suspense

Death Echo

beth — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Death Echo is categorized as a suspense novel. On that score, the book delivers, but not for the reason that the author intended: I was in suspense for the entire book trying to figure out what was going on.

Emma Cross, of the elite security consulting firm St. Kilda's, is assigned to find out if a newly commissioned yacht is the same yacht that was supposedly washed overboard on its way to being delivered. Intel says that at least one of these yachts is going to be used to destroy an American city seven days into the future.

Emma gets herself aboard the yacht while it's being sailed up the Pacific coast of Washington and Canada on the way to being delivered to its new owner. She and the transit captain, MacKenzie Durand, search the yacht but don't find anything lethal aboard. And yet they continue their journey over the better part of the week, somehow hoping that when the yacht reaches its destination they will figure out exactly how it's to be used to destroy the unknown city.

The author throws in some inter-agency bickering, perhaps to show how incompetent the covert community really is. I suppose this is to justify hiring St. Kilda's to sort out the mess. And it all hinges on Emma Cross, who you think would be dead serious about her mission instead of spending most of the book fantasizing about and bantering with Mac. After many pages of sexual innuendo, ear nibbling, and finger sucking, Emma and Mac finally consummate their relationship in a graphic sex scene.

I would have been delighted if the attraction between Emma and Mac had made the story sizzle, but it didn't. The biggest problem I had with the book is that most of it was so boring, unless you're interested in the ins and outs of yachtmanship. To be fair, I did find this esoterica interesting at first, but eventually tired of it when it took the place of plot development.

The author, whose real name is Ann Maxwell, began her writing career in 1975 with science fiction. She didn't start writing romance until 1982, under the name Elizabeth Lowell. She has said that she welcomed her foray into romance suspense novels because she “loved being able to include a relationship in [her] books, because at that time the idea of a man and a woman working together was unexpected and/or unwelcome in thrillers, mysteries, and science fiction.”

The author does succeed in her depiction of a male-female team who fit well together (in every sense of the word), but it's hard to see how they are able to develop more than a purely sexual relationship in less than a week. And yet we are led to believe that they have finally found their soul mates. The reader is given only the scantiest of back stories for Emma and Mac, so it's hard to see them as real people. The most fleshed-out character is a former Russian agent who is trying to take possession of the yacht, but since it's not clear what his motive is, it's difficult to sort out how he relates to the story.

If you can make it through all the nautical details, you'll finally be rewarded during the last forty pages. If you're a boating enthusiast, you'll be in seventh heaven. If you like your international intrigue confusing and shadowy, this is the book for you. But if you're looking for strong, well-developed character and plot development, my advice would be to look elsewhere.

Written by: Ellen Keim, November 10th 2010

Queen of the Night

andrea — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By J.A. Jance

William Morrow Printing

There is only one word to describe J.A. Jance’s Queen of the Night: lazy. Reading it makes you feel like you’ve turned on a bad soap opera. Plot lines pick up in the middle, then disappear. Certain twists appear out of nowhere, and connect to nothing else. Some characters come in with no introduction, relationships are assumed between others.

The book is apparently a sequel to Day of Dead, though this is not mentioned anywhere. It opens with a murder on a beach in San Diego in 1959. This murder is not the mystery to be solved; it’s solved three quarters of the way in, and is not connected to anything else. The focus then shifts to Tucson, Arizona, where a cast of dozens is introduced and haphazardly connected to each other. The story is focused around an annual party for the opening of the Queen of the Night flowers.

The mystery lacks edge, making it feel like color-by-numbers plotting. We know who the murderer is before the murder is committed, and this person is barely connected to the rest of the characters. The murderer is not sympathetic enough to draw the reader in, and not depraved enough to be interesting. If you’ve watched a procedural TV show in the last five years, you easily can follow all of the threads to their inevitable end.

I wanted to get angry about the Native American stereotypes, but the fact is all of the characters are badly drawn. That said, some of the Native Americans are stoic older types with names like Looks at Nothing, who use traditions to decide everything, including whether to go to parties. Others are more westernized and feel bad about it. Or they are portrayed as greedy, superstitious drunks who live in fear and rob at will. The Anglo characters are wealthy, kindhearted, and well-educated.

