Preston and Child's Gideon's Sword: Worth a trip to the bookstore?

From Fantastic Fiction—

Introducing Gideon Crew: trickster, prodigy, master thief

At twelve, Gideon Crew witnessed his father, a world-class mathematician, accused of treason and gunned down.

At twenty-four, summoned to his dying mother's bedside, Gideon learned the truth: His father was framed and deliberately slaughtered. With her last breath, she begged her son to avenge him.

Now, with a new purpose in his life, Gideon crafts a one-time mission of vengeance, aimed at the perpetrator of his father's destruction. His plan is meticulous, spectacular, and successful.

But from the shadows, someone is watching. A very powerful someone, who is impressed by Gideon's special skills. Someone who has need of just such a renegade.

For Gideon, this operation may be only the beginning . . .


Woohoo!!! Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are BACK!! I’ll admit it, I’m a big fan of these guys, both solo and together, but the last couple Pendergast books seemed a wee bit, well, forced. Pendergast is still a freaky cool guy, but I’m glad the writing duo has decided to step away from him for a while and pursue another character. And what a character they have in Gideon Crew. Crew may not be as elegant and sophisticated as our Agent Pendergast, but he’s a much more approachable guy. He’s got his foibles, and lots of baggage, but we can see a wee little bit of ourselves reflect back at us through him. I loved the book, it's a great start to an "e-ticket ride" of a series. (e-ticket reference will be understood by anyone over 45, who went to Disneyland as a kid...ask yer mom!)

But--and you know if I'm annoyed by something there's going to be a "but"....

Spoiler alert here* Head down to the last sentence if you’ve not read the book yet….Still here?

Okay…Spoiler follows: There is a plot device that is farfetched, and drove me nutty. Gideon’s “rare and previously undiagnosed and uncurable disease that is going to kill him soon anyway so he might as well risk his life for the big payoff.” Umm….I’m not buyin’, this just seemed so incredibly dopey, that I decided that in the next book, once our adrenalin loving hero has been completely sucked into the program, we’ll find out it was all a big manipulation. I mean, it’s a series, right? And how long can a series last if the hero croaks of a rare disease in a year or so? My mental post-it note said “Lame” on that particular page of the book.

Overall, Gideon’s Sword is a slam-dunk action/thriller.

(Galley provided by the publisher via NetGalley)

My Rating:

Brad Meltzer's The Inner Circle

In Brad Meltzer’s The Inner Circle, conspiracies and mysteries span the centuries. The protagonist of the novel, Beecher White, is an archivist who works at the National Archives in Washington D.C. Beecher is struggling to recover from a recent split with his fiancé when an old childhood crush appears back into his life. Clementine Kaye contacts Beecher and asks him to help her find her long lost father.

The two haven’t had any contact since junior high school, and Beecher, in an attempt to impress the lovely Clementine takes her on a tour of the Archives. They stumble across a hidden dictionary once belonging to George Washington and within minutes the security guard escorting them is found dying. They have blundered upon a conspiracy that reaches as high as the Oval Office and as far back the Revolutionary War.

I was looking forward to reading The Inner Circle. I enjoyed Meltzer’s Book of Lies, Book of Fate and The Zero Game. But I was initially disappointed in this novel. I felt like it lost focus in the last third of the novel. The Culper Ring was fascinating and I headed straight to Google to read more about this little known (to me at least) organization. The convoluted plot line, with two separate Culper Rings, good guys who are bad guys, bad guys whose intent is to be good guys, and bad guys who are just plain bad and conspiracies aplenty made for a mishmash of plotlines that was sometimes difficult to figure out. And don’t get me started on the ending….I hate unresolved endings. I would have liked to see a better resolution to this particular storyline, even though this is the beginning of a series.

My initial response to The Inner Circle was one of “What the *%#! I spent the last few days reading this book and the author didn’t bother to freaking finish it??? AAARGH!!” I swear I wished it had wings so I could teach it to fly when I threw it across the room. Then I stopped, and got a grip on myself. Oh yeah, I’m reading it on my Sony Reader, I’d better not be throwing nothin’ across the room.

