Review: The Burning Lake: A Thriller by Brent Ghelfi

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (May 3, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590589254
• ISBN-13: 978-1590589250

Product Description

Another prominent journalist is found murdered in Putin’s Russia, shot to death on the banks of the Techa River near the radioactive village of Metlino. Katarina Mironova, known around the world as Kato, could simply fade from the public eye, one more journalist killed during Putin’s war on the free press, one more statistic in a grim tally. But to Russian agent Alexei Volkovoy, Kato’s murder evokes far more emotion. It summons too many memories, haunts him in too many ways for him to allow her death go unavenged.

Volk's investigation takes him from Moscow to Mayak, the site of a nuclear reprocessing plant where a massive explosion occurred in 1958, then to Las Vegas. All the while the life he has known with his long-time lover, Valya, and his patron, the General, slowly unravels as details about his secret ties to Kato begin to emerge. Meanwhile, American contract agent Grayson Stone and shadowy French assassin Jean-Louis have secrets of their own to protect. Secrets born in the Afghan desert and the streets of Fallujah. Secrets about the tragic consequences of a nuclear alliance among venal Russian, American, and French politicians. Secrets the American and the French governments will pay anything to protect.

In the end, Volk becomes both the hunter and the hunted in the glittering neon jungle of Las Vegas. Equally at home in the snow-covered woods of the Ural mountains and the seamy alleyways of Industrial Boulevard, Volk tracks his prey across the world trying to learn the truth about the story Kato died trying to report. 

About the Author

 

Brent Ghelfi is the author of VOLK'S GAME, nominated by the International Thriller Writers for Best First Novel of 2007 and by and magazines for a Barry Award for Best Thriller, and the critically-acclaimed VOLK'S SHADOW and THE VENONA CABLE. His novels have been translated into eight languages and optioned for film.   Brent Ghelfi is the author of VOLK'S GAME, nominated by the International Thriller Writers for Best First Novel of 2007 and by and magazines for a Barry Award for Best Thriller, and the critically-acclaimed VOLK'S SHADOW and THE VENONA CABLE. His novels have been translated into eight languages and optioned for film.   Brent Ghelfi is the author of VOLK'S GAME, nominated by the International Thriller Writers for Best First Novel of 2007 and by and magazines for a Barry Award for Best Thriller, and the critically-acclaimed VOLK'S SHADOW and THE VENONA CABLE.His novels have been translated into eight languages and optioned for film.

Brent Ghelfi is the author of VOLK'S GAME, nominated by the International Thriller Writers for Best First Novel of 2007 and by and magazines for a Barry Award for Best Thriller, and the critically-acclaimed VOLK'S SHADOW and THE VENONA CABLE.His novels have been translated into eight languages and optioned for film.

Brent Ghelfi is the author of VOLK'S GAME, nominated by the International Thriller Writers for Best First Novel of 2007 and by Mystery News and Deadly Pleasures magazines for a Barry Award for Best Thriller, and the critically-acclaimed VOLK'S SHADOW and THE VENONA CABLE. His novels have been translated into eight languages and optioned for film.  

My Review

This fast moving thriller by Brent Ghelfi is released on May 3rd. This is Brent Ghelfi's fourth book in the series featuring Russian agent and criminal Alexei Volkovoy known as Volk.  It is a political thriller that takes the reader into the workings of Putin's Russia.  I had not read the three earlier books and this is not necessary to enjoy The Burning Lake.  I love the title and it is a very fitting title as the reader will discover. 

The fallout from radioactive debris lies at the center to the plot of this novel.  A very timely book considering the worry concerning the radiation fears after the Japanese earthquake. Besides enjoying this book as a thriller I also found the political realities of Putin's Russia fascinating.  This book is populated by many harsh violent characters.  This action filled book relives Volk's relationship with murdered journalist Kato as he follows the events that led to her killing.  The haunted Volk takes the reader on an action filled adventure to places and situations I didn't know existed and that I only want to visit on the pages of a book.

Highly recommend this action filled thriller from Brent Ghelfi. 

Chick Lit Central: The Blog!: Interview with Victoria Connelly and Book Giveaway

Great Contest!

Chick Lit Central: The Blog!: Interview with Victoria Connelly and Book Giveaway

Books on The Knob: Free Book (EPUB) - Heaven is for Real

Books on The Knob: Free Book (EPUB) - Heaven is for Real: "Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back ( $6.13 Kindle), by Todd Burpo, Sonja Burpo, Colton Bur..."

We were just talking about this book this morning in my bible study and here it is free.....

Review: A Storm Called Katrina

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Peachtree Publishers (August 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561455911
• ISBN-13: 978-1561455911

Product Description

 

Ten-year-old Louis Daniel hates it when Mama treats him like a baby. But when Hurricane Katrina blows through the Gulf Coast on a fateful August night, followed by broken levees and rising floodwaters threatening New Orleans, Louis feels like a little kid again. With no time to gather their belongings save Louis s beloved horn Daddy leads the family from their home and into an unfamiliar, watery world of floating debris, lurking critters, a winsome black-and-white dog, and desperate neighbors heading for dry ground. Taking shelter in the already-crowded Superdome, Louis and his parents wait and wait. As the days pass, the electricity goes out, the air conditioning dies, the bathrooms are closed, and people around them begin to bicker as they run out of food and water. When Daddy fails to return from a scouting mission within the Dome, Louis knows he s no longer a baby. It s up to him to find Daddy, with the help of his prized cornet. 

 

About the Author

 

Myron Uhlberg is the author of several picture books and the adult memoir Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love¸ which was featured in the Barnes & Noble Discover New Writers Program. He lives in California.


My Review


I couldn't pass up this children's book on Net Galley.  Hurricane Katrina is one of the most memorable events in my lifetime and probably in most peoples'.  The storm has caused the levee to break and young Louis' neighbourhood is quickly flooding.  All he do is grab his cornet before they vacate.   They escape with their lives on a wooden pallet/raft.  They eventually make it to the Superdome.  Louis' cornet figures prominently throughout the book.  Very realistic children's book to help educate those who were too young to remember.  The poignant illustrations portray the story perfectly.

