The Space Between Trees by Katie Williams

Book Description
Not your everyday coming-of-age novel

This story was supposed to be about Evie how she hasn't made a friend in years, how she tends to stretch the truth (especially about her so-called relationship with college drop-out Jonah Luks), and how she finally comes into her own once she learns to just be herself but it isn't. Because when her classmate Elizabeth "Zabet" McCabe's murdered body is found in the woods, everything changes and Evie's life is never the same again.

My thoughts
Evie is a loner. The only friend she has is high-school dropout Jonah who she sees when she makes her newspaper deliveries. Then Jonah finds a dead body. Zabet was once a friend of Evie’s and when she is found murdered, Evie life changes forever. This coming of age story is a murder mystery but also a story of teenage angst, grief and becoming an adult through crisis. But I didn’t connect with Evie as I felt she learned little if anything from the ordeal.

Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my local library.

Snowbound by Blake Crouch

Book Description
For Will Innis and his daughter, Devlin, the loss was catastrophic. Will’s wife, Devlin’s mother, vanished one night during an electrical storm on a lonely desert highway and, suspected of her death, Will took his daughter and fled. Then one night, a hard-edged FBI agent appears on their doorstep and says, “I know you’re innocent, because Rachael wasn’t the first…or the last.”

My thoughts
If you can past the little far-fetched opening of an attorney wife’s disappearance and then instead of the possibility of arrest, husband and daughter flee and then have a FBI-agent find you to tell you that not only does she think you are innocent, there were others abducted (this all in the first few pages), then you have a fast-paced, action packed, full of energy thriller.

Will Innis and his daughter flee their home after his wife Rachael is abducted and before the police can arrest him (although he is innocent) and lead a quiet life under an alias until he is found by FBI agent Kalyn Sharp and asked to help her track down the abductors. Is she telling the truth? Can she help them find closure? The chase to find the answers leads to a remote part of Alaska and the climax.

There were parts that were unbelievable but I took it as an escapist story and actually enjoyed the ride.

Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my local library.

The Anniversary Man by R. J. Ellory

Book Description
Twenty years ago, John Costello's life as he knew it ended. He and his beautiful girlfriend, Nadia, became victims of the deranged "Hammer of God" killer who terrorized Jersey City throughout the summer of 1984. This murderer went after young courting couples in an attempt to "save their souls." Nadia was killed by the first blow of the hammer. John survived, but was physically and psychologically scarred to an extent that few people could comprehend. He withdrew from society, hid in his apartment, and now only emerges to work as a crime researcher for a major newspaper.

Damaged as he may be, no one in New Jersey knows more about serial killers than John Costello. So, when a new spate of murders starts-all seemingly random and unrelated-John is the only one who can discern the complex pattern that lies behind them. But could this dark knowledge threaten his own life?

My thoughts
John Costello survived an attack by the “Hammer of God”; a killer who slaughtered a few others including John’s girlfriend. Now twenty five years later, someone is murdering again and John realizes that they are imitating serial murderers of the past. With this her tries to assist the police, but puts himself in danger. R.J. Ellory has written a suspenseful story that I couldn’t tear myself away from. As each new murder takes place, the more intense the story gets.

Disclosure: This book was borrowed from my local library.

Big Bang by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins

Product Description
In midtown Manhattan, Mike Hammer, recovering from a near-fatal mix-up with the Mob, runs into drug dealers assaulting a young hospital messenger. He saves the kid, but the muggers are not so lucky. Hammer considers the rescue a one-off, but someone has different ideas, as indicated by a street-corner knife attack. With himself for a client, Hammer--and his beautiful, deadly partner Velda--take on the narcotics racket in New York just as the streets have dried up and rumors run rampant of a massive heroin shipment due any day. In a New York of flashy discotheques, swanky bachelor pads, and the occasional dark alley, Hammer deals with doctors and drug addicts, hippie chicks and hit men, meeting changing times with his timeless brand of violent vengeance. Originally begun and outlined by Spillane in the mid-sixties, and expertly completed by his longtime collaborator Max Allan Collins, The Big Bang is vintage Mike Hammer on acid...literally.

