Completed July 2011
Just hours before the KEY News crew arrives for their broadcasts from Newport, the skeleton of a socialite who disap-peared fourteen years ago is found in a dank tunnel beneath a famous mansion. When one of the KEY interns is killed in a car accident and another disappears, this year’s crop of fledgling journalists are targets, including Grace Callahan, who must face the real danger that lies hidden in an otherwise idyllic town. But can she uncover a murderer who does not want the secrets buried beneath the city’s fabled mansions to come to light.
My Review: Reading this book out of order was a little confusing but what a great story line in the Key to America series. LOVE LOVE LOVE this series.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Dying for Mercy by Mary Jane Clark 2011 - 34
Completed July 2011
Attending a lavish gala at her friends’ estate, Pentimento, in exclusive Tuxedo Park, New York, Eliza’s host is found dead -- a grotesque suicide that is the first act in a macabre and intricately conceived plan to expose sins of the past involving some of the park’s most revered citizens. Eliza and her KEY news colleagues discover that Pentimento holds the key. The mansion is actually a giant “puzzle house,” with ingenious clues hidden in its fireplaces, fountains, and frescoes leading the “Sunrise Suspense Society” from one suspicious locale to another -- and, one by one, to the victims of a fiendish killer.
My Review: Another great story in the KTA mystery series. Had me guess almost up to the end.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Whisper No Lies by Cindy Gerard 2011 - 33
Completed July 2011
WHISPER NO LIES is another thrilling instalment from Cindy Gerard's Black-Ops series and with each book better than the last this is a great ride. Skilfully whisking us away to yet another exotic location Gerard gives us a kick butt heroine this time to go along with the daring roof top rescues, shootouts, explosions and boat chases. We also get the sweetest of love stories between a couple that never expected to find it especially with each other. Of course the entire team turns up so there's also some great secondary characters who when tied together with an international crime lord and human trafficking give you everything you could possibly want in romantic suspense.
Crystal and Johnny as our heroes were first introduced to us in TAKE NO PRISONERS and have in fact been sleeping together ever since which is part of what makes this story so interesting. I've never read a romance before where the couple is already together and wondered how the author was going to make it exciting without the usual build up to "the deed" Well let me tell you Gerard manages and then some. This is one exciting couple and watching them try to keep things casual when emotions take over is a lot of fun. The first time they do `it' with feeling there are tender looks and words and then when each subsequently freaks out you'll laugh but your heart strings will give a little tug too.
When a wealthy Asian man propositions Crystal at the Vegas casino she manages she flat out refuses and immediately puts the strange man and his cronies out of her mind. I mean it's not like men don't hit on her all the time besides right now her hands are full with Texan heartbreaker Johnny Reed. His mystery job has him out of town again which suits Crystal just fine because as good as the sex is and as much as she likes him she knows Johnny will never be anything more than just a fling. That night however sees Crystal getting kidnapped and when she wakes up in Jakarta Indonesia, branded and a prisoner in Yao's white slavery ring she knows she`s in serious trouble. Now if she only knew someone who could rescue her, someone with say military training and a whole team to back him up.
Despite his flirty grin and playboy ways Johnny can't get Crystal off his mind, damn if that little pixie hasn't found a way into his closed off heart. When she goes missing its up to Johnny to get the BOI's together and lead a potential suicide mission into Yao's lair to rescue her and likely ruin his carefree heartbreaker act in the process. (www.amazon.com)
My Review: Excellent book from a new author. Really enjoyed the characters.
WHISPER NO LIES is another thrilling instalment from Cindy Gerard's Black-Ops series and with each book better than the last this is a great ride. Skilfully whisking us away to yet another exotic location Gerard gives us a kick butt heroine this time to go along with the daring roof top rescues, shootouts, explosions and boat chases. We also get the sweetest of love stories between a couple that never expected to find it especially with each other. Of course the entire team turns up so there's also some great secondary characters who when tied together with an international crime lord and human trafficking give you everything you could possibly want in romantic suspense.
Crystal and Johnny as our heroes were first introduced to us in TAKE NO PRISONERS and have in fact been sleeping together ever since which is part of what makes this story so interesting. I've never read a romance before where the couple is already together and wondered how the author was going to make it exciting without the usual build up to "the deed" Well let me tell you Gerard manages and then some. This is one exciting couple and watching them try to keep things casual when emotions take over is a lot of fun. The first time they do `it' with feeling there are tender looks and words and then when each subsequently freaks out you'll laugh but your heart strings will give a little tug too.
