Book Review: Claim of Innocence by Laura Caldwell

Monday 5 September, 2011 By 2 Comments

Title: Claim of Innocence
Author: Laura Caldwell
Publisher: Mira
Publication Date: August 23, 2011
Paperback: 448 pages
ISBN: 978-0778329329
Genre: Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Book Synopsis:

It was a crime of passion—or so the police say. Valerie Solara has been charged with poisoning her best friend. The prosecution claims she’s always been secretly attracted to Amanda’s husband…and with Amanda gone, she planned to make her move.

Attorney Izzy McNeil left the legal world a year ago, but a friend’s request pulls her into the murder trial. Izzy knows how passion can turn your life upside down. She thought she had it once with her ex-fiancé, Sam. Now she wonders if that’s all she has in common with her criminally gorgeous younger boyfriend, Theo.

It’s Izzy’s job to present the facts that will exonerate her client—whether or not she’s innocent. But when she suspects Valerie is hiding something, she begins investigating—and uncovers a web of secret passions and dark motives, where seemingly innocent relationships can prove poisonous….

My Review:

Claim of Innocence by Laura Caldwell is a fast-paced legal thriller about a woman accused of murdering her best friend, and about her defense attorney, Izzy McNeil, who is trying her first criminal case after a leave from her exclusively civil litigations.  Readers are introduced to Valerie Solara, who has been accused of poisoning her best friend, Amanda, whose husband Valerie has been longing for. Mixed in with Izzy’s own personal romantic urges, the interpersonal issues makes for a complicated plot that at times loses focus on the legal case at hand.  As readers follow the case for the defense of Valerie, they will find that not is all as it seemed at first to Izzy, and as she builds her case for her client, the suspense is turned up several notches and suspense fans will delight in the discoveries that await Izzy.  One of my personal dislikes of this novel was the romance, which I found to be a distraction from what would otherwise be a taut mystery thriller.  Being part of the Izzy McNeil series, which I have not read, may be part of the reason for my opinions, for I felt at times that knowing a little more about Izzy, especially when allusions to other works were made, would have helped.  With that said, I would recommend Claim of Innocence to those who enjoy a good legal thriller with romance thrown in for good measure.

To learn more about author Laura Caldwell, please visit her website: www.lauracaldwell.com

I received a complimentary copy of Claim of Innocence by Laura Caldwell from Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc. to offer my honest review of the book.  Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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Guest Author Post and Spotlight on Tempest In The Tea Leaves by Kari Lee Townsend

Monday 22 August, 2011 By 2 Comments

Sunshine Meadows aka Sunny’s Library List

The Power of Being Different by John Paul Carinci (I’ve finally embraced who and what I am. Hopefully the town of Divinity will as well.)

Country Towns of NY: Charming small towns and villages by Mike Tougrias (I just love the small, quaint town of Divinity in upstate NY)

America’s Painted Ladies: the Ultimate Celebration of our Victorians by Elizabeth Pomada, Michael Larson, Douglas Keister (The ancient Victorian I bought is simply adorable. I named her Vicky.)

Haunted Houses by Corinne May Botz (People say Vicky is haunted, but I think it’s the cat I found living within who is doing the haunting.)

Don’t tell the Cat…how to take care of your cat without turning him into a tiger! by Grazia Valci (Morty, short for immortal, is quite the character. A big white mysterious cat with more attitude than should be legal. What am I going to do with him?)

Police Procedure & Investigation: A Guide for Writers by Lee Lofland (I’ve got to learn how to investigate somehow, because Detective Grumpy Pants sure isn’t showing me how.)

Alpha Male Syndrome by Kate Ludeman & Eddie Erlandson (Maybe if I understood Mitch a bit more, I’d be able to work with him better. Yeah, I know. I’m not holding my breath.)

Love Smart: Find the one you want–fix the one you got by Dr. Phil McGraw (If only it were that easy, Dr. Phil. You’d understand if you’d ever met Mitch.)

How to Deal with Parents Who are Angry, Troubled, Afraid, or Just Plain Crazy by Elaine K. McEwan-Adkins (Trust me, people, I’ve tried. There is NO dealing with Vivian and Donald Meadows.)

