Gone by Mo Hayder

Gone by Mo Hayder
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Children are being taken but not just taken, they were being car jacked. There are two little girls missing and all police are searching. Flea is a sergeant in charge of the outdoors rock climbing etc. She has a hunch about an abandoned shaft, very difficult to access. She takes it upon herself to go into the shaft herself to find them. She becomes trapped and the man who comes to help her is not what he seems.

A very good Jack Caffrey mystery/crime.

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90 Miles To Freedom by K. C. Hilton

90 Miles to Freedom by K.C. Hilton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Collin is the oldest son and has his own fishing boat.
On the day of his younger brother's graduation, his
parents started his car and it exploded. One year later
Collin has dropped out of life and his fiance' decided
to break it off.

We then hear what his real business was and the danger
involved in his chosen quest of helping Cubans escape from
their home country.

Very good informative story.

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Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Louisa has lost her job of several years. After a few attempts at various jobs, she is hired to be a companion to a man who is a quadraplegic. This is not exactly her area of expertise, but she throws herself into the project of trying to make his life a bit happier.

There are some twists in this story that are very heartbreaking and plus a moral issue that is hard to read about. It is a love story that you will remember for a long time and also a reminder to try to live every day to its fullest.

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Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole

Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A book of letters, wonderful! in 1912, a poet, Elsbeth Dunne who lives in Isle of Skye receives a letter from an American fellow complimenting her on the books of poems that she has written. This is the beginning of several years of letter writing where they become good friends and eventually, lovers.

I guess I am a sentimentalist at heart after all because I really was crying at the end. I listened to this in audio version and with all the accents and the performances were just wonderful. I admit that it might sound much different if just reading the written word.

Reading personal letters brings you much closer to the characters than any first, second or third person writing can do, in my opinion, or at least in this book. I can't imagine how it could have been written otherwise.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and a love story was a lovely change of pace for my reading.

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The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a great beginning to a series. It has all the elements that I love; set in London; a detective and an over eager accidental assistant. Just give them a mystery and they will solve it.

Cormoran Strike is ex army, was in Afghanistan and has left there because he was in an accident where he lost a leg. He is also the illegitimate son of a rocker and a groupy mother. He has only met his father rocker twice in his life.

Cormoran is down to the last of his money and his fiance' has broken it off and he is living in his dumpy office. A new temp girl arrives (who he doesn't want and can't afford) but has a contract with the agency so really has no choice. Add to that the fact that he doesn't have any cases at the moment and the whole thing seems weird and unnecessary.

Soon a call comes from John Bristoe, the brother of a schoolmate who had died when they were young and Cormoran is hired to investigate the death of his sister.

A very satisfying read and I am looking forward to the next installment of this series.

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A Tap On The Window by Linwood Barclay

A Tap on the Window by Linwood Barclay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very good mystery that kept unfolding in ever more strange ways. Cal Weaver is a private detective whose teenaged son either fell or jumped from a building while under the influence of drugs and died two months earlier. This prompted Cal to investigate everyone who had been in contact with his son and basically trying to find out out sold him the drugs that caused him to do this.

The story opens on a rainy night with Cal being asked for a ride by a teenaged girl. He feels uncomfortable about picking her up, but when she says that she knew his son he feels compelled to drive her home.

This is the beginning of a downward, very dark spiral, quite a surprise for a Linwood Barclay book.

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Excursion to Tindari by Andrea Camilleri

Excursion to Tindari by Andrea Camilleri
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was basically an enjoyable little "who done it". However, I felt it was convoluted to the point of tedium at times. The inspector would suddenly know answers that he could not possibly know.

A young fellow is shot and killed in front of his apartment building, and an elderly couple, who are also residents of the building, have taken a day trip. Their son becomes worried when they don't return.

There are interesting twists, but I found it quite unbelievable that the police would follow this trail without a lot of difficulties.



