Tales of a Book Addict

Mailbox Monday

Monday, Oct. 5
Children of Dust: A Memoir of Pakistan by Ali Eteraz

Children of Dust is a searing memoir revealing the truth about militant Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan and the culture shock of moving to the U.S. Astonishingly honest, darkly comic, and beautifully told, Children of Dust is an extraordinary adventure that reveals the diversity of Islamic beliefs, the vastness of the Pakistani diaspora, and the very human search for home.

I received this book to review from FSB Associates. I usually don’t read books like this but for some reason the description of this book really drew me in and intrigued me. So I’ll give it a shot and see how it goes!

The Last Pope by Luis Miguel Rocha

Vatican City, 1978: On September 29, the world awakens to news of the shocking, sudden death of Pope John Paul I, elected only thirty-three days earlier. The Vatican’s official response: His Holiness died of unknown causes, “possibly associated with a heart attack.” The pope’s body is embalmed within twenty-four hours, preventing any possibility of an autopsy. London, 2006: Journalist Sarah Monteiro returns from vacation to find a mysterious envelope stuffed in her mailbox. Inside is a list of unfamiliar names and a coded message. At first, Sarah is merely puzzled by the strange delivery. But when a masked intruder breaks into her home, she knows that the list has put her in danger. Drawn into a vortex of hidden identity and double crosses, Sarah soon learns that the contents of the envelope hold th ekey to unveiling corruption beyond anythign she has ever investigated – a plot that implicates not only unscrupulous mercenaries and crooked politicians but also princes of the Church, and perhaps even her own family. Indeed, the appearance of the envelope brings to light a number of long-unanswered questions: What really happened during the brief reign of John Paul I? Whose plans were cut short that fatal night in September 1978? And who might have benefited from the pope’s sudden demise?

I received this one from my wish list on PBS. It sounds SOOOO good and I’m really looking forward to this one!!

Tuesday, Oct. 6
Iced by Carol Higgins Clark

P.I. Regan Reilly has high hopes for her Aspen vacation – such as meeting an unmarried man! But a mystery soon has the chic detective snooping rather than skiin. Million-dollar paintings have been disappearaing, and an old friend of Regan’s – a folksy ex-con named Eben Bean – has vanished too. Everyone except Regan believes Eben has gone bad … again. Her hunt to find him points to the families who founded this once frontier town, including a wild and wooly seventy-something lady harboring a shocking secret. Now as new snow blankets Aspen, Regan may be learning a new winter sport – trying to catch a killer while running for her life.

I’ve read the first two in this series and when I was offered a box on PBS and found this one on her shelf, I was happy to pick it up and get back to this series!

Twanged by Carol Higgins Clark

Sleuth Regan Reilly is hired as a bodyguard for singer Brigid O’Neill, a rising country star who has been receiving threatening “love notes.” Brigid also possesses a “magical” Irish fiddle said to be cursed – whoever takes it out of Ireland will have an accident or face death. Still, Brigid brings it to the Hamptons for a Fourth of July concert and Regan joins her. Chappy Tinka, heir to a thumbtack fortune, and his ditzy wife, Bettina, are their hosts at “Chappy’s Compound,” where a party guest is soon found floating facedown in the pool. Is the curse of the fiddle real? Is there a murderer in the house? As the concert nears, the menace grows, and Regan must discover the truth before some country tunes turn into a funeral march.

This was the second book that I picked for the box from PBS and the fourth in this series.

Thursday, Oct. 8
The Vanished Man by Jeffery Deaver

Forensic expert Lincoln Rhyme and his protegee Amelia Sachs are called in to work the high-profile investigation of a killer who seemingly disappeared into thin air just as the police closed in. As the homicidal illusionist baits them with grisly murders that grow more diabolical with each victim, Rhyme and Sachs must go behind the smoke and mirrors to prevent a horrific act of vengeance that could become the greatest vanishing act of all …

I have read the first book in this series and am looking forward to continuing on with it and found this one on another PBS’ers shelf for a box.

The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen

It is a boiling hot summer in Boston. Adding to the city’s woes is a series of shocking crimes in which wealthy men are made to watch while their wives are brutalized – a sadistic demand that ends in death. The pattern suggests one man: serial killer Warren Hoyt, recently put behind bars. Police can only assume an acolyte is at large, a maniac basing his attacks on the twisted medical techniques of the madman he so admires. At least that’s what Detective Jane Rizzoli thinks. Forced to reconfront the killer who scarred her – literally and figuratively – she is determined to finally end Hoyt’s awful influence. But this time around, the vendetta is more vicious than she ever would have imagined.

I recently read The Surgeon and found this one for the abovementioned box because I’m looking forward to continuing with this series.

Shiver by Lisa Jackson

A serial killer is turning the Big Easy into his personal playground. The victims are killed in pairs – no connection, no apparent motive, no real clues. It’s a very sick game, and it’s only just begun. Abby Chastain left New Orleans long ago and for good reason. Now she’s back where she feels watched, as if the devil himself is scraping a fingernail along her spine. It doesn’t help that Detective Reuben Montoya is convinced she’s somehow the key to unlocking these horrible crimes – a mystery that has something to do with Our Lady of Virtues Mental Hospital, a decaying old asylum where unspeakable crimes were once committed, and a human predator may still wait. As more bodies are found in gruesome, staged scenarios, Montoya and Abby are in a desperate race to stop a killer whose terrifying crimes are bringing them even nearer to a shocking revelation. For the past is never completely gone. Its sins must be avenged. And a twisted psychopath is getting close enough to make them … Shiver.

