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


View all my reviews

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.

View all my reviews

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!





View all my reviews

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.


View all my reviews

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.

View all my reviews

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.




View all my reviews

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.

View all my reviews

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.

View all my reviews

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.

View all my reviews

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.

View all my reviews

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.



View all my reviews

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.



View all my reviews

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.

View all my reviews

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.

View all my reviews

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.



View all my reviews

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!



View all my reviews