5 comments about Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl, Book 1).

1. Artemis Fowl is truly a book that would make you sit on your behinds and some more. If you read the book try not to blink! This book would prevent you from reading any other books at the same time. The magical adventure will blast you out of this world!!!
   
   This story takes place in three different areas. The areas include Ho Chi Minh City, Artemis's house, and an underground city where goblins, fairies, and other magical creatures lurk.
   
   Young Artemis Fowl II tried to keep his family fortune by stealing a fairy LEPrecon cop (which was part of an underground magical police). He then realized that the allied LEPrecon fairies would plant a bomb that could vaporize the family and the guards. At the end, well I don't want to spoil you with that right? But I will tell you that he gives the stolen fairy stolen gold to make a wish so he could survive the bomb. Artemis was a brilliant twelve year old and took secret classes that gave him enough intelligence to get prepared for fairy spells, goblin herds, magical bombs, and etcetera.
   
   When I read this book it made me realize that selfishness won't take you far in life. In the end you would regret everything you obtained. Like if you become selfish and became wealthy you would not want the money!!! Never become selfish in life your life would be meaningful.
   
   By: Eoin Colfer
   Alexander V. N.



2. Mixed reviews held me back from reading this book for quite some time, despite my recent foray into juvenile literature. I have to say I have mixed feelings as well, though not for a lot of the reasons I've read (okay, people who say a 12-year-old criminal mastermind is just 'too farfetched' of an idea... did you notice the fairies and dwarves and trolls and the centaur? Oh, a 12-year old genius is too much to handle, but all of the fantasy creatures... no problem? Fiction, people... it's fiction. If I wanted 'real world' stuff I'd just leave the house!). Mostly I had a very hard time picturing a lot of the creatures (specifically the dirt-eating unhinged-jawed dwarf) and didn't have a great handle on the setting/technology/magic being described. But the action was good, and I did like a lot of the characters. So it gets a pretty middle-of-the road review, though I will read more in the series.



3. Think of a juvenile James Bond with an IQ beyond Einstein's. Then throw him in a world of technologically superior fairies, and the fun can begin.
   
   And this is really what Artemis Fowl is about, first and foremost: FUN.
   
   Some might say it reverts too easily to stereotypes, but I am not sure whether this is actually a bad thing. Too much depth, too much complexity in character development, might have taken the umpf out of the sheer fun ride I've had in reading Artemis.
   
   The basic idea of the book--for those new to Fowl's world--is that there is an underground world of fairies who go to great pains to keep their existence a secret from the human upper world. Until Artemis, a young criminal master mind, tracks down the fairies and upsets the whole balance of the worlds above and below ground.
   
   In summary: Don't expect the symbolism of Narnia, the metaphysics of His Dark Materials, or the detail of Harry Potter. Artemis Fowl doesn't have any of those. Instead, expect to be blasted away by the explosive energy of a fun novel.
   
   - Jacob Schriftman, Author of The Crack Beneath the Worlds and Other Books



4. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
   
   If you like fantasy, you would love Artemis Fowl because it takes
   place in Dublin, Ireland and has to do with breaking the barrier
   between faeries and humans. Instead of faeries being the average
   old fashioned kind, faeries live underground after we won the
   "Eternal War". The LEP(lower elements police) actually are
   hundreds of years ahead of us and have evolved into a high tech
   civilization. Artemis Fowl captures an LEP officer named Holly
   Short with help from his bodyguard, Butler. Then the LEP try to get
   Holly back. Artemis's intention is to not hurt Holly but to trade
   her for gold. The LEP decides to kill Artemis in many ways. Read
   to see if Artemis survives!
   
   I recommend this book to solo readers from eight to eighty. This book is
   about a battle between faeries and humans but no one dies or gets hurt.
   Artemis Fowl is on audio books, hardback and paperback. The best
   feature is you have a code to crack on the bottom that is related to the
   code in the book. This is the first in a fantasy series and you should
   read Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident next.
   
   by Dylan



5. Artemis Fowl is a magical action story. In the beginning Artemis goes to Cairo to visit a sprit. He goes to download a book. Next he captures a fairy named Captain Short. The fairies try to get Captain Short back. They send in a troll to kill Artemis to free her, then they send ransom money. They get Captain Short back, but then they want their money back. Finally, they bombed the house, but Artemis and Butler, the butler, survive.