As far as fiction….I’ll read pretty much anything by Kari Lee Townsend. I hear she’s fabulous.

Kari Lee Townsend’s Library List

Police Procedure & Investigation: A Guide for Writers by Lee Lofland (Like Sunny, I too have to know how to investigate. And no one does it better than Lee.)

Tea Leaf Reading for Beginners by Caroline Dow (This was a great source of research for me, as well as sites online for learning how to read someone’s tea leaves.)

How to Write a Damn Good Mystery by James F. Frey (Frey does a great job on teaching authors how to plot and write a mystery that works.)

Elements of Style by Strunk & White (I have a masters in English and yet I couldn’t live without this handy dandy resource.)

Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series (She is the person who first turned me on to mysteries. She is so funny and her characters are a hoot. I want to be her when I grow up.)

Donna Andrews’ Meg Langslow Series (She is another funny cozy mystery author. Love her wacky characters.)

Annette Blair’s Vintage Magic Mysteries (Love anything written by Annette. Great characters, hilarious humor, and light paranormal….it doesn’t get any better than that!)

Peggy Webb’s Southern Cousin’s Mysteries featuring Elvis the dog (Peggy is a hoot and anything she writes is just as funny as she is. Love her books!)

Tamar Myers Den of Antiquity Mysteries (Her books are funny and interesting. Real page turners.)

Liz Lipperman’s Clueless Cook Mysteries (Liz is hilarious and her characters are ones you won’t want to leave. There are so many others I love as well, but atlas, my own books are calling for me to finish them. Enjoy and happy reading.)
Title: Tempest in the Tea Leaves
Author: Kari Lee Townsend
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: August 2, 2011
Paperback: 304 pages
ISBN: 978-0425242759
Genre: Fiction, Mystery

Book synopsis from the author:

TEMPEST IN THE TEA LEAVES: A Fortune Teller Mystery

In the fortune telling business there are a lot of pretenders, but Sunshine Meadows is the real deal–and her predictions can be lethally accurate…
Sunny is a big city psychic who moves to the quaint town of Divinity, NY to open her fortune-telling business in an ancient Victorian house, inheriting the strange cat residing within. Sunny gives her first reading to the frazzled librarian and discovers the woman is going to die. When the woman flees in terror, Sunny calls the police, only she’s too late. The ruggedly handsome, hard-nosed detective is a ”non-believer.” He finds the librarian dead, and Sunny becomes his number one suspect, forcing her to prove her innocence before the real killer can put an end to the psychic’s future.

Kari Lee Townsend lives in Central New York with her very understanding husband, her three busy boys, and her oh-so-dramatic daughter, who keep her grounded and make everything she does worthwhile…not to mention provide her with loads of material for her books. Kari is a longtime lover of reading and writing, with a masters in English education, who spends her days trying to figure out whodunit. Funny how no one at home will confess any more than the characters in her mysteries!

Kari writes fun and exciting stories for any age, set in small towns, with mystical elements and quirky characters. You can find out more about her on her website: www.karileetownsend.com and also on the group mystery blog she cohosts, called Mysteries and Margaritas, at www.mysteriesandmargaritasblogspot.com

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Book Review: Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upson

Friday 19 August, 2011 By 8 Comments

Title: Two for Sorrow
Author: Nicola Upson
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Publication Date: August 9, 2011
Paperback: 496 pages
ISBN: 978-0061451584
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery

From the Publisher:

They were the most horrific crimes of a new century: the murders of newborn innocents for which two British women were hanged at Holloway Prison in 1903. Decades later, mystery writer Josephine Tey has decided to write a novel based on Amelia Sach and Annie Walters, the notorious “Finchley baby farmers,” unaware that her research will entangle her in the desperate hunt for a modern-day killer.

A young seamstress—an ex-convict determined to reform—has been found brutally slain in the studio of Tey’s friends, the Motley sisters, amid preparations for a star-studded charity gala. Despite initial appearances, Inspector Archie Penrose is not convinced this murder is the result of a long-standing domestic feud—and a horrific accident involving a second young woman soon after supports his convictions. Now he and his friend Josephine must unmask a sadistic killer before more blood flows—as the repercussions of unthinkable crimes of the past reach out to destroy those left behind long after justice has been served.

