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Book Reviews
Mary’s Guide To Books
* Not good
** Okay
*** Good
**** Very Good
***** Excellent
The Killer by Tom Hinshelwood ***** FIC HIN
Early in the morning, Victor completes his contract by killing Andris Ozols in a quiet Paris Street and stealing the flash drive he was carrying. When Victor returns to his hotel, he notices two men waiting for the elevator. These men have been sent to kill Victor, which makes the hunter the prey in this smart action-packed political spy thriller. We follow Victor around the world as he tries to find the man who’s trying to kill him. While Victor is running, we also see Agent Alvarez of the CIA investigating the murders of Ozols and several other contract killers in France. The ending leaves hope for a sequel.
The One That I Want by Allison Winn Scotch **** FIC SCO
Tilly Farmer, high school guidance counselor, and her husband Ty, injured baseball hero, were high school sweethearts and still live in their hometown. Tilly’s happiness with her controlled life comes to a halt after running into an old classmate, Ashley, who works as a fortune teller. Ashley unlocks a power in Tilly to see the future so that Tilly can have “clarity.” Tilly’s visions tear her life apart, though she comes to see that these events would have happened regardless of what she saw. Her marriage becomes strained when Ty expresses an interest in a job out of town, her father has a breakdown and starts drinking again, and her angry younger sister drops back into her life. The pain of losing Tilly’s mother is still present within the family, and they must come to terms with some long buried secrets. Scotch has a talent for taking ordinary lives and breaking down the facades to see the pain that people hide away. Pick this one up if you like to read about people remaking their lives.
The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katharine Green *** M GRE
This classic mystery was originally published in 1878. Mr. Raymond, a young attorney, works with Detective Gryce to solve the mystery of Mr. Leavenworth's death. The murder took place in a locked room in a locked house, which points to one of the household as the murderer. One of the lady's maids, Hannah, disappeared the night of the murder, creating another element of mystery. Of the two nieces of Mr. Leavenworth, Mary and Eleanor, the beautiful Eleanor becomes the main suspect. Mr. Raymond dedicates himself to the case to prove Eleanor's innocence. Green successfully ties up all the loose ends for a satisfying mystery read.
Following Polly by Karen Bergreen **** FIC BER
After being fired from her casting assistant job, New Yorker Alice Teakle forms a habit of following her hated old college classmate Polly Dawson. She figures that if she follows Polly, she will discover how to achieve success or at least find out some interesting secrets. When Alice stumbles upon Polly’s dead body, she becomes suspect number one. With nowhere else to go, Polly stakes out her long-time crush’s apartment. She calls him Charlie, though his name is really Walter, just one of the quirks that makes her hilarious and lovable. When Charlie finds Alice going through his trash, he takes her in and makes a deal with her that he will help clear her name if she will help clear his father’s name. His father, William, has been accused of hiring prostitutes and was subsequently fired from his high-profile job. Alice’s job is to track the prostitutes to see if they’re really associating with Charlie’s father. This funny mystery may require you to suspend your disbelief a few times, but it’s a great read, and I look forward to more books about Alice and her antics.
A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff **** FIC WOL
Phoebe Swift has just given up her job at Sotheby’s to open a vintage clothing shop at the start of this feel-good book about clothes and relationships. The death of Phoebe’s best friend, Emma, has her running from the past and her ex-fiancé, Guy. With the opening of the store, Phoebe starts making new friends with customers and people selling their vintage clothes. Two men enter her life, Miles, the rich single father, and Dan, the colorblind newspaper writer. Phoebe also develops a relationship with Mrs. Bell, a woman who lived in France during World War II and lost a friend of her own. The stories of the people and the vintage clothes tie together to make a heart-warming and hard-to-put-down read. Readers who like quilting or knitting shop stories will want to give this a try.
Silencing Sam by Julie Kramer **** FIC KRA
Riley Spartz makes another appearance as the nosy television reporter from Minneapolis. This time she has competition for her stories from a new reporter hired from Texas, Clay Burrel. Another thorn in her side is the gossip columnist, Sam Pierce, who attacks Riley for dating a new man (Nick Garnett) after the death of her husband a couple years earlier. When Sam ends up dead, Riley becomes the main suspect, especially since the column about her is stuffed in the dead man’s mouth. Riley becomes involved in several investigations, including the bombing of wind turbines in her parents’ rural neighborhood. Kramer has written another fun, complicated mystery that gives an inside look at the television news industry and ties several plots together.
Rules of Betrayal by Christopher Reich ***** FIC REI
Reich has created another heart-pounding thriller featuring the adept Dr. Jonathan Ransom. After his last run-in with his spy wife, Emma, aka Lara, Jonathan has been running a clinic in the rural villages of Afghanistan. Emma is back working for the Russian FSB, negotiating an arms deal with Lord Balfour, an Indian entrepreneur whose luck is about to run out with the Pakistani government that has been shielding him. Jonathan is drawn into another conspiracy when Sultan Haq, an Afghani warlord, forces him to heal his father who is dying. Frank Connor, head of Division – the black-ops group that recruited Emma, uses the events that transpire to recruit Jonathan as an undercover agent. His task – stopping terrorists from acquiring a nuclear warhead. It’s a wild ride once again with Jonathan Ransom working through layers of deception to save his wife and perhaps New York City.
August 2010
