L Reads Alex Cross #7: Violets Are Blue

Poor Alex Cross, he just can never catch a break.  Following on the heels of Roses are Red, which introduced The Mastermind, a particularly vicious psychopathic serial killer, Violets are Blue opens with the villain hot on Cross’ tale, out to destroy Cross and everything he holds dear.

 

In the midst of dodging The Mastermind’s disturbing phone calls, and trying to keep family and friends safe, Cross must uncover the murderers behind a series of gruesome and chilling vampire murders that span both East and West coasts and a dozen years. 

 

Added to all this is the conclusion Cross eventually reaches of The Mastermind being a close, dear and trusted friend and co-worker.  Betrayal is but one emotion Cross must overcome.

In typical Patterson style, the book jumps from plot to plot, mixing in a bunch of memories of characters, criminals and crimes from the previous six books.  I think I’m finally getting the essence of these novels, in that they’re meant to be Cross’ memoirs of the cases he’s worked, and so they read a little bit like the meanderings of the mind, jumping from subject to subject … or perhaps that’s too deep an analysis of what are nothing more than poorly written books.  I hope for better when I read an Alex Cross, and so I search long and hard for it amongst the cheesiness of Patterson’s phraseology.

 

Violets are Blue was, for me, the worst Cross book yet.  It was a boring read, one I struggled to get through.  The crimes and criminals lacked the usual thrill-ride I associate with the Cross books, making lackluster writing even more difficult to stomach.  The book does end however with Cross’ decision to finally give up police work.  Will he?  Won’t he?  What will the next book be about if Cross is no longer a detective?  It’s this kind of investment I now have in the character that will keep me reading, mores the pity. 

 

Till next time, happy reading!

L J

 

TBR = 22

WPL = 27

Windsor Book Club Reads: The Hunger Games

Okay, so there has been a lot of buzz about this book, the first of a trilogy set in a dystopian future where North America ceases to exist and people now live in a country called Panem that is divided up between the Capital (a glittering city where the rulers of Panem live along with the haves) and twelve districts populated by the have nots, with poverty increasing along with the district number.  The general consensus seems to be that you either love or hate this book.  While it did start off extremely slowly for me (I’m getting a little tired of the dystopian future currently being portrayed in YA books and animated movies), by the second half of the novel, I was so caught up in the story it was very difficult to put down.

 

Initially we are introduced to 17-year old Katniss who lives in the Seam in District Twelve with her mother and younger sister, Prim.  Her father having died in a mine explosion five years ago, Katniss is left with the responsibility of feeding the family as her mother sank into a pit of abject grief, unable to look after her daughters.

 

District Twelve is one of the poorest districts, and so Katniss must sneak off to the woods everyday to hunt and forage for food, an activity that is punishable by death, but since there is very little food to go around and Katniss is able to trade her daily catch with the Peacekeepers of the District, her illegal actions are overlooked. 

 

There are hints of George Orwell’s 1984 and other books of that ilk in The Hunger Games, in that the citizens are monitored on a regular basis and must always guard their speech for subversive thought and behaviour is quickly stamped out with death.  Indeed, Katniss explains a district uprising or rebellion resulted in an entire district (thirteen) being irradiated, resulting in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death competition where the Capital pits two tributes (a boy and a girl) from each district against each other.  The victor returns home to great fame and fortune, including the ability to feed their families for a lifetime.  These Games are the Capital’s way of keeping the districts obedient and submissive.

 

Katniss, of course, is District Twelve’s female tribute, and once she reaches the Capital and the games arena, this book really takes off.  Its fast-paced action and compelling characters kept me turning the pages right up to the very end, and left me hungry for the second book in the series, which I promptly placed on hold at the public library.  The Hunger Games is an excellent YA novel that will appeal to adults as well as teenagers. 

