BONES TO ASHES

TITLE: BONES TO ASHES
AUTHOR: KATHY REICHS
Pages: 310
Date: 27/10/2007
Grade: 5
Details: nr. 10 Tempe Brennan Mystery
Library

In this instalment of the series, Tempe is thrown into an emotional journey back into her past.
When she investigates bones that have been about earth for quite a while, she discovers that they belong to a teenage girl. And taking into consideration where they originated, she can't help thinking that they might belong to a childhood friend of hers, who suddenly and mysteriously disappeared when still a teenager.
At the same time she gets involved in an investigation run by Ryan and "Hippo" into missing girls and unidentified dead girls.
When the two cases appear to come together, Brennan gets very close to becoming obsessed, and is in for a few shocks and surprises.
And meanwhile, her relationship with Ryan appears to have come to an end, because of outside factors, or has it?
This remains one of my favourite series. Good, solid mysteries and extremely well written.
It's a shame I'll have to wait for the next one to be published before I can read on.

THE ROAD

TITLE: THE ROAD
AUTHOR: CORMAC MCCARTHY
Pages: 307
Date: 21/10/2007
Grade: 5
Library

This should have been a really depressing book, and on more than one occasion I thought about not finishing it. But in the end not finishing the book would have been harder than reading on was.
It is the story of a man and his young son, taking place at a time when the world has been all but destroyed through some, unidentified, disaster. In a world where both the sun and the moon are obscured by ash, they need to travel south in order to survive the winter.
But the road is not a safe place. Most of the people still alive have left all human values behind them in order to survive. Food and clean water are next to impossible to find, but for the man and his son cannibalism is not an option, even if it is just that for others.
With the man coughing up blood from the start of the story, a happy ending is never likely. The question is more, how bad will the ending be?
What saddened me both was that the boy was boron after the disaster happened and never knew the world his father could at least remember.

THE STARGAZEY

TITLE: THE STARGAZEY
AUTHOR: MARTHA GRIMES
Pages: 419
Date: 20/10/2007
Grade: 4.5
Details: nr. 15 Richard Jury Mystery
Library

One night, while riding on a bus, Richard Jury observes a woman in a long fur coat. She gets on the bus, gets off the bus, walks for a while only to get back on the bus again. When she gets off the bus for the second time, Jury is so intrigued that he follows her. But when she enters a park, his doubts about his behaviour get too strong, and he gets back on his own way.
When he hears the next day that a woman in a fur coat has been found murdered in the park, he can't help wondering if things would have been different if he had continued to follow her.
Then, when he sees her in the morgue, he realises that although she looks very similar, the dead woman isn't the one he followed.
And thus starts a tangled web involving art and Russia.
With Melrose Plant following the art angle and Richard concentrating on find the woman he did follow and getting the truth out of her, solutions seem to be eluding both of them.
And when things do become clear, Jury has to concede defeat and Melrose has to be rescued by a very unlikely saviour.
These books always confuse me a bit, because for the longest time nothing much appears to be happening, to the point where it frustrates me a bit, and then things start to click together, and all is well in the world again.

JULIE & ROMEO

TITLE: JULIE AND ROMEO
AUTHOR: JEANNE RAY
Pages: 241
Date: 16/10/2007
Grade: 4.5
Details: Buddy read for ARM
Own

The Roseman and Cacciamanis families have been engaged in a feud for years.
In fact, neither Julie (Roseman) nor Romeo Cacciamanis can remember a time when the mention of the other family's name wouldn't set a parent off.
Both Julie and Romeo have kept the tradition alive, but when they meet, when they're both 60, they find they really like each other. In fact, they fall deeply in love. But they soon find that both their families are disgusted with the idea of their family and the dreaded others getting together.
At times funny, at times insightful, this was a wonderful sweet story. A lot like a fairytale actually.

SEASON MACHETE

TITLE: SEASON MACHETE
AUTHOR: JAMES PATTERSON
Pages: 341
Date: 14/10/2007
Grade: 4
Details: Stand-alone
Library

Damian and Carrie Rose are assassins for hire currently recruited to create havoc on San Dominica.
Peter MacDonald is an ex-military American drop out, working in a resort on San Dominica.
One afternoon while cycling he sees Damian Rose while the first of the Machete murders is going down. Peter is now the only man alive able to identify Damian.
And while Damian and Carrie continue to create murder and mayhem, Peter is trying to get someone to take his sighting seriously.
When Peter's girlfriend is killed, authorities do take him seriously, but by then it's a case of kill or be killed. And exactly who is double crossing who?
Not Patterson at his best, but definitely not at his worst either. The story is original enough to make it interesting. And as (almost) always, Patterson is easy to read.

