Thursday, September 13, 2007

Evan and Jesse

Bet you are wondering what the other books I've read during the past two weeks are. Well, I finished filling in the Meg Gardiner series that features Evan Delaney and boyfriend Jesse Blackburn out of Santa Barbara. "China Lake" is the first in the series and involves Evan's brother and nephew, a cult religion plot. "Jericho Point" was a bit far out in the plot that turns on identity theft - of Evan's identity with the help of Jesse's brother (lots of family connections in these books). JP is, in my opinion, the weakest book in the series - but I'll read just about anything.

Bosco and Vegas

Some time ago I found an author I liked - Carol Goodman. Her latest in pocket book is "The Ghost Orchid". It takes place at an estate calle Bosco and involves a medium. It is also a book that jumps between now and then and as the story develops the mystery from long ago is solved. This book takes a leap of faith, it asks you to believe in the supernatural. Goodman writes well and the characters are interesting so even if you are not a believer the story of tunnels, fountains, and murder most cruel is enjoyable. A definite plus for Ms. Goodman is that she studied Latin at Vassar and later was also a teacher in Latin. In my house that is a wonderous thing.
At some point I wrote about Brian Freeman's first book and now I have read the second "Stripped". Have to say I enjoyed getting reaquainted with Jonny Stride and Serena Dial. This time the major venue is Vegas. And it a lot about the Vegas of the 60ties. Past crimes come back to haunt and kill. I had to go back and reread the first book so I could get an extra dose of Jonny and Serena. Freeman's third probably won't hit the pocket market for some time. When checking out Freeman and Goodman on the web I note that Google now has a book search! Great for all us readers.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Bottom of the Sea and other things


The "Shadow Divers" by Robert Kurson was a great book. I recommend it, even if you don't remember episodes of Sea Hunt with Lloyd Bridges. People defying the deep in this true tale reads like a detective novel. My dad, efter receiving the book from his marine biologist granddaughter was taken with the story and that is how the book landed in my hands. As I looked for more information on the net I found that a movie of the book is planned, with director Peter Weir. Should be worth seeing.
I have read one rather bad book recently. It is "See Isabelle Run" by Elizabeth Bloom. I bought the book because I really had fun reading Beth Saulnier's series about Alex Bernier. Elizabeth is Beth, but with married name. The whole book falls flat, a predictable uninteresting story, and I have decided not to by the next Elizabeth Bloom book. I also read a Tami Hoag book called "Straight from the Heart" that my mother picked up for me. The problem with people that start getting read because they do a good (or at least popular) book is that they feel the need to publish their early works. The book is a romance and reading it was a lesson in how stupid a book can be. I think Tami would have done better to bury the whole thing - but, Hey! she probably made a buck fifty on the book I got. Only positive things about these two books was that it was easy to pull myself away from them and get some work done.
A more pleasant discovery was "True Crime" by Andrew Klavan. On searching the net I found that Clint Eastwood had made a movie of the book in 1999 (quite a family affair, 2 wives and a daughter of family Eastwood were in the movie). But in the movie the condemed man is sudden black - one of the important points of the book was that he was white - an example of how not only blacks were condemed to die in Missouri. Oh well, books are almost always better anyway. My library has a few books by Klavan, so I'm looking forward to reading more of his work.