Cross Fire by James Patterson

Book Description
Wedding bells ring
Detective Alex Cross and Bree's wedding plans are put on hold when Alex is called to the scene of the perfectly executed assassination of two of Washington D.C.'s most corrupt: a dirty congressmen and an underhanded lobbyist. Next, the elusive gunman begins picking off other crooked politicians, sparking a blaze of theories--is the marksman a hero or a vigilante?

A murderer returns

The case explodes, and the FBI assigns agent Max Siegel to the investigation. As Alex and Siegel battle over jurisdiction, the murders continue. It becomes clear that they are the work of a professional who has detailed knowledge of his victims' movements--information that only a Washington insider could possess.

Caught in a lethal cross fire

As Alex contends with the sniper, Siegel, and the wedding, he receives a call from his deadliest adversary, Kyle Craig. The Mastermind is in D.C. and will not relent until he has eliminated Cross and his family for good. With a supercharged blend of action, deception, and suspense, Cross Fire is James Patterson's most visceral and exciting Alex Cross novel ever.

My thoughts
Alex Cross is preparing for his wedding with Bree. Life is good until his former friend and nemesis Kyle Craig renters his life. Kyle has it out for Alex and taunts him throughout; killing a few people along the way. I enjoy the Alex Cross series of stories and really enjoy when Patterson writes alone. These books are his strongest and this seventeenth one is just as good as the prior novels. As always, this book was a fast read but stimulating nonetheless.

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

Delirious by Daniel Palmer

Book Description
One day, Charlie Giles is an up-and-coming electronics superstar. The next, he's a prime homicide suspect as his former employers are picked off one by one. Charlie watches his life unravel as his company and inventions are wrenched from his control, and his family is decimated. With nowhere else to turn, he enlists his schizophrenic brother to uncover the dark family secrets that lie at the heart of the unfolding terror. "Delirious" is a mind-bending story where the line between what is real and what is imagined twists and turns...an addictive literary puzzle that every reader will want to solve.

My thoughts
Charlie Giles is a self-made electronics genius whose company was purchased by a larger company and he finds out from a seemingly concerned co-worker that they are not going with his product (a digital entertainment center for cars) and kick him out. When he confronts upper management, they think he is nuts. Schizophrenia runs in his family (his brother has it). Charlie begins to wonder if he is nuts or is some trying to make him nuts. Then people involved with getting him fired start dying. Is Charlie having blackouts or is it something else. Daniel Palmer has written a strong thriller that keeps you riveted. Although, I figured out some of it, I enjoyed this novel.

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

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

Book Description
"I believe there is another man inside every man, a stranger . . ." writes Wilfred Leland James in the early pages of the riveting confession that makes up "1922," the first in this pitch-black quartet of mesmerizing tales from Stephen King. For James, that stranger is awakened when his wife, Arlette, proposes selling off the family homestead and moving to Omaha, setting in motion a gruesome train of murder and madness.

In "Big Driver," a cozy-mystery writer named Tess encounters the stranger along a back road in Massachusetts when she takes a shortcut home after a book-club engagement. Violated and left for dead, Tess plots a revenge that will bring her face-to-face with another stranger: the one inside herself.

"Fair Extension," the shortest of these tales, is perhaps the nastiest and certainly the funniest. Making a deal with the devil not only saves Dave Streeter from a fatal cancer but provides rich recompense for a lifetime of resentment.

When her husband of more than twenty years is away on one of his business trips, Darcy Anderson looks for batteries in the garage. Her toe knocks up against a box under a worktable and she discovers the stranger inside her husband. It’s a horrifying discovery, rendered with bristling intensity, and it definitively ends a good marriage.
Like Different Seasons and Four Past Midnight, which generated such enduring films as The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me, Full Dark, No Stars proves Stephen King a master of the long story form.

 My thoughts
As the title states, this book is dark and each story shows the dark side of man and how they deal with it. Stephen King is a great story teller and detailed in his descriptions. Although, he is well known for his horror tales, these stories deal with the horrific things that man does to one another. There are four stories and I liked the first one, the longest (but it was repetitive) and the last one (dramatic). The two in between were okay but didn’t stand out.

 Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my local library.

Thr3e by Ted Dekker

I received the re-issued edition of this book. I had not heard of it prior and was unaware of the movie that was made until after I read the book. I am glad because I didn’t want it to affect my thoughts when reading it for the first time.

Book Description
By all accounts seminary student Kevin Parsins is leading a good, if not virtuous, life. But like all people, Kevin has his secrets. And someone wants them revealed.

