Live To Tell

Live to Tell: A Detective D.D. Warren Novel

by: Lisa Gardner



Finished: May 22, 2010
5 stars

Live To Tell is a book I could NOT put down. Hook, line and sinker from the moment I read the prologue - I needed to keep reading. This is a book with several twists and turns. Just when you think you know who did it, another twist. Another clue pops up that makes you rethink, wonder, and try to figure out who really did it!

Gardner is a talented author who clearly knows her audience. She keeps your hooked, she adds twists, the characters draw you in and you want to see what happens.

Detective D.D. Warren is a dedicated Boston detective and has been for 12 years. She works hard. Does her job well. And is the kind of woman who you know, in the end, will always get her man so to speak. However, for all her success in her career, her personal life is lacking. This is starting to bug her - and in fact the book opens with her finally on a date, only to get interrupted to report to a crime scene. At first glance, it looks as if a father has decided to murder his entire family and then commits suicide himself. However, a few days later an eerily similar crime takes place and what once looked like an open and shut case is no longer.

Danielle is a pediatric psych nurse. As a child, she was the lone survivor of her father's killing spree - in which the rest of her family is murdered, he commits suicide and she is sparred. She struggles with why he left her, and yet at the same time, doesn't really face what happened that night. As the anniversary of her family's deaths approaches and the crimes mentioned above center around where she works - it is becoming increasingly harder for her to try avoid facing the past.

Victoria is the mother of 2 children. Her oldest son Evan, who is 8 years old, suffers from some very severe mental illness. He goes from being a very sweet a loving child who enjoys watching the History channel to a very violent child - and tells his mom multiple times he wants to kill her.Victoria's husband has left (with their younger daughter) because he doesn't feel they are safe in the house with Evan. Victoria is a mom who is just trying to do the best for her son that she can. She clearly feels his issues must be because of something she did and it's almost like self-punishment for her to try to deal with him alone. She doesn't get much sleep - Evan doesn't sleep much. She has to lock up knives and other items that Evan could use to hurt her or himself.

As these key player's lives become intertwined and meshed together, it's hard to put the book down. My heart broke for all the suffering that takes place in the book. I won't lie - this book is not all sunshine and roses. It's most storms and thorns. And yet, it's hard to walk away, it's hard to stop reading. The characters become friends. I felt concern for them and needed to see how it all ends.

I highly recommend this book. I will definitely be looking for more D.D. Warren books and reading Gardner in the future.


*Please note, I was given this book to review from LibraryThing through their LibraryThing Early Reviewers (LTER) program, which has absolutely nothing to do at all with this blog.

Kiss the Girls

Kiss the Girls
by James Patterson

Finished June 9, 2010
4 Stars

Another winner from Patterson. I've read a few Alex Cross novels already, but wanted to go back to the beginning. Sadly, the first novel (Along Came a Spider) has been hard to get at the library, so I just skipped to this one! But I do have plans to eventually get my hands on that book!

In Kiss the Girls, Detective Alex Cross travels to North Carolina when he hears his niece Scootchie - a bright college student whom he shares a close relationship with - has gone missing. When Cross gets there, he has a hard time getting information, but soon finds out the local police believe that she has been kidnapped by a serial killer in the area Casanova.

Cross is desperate to help, but is getting the cold shoulder from the local police. Thankfully a contact from the FBI allows him to work the case. Through the investigation, it is revealed that Casanova has ties to a serial killer working in California known as The Gentleman Caller.

Cross races to figure out the link and find his niece and get her to safety. I think Cross is an amazing character and I love how his mind works - both when working and in his personal life. For me it was a quick read because I just couldn't put it down! 

I have not seen the movie, but I think it will be interesting to watch and compare the two - I've got it on my netflix queue - just not sure when I'll bump it to the top LOL! =)

Step on a Crack

Step on a Crack
by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Finished May 26
4 stars

Now I've been told to read Patterson many, many times - I didn't pick up my first Patterson book until the start of this year. I've since read several more and, let me just tell you - I see many Patterson books coming up in my future. I am hooked and in love.

Yes, they are semi-predictable (although some things did surprise me!). But seriously, I LOVED this book! I was so hooked on the story and just couldn't put the book down until I got to the end. I NEEDED to see how it all worked out. And I just fell completely in love with the Bennet Family.

Detective Michael Bennett is married to an angel, an adoptive father to ten kids, and a part of the NYPD. It is near Christmas - Bennett's wife is dying from cancer. Bennett is very focused on this and even though the rest of the country is mourning the death of the former first lady, Bennett is quite wrapped in his own family drama. That is until during the former's first ladies funeral is seized by some very (in my opinion) crazy men. They let most of the people attending the funeral go and hold on to only the most famous and important.

Bennett is called in as a hostage negotiator - and must help the NYPD through all of this. At the same time, he needs to juggle his 10 children, deal with the realization that his wife will soon be passing on, and somehow get through Christmas.

