Haunted by Kay Hooper

September 2014

How do you make peace with the dead if the dead aren’t ready to forgive? In New York Times bestselling author Kay Hooper’s new novel, the answer lies in the twisting shadows of a small town, and its secrets yet unearthed...
When Deacon James’s younger sister Melanie calls him, terrified, he goes to her aid in the small Georgia town of Sociable. What he finds is a scared young woman in the grip of what she insists is a paranormal nightmare—and murder. Two local men have been killed under mysterious circumstances. And Melanie is the prime suspect.

Trinity Nichols left a high-stress job for quiet, small-town life. But news of the murders has left her—and the town—on edge, especially when there is nothing remotely ordinary about how the men died. And her investigation is yielding more than she bargained for, including a group of strangers who have descended on Sociable, some with abilities Trinity finds hard to believe, and agendas she refuses to trust. For some reason, they know a lot more than they should about what’s happening in town. And what’s happening is growing stranger by the minute.

Now Trinity, Deacon, and this odd band of FBI agents must work together to solve a series of disturbances so incredible that Trinity, and the town of Sociable, will be changed forever. She just isn’t certain who—or what—will be left standing when it’s all over.

I had trouble following all the identities and skills of the Special Crimes Unit (SCU). Despite providing a glossary of psychic skills and SCU biographies, Hooper's writing relies on her readers having read previous volumes of this series.  I quickly began to skim references to other members of the team and to past cases as I became lost, having not read this series before. As annoying as I have found regurgitating past events in other mystery series when I have already read previous volumes, I found myself longing for some comprehensible recap. Eventually, I gave up trying to understand who was who and treated the members of the SCU as a single character with fractured personalities in order to keep pace 
with the action. Perhaps it was because of this approach to the canon characters of the series that I was unable to connect with them. 

I found the members of The Group much more interesting and vivid. I would have liked to have known more about them through events in the book. Hooper relied too much on information dumps which undervalued their impact and this hurt the potential of the novel. A highlight was the presence of Braden, Trinity's oddly aware dog. This canine was not only used to move the story forward, he added a much needed way to connect emotionally with other characters. (As a fan of rescued animals, I applaud Hooper's use of a shelter dog as a main character and her passion for promoting their care and protection.)

It wasn't until halfway through the novel that the story really started for me. Before that point, key action sequences and story progression were trapped amidst a plethora of references to past cases, explanations of psychic skills and team members not otherwise present in this story. The effect was like being at someone else's high school reunion and being asked to participate in a conversation that mostly referenced events and people you have no knowledge of.  

The core story of this volume's mystery was a worthy story and one that I enjoyed for the most part. I can recommend Haunted to fans of the series and to new readers who are willing to sift through the extra data to experience Trinity's and The Group's encounter with a killer and paranormal events. I would be very interested in a Hooper novel centering on the town of Sociable and the members of The Group. 


I obtained a copy of this book from my local public library.

Haunted is #15 in the Bishop/Special Crimes Unit mystery series by Kay Hooper

 

 

November 2013      September 2012

Marie Antoinnette Serial Killer by Katie Alender

Colette Iselin is excited to go to Paris on a class trip. She’ll get to soak up the beauty and culture, and maybe even learn something about her family’s French roots.

But a series of gruesome murders are taking place across the city, putting everyone on edge. And as she tours museums and palaces, Colette keeps seeing a strange vision: a pale woman in a ball gown and powdered wig, who looks suspiciously like Marie Antoinette.

Colette knows her popular, status-obsessed friends won’t believe her, so she seeks out the help of a charming French boy. Together, they uncover a shocking secret involving a dark, hidden history. When Colette realizes she herself may hold the key to the mystery, her own life is suddenly in danger.
With a title like Marie Antoinnette Serial Killer there was a lot of potential for cheese in the story. Instead, what I found was a well-written and interesting, fun romp through Paris. I seem to be on a bit of a ghost story kick right now and this book fit in very nicely. Both a modern day and historical mystery, Marie Antoinnette Serial Killer was finished in one delightful sitting.  I enjoyed the development of the characters - nothing in their descriptions wasted. The history of the French Revolution was a major plot point and was described with a liveliness and personality not always found in history records. Alender takes the reader on an intimate tour of Paris where you can almost feel the textures of the stone walls and feel the breeze as you navigate the narrow streets.

