Review: Private London

Private London by James Patterson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

2.5 So it turns out this is supposed to be the third book in the series, not the fourth, as a few of the main characters from this book are mentioned in "Games" in a such a way that there is little continuity between the two books and may as well have taken place in different detective agencies rather than the same one. Apparently, for "Games" Patterson and his co-author for that book wanted to go a different direction with the main character? I really don't know but perhaps having the same co-author throughout the series would help.

At any rate, on her 12th birthday, Hannah Shapiro was kidnapped and ultimately rescued by Private owner Jack Morgan just moments after being forced to watch the rape and murder of her mother. Sent to London with a somewhat new identity to attend school and placed in the care of Private's London office, Hannah is finishing her first year of college when she's kidnapped again.

With Jack stuck in L.A. under Federal watch as a material witness in some case that also doesn't seem to have any continuity with the rest of the series (unless I missed something), Jack relies on his head of the London office, Dan Carter (who was supposed to be covertly keeping tabs on Hannah) to get her back. In addition to the kidnapping, there appears to be a serial killer targeting young women and possibly harvesting their organs - which makes finding Hannah seem all that more dire. And the lead detective for the London police just happens to be Carter's ex-wife, Kirsty.

I don't know that I would say this was better or worse than the other London based book. I feel Dan Carter is a stronger character than Peter Knight, however, but in some regards Carter would have been too rough for that story line. The tension between Carter and Kirsty was realistic as they both recalled different elements of their marriage on what would have been their 10th anniversary, but the subplot of the serial killer almost seemed like fluff rather than really adding dimension to the book.

There were a couple of plot twists along the way that made for good listening but I also felt there were too many characters and it was hard to keep them all straight. So after awhile, I stopped trying. While Hannah's and the serial killer's plot lines were wrapped up, there were some loose ends that would indicate the original intent may have been for these characters to reappear so it's a little disappointing that won't happen based on what is revealed in "Games."

Sullivan is the third co-author in the first four books of this series, but is also the co-author in the next one as well so hopefully, "Berlin" will feel like it's part of the series, not more of a stand alone book that has some of the same characters as the books in the series that came before it.



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Review: The Return of an Oracle

The Return of an Oracle by D. Rose Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars I received this book for free from Amazon thanks to being friends with the author's mother who was helping to promote it. I was then hesitant to read it because what if I didn't like it and my friend asked what I thought?

This is a really hard book to review. Because I own it, it was one I kept setting down to read other (i.e. book club) books and then picked up when I was between other books. So while it took me nearly 7 months to read, it wasn't because I wasn't enjoying it; it was because I had to prioritize other books ahead of it.

My understanding is that it's self-published and that was pretty evident throughout. It would definitely be a much stronger book with some editing help and that did effect my overall rating of the book, though in time I did get used to Taylor's style and that did help the book flow better.

As for the story itself, I loved the premise! In a nutshell, the Greek gods have been laying dormant all these years, reincarnating as humans until they are needed to step back up as gods and save the planet from humans destroying it. That time has come, and Portland State University student Celeste learns she is the oracle destined to find all the gods and return their memories (and therefore their powers) to them.

I generally don't read fantasy novels so perhaps this has been done before. However, it is definitely not a premise of a book I have read before and I was greatly intrigued by it. There were times I wasn't sure if the audience was meant to be young adults or adults, as the writing tended to go back and forth in places, but overall, I really enjoyed the story and found myself wondering which god (or goddess) would be found next and what would happen once they'd all been assembled. And I give props to Ms. Taylor for her research - having been to a monastery in Kalambaka, Greece, I was impressed by how spot on her depiction was.

There was a section towards the end where I felt the book did go a little sideways, though I can't put my finger on exactly what I felt was weird and how it didn't quite jive, but then it seemed to right itself again. It was a fun read, both full of imagination with just enough information about the Greek gods to introduce readers to them (or remind them about!) without it becoming a history book.

My understanding is this is the first book in a trilogy and the cliffhanger at the end definitely had me wanting to message my friend and see if the second book is in the works. Even though I absolutely hate cliffhangers, I loved how this one was written. But given it was late at night, I refrained from asking and now I'm almost afraid to ask out of fear I'll be told there won't be a second book!

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Review: Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars This one has been on my "to be read" list since 2013 so when it was suggested for one of our book club selections for this year, I added it to the calendar to finally get it off my list.

I'm really not sure how I feel about this book. I certainly didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. Yet I also don't feel ambivalent towards it either. It is the story of Bernadette Fox, once a rising star in the field of architecture who is now a somewhat reclusive house wife married to a star at Microsoft and mother to teen daughter, Bee.

Told in alternating voices mostly in the form of emails between characters, it focuses primarily on preparations for Bernadette and Elgin to take Bee to Antarctica as her reward for getting good grades and the drive for Bee's school to attract "Mercedes Moms" so they can become a better tiered school. Right before their trip is to take place, after a disastrous party for the school, Bernadette appears to vanish without a trace.

At first, the format of the book annoyed me and I wondered if the entire story was going to be told in alternating emails. But then about halfway through, I started to enjoy how the different voices factored into Bernadette's disappearance. It was definitely a unique approach to storytelling that would not work for a lot of books but made sense once it was revealed as to why it was being told in that manner.

