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Category: Mystery & Thrillers

“The Map of True Places” by Brunonia Barry

[ 7 ] July 18, 2010

Reviewed by Sophia C.

In light of Herman Melville’s line from Moby Dick –”It is not down in any map; true places never are”–Brunonia Barry’s novel The Map of True Places is a wonderful attempt to capture the ephemeral, constantly changing, or ambiguous. The protagonist Zee is the young protege of famous psychotherapsit Liz Mattei, engaged to one of Beantown’s most eligible bachelors. All is well, on paper at least, until Lilly, a bipolar patient with eerie similarities to her own mother Maureen, commits suicide by jumping off the Tobin Bridge.

Crossing a professional boundary by attending Lilly’s funeral, Zee drops by her hometown of Salem, Massachusetts on her way back. She is shocked to find that her father, Finch, has thrown out his long-term partner Melville and that his Parkinson’s disease has progressed much more than he has let on. Zee suspends her life in Boston to stay and stabilize her father’s condition, changing the course of her own life along the way.

Barry manages to pull this story off well, despite its potentially melodramatic elements: a gay father who takes on a live-in lover after the mother’s suicide, guilt over the inability to save both mother and patient, and suspicions that the patient was stalked to her death. She masterfully weaves together the different threads connecting the back stories of Maureen, Finch, and Melville, Lilly’s descent into mania, with the present reality of Finch’s rapid deterioration into dementia. This intricate tapestry includes some romance and a thread of thriller towards the end. Zee’s Salem is full of developed, sympathetic characters; indeed, Salem (also the [amazonify]0061624780[/amazonify]setting of Barry’s first novel, The Lace Reader) with its maritime history is an integral backdrop, almost a character itself.

My one quip with The Map of True Places –common to other life-changing homecoming novels–is the lack of insight into Zee’s character between her leaving and returning to Salem. How did the troubled teenager of the prologue, who ‘borrows’ boats for joyrides after Maureen’s death grow into the young woman with everything going for her, but clueless about what she actually wants? There’s a vacuum there, which makes her ongoing adult life, and especially her fiance, seem like a straw man to knock down in favor of rediscovered priorities. Nonetheless, The Map of True Places was an enjoyable and ultimately uplifting read despite the heavy topics of mental illness, suicide, and progressive debilitating disease.

Please visit the official book site to learn more about The Map of True Places and Brunonia Barry.

This book was provided free of any obligation by William Morrow. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Blog Tour: “Think of a Numb3r” by John Verdon

[ 6 ] July 7, 2010

Please join John Verdon, author of Think of a Numb3r, as he tours the blogosphere with TLC Book Tours!

Play the Think of a Number game!

Reviewed by Caleb S.

Think of a Numb3r is John Verdon’s first book, and as far as firsts go, it’s a doosy. I was very impressed with the story and the writing, and Verdon captured my attention early on.

Dave Gurney is a retired police detective with minor celebrity status for solving and catching several serial killers. He has retired up into the Catskills with his wife, and has picked up photo manipulation of serial killers as a surprisingly lucrative pastime. Out of the blue, he receives an email from Mark, an old collage buddy he hasn’t seen since graduation, who has since become the founder of Mellery’s Institute for Spiritual Renewal.

Mark tells a tale of receiving a letter from a person claiming to know Mark so well he can read his mind, and who apparently does just that. He received several poetic missives, and each one is increasingly hostile and threatening. Mark is hoping that Dave can clear up the mystery without upsetting his clients. Dave is afraid he might do too little, too late.

Overall, I enjoyed Think of a Numb3r, and while at times I wanted to slap Dave upside the head when it came to dealing with [amazonify]0307588920[/amazonify]his personal life, all was within his character. There were only two aspects of the book which I found problematic. The first was a clue that was fairly obvious to me but I’ll forgive the author since I’m a computer/math person. Eventually the explanation everyone came up with was what occurred to me almost immediately.

The second, and more important, had to do with the hole in the plot. The cops did not follow up on a clue that to me was just screaming for attention. If they made even a half-hearted attempt I might have been distracted away from my suspect, but the clue was mostly ignored until it was the only one left. This didn’t ruin the book for me, I just think I would have enjoyed it even more had this second problem been hidden better. Despite some flaws, I am glad I had the chance to read Think of a Numb3r and I am eagerly awaiting (what I hope will be) the next installment.