I was surprised when I found myself thinking about the book for a couple of days. I was so annoyed when I finished it, that I swore to myself that I was done with the Culper Ring/National Archive books and the series could go on without me. But now, in retrospect, I’ll probably read the next one. I suppose this is a testament to the fact that Meltzer has written some compelling and likeable characters, and in spite of my irritation, I would sort of like to know what’s next for them.

Now the big question, would I recommend it? Hmm, it’s sort of a “well, yeah…but…” answer. I kind of think it might be worth waiting for the next book to be published, so you don’t have to wait for the resolution of The Inner Circle’s plot. But that just seems like an unreasonable qualification, so instead I’ll just state an unequivocal – “meh…maybe.”

My rating: Initially , but upon later reflection:

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.

Reagle Beagle by Eddie Mejia

REAGLE BEAGLE by Eddie Mejia


Mr. and Mrs. Beagle have been blessed with four puppies, three girls and a boy. The girls are a rambunctious bunch; happy, mischievous and energetic. But their boy, Reagle, never speaks, plays alone and avoids contact with his siblings. Mr. and Mrs. Beagle are quite concerned about Reagle and encourage him to join in. One day, while playing, the girls get into quite a predicament, and it’s up to Reagle, the quiet little Beagle to save the day.

Reagle Beagle, written by Eddie Mejia and wonderfully illustrated by Violet Koncz is an entertaining childrens book with an important underlying message. All of us have come into contact with a child that we might consider to be “different”. Maybe at age three, they still don’t talk. Perhaps we see a kid in the playground that sits alone in the shade and repeats the same actions over and over. And most of us know how difficult it is to answer the queries our own children make about the little boy in their class that sits and rocks, and won’t look at anyone, or won’t speak. It just doesn’t ever seem enough to simply tell our kids that “Well, he’s just a little different, but you should be nice to him anyway.” Because not only do our kids have no idea how to be friends with a child who seems different, we parents are often stymied by it too.

Although written as a simple picture book for us to enjoy and share with our children as we tuck them in at night, Reagle Beagle gives us an underlying sense of understanding and insight into the world that children with autism often inhabit. With the incidences of autism and autism spectrum related diagnoses on the rise, it’s nice to find a childrens book that can, in the guise of a charming story, show kids and remind parents that everyone has something important to say if we can find a way to listen.

Head on over to Reagle Beagle Book and get yourself an autographed copy. Heck, get extra copies, not only would this book be a great gift for the lil’ones in your life, it would be a much appreciated addition to your local hospital waiting room, library, classroom or doctor’s office.

(Review copy courtesy of the author)

My review of Live to Tell by Lisa Gardner

In Lisa Gardner’s newest entry into her D. D. Warren series, Live to Tell, D.D. is investigating a brutal and heartbreaking crime. An apparent murder-suicide has occurred in one of Boston’s neighborhoods, and the father, who is a suspect, is barely alive in the ICU. Mostly written off as a murder-suicide, Detective Warren believes that there is more to this case. Investigating this tragedy will bring D.D. to a pediatric psych ward, where she meets Danielle Burton. Danielle is a nurse who specializes in the care of severely disturbed children and is the survivor of a family murder much like the one D.D. is looking into. The anniversary of her family’s violent deaths is fast approaching, and when D.D. and her partner arrive at the hospital, Danielle fears the past is being repeated.

One of my personal hallmarks of a successful book is if, after I finish it, it sends me off to google. After completing Live to Tell, I was googling like a mad woman. I found the basis of the book, severe childhood mental illness both frightening and fascinating. We’ve all heard the phrase, “he/she was just born bad”, but I’ve never really thought before what it would mean to have a child with an illness like this. And after reading this novel, I have a new found respect for the pain a mother must go through when her child looks at her and says in a sweet clear voice, “I’m going to kill you with a knife while you sleep.” Imagine, having to lock up your knives, after counting them to make sure your sweet faced little 7 year old hasn’t taken one. It’s just incomprehensible to me.