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The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was an amazing story which held me captive for several days. It ticked all the boxes for me in a novel and at the same time I learned many things about South Africa.

A young boy, five years old, is sent to a boarding school for a year because his family was having difficulties and were moving to a far location. This stay in the boarding school where he was the youngest boy, was the most terrible time in his life, but it also taught him many lessons. You become thoroughly immersed in Peekay's life from that point on. Not the least of which is his determination to become the welterweight boxing champion of the world.

An excellent book. It is hard to believe that this was Mr. Courtenay's first novel. What a birth!



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Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer

Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was an enjoyable read from the time of "prim and proper". From when ladies, if they didn't have money of their own, really had to find a husband with wealth. Love, or falling in love, was secondary.

Deborah is lucky that her aunt has taken her in. Unfortunately, her aunt, though titled, is widowed and very heavily mortgaged. She has found that gaming in her house can be the means to supporting herself and her niece.

The plot thickens. Very nicely done.



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Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford

Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Willow Frost has lost her father and brothers. Her mother is ill and is forced to take a husband, but in the end she dies anyway. Willow is abused by her step father.

This is a great story. Jamie Ford is becoming a favourite author of mine. He certainly understands the female and their difficulties. This tale of the Spanish flu, the depression and unwed motherhood is the best I have read.



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Steven Truscott Decades of Injustice by Nate Hendley

Steven Truscott Decades of Injustice by Nate Hendley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am so happy to have the chance to read this book. Its a case that every Canadian over a certain age knows about and lived through. Nate Hendley has put it into a timeline that is easy to follow and explains what actually happened back in 1959.

Steven Truscott was convicted of killing twelve year old Lynne Harper on June 9, 1959 in Clinton Ontario. He was only fourteen at the time, living on a forces base with his family.

This is a very heartbreaking story. Steven himself always carried himself with dignity no matter what was happening to him. It took many years and many fights to right this wrong.

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Sycamore Row by John Grisham

Sycamore Row by John Grisham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Seth Hubbard has lung cancer and not long to live so at the last minute he writes a new will and then commits suicide. In the new will he leaves the bulk of his estate of 24 million to his maid, Lettie and cut out his own two children and grandchildren.

The children contest the will and that is where the story begins. It becomes a complicated, intriguing trial by jury.

John Grisham can make you sit in a chair until you have finished reading the book. There are lots of twists and turns in the plot and many lawyers, but not so many that you lose track.

A terrific read.

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The Burning Girl by Mark Billingham

The Burning Girl by Mark Billingham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This story is set in London, gangland members and Turkish people smugglers
clash. The burning girl was a young girl targeted by a rival gang many years previously, however, the wrong girl was hit and set afire.

Usually I like these London/England set crime novels, but this one was just a bit too "much" and in the end just became silly; that is if you can call
lots of murders and dead bodies silly.

I will read more from this author though as I do like the setting.

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The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is my first Liane Moriarty book and it won't be my last. She has a lovely, natural writing style. You slot yourself right into the story in a way that makes you feel like you are right there. This is a gift of the author.

The story itself is seemingly not complicated, until you take it as a whole. One unguarded act can affect so many people, for their whole lives.

Rachel lost her daughter, Janie, years before. The whole world has continued to live their lives, except Rachel. She needs to know why her girl died; who killed her; what happened.

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Hanging Hill by Mo Hayder

Hanging Hill by Mo Hayder
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Mo Hayder can pack a whollop with her dark characters, dark plots and just downright darkness.

In this book, a teenaged girl is brutally murdered and Zoe is on the trail.

Some say that it isn't as good as some of her other books, but I think Ms. Hayder did a very good job on this plot considering they were just ordinary people in ordinary times.



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Templar Legacy by Steve Berry

Templar Legacy by Steve Berry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A very good historical fiction novel. The story involves Cotton Malone and his former boss, Stephanie. Cotton operates a used book store in Denmark while Stephanie still works in the US.

