Category: M

5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, M, RATING, Read in 2013, Review Book

2013.1 REVIEW – The One I Left Behind by Jennifer McMahon

Tara

The One I Left Behind
by Jennifer McMahon

Copyright: 2013
Pages: 422
Rating: 5/5
Read: Jan. 1 – 4, 2013
Challenge: 2013 Eclectic Reader Challenge
Yearly count: 1
Format: Print
Source: ARC from publisher via Shelf Awareness

The One I Left BehindBlurb: The summer of 1985 changed Reggie’s life. Thirteen, awkward, and without a father, she finds herself mixed up with her school’s outcasts – Charlie, the local detective’s son, and Tara, a goth kid who harbors a dark secret. That same summer a serial killer called Neptune begins kidnapping women. He leaves their severed hands on the police department steps and, five days later, displays their bodies around town. Just when Reggie needs her mother Vera – an ex-model with many “boyfriends” and a thirst for gin – the most, Vera’s hand is found on the steps. But after five days, there’s no body and Neptune disappears.

Now a successful architect who left her hometown behind after that horrific summer, Reggie doesn’t trust anyone and lives with few attachments. But when she gets a call from a homeless shelter saying that her mother has been found alive, Reggie must confront the ghosts of her past and find Neptune before he kills again.

Review: Oh. My. Goodness.

Okay, so a few months ago I first read the description of this book. 1985? The year I was born. Character named Tara? Totally my name 🙂 Serial Killer? Sign me up! I signed up for a copy from the publisher through Shelf Awareness Pro (Oh, how I love you!) and was ecstatic when I found a copy in my mailbox shortly thereafter.

And then it sat. And sat. And sat.

For whatever reason, I kept putting off picking it up. Until January 1st. I wanted a fresh slate. And thought that since this book would be releasing in early January it would be absolutely perfect timing for me to read it.

Thank goodness I did! I was hooked from page one. I would sit down and read 50 pages before I knew where the time had gone. I couldn’t get Garrett to sleep long enough during the day for me to satisfy my reading need, lol.

Let me just say that Ms. McMahon really captured the whole “He was always so nice; I never would have imagined he could have done something like that” cliché of serial killers with Neptune. It wasn’t until about 50 pages to go that I actually started to think that it could be who it ended up being – I was convinced it was someone else the entire book!

The story was told in alternating time periods – Reggie as a 13-year-old when Neptune began killing women in her hometown and Reggie as a 39-year-old dealing with trust issues and reeling from the news that her mother, missing and presumed dead for the past 25 years, has just turned back up alive but quickly dying of cancer. I really came to enjoy seeing exactly how Reggie was shaped by her dysfunctional family and what it ended up doing to her as an adult.

I have to say that these were some of the best characters I’ve gotten to know in a long time. The whole cast was quite enjoyable. Other than Reggie, I think Tara was my favorite – she was so real. And Ms. McMahon was really able to capture the pain of adolescence. Sometimes authors struggle to really connect the adolescent characters and the readers – but I really felt for all the young characters. And it was also fun to see who they ended up becoming in the alternating storyline of present-day. It’s really amazing how a few traumatic events in adolescence can affect who you become as an adult.

I have seen some of Ms. McMahon’s other books before and have always been intrigued by the descriptions. I have a feeling that I will be reading more by her in the future.

Overall I really can’t say enough about this book. I enjoyed it that much. I know it’s only my first finished book of the year, but I have a pretty good feeling that it will make my Top 10 list at the end of 2013. It’s definitely a book that I’m going to recommend to everyone I talk to. And it’s one I won’t be forgetting very soon, either.

Highly recommended.

4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, M, RATING, Read in 2012, READING CHALLENGES 2012, Review Book

2012.16 REVIEW – Jack 1939 by Francine Mathews

Tara

Jack 1939
by Francine Mathews

Copyright: 2012
Pages: 358
Rating: 4/5
Read: June 19 – June 26, 2012
Challenge: Eclectic Reader Challenge
Yearly Count: 16
Format: Print
Source: LibraryThing Early Reviewer Program

Blurb: It’s the spring of 1939, and the prospect of war in Europe looms large. The United States has no intelligence service. In Washington, D.C., President Franklin Roosevelt may run for an unprecedented third term and needs someone he can trust to find out what the Nazis are up to. His choice: John F. Kenedy.