As I continued to read, I wasn't sure how I ultimately wanted the book to end, though given the movie has come out, I feel the revised cover sort of gives it away. I still go back and forth with trying to decide if I'm happy with how it ended or if I wish it would have gone another way. I'm not dissatisfied with the ending, but rather, I would like it if there was an alternative ending as well that goes in the opposite direction.



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Review: The Fifth Risk

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For the most part, I steer clear of politics. But my friend tore through this one and as that is unlike him, it made me curious enough to read it especially because I have another book by Lewis on my "to be read" list.

I think it is safe to say this is a book Trump supporters will not like. However, I wouldn't necessarily call this an Anti-Trump book per se, in that the events laid out could have been done by any president; it just so happened that Trump is the one who did them. While the point of the book is to point out the pitfalls and consequences of Trump having not had a transition team in place to learn how to run the government, I felt Lewis tried to make this more about the facts than a personal bias.

For me, the book was eye-opening in that it showed me how much I, as your average American citizen, did not know about what some of the major departments (DOD, Department of Commerce) really do vs what I, like most people, just assumed they do. While change is not necessarily a bad thing, the departments looked at in this book are some pretty big ones to not have at least a basic understanding of prior to taking them over! I was definitely turned off after learning some of the things that are acceptable practices (in general and not at all related to the current administration) and fascinated by other aspects (those dealing with the weather, which takes up a good portion of the last half of the book).

Overall, I would say this is a pretty eye-opening look at how the transition from one president to the next typically happens, a good behind-the-scenes look at the day to day operations of the government with a touch of dystopian life thrown in. It's a short book, so it's a pretty quick read but it did make me wonder what the ripple effects of the current administration's disregard for the norm will be down the road.

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Review: Ocean Beach

Ocean Beach by Wendy Wax
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars. I absolutely loved the first book in this series so I was excited to dive into this one as well. While, as another reviewer pointed out, there is nothing wrong with this one, I liked it well enough but I didn't love it. It just didn't draw me in like the first one but I did still want to know how things were going to turn out.

In this book, due to Kyra's filming of the restoration of Bella Flora, the ladies have been offered a pilot for "Do Over," which Lifetime has presented to them as a restoration show, but they soon find out is actually a reality TV show, much to their displeasure. Still, they set out to bring "The Millicent," a house owned by a 90-year old retired vaudeville performer (Max) back to life so he can fulfill his wife's dying wish.

You can't have a reality TV show without drama and the ladies certainly have their share of that - but not necessarily that they want aired for the entire world to see: Maddie's 27 year marriage to Steve is still incredibly strained. Avery still feels the sting of Deirdre's abandonment and does not want to work beside her. Nicole is introduced to a potential client who she hopes will reboot her matchmaking service while being pursued (romantically this time) by FBI Agent Joe Giraldi who doesn't trust the guy. And Kyra is now mom to the infant son of one of the world's most famous movie stars (who also happens to in South Beach shooting a movie) and she immediately butts heads with the Lifetime cameraman, much like Avery did with Chase Hardin in the first book.

In places it felt like there was a formulaic approach happening (potential "hatred to romance" plotline, impending crisis which threatens everything), which was a bit disappointing, though I was pleased when some things didn't turn out the way I was expecting them to based on what happened in "Ten Beach Road." There was also a mystery aspect to this one (what happened to Max's son, who was kidnapped at age 3) and I liked how the ladies managed to find ways to try to figure that out without the watchful eye of the film crew. I also liked how that was the real driving force in Max wanting the house restored. Max's bond with Kyra's baby was incredibly sweet and endearing.

There really was a lot to like about this book. I can see how it would be hard to write a series in which the main characters are restoring houses and keep it fresh. One can only talk about that process so much before it gets old - I know as I've been remodeling my own home while reading these books. I was trying to imagine how "Do Over" would be as a reality show, and quite frankly, I thought it would be pretty boring!

The jokes about Maddie's inability to text coherently became old by the end of the book and there were some things that just didn't ring true: like a famous designer not coming up on a Google search under her maiden name, but when found by searching her married name, articles came up listing her maiden name as well. That had me shaking my head in total disbelief.

Overall, this felt like catching up with old friends, which is a great quality to have in a series! I look forward to see what is going to happen next for these ladies, just with lower expectations than the first book gave me for this one. And if this series were adapted for TV, I'd still totally watch it.

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Review: The Big Kahuna

The Big Kahuna by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

2.5 stars. On one hand, this book was what one would expect from this series: campy fun. After listening to the Adam Walsh story, that's exactly what I needed!

On the other, there were a lot of little details that were a bit confusing. I'm guessing that comes from Janet's son being the co-author on this one instead of Lee Goldberg and I'm wondering if Peter read the first five books in this series before agreeing to help write this one.

The premise was good - instead of searching for stolen items or trying to stop a heist, this time Kate and Nick are sent after a missing person. What's supposed to be a quick assignment, basically to keep them from wracking up any more huge expenses for the FBI, turns out to be a case of not only a missing person but also of stolen intellectual property that takes Kate and Nick around the world starting in Hawaii and ending up in Prague. So much for keeping those expenses down!

