Without Mercy by Lisa Jackson: Let the rant begin....

Synopsis (fantasticfiction.co.uk)

Julia 'Jules' Farentino knows that her teenaged half-sister, Shaylee, has been having problems lately. But when she learns of her mother's plan to send Shay to an elite boarding school in southern Oregon, she's skeptical. The Academy is a remote, secluded institution with a reputation for turning wayward kids around. With its emphasis on structure, discipline, and building self-reliance, it claims to succeed where other schools fail. But one of its students went missing six months ago and has never surfaced. And the further Jules digs into the school's history, the more concerned she becomes.

On impulse, Jules applies for a teaching job at the Academy, and once there, her suspicions grow. Another student disappears, and two more commit suicide in strange circumstances - or were they murdered? Something sinister is lurking beneath the Academy's serene façade. And uncovering the truth will mean confronting a powerful force of evil that's willing to kill, again and again.


When I received Lisa Jackson’s Without Mercy, I was looking forward to reading it. Now I realize that there are other popular authors with the first name of Lisa who are frequently classified as being mystery/suspense genre writers. I thought I had read lots of Jackson’s work, but partway through Without Mercy, I was stumped. This was not the writing of an author that I enjoyed. What the heck was going on? Upon reviewing my library at LibraryThing.com, I realized that it’s Lisa Gardner who I like. I’d only read one other book by Lisa Jackson. And Without Mercy will most likely be my last.

The book is chockfull of “Wow—what a coincidence moments.” Jules had a failed love affair with a rodeo rider turned cop turned private investigator who is posing as a teacher at the same school. (I’m not kidding….) Of course, when they meet up, sparks fly. The evil bad guy has the lamest evil plan since that guy in the last James Bond movie. (Remember him? The guy who’s evil plot involved raising the water rates in a third world nation? Oh for the days of bad guys who want to take over the world…) But hey, he’s the bad guy, ergo he's crazy, so he doesn’t have to make sense. But wait….ooohhh…bad guy is caught well before the book ends. Is that a surprise twist at the end? Who didn’t see that coming?

Jackson appears to be a romance writer who specializes in that genre known as “romantic suspense.” You may remember my opinion of the genre from a previous review, (Heather Grahams The Killing Edge). I’d also suggest that someone take Jackson’s thesaurus away from her, smack her editor upside the head with it and then burn that sucker. I don’t believe that this author has ever met an adjective she didn’t like.

…Jules wouldn’t allow a fate as brutal and macabre as Nona’s or Maeve’s to happen to her sister. Or anyone else. She had to stop the obscene killing spree…..

Or

…as sunlight began to stream over the mountains, the long-awaited dawn chasing away the night…

Or my personal favorite…

…to rescue her sister, to spirit Shaylee away from whatever dark presence was lurking here……

And. don’t get me started on the overuse of the exclamation point! It’s like reading a book written by a very excited teenager! Where every little thing must be emphasized! Because it’s so important and the reader must not miss it!

I’m hanging my head in shame; I have way too much fun smacking around yet another “romantic suspense novel.” In my defense, though, books of this particular genre NEVER call themselves romantic suspense. I wish I had picked a different read from the “teetering tower o’ to-be-read books”, but what’s done is done. Moving on to a different and (please Lord) better book.

Without Mercy by Lisa Jackson; read it if you’re a fan of hers and you feel you must. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

(Review copy provided by Joan Schulhafer Publishing and Media Consulting)

My rating :

Reviewing: Every Last One by Anna Quindlen

Mary Beth Latham is the mother of three kids, has a good marriage, and a small thriving landscaping business. Like most mom’s, if you were to ask Mary Beth which of these was the most important and defining role in her life, she’d say it was motherhood. Mary Beth is a good mom, and when one of her kids, Max, sinks into a deep depression, she focuses her concern on him, certain that her other children are doing well. When a horrific act of violence tears her life apart, Mary Beth has to discover a new way to make a life, and the strength, fortitude and love to make it possible.