While driving home from a day at graduate school, Kevin receives a call from a mysterious stranger who calls himself Slater. Slater demands Kevin confess his sin in the next three minutes or the vehicle he is manning will be blown to pieces.

Thus starts a harrowing chain of events. After narrowly escaping his exploding car, Kevin continues to receive phone calls from Slater, each with another riddle, another consequence, and another three minutes to confess his sin.

The problem is Kevin is unsure of what that sin might be. And Slater's cycle won't stop until he figures it out.

My thoughts
Thr3e is a mystery and thriller with a quite a few plot twists that will make writing a review without giving things away. But I will try. Kevin Parsons, a 24-year-old seminary student gets a phone call while driving telling him that there is a bomb in his car and it will go off if he doesn’t solve a riddle. He is now the victim of a tormentor named Slater. Soon the FBI is involved and this mystery takers off. Dekker writes a fast paced exciting story that had me guessing and questioning every step of the way!


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

Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear

Book Description
A starship hurtles through the emptiness of space. Its destination-unknown. Its purpose-a mystery.

Now, one man wakes up. Ripped from a dream of a new home-a new planet and the woman he was meant to love in his arms-he finds himself wet, naked, and freezing to death. The dark halls are full of monsters but trusting other survivors he meets might be the greater danger.

All he has are questions-- Who is he? Where are they going? What happened to the dream of a new life? What happened to Hull 03?

All will be answered, if he can survive the ship.

HULL ZERO THREE is an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride through the darkest reaches of space.

My thoughts
Man wakes up on a ship travelling through space with little or no memory. A young girl saves him from danger and they travel through this huge ship which is damaged. They meet others (including twins?) and constantly fight against death to reach the forward part of the ship. Is this science fiction or a horror tale? Although, I like the premise, I could not get into this novel or the characters, including lead who is narrating the story. A certain miss for me.

Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my local library.

ArtsBeat: Death Comes to Riverdale

ArtsBeat: Death Comes to Riverdale
By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES
Published: December 21, 2010

A longtime member of Archie's extended family goes to her reward.

Check out the full story here

Archie Comics

Under The Mercy Trees by Heather Newton

This book will be released on January 18, 2011

Book Description
Thirty years ago, Martin Owenby came to New York City with dreams of becoming a writer. Now his existence revolves around cheap Scotch and weekend flings with equally damaged men. When he learns that his older brother, Leon, has gone missing, he must return to the Owenby farm in Solace Fork, North Carolina, to assist in the search. But that means facing a past filled with regrets, the family that never understood him, the girl whose heart he broke, and the best friend who has faithfully kept the home fires burning. As the mystery surrounding Leon's disappearance deepens, so too does the weight of decades-long unresolved differences and unspoken feelings—forcing Martin to deal with the hardest lessons about home, duty, and love.

My thoughts
This is the story of Martin Owenby and the Owenby family. When Martin’s brother, Leon disappears, he heads home to North Carolina and the difficulties he left behind. A failed writer living a drunken existence in New York, heading back to his home town brings more things he must face. Heather Newton’s novel blends the past with the present an each chapter is written from one character’s point of view. The reader gets to feel what these family members are thinking; this family filled with love, grief, jealousy, hate, dreams and doubts and hopefully forgiveness. A fine debut novel.

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

Law of Attraction by Allison Leotta

Book Description
As a newly minted Assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., Anna Curtis has already developed thick skin to deal with the brutality she encounters with her daily stack of domestic violence cases. Yet when Laprea Johnson walks into Anna’s life—battered by her boyfriend on the morning after Valentine’s Day—there’s something about this particular case that Anna can’t quite shake, something that reminds the prosecutor of her own troubled past. At the trial, Laprea makes a last-minute reversal, lying on the witness stand to free her boy-friend. Shortly after he is freed, Anna is horrified to hear that Laprea’s body has been found in a trash heap. Hastily assigned to prosecute the murder case alongside intimidating chief homicide prosecutor Jack Bailey, Anna’s heart sinks when she learns that her own boyfriend, public defender Nick Wagner, is representing the accused. Torn between bringing the killer to justice and saving her personal life, Anna makes a series of choices that jeopardizes her career, her relationships, and her very life as she uncovers the shocking truth behind the murder.

