More room in a broken heart: The true adventures of Carly Simon (2012) by Stephen Davis

Penguin Pub.
Not a good read.  Book is a collection of cut and pastes from articles and other sources.  Ms. Simon was never interviewed for this publication and does not authorize.  It was a list of recordings and people.  Very little about her emotional and intellectual being or her profuse composition.  No notes ,no references, no bibibliography. When Carley Simon is quoted, one never knows from whence the source. Very weak story line.

The predator (2006) by Patricia Cornwall



"Scarpetta, now freelancing with the National Forensic Academy in Florida, digs into a case more bizarre than any she has ever faced, one that has produced not only unusual physical evidence, but also tantalizing clues about the inner workings of an extremely cunning and criminal mind.

She and her team --- Pete Marino, Benton Wesley, and her niece, Lucy --- track the odd connections between several horrific crimes and the people who are the likely suspects. As one psychopath, safely behind bars and the subject of a classified scientific study at a Harvard-affiliated psychiatric hospital, teases Scarpetta with tips that could be fact --- or fantasy --- the number of killers on the loose seems to multiply. Are these events related or merely random? And what can the study of one man's brain tell them about the methods of a psychopath still lurking in the shadows." 
Copied from Goodreads, Nov 24, 2012

PS  Incredible conflict within the team.  Marino stops taking his antidepressant and becomes very difficult.  Lucy has to reveal that she has a tumor and needs medication and surgery. A doctor on a fellowship is hacking into confidenrial files and listening in on phone calls, to no good end.

Say when (2003) by Elizabeth Berg



When is a marriage worth saving and when is it best to let go? When do half-truths turn into full-blown lies? When does betrayal end and passion begin?

Say When is a compelling, complex novel that takes readers into the heart of a modern marriage where companionship and intimacy, and denial and pain, so often collide. "Of course he knew she was seeing someone," begins the s...more When is a marriage worth saving and when is it best to let go? When do half-truths turn into full-blown lies? When does betrayal end and passion begin?

Say When is a compelling, complex novel that takes readers into the heart of a modern marriage where companionship and intimacy, and denial and pain, so often collide. "Of course he knew she was seeing someone," begins the story of Frank Griffin, a man who's willing to overlook his wife's infidelity -- he would let her have this, this thrilling little romance -- for the sake of keeping his family intact. But when the forty-year-old Ellen requests a divorce on the basis that she has finally found true, romantic love, Griffin must decide whether to fight or flee...or search elsewhere for the kind of life he always dreamed of.

With Elizabeth Berg's trademark blend of rare insight, raw emotion, and hard-won wisdom, Say When is a work of startling revelation that no reader will soon forget.

Copied from Goodreads, Nov 24, 2012



The Distant Hours (2010) by Kate Morton



A long lost letter arrives in the post and Edie Burchill finds herself on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, a great but moldering old house, where the Blythe spinsters live and where her mother was billeted 50 years before as a 13 year old child during WWII. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives looking after the third and youngest sister, Juniper, who hasn’t been the same since her fiance jilted her in 1941.

Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in ‘the distant hours’ of the past has been waiting a long time for someone to find it.

Morton once again enthralls readers with an atmospheric story featuring unforgettable characters beset by love and circumstance and haunted by memory, that reminds us of the rich power of storytelling.

Review by Goodreads Nov 18/12

Bring Up the Bodies (2012) by Hilary Mantel

Though he battled for seven years to marry her, Henry is disenchanted with Anne Boleyn. She has failed to give him a son and her sharp intelligence and audacious will alienate his old friends and the noble families of England. When the discarded Katherine dies in exile from the court, Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice.
At a word from Henry, Thomas Cromwell is ready to bring her down. Over three terrifying weeks, Anne is ensnared in a web of conspiracy, while the demure Jane Seymour stands waiting her turn for the poisoned wedding ring. But Anne and her powerful family will not yield without a ferocious struggle. Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies follows the dramatic trial of the queen and her suitors for adultery and treason. To defeat the Boleyns, Cromwell must ally with his natural enemies, the papist aristocracy. What price will he pay for Anne's head?

