The Neon Court: Or, the Betrayal of Matthew Swift Review

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(More customer reviews)Premise: Matthew Swift, Midnight Mayor of London (that's a sort of magical enforcer/leader/diplomat) has just a couple of problems. First, two of the larger magical factions, the Neon Court and the Tribe, are on the brink of war over a murder. Second, an sometime friend of his seems to have a nasty case of should-be-dead-but-somehow-isn't. Somewhere in all this is a prophecy, a conspiracy, and an encroaching evil dangerous enough to give the most powerful beings in London nightmares. Can he save the city, his friends, and himself?
I hadn't read the two books that come before this one, and through much of the book that wasn't a problem. A few times, though, complicated consequences from the earlier volumes came up, and I think I could have followed the minor characters more easily if I had more context.
I especially liked the details of this book; the writing was strong in tactile imagery. The imagination and originality of the setting was fantastic, but it fell apart for me a little in the big picture. The plot hangs together well, I just at some point found it less compelling than I did when it started, although I couldn't put my finger on why.
I did really like it, I just wanted slightly more, perhaps a more satisfying climax.
The main character, Matthew Swift, was wonderful. There was a touch of modern noir here between the darkness of the setting and Swift's habit of getting himself beaten up. He means well, but doesn't always know the right thing to do, and has a propensity to just bull ahead into a dangerous situation and make it up as he goes. I admire that.
I liked Penny the wiseass sidekick, and I liked the completely realized, complex flavors of the different factions warring in the city. The magic is really cool, this specifically urban magic bound up in public transit and electricity and litter.
One bit of the plot which I loved was a nice twist where Griffin put enough subtle information in so that as the reader, I realized something was wrong before the characters did.
Overall it's a very inventive world with well drawn characters, although something in the plot, maybe the tension, didn't entirely coalesce for me. I'll look for the previous volumes, though, and look forward to more work from this author.

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War is coming to London.A daimyo of the Neon Court is dead and all fingers point towards their ancient enemy - The Tribe.And when magicians go to war, everyone loses.But Matthew Swift has his own concerns.He has been summoned abruptly, body and soul, to a burning tower and to the dead body of Oda, warrior of The Order and known associate of Swift.There's a hole in her heart and the symbol of the Midnight Mayor drawn in her own blood.Except, she is still walking and talking and has a nasty habit of saying 'we' when she means 'I.'Now, Swift faces the longest night of his life.Lady Neon herself is coming to London and the Tribe is ready to fight.Strange things stalk this night: a rumored 'chosen one,' a monster that burns out the eyes of its enemies, and a walking dead woman.Swift must stop a war, protect his city, and save his friend - if she'll stop trying to kill him long enough for him to try.

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Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian Review

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(More customer reviews)This was not the book I expected.
I'm not totally sure what I expected, but I think it was something funny: something about a librarian hanging out with pimps and drug dealers, scattering literature across the infertile soil of a prison's worth of undereducated, life-hardened, embittered minds. I was looking for some uplift, here, something about how books can save even the toughest cases.
What I got instead was reality. Avi Steinberg, who falls into prison librarianhood mainly because he is avoiding the expectations of his strict Orthodox Jewish upbringing (Doctor or lawyer or rabbi, oh my!) but not making enough money as a freelance obituary writer (Another career I never really thought existed, though of course it does), does indeed hang out with pimps and drug dealers, but it isn't really funny. These are not the cartoonish pimps that floated through my mind, a cornucopia of platform shoes and ostrich feather hats and 70's jive lingo; these are actual hustlers, men who make their living off of the exploitation of women, men who are cold and calculating and violent no matter how charming they appear. And because they are human beings, they are also emotionally stunted victims themselves, sufferers of abuse and neglect and generational poverty; their less savory characteristics are simply their best defense against the world that surrounds them.
Although there is very little about the saving grace of literature and words and books, Steinberg does paint a vivid and touching portrait of the criminals he dealt with every day for the years he worked in Boston's South Bay prison, as well as a harsh and unflinching one. These people are complex, despite society's desire to affix simplistic labels and shove them into an appropriate drawer labeled "criminal" or "convict" or "scum." Some of them -- many of them -- are cruel and violent and dangerous, as evidenced by the encounters Steinberg has with them on the outside, once they have been released; two that he recounts in the book are a mugging, and a depressing encounter with a pimp and a hooker, both of whom he knew from the prison; Steinberg plays up to the pimp's ego before he realizes that by doing so he is encouraging the violent exploitation of the drug-addicted woman whom he knew and had friendly feelings towards. But there is also incredible sadness in these devastated lives; though there are no instances of the kind of violence usually depicted in Hollywood movies about prison life (another shallow prejudice broken by this book), there is certainly violence and turmoil, and many of the people Steinberg meets are dead before the book's last page.
What was most clear from reading this book is that Steinberg is an outstanding memoirist; he gives some wonderful background, on himself, his acquaintances within the prison, and prison itself, both the system and the specific institution he worked in. He has remarkable insight, leading me to pause frequently to consider a particular passage or idea; one of the most telling for me was the simple observation that American prison spending has multiplied even while spending on education, and on libraries, has fallen to almost nothing -- a trend that continues and accelerates in today's economy. And he is a great storyteller, able to bring the people and places to life. This was a great book, one that I think anyone would enjoy who had an interest in books or prison -- and I would wager that pretty much everyone has an interest in one or the other, if not both.
A small personal note: as a sometimes reluctant high school teacher, it was fascinating to me personally to read about Steinberg's experiences trying to teach a creative writing course as part of his librarian's duties, because the things he struggled with, and the mistakes that he made and the successes that he had, are very similar to my own experience. Not that I would compare high school students to criminals . . . but the reverse is actually a reasonable comparison; these criminals are in many ways like high school students, and it was very interesting to see.


