Title: City on Fire
Author: Garth Risk Hallberg
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Summary: Manhattan, 1976. Regan and William Hamilton-Sweeney are estranged siblings and heirs to one of the city's great fortunes. Keith and Mercer are the mean who love Regan and William. Charlie and Samantha are two suburban teenagers enthralled with the up and coming Manhattan punk scene. Then there's the magazine reporter and his idealistic neighbor. Finally, the detective that's trying to figure out the link between all of them and what they have to do with a shooting on New Year's Eve.
Review: This book is too freaking long (944 pages). This book needed a better editor. It just too long to develop and get all of the various back stories and everything jumped back and forth in time. The characters were interesting enough, everything was dragged out too long. Eventually I was so far in that I had put in the time, I might as well see it through, but save yourself and don't bother.
Time to write: 1:40
Showing posts with label suspense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suspense. Show all posts
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Book review: What She Knew
Title: What She Knew
Author: Gilly MacMillan
Format: Audiobook
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Summary: Rachel Jenner is walking in a park with her 8-year-old son Ben when he asks to run ahead. It's an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon and Rachel has no reason to worry--until Ben vanishes.
Police are called, search parties are sent out and Rachel, already feeling insecure after her recent divorce, starts to feel herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass with no sign of Ben, everyone becomes a suspect, from Rachel's perfect sister to her newly married ex-husband. Public scrutiny on Rachel also begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion.
As Rachel begins her own investigation, Rachel realizes that nothing is quite what she imagined it to be and it's anonymous strangers she should be fearing but those she trusts the most. (Source: Amazon)
Review: If you're looking for a good beach read as we head into summer, check this one out. Similar to The Rocks, I listened to this on audiobook but I think this book would be an even better read (than listen). Plus I'm always partial to characters named Rachel, even if they spell it differently than me.
Time to write: 3:00
Author: Gilly MacMillan
Format: Audiobook
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Summary: Rachel Jenner is walking in a park with her 8-year-old son Ben when he asks to run ahead. It's an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon and Rachel has no reason to worry--until Ben vanishes.
Police are called, search parties are sent out and Rachel, already feeling insecure after her recent divorce, starts to feel herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass with no sign of Ben, everyone becomes a suspect, from Rachel's perfect sister to her newly married ex-husband. Public scrutiny on Rachel also begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion.
As Rachel begins her own investigation, Rachel realizes that nothing is quite what she imagined it to be and it's anonymous strangers she should be fearing but those she trusts the most. (Source: Amazon)
Review: If you're looking for a good beach read as we head into summer, check this one out. Similar to The Rocks, I listened to this on audiobook but I think this book would be an even better read (than listen). Plus I'm always partial to characters named Rachel, even if they spell it differently than me.
Time to write: 3:00
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Book review: The Accident
Title: The Accident
Author: Chris Pavone
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Format: Kindle
Summary: A mysterious yet explosive manuscript has landed on the desk of literary agent Isabel Reed. If she's going to publish it she needs to survive first. Every time another person gets a copy of the manuscript they end up dead.
Review: I have grown to love reading via Kindle but one of the downsides is the inability to quickly go back and re-read segments and this is one of those books that I needed to go back pretty often and try and remember what is happening. Many of the characters were very mysterious and unidentified at times, so it was sometimes difficult (for me) to figure out which character was speaking (the perspective kept shifting amongst different characters). Also, I'm not generally a huge fan of "there's a massive global conspiracy of the top business leaders and government leaders of the world." It's not that I don't think there are conspiracies, I just find it tiresome at times. This is a good suspense novel and I'd recommend it as a beach read (even though summer is over). The door was left open for a sequel, we'll see what happens with that. Despite this seemingly negative (or lukewarm) review, I'd consider reading the sequel.
Time to write: 5:30
Monday, November 10, 2014
Book review: Black Chalk
Title: Black Chalk
Author: Christopher J. Yates
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Summary: Six friends at Oxford University embark on a game. Initially it's fun, but as the game progresses, the stakes get higher and it's not as fun. Fourteen years later, the remaining players come back together to decide the winner.
Review: Admittedly, this review is overdue. I finished this book a few weeks ago and as I write this review, all I can think about is it reminded me a lot of Donna Tartt's The Secret History. But not as good as the Secret History.
When I write these reviews, I never know how much to give away. There are a few twists--the person whose perspective this is told from isn't who you think it is initially. Also, it lacked chapters, which sort of drives me crazy. I like chapters. It helps to provide a break for those of us who may not have all day to sit down and read a book.
The book jumps from the present to 14 years ago, with the present told from the perspective of one person. I'm not very sympathetic to a character that hasn't had to work for the past 14 years. The flashbacks are more interesting, but as characters drop out of the game, they disappear from the story. Which is fine--the point of the story is to focus on the people that are left in the game, but I always like to know what happens to these characters.
I didn't really like any of the players that were left, nor did I think their present day lives really made sense. But again, maybe I'm just not sympathetic to shut-ins?
Author: Christopher J. Yates
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Summary: Six friends at Oxford University embark on a game. Initially it's fun, but as the game progresses, the stakes get higher and it's not as fun. Fourteen years later, the remaining players come back together to decide the winner.
Review: Admittedly, this review is overdue. I finished this book a few weeks ago and as I write this review, all I can think about is it reminded me a lot of Donna Tartt's The Secret History. But not as good as the Secret History.
When I write these reviews, I never know how much to give away. There are a few twists--the person whose perspective this is told from isn't who you think it is initially. Also, it lacked chapters, which sort of drives me crazy. I like chapters. It helps to provide a break for those of us who may not have all day to sit down and read a book.
The book jumps from the present to 14 years ago, with the present told from the perspective of one person. I'm not very sympathetic to a character that hasn't had to work for the past 14 years. The flashbacks are more interesting, but as characters drop out of the game, they disappear from the story. Which is fine--the point of the story is to focus on the people that are left in the game, but I always like to know what happens to these characters.
I didn't really like any of the players that were left, nor did I think their present day lives really made sense. But again, maybe I'm just not sympathetic to shut-ins?
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Book Review: Night Film
Title: Night Film: A Novel
Author: Marisha Pessl
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
Summary: The daughter of a reclusive film director is found dead in an abandoned warehouse, presumably by suicide. A disgraced reporter is intrigued by the daughter's death and investigates further.
My Review: I have to admit, I didn't realize until after I got this that this was the same woman that wrote Special Topics in Calamity Physics. I couldn't finish Special Topics, so if I realized it was the same author, I probably wouldn't have read it. Fortunately, I didn't realize this until I was already reading this book.
I loved this book. It was suspenseful and scary. This is one of those books that you'd read before bed and you wouldn't want to put down. The book was interspersed with "real" articles about the author and her daughter. I got the sense that the Kindle version is more interactive, which would be cool to see.
Did you read it? What did you think?
Author: Marisha Pessl
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
Summary: The daughter of a reclusive film director is found dead in an abandoned warehouse, presumably by suicide. A disgraced reporter is intrigued by the daughter's death and investigates further.
My Review: I have to admit, I didn't realize until after I got this that this was the same woman that wrote Special Topics in Calamity Physics. I couldn't finish Special Topics, so if I realized it was the same author, I probably wouldn't have read it. Fortunately, I didn't realize this until I was already reading this book.
I loved this book. It was suspenseful and scary. This is one of those books that you'd read before bed and you wouldn't want to put down. The book was interspersed with "real" articles about the author and her daughter. I got the sense that the Kindle version is more interactive, which would be cool to see.
Did you read it? What did you think?
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