It’s a surprising selection. At twenty-two, Jack Kennedy is the attractive but unpromising second son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Roosevelt’s ambassador to Britain (and occasional political adversary). When Jack decides to travel through Europe to gather research for his Harvard senior thesis, Roosevelt takes the opportunity to use him as his personal spy. The president’s goal: to stop the flow of German money that has been flooding the United States to buy the 1940 election – an election that Adolf Hitler intends for Roosevelt to lose.

Review: I received a copy of this book through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer Program.

I was immediatley intrigued by the description of this book when I first saw it on LibraryThing’s website. I am a JFK junkie; anything with John F. Kennedy even remotely mentioned will immediately draw me in. So I was definitely more than thrilled to learn that I had managed to snag a review copy.

I will say that historical fiction is not my usual genre. It’s not that I don’t enjoy it, because for the most part I do, it’s just not something that I read a lot of (which is funny, I was a history major in college, so you would think that I woud read more historical fiction just because of that). And while this is historical fiction, I use that term loosely, because when I think of historical fiction, to be completely honest, I think a lot farther back than 1939. But that’s a discussion for another time 🙂

Okay, so on to the nitty gritty about this book. I enjoyed it. I was sucked in immediately, pretty much from the first page. I was very pleased with how Ms. Mathews portrayed JFK. He was a Kennedy – so he was charming, smart, funny, well-traveled, etc. But she also portrayed him as somewhat of a romantic. And she didn’t hide his illnesses either – something that he seemed to work very hard at hiding throughout his public life. I think she was really able to get to the gist of who JFK really was.

The story line was very interesting. I never realized there was no intelligence agency back then. I guess I thought the CIA had been around longer than it obviously has. So I found it quite interesting when the President of the United States recruited his own “spies.” It was also quite eye-opening to realize that Roosevelt was in the precarious situation of not being able to trust certain people around him. That would be extremely hard for the President to have to deal with. And J. Edgar Hoover – well we all know just how difficult he was.

My only complaint with the entire book comes with an issue I had near the end of the book. At this point Jack is hopping from place to place all over Europe. And I had trouble keeping track of where he was and where he was going. It might have had more to do with the fact that I was trying to read and take care of my 4 week old son than the book itself though. 🙂

Overall, I would highly recommend this book. I think that it will appeal to a variety of readers – historical fiction lovers, mystery lovers, spy/intrigue lovers, there’s even some romance. It definitely appealed to my obsession with anything JFK.

Bottom line: Enjoyable read, highly recommendable.

4/5, 87th Precinct, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, M, Random Book Discussions, Read in 2011, READING CHALLENGES 2011, SERIES

2011.36 REVIEW – Cop Hater by Ed McBain

Tara

Cop Hater
by Ed McBain

Copyright: 1956, renewed 1984
Pages: 236
Rating: 4/5
Read: July 17 – July 20, 2011
Challenge:  TwentyEleven Challenge
Yearly Count: 36
Format: Print
Source: PaperBackSwap point

Blurb: Swift, silent, and deadly – someone is knocking off the 87th Precinct’s finest, one by one. The how of the killings is obvious: three .45 shots from the dark add up to one, two, three very dead detectives. The why and the who are the Precinct’s headaches now. When Detective Reardon is found dead, motive is a big question mark. But when his partner becomes victim number two, it looks like open-and-shut grudge killings. That is, until a third detective buys it. With one meager clue, Detective Steve Carella begins his grim search for the killer, a search that takes him into the city’s underworld to a notorious brothel, to the apartment of a beautiful and dangerous widow, and finally to a .45 automatic aimed straight at his head.

Review: This is the first book in the 87th Precinct series. I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, it is definitely a different read than what I’m used to. I don’t read a lot of books that are this old, some of the slang terminology was a little difficult to follow and the police procedures are way different from anything that goes on today. For example, a person being “heeled” was (as best as I could figure) akin to “packing heat”. Little things like that made the book a little different for me. The storyline was interesting, and the bad guy in this book, well I had it completely wrong. I enjoyed this one and I will more than likely read the next book eventually.

5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, M, RATING, Read in 2011, READING CHALLENGES 2011

2011.15 REVIEW – Supreme Justice by Phillip Margolin

Tara

Supreme Justice
by Phillip Margolin

Copyright: 2010
Pages: 385
Rating: 5/5
Read: March 25 – 27 , 2011
Challenge: Mystery & Suspense Challenge; TBR Dare
Yearly Count: 15
Format: Print

First Line: John Finley’s eyes snapped open.

