Category: RATING

5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, I, Read in 2008

Blood Memory by Greg Iles

Tara
Blood Memory
by Greg Iles
Copyright: 2005
Pages: 764
Rating: 5/5
Read: Feb. 17-21, 2008
Challenge: Triple Eight – 500+ pages category

First Line: When does murder begin?

Forensic expert Cat Ferry is suspended from an FBI taskforce when she begins experiencing panic attacks at the crime scenes of a string of brutal murders in New Orleans. Digging into her psyche for answers as to why she is having problems leads her back to her hometown of Natchez, Mississippi. There she is confronted with bloody footprints in her childhood bedroom. This discovery only brings back the memories of her father’s unsolved murder when she was eight years old. She wants to find out what memories she has suppressed over the years, but what she finds out in the end might damage her even more.
Oh my gosh … I absolutely *LOVE* Greg Iles! This was another great book! This was such a fast paced book that I could barely tell that it was so big. The story line was great and tragic at the same time. Like most of his other books, this one definitely has adult content. But seriously, for those of you out there reading this who have *not* read any of his books, just try one, they’re great!
5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, Read in 2008, S

See Jane Die by Erica Spindler

Tara
See Jane Die
by Erica Spindler

Copyright: 2005
Pages: 474
Rating: 5/5
Read: Feb. 14-15, 2008
Challenge: Celebrate the Author; Triple Eight Challenge – From my TBR Shelf Category; What’s in a Name (First Name category)

First Line: Heart thundering with exertion, fifteen-year-old Jane Killian treaded water.

Jane Killian was nearly killed as a teenager. After years of numerous reconstructive surgeries, she is finally at a place in her life where she has everything to live for. She has a great husband, a budding career as an artist, and is in the early weeks of pregnancy. All of that is shattered, though, when her husband Ian is arrested for murder. Shortly thereafter, she begins to receive threatening notes that indicates that the man that tried to kill her as a teenager has found her to finish the job. She sets out to find out the truth, with the help of her sister, Dallas Police Detective Stacy Killian. However, when they learn the truth, it will rock both of their lives.

This book was amazing! I am never disappointed by Erica Spindler. It never fails, you think you’ve got it figured out and, BAM! she hits you with a curveball out of left field! I absolutely love it! I definitely recommend this book to anyone!

4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, Read in 2008, U-V-W

White Crosses by Larry Watson

Tara
White Crosses
by Larry Watson
Copyright: 1997
Pages: 371
Rating: 4/5
Read: Feb. 12-14, 2008
Challenge: No challenge; personal read

First Line: When Sheriff Jack Nevelsen got the call from the dispatcher about the accident out on Highway 284 — single car, two fatalities — his first thought was, kids.

Sheriff Jack Nevelson is called out on a fatal accident. However, what he finds is that the two in the car had no business being together at all. He finds Leo Bauer, the principal of the elementary school and June Moss, a recent high school graduate. What were these two doing heading out of town together? Nevelson has to make a decision … does he try and figure out what was going on with these two, or does he try and save Leo’s reputation by concocting a story that seems to adequately explain what these two were doing together?
I loved this book! I picked it up and could barely put it down. I felt that the choices that the Sheriff made were wrong, but I still understood what he was doing at the same time. Sometimes I felt like the author took a few liberties in regards to the language and writing style – he could have made it more readable in places, but overall it was well written. I highly recommend this book!!
5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, Read in 2008, S

Accident by Danielle Steel

Tara
Accident
by Danielle Steel
Copyright: 1994
Pages: 439
Rating: 5/5
Read: Feb. 8-11, 2008
Challenge: No challenge; personal read
First Line: It was one of those perfect, deliciously warm Saturday afternoons in April, when the air on your cheek feels like silk, and you want to stay outdoors forever.