My thoughts
Anna Curtis is a new Assistant U.S. Attorney who tries to protect Laprea Johnson whose boyfriend D’Marco beats her. When Laprea recants her testimony on the stand, D’Marco is set free and soon Laprea is murdered and tossed on a heap of garbage. Anna is determined to bring D’Marco to justice. To add to the mix, D’Marco public defender is an old school friend of Anna’s and one she is attracted to. Allison Leotta’s legal background shows in her writing and making this legal thriller a fascinating read. It is fast-paced, with a plot filled with quite a few suprises!

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

Hating Olivia by Mark SaFranko

Book Description
Max Zajack's life is cheap rooms, dead-end jobs, and suicidal fantasies until he meets the alluring and mysterious Olivia Aphrodite, and everything goes to hell.

Max is a struggling musician and wannabe writer. His life is in a rut until one night, while playing a gig at a local club, he gazes out into the crowd and sees Olivia. Before long, they are sharing a bed and host of dark vices that begin to consume them. Their love turns toxic, sending them spiraling downward toward the inevitable. Violently romantic, viscerally honest, Hating Olivia is the story of two loners whose obsessive love brings them to the edge of destruction.

My thoughts
Max is an aspiring writer and sometimes musician when he meets Olivia. Why such a beautiful woman would want him is beyond him but he isn’t complaining. She too is an aspiring writer. The story follows their four years together not writing, always having sex and sometimes working. These two are certainly not ambitious and wild sex is what keeps them going. A relationship based o n sex is certainly doomed and the couple becomes wary as the money runs out and their nerves are frayed. Set in 1970’s New Jersey, This novel is sexually explicit but also a look into relationships. As I read chapter after chapter I wondered when Max begins Hating Olivia.


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

Bad Blood by John Sandford

Book Description
One late fall Sunday in southern Minnesota, a farmer brings a load of soybeans to a local grain elevator- and a young man hits him on the head with a steel bar, drops him into the grain bin, waits until he's sure he's dead, and then calls the sheriff to report the "accident." Suspicious, the sheriff calls in Virgil Flowers, who quickly breaks the kid down...and the next day the boy's found hanging in his cell. Remorse? Virgil isn't so sure, and as he investigates he begins to uncover a multigeneration, multifamily conspiracy-a series of crimes of such monstrosity that, though he's seen an awful lot in his life, even he has difficulty in comprehending it...and in figuring out what to do next.

My thoughts
Bad Blood is a murder mystery with religious undertones where Minnesota investigator tries to find the common link between three murders where there doesn’t seem to be. As he searches for clues, he learns of a group of farmers with their own church that may be the connection. I don’t believe I have read any previous Virgil Flowers stories before but this one certain grabbed hold of me. This is book is sexually explicit and may be disturbing to some. There are some twists and false leads. I found the book to be so intense and the plot so fascinating that I will have to read the previous Flowers stories.

Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my local library.

Creepers by David Morrell

I was recently informed of this book and although it was released five years ago, it is certainly worth reading!

Book Description
On a cold October night, five people gather in a run-down motel on the Jersey shore and begin preparations to break into the Paragon Hotel. Built in the glory days of Asbury Park by a reclusive millionaire, the magnificent structure - which foreshadowed the beauties of art deco architecture - is now boarded up and marked for demolition.

The five people are “creepers,” the slang term for urban explorers: city archeologists with a passion for investigating abandoned buildings and their dying secrets. On this evening, they are joined by a reporter who wants to profile them - anonymously, as this is highly illegal activity - for a New York Times article.

Frank Balenger, a sandy-haired, broad-shouldered reporter with a decided air of mystery about him, isn’t looking for just a story, however. And after the group enters the rat-infested tunnel leading to the hotel, it becomes clear that he will get much more than he bargained for. Danger, terror, and death await the creepers in a place ravaged by time and redolent of evil.

My thoughts
I wanted to read this book because I always wanted to creep, although I knew it as urban exploring. I was too chicken and after reading this book, I am even more scared. This novel is a suspenseful thriller that follows fiver urban explorers as they penetrate an old hotel in Asbury Park, New Jersey a week before it is scheduled to be torn down. What they find is a trip back in time as some of the rooms seem to have not been touched in decades yet they also seem that the guests were still there. Each room was a time capsule in itself. With the dangers of a old building and rotting wood, the explorers are as careful as they could be, but then a set of stairs collapse, one of them is injured and then they here the noise that someone else is there. I could go on but that will just ruin it. This fast paced story will keep you in glued to you seat as you try to figure what the heck is going on.

Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my local library.