And through intertwining both these stories Patterson and Ledwidge do something not many people can pull off - an action, page turning, thrilling novel mixed with a heart-breaking, tear-jerking, heart-warming story! I wanted to simultaneously go and kick the bad guy's teeth in, while fighting tears for the family drama going on. I am hooked. And in love with Michael Bennett and his family. I will definitely be picking up more books that feature Bennett in the future!

The Handmaiden's Tale

The Handmaiden's Tale
by Margaret Atwood

Finished May 23, 2010
4 Stars

Wow. Well, let me start this by saying this book made me think. And I'm still thinking about it. I can't believe I didn't read it sooner in life. It's a book that could be set in the future, and yet, feels like it's in the past. As if the vision of progress for some is to go back in time 100 years.

The book takes place - well, I'm not quite sure when it takes place. During the end of the 20th century or early 21st century. The United States is no longer - it is now the Republic of Gilead. The far religious right has taken over - and along with that many rules are now in place. And fear is how everyone is kept in place. Hangings are televised, bodies are left up for several days to serve as reminders, punishment is severe, swift and my guess often given to the wrong person. Birthrates are dropping and many babies are born with problems - so birthing perfect babies is a very prized thing in this new society.

Women, who have put back in their "right" place are now subjected to extreme rules. They can no longer read. Money is obsolete - instead they are given coins with pictures on them (a coin with eggs is for eggs, bread picture is one to buy bread with, etc). The stores are also identified by pictures - as if even that much reading would be too taxing on poor women. There is clearly a caste system - where you fall in it can be identified by the clothes you wear. The higher you rise, the more you are given.

Men are rewarded for doing good with, well, women and homes. If you are upper class, you are given a wife, a cook, a maid, and if needed a handmaiden. If you are lower class you are given econowives - who will also act as maid, cook, etc. Again, each women's role is clearly identified by her dress.

Offred is the main character - she is the handmaiden to Fred (hence her name "Of Fred") who is referred to as Commander through the story. A handmaiden's job  is simply to bear children for the family she is placed with. Once a month in a quite strange ceremony - designed to take all the love out of the act - the handmaiden, wife, and husband meet in the bedroom in an effort to make her pregnant. The pressure to get pregnant for the handmaiden's is very high. It seems her entire worth is wrapped up in whether she can manage to do this AND give birth to a healthy baby.

Offred's partner is Ofglen - the handmaiden's are not allowed to go into town alone, they must always travel in pairs. Offred learns through Ofglen there are people out there willing to help get the women out of these situations.

I admit at first the story is hard to get into. It has been written based on tapes found in the future that Offred recorded. It bumps along, not quite in order, with flashbacks, bits of info given on this page, and a little more a few pages later. There is not a lot of action in the story - and yet, it doesn't need to be. And eventually the story falls into place. The first few chapters were very confusing to me I admit. Some women are referred to as Aunts - it took me a few chapters to realize they were not in fact real aunts, but aunt is their title so to speak.

And yet, I couldn't put it down. I couldn't stop thinking. I couldn't stop thinking there are some out there today who probably think this book sounds like utopia! Not me though, this would be a nightmare to live in. And yet, today - in parts of the world, this is how women are treated. Historically, many women were treated this way. I can't imagine having to live like that - to not be able to read. To not be allowed to leave the house except to shop. To be at a man's beck and call. Yikes. This book has stayed with me in a powerful way. I wish I had read it much sooner in life!

On a related note - this book was made into a movie. I'm trying to get my hands on it so I can see how it translated into film! If I do watch, I promise to come back and write about it!! 

Knit in Comfort

Knit in Comfort by Isabel Sharp

Finished May 11, 2010
3 stars

*Please note, I was given this book to review from LibraryThing through their LibraryThing Early Reviewers (LTER) program, which has absolutely nothing to do at all with this blog.


Knit in Comfort was a quick, interesting read.

Elizabeth, a young women from New York, travels to Comfort, North Carolina based on a dream in which she thinks her grandma tells her too. There she meets Megan - a wife and mother from who she rents a room.
Elizabeth views Megan's life as perfect and wonderful and the dream life she wants. However, Elizabeth doesn't realize that Megan, like everyone, is not in fact living a fairy tale and that looks can be deceiving.
But what brings them together - along with some other women in town - is knitting. And through knitting, they are able to work through some of the issues they are facing.
While learning about Megan and Elizabeth and the women in Comfort, Sharpe also draws us in with the story of Gillian and Fiona, which takes place in the early 1900's on the Shetland Island. Fiona is a relative of Megan's and so we learn part of Megan's family's history as we learn about Megan.

As a knitter I was quite drawn to the talk of knitting - and the mention of the gorgeous lace knitting that Megan (and her family) does. I'm not sure what drew me in more - thinking about the beautiful lace knitting they referred to or the story honestly. I wished more than once this was a picture book or a movie or something similar. I'm positive the description of the lace knitting just didn't do it justice at all!

Also, as an aside, she mentions working on acre lace several times and for the life of me, I can't figure out what it is, so if you know, please please tell me LOL!