This was the third and final book that I chose for the PBS box. I really enjoy Lisa Jackson’s books and am always on the lookout for more of her books and was pleased to see this one available to try out.

Mailbox Monday

Monday, Sept. 28
Lost by Joy Fielding

Ever since she was a child, Julia Carver has tested her mother Cindy’s nerves and tried her patience. Forever willful and self-absorbed, Julia, now twenty-one and an aspiring actress, moves back home when her father remarries – and turns Cindy’s household into chaos. But when Julia doesn’t return after a promising audition with a Hollywood film director, Cindy knows it’s more than just typical Julia dramatics – and a frantic search begins. Now, secrets are revealed, lives are forever altered, and Cindy is forced to acknowledge the disturbing truth about the daughter she realizes she never really knew.

I received this one from one of my MBS buddies, Annette. I’ve only read one other Joy Fielding book (Heartstopper) and loved it so I’m looking forward to reading more of her books.

Still Life by Joy Fielding

Beautiful, happily married, and the owner of a successful interior design business, Casey Marshall couldn’t be more content with her life, until a car slams into her at almost fifty miles an hour, breaking nearly eery bone in her body and plunging her into a coma. Lying in her hospital bed, Casey realizes that although she is unable to see or communicate, she can hear everything. She quickly discovers that her friends aren’t necessarily the people she thought them to be – and that her accident might not have been an accident at all. As she struggles to break free from her living death, she begins to wonder if what lies ahead could be even worse.

Annette sent this one along with Lost as a freebie because she thought I’d enjoy this one too. Such a great lady! Definitely looking forward to getting to this one as well.

Immoral by Brian Freeman

Lieutenant Jonathan Stride knows it’s not a moral world. One teenage girl has already disapperaed on his watch, leaving behind no body, no killer, and no justice. Now, when another girl goes missing on a cold night in Minnesota, Stride must relive his worst nightmare….

This one came in the mail from another MBS buddie, Suzanne. I’m definitely looking forward to this one; I’ve seen different reviews of it on some other book blogs and while some people have mentioned that it’s a little too graphic, that’s how I like my books (I know, I’m kinda morbid), so I hope this is a great series to start.

Tuesday, Sept. 29
Compelling Evidence by Steve Martini

Defense attorney Paul Madriani was on the rise with the firm of Potter and Skarpellos until a short-lived affair with Potter’s wife cost him his job. Now, Potter’s wife is accused of murdering her husband, and Paul is forced to uncover secrets that may end his career – and his life.

I have a few of Steve Martini’s books on my shelves, later ones in this series, so when I saw another PBS boxer member with this one on their shelf, I snapped up the opportunity. I’m looking forward to trying this series from the start.

The Lions of Lucerne by Brad Thor

On the snow-covered slopes of Utah, the unthinkable has happened: the President of the United States has been kidnapped, and his Secret Service detail massacred. Only one agent has survived – ex-Navy SEAL Scot Harvath. He doesn’t buy the official line that Middle Eastern terrorists are responsible, and begins his own campaign to find the truth – and exact revenge. But his search makes him a marked man by the sinister cabal behind the attack. Framed for murder by the conspirators, Harvath goes on the run, taking the fight to the towering mountains of Switzerland. There, he finds an unlikely ally: the beautiful Claudia Mueller of the Swiss Federal Attorney’s Office. Together they must brave the subzero temperatures and sheer heights of treacherous Mount Pilatus – and their only chance for survival is to enter the end of the most lethal team of professional killers the world has ever known ….

This was the second book that I chose as part of the three book box from PBS. I’ve had my eye on this one, as I’ve wanted to try this series as well (can you tell, yet, that I’m a series ADDICT?!)

Path of the Assassin by Brad Thor

After rescuing the President from kidnappers, Navy SEAL turned Secret Service agent Scot Harvath shifts his attentions to rooting out, capturing, or killing all those responsible for the plot. As he prepares to close out his list, a bloody and twisted trail of clues points toward one man – the world’s most feared, most ruthless terrorist, Hashim Nidal. Having assembled an international league of Islamic terrorist networks in an ingenious plot to topple both Israel and America, Harvath and his CIA-led team must reach Nidal before it’s too late. One problem remains – they have no idea what the man looks like. With no alternative, Harvath is forced to recruit a civilian – a woman who has survived a brutal hijacking and is now the only person who can positively identify their quarry. From the burning deserts of North Africa to the winding streets of Rome, Harvath must brave a maelstrom of bloodshed and deception – before a madman’s twisted vision engulfs the world in the fires of all-out war …

This is the second in this series and the third book in the three book box I received from PBS.

Saturday, Oct. 4
A Bone to Pick by Charlaine Harris

Going to two weddings – one of a former lover – and a funeral for a member of her disbanded crime discussion group keeps Aurora “Roe” Teagarden quite busy for a few months. Unfortunately, her personal life seems to be at a standstill – until her fortunes unexpectedly change. After the funeral Roe learns that Jane Engle, the deceased, has named her as heir to a rather substantial estate, which includes money, jewlery, and a house complete with a skull hidden in a window seat. Knowing Jane, Roe concludes that the elderly woman has purposely left her a murder to solve. So she must identify the victim and figure out which one of Jane’s ordinary-seeming neighbors is a murderer – without putting herself in deadly danger …

I recently read the first book in this series, Real Murders, and placed this one on my PBS wishlist. It came available and I figured I’d go ahead and give it a shot. But if this one isn’t better than the first one was, I probably won’t be continuing on with this series.