The laziness even negates some of the potentially interesting ideas, like the fact that one of the older women is haunted by her abusive first husband, and believes she has early onset Alzheimer’s. How can her grandson also see him? (Answer: he’s a future medicine man, because tribes need medicine men, obviously.) But wait, no, it is just the interaction of some medication she’s taking. (But her grandson? Medicine man!)

The characters of Queen of the Night are easily drawn and the plot is boring, although simple to follow. However, Jance is a talented author as evidenced by her previous books such as Birds of Prey and Partner in Crime. Find one of those books, if you are really interested in reading her best work.

Written by: Taylor Rhodes, November 4th 2010

Troubled Water

admin — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Directed by Erik Poppe

Film Movement

Last night, I watched a really great film by Norwegian director Erik Poppe: Troubled Water. I don't really like movies and I don't watch them a lot. And now I know why. The simple reason is that very few movies are as good as this one.

This is definitely not one of those sad Hollywood monstrosities that aim to prevent you from having a single thought by any means possible. This film does not attempt to benumb the spectators by an endless assault of noises, colors, flashes, explosions, colorful images, etc. It actually leaves the viewers some space to think, analyze, and simply to exist. Troubled Water does not attempt to rob me of my humanity and my human agency, unlike the stupid Hollywood productions.

This is the kind of film that works through powerful acting and great directing. There are no cheap thrills in Troubled Water. No special effects, no monsters or vampires, no explosions, 3D effects, unrealistic car chases, etc. There is just life, human existence, normal people trying to figure out important stuff.

Instead of silicone-inflated cyborg-like individuals who pass for actors in Hollywood, this film has actors who actually look like real, normal people. We are so used to the assembly-line faces and bodies of Hollywood characters, that the actors in Troubled Water look refreshingly attractive. As attractive as only real human beings can be. And these actors even know how to act.

I'm not going to retell the plot of the movie here. Because great art is not about the plot. The story is never as important as the artistic means employed to transmit it. I will only say that Troubled Water is a film that makes you want to come back to it over and over.

Written by: Clarissa @ Clarissa's Blog, June 9th 2010

Secrets of Eden

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Chris Bohjalian

Shaye Areheart Books

Like Midwives and The Double Bind, Chris Bohjalian's newest suspense novel, Secrets of Eden, was (no exaggeration) nearly impossible for me to put down.

Set against the beautiful backdrop of a small town in rural Vermont is the horrific murder-suicide of a local couple. Businessman George Hayward, who has a history of abusing his wife Alice, murders her while their teenage daughter, Katie, is out at a concert, and then turns the gun on himself. Holding the family—and the town—together immediately after the tragedy is Reverend Steven Drew, who baptized Alice the day she died and suspects that she foresaw her own death.

Enter Heather Laurent, the author of a book on angels who also lost her parents in a murder-suicide. Heather tries, along with Steven, to befriend the orphan Katie, and they all try to pick up the pieces. Having his own crisis of faith after the tragedy, Steven buries himself in Heather (literally) in an attempt to escape his own grief at the loss of Alice. The twist: shortly after Steven and Heather begin their affair, Steven becomes a suspect in George's death, which police believe was not a suicide after all.

To reveal more would be a spoiler. Although there is plenty of violence and sex in this novel—including within the church congregation—Bohjalian writes about it in both realistic and tasteful ways. Each section of the book is written from a major character's point of view (including the tough-as-nails county prosecutor, Catherine Benincasa), and it's difficult not to sympathize with each of them because they're so realistically human. Bohjalian excels at writing about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

Although Heather's new age persona got on my nerves, she was one of several strong female characters that Bohjalian is never afraid to include in his novels, and I find that to be gratifying. Even Alice, who was a victim, is revealed to have had secret and brave parts of her story.

As in life, nothing in Secrets of Eden is neatly resolved or as clear-cut as it initially seems. When the book ends, you're still left wondering who deserves the label of hero or villain. For this reader, that's part of Bohjalian's genius as a writer.

