Book review: Every Fifteen Minutes

Title: Every Fifteen Minutes

Author: Lisa Scottoline

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Format: Audiobook

Summary: Dr. Eric Parrish is having a bad month.  His relationship with his ex-wife is increasingly estranged and their informal co-parenting arrangement is falling apart.  To make matters worse, he was just accused of sexual harassment by a Resident who is mad that Dr. Parrish rebuffed her advances.  Oh, and a patient of his may have murdered somebody and because Dr. Parrish won't violate doctor/patient confidentiality, he's considered a suspect as well.  Dr. Parrish is having a hard time getting anybody to believe him.  Can he clear his name?

Review:  Dr. Parrish sure sticks to his guns when it comes to sticking to doctor/patient confidentiality.  I would love to know if he was right in not sharing what was discussed in his sessions with his patient Max.  I remember when I was listening to this book that I kept thinking, "I think I would sing like a canary."  Not that there was any concrete proof that Max did anything, it was all very circumstantial.  Of course, I would have also lawyered up quicker than Dr. Parrish did because everybody knows you can't trust detectives to actually listen to you.  Poor naive Dr. Parrish.  They're there to solve a murder and Dr. Parrish did look kind of guilty himself, although again, for circumstantial reasons.  Anyhoo, it all worked out in the end.  The twist at the end was kind of fun, but all in all, I think my general dislike of Dr. Parrish led me to give this book three stars over four.  I leaned toward four stars, but this was a good book, not a great book.  

Time to write: 5:03

  

Book review: The Secret Place

Title: The Secret Place
Author: Tana French
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Summary:  Stephen Moran is looking for a chance to join Dublin's Murder Squad.  He gets his chance when 16 YO Holly Mackey, a witness from an old case, approaches him about a picture that was posted of  a boy that was murdered a year ago at her boarding school.  Stephen joins the case with Detective Antoinette Conway and they enter the strange and dangerous world of boarding school.

Review:  I really liked the previous two books in the Dublin Murder Squad series, so I was looking forward to this book.  But for some reason, I just couldn't get into this book.  I'm not entirely sure why, I didn't look forward to reading it each night. Maybe it was too long, maybe I was annoyed by the Irish slang, I don't know.  Whatever the reason, this book took forever to read.  The only reason I finished it is because I felt so invested and I'd passed the point where I could give up without feeling like I hadn't invested too much time in it.  Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed.

Time to write: 4:04

Book review: First Frost

Title: First Frost
Author: Sarah Addison Allen
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Summary: October is always a strange time of year for the Waverly women.  It has to do with their strange apple tree that blooms with the first frost.  But this October in particular feels particularly strange.  The Waverly women are notorious in their town in North Carolina for possessing special gifts.   This October is a particularly difficult one for sisters Sydney and Claire, and Sydney's teenage daughter, Bay, all for different reasons.  Will their families survive this year's first frost?

Review: This book was perfectly pleasant.  And as I think of the next two reviews that I have to write about books that were much more intense than this, I sort of wish I had this as a palate cleanser between the two.  While this book was perfectly pleasant, I wouldn't say it was fantastic, thus the reason for the three stars.

When I finish a book I try to put the shell of the review together and at the very least indicate my initial rating.  I'm sticking with the three stars, although I'm tempted to go 3.5 to compromise between the me that first wrote three stars and the present me that's leaning towards four.   But I'm going to stick with my three stars.  If you're looking for something light, or a palate cleanser, this is a good choice.

Time to write: 4:11