Caleb is a software engineer and amature woodworker living in southern Minnesota. He has more hobbies than he has time or money for, and enjoys his quiet time reading.

Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Crown Publishing. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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“Backseat Saints” by Joshilyn Jackson

[ 6 ] July 2, 2010

Reviewed by Coy M.

Rose May’s life is filled with abusive men: starting from her violent father to her vicious husband and all the men she dated in between. As Mrs. Ro Grandee, she manages to hide her cynicism under the perfect suburban home and a simple life. But, behind her picture perfect life are days filled with her husband’s beatings and her father-in-law’s demands.

Rose May’s life as Mrs. Ro Grandee unravels when her path crosses with a gypsy woman who tells her that her loving, abusive husband is going to kill her. Unless, of course, she kills him first. Rose May finds her wifely persona fading as she takes control of the situation with her cunning and her father’s gun. The book follows Rose May as she goes to find her long lost mother, who had once been dealt a fate similar to her daughter’s, all the while searching for her high school boyfriend and confronting a past she had run away from.

The most engaging of Backseat Saints was the internal struggle of the character as she was torn between being Rose May, the abused, sardonic girl; Ro Grandee, the quiet, ever loving wife; and Ivy Wheeler, a girl with no past who loves cowboy shoes. Whether as Ro Grandee, Rose May or Ivy, the character is likely to evoke sympathy in the reader.

I found Backseat Saints to be both sinister and exhilarating, a combination that made it hard to put the book down. The plot twisted and sped up like a roller coaster, leaving me with my heart at the base of my throat.  Joshilyn Jackson kept the story alive with amazingly vivid descriptions, and her sharp characterization and language ensured that there was never a dull moment.

Please visit Joshilyn Jackson’s website for more information.

Coy M. is pursuing a degree in writing, which is a great passion of hers. She also enjoys traveling and spending time with her family and friends.

This book was provided free of any obligation by Grand Central Publishing. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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“Private” by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

[ 4 ] June 28, 2010

Reviewed by Caleb S.

Private by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro focuses on Jack Morgan, owner and operator of Private, a private investigation firm for the rich and powerful. Jack was a military chopper pilot whose father died in prison shortly after giving him the Private firm and a large chunk of change to make it happen the right way.

We are thrown into the story just as Jack finds out a friend of his was murdered.  Then we find out that there has been a serial killer on the loose killing high school girls, and he has recently begun to increase his pace. At the same time, Jack’s uncle, who owns a piece of a football team, thinks someone is fixing games for illegal betting but he doesn’t know who, how or if it’s just a figment of his imagination. It’s rather amazing that Jack has time to sleep.

[amazonify]0316096156[/amazonify]Private was an average James Patterson book, though with more than average quirky characters. Jack’s team seemed to be based on the TV crime dramas like NCIS or Criminal Minds. Like the TV shows, we jump in and only get the highlights for the characters and expect the rest to be filled in in later ‘episodes’. We are given just enough information for each character to keep us wanting more.

Overall, Private was a decent, fast paced book with a lot going on, and like most Patterson books, the action was partially to disguise the plot holes. If you like James Patterson you will be more than happy to add this one to your ‘To Be Read’ pile. A great read if you’re looking for something light and easy.

Caleb is a software engineer and amature woodworker living in southern Minnesota. He has more hobbies than he has time or money for, and enjoys his quiet time reading.

This book was provided free of any obligation by Little, Brown and Company. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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“The Mapping of Love and Death” by Jacqueline Winspear

[ 9 ] June 25, 2010

Reviewed by Jenna A.

In The Mapping of Love and Death, Jacqueline Winspear weaves another tale of mystery with the return of Maisie Dobbs, a sharp shooting detective and frequent character in Winspear’s books. In this Maisie Dobbs adventure, Maisie is on the verge of closing her private investigation firm. While considering ending her tour as an investigator, she receives a case from a long time friend. The friend pleads with her to help an older couple who is in search of some closure in the death of their son, Michael.