She was sent her late husband's journal and this sets off a whole world of repercussions. Her husband has been dead for about ten years and her son also was lost in an avalanche a few years previously.

She went to Europe to tie up loose ends and find out why she was sent the journal.

Much information regarding monks, cathedrals, churches and popes in France.

A very satisfying read.

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The Forsaken Inn by Anna Katharine Green

The Forsaken Inn by Anna Katharine Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Anna Katharine Green was considered the "Mother of Historical Mystery", a John Grisham of her time and then some.

This was my first reading of her works and I loved it. She has all the elements required for a good mystery. A wonderful imaginative novel. A creepy Inn holds a secret passage that even the owner doesn't know about.

One night a newly wed couple comes to the stay the night. He is lugging a heavy box which he says is books.

Sixteen years later, another man, Mr. Tamworth, visits the Inn and tells the owner quite a tale.

Great works by this author and I will be reading more from her list.

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One False Move by Harlan Coben

One False Move by Harlan Coben
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Brenda Slaughter is a smart basketball star and medical student. Twenty years before her mother disappeared and she was raised by her father alone.

Now there is a mystery. Her father is missing and something seems very wrong.

Myron Bolitar is not a private investigator nor a body guard, but she has hired him to help her unravel the mystery.

A terrific tale, another Coben winner.

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Camouflage by Bill Pronzini

Camouflage by Bill Pronzini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Camouflage hits the right buttons. Nameless, supposedly semi-retired but still working four or five days a week, has two cases at the moment. Camouflage hits everything right on the button. The dual plots are wonderfully paced with just enough information and nothing more.

Pronzini strikes a perfect balance and catches the horror of violence. Each character in the book is believable.

I loved "discovering" this "new to me" author. He has a lot of clout:

Mystery Writers of America Awards "Grand Master" 2008
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1999) for Boobytrap
Edgar Awards Best Novel nominee (1998) for A Wasteland of Strangers
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) for Sentinels
Shamus Awards "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) 1987
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1982) for Hoodwink


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Six Metres of Pavement by Farzana Doctor

Six Metres of Pavement by Farzana Doctor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ismail has to live with the most terrible mistake that he made twenty years ago of leaving his baby in the hot car and her losing her life.

For twenty years he works, drinks, renovates his house but basically is alone. His wife left him a year after the baby died and people shun him. It is the type of mistake that can never be righted.

This was an amazing story that played out extremely well. It was a very brave story for Ms. Farzana Doctor to tackle. The message, if there is one, is that sometimes we just have to continue living.......somehow.

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Three Junes by Julia Glass

Three Junes by Julia Glass
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was a very pleasant surprise. It takes place in Scotland, Greece and the US. The story begins with Paul McLeod, a recent widower, touring Greece. Here he reflects on his marriage. They owned property in Scotland where his wife bred border collie dogs.

Six years later his sons are brought together when Paul himself dies and here the story of the boys, Fenno the eldest and Dennis and David, the twins begins.

A wide ranging family story/saga. You can't help becoming attached to each character and their personal challenges. Excellent!





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Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a very well written mystery involving a married couple. A woman, Amy, goes missing; a struggle scene in the house; remains of blood in the kitchen; all point toward the husband, Nick, being a murderer/abductor. The writing switches between the two seamlessly throughout the book and I loved this type of writing.

I did like the story, it was ingenious and very well thought out. I felt that it was very draggy for the first 50% of the book and otherwise I would have given it a three star rating.


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A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an amazing story. It certainly may not be for everyone, but it is packed with vibrancy and the sights and smells of India. I have also read Family Matters by this same author and loved it. If you like to learn how people of other countries live, here are the books for you.

It revolves around a main family of a lower caste of tanners and leather workers. They try to rise out of their "caste" and two young sons are sent to the city to apprentice as tailors.

Lots of twists and turns, too many to include in a little review.

