Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Sister by Rosamund Lupton

Sister by Rosamund Lupton

The style in which this story is told is really interesting.  The whole tale is told as a letter:  a letter from a sister to her dead sister explaining, as the living sister uncovers the truth, why the dead sister was murdered.  The police all think Tess committed suicide, but Bee knows her sister.  She knows her sister would never take her own life, not after what they both went through.

I could say more, but I won’t.  I want to make sure you’re able to have the story uncovered little by little as I did.  I have to admit I did figure out the motive for the murder before Bee, but not the perpetrator, and definitely not the zinger you get at the end.

Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

A trio of women, two sisters and their mother, live in a majestic house in North Hampton.  All three were persecuted long ago in Salem; immortal witches forced to live without using magic.  But the council has been silent for so long.  And when a few spells don’t seem to have any repercussions the women decide to take their magic, and their witchy lives, back.  Of course that’s when things start going wrong around bucolic North Hampton and memories of Salem’s Witch Trials start seeping into the present.

I have to admit that the Long Island setting was the draw for me.  As a native Long Islander this was pretty spot on.  The North Hampton of this book (for those who don’t know the author made it up) reminded me of the author’s favorite Long Island town/island, Shelter Island.  If you’ve been to the forks of Long Island you’ll be reminded of your visit.

If you’re a fan of Sarah Addison Allen’s southern magical realism you may want to give this one a try.  It’s not as gentle as a southern read; it feels (at least to this reader) more like home. 

Friday, July 22, 2011

Toys by James Patterson

Toys by James Patterson

I wanted something fun and fast paced to listen to and I knew Patterson was a good bet.  He was, but it wasn’t at all like anything by him I’ve ever read.  This is completely accessible science fiction that even those that hate anything futuristic will enjoy.

It’s the future: not too far, not too close.  Humans are no longer in charge.  Elites, human and technology hybrids, are the keepers of the planet.  Humans are the workers and are shuffled over to the overcrowded city slums.  And the time for the human race seems to be about to run out.

Can’t tell you much more without ruining the story, but know that it’s a great ride. 

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Double Indemnity by James M. Cain

Double Indemnity by James M. Cain

Need a little noir in your life?  Of course you do.  This novel brings back the time when men wore hats and toll phone calls were a huge deal.  This is the time when the insurance man would come to your home to talk over your policy over drinks.  Hence, the great setup for the novel.  An insurance man plots with a disgruntled housewife to bump off her husband for a double indemnity accidental death life insurance policy.  Of course there is even more to this story than first meets the eye.

The plot is great and as the main character, the crafty insurance guy, gets himself in deeper and deeper you marvel at the world of hurt he’s brought upon himself.  It’s the style that makes this novel so enjoyable.  It’s just so noir.  You can see the old chromed up sedans rumble by and smell the cigarette smoke in the air.

I can’t wait to watch the film classic with Barbara Stanwyck in the next few days.  The book has a zinger of an ending and I’m curious to see how the book translates to the screen.

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

It is the not so distant future.  Robots have become a typical part of everyday life; running errands, and taking over simple tasks.  Cars are driven for you and toys interact with your children.  The robotic presence is everywhere and welcome.  That is until one computerized mind is created which can reason for itself and decides that the age of the robot has begun.

Yes, this book is science fiction, but it is also adventure tinged with horror.  I just saw the movie Battle: Los Angeles and it was as action packed as that film.  In the book you follow five or six groups of people from around the world (New York City, London, Kabul) and see the New War from their perspectives.  There are a lot of great twists and turns that make this more than the average the world is ending book.  Like learning that in a way the robots are environmentalists!  Who knew?

The movie rights were purchased before this book was even printed, so make sure you read this one before it appears on the silver screen! 

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen

Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen

While this wasn’t by any means a pleasant listen, it was a much welcome listen since the temperature outside my car was reading at over 100 as it was playing.  Dr. Maura Isles decides to take a break from her life and take a short vacation with an old acquaintance and his friends after a pathology conference.  After a horrible wrong turn (darn those GPS systems!) they are dealing with snow, freezing temperatures and hypothermia in the remote areas of Wyoming.  When Maura misses her flight and is unreachable by cell phone her friends, including Detective Rizzoli, set off to Wyoming to track her down.

This is one of those books that you think you know where it’s going and then it takes a complete turn about.  There is a completely deserted town (with dinners waiting for diners on the tables), a religious cult led by a charismatic preacher with a taste for young girls, and strange locals obsessed with protecting their land from trespassers.  None of these elements play out as I assumed, which to me is a sign of a really good thriller.

I’m not squeamish, but there are some descriptions of the pain and suffering (and gangrene) an injured person is enduring that got a little rough to hear.  Just another reminder that what you can skim in a book you can’t get away from in audio.  Besides that though, it’s a great listen.

Heat Wave by Richard Castle

Heat Wave by Richard Castle

I’m used to watching movies based on books, or even a book based on a movie.  Same goes for the small screen.  Many great television shows have been created based on book series.  However, I think this is the first time I’ve read a book written by a fictional author from a television show.  Reading this book was like watching an episode of the television show with some professions and names changed. 

If you are a fan of the television show you have to read Castle’s books.  They read as if they were written by the smart aleck fictional author on TV. 

Want to join our Mysterious Mornings program?  Just read (and for this time at least watch) some mysteries!  If it’s a mystery and it was made into a movie or television series, then it fits this month’s sub-genre.  We’ll be talking about how true to the book the big (or small screen) adaptations are, so be sure to read and watch, because that will be a major talking point at our discussion next week.

July’s Mystery Type:
Lights! Camera! Murder!
Wednesday, July 20th
9:30am – 11:30am, Meeting Room A

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The Missing by Sarah Langan

The Missing by Sarah Langan

Planning on spending your summer vacation in the woods of Maine?  If so, I recommend NOT reading this book.  If you are going to Maine and want to get completely creeped out while on vacation, then by all means, go ahead and read it.  Just don’t be blaming me for your nightmares!

Through a bunch of odd circumstances a virus is unleashed on the small Maine town of Corpus Christi.  It’s bad.  Very bad.  I liked that this wasn’t a mindless zombie infection sort of thing.  These infected were scary because they could think and know things they shouldn’t know.  The book doesn’t go where you think it is going, the author does some new things with the disease/virus horror plot that I haven’t seen too often, and it did give me the chills.  This is a bleak, dark, gory story that I’m guessing only horror fans will enjoy.

Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

This is the story of four slave women who meet every summer at Tawawa House in Ohio.  What makes this historical fiction unique is the setting – at Tawawa House white masters bring their favorite female slaves and live with them in the cottages on the property.  While it is a vacation of sorts for these women, they are never able to forget their standing in society.  The four unique slave/owner relationships give interesting and varied perspectives on how life was for the women in these unusual situations – favored, but still property.

There were two things I would change.  First, I would have liked the book to be longer.  Lately I’ve found that books need a good editor and could benefit from losing 100 or so pages.  This was an exception.  There were a lot of gaps I would have liked to have filled and instances where there could have been more description (and instances where there could have been a lot less).  Second, I wasn’t thrilled with the audiobook.  I got lost in the narrative early on because the voices weren’t consistent which made the listening experience quite confusing.  I switched over to the print version over halfway through and then sailed through the book.  It was an interesting story telling a part of our history I didn’t know.

This author has great potential, and for a first book it was quite good, just a little overly ambitious.  I would probably read her next book.