My Review:

Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upson is a compelling, yet disturbing story of two women who are hanged for the murders of newborns in 1903 and a writer who years later is writing a book about it. Call it a “book within a book”, Upson has created a rather intriguing storytelling method for this third novel in her Josephine Tey series. In parallel with Tey’s research into these horrific events, readers are exposed to another shocking homicide in present day, one that is not disconnected from the hangings at Holloway Prison. Upson crafts a tantalizing mystery that leads readers to question why someone is carrying out vengeful acts so many years after the execution of those believed to be involved in the Finchley baby farming. Upson has assembled an interesting premise for her story and presents her characters in masterful fashion, characters with real and flawed characteristics. I have not read her two previous Josephine Tey novels and felt a little uncomfortable with the characters with whom I felt ill at ease in learning for the first time about their interrelationships. I would recommend that readers plan to read Upson’s first two Tey novels before Two for Sorrow. In all, I felt Two for Sorrow still paid off for its intriguing premise, well crafted prose and just the right amount of mystery and I would recommend this book to all mystery fans.

About the Author:

Nicola Upson has written for a variety of publications, including the New Statesman, where she was a crime fiction critic. She also regularly contributes to BBC radio and has worked in the theater for ten years. She divides her time between Cambridge and Cornwall.

For more about the author and her books, please visit her website: nicolaupson.com

For more reviews of the book, please follow the TLC Book Tour.

I received a complimentary ARC of Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upson from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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Book Review: Shut Your Eyes Tight by John Verdon

Thursday 18 August, 2011 By 8 Comments

Title: Shut Your Eyes Tight (Dave Gurney, No. 2)
Author: John Verdon
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: July 12, 2011
Hardcover: 528 pages
ISBN: 978-0307717894
Genre: Fiction, Thriller

From the Publisher:

 When he was the NYPD’s top homicide investigator, Dave Gurney was never comfortable with the label the press gave him: super detective. He was simply a man who, when faced with a puzzle, wanted to know. He was called to the investigative hunt by the presumptuous arrogance of murderers – by their smug belief that they could kill without leaving a trace. There was always a trace, Gurney believed.

Except what if one day there wasn’t?Dave Gurney, a few months past the Mellery case that pulled him out of retirement and then nearly killed him, is trying once again to adjust to his country house’s bucolic rhythms when he receives a call about a case so seductively bewildering that the thought of not looking into it seems unimaginable—even if his beloved wife, Madeleine, would rather he do anything but.The facts of what has occurred are horrible: a blushing bride, newly wed to an eminent psychiatrist and just minutes from hearing her congratulatory toast, is found decapitated, her head apparently severed by a machete. Though police investigators believe that a Mexican gardener killed the young woman in a fit of jealous fury, the victim’s mother—a chilly high-society beauty—is having none of it. Reluctantly drawn in, Dave is quickly buffeted by a series of revelations that transform the bizarrely monstrous into the monstrously bizarre.  Underneath it all may exist one of the darkest criminal schemes imaginable. And as Gurney begins deciphering its grotesque outlines, some of his most cherished assumptions about himself are challenged, causing him to stare into an abyss so deep that it threatens to swallow not just him but Madeleine, too.
Desperate to protect Madeleine and bring an end to the madness, Gurney ultimately discovers that the killer has left a trace after all. Unfortunately, the revelation may come too late to save his own life.With Shut Your Eyes Tight, John Verdon delivers on the promise of his internationally bestselling debut, Think of a Number, creating a portrait of evil let loose across generations that is as rife with moments of touching humanity as it is with spellbinding images of perversity.