Written by: M.L. Madison, April 19th 2010

Under the Dome

admin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:00:00 +0000

By Stephen King

Scribner

Ever since I can remember, I’ve had an interest in things that go bump in the night–the unknown and the unexplainable. So, it was only natural that I would discover Stephen King. I’ve only read a quarter of the eighty or so books he has written, but I’ve always considered myself a King fan. One of my favorite books is The Stand, written in 1978 under the classification of what I consider to be “classic King” (pre-car accident and pre-Tommyknockers).

When I discovered Under the Dome was coming out, and that it was over 1,000 pages long, I looked forward to an epic with a good story and strong, interesting female characters. I wasn’t disappointed. Yet be forewarned: this isn’t classic King, but it’s one hell of a read.

King lives in Maine, so many of his stories center around a small town in the state with many “issues.” [Under the Dome[(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439148503?ie=UTF8&tag=feminrevie-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1439148503) begins when Chester Mills finds itself literally under a dome. (Imagine being trapped in one of those snow shakers, and you will understand the desperation that begins to implode within the town.) King is a pro at describing how people slowly become unglued in the midst of a crisis or disaster. Yes, you can sense the exaggeration, but you also feel a certain eeriness when you realize someone could act that way if pushed to his or her moral and emotional limits. King's work can be quite graphic, but that didn’t stop me from reading.

The basic story hearkens of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I thought King’s inspiration must have been the hellish nightmare that was the Superdome where many residents of New Orleans tried to escape from the floods. I was surprised to learn King actually started writing this book back in the '70s. The actual dome is quite interesting, particularly when it begins to get dirty and the sky looks like something you's see through foggy glasses. The stars, weather, and the water are all affected by being trapped inside this insular shape.

King is a master at crafting evil characters, the slimiest and most disgusting people you would never care to meet. In this story, we get to spend many pages with Jim Rennie, the Second Selectman of Chester Mills whose every action is justified by being for the “good of the town.” The dome is probably the best thing to happen to the Selectman, and he uses every opportunity to move things in his morbid and sordid direction.

I was pleased that Under the Dome has several strong female leads. One is Julia Shumway, the editor of the town newspaper. The town is cut off from the rest of the world, but Shumway risks her life to ensure that the news gets out daily to the people of Chester Mills.

Although one wonders what the dome is, how it got there, and if it would ever disappear as magically as it appeared, the unrest of the townspeople is the real story in Under the Dome. The lengthy narrative takes place over a short period of time, starting off strong and not letting you come up for breath until the very end. If you dare take the risk, it’s a great read.

Written by: Su Lin Mangan, January 18th 2010

Sleep No More

admin — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 09:02:00 +0000

By Susan Crandall

Forever

It starts in young children and for many continues throughout the early adult years: being afraid of night, the dark, and anything associated with what might happen when we close our eyes. Imagine closing your eyes while safe in your bed and then opening them find to find yourself standing in the middle of the living room. You have no recollection on how you got there or what you may have done in the process of getting there.

In this twisting tale of Sleep No More, Susan Crandall follows the solitary life of Abby Whitman. Abby is the town florist and a lifelong resident of Preston. While most are afraid of the dangers that can happen to us while we sleep, Abby is afraid of the danger she poses to others while she sleeps.

Abby had been sleepwalking her entire childhood until she puberty, but it wasn’t without incident. When she was just eleven years old, a sleepwalking episode destroyed the family home and scarred her sister for life. Or so she thought for the last twenty years. Because of this disturbing event, Abby spends her nights in solitude, unsure of herself and what may happen after she falls asleep.

To confirm those fears Abby wakes up at the scene of an accident where a Senator's son has been killed. Unable to remember the details of the accident, Abby assumes the worst - that her sleepwalking has claimed another victim. As the truth unfolds, evidence at the accident scene reveals that another person is involved just as Abby begins receiving threats.

A divorced father of two, psychiatrist Dr. Jason Coble is smitten with Abby, after seeing her at his ex-wife’s grandmothers’ funeral. He wants to save her from the dangers that are lurking along with her sleepwalking fears, not as a doctor, but as a friend or lover. To make matters worse, Abby is the only florist in the small town of Preston. The phone calls for the Senator’s son’s funeral arrangements come pouring in and she is faced to relive the nightmare again.