Highly recommend this book for young and old alike.

Review:The Terror of Living: A Novel by Urban Waite

• Author:  Urban Waite
  
• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; First Edition edition (February 7, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316097896
• ISBN-13: 978-0316097895

Phil Hunt and Bobby Drake are good men who live on opposite sides of the law. Hunt supports his family and struggling horse farm by guiding an occasional illicit delivery through mountain passes he's known since birth. Drake is a sheriff who is living down the legacy of his father, a police officer before him who augmented his earnings in the same trade as Hunt. 

The two men's paths cross in the mountains north of Seattle, when Drake notices a horse trailer parked in an odd location and ends up disrupting a shipment. The operation that seemed benign when it worked smoothly now reveals to Hunt just how deadly his sideline has become. His suppliers unleash a singleminded fury known as The Chef to recover what's theirs. And Drake's and Hunt's world is explosively invaded by forces they've never dreamed of.

Relentless and gorgeously written, with original characters and a vividly powerful sense of place, THE TERROR OF LIVING heralds the arrival of a writer who will be compared with the great suspense novelists.

From Publishers Weekly

 

Drug smuggling in the Pacific Northwest provides the backdrop for Waite's promising debut. Phil Hunt leads a quiet life with his wife, Nora, raising horses near Auburn, Wash., except when he's helping make drug deliveries through the mountains to Canada. Twenty years earlier, Phil killed a man during a botched robbery, and though he did his time, he's still serving the emotional sentence. Living in nearby Silver Lake is deputy Bobby Drake, the son of a legendary lawman who got arrested smuggling drugs just like Phil. Disaster results after Bobby, who hasn't seen the elder Drake in 10 years, inadvertently stumbles on Phil and his new partner during the middle of a drug exchange. Soon, Phil is on the run not only from the law but also a ruthless assassin sent by the smugglers. Waite eloquently depicts men in turmoil for whom the choice isn't necessarily between right and wrong but where to draw the line. (Feb.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. 

 

From Booklist

 

*Starred Review* A few years ago, just as the creases were starting to form on his chiseled face, Clint Eastwood would have been perfect for the role of Phil Hunt, a horse farmer and ex-convict in Washington State who supplements his meager income with the occasional spot of drug smuggling—nothing too dramatic, just picking up a few bales of weed dropped into the mountains, strapping them onto his horse, and riding the load back to civilization. Then a deputy marshal, Bobby Drake, whose father was also in the marijuana business, stumbles across one of Hunt’s horseback pick-ups, and though Hunt escapes their first encounter, Drake, with a single-mindedness reminiscent of Lieutenant Gerard on the trail of Richard Kimble, sets off after his man. Ah, but this is noir-tinged fiction, not TV melodrama, and standing between Drake and Hunt is a psycho-killer hit man, hired by Hunt’s drug bosses, who enjoys his work way too much (think Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear). Hunt is cut from the western rugged-individualist mold, but there is vulnerability there, too, just behind the eyes, and when he tells his wife, long-suffering Nora, that “we’ll figure this out, and we’ll be all right,” we hear the determination, but we also hear the tired resignation of a man forced to make a stand that may be beyond him. In a blood-spattered chase that winds from the Cascade Mountains in Central Washington to Seattle and back again, first-novelist Waite never eases the throttle, but even at high speed, it’s the interplay between the characters that gives the novel its power. An outstanding debut. --Bill Ott

About the Author

 

Urban Waite, 30 years old, grew up in Seattle and attended the University of Washington. He went on to study writing at Western Washington University and Emerson College and now lives in Seattle with his wife. The Terror of Living is his first novel. 

 

 

My Review

 

What an excellent first novel by author Urban Waite.  I always wondered why more authors did not utilize the smuggling that goes on in the remote stretches of the US Canadian border particularly in the mountainous region between British Columbia and Washington state as the background for their writings. I am very familiar with the area he writes about so that made the story even that more enjoyable for me.  The book was hard to put down as the action was never ending.  Mr. Waite developed the characters beautifully and I could picture them all easily in my head.  Insightful, wonderfully written novel however it does have more than its fair share of gore!  

Highly recommend this debut novel!

Review: Look Away, Dixieland: A Carpetbagger's Great-Grandson Travels Highway 84 in Search of the Shack-up-on-Cinder-Blocks, Confederate-Flag-Waving, Squirrel-Hunting, Boiled-Peanuts, Deep-Drawl, Don't-Stop-the-Car-Here South

• Author:  James Twitchell
  
• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (March 18, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807137618
• ISBN-13: 978-0807137611

From Goodreads

As a boy, James Twitchell heard stories about his ancestors in Louisiana and even played with his great-grandfather's Civil War sword, but he never appreciated the state and the events that influenced a pivotal chapter in his family history. His great-grandfather, Marshall Harvey Twitchell, a carpetbagger from Vermont, had settled in upstate Louisiana during Reconstruction, married a local girl, and encountered much success until a fateful day in August 1874. The dramatic story of the elder Twitchell's life and near assassination fuels the author s pursuit of his family s history and a true understanding of the South.

In Look Away, Dixieland, Vermont-native Twitchell sets out from his current home in Florida on the inauguration day of America s first black president to find the real South and to try to understand the truth about his illustrious ancestor. He travels in an RV from Georgia s Okefenokee Swamp across Alabama and Mississippi to Coushatta, Louisiana. As he drives through the heart of Dixie, Twitchell sorts through the prejudices he learned from his northern rearing. In searching for the culture he had held at arm's length for so long, he tours small-town southern life in campgrounds, cotton gins, churches, country fairs, and squirrel dog kennels and uncovers some fundamental truths along the way. Notably, he discovers that prejudices of race, class, and ideology are not limited by geography. As one man from Georgia mockingly summed up North versus South stereotypes, ''Y'all are rude and we re stupid.''

Unexpectedly, Twitchell also uncovers facts about his great-grandfather and sheds new light on his family's past. An enlightening, humorous, and refreshingly honest search, Look Away, Dixieland reveals some of the differences and similarities that ultimately define us as a nation.