FOOL MOON

TITLE: FOOL MOON
AUTHOR: JIM BUTCHER
Pages: 391
Date: 13/10/2007
Grade: 4+
Details: nr. 2 of the Dresden Files
Library

For months business for Harry Dresden is non-existent. But when he's at last called in by the police in the form of Karrin Murphy, it is to take a look at a horribly mutilated body, covered in and surrounded by strange paw and teeth marks. And it happens to be a night with a full moon.
A month earlier, on and around the fool moon nights similar corpses were found and Harry is needed to find who or whatever is doing the killing.
and although the answer appears obvious, the reality is far more sinister and dangerous than either Murphy or Dresden could have guessed. A plot so devious that it almost spells the end of the always fragile partnership between Harry and Murphy, never mind their lives.

THE SPELLMAN FILES

TITLE: THE SPELLMAN FILES
AUTHOR: LISA LUTZ
Pages: 355
Date: 11/10/2007
Grade: 4.5
Details: nr. 1 Spellman mystery
Library

Four out of the five members of the Spellman family are involved in Spellman investigations; the parents, Izzie (aged 28) and her 14 year old sister Rae.
The Spellmans don't only follow and investigate third parties, but also each other. But when Izzie's parents hire Rae to discover the identity of Izzie's latest boyfriend, that is one too many infringement of her privacy. Now Izzie wants out of the family business and the family home. Before they let her leave though, her parents give Izzie one last case to solve. A case that has been open for 15 years and is supposed to be unsolvable.
But just when Izzie appears to be getting somewhere with her case, her sister disappears and suddenly nothing else matters.
A funny book with a very original view on family life. In fact although I had to laugh at the family's antics, they also left me feeling slightly uncomfortable.
The unsolvable case was a bit too transparent for it's reputation, but I'm intrigued enough by the Spellmans to look forward to the second instalment.

ANGELS FALL

TITLE: ANGELS FALL
AUTHOR: NORA ROBERTS
Pages: 717 (Large Print)
Date: 08/10/2007
Grade: 4.5
Details: Stand-Alone
Library

Vintage Nora Roberts novel; thrilling, sexy and a real page turner.
When Reese Gilmore arrives in Angel's Fist with car trouble, it has been two years since she was the only survivor of a brutal crime. And although she is alive, she doesn't have a life. She's living with nightmares and panic attacks, and constantly on the move, running from her fear and running from herself.
She finds a job and a place to stay in Angel's Fist and dares to hope she's healing, until she witnesses a man killing a woman. Only when the authorities investigate, there is no trace of the woman or the crime, and given her background, people are inclined to think she imagined the whole episode.
The only one who believes her is Brody, a writer and an outsider like her.
When mysterious things start happening to her and her possessions, Reece fears she's sliding back, until Brody convinces her that somebody is trying to make her think that to scare her out of Angel's Fist.
Together Reece and Brody keep digging for the truth as they get closer to each other. But when at last they figure out what has been going on, it may well be too late.

THE HOUSE AT RIVERTON

TITLE: THE HOUSE AT RIVERTON
AUTHOR: KATE MORTON
Pages: 593
Date: 06/10/2007
Grade: 5
Own

This is a Gothic novel; it's a love story, a tragedy and a mystery. All of these ingredients making it a fascinating and compelling read.
In 1999, Grace is as old as the century, when she's asked to assist in the making of a film about events that took place on a midsummer night party in 1924. As history tells the story, on that night, a young poet took his own life, as a result of which two sisters, Hannah and Emmeline never talked to each other again.
Although Grace says and does nothing to change the story as it has been written for the movie, the event does awaken memories she has been trying to lose every since 1924.
Going back in time, Grace tells the story of how as a 14 year old she came to work as a servant at Riverton where she soon became curious about the three children. When she gets as close as a servant can to the eldest girl, Hannah, she also becomes an accomplice to events that will eventually lead to a tragedy. A tragedy which was of Grace's making as much as it was of others'.
If you didn't read the blurb on the back of the book, or the thoughts of present day Grace, but instead focused only on the story of the younger Grace, it would take you quite a while to get a sense of the impending doom. While at the same time, tragedy appears unavoidable from the start, from before the three (four?) main characters in the story make an entrance even.
And that is what made this such a wonderful book, pulling along until tragedy struck, while all the time hoping that it might yet be avoided.