My thoughts
Max Allan Collins had done a pretty good job of completing the ‘lost’ Mike Hammer novel that Mickey Spillane started. Set in the 60s, this is Mike Hammer almost at his best. This is a great story for fans of Mike Hammer; an ordinary mystery for fans of the genre.

Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my local library.

Blind Man's Alley by Justin Peacock

Book Description
A concrete floor three hundred feet up in the Aurora Tower condo development in SoHo has collapsed, hurling three workers to their deaths. The developer, Roth Properties (owned by the famously abrasive Simon Roth), faces a vast tangle of legal problems, including allegations of mob connections. Roth’s longtime lawyers, the elite midtown law firm of Blake and Wolcott, is assigned the task of cleaning up the mess. Much of the work lands on the plate of smart, cynical, and sea¬soned associate Duncan Riley; as a result, he falls into the pow¬erful orbit of Leah Roth, the beautiful daughter of Simon Roth and the designated inheritor of his real estate empire.

Meanwhile, Riley pursues a seemingly small pro bono case in which he attempts to forestall the eviction of Rafael Nazario and his grandmother from public housing in the wake of a pot bust. One night Rafael is picked up and charged with the mur¬der of the private security cop who caught him, a murder that took place in another controversial “mixed income” housing development being built by . . . Roth Properties. Duncan Riley is now walking the knife edge of legal ethics and personal morality.

My thoughts
Duncan Riley is working is working his way at the ladder of his law firm; almost ready to become a partner and he is assigned to deal with a construction site disaster which property is owned by Roth Properties. He is also assigned a pro bono case of eviction that also involves the infamous Roth Properties. Do you see something happening here? If you enjoy legal thrillers this is one that you may enjoy. It starts off slow and then picks up momentum as the story unravels. I found it to be interesting once the conflict is in place.


Disclosure:  This book was received for review from the publisher.  I received no compensation for my thoughts.

Cut, Paste, Kill by Marshall Karp

Book Description
When Eleanor Bellingham-Crump---a socialite responsible for the death of a ten-year-old boy---turns up murdered on the floor of a Hollywood hotel bathroom, Lomax and Biggs are confronted with a crime of artistic brutality. Along with the scissors sticking out of Eleanor’s lifeless body, the two detectives find a meticulous scrapbook documenting a motive for vengeance in lurid detail.

As more bodies are discovered, each one connected by the intricate scrapbooks left at the murder scenes, Mike and Terry are on the hunt for a vigilante stalking unpunished criminals. They must race to decode the meaning behind the scrapbooks before the crafty avenger has time to cut and paste the story for another kill.

With laugh-out-loud humor and crackling dialogue, the chapters hurtle toward a killer finale in the most thrilling Lomax & Biggs adventure yet.

My thoughts
Cut, Paste Kill is my first Lomax and Biggs mystery and it won’t be my last. I found this book to be fairly enjoyable. Lomax and Biggs are two cops that are trying to solve the murders of various individuals whose only connection are scrapbooks the murderer has left behind detailing these individual’s lives and wrongdoings. This pair of wise-cracking cops had me chuckling as I read each chapter. This book has a few twists and turns that kept my glued to each page. It is a very entertaining murder mystery.


Disclosure: This book was borrowed from my local library.

Body Heat by Brenda Novak

Book Description
Twelve people have been shot at point-blank range and left to rot in the desert sun. It's Sophia St. Claire's job to do something about it. She's Bordertown, Arizona's new chief of police—and she's out of her depth.

Help arrives in the form of Department 6 hired gun Roderick Guerrero. As far as Sophia's concerned, his involvement only makes things worse. Maybe he's managed to turn his life around. And maybe he's a good investigator. But as the bastard son of a wealthy local rancher, he has a history he can't get past. A history that includes her.

Rod refuses to leave town until the killer is caught. He's not worried about the danger posed by some vigilante. It's Sophia who threatens him. Because he's used to risking his life—but his heart is another story.

My thoughts
Body Heat is the second in a series of books by Brenda Novak that features the private security firm Department 6. But you do not need to read the first book (White Heat) as this one has different characters. In this novel, twelve people have been executed as they try to cross the border into Arizona. Sophia St. Claire is the Chief of Police in Bordertown and is overwhelmed with the murders and doesn’t appreciate when Roderick Guerrero (former SEAL and current employee of Department 6) helps in investigating the murders through the instance of his father. Seems that Rod and Sophia have some history and the more they spend time together, the more the chemistry between the two ignites. This novel delves onto the immigration conflict and the prejudices amongst the people. This book is a romantic thriller that is enjoyable.



