January Summary

Total books read: 9
Genres: Horror, Thriller, True Crime/Classic, Humour
Favorite read this month: a tie between In Cold Blood and The Know-It-All

Well it wasn't a War and Peace month was it? My brain is feeling a bit mushy like my stomach feels after too much junk food. I started off with the wholesome fibre novels but it was all french fries towards the end.

However,I did just spend $50 of my christmas present money on 6 second hand lesbian novels so perhaps February will be a lesbian bonanza...oh I like the sound of that.

Review: Blood Red by James A Moore

I liked this one. Evil coot Soulis (soul less get it) moves into big mansion and turns out to be a big league vampire. Apparently the undead, just like jigsaw puzzle afficionados and the macrame crowd, have hobbies too. Soulis' hobby is creating more vampires especially a sucessor out of hottie, college-student-by-day, high-class-escort-by-night Maggie.

Turns out the presence of religious leaders in a community make it difficult for evil to prevail so he pays Ms Maggie to seduce all the priests, rabbis, ministers, etc, in the town. Turns out none of them resist her advances.

Soulis rips through that town like a hot knife through butter. Trying to figure out what the hell is happening to their quaint little town are two detectives; Holdstedter and Boyd. These two are great characters with witty banter and dedication to their jobs. Their reactions to the events are believable.

The pace kept going right from the start. The minor characters and plot lines were well done. The book wasn't scary at all but a still a great vampire/mystery read. It's also hard to dislike a book where a character uses the phrase "Jesus on a pogo stick." His ending up fried by a bolt of lighting is one of the many nice touches scattered through out the book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Source of copy: Library

Review: The Final Procedure by Stan Pottinger

There is nothing like a thriller with a female FBI agent searching for a demented old Nazi doctor to prevent biological havoc. On the other hand, the lead character's suffering through infertility treatments made it hard for me to completely like her. I realize infertility must be a devastating diagnosis for people but, frankly, with all those kids in the world who need adopting, I just can't be completely sympathetic.

Anyhoo, turns out her beloved family doctor is in fact the aforementioned demented old Nazi doctor she has been seeking at work. Gosh, I never saw that coming - well yes I did from the very start and I'm not sure anyone who has read even one thriller before would fail to figure this out. Then the demented old Nazi doctor is revealed halfway through the book making things even less thrilling.

The best part was the mind fuck the protagonist uses on demented old Nazi doctor to get him to kill himself - except she saves him at the last minute. As if. He killed her husband. Knock him off, no one would ever know. But she can't do that or she would become as evil as him or some such platitude. Turns out he mind fucks her too as there is no vacine!

Ending, predictable.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Source of copy: bought it second hand

Review: Evil Harvest by Anthony Izzo

I love horror novels. My mom loved horror novels too. She had tons of them. In fact, it was from her collection I was introduced to Stephen King. But good horror is hard to find. A book that keeps you awake at night with the lights on because - you never know - the monsters might be real. Most horror just isn't that scary they are just genre books with some supernatural element ie a western with vampires. Yet ever the optomist, I scour the horror shelves of the library seeking a good book. This isn't one of them.

The protagonist, Matt Crowe, lost his parents and younger brother to monsters in Lincoln, New York. Now and adult and ex-Army Ranger, he heads back to his hometown to take seek revenge on the killers. The book starts out fast with Matt rescuing a woman, Jill, from one of the monsters. She is new in town and has trouble believing what she saw but, after briefly thinking Matt is crazy, she soon joins him in his quest. Of course they start to fall in love - and what a wonderful tale to tell the kids about how they met.

The writing is adequate. The action moves between the viewpoint of the good guys, see aforementioned, and the bad guys lead by Police Chief Rafferty. I hate corrupt cops or anyone abusing their positions of power and such characters annoy me to begin with. The problem I had with this character was that he was so over the top evil, oppressing an entire town, but I couldn't believe in the litigious ol' US of A, no one had tried to take this guy out via a law suit.

I started to lose interest after the big confrontation at the cabin which seemed ill advised to begin with. Matt's had years, in fact decades, to plot his revenge and holing up in a cabin, without even boarding up the windows, was the best he could do? Ex Army Ranger?

I was pissed off that Donna died. I was pissed off that Harry died, he was the best character in my opinion. I was pissed off but also relieved that Jill died as it made Matts' losses even more poignant. The ending was a complete let down.

Rating: 2 out of 5
Source of copy; Library

Review: The Judas Strain by James Rollins

"The Judas Strain," from the Sigma Force series, occurs just before "The Last Oracle" which I read last week. When a main character "dies" in this book I knew of his resurrection in the next but it wasn't a major problem though and both books can stand alone.

This book is a great action adventure story. Lots of international travel from the Vatican to Istanbul to Cambodia - if only travel was as easy as hopping on the Sigma Force jet or wrecking fancy rental cars. There are interesting tidbits about Marco Polo's travels and how they tie into a biological threat to humanity. Kowalski makes his appearance as the big dumb guy side kick but I like this character for caring about his comforts and wanting to get the bad guys. The cruise ship full of long lost cannibals meeting infected and turned into zombie-type cannibals was a clever touch.

Reading this was like being on a roller coaster - pure fun.

I'd rate it 5 out of 5
Source of review copy? Library
Would I buy it? Yes, it would be a great re-read if I was stuck at home with the flu and wanted dependable entertainment.