5 comments about City of the Sun: A Novel.

1. Though this was a good read and I don't regret having picked it up, ultimately there was just something.... lacking. The premise is obviously a gripping one - child disappears while on paper route and the parents' attempts, with the help of PI Frank Behr, to find out what happened - but the way it unfolds is rushed and somewhat hackneyed (perhaps reflecting the author's screenwriting background).
   
   The early scenes between the husband and wife post disappearance are well done, but later scenes with just the wife come across as afterthoughts or throwaways. As does, in fact, the presence of many of the secondary characters, especially Behr's former boss at the police department. It was as if Levien was following some formula that "required" there to be a petty, semi-competent, vindictive authority figure for his lead to bang heads with. The romantic aside was equally by-the-numbers and forced. If this is indeed to be a series, there will be more than enough time to delve into Behr's romantic / social life.
   
   Frank Behr definitely has promise as a series lead, but I believe the comparisons reviewers have been making to Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch and Robert Crais' Elvis Cole are a bit premature. A better comparison in my opinion would be Lee Child's Jack Reacher (complete with Behr's 6'6" size), though Behr has in no way proven himself (yet) to be as emotionally complex or intellectually sharp as Reacher.
   
   The bottom line is that Behr simply did not have enough of a chance to shine in this book, with the secondary characters taking up more space than necessary, at the expense of Behr's development. I hope next time out Levien trims the excess character baggage and lets us really get to know our intended hero.



2. The book was definitely hard to put down. The main character was well done and convincing. My issue was the simpleness with which the detective and the father went from place to place solving the disappearance with little or no difficulty. The end was a bit silly and unsatisfying. And I agree with the others that some of the characters were pointless, like the detective's former boss and the new girlfriend. Overall a fun book but I suspect that the author will improve with experience.



3. I could not put this book down. There was never a time where things settled down enough to stop reading. Incredible. The subject was very disturbing, but you wanted to know the ending from the first page.



4. Jamie Gabriel disappears early one morning and after a year little has been discovered by the police. Then a kind-hearted cop slips Jamie's father a worn business card of an ex-cop now PI. Despite various failed efforts by other investigators, the father, Paul Gabriel, approaches Frank Behr, and we are introduced to a new hard-boiled PI, the latest in a long line of hard-hitting, introspective PIs with a somewhat failed background, no matter how able they are.
   
   Behr makes it a practice not to accept hopeless cases, and after 14 months, he know the leads are ice cold and there is little likelihood of either finding Jamie or uncovering what happened to him. But something in his background--he lost his own son--moves him to undertake the assignment. And, thus, we are led down a somewhat tortuous path as Behr doggedly finds facts and leads.
   
   It is a gripping tale, well-told. Behr is a complex antagonist full of the knowledge of his profession, but haunted by his own history and self-doubts. Dogmatic to an extreme, he can soften and relent, especially when Paul insists on getting involved, forcing Frank to break a fundamental rule.
   
   The book is highly recommended.



5. some of the reviews say that 'the issue is the simpleness of how the p.i. and the father get from place to place' or 'the way they move things along. I vehemntly disagree. The way the P.I. figures out how to get to the place where things start moving, after months of dead ens, is incredible. and then he continues in novel ways to get to the end.
   
   the story of a missing boy and the reason for his being abducted: for men who like young boys, gave me the willies and i did skip sentences so i wouldn't have to envision what happened to him BUT the ending is fabulous.
   
   yes there was too much devoted to what was going on withe the parents and their marriage but so what. The main character is definately one for a series. I loved, loved this book and couldn't put it down.

4 comments about The Icebound Land: Book Three (Ranger's Apprentice).

1. I love the Ranger's Apprentice series. It stands right up there with other fantastic fantasy favorites like The Symphony of Ages and The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme by Elizabeth Haydon, The Icewind Dale by R.A.Salvator, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R.Tolkien and Dragonlance: Chronicles by Weis and Hickman. But with John Flanaghan's newiest installment in the Ranger's Apprentice series, The Icebound Land falls short of what we were expecting. Sure, this book does nicely as a sequel, but I felt Flanagan could had done a tad-bit more, such as Will being a drugged-slave. But overall, this book was a great read!
   We have Halt and Horace traveling into the country-side, right into danger. Stupid men who claim themselves as gallant knights by beating up helpless travelers with mest-up amour and poor weapons to earn a living challenge the two left-and-right, holding up there search again and again for the lost ranger, Will. All the while Will and Evalyn are fighting to stay alive against the Skandians and the cold of winter.
   I truly enjoyed this book. Halt's raw humor and Horace's jokes kept me laughing, while Will being drugged by Warm-Weed kept me feeling dread for the beloved character. If you enjoyed the first two books of John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series, The Ruins of Gorland and The Burning Bridge, your guaranteed to like reading The Icebound Land. I'm already looking forward to reading The Battle for Skandia. Can't wait! Keep sending these Australian Treasures over John!



