Some years ago I saw the movie with Julia Roberts and Morgan Freeman. It doesn’t hold a candle to the book, which is not for the faint of heart. Deaver introduces Lincoln Rhyme - former head of NYPD’s elite forensics team, now a quadriplegic as a result of an accident; and Amelia Sachs, a patrolwoman who happens upon a gruesome crime scene and demonstrates all the right instincts to secure it and preserve evidence. Sachs is unwillingly teamed with Rhyme by special request to stop a serial murderer.
The back story is Rhyme’s desire to die. His brilliant mind trapped in a paralyzed body - with motion only in his head, neck and left ring finger. The goal of his colleagues is to convince him that the life of the mind only is still worth living, his mental acuity still being greater that that of anyone around him. Should he be allowed to end his life with the aid of the Lethe Society? This is the first book in a popular series, so we can assume that he continues to find reason to live.
I met Jeffrey Deaver at the NYLA conference in Buffalo last fall. He was the featured speaker at the Public Library Section’s Author! Author! event, and is a genuinely nice guy. His take on his career as a writer was entertaining, the audience was made up of mostly serious fans, so I came away with a mission. I’d seen the movie of The Bone Collector but had not read any of his books.
This one is a thriller (stand-alone I believe) involving 3 convicts escaped from a federal prison in Kansas, a bus carrying 8 deaf students and two teachers (1 deaf) who they are holding hostage, and the FBI team charged with negotiating the recapture of the convicts/release of the hostages. Very well done, but I would have enjoyed it more if I could have skipped work and read it straight through.That said, I’ve got a couple more Deavers in my queue.
Murder in Grant County, GA where a sadistic rapist attacks a blind college professor, leaving her in the bathroom of the local diner. She is found by Dr. Sarah Linton, pediatrician and coroner. A short time later another victim is left on Dr. Linton’s car.
This is the first novel, beginning a series featuring Dr. Linton, her ex-husband Police Chief Jeffrey Tolliver and detective Lena Adams. Well written and plotted, if on the gorey side. Slaughter was obviously a fan of Emily Bronte, as the doctor’s mother is Cathy Linton and she has a cousin named Hareton Earnshaw - maybe Heathcliff shows up in a later book. That aside, I have volume 2, Kisscut in my queue. I do want to know if the doctor and her ex reconnect.
The subtitle of this book is George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and the frontier rebels who challenged America’s newfound sovereignty. It is, I am told, the definitive work on this episode of early American history which nearly lead to civil war. Alexander Hamilton is the villain of the piece; Washington the ailing, aging leader and the only sitting president to lead troops into combat.
To pay off Revolutionary War debt and achieve Hamilton’s financial goals, an excise tax on whiskey was approved by Congress. It seemed expressly designed to drive small distillers out of business and force them into the factories of large distillers - class warfare at its worst - the drama played out in western Pennsylvania in the late 1790’s. Whiskey was used in lieu of currency by small landowners who distilled their grain into whiskey to transport it ove the mountains to the east coast. The reaction of the locals to the actions of the government in Philadelphia; the machinations of the wealthy to keep the upper hand, the intimidation of moderate thinkers by the radicals on both sides all have a compelling immediacy. Although there are an abundance of lessons, we don’t seem to learn much from history.
This was a Trantor audio book, well narrated. Guaranteed to make time a long drive pass quickly.
When Superintendent Thomas Lynley’s pregnant wife was murdered, he resigned from Scotland Yard and went home to Cornwall. Unable to bear the sympathy of family and friends he went off on a coast walk. 40 some days of walking later he finds a body on the beach which sets in motion a chain of events which will bring him back to life, reconnect him with Barbara Havers and probably revive his career.
I thought we had seen the last of Lynley, and am pleased to find him again in this, one of the best of the series. A well plotted, compelling story with many likeable characters (aside from the angry-macho female detective who orders the super about) , far less of the self-conscious angst that makes me cringe, and fairly happy endings for all the deserving. I look forward to more of this Lynley.
