5/5, A, AUTHOR, Book Review, Nonfiction, Read in 2008

After Diana by Christopher Andersen

Tara
After Diana: William, Harry, Charles, and the Royal House of Windsor
by Christopher Andersen
Copyright: 2007
Pages: 301
Rating: 5/5
Read: Jan. 10-16, 2008
Challenge: Triple Eight Challenge, Biography/Autobiography Category
First Line: He took a few steps toward the body, gasped, then reeled back as if struck by an unseen hand.
Christopher Andersen delves into the private lives of the Royal Family since the tragic “accident” that took Princess Diana’s life. He not only details the comings and goings of Princes William and Harry, but also the actions of Prince Charles and his mistress (and now wife) Camilla.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I’ve only read one other Diana book and this one was much better. I’m fascinated by the Royal Family. I’m also fascinated by Princess Diana’s untimely death. This book does a wonderful job of telling the stories of the young Princes’ lives after their mother’s death.
4/5, AUTHOR, B, Book Review, Fiction, Read in 2008

Darkness Peering by Alice Blanchard

Tara
Darkness Peering
by Alice Blanchard
Copyright: 1999
Pages: 316
Rating: 4/5
Read: Jan. 14-16, 2008
Challenge: No challenge; personal read
First Line: Police Chief Nalen Storrow found the dead girl lying faceup in a rust-colored runoff pond on the westernmost corner of Old Mo Heppenheimer’s cow pasture.
A young girl is found strangled in Flowering Dogwood, Maine. The investigation leads to the Police Chief’s son, Billy, as the only suspect. Almost twenty years later, the ex-Police Chief’s daughter, Rachel, now a police officer in Flowering Dogwood, wants to reopen the case. Soon after another young woman goes missing and turns up dead. And once again, Billy is the prime suspect. Will Rachel find that the truth would only hurt her in the end?
I enjoyed this book. I’ve never read anything by Blanchard, but I was thoroughly impressed by her writing. I found myself turning the pages quickly only to realize that at the end the killer came out of left field (with a few subtly laid clues which I of course missed!). I recommend this book to anyone! I really enjoyed it!!
5/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, C, Fiction, Read in 2008

Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark

Tara
Two Little Girls in Blue
by Mary Higgins Clark
Copyright: 2006
Pages: 390
Rating: 5/5
Read: Jan. 10-11, 2008
Challenges: What’s in a Name (Color category); Numbers Challenge; Triple Eight Challenge,
From my TBR Shelf category
First Line: “Hold on a minute, Rob, I think one of the twins is crying. Let me call you back.”
Margaret and Steve Frawley’s three year old twin daughters, Kelly and Kathy, have been kidnapped from their own room, their babysitter knocked unconscious. When the ransom note comes in for eight million dollars, the money is put up by Steve’s employers. Unfortunately, only Kelly comes home safely. But when Kelly begins to voice concern that Kathy is not dead, as was widely assumed, Margaret goes frantic trying to bring Kathy home safely.
I loved this book! It was great!!! The twists and turns were wonderful. I love reading Mary Higgins Clark … she never disappoints! This book read rather quickly and was enjoyable. Another A+ effort by MHC!
1/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, P, Read in 2008

The Night Class by Tom Piccirilli

Tara
The Night Class
by Tom Piccirilli

Copyright: 2002
Pages: 278
Rating: 1/5
Read: Jan. 9, 2008
Challenge: No challenge; personal read

First Line: Cal’s ethic’s class was enough to drive him to murder.

Caleb returns from winter break to find that a young woman was murdered in his dorm room. Not being able to get the answers he wants or needs, he sets out on his own to figure out what really happened. But in the process he will stumble upon things that will make him go mad.

I didn’t like this book at all. I didn’t understand what was going on half of the time. I still am not really sure what the ending was supposed to be. I was not at all impressed.

3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, Fiction, R, Read in 2008, SERIES

Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs

Tara
Deja Dead
by Kathy Reichs
Copyright: 1997
Pages: 532
Rating: 3/5
Read: Jan. 5-8, 2008
Challenge: Triple Eight Challenge, First in a Series category
First Line: I wasn’t thinking about the man who’d blown himself up.
Dr. Temperance Brennan finds herself trying to convince her coworkers that there is a serial killer on the loose in Quebec. Five women have to die before she is finally able to convince them of this. Racing against the clock, after losing her best friend and the thought of losing her daughter starts to become quite a real possibility, Brennan has to face the killer herself.
I was not incredibly impressed with this novel. Maybe it’s because I know the TV show “Bones” so well and this is so not at all like the show. But I really had trouble with all the technological and medical information (in addition to the comments in French) and it really put a damper on my opinion of the book. I was bogged down throughout the entire reading and I doubt I will continue on with this series.
3/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, F, Nonfiction, Read in 2008

Laci by Michael Fleeman

Tara

Laci: Inside the Laci Peterson Murder
by Michael Fleeman

Copyright: 2003 – update 2004
Pages: 250
Rating: 3/5
Read: Jan. 4-5, 2008
Challenge: Triple Eight Challenge, True Crime category

First Line: ” ‘Hi, Mom.’ It was Scott Peterson on the line.