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Echo (Alex Benedict) Review

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(More customer reviews)Just two months ago, I had never heard of Jack McDevitt. I was browsing in a bookstore and came across a title which caught my eye -- "A Talent For War", the first of the Alex Benedict novels. It was both a science fiction and a detective novel, and the basic premise really intrigued me.
I picked up all four of the Benedict books and plowed through them, and then read the six Priscilla Hutchins novels for good measure. I am thoroughly hooked on the works of this author. A couple of his standalone works are also top notch.
Alex Benedict is an antiquity dealer who, along with his assistant Chase Kolpath, lives some eight thousand years in the future on a planet called Rimway. With faster-than-light travel a routine matter, and a wealth of planets (including Earth) harboring the ruins of countless ancient human civilizations, there is no shortage of artifacts and memorabilia to buy and sell.
Every now and again, Alex comes across something mysterious which really captures his imagination, and he focuses an intense amount of his, and Chase's, time and energy into pursuing it. It's not about the money, it's more the thrill of the chase, the thirst for knowledge. The pair begin to receive death threats and even become the targets of diabolically clever assassination attempts. While Chase has reservations about the sanity of continuing the quest, Alex is undeterred. After all, if someone is willing to kill to keep a secret, it must be really, really big. The kind of stuff that can rewrite history books or even save huge numbers of lives.
Since all but the first book are narrated in first person by Chase, we can assume that she's going to survive to write about it, but we never know about Alex.
So, when "Echo" came out, I was very eager to dig in. In a brief prologue, we are introduced to two key individuals. The first is Somerset Tuttle, a maverick scientist who has devoted his whole life to finding an alien civilization. True, there is a telepathic race known as the Ashiyyur, nicknamed the Mutes. But they're old hat -- people want to find OTHER aliens. And yet, Tuttle has become the butt of jokes. Real scientists know the galaxy is empty. There are planets with life, but no intelligent life. "Found any little green men yet?" is a common question or maybe taunt hurled at Tuttle.
The second person we meet in the prologue is Rachel Bannister, a spaceship pilot for World's End Tours. She is very upset about something she saw out there, something terrible. But we won't find out what for the rest of the book. It's a bit of a surprise, nothing I would have guessed.
Chapter One picks up 28 years after the prologue. Tuttle has died and Rachel is no longer piloting. Alex and Chase are invited to pick up a peculiar stone tablet from Tuttle's old home. It's been sitting out in the yard, and the new owner doesn't want it. Alex is intrigued by the pictures because of its mysterious writing. It matches nothing known to humanity, and is unlikely to match anything Ashiyyur either.
But, before Alex can examine the stone, Rachel Bannister's relatives snatch it up and proceed to lead Chase and Alex on a merry, but fruitless hunt. Soon, the first assassination attempt takes place. True to form, Alex knows he's on to something big, and won't quit.
The burning question: Did Tuttle find an alien civilization? His old friends think the idea is preposterous. He would have shouted his discovery from the rooftops to prove his ridiculers wrong. But whatever he found, people are willing to kill to cover it up. Rachel clearly knows something, but won't say what.
Soon, both Chase and Rachel will be pushed to the breaking point as the pressure mounts, and the news media begin to have a field day.
I enjoyed "Echo" as much as its predecessors in the series, but noticed an interesting development. The other series, featuring Priscilla Hutchins, is set in the relatively near future, on Earth and nearby star systems. McDevitt extrapolates current environmental and political developments to their logical conclusion, and humanity's prospects look dismal indeed. People are beginning to give up space travel and are looking inward, and history shows that civilizations tend not to survive once they lose a crucial amount of dynamism.
The Benedict novels, in contrast, are so far in the future that they're completely detached from 21st century Earth's affairs. Human interstellar civilization has gone through two major dark ages, but things are currently pretty vibrant.
At least, they were for the first four books of the series. With "Echo", a certain malaise is starting to creep in, just like the Hutchins books. People are more interested in experiencing the universe virtually than in taking an actual star voyage. Hardly anyone goes exploring any more. What's the point, they ask. People are getting too soft and comfortable.
It will be interesting to see what happens with any future books. I'm hoping a certain amount of optimism remains.
What I really enjoy about McDevitt's writing is his matter-of-fact approach to the technological marvels surrounding the characters. When someone asks how antigravity works, Chase replies: "Push a button, and you lift off." The books don't get bogged down with technobabble.
McDevitt drops you, the reader, right into the local culture, with plenty of offhand remarks about popular writers, singers, restaurants and sports games. He mentions exotic (to us) pets in a casual way, and we get some idea that they're dog- or cat-like from general descriptions.
It looks like the Hutchins series has ended, but I'm certainly hoping there will be a few more Benedict books before McDevitt hangs up his quill.