Every Last One by Anna Quindlen is a notable novel. Initially, I thought the introduction of Mary Beth’s life “before” was a bit drawn out. I kept silently urging the author to get to the point of the story. Then I realized that this was the point. This is a portrait of a loving family, warts and all, with moody kids, tired parents, sniping siblings, loyalty and love. The finely drawn portrayal of this ordinary family when shown in juxtaposition to the “after” is heartbreaking. It’s almost impossible to read this novel without occasionally feeling a twinge of fear, a cold frightened feeling that this is plausible. This terrible thing could happen to almost any family. From there, it isn’t a stretch for the reader to wonder how anyone, including themselves, could endure and begin to live again.

Mary Beth is an interesting character. It's easy to point a finger at her and say, “It was right there…how could you NOT see it?” But then we stop and think, “Oh wait, I think I’d probably do the same exact thing. If my son was that depressed and on the surface the other kids seemed great, I’d most likely focus myself on the one that appeared to be in the most trouble.” Who wouldn’t? In retrospect, the reader can easily see that clues that lead to the tragedy, but hindsight is always 20/20. Quindlen doesn’t sugar coat Mary Beth and her reactions. We are shown a woman who is devastated by loss, and yet trying to survive and interact in a world where social conventions are observed. She is self-aware and realizes that her pain is not something others are comfortable with, and she manages to develop a persona of healing long before she begins to heal. Her interactions with the other characters, major and minor unfold in a realistic and affirming fashion.

Every Last One was a difficult book to read, mostly because of the uncomfortable nature of the subject. But it was ultimately it was time well spent.

(Review copy provided by Random House)

My rating:

Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth: A bloody good read! (Excuse the pun....)

In Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth, we meet Zach Barrows, an ambitious go-getter working in the White House. He anticipates a career in public service and expects an almost meteoric rise. But his career takes an unexpected detour when he is assigned to assist a Secret Service agent, Nathaniel Cade. Like all Secret Service agents, Cade is sworn to protect the president. However Cade is unlike any other agent in the service. Bound by a blood oath 140 years ago, Cade is a vampire, who protects the president and the country from enemies far stranger and more dangerous than we could ever imagine.

I think I might just remember 2010 as the Year of the Zombie/Vampire. It seems like every other book I read features at least one of these creatures. And I’m not talking about wimpy sparkly baseball playing vampires. Nope, I keep finding books with the rip-your-heart out, drain-your-carotid, toss your carcass aside and proceed with the mayhem types. (In other words, the good old fashioned kind of scary kinds of vamps and zombies.)

Nathaniel Cade is pretty much along those lines, but like the wussy vamps in popular modern fiction (..you know what books I’m talking about), he has learned to control his baser instincts. But, since he is, after all the last line of defense for our President and the country against really Scary Things, he gets to come out and play frequently. And my, does he get the job done when he comes out to play!

Blood Oath is the beginning of a series, and it’s a bang-up start. Farnsworth mixes the supernatural with modern day conspiracy. Throw in a bit of jihad, a freakishly un-aging Nazi, some living dead Frankenstein monster types, and you’ve got quite a tale. I’ll be looking for the next book in the series, which I really hope the author is holed up somewhere writing. I’m not a patient woman…

(Review copy provided by Putnam)

My rating:

Two reviews in one: Hush by Kate White and Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd

Isn’t it odd, how similar things often appear simultaneously? Remember that "disaster summer" at the movies, Deep Impact and Armageddon? It seems like I inadvertently read similar books near the same time too. Two such books, which I probably should review individually, (but heck..it’s my blog and I’ll double up is I want to) were Hush by Kate White and Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd.


In both of these books, the protagonists were placed in unlikely situations and then behaved in an idiotic manner. In Ordinary Thunderstorms, the hero, Adam Kindred, is in London for a job interview. Feeling good about his future, he’s having dinner alone when he strikes up a conversation with a fellow diner. Based on this chance encounter, Adam is soon on the run from the police; the primary suspect in a murder.