Blurb: Policewoman Sara Woodruff, on death row for murdering her lover, John Finley, is appealing her case to the United States Supreme Court. But the unexpected resignation of a prominent justice could sink her appeal. Then a second justice is attacked for no apparent reason. Called in to quietly investigate, P.I. Dana Cutler finds disturbing links between the Woodruff appeal, the ominous incidents in the justices’ chambers … and a shootout that occurred years before on a small freighter docked upriver in Shelby, Oregon, with only one survivor: John Finley. Joining forces with former colleagues Brad Miller and FBI Agent Keith Evans, who helped bring down a president in Executive Privilege, it’s not long before Dana discovers a deadly secret in the heart of the U.S. intelligence community.

Review: WOW! That’s all I can say about this book. My only wish is that I could have remembered more about Executive Privilege, in which the main characters (Brad, Ginny & Dana) were featured in. And although some details of the previous escapades they found themselves in were mentioned, it really didn’t take away from the storyline in this book. This book featured so many twists and turns that I just absolutely devoured it! I read most of it yesterday and woke up first thing this morning determined to finish it before I did anything else. This particular story went back and forth between the storyline of Sarah Woodruff’s murder trial and Brad Miller’s time as a Supreme Court clerk until the storylines finally intersect. And as soon as the storylines merge, the story really took off in my opinion. The way that Margolin connected the storylines was really impressive, I thought. I might be a little biased, seeing as how Phillip Margolin is definitely one of my favorite authors. However, I can’t say enough good things about this book, if you’re a fan of fast-paced thrillers, then definitely give this book a try!

5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, E-Book, Fiction, M, RATING, Read in 2011, READING CHALLENGES 2011

2011.12 REVIEW – The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

Tara

The Sherlockian
by Graham Moore

Copyright: 2010
Pages: 341
Rating: 5/5
Read: March 4 – 12, 2011
Challenge: TBR Dare
Yearly Count: 12
Format: Nook Book

First Line: Arthur Conan Doyle curled his brow tightly and thought only of murder.

Blurb: In December 1893, Sherlock Holmes-adoring Londoners eagerly opened their Strand magazines, anticipating the detective’s next adventure, only to find the unthinkable: his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, had killed their hero off. London spiraled into mourning — crowds sported black armbands in grief — and railed against Conan Doyle as his assassin. Then in 1901, just as abruptly as Conan Doyle had “murdered” Holmes in “The Final Problem,” he resurrected him. Though the writer kept detailed diaries of his days and work, Conan Doyle never explained this sudden change of heart. After his death, one of his journals from the interim period was discovered to be missing, and in the decades since, has never been found. Or has it? When literary researcher Harold White is inducted into the preeminent Sherlock Holmes enthusiast society, The Baker Street Irregulars, he never imagines he’s about to be thrust onto the hunt for the holy grail of Holmes-ophiles: the missing diary. But when the world’s leading Doylean scholar is found murdered in his hotel room, it is Harold – using wisdom and methods gleaned from countless detective stories – who takes up the search, both for the diary and for the killer.

Review: I bought this book for my Nook Color late last year after being immediately intrigued by the description. It was definitely an impulse buy (especially since it was $12.99 – thank goodness for Christmas gift cards!). But I must say, I only wish I hadn’t waited so long before beginning this book! To be completely honest, I don’t know a whole lot about Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. I honestly don’t think I’ve even read a Sherlock Holmes story. The chapters alternate back and forth between the two storylines: Arthur Conan Doyle and his friend Bram Stoker are on the hunt of a murderer in the early 1900s and Harold White, a Sherlockian in the present time, is trying to find the missing diary of Conan Doyle. I personally enjoyed the storyline with Arthur and Bram, it really gave a lot of insight into Arthur Conan Doyle – a man who actually is kind of behind the shadow of the character that he created. At one point in the novel, Conan Doyle shares about Holmes, from page 12:

To put it frankly, I hate him. And for my own sanity, I will soon see him dead.

Being someone who doesn’t really know a lot about Arthur Conan Doyle and his life, I never realized that he had come to despise the most famous character in mysteries. But at one point in the book, I understood his frustration. At this point he was asked to sign an autograph – but to sign it Sherlock Holmes, not his true name. I can see where his frustration with this imaginary character could come from if confronted with that.

Personally, I came to prefer the storyline that revolved around Arthur and Bram rather than Harold’s search for the elusive diary. However, at one point during the search, Harold’s character had a line that I really liked (that Sherlock Holmes had said in one of the stories), from page 212:

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I think it would appeal to a wide variety of people. People who enjoy historical fiction would definitely love the storyline from the early 1900s. And people who love a good mystery would enjoy the storyline with Harold. I honestly feel as if this was a really good book, perhaps one that will make my Top 10 favorite books from 2011. I enjoyed it that much. Highly recommended.