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A new novel of the fantastic unknown by the national bestselling author of Time Travelers Never Die. Eccentric Sunset Tuttle spent his life searching in vain for forms of alien life. Thirty years after his death, a stone tablet inscribed with cryptic, indecipherable symbols is found in the possession of Tuttle's onetime lover, and antiquities dealer Alex Benedict is anxious to discover what secret the tablet holds. It could be proof that Tuttle had found what he was looking for. To find out, Benedict and his assistant embark on their own voyage of discovery-one that will lead them directly into the path of a very determined assassin who doesn't want those secrets revealed.

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I Love Yous Are for White People: A Memoir (P.S.) Review

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(More customer reviews)What impressed me most about this book is how even as a middle-class, white, small town midwesterner with a cynical bent, I so deeply related to the plight of a Vietnamese refugee family plunked down into the ghetto of inner-city L.A.
Beginning with his family's harrowing escape from Communist Vietnam amidst a backdrop of gunfire and grenade explosion into an ill-equipped fishing boat that nearly sinks under heavy Pacific storms, the story truly begins with a bang. After being rescued at the very last moment by a reluctant Hong Kong military crew, Su and his family eventually make their way to the "Promiseland" in the ghettos of L.A.
With just the right amount of description--never revealing too much to put the reader at an all-knowing distance, nor too little to prevent you from truly feeling what Su felt in each moment--the writing made me feel as though I was the author's shadow. I saw what he saw and experienced what he experienced--from his adolescent stealing and subsequent selling of his parent's food stamps in order to feed a bullying peer's video game habit in the desperate hope of being accepted, all the way to the cold feeling of a gun barrel jammed into my cheek.
Perhaps the most interesting character is Su's father. He is a dejected shell of a man struggling with the loss of his position as a respect-commanding figure in Vietnam to a veritable Nobody in the U.S. Not knowing the language or the customs and without any formal education (he himself was orphaned and left to fend for himself as a hustler on the streets of Da Nang as an adolescent), he desperately clings to his dignity as we slowly and tragically watch it slip away. He is at once reprehensible for his violet outbursts towards his family (specifically towards the author who bears the biggest brunt as he is the "big head," or eldest son), but I found myself compelled to feel sympathy for "Pa." He's not an alcoholic. He's not lazy or sexually deviant. He is simply a man that the circumstances of life have beaten. Ultimately, you get the impression that he wants nothing more than for his children to avoid the same fate. However misguided Pa's actions may have been, Su adeptly paints the portrait of his father as a tragic figure whose love for his family--although extremely warped in it's outward expression of violence and anger--is every bit as real as the love of any father.
I also found it refreshing to read such a vivid portrayal of teen gang life that is neither bogged down by preaching on the one hand, nor does it glorify gang-banging on the other hand. You simply get a glimpse of what it's like from the inside, and are left completely free to draw any conclusions you wish. No heroes and no villains. Just people, flawed and perfectly human.
Since the depictions of his ganglife fit in so seamlessly with the rest of the story, I doubt that Su's ommision of social commentary was intentional or even conscious. From start to finish Su's clear mission is simiply to tell the reader his story--nothing more and nothing less. I'm very glad he did.

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As a young child, Lac Su made a harrowing escape from the Communists in Vietnam. With a price on his father's head, Lac, with his family, was forced to immigrate in 1979 to seedy West Los Angeles where squalid living conditions and a cultural fabric that refused to thread them in effectively squashed their American Dream. Lac's search for love and acceptance amid poverty—not to mention the psychological turmoil created by a harsh and unrelenting father—turned his young life into a comedy of errors and led him to a dangerous gang experience that threatened to tear his life apart.

Heart-wrenching, irreverent, and ultimately uplifting, I Love Yous Are for White People is memoir at its most affecting, depicting the struggles that countless individuals have faced in their quest to belong and that even more have endured in pursuit of a father's fleeting affection.

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Everything Beautiful Began After: A Novel (P.S.) Review

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(More customer reviews)I fell in love with Everything Beautiful Began After after having just read the Prologue and the rest of the book did not disappoint. Simon Van Booy's beautiful poetic language is stunning and his descriptions require the reader to pause and take a deep breath to take them in. The characters are so well developed that one cannot help but love and care deeply for them. It is fascinating to watch as they argue over the existence of fate while we quietly witness fate take its toll on each of them. There is a sense of unpredictability, an unknowing that keeps the pages turning. Van Booy's use of different points of view also adds depth to this novel. It was a genius way to create various space and distance between the reader and the characters. The cover and deckle-edged paper provides the perfect package for such a beautiful and tragic love story.

The ending felt a bit rushed to me and things seemed to be tied up a little too perfectly in the end. This may be that I just didn't want the book to end. I was invested in these characters and wanted to spend more time with them. However, at over 400 pages, I understand Van Booy had to end the book at some point. Maybe he will write a sequel! If you want to be swept away into a beautiful love story with writing that literally takes you there as a silent witness to the unfolding lives of the characters, this book is definitely for you. I wanted to continue inside the world Van Booy created with this novel so much that I actually got up in the middle of the night, unable to sleep because I couldn't stop thinking about it, and continued reading until it was finished.


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Rebecca is young, lost, and beautiful. A gifted artist, she seeks solace and inspiration in the Mediterranean heat of Athens-trying to understand who she is and how she can love without fear.