The Inner Circle by Brad Meltzer

NOTE: This book will be released on January 11, 2011

Book Description
There are stories no one knows. Hidden stories. I love those stories. And since I work in the National Archives, I find those stories for a living.

Beecher White, a young archivist, spends his days working with the most important documents of the U.S. government. He has always been the keeper of other people's stories, never a part of the story himself...

Until now.

When Clementine Kaye, Beecher's first childhood crush, shows up at the National Archives asking for his help tracking down her long-lost father, Beecher tries to impress her by showing her the secret vault where the President of the United States privately reviews classified documents. After they accidentally happen upon a priceless artifact - a 200 hundred-year-old dictionary that once belonged to George Washington, hidden underneath a desk chair, Beecher and Clementine find themselves suddenly entangled in a web of deception, conspiracy, and murder.

Soon a man is dead, and Beecher is on the run as he races to learn the truth behind this mysterious national treasure. His search will lead him to discover a coded and ingenious puzzle that conceals a disturbing secret from the founding of our nation. It is a secret, Beecher soon discovers, that some believe is worth killing for.

Gripping, fast-paced, and filled with the fascinating historical detail for which he is famous, THE INNER CIRCLE is a thrilling novel that once again proves Brad Meltzer as a brilliant author writing at the height of his craft.

My thoughts
Beecher White, an archivist for the US government gets caught up in a life and death situation when he finds a book that may or may not belong in the archives. When a friend and security officer dies, he is determined to find the answers. It all begins with the reacquainted with a childhood friend he had a crush on. When he gives her a tour of the archives, they find the book; soon afterward his friend dies. Was it a heart attack or murder? Is Beecher the murderer or an innocent bystander? And why is everyone trying to locate this book he has found? Beecher gets caught up in a conspiracy that could rock the nation. Brad Meltzer’s novel is a thrilling mystery filled with surprises up until the very end. You won’t want to put this book down.

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

The Dead Path by Stephen M. Irwin

Book Description
A haunting vision in the woods sets off a series of tragic events, leaving Nicholas Close lost amid visions of ghosts trapped in their harrowing, final moments. These uniquely ter­rifying apparitions lead him on a thrilling and suspenseful ride to confront a wicked soul, and will leave an indelible mark on lovers of high-quality suspense and horror alike.

Nicholas Close has always had an uncanny intuition, but after the death of his wife he becomes haunted, literally, by ghosts doomed to repeat their final violent moments in a chilling and endless loop. Torn by guilt and fearing for his sanity, Nicholas returns to his childhood home and is soon entangled in a dis­turbing series of disappearances and murders—both as a sus­pect and as the next victim of the malignant evil lurking in the heart of the woods.

My thoughts
When Nicolas Close’s wife dies, he starts seeing ghosts or people dying over and over again; one of them a childhood friend who was murdered years ago. When another child goes missing, Nicholas begins to investigate he learns a horrible secret. This horror tales begins slow and picks up as the story progresses, but yet I didn’t get into it as the premise began to deviate into a different area.

Disclosure: I borrowed this book from my local library.

An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin

Book DescriptionLacey Yeager is young, captivating, and ambitious enough to take the NYC art world by storm. Groomed at Sotheby's and hungry to keep climbing the social and career ladders put before her, Lacey charms men and women, old and young, rich and even richer with her magnetic charisma and liveliness. Her ascension to the highest tiers of the city parallel the soaring heights--and, at times, the dark lows--of the art world and the country from the late 1990s through today.

My thoughts
Steve Martin’s latest novel, An Object of Beauty takes into the world of art; the gallery owners, museums and collectors. Daniel Franks and Lacey Yeager met in college, not really lovers but lifelong friends. She is eager to move up and have her own gallery one day. This is Lacey’s story as seen through the eyes of Daniel. I found the novel to be fascinating and enjoyable. I really liked how in depth Martin got with the art world and the people in it.

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

M&M Pretzel - A New Favorite

My wife brought home a bag of M&M pretzel, the latest product from M&Ms. I’m sure you’ve seen the silly commercial on television. Anyway, I’m not much of a pretzel person and wasn’t excited by this latest snack. But my daughter likes pretzels and I thought she’d eat them. One night while watching television, my daughter was snacking on them and I thought I’d have one. Hey, they were right there next me.

And guess what, it wasn’t half bad. Before I knew it I was taking handfuls out of the bag. It was a big 40 ounce bag! The crunchy pretzel combined with the flavorful chocolate and candy coating became addicting. I don’t who ate more; my daughter or me.