About the Author

James B. Twitchell lives in Gainesville, Florida, and Charlotte, Vermont, with his wife, Mary. He was a professor of English at the University of Florida for many years and is the author of, among others, Twenty Ads That Shook the World; Living It Up: Our Love Affair with Luxury; Branded Nation: The Marketing of Megachurch, College, Inc., and Museumworld; and Where Men Hide.

My Review

I've always been fascinated by the American South so I read this book with great interest.  It is a history book in that it recounts the story of "carpetbagger" Marshall Harvey Twitchell, the great-grandfather of the author.  And it is a travelogue in that it describes the RV journey undertaken by the author and his wife along Highway 84 through the Deep South.  It was a really interesting read.  Like most people I had never heard of the massacre at Colfax or Coushatta, both in Louisiana.  The knowledge of these events and how they fit into the decline of reconstruction of the US South was very enlightening.  I also found the description of the area along Highway 84 to be quite fascinating.  I appreciate that the author was curious about his family's history and that he needed to know the whole story.   If you are interested in the history, geography and sociology of the US South then this is a must read.

Review: The Shelter of God's Promises by Sheila Walsh

• Author:  Sheila Walsh
  
• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (February 8, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9781418546069
• ISBN-13: 978-1418546069
• ASIN: 1418546062

Sheila's first in-depth 10-week DVD Bible Study "The Shelter of God's Promises".
Includes 10 DVD teaching lessons, a 50-lesson workbook and leader's guide. Perfect for church and women's group study.


In a world of uncertainty, pain, and struggle, where do you find solid assurance and unshakeable truth?
Gifted Bible teacher and inspiring Women of Faith speaker Sheila Walsh offers powerful, heart-filled teaching on ten bedrock promises of God, providing the foundation for daily confidence, joy, and hope.
In The Shelter of God’s Promises, Sheila searches Scripture for what God has promised us, what God's promises mean, and how encounters with Christ are the eternal fulfillment of His unrelenting commitment to us. In this riveting walk through some of the Bible's most compelling stories, Walsh unveils ten foundational promises of God that secure our lives during even the most difficult times. Sheila weaves her hallmark storytelling, inspiring personal experience, and Scripture to help readers gain a trust in God that will sustain them for a lifetime.

You can read the first chapter of the book here.

About the Author:


Sheila Walsh is a powerful Bible teacher and best-selling author from Scotland with over 4 million books sold. A featured speaker with Women of Faith® conferences, she has reached more than 3.5 million women by combining honesty, vulnerability, and humor with God's Word.

Sheila is the author of the best-selling memoir Honestly, the Gold Medallion Award nominee The Heartache No One Sees, the Retailer's Choice Award nominee Beautiful Things Happen When A Woman Trusts God and the Gigi, God's Little Princess series, which has won the National Retailer's Choice Award twice and is the most popular Christian brand for young girls in the US. She just released her newest book and DVD Bible study for women The Shelter of God's Promises. In 2012, she will release her life-message book God Loves Broken People.

Currently completing her Masters in Theology, Sheila lives in Frisco, Texas with her husband, Barry, her son, Christian, and her two little dogs, Belle and Tink.

Click here to view some frequently asked questions about Sheila, her web site, and her ministry.


My Review:

Just yesterday I was watching and discussing one of Sheila's appearances with Women of Faith at my ladies bible study and today I am reviewing her newest book which is a DVD based bible study and lesson guide.  I did not have access to the DVD so this is a review of the participant's guide only.

This bible study is about the Ten Promises that the Lord has given us:

Jesus - I Need Something to Hold On To
Provision- I Don't Have Enough
Peace- I'm Afraid and Feel Alone
Confidence-I Can't See God's Plan in this Pain
Love- I Don't Believe that Anyone Could Really Love Me
Grace- I Have Failed
Hope- I'm Broken
Strength- I Feel Things Are Crashing Around Me
More- I Know There's Something Better
Home- I Have a Future

This study is set up in a similar fashion to recent Beth Moore studies I have done.  A bible study watches the DVD together then discusses it in their small group.  Then there are four lessons for the participant to complete independently.  The book is well laid out with introspective questions that challenge the participant. 

From what I can see without having read the book or seeing the DVD lessons, I believe that this will be a great bible study and I will recommend it to my bible study.

Review: Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London

• Author:  Andrea Warren
• Reading level: Young Adult
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (September 26, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0547395744
• ISBN-13: 978-0547395746

Product Description

 

Provoked by the horrors he saw every day, Charles Dickens wrote novels that were originally intended as instruments for social change — to save his country’s children.

 

Charles Dickens is best known for his contributions to the world of literature, but during his young life, Dickens witnessed terrible things that stayed with him: families starving in doorways, babies being “dropped” on streets by mothers too poor to care for them, and a stunning lack of compassion from the upper class. After his family went into debt and he found himself working at a shoe-polish factory, Dickens soon realized that the members of the lower class were no different than he, and, even worse, they were given no chance to better themselves. It was then that he decided to use his greatest talent, his writing ability, to tell the stories of those who had no voice.

 

 

From Goodreads:

 

Charles Dickens is best-known for his contributions to the world of literature: Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol.  In Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London, acclaimed historical author Andrea Warren shares with readers the motivations behind Dickens' novels and then brings readers headlong into the poverty-stricken world of 19th century London. During his young life, Dickens witnessed terrible things: families starving in doorways, babies being "dropped" on streets by mothers too poor or too sick to care for them, and most of all he witnessed a stunning lack of compassion from the upper class.  After his family went into debt and he found himself working at a blacking factory (where boot polish was made), Dickens, who had been raised to believe that the lower classes were not only undeserving of anything better, but were so dirty that he could be contaminated by them, soon realized that they were no different than he, and even worse, they were given no chances to better themselves.  It was at this blacking factory that he met a kind friend named Bob Fagin, who would go on to be named one of Dickens' most memorable (and villanous!) characters in Oliver Twist. 

