Review: Camino Island

Camino Island by John Grisham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Back with my favourite author again and his new book. Not his usual crime/legal story, but a crime nevertheless.

A gang has broken into the Princeton Library in quite an ingenious way and made off with some of the original F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts. The loot was insured for 25 million dollars, but


Princeton wants the manuscripts returned and are not very concerned about the money.

Bruce Cable owns a bookstore on Camino Island and is also a dealer in rare books. I actually liked Bruce a lot and his lifestyle regarding books and his reading habits. Well, his personal life was a different story though.

The main concern is that the insurance company find the manuscripts and have them returned before the full amount is due to be paid out and they come up with some excellent ideas and schemes to locate the manuscripts.

For me this was an excellent read. It was not a loud, shoot em up or scary mystery, but a more genteel and quiet way to be immersed in the story.

View all my reviews

Review: The Other Side of Everything

The Other Side of Everything by Lauren Doyle Owens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Seven Springs Florida is just an ordinary community with some elderly residents that have been living here for decades, some newer people and a few abandoned homes from when people lost out during the crash of 2008.

Bernard White has been avoiding people for years since his wife died, but when a neighbour is murdered he realizes that he will have to come out of his shell, and especially after two more neighbours are murdered. The long-time residents realize that they are being targeted.

I found this book to be a page turned and it kept me up way past my bedtime to finish. Not many books do this. A very good read.

View all my reviews

Review: Cross Your Heart

Cross Your Heart by Kierney Scott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a great book. This is the second in the Jess Bishop series and it didn't disappoint.

Jess is still recovering from a very bad hand injury when her team is notified that a child with terminal cancer has been taken from her hospital bed. Jess has been researching other murders and notices the similarities.

A terrific story and just wondering if there will be more in this series.

View all my reviews

Review: The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can't give this less that five stars. It was a wonderfully written account of a slave, Cora, who along with another slave, Caesar, tries to escape captivity. She is the daughter of a slave who was the only one known to escape through the swamps. Cora was challenged at every turn with everything and anything that could be thrown at her including slavecatchers that you would not want to meet up with at any time.

On the one hand it was a fantastic read, but on the other hand it was hard to read about how badly human beings have treated others and are still doing this today.

Excellent read.



View all my reviews

Review: Dear Mrs. Bird

Dear Mrs. Bird by A.J. Pearce
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Emme lives with her best friend Bunty in London during WWII. She wants to become a war correspondent and lands a job with a magazine named Women's Friend. Unfortunately she finds herself working for the agony aunt and this was definitely not what she was hoping for.

Just a really lovely story with characters that you can really get attached to.



View all my reviews

Review: Mistaken Identity

Mistaken Identity by Lisa Scottoline
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A good story that could have been told in half the pages. Much too drawn out.

An inmate is a look alike to Benny, and practically identical. She tries to push herself off as her long lost twin sister and convincing Benny to defend her in a murder charge of killing a police officer.

There were a lot of very frustrating plots, not the least of which was why on earth not get a DNA test done immediately.

I love this author and this series, but this installment was a bit too convoluted for me.



View all my reviews

Review: Beartown

Beartown by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wonderful writing. The character development was excellent and by the end of the book I felt that I knew each character personally. It felt like a series of smaller stories involving each person in Beartown.

Beartown is a hockey town. Without hockey they had very little to look forward to. This town breathes hockey. It is a tiny community nestled in a forest and its getting smaller all the time. Their hopes are on winning the final game in the bigger town of Hed.

Even though it seems that the main theme is hockey, its actually about the people in the town and a brilliant study of human nature.

An excellent read.



View all my reviews

Review: The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master and the Trial that Shocked a Nation

The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master and the Trial that Shocked a Nation by Charlotte Gray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I want to give this book five stars for several reasons:

I am a history buff and love all history books.

I was raised in Toronto and know all the places mentioned in the book, my stomping grounds when a young person.

The story was even more important IMO because it brought out the idea that a woman could defend herself from sexual harassment even though the term had not been formed as yet.

The crime took place in Toronto by a maid, Carrie Davies during WWI. We are given excellent pictures of what it was like back then, how people lived and their expectations.

An excellent read.

View all my reviews