Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Eve

I liked this book written by Iris Johansen. Eve is brilliant, driven, and tormented – because her own daughter, Bonnie, was taken from her years ago. Now, with the help of CIA agent Catherine Ling, a startling piece of evidence is uncovered in the quest to find Bonnie, leading to a connection that had been all but buried. Catherine challenges Eve with a name: John Gallo, a man from Eve’s own past, seemingly raised from the dead, whose whereabouts are unknown.

This is the twelfth novel featuring Eve Duncan.

Treachery in Death

This is an okay book written by J.D. Robb. After rounding up the perps in a grocery store killing, Peabody stumbles upon a much trickier situation. After a grueling workout at a rarely-used gym, she squeezes into one of the narrow shower stalls. Just after she shuts the water off, the bathroom door clatters open and Peabody overhears two fellow officers arguing. References are made to delivering product, and a house in the islands, and someone’s death that is supposed to look like an overdose. Fortunately, the two clear out of the locker room without realizing there was a witness. She joins with her partner Eve Dallas to bring the dirty cops down.

This is the 40th novel of the In Death series written by Nora Roberts under a pseudonym.

The Lost Hero

I liked this book written by Rick Riordan. Now that Percy Jackson and his friends have defeated the Titan lords, it’s time to focus on rebuilding Camp Half-Blood and teaching the next generation of demigods, one of whom is Jason. But when Jason suffers from amnesia during a class trip to the Grand Canyon and discovers he can suddenly fly, he and his friends receive a visit from Annabeth Chase, the daughter of Athena.

This is the first book in the series The Heroes of Olympus, following the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. Riordan has said that he intends to release a new book every year, completing the series in 2014.

Secrets to the Grave

This is an okay book written by Tami Hoag. Already in the midst of the See-No-Evil killer trial, the sleepy town of Oak Knoll is shocked when Marissa Fordham is brutally murdered. Detective Tony Mendez is perplexed by the slaying. The only witness to the crime, the victim’s young daughter, implicates her own father. To assist him in the investigation, Tony calls on child advocate Anne Leone, who also happens to be the star witness in the See-No-Evil case.

True Blue

I liked this book written by David Baldacci. Mason “Mace” Perry was a firebrand cop on the D.C. police force until she was kidnapped and framed for a crime. She lost everything – her badge, her career, her freedom – and spent two years in prison. Now she’s back on the outside and focused on one mission: to be a cop once more. But even with her police chief sister on her side, she has to work in the shadows: a vindictive U.S. attorney is looking for any reason to send Mace back behind bars.

Silvertongue

This is an okay book written by Charlie Fletcher. With the citizens of London completely unaware, the war between the city’s statues and gargoyles has reached new heights of destruction. Twelve-year-old George Chapman and his friend Edie must put an end to the devastating conflict. However, with the Walker bent on conquering London and Edie bent on revenge, George finds his fate inextricably linked with the Walker’s demise. First, though, George must battle the Dark Knight.

This is the final book in the trilogy.

Rules

This is an okay book written by Cynthia Lord. Catherine, a 12-year-old girl with big responsibilities, loves her autistic younger brother David. But she often feels that her parents, so focused on special care for him, forget that she exists, too. Like most eight-year-old boys, David is a handful. He just doesn’t know when enough is enough, and in all the commotion Catherine feels ignored. She can’t help but get embarrassed by some of David’s behavior – like when he throws toys in the fish tank – so she decides to start writing down rules she thinks will help him become more normal. Yet after she befriends Jason, a boy her own age who is mute and wheelchair-bound, she reconsiders what it means to be normal.

This is the debut novel of the author; her son has autism.

The Judas Gate

This is an okay book written by Jack Higgins. A disturbing audiotape has made its way to General Charles Ferguson, advisor to the Prime Minister, and from him to the President of the United States: battlefield chatter from an ambush in Helmand province, Afghanistan, in which twelve U.S. Army Rangers and a British medical team died. Most of the Taliban voices are Afghan, but not all of them – shockingly, some of them are British, and one in particular, the voice of the commander, bears an Irish accent. The idea that one of their own could be responsible for such a massacre is appalling, and Ferguson immediately puts Sean Dillon in charge of hunting the traitor down.