The Bone Hunger (Benjamin Oris #2) by Carrie Rubin

 What a fast, fun thrill ride from beginning to end -- this begs to be read in a single sitting so I did just that. No fears if you haven't read the first book in the series as I had not either and the author gives enough backstory so you will get the gist of what happened to Benjamin almost 4 years prior to the current time and place.

Everything is going good for Dr. Benjamin Oris, 2nd year orthopedic resident at Montgomery Hospital in downtown Philadelphia, PA. His baby mama and he are co-parenting an adorable son and his friends, family, and colleagues are all ready to help him meet his goals. Of course since things are really looking up for Ben, something bad has to happen -- and it does. The first severed limb of one of Ben's joint replacement patients turns up in a park and causes quite a stir. Then a second. The surgical team that Ben is lucky enough to be on is on alert and their worries intensify as their patients are threatened and their operations seem more risky. Does this freakish spate of limbs and murders have anything to do with the recent trauma experienced by some of the team who were on a humanitarian mission to Alaska when their plane crashed in the wilderness? Is there something "otherworldly" afoot? NO SPOILERS.

I loved the medical information and the great writing; it's obvious that the author knows her topic. I also enjoyed the bit of "otherworldly" that came into play. It's just detailed and grisly enough to cause some suspense and it kept me guessing with the misdirection and red herrings. I surely hope to follow this up with book #3 in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Indigo Dot Press for this e=book ARC to read, review and recommend.

 This is the second book in a series and I was not able to get a copy of the first, THE BONE CURSE, but it can be read as a standalone.

Genre - medical mystery thriller, suspense, otherworldly

Very Bad Men by Harry Dolan

3.0 out of 5 stars "We all want to be seen for who we really are..."

This is the second novel featuring David Loogan and his live-in partner Elizabeth Waishkey. David is the editor and publisher of mystery stories for a magazine called "Gray Streets". Elizabeth is a detective for the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan. In a very unlikely scenario, David becomes involved in a whodunit when he discovers an envelope propped against the door of his office. Inside that envelope is a message and a confession from someone who claims to have killed a recent murder victim. Who left this confession and why? This is the first of several apparent executions. The victims are all connected to a failed heist - the Great Lakes Bank Robbery, that occurred many years previously. In addition to David bumbling along in the investigation, there is also a young tabloid reporter named Lucy Navarro hot on the case. The chapters skip around and focus on different characters and move back and forth in time. This is a story that has a large cast of good guys and bad guys and a lot of background information is provided that moves the narrative forward.

I didn't find this novel to be particularly suspenseful or very thrilling. Also found it to be very slow moving with way too many completely unrealistic, and frankly sort of uninteresting, plot points. The story was very predictable with its characters all running around playing amateur sleuth a la Nancy Drew. It seemed as if the author was trying to imitate other writers with his dialog; the back cover compares his writing to Elmore Leonard. The way that David and Lucy insert themselves into the hunt for the killer and involve themselves in the case seemed completely unbelievable -- and what detective would allow her boyfriend and daughter to actually skulk around town carrying out this clandestine investigation? I had a hard time suspending disbelief. After all, these are supposed to be VERY BAD MEN.

The resolution was OK but quite drawn out. The real purpose of the tale was explained in the first chapter -- it's "about the motives people have for killing one another."

I did not read the first book in this series, Bad Things Happen, and it will be unlikely that I'd read the third. Despite raves from the publisher ensuring that it will "keep your mind racing and your hand eagerly turning pages," I simply did not find this mystery very compelling or interesting.

The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson

3.0 out of 5 stars  

Lives of quiet desperation...

I wanted to like this novel much more than I actually did. When I closed the book after reading the last chapter (which, in my opinion, was the best in the entire saga, actually), I was left with vague feelings of disquiet. As Blake states when his brother Ryan wonders how the "old-timers" felt about their lives: "They didn't think in terms of happy."

This novel was a series of disjointed vignettes spanning 1973-2003, told in alternating points of view, that give us a snapshot into both the banal and the significant moments in the lives of the large extended Nordic, Lutheran, Erikson family who were born and raised in the rural Midwestern small town of Grenada, Iowa. Each child tries to "leave" in his or her own way, and the picture that emerges as each person tells their story is one of hopeful alienation and the pain of self discovery. It was all somewhat depressing. The tales related in each section reflect the events going on in each of the main characters' lives -- Anita, Ryan, Blake, Torrie -- but also involve their cousins, parents and other relatives and how they all are a part of a family that was "built to last" despite all the trials and tribulations. There are some unfinished stories that left me with questions about what happened "after" or how things ended up the way they did, but though the author sometimes picks up that story line again in a later chapter, some were left dangling. The brothers and sisters seemed to limp painfully toward adulthood, but there are a few triumphs amidst their struggles. The last paragraph -- as one of the children sums up his analysis of his ancestral past and his hope for the future -- is absolutely one of the best parts of this book and one I will remember for a very long time. Any curious reader will simply have to get the book and read it.

