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Girl Missing - Tess Gerritsen
by AlmshoeRachy
Tess Gerritsen is an American international best selling author. She started writing romance novels, and then moved in to crime writing. She has sold over 15 millions copies of her books in 31 countries.
Girl Missing (published as 'Peggy Sue got Murdered! in the US) is the first of her books I have read.
The story ... follows Kat Novak, a Medical Examiner in Albion, near Boston, USA. It seems to follow the typical American crime theme - she's divorced and lives on her own, works too much, lives on coffee etc etc.
The story is about a string of young drug users ending up dead with suspected overdoses. Novak is convinced there is a connection but no one will take her seriously, including her ex-husband Ed Novak, the Acting District Attorney, and Nolan Sampson, Albion's mayor. Kat is so much more than a Medical Examiner, taking it upon herself to do the job of the police and to find out what has happened to the 'junkies' that no one else cares about.
During the investigation she meets Adam Quantrell, the owner of Cygnus Pharmaceuticals, the firm which may or may not be responsible for the manufacture of the new drug which could be causing the deaths. Adam has been trying to trace his step daughter who has gone missing, and is terrified one of the bodies that keep turning up will be her one day. The story follows them on their quest to discover the truth from the Mayors benefit dinner to the lawless streets of South Lexington, a run down part of Albion. They have many questions to answer - where have the drugs have come from? Where is Adam's daughter? What is she hiding from? They meet many people along the way all too scared to talk - why are they all so scared of the police? Is there a serial killer out there? Is Adam as innocent in all this as he says he is?
The book isn't exactly a hard read. I do read fairly quickly, but the paperback of 310 pages has taken me just two days. This is partly due to the ease of reading it, and partly because I wanted to find out what was going to happen next! The story is well written. There were times I wanted to give Kat a good talking to about running away from emotional stuff which I found a frustrating trait in her character. This is her first 'thriller' after changing genres, which is very apparent in the love story that continues throughout the book. Again, a little bit cheesy with the all American boy falling for the girl from the rough area of town.
It kept me guessing until the end, and I had no idea who had done it until the penultimate chapter. I did find the end a little rushed and do think that could have been padded out a bit more.
All in all a great light read for the beach, but maybe take a few of them in case they are all as quick to get through as this one. Apparently this isn't one of her better books, and I did enjoy it, so I would definitely read another one. I think 4 stars from me.
Currently available from Amazon for £2 new plus £2.80 postage and packaging.
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Fools Rush In - Janice A. Thompson
by katykicker
=== The story ===
Bella Rossi is handed her parents business, a wedding planning business, just before she is thirty and this book centres around Bella and her adventures as she plans weddings for people and potentially falls in love along the way.
=== Where can I buy this & for how much? ===
This ... can be purchased from Amazon.co.uk. There are two versions, the Kindle e-book, currently retailing at £3.46 and the book, in paperback, for £8.06. You can also purchase a large print version for £21.06. All prices are current November 2011.
=== Overall opinion ===
I purchased this book because of the low price. Back in May 2011 I purchased the Kindle version of this book for free. I believe that this was in the top 100 free Kindle books and my main reason for purchasing this was that I was due to get married and after lots of other wedding related book purchases both online and from the Kindle I was recommended lots of various related books. The cook of this book is quite cute. It is a couple (male and female) standing together by what looks like a lovely place to take your wedding vows. It's simple but gets across the message of what this book is generally about.
The story of this book is very interesting. From the beginning I felt like I learnt lots about Bella. She is trying hard to carry on the family business, while still having a social and personal life, and it is fair to say that she has a hectic life. There is lots going on throughout the book, from start to finish, but I found this very easy to keep up with and there were lots of times that I did not want to put this book down, hence getting it finished so fast.
I ended up reading this book in just a few days. I found that it was intriguing, interesting and attention holding throughout and the story line, and characters, kept me captivated until the final, slightly predictable in places, ending. The story line is strong, as are the characters and this definitely made for a fun read. I felt like there were a few predictable places in the book, however, this did not take away from the enjoyment of the story for me. I felt like I got a little insight in to the stress that a wedding planner must feel and it is always nice to learn something new. Bella's family is full of wonderful characters, a few of whom were similar to people I know, and this added a little something extra to the book as it did not feel like it was just centred around Bella.