The book did include the head-shake worthy absurdities that makes this series fun and the descriptions of Hawaii were breathtaking. But other things just did not jive: apparently Kate's boss forgot that Nick's involvement with the FBI is beyond top secret. And Kate apparently forgot that she and Nick have crossed the line into a romantic relationship. There's also a comment Kate makes to her father that actually made me say out loud "Not to mention, he lives with your sister." Apparently, she forgot that too.

I'm not sure if the departure from the regular crew was deliberate or not. Jake was the only one recruited, which was good as it allowed him to get to meet and get to know Nick a little bit...oh wait. That already happened. He's the one who pointed out to Kate she's in love with the man!
Vicky, the Instagram supermodel trophy wife of the missing person, and Kate's cubicle mate, Cosmo, were more annoying than funny and were definitely poor substitutes for Willy and Boyd!

The premise of this series is supposed to be that in order to stay out of jail, Nick has to help catch the FBI's 10 most wanted. Which is genius, in that once Kate and Nick catch one, another moves into that place allowing this series to go on for as long as the authors want it to. And the authors have an out: if they want to end the series, they simply write it so Nick has to go to jail and Kate either gets reassigned or resigns. Hopefully, there will be a book 7 and it will start with Kate or Nick waking up from this book having been a bad dream and the series will get back on track!

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Review: Bringing Adam Home: The Abduction That Changed America

Bringing Adam Home: The Abduction That Changed America by Les Standiford
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Me: "The book I'm listening to is REALLY pissing me off!"

Friend: "Then why are you still listening to it?!"

Me: "It's really good!"

It seems odd to give four stars to a book that angered me so much but this is a pretty powerful book! As a child of the 70's and 80's, I was aware "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh had a little boy who disappeared. But as a child, I had more important things to worry about than whatever happened to him. So, it was likely natural curiosity about the little boy I grew up vaguely knowing about that led to this book landing a spot on my TBR list.

On July 27, 1981, Reve (Rev-A) Walsh took son Adam to a lamp sale at Sears. Leaving him to play at an Atari display, she headed over a couple of aisles to pick up the lamps. That was the last time she ever saw Adam alive. Two weeks later, his severed head was found in a drainage ditch; the rest of his body would never be found. For the next 27 (!!) years, Reve and John Walsh would be left to wonder what had happened to their son before finally getting closure in December of 2008, thanks in large part to Detective Joe Matthews.

Joe Matthews was working as a detective in Miami when Adam was kidnapped and murdered. Loaned to Hollywood, he quickly dismissed the prime suspect pegged by lead detective, Jack Hoffman. And that's when things went south. I tried to keep in mind I did not know the bias of this book's author as I listened, but man, was this case bungled after the family friend Hoffman wanted to fry was cleared!

With Adam's severed head as the only physical evidence, the case went cold until 1983 when Ottis Toole, while being investigated for another murder, confessed to killing Adam Walsh as well. This would start off a long series of twists and turns in this case with the end result the same at each one: Toole, despite knowing things that were never made public, was never arrested for nor tried for Adam's murder due to lack of physical evidence. As Standiford stated, it's like the Hollywood police department was going out of their way to prove Toole innocent, even though he would ultimately be revealed to be a serial killer!

Over the course of the years, evidence would be found, "lost," not processed, left out of the case file, etc. Clothes matching the description of what Adam was wearing that fateful day were found where Toole hinted his body may be. They were not shown to John and Reve for identification until 15 years later. The ransom letter from Toole John Walsh had the foresight to copy before handing over to the police was never put in the file. Eye witnesses who did not realize at first they had witnessed the abduction and who could positively ID Toole were dismissed. Crime scene photos were never processed - until Matthews, acting as a private investigator in 2008, asked for copies of them. The list goes on and on. As I told my friend, it's like Hoffman decided that since he couldn't have his way, he took his marbles and went home.

I think the thing that made me the most upset about this is there were no repercussions for the long line of officers who so badly mishandled this case. Standiford speculates that rather than face the embarrassment of having botched this so badly, Hollywood just tried to make it go away (to which I thought "Hey! Solving the case would make it go away!")

As Matthews would ultimately prove, this case could have been definitively solved in 1983. Not 2008. 1983. TWO years after Adam Walsh was murdered. But instead his parents had to wait TWENTY-SEVEN years for closure. I can't imagine the anguish of having someone who has intimate knowledge confess only to never be prosecuted because those in charge of the investigation basically just didn't want to do it (as the book makes it sound). Seriously, how the Walshes did not sue the department is beyond me!

Of course, there is good to have come from this senseless crime with the introduction and passage of several laws surrounding the kidnapping and exploitation of missing children. VICAP was created to assist the FBI. "Code Adam" was enlisted by big box stores to mobilize employees when a child is reported missing. And, of course, "America's Most Wanted" has been instrumental in catching well over a thousand fugitives, included several from the FBI's Most Wanted list. As angry as I am as to how this investigation played out over the years, a part of me can't help but wonder if all this good would have still come if the case had been solved quickly?


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