George has come to Athens to learn ancient languages after growing up in New England boarding schools and Ivy League colleges. He has no close relationships with anyone and spends his days hunched over books or wandering the city in a drunken stupor.

Henry is in Athens to dig. An accomplished young archaeologist, he devotedly uncovers the city's past as a way to escape his own, which holds a secret that not even his doting parents can talk about.

...And then, with a series of chance meetings, Rebecca, George, and Henry are suddenly in flight, their lives brighter and clearer than ever, as they fall headlong into a summer that will forever define them in the decades to come.

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The Templar Cross Review

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(More customer reviews)In this excellent sequel to The Sword of the Templars, Paul Christopher weaves past and present into a seamless whole. West Point professor John Holliday finds that he can't let his military skills go into retirement. When Holliday's only surviving relative and niece is kidnapped on an archaeological dig, the retired Army Ranger and her fiance are determined to find her. And people end up dying all around them. The chase takes this intrepid duo from North America to Europe to Africa and they travel in the rough on a buckboard of a desert vehicle, as well as in style - the Orient Express. Christopher's sense of pacing, exciting plots, and character development are exceptional.
Paul Christopher is well worth the read. You won't regret picking up this book. It makes the sky miles go by very quickly!

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From the USA Today Bestselling author of The Sword of the Templars and The Aztec Heresy Some secrets are too great to bear... Retired Army Ranger Lt. Col. John Holliday has reluctantly settled into his teaching position at West Point when young Israeli archaeologist Rafi Wanounou comes to him with desperate news. Holliday's niece-and Rafi's fiancé-Peggy has been kidnapped. Holliday sets out with Rafi to find the only family he has left. But their search for Peggy will lead them to a trail of clues that spans across the globe, and into the heart of a conspiracy involving an ancient Egyptian legend and the darkest secrets of the Order of Templar Knights. Secrets that, once known, cannot be survived...

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The Girl with the Sturgeon Tattoo: A Parody Review

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(More customer reviews)I picked this up at the indie bookstore near my house, and I was laughing before I knew what hit me! I brought it home and started reading, and within the first three pages, I found myself snorting Pepsi out my nose. Very, very clever and funny. This isn't for everyone, but if you have a fondness for the absurd, this book is for you!

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Arguably the funniest novel to emerge from Northern Europe since the Black DeathA reindeer strangler has struck again; the world's leading authority on Baltic sturgeon has been filleted, and the head of Sweden's only unpublished thriller writer has been discovered some meters from his body. Just a typical day in Stockholm's crime log? Or are the murders the works of a single killer? Chief Inspector Svenjamin Bubbles has a suspect: Lizzy Salamander, Scandinavia's most heavily tattooed girl-sociopath and hacker extraordinaire.Mikael Blomberg believes Salamander has been framed. But if Salamander is innocent, who is the 4'10" girl ninja captured on a surveillance camera decapitating the failed novelist? And what has become of the unpublished manuscript that claimed to connect Sweden's most eco-friendly corporations to the twentieth century's greatest tyrant?A shocking story of corruption and perversion that reaches to the highest echelons of the world's largest producer of inexpensive ready-to-assemble wooden bookcases, The Girl with the Sturgeon Tattoo delivers a hilarious—and gripping—parody of the best-selling novels by Stieg Larsson.

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Ten Thousand Saints: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)The new novel TEN THOUSAND SAINTS is certainly interesting and to me at least quite original. The book begins on New Year's Eve 1987 in fictional college town Lintonburg,VT (um if you notice Lintonburg contains the exact same letters as Burlington the home of the University of Vermont and the fictional and real cities have many similarities). Two young teenagers, Teddy and Jude, are out partying with their new friend Eliza from Manhattan and tragically Teddy is found dead the next morning after among other things huffing Freon and snorting cocaine. Both Jude and Eliza feel very guilty because Jude pressed the Freon on him and Eliza supplied the cocaine. Actually Eliza offered Teddy more than cocaine that night and she soon discovers she is pregnant from her one time encounter with the now deceased teenager. Eliza, Jude and Teddy's older half brother Johnny form a family of sorts who hope to raise Teddy's baby.
Adults are as important to the story as the teenagers and the effects of parents' actions on their children is a major theme of the book. Jude and his sister Prudence's divorced parents both make their living from marijuana as their dad Les is a prosperous grower and dealer while their artist mother Harriet, perhaps the most stable parent in the novel, makes her living from blowing glass bongs and pipes. Eliza's mom who at the beginning of the story is also Les's girlfriend is a self absorbed ballerina while Teddy and Johnny's mom is an aging hippie known for disappearing when ever things get uncomfortable. Johnny's dad is a prison inmate and Teddy's dad is an unknown man of Asian Indian descent who turns up toward the end of the book and is not what this reader at least expected.
The teenagers turn to Straight Edge music with the accompanying austere lifestyle strongly influenced by Hare Krishna beliefs. It is implied that this is a reaction against their parents' hedonistic ways. Johnny who is a musician and tattoo artist living in the Tompkins Square Park area of Manhattan's alphabet city marries Eliza in hopes of giving his dead brother's baby a chance to stay under his influence even though he has no romantic interest in women. Johnny seems to epitomize the Straight Edge lifestyle and is known as Mr. Clean because of his shaved head and vegan habits.
TEN THOUSAND SAINTS is a novel well worth reading. AIDS, homelessness, gentrification, parenthood, adoption, and drug use are among the many topics incorporated in the book. The author does a great job of bringing the late 1980's in the East Village to detailed life and the choices of the kids and parents in the book will linger in the reader's memory.And the book ends with a very appropriate and effective postscript from 2006 on the last night the famed punk venue CBGB's was open.