When a wealthy Asian man propositions Crystal at the Vegas casino she manages she flat out refuses and immediately puts the strange man and his cronies out of her mind. I mean it's not like men don't hit on her all the time besides right now her hands are full with Texan heartbreaker Johnny Reed. His mystery job has him out of town again which suits Crystal just fine because as good as the sex is and as much as she likes him she knows Johnny will never be anything more than just a fling. That night however sees Crystal getting kidnapped and when she wakes up in Jakarta Indonesia, branded and a prisoner in Yao's white slavery ring she knows she`s in serious trouble. Now if she only knew someone who could rescue her, someone with say military training and a whole team to back him up.
Despite his flirty grin and playboy ways Johnny can't get Crystal off his mind, damn if that little pixie hasn't found a way into his closed off heart. When she goes missing its up to Johnny to get the BOI's together and lead a potential suicide mission into Yao's lair to rescue her and likely ruin his carefree heartbreaker act in the process. (www.amazon.com)
My Review: Excellent book from a new author. Really enjoyed the characters.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Close to You by Mary Jane Clark 2011 - 32
Completed June 2011
Smooth is the word for this expert thriller by CBS producer and writer Clark (Let Me Whisper in Your Ear, etc.). Moving along effortlessly and unhurriedly, acquiring characters and subplots as it goes, and always focusing on the climax the reader knows will come when the killer finally makes his move, Clark's tale delivers the goods. Eliza Blake, anchor for the KEY Evening Headlines, is a 30-something celebrity, beautiful, smart and good at her job; she is also a single mother determined to be a good parent. As the novel begins, she has just vacated her New York apartment for a house in the suburbs, intent on escaping memories of her husband's death by cancer. Unfortunately, just after she moves, she begins to receive a fresh crop of threatening phone calls and letters. Hate mail is an occupational hazard for a new anchor, it seems, not to be taken too seriously unless, as in this case, the ante gets raised. Eliza finds herself threatened by several obsessives, two of whom may be dangerous, one of whom has killed before. These people are clever, not easy to detect or to catch. Clark's depiction of the stalkers who plague celebrities disturbs and convinces, and her characters come alive on the page: criminal, sick, genuinely evil, or simply flawed and very human. This is an excellent psychological thriller that will keep readers pleasantly bound to the page. Author tour.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
My Review: This is a GREAT storyline. It keeps the reader turning the page trying to decide exactly which one of the "bad guys" truly is the actual "bad guy". Loved the story! Another great Mary Jane Clark book. I'm hooked.
Smooth is the word for this expert thriller by CBS producer and writer Clark (Let Me Whisper in Your Ear, etc.). Moving along effortlessly and unhurriedly, acquiring characters and subplots as it goes, and always focusing on the climax the reader knows will come when the killer finally makes his move, Clark's tale delivers the goods. Eliza Blake, anchor for the KEY Evening Headlines, is a 30-something celebrity, beautiful, smart and good at her job; she is also a single mother determined to be a good parent. As the novel begins, she has just vacated her New York apartment for a house in the suburbs, intent on escaping memories of her husband's death by cancer. Unfortunately, just after she moves, she begins to receive a fresh crop of threatening phone calls and letters. Hate mail is an occupational hazard for a new anchor, it seems, not to be taken too seriously unless, as in this case, the ante gets raised. Eliza finds herself threatened by several obsessives, two of whom may be dangerous, one of whom has killed before. These people are clever, not easy to detect or to catch. Clark's depiction of the stalkers who plague celebrities disturbs and convinces, and her characters come alive on the page: criminal, sick, genuinely evil, or simply flawed and very human. This is an excellent psychological thriller that will keep readers pleasantly bound to the page. Author tour.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
My Review: This is a GREAT storyline. It keeps the reader turning the page trying to decide exactly which one of the "bad guys" truly is the actual "bad guy". Loved the story! Another great Mary Jane Clark book. I'm hooked.
Mobbed by Carol Higgins Clark 2011-31
Completed June 2011
PI Regan Reilly and her husband, Jack, head of the NYPD Major Case Squad, plan to spend the weekend at the Jersey shore with her parents. Regan’s mother, suspense writer Nora Regan Reilly, will be celebrating her birthday on Saturday. But Regan’s weekend gets off to an early start when she receives a phone call from her mother asking if she’d hop on a train right away.
Regan had just finished delivering bad news to a high school classmate. Hayley Patton is a successful New York City event planner, who had become suspicious that her beau, Scott, was seeing other women and hired Regan to follow him. When Hayley got the lowdown on Scott’s treachery, she vowed revenge with such vehemence that Regan is worried that Hayley might go too far.