Buried Secrets by Joseph Finder

4.0 out of 5 stars -   

How deep are your secrets buried?

This book contains all the ingredients necessary for a novel to earn the right to be called a true suspense thriller: enigmatic clever hero, young damsel in distress, horribly evil bad guys, ruthless, manipulative powerful men who like to get what they want, and lots of action.

Nick Heller is called to the home of billionaire financier Marshall Marcus, an old friend of the family who had employed Nick's mom, when his 17 year old daughter Alexa doesn't come home one night. Suspecting that she has been kidnapped for ransom, Nick sets his private investigation in motion using his own employees and calling in favors from all sorts of friends from his former experiences in the military and beyond. Who has taken Alexa? Where is she being held, and what will it take to bring her home alive? Although Nick moves at breakneck speed using all his resources, he's also suspicious that Marcus is keeping secrets from him that might prevent this from being a successful rescue. Will he be able to solve the mystery and uncover the buried secrets in time?

This is the second book in the Nick Heller series (the first one -- I did not read it -- was Vanished (Nick Heller 1)) and it stands well alone. To say that this was hard to put down is an understatement. The short chapters and change in point of view keep the narrative moving forward at a very rapid pace. I really enjoyed this novel and hope there's a third one in the works. Recommend for a great summer read -- but only if you have nothing else to do until you turn the last page!

The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain

Secrets, lies and betrayal...how well do you know your best friends?

On a beautiful day in September, Noelle commits suicide. Her two closest friends, Tara and Emerson, are completely shocked that the woman they had known -- caring, committed midwife, champion of babies-in-need, strong independent Noelle has done this. Why? Turns out that Noelle had a lot of secrets -- a history of lies, betrayals and a hidden past that neither of them knew.

The story is a mystery and also a study in friendship and family relationships. The ability to write believable characters is a  definite strength of author Diane Chamberlain. The women in her books are mothers, daughters, wives, etc. who are able to form strong bonds that are tested but that don't break even in the face of tragedy or heartache. Ultimately, this is a book about the extent that someone could go to in an attempt to make a wrong a right; or how loving someone too much can cause a person to do things that ordinarily wouldn't be considered. And at what cost?

Told from the viewpoints of the key characters in the novel, the story also shifts back and forth in time as Noelle's friends and their children Jenny and Grace try to make sense of the suicide and to find answers to the questions it brought to light. It seems that none of them really knew Noelle at all!

The book raises questions that made me wonder how well anyone can really know another person. Often we take what they say at face value without probing more deeply, and there can be periods of time when we are enough out of touch with someone that we miss a key turning point or ignore some essential signs.

I read this book cover to cover over an afternoon. It was fast paced and absorbing; the only jarring note was the ending. Although some of it was wholly predictable, I was a bit dismayed at the behavior of one of the characters and I won't give any further spoilers to ruin it for anyone.

Fans of mystery and relationship stories, and all those who love Diane Chamberlain's previous work won't want to miss this one!

Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens

3/5 stars - There are some things that you just might not really want to know....

The premise of this story was a good one: a young woman who was adopted but never felt wanted tries to locate her birth parents and finds that she was born as a product of rape and that her father is a serial killer -- one still active and loose.

The narration is in first person and the technique that worked so well in STILL MISSING is used again as a method to advance the story -- Sara relates what happens as though she is in therapy sessions with her psychiatrist (Nadine).

The first part of the story was absorbing and I was racing through the pages as Sara's life starts to fall apart and she becomes embroiled in a bait tactic to entice her killer father into a trap set up by police. Although she's engaged to be married to the love of her life and they've had a happy life together with her daughter from a previous relationship (Ally), she has a lot of issues and emotional drama that start to cause problems between them. She's obsessive and compulsive -- and in some ways a very weak person. About half way through the book, I started to scoff in disbelief and frustration at what was transpiring. I almost put the book down in disgust. Because I can't NOT finish a book, and because I so enjoyed this author's debut novel, I made myself continue by suspending that disbelief and waiting for what I was positive was going to happen. Most of what I had anticipated was exactly as presumed.

