On the train from Dobb's

Not a bad Kindle read: The Abduction - a 99 cent special that was a little choppy with flashbacks to Viet Nam but I liked it. Vet's granddaughter is kidnapped by military group in Idaho mountains for a complicated reason. I liked the grandfather/hero Ben Brice.

Before I Go To Sleep

Despite its current popularity, I thought this was a dumb, dumb book. Like the movie 50 First Dates, woman forgets everything when she falls asleep and must relearn her whole history every day. Her husband turns out to be an imposter, best friend did not move to New Zealand, her grown son did not die in Afghanistan. The whole plot was such a stretch it was not believable and irritating as hell to read. Author S.J. Watson. They must have paid LeHane a bundle to "like" this one.

The Beach House

This novel by Jane Green got off to a promising start. I loved the first pages about Nan, the aging eccentric on Nantucket and the subsequent set up chapters about the lives of disparate people who end up together in the island community. However, the tale spiraled into a cliche-ridden drama, drama, drama with a predictable sappy ending. Too bad.

The Tattoo Artist

What a unique and poignant novel by Jill Ciment. A Jewish shopgirl falls in love with a tall, blonde, handsome avant-garde artist and becomes his protegee in the Bohemian art world of 1920's New York. When Philip loses his fortune in the crash, they embark on a South Seas adventure which leaves them stranded on a remote island. It will be 30 years before Sara is "rescued" and returns alone to a new world in which she has no place. The book details the art of primitive tattooing, its origins and meanings. It is a journey through the art world, a world war, and an intense love story. I loved it.

Michael Koryta has written a story which wanders a bit through some hard to digest plot lines that include bargaining with the devil in an isolated area called The Ridge (Blade Ridge, Kentucky). I didn't much like the devil connection but did like the big cat sanctuary and the characters. It was okay.

Scared to Death by Wendy Corsi Staub had a blurb by Jeffrey Deaver which led me to read it. The plot was a bit of a stretch, involving the biological and adoptive mothers of a boy who was kidnapped. Fifteen years have gone by and another adoption is threatened by a number of murders. This was also okay, but not great.

The Story of Beautiful Girl

Aptly title novel by Rachel Simon, this was a great read about two residents of an institution in 1968, a deaf black man and a pregnant girl, who flee the horrors. Soon after taking shelter with the newly-born baby in the farmhouse of a lonely widow, the authorities find them. She is captured, the man flees and the widow hides the baby. A forty year journey through their lives.

More Chevy Stevens

Really like this author. Never Knowing is not as gripping as Still Missing, but great premise, fast read: woman searches for birth parents and finds her father was a serial killer. I'll be watching for more by this author.

Slash by David Klein
Suburban PTA mother Gwen's world erupts when she is arrested for pot possession after a car accident. Under extreme pressure, she confesses she bought the pot from an old boyfriend who later turns up dead.

Leave Reads

Something for the Pain: Compassion and Burnout in the ER by Paul Austin
Memoir by ER physician

Postcard Killers by James Patterson and somebody
Another cookie cutter by Patterson who I vowed not to read again but was desperate

The Girl's Guide to Homelessness: A memoir by Brianna Karp
Didn't like this needy woman much, hated her vulnerability to mean boyfriend

The Confession by John Grisham
This was a good one, been on my shelf for a while, capital punishment gone awry

July has been good so far

'Roid freak Erik Crandell is out of prison and out to get one of the policemen who put him there and stole his drugs. Cop Will Bennett is now off the force and working security for the LA Dodgers, clean and sober. After the death of his first child, Will is expecting another baby with wife Laurie, and must protect them and his golden retriever from the crazed parolee. East on Sunset by Ken Mercer shines a light on the LAPD in the wake of the Rampart scandals.

Fantastic story

Still Missing - I think this one was better than Emma's Room, altho similiar in plot and tone. Real estate saleswoman is abducted after an open house and held in an isolated cabin by a non-descript-appearing guy she calls The Freak. Her boyfriend, her best friend, her mom, all searching. She is beaten, raped, subjected to bizarre rituals and one unimaginable horror. Author Chevy was spot on with her descriptions, emotions, explanations, and pace setting. I truly couldn't put this down but didn't want it to be over. Amazing plotting and ending.

Marcus, a misstep?

Marcus Sakey - risen to the top of my favoirtes list. It doesn't hurt that he is young and handsome. Newest book was well worth waiting for, disappointing only in the realm of love scenes. I'm sorry, Marcus, but it soundeds like a Harlequin romance. I almost wrote him a letter. Might still.

June 28

Anna Mayhew has written a rich novel about a white Southern family with a black nanny which is reminiscent of The Help. Race relations, family relations, coming of age and death. It is a page turner, dramatic and readable and emotional. Oh, the title – The Dry Grass of August.

I am fascinated with hoarding and enjoyed Jessie Sholl’s memoir called Dirty Secret, A Daughter Comes Clean about Her Mother’s Compulsive Hoarding. Found Jessie pretty annoying.

Robert Parker, I love you, and I love the new character Zebulon Sixkill in the book of that name. Sixkill seems to be filling in for Hawk who is off on a mission someplace. Wonder if someone will take over writing Spenser now that Parker is gone. Haven’t heard anything.

O.J.’s DA Marcia Clarke is turning her hand to writing fiction and this legal thriller is obviously well researched as DA Rachel Knight investigates the murder of her pal and associate Jake Pahlmeyer in Guilt by Association. Not exactly a page turner, but worth a read.