Upon meeting Mr. and Mrs. Clifton, she comes to learn of war, loss, of a secret love forged in the trenches, and of an unspoken suspicion that they hold about their son’s death… or murder.

Michael, a young cartographer with a promising career ahead of him, learned of a war that was ravaging his family’s ancestral homeland. He was compelled to put his dreams on hold, packed his bags and joined the war effort. Years later, his skeleton was found in the ditches, buried with several other cartographers.

Maise along with her assistant Billie must open their minds, and their hearts to try and solve this unanswered case, while Maisie learns what it means to open her heart once again to love. The reader cannot help but encourage Maisie in her task of connecting this tangled web of clues in order to bring the full picture into view. Was Michael murdered? How will this story end?

[amazonify]0061727660[/amazonify]Overall, the story of Maisie and the Clifton family is well plotted out; however, the dialogue between Maisie and her assistant Billie is quite trying. While most characters involved in the story are quite studious as far as the language base, the roughness behind the dialogue between these two major characters is very hard to grasp. Billie’s “Old English” is very choppy and forced; it almost seems as if the author forced the slang-like speech of this character, often reminiscent of the speech of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.

Though a bit slow, the story is very descriptive, the passion behind the character of Michael paints a picture that has the reader envisioning this interesting man throughout the whole story. I read The Mapping of Love and Death hoping for a bit more suspense, and a few more climaxes. Nevertheless, The Mapping of Love and Death is a good read for someone who is intrigued by love on the war fields, or who enjoys the detective tales from the “black and white era”.

Jenna lives in a small town in Ohio with her fiance and cat Osiris. Along with her passion for reading and the literary world, she is also a painter, poet, fiction writer, and amateur photographer.

This book was provided free of any obligation by Harper. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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“How to Lose a Client” by Becky A. Bartness

[ 12 ] June 19, 2010

Reviewed by Caleb S.

How to Lose a Client is the third outing for Kate Williams, a lawyer who seems to be a magnet for the strange and unusual.

Kate has recently gone into business for herself and opened her own defense practice in Phoenix, Arizona. With no appointments for an afternoon and her construction contractor not likely to show up again any time soon, her employees convince her to take the afternoon off to get her hair done. At the stylists’, she runs into Tuwanda, a self-styled ‘Professional Ho’ working for Tangerine, who rumor has it is looking for a new defense attorney.

The very next day, Tangerine decides to retain Kate as her attorney. She leaves Kate with a thumb drive and disappears, shortly before her previous lawyer is found dead floating in the canal. Kate seems to be in the middle of something dangerous and tries to do the right thing for her client.

[amazonify]1440177481[/amazonify]I found How to Lose a Client to be laugh out loud funny. Whenever Kate states something emphatically, you know that somehow, someway she is going to be proven wrong and usually in an incredibly funny way. Tuwanda becomes her sidekick through most of the book, helping Kate search for their employer ‘Tangerine’. In my opinion, Tuwanda makes the book; she has the best one liners and some great insights into people. She reminded me a lot of Lulu in the Stephanie Plum books.

I really enjoyed How to Lose a Client and plan on reading the previous two installments. It gets a little silly and it is entirely fun from beginning to end. A great cozy style mystery and certainly worth a look.

Caleb is a software engineer and amature woodworker living in southern Minnesota. He has more hobbies than he has time or money for, and enjoys his quiet time reading.

This book was provided free of any obligation by Becky A. Bartness. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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“Last Night in Montreal” by Emily St. John Mandel

[ 7 ] June 11, 2010

Reviewed by Lauren K.

I read Last Night in Montreal in one day. Cover to cover; I could not put it down. This first novel by Emily St. John Mandel was captivating, dark, yet enlightening, and magical. Mandel’s characters prove that everyone has a story and some of those stories are more complex, deep, and entwined into the lives of others than the surface exposes. Last Night in Montreal is a page turner, one where the stories and the characters stay with the reader long after the book is finished.

Eli, a struggling academic in Brooklyn is amazed when he is walked out on by his mysterious, intelligent, and often silent girlfriend Lilia. Lilia is an enigma. There is certainly no defining her or her story. She is curious in her speech and behaviors and vague about her past.