At 25, Dickens became the toast of London with his first novel, The Pickwick Papers.  People of all classes read it - the poor would pool together money to purchase this serial novel.  But Dickens had more serious stories to tell: he wanted to tell of the workhouses were small children toiled for their entire lives; he wanted to tell of all the horrible things he had seen the upper class turn their back to.  He wanted to tell one child's story, and that child became Oliver.  With the runaway success of Oliver Twist, and it's memorable "Please sir, I want some more," Dickens was thrust into the public spotlight as a spokesman championing the rights of the deserving poor.  His time as an instrument of social change was just beginning.  Along with some contemporaries in the world of music, art and education, Dickens changed school systems, hospitals, and orphanages, all while representing the lowest class with the same respect as the upper class in his novels. 

Spirited, smart, and handsome, but not without his own demons and personal issues, Charles Dickens is an enigmatic character whose name is recognized the world over, but whose achievements outside the literary realm are not often discussed.  Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London melds these two legacies in an intriguing, compelling and fast-paced biography, filled with historical images and photographs. 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

 

Andrea Warren's books about children are the result of her passion for history and her interest in young readers. She has been a professional writer for twenty years and works from her home office in the Kansas City area. Her first book for Houghton Mifflin, Orphan Train Rider, won the 1996 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for nonfiction.

 

My Review

 

I found this a particularly fascinating book because it is a part of my family history.  One side of my ancestry were very poor Londoners, in fact East Enders or Cockneys.  My great-grandmother spent her childhood years in a workhouse because her widowed mother was too poor to care for her and her siblings.  What an honest and realistic look at the plight of the children of London in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  This book probes how the writings of Charles Dickens enlightened people to the realities of the poor.  The book chronicles the life of Charles Dickens and the changes in his early life that brought him in contact with the poor of London who he would write about so brilliantly.

Did you know that the life span of an average London resident almost two hundred years ago was twenty-seven years.  And for the poor twenty-two.  Amazing. London was a filthy, violent, despair ridden city for most.  This book has wonderful illustrations, both photographic and drawn.

The author encourages everyone to something to help improve the lot of others.  What a wonderful book for young and older reads alike.

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Review: A Deeper Kind of Calm by Linda Dillow

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: NavPress; New Edition edition (September 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600060757
• ISBN-13: 978-1600060755

Product Description

 

Through the Psalms, women can learn how to positively handle the disappointments of life, discern the comforting truth found in God’s Word, and be encouraged to deal with the waves of trials, depression, and discouragement.

• Includes a 4-week Bible study

 

From the Back Cover

 

How D o We Wa l k B o l d ly Wh e n Ou r Wo r l d S e e m s t o B e C r u m b l i n g B e n e at h Ou r Fe e t ? Join celebrated author and speaker Linda Dillow on the journey to contentment with this follow-up to the best-selling Calm My Anxious Heart. Learn how to positively handle the disappointments of life and discern the comforting truth found in God’s Word. Be encouraged and learn to deal with the waves of trials, depression, and discouragement that threaten to flood our souls. Hidden in the psalms are portraits of what faith looks like in times of trial. Through them, author Linda Dillow will help you discover how to: -remember what God has done (Psalm 77) -hide in His presence (Psalm 46) -cling to Him (Psalm 63) - praise Him for all we cannot see (Psalm 84) The glorious promise from Psalm 84 is that as we walk through the “valley of weeping,” it can be turned into a place of blessing. Includes a four-week Bible study to help you further unpack the comforting truth of God’s Word.

 

 

About the Author

 

Linda Dillow is the author or coauthor of numerous best-selling books, including Satisfy My Thirsty Soul, Calm My Anxious Heart, Creative Counterpart, Intimate Issues, and Intimacy Ignited. Linda and her husband, Jody, lived in Europe and Asia for seventeen years training Christian leaders with Biblical Education by Extension. Linda now speaks frequently at women’s conferences. The Dillows, who have four grown children and seven grandchildren, live in Monument, Colorado.

 

 

My Review

 

I was looking forward to this book with great anticipation.  My ladies bible study, previous to my joining, had studied Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow and could not stop raving about it!  A Deeper Kind of Calm is a book about maintaining steadfast faith in the midst of adversity.  I very much enjoyed reading the book as well as working through the study questions.  It is a wonderful volume for dealing with the hard times in our lives.

The book is divided into a four week bible study that can be done on your own or with your bible study group. It breaks down into four different chapters from Psalms:  remember what God has done (Psalm 77), hide in His presence (Psalm 49), cling to him (Psalm 63) and praise him for all we cannot see (Psalm 84). The concluding chapter wraps up the journey we are on to face the adversities in our lives and move forward. This book helps to learn how to positively handle the disappointments of life and discern the comforting truth found in God's Word.

Ms. Dillow begins by pointing out that although Psalms is generally thought of as God's hymnal of praise, we also need to remember that it is also a book about pain.  She asks three questions:

 

1. Is it possible to go through the Valley of Weeping without falling apart?
2. Is it possible to have joy in the midst of suffering?
3. Is it possible to grow in intimacy with the Lord as we travel through the valley?

Ms. Dillow helps us find the answers to these questions in this enlightening bible study.

You can find a sample chapter here.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NavPress Publishers as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

 

Review: A Drop of the Hard Stuff by Lawrence Block

• Author:  Lawrence Block
  
• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Mulholland Books (May 12, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316127337
• ISBN-13: 978-0316127332

Product Description

 

"The Matthew Scudder novels are among the finest detective novels penned in this century."-Jonathan Kellerman

Matthew Scudder is facing his demons. Forced out of the NYPD, he's given up the drink. He's thinking seriously about his relationship with sometime girlfriend Jan. Then he runs into "High-Low" Jack Ellery, a childhood friend from the Bronx. They're two sides of the same coin: Scudder once solved crimes as a detective. Ellery committed them. In Scudder, Ellery sees the moral man he might have become. In Ellery, Scudder sees the hard-won sobriety he hopes to achieve.

Then Ellery is killed, shot once in the mouth and once between the eyes, presumably while attempting to atone for past sins. Is it what he saw or what he said that got him killed? Ellery had no family, no friends to press for justice. Scudder reluctantly begins his own investigation, with just one lead-Ellery's Alcoholics Annonymous list of people he wronged. One of them may be a murderer, but that's not necessarily Scudder's greatest danger. Immersing himself in Ellery's world may lead him right back to the bar stool.