Turns out Nora had also just spoken to an agitated high school classmate. Karen Frawley Fulton, who lives in San Diego, called Nora after learning her mother’s plans for the day. To Karen’s shock, Edna Frawley just sold their home at the Jersey shore and is having a garage sale to end all garage sales. Everything the beautiful young actress Cleo Paradise left behind when she recently rented the house is up for grabs. The irrepressible Edna even rented a plane to fly over the beach touting the sale, using Cleo’s name as bait. Karen’s heading East but asks Nora to please go to the house and, she hopes, curtail any other outrageous antics her mother probably has in mind. Nora agrees and asks Regan to join her.
Regan and Nora arrive at the Frawley home to find a mob of garage-sale junkies waiting at the front gate. Regan is astonished to see Scott’s brand-new fiancée, who quickly makes herself scarce.
Once inside the house, Regan becomes increasingly suspicious about why Cleo left so many belongings behind when she vacated Edna’s home unexpectedly. Was she in that much of a hurry? Regan wonders. “Where did Cleo go?” is a question too many people are suddenly asking. But no one has the answer. It isn’t long before Regan finds herself searching for Cleo, whose next hours may be her last.
http://www.amazon.com/Mobbed-Regan-Reilly-Mystery-Mysteries
My Review: A fast paced mystery with lots of twists and turns. Many interrelated story lines made it a little too complicated. All around a good story.
PI Regan Reilly and her husband, Jack, head of the NYPD Major Case Squad, plan to spend the weekend at the Jersey shore with her parents. Regan’s mother, suspense writer Nora Regan Reilly, will be celebrating her birthday on Saturday. But Regan’s weekend gets off to an early start when she receives a phone call from her mother asking if she’d hop on a train right away.
Regan had just finished delivering bad news to a high school classmate. Hayley Patton is a successful New York City event planner, who had become suspicious that her beau, Scott, was seeing other women and hired Regan to follow him. When Hayley got the lowdown on Scott’s treachery, she vowed revenge with such vehemence that Regan is worried that Hayley might go too far.
Turns out Nora had also just spoken to an agitated high school classmate. Karen Frawley Fulton, who lives in San Diego, called Nora after learning her mother’s plans for the day. To Karen’s shock, Edna Frawley just sold their home at the Jersey shore and is having a garage sale to end all garage sales. Everything the beautiful young actress Cleo Paradise left behind when she recently rented the house is up for grabs. The irrepressible Edna even rented a plane to fly over the beach touting the sale, using Cleo’s name as bait. Karen’s heading East but asks Nora to please go to the house and, she hopes, curtail any other outrageous antics her mother probably has in mind. Nora agrees and asks Regan to join her.
Regan and Nora arrive at the Frawley home to find a mob of garage-sale junkies waiting at the front gate. Regan is astonished to see Scott’s brand-new fiancée, who quickly makes herself scarce.
Once inside the house, Regan becomes increasingly suspicious about why Cleo left so many belongings behind when she vacated Edna’s home unexpectedly. Was she in that much of a hurry? Regan wonders. “Where did Cleo go?” is a question too many people are suddenly asking. But no one has the answer. It isn’t long before Regan finds herself searching for Cleo, whose next hours may be her last.
http://www.amazon.com/Mobbed-Regan-Reilly-Mystery-Mysteries
My Review: A fast paced mystery with lots of twists and turns. Many interrelated story lines made it a little too complicated. All around a good story.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Gun Lake by Travis Thrasher 2011-30
Completed June 2011
A strong scene as five escaped felons hold up a Louisiana sporting goods store. Sean, Wes, Lonnie, Kurt and Craig continue to spread murder and mayhem in their wake as they head for Gun Lake in Michigan. Ossie Banks, an ex-con-turned-Christian from Chicago, ends up along for the ride and shares his faith with the "Stagworth Five." Meanwhile, Norah Britt leaves an abusive boyfriend to make a new life in Gun Lake, and in yet another subplot, Michelle Meier takes her rebellious teenage son, Jared, from their home in Illinois to Gun Lake to straighten him out. At Gun Lake, yet more story lines are introduced: an older man is haunted by a past that he'll have to face all too soon; the deputy's wife has left him, and his passion for the bottle puts his job in jeopardy. The lives of this dizzying cast of characters will converge, of course, but the many points of view, background stories and extraneous information make for challenging reading.
My Review: This was a overly complicated book with too many subplots. The book was very difficult to continue reading.