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Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World Review

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(More customer reviews)If you're one of the many people who's been caught up in the wave of highly focused historical books that have innundated our book stores, then this book is for you. Kurlansky presents the history of one of the most mundane items possible (excepting the humble potato and there's a book on that too) with an engaging and informative style. The book presents as a mix of history, current events, and recipes.
It misfired at times. There is not discussion (or recommendation) regarding management of resources or planning for the future of our fisheries. And some absolute statements (such as the superiour development of Basque cod cuisine) deserve to be challenged. And Kurlansky doesn't consider the fishing history of Native Americans; although, it may be for lack of documentation (I don't know; I'm not a historian; that's why I read these things).
In spite of this, it's an outstanding book. It meets the two key requirements for me in this regard; one, I recommend it to other people who report back on how much they liked it; and two, I'll read it again.
Buy it. Read it. You'll probably enjoy it.

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Thirst No. 3: The Eternal Dawn Review

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(More customer reviews)One of the big questions about this book is: "How can it be about the same characters?"
Anyone who has read the description knows it is...and having just finished the book, I can say that I am very pleased--and it actually works. And it helps that the author does not try to explain it more than is necessary.
The reviews of `The Eternal Dawn' are bound to be mixed. Anyone who has only read the `Thirst' books will most likely be disappointed. And anyone who has read all of Pike's novels will fall in love with Alisa (Sita) all over again. But it could go either way.
When I read that `The Last Vampire' series was being re-released as `Thirst,' I reread the series. My big concern was getting through the sixth book again. It had always felt forced to me...like Pike was told he had to conclude the series and move on--or that someone else had written it, except for the epilogue. But it made a little bit more sense when I read the series all at once (but still did not feel right).
When I first read that he was continuing the series, I did not want to believe it. There has always been a rumor that he planned more books; but after fifteen years, I was beginning to think it was a hoax. There was also the rumor that he never wanted to write `young adult' novels ever again....
A lot of people will claim that Pike wrote `Thirst' because vampires are big now. But the truth is that the series was originally released in the mid-1990s and were a huge success with Pike's fans--even the final book (at the time) kept fans waiting for more. Then, in 1997, the author disappeared for seven years. He had left us with mediocre stories like `The Execution of Innocence' and `Magic Fire' and the horrible (my opinion) `The Grave' (which should have ended after the first chapter).
He returned in 2004 with the long awaited `The Blind Mirror' - which was good enough to satisfy a need for new Pike. Then he went into the `Alosha' series. I got halfway through the second book and stopped. When the time comes, I will try again. I have `Falling' but have not read it yet. [I feel that Pike is trying a little too hard when it comes to his adult works. `Sati' and `The Listeners' are recommended. I have not read `The Cold One' - and `The Season of Passage' will require me to reread it because I am one of few fans that said "It's just okay" (good concept, weak payoff) while most people loved it.]
His return to `The Last Vampire' (I hate the new title `Thirst') is amazing. After fifteen years, he still gets Sita's voice perfectly. There are some flaws with `The Eternal Dawn', but I have chosen to overlook them for two reasons. 1) I want to know where Pike is going with this series. 2) I am giving Pike extra credit for making it very difficult to write a review for `Thirst 3' because I want to explain the plot twists so bad!
Appropriate reading age: 15+ (please note that the 15 is because this is a book - as a movie, it would be rated R) for violence, sexual references, drug references, mild language, and themes.


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When 5,000-year-old vampire Alisa discovers Teri, a long-lost descendent of her human family, all she wants is to get closer to her. But along with getting to know Teri, Alisa discovers an undeniable connection with Matt—Teri's boyfriend. She's not sure why she can't stop thinking about Matt, and before she can figure it out, she's attacked in her home by someone—or something—that is definitely not human. Determined to track down what appears to be a new race of immortals, Alisa travels with Matt to Europe and realizes there is more to unravel than she ever thought possible…and that nothing—including Matt—is at all what it seems.