Disclosure: The book was received for review from the author. I received no compensation for my thoughts.

The Four Fingers of Death by Rick Moody

Book Description
Montese Crandall is a downtrodden writer whose rare collection of baseball cards won't sustain him, financially or emotionally, through the grave illness of his wife. Luckily, he swindles himself a job churning out a novelization of the 2025 remake of a 1963 horror classic, "The Crawling Hand." Crandall tells therein of the United States, in a bid to regain global eminence, launching at last its doomed manned mission to the desolation of Mars. Three space pods with nine Americans on board travel three months, expecting to spend three years as the planet's first colonists. When a secret mission to retrieve a flesh-eating bacterium for use in bio-warfare is uncovered, mayhem ensues.

Only a lonely human arm (missing its middle finger) returns to earth, crash-landing in the vast Sonoran Desert of Arizona. The arm may hold the secret to reanimation or it may simply be an infectious killing machine. In the ensuing days, it crawls through the heartbroken wasteland of a civilization at its breaking point, economically and culturally--a dystopia of lowlife, emigration from America, and laughable lifestyle alternatives.

The Four Fingers of Death is a stunningly inventive, sometimes hilarious, monumental novel. It will delight admirers of comic masterpieces like Slaughterhouse-Five, The Crying of Lot 49, and Catch-22.

My thoughts
The Four Fingers of Death is a lengthy book. It actually is three stories in one. The first which begins and ends the book is about Montese Crandall who in the near future has one the right to write the novelization of the sci-fi classic “The Crawling Hand”. (Okay, they think it is a classic in the year 2025). And we find out the importance of why he needs to write this book. The rest of the book is the story he supposedly wrote. It is split into two sections – Book one explains the Mars voyage and which I enjoyed as it was detailed and stimulating. Classic science fiction. Book Two is the story of the return to earth where only a human arm has crashed landed and may be infected and cause the destruction of human kind. This part was humorous horror to say the least, but didn’t grab me as much as the first book. With over 700 pages it took me awhile to get through this one.


Note: This book was borrowed from my local library.

Brains: A Zombie Memoir by Robin Becker

Book Description
College-professor-cum-zombie Jack Barnes is a different breed of undead—he can think. In fact, he can even write. And the story he has to tell is a truly disturbing—yet strangely heartwarming—one.

Convinced he'll bring about a peaceful coexistence between zombies and humans if he can demonstrate his unique condition to Howard Stein, the man responsible for the zombie virus, Barnes sets off on a grueling cross-country journey to meet his maker. Along the way he recruits a small army of "super" zombies that will stop at nothing to reach their goal. There's Guts, the dreadlocked boy who can run like the wind; Joan, the matronly nurse adept at reattaching decaying appendages; Annie, the young girl with a fierce quick-draw; and Ros, who can actually speak. United they embark on an epic quest to attain what all men, women—and, apparently, zombies—yearn for: equality.

Brains is a blood-soaked, darkly humorous story that will have readers rooting for Barnes and his zombie posse to the very end.

My thoughts
A pretty cool idea; zombies want equality. Jack Barnes, a former professor has turned to a zombie but can think and write (but cannot express his thoughts in voice). Together with other zombies, they take upon a journey to find the man who created the zombie virus and in turn try to live in harmony with the humans. I liked the idea, but didn’t feel anything towards Jack and his crew. An average zombie read.


Disclosure: I received this book from paperbackswap.com

Cheeseburger in Paradise

My wife is a Jimmy Buffet fan and I just like the whole island life theme. I’ve wanted to go to Cheeseburger in Paradise (having been to Margeritaville a few times while vacationing), but there are not many of them and the one closest to us is still a distance. But we happened to be in the area one weekend and we finally had the chance to go.