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And The Mountains Echoed by Khalad Hosseini

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love this book and writing on so many levels. A basically simple story. A young boy takes care of his baby sister until the father sells her to a rich woman. This woman takes the girl, Pari, to France where she grows up basically unaware of her beginnings.

I love the writing in this book and especially the way that each new character is introduced. The new character becomes the protagonist and we have a history of their lives. To the point that when a person is mentioned, you know them and what their lives have been.

Some people are saying that the book does not have a plot, but I believe it does because it starts and ends with Pari and Abdullah, the brother and sister. It shows how one drop in the ocean can spiral into so many different lives.

Beautiful from beginning to end.




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Caught by Harlan Coben

Caught by Harlan Coben
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Harlan Coben comes out with a new book, I am just so "there". He never fails to pack a punch. In this one a 17 year old girl, Haley McWaid goes missing sending her family on a "parents' worst nightmare".

Wendy Tynes has a television show called "Caught In The Act" where she carries out live, set up "stings".

A great read.

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The Last Resort by Linwood Barclay

The Last Resort by Linwood Barclay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Linwood Barclay unselfishly shares the stories of his childhood at Green Acres Resort, near Bobcaygeon Ontario. A wonderful book and one of my all time favourite memoirs.

His family bought the resort when he was quite young and moved from Toronto to the country where he went to school by bus and had wonderful summers. Not without some sadness, but a very motivating book.

Highly recommended. This book turned me into a Linwood Barclay fan, and started me devouring everything he has written.

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The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My rating was based on the beautiful writing and the author's wonderfully warm voice as I listened to this fable on my ipod. It is not my usual genre', but I try to leave my box occasionally. I just really didn't get into the actual story properly, but that doesn't mean that I think the book isn't worth high marks.

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Alone On A Wide Wide Sea by Michael Morpurgo

Alone On A Wide Wide Sea by Michael Morpurgo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have never had a disappointment with any Michael Morpurgo books and this was no exception. A wonderful story, contains all the elements of a fantastic read.

A boy is separated from his family in wartime and shipped off to Australia where he endures the unthinkable.

Highly recommended book.

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Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a bit of a heart break story. Three children growing up in northern Ontario have an extremely life altering experience when their parents go to shop and are killed in an accident. The eldest boy, who has been planning on going to teacher's college, decided to drop his plans and finish raising his brother and sister.

An excellent read, thoroughly enjoyable. I will be reading more of this author's works.



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Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a bit of a heart break story. Three children growing up in northern Ontario have an extremely life altering experience when their parents go to shop and are killed in an accident. The eldest boy, who has been planning on going to teacher's college, decided to drop his plans and finish raising his brother and sister.

An excellent read, thoroughly enjoyable. I will be reading more of this author's works.



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Butchers Hill by Laura Lippman

Butchers Hill by Laura Lippman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tess Monaghan, a young private detective finds herself with two important jobs. One, to locate a child that had been given up for adoption and secondly, to discover the true murderer of a teenaged boy that an older Luther Beal had been found guilty of.

I nicely paced, interesting story.

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The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The book was well written and my low rating is not based on that, but on interest. I found it was an almost whole book of chasing and small hallways and passages. The ultimate end was very disappointing. The book kept promising something that it never really delivered. It was nothing at all like his first two books, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

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The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion


Don Tillman, a professor of genetics, is extremely awkward socially. He has never got past a first date.

He starts a project to find the perfect partner listing all the must and must not. Must not be a smoker, drinker or barmaid. Must be punctual, etc.

He meets Rosie who is on a different quest; to find her biological father and who better than an expert in DNA.

A thoroughly enjoyable, feel good read.



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The World According To Bob by James Bowen

The World According to Bob: The further adventures of one man and his street-wise cat by James Bowen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A wonderfully inspiring memoir, continued from his first book "A Street Cat Named Bob".

The story of a man and his cat, living on the streets, and how having a pet helped him change his life.

