The Lovely Bones: A Novel (Hardcover) Review

Alice Sebold has written a remarkable debut novel.The narrator, Susie Salmon, was raped and murdered in 1973 and now resides in her heaven; yet, her voice contains none of the bitterness one would expect.She is able to see into the lives of those who touched her in life and death. At times wistful - for she will never be able to experience growing up - and others matter-of-fact, Susie witnesses the changes and growth within her family and small circle of friends.Her story is not one about death, but about loss and affirming life in its face, about moving on not only for those she left behind but for herself.The reader won't be able to escape the sadness in these pages - I came close to crying several times - but the overall tone is hardly grim. Because Susie is secure and happy in her heaven, she keeps the story full of light and optimism.
This novel is not flawless, nor should it expected to be.The narrative loses some of its momentum near the end. In addition, Sebold makes the mistake of adding a scene (which I won't describe here) seemingly designed to lessen the reader's regret about Susie's missed coming-of-age, but instead the scene falls flat.Susie's loss is as much a part of this book as her family's is, and to pretend it can be reversed, even if only temporarily, defeats the story.Still, given the first two-thirds of the book, this misstep and others can be forgiven.

The Lovely Bones is one of those books you can pick up and not want to put down again until you finish.At roughly 325 pages, this novel demands to be read on a plane, or on the beach, or when you have good chunks of time available to sit with it. Don't frustrate yourself by allowing a half hour here and there.
This is one book that deserves its spot on the bestseller list.

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The Evening and the Morning (Paperback) Review

Tom Baldwin's second novel takes us to a windy hillside,
and an archaeological dig, in this story of two women. With
multi-faceted characters and in-depth description of the
worlds they inhabit, we get to know each of them and their
many gifts.

With a tale that meanders back and forth between the
present day and the Pleistocene Era, we learn of
their fight for survival. One literally for her own
life and that of her tribe, the other for her profession
and her race. These lives, destined to become entwined,
take us from boardroom to bedroom, dank cave to sunny hillside.

Along the way we learn a lot about survival in an ancient
land, much harsher then the one we live in today. We come
to understand that being good at something doesn't always
mean that you won't be questioned every step of the way.
Together these women from two very different times garner
strength separately and then from one another with a final
gift that for once and all will make the world take notice.



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The lives of two young women are mystically intertwined by a powerful talisman, a piece of meteorite, with the power to guide one of them in the peopling of a continent and the other in bridging the chasm of time that separates them. 185,000 years ago Evening Star leads a group of cave people across the icy tundra of Central Asia towards a new home shown to her in a vision. It lies beside a lake in a warm and fruitful country teeming with game, but the way will not be easy. Along her trek she must battle hostile lands, animals, and people. Ganny, a Native American archaeologist, is convinced she has found evidence that her people came to the Americas thousands and thousands of years before the archaeological establishment is willing to believe. They decry the stone tools she is finding beside a California lake bed. To win acceptance she must battle prejudice, willful ignorance, and dishonesty.

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Good Morning, Darkness [Hardcover] Review

The fundamental theme of this novel is obsession and the price it extracts on all of the characters. The obsession takes human form in the attractive body and movements of Laura Finnegan. Everyone who comes into contact with her, even at a distance, becomes attracted to her like moths to a flame. Her boyfriend, Scott Goodsell, loves her so much he wants to marry her. A nameless Mexican fisherman changes his daily routine so that he can stand outside her home and watch her as she moves around her kitchen. Laura's boss, Mr. Johnson, wants her to the point of committing sexual harassment, something he has done and gotten away with before. Then there is Reggie Brooks, a local police detective but also her martial arts instructor. Laura Finnegan has that rare ability to inspire love and devotion in every man and all are prepared to give up everything they each have for her. Then she vanishes.

The Mexican fisherman finds an arm on a local beach and a few miles away, the matching arm washes ashore in Malibu. Since he hasn't seen Laura in days, he begins to wonder if the arms are hers. He also realizes that he hasn't seen her boyfriend, Scott Goodsell, a man he knows only by the car he drives, a white BMW. Assigned to the case of the found arms, Reggie Brooks begins to wonder as well as Laura hasn't made it to class lately. Mr. Johnson also wonders about her even though he got a letter from her stating that she was quitting her job. While there is no reason to suspect that the found arms and Laura's disappearance are in any way related, the detective and the fisherman believe, for different reasons, they are linked.