A strong scene as five escaped felons hold up a Louisiana sporting goods store. Sean, Wes, Lonnie, Kurt and Craig continue to spread murder and mayhem in their wake as they head for Gun Lake in Michigan. Ossie Banks, an ex-con-turned-Christian from Chicago, ends up along for the ride and shares his faith with the "Stagworth Five." Meanwhile, Norah Britt leaves an abusive boyfriend to make a new life in Gun Lake, and in yet another subplot, Michelle Meier takes her rebellious teenage son, Jared, from their home in Illinois to Gun Lake to straighten him out. At Gun Lake, yet more story lines are introduced: an older man is haunted by a past that he'll have to face all too soon; the deputy's wife has left him, and his passion for the bottle puts his job in jeopardy. The lives of this dizzying cast of characters will converge, of course, but the many points of view, background stories and extraneous information make for challenging reading.
My Review: This was a overly complicated book with too many subplots. The book was very difficult to continue reading.
I'll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark 2011 -29
Completed June 2011
Who has not read about—or experienced—with a sinking feeling the fear that someone else out there may be using your credit cards, accessing your bank account, even stealing your identity.
In I'll Walk Alone, Alexandra “Zan” Moreland, a gifted, beautiful interior designer on the threshold of a successful Manhattan career, is terrified to discover that somebody is not only using her credit cards and manipulating her financial accounts to bankrupt her and destroy her reputation, but may also be impersonating her in a scheme that may involve the much more brutal crimes of kidnapping and murder. Zan is already haunted by the disappearance of her own son, Matthew, kidnapped in broad daylight two years ago in Central Park—a tragedy that has left her torn between hope and despair.
Now, on what would be Matthew’s fifth birthday, photos surface that seem to show Zan kidnapping her own child, followed by a chain of events that suggests somebody—but who? Zan asks herself desperately, and why?—has stolen her identity.
Hounded by the press, under investigation by the police, attacked by both her angry ex-husband and a vindictive business rival, Zan, wracked by fear and pain and sustained only by her belief, which nobody else shares, that Matthew is still alive, sets out to discover who is behind this cruel hoax.
What she does not realize is that with every step she takes toward the truth, she is putting herself— and those she loves most—in mortal danger from the person who has ingeniously plotted out her destruction.
Even Zan’s supporters, who include Alvirah Meehan, the lottery winner and amateur detective, and Father Aiden O’Brien, who thinks that Zan may have confessed to him a secret he cannot reveal, believe she may have kidnapped little Matthew. Zan herself begins to doubt her own sanity, until, in the kind of fast-paced explosive ending that is Mary Higgins Clark’s trademark, the pieces of the puzzle fall into place with an unexpected and shocking revelation
My Review: This is one of MHC's best books. This is a great story that keeps you hanging.
Who has not read about—or experienced—with a sinking feeling the fear that someone else out there may be using your credit cards, accessing your bank account, even stealing your identity.
In I'll Walk Alone, Alexandra “Zan” Moreland, a gifted, beautiful interior designer on the threshold of a successful Manhattan career, is terrified to discover that somebody is not only using her credit cards and manipulating her financial accounts to bankrupt her and destroy her reputation, but may also be impersonating her in a scheme that may involve the much more brutal crimes of kidnapping and murder. Zan is already haunted by the disappearance of her own son, Matthew, kidnapped in broad daylight two years ago in Central Park—a tragedy that has left her torn between hope and despair.
Now, on what would be Matthew’s fifth birthday, photos surface that seem to show Zan kidnapping her own child, followed by a chain of events that suggests somebody—but who? Zan asks herself desperately, and why?—has stolen her identity.
Hounded by the press, under investigation by the police, attacked by both her angry ex-husband and a vindictive business rival, Zan, wracked by fear and pain and sustained only by her belief, which nobody else shares, that Matthew is still alive, sets out to discover who is behind this cruel hoax.
What she does not realize is that with every step she takes toward the truth, she is putting herself— and those she loves most—in mortal danger from the person who has ingeniously plotted out her destruction.
Even Zan’s supporters, who include Alvirah Meehan, the lottery winner and amateur detective, and Father Aiden O’Brien, who thinks that Zan may have confessed to him a secret he cannot reveal, believe she may have kidnapped little Matthew. Zan herself begins to doubt her own sanity, until, in the kind of fast-paced explosive ending that is Mary Higgins Clark’s trademark, the pieces of the puzzle fall into place with an unexpected and shocking revelation
My Review: This is one of MHC's best books. This is a great story that keeps you hanging.
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