“True Grit”  by Charles Portis

2011 Book Review #49

REMEMBER THE MOVIE WITH JOHN WAYNE, GLEN CAMPBELL AND KIM DARBY?

Summary:

True Grit is Portis’ most famous novel-- first published in 1968, and the basis for the movie of the same name starring John Wayne and now the film by the Coen brothers starring Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon. 

It tells the story of  Mattie Ross, who is just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shoots her father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life, his horse, and $150 in cash money.

Mattie leaves home to avenge her father's blood. With the one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available U.S. Marshal, by her side, Mattie pursues the homicide into Indian Territory.  True Grit is eccentric, cool, straight, and unflinching, like Mattie herself.

My Thoughts:  I remember the movie and really enjoyed reading the book that started it!

An added enjoyment relates to the fact that I lived for 5 years in Ft. Smith, Ark and still have family there! 

“44 Charles Street”  by Danielle Steel

 

2011 Book Review #48

Book List Review

When Francesca Thayer and her husband, Todd, divorce, he wants to sell their art gallery as well as their charming house at 44 Charles St., and split the proceeds. Francesca can't bear to part with either. She talks her artist father into becoming a partner in the gallery, but that still leaves the problem of how to keep her home.

Against the advice of her mother, Francesca decides to share her house with three other people. She chooses carefully: Eileen Flanders, a young, fresh-faced teacher; Chris Harley, a divorced father with shared custody of his little boy, Ian; and Marya Davis, a newly widowed, famous chef who doesn't want to live alone.

It looks as though Francesca's problems are solved. However, Eileen isn't as innocent as she seems, and the men she meets on the Internet and brings home range from incredibly rude to physically abusive, shattering the peace of the new family.

This book is classic Steel lots of emotion, friendship, romance, heartbreak, tragedy, and danger. Her countless fans are guaranteed to find it impossible to put down.

My Thoughts:  This is the first Danielle Steel book I have read in years.  Most of them are romance novels I read when I was much younger.  However, this is a mystery and she is just as good a writer as I remember!  Loved it!

“If Wishes Were Horses”  

          by  Robert Barclay

2011 Book Review #47

  Library Journal Review

Wyatt Blaine is still grieving the death of his wife and son in a DWI accident on his birthday five years ago. Even so, he decides to reinstate on his family's Florida ranch a therapeutic riding program for troubled teens that had been a beloved project of his late wife.

Gabby Powers, the widow of the driver of the other car, would love to see her 15-year-old son included. With great reluctance and a nudge from his own irascible father, Wyatt accepts the teen, who definitely doesn't want to be there.

Gabby and Wyatt are attracted to each other but are afraid to act on those feelings. Family loyalty and love, self-forgiveness, learning to love again after loss, and the benefits of equine therapy both physical and emotional are themes developed in this faith-tinged tale.

With detail on horses and their use in rehabilitation services, consultant Barclay's first novel is ultimately a feel-good story. The couple eventually find love but without engaging in graphic sex; still, the frequent use of off color language might be a deterrent to fans of Christian fiction.

My Thoughts:  I am not a big fan of romance books, but this story appealed to me because of the emphasis on the Horse Therapy.  There is a lot of bad language but, it is used as I suspect anyone in those circumstances would use it and…you can skip the words as you read. Don’t let that stop you from reading this book.  I liked it!

“Chasing the Night”  by Iris Johansen

     An Eve Duncan Mystery

 

2011 Book Review #46 

Summary:  

A CIA agent's two-year-old son was stolen in the night as a brutal act of vengeance. Now, eight years later, this torment is something Catherine Ling awakens to every day. Catherine needs to find someone as driven and obsessed as she is to help her.

Eve Duncan shares her nightmare, since closure is also something that eludes Eve after the disappearance of her daughter Bonnie.

Now, Eve must take her talents as a forensic sculptor to another level, using age progression as a way to unite Catherine with her child. As Eve gets drawn deeper into Catherine’s horror, she must face looming demons of her own. 

Bonnie’s killer is still out there. And… a new killer is taunting Eve and Catherine at every turn. Is Catherine’s son alive, or not? These two women endure the worst fear any mother can imagine in Iris Johansen’s latest thrill ride, a gut-wrenching journey into the darkest places of the soul.

My Thoughts:  I love Eve Duncan books!  This is no exception!

"L.A. Requiem"   by Robert Crais
     An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Mystery
            
    2011 Book Review #45
                                     
                  Book List Review

Karen Garcia is shot in the head while jogging in an L.A. preserve. It would have been written off as just another violent death, but her father, Frank, is the most powerful Hispanic politician in L.A.   Frank Garcia's Hispanic background tells him not to trust the cops, so he asks Joe Pike, an ex-cop, to observe the investigation. Many on the force still believe Pike killed his partner 12 years earlier.   Pike is also one of Karen Garcia's former lovers. 