It certainly gives you the feeling of a being at seaside with the bright colors and Tiki huts. We got there early enough before the dinner crowd. And it was happy hour. We ordered a bucket of Buds. I couldn’t figure why they didn’t have Jimmy Buffet’s beer Landshark Lager or their special craft beer Paradise Beach Ale as part of happy hour, although they did serve them. The waitress didn’t know why. Speaking of the waitress, it must be fun to have a dress code that consists of a t-shirt and shorts (okay, maybe not in the winter).

We started with the Smugglers’ Platter; which consisted of Mini-Cheeseburgers, Dragon Fire Chicken Wings, and Fried Pickles.

First, the Mini-Cheeseburgers were the cutest and one of the best sliders that I have eaten. The Dragon Fire Chicken Wings were hot and tasty. Lastly, the Fried Pickles were crispy and much better than the Fried Pickles at Hooters.

Being a hamburger joint, we ordered hamburgers of course! I choose the:

BBQ Cheddar Burger
Cheddar cheese, BBQ sauce, pickles, lettuce and fried onion strings, but opted for turkey instead of a beef burger. This was a big sandwich with a lot of crispy onion strings. I finished the burger but not the onion strings. The burger was tasty and not too overwhelming with the BBQ sauce.

My wife ordered the:

Powerhouse Burger
The great flavor from our buffalo wings is now available on a burger! Buffalo Asiago cheese, hot wing sauce, Blue Cheese dressing, tomato, red onion and lettuce. She couldn’t finish the burger and only ate half. She enjoyed it though. I ate the second half the following day and although I do not care for blue cheese it was still good. My wife ordered sweet potato chips with her order and they were rubbery, not crispy. Not good at all. And the menu states that they are made in house. Not a good sign.

Now my eyes are certainly bigger than my stomach and I had to try the:

Copa Banana
Fresh bananas, strawberries, toasted coconut, whipped cream, Nilla® wafers and banana pudding layered in our martini glass.

We shared it and it was everything I hoped it would be but by this time I was full and had to force myself to finish. I was ready to walk off my dinner!

All in all it was a good meal in a nice restaurant. Too bad it wasn’t closer to home. I would go there more often. I give it a 4 out of 5.

Next one I want to try is Sonic Drive-In. Any thoughts on that?

Sick City by Tony O'Neill

Book Description
Meet Jeffrey and Randal, two desperate junkies and your guides on this top-to-bottom fun-house tour of Hollywood's underbelly. From infamous crime scenes to celebrity treatment centers, Sick City is an outrageous page-turning adventure set in the sun-bleached wilds of LA.

My thoughts
Okay, Sick City is sick; in a good way. Trying to watch as these two junkies Jeffrey and Randal try and survive in Hollywood is an amusement ride all onto itself. I enjoyed reading this book and seeing a world that I couldn’t even imagine. Kudos to author Tony O’Neill for giving an extreme insight to the world of the wild and underbelly of the Hollywood drug scene.


Disclosure: I received this book for review from the publisher. I received no compensation for my thoughts.

John Belushi is Dead by Kathy Charles

Book Description
IN THE END WE ALL FADE TO BLACK.

Pink-haired Hilda and oddball loner Benji are not your typical teenagers. Instead of going to parties or hanging out at the mall, they comb the city streets and suburban culs-de-sac of Los Angeles for sites of celebrity murder and suicide. Bound by their interest in the macabre, Hilda and Benji neglect their schoolwork and their social lives in favor of prowling the most notorious crime scenes in Hollywood history and collecting odd mementos of celebrity death.


Hilda and Benji’s morbid pastime takes an unexpected turn when they meet Hank, the elderly, reclusive tenant of a dilapidated Echo Park apartment where a silent movie star once stabbed himself to death with a pair of scissors. Hilda feels a strange connection with Hank and comes to care deeply for her paranoid new friend as they watch old movies together and chat the sweltering afternoons away. But when Hank’s downstairs neighbor Jake, a handsome screenwriter, inserts himself into the equation and begins to hint at Hank’s terrible secrets, Hilda must decide what it is she’s come to Echo Park searching for . . . and whether her fascination with death is worth missing out on life.

My thoughts
Hilda and Benji are two bored teenagers that find thrills in visiting the sites of celebrity deaths. That is until Hilda befriends an old man and begins to spend more time with him than Benji. John Belushi is Dead is the story of two outsiders that have this weird connection until they drift apart and learn that each have their own demons that need to be worked out. I found this book to be much more than I had expected. I could relate to the characters and the emptiness each felt and trying to (I wouldn’t say fit in) but to live a meaningful life worth something other than the void.


