a son, Jason, who-like David and Diana's father-is schizphrenic. Her husband, Mark, a geneticist, never made peace with Jason's condition.
"Perhaps this is why, when Jason drowns, Diana will not accept the authorities' conclusion that his death was accidental. Or perhaps Diana is going mad. She begins to send David faxes and e-mails about ancient murders, driven by her growing belief that the earth is Gaia, a living witness to her son's murder who could give evidence in the case she is building against her husband. David soon fears for his own family's safety as the seductive qualities of Diana's manic energy become impossible to ignore."
Opinion: Back to the traditional writing style that I've come to enjoy from this author. A definite decent read.