Every Last One

Bittersweet and Beautiful..., April 5, 2010 5 STARS

Not since One True Thing: A Novel, an earlier novel turned into a movie, have I really raved about this author's books! But now I've found one I can do my book stalker act with. This is a wonderful novel about the power and resilience of the human spirit to continue trying to live when all the reasons to do so are gone.

Several reviewers have mentioned the back of the book synopsis as being a spoiler; I think it is necessary to give a potential reader some idea of what is to come and to properly set up the anticipation of what crisis or tragic event might be revealed. I didn't guess what was going to happen because I don't try to second guess the author -- I just go with the flow of the story and enjoy the revelations as they come. That said, the visceral punch of that climactic violent event was stunning in the way Quindlen wrote it.

The synopsis of the plot and the explanation of the characters in the book have already been described by other reviewers. I would say that the story is mainly about a woman's coming to terms with the limits of what she can be and do as mother and as wife. Can anyone really ever fully protect or save another human being? Is home a safe haven where family can feel secure? And do you ever really know the ones you love or those whom you see and interact with every day?

After a horrible tragedy, Mary Beth is forced to confront her own uncertain future. The story is less about what happened than it is about what WILL happen now. Without further spoilers it's difficult to get across to a potential reader how much beauty is in this story. The author writes well and the emotions experienced by the friends and family are real and ring true in every sense of the word. It was easy to relate to those thoughts and actions of the characters during the course of the narrative.

It may very well be true, as Mary Beth remarks to Dr. Vagelos, that "every fear you ever have, every one - thunder or spiders or roller coasters -- they're all fear of dying. Every last one."

Highly recommend but if you have suffered a recent loss, this might be overwhelmingly sad and a difficult read for you.

The 13th Hour

Enjoyable, fast read..., March 28, 2010 4 stars

Although the author's prose is overwrought and excessively philosophical and maudlin at times, and despite the fact that the characters are so one-dimensional, I did enjoy this thriller. The concept of time travel is not new, but the starts and stops at each hour along the path backward in time as Nick races to prevent the murder of his wife (and others along the way) is definitely a different take on the typical story involving manipulation of time.

The story begins with the main character, Nick, in an interrogation room where he is being held on suspicion of murdering his wife. A stranger appears in the room and gives him a special watch and some curious instructions -- he is being given a chance to discover who killed his wife and why. There is a caveat, however. Nick is only allowed to go back one hour with each backward move and each time it seems that something untoward and worse happens as he races against the 12 hour clock to try to prevent his wife's murder that evening.

He blunders along trying to stop events from resulting in several tragedies and most of the novel is centered on preventing a burglary and a plane crash. The science of this time traveling device is not explained though the reader learns later how it came to be in Nick's possession and why. The central theme of the story, other than what a man is prepared to do to save his beloved wife, seems to be that each action a person commits has a ripple effect that cannot be foreseen. Perhaps a call to remind readers to take more care and give more thought to what we might think are situations and activities that have no significance to anyone else. Every hour, something Nick does or doesn't do has an affect that he didn't quite anticipate and he generally has to rethink his plans.

I enjoyed this novel and would read another by this author.

One Amazing Thing

Mildly absorbing but incomplete, thus unsatisfying..., March 27, 2010 3 stars

After I finished the book I went back to the beginning again just to clarify how it all began. Found a second read of it more interesting. BUT, I hated the ending. It's what I consider a NON ending and thus leaves me as a reader very frustrated. I don't like reading books that make me have to try to guess what happened. If I wanted to write a story, I would. I expect the author to finish her job and to give me some type of ending. Because of the way the book ended, it left a more negative impression with me than I probably would have had if she had just said what happened to the people. Even an epilogue or afterward indicating something of their outcome would have helped. I think that would be my main question to the author -- what happened? Did they all die? I tend to think they did.
I would hesitate to recommend the book to many of my friends because of the lack of closure experienced and I know how they like to know "what happened" when they read books. I did share this book with my two daughters and all of us agreed about that. We said, "The ending sucked."
Something I thought was missing in this book was the rest of the survivor's reactions to the stories they were hearing. Knowing that they all were in dire straits would have made each story all the more important as each person chose exactly what small part of his/her life he or she would share with the group. I also think it would be unusual not to get questions and I also think the person telling the story might want to give answers. Funny how telling a story out loud might lead to self reflection and assessment and perhaps revelations to be experienced and shared.
I might or might not read another book by this author, but I'd wait to see if she did the no ending thing again.