My Review:

Shut Your Eyes Tight by John Verdon is a captivating thriller and the second book in the Detective Dave Gurney series, a series beginning with Verdon’s debut Think of a Number.  In Shut Your Eyes Tight, Gurney is once again called out of retirement to investigate a heinous beheading and readers will delight in the superior style that Verdon has adopted in this most compelling series of thrillers.  Verdon masterfully crafted this mystery thrill ride where Gurney finds evil far beyond his wildest expectations as he investigates the gruesome and bizarre death of a new bride in the middle of her wedding reception.  Verdon has cleverly crafted an exceptional thriller while exemplifying beautiful literary characteristics in his use of vivid descriptions and details of the characters, their lives, and their surroundings.   Shut Your Eyes Tight was a book that could have gone on forever and I would not complain, and I am glad to see he has continued in the tradition of excellence set out with the original Dave Gurney novel.  Without reservation I recommend Shut Your Eyes Tight to anyone looking for an exceptionally thought out thriller.

About the Author:

JOHN VERDON has held several executive positions with Manhattan advertising firms, but like his protagonist, he recently relocated with his wife to rural upstate New York. Shut Your Eyes Tight is his second novel.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the TLC Book Tour.

I received a complimentary ARC of Shut Your Eyes Tight by John Verdon from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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Book Review: Long Gone by Alafair Burke

Saturday 13 August, 2011 By 4 Comments

Title: Long Gone
Author: Alafair Burke
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: June 21, 2011
Hardcover: 368 pages
ISBN: 978-0061999185
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense

From the Publisher:

What if everything you thought you knew turned out to be a lie? 
…more may be read by clicking the click above, I want to avoid potential spoilers…

My Review:

Long Gone by Alafair Burke is a tantalizing and taught suspense thriller that will take readers on an exciting journey with Alice Humphrey whose new job, working as the curator of a Manhattan art gallery, has just become a nightmare. I have read other works from Burke, so by saying Burke has kept up with the pattern of her previous novels, I imply that Long Gone is another excellent and suspenseful mystery that is sure to please mystery fans. Burke, in Long Gone, has yet again crafted in masterful fashion a plot with more twists and turns than a small intestine, keeping readers on the end of their seats as this story is hard to read in anything but one sitting. When the man who hired Alice is found dead in the art gallery, and all of the art has disappeared, the story takes on a life of its own as Alice finds herself the prime suspect in the murder. Told from various perspectives, readers will delight in following Alice along of path of deception, littered with secrets that will disturb the very foundations of Alice’s upbringing. The plot twists are well placed and Burke has crafted exceptional characters with realistic flaws. Lone Gone is an all around great suspense mystery that drew me into the plot early and kept me engaged through to the unexpected conclusion. I recommend Long Gone to all fans of suspense mysteries, but must caution the profanity at times may be too harsh for some readers.

To learn more about author Alafair Burke or her books, please visit her website: alafairburke.com

I received a complimentary ARC of Long Gone by Alafair Burke from Harper Collins. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.

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Book Review: The Glitter Scene by Monika Fagerholm

Wednesday 10 August, 2011 By 3 Comments

Title: The Glitter Scene
Author: Monika Fagerholm
Publisher: Other Press; Reprint edition
Publication Date: August 9, 2011
Paperback: 528 pages
ISBN: 978-1590513057
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

From the Publisher:

Teenage Johanna lives with her aunt Solveig in a small house bordering the forest on the outskirts of a remote coastal town in Finland. She leads a lonely existence that is punctuated by visits to her privileged classmate, Ulla Bäckström, who lives in the nearby luxury gated community. It isn’t until Ulla tells her the local lore about the American girl and the tragedy that took place more than thirty years before that Johanna begins to question how her parents fit into the story. She sets out to unravel her family history, the identity of her mother, and the dark secrets long buried with her father. In the process of opening closed doors, others in the community reflect back on the town’s history, on their youth, and on the dreams that play in their minds. Soon a new story emerges, that stirs up Johanna’s greatest fears, but ultimately leads to the answers she is searching for. The Glitter Scene is a riveting mystery that explores the roles of truth and myth, reality and fiction, and the repercussions of family secrets.

