5 stars out of 5
It's safe to say I'm not as wildly enthusiastic about this book as others appear to be, but at the same time, there's no way I can in good conscience give it fewer than 5 stars. The official description claims - and I totally agree - that it's a compelling read. Once I started it, I didn't want to put it down till I'd reached the end. Really.
Jenna, a 30-year-old woman recovering from a heart transplant, feels compelled to meet the donor family despite warnings from her therapist, family and friends that it's not in anyone's best interests. But as she begins to grow strong enough to return to work part-time, she experiences strange dreams and sensations. Soon, she begins to believe that her new heart - which came from an accident victim named Callie - may have been installed with Callie's memories intact. Those memories are disturbing to Jenna, to say the least, suggesting that the auto accident in which Callie was killed may in fact have been murder.
After Jenna meets Callie's still-distraught mother and father and learns that another daughter - Callie's sister Sophie - apparently has gone missing, she vows to get to the truth in the belief that it will bring closure to the grieving parents. She visits Callie's former workplace and even gets to know Nathan, the fiance Callie left behind. On the surface, he seems caring and very much still missing his almost-bride - but here, too, Jenna has a nagging feeling that what she sees isn't what Callie got.
When Jenna tries to tell others about the messages her heart is sending, though, she hits brick wall after brick wall. Not her therapist, not her transplant doctor, not her former boyfriend and not even her own parents believe her. She's delusional, they insist - the result of the trauma she's been through and the potent drugs she's been taking to prevent her body from rejecting the new organ.
But the more she tries to fight off her feelings, the stronger they become; and the more she pokes around, the more she becomes convinced that something sinister happened. The problem with that, though, is that the closer she gets to the truth, the more she puts herself in danger - not only from over-taxing her new heart too soon after the surgery but also from whoever is responsible for Callie's death.
Needless to say, the story zips along quickly amid plenty of action, suspense and twists that kept my eyes glued to my Kindle screen as well as a ton of second guessing and hand wringing on Jenna's part (a titch over the top, IMHO). And by the time I'd reached the midpoint, Jenna had bitten her tongue so often that I figured if that rate continued she wouldn't have more than a nub left by the last page.
Everything comes together in an ending that surprises in many ways, but of course I can't reveal more than that without spoiling things for other readers. What I will say is if you like head games and being kept on the edge of your seat, hie thee hither and get a copy of this book. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read it in exchange for an honest review.
The Gift by Louise Jensen (Bookouture, December 2016); 320 pp.
5 stars out of 5
In the early 1960s, James Bond pretty much ruled my world of books. My husband and I saw the first movie, "Dr. No," at a local drive-in theater, were intrigued, and then discovered the books by the late Ian Fleming that were written between 1953 and 1966. I loved them so much, in fact, that they are the only books I've ever read more than once.
That decade brought our attention to another popular series of books featuring U.S. government counter-agent Matt Helm. In all, there were 27 of them; in all honesty, I don't recall reading any, but my husband insists that we did, so I'll take his word for it. For sure we saw all four of the very campy, silly motion pictures starring the late Dean Martin as Helm (very loosely based on the books and fun to watch).
Within the past week, I discovered that some of the original Helm books, which apparently have been out of print for several years, have been released in Kindle format. This one is the first in the series, published in 1960; when I got an offer to buy it for just 99 cents I absolutely couldn't resist, if only to rekindle (pun intended) old memories. And what a delightful flashback it was!
Actually, it's a great story and introduction to a very interesting character; the fun part comes from signs of the times, like female characters who wear veiled hats and long gloves to dinner parties and whose "girdles" could be felt through their clothing by anyone who ventured to pat one on the derriere. Interspersed are lines from Helm like this: "I can see no particular reason for a female to appear in pants unless she's going to ride a horse."
Ah yes; back in the day, I'd have agreed. I grew up on a farm in the 1950s, when girls weren't allowed to wear jeans or slacks to school - and in church? Wouldn't dream of it; hats and gloved hands clutching embroidered handkerchiefs appeared in every pew. But at home, the minute we hopped off the dusty school bus, we ran up the lane and into the house to change into the "blue jeans" we'd bought for $5.99 at Sears or Penneys - rolling up the bottoms into stylish cuffs before venturing back out to the roller rink.
But on to this story: It begins more than a dozen years after Helm's last assignment during World War II; he's a writer happily married with a beautiful wife, three children, and a lovely home in Sante Fe, New Mexico. His wife has no clue as to his former identity and work as a government-sponsored assassin; those who left that service alive were instructed never to reveal their pasts - lying, if necessary, to protect the secrets they all held.