2. I thoroughly enjoyed this book as I did the first 2. I felt it was very fast paced. Halt's humor was a very nice change. Kind of feels like the reader gets to know him a bit more. I too had a feeling of dread for Will due to his drug addiction. However, I did feel like the ending was a bit too quick. But as with the other 2 books, it leaves you wanting more. This is defiantly a winning series.



3. READ THIS!!! This book is amazing for all fantasy lovers, full of medieval adventures. About a boy who becomes the apprentice of a ranger, this book is AWESOME. I would recommend it for anyone who likes adventure. Will, the main character, goes through many challenges, and I like this book because the way out of challenges isn't too easy. If you're not insanely stupid, read this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



4. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in this series because of the wonderful mix of character development, action, and storyline. This edition continues to expand on our connection with/understanding of the characters while further exploring their adventures but falls short in its action sequences. I still look forward to reading book four and hope for a return of great action!

2 comments about Double or Die (Young Bond).

1. Charlie Higson's Double or Die is the pivot on which the Young Bond series turns. Double or Die both pulls from past books and points to the future. Where SilverFin infused Bond with his fearless instinct and Blood Fever developed his brawn, Double or Die works his mind (and ours).
   
   Thematically, Double or Die is an adventure of the mind. Bond and his band of friends must decrypt puzzles and clues contained within a mysterious cipher sent by a kidnapped professor. Higson plays the motif throughout as references to skulls and the brain abound. Where Blood Fever was bright and expansive, Double or Die is dark and contained. While this may make it a lesser Bondian adventure for some, the smaller scale allows Higson to work in greater texture and detail, making Double or Die the most vivid and visual of all the Young Bond novels to date. It's also the Young Bond novel that showcases its 1930s setting the best as Higson peppers the book with delightful period slang and long forgotten brand names.
   
   The body count in Double or Die is lower than Blood Fever, but Higson doesn't skimp on the gore, especially during the terrific climax on the London Docklands and inside an abandon pneumatic railway (wonderful Bondian locations both). The fact that the henchmen comes away from each encounter with Young Bond missing another body part is grisly good fun. Higson adds a surprising postscript to this book that is unlike anything that has yet appeared in a Young Bond novel. I will leave it to the reader to discover it, and decide whether it belongs in the Young Bond universe.
   
   Absence of a Bond Girl (or any female for that matter) is missed during the first two thirds of the book, but the arrival of the perfectly named Kelly Kelly and her "Monstrous Regiment" (a sort of cockney street urchin version of Pussy Galore's Flying Circus) is a highlight of the final third. Higson again toys with romance, but one gets a sense he's nervous about scaring off his youngest male readers. At the risk of getting a schoolyard beating, I admit that I'm looking forward to the "love story" Higson promises will feature in his fifth Young Bond novel, By Royal Command (due for release in the UK in September).
   
   The measure of any James Bond continuation novel, and novelist, is how they compare with Fleming. Charlie Higson matched Fleming with the excellent Blood Fever. Now, with the complex and thrilling Double or Die, Higson appears to be steering the Young Bond series toward even higher literary achievement.



2. I won't go into plot details as this has excellently been done by John Cox in the first review for this book. Actaully I agree with all of his comments and wish I had gotten mine in first. As a Bond collector and fan, since the late fifties, of all things relating to 007 I can be very picky. I cannot be in the case of Charlie Higson and his third venture into the young Bond. Each one gets better and in each you see the beginnings of various things that the older and more mature James Bond will have as part of his personna. And thank you Mr. Cox for indicating that there will be at least two more in the series. Actually, going year by year until Fleming's first book there could be another fifteen or more.
   