My Review:

The Glitter Scene by Monika Fagerholm is a tantalizing mystery about disloyalty, resentment, and vengeance set amidst a backdrop of coastal Finland where Johanna, a teenager living with her aunt, becomes far more than simply curious to learn more about a past unexplained tragedy in the coastal village region about First Cape.  As Johanna uncovers more and more secrets kept well hidden throughout the three decades since the happenings described in The American Girl, the prelude to The Glitter Scene, readers can almost feel the pain, guilt and suspense as though they were immersed in the scene with Johanna.  With each piece of the puzzle, the intensity of Johanna’s quest strengthens as the trail of secrets begins to bring her full circle.  The Glitter Scene is such a compelling tale that readers will want to get prepared with a good stretch of time to take it all in from a single sitting or perhaps over a weekend.  Fagerholm’s follow on to The American Girl is a brilliantly engaging mystery for all fans of gripping suspense novels and while I have not read The American Girl, I felt at home with jumping into The Glitter Scene.

About the Author:

Monika Fagerholm’s much-praised first novel, Wonderful Women by the Sea, became one of the most widely translated Scandinavian literary novels of the mid-nineties and was nominated for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. In 1998 it was followed by the cult novel Diva, which won the Swedish Literature Society Award. Her third novel, The American Girl, became a number-one best seller and won the premier literary award in Sweden, the August Prize, as well as the Aniara Prize and the Gothenburg Post Award.

I received a complimentary ARC of The Glitter Scene by Monika Fagerholm from Other Press. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.

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Book Review: Close Your Eyes by Amanda Eyre Ward

Thursday 4 August, 2011 By 8 Comments

Title: Close Your Eyes
Author: Amanda Eyre Ward
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: July 26, 2011
Hardcover: 272 pages
ISBN: 978-0345494481
Genre: Fiction, Mystery

From the Publisher:

In Close Your Eyes, the author of the bestselling How to Be Lost spins another mesmerizing tale of buried family secrets.

For most of her life, Lauren Mahdian has been certain of two things: that her mother is dead, and that her father is a murderer.

Before the horrific tragedy, Lauren led a sheltered life in a wealthy corner of America, in a town outside Manhattan on the banks of Long Island Sound, a haven of luxurious homes, manicured lawns, and seemingly perfect families. Here Lauren and her older brother, Alex, thought they were safe.

But one morning, six-year-old Lauren and eight-year-old Alex awoke after a night spent in their tree house to discover their mother’s body and their beloved father arrested for the murder.

Years later, Lauren is surrounded by uncertainty. Her one constant is Alex, always her protector, still trying to understand the unraveling of his idyllic childhood. But Lauren feels even more alone when Alex reveals that he’s been in contact over the years with their imprisoned father—and that he believes he and his sister have yet to learn the full story of their mother’s death.

Then Alex disappears.

As Lauren is forced to peek under the floorboards of her carefully constructed memories, she comes to question the version of her history that she has clung to so fiercely. Lauren’s search for the truth about what happened on that fateful night so many years ago is a riveting tale that will keep readers feverishly turning pages.

My Review:

Close Your Eyes by Amanda Eyre Ward is an intense story of tragedy, clouded conviction, and the sense of loneliness it left for Lauren Mahdian whose father was convicted of murdering her mother when Lauren and her brother, Alex, were respectively six and eight years old.  Now in her twenties, Lauren begins to uncover secrets pertaining to her mother’s murder, gripping readers’ attention as the plot unfolds.  Ward develops each of her characters carefully and deliberately throughout the novel, providing readers with a sense of knowing, and appreciating the complexities of Lauren, her brother and their relationship.  Masterfully crafted prose brings the story to life, a story about guilt, love, trust and redemption as played out in Lauren’s quest for truth in her mother’s death.  Memorable for its emotion and beautiful prose, Close Your Eyes is a fictional drama that I strongly recommend and can imagine a lively discussion group conversation on this emotionally compelling tale.

For more information about Amanda Eyre Ward or her books please visit her website AmandaWard.com

For more reviews of the book, please follow the TLC Book Tour.

