WHAT
DID CYNTHIA READ IN JULY 2006 ?
Dante's Equation
by Jane Jensen
Twisted
by Jeffery Deaver
Club Dumas
by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Domain
by Steve Alten
The Pilot's Wife
by Anita Shreve
The Magdalene Cipher
by Jim Hougan
The Nazi Officer's Wife
by Edith Hahn Beer
The Mask Of Atreus
by A.J. Hartely
Manhunt
by Janet Evanovich
Bad.
Bad, bad, bad. I want my $8.00 back. I miss literature. I want back
my three hours. I need to rinse and spit.
Dismissed
With Prejudice
by J.A. Jance
I've
watched customers walk in my store and head straight for the J.A.
Jance shelf ever since we opened. I felt compelled to try one of
these highly demanded books. Frankly, I didn't feel the love. It
was a passable mystery with a irascible investigator fighting his
own internal demons and well as the obligatory external demons.
Readers have told me I should try one of the Joanne Brady mysteries
and then I'll be hooked. We'll see.
The
Seville Communion
by Arturo Perez-Reverte
A
beautiful, crumbling church in Seville, Spain, a movie star
handsome priest, a cantakerous old priest, an Archbishop, with
questionable motives, Vatican intrigue, bumbling crooks who seem to
have sprung from a Spanish Carl Hiassen, a regal Duchess and her
beautiful granddaughter, and a computer hacker who pleads with the
Pope, "Save Our Lady Of The Tears". I couldn't get enough of this
book.
Full
Scoop
by Janet Evanovich
Okay.
I have, on numerous occassions, found my self drawn to Janet
Evanovich's romance books. Romance is not usually my genre of
choice, but many of her "Full" series books have been divertional
fun. That said, I wanted to throw this at the wall when I finished.
Unbelievable characters, falling in love (lust) at the speed of
light, facing problems I just didn't care about. Again, I want a
refund of my three hours reading time.
Smilla's
Sense of Snow
by Peter Hoeg
I
LOVED this book. Translated from the original Danish, it is a
murder mystery wrapped in a lesson of the differences in culture in
the Danish community. Smilla is half Danish, half Greenlandic,
providing her with her sense (or "feeling") for snow that leads her
to doubt the official conclusion in the death of a young neighbor
boy. Smilla becomes obssessed with finding the truth, taking us
from the streets of Copenhagen to icebound Greenland. A beautiful
and fascinating literary thriller. A wonderful reading group
choice.
Deep
Freeze
by Lisa Jackson
Taking
place right here in the Columbia Gorge area, Deep Freeze is fun,
rapid fire romantic suspense; although, I can't imagine a former
movie star in Hood River being treated the way the female
protaganist is treated in the book (We don't tend to be so star
struck here. With all the wind and snow to play with, we're all
celebrities in our own way!) Lisa Jackson creates likeable, even
lovable characters, and a bad guy who is easy to hate!
Got
The Look
by James Grippando
Not
as finely tuned as Grippando's previous thrillers, Got The Look, is
a rather formulaic murder mystery that, frankly, hangs on for too
long. That said, try one of his earlier novels (The Abduction,
Found Money) for engrossing, exciting reads. Can't hit every ball
out of the park.
Lucifer's
Shadow
by David Hewson
Well
written, with complex and believable characters. Switching between
characters, both past and present, Hewson brings about surprising
conclusions. This is a wonderful story, that brings Venice
remarkably to life.
The
Interpretation of Murder
by Jed Rubenfeld
Reminiscent
of The Alienist, The Interpretation of murder is a fascinating
provides one answer to the question of what happened to make Freud
so bitter following his one and only visit to America in 1909. A
serial killer in Manhatten brings a young Freud protege, Freud,
Carl Jung, and many other historical characters into the
investigation. Well written, with likeable characters (even Freud),
this novel makes psychoanalysis and Shakespearean interpretation
fun!
The
Ethical Assassin
by David Liss
An
entertaining and unique thriller, The Ethical Assasin was an
enjoyable read. David Liss is best known for literary historical
fiction, such as A Conspiracy of Paper. This contemporary novel
contains the standard mystery elements of rotten cops, murder, and
an innocent man caught up in events beyond his control, but he
saves it from mediocrity with a likeable 17 year old hero, an
encyclopedia salesman, who witnesses a murder, is befriended by the
assasin, and gets caught up in a whirlwind of cover-up.
