Book: Storm Cycle

Iris Johansen
Thriller
St Martin’s Press / 2009
Hard Back / 416 Pages

Rachel Kirby is a computer genius whose personal life is hell. While she continues to climb the corporate ranks, her beloved twin sister is plagued by a chronic illness that will eventually kill her, leaving Rachel all alone. Serendipity in the form of a mysterious email lands in Rachel’s lap one day, but not without a price. Thousands of miles away, archeologist John Tanek sits trapped inside a collapsed Egyptian tomb with a functioning laptop. He knows that Rachel is the only person who can help him, but time is quickly running out. It turns out the collapse was no accident. John has discovered something very valuable in that tomb, something that humankind has been searching for throughout history, something that Rachel could use as it may hold the key to her sister’s cure. While Rachel orchestrates his rescue, she soon finds herself trapped in a dangerous web of deceit and murder. Can she put her trust in John Tanek? She’d do anything to save her sister. Will they both live long enough to unravel the ancient mystery they’ve found inside the tomb?

I picked this book up because I enjoy reading her books

What I liked the Most? The details of the computer

What I liked the Least? Predictability

Review: Ok, I give the detractors their due – this is a totally predictable book, down to who dies, who’s fucking who, and where the mystery is headed, but the trip was worth the “I knew it” moment for me.

A sick girl overcoming the odds, sniper attacks, a computer named Jonesy, a search for the cure of a very rare disease, government agents, foreign travel, sisterly love, romantic interests, and a couple of bombs going off – this would make an excellent movie, how come none of her books make it that far.

Recommended to: Fans of her work

Best Quote: “Let me live my life while I can”

Book: Postcard Killers

James Patterson & Liza Marklund
Thriller
Little, Brown & Co / 2010
Quality Paperback / 432 Pages

Paris is lovely in the spring, but for tourists, it's even more enthralling in the summer. For all visitors, that is, except NYPD detective Jacob Kanon, whose warm-weathered sojourn is laser-focused on the man who murdered his beloved daughter. James Patterson's The Postcard Killers tracks a serial killer who stalks his youthful prey in the cultural capitals of Europe. An intense, action-packed Patterson thriller.

I picked this book up because The tag line "The scariest vacation thriller...ever"

What I liked the Most? The use of obscure but famous paintings

What I liked the Least? Wrapped up a little to neat for my taste

Review: I'm torn on this book - I loved the concept, the fast pace, the brutality of the murders, but felt that the characters were totally unremarkable, with stilted obligatory relationships, and the ending felt rushed.

There are severeal questions that are posed through out the book that never get answered but rather than create a set up for another book they dwindle into obscurity.

The team of Patterson & Marklund get an "A" for the solid plot with intricate plot twists, but a "D" on character interaction & an "E" on the ending, it was disappointing.

Recommended to: Fans of thrillers

Best Quote: "I do too have to shout. It makes me feel better."

Book: Play Dead

Anne Frasier
Thriller
Onyx / 2004
Kindle / 384 Pages
Series / Standalone

Frasier (Sleep Tight, etc.) has perfected the art of making a reader's skin crawl, which is evident from this book's very first scene, in which a medical examiner discovers in the midst of an autopsy that the cadaver he's working on is really a live person. Set in Savannah, Ga., this exceptional thriller follows the hunt for the deranged person who's drugging people so that their minds remain wide awake even as their bodies resemble death. The creepiness factor increases when Frasier introduces homicide detective Elise Sandburg, who was abandoned in a cemetery as a baby and who knows Gullah spells and culture. Elise's partner, anti-social David Gould, is equally strange; his past holds secrets so dark he should be under psychiatric care. Formerly with the FBI, Gould currently lives in a rundown, foul-smelling apartment and sleeps with a prostitute who works for a voodoo priestess. As the two detectives follow leads to the priestess and the former college professor who researched the drug, they forge a tentative bond and come to terms with their own troubled pasts. Frasier's characters are not only fully realized, but fascinating to boot, and she evokes the dark, mystical side of Savannah with precision and skill. Appropriately, this unsettling tale closes with a grim children's rhyme and a spell for "Elise's Follow-Me-Boy Mojo."

I picked this book up because Look at the cover doesn’t it just seem SPOOKY?!?!

What I liked the Most? The death doc’s name is Casper – this made me smile.

What I liked the Least? Is the pacing of the book – it feels kind of stunted.

Review:Well this book was appropriately creepy & confusing. But I’m not really sure I actually enjoyed it you know what I mean. I found the writing to be a little mushy & twisted – completely fragmented at times. I got another one of her books to try.

I really must give the author credit – the research and details are truly spectacular.

When I read that there is not a uniform determination of death I just had to look it up and lo & behold – there isn’t. Freaky, creepy.