Review: The Sacred Bones & The Sacred Blood by Michael Byrnes

I actually read the first book in the series, "The Sacred Bones" last year. It had an intriguing premise; a Vatican conspiracy to steal and examine but not publicly declare the discovery of the bones of Jesus but I just didn’t make an emotional connection with the characters. It was like reading a dumbed down version of a Dan Brown novel which is saying something! The idea was great. The genetics details and religious history, scene setting was just enough without overwhelming the reader. But I just couldn’t care about the characters. And if you don't care about the characters you might as well be reading a textbook. But, in my obsessive compulsive little way, I read to the end - hoping it would get better but - surprise - it just ended with the set up for the sequel.

So why read the sequel? I picked up "The Sacred Blood" because there wasn't much else in the paperback section of the library that day and I wanted something easy to read. Also I thought maybe the writing would get better this time around. Well it’s the same – proficient. The story moves along at a good clip. The new characters Jules and Amit with their witty banter are far more engaging than Charlotte and Father Donovan. The religious/eqyptian history is interesting but again not overwhelming in amount. And - surprise - it ends with the set up for another sequel.

Definitely a beach or stuck at the bus depot kind of read.

I'd rate it 3 out of 5.
Would I buy it? No.

Review: The Last Oracle by James Rollins

I confess to being a Rollins fan. His books deliver action and adventure, a bit of science and archeology or mythology, likeable characters and a fast, easy read. But there are plenty of books which do that and yet are so poorly written I can't finish them. Rollins however can write well enough without creating pulp fiction.

This particular novel had a great evil (Russian) empire plot for world domination mixed with a look at the use of nanotechnology/cerebral implants to augment psychic abilities. What grabbed me and kept me reading was the very unique group of children who had been experimented on. Normally, I don't care for "kids in danger" stories as they come across as a cheap ploy to garner sympathy. However, the 5 main children in this story aren't like that especially Pyotr. The unexpected appearance of a MIA character was also a nice touch and credible given the story.

In short, fast, easy read which also makes you think a bit.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Source of this copy: Library

Review: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

This is one of the few times I have seen the movie first and then read the book. Not that I saw "In Cold Blood" but I recently saw "Capote" and "Infamous." Both movies are about the author writing the novel in question and both are brilliant films in different ways. Since I knew a lot of the story going in, I was able to concentrate more on the way the book was written rather than being carried along by the facts.

I gather that at the time this was a new style of writing but now it reads like your every day true crime novel - albeit better written than most of that genre. Capote manages to give a sense of reality to the victims - the small things he notices or conveys about them makes their senseless deaths even more poignant and distressing. He lets the locals speak for themselves and shows how their sense of community was replaced by fear that the killer or killers were known to them. Had the killers not been caught, there is no telling what that fear would have done to the community.

At the same time, he shows the killers as real people with real problems and a lack of self awareness and self control which makes their actions even more horrifying. Their story also shows their stupidity - if they hadn't returned to Kansas, they likely never would have been caught.

Throughout the book, Capote, a shining example of the East Coast intelligentsia, never comes across as patronizing or judgemental. He portrays the characters with honesty and simplicity. The book certainly didn't focus on the killers in a way to make them sensationalized or seem like heroes. Nor are the Clutters rushed off the stage as mere props to start the story.

I wouldn't read this book again but I did appreciate Capote's style when I did read it.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Source of this copy: Library

Review: You Better Not Cry by Augusten Burroughs

I read Running With Scissors and was immediately enamoured with this author. His current book of stories around Christmas is short but enjoyable. My favorites though are the early stories regarding his demented childhood Christmases involving, in no particular order, a canibalized wax Santa, a gingerbread slum made with allspice and coffee and the pony named Al Capone. I was reading part of this in a coffeeshop and attracted some attention from bursting out loud with laughter...upsetting the Glib and Stale readers pouring over their news fix.

The later stories are darker and show how his alcoholism was out of control. The one night stand with Santa was hilarious because of his inability to escape images of Saint Nic at every turn thus reminding him anew of the night from hell. His interaction with Shirley is perfect - perhaps too perfect I wondered and then decided that sometimes artistic events do happen in the real world too. The last story had this new home owner cringing with sympathy.

I'd rate it 4 out of 5.
Source of this copy: library
Would I buy it? Yes

Review: The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs

My first read of 2010. I really enjoyed reading this book. And what's not to like? A crazy holy grail - reading the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica - and a bookworm with a sense of humour author.

Out of the millions of facts in the encyclopaedia, the choices Jacobs makes to share in the novel also reveal a great deal about him as do the connections he makes between those facts and the rest of society. We learn how his competition with his father prompts his monumental undertaking and get a sense of "the real world" outside his task as he and his wife attempt to become parents.

He hilariously reveals how he becomes a bit of a pain in the ass with all his stored up knowledge just waiting to spring it into use in a conversation no matter how tenuous the connection. Hey, who hasn't wanted to do that? Although he had more success with his general knowledge than I did after studing for a customs broker exam.

I wish I could quote more of the funny passages but there are way too many to count.

Overall a funny, general interest read, well written, and easy to finish.

I'd rate it 4 out of 5

Source of this copy: library

Would I buy it? It would be on my 2nd choice list