   I'd rather dwell on why I consider the writing of these books so superior. While I loved John Gardner, who actually wrote more Bond books than Fleming, there was still a special flavor missing. Gardner is a brilliant writer and his other fiction, whether spy or mystery, was and remains superior to his Bond work and anything put out by Ian Fleming himself. Others have tried to write Bond novels and have really missed the mark when it came to that flavor thing as I call it.
   
   What made James Bond stand out in the books, in my own mind, was a special touch. Something that only Ian Fleming seemed to be able to do and even the best of the Bond films could never perfectly capture. Yes, I have my favorites among the films, but that is not what this is about. The Fleming books are books I could read over and over and still find something new. Not great fiction, but still unique in its own way.
   
   Magically Charlie Higson has found that flavor and I have no doubt that were Ian Fleming alive he would greatly approve of Higson's handling of the young James Bond. Higson has obviously taken great care in studying Fleming's Bond and has turned the hints about 007's past into a stories that explain all about Bond as a man. As I said above, I eagerly await the next one like I used to await the Fleming books.
   
   Hey Amazon. Mr. Cox mentioned a 5th book! How come you aren't advertising the 4th one? Mr. Cox apparently has his finger on the pulse of what Charlie Higson is doing. PLEASE share with us Mr. Cox or Amazon.

5 comments about The Husband.

1. 
   The summary of The Husband pulled me in when I read the back cover that told about a landscaper who received a call about his kidnapped wife. The kidnappers wanted two million dollars from a man who only had eleven thousand in the bank. I had to find out how this man, Mitch, was going to get his hands on two million dollars.
   
   At first, I found Dean Koontz's description of certain elements beautiful, but after a while, it became distracting because it was interrupting the flow of the action. Even so, I still enjoyed the novel because of its engaging plot.
   
   As I continued to immerse myself in this novel, it made me question what I would do if I found myself in the same situation as Mitch. I wouldn't want to give into a kidnapper's demands, but at the same time, would the love for my spouse propel me through the same obstacles Mitch faced? What if they killed his wife anyway? I like it when writers compel me to ask myself tough questions like these. It drive my curiosity on and makes the novel that much more intriguing.



2. I couldn't put the book down! Dean Kootnz is a gifted writer and this book was one of his best. He is the only author I can pick up and read without bothering with the back cover or worrying I might not like it.
   His books have a little bit of everything, suspense, horror, love/romance, science fiction and lots of possabilities. His characters have a life of their own. From the first page I was intrigued, horrified, and deeply engrossed! If you like Koontz, or have never read Koontz, get this book!



3. I have been looking for that Dean Koontz book that will just WOW me even more than Intensity did. I am not a fan of his SciFi works like Phantoms. Although this was a pretty good read and very suspensful, the plot did have some similarities to Velocity in my opinion, which made it seem a little predictable. I read Intensity 3 times, it is by far my favorite Koontz book at this point. I don't think I'll read this one again...so my search continues.



4. Landscaper Mitch Rafferty is working away on a flower bed when his cell phone rings. It's his wife Holly and she's distressed. Who wouldn't be in her situation? She's been kidnapped and the killers want a couple million bucks ransom. Never mind that Mitch is a simple gardener, how on God's green Earth is he ever gonna get that kind of dough? If that isn't enough, to underscore their seriousness, the bad guy kidnappers kill a guy right in front of Mitch's eyes. Holly, it seems, is in trouble deep.
   
   Of course the kidnappers have told Mitch not to go to the cops or it's curtains for Holly and he doesn't. Good thing, cuz they've got a guy in his attic watching him. Mitch finds this out though, gets in an altercation with him and the bad guy winds up dead, scratch one bad guy, more to go though.
   
   Then Mitch gets another call. Turns out he can get the money. Unknown to Mitch, his brother is loaded. The bad guys want Mitch to convince said brother to come up with the loot. His brother agrees, but all is not as it seems and to find out more, you'll have to get a copy of this better than excellent thriller and give it ride (not a typo, I meant ride, not read). Like Mr. Koontz's THE GOOD GUY, there are no supernatural bad things, no ghosts, no creepy crawlies, nothing weird slinking out of the either, but also like in THE GOOD GUY this book is crammed full of suspense. You'll be burning the midnight oil with this one, that's for sure.
   