I’ve read the first two books in this series, but somehow missed the third one. I enjoy Gardner’s writing and I’ll make an effort to read The Neighbor, the one I missed. I didn’t have any trouble with what was going on, I think this book could stand very well on its own. Every book in the series, builds the characters a bit more, showing us the complex people they are, but never in a “smack us over the head” with it. And like getting to know someone in “real life”, the characters are added to in such a way, that if we miss a book, we can pretty much figure it out as we go along.

Gardner, as usual, never disappoints. Never pedantic or boring, Lisa Gardner knows how to write a good thriller. If you’re a fan of the the genre, Live to Tell is a don’t miss entry!

(Review copy provided by LibraryThing and the Early Reviewer program.)

My rating:

Another Two-fer: Cemetery Dance and Fever Dreams

Synopsis from Fantastic Fiction website:

Cemetery Dance

William Smithback, a NY Times reporter, and his wife Nora Kelly, a Museum of Natural History archeologist, are found brutally attacked in their apartment on the Upper West side of Manhattan. Eyewitnesses claim and the security camera confirms the killer seen leaving the building was the strange, sinister man who had previously occupied Smithback and Kelly's apartment---and who had died horribly in it exactly one year ago.

Captain Hayward leads the official homicide investigation, while Pendergast and D'Agosta undertake a private quest for the truth. Their serpentine journey takes them into a part of Manhattan they never imagined could exist: a secretive and deadly hotbed of Obeah, the West Indian Zombii cult of sorcery and magic. And it is here they find their true peril is just beginning.


Fever Dream
At the old family manse in Louisiana, Special Agent Pendergast is putting to rest long-ignored possessions reminiscent of his wife Helen's tragic death, only to make a stunning-and dreadful-discovery. Helen had been mauled by an unusually large and vicious lion while they were big game hunting in Africa. But now, Pendergast learns that her rifle-her only protection from the beast-had been deliberately loaded with blanks. Who could have wanted Helen dead...and why?

With Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta's assistance, Pendergast embarks on a quest to uncover the mystery of his wife's murder. It is a journey that sends him deep into her past where he learns much that Helen herself had wished to keep hidden. Helen Pendergast had nursed a secret obsession with the famed naturalist-painter John James Audubon, in particular a long-lost painting of his known as the Black Frame.

As Pendergast probes more deeply into the riddle-the answer to which is revealed in a night of shocking violence, deep in the Louisiana bayou-he finds himself faced with an even greater question: who was the woman he married?

Yep, another “two-fer” review, and I swear I will get caught up someday. I always read the newest in Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s Pendergast series. And as usual, these books moved the series along. The problem I have, and it’s probably mine alone; the result of failing memory in my feebling middle age, is that I tend to not remember details that I think were probably specific to a previous book. For example, the character of Constance, Pendergast’s ward. I remember there was something important about her, but for the life of me, I just can’t remember what it was. And since her character shows up in the typical enigmatic fashion in Fever Dream, I was irritated with myself. I wish the authors would somehow figure out a way to refresh my memory, but then I suppose that all the smarter readers who are without memory problems would complain that the authors are re-hashing too much. There’s probably no solution that would please everyone. Maybe I’ll go Wikipedia her…

Cemetery Dance was okay, no real bolts of lightning or any WOW moments, but, as I said, it moves things along. I suppose the whole voodoo thing was interesting and I did like the historical aspect of the book that dealt with the shadowy weird religious cult on Manhattan island, and thought it would be so cool if it were true. I Wikipedia'd like crazy and couldn't find anything about it though, so alas, it too was a fiction. (In a novel, fiction, huh...who would've thunk it?? Oh brother..I am such a dope..) Fever Dream was slightly better, the back story of Pendergast’s wife was an interesting change from the “catch a crazy bad guy in unique and tricky ways” fare that the books usually give us. Sadly, in neither book, do the authors recapture the “page turner” effect that the first book in the series had on me. They’re okay books, but the characters are starting to feel a bit stale to me. I suppose I’ll keep reading them, out of habit. But I’m really interested to read the new series these authors have planned which will introduce a whole new character, Gideon Crew. I’ll be looking for that book next year.