This is another title taken from our Scholastic book fair and because of the title the subject matter and once again a mature sticker on the book there was some question as to whether or not it was appropriate for the intermediate students. I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that this book is captivating and well written and one that I can easily recommend to my students. 

Ruined by Paula Morris

Rebecca couldn't feel more out of place in New Orleans, where she comes to spend the year while her dad is traveling. She's staying in a creepy old house with her Aunt Claudia, who reads Tarot cards for a living. And at the snooty prep school, a pack of filthy-rich girls treat Rebecca like she's invisible. Only gorgeous, unavailable Anton Grey seems to give Rebecca the time of day, but she wonders if he's got a hidden agenda. Then one night, in Lafayette Cemetery, Rebecca makes a friend. Sweet, mysterious Lisette is eager to talk to Rebecca, and to show her the nooks and crannies of the city.

Hailed as Twilight with a ghostly twist, Ruined happily exceeded that dubious description.  I picked this up from the last school book fair.  I was intrigued by the cover art and the mature warning sticker on the cover.  While I didn't find anything objectionable in the book, certainly nothing more daring or shocking than in many other books we carry, I suspect the violence of a murder story line was what prompted the warning.   The ghost story and mystery are interesting and well written.  The characters sometimes fell into stereotypes of evil vs good and could have been a bit more fleshed out, but the detail surrounding the story of our ghost, Lissette, was very well done.  The highlight of this novel is the city of New Orleans.  Morris brings the beauty, history and strength of the city to life throughout the pages.  It was quite unexpected, especially in a YA novel. This is what elevated the book from being not bad, to one I will recommend to my students.

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Morris has followed Ruined up with Unbroken (Ruined #2) where we catch up with Rebecca one year later as she returns to New Orleans and becomes involved in another ghostly mystery.

Welcome back to New Orleans.Where the streets swirl with jazz and beauty.
Where the houses breathe with ghosts.

A year ago, Rebecca Brown escaped death in a New Orleans cemetery. Now she has returned to this haunting city. She is looking forward to seeing Anton Grey, the boy who may or may not have her heart.

But she also meets a ghost: a troubled boy who insists only she can help him. Soon Rebecca finds herself embroiled in another murder mystery from more than a century ago. But as she tries to right wrongs, she finds more questions than answers: Is she putting her friends, and herself, in danger? Can she trust this new ghost? And has she stumbled into something much bigger and more serious than she understands?

Conspiracy 365: January by Gabrielle Lord

On New Year's Eve, Australian teenager Cal is chased down the street by a staggering, sick man with a deadly warning that the recent death of Cal's father wasn't a strange illness, but murder. "They killed him. They will kill you too." He tells Cal that he must try to survive the next 365 days. Soon enough, strange events—a boating accident that appears to be sabotage, a break-in, and a mysterious call from a nurse who cared for Cal's dad—raise his suspicions even more. When he investigates a package his uncle Rafe has hidden away, he quickly gets drawn into a conspiracy involving his family, mysterious drawings, and violent kidnappers, and finds himself on the run from the police. Hurled into a life as a fugitive, the 15-year-old is isolated and alone. Hunted by the law and ruthless criminals, Cal must somehow uncover the truth about his father's mysterious death and a history-changing secret. Who can he turn to, who can he trust, when the whole world seems to want him dead? The clock is ticking. Any second could be his last. Readers should be warned that, true to the nature of the planned series, each book ends very much on a cliffhanger.