Now, as far as telling private personal stories of this nature to a group of strangers -- well it depends on the circumstances. I suppose if I thought I was going to die it would be nice to reflect and share my "amazing thing" stories but I am not sure if I would, in the end, keep them to myself or not. It is often easier to tell things to total strangers than to friends or relatives. It's the judgment thing. I did not find the stories the captives told all that interesting, frankly.

Borrow, don't buy.

The Executor

Smart and taut --, March 14, 2010 4 stars

This was a very fast-paced suspense thriller that grabbed me from the opening pages and didn't let go until I read the final chapter a few hours later. I could not put the book down!

The characters are believable, unique, and interesting. The prose is incredibly clever and the narrative moves along quickly as the tension builds. Although the reader is not quite sure what exactly is going to happen, it's obvious that it's going to be huge, messy and dramatic! Although he has no way to know it, Joseph Geist makes a bad decision the day he answers an ad placed in the Harvard Crimson to apply for a position that asks him to be a conversationalist. He's down on his luck as he's just been terminated from the PhD program where he's been halfheartedly attempting, for about 8 years, to write his dissertation for philosophy and has been kicked out of his girlfriend's apartment. How much trouble can a guy get into just talking with this very nice, intelligent 80 year old woman who lives in this incredible house and asks nothing more than a couple of hours of good debate every day -- and is willing to pay him for it?!

As the two become close, other elements and events that occur start to ratchet up the sense of dread that something BAD is going to happen -- and the plot thickens! This author really knows how to turn a phrase and the inclusion of many different philosophical tenets and theories adds another interesting dimension to the story.

I liked this one -- recommended for a discriminating suspense lover who likes a smart and tightly drawn novel that is quite original.

No One You Know by Michelle Richmond

4.0 out of 5 stars Poignant and haunting..., February 19, 2010

A sister's quest to find out the truth behind the murder of her sister ends with self discovery and revelations about the nature of relationships between loved ones. How well do you really know your family? Are they keeping secrets from you? What truths are revealed simply by living together and being related?

Twenty years after the fact, Ellie Enderlin is haunted by the death of her reticent and secretive older sister, mathematical genius and Stanford prodigy, Lila. In the aftermath of the shocking murder, Ellie turns to a former English professor who fashions her memories and pain into a bestselling true crime novel -- and exposes Lila's married lover and colleague, Peter, as the suspected killer. Ellie is embarrassed and upset by the book and not satisfied with the fact that justice has not been served and Peter never convicted.

Ellie, unable to settle down, travels the world as a coffee buyer when she runs into Peter in a coffee shop where he gives her Lila's notebook. As she reads the notes, she starts to investigate her sister's past life to try to find out the truth about her sister's death. Who murdered Lila, and why? She follows a very thin line of clues, each interview leading her closer to the truth that has eluded her. The answer surprises Ellie and brings about a certain kind of closure.

Full of math terms, equations, proofs, and tidbits, the book sometimes reads like a text but there is a certain type of poetic beauty in the narrative even with all the scientific prose. The story is both a mystery and a literary work that will keep the reader turning the pages until the satisfying conclusion.

Recommend.

Never Look Away by Linwood Barclay

4.0 out of 5 stars Do you really know the ones you love?, February 13, 2010

I have read all of Linwood Barclay's back-list and I must say that this one is better than the last two and I'm relieved that he's pulled back a little with the unbelievable endings and returned to writing a taut mystery thriller that is both fast paced and suspenseful. I found both Fear the Worst: A Thriller and Too Close to Home: A Thriller to be just way too over the top and am glad that Barclay has returned to a style similar to the one used with what I consider to be my favorite of his novels, No Time for Goodbye. Yeah, all his books require a bit of suspension of disbelief at the scenarios, but the main character -- almost consistently a family man with a wife and child -- is usually a sympathetic protagonist and one whom you want to see get to the bottom of the mystery.