5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, M, RATING, Read in 2011, READING CHALLENGES 2011

2011.10 REVIEW – The Tenth Justice by Brad Meltzer

Tara

The Tenth Justice
by Brad Meltzer

Copyright: 1997
Pages: 483
Rating: 5/5
Read: Feb. 23 – 28, 2011
Challenge: Mystery & Suspense Challenge 2011 ; TBR Dare; What’s in a Name 4 Challenge
Yearly Count: 10
Format: Print

First Line: Ben Addison was sweating. Like a pig.

Blurb: Ben Addison, fresh from Yale Law, is a new clerk for one of the Supreme Court’s most respected justices. But when he accidentally reveals the secret outcome of an upcoming decision, a blackmailer makes millions and Ben starts to sweat. Big time. He turns to his co-clerk, Lisa, and his housemates, Nathan, Eric, and Ober, for help. Washington’s best and brightest, they offer coveted insider access to the State Department, a major Washington newspaper, and the Senate. But before they know it, their careers – and their lives – are on the line.

Review: Since reading The Inner Circle (via NetGalley) late last year, I have been wanting to read more Brad Meltzer. This is the first book that Meltzer wrote and I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I did have one slight problem – about 100 pages could have been cut out. It’s not like it was really a drawn out book, but I felt like some of it could have been cut. There were numerous twists and turns throughout this book. In the end, I was still surprised at what unfolded. While reading I continuously went back and forth trying to figure out what was really going on. And just when I thought it was the end, there was another twist. It was a really good storyline. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good legal thriller.

5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, E-Book, Fiction, M, RATING, Read in 2010, READING CHALLENGES 2010, Review Book

REVIEW: The Inner Circle by Brad Meltzer

Tara

The Inner Circle
by Brad Meltzer

Copyright: 2011
Pages: 457
Rang: 5/5
Read: Nov. 18-25, 2010
Challenge: 2010 100+ Reading Challenge
Yearly Count: 60
Format: E-Book

First Line: He knew the room was designed to hold secrets.

“There are stories no one knows. Hidden stories. I love those stories. And since I work in the National Archives, I find those stories for a living. “Beecher White, a young archivist, spends his days working with the most important documents of the U.S. government. He has always been the keeper of other people’s stories, never a part of the story himself . . .Until now. When Clementine Kaye, Beecher’s first childhood crush, shows up at the National Archives asking for his help tracking down her long-lost father, Beecher tries to impress her by showing her the secret vault where the President of the United States privately reviews classified documents. After they accidentally happen upon a priceless artifact—a two-hundred-year-old dictionary that once belonged to George Washington—hidden underneath a desk chair, Beecher and Clementine find themselves suddenly entangled in a web of deception, conspiracy, and murder. Soon a man is dead and Beecher is on the run as he races to learn the truth behind this mysterious national treasure. His search will lead him to discover a coded and ingenious puzzle that conceals a disturbing secret from the founding of our nation. It is a secret, Beecher soon discovers, that some believe is worth killing for.

I was able to request this book directly from the publisher, Hachette Book Group, through the website http://netgalley.com. This is truly a great source for those who enjoy ARCs, but would like to have them in the e-reader format. Anyways, on to the review. I have never read a Brad Meltzer book before, even though I have two or three of his previous books on my shelves. However, when I first stumbled across the information regarding the upcoming release of this book, I was immediately intrigued. I was a history major in college, so anything with a Presidential/Historical aspect will usually catch my interest. And the fact that this book had murder, conspiracy and a little bit of history … well, it was a home run for me! I was immediately taken in with the storyline, I loved the whole idea of the president of the United States going into the National Archives to perhaps send and receive secret messages. I liked how the story unraveled right in front of my eyes, especially when I was trying my hardest to find out who Beecher, the main character, should trust and who he should not trust. I wanted to scream at Beecher sometimes because of how stupid he was acting because he was supposedly lovestruck. Overall, I truly enjoyed this book and I know that it will do well with other readers when it hits bookstores early in January 2011. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and I am definitely looking forward to getting to some of the other Meltzer books that I have in my TBR pile.

4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, M, RATING, Read in 2010, READING CHALLENGES 2010, Review Book

REVIEW: City in Shadow by Evan Marshall

Tara

City in Shadow
by Evan Marshall

Copyright: 2010
Pages: 182
Rang: 4/5
Read: Oct. 29-31, 2010
Challenge: 2010 100+ Reading Challenge
Yearly Count: 58

First Line: Anna Winthrop arranged throw pillows on the twin bed, then stepped back to admire her handiwork.