The main character in Hush, Lake Warren is feeling pretty low. She has just discovered that her husband, who she has only been separated from for a few months, is suing for full custody of her kids. With her kids away at camp, she is the marketing consultant at an infertility clinic. One evening, after an office get-together, she goes home with a clinic doctor who had been flirting with her. Upon waking in the morning, in a strange apartment, she is horrified to discover her one-night-stand has been murdered; his throat slashed. Based on this encounter, Lake is immersed in a game of cat and mouse with the unknown killer, and fearing she will come under suspicion by the police.

Okay, I know, it sounds like I’m really stretching to compare these two books. But they just felt similar to me. Both protagonists were, in a word, idiots. Both authors justified the characters moronic choices. I’ll admit, I’ve never woke up in an apartment with a man whose throat has been slashed while my soon-to-be ex is threatening to take my kids. And I’ve never visited London, attempted to return a forgotten file to a fellow customer from a diner, walked into his hotel room through door left ajar and found him murdered. Perhaps if these situations occurred to me, I’d be an idiot too. But I’d like to think I’d call the police in the first instance, and leave the damn file at the reception desk in the second. Supposing I was momentarily flummoxed and made all the wrong choices, and now thought I was in deep trouble. I’d still like to think I’d be smart enough to find a lawyer and talk to the police. Boyd's scenario in Ordinary Thunderstorms was a bit more plausible, but was still pretty darned surreal.

As you can tell, I wasn’t too impressed with either book. I wanted to smack Lake Warren upside her privileged spoiled head for the stupid things she did. And by the time the book concluded, I just didn’t really care who the crazy killer was. Yep, it was a little bit of a surprise, I didn’t peg the killer early on, but I didn’t really try. I just didn’t care all that much. And although Adam Kindred was a more interesting character, I didn’t have much patience with his choice to become a homeless bum in London instead of talking to the police. Both of their choices just made me think, “Really? Seriously? What the hell is wrong with these people??”

(Review copies provided by Harper Collins)

My rating (for both books) :

The Passage by Justin Cronin: You've Gotta Read This Book!!

From Fantastic Fiction website

'It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.'

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear - of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he's done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey - spanning miles and decades - towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

The Passage by Justin Cronin is, in a word, WOW!! I know, I know, this is the book really getting all the buzz this summer. But there is a good reason for that. IT’S REALLY GOOD!! So good, in fact, that I had a hard time writing a synopsis of it, and I don’t think the blurb I swiped from the website does a very good job of it either. This book just grabs you in the first couple of pages, pulls you in and doesn’t let go. It’s sort of The Stand meets Patient Zero meets The Postman. (Hey…no laughing, I LIKED that movie.)

The book takes place over almost a hundred years, the first part is pretty straightforward, and then it takes a giant step forward ninety-two years. It’s a little disconcerting, how the manner of living has changed, slang used in everyday speech is a bit different, and the author doesn’t waste any time explaining these changes. But these differences are to be expected. We certainly don’t live or speak the same as our counterparts did in 1920. I really liked the expectation that we readers could figure out these changes on our own. I realized pretty early that I’d better pay attention, or I was going to miss something important. This might be a long book, but that’s not because it’s crammed with unnecessary filler, but because it’s an epic novel, and worth every single word. Even though The Passage is book one of a planned trilogy, Cronin manages a terrific ending. The conclusion leaves us with a great starting point for book two, and yet still has a sense of finality to it.

If I were pressed to come up with a complaint about the book, it would be twofold. My Sony Reader has spoiled me, and The Passage was a regular book. It’s heavy. And I would have loved to be able to have it on my Reader instead. I took it everywhere with me, so I could read while waiting in line, or for the gas pump to fill, the movie to start, etc. and did I mention? It’s heavy. I would have loved to have it on my Reader. My other complaint is that I have to wait until 2012 for the next book. 2012?? And then two more years for the last one? Arrrggghhh!!! I almost wish I’d waited until 2014 when I could read all three consecutively. Sigh…..I guess it’s a good thing that I’ve got myself a hardcover copy to go with the advance reader copy I already had. And okay, I put an e-copy on my Sony Reader as well. I’m just being prepared. This way, when I read it again, I can have a copy upstairs next to the bed, a copy downstairs next to my chair and a copy for my purse when I’m out of the house. (Did I mention…it’s heavy??) Oh yeah….I’ll be reading this one more than once…

The Passage by Justin Cronin is a hundred different kinds of awesomeness. The best book I’ve read this year. Beg, borrow or buy a copy, but dang it…get going…it’s worth every single page it’s written on and every single penny it’ll cost you. A new addition to my favorite books and favorite authors list, Justin Cronin and The Passage, WOW!!