   And as for characters, never have you met a woman with the sheer pluck and grit as Holly Rafferty. She's a gal to die for. Wait, she was the one who was supposed to do the dying, but as you can guess, she has other ideas about that.
   
   Jack Priest, author of Ragged Man, Gecko & Night Witch.



5. This was one of the best books I have ever read. Whether you like Koontz or not, you should LOVE this book. I hadn't read that many of his books (but have since) and I don't think I could recomend a better book. If you love to read exciting, heart-pounding books... then pick this one up. There is no boogey-man in this, its just a man trying to get his wife back from a kidnapper. But the twists and turns are unbelievable!

5 comments about Step on a Crack.

1. I have such a difficult time with Mr. Patterson, I continue to read his novels eventhough at times they are just not the quality that I know he is capable of writing. "Step On A Crack" sat on my shelf for several months before I picked it up. I read it in one sitting and I enjoyed it. True, the plot was intriguing (the funeral of a former first lady, whereas the celebrities in attendance are held hostage in Saint Patrick's Cathedral). The characterization is thin, you never get to really know anyone too well. The relationship between our main character, Mike Bennett, and his wife who is terminally ill, almost becomes artificial as after she succumbs to her cancer her husband is back at work almost the next day (now, really). Additionally, they are parents to ten children who somehow find Christmas presents under the tree on Christmas morning eventhough Mom has been hospitalized and Dad has been on the case at St. Patty's almost 24/7. Anyway, my frustration continues, I'll continue to read Patterson's efforts as they are always a fast read and for the most part are page turners. His conclusions of late continue to dissapoint me. The reality is one of the reasons I read his stuff in the first place is because it is total escapism reading for me. Mr. Patterson is not my author of choice for good literature...but lets face it, he is doing something right because so many of us have a difficult time not grabbing a copy of his novels as soon as they hit the book stands. So James, I have some of your other recent novels on my shelf and I will read them as well, however I look forward to the day when your next novel will be the read that will be reminiscent of your earlier work.



2. Patterson should not have stooped so low to put his name on such a poor infantile book. It is a formula book that reads like a comic book. Total trash!



3. I did not read the book, but instead listened to the audio book version.
   I must say I loved it. The plot may be a little weak, but I fell hard for Mike Bennetts character. I hope there will be more books in the works with him as the lead. He is my kind of hero.
   Write on,
   Petra Lozano
   Author2UBooks.ning.com



4. When you read a book that could be written without so many pages is a bad book. This book is long-winded and sometimes boring. Maybe the MAIN story is good but you'll need to find it and that will be a strenuous endeavor.



5. Well, I would argue that this is not a very good book that James Patterson has written...but that would imply that James Patterson actually wrote it. Patterson has been "Ghost Writing" a lot of his novels for years. So let's blame Michael Ledwidge!

5 comments about Island of Lost Girls: A Novel.

1. Rhonda Farr is 23 and on her way to a job interview. Rhonda is sitting in her car outside Pat's Mini Mart in Pike's Crossing, waiting to fill her car up with gas. Trudy Florucci pulls up and runs inside the Mini Mart, leaving the motor running and Ernie, her little girl in the car. A gold-colored VW pulls into Pat's Mini Mart, driven by a large white rabbit. Before Rhonda can get over her shock at seeing a rabbit driving the VW, Ernie has jumped out of her mother's car and rode off with the rabbit. Rhonda is guilt ridden because the child has disappeared, and she took no action whatsoever to try and stop the abduction.
   
   Pat, the owner of Pat's Mini Mart, has set up a "Find Ernie Headquarters." Rhonda is one of the volunteers. The disappearance of Ernie has caused Rhonda to take a trip back to her childhood and memories of Peter, Lizzy and Tock, her childhood friends. The group built a stage and produced Peter Pan. Rhonda's family and the families of her friends gathered for social activities. Thinking of these times reminds Rhonda of many mysteries in the past. The disappearance of Peter's father, as well as that of his sister Lizzy, is a memory Rhonda dwells on.
   
   Island of Lost Girls is a book full of suspense and heartbreak. It is also a peek into the wonderful imagination of children and their private little world. The ending is shocking, sad and happy, too. I would highly recommend this book.
   
   Armchair Interviews agrees.



2. I loved Promise Not to Tell, so I 've been looking forward to this book ever since I heard it was coming out. At the same time, I was a little worried about a letdown, that it wouldn't live up to the first book. No worries! Island of Lost Girls does not disappoint! If anything, I liked it even more.
   