Exploring themes of loss, nostalgia, and redemption, for Lawrence Block, A DROP OF THE HARD STUFF circles back to how it all began, reestablishing why the Matthew Scudder series is widely regarded as one of the pinnacles of American detective fiction. 

 

About the Author

 

Lawrence Block is a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, has won multiple Edgar and Shamus awards and countless international prizes. The author of more than 50 books, he lives in New York City.

My Review

A Drop of the Hard Stuff is the seventeenth novel in the Matthew Scudder series and is the first book that I have read in this series. It can also be read as a stand alone novel.  In fact this novel actually goes back in time to the 1980s to the days when detective Matthew Scudder was approaching his first anniversary of sobriety and living alone in a hotel in New York City.  This book has a heavy focus on the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and the program itself.  The murder of an old friend of Jack's is directly related to that friend, Jack, religiously following the steps in the program.  Step 8, making amends and dredging up the past lead to the demise of Jack.  Greg, Jack's AA sponsor, hires Matt because he feels responsible as he is considered a step-Nazi in the AA program.  Greg believes that his encouragement to Jack to follow the steps is what has led to his death. 

This book is a great mystery and it is also an amazing chronicle of the reality of a alcoholic encountering their first anniversary of sobriety.  A real eye opener and a real winner.

Review: The Bayou Trilogy by Daniel Woodrell

• Author:  Daniel Woodrell
  
• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Mulholland Books (April 28, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316133655
• ISBN-13: 978-0316133654

From Publishers Weekly

 

Starred Review. Collected in a single volume for the first time, Woodrell's three stellar novels featuring Det. Rene Shade, an ex-boxer turned cop, provide entrée into the Louisiana swamp town of Saint Bruno, a place where "tempers went on the prowl and relief was driving a hard bargain." Woodrell (Winter's Bone) injects Shade's life and various cases with both humor and brutal violence. In Bright Lights (1986), the investigation into a city councilman's murder mushrooms into a corruption scandal, with Shade feeling pressure from above for a quick—and predetermined—result. Muscle for the Wing (1988) finds Shade up against a gang of ex-cons, hell-bent on wrestling control of Saint Bruno's less-than-legal action. Shade and his two brothers—bar owner Tip and district attorney Francois—are reunited with their long-absent paterfamilias, John X., in The Ones You Do (1992), in which John X. returns to Saint Bruno with a 10-year-old daughter and a killer on his trail. There's poetry in Woodrell's mayhem, each novel—and scene—full of gritty and memorable Cajun details. (Apr.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Product Description

 

A hard-hitting, critically acclaimed trilogy of crime novels from an author about whom New York magazine has written, "What people say about Cormac McCarthy ... goes double for [Woodrell]. Possibly more."

In the parish of St. Bruno, sex is easy, corruption festers, and double-dealing is a way of life. Rene Shade is an uncompromising detective swimming in a sea of filth.

As Shade takes on hit men, porn kings, a gang of ex-cons, and the ghosts of his own checkered past, Woodrell's three seminal novels pit long-entrenched criminals against the hard line of the law, brother against brother, and two vastly different sons against a long-absent father.

THE BAYOU TRILOGY highlights the origins of a one-of-a-kind author, a writer who for over two decades has created an indelible representation of the shadows of the rural American experience and has steadily built a devoted following among crime fiction aficionados and esteemed literary critics alike. 

 

About the Author

 

Five of Daniel Woodrell's eight published novels were selected as New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Tomato Red won the PEN West Award for the Novel in 1999. Woodrell lives in the Ozarks near the Arkansas line with his wife, Katie Estill.

Excellent article here:  http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/daniel-woodrell-the-ozark-daredevil-404146.html

My Review


Daniel Woodrell is the author of Winter's Bone which was made into a critically acclaimed film of the same name.  He is based in West Plains, Missouri in the heart of the Ozarks.   Mulholland Books has rereleased three of Woodrell's novels featuring Detective Rene Shade in this one volume:  The Bayou Trilogy.  The three novels are 1986's Under The Bright Lights, 1988's Muscle For The Wing and 1992's The Ones You Do.  The novels are set in fictional St. Bruno, Louisiana in the heart of Cajun country.  Crime and corruption abound.  These three stories are very gritty but realistic tales. Mr. Woodrell's writing style is amazing.

I highly recommend this trilogy of stories from one of the US south's most powerful writers. 

Review: Devil Wind: A Sammy Greene Thriller

• Authors:   Deborah Shlian and Linda Reid
• Hardcover: 377 pages
• Publisher: Oceanview Publishing (April 4, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933515899
• ISBN-13: 978-1933515892

From Publishers Weekly

 

Set in the waning days of 1999 in Los Angeles as fierce Santa Ana winds fuel massive wildfires, Shlian and Reid's second thriller featuring feisty on-air radio host Sammy Greene (after Dead Air) suffers from a lack of credibility. Sammy's estranged father, real estate tycoon Jeffrey Greene, is involved with Neil Prescott, a crooked U.S. congressman, who's plotting with CIA operative Albert Miller to shift the political climate. In particular Neil wants to ensure "the election of a president who favored a much more aggressive approach against the enemies of America and her Saudi brothers," by causing a dirty bomb explosion and toppling buildings through the use of a device called a resonator. A confusing plot, too many coincidences, and an emphasis on Sammy's romantic problems mark this effort as "thriller lite" and of interest mostly to those who are looking for plenty of pluck in their heroines and lots of tugged heartstrings. (Apr.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Product Description

 

 

Outspoken, brash New Yorker Sammy Greene needs a second chance. Fired from her job as a Washington TV producer, her midnight to 3 am show "Sammy Greene on the LA Scene" at a small progressive radio station soon has Sammy ruffling the feathers of a popular Orange County Congressman. And everyone is listening.December, 1999. 10 days before the new millennium. Already on edge with Santa Ana "devil wind" fanning fires threatening to engulf the city and Y2K looming, Sammy's callers imagine Armageddon - the perfect setting for a rogue CIA operative to manipulate fears as cover for his deadly plot.A young woman's burned body identified as the wayward daughter of old friend, Gus Pappajohn spurs the ex- campus cop to join Sammy in what may be a murder investigation, along the way exposing the seamy underbelly of Tinseltown. If Sammy's not careful this time, someone will make sure she's off the air for good.