Anna Winthrop sees a scared woman leave a note outside her apartment. It reads: HELP ME. So Anna sets out to do just that. She spots her out at a restaurant with a respected doctor. Then she sees her running in Grand Central Station. But each time the woman vanishes as quickly as she appears. Then her body is found in the Hudson River. All the while, a career-making story leads investigative journalist Nettie Clouchet to a human trafficking ring. A woman acts as bait trying to find her missing sister. And Anna’s cousin, Patti, visiting from Cincinnati, searches New York’s dark streets, without saying why. All roads lead back to the Kirkmore, an apartment building where some dirty secrets are being kept, more terrifying than ever imagined.

This was a review book sent to me courtsey of Julie at FSB Associates. Overall I thought that this was a good book. It’s in the middle of a series, something that I generally do not like to do, but when this book was pitched to me it really caught my attention. Like I said, overall it’s a good book. However, it was hard to get into at first simply because there were so many storylines going on. But once I got a good grip on who was part of what storyline, it was a good book to get into. I was surprised by some of the twists and turns the story took. I was also surprised by how stupid some of the characters could be! I found this to be an enjoyable read, and would be interested in reading the others in the Anna Winthrop series. Highly recommended.

5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, M, P, RATING, Read in 2010, READING CHALLENGES 2010

REVIEW: The Postcard Killers by James Patterson and Liza Marklund

Tara

The Postcard Killers
by James Patterson and Liza Marklund

Copyright: 2010
Pages: 420
Rating: 5/5
Read: Sept. 20-21, 2010
Challenge: 2010 100+ Reading Challenge; Countdown Challenge 2010
Yearly Count: 49

First Line: “It’s very small,” the Englishwoman said, sounding disappointed.

NYPD Detective Jacob Kanon is on a tour of Europe’s greatest cities. Unfortunately, it’s not a vacation. Instead he’s there working a case. His daughter, Kimmy, was brutally murdered in Rome a few months earlier. He has been on a mission ever since, for the same killers have apparently murdered other young couples in Paris, Copenhagen, Frankfurt and Stockholm. Kanon teams up with a Swedish reporter Dessie Larsson, who has received a postcard from the killers. It will take a lot of effort on Kanon to convince the Swedish police to let him in on the case. And when he is finally brought onto the case, it will be a race against time to stop the killers once and for all.

Before I really get into my opinion, I have to say that the first line quoted above was in reference to the Mona Lisa on display at the Lourve in Paris. I have been there and seen the Mona Lisa, and I must say, I was very disappointed as to how small the painting was as well! Anyway, this was a good read altogether. However, it was incredibly predictable. And it was billed as “the scariest vacation thriller ever” on the cover of the book, well I must disagree. I didn’t find it very scary whatsoever. However, I did enjoy it and I would recommend it, but it was a little bit formulaic in spots.

3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, M, RATING, Read in 2010, READING CHALLENGES 2010

REVIEW: Hotshot by Catherine Mann

Tara

Hotshot
by Catherine Mann

Copyright: 2009
Pages: 280
Rating: 3/5
Read: Feb. 12 – 16, 2010
Challenge:  2010 100+ Reading Challenge; RYOB 2010; Thriller & Suspense Challenge 2010
Yearly Count: 8

First Line: Major Vince “Vapor” Deluca didn’t need to ask if there were Harleys in heaven.

Major Vince Deluca has just accepted his most difficult mission ever – to keep an eye on Shay Bassett, the daughter of his old mentor. But ever since they were teens Shay’s always had a way of making him lose his mind at times. So he knows it will be a tough assignment. Shay now works with troubled teens in Cleveland. She’s scheduled to talk to Congress about the problems that Cleveland’s teeangers face every day. But some people don’t want her to testify and will do anything to keep her quiet. And she will have to turn to Vince in order to stay alive.

Okay, let me first state that this is really not my favorite type of book. However, for some unknown reason to me I signed up to participate as a judge in the National Readers’ Choice Awards sponsored by the Romance Writers of America. When the books arrived in my mailbox I asked myself why I signed myself up to read these books, I guess I never thought I would be chosen. However I was and this was the first of the four books that I am supposed to read. This one had it’s good and bad parts in my opinion. Overall I liked the storyline, but all the romance got a little bit on my nerves (again not my cup of tea). But honestly, it wasn’t a really bad book. It was all just a little over-the-top unbelievable for my taste, but not a bad read at all.