   Like Promise Not to Tell, it takes place in Vermont, and is about a woman who has to revisit her past when she's involved in a crime in the present. This time, the woman is Rhonda, a recent college graduate still hung up on her childhood sweetheart, Peter (who's married and has an adorable daughter), and the crime is a very weird abduction that Rhonda is the only witness to. She gets involved in the investigation, and starts thinking back to mysteries of her own childhood, when she, Peter, his sister Lizzy, and a feisty girl named Tock were inseparable.
   
   Once again, McMahon does an incredible job building suspense and keeping you guessing, while also creating believable, moving characters and relationships in an almost gothic atmosphere. She explores notions of bad choices, evil, and forgiveness in a heartbreaking, but ultimately hopeful way. I can't wait for the next book!



3. I was not aware that this book had come out and when I saw it at Borders I immediately scooped it up. After being thoroughly entranced with Ms. McMahon's previous effort "Promise Not to Tell", I knew I would love this book as well. She has such a knack for fluid story telling, extremely well fleshed out characters and an uncanny ability of being able to draw you in from word one. Her subject matter is disturbing but that's life as we know it. This is a little slip of a book, only 255 pages but it is jam packed with suspense, atmosphere and plot twists that are sometimes slowly revealed and sometimes thrown right in your face. Had I the time I would have devoured this book in one sitting. I will again be waiting eagerly for the next Jennifer McMahon. Do not miss this author.



4. While on her way to a job interview in Pike Crossing, Vermont, Rhonda Farr stops at a gas station. While waiting for service, she sees a mother enter a convenience store while her daughter Ernestine talks to a white rabbit who came up to the car. Mesmerized Rhonda freezes while the rabbit takes the little girl with him into another vehicle and drives away. Rhonda snaps out of her paralysis and tells the cops what she witnessed.
   
   Pat of Pat's Mini market where the abduction took place sets up in the store a center to coordinate people who want to find the girl. They get residents to look for her and hang up missing posters; volunteers man tip hotline phones. Rhonda tells her friend Peter what happened; he informs her that he was incommunicado when the rabbit did his deed. The evidence points to Peter as the kidnapper; no matter how hard she tries to reach him, Peter refuses to confide in Rhonda until she gives up on him and goes to the cops. That proves the catalyst for all hell to break loose with Rhonda's life in jeopardy.
   
   As with PROMISE NOT TO TELL, Jennifer McMahon provides a strong suspense thriller with realistic characters whom readers will feel they know. Running parallel with the present investigation are flashbacks to the disappearance of the father of Rhonda's best friend Lizzie in 1993 after wearing a rabbit's costume and three yeas after that Lizzie. The present crime brings back the as filtered through Rhonda's memories. ISLAND OF LOST GIRL is a tense mystery that grips audience from the initial appearance of the rabbit and never lets go until the readers feels they entered the rabbit's hole.
   
   Harriet Klausner



5. Rhonda Farr, 23 years old and on her way to a job interview in her Vermont hometown of Pike's Crossing, stops at Pat's Mini Mart ostensibly to fill her gas tank. In actuality, she is hoping to run into Peter, the childhood friend she has always loved. Peter works in Pat's garage, and seeing him there beats having to endure the frustrating experience of viewing him in the bosom of his happy family, including his wife, Tock, and his little girl, Suzy. At the gas pump, though, Pat's husband Jim informs Rhonda that Peter took the day off.
   
   Trudy Florucci pulls up to the store, leaving her second-grade daughter, Ernie, in the car listening to music. Jim runs into the store to wait on Trudy. As her gas tank fills, Rhonda nervously anticipates her job interview. She's distracted when a gold Volkswagen Beetle pulls up; she knows the vehicle belongs to Peter's mother-in-law, who continually gloats over how happy Tock is with Peter. Rhonda sinks down into her seat, hoping to remain unnoticed. But then the VW driver door opens and a giant white rabbit steps out.
   
   The rabbit hops, jerking its head, and almost appears to be looking at Rhonda with its big plastic eyes. It nods at Rhonda and hops over to Trudy's car, knocking on the window behind which Ernie sits. Ernie smiles at the big rabbit, rolling her window down to touch it. Then she unbuckles her seatbelt, takes the rabbit's paw in her own hand, and walks with it over to the gold VW where she gets into the passenger's seat. Rhonda just gapes as the Volkswagen drives off.
   