 

What my fellow bookclubbers thought: It was unanimous this time, everyone loved the book, though some thought Katniss left a lot to be desired as a main character, being rather deeply flawed.  But sometimes those are the best characters to read about, particularly if they’re given a decent arc and grow and change significantly.  We’ll have to see how the rest of the trilogy plays out to see if she is redeemable or not.

 

The subject of kids killing kids really hung up some readers, but considering the escalating violence on the street between teenage gangs and even in urban high schools, Collins’ plot wasn’t too unrealistic to consider.  Still rather disturbing though. 

 

All in all it was deemed The Hunger Games was a pretty decent read.

 

Till next time, happy reading!

L J

 

TBR = 22

WPL = 26

She May Not Leave

New mom Hattie feels confined by her role of stay-at-home mom to newborn Kitty and advises partner Martin she is hiring an au pair and going back to work posthaste.  On the recommendation of a co-worker, Hattie hires Agnieszka Wyszynska, a Polish nanny working in England, sight unseen.  When Agnieszka arrives, she quickly whips baby Kitty and the household into shape, leaving Hattie and Martin to wonder what they ever did without her.  But as the cover blurb says…”be careful who you invite into your home” for Agnieszka is nothing like she seems and Hattie and Martin’s relationship pays the ultimate price.

 

The story is narrated by Hattie’s grandmother Frances who dips down memory lane on several occasions and discloses many family secrets along with her own brushes with various nannies and au pairs.  Frances’ matter-of-fact storytelling gives much depth and shape to this intriguing domestic story that has wonderfully gothic overtones, making it a delightfully British read.

 

Till next time, happy reading!

L J

 

TBR = 22

WPL = 25

A Little Restoration Drama Never Hurt No One

After reading Aphra Behn’s Ooronoko in an 18^th Century Literature course, and learning about her fame in Restoration drama, I quickly snapped up a copy of The Rover during a visit to Juniper Books on Ottawa Street.  Behn was apparently a prolific and popular playwright during the later 1600s and had quite an interesting life for a woman of those times.  She was a spy, was briefly married (widowed after less than a year), took many lovers and apparently suffered unrequited love of a gay actor.  Her plays are often bawdy in nature, not unlike Shakespeare’s of a century prior. 

 

In The Rover, a comedy, three virtuous sisters intrigue behind their overbearing brother’s back to meet suitors and marry for love under the cover of masqueraders performing in the city.  The usual mistaken identities, double entendres, sword fights, etc., ensue, making for a rousing play.  I quite enjoyed a reading of it, and would love to see it staged.  Could you imagine the costumes?  Delightful!

 

Till next time, happy reading!

L J

 

 

TBR = 21

WPL = 25

 

L Spends Some Time with a Beatle

“Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these broken wings and learn to fly

All your life

You were only waiting for this moment to arise

 

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly

Into the light of a dark black night”

 

Blackbird Singing: Paul McCartney Poems and Lyrics 1965-1999 was a real find for me at this year’s Raise a Reader book sale.  I spent a pleasant afternoon humming Beatles’ tunes as I sang through the lyrics published in this collection, as well as enjoying some of Sir McCartney’s poetic stylings.  From the call to keep pushing for change because change happens, if slowly, to the lament for deceased wife Linda, to short quirky poems like the one about Tchaikovsky who he labels “Tchaiko the psycho” heehee, the collection is quintessentially Paul. 

 

Till next time, happy reading!

L J

 

 

TBR = 20

WPL = 25

 

The Secret Lives of the Sushi Club

 

Sushi! Yummy!

This book was a bit of a clunker for me.  Christy York sets out to write a book about Idaho and well that kind of motivation always frightens me.  I’m a firm believer in organic writing, in that you should write about what ideas are coming out of the ether as opposed to having an agenda and forcing a story.  Anywho….

 

The four women friends of the sushi club meet monthly for sushi and gossip, sharing of themselves and their lives and supporting each others endeavors:

 

Irene is an aging soap opera star, married to plastic surgeon Naji with an Islamic extremist brother who has never approved of Irene. 