January is an excellent start to the series.  This quick moving, engaging action-mystery draws in the reader from the first page and keeps up the action and questions right to the last page.  I was immediately drawn to  Callum and his strong character.  Lord has deftly made the family someone the reader cares about and Callum someone to cheer for. Adding to the idea of our hero needing to survive 365 days, the book starts at page 185 and counts down to page 1, just as Callum begins to count down the days he still has to make it through.  As part of a 12 book series, this first volume thrusts its audience into the life of the young fugitive and leaves them wanting more.  I highly recommend this book for middle school and up.  It would be good for reluctant readers because of its quick action and thiller contents, but also because it is not a difficult read.  The continuing story would also encourage further reading to see how the story plays out.  Since the entire 12 parts are already out, no one will lose interest from having to wait for the next installment.

source: conspiracy365.org

Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison

Jodi and Todd are at a bad place in their marriage. Much is at stake, including the affluent life they lead in their beautiful waterfront condo in Chicago, as she, the killer, and he, the victim, rush haplessly toward the main event. He is a committed cheater. She lives and breathes denial. He exists in dual worlds. She likes to settle scores. He decides to play for keeps. She has nothing left to lose. Told in alternating voices, The Silent Wife is about a marriage in the throes of dissolution, a couple headed for catastrophe, concessions that can’t be made, and promises that won’t be kept.

 

Each chapter is prefaced with the label Him or Her: allowing the reader to explore this couple's relationship and in a manner, become the bridge between their independent lives.  At first I was apathetic towards Jodi, finding her emotionally flat and socially void.  My sympathy leaned more towards Todd despite his behaviour.  The author seamlessly wove these characters into the story allowing it to unfold gently, without the extreme emotions and violence that one might expect in a tale of murder.  Unlike any other murder mystery I have read, the gentle progression of the characters enveloped my interest and transported me into their lives like the proverbial fly on the wall.  Having read the synopsis, I knew what was to come but the absence of overt conflict helped to create a strange lull towards Jodi's camp.  Around page 200 I found myself dreading her capture and wishing that she would get away with the crime.  Within the story, my moral code of right and wrong eroded in a way that what Jodi was about to do didn't seem that shocking, that out of the norm.

Other reviews I have read used the words unsettling and darkly funny.  I don't recall feeling unsettled or finding it humerous, darkly or otherwise.  What I found was a tale that was compelling and fully engrossing. It took two attempts for me to begin this book.  The first I chose not to open the book because I was expecting a dark, angst-filled emotional tragedy.  I am glad I made that second attempt because this book was nothing as I has expected.   Most characters have a feel of ebb and flow, highs and lows as they move thought the events in a novel.  In the Silent Wife, I felt rather the opposite - that it was the story that ebbed and flowed with Jodi and Todd remaining still and precise in their choices. None of their actions were surprising, trying yes, but not terribly shocking.    Despite the breakdown of their relationship and what I thought would be frustration with both the main characters behaviours, I found Harrison provided a surprisingly refreshing take on the cast of the dutiful wife, the cheater, and the dissolution of a 20-year marriage.

The Bride Wore Size 12 by Meg Cabot

Heather Wells is used to having her cake and eating it too, but this time her cake just might be cooked. Her wedding cake, that is.

With her upcoming nuptials to PI Cooper Cartwright only weeks away, Heather's already stressed. And when a pretty junior turns up dead, Heather's sure things can't get worse—until every student in the dorm where she works is a possible suspect, and Heather's long-lost mother shows up.

Heather has no time for a tearful mother and bride reunion. She has a wedding to pull off and a murder to solve. Instead of wedding bells, she might be hearing wedding bullets, but she's determined to bring the bad guys to justice if it's the last thing she does . . . and this time, it just might be.

Book 5 in the Heather Wells Mysteries.

This entry into the Heather Wells series delivers well, continuing to fuse humour, college life, family drama and, of course, a murder mystery.  I have enjoyed this series.  It is a quick, light, fun read with enough mystery and wit to keep me coming back.  My only complaint, and that is a bit strong of a description, is that Cabot has pretty much left the romance between Heather and Cooper as is.  Their relationship was established and solidified in the previous volume so in The Bride Wore Size 12 we must settle for the subtle treats of  Cooper protecting his girl from afar (and without her okay). Despite the books back burner status for their romance, my favorite part of the story is still the subtle interactions between Coop and Heather.  Their shared looks, his quiet presence, Heather weaving thoughts of Cooper into her everyday actions and - almost as an afterthought -the wedding sated (although just) the reader's appetite for the duo.  Check out the other books in the series.

