Sunday, May 13, 2012

Rapture in Death by J.D. Robb

Would it surprise you to learn that J.D. Robb is actually Nora Roberts? No, I thought not. Fans of both know who the author really is. How can they help but find out when they go to the library for their Nora Roberts fix?  

While she uses distinct styles for each name, it’s easy to spot the genius that is Nora Roberts--and true fans know that. Just as Eve Dallas knows how to track down her killer, so does J.D. Robb know how to weave a story that rocks. 

A futuristic thriller, Rapture in Death, pits the beautiful-yet-brooding, heroic cop, Eve Dallas, against a beautiful and charming sociopath out to use everyone and everything for her own, fiendish benefit. Dallas’s blunt approach to life, in the mansion and the station house, is a fresh change from the “Nick and Nora” type of setting. 

Her cast of characters are charming and off-beat, but be warned: you’ll want to cuddle them like teddy bears. Delia Peabody, Eve’s sidekick, is an intelligent cop mentored by the brilliant Ms. Dallas. But the dynamic is reversed when Ms. Dallas plays straight-man for the witty Ms. Peabody. When the day is done, poor Eve goes home to her mansion and gorgeous, sexy, and seriously-rich husband, Rourke. And ladies, Rourke has an Irish accent that melts butter, a past that is way past choirboy, and a love for Eve so deep, it tugs the heart. 

Pick up a J.D. Robb book. You’ll be glad you did. Better yet, pick up the book on CD and let reader, Susan Ericksen, lull you into a fantasy with her sharp portrayal of these rich characters.

Character Counts by Sharon Sherman

Developing the right characters can make all the difference in the success of a novel.  What do you remember from a favorite novel? The plot? The place? Or the characters? In the plot summary on the back cover, what is mentioned first and foremost? What do you want to see when you read a sequel?
  
For me, it’s the crazy characters. The mysterious Ranger or hot Joe Marino. And maybe Grandma Mazur with her less-than-normal view of life. I really like Lulu - an ex-prostitute attached to Stephanie Plum on one side, and two buckets of chicken on the other. Nothing is normal about Janet Evanovich’s characters, including Bob, Steph’s bulimic dog. While her characters are wild and crazy, there’s an implied goodness about all of them. We feel safe with them, no matter how questionable their past. We want to pack our bags and follow her characters around, just for the excitement.
 
 Not all characters are as fun-loving as Evanovich’s. Some characters we love to hate. Look at the popularity of daytime soaps. So popular were they, they added soaps to prime-time fare. Dallas was one of the first with an extensive thirteen season run, thanks in-part to its greedy, scheming J.R. Ewing. If you want bizarre  characters, look at Dark Shadows, returning with the all-time character actor, Johnny Depp.
  
Then there is the character we would love to be: the beautiful and intelligent Elizabeth Bennet or the unusually deep Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, who would keep us on the edge of our seats with their banter and thoughtful emotions.

    While a weak plot cannot overcome all the beauty or cleverness in the world, dull characters can keep you from discovering how clever the plot really is.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Love in a Nutshell by Janet Evonovich and Dorien Kelly

Mss. Evanovich and Kelly weave a delightful fantasy where-smart-girl-in-trouble meets man-of-her-dreams with attraction electrifying their encounters. Inevitably, things go awry. Through cunning and pure dumb luck, everything seems to work out in the end.

While Mss. Evanovich and Kelly have colorized the characters and developed an exciting relationship between the two main characters, Kate and Matt, it is the ending rather than the story that holds the reader's interest. Being a native Michigander, I appreciated references to one of my favorite cities, Cherry Capital of the United States, Traverse City. And the craft brew lessons were informative and, may I say, a bit crafty. 

If you expect fun-loving villains that have a surprising better side, you won't find them here. The villains do show up and they do have a redeeming side, but they are neither fun-loving, nor embarrassed by their better points, but rather hide the fact that they are not what they seem.

On its own, the story is cute and cuddly, and as my friend, Joyce, says, "It's great to have a bubble bath book to read every once in awhile.

But if you are expecting the Evanovich style where there are quirky one-liners to make you smile and flirty innuendos to make you drool, you just might be a bit disappointed.

Secret Keepers by Mindy Friddle

What is more alluring than a secret? Can you keep a secret?

Ms. Friddle entices her readers with a variety of secrets, new and old, real or imagined, disguised, and those we keep from ourselves. She insists you can’t keep a good secret down. Especially the scarlet flower, Secret Keeper.

Her tale of discovery starts with the accidental death of Emma Hanley’s husband and threads its way through the life of her sons, Will and Bobbie, and daughter, Dora, her grandson, Kyle, and friends near and dear.

Jake is a broken man trying to put the pieces back together with a landscaping business. The business becomes the vine threading its way through the life of the town, pulling them all together. Jake, with the help of his friend Gordon, plant beautiful and unusual plants that soon attract the attention of national media. But what price fame for the drifters who comprise his crew of Blooming Idiots?

Dora carries a secret that has turned her life to misery. In paying the price, she bequeaths this misery to her family. As she spins slowly downward, her eyes open to what is happening around her.

Emma has lived with her choices in a responsible way. But now, when she should be free to do what she wants, finds herself tied to another--a debilitated son who she loves dearly.

Kyle is trapped in his family’s misery. To escape, he concocts a plan to spend time at his grandmother Emma’s. In the company of his Uncle Bobby, his world opens up to confidence and healthy relationships.

Ms. Friddle's choice of words are powerful. Visiting her friend in a nursing home, Emma describes the encounter. “The sweet stench of aged humans slowly gummed to death in the maws of an institution.”  You understand many things about Emma in just this one line.

Refreshing and truly novel. How cool is that?

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Duma Key by Stephen King

A friend suggested I read this book. But he prepped me with the words, “He’s really grown in his work.”  Because of my friend’s remark, I was open to Mr. King’s writing as I had not been in the past.  I marveled at the skill he used to describe the aphasiac experience, being that I grew up with an aphasiac parent. Aphasia being that condition that generally results from a stroke, but in my father’s case, a shrapnel wound to the head in the Battle of the Bulge. I did not look for scary weirdness in the beginning and I sunk so deep into this book, I didn’t realize that the weirdness had already begun.

This first-person narrative from Edgar Freemantle tells the story of a man wounded in a crane accident. It explores the devastation wrought on family and friends, and shows the strength of will to overcome both mental and physical shortcomings. If you lost that connection between your mind and your speech, what would you do? If you had to start all over, how would you feel? If you realized great evil worked through you to get to your family, what would you give up?

Mr. King has long been known as a master storyteller in the science fiction/horror genre. He has gone a step further in this book with emotional and physical drama that bridges the fantasy life with realism at its darkest; a realism that many in our society face with the same emotional struggle.

This is a book worth reading to discover how Mr. King ‘pulls it out of his hat’ yet again.