Page Clarke’s life is seemingly perfect. She has a loving husband, a beautiful 15-year-old daughter, and a great seven-year-old son. However, one little white lie from their daughter Allyson will cause their lives to come crashing down around them. She tells her mother she’s going out with her best friend Chloe and her father. Instead, they both lie to their parents and meet up to go on a secret date with some older boys from school. Their date seems to go perfectly, with everybody getting along great. However, halfway home, their young lives are shattered by a head-on collision. What Page faces at the hospital is frightening, Allyson may never recover. And to make matters worse, her marriage begins to fall apart at the same time. It’s all Page can do to keep her sanity when her family needs her the most.
I loved this book! It was such a great read! It really surprised me that I enjoyed this book. I have always been so adament about hating romance books and yet I thoroughly enjoyed this one a lot! I’m glad I picked this one up, it’s definitely a good read!
3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, H, Read in 2008, SERIES

Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris

Tara
Hannibal Rising
by Thomas Harris
Copyright: 2006
Pages: 368
Rating: 3/5
Read: Feb. 7-8, 2008
Challenge: Triple Eight – From my TBR Shelf Category

First Line: The door to Dr. Hannibal Lecter’s memory palace is in the darkness at the center of his mind and it has a latch that can be found by touch alone.

In the fourth installment of the Hannibal Lecter series, we learn about where Dr. Lecter’s evil comes from. We learn about the mysterious sister Mischa’s demise as well as various transgressions of his youth. Harris really strives to provide insight about what caused Dr. Lecter to become the man that we know him as – a monster.
I have mixed feelings about this book. I had myself pumped up for a lot more than what I got out of this book. We learn about what happened to Hannibal and his family in his early years. And the book continues to chronicle his downward spiral until his eighteenth year. Then there was nothing else. It would definitely be interesting to see if Harris writes a fifth book telling about what happened between the time he was eighteen and the time he
4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, C, Fiction, Read in 2008

Class Reunions are Murder by Taffy Cannon

Tara
Class Reunions are Murder
by Taffy Cannon

Copyright: 1996
Pages: 290
Rating: 4/5
Read: Feb. 6-7, 2008
Challenge: No challenge; personal read

First Line: There were probably, Nan thought as she walked into the Spring Hill Inn, a thousand more odious ways to spend an August Saturday night.

L.A. Attorney Nan Robinson returns to her hometown of Spring Hill, Illinois for her twentieth high school reunion. She is surprised to see the Class Tramp Brenda Blaine waltz in. Although she is surprised by Brenda even showing up, she is completely unprepared when Brenda is murdered just outside the reunion. Instincts set in and Nan can’t help but want to solve the murder herself. What she finds out will be the surprise of a lifetime and some things that a lot of surprising people want to keep hidden forever.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was a quick and easy read. It was a great break from what I consider the heavier books that I’ve been reading lately. I usually don’t like books like this, but sometimes it’s nice to have a little change in pace. Besides, I thouroughly found myself enjoying this one. And I was very shocked with the ending! Very good book!!

3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, C, Fiction, Read in 2008

The Serpent Club by Tom Coffey

Tara
The Serpent Club
by Tom Coffey
Copyright: 1999
Pages: 402
Rating: 3/5
Read: Feb. 4-6, 2008
Challenge: What’s in a Name Challenge – Animal Category
First Line: There’s a body at the top of Sepulveda Pass.

Journalist Ted Lowe lands the assignment to cover the Megan Wright murder. However, he begins to realize that the things that he is uncovering and reporting in his articles are things that certain people would prefer to forget about completely. The police are doing all they can (seemingly), yet the district attorney’s office seems to be dragging its feet. Either way, Ted Lowe keeps coming closer and closer to the truth, but when he is suddenly removed from the case, his life apparently spins out of control in his quest to find the truth behind young Megan Wright’s death.
I have considerably mixed feelings toward this book. On the one hand I thouroughly enjoyed the plot line and ending. On the other, I really disliked how Coffey jumped back and forth between first and third person. I found myself confused more than a few times in regards to who was talking. I gave this book a 3 out of 5 because I’m just not sure.
4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, H, Read in 2008, SERIES