 

 Mary is a 40-year-old virgin who’s just never found the right man and isn’t willing to settle for second best. 

 

 Jina is a twice married single mother who lost her second husband in a tragic accident on the Salmon River in Idaho.  Zach had the brilliant idea to traverse the river in a scow, like in olden days with his pregnant and unskilled bride.  Tragedy, quite obviously ensued.  Problem is, Jina has raised their son Daniel on her own and never recovered from the loss of Zach. 

 

Alice is the struggling writer who listens to everyone’s story then one day has the bright idea to write a book entitled The Secret Lives of the Sushi Club exposing Irene’s adulterous affairs, Mary’s frigid singlehood, and Jina’s tragedy that has left her frozen in time, and is ruining any chance at happiness with her current boyfriend, Mike.

 

The book is an instant hit, complete with movie deal, rocketing Alice to instant success but the three women whose stories are so brutally exposed are left to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.  They decide to take a rafting trip on the Salmon River and the close confines, not to mention the struggles of the trip, help the women put their lives and friendship back together.

 

Some interesting plot twists with Jina and Zach help make the trip and story bearable, but though Mary, Irene and Alice have problems to battle the book is predominantly told from Jina’s point of view and the focus Is very much Jina’s battle with the Salmon River, the river that took Zach’s life, and her struggle to overcome her fears.  It’s not a bad read, I just found the book a little contrived at times.  Unfortunately the highlight of the book was picking one more off my TBR bookcase (ouch).

 

Till next time, happy reading!

L J

 

 

TBR = 19

WPL = 25

L Boosts Her TBR Stats With Some J.D. Robb Anthologies

I have recently entered renovation hell.  I live in a rowhouse and could no longer stand hearing noise filtering through from the neighbours’, most notably low-frequency bass, which I swear is enough to turn me into Grendel’s mother, on a bad day, not when she’s trying to lure unsuspecting Beowolf into her lair!

But in order to soundproof the common wall, I had to pack up my many belongings, truck them down to the basement, and stack and plastic wrap my furniture out of the contractors’ way.  This included my many, many, many books.  One good thing to come out of this, though, while pulling out enough TBR’s to last me a few months, I came across two older anthologies containing J.D. Robb stories from the In Death series featuring Eve Dallas and Roarke.  The perfect quick and easy light reading when all else around you is total chaos.

I shamefully admit I willingly buy these anthologies in order to have a complete set of J.D. Robb titles, but never read the other stories in them.  Well, maybe someday.  For now, here’s what’s been happening with Eve and Roarke:

In Ritual in Death, the story contained within Suite 606, which I think may have purposefully been released around Halloween, Eve must find the people who viciously murdered Ava Marsterson during a Satanic ritual in Suite 606 (so close to 666, get it?) of one of Roarke’s posh hotels.  As you can imagine, the fact that Roarke’s people and property have been targeted doesn’t sit well with the billionaire and sparks fly between husband and wife as each pursue differing angels to catch the killers.  A very fun Eve and Roarke story to say the least!  Micro J.D. Robb always tides one over while waiting for the next book in the series to be published.

While touristing on the Staten Island ferry with her family, Carolee Grogan visits the ladies and disappears, leaving nothing behind but a whole lot of blood – that belongs to another female victim.  Lieutenant Eve Dallas of the NYPSD must figure out how Carolee disappeared and who the owner of all that blood is.  With nearly 4000 passengers and no way off the ferry, people don’t just disappear, yet somehow a killer managed to spirit himself, the body and Carolee Grogan, the only witness from the scene of the crime.

 

A pretty decent Eve Dallas story, though not as riveting or as well plotted out as Ritual in Death, still, Missing in Death is a pleasurable read on a hot summer’s day.

 

Till next time, happy reading!

L J

 

TBR = 18

WPL = 25