I received an arc of Close Your Eyes by Amanda Eyre Ward from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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Book Review: The Sixes by Kate White

Wednesday 3 August, 2011 By 4 Comments

Title: The Sixes
Author: Kate White
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: August 2, 2011
Hardcover: 384 pages
ISBN: 978-0061576621
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense

From the Publisher:

From the New York Times bestselling author of Hush and the Bailey Weggins mystery series comes a thriller set in a college town where a student’s death sends one woman on a search for the truth and into the clutches of a frightening secret society.

Phoebe Hall’s Manhattan life has suddenly begun to unravel. Right after her long-term boyfriend breaks off their relationship, she’s falsely accused of plagiarizing her latest bestselling celebrity biography. Looking for a quiet place to put her life back together, Phoebe jumps at the offer to teach in a sleepy Pennsylvania town at a small private college run by her former boarding school roommate and close friend, Glenda Johns.

But behind the campus’s quiet cafés and leafy maple trees lie evil happenings. The body of a female student washes up on the banks of a nearby river, and disturbing revelations begin to surface: accusations from coeds about abuses wrought by a secret society of girls on campus known as The Sixes.. To help Glenda, Phoebe embarks on a search for clues—a quest that soon raises painful memories of her own boarding school days years ago.

As the investigation heats up, Phoebe unexpectedly finds herself falling for the school’s handsome psychology professor, Duncan Shaw. But when nasty pranks turn into deadly threats, Phoebe realizes she’s in the middle of a real-life nightmare, not knowing whom she can trust and if she will even survive.

Plunging deeper into danger with every step, Phoebe knows she’s close to unmasking a killer. But with truth comes a terrifying revelation: your darkest secrets can still be uncovered . . . and starting over may be a crime punishable by death.



My Review:

The Sixes by Kate White is a tantalizing mystery suspense thriller set on the campus of a small town  college in Pennsylvania.  White weaves an intriguing tale that begins when writer Phoebe Hall decides to relocate to a rural setting to teach at a small private college after her career in Manhattan begins to crumble amidst plagiarism accusations.  What Hall does not know is that beneath the façade of the reputable school is a secret society, known as The Sixes, made up of some very strange girls with extremely disturbing behavior.  Though The Sixes would naturally be implicated when one of the college coeds is found dead in a nearby river, White crafts plenty of twists and turns within the plot to keep readers guessing and second-guessing as Hall is asked by the college president to learn more about The Sixes and to get to the bottom of a seemingly linked series of incidents.  Although the plot is loaded with suspense and mystery, I found some of the characters to lack a full complement of dimensions, but then again, these are college coed sociopaths that White has cast for her novel and one might expect there to be some shallow characters.  I think readers will enjoy White’s story, the backdrop of the college setting and the suspenseful moments that make The Sixes an exciting read.  I recommend The Sixes to mystery suspense fans in search of a good thrill.

To learn more about author Kate White and her books, please visit her website katewhite.com

I received a complimentary arc of The Sixes by Kate White from Harper Collins. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.

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Book Review: Blood Trust by Eric Van Lustbader

Saturday 30 July, 2011 By 2 Comments

Title: Blood Trust
Author: Eric Van Lustbader
Publisher: Forge Books
Publication Date: May 10, 2011
Hardcover: 416 pages
ISBN: 978-0765329745
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller


From the Publisher:

It was once said that you must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible . . .

Alli Carson has been through her own personal hell. With her father, the President of the United States, recently dead and her mother in a coma from a terrible accident, she has poured herself into her training to become one of the best FBI agents at the Fearington Institute. Her inspiration and solace comes from the one man with whom she has ever felt a kinship, National Security Adviser, Jack McClure. But when Alli becomes the prime suspect in a murder at Fearington, a wide ranging investigation is triggered, involving local homicide detectives, the secret service, the FBI itself, and Alli’s own uncle, the billionaire lobbyist Henry Carson. And yet nothing is what it seems.

What follows is a treacherous journey that leads Jack and Alli into a complex web of lies and deceit. Using Jack’s unique gifts to see the through the labyrinth of manipulation, their investigation leads them into the dark heart of the international slave trade, tied to a powerful Albanian crime lord whose ability and influence in global terrorism grows with each day.