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The End of Everything: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)Lizzie was the last person to see her best friend, Evie Verver. For thirteen years the two had been inseparable, but now Evie was gone. The only clue was the maroon car Lizzie had seen right before she left Evie to go shopping with her mom. When the police were not able to locate her, Lizzie began her own search to find out where Evie may have been taken. However, as Lizzie dug deeper, she began to realize the friend she thought she knew was someone quite different. In a dark and rather disturbing novel, The End of Everything is brilliantly written, but difficult to read.
Had I realized what this book was going to be about and how it was written, I would not have picked it up. It's a good book, but right now I just want to read something light and fluffy to wipe away the images that were left behind by this story. It's sad, disturbing, and not at all what I was expecting. Instead of a novel that revolves around solving a crime, it's told by thirteen year old Lizzie and is very much a loss of innocence book. I was not prepared to dive into a world of romanticized pedophilia or teenage sexuality. It's not that these issues were glorified, but they're there none the less and not something I was expecting or prepared to read.
This is an exceptionally well written book. Abbott has a great ability to create vivid images and evoke strong emotions. She does a nice job of setting the atmosphere and capturing the mind of a child who knows much, but really doesn't know anything. However, it's her writing talents that are also a detriment. It's hard to read a story where the thirteen year old narrator was seeing the kidnapper as possessing a great love for the child he's taken. Nor was it comfortable to read many of Lizzie's recollections with Evie, as many of them had sexual overtones. There was a strong realistic element to this story, but it wasn't something I wanted to read.
Even though I would have liked for Abbott to have left some innocence in the story, I am glad that she allowed the reader to be disgusted by the characters and their warped relationships. It would have been easy to tell the reader what they should think, but instead she lets them take the events and feel the sickness of these characters for themselves. I don't need a happily ever after ending, but there is a part of me that wishes there was a glimmer of hope in this story.
I feel much the same way about The End Of Everything as I do Lord Of The Flies. There is a terrible sadness for children when they lose their innocence; when the world and life they know is suddenly shattered and they realize things will never return to where they were before. While I think this is a brilliantly written book, I wish I hadn't read it. This is not a book for everyone.
Review title provided courtesy of Little, Brown, & Company.

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The Miracle of Freedom: Seven Tipping Points That Saved the World Review

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(More customer reviews)7 Tipping Points offers a fascinating theory on how a number of seminal events have shaped history and led to the free society that we now enjoy. The book makes an important point that most of us rarely think about: freedom is not the rule, it is the EXCEPTION. Throughout history, the vast majority of human beings have lived their entire lives with essentially no hope of the freedom we now take for granted.
Unlike many books on history, which often tend to be a bit dense and academic, this one is concise, highly readable and engaging. The book covers each of the historical tipping points and demonstrates how in many cases, it was seemingly pure luck that kept us on the road to freedom.
To give just one example, the author relates how the Mongol horde nearly captured Europe in the middle ages. In 1241, after many successful victories, the Mongols had advanced to threaten Vienna. Europe was essentially defenseless and would have been easily taken. But that year, two Mongol leaders (the heirs to Genghis Khan) suddenly died, and the Mongols withdrew in order to select a new leader. If those two deaths had not occurred, Europe would likely have fallen, and the budding Renaissance and all the progress that came with it may have been snuffed out. The author includes a "what if" section for each tipping point so we can imagine the impact if things had gone the other way.
For me, the book raised a fascinating question: What about the NEXT tipping point? If you enjoyed this book, you might also be interested in The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future, which suggests that forces like advancing technology and globalization are pushing us toward a future tipping point that could someday threaten our freedom, democratic institutions and prosperity. One thing that 7 Tipping Points makes clear is that freedom comes at a cost, and it may not always be about military battles. We will have to continue the fight for freedom into the future and adjust our society and systems to reflect the new realities.

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How unusual is it, really, in the history of all known human experience, to enjoy the blessings of living free?

The answer may surprise you. In The Miracle of Freedom, Chris and Ted Stewart make a strong case that fewer than 5 percent of all people who have ever lived on the earth have lived under conditions that we could consider free. So where did freedom come from, and how are we fortunate enough to experience it in our day?

A deeper look at the human record, write the authors, reveals a series of critical events, obvious forks in the road leading to very different outcomes, that resulted in this extraordinary period in which we live. They identify and discuss seven decisive tipping points:
1. The defeat of the Assyrians in their quest to destroy the kingdom of Judah2. The victory of the Greeks over the Persians at Thermopylae and Salamis3. Roman Emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity4. The defeat of the armies of Islam at Poitiers5. The failure of the Mongols in their effort to conquer Europe6. The discovery of the New World7. The Battle of Britain in World War II The journey to freedom has been thousands of years long. Now that it has found its place in the world, the question for those of us who experience its benefits is simply this: will we work to preserve the miracle of freedom that we enjoy today?

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Bloodmoney: A Novel of Espionage Review

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(More customer reviews)David Ignatius has written another political thriller/mystery. It is filled with the cynicism of someone familiar with the current situation of international politics and the espionage community...all intelligence communities lie, it is their job. We can also see the touch of history in here, the same conflicts happening today as yesterday, the same thing that happened to the British is occurring today in their once occupied countries. Ignatius is also an astute observer of human and national nature.
Two matters stand out in this novel, looking through the eyes of the enemy and why he is motivated to act as he does. A brilliant mathematician/computer scientist/professor, "pondered how he might make these assassins feel the same fear that the people of his valley had felt for all these years," after seeing his whole family destroyed by an American drone. There is a bit of sympathy for this person, but he is still presented as a criminal. The other matter is the constant need for subterfuge, the lies of espionage and intelligence communities even within their own ranks, the problems and the necessities to get their job done.
The mystery to be solved is: Where is the leak that is getting agents killed? How do they know where and when these undercover operatives are going to be? This is a political thriller, a mystery that perhaps delves deeper into the seas of the espionage world than they would enjoy.
Where Ignatius shines of course is in describing the actions and methods of the news media. Ignatius, has researched his subject thoroughly, even traveling into these dangerous regions. It is an interesting twist to get inside the head of someone who wishes to kill your countrymen; but even more than that is the fact that the reader can picture and feel and know and empathize with all of the main characters. It is a well written novel that will pull you into its' world.