Beach Strip by John Lawrence Reynolds

"I’d rather laugh in bad taste than cry in good taste."
 That’s how Josie Marshall deals with the death of her detective husband, Gabe, found naked outside their home on the beach with a bullet in his brain. Everyone calls it suicide. Josie knows it isn’t . . . but fears it could be. After all, she had provided Gabe with a motive. The clues are so strong that even Josie begins to believe Gabe shot himself. But when a horrific slaying occurs literally at her feet, she knows Gabe was murdered, and her determination to prove it carries her toward dark corners of the beach strip and exposes the darker sides of its residents. Fending off her fears with humour and outrage, she encounters a drug-crazed drifter, an organized-crime boss with romance on his mind, a woman with a murderous past and a pervert who’s been frequenting her garden shed. When a chance remark leads Josie to the astonishing truth of Gabe’s death, her story takes a shocking turn that no one could have seen coming.

It took me a while to put my finger on an underlying tone to the feel of the novel but finally I put a name to it: bitterness.  After a bit of thought, it made sense to me.  The loss that Josie experiences along with the freshness and manner of it easily lend itself to that feeling.  What I liked was that Reynolds wove that feeling into the fabric of the story and not into Josie herself.  As readers, we were exposed to the feeling without being buried by it.

Overall I enjoyed the novel.  It took me about 60 pages to really get into the story, I think that was about how long it took me to get to know Josie enough to start rooting for her.  There were a lot of characters and a lot of information on the locations in the book that, while interesting and valuable to the story, slowed down my progress.  I also would have liked for Gabe's partner to have been a bit more rounded. A few of the other characters would have benefited from more character traits as well to make them less like caricatures and have more full bodied personalities. Aside from that, I thought that the writing was very good.  Reynolds weaves local history into the landscape in a personal way that never drones, instead he is able to pepper the information as though it were the readers own memories on the page.  I have driven over both bridges that feature in the book and had a passing curiosity about the houses along the beach. I snuggled into this book with a feeling of familiarity and the nosiness of a neighbour peering over the fence.

About two-thirds of the way through the novel, I did guess the identity of the culprit but still very much enjoyed watching the mystery and final confrontations play out to the end.

3.5/5 

The Dead Kid Detective Agency by Evan Munday

The Title.  The cover art.  The shape of the book.  These are the first three things I really liked about this book...and I hadn't even opened the cover yet.  And when I did?  I was in book heaven.  Only a few short chapters in, at page 39, I already knew I was going to be a fan of this book.  Whatever plot direction it would take, Munday's writing style had me smiling, thinking and eager for the next syllable. Quick fired phrasings welcomed me into the pages, dexterously weaving the characters around me.  I instantly bonded with references to rocking out to Neil Diamond - a childhood embarrassment that I could now look back on with the wry amusement of an adult.

Thirteen-year-old October Schwartz is new in town; short on friends and the child of a clinically depressed science teacher, she spends her free time in the Sticksville Cemetery and it isn’t long before she befriends the ghosts of five dead teenagers, each from a different era of the past. Using October’s smarts and the ghosts’ abilities to walk through walls and roam around undetected, they form the Dead Kid Detective Agency, a group committed to solving Sticksville’s most mysterious mysteries. So when the high school’s beloved French teacher dies in a suspicious car accident, it provides the agency with its first bona fide case, putting them in the midst of a murder plot thick with car chases, cafeteria fights, and sociopathic math teachers, and sending them on an adventure that might just uncover the truth about a bomb that exploded 40 years ago.

I really liked that this book is packed full of Canadian references  landmarks and culture but never once beat you over the head with it.  As a Canadian, these references are organic, linking motives and personal histories together to create a familiar social landscape where I can immerse myself in the story.

This is Munday's premiere novel.  It works.  Very well.  Go get a copy.  Now.