This book was short enough to keep my interest but I did feel like the ending was a little rushed in places, hence the 4 out of 5 star rating.
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The Death of King Arthur - Peter Ackroyd
by darren55
The Death of Arthur is a modern re-telling of the medieval tales of king Arthur and his knights by Peter Ackroyd.
Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd is best known for his history of London, the Thames and has recently started a six part book series on the history of England. He is also a well known television presenter on London ... and the surroundings and has a bluff manner which transfers his arguments from the written word onto TV in a concise and considered manner. He has also written fiction novels and The Death of Arthur is a modern re-working of the classic tales Morte D'arthur written by Thomas Mallory sometime in the 13th or 14th century.
Arthur
Arthur is the near mythical king of the English whose life and legends have entered into modern iconography; he is the king of the sword of the stone, Excalibur, Camelot, Guineviere and Lancelot. He has been depicted many times in novel, TV and film form including two recent series on BBC and Channel 4. His tales have benn endlessly re-told, re-invented and re-worked and the precise nature of the original King Arthur has been lost.
The Death of Arthur
For many young boys the tales of such legendary figures as King Arthur and Robin Hood were a release from the uniformity of living a normal suburban life. The tales of knights of the round table, King Arthur, Guinevere, Galahad, the holy Grail, etc had a special resonance for many juvenile escapists. The legend of King Arthur sprang from a 15th tales by Thomas Mallory where he laid out the stories of Arthur to a then modern setting, here we encounter the dashing Lancelot, Gawain, Tristram, the evil Morgan the Fey, the beautiful Guinevere and at the end the hunt for the Holy Grail. The book was written sometime in the 15th century and is relatively inaccessible to the modern reader with its archaic English and awkward style. So Peter Ackroyd re-wrote the old stories but in modern English and modern English grammar. The new re-workings followed precisely the layout of the old tales, so we begin with the raping of Arthurs mother by Uther Pen dragon, the sword in the stone etc.
One of the main problems with re-workings or re-telling of old or classic tales is that some of the readers do prefer the old versions so when a new version of Beowulf was released a couple of years the book sparked a debate over the use of the very first word of the novel and experts differed even at that point. So any writer aiming to write a version of a classic tale has to be confident that the version they are telling is close enough to the original so experts don't get overly upset yet modern enough for a new audience. Peter Ackroyd managed to make the old tales come alive; here the reader can follow the stories of Arthur and his knights without tripping over the English and the flow of words.
There are a few points which this reader picked out of the tale; firstly the pursuit of knightly virtue appeared to involve an awful lot of violence. I lost count of the number of adversaries the knights meet in the tales who have their heads cut off with one stroke of the sword; this is particularly dangerous for maidens in distress. There is also a desire of the writer to tell the reader in explicit detail about the odds which the knight faced, so if they are pushed and in danger then the reader is told exactly how many knights were against our hero. There then follows a list of the many ways of killing a knight in battle, so whenever Tristram or Lancelot appear in the tales we know for a fact that extended battles are going to be just around the corner. The other thing I noticed is how little Arthur and Merlin are in the tales, yes they are mentioned often but in truth the tales are more about the various knights going around the country defending their virtue and dispelling knights without honour. Merlin appears very infrequently mainly in the first two chapters but very little afterwards.
As I said I've always loved the tales of Arthur and his knights and TS White's the once and future king is one of my favourite novels. That novel was inspired by the original Arthurian legends written by Thomas Mallory, so it was fun to read a modern version of that source which so influenced one of my favourite novels. The appearance of Lancelot, Gawain, Galahad and Tristram banged a lot of memory cells of reading TS White as a teenager. Peter Ackroyd managed to make the book flow and the stories
interesting without being bogged down in depicting knightly virtue and courtly love, indeed he displays a more rounded expose of knightly love in the 5-6th century.
There was however one problem especially during the depiction of battles and the problems over knightly love I constantly had the Monty Python King Arthur film in my head so when Lancelot gatecrashes a wedding and manages to fight the bride's father I couldn't get the scene where Lancelot arrives to rescue a maiden in distress in a castle and manages to kill everyone inside.
An interesting read, one which after a while did drag a little especially when another battle was happening or spears broken during jousts but overall it was fun and a decent effort by the author.
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