These books are too good to miss. Written so completely honestly that you are carried away into James' street life in London and his day to day existence.

It gives insight into the homeless and vulnerable among us. Something we all need to see and face.

Excellent!



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A Cold And Lonely Place by Sara J. Henry

A Cold and Lonely Place by Sara J Henry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The setting is Lake Placid. A freelance writer is taking pictures of a winter carnival ice palace. The ice machine stops and they see a body frozen in the ice.

The writer, Troy Chance is given an assignment to look into the life of the dead man, who was from a rich family in Connecticut.

An interesting read with good characters.



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A Drink Before The War by Dennis Lahane

A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Patrick and Angie are PI's hired to find Jenna, a cleaning lady who appears to have stolen some important documents and then disappeared. These documents turn out to be very sensitive photos involving politicians and involving her husband, a very bad hoodlum and her son, Roland.

This was the first Kenzie and Gennaro book in the series, but I have read others and thoroughly enjoyed them.

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The Sense Of An Ending by Julian Barnes

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A middle aged man, Tony Webster, is in the will of his first girlfriend's mother who has left him 500 pounds and a diary of a friend, Adrian, who had committed suicide years before. This starts him on a quest to discover why she did this and gets his memory working.

The story takes us back to when there were four boys, friends, in school. Later, when Tony's first girlfriend, Veronica, starts going out with Adrian, one of the boy's friends, he writes the most horrible letter imaginable to Adrian.

This story was short, but so thought provoking that it makes you remember your own mistakes and how we try to "remember them differently" so that we might not seem so bad.

When Tony meets Veronica to try to get the diary, he feels that she is acting very strangely, as do I. Her words to him are "you don't get it, you never got it."

I felt bad for Tony because it seemed that he was way over his head as far as his egghead friends were concerned. He was just a guy; did guy things when he was young and made mistakes just like we all do. But his bad letter writing mistake in his youth seemed to have consequences.

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Dead Anyway by Chris Knopf

Dead Anyway by Chris Knopf
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

You are a married fellow, working from home and your wife owns her own insurance agency. One day you come in to find your wife with a man who has a gun pointed at her. He asks her to verify something on a piece of paper and then he shoots her in the head and you too. You are found before you could die and months of hospitalization and treatments get you almost back to yourself.

You are a market research person and very good at your job, so you start an involved and very intelligent search to find who and why your wife was murdered.

A thoroughly enjoyable story.

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Water For Elephant by Sara Gruen

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Very realistic account of the circus life in the early 1900's.

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Good To A Fault by Marina Endicott

Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Good story about a woman whose life changes one morning on her way to work as she becomes involved in a car accident. Some surprises in the book.

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Dewey The Library Cat by Vicki Myron

Dewey the Library Cat: A True Story by Vicki Myron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very nice story about finding a kitten in the library.

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The Art Of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book; written by the dog named Enzo. Very well done.

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The Story Of A Widow by Musharraf Ali Farooqi

The Story of a Widow by Musharraf Ali Farooqi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was good and gave insight into living in an Asian country can be like for a woman and a widow.

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I Know This Much To Be True by Wally Lamb

I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very good book with a lot of insight into families with member/s with mental problems. It is long but worth the read.

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The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was a hard book to read. It was weirdly unbelievable IMO.

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The Sea Captain's Wife by Beth Powning

The Sea Captain's Wife by Beth Powning
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved this adventurous book about a wife that takes her family and goes to sea with her captain husband.

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The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb

The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A little too predictable but ok for an afternoon quick read.

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The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1) by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An excellent read contains mystery, murder, intrigue, love...everything you want in a book.

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Breaking Out Of Bedlam by Leslie Larson

Breaking Out of Bedlam by Leslie Larson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An interesting short read about a woman in a nursing home.

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One For The Money (Stephanie Plum #1) by Janet Evanovich

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Very nice little read. It has humour and you can relax and enjoy the story.

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