In this novel, newspaper reporter David Harwood is investigating what might be corruption with regard to a new privatized prison that is being hawked as the next best thing for the small town of Promise Falls, New York. He's married to Jan and they have a 4 year old son named Ethan. One day, while they're at an amusement park, one of them disappears!! David races from place to place to figure out what is going on and, although several subplots are brewing simultaneously, the energy and the narrative keep the reader glued to the pages. Even though the reader knows what is happening and why, it's a fun romp to the end.

If you like a good mystery thriller, you'll enjoy this one. Recommend.

The Things That Keep Us Here by Carla Buckley

A good pandemic novel..., February 8, 2010

I love an apocalyptic novel! Whether it be meteor strike, nuclear event, or medical meltdown - I'm your reader. For some reason, the stark portrayals of humans trying to survive against insurmountable odds always draws me in. This one did too!

The H5N1 virus (avian flu) strikes and the entire world is held hostage against the scourges of the disease. Of course it's winter (flu season IS in winter) and it's cold and the weather is bad -- which makes everything just enough worse to create an even bleaker picture. In this book, a family takes refuge in their home -- a mother and two daughters allow an estranged husband and his lab assistant in -- and events spiral out of control from there.

Peter is a veterinarian testing water samples after a teal duck die-off when the flu hits with a vengeance. He and his assistant, an exotic Egyptian woman, come back to his house to be with his ex wife Ann and their two daughters. There is the usual scramble for food and water -- supplies and gas. The power goes off. The days are long and cold and tedious -- you get the picture. Everything is about survival. Nothing else. Neighbors come outside but everyone keeps their distance. To each their own. No sharing, no partnering or working together. Everyone is suspect. People die. The very fiber of being human is tested. How far will a person go to protect his/her family? Others in need? Will anyone help?

This is a great viral pandemic novel and I enjoyed it. There were a few things that never got answered and the book lagged a bit with a bit too much detail at times. The ending seemed a bit rushed, but all in all -- read it an enjoy!

Think Twice by Lisa Scottoline

Another doppelganger tale..., February 5, 2010 OK -- does anyone but me have a problem with a book that uses the old "switched places" thing between identical twins? I remember this ploy from way back in the old Patty Duke Show days (sorry, I date myself), and it was lame then and remains so now. I don't care if Alice and Bennie are IDENTICAL twins -- they are NOT so much of a mirror image that their intimate friends can't tell the difference! The most recent novel I read that uses this device, the doppelganger theory as I call it, was The Likeness: A Novel, and I felt that it failed miserably too. The truth is -- twins come weigh in on this -- there are so many variations and subtle differences between even identical twins that no one would be able to get away with this charade as Alice does when attempting to impersonate Bennie. COME ON! What kind of friends and business associates does Bennie have that they don't even realize that the demon Alice is pretending to be their boss? Despite that weak premise of a plot device, the story was interesting enough to give this an "ok" rating. Problems with the narrative include, however, the short, cliffhanger ending chapters -- each told from a different point of view which I found irritating, and the predictable outcome of the whole charade. We have harrowing encounters, near death experiences, love lost and found, and ultimately resolution and redemption of a kind. Still, of course, leaving a bit of wiggle room for a follow-up novel. I like Bennie Rosato and her lawyer stories - this novel however was not one of those. Having read all her previous books, I beg Lisa Scottoline to return to her usual storytelling and typical legal thriller tale. This is a story that really didn't need to be told. It didn't endear me any more to the characters in her series that I've grown to know and love. It was just FILLER. It served no purpose and lacked even a rationale for being written. We already knew Alice was a problem and she's still on the loose. I hope Scottoline doesn't revisit this twin thing. I've had enough of Alice and hope you have too! All in all, the novel was fast paced but offers nothing new in suspense thriller literature. If you want to read it, borrow it.