Hannibal by Thomas Harris

Tara
Hannibal
by Thomas Harris
Copyright: 1999
Pages: 544
Rating: 4/5
Read: Jan. 30 – Feb. 4, 2008
Challenge: Triple Eight – From my TBR Shelf Category
First Line: Clarice Starling’s Mustang boomed up the entance ramp at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on Massachusetts Avenue, a headquarters rented from the Reverend Sun Myung Moon in the interest of economy.
Dr. Hannibal Lecter escaped seven years ago. He might think he’s safe, but the multimillionaire that he left alive many years before, is on the verge of finding him – and seeking his revenge. Lecter also has to worry about an Italian policeman who is willing to sell him for a large sum of money. And there’s also Clarice Starling; she hasn’t been the same since last time. However, only one of these people will get Hannibal in the end, the question is, which one will it be?
I enjoyed this book. There was a section almost in the middle of about 150 pages that I definitely got bogged down in. I was not impressed with the part that was set in Italy. Other than that, though, the book read rather quickly and was quite enjoyable. Makes me ready to read Hannibal Rising!
3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Nonfiction, Read in 2008, S

The Marilyn Conspiracy by Milo Speriglio

Tara
The Marilyn Conspiracy
by Milo Speriglio
Copyright: 1986
Pages: 216
Rating: 3/5
Read: Jan. 26-Feb. 1, 2008
Challenge: Triple Eight – Biography/Autobiography category
First Line: In the beginning of the Marilyn Conspiracy there was a lifeless hand holding the telephone, the nude body sprawled across the bed, and the house on 12305 Helena Drive.
This book is Milo Speriglio’s attempt to prove that Marilyn Monroe did not commit suicide, but rather, she was a victim of a homicide. Overall, I enjoyed this book. However, I had quite a few problems with it. First of all, I did not like at all how the author organized this work. He broke everything up into sections, for example some chapters were called “The DA,” “The Coroner,” “The Police,” etc. I felt that if he had just laid it all out it in a format where it would read easily, much like a novel, it would have been a much better read. I also had a lot of problems with the way that he concluded the book. Being a history major, I learned that when writing your conclusion, you must be very frank and firm. Instead, what I read seemed more like tip-toeing around what he really wanted to say. It became obvious that he acknowledged that Monroe had a relationship with Robert Kennedy, but felt that Kennedy was not the person behind the murder, but rather the Mafia was in order to strike a blow to RFK’s political future. Unfortunately, he didn’t come out and say that, instead he simply said it was possible. If that is his conclusion, he needs to be forceful. I just feel that this book had a lot of promise, but that the execution just wasn’t there.
3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Nonfiction, O, Read in 2008

The Unspeakable Crime of Andrea Yates by Susan O’Malley

Tara
The Unspeakable Crime of Andrea Yates
by Susan O’Malley
Copyright: 2004
Pages: 371
Rating: 3/5
Read: Jan. 25-29, 2008
Challenge: Triple Eight – True Crime category
First Line: A little before 10:00am — 9:56, to be exact — Russell “Rusty” Yates’s cell phone rang in the sixth-floor Shuttle Vehicle Engineering Office he shared with three other National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) employees.
O’Malley discuses the Andrea Yates case. She goes into a lot of detail in regards to the mental illnesses that Yates suffered from. There is no doubt that this woman was severely ill. Unfortunately, things could not be straightened out for her and she instead killed her five children. This case captured the attention of the nation: what kind of a woman could kill all of her children?! And besides that, O’Malley goes into great detail about the family dynamics and how Andrea’s illness overshadowed everything. I only wish that more could have been done for this woman so that five innocent lives could have been saved. That being said, I personally did not care for this book. I remember this case going to trial and keeping up-to-date. I felt that the writing style and layout of this book was a little weak. I understand that the author had to discuss a lot of mental illness and religious matters, but I felt a little bogged down in those areas. I simply was not impressed.