Disclosure: This book was received for review from the publisher. I received no compensation for my thoughts.

Running From The Devil by Jamie Freveletti

Book Description
A chemist for a cosmetics company and an ultramarathon runner, Emma Caldridge is en route from Miami to BogotÁ when her plane goes down in the mountains near the Venezuelan border. Thrown unhurt from the wreckage, she watches in horror as guerrillas drag the other passengers into the jungle. Stranded and alone in a deadly environment, Emma has no choice but to follow—and stumbles across Cameron Sumner, an injured government agent who was left behind to die.

As a Washington, D.C., task force races to the crash site in hopes of finding survivors, Emma and Cameron creep closer to a nightmare they may be powerless to prevent. But Emma is no ordinary woman—and she guards a secret both powerful and deadly that her adversaries would gleefully kill to possess.

And now she must run . . .

My thoughts
If you want a fast-paced, action thriller filled with surprises, then Running From The Devil by Jamie Freveletti is the book to read. Emma Caldridge (a chemist) is on her way to Columbia when her plane crashes. But this was no accident, and when she escapes and sees the other survivors being taking away by guerillas, she has to make a decision to follow or get lost in the jungle herself. With the help of Cameron Summer , a government agent that was also on the plane, they wreak havoc on the bad guys! I found this book to be a highly exciting thriller!


Note: I won this book from Murder, Mystery & Mayhem

Paterson, NJ’s Great Falls Festival 2010

Yesterday, we got together with a group of Abbott and Costello fans that we met on our cruise last year. First stop the Lou Costello statue in Paterson then a short walk to the Great Falls Festival to watch Gil "Bud" Palmer and Lou Sciara perform as Abbott and Costello. Here is a photo of my wife flirting with Lou.

Testimony by Anita Shreve Book Giveaway

Thanks to Brianne at the Hachette Book Group I have 5 copies of the new edition of Testimony by Anita Shreve to give away. I read this last year and here is a link and a re-post of my review (originally posted June 4, 2009).

My thoughts
Anita Shreve’s “Testimony” is written from various points of view, all persons involved in sex scandal at a private high school. I was shocked as the story unfolded, but couldn’t put this book down once I started reading it. The author captures the feelings of all the individuals involved and those outside the sphere. The lives ruined and changed from one incident caught on tape and the effect ripples throughout the community. This is such an intense book that leaves you wondering if things could have been different. This is a must read.

And now for the giveaway!
To enter:
For 1 entry leave me a comment with an email address to contact you.
For 2 additional entries follow or subscribe to my blog (and please let me know).
This giveaway is open to US & Canadian residents only and no PO boxes
Giveaway ends on Sunday, Sept 19, 2010.

Black Tie Beach

This is from Color Me Katie's blog:

September's Making Room for More Books Giveaway

For the month of September, I am giving away the following two books:

The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva (this an ARC copy)
The Body Shop by Paul Solotaroff (this is also an ARC copy)

This contest is open to U.S. residents only

Please leave a comment with your e-mail address (so I can contact you if you win).

Subscribers and followers get 2 additional entries (but let me know that you are one or the other or both).

Contest ends Monday, September 13, 2010

Gallery 1988

If I return to Los Angeles, I have to visit Gallery 1988. They recently had an exhibit Crazy 4 Cult 4, that had some interesting interpretations of cult classics. I am into the whole pop culture and classic movies and television. They recently put up for sale signed prints of Rich Pellagrino’s work from that show. My favorite is Wonka (could you believe?). But they sold out within 24 hours! You snooze you lose.

Up From The Blue by Susan Henderson Book Giveaway

Thanks to Stephanie at Harper Paperback, I am giving away one copy of Up from the Blue by Susan Henderson. This book will be released on September 21, 2010

Since the publisher will be shipping this directly, this contest is for U.S. residents only and no P.O. Boxes.

Please leave a comment with your e-mail address (so I can contact you if you win).

Subscribers and followers get 2 additional entries (but let me know that you are one or the other or both).

Contest ends Friday September 10th, 2010