Now, if only they make an M&M macadamia nut, I would be in aloha heaven!

Old Border Road by Susan Froderberg

Book Description
Katherine is 17, living alone in the beautiful, desolate landscape of southern Arizona. Her mother is feckless, her father busy with his new family. Meeting Son, the scion of a local rancher, seems like deliverance. They marry and live as a family in his parents' venerable adobe house, but it soon becomes clear that Son is a man who, as his father says, has a "young heart near withered beneath the breastbone."

Katherine must find her own way during a dangerous months-long drought, when everything seems to be disintegrating around her. Susan Froderberg's incantatory language--and her deep knowledge of both the complexities of a small, deeply-rooted place and the human heart--make OLD BORDER ROAD soar.

My thoughts
Girl gets married to the Son (yes that is how they are named in the book). She is a young girl and he is the son of a wealthy rancher. But all Son wants to do is drink, gamble and cheat on his new bride. Meanwhile, a draught has hit Arizona where they live and soon the family is struggling. Son’s father commits suicide and Girl leaves. Son gets into an accident with his horse, so Girl comes back to take care of him. More happens in this tale, but I found it hard to read and couldn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to.

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

The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook by Matt Dunn

Book Description
"It's not me-it's you."

After ten years, Jane's had enough of Edward Middleton. "You've let yourself go," she tells him. "So I'm letting you go too."

Determined to get her back, Edward realizes he must learn how to make women want him again. But right now, he's the kind of man who puts the "ex" in "sexy." One thing is certain: if he's going to be Jane's Mr. Right, he needs to turn himself around. From Atkins to Waxing, Edward begins working his way through the makeover alphabet.

But is a change in appearance what Jane really wants? Can cuddly Teddy really become sexy Eddie? Or is there more to the dating game than meets the eye?

My thoughts
Edward’s girlfriend Jane leaves him after ten years. Why? He let himself go and she needs time to think. So Jane takes off for Tibet. Edward feels sorry for himself then with the help of his friends he decides to change himself to win her back. In the course of the story he makes some dramatic changes including his wardrobe, physical appearance, his car and even his job. But I had a feeling how the story would end and it didn’t leave me fulfilled. What I enjoyed about the story was that I felt that I was in England going through the motions with Edward. Not as funny as I thought it would be but then maybe I don’t understand British humor.

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

Delirious by Daniel Palmer ARC Giveaway - Autographed

I have one copy of an advanced uncorrected proof of Delirious by Daniel Palmer autographed by the author.  This book will be released in February 2011, so you'll ge tto read it before anyone else.

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 Friday, December 10, 2010

The Reckoning by Howard Owen

Book Description
George James and Freeman Hawk were unlikely friends. George was part of soft-spoken, old-money Richmond; Freeman came from a hardscrabble country family mired in poverty and marked by violence.
Fate threw them together long ago as freshman roommates at New Hope College. It was the late 60s, and George was the standard-bearer for a society living on borrowed time while Freeman was leading the charge into what came next. Before they left New Hope, though, Freeman would convert George; convince him that there was a better world to be made, persuade him temporarily to forsake the seamless life that already was mapped out for him as the Ham Prince of Richmond. Canada. The option to war-bloodied America, beckoned. The moment of truth came in a small town on the Vermont border, where George James lost his faith in Freeman Hawk or perhaps in himself and hesitated.

Fast-forward to the early twenty-first century, in a world whose axis has been tilted by 9/11. George and his son Jake are existing in a shaky approximation of normalcy, nursing the wounds of their own, personal loss as George negotiates the sale of the family business and Jake, plunged into despair and rage by his mother s death, is consigned to a private school for troubled teens.

Things get dicier when Freeman Hawk reappears. Nothing about him is as it seems, not even his name. Freeman is on the run, but from what?

In Howard Owen s ninth novel, old scabs are torn off and new wounds inflicted. In the end there will be a reckoning for all of them, and sixteen-year old Jake James will find himself at a border as daunting as the one from which his father turned back so long ago.

My thoughts
George and Freeman were friends in college some thirty years ago and protested the Vietnam War. Freeman went off to Canada to avoid the draft and George went home to work in the family business. Flash forward to now; George is grieving over the death of his wife and the soon to be sold family business. His son, Jake has his own problems and also misses his mom. Freeman reenters George’s life with some secrets and troubles of his own. I found this story to move slowly and could not get into the characters of George and Freeman. Jake was a little more interesting though but not enough to pull it all together. I felt that things could have been developed more.

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