The two find themselves in the crosshairs of vast global enterprise, one that lurks in the shadows of power and has infiltrated Washington and their lives in ways neither of them could ever have imagined. And hidden deep among it all sits a terrifying criminal mastermind, someone fueled by a hatred that can never be quenched, and a mind that knows neither feeling nor mercy.

My Review:

Blood Trust by Eric Van Lustbader is an action-packed suspense thriller and the third novel in Lustbader’s McClure-Carson series featuring National Security Advisor Jack McClure and Alli Carson, daughter to the late President of the United States. Van Lustbader continues with his stylish crafting of a plot that is loaded with intrigue, suspense, twists and double crosses as readers see Alli become the focus of a homicide investigation at her FBI training institute.  Readers will be lead down various dead-ends, sure that the case is a simple one, but in a masterfully-crafted series of turns, the case ultimately leads Alli, Jack and the investigation into the dim and gruesome world of human trafficking.  Even more shocking are discoveries yet to be made by these two protagonists as the evil and powerful mastermind they seek has brought business to Washington.  Van Lustbader will keep his readers’ attention focused in this engrossing thriller that is definitely hard to set down.  Mystery thriller fans will find Blood Trust to satisfy and I recommend it to those who are looking to see the pair in McClure and Carson in action once again.

To learn more about Eric Van Lustbader and his books, please visit his website at www.ericvanlustbader.com

I received a complimentary copy of Blood Trust by Eric Van Lustbader from Zeitghost Media. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.

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Book Review: Original Sin by Beth McMullen

Saturday 23 July, 2011 By 4 Comments

Title: Original Sin: A Sally Sin Adventure
Author: Beth McMullen
Publisher: Hyperion
Publication Date: July 12, 2011
Hardcover: 304 pages
ISBN: 978-1401324216
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

From the Publisher:

After falling in love and making a quick exit from her nine-year career in the USAWMD (United States Agency for Weapons of Mass Destruction), ex-spy Sally Sin does her best to become Lucy Hamilton, a stay-at-home mom in San Francisco. No one, not even her adoring husband Will, knows about her secret agent escapades—chasing no-good masterminds through perilous jungles, escaping evil assassins, and playing dangerous games of cat and mouse with her old nemesis, Ian Blackford, a notorious and dashing illegal arms dealer.

In her new life as Lucy Hamilton, she squeezes inside forts crafted from couch cushions by her three-year-old son Theo, makes organic applesauce, and frequents the zoo. But sometimes her well-honed spy reflexes refuse to lay low. She can’t help breaking into her own house to check on the babysitter or stop herself from tossing the yoga instructor who gets on her nerves. And when Ian Blackford, who is supposed to be dead, once again starts causing trouble for the USAWMD, the agency becomes desperate to get Sally back on the job.

How can Sally or Lucy or whatever her name is save the planet while at the same time keeping her own family’s world from spinning out of control?

My Review:

Original Sin by Beth McMullen is a charmingly witty and funny thriller about a spy turned at-home mom who is called back to duty.  Known as Sally Sin in her former spy role working for the US Agency for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Lucy Hamilton is mother to 3-year-old Theo and wife of Will Hamilton and the three enjoy their calm and relatively uneventful lives.  McMullen brings a great sense of humor to the spy-thriller genre in her portrayal of Lucy as she experiences the real life of motherhood, organizing get-togethers with other moms and their children, cooking, cleaning and even going to yoga classes.  Moms will appreciate the true-to-life experiences that this trained killer has to deal with.  Continuing with a great sense of wit, McMullen brings readers into the spy world when Lucy is called back to duty by her boss, Simon.  Packed with action, this thriller has characters that are not invincible nor are they flawless, making the storyline more realistic.  In an effort to not reveal any of the major plot twists, I will end by saying this debut novel leaves enough loose ends to prepare readers for a second installment from Sally Sin.  To mystery thriller fans and those uncertain about the genre, I recommend trying  McMullen’s  Original Sin as it brings together a hilarious character in Sally Sin with exciting and thrilling adventures in the secret world of intelligence.

To learn more about author Beth McMullen please visit her website.

I received an arc of Original Sin by Beth McMullen from Hyperion to offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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