And true to form, lie Helm did. But his happy bubble is threatened when at a party he sees a woman he knew (and worked and "dallied" with) in his past clandestine life. Their meeting is no accident, Helm correctly surmises when she sends him a "secret" signal that she's still on the job - and soon, the two meet up and he reluctantly agrees to help her with a new assignment from Helm's former boss in Washington, D.C. And it doesn't take long before at least one of the events of the past takes place again (go ahead. Guess).
As with many espionage stories, though, the truth isn't always as it seems; getting to the bottom of things turns dangerous for Helm in more ways than one. Much of the focus is on Helm himself as he deals with demons from his past and realities of his present and the impact of decisions he's forced to make that (for better or worse) threaten to change the course of the rest of his life.
Reading this was a real treat; now that others have been re-released, no doubt I'll be tackling another, and another, and another...
Death of a Citizen by Donald Hamilton (Titan Books, reprint edition, February 2013), 240 pp.
4 stars out of 5
To really enjoy this one, readers will need a taste for the occult. I'm sort of a mugwump on that topic, so I can swing either way depending on the time of day, whether or not I've had my morning coffee and how intriguing I find the material. To the latter end, I had few issues with this book; what happens stretches a bit beyond my conception of possibility, to be sure, but the whole thing was bewitching all the same.
This book is connected to another of the author's books, The Lace Reader, although the witching art of telling people's fortunes by looking at images in lace isn't the focus here. Towner Whitney, featured in the first book, appears in this one as well - together with her husband, John Rafferty, who is the chief of police in Salem, Massachusetts. While Towner plays an important part, it's her husband - called in when a teenage boy dies on Halloween night under suspicious circumstances - who takes the lead here.
Towner does, however, get the crystal ball rolling by wondering if the boy's death is in any way connected to the horrific murder of three young women in 1989; dubbed "The Goddess Murders," the trio were related to "witches" who were accused of witchery in Salem's early years and killed.
The daughter of one of the 1989 victims, Callie Cahill, a music therapist, has returned to town. She witnessed her mother's murder back then (she was 5 years old), and was found clutching a wooden five-petaled rose that left its mysterious mark on her palm. At the time, she recalls being saved from likely death by local historian Rose Whelan, a rather strange woman who many believe actually committed the 1989 murders (neither Callie nor John are among them, but they seem to be in the minority). Considered at best to be mentally unstable, Rose's mission in life always has been, and still is, to find the oak tree at which the original witches were hanged in the 1600s; those bodies simply disappeared, never to be found.
As the story progresses, lots of skeletons (mostly figurative) are unearthed in the history of prominent area families. Along the way, Callie meets an intriguing young man (and heir to a substantial family fortune) named Paul, who's helping restore ancient churches in Matera, Italy. She's enchanted, but her strange dreams make her wonder if he's really who he seems to be. Scenes shift from Salem to Gloucester, overlooking the beautiful Cape Ann (one of my all-time favorite places to visit, by the way) to Italy to the unbelievably ornate home of Peter's parents. An abundance of Salem's history is woven into the story, and the ending - which wraps things up in an almost too-tidy fashion, IMHO - nevertheless is exciting.
I did find it a little difficult to keep all the characters and their relationships (potential and real) straight in my mind. And at times, the story seemed a bit disjointed - jumping from place and time and character with little or no warning. Much of the latter, though, may well be because I read an advance copy (thanks to the publisher and author, via NetGalley, for that opportunity in exchange for an honest review), and the formatting was not what I expect will be in the finished product. It's a thoroughly enjoyable book, though, and I'm giving notice now that I want on the list to read the next installment.
The Fifth Petal by Brunonia Barry (Crown, January 2017); 448 pp.
5 stars out of 5
It's been a while since I've read one of the author's terrific books featuring British M15 agent Dan "Spider" Shepherd - too long, I said to myself as I polished off this one (the 13th). Despite not being a fan of settings in countries where Americans are less than welcome, this series is so well written (and the main character so intriguing) that once I get off and running, the books are hard to put down.
As this one begins, Shepherd has been with M15 for five years, much of the time doing heavy-duty undercover work. Early on, he watches as an extremely on-target sniper escapes from a missile strike in Syria while his two companions - spotters - are blown to smithereens. Of course, Shepherd wants the one who got away, but there are no clues as to his identity or to what location he disappeared.