The sequel to Hilary Mantel's 2009 Man Booker Prize winner and New York Times bestseller, Wolf Hall delves into the heart of Tudor history with the downfall of Anne Boleyn.  Review by Goodreads Nov 18/12

Never See Them Again (2012) by M.William Phelps



(reviewed on December 1, 2011)

Thorough account of a quadruple murder in a Houston suburb in 2003.

Veteran true-crime author Phelps (Kill for Me, 2010, etc.) chronicles the story of the killing, which took place inside a home on a usually peaceful street, of best friends Tiffany Rowell and Rachael Koloroutis, both 18; Tiffany's boyfriend Marcus Precella, 19; and Marcus' cousin Adelbert Nicholas Sánchez, 21. For more than two years, Houston police and related law-enforcement agencies seemed stumped by the crime, and it took three years from the day of the slaughter to publicly identify two suspects. Two Houston homicide detectives provide the focal point for Phelps, with numerous other law-enforcement officers entering and leaving the narrative. The author is respectful of the police, never suggesting they are incompetent, but he points out shortcomings of the investigation with admirable detail. The book is primarily a police procedural, but it is also a tribute to the four murder victims. Readers completely unaware of the case will begin to suspect the identity of the murderers, despite numerous other persons of interest as the police pursue a theory of a drug deal gone bad. Illegal drugs were important in the case but not the key to finding the perpetrators. Phelps explains how police, despite their diligence and compassion, might never have found the murderers without guidance from calls to a crime-solving hotline. After police began seeking one suspect, he committed suicide before apprehension. The other one faced trial, which Phelps reports in unimaginative, sometimes overwhelming detail. A jury found her guilty quickly, and she received a life sentence with the possibility of parole.

A thoroughly reported procedural too much repetition and heavy-handed foreshadowing.

Fear no Evil (2007) by Allison Brennan

 (No Evil Trilogy, #3) Goodreads
Instead of preparing for her high school graduation, Lucy Kincaid is facing a vicious execution. Lured by an online predator, she’s destined to die horribly–live on the Internet–while hundreds of heartless viewers watch and vote on the method of her slaughter. Her family’s only hope rests with Kate Donovan, an FBI agent who took on...more In cyberspace, no one can hear you scream.

Instead of preparing for her high school graduation, Lucy Kincaid is facing a vicious execution. Lured by an online predator, she’s destined to die horribly–live on the Internet–while hundreds of heartless viewers watch and vote on the method of her slaughter. Her family’s only hope rests with Kate Donovan, an FBI agent who took on the same sadistic killer once before . . . and lost. Blamed for another girl’s gruesome murder, Kate’s been fighting to clear her name. But she agrees to join the hunt for Lucy–and reluctantly steps back into her worst nightmare.

With time running out before the bloody webcast airs, Kate teams up with forensic psychiatrist Dillon Kincaid to get inside the head of her twisted quarry, zero in on his chamber of horrors, and reach Lucy before grim history repeats itself and another innocent’s brutal death goes hideously live.

Face the fear. Speak its name. See its face.



Wicked Lies by Lisa Jackson



Pulp fiction - murder mystery.  Passes the time.

Trick of the Dark (2010) by Val McDermid

"Barred from practice, disgraced psychiatrist Charlie Flint receives a mysterious summons to Oxford from an old professor who wants her to look into the death of her daughter's husband. But as Charlie delves deeper into the case and steps back into the arcane world of Oxford colleges, she realizes that there is much more to this crime than meets the eye."  Review by Goodreads.com

 

McDermid writes with confidence as sheincludes both homosexuals and herterosexuals in her novels as main characters.  She reflects life as it is.  I applaud her for this.  Her women characters are  independent and confident, having professional careers in their own right.

Down the Darkest Road (2012) by Tami Hoag

Once upon a time I had the perfect family. I had the perfect husband. I had the perfect children. I had the perfect life in the perfect home. And then, as in all fairy tales, evil came into our lives and destroyed us.

Four years after the unsolved disappearance of her sixteen-year-old daughter, Lauren Lawton is the only one still chasing the ghosts of her perfect Santa Barbara life. The world has given her daughter up for dead. Her husband ended his own life in the aftermath. Even Lauren's younger daughter is desperate to find what's left of the childhood she hasn't been allowed to have.