Michael Fleeman delves into the story of the Laci Peterson murder. In the short 250 pages the reader reads all the information that had already come out during the investigation itself. This book was a slight disappointment for myself. After reading Catherine Crier’s book, A Deadly Game and Sharon Rocha’s book, For Laci, this book was not up to par. There was no secret, hidden information like in Crier’s book. There was no heartrending, tear-jerking recollections like in Rocha’s book. This was just a straight repetition of the facts. It was dull in places, and never really grabbed my attention. For those who watched the events fold out on CourtTV and other stations, you already know everything in this book. It was just okay for me.

4/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, C, Fiction, Read in 2008

No Second Chance by Harlan Coben

Tara
No Second Chance
by Harlan Coben

Copyright: 2003
Pages: 420
Rating: 4/5
Read: Jan. 2-3, 2008
Challenge: Numbers Challenge; Celebrating the Author Challenge

First Line: When the first bullet hit my chest, I thought of my daughter.

Dr. Marc Seidman wakes up in the hospital to find that twelve days earlier his wife, Monica, was shot dead in their home, and their daughter, Tara, is missing. When the ransom note arrives, Marc’s hopes go through the roof. But when the drop goes bad, everything around him spirals out of control. Eighteen months later, another ransom note is delivered. Instead of contacting the police and doing the “right” thing, Marc takes matters into his own hands. With the assistance of his ex-girlfriend, they chase down the clues to Tara’s disappearance, only to realize that there’s more to the story than meets the eye.

This story was well plotted and fast paced. I was sucked in with the first sentence and could barely wait to figure out if Tara was still alive. The revelations at the end are shocking, to say the least. The ending came out of left field to me. This was only the second Co (the first I read years ago) and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

2/5, AUTHOR, Book Review, G, Nonfiction, Read in 2008

Objection! by Nancy Grace

Tara

Objection!: How High-Priced Defense Attorneys, Celebrity Defendants, and a 24/7 Media Have Hijacked Our Criminal Justice System

by Nancy Grace
Copyright: 2005
Pages: 314
Rating: 2/5
Read: Dec. 31, 2007 – Jan. 3, 2008
Challenge: No challenge; personal read
First Line: ” ‘I was just doing my job.’ That’s the tired excuse offered up by every defense attorney whenever they’re asked how they do what they do — how they pull the wool over jurors’ eyes to make sure the repeat offender they’re defending walks free.”
Nancy Grace … you either love her or hate her. The same will go for her book; you will either love or hate it. Personally, I could have done without reading it. She spent a lot of time going over the same thing, really pounding it into the reader. Anyone who has seen her on television knows that she is very opinionated, her book is very much the same as her show. Although I usually watch her show when a big case is going on (Scott Peterson, Michael Jackson, Natalee Holloway, etc.) I probably could have skipped the book because it was slightly disappointing. I only recommend this book if you are a die hard Grace fan.
Uncategorized

Happy New Year!

Tara

Well here it is, January 1, 2008. And I can finally start the books on my reading challenges. It was so difficult not to pick one of them up on the 30th because I had finished what I considered my last book of 2007. So instead I began a book that I got in the mail from PBS yesterday: Objection!: How High-Priced Defense Attorneys, Celebrity Defendants, and a 24/7 Media Have Hijacked Our Criminal Justice System by Nancy Grace. Boy, oh boy, does it sound exactly like Nancy! I got 90 pages into it yesterday and will continue to read it at night while I read my challenge books during the day at work … which I will definitely need, because it’s going to be cold, cold, cold … and that is not good for pouring concrete! Well I’m going to head off of here and pick out my first challenge book for 2008. Happy New Year!!

~Tara

READING CHALLENGES 2008

Suspense & Thriller 2008/09 Challenge

Tara

Suspense & Thriller Challenge
Rules:
*Read 12 books (6 in ’08; 6 in ’09)
*Each one has to be from a different subcategory listed on the main page
*Jan. 1, 2008 – Dec. 31, 2009
2008:
  7. J.T. Ellison, All the Pretty Girls (serial killer thriller)
  8. W.E.B. Griffin, By Order of the President (military thriller)
  9. Laura Lippman, To the Power of Three (drama thriller)
  10. Patricia Cornwell, Postmortem (forensic mystery)
  11. James Patterson, The 8th Confession (police procedural thriller)
  12. Fran Rizer, A Tisket, a Tasket, a Fancy Stolen Casket (cozy mystery)