15. The Accident by Barclay Linwood

It’s the new normal at the Garber household in Connecticut: Glen, a contractor, has seen his business shaken by the housing crisis, and now his wife, Sheila, is taking a business course at night to increase her chances of landing a good-paying job.
But she should have been home by now.
Waiting for Sheila’s return, with their eight-year-old daughter sleeping soundly, Glen soon finds his worst fears confirmed: Sheila and two others have been killed in a car accident. Adding to the tragedy, the police claim Sheila was responsible.
Glen knows it’s impossible; he knew his wife and she would never do such a thing. When he investigates, Glen begins to uncover layers of lawlessness beneath the placid surface of their suburb, secret after dangerous secret behind the closed doors.
Propelled into a vortex of corruption and illegal activity, pursued by mysterious killers, and confronted by threats from neighbors he thought he knew, Glen must take his own desperate measures and go to terrifying new places in himself to avenge his wife and protect his child.

Even now I can't decide if I like this novel or not.  It definitely had a lot of potential, but I think the neat ending on all fronts took away from the appeal overall.  I read somewhere that this was like an episode of Desperate Housewives in regards to all the dealings between the neighbours.  It was that tone in the book that felt "off" to me especially given the exciting prologue and the first page where I was initially hooked with Glen saying, "If I'd known this was our last morning, I'd have rolled over in bed and held her. But of course, if it had been possible to know something like that--if I could have somehow seen into the future--I wouldn't have let go. And then things would have been different." (The Accident by Linwood Barclay)

The character that I found the most compelling was that of Sheila. Glen's character seemed a bit flat to me and really only seemed to have "life" when he was remembering conversations with his wife. Glen's character, to  me, seemed to be barely more than a vehicle to for the reader to follow and discover the story.  It was his memory of his late wife, his perceptions of the woman she was, her attitude towards others and her ability to cut to the chase, often with a wry humour that actually compelled me through the story.  Without her presence, I'm not sure that I would have really cared what happened to the other characters, even Kelly.  I wanted her to be an innocent party in the accident and I wanted to know that Glen's perception of her before the crash was accurate. With every discovery of her secret life, I hoped that she was ignorant of what was really going on. I rally enjoyed reading about their relationship and appreciated that it was not divulged all at once in some long narrative, but rather parcelled out in bits throughout the novel almost as though that was as much as Glen could bear to share about her at a time.

I still had some problems with how Sheila was written though.  If I recall correctly, she had studied some law and was presented as an intelligent, honest woman. While Glen seemed to think his wife was innocent  though misguided, I can't help but feel that she was much more aware of what she was doing.  I find it hard to believe that a relatively intelligent woman would not have seriously questioned the quality and liability risks of selling prescription medications out the back door before getting involved.  Had she started with selling purses or some other knock-off I would have found it more believable.  I also have to wonder if the story would have seemed more believable if she had, in fact, made a terrible decision and been responsible for the accident. At the end, all the plot points were wrapped up a little to neatly for me to really buy into it.

I didn't like how Sally ended up in the last chapters.  I felt the change from the sweet, helpful, almost family version to the heartless killer she was revealed as was not bridged well.  Even if her absence at Sheila's funeral had been played up a bit there may have been a hint of the difference in those personalities.  As it was written, I felt it came suddenly out of left field. I would have found it more believable if she had killed Theo in self defence or was truly distraught over the death of her father.

I did like the character of Fiona.  Straight shooting and unapologetic, I immediately wondered what had happened in her life to make her act that way.  She couldn't be all bad if she adored her granddaughter as she did. The tiny hope of redemption for the villains in the family is always fun in a book.   Her character was a nice contrast to Glen's and while her behaviour was often abhorrent, it had a strength and decisiveness I found lacking elsewhere in the book.

 I enjoyed the novel while I was reading it but found, when finished, I was rather unsatisfied with the episodic TV ending --everything wrapped up too nice and neat and explained.

8. THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME

by Mark HaddonFifteen year-old Christopher Boone is found clutching the body of a neighbour’s dog who has been stabbed to death with a garden fork. The dead dog’s owner calls the police and Christopher is questioned and the situation escalates. Insisting that he found the dog already dead, Christopher decides to investigate the murder of his neighbour’s dog Wellington on his own. Logically working around his father’s protests, he begins interviewing a list of possible suspects. His investigation creates a division between him and his father who is now forbidding further investigation and discovers secrets that will change everything. Encourages by his teacher to write a book, he writes about what has happened to Wellington the dog and in the process reveals how he sees the world and in turn, how the world sees him.

Original and captivating from the first few pages, this novel was a surprise and delight. The unique narrative offers an invitation to see the inner world of Christopher. His own condition is never identified but the reader quickly realises that Christopher has a singular way of seeing the world and moderating his behaviour.
"My memory is like a film….And when people ask me to remember something I can simply press Rewind and Fast Forward and Pause like on a video recorder….If someone says to me, 'Christopher, tell me what your mother was like,' I can rewind to lots of different scenes and say what she was like in those scenes."Innocent and literal, he sees the world in linear terms. Truth and order are how he organizes his world and he does not understand when others speak in euphemisms or emotionally. He is a fan of Sherlock Holmes because he sees what is and what is not and does not concern himself with what might be or could be. This perspective is quickly addictive. Both humerous and heartbreaking at times, I couldn't put this book down.

Book # 8 of my 50 book challenge

Book #3: Nikki Heat by Richard Castle

A New York real estate tycoon plunges to his death on a Manhattan sidewalk. A trophy wife with a past survives a narrow escape from a brazen attack. Mobsters and moguls with no shortage of reasons to kill trot out their alibis. And then, in the suffocating grip of a record heat wave, comes another shocking murder and a sharp turn in a tense journey into the dirty little secrets of the wealthy. Secrets that prove to be fatal. Secrets that lay hidden in the dark until one NYPD detective shines a light.

Mystery sensation Richard Castle, blockbuster author of the wildly best-selling Derrick Storm novels, introduces his newest character, NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City's top homicide squads. She's hit with an unexpected challenge when the commissioner assigns superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook to ride along with her to research an article on New York's Finest. PulitzerPrize-winning Rook is as much a handful as he is handsome. His wise-cracking and meddling aren't her only problems. As she works to unravel the secrets of the murdered real estate tycoon, she must also confront the spark between them. The one called heat.

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First, I feel I must disclose that I am a huge fan of the TV show Castle. In fact, that is how I found this book. I also admit to a "SQWEEEE " moment when I picked up a book written by one of my favorite television characters, complete with a dedication and acknowledgments to the other characters on the show, and even to some of the actors and crew who work on the show. The author, Richard Castle, is actually being used as a pseudonym for these novels but still managed to have his own website, twitter account and biography on Goodreads.com. The marketing stream coming from the show is amazing! Stalkers delight! Naturally, the faces and mannerisms of the actors were clear and present in the novel as I read.

Now as I excise the fan-girl in me and look at Nikki Heat as a novel, some of my enthusiasm wanes. I was surprised that it actually took me a long while to get into this book. Perhaps I was spending too much time trying to marry the characters to TV or maybe it was taking longer than I thought it should to switch my brain from TV to book mode.

I would have expected this mystery novel to be somewhat more, well, mysterious. Had I not been a huge fan of the show I am not sure I would have stuck with it. The plot is thinnish, the writing just okay. The characters needed...more. Truthfully, I picked it up because of the show. I would have left it untouched on the book rack otherwise. I enjoyed the familiar characters and the verbal banter between Rook and Heat. The references to the TV show cannon was fun and let's face it...I was there for the Richard Castle character not the Jameson Rook book version. There was a nice bonus of seeing the attraction between our heroes actually go somewhere, a feat that seems to be instant death to TV versions. An easy read, it is a book for a night when there is nothing else to do and you want an easy and simple quick read. I did end up enjoying the book and while it is by no means a favorite, I will be reading the sequel Naked Heat.

A girl needs her Castle fix!