About the Author

 

Deborah is a physician, healthcare consultant, and author of five award winning medical mystery/thrillers, three co-authored with her husband, Joel. Linda is a physician-broadcaster-author and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at UCLA. Deborah Shlian and Linda Reid are also authors of Dead Air, which won top honors in the Thriller category of the National Indie Excellence 2010 Awards.


My Review

I have not read the first novel in this series by Deborah Shlian and Linda Reid, Dead Air.  Devil Wind can easily be a stand alone novel.  This book features Sammy Greene who is a radio talk show host working the midnight shift in Los Angeles.  It is the turn of the millennium, December 1999.  The Santa Ana "devil" winds are blowing and fanning fires in the hills above Los Angeles.  There is political corruption and murder in this fast paced story.  Sammy's long lost father also makes an appearance as a wealthy real estate developer.  


A good thriller but I found it almost too fast paced at times as there were many intersecting story lines.

Review: Sentenced To Death by Lorna Barrett

• Author:  Lorna Barrett
  
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (June 7, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425241866
• ISBN-13: 978-0425241868

Product Description

 

As the owner of Stoneham, New Hampshire's mystery bookstore Haven't Got a Clue, Tricia Miles can figure out whodunit in the latest bestseller long before she gets to the last page. But when her friend is killed in a freak accident, Tricia must use her sleuthing skills to solve a murder mystery that promises to be much more sinister than the books on her shelves.

The Booktown Mystery series concerns a mystery bookseller who deals in rare, out-of-print, and used books. What does "L" know about bookselling? A little. She, too, has sold used books.

Authors are split on the whether "used" bookstores are good for building their careers. From a reader's perspective, they're a great way to find new authors or find out-of-print books by their favorite authors. Sadly, authors make no money from the sales of used books--and this is a business where unless you're Stephen King, Nora Roberts, or John Grisham, you aren't going to make enough money from your writing career to cover the mortgage and groceries. So it's a catch-22.

Tricia Miles, the owner of the Haven't Got a Clue bookstore that's the heart of the Booktown Mysteries, also sells new books, thus helping current "real" authors (who are mentioned in the Booktown Mysteries) stake out some kind of living, as well as keeping "alive" the works of long-dead authors.


About The Author

Lorna Barret is the author of the Book Town Mystery series, from Berkley Prime Crime. The first book in the series, MURDER IS BINDING, was published in April 2008, followed by Bookmarked for Death (2009) and Bookplate Special. (11/2009) Bookplate Special was an Agatha Nominee for best novel, 2009.

Chapter & Hearse was released 8/3/10, and Sentenced to Death will be released in June 2011.

Check out her web site:
www.LornaBarrett.com

Her Blog:
www.LornaBarrett.blogspot.com

My Review

Wonderful to return to Stoneham, New Hampshire in Lorna Barrett's latest Booktown Mystery: Sentenced To Death.  The fast paced action packed novel starts off with a plane careening into the town's square's gazebo on Founder's Day.  Tricia Miles is stunned by the death of her good friend, Deborah Black, and the death of the pilot of the small plane.  It's an accident....or is it?  And what is with the company Nigela Racita Associates that are buying up all the property in town?

All of your favorite characters are back in this wonderful cozy mystery. Tricia's sister Angelica continues to cook up a storm in her restaurant as well as writing a new cookbook. Captain Barker is still hanging around.
And in Tricia's life, her bookshop, Haven't Got A Clue, is humming along with Miss Marple in residence.  But there is an employee change up in the works.  And what is with ex-husband Christopher and his extravagant gifts?

Getting back to Deborah Black.  Her husband David does not seem too heartbroken at the demise of his wife.  In fact, he seems to be hurrying all the arrangements along.  He's ignoring his son and being down right rude to his grief stricken mother-in-law.  And suddenly the welder seems to have a career in sculpture that was not evident before.

Another death proves to Tricia that she is on the right track.  But who could the murderer be?  Who benefits?  This delightful cozy publishes in June just in time for a great summer read!  Pre-order a copy today!

Review: Murder in Passy: An Aimee Leduc Investigation by Cara Black

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Soho Crime (March 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569478821
• ISBN-13: 978-1569478820

Product Description

 

The village-like neighborhood of Passy, home to many of Paris’s wealthiest residents, is the last place one would expect a murder. But when Aimée Leduc’s godfather, Morbier, a police commissaire, asks her to check on his girlfriend at her home there, that’s exactly what Aimée finds. Xavierre, a haut bourgeois matron of Basque origin, is strangled in her garden while Aimée waits inside. Circumstantial evidence makes Morbier the prime suspect, and to vindicate him, Aimée must identify the real killer. Her investigation leads her to police corruption; the radical Basque terrorist group, ETA; and a kidnapped Spanish princess.

You're invited to experience even more of Aimée Leduc's Paris with an exclusive companion by Cara Black. Download the Aimée Leduc Companion for free at www.sohopress.com/companion.pdf

 

From Publishers Weekly

Full of French political intrigue, Black's atmospheric 11th Aimée Leduc investigation (after 2010's Murder in the Palais Royal) finds the Paris PI's world turned upside down with the arrest of her godfather and longtime mentor, Commissaire Morbier, for murder. Worse yet, the victim—Morbier's inamorata, Xavierre d'Eslay—was with Aimée minutes before her death by strangulation. To clear Morbier, Aimée must dig deep as his fellow officers close rank and refuse to cooperate. Helping Aimée are her detective agency partner, René; her cousin, Sebastian; and her former policeman lover, Melac, who may or may not have an agenda of his own during the investigation. Though Xavierre lived a life of privilege in the posh suburb of Passy, Aimée discovers her past is shrouded in secrecy, linked to Basque separatists and terrorist acts. While the characters and their motivations can sometimes be hard to follow, the plot builds to a satisfying conclusion. (Mar.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. 