(Review copy provided by Ballantine Books)

My rating:

Reviewing Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen

While on a medical conference trip in Wyoming, Maura Isles, a medical examiner from Boston, meets up with an old friend from med school. On the spur of the moment, she joins him, his daughter and two other friends on a ski trip. On the way to the ski lodge, they take a wrong turn and end up stuck on a little used road in the mountains just as a blizzard begins. On foot, they find a small road and follow it to a snug little village, nestled in a valley, high among the peaks. Named Kingdom Come, the twelve identical little houses are cold and empty, places set at the table, with congealed food on the stoves, cars in the garage, as if the residents have merely stepped outside for a moment and will be right back. One of the group is badly injured in an accident and when Maura’s friend disappears on his attempt to get help, she has no choice but to brave the elements herself.

Soon after, Jane Rizzoli, a Boston homicide detective and good friend of Maura is stunned by the news that Maura’s charred body has been found in the mountains of Wyoming. Jane is compelled to discover how Maura died, and her investigation uncovers the secrets of Kingdom Come and the powerful and charismatic leader behind the group.

Ice Cold is Tess Gerritsen’s eighth book in the Rizzoli and Isles series. Again…huh? Who knew? I mean, I love Tess Gerritsen, and I’ve read at least half of her novels, and a couple of the Rizzoli and Isles books. But when I looked her up on my favorite website, fantasticfiction, I found out I had missed five of the series. Oh great, even more books to add to the ever expanding teetering tower of books to be read. (Alliteration can be fun.) It sort of defeats the purpose of reading a book from the stack if I end up adding five more when I finish it. I figure the last two books I’ve read have actually added nineteen more books to the pile. Sigh..I’m going to have to live to be 150 and keep my eyesight to get all these books read that I want to read.

But, I digress. (Shocker, huh?)

With a new tv show based on the Rizzoli/Isles books, coming on the heels of Ice Cold’s publication, I was skeptical about this book. It seems to me that some authors frequently stop writing novels when they find a bit of success on screen. (i.e. John Grisham, whose books The Firm and A Time to Kill were terrific, and then he cranks out screenplays pretending to be novels in The Pelican Brief and The Client.)

Oops, I digress again.

Focusing here, as I said before I rudely interrupted myself, I was skeptical. Luckily for us readers, Gerritsen hasn’t decided it would be easier to adapt her book to the screen if she simple wrote it that way from the beginning. Ice Cold is a good read, timely and with enough attention to detail to give the reader the certainty that the author has researched her subject. The author succeeded in surprising me in the “whodunit” portion of the book, which is something I always appreciate. This book will work fine as a stand-alone novel and new readers won’t have any problem getting up to speed with the characters. The author manages to let us know the back-stories in a few succinct lines, and doesn’t waste our time with long drawn out histories.

I really liked how the author isn’t the least bit squeamish about offing characters. I find it a bit annoying when, at the end of the book, people who really shouldn’t have survived are still alive and kicking, sometimes with the most fantastical explanation as to how they survived. Realism sometimes demands that the author know when the cute puppy, or the kid, or the hero/heroine really can’t survive this one. (Going for obscure references here, because I don’t want to write a spoiler.) I’m sure it gives the writer a twinge to see to someone’s demise, especially when convention would require said person/critters survival, but it’s good to see an author with enough intestinal fortitude to croak when necessary.