Lauren knows exactly who took her oldest child, but there is not a shred of evidence against the man. Even as he stalks her family, Lauren is powerless to stop him. The Santa Barbara police are handcuffed by the very laws they are sworn to uphold. Looking for a fresh start in a town with no memories, Lauren and her younger daughter, Leah, move to idyllic Oak Knoll. But when Lauren's suspect turns up in the same city, it feels to all the world that history is about to repeat itself. Leah Lawton will soon turn sixteen, and Oak Knoll has a cunning predator on the hunt.

Sheriff's detective Tony Mendez and his team begin to close in on the suspected killer, desperate to keep the young women of their picturesque town safe. But as the investigators sift through the murky circumstances of an increasingly disturbing case, a stunning question changes everything they thought they knew.

 Review by Goodreads, Internet, Oct 29, 2012

Fever of the bone (2009) by Val McDermid

 Fever of the Bone is the sixth novel featuring profiler Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan, this time on the trail of a serial killer who is targeting apparently unconnected young people. McDermid's skill is such that Hill, who must surely win the prize for most dysfunctional maverick investigator, engages without ever annoying, even when he is going into the mind of the monster. This is very much a story about parents and children, and both Hill's own family crises and his "will they, won't they" relationship with Jordan are expertly dovetailed into a wonderfully complex plot. McDermid is especially good at serving up a mix of hi-tech and old-fashioned coppering, as well as showing how proximity to extreme brutality can take its toll on even the toughest police officer. 

Review by Laura Wilson, The Guardian, Saturday 12 September 2009



The Retribution (2011) by Val McDermid

"Clinical psychologist Tony Hill has had a good run. He and police detective Carol Jordan have put away scores of dangerous criminals and have a clearance rate that colleagues envy or resent. But there is one serial killer who has shaped and defined their careers, a person whose evil surpasses all others: Jacko Vance, an ex-celebrity and sociopath whose brilliance and utter lack of remorse have never left Tony’s mind in the ten years Vance has been locked up. Now Jacko has broken out of prison and, with a mind even more twisted and cunning than before, he is focused on wreaking revenge on Tony and Carol for the years he has spent in prison. They don’t know when Jacko will strike, or where. All they know is that he will cause them to feel fear like they’ve never known."

Review by Goodreads Copied Oct 9, 2012

Bone Island Trilogy (2010) by Heather Graham



You don't have to be a beleiver in ghosts or the paranormal to enjoy these mysteries.  They are a little romance, a little 'bad guy', a little humour, and a lot easy to read.  They are great books to read when you don't want anything too serious.  I especially enjoy the Florida history and setting.  The author does a great job with describing the architecture and the geography - azure ocean waves and magenta sunsets.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Couldn't put this book down!  The themes and characters were thought provoking, disturbing, and likeable.

In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives. Collins's characters are completely realistic and sympathetic as they form alliances and friendships in the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and engrossing. This book will definitely resonate with the generation raised on reality shows like 'Survivor' and 'American Gladiator.' Book one of a planned trilogy.

Review by Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK. From School Library Journal

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Jerricho Point by Meg Gardiner

 

"Excellent mystery story! Evan's identity is stolen and planted on the body of a dead girl. Jesse's family is a main part of the story since his brother P.J. witnessed the murder and played a role in the identity theft. The book rockets from the opening to the end battle with lots of scrapes in between when some loan sharks try to make Evan pay up. There's plenty of twists and turns and Evan is a smart, resourcedul herione and even Jesse, her wheelchair-bound boyfriend manages to help save the da...more Excellent mystery story! Evan's identity is stolen and planted on the body of a dead girl. Jesse's family is a main part of the story since his brother P.J. witnessed the murder and played a role in the identity theft. The book rockets from the opening to the end battle with lots of scrapes in between when some loan sharks try to make Evan pay up. There's plenty of twists and turns and Evan is a smart, resourcedul herione and even Jesse, her wheelchair-bound boyfriend manages to help save the day during a daring water rescue."

Review by Goodreads submission.Aug 5, 2011 C. Teresin