 

About the Author

 

Cara Black is the author of ten previous books in the bestselling Aimée Leduc series, all of which are available from the Soho Crime imprint. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and son and visits Paris frequently.

Cara blogs here:  http://murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com/ 
 

My Review

I was delighted to be transported once again to Aimee Leduc's Paris in Murder in Passy.  Each of Cara Black's books are focused upon a different area of Paris.  Aimee Leduc is a private investigator who with her partner Rene own the Leduc Detective Agency which is located on the rue du Louvre in the heart of Paris.  Aimee is tres chic running around Paris in couture and designer high heels and of course always wearing Chanel lipstick.  In this book, the eleventh Aimee Leduc adventure our heroine is still recovering from her injuries that occurred in the last adventure, Murder in the Palais Royale.

We leap right into the story in November 1997.  Aimee has decided to ask Morbier's assistance in locating her brother Julian.  And Morbier has a favour to ask of her.  Xavierre, Morbier's lady friend, who Morbier had asked Aimee to check up on is murdered and Morbier is the prime suspect.  Thus the race is on for Aimee to clear her godfather Morbier.  This fast moving, action filled novel is a pleasure to read.

This story explores the Passy section of Paris,  the 16th arrondissement, which sounds like a beautiful part of the city.  And it also focuses on the continuing fight of the Basques to gain independence from Spain and France.  The story also hints at police corruption and everything comes to a head when a Spanish Princess is kidnapped.  I was fascinated to learn about the Passy reservoir.  I always learn something new about Paris in Cara Black's books.  I enjoyed having The Aimee Leduc Companion which I downloaded from the site mentioned above to help keep track of characters and picture where all the action was taking place on the maps...I love maps!

We are given hints in this volume regarding the whereabouts of Aimee's mother.  It seems that Morbier has been keeping some secrets.  I'm looking forward to Aimee finding out more about her mother and her brother in future books.

I have read the entire series and I highly recommend this eleventh outing of the sophisticated, gutsy Aimee Leduc. 

I would like to thank Cara Black and Soho Press, Inc. for providing me with a copy of Murder in Passy for the purposes of this review.

Review: Moonlight Cove by Sherryl Woods

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Mira (April 26, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778329798
• ISBN-13: 978-0778329794

Product Description

 

Jess O'Brien has overcome a lot—the challenges of attention deficit disorder, the near bankruptcy of her beloved Inn at Eagle Point and her self-perception as a screwup in a family of overachievers. Now she's ready to share the future with a man. Her friends persuade her to join a dating service—but she gets no takers! Which is fine with her childhood friend, psychologist Will Lincoln, who's already chosen the perfect man for Jess: himself.

 

Will has loved Jess practically forever. He knows her faults and her strengths. But for all Will's sincerity and charm, Jess fears he views her as some psychological case study. With her family and the town of Chesapeake Shores behind him, Will finally makes his case. But is it enough to convince Jess to take the risk of a lifetime?

About the Author

 

With her roots firmly planted in the South, Sherryl Woods has written many of her more than 100 books in that distinctive setting, whether her home state of Virginia, her adopted state, Florida, or her much-adored South Carolina. She's also especially partial to small towns, wherever they may be. A member of Novelists Inc., Sisters in Crime and Romance Writers of America, Sherryl divides her time between her childhood summer home overlooking the Potomac River in Colonial Beach, Virginia, and her oceanfront home, with its lighthouse view, in Key Biscayne, Florida. 



My Review

Thanks to the wonderful galley review program at Net Galley I have been introduced to wonderful new-to-me authors who I had not read before.  I have now discovered the writings of Sherryl Woods.  Moonlight Cove is part of Ms. Wood's Chesapeake Shores series.  Although this was book six in the series it was not necessary to have read the previous books.  Now that I have read Moonlight Cove I wish I had started at the beginning of the series so that the characters would mean more to me.  Will definitely have to do that with the other series written by Sherryl Woods.

This was a beautiful love story of a woman discovering that love was right in front of her all the time.  The story of Jess O'Brien and Will Lincoln was was not the only story told here though.  The O'Brien family who are the main characters in this Chesapeake Shores series are all updated.  There is new love as well for Jess's uncle with one of her close friends.  The story does focus primarily on Jess, her business, her struggles with ADD, and her perception as flighty by her family.  It is a warm and uplifting love story filled with the love of family as well.

Highly recommend this heartwarming story and I'm looking forward to reading more of Sherryl Woods.

Review: A Turn in the Road by Debbie Macomber

• Author:  Debbie Macomber
  
• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Mira (April 26, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778329836
• ISBN-13: 978-0778329831

Product Description

 

In the middle of the year, in the middle of her life, Bethanne Hamlin takes a road trip with her daughter, Annie, and her former mother-in-law, Ruth.

 

They're driving to Florida for Ruth's 50th high-school reunion. A longtime widow, Ruth would like to reconnect with Royce, the love of her teenage life. She's heard he's alone, too…and, well, she's curious. Maybe even hopeful.

Bethanne herself needs time to reflect, to ponder a decision she has to make. Her ex-husband, Grant—her children's father—wants to reconcile now that his second marriage has failed. Bethanne's considering it….

Meanwhile, Annie's out to prove to her onetime boyfriend that she can live a brilliant life without him!
So there they are, three women driving across America. They have their maps and their directions—but even the best-planned journey can take you to a turn in the road. Or lead you to an unexpected encounter—like the day Bethanne meets a man named Max who really is a hero on a Harley. That's when Bethanne's decision becomes a lot harder. Because Grant wants her back, but now there's Max….

From Seattle's Blossom Street to the other end of the country, this is a trip that could change three women's lives.

About the Author

 

Debbie Macomber, the author of Hannah’s List, 1022 Evergreen Place, Summer on Blossom Street, 92 Pacific Boulevard, and Twenty Wishes, is a leading voice in women’s fiction. Three of her novels have scored the #1 slot on the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. Debbie Macomber's Mrs. Miracle was Hallmark Channel's top-watched movie for 2009. Winner of the 2005 Quill Award for Best Romance, the prolific author has more than 140 million copies of her books in print worldwide.