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From the author of the best-selling Body of Lies and The Increment: in a tragedy of revenge, the CIA falls victim to its own daring operation in the Middle East.
Someone in Pakistan is killing the members of a new CIA intelligence unit that is trying to buy peace with America's enemies. It falls to Sophie Marx, a young CIA officer with a big chip on her shoulder, to figure out who's doing the killing and why. Her starting point is Alphabet Capital, the London hedge fund that has been providing cover for this secret operation, but the investigation soon widens to include the capitals of the Middle East and the cruel hills of South Waziristan. Sophie thinks she has the backing of her hard-nosed boss, Jeffrey Gertz, and his genial mentor at headquarters, Cyril Hoffman. In addition, she gets help from the well-mannered lieutenant general heading Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. But the closer Sophie gets to her quarry, the more she realizes that nothing in this gallery of mirrors is quite what it seems. This is a theater of violence and retribution, in which the last act is one that Sophie could not have imagined. David Ignatius has written a disturbing and compelling novel where the price of unchecked government is paid in blood, and peace can be bought only through betrayal.

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The Lantern: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)From the first words I was enchanted with wonderful descriptions along with moody creative suggestions but far too few light hints about the real story. Initially it was almost difficult to put the book down because the author does create gorgeous sequences the reader can almost touch or smell or feel but... too soon the intriguing moody references seemed to overtake the developing story. I found trying to make sense of the plot more and more foggy & tiresome. Once the story began to unfold the constant back & forth with various characters and time twists grew more and more confusing to keep straight.
I thoroughly enjoy a book that paints a picture and reveals the skeletons of its story with exquisite use of imagery, but when the reader's patience is tested repeatedly it reminds me of a special effects movie where the director gets wrapped into the computer generated side rather than the story itself.
The book cover jacket tried comparing this to "Rebecca," with a powerful and haunting story buired beneath the darkness and moodiness of the setting. That was my lure to want to read more. This author seemed in love with her ability to create intrigue in the French countryside but she lost sight of "hooking" the reader. As I lumbered to the conclusion it felt more like I'd endured rather than satisfied I finished it. What began as a disguised love story grew more and more predictable. In other words, I had the ending pretty much figured out with more than 100+ pages still to read.
This book didn't do it for me. I felt like I was plowing thru far too many mood sequences, bits & pieces of contributions to the end result which was disappointing and less than satisfying.
I applaud the author's wonderful use of a wanton vocabulary of description; still, it was as though I had to plod through 75% of adjectives and quirky time changes to get to the remaining 25% of plot. Ugh!

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I'll Walk Alone: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)Overall I enjoyed this book and it not only focused on an unsolved crime but also idendity theft in a very intriguing way. The story's heroine is Alexandra "Xan" Moreland, a Manhattan based divorcee whose reputation is being destroyed by a person or persons unknown. She is even being accused of kidnapping her own small child, Matthew. The other protagonists include Xan's ex husband publicist Ted Carpenter, her amateur detective friend Alvirah Meehan, and Fr. Aiden O'Brien. At the same time Zan needs to survive in the competitive field of interior design and is faced with being a direct competitor of her former boss. Mary Higgins Clark focues on various characters in each chapter from Fr. Aiden O'Brien pondering a shocking confession that he had heard to the sympathetic thoughts of a prospective client of Zan's to thoughts of the babysitter who was sleeping when Matthew had been kidnapped. There are many red herrings throughout the book. I was able to guess who was responsible early on despite this. This is a highly recommended entry in the Higgins Clark series. The only quibble is the lack of character development in some of the protagonists. I had to backtrack in one case to recall one of the characters in the plot towards the conclusion of the book.

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Who has not read about—or experienced—with a sinking feeling the fear that someone else out there may be using your credit cards, accessing your bank account, even stealing your identity?
In I'll Walk Alone, Alexandra "Zan" Moreland, a gifted, beautiful interior designer on the threshold of a successful Manhattan career, is terrified to discover that somebody is not only using her credit cards and manipulating her financial accounts to bankrupt her and destroy her reputation, but may also be impersonating her in a scheme that may involve the much more brutal crimes of kidnapping and murder. Zan is already haunted by the disappearance of her own son, Matthew, kidnapped in broad daylight two years ago in Central Park—a tragedy that has left her torn between hope and despair.

Now, on what would be Matthew's fifth birthday, photos surface that seem to show Zan kidnapping her own child, followed by a chain of events that suggests somebody—but who? Zan asks herself desperately, and why?—has stolen her identity.

Hounded by the press, under investigation by the police, attacked by both her angry ex-husband and a vindictive business rival, Zan, wracked by fear and pain and sustained only by her belief, which nobody else shares, that Matthew is still alive, sets out to discover who is behind this cruel hoax.

What she does not realize is that with every step she takes toward the truth, she is putting herself— and those she loves most—in mortal danger from the person who has ingeniously plotted out her destruction.

