Category: K

AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, K, Read in 2009

Perfect by Harry Kraus, MD

Tara

Perfect
by Harry Kraus, MD

Copyright: 2008
Pages: 325
Rating: 3.5/5
Read: Jan. 25-28, 2009
Challenge:  2009 100+ Reading Challenge
Yearly Count: 6

First Line: I peered over a box of Special K at my husband and smiled because today I was going to run away with another man.

Wendi Stratford has a perfect life. Absolutely perfect. She has a successful job as an accident reconstructionist. She is married to a successful surgeon. Everything is perfect – perfect career, perfect marriage, perfect home. But there’s a big problem looming in the background: it’s all a sham. Wendi feels like nothing but a fake. So when she decides to run away with her piano teacher she feels liberated. However, when he is critically injured in an accident just outside her driveway, heading home to pack for their romantic getaway, she feels like this is her chance to start over – to make her perfect life perfect again. But as she looks into the accident, something that she has to do herself, she realizes that the accident was no accident. As she follows the clues she is being led straight into the hands of a killer.

This book was okay in my opinion. It wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t wonderful either. It was a quick read for me. I got a little irritated by the main character because she was obnoxious with her feelings of guilty going on 24/7 in this book. But if you can ignore that, it’s actually a pretty good story.

Alex Delaware, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, K, Read in 2008, SERIES

Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman

Tara
Compulsion
by Jonathan Kellerman

Copyright: 2008
Pages: 388
Rating: 4/5
Read: Oct. 20-22, 2008
Challenge: No challenge; personal read

First Line: Kat loved breaking the rules.

A tipsy young woman disappears from the side of the highway. A retired schoolteacher is stabbed to death in broad daylight. Two women are killed after closing time in a small-town beauty parlor. All these cases seem to have no connections – but they do. They are linked by the killer’s use of luxury vehicles. This killer will baffle Milo Sturgis and Alex Delaware. But they will chase this killer until they come face to face with the madman once and for all.

Okay, I’m going to be completely honest here. This book was somewhat of a disappointment to me. I’ve read a small amount of Alex Delaware novels, but I’ve never been so disappointed in one of them before. I was really bored out of my mind, if you want the truth. This book just wasn’t up to par in my opinion.

AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, K, Read in 2008

The Shining by Stephen King

Tara
The Shining
by Stephen King

Copyright: 1977
Pages: 464
Rating: 3.5/5
Read: Sept. 2-8, 2008
Challenge: 1% Well-Read Challenge, Book to Movie Challenge, Celebrate the Author Challenge,

First Line: Jack Torrance thought: Officious little prick.

Jack Torrence’s life has been turned upside down by an incident at the school that he used to teach at. Now living in Colorado with his wife and son, the family is struggling. So Jack decides that the family will move into the Overlook Hotel during the winter and be the caretakers. But the Overlook Hotel has some secrets of its own….

This book was okay, I think I enjoyed it a lot better the first time I read it, which was more than 5 years ago. But it was still classic King and I enjoyed it.

4.5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, K, Maggie O'Dell, Read in 2008, SERIES

A Necessary Evil by Alex Kava

Tara
A Necessary Evil
by Alex Kava

Copyright: 2006
Pages: 413
Rating: 4.5/5
Read: Aug. 3-9, 2008
Challenge: Series Challenge Season 2

First Line: Monsignor William O’Sullivan was certain no one had recognized him.

Someone is killing Catholic priests. When Maggie O’Dell is called in to profile, she is surprised by the clues. They discover that this might have something to do with a role-playing game that teens are into. But when she realizes that Father Michael Keller might have something to do with this case, she’s absolutely astonished. For four years she has been trying to track Keller down. And now when he contacts Maggie in order to help her, she really doesn’t know what to do. Should she make the deal with him to help stop the killings or should she just trap him?

I am soooo glad I finally got to read this one!! It was really incredibly good. I really regret reading 1, 2, and 4 last year and then 3 and 5 this year. I should have read them all in order last year. So I was a little lost in places, but I really really really enjoyed it! The way that this book ended makes me uncertain if there could ever be another Maggie O’Dell. It’s obvious what will happen next with Keller, but there are so many unanswered questions between some of the other characters. It will be interesting to see if Kava does indeed bring this back again or if she lets it be.

3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, K, Maggie O'Dell, Read in 2008, SERIES

The Soul Catcher by Alex Kava

Tara
The Soul Catcher
by Alex Kava
Copyright: 2002
Pages: 402
Rating: 3/5
Read: July 20-23, 2008
Challenge: Triple Eight – From my TBR Shelf Category; A Well-Rounded Challenge; Series
Challenge Season 2

First Line: Eric Pratt leaned his head against the cabin wall.

FBI Agent Maggie O’Dell thinks that there will be nothing more than routine when she begins to consult on two separate cases. But as she continues to work, she realizes that there might just be a connection between the two seemingly unrelated cases. And that connection is Reverend Joseph Everett, a charismatic leader of a religious sect. But Maggie is not at all prepared when she learns that her mother is part of Everett’s group. Unfortunately the only way that Maggie is going to be able to figure out what is going on with Everett is to use her mother as a pawn in a deadly trap.
I’m going to be honest here. There are currently 5 books in this series. Reading this third book in the series, brings me to a total of reading 4 of the 5. And although I read the first, second and fourth late last year, I vaguely remember them. And I hate to say it, this is the worst one I’ve read. I was just disappointed with this one. I was really flying through this one and enjoyed it right up until the end. The ending was just horrible! It sucked, to be honest. It was just a complete let down to end the book in such a fashion (a horribly unbelievable fashion). I have the fifth in the series on hold at the library and hope that it’s better.
3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, K, Read in 2008

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

Tara
Odd Thomas
by Dean Koontz
Copyright: 2003
Pages: 446
Rating: 3/5
Read: March 18-21, 2008
Challenge: Eponymous Challenge

First Line: My name is Odd Thomas, though in this age when fame is the altar at which most people worship, I am not sure why you should care who I am or that I exist.

Odd Thomas is a young man with a gift. He uses this gift in order to get justice for those who cannot help themselves. But when a strange man comes into the diner where Odd works as a short order cook, he’s never encountered anyone as evil before. With the help of his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn, they must stop this strange man before he can wreak havoc on their little community.
I’m going to be honest … this book was weird. And usually I like weird books, but this one was not really wonderful. It definitely had it’s great parts, but overall I was a little bored throughout the book. I found myself struggling to pay attention to it. I am not sure I will continue this series, although I have the next one. It will be a while before I will want to pick up the second one.