Shifting between the boyfriend Scott, to detective Brooks, to the Mexican fisherman, and others, the novel gradually reveals a tale of murder and deceit. A weak storyline of a gangland execution is introduced to provide some complexity to the work and as character development, but is not used to any real effectiveness. Additional story elements of classicism and accounting fraud are used much more effectively used and do enhance the tale, but the primary focus is obsession. Obsession in each character drives the work forward and it is only because of obsession that every single thing happens. The result is a good read that engages the reader from start to finish.
This entire review previously appeared online at OnceWritten.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2005


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Escape to Morning (Team Hope Series #2) (Paperback) Review

Dannette (Dani) Lundeen is a Search and Rescue worker who is more than capable of handling herself in difficult situations. Will Masterson, Homeland Security agent currently undercover as a reporter, is immediately impressed by her.

Dani however, does not think very highly of reporters, so Will has an uphill battle on his hands to get past Dani's defenses. But when Dani begins an independent search for a missing teenage girl in the woods near the Canadian border and runs into Will, also looking for the same girl, she wonders why a reporter is so determined to help with the search. And Will is bound to keep the truth from her.

Dani & Will quickly found a special place in my heart. Their personal & spiritual journey's were ones I recognized in my own life. Will is trying so hard to learn how to be "God's man." And Dani thinks she has a solid relationship with the Lord, until she begins to realize that there are some areas of her life she has not really trusted Him with.

Susan does a wonderful job weaving spiritual truths into a suspenseful storyline.

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Book two in the Team Hope series by Susan May Warren, the name to watch in romantic suspense. In Escape to Morning, Homeland Security Agent Will Masterson crosses paths with Search and Rescue worker Dannette Lundeen. Will is working undercover to find and neutralize a terrorist organization threatening U.S. security. Dannette is searching for a missing girl, who turns out to be the key to the terrorists. As Will and Dannette put their lives on the line, they find their hearts drawn to one another. Only as they trust God and each other can they find a way to escape to morning.

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One Sunday Morning: A Novel [Paperback] Review

If Edith Wharton were alive and writing now, who would she be? Dominick Dunne is the first novelist who comes to mind, especially his first few novels. But Dunne's books are, more often than not, jump-started by a crime; for Wharton, a social gaffe was sufficient to fuel a plot. And Wharton's books were rich in subplots and subtext.

You could, I think, make the case that Amy Ephron is our Wharton. This seems, on the surface, improbable. Ephron lives in Los Angeles, where roots do not run deep and Society goes back only a handful of generations. She has worked --- gasp --- in the movie business, where people with a provenance rarely venture. And she writes novels that are painfully short: ONE SUNDAY MORNING runs to 214 pages only because the book is small and the margins are vast.

What Ephron shares with Wharton: Her books are not so much written as carved. Every word counts. And, like Wharton, every word is about the story --- there are no digressions, no riding of an authorial hobbyhorse. And, like Wharton, Ephron is concerned how a small event can be inflated into a large one.

In ONE SUNDAY MORNING, the event is a view from the window of a Gramercy Park townhouse: young Lizzie Carswell leaving a hotel in broad daylight with Billy Holmes, a man engaged to one of her friends. Lizzie's mother had to go abroad because of a scandal; have mom's degenerate genes been passed on? And what will Clara Hart, Billy's intended, do when she hears the news (as she most assuredly will)?

Wharton material, to be sure. But there's a tension here you wouldn't find in a Wharton novel --- the story is set in 1927, and so, very much bubbling under the Society plot, is the reckless mood of that era. Alcohol. Drugs. Homosexuality. These add a Fitzgeraldian spice to the strict moral tale that is Ephron's legacy from Wharton. And, just in case you're nostalgic for Somerset Maugham, there's a man just back from very interesting travels in Asia. Maybe he's a lost soul. Maybe he's a potential suitor.

This isn't to say that Amy Ephron has cherrypicked her influences (though if she did, she couldn't have done better). You read this book for itself, and for the precise portraits she draws. Sample: "Clara was nursing a gin and tonic. She had a Piaget watch on her right wrist that Billy had picked up for her at an antique store. It had a simple black band and a plain gold rim around its face so the numbers themselves were the set-piece, distinctly Piaget. Billy's linen suit was appropriately wrinkled. It occurred to Mary that they fit into Paris in a way that she never would."