Even Zan's supporters, who include Alvirah Meehan, the lottery winner and amateur detective, and Father Aiden O'Brien, who thinks that Zan may have confessed to him a secret he cannot reveal, believe she may have kidnapped little Matthew. Zan herself begins to doubt her own sanity, until, in the kind of fast-paced explosive ending that is Mary Higgins Clark's trademark, the pieces of the puzzle fall into place with an unexpected and shocking revelation.

Deeply satisfying, I'll Walk Alone is Mary Higgins Clark at the top of her form.

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The Silent Girl: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)I have loved all of Tess Gerritson's thrillers and this one The Silent Girl: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel is no exception. The story is set in Boston and has a strong sense of place when the plot develops. This story is about a chilling murder in Boston's china town where detective Jane Rizzoli finds a red haired woman murdered on a roof top with a severed hand which they find in the alley below. Between the detective and the medical examiner, Dr. Maura Isles, they look for clues. Some of the clues are given early in the book and it is very interesting how the team tries to connect all the clues and then discover secrets of an ancient Chinese legend and all its dangers...
The author has done it again by coming out with this tremendous thriller. Don't start this book late at night like I did, and then you simply have to stay up to find the next clue! I am sure it will be another best seller, it is the type of book that grabs you from the very beginning!

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Lorraine Bracco loves The Silent Girl, saying "Shedid it to me again! I can't get anything done when Tess puts out a newbook and this one caught me as I was starting work on Season 2 of"Rizzoli & Isles." So instead of memorizing my lines, I was suckedup into Boston's Chinatown with Jane, Maura, and company and could notput this one down. Just like the other books. Every time. And to top it off, now I have to wait for the NEXT one to come out--you're killing me, Tess! So good..."No one takes readers to the dark side and back with more razor-sharp jolts and sheer suspense than the storytelling master behind Ice Cold and The Keepsake. When New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen has a tale to tell, put yourself in her expert hands—and prepare for the shocks and thrills that are certain to follow.Every crime scene tells a story. Some keep you awake at night. Others haunt your dreams. The grisly display homicide cop Jane Rizzoli finds in Boston's Chinatown will do both.In the murky shadows of an alley lies a female's severed hand. On the tenement rooftop above is the corpse belonging to that hand, a red-haired woman dressed all in black, her head nearly severed. Two strands of silver hair—not human—cling to her body. They are Rizzoli's only clues, but they're enough for her and medical examiner Maura Isles to make the startling discovery: that this violent death had a chilling prequel.Nineteen years earlier, a horrifying murder-suicide in a Chinatown restaurant left five people dead. But one woman connected to that massacre is still alive: a mysterious martial arts master who knows a secret she dares not tell, a secret that lives and breathes in the shadows of Chinatown. A secret that may not even be human. Now she's the target of someone, or something, deeply and relentlessly evil.Cracking a crime resonating with bone-chilling echoes of an ancient Chinese legend, Rizzoli and Isles must outwit an unseen enemy with centuries of cunning—and a swift, avenging blade.

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Before I Go to Sleep: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm not prone to over-the-top hyperbole, but I must say that S.J. Watson's debut "Before I Go To Sleep" caught me by complete surprise. I knew very little about the book and so went into the experience with no preconceived notions or expectations. And I'll tell you--I quite loved this book! In fact (cue hyperbole), it may just be my favorite book of 2011 thus far. The narrative structure of Watson's book is a complicated trick to pull off--and before I gush--I never fully believed it. Most of the story is structured as a diary, if you will, recounting daily events. In many cases this journal is hastily written, and yet it is just so thoroughly professional, polished, complete, and detailed. I know the character was a latent writer, but the prose is just too lush and descriptive to be random recollections and musings done in a time pinch. But even though I never really fully bought into this aspect, the book made me a believer with its compelling plot and challenging questions.
Very quickly, the story concerns a woman with an unusual memory deficiency. Every morning she awakes with no idea of who she is, where she is, and who is sleeping in bed next to her. Her husband must start every day hitting the highlights of her life and condition caused by a trauma many years in the past. Working with a tenacious new doctor, Christine starts to document each of her days in a journal. Keeping track of daily events and discoveries starts to link her full story together, but it might be a story best left unraveled. What begins as a harrowing psychological drama soon gives way to a suspense thriller where Christine doesn't know who to trust. She can't even trust herself!
Watson tells a killer tale, really entertaining. But beyond pleasurable reading, the novel had me questioning what I'd want in a similar circumstance. Is it always best to know the truth? After all, ignorance is bliss. When you can't distinguish memory from fantasy, can you start to build a meaningful life? If you can never reciprocate in a relationship, how much allegiance do your loved ones owe you? When is a condition so problematic as to be insurmountable? The novel's greatest strength is that it really challenges the notion of reality. Is it a finite construct or something a little less tangible? Watson digs to the very soul of Christine and it is fascinating, disturbing, and memorable.
The last time I had such a visceral response to a novel, it was Emma Donoghue's "Room" (one of my three favorite books of 2010). I felt the frustration, anguish, fear, and desperation. Any story that can elicit such reaction or emotion out of my cold dead heart earns my unequalled respect. Again, I'm not saying that the novel is perfect--its central mystery is not as mysterious as I might have liked--but the journey to the that truth is devastatingly heartfelt and fraught with peril and uncertainty. Again, I loved this book! And for getting inside my brain so completely, I have to give it the highest ranking from a purely emotional level. Try it! KGHarris, 4/11.

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