The more time she spends with Jason, the more threats Abby receives. The secrets of the past begin to unravel, leaving Abby to realize that her memories are not always what they seem. As Abby’s days collide with her nights, she has to decide which aspect is more terrorizing. Does she fear the lurking dangers in the day enough to let Jason protect her? Or will her fear of her sleepwalking keep her away from his arms?

I would recommend Sleep No More to anyone looking for a book that will keep your brain working from the beginning to the end. The fear that Abby feels because of her past sleepwalking episodes can be unbelievable at times throughout the book. However, it does make you wonder how a traumatic experience would impact your life and to what extremes you would go through to prevent it from happening again.

Written by: Ryanick Paige, January 2nd 2010

Yes, My Darling Daughter

admin — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:36:00 +0000

By Margaret Leroy

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

“Such a pretty girl. Four years old; well loved by her young mother, Grace. But there’s something...'off ' about the child.”

The above excerpt sets the scene for Margaret Leroy’s Yes, My Darling Daughter. Margaret Leroy offers a novel that is so original and suspenseful it pulls you in from the first page. The story involves Grace, a single mother who works full-time at a London flower shop, and Sylvie, her four-year-old daughter. Things become complicated and strange when Sylvie begins to display behavior that is out of her nature and involves mean-spirited actions at preschool and with friends. She begins to have tantrums, outbursts, and a strange fear of water. These sudden changes seems mysterious, and Sylvie's psychiatrists blame Grace.

Grace knows there's something happening to her daughter that can’t be explained and is beyond her control. To help understand Sylvie's trouble, she decides to seek help from Adam Winters, a university professor who has studied paranormal behavior. Adam has theories about what is happening to Sylvie that prompt the three to travel together to Cold Harbour in order to understand Sylvie’s connection to the area, particularly to the house she continuously draws thought she has never been near it.

Set in London and Ireland, Yes, My Darling Daughter provides a backdrop full of characters that are intriguing and moves along with a past life twist told by an uninvited character. Leroy’s words entice readers into a nonstop and exciting murder mystery. If you enjoy the idea of visits from the other side, this book will satisfy your paranormal appetite.

Written by: LaToya Rogers, September 22nd 2009

No Control

admin — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:17:00 +0000

By Shannon K. Butcher

Grand Central Publishing

While Shannon K. Butcher is definitely a good writer, if you’ve read one “Romantic Suspense” novel, you’ve read them all. This genre inspires books that are all basically the same (predictable) except the characters’ names and settings are different.

In this particular book, No Control, a woman named Lana Hancock is captured by a terrorist group only to be freed by a large man named Caleb Stone, an army guy who had infiltrated the terrorists’ ranks. Months after her recovery, the terrorist group is after her again because of what she witnessed through the slit in her head covering, and Caleb must protect her. Naturally, Lana hates Caleb, as she associates him with her awful ordeal and isn’t remotely interested in having him look out for her.

Don’t these books always start out with one main character hating the other, or the two main characters hate each other? Yet dramatic circumstances that never happen to anyone always somehow ensue, which of course always leads to mind-blowing sex. Amazing how that happens.

What’s always amazing is the sex in these types of books. It’s always the most amazing, bestest sex ever, despite the fact that it’s the first time! Everyone’s bodies are always perfect, smooth, and muscular in all the right places! Everyone always smells fantastic, and there’s no unsightly body hair or body acne! The guy’s package is always freakin’ huge! There’s almost never any mention of a condom, even though these people usually barely know each other! In this case, however, a condom is used. Characters always say ridiculous, dramatic things to each other! Seriously, if a guy said to me what Caleb says to Lana in this story I’d throw up. For hours.

Let’s also discuss how the guy in these stories is all about the woman and wants nothing except to protect her (old-fashioned and sexist!) and have sex with her for the rest of her life. Would he ever look at another woman or cheat on her?! Of course not! This is a Romantic Suspense novel! The two main characters are going to be together forever and ever. And ever. It’s just so realistic

I have never understood the appeal of books like No Control, except that there are unfortunate women out there who believe this kind of stuff actually happens, and hopefully, will happen to them. It’s absurd and sad. The sooner women give up the insane fantasies about men these books perpetuate, the better off all women will be!

Written by: Kent Page McGroarty, June 17th 2008