Back in London, he's gone undercover to infiltrate a gang that's involved with money laundering and murder; the plan is to get sufficiently entrenched in their good graces that they show him the guts of the money-laundering operation - thus allowing charges to be made that will stick and land them in prison for years to come.
But meanwhile, chapters shift to the perspective of Mohammed al-Hussain, a jihadist who's on a suicide mission. It's possible he and other IS cohorts are planning to come to London under the cover of the many refugees who are crossing borders to escape the strife in their countries. To that end, Shepherd gets help from an informant and puts his eidetic memory to good use once again.
As the end nears, it becomes clear that the terrorists have targeted somewhere in London as the site of a major strike that could kill hundreds. But where and when? And with what weapons? The answers to those questions keep the action moving along (interspersed with more than a little spewing of blood and guts) to the last few pages.
I should add that this one struck me as a little bit different in that readers see a "softer" side of Shepherd as he ruminates on killing for killing's sake (or, put another way, whether or not the end justifies the means) and ramifications of his 18-year-old son Liam's decision to pass on going to university and instead join the army.
Lots of meat and potatoes in this one - one of the best, IMHO!
Dark Forces by Stephen Leather (Hodder & Stoughton, July 2016); 433 pp.
5 stars out of 5
How refreshing: A straightforward, private eye-full of action, entertaining book with no head games, no flashbacks and no chapters that switch character POVs so often that I get neck strain. Thank you, Mr. Miles, and thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read it in exchange for an honest review.
Jack Salvo is the P.I. here, and he's got a philosophical mind behind his shoulder holster. I mean that literally; one night a week - except when his investigations force him to be elsewhere - he teaches a philosophy class at a Los Angeles community college. Apparently, he got the boot from college before earning a Ph.D., so he can't get a teaching job at the likes of UCLA - but he's taken that in stride. Maybe that's because, unlike most of the philosophy professors I've known in my years as both a student and a university administrator (in the interests of full disclosure, there were only two), Jack has a great sense of humor. He described one female character, for instance, as wearing "a long, dark-green maxi dress slit up to her thighs far enough to ensure adequate ventilation to her neck."
So what's not to love about a guy like that? Not much, in my book - and the plot is pretty darned interesting as well. Jack is hired as a professional bodyguard for three Russian ballerinas who are visiting the United States and staying with an uppity, richer-than-God L.A. neurosurgeon and his wife. While taking a break from practicing at a local rehearsal hall, one of the girls is kidnapped (in return for trying to save her, Jack gets butt-tasered). Understandably, that doesn't set well with the good doctor (nor, for that matter, with Jack). But then comes the unexpected; no ransom demand is forthcoming, and very soon the girl is returned unharmed.
And that, too, doesn't set well with Jack, who smells a rotten tyulka and decides to get to the bottom of things despite being fired from the bodyguard assignment. For help, he turns to his buddies, his computer and another of the ballerinas, to whom he's taken a bit of a liking. The trail to the culprits begins with dead bodies near the Hollywood Sign and ends in Mother Russia and the Church of Our Savior Built on Spilled Blood, a St. Petersburg landmark.
Along the way, Jack shows off a few MacGyver-like tricks, runs afoul of the law on two continents (and of some really bad guys) and lands smack dab in the middle of the Russian Mole-Rat's den. Will he make it back home in one piece? My lips are sealed, except to say that if he does, I hope he'll show up in another book.
Church of Spilled Blood by Jesse Miles (Amazon Digital Services LLC, August 2016); 218 pp.
4 stars out of 5
If you're a person who follows a set routine day after day after day, this book likely will scare you into changing your ways long before you get to the end. For the rest of us, it's just another great book from the author of New York Times best-seller I Let You Go.
Like that one, I found it a bit hard to get into at the beginning. But by the time I finished a dozen chapters or so, I was hooked even though it's somewhat predictable in terms of format, with chapters that alternate from the points of view of two main characters and build up to a surprise ending. Well, make that sort of; there are a couple of surprises, but I guessed one of them early on and had an inkling in the back of my head about the other that turned out to be spot-on.
The setting is London, so readers will need to adjust to across-the-pond terms like "adverts" (advertisements),"takeaway" (carry-out food and drink) and "queing" (standing in line). That's something I thoroughly enjoy, by the way - I've got a London born-and-bred daughter-in-law, and I'm always looking for a word or phrase new to me to share with her (guaranteed to be good for a few shared chuckles).