My Review

Who doesn't love a road trip!  Delightful new novel by Debbie Macomber.  I had not read any of her previous books and I was pleasantly surprised to discover what a great storyteller she is.  I understand that Bethanne was introduced in a previous Blossom Street novel however you do not need to read the previous books to enjoy this one. 

Three generations of women set out on a road trip from Seattle, Washington to Vero Beach, Florida.  They have lots of adventures on the way.  They discover things about themselves and each other on this great trip.  And they all come to conclusions about love in their lives.

I just loved the character of  Max.  And Debbie Macomber had a lot to say about people judging others by their outward appearance.  I loved that she utilized bikers to point this out.  Bikers are often considered the outlaws of present day.  However, if you actually do spend a lot of time on the road you will realize that a lot of bikers are actually middle aged professionals who enjoy riding the open roads of this continent as an amazing stress reliever.  I know this from experience...don't knock it until you've tried it!

Uplifting, wonderful read that I highly recommend.  I couldn't put it down because I was dying to know what decision Bethanne would make and that's all I'll say about that!

Review: Long Gone by Alafair Burke

• Author:  Alafair Burke
  
• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harper (June 21, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061999180
• ISBN-13: 978-0061999185

Product Description

After a layoff and months of struggling, Alice Humphrey finally lands her dream job managing a new art gallery in Manhattan’s trendy Meatpacking District. 

 

According to Drew Campbell, the well-suited corporate representative who hires her, the gallery is a passion project for its anonymous, wealthy, and eccentric owner. Drew assures Alice that the owner will be hands off, allowing her to run the gallery on her own. Her friends think it sounds too good to be true, but Alice sees a perfect opportunity to make a name for herself beyond the shadow of her famous father, an award-winning and controversial film maker.

Everything is perfect until the morning Alice arrives at work to find the gallery gone—the space stripped bare as if it had never existed—and Drew Campbell’s dead body on the floor. Overnight, Alice’s dream job has vanished, and she finds herself at the center of police attention with nothing to prove her innocence. The phone number Drew gave her links back to a disposable phone.

The artist whose work she displayed doesn’t seem to exist. And the dead man she claims is Drew has been identified as someone else.

When police discover ties between the gallery and a missing girl, Alice knows she’s been set up. Now she has to prove it—a dangerous search for answers that will entangle her in a dark, high-tech criminal conspiracy and force her to unearth long-hidden secrets involving her own family… secrets that could cost Alice her life.

Amazon Exclusive: Michael Connelly Reviews Long Gone

Michael Connelly’s Edgar Award-winning first novel, The Black Echo, was published in 1992 and based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles. Since then he has written more than 18 novels, the most recent of which is The Fifth Witness.
 
You know how the song goes--“If I can make it here, I’ll make it anywhere.” The anthem for a city and a state of mind, powered by the voice of its own son, Frank Sinatra, even if technically he came from across the river. New York, New York. It is truly the first song on the soundtrack of the city. And it points up the risk and reward of living in the greatest city in the world.

Well, what about the risks and rewards in writing a novel about the greatest city in the world? To me the challenge would be intimidating, even daunting, before I got the first word down on the first page. But not to Alafair Burke. With Long Gone she makes the city her own. She takes New York with a knowing and confidant hand, folding its teeming streets into character and plot in a story that is never less than gripping.

At center you have Alice Humphrey. She is the daughter of privilege in a city that doesn’t pay much mind to that privilege. She’s on her own and that is the beating heart of this book. Alice on her own. Burke constructs this book with the precision of a watchmaker. It is a contraption piece that closes tightly around Alice and then we are with her as she investigates the set up and finds her way to safety.

I am familiar with most of Burke’s work and I think Alice is her best heroine yet. She connects with us on so many levels. She is an everywoman cornered by forces she doesn’t recognize or understand in a city with too many back alleys and secrets to ever know. She is from a family that holds secrets from her as well as the world. But no matter. She is relentless in her pursuit of the truth, whichever way it is finally told. And in that we connect to her, admire her, like her. We feel for Alice Humphrey and want to be there when she sees it all through.

That is the writer’s most difficult task, building the bridge of empathy between reader and protagonist. Burke does it here with a character who is persistent in simply refusing to be a victim. Don’t we all wish we were the same.

Though any writer will flat out tell you that the easier it looks the harder it is to get on the page, Alafair Burke makes this one look like a walk in the park. Frank Sinatra would certainly be proud. Start spreading the news.

About the Author

ALAFAIR BURKE is the bestselling author of six novels, including 212, Angel’s Tip, and Dead Connection in the Ellie Hatcher series. A former prosecutor, she now teaches criminal Law and lives in Manhattan. Long Gone is her first stand-alone thriller.

My Review

Awesome book Miss Alafair!  I just loved it!  I couldn't put it down; what an well plotted suspenseful novel!  As the daughter of the greatest living mystery writer, James Lee Burke, Alafair has big shoes to fill! And she does with this stand alone novel featuring Alice Humphrey who naively takes on a position running a new gallery for a man she meets at a gallery opening.  The charming Drew Campbell draws her into this web of deceit and intrigue that kept me enthralled from beginning to end.  There is a great side story as well regarding a missing New Jersey girl.  New York City is a main character in this novel as well.  Ms. Burke obviously know it well.

I loved that Ms. Burke is very current technologically.  I loved that she demonstrates the perils of today's social networking sites like Facebook and how if people aren't careful they can expose themselves to all kinds of trouble.

And I loved the reference to just having read a novel in which the main character bribes hotel clerks in order to use rooms briefly....Lee Child...Jack Reacher...loved it!

At the end of the novel, Ms. Burke thanks all of her readers including those who follow her web site and follow her on Facebook....and my name was listed there!  Alafair often asked her followers advice about different things she was working on in her novel and it was fun to chime in!  Big Thrill!

Totally absolutely recommend this book!  It publishes in June so what a great summer read!