Meeting VZandri

was an enlightening event. He spoke about ebook publishing from his vast experience with a list of successful ebooks on Amazon. I had some questions answered and enjoyed Zandri and his significant other, Gina, who is an art instructor at Saint Rose.

Reading this week included Lost by Michael Robotham (a British cop drama featuring Vincent Ruiz, who has sustained both a bullet wound and a case of amnesia about how he got shot).

J.A. Jance entertained with a good read about a cyber stalker who turns up dead with a long trail of duped women in his cyber stable. Ali tries to salvage her friend Brenda from a life of alcohol and suspicion of murder. Fatal Error.

Three Mysteries

Coming Back, a good Sharon McCone, by Marcia Muller. Sharon is recovering from a gunshot to the head and trying to get her life back with the help of the staff. Adah is kidnapped and Craig is beside himself with grief.

The Terror of Living by Urban Waite. Besides having a neat name, this author wrote a readable narrative, made interesting by the fact that the bad guy is really a pretty good guy and wins the sympathy of the sheriff pursuing him. Hey, he loves horses and he loves his wife.

On Borrowed Time by David Rosenfelt, the golden retriever guy. I think I love him. This is not an Andy/dog book but a very good stand alone novel about a guy who loses his fiancee - or, is he loseing his mind? I had a few doubts about the plot line, but really liked the story.

Shangri-La

The success of Unbroken led me to explore more true WWII stories and I found this one - Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff. A transport plane crashes in the wilds of New Guinea with 24 US soldiers, including WACS, aboard. The three survivors - one beautiful, injured WAC, a burned man with a vicious head wound, and a lieutenant whose twin brother died in the crash, must survive in the uncharted and inaccessible jungle, surrounded by cannibals, until they are found and rescued. Totally good one. Complete with real pictures of naked women and men with penis gourds.

Trex Recommends

Ghosts of War by Ryan Smithson, a Columbia High grad who went to Afghanistan as a 19 year old GI. Tristan really liked this and I learned from it. It was written in very simple language, explaining basic Army terms and abbreviations. Not too gory and sad in spots but not overwhelmingly so. I kept thinking it was a YA book, but it wasn't.

In return, I gave him Dave Pelzer's A Boy Called It and was very pleased that he zipped right through it. It is such a great story. He is now readinga Walter Dean Myers' war story about Fallujah which I brought him from the lib.

Joyce recommended a YA book that I also liked: Revolver by Marcus Sedgewick. Set at the turn of the century in Alaska, a teen must cope with the freezing death of his father and a murderous stranger who invades their small isolated home in the wilds.

Finally finished Love is the Best Medicine, a vet's story by Dr. Nick Trout. Sort of a "pick up and read a little now and then" kind of dog book.

I attempted to read Lisa Scottoline's bestseller Save Me and found it totally insipid, bad dialogue, improbable situations, unlikeable characters. A popcorn read for the brain dead. I abandoned it.

Mem Day Reading - two

Emily, Alone reinforces Stewart O'Nan creds as a master storyteller, one who takes an unfortunate backseat to such popular less talented writers such as Grisham. O'Nan has a unique ability to expound on subjects he couldn't possibly have experienced (as in a woman's perspective) as he does in this novel of an aging widow. It is a timely study as we Boomers are approaching this stage of our lives and excellently done.

I also read a little known nonfict account called Death in the Barrens by George Grinnell who, as a college student in the 50's completed a horrific, ill-fated canoe trip across Northern Canada. Not particularly well written but nevertheless very readable, I enjoyed it.

Albany, O Albany

I always like novels set in the Capital District and this is no exception, made especially desirable by the fact that author Vincent Zandri will be here at the library in June. Zandri's new protagonist in the Concrete Pearl (yes, downtown Albany, Pearl Street)is Ava "Spike" Harrison, a tough-as-nails female construction company owner, battling to save her late father's business in the face of an asbestos scandal and murders. I love the references to the area - APL, Miss Albany Diner, etc., and the presence in the story of Tess and the Lark Tavern. Intend to ask how a writer goes about fictionalizing a real person, name and all. Permission? I read this on my Kindle and was distressed by the grammatical errors. Who to blame for that? I am eager to meet Vincent and ask some questions.

A Drop of the Hard Stuff

Sometimes I wish I drank alcohol becuase I find this title particularly attractive. It is a Matt Scudder novel and a good one, as he approached his first year sober and finds him enmeshed in a complicated and threatening multiple killer investigation. Lawrence Block is a dependable writer and I like Scudder.

Not spectacular

what the night knows - Dean Koontz Too supernatural for me. Cop and family assailed by the presence of a long-dead killer.
Crunch Time - Diane Mott Davidson Same old, same old.

Easy Reads for a Hard Week

Sandra Brown is always a reliable storyteller and she came through with tough customer which was easy to get in and out of as I suffered from insomia and worried about my nephew. It was not only a killer/stalker tale, it was a neat love story with some echoes of my own life in it.

i'd know you anywhere is told in flashbacks, a technique I'm not fond of. The situation is: Elizabeth, kidnapped at 15, held for 6 weeks, released by abductor who has previously killed his victims. Twenty years passes, name change, marriage, two kids, Elizabeth starts recieving communications from the incarcerated killer. And, for reasons which the author (Laura Lippman) attempts to explain, the victim responds. I was not thrilled with this book on several levels.

However, I am pretty happy with Rebecca James' Beautiful Malice, although it also was told in flashbacks. A psychopathic "friend" exploits a young woman's guilt over the rape and murder of her younger sister. This "friend" is truly frightening and wrecks havoc in many lives. Read this in a matter hours. Can't find any more by this author, but I'll be watching.