BookOpinion

Sue Grafton, my most favorite mystery author ever, has released the 20th book in her wonderful Kinsey Millhone/alphabet series (T is for Trespass). I love Kinsey Millhone. I love her because she’s smart, she’s funny, down-to-earth, and loves food almost as much as I do. I love Sue Grafton because everytime she offers readers a new book, we know it will build upon the last one. Kinsey keeps maturing as a character, not just a rehash of the same old stuff everytime.

I could mention some mystery authors who need to kick it up a notch, but out of politeness I will refrain. Instead, I offer to you my top 10 Kinsey Millhone books, in alphabetical order.

• A is for Alibi - The first one. A great introduction. It’s a quick, fast-paced story with terrific characters.
• C is for Corpse - This was actually the first Kinsey book I ever read. My mother (Thank You, Mommy) handed over her copy when I was about 19. I have re-read it probably three dozen times. I can practically read the entire book in my head from start to finish. This book opened up the world of mysteries for me. I remember thinking that Kinsey was pretty old (she was 32!) when I read it. Now that I am a wee past 32, I have a slightly different perspective.
• E is for Evidence - The characters in this one have me hooked. Grafton is great at creating some twisted dysfunctional families.
• F is for Fugitive - I love the stories where Kinsey has to reconstruct a crime from years ago. (S is for Silence and Q is for Quarry have similar plots.)
• G is for Gumshoe - The coolest story. This one is more about Kinsey than the actual mystery she solves, hence the gumshoe in the title. This one is my favorite in the series.
• I is for Innocent - Is David Barney innocent or guilty of killing his wife? Well, you don’t find out until the end, but you won’t like him either way. In fact, I didn’t really like the victim, but I love this book.
• K is for Killer - Again great story and characters combine to make a terrific read.
• M is for Malice - Another great story. I love the character of Guy Malek.
• O is for Outlaw - I like this one for the glimpse the reader gets into Kinsey’s past.
• Q is for Quarry - This one has an interesting spin. The mystery is a cold case brought to her by two local cops. Kinsey has to reconstruct a crime. This fictional book is inspired by an actual cold case from the late 1960s.

This was a tough list to create, I really wanted to add B is for Burglar and H is for Homicide, too. And L is for Lawless is good, too. Oh, just go out and read all of them, you won’t be disappointed.

I plan to hit the bookstore bright and early on December 4 to pick up my copy of T is for Trespass. Maybe it will replace one of my Top 10 picks.

– Jane Leisteiner

BOOKOPINION REVIEW: I have read many Dean Koontz books, and none have left me feeling as tormented as the author’s latest novel, “The Darkest Evening of the Year“. Koontz offers up an array of hideous antagonists, the worst of which made me literally sick to my stomach. Part of the torment comes from his graphic descriptions of dog abuse and child abuse. Koontz’s beloved dog, Trixie, passed away recently, and that sorrow is obvious throughout the book. Having lost my own beloved dog recently, I thoroughly empathize.

Dogs, specifically Golden Retrievers, are some of the most vivid characters of the novel, which centers mainly on the life of Amy Redwing, whose life revolves around rescuing dogs. The novel opens as Amy and her boyfriend, Brian, are in rescue mode, attempting to save a dog from a wife/child beater who doubles as the killer of the family pets. After saving both the family and the dog, Amy takes the dog in to live with her other beloved Goldens, but Nickie, this new dog, is special, forming unusual bonds and connections with both people and other dogs.

The novel flips back and forth between the protaganists’ (Amy and Brian) story and the villains, an unsavory cast of lowlife private detectivies, hitmen, and two others who will make your skin crawl. I enjoyed getting to know Amy, but I never felt like Brian became a full character. I didn’t feel the sympathy for him that Amy and several others garnered. Some of the book felt a little rushed, unusual for a Koontz book, which can sometimes be a bit overburdened with detail.

This is a dark book, darker still if you are a true dog lover. Anyone who can read this book and not want to rush down to the nearest animal shelter and bring home a couple dogs (or a cat) to love, has a heart of stone. The thing to love about Dean Koontz is that he has no illusion that the world is not a dark and evil place, yet he always offers to the reader protagonists that defy the darkness and manage to find hope and peace. “The Darkest Evening of the Year” is no exception.