   Soon, though, Rhonda is explaining to the police why she did nothing as someone in a rabbit suit abducted a little girl. It's hard to explain, even to herself. She would describe herself as a practical, active person who always knows what to do in any situation, but for some reason she had felt mesmerized by the white rabbit. Understandably, Trudy is beside herself. She can't imagine who would take her little girl, or why. She even accuses Rhonda of being involved in the kidnapping. Meanwhile, law enforcement officials search the area while the store's owner efficiently sets up a search center.
   
   Rhonda can't help but remember another person in a white rabbit suit, back when she and Peter were younger. Lizzy, Peter's sister and Rhonda's best friend, was also there. Peter and Lizzy's father, Daniel, had been the one in the suit, helping the children collect Easter eggs. But that was before the kids put on the play "Peter Pan" and Daniel mysteriously vanished, followed years later by Lizzy. Although Lizzy then sent postcards home to tell her mother and brother that she had joined her father, questions about their abrupt disappearances and Lizzy's frequent odd behavior have niggled away at Rhonda for years. Now, as she discovers clues that she believes will lead her to Ernie's kidnapper, she also grapples with understanding those long-ago mysteries, even as she strikes up her first true romantic relationship with Warren, Pat's nephew and a fellow volunteer at the search center for Ernie.
   
   A heartbreaking and haunting masterpiece, this book teases readers with an almost painfully slow unveiling of puzzle piece clues. The atmosphere is dark and sinister while the plot twists and turns and tantalizes. Author Jennifer McMahon's understated writing packs an emotion-laden wallop. I can count on one hand how many times any book has truly frightened me, but ISLAND OF LOST GIRLS caused my heart to race and my breath to catch. I was afraid to keep turning pages, yet couldn't resist reaching the conclusion where the puzzle pieces finally fit together, forming an unpredictable and satisfying ending.
   
   --- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

No comments about No Choice But Seduction: A Malory Novel (Malory Family).

5 comments about Stranger in Paradise (Jesse Stone Novels).

1. The latest Jesse Stone novel is a good read in and of itself, but "Stranger in Paradise" also appears to set the stage for even further interesting developments. If you liked previous Jesse Stone novels, you'll like this newest one, also. At the conclusion of "Stranger in Paradise,"Jesse and Jenn seem to be growing closer once again, and Jesse is involved in a type of parenthood that could prove fodder for exploration down the line, in future novels. Read "Stranger in Paradise," enjoy it, and stay tuned for future developments.



2. Robert B. Parker cannot write a bad or boring book. This is no exception.
   Another WINNER.Mystery with humor.



3. I have read all of the books in the Jesse Stone series and I have enjoyed them. The only reason that I have given this book three stars is that I'm sick to death of the ongoing relationship with Jenn. After ten years they either need to either get back together or Jesse should let it go. I guess this is why he is seeing a shrink. Maybe he should change shrinks. Parker could eliminate Jenn without damaging the story in the least. There are enough interesting continuing characters to make the novels enjoyable.



4. Perhaps I was just in the right mood, but I devoured this one in two sittings, and the break I took in order to go to sleep was done regretfully. For a change, the actual suspense/mystery/thriller plot was better than the personal relationships depicted. Thus, it qualified for me as a hard-to-put-aside read. Stone teams up with "Crow", a guy supposedly from the dark side who does many right things and whose persona and skill matches Jesse's. The bad guys fully deserve their endings, and the person in need of rescue, while not admirable in herself at age 14, really does need saving. As for the personal, Jesse's romance with Sunny Randall, another Parker series star, is history. His tentative reconciliation with Jenn, his unfaithful ex, is still SO shaky that they are not having sex with each other. Plenty of supporting characters ARE having sex, inappropriately, and what lessons from it each might bring to future episodes is yet to be determined. If you have not read the prior entries in this series, please do so first. It will make "Stranger in Paradise" much more meaningful, if a fast, fun novel that only takes a few hours to digest can even be "meaningful."



5. Words cannot describe how bad this book is. The closest I can come to a description, is, it is a comic book with out the drawings. Robert Parker should just stop writing if this is what he intends to turn out.

No comments about The Dangerous Days of Daniel X.