Pike's partner, Elvis Cole, serves as our guide through an investigation sullied by politics, personal ambition, and a growing media spotlight. Cole finds his own life thrown into chaos when Pike becomes a suspect, the lead female detective on the case takes an interest in him, and it appears that the killer may be connected to the death of Pike's old partner. 

The eighth Elvis Cole^-Joe Pike novel is easily the most ambitious in an outstanding series. Readers will learn what drives Pike; how he uses his taciturn demeanor as a shield; and why the toughest thing he ever did involved neither guns nor physical bravery. This is an extraordinary crime novel that should not be pigeonholed by genre. The best books always land outside preset boundaries. A wonderful experience. --Wes Lukowsky

My Thoughts:  I have read several books by Robert Crais.  I liked them all, particularly the characters.  This book explains some of the reasons  Joe Pike is the way he is and it makes the rest of the books more personal.  You will enjoy this book.

"The Sentry"  By Robert Crais
   A   PI Joe Pike Mystery


2011 Book Review #44

Near the outset of Crais's impressive third thriller featuring L.A. PI Joe Pike (after The First Rule), Pike notices two suspicious characters enter a Venice, Calif., sandwich shop. Pike, an ex-Marine and former LAPD patrol officer, walks into the shop just in time to rescue its owner, Wilson Smith, from a vicious assault. 

Pike soon takes an interest in Smith's niece, Dru Rayne, whose "smart eyes" and warm smile lure him into a lethal gangland battle involving La Eme, the Mexican mafia, and a Bolivian drug connection. The LAPD and the FBI both try and fail to warn Pike off, but PI Elvis Cole, the lead in nine other Crais books, is as ever ready to support his pal. 

Heartbreaking ironies, frustrated desires, and violent nonstop action make this a standout. Crais just keeps getting better at giving depth to the laconic Pike and the anguished Cole, who still pines for his lost love, Louisiana attorney Lucy Chenier.

My Thoughts:  I liked this book.  There is a lot of action going on and sometimes it is confusing to keep up with, but, the characters are interesting and BUSY!

“Back Spin”   by Harlan Coben

                   A Myron Bolitar Novel

2011 Book Review #43

  Publishers Weekly Review

Golf takes center stage, but the sharp plotting and emotional density, as well as nonstop wisecracks, make this a book even for the golf-averse.

When someone kidnaps the son of golfer, Jack Coldren,  just as he's poised to win the U.S. Open and the boy's grandfather asks Myron to help. The mother, golf champion, Linda Coldren, is afraid to notify police and Myron sees an opportunity not only to save a life but, also to sign up a couple of new clients.

Bodies and clues pile up and, as the past unravels, Myron discovers that the Coldrens' skeletons touch even his close but, enigmatic friend, Win.

The characters are deftly etched and the details keenly observed (regarding a group of mall girls: "There were four girls. Or, maybe five or even six.  Hard to say. They all seemed to blend into one another"). 

My Thoughts:  I enjoyed the seemingly off-handed humor in this book.  The plot was believable and I liked the characters.

“Familiar Friend”   by  Cristina Sumners

A Reverend Kathyn Koerney Novel

2011 Book Review #42

  

Summary

Everyone agrees that Mason Blaine had a lot of enemies. But one of them hated the chairman of the university’s Spanish Department enough to kill him–and then stick a knife in his back. The Reverend Kathryn Koerney is no stranger to the sins of man, but this shocking example of overkill in small-town New Jersey has even her puzzled.

Now, with Harton police chief, Tom Holder, she finds herself hunting a killer through the cloistered world of academia–an unexpected hotbed of adultery, betrayal, ambition, and revenge. For Blaine’s murder is only the bait in a carefully disguised trap set for the real victim. And with their personal and professional lives on the line, Kathryn and Tom can only pray they aren’t looking the other way when death strikes again. 

My Thoughts:  The Reverend Koerney is rapidly becoming a favorite character of mine.  I liked this book very much

“Tripwire”   by Lee Child

2011 Book Review #41

 Booklist Review

After spending 13 years in the military police, Jack Reacher is perfectly content to dig swimming pools by day and bounce at a Key West strip club by night. A man named Costello comes looking for him but, is found dead the next day.

Tracking Costello's employer takes Reacher to upstate New York and Jodie Garber Jacobs, the daughter of Jack's old commanding officer, Leon Garber. His dying request was to meet with his protégé.  Why Leon needed to see Jack so desperately is a mystery, but an attempt to kill Reacher and Jodie clarifies the situation.

People serious enough to commit a daylight double murder want Reacher and Jodie dead. The question is why? The motive lies in a $100 million Long Island land swindle, and Reacher's opposition is wealthy, ruthless, and as cunning as Reacher.