Mary will, of course, get a big surprise. So will the other characters. It turns out that quite a lot can happen in 214 pages --- that is, when the writer is a master storyteller like Amy Ephron.

--- Reviewed by Jesse Kornbluth

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Morning, Come Quickly (Paperback) Review

Dr. Wanda Karriker, author of Morning Come Quickly, has written a superb book addressing the very serious issue or organized and sadistic abuse against children.This fast moving page-turner is written in fiction, making it palpable for all audiences.Dr. Karriker transports the reader into the very darkest side of human behavior: ritual abuse and mind control of children.As the secret lives of the main characters unfold, the reader feels the heightened emotion of every frightening moment.
Only a few professionals, those who have witnessed the devastation to victims who often spend their entire lives in recovery - know the reality of these crimes.That is not because it is not real.Victims across the country and around the world are telling their stories of suffering at the hands of organized groups.
Morning Come Quickly educates on many levels.It should be enlightening for professionals in the mental health fields, law enforcement, attorneys, teachers, child advocates, and anyone who is concerned with the health, welfare and safety of children.
It is riveting as the reader is catapulted into another world, it is brilliantly researched with extensive documentation.
The truth will set you free and the truth explodes in this superlative tome, a wonderful validation to all survivors of unspeakable crimes.

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Product Description:
A love story. A spiritual journey. A psychological thriller. Triggered by clients' stories of extreme trauma, a therapist recovers memories of abuse by pillars of her Bible Belt community. For ten years, she drags her husband along with her as she investigates a world of murder, satanic ritual abuse, child pornography and horrific government-sponsored mind control experiments on children. During their journey, the couple learn that they had been much more than childhood sweethearts.

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Secrets of the Morning (Cutler Family) [Mass Market Paperback] Review

While I read the first book, Dawn, cover to cover, I only skimmed this one and was glad I did.While it covers most of the topics one can expect in a sequel, Dawn should have used her head and avoided a disaster.

Dawn's scheming grandmother has decided to wash her hands of this aweful, dirty little secret she tried to hide by sending her away to an exclusive school for dramatic arts in New York.As it turned out (sorry to reveil things from the first book if no one has read that), Dawn's mother, the twitering bird in a golden cage, had an affair with an entertainer and became pregnant.Fearing the stigma of an illegitimate heir to the family fortune, like in some gothic novel (which this just happens to be), baby Dawn was given away to be raised by another family as theirs.But, as some twist of fate, the illegitimate heir to the throne has resurfaced and now she wants her out of there again.So, off Dawn goes to New York under the false pretense of artistic talent.

Here Dawn meets some handsome Broadway star (who isn't gay! Talk about fiction!) and, quite typically, becomes engrossed, allows herself to be taken advantage of, is abandoned and left carrying her own illegitimate child.Apples don't fall far from the tree, as it seems.It was a disapointment, the story wasn't half as juicy as the first in this series.Of course, this is fiction, and in the real world we would hope that someone can have at least a 50/50 chance of pulling themselves up out of the gutter and not repeating the mistakes their parents made.Had she done the smart thing and not let herself be taken advantage of, there wouldn't be a story.

It has enough dirt to make readers want to read the next in the series, but this reader had already outgrown it and decided not to continue.

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Shadowed by her tortured past, Dawn has a bright new life of glimmering hopes...
Dawn can hardly believe she's a student at one of New York City's best music schools. Now her most precious wish, to become a singer, can come true. But Dawn still dreams about Jimmy, her strong, intense boyfriend, and the love and anguished secrets they share.
Then Michael Sutton arrives, a new teacher at the school, a singing star and the most wonderful looking man Dawn has ever seen. Together they create a world of feeling Dawn has never known. In his embrace Dawn awakens to disturbing, unfamiliar desires, and Michael's promises offer a vision of music and romance forever...until he disappears.
Dazed by his cruelty, alone with the bitter fruit of his betrayal, Dawn becomes, once again, a victim of her grandmothers twisted schemes. Desolate, she clings to the tender hope that Jimmy will return and renew with her their deepest hearts' dream...

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