In spite of her elusiveness, Lilia and her story have made a greater impact on more people’s lives then she ever knew or paid attention to. She speaks little of her past to Eli, and it is not until she leaves under the pretense of picking up the morning paper that her story becomes exposed. The past spills out into the text once Eli receives some mysterious mail from Montreal from a person that claims they have answers about Lilia’s whereabouts. What Eli and his source discover about Lilia and themselves there is truly extraordinary.

[amazonify]1936071606[/amazonify]For those that find themselves full of wanderlust or held down by routine, Last Night in Montreal shows that anything is possible by breaking free of convention. While Lilia’s upbringing and ultimate existence is far from conventional, the values that she and the people that care about her embody are universally recognized. For anyone that has ever felt the need to escape, the benefits of freedom are clear from Lilia’s story, yet the fact that we all need something to ground us cannot be ignored.

The most fascinating part about the text is how everyone makes an impact on the people they come in contact with over time, some good, some heart wrenching, yet there is no denying the power some people hold over other’s lives without trying. This book by Emily St. John Mandel is truly a must read for anyone who loves a great, relatable, and intertwining story.

In addition to working on her own personal writing, editing Messy Magazine, and writing for multiple sites, Lauren is also currently pursuing her MFA in English. More of her work can be found at : messymagazine.org and goldiesays.wordpress.com.

This book was provided free of any obligation by Unbridled Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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“The Passage” by Justin Cronin

[ 15 ] June 8, 2010

Reviewed by Claudia R.

“I know that science is your god, Paul, but would it be too much to ask for you to pray for us? All of us.” Jonas Abbot Lear, PhD (USA Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases)

The Military needs a Super Soldier. A human that is not only invincible but immortal. Intelligent. Strong. Healthy. Capable of anything. Invincible.

The Military needs ‘volunteers’, people willing to be injected with this new, untested ‘super virus’.

One problem.

There are none. And previous ‘testing’ attempts have returned less than desirable results.

Enter the Twelve.

Convicts on death row, only too happy to sign over their death sentence for the promise of a eternal life. Even with limited information, each willingly offer themselves ‘for the greater good’.

Only something goes horribly and inexplicably wrong, and civilization, as we know it, as anyone has ever known it, ceases to exist. Completely.

Fast forward to First year A.V. (after virus). Some semblance of life exists in pockets across the country, and it is there, that The Passage takes it’s readers on a fast paced, exquisitely detailed, heart pounding, palm sweating journey into the lives of the kin of survivors of B.V. (before virus).

It sounds like a tale that’s been spun before. Conspiracy theory makeover ad nauseam.

Except, it’s not. At all.

The Passage isn’t just another ‘good read’, it’s a commitment and a subsequent addiction. For a week there was never a moment when I was home that I didn’t have the book with me. Justin Cronin writes brilliantly and his words bring this futuristic doomsday story to life with painstaking detail and unrivaled passion. Every character jumps off the page, vivid and real. Cronin culls emotions from his readers like a snake charmer seduces his serpents. I was laughing, crying and screaming along with Michael, Sarah, Amy, Lish, Maus, Lacey, Auntie, Hollis, Theo & Peter as they battled the ‘jumpers’ in a fight for survival.

Every time I thought I knew where Justin was about to take the story I realized didn’t. Expertly, Justin pens an other-world tale of doom and gloom that is anything but at the same time as being completely, just that. Frightening. Realistic. Edge of your seat titillation. Perfection. One word of caution, clear all and any plans for at least 4 days if you intend to read The Passage, it’s like literary heroin. No exaggerating.

If you love Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Dean Koontz or Peter Straub you will absolutely adore, adore, adore Justin Cronin. It is with baited breath that I anticipate his next literary performance. The Passage is PURE genius and one of the FEW books I hope they DO make in to a movie. Maybe Tarantino needs a new project?

Visit the official website to learn more about Justin Cronin and The Passage.

Claudia lives on Cape Cod with her husband and two children. She entertains her passion for reading in between providing services to help empower and improve the lives of low-income residents.

This book was provided free of any obligation by  Ballantine Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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