This is the first in a delightful series featuring Benjamin Franklin in London as an ambassador for Pennsylvania in an effort to sway public opinion about the Penns and their treatment of the colonists. We meet Nicholas Handy, and orphaned printer’s helper, who we discover is Franklin’s natural son. The fiction of a hidden journal is used as the basis for the stories that unfold (proving the truth of the family legend passed down to the 20th century Handy who finds the book.)
Franklin is presented as a delightful sleuth, astute, observant, brilliant and eccentric. And quite the ladies man. All told I have read 5 books in the series (Murder at Drury Lane, Benjamin Franklin and a case of Christmas murder, Benjamin Franklin and a case of Artful Murder, Murder by the Waters). There are still a few to go.
Thoroughly entertaining, light mystery fare, liberally sprinkled with views of life in 18th century London.
Jane Austen turned sleuth! Barron is a big Austen fan and has chosen to star Jane in a series of murder mysteries. This first finds Jane at the country home of a friend whose husband is murdered. This friend and the viscount’s nephew (and heir) are suspected of colluding in the murder and Jane must prove their innocence. At stake is not only the viscount’s estate and fortune, but the lady’s Caribbean holdings. And there is a threat to the crown. The disdainful Lord Harold Trowbridge helps Jane in her pursuit of justice.
Barron sets up the story as from recently discovered journals and letters from Austen herself. The device is rather heavy handed as in the pretense of footnotes explaining some of the historical references or references to Austen’s “letters”. She writes well in Austen’s style and this is a good series if you are seeking light entertainment.
The second book in the series, Jane and the man of the cloth, evokes Pride and Prejudice. I was figuratively screaming at her for being taken in by Captain Fielding as Eliza Bennett was taken in by George Wickham. He She, of all people, should have known better than to be taken in by slanders against a gentleman from a new acquaintance. The Captain and a laborer are murdered. Geoffrey Sidmouth of High Down Grange is charged with murder. As in book 1, Jane rises to the occasion to save the falsely accused master of the grange - and once again meets the mysterious Lord Harold who helps her apprehend the real murderer, and determine what is really going on at the Grange.
Elizabeth Wilson becomes lady’s maid to Elizabeth Barrett at the age of 16. She stayed with her for 16 years, aiding her elopement with Robert Browning and serving as nanny to their son Pen. This is fictionalized biography at its best, giving a clear impression of the relationships between servant and mistress/master in Victorian times. Wilson matures from a shy and diffident country girl to an assured upper servant, devoted to the two poets whose needs are always paramount.
Red Princess Liu Hulan, Inspector in China’s Ministry of Public Security and husband David Stark, American attorney assigned to China are sent to to investigate two deaths at an archaelogical site. Smuggling artifacts, a Chinese religious cult, antipathy between China and foreigners, personal demons are elements of the story. I was attracted to the book by its promise of an view of Chinese culture and I was not disappointed. This was the second in a series featuring Liu Hulan and her husband. I plan to read the first. Well written fiction is a painless way to develop an enjoyment history and cultural differences.
Rating: 
I’ve long been a fan of novels written in poems, and this was no exception. Following the stories of three teens, hospitalized after their various suicide attempts, it isn’t always the easiest book to read.
Vanessa is a cutter, and was hospitalized after her brother came home to find her bleeding to death in the bathroom. Connor was the perfect kid, aside from his affair, and his incident with the gun. Tony’s life was different from the outset. He spent years in Juvenile Detention, and then some on the streets. After the loss of the closest friend he ever had, he wasn’t sure he could go on anymore.
Throughout the story, Vanessa, Tony and Connor’s stories intertwine, weaving in and out of one another. Tony and Vanessa form a bond which will likely last the rest of the their lives, and which is instrumental to their healing process. Connor, left feeling only he has nowhere to turn, has the hardest time of all. With seemingly the best life, based on appearances, he is a hard lesson in things are not always what they seem.
Any Hopkins fan will definitely appreciate Impulse, as would any poetry lover, or anyone who’s found themselves in a similar situation to its main characters.
Find it in the Catalog
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