Without spoilers, let me say that the ending, however, was NOT exactly as I had anticipated. There was a wholly out of nowhere twist which really didn't sit right and that left me unsatisfied with the conclusion.

Although I really wanted to love this book, I have to say that it was not as good as STILL MISSING though written in the same style. I like believable, strong heroines who, though damaged, don't behave like invincible superheroes and who don't dissolve into tears or uncertainty at every turn. Who can make decisions without doing stupid, unsafe things and who know their own minds. That said, Sara was not that heroine.

I'm sure that fans of Chevy's previous book will buy this one anticipating the same experience they had with STILL MISSING. I venture to say that most will find it won't provide that thrill but I do feel most will enjoy it anyway if they don't think too deeply and just go along for the ride.

The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro

Entertaining and fun -- don't take it too seriously!, September 1, 2010

This review is from: The Strain: Book One of The Strain Trilogy (Hardcover)

Despite almost being put off by some negative reviews, I found the book to be a fast-paced and entertaining tale about a new breed of vampires -- perhaps changed by some "strain" that could be identified later as a virus or parasite (easier to eradicate in a future book?). Led by an ancient Master, these vampires have a long sucker that springs out of the mouth to acquire sustenance, unlike the vampires of old with fangs that bite into the neck. These zombie-like creatures roam the streets and subterranean tunnels of New York, the changed ones tending to return home to their loved ones to infect them as well. Fighting this new horde is a vampire hunting and killing team, quite a motley crew, composed of a CDC doctor and his associate, a Holocaust survivor turned pawnshop owner, and a city rat exterminator. These folks are intent on saving New York, and the world, from extinction.

Many have pointed out the flaws in some of the action sequences, the stilted dialog, the lapses in logic and the strained credulity they experienced while following the story line. My advice -- don't take it all so seriously, quit analyzing and just enjoy the ride! The narrative moves quickly advancing the action and the reader is treated to all manner of vampire killing methods (not the ones you're familiar with from other novels of this nature that have the typical vampire lore), vivid descriptions of the changed ones, and the hunt for the lair of the Master. Meanwhile, a very wealthy human is trying to live forever by enticing the ancient vampire to the "New World" and acquiring whatever means will allow that to happen. Along the way are some side stories involving abusive husbands, divorce, custody issues, nosy neighbors, bad mothers, evil lawyers -- well you get the picture!

The book starts out strong (the dead plane on the tarmac at JFK airport) and will keep you turning the pages until the end...of this volume in the proposed trilogy by this author duo. Although not a cliffhanger ending, it did leave me wanting more. Thank heavens I have The Fall: Book Two of the Strain Trilogy waiting in the wings to start tonight!

All in all -- it's a fun and fast read -- don't take it seriously!

The Fire Gospel by Michel Faber

The impact of a hidden Gospel..., July 10, 2010

This review is from: The Fire Gospel (Paperback)

This is a short novel said to be based upon the myth of Prometheus -- the Greek god who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to the mortals. Faber's book has the main character, Theo Griepenkerl, stealing nine papyrus scrolls that were secreted inside a wall mounted bas-relief and hidden for two thousand years from a war-torn museum in Iraq, writing a translation of them into a bestselling book, and the resultant consequences of his act of perfidy.

At times satirical and always sardonic, THE FIRE GOSPEL is often humorous and very clever. Theo muses on this academic coup as he translates the scrolls from Aramaic into the novel that will be his undoing. He finally finds a publisher for his work and soon the book shoots to number one on the bestseller lists. Theo does that requisite madcap book tour and, during fits of anxiety, sneaks down into the lobby of his hotel to read the reviews posted on amazon (that part alone was the most hilarious in the book - I laughed out loud). The book Theo wrote is often called "incendiary" by reviewers as it sets Christianity on fire -- the papyrus scrolls come to be known as the Fifth Gospel. Written by a purported eyewitness to the crucifixion, a bystander and former scribe to Caiaphas, Malchus' revelations cause the faithful to examine and question closely held beliefs. Amidst demonstrations and book burnings, Theo is referred to as the "minion of Satan" and finds himself at the mercy of fanatics.

The book jumps around and seems disjointed and not fully developed. I did enjoy it, but not nearly as much as I loved The Crimson Petal and the White. It definitely will provide an evening of entertainment and most likely cause some rumination or reflection on the topics of faith, the Bible, and religion.