Recommended to: Fans of creep

Best Quote: Apparently the Civil War was still going on; the South just hadn’t gotten the memo telling them it was over.

Book: The Jefferson Key

Book: The Jefferson Key

Steve Berry
Thriller
Random House / 2011
Hard Back / 480 Pages
Series Cotton Malone #7

Former Justice Department operative Cotton Malone has hunted priceless treasures and confronted ruthless adversaries around the world. Now, a grave threat to the very foundation of our country has summoned him home to America.
When a bold assassination attempt is made against U.S. president Danny Daniels in the heart of Manhattan, Malone risks his life to foil the killing —only to find himself at dangerous odds with the Commonwealth, a secret society of pirates first assembled during the American Revolution.
In their most perilous exploit yet, Malone and Cassiopeia Vitt race across the nation and take to the high seas. Along the way they break a secret cipher originally possessed by Thomas Jefferson, unravel a mystery concocted by Andrew Jackson, and unearth a centuries-old document forged by the Founding Fathers themselves —one squarely rooted within the United States Constitution and powerful enough to make the Commonwealth unstoppable.

I picked this book up because Review book

What I liked the Most? The motorcycle ride down the stairway of a fancy hotel!

What I liked the Least? the bouncy way it’s written – I really like one point of view books. But of course perhaps if I read the series I might have known this.

Review: Okay perhaps it is because this was the 1st one of the series that I've read or it truly is just that dang confusing. I'm not a big fan of the bounce - bouncing from one character to another does not enhance the story - it bogs it DOWN. But other than that - loved the sheer amount of research and time that went into a book like this.

Recommended to: fans of the series

Best Quote: "No name. Who's the man the First Lady is running around with?"

Book: The Lost Symbol

Dan Brown
Fiction
Double Day / 2009
Hard Back / 509 Pages
Series: Robert Langdon #3

In this stunning follow-up to the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown demonstrates once again why he is the world's most popular thriller writer. The Lost Symbol is a masterstroke of storytelling -- a deadly race through a real-world labyrinth of codes, secrets, and unseen truths . . . all under the watchful eye of Brown's most terrifying villain to date. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol accelerates through a startling landscape toward an unthinkable finale.

As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object -- artfully encoded with five symbols -- is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation . . . one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon's beloved mentor, Peter Solomon -- a prominent Mason and philanthropist -- is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations -- all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.

As the world discovered in The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, Dan Brown's novels are brilliant tapestries of veiled histories, arcane symbols, and enigmatic codes. In this new novel, he again challenges readers with an intelligent, lightning-paced story that offers surprises at every turn. The Lost Symbol is exactly what Brown's fans have been waiting for . . . his most thrilling novel yet.

I picked this book up because I've been crazy to read the next saga.

What I liked the Most? WOW - I can't pick one thing

What I liked the Least? The mystery part was a little weak - I figured it out before the book even got started.

Review:This is the latest book in the series and it has been hyped up for months if not years but once the hype dies down get ready to enjoy one of the best books of 2009. I just finished it and will be reading it again this year.

This time the setting is local - the good old Washington DC to be precise - where the good professor is on a flight for his life through the sub-basement of the Capitol to some very esteemed Washington addresses to the top of the Washington Monument. Dan gives us some great new adversaries and supporters with his characters whom he is intimately acquainted with make the novel exciting and impossible to put down. The plot is original and like that other lesser know novel that he wrote is full of ciphers, codes, science and great mysteries, he draws the reader into his story by filling it full of fact along with the fiction.

There's yet another shot at romance - this time with the enigmatic Dr. Katherine Solomon, does it succeed, well you'll just have to wait for the next book to find out. After all, Mr Brown is terrible about keeping a female lead.

The dialogue is fast paced and does not disappoint flying by with nail biting, heart thumping excitement. To all the so called "experts" who have bad mouthed this novel from even before publication I say to you "I don't know what book you read, because this book was a fun & thought provoking read". But find out for yourselves, don't let anyone tell you what to read and what to like - make your own choice.

Recommended to: Anyone

Best Quote: "Laus Deo"

Challenges: 100+

Book:The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown
Bantam Books / March 2003
Hard Back / 464 pages
Robert Langdon Series, #2
Date 6-29/7-1

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others.

In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive historical truth -- will be lost forever.

I picked this book up the first time, because I had read the first book & was very intrigued with the style of story telling.

What I liked the Most? Everything - this book blew my mind the first time I read it! And to this date, still leaves me wanting more.

What I liked the Least? Nothing.

Review:I was blown away by the amount of information & description in this book - but it never once felt to me like I was stupid for not knowing something, ya know? I loved the ebb and flow of the story, the gasps, shock & awe, and let's not forget the shear intrigue.

Recommended to: Any one

Best Quote:"I've got to get to a library... Fast!" - Robert

Challenges: Take a Chance, 100+