I still say “Life Expectancy” (which I just reread for the fourth time) is his greatest work, but any true Koontz fan should enjoy this latest book. Now that I have devoured this latest, I will try to patiently await the release of the next Odd Thomas book, which is scheduled for April, 2008. In the meantime, I will try to convince my husband that we need to make a trip to the local animal shelter in the near future.

– Jane Leisteiner

Amazon has released a podcast excerpt for the audiobook “Rhett Butler’s People” by Donald McCaig. The book has received solid reviews, and the excerpt runs just more than 6 minutes.

“In the capable hands of narrator John Bedford Lloyd, Donald McCaig’s Rhett displays just the right mix of pride and swagger,” writes Amazon. “Listen now and get a taste of one of the most eagerly anticipated novels of the season!”

Publishers Weekly says: “Was it strictly necessary to our understanding of Gone With the Wind’s dashing hero to flesh out his backstory, replay famous GWTW scenes from his perspective, and crank the plot past the original’s astringent denouement? Perhaps not, but it’s still a fun ride. In this authorized reimagining, Rhett, disowned son of a cruel South Carolina planter, is still a jauntily worldwise charmer, roguish but kind; Scarlett is still feisty, manipulative and neurotic; and the air of besieged decorum is slightly racier. (Rhett: “My dear, you have jam at the corner of your mouth.” Scarlett: “Lick it off.”) But it says much about the author’s sure feel for Margaret Mitchell’s magnetic protagonists that they still beguile us. McCaig (Jacob’s Ladder) broadens the canvas, giving Rhett new dueling and blockade-running adventures and adding intriguing characters like Confederate cavalier-turned-Klansman Andrew Ravanel, a rancid version of Ashley Wilkes who romances Rhett’s sister Rosemary. He paints a richer, darker panorama of a Civil War-era South where poor whites seethe with resentment and slavery and racism are brutal facts of life that an instinctive gentleman like Rhett can work around but not openly challenge. McCaig thus imparts a Faulknerian tone to the saga that sharpens Mitchell’s critique of Southern nostalgia without losing the epic sweep and romantic pathos. The result is an engrossing update of GWTW that fans of the original will definitely give a damn about.”

Click here to listen to Amazon’s podcast excerpt of Rhett Butler’s People.

Below is a a very short trailer for the book:

BOOKOPINION REVIEW: What is the thing that terrifies you the most? Another terrorist attack? An invasion by UFO’s? Earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes? Losing your job? Cancer? How about the kidnapping of one of your children? I think that must be one of the most agonizing, terrifying situations that could ever confront us. Imagine the day-in, day-out horror of the “not knowing” whether your child was alive, whether they were being tortured, if you would ever see them again.

Mark Gimenez has used this scenario in “The Abduction” and did it with a chilling plot that is baffling, frightening and will keep you on the edge of your seat to the very last page. Frankly, this story has so many twists and turns that I was constantly astonished by the brilliant imagination of the author.

Gracie Ann Brice, age 10 years, and an ace soccer player, disappears at the end of winning a tight game against a rival team. Her father, John R. Brice and a brilliant computer geek about to make a billion dollars on a business venture, is on his cell phone at the end of the game when his daughter goes missing. Elizabeth, a tough, controlling attorney and Gracie’s mother, arrives just minutes after her daughter is kidnapped. Bedlam follows as the alert goes out and the frantic search for Gracie begins.

When Ben Brice, Vietnam Vet and Gracie’s grandfather hears the news, he immediately flies from his isolated retreat in New Mexico to the family’s home in Briarwyck Farms, an exclusive conclave in Dallas, Texas. Upon arrival, he encounters not only the FBI but his son, John, who is practically catatonic. And Elizabeth is dealing with the situation in the only way she knows how…forcefully, angrily and outwardly, in complete control.

But Ben Brice has a unique relationship with Gracie…there is a mutual affection, understanding and comradery between them and he is determined to find Gracie and destroy those responsible for her disappearance. A long-shot for an alcoholic grandfather, haunted by memories of torture and murder? Ben Brice has a classified military file with a list of medals as long as your arm. No ordinary grandfather, this.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth has taken matters into her own hands and schedules an interview on national television. She offers to pay the kidnappers $25 million to release her daughter, unharmed. And then, “Because if you don’t take this deal, if you don’t release my daughter by the deadline, if you can’t release my daughter because you’ve already killed her, know this and know it well: you’re a dead man. I’m putting a bounty on your head same as the government put on Osama bin Laden’s head: commencing one minute after midnight Friday, we will pay the twenty-five million to anyone who hunts you down and kills you like the disgusting perverted animal you are. And know this: you’re not going back to prison to serve a few years then get released only to violate another little girl – that is not going to happen! You’re either going to release my daughter or you’re going to die. It’s your choice.”