Zoe Walker, one of the primary characters, is a creature of habit - taking the same trains and sitting in the same seat on her way to and from work every day. On her way home one night, she peruses the local paper as usual and sees something very much out of the ordinary: Her own photo in a classified ad listing for a website called FindTheOne.com. She's puzzled, of course; she's got two grown children, is divorced from a cheating husband, has a live-in significant other and zero interest in putting herself on the dating market. So how on earth did her picture get in there?
More than a little concerned, Zoe begins to follow ads in subsequent newspapers, finding a new female face each day. Then, she realizes some of these women have fallen victim to crimes ranging from theft to murder. Now, she's sure there's a connection - and that any minute now, she'll become a victim herself. Every man she sees becomes a suspect; maybe he will be the one who intends to harm her. She's quickly turning paranoid, but as might be expected, her family and friends think she's simply turning crazy.
Enter Kelly, a police officer who is investigating the theft of keys from a woman's purse when she fell asleep on the "tube." It turns out that woman is one who appeared in one of the newspaper ads seen by Zoe, who reports it and thus gets on Kelly's radar. Interspersed here and there are italicized comments from the unknown culprit, who utters dire warnings (in particular about why it's a good idea for folks to vary their daily routines), no doubt for the purpose of scaring the pants off readers and ramping up intrigue.
In the mix are other major characters, among them Simon, Zoe's boyfriend; Matt, her ex; Katie and Jason, the narcissistic children who still carry a grudge at their mother's dumping of their father and hooking up with Simon; Melissa, Zoe's next-door neighbor who owns a string of financially struggling cafes; and Isaac, Katie's newfound older boyfriend who gets off on the wrong foot with mom from the git-go. Backgrounds on each of the characters are revealed, giving Zoe (and readers) reasons to suspect them all. As the story moves along amid plenty of action, it's unclear whether Kelly, who has personal and professional issues of her own, will be able to take down the culprit before he or she takes down Zoe.
When it's all said and done? Most likely another best-seller for the author, and, IMHO, deservedly so. Many thanks to the author and publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an unbiased review.
I See You by Clare Mackintosh (Berkley, February 2017); 382 pp.
5 stars out of 5
Relating to this book was easy for a number of reasons. The biggest one is that much of the action takes place in parts of Pennsylvania and Ohio about a 45-minute drive north of our northeastern Ohio home. That alone - seeing names of cities, small towns and places in between that we've visited too many times to count - got my attention. The job of keeping it, though, falls directly into the hands of the author - and what a great job he did!
That said, it not a book to be skimmed; the writing is brilliant, but close to what I'd call ponderous. Some of that, no doubt is because one of the two central characters, Tom Huston, is a bestselling author and college professor and the other, Pennsylvania State Police Sgt. Ryan DeMarco, is a well-read guy who in many ways doesn't fit the description of standard-issue cop. The two men have met and like each other, but circumstances here cause one to become a hunter and the other the hunted.
The story begins with the brutal murder of Huston's wife and three children in their home. When Huston goes missing, the assumption is that the mild-mannered, popular writer-educator who was working hard on a new book with a lead character loosely based on Vladimir Nabokov's Lolilta and Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee," somehow snapped. DeMarco doesn't quite see Huston's killer potential, although he wonders why the man has run away. But whether Huston is guilty or innocent, it's now DeMarco's job to find him and bring him in.
As the search progresses, DeMarco travels in and out of many places familiar to me like Erie and Linesville Pa., and Conneaut and Pierpont, Ohio. At one point, I was surprised to see a reference to the 1985 tornado that destroyed much of Albion, Pa., but - as I can personally attest - not before it wreaked serious havoc in and around my town of Niles, Ohio.
It is character development, though, that takes center stage; little by little, we see into the hearts and minds of various characters - Huston and DeMarco in particular. DeMarco, for instance, is no stranger to tragedy; a traffic accident a few years earlier resulted in the death of his young son and, ultimately, the loss of his much-loved wife. His understanding of anguish, in fact, is one of the reasons he not only doesn't accept Huston's guilt and ultimately is willing to put his own career on the line to get to the truth.
It's rare that I give much credence to official book descriptions issued by publishers, but in this case, their word "masterful" is right on target. Kudos to the author, and many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read the book in exchange for an honest review.
Two Days Gone by Randall Silvis (Sourcebooks Landmark, January 2017); 400 pp.