The third entry in the Reacher series is a solid thriller that brings to mind the knight-errant adventures of John D. McDonald's Travis McGee.

My Thoughts:  Another favorite.  This book is  edgy, exciting and a must  read. 

“Trial by Fire”  by J.A. Jance

 

2011 Book Review #40

Booklist Review

Former L.A. anchorwoman, Ali Reynolds, now living in Sedona, Arizona, is asked by the county sheriff to fill in for his media-relations officer. Soon she becomes involved in the case of a woman who was badly injured in an arson fire and has no memory of the event or even her name.

The feds take over the investigation from the county, but Ali is asked to help out by the victim's hospital-appointed advocate, Sister Anselm. When the sister disappears, a worried Ali goes to find her and discovers she has been kidnapped.

Fast pacing, surprising plot twists, and a strong, principled heroine make for a satisfying read.

My Thoughts:  J.A. Jance is another of my favorite authors and she has not let me down this time either.  This is an excellent mystery!  You won't want to put it down!

“The 5^th Horseman”  

     by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

                           A Women’s Murder Club Mystery

2011 Book Review #39

Review from “Curled up with a Good Book” website.

The Women’s Murder Club becomes involved in their latest case when their newest member’s mother dies unexpectedly at the city hospital. Yuki’s mother is only one of the latest patients to die suddenly when no life-threatening illness exists. Patients are admitted with a broken arm or a mild, treatable illness and leave via the morgue. The suit against the hospital is the focus of courtroom drama as an ambitious attorney tries to prove that the hospital is guilty of negligence, if not outright murder. Yuki becomes absorbed in the theater of the courtroom to the exclusion of all else as she struggles to accept her mother’s death.

At the same time, Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer is also trying to solve the cases of The Car Girls - girls found dressed in high fashion, killed and deposited in fancy sports cars. While missing both her boyfriend and her previous on-the-streets position within the police department, Lindsay must help find the killer before he finds another victim. She gets concise and immediate results from fellow Murder Club member and medical examiner Clair Washburn.

The unexpected ending is the treasure of the book. The creation of the characters as a newspaper reporter, a detective, and a medical examiner give the story insiders’ views of all aspects of the courtroom and police plots. This prolific author has continued his habit of writing two or three books a year with this latest addition to his roster of bestsellers. Anyone who has read the previous four books in the Women’s Murder Club series will enjoy this one; new readers will find it works fine as an introduction to the series.

My Thoughts:  Of James Patterson’s books, the Women’s Murder Club series is my second favorite behind the Alex Cross mysteries.  This book is excellent!

“Rainwater”  by Sandra Brown

 

2011 Book Review #38

An antiques store owner's explanation of why he won't sell his beloved pocket watch to a yuppie couple is the basis of this book.

             Publishers Weekly Review

Bestseller Brown brings Depression-era Texas to vivid life in this poignant short novel. At the recommendation of Dr. Murdy Kincaid, Ella Barron, a hardworking woman whose husband deserted her, accepts David Rainwater, a relative of the doctor's, as a lodger at the boarding house she runs in the small town of Gilead, Tex.

As the local community contends with a government program to shoot livestock and the opposition of racist Conrad Ellis, a greedy meatpacker, to poor families butchering the meat, Ella grows closer to David.

 Meanwhile, David becomes a special guardian angel to Solly, Ella's nine-year-old autistic son. Dr. Kincaid has gently suggested Ella put Solly in an institution, but she refuses to do so.

Brown skillfully charts the progress of Ella and David's quiet romance, while a contemporary frame adds a neat twist to this heartwarming but never cloying historical.

My Thoughts:  I will be reading more of Sandra Brown’s books.  Loved this one.

 “Between the Plums”

    By  Janet Evanovich

2011 Book Review #36

                            Summary

Together at last! From America’s favorite #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a very special edition containing not one, but three Between-the-Numbers books:  Visions of Sugar Plums, Plum Lovin’ and Plum Lucky.

Visions of Sugar Plums:  It’s five days before Christmas and things are not looking merry for Stephanie Plum. She hasn’t got a tree. She hasn’t bought any presents. The malls are jam-packed with staggering shoppers. There’s not a twinkle of light anywhere to be seen in her apartment—and there’s a strange man in her kitchen.

 Plum Lovin’: Mysterious men have a way of showing up in Stephanie Plum’s apartment. When the shadowy Diesel appears, he has a task for Stephanie…and he’s not taking no for an answer.

Plum Lucky:  Stephanie Plum is looking to get lucky...In an Atlantic City hotel room, in a Winnebago & with a brown-eyed stud who has stolen her heart.

My Thoughts:  LOVE Stephanie Plum!