In spite of this, the only information that arises is from Idaho Falls, Idaho…remote and unlikely. But Ben is convinced that this is the lead he has been waiting for. And surprisingly, John is determined to accompany his father on the search.

Is Gracie still alive? And if so, what kind of hell is she living in? And will they find her in time? And, is this the tip of the iceberg? Is there more to the plot then the kidnapping of a little girl?

Well, actually there is…and the unraveling of this entire plot will have you gasping with shock. “The Abduction” is riveting, the characters are revealed not only by their actions but by their past…and you never know how you feel about any of the players until all is revealed. The construction of this novel is suspense well defined and will appeal to anyone who loves a good thriller. I highly recommend this book!

– Elizabeth Channery

Amazon has released a short podcast from Tom Perrotta’s “The Abstinence Teacher.”

The New York Times calls it a “sad-funny-touching story that looks at the frustrations and perils of life in suburbia through darkly tinted, not rose-colored glasses.”

When a sex ed teacher goes too far, according to a local church, the school sides with the church to push an abstinence curriculum. Issues and sordid histories from those on both sides all boil to the surface.

Booklist adds: “As is evident from his previous novels Election (1998) and Little Children (2004), Perotta seems to enjoy putting characters with divergent belief systems together in a bag, as it were, and shaking it up. That is the technique he uses in his latest novel, to satiric effect…A finely wrought novel that will be in demand.”

Listen to the podcast here. Use the BookOpinion price comparison tool to find the best prices on “The Abstinence Teacher.”

Patricia Cornwell’s 15th Kay Scarpetta novel, “Book of the Dead,” lands among the top of bestseller lists on its release. Despite trying to overhaul some key elements of her Scarpetta novels, the book has received some frosty reviews from critics. BookOpinion has compiled reviews, summaries and an excerpt from the novel.

Publishers Weekly writes that the book “delivers her trademark grisly crime scenes, but lacks the coherence and emotional resonance of earlier books…With her recent switch from first- to third-person narration, Cornwell loses what once made her series so compelling: a window into the mind of a strong, intelligent woman holding her own in a profession dominated by men. Here, the abrupt shifts in point of view slow the momentum, and the reader flounders in excessive forensic minutiae.”

Booklist summarizes the plot and also gives it a harsh review: “A lengthy, vivid scene during which a young tennis star is slowly and brutally tortured sets up the mystery, which unfolds in artless leaps, mostly through halting dialogue and occasional forays into the mind of the killer. Once again Cornwell trots out venal characters from previous Scarpetta books; prominent here is psycho-bitch teleshrink Dr. Self (Predator, 2005), who is hoarding information about what turns out to be a string of loosely related murders. Then there’s Scarpetta’s longtime investigator, Pete Marino, foulmouthed and crude but tolerated, who reveals true ugliness in what may be the best scene in the book. As to forensic detail, it seems right up to the minute, and Scarpetta uses it often in her search for the killer, all the while trying to preserve balance in her personal life. Only for diehard Cornwell fans, of whom there are still many, despite the author’s continued slump.”

The New York Post gives a more positive review: “Cornwell delivers exactly what her fans expect - plenty of human interest, enough gore and madness to produce the occasional shiver and the technological tools and expertise that can almost pass for magic.”

The New York Times discusses the changes made by Cornwell to help the series:

Cornwell has noted that “the interior world of forensic science and medicine was a dark and chilly secret” when she wrote her first book, based on her experiences in the office of Virginia’s chief medical examiner. Back then, it made sense for a crack pathologist like Scarpetta to plug away alone in the lab and conduct her fieldwork in the company of a blunt homicide cop like Pete Marino. Nowadays, though, a public educated by “C.S.I.” expects sexy scientists working in sleek crime labs with cool equipment.

Cornwell begins her upgrade on a case that starts in Rome, where a 16-year-old American tennis star is murdered by a psychopath with a macabre style of postmortem mutilation. But the plot doesn’t really take hold until it shifts to Charleston, S.C., where Scarpetta has opened a private practice. Once she and her computer-genius niece have the lab fully up and running, the facilities should knock your eye out. Meanwhile, Scarpetta’s grand ambitions are projected by her use of “the largest scanning electron microscope on the planet” to analyze the grains of sand the killer leaves in his victims’ bodies.

