"ECHOES"  By Danielle Steel

2011 Book Review #14

Summary: 
For the Wittgenstein family, the summer of 1915 was a time of both prosperity and unease, as the guns of war sound in the distance. But for eldest daughter, Beata, it was a time of awakening. 

By glimmering Lake Geneva, the Jewish beauty met a young French officer and fell in love. Even though her parents would never accept her marriage to a Catholic, Beata followed her heart anyway. As the two built a new life together, Beata's past would stay with her, and when Europe faces war once again, Beata must watch in horror as Hitler's terror threatens her family, even her daughter Amadea who has taken on the vows of a Carmelite nun. 

As family and friends are swept away without a trace, Amadea is forced into hiding, thus beginning a harrowing journey of survival, first in the Nazi death camps and then in the French resistance.  

My Thoughts: This is a heartbreaking story and one of the best Danielle Steel has ever written.  I haven't read Danielle Steel's books for years, but I'm glad I read this one!   

"The Devil's Teardrop"
  By Jeffery Deaver

2011 Book Review #13

Booklist Review

 In "The Devil's Teardrop," a genius/madman/psychopath slaughters dozens of innocent people at a subway stop in Washington, D.C., and threatens to continue the bloodshed every four hours until his demands have been met.

Deaver's signature plot technique is to focus on a particular crime-solving method (it was forensics in The Bone Collector, 1996).  Here an FBI handwriting expert tries desperately to stop the murderer by decoding the hidden symbols in his demand letter.

To add to the suspense, the clock ticks mercilessly, and the diabolically brilliant criminal has set up a series of false leads and mazelike traps, forcing the agents to waste precious time and grow increasingly agitated.  Indeed, it seems that the suspect has actually infiltrated the FBI team.

Deaver is at his best here, slowly revealing layer after layer of a twisting and turning plot and building in suspicion and tension very carefully, so that eventually there seems to be something suspicious about each character.

My Thoughts:

I loved this book!  I love everything Jeffery Deaver writes. This one has more twists and turns than most…right up until the end!

"Southern Ghost"   by  Carolyn Hart

2011 Book Review #12
A Death on Demand Mystery

Booklist Review

According to the news story published in the Chastain (South Carolina) Courier at the time, leading citizen Judge Augustus Tarrant suffered a fatal heart attack on May 9, 1970, after learning of the accidental shooting death of his 21-year-old son, Ross. 

What has prompted young Courtney Kimball to hire Max Darling to investigate this family tragedy 22 years later? And why does Courtney subsequently disappear? 

Old sins cast long shadows and rouse avenging ghosts in Tarrant House as Max and his mystery aficionado wife, Annie (who owns a bookstore called Death on Demand), search for an answer to both questions. 

Hart's southern-gothic mystery offers a wealth of suspects (forced to one-room confrontation after murder has been established), a generous scattering of literary allusions and peripheral ghost stories, and a chain of intriguing flashbacks that will leave most readers puzzled to the end.

My Thoughts:  I love all Carolyn Hart's mysteries and this one is no exception!
                             They are always fun!   

"Worth Dying For"  by  Lee Child

2011 Book Review #11
A Jack Reacher Mystery

            Summary

There's deadly trouble in the corn country of Nebraska . . . and Jack Reacher walks right into it. First he falls foul of the Duncans, a local clan that has terrified an entire county into submission. But it's the unsolved case of a missing child, already decades-old, that Reacher can't let go.

 The Duncans want Reacher gone-and it's not just past secrets they're trying to hide. They're awaiting a secret shipment that's already late-and they have the kind of customers no one can afford to annoy. For as dangerous as the Duncans are, they're just the bottom of a criminal food chain stretching halfway around the world.

 For Reacher, it would have made much more sense to keep on going, to put some distance between himself and the hard-core trouble that's bearing down on him. For Reacher, that was also impossible.

Worth Dying For is the kind of explosive thriller only Lee Child could write and only Jack Reacher could survive-a heart-racing page-turner no suspense fan will want to miss.

My Thoughts!  I agree...you won't want to miss this episode of Jack Reacher's life.

                             Love Lee Child's books!

:"Big Red Tequila"  By Rick Riordan


2011 Book Review #10
A Jackson "Tres" Navarre Mystery

Summary

Everything in Texas is bigger...even murder.  Meet Tres Navarre...tequila drinker, Tai Chi master, unlicensed P.I., with a penchant for Texas-size trouble.

Jackson "Tres" Navarre and his enchilada-eating cat, Robert Johnson, pull into San Antonio and find nothing waiting but trouble. Ten years ago Navarre left town and the memory of his father's murder behind him. Now he's back, looking for answers. 

Yet the more Tres digs, trying to put his suspicions to rest, the fresher the decade-old crime looks: Mafia connections, construction site payoffs, and slick politicians' games all conspire to ruin his homecoming.  It's obvious Tres has stirred up a hornet's nest of trouble. He gets attacked, shot at, run over by a big blue Thunderbird—and his old girlfriend, the one he wants back, turns up missing. 

Tres has to rescue the woman, nail his father's murderer, and get the hell out of Dodge before mob-style Texas justice catches up to him. The chances of staying alive looked better for the defenders of the Alamo....

My Thoughts:  This is a new author for me.  I liked this book and will be reading more of Riordan!

"Murder Walks The Plank"
                By Carolyn Hart

2011 Book Review #9
A Death on Demand Mystery


Book List Review 


Annie and Max Darling return and this time mystery bookstore owner Annie plans a mystery cruise as a benefit for the Island Literacy Council of Broward's Rock, South Carolina. 

Unfortunately, before the mystery is solved, one of the guests falls overboard. Or was she pushed? Annie believes she was pushed and becomes even more convinced when a suspicious death occurs soon after the cruise. Max and Acting Police Chief Cameron believe the two incidents are either accidents or suicides and are unconnected, leaving Annie, Emma Clyde (Broward's Rock's own mystery author), and mystery reader extraordinaire Henny Brawley no choice but to solve the crimes themselves.

While investigating, Annie must also deal with her father's new romance, her stepsister's unhappiness, and her mother-in-law's cryptic messages.

A good story boasting quirky characters, a fine sense of place, and, of course, plenty of clever literary references to mystery books and authors. Great fun for cozy fans.

My Thoughts....  I love this series of books.  The characters are fun and the mystery is always well planned!