(Review copies provided by Grand Central Publishing)

My ratings:

Cemetery Dance:

Fever Dream:

Dark Time: Mortal Path by Dakota Banks: a promising beginning to a new series

In 1692, Susannah Layhem, who is a healer and purveyor of herbs and natural healing stands accused of witchcraft. Subsequently convicted and while awaiting her execution, she delivers her stillborn baby, alone and frightened in a filthy jail cell. She is burned at the stake, but as she dies, she is confronted by a demon named Rabishu. She is filled with anger and bitterness and accepts his offer of eternal life, in exchange for her obedience. Susannah becomes the “Black Ghost”, the personal assassin of Rabishu. Over the years, Susannah slowly regains her conscience and when Rabishu orders her to kill a baby, she discovers a way to nullify her pact with him. If she can save one life for every life she has taken over the centuries, she can become free. But if she should fail, unspeakable and never-ending punishments await her.

(Another entry in my--I've got to get caught up category. It seems like I didn't have time to write reviews, and yet, I kept reading....I'm getting close to being caught up, and it's been fun to go back through the books I've read and be reminded of what I liked about them. I might just take a walk down memory lane with my whole bookcase, just for the fun of it!)

Dark Time Mortal Path, a debut novel by Dakota Banks is an inventive and engaging novel. A bit gruesome in places, the idea behind the book is clever and original. This book is the first in a planned series and given the open ended idea of “saving a life for each one taken” and since we really aren’t privy to the number of lives the protagonist has taken, it might be quite a prolific series. The second book in the series, Sacrifice is coming out on August 31, and it will be added to the “teetering tower o’ to-be-read books”.

(Review copy provided by the publicist)

My rating:

After by Amy Efaw: A Darn Good Teen Read (even for an "older teen" like me)

From www.amyefaw.com

Who would leave her own baby in the trash to die?

Certainly not someone like Devon—straight-A student, soccer player with Olympic dreams, more mature than her own mother. But desperation and panic drove her to do what most people can’t even imagine. Now Devon’s in a juvenile detention center charged with attempted murder. If she’s tried as an adult, she faces life in prison.

Does Devon deserve that punishment? Your answer depends on whether you believe her story—that she didn’t even know she was pregnant. Was she buried in a denial so deep that she was unable to register the seemingly obvious signs of pregnancy? Or were her actions the result of a more devious, premeditated plan?

In my never-ending quest to get caught up, for cryin’ out loud, here is my review (finally) of Amy Efaw’s young adult novel After. (Which I read last October…yep…I said OCTOBER. I’m so ashamed……sigh….)

Being an, *ahem, slightly more “mature” woman, I don’t read much young adult or teen fiction. (Oh yeah, Twilight cured me of that urge….) But I picked up After mostly because of the subject matter. Not only did it seem timely, since it seems like even with Safe Harbor laws, there are still babies found in dumpsters all over the country, but like everyone else, I wondered how a girl DO such a thing.

Efaw addresses those questions very well in this book. Although we find Devon’s behavior incomprehensible, we are slowly lead to the place where we can understand it. The book is an empathetic study of the expectations that we and all of society often place on our teen-aged daughters. I had an appreciation for the person that Devon was trying to be, and by the end of the novel was almost saddened by the outcome. It was refreshing, in this day of, “it’s not my fault..” to see a character assume the burden of personal responsibility.

After is a well-written and interesting book. The subject matter begs for a follow-up discussion when your teen reads it, and it is well worth the time spent to read it yourself.

After is available now in hardcover and will be available in paperback in December of this year.

(Review copy provided by Viking)

My rating: