"Mystic River"-Dennis Lehane

Book Title: Mystic River
Author: Dennis Lehane
Version: Paperback
ISBN: 9780060584757
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Published: July 22, 2003
First Published: 2001
Genre: Mystery
Number of Pages: 416

SYNOPSIS: Three young friends, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus and Dave Boyle, are playing together when a car pulls up next to them. At first the two old men in the car look like cops. But when they take Dave away to have a chat with his mother the other two boys get scared. When they tell their dads what happened their fear only grows when the real cops show and everyone starts running around scared. When Dave finally shows up four days later everything is different, Dave is broken, and Sean and Jimmy feel to guilty too go on as before. From then on they are no longer friends and as the years go by they all go their own ways. 

Twenty-Five years later Sean is a homicide detective with a wife who's run away but calls him to say nothing, Jimmy is an ex-con who has a family and owns a small store and Dave is a father who struggles everyday with the memories of the "wolves" from his past. And though they all live in the same city they never see each other until one fateful day when their lives collide once more. One morning the car of Jimmy's daughter Katie is found by some kids, found abandoned and with blood in it. Sean and his partner are assigned to the case and as the search takes them further into the park hope begins to dwindle. When her body is found beaten and mangled their three separate worlds become one terrifying nightmare. 

As the investigation gets under way it comes to light that Dave was one of the last people to see Katie alive. The same night she disappeared Dave came home to his wife covered in blood and this makes his wife start to doubt his story about a mugger. Sean has to start digging into Dave's life to see if he had something to do with Katie's death. Jimmy an ex-con finds that when it comes to his daughter's life being taken he can't seem to stay on the straight and narrow. He begins his own investigation into the matter. As certain things begin to emerge through the haze of mystery everyone's life begins to crumble around them and they have to figure out where their loyalties lie.

REVIEW: I really and truly loved this book. I read it years and years ago, way before the movie was announced, and I couldn't put it down. I loved every page, every part, every little thing about this book. It was a truly great 'edge of your seat' thriller and I highly recommend it. 

Dennis Lehane is an incredible writer I have been blown away by his writing twice now and I have a feeling that I will be again and again. He has a way of getting into his characters's heads and making them so three dimensional it's hard to believe that they aren't walking around real somewhere. His writing is sharp and intelligent, full of wit and pain in equal measure. Mr. Lehane's writing is beautiful and raw and all around brilliant.

The story is dark and real and I love that about it. It doesn't shy away from the pain and darkness of abuse and murder, of all the darkness that is out there and in people. You won't get it completely unless you read the book, which you should do, but the story is amazing. There is just something about it that really reaches in and attaches itself to you. That is the mark of a great story.

The characters are awesome and strange and very real. The characters have kindness and love within them but they also have darkness and none of them have fairy tale lives. All of them are so real and raw and incredible that even if the story was no good these characters would be worth reading the book for. However we are in luck because they story, the writing, and the characters are all out of this world and worth reading. I highly, highly recommend "Mystic River" by Dennis Lehane this is a book that I don't think could disappoint.  

More Mystery:

"A Drink Before the War"               "And Then There Were None"
                                      
 

"And Then There Were None"-Agatha Christie

Book Title: And There Were None

Author: Agatha Christie

Version: Paperback

ISBN: 9780062073471

Publisher: Harper

Published: January 18th, 2011

First Published: 1939

SUMMARY: 

"Ten little soldier boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there where Nine.

Nine little soldier boys sat up very late;

One overslept himself and then there were Eight.

Eight little soldier boys travelling in Devon;
One said he'd stay there and then there where Seven.

Seven little soldier boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in halves and then there were Six.

Six little soldier boys playing with a hive;
A bumble bee stung one and then there were Five.

Five little soldier boys going in for law;
One got into Chancery and then there were Four.

Four little soldier boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were Three.

Three little soldier boys walking in the Zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there were Two.

Two little soldier boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up and then there was One

One little soldier boy left all alone;
He went and hanged himself

And then there were None."

Ten strangers are all invited to Solider Island by a mysterious person named U.N. Owen. When the guests arrive and find that their host is not yet there they begin to question what the weekend is about. And when they are all accused of getting away with murder of some kind or another their suspicion grows and they begin to fear the motive behind their invitations. 

As the guests begin to die one by one the weekend becomes not just one of survival but also one of detection. The guests are dying in the manner of the rhyme that has been posted in their rooms and so the survivors try to figure out which of them is the killer. Nerves are shot and accusations are thrown, everyone pointing their finger at everyone else. 

REVIEW: This was my second Agatha Christie mystery and I loved it. I read it in a few hours and I loved every minute of it. Ms. Christie's way with mystery is a magical and beautiful thing. I find that she never does what I expect and I am always surprised by the turns she takes and I love that. 

Her writing is simplistic but in the best way possible. She doesn't put on airs or try to make things fancy when they didn't need to be. She just writes the story and I think that it helps enhance the mystery. And with Agatha Christie it really is a great mystery. 

The story is again simple but the way she puts it together is where her genius shines. I really don't want to say too much because I don't want to give anything away but trust me when I say the book is one sharp twist after another. And when it comes to mystery what more can you ask for than something that literally keeps you on the edge of your seat? 

ANOTHER MYSTERY:

"A Drink Before the War"

To My Readers: A Letter

To My Unwaveringly Faithful Readers and Newcomers Alike,


  First I would like to apologize for how long it has been since my last post. As most of you know I work in retail and when the holiday season fell upon us, and in retail this means 'Black Friday,' I found myself swept up in the madness and with no energy to spare. This seems a weak excuse I know but it is the truth, and as we all know I strive for the truth here. I will say no more about that except for this last, it has been a crazy hectic last couple of months for me and they left me dry and exhausted and I apologize that I wasn't able to keep you well reviewed.

On a different note, shortly (hopefully anyway) there will be some changes to the blog. I will still be the blunt, ever truthful, mostly witty reviewer that you have all grown to know and love. However I have decided to make things more focused, set more of a theme so to speak. Yes folks I have decided to become a one genre girl. With this, rather large, decision I hope not to drive people away but rather to entice more people to start reading my reviews. Okay, okay I know what you are thinking and the answer is no I don't do these reviews simply for page views or followers, although those are a nice perk (so tell everyone you know about my site), but in order to share the gift of reading with people.

That is the very reason I started off reviewing a little bit of everything. And while that was fun and may even have introduced somebody to a genre or title that they may never have thought to look into, or warned someone away from something they were thinking about picking up, I feel that the time has come to focus more. I am hoping that this focus will help me be great at one thing rather than relatively  okay at many. So stayed tuned because I have a feeling that with this new direction things could be getting very interesting.

Before I sign off I want to say that to those authors out there that I have reviewed and interviewed, especially one Miss Stephanie Kate Strohm who has a new Libby Kelting adventure coming out this year, I will always make an exception for you and your new books. However other than that my plan is to stick to one genre and one genre only. I'm sure you are all wondering what that genre is going to be but I think I'll keep you all in the dark until my first new review comes out. A girl has to keep a certain air of mystery about her after all.

With All My Sincerest Reading Wishes,

The Girl in the Tiny Hat

"A Drink Before the War"-Dennis Lehane

Book Title: A Drink Before the War (Kenzie & Genaro 1)
Author: Dennis Lehane
Version: ebook
ISBN: 9780062015655
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Published: July 27th, 2010
First Published: 1994
Number of Pages: 266

SYNOPSIS: Private eyes Patrick Kenzie and Angie Genaro seem to be in very low demand these days. When they get a call from one of the local politician asking them to help out with a small problem he has they jump at the chance, with all dignity of course. The job seems pretty simple at first, they have to find a missing cleaning woman who has been accused of stealing sensitive documents. Patrick gets a picture and address of the woman who is missing, thinking that it's rather 'convenient' that the woman who supposedly stole these documents is black.

As the crack team begin to dig further into the case however they realize rather quickly that this is about more than just missing documents. As they fight battles on just about every side of their lives Kenzie and Genaro find out just how much more dangerous this whole thing really is. What begins as a fishy sounding missing persons case quickly becomes a drug, sex, gang and race related murder mystery. After being shot at, chased and nearly killed on more than one occasion the team has to sit down, take stock and decide just how important figuring this one out is.

To solve this one Kenzie and Genaro have to travel from the high rises of the rich to the seedy underbelly of the very poor all the while trying to stay two steps ahead of the many forces that are hoping to see them fail. As their missing woman turns up and then is promptly killed because of the papers she took the two realize that this isn't going to be just a grab it and go job. What started as a clear path soon turns murky with pain and injustice. In the middle of it all the two partners have to choose between a paycheck and payback.

REVIEW: I read Dennis Lehane's "Mystic River" so many years ago now that they weren't even publicly talking about making it into a movie and I loved it. I then saw the movie years later and loved that too but that's a different review. Since then I have always wanted to pick up more of Dennis Lehane's work. Every time I was in a bookstore I would find myself browsing his section and trying to decide what to read next. I'm not sure what it was that stopped me but I never pick anything else up until now. And I just want to say that I was a fool to wait.

He has a great talent as a writer but also as a storyteller. From the very first line in the first installment of his Kenzie and Genaro series I was hooked. The way he describes a surrounding or a feeling turns everything into this incredible 3D experience. His writing was rich and flavorful and I loved every word of it. He has a beautiful way with words even the words he chooses seems perfectly thought out. And I really, really enjoyed the humor that he put into it. It was subtle and very funny and not just 'someone fell down drunk' stupid/easy funny but intelligently so. I loved it!

The story was intense to say the least, but it wasn't overly dramatic or over done. Mr. Lehane tells the story with a sense of pain and beauty that seems right and not pompous. It's a dark story about very dark things that most people don't want to think about let alone have it shoved in their faces but Mr. Lehane does just that with poise and a strange almost impossible kindness. He tells it so well that you end up wanting to know about it.

Kenzie and Genaro are an incredible team. They are some amazing characters that I found myself liking right away and rooting for the whole way through. With main characters, the heroes and heroines of literature, we always find ourselves as readers rooting for them naturally. With some characters though, at least for me, I find that I root for them more because of their imperfections and humanness rather than because I was suppose to. This team of private eyes is now part of that group. They are an amazing team that look out for each other with love and great amounts of care but they are far from perfect, in fact they are so wrong that you almost wonder 'why these two as our heroes?' I love them and can't wait to read more about them.

All around I found that this was an great book and I really can't wait to get the next in the series. I think that Dennis Lehane has a real winner on his hands with this and I highly recommend it. This is a great start to what I think is going to be a good series and if you are looking for a good mystery that is interesting, full of life, and written incredibly well this is the one for you.

"Killing Kennedy"-Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard

Book Title: Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot
Authors: Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard
Version: Hardback
ISBN: 9780805096668
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Published: October 2nd, 2012
Number of Pages: 336
Genre: 'Non-Fic'

REVIEW: If you have ever sat even semi-consciously in a US history class or were born after 1950 you know who John Fitzgerald Kennedy was. He was, in most respects, the hope of a generation. Since the story of who the Kennedy's were and the utter devastation that spread throughout the country when he was assassinated, I felt that I could skip the synopsis part and move straight to my review.

Now I am going to preface this by saying that I am in no way a Kennedy expert, I haven't even done all that much research on them. But I have read a few books about them, and done a bit of research so I know a tiny bit. I am in all honesty morbidly fascinated by the whole Kennedy tragedy. And so because I am curious about all things Kennedy I picked this bestseller up out of pure curiosity. Believe me a lot of people were surprised that I was reading it. Mr. O'Reilly is well known for his now infamous book "Killing Lincoln," which turned out to be a good bit of fiction when it was supposed to be non-fiction. So when I told people that I was reading "Killing Kennedy" I got a lot of raised eyebrows in response. But I was curious, I couldn't help it.

This was an excellent piece of humor. I laughed for a good chunk of it. The problem with that? This wasn't supposed to be funny in any way. But I ended up laughing so hard at some points that I had tears in my eyes and my roommate had to ask if I was doing ok. The thing with this is was it wasn't written well at all and the laughter was from what was said rather than how it was said. Again this wasn't supposed to be a funny book. As an example he went on and on about how many affairs Kennedy had. Sure we know that Kennedy had affairs but the way that O'Reilly described it was as if Kennedy couldn't last long without sleeping with a woman who was most decidedly not his wife.

After reading what turned out to be a poorly written farce about what happened during the years Kennedy was in office and all the events leading up to his assassination, I was in a Kennedy mood and decided to try watching the show "The Kennedys." Now this show was deemed so historically inaccurate that it wasn't allowed to air on the History Channel. The more I watched it the more it seemed familiar to me. Then it hit me, I felt as if I was rereading "Killing Kennedy." I swear I felt such a sense of deja vu that I thought to myself 'ah here is where Bill O'Reilly did his research.' Or more to the point it was as if he took the show and turned it into a book.  

I found that this was a poorly written, poorly researched 'history' book. Of course I wasn't really expecting a lot from this particular book so it wasn't that much of a let down. This is one of those books that you can skip and not worry about it. I don't mean to be rude or petty but this is how I feel about this book. And I did promise to always be as honest as possible.   

"Sad Desk Salad"-Jessica Grose

Book Title: Sad Desk Salad
Author: Jessica Grose
Version: ebook
ISBN: 978006218839
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Published: October 2, 2012
Number of Pages: 304
Genre: Fiction (Most likely 'chick-lit')

SYNOPSIS: Alex Lyons pretty much has just about everything she ever wanted. A cute, on-his-way-to-being-a-huge-success boyfriend, an apartment that is tiny and dingy and that they both love in the city of her dreams, New York, and a job that is right up her alley. Or so she believes. She is an assistant editor on an increasingly popular website called Chick Habit. Basically she gets paid to write on a daily basis, the more hits the better for her career and the bitchier she is the more hits she gets. Despite the fact that she hasn't showered, seen more than the bodega across the street or changed out of the poncho she's been wearing for days on end everything seems to be going great.

As things begin to get more and more tense with her boss demanding more and more page views Alex begins looking for whatever dirt she can on anyone. When she receives an anonymous email with a video featuring the daughter of a very prominent celebrity who is running for office. In the video this young lady is not only scantily clad but also engaging in illegal activities. Alex is suddenly pushed between a rock with shards sticking out of it and a hard place that is slowly closing in. She knows that posting the video would be Chick Habit gold but is she willing to risk ruining this young girl's life just to get a higher number of page views?

The more Alex weighs her options, eventually getting pushed into it, the more she starts to lose sight of what is important in life. She begins staying out all night, ignoring her amazing boyfriend, even ignoring her fabulous mother and generally letting her life crumble around her. But her job life is becoming more and more fantastic, and the question that Alex has to ask herself is which is more important, her job or her sanity?

REVIEW: I don't read chick-lit all that often and now I remember why. Maybe it's just me and my tastes run more towards something with more meat but this was really pretty bad. I mean I read it because I thought that the story sounded interesting and as a blogger my curiosity was peaked. I'm not going to say that it was a bad book but it wasn't necessarily a good book either. I found it lacking, a lot.

The writing was pedestrian and the story wasn't good enough to make up for it. All around the book was not so much a disappointment as it wasn't worth being disappointed in. I guess I'm just not much for this genre because although I read it all the way through I was bored and felt that even the main character was too annoying to care about. There wasn't much to root for through out the book and I feel that with a book such as this you have to have something or someone to root for.

I don't really have that much else to say about the book. I didn't really like it and felt that all around it was boring and eventually not worth it. I say with this one it is ok to skip it and find yourself a different book, maybe one that has a slightly better story or is written better. Maybe even one that has a cast of characters that you want to root for. It's a shame because I think that every once in a while a fun light-hearted book is a great read. This one was just not that unfortunately.

"The Passage"-Justin Cronin

Book Title: The Passage
Author: Justin Cronin
Version: ebook
ISBN: 9780345516862
Published: June 8th, 2010
First Published: January 1, 2010
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Number of Pages: 858
Genre: Dystopian Fiction

REVIEW: This was a long book and a lot happened in it. So much so that I'm not sure what it is that I want to write about and what I want to leave out. With that in mind I am going to skip the synopsis altogether and move on to the review. It was an interesting book, one that I found myself enjoying quite a bit. It had a lot of different flavors mixed in that I enjoyed pulling apart. I felt that it was maybe a tad long for what it was but I enjoyed the richness and fullness of the story.

Justin Cronin's writing was strangely simple but in a good way. There was no overreaching, no trying to get fancier than it was. I enjoyed that aspect of it because although it was simple it was really well done. And the most important part of it was the story was well told. When it comes to a long book the story has to be well told in order for the length to be worth it and this was told very well. For me a great story has to be equal parts character development, description and action, this was a good story in that it had mostly equal parts of everything. The way Mr. Cronin told his story was very well done and I enjoyed it from start to finish.

I found that some of the pieces of the story were familiar to me in the sense that they evoked other works. This was one small negative for me. As much as I enjoyed the story and ultimately the whole book I found myself wishing more of it was a surprise, I don't mean that the plot wasn't new or surprising in a lot of ways, I mean simply that parts of it were exactly like other stories, so much so that I found myself losing what I was reading and instead thinking about what I was reminded of. Other than these few occurances however I have very little to complain about.

Each of the characters, and there were quite a few, were very explicitly described. Even if the characters didn't last very long through out the story they were so full, so rich, so real that even if I only knew them for a little while I found myself fully invested in what happened to them. I really liked that part of the book, that Mr. Cronin took the time to really flesh out his characters no matter how big or small.

All around "The Passage" by Justin Cronin was a really good book. I have the advance of the second in the trilogy "The Twelve" and I am looking forward to seeing what happens next. Justin Cronin has created a world that I really enjoyed spending time in, and it's a world I am anxious to get back to. I look forward to seeing what the next part of this journey is going to be like and I just know that if you go out and pick up "The Passage" you'll get just as wonderfully wrapped up as I did.