But enhancing Scarpetta’s scientific status is only one part of Cornwell’s remodeling job; she also sets her sights on characters who don’t carry the weight they once did. Marino, for one, really feels the pinch. (“I didn’t use to be like this,” he says, after a particularly appalling blunder.) She might consider that Benton Wesley, stuffy when he was an F.B.I. profiler and even stuffier now that he’s on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, also has the whiff of redundancy. And then there’s Dr. Marilyn Self, “the most famous psychiatrist in the world,” so jealous of Scarpetta she keeps shoving her way into cases that would be better off without her. In trying to reassert Scarpetta’s supremacy, Cornwell hasn’t exactly purged the series of tired formulas and worn-out cast members. But she has shaken things up a bit and produced one terrific new character, a bodyguard named Bull who’s helping Scarpetta tend her neglected garden. It will be interesting to see what grows there.

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The following is an excerpt from Cornwell’s Book of the Dead:

Rome

Water splashing. A gray mosaic tile tub sunk deep into a terra-cotta floor.

Water pours slowly from an old brass spout, and darkness pours through a window. On the other side of old, wavy glass is the piazza, and the fountain, and the night.

She sits quietly in water, and the water is very cold, with melting ice cubes in it, and there is little in her eyes—nothing much there anymore. At first, her eyes were like hands reaching out to him, begging him to save her. Now her eyes are the bruised blue of dusk. Whatever was in them has almost left. Soon she will sleep.

“Here,” he says, handing her a tumbler that was handblown in Murano and now is filled with vodka.

He is fascinated by parts of her that have never seen the sun. They are pale like limestone, and he turns the spigot almost off, and the water is a trickle now, and he watches her rapid breathing and hears the chattering of her teeth. Her white breasts float beneath the surface of the water, delicate like white flowers.
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BOOKOPINION REVIEW: I thoroughly enjoyed reading the third novel in the Restoration Series by Terri Blackstock. ”True Light” is a fast read…it took me about 90 minutes to devour it, but it is honest, well honed and packed with characters that are easy to relate to. This semi science fiction, Christian book has easily become one of my favorites.

Imagine that you are living your life, everything is normal, usual ups and downs and you wake up one morning to find that you have no electricity, no phone, no plumbing and have no clue when any of these facilities will be restored. You cannot even walk to the supermarket to purchase your groceries…there are no supermarkets. And your car is useless…bicycles or horses have become the new normal. Then you hear that a supernova named SN-1999 is emitting electromagnetic pulses every few seconds…which basically renders everything operational on the earth, useless. And no one can predict when this star might burn itself out. Your very survival is threatened. And the best and the worst in human nature are revealed…and the worst seems to have the upper hand.

“True Light” opens with a scene, in Crockett, Alabama, of exultation as Zach Emory shoots a ten point buck, which is necessary to feed his family. Hearing footsteps, the teenager turns, expecting his brother to help him lift the deer into their rickshaw. Unfortunately, the man approaching is not Zach’s brother…the stranger raises his rifle and shoots Zach, and then the shooter and the deer disappear.

The Branning family is initially drawn into this mystery because of Jeff Branning, a close friend of Zach’s. But Deni Branning, a reporter for the Crocket Times, takes a personal interest in finding the shooter when Mark Green, the man she hopes to marry, is arrested for the attempted murder of Zach. Intent upon proving Mark innocent, the entire Branning family becomes involved in this rather complex plot.

During Mark’s time in jail, he struggles not just to survive but to maintain his core of Christian conviction. But incarcerated in a tiny cell with murderers and out of control maniacal convicts, Mark’s situation is not just dire, but desperate. So, what does he do in these circumstances? How is he supposed to react? What would you do? Will Zach survive to identify his assailant and clear Mark’s name?

What I have described is a miniscule outline of a well written novel, filled with intrigue, conflicting relationships and revealing insights into human nature. What I liked best about Blackstock’s ”True Light” is that it makes you really think…not just about how you would react in such a situation but how you would relate to other people…and what role you would play because conforming roles are no longer the norm.

I wholeheartedly give “True Light” a thumbs up approval. If you enjoy light science fiction or Christian situational conflict, then you are going to love the Terri Blackstock books. I cannot wait to read the many other novels that she has penned and look forward to Book Four in the Restoration series.

– Elizabeth Channery