Would I recommend? Absolutely. If you like the genre, and I do, Ice Cold is a good read. Now..on to the rest of the pile……

My rating:

(Review copy provided by LibraryThings Early Reviewer Program)

My review of Think Twice by Lisa Scottoline

When Bennie Rosato is invited to her identical twins for a housewarming dinner, she never suspects the true motive behind the invitation. Alice Connelly, Bennie’s twin is in big trouble; her drug-dealing partners are trying to find and kill her. Alice has decided the only way out of her trouble is to kill her twin and assume her identity. She believes her plan as worked and she fools everyone. Sleeping with Bennie’s boyfriend, stealing all of Bennie’s money and moving it offshore, and fooling everyone who works for Bennie. The plan is moving along very smoothly, even when Bennie shows up, Alice convinces everyone that Bennie is Alice and that Alice is Bennie. Everything Bennie has worked for and loved is threatened. The only questions that remain, in Lisa Scottoline's Think Twice, are how far can someone go to protect themselves and can a good person be driven to do evil things?

I think I must be the last person on earth who’s never read a book by Lisa Scottoline. This is the 13th…yep…I said THIRTEENTH book in the Bennie Rosato series. Huh…who knew?? Not me, obviously. I’m a big fan of series, and a really big fan of mystery suspense series. I have no idea how I missed out on this author. I liked that the author treads the fine line of introducing a new reader to the series, without repeating everything that’s been written in the past. My interest is piqued and I plan on picking up book number one, Everywhere That Mary Went, and working my way through the series.

My only real complaint with the story was the attention paid to seemingly minor characters. One of Bennie’s employees, Mary, is featured way too much for my liking. Perhaps Mary plays an integral part in the other books, but I didn’t see the point of including Mary, her parents, her sexy, witchy, widowed cousin, who may or may not be seducing Mary’s father, in the story. I thought it was an unnecessary side trip, and it didn’t add much to the storyline, except pages of text. I’ll reserve judgment on the whole Mary/Bennie/Mary’s family storyline until after I read a few more of the series.

Complaints aside, Think Twice was a pretty good read, I suspect it moves the whole series along and I’m guessing it’s not the last Lisa Scottoline’s readers have seen of the Bennie and Alice conflict.

Review copy provided by LibraryThing and the Early Reviewer program.

My rating:

Review of The Little Known by Janice Daugharty

Knot Crew, a twelve-year-old African American boy in a small South Georgia town, finds a bag of cash dropped by a bank robber in an alley. Alternating between fear and joy, Knot takes the cash home. He knows he can’t spend it; Knot is a good boy with a strong moral compass and he’s smart enough to know that if he’s caught with it, he’ll be in real trouble.

After a great deal of thought, he decides to use the money to try to help his poor neighbors and he starts anonymously mailing them hundred dollar bills. Knot is surprised and disappointed to watch as his neighbors squander the cash, and his dreams of helping them achieve a better quality of life are broken. Knot discovers that problems aren’t solved by money alone.

The Little Known by Janice Daugharty is a coming of age story from a turbulent era. Set in the 1960’s in the segregated south, and highlighting the poverty and hardships faced by many.
The author’s characterizations are strong and it’s impossible to not love the protagonist, Knot. He’s a fine boy, in spite of his upbringing, with a huge kind heart. Unfortunately, he’s surrounded by such unlikeable characters, that I just wanted him to get the heck out of there and abandon the lot of them. Knot’s mother is almost irredeemable, and it’s heartbreaking to see Knot battle so hard to help her. I think my problem with the book came from my own experiences. I lived for 30 years in an area that was relatively poor, with a population that received an influx of cash a couple of times a year from the government, along with other assistance. So I knew that money won’t solve the problems of drug abuse, alcoholism, chronic unemployment, spousal and child abuse and all the issues showcased in the novel. I found myself wanting to reach into the book and try to explain to Knot that his optimism, while lovely and kind, was seriously misplaced. It was hard to watch Knot come to the understanding that you can’t help people who don’t want to help themselves.

Would I recommend The Little Known? Ehh…I was mostly just glad when I finished it. It’s wasn’t bad, just a little depressing.

(e-galley provided by the publisher for review)

My rating: