Critical by Robin Cook

Book Description

Publication Date: August 7, 2007

Angela Dawson, M.D., appears to have it all: at the age of thirty-seven, she owns a fabulous New York City apartment, a stunning seaside house on Nantucket, and enjoys the perks of her prosperous lifestyle. But her climb to the top was rough, marked by a troubled childhood, a failed marriage, and the devastating blow of bankruptcy as a primary-care internist. Painfully aware of the role of economics in modern life, particularly in the health-care field, Angela returned to school to earn an MBA. Armed with a shiny new degree and blessed with determination, intelligence, and impeccable timing, Angela founded a start-up company, Angels Healthcare, then took it public. With her controlling interest in three busy specialty hospitals in New York City and plans for others in Miami and Los Angeles, Angela’s future looked very bright.Then a surge of drug-resistant staph infections in all three hospitals devastates Angela’s carefully constructed world. Not only do the infections result in patient deaths, but the fatalities also cause stock prices to tumble, leaving market analysts wondering if Angela will be able to hold her empire together.New York City medical examiners Laurie Montgomery and Jack Stapleton are naturally intrigued by the uptick in staph-related post-procedure deaths. Aside from their own professional curiosity, there’s a personal stake as well: Laurie and Jack are newly married, and Jack is facing surgery to repair a torn ligament at Angels Orthopedic Hospital. Despite Jack’s protests, Laurie can’t help investigating-opening a Pandora’s box of corporate intrigue that threatens not just her livelihood, but her life with Jack as well.

 

Review –

 I always love a good medical thriller and this one didn’t let me down.  The author tackles controversial subjects that are in the news today and makes me want to stay very far away from hospitals.

If you haven’t tried a book by Robin Cook, give this one a try.

 

Darke, The Making of a Vampire by Jamie Browne

 

Book Description

Publication Date: February 22, 2012

 

This fast paced short story is a rollercoaster ride of emotions and action taking us from a passionate love affair to the fulfillment of a vendetta. It is a supernatural tale of love that takes a wrong turn along the way with the creation of a vengeful curse.

Discover how one unsuspecting man gets thrust into a dark and confusing existence through no fault of his own. His instincts and desires are out of his control. His actions are enslaved by an unnatural thirst for blood. Join our hero, Drake, on his journey as he transforms from an amorous young man with a promising future, content to fill his life with simple pleasures, into a ferocious beast of legends – an immortal vampire unlike any other vampire! What was once his lust for life has now become his lust for blood! Is his path now destined to be shrouded in only darkness?

 

Review –

Sounds good, but don’t waste your time.

 

 

 

 

Under Your Skin by J. R. Chartrand

Book Description

Publication Date: December 13, 2011

With small town journalist Cal Murphy quickly losing his big city dreams of writing for a metro newspaper, his passion is reignited when three star prep athletes are found dead in a 24-hour period. As he and fellow photographer Kelly Mendoza attempt to make sense of bizarre circumstances that led to the teens’ deaths, Cal makes a chilling discovery, uncovering a vast conspiracy that grows darker with every twist and turn. With a mastermind determined to silence Cal and Kelly for good, the young reporters ultimately must decide if their lives are worth the risk to reveal the truth.

 

Review –

This book is action packed and reads at the speed of light but the identity of the villian is not much of a secret and the plot line is a bit predictable but all in all it’s a good read.

 

 

SideNote:   I hate it when I review a book out of order and that’s what happened with this one.   I need to learn to look back at my “dates finished” on my reading log.

Zombie Tales: Primrose Court Apt. 205 by Robert DeCoteau

 

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 2011

 

Charles Grimly has marital problems you wouldn’t believe and his mommy issues are a little too much for him to handle. He may not be all there, but he has to hold it together if he’s going to make it through this day in one piece.

 

Review – I like Zombie stories but I only rate this one a 3 out of 5.  I’m glad I read it but I wouldn’t read it again.

Perfect Town by Blake Crouch

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2010

 

Ron and Jessica Stahl are a power couple from Southern California, on a Christmas driving holiday in the Colorado mountains.

When they stop for the afternoon in sleepy Lone Cone (Pop. 317), they’re charmed by the quaint tourist town which is filled with B&Bs, candy stores, and gift shops.

But the folksy hospitality will vanish as the sun drops behind the mountains. A winter storm is approaching, and the Stahls couldn’t have picked a worse night of the year to get snowed into this perfect little town with a dark, dark secret.

 

Review –

Moral of this story is: if you visit a small town and it’s picture perfect and the people are friendly,welcoming, and seem too good to be true, GET OUT OF THERE AS FAST AS YOU CAN.

 

Perfect Little Town is part Hitchcock, part Twilight Zone and part Stephen King all rolled into one.  If you like this type of book you really MUST read this one.

Run by Blake Crouch

Book Description

Publication Date: March 19, 2011

 

For fans of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Thomas Harris…picture this: a landscape of American genocide…5 D A Y S A G O…A rash of bizarre murders swept the country…Senseless. Brutal. Seemingly unconnected. A cop walked into a nursing home and unloaded his weapons on elderly and staff alike. A mass of school shootings. Prison riots of unprecedented brutality. Mind-boggling acts of violence in every state. 4 D A Y S A G O…The murders increased ten-fold…3 D A Y S A G O…The President addressed the nation and begged for calm and peace…2 D A Y S A G O…The killers began to mobilize…Y E S T E R D A Y…All the power went out…T O N I G H T…They’re reading the names of those to be killed on the Emergency Broadcast System. You are listening over the battery-powered radio on your kitchen table, and they’ve just read yours. Your name is Jack Colclough. You have a wife, a daughter, and a young son. You live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. People are coming to your house to kill you and your family. You don’t know why, but you don’t have time to think about that any more. You only have time to….R U N.

 

Review – OMG!

 

Once I started reading this story I couldn’t put it down, as much as I wanted to sometimes, because it had me hooked and wouldn’t let go. If you are the lest bit bothered by “blood and guts” in story lines-DO NOT read this story because you will never sleep again. For me, gore doesn’t bother me but I know I will never watch an atmospheric phenomenon again.

The Stuttering Tattoo by Greg Logsted

 

Book Description

Publication Date: December 11, 2011

 

Steven Bishop is extraordinarily ordinary. He goes to school. He rides his motorcycle. He stutters. His best friend is a former Colombian cartel hit man turned cook/construction worker. You know, ordinary. All that changes the day Becky Moore walks into his classroom. Becky is dazzling, enigmatic.

One day Steven gives Becky a ride home on his motorcycle. There, they discover a severed arm, one of the fingers of which still has an unusual ring attached: a circle, in the middle of which is a heart, at the center of which is a bold number 37. While comforting Becky, Steven discovers a tattoo at the base of her neck: it is the same symbol. And so begins a thrilling descent into a world of crime and murder, a ride wilder than any Steven has taken before.

 

Review –

This story was told from the point of view of a teenage boy and while it was an easy read and should have been a fast read, I couldn’t get excited about it.   It has action, adventure, mystery,a love interest, and an  unpredictable ending.  I enjoyed it and am glad I read it but I won’t read it again.

 

 

 

Hana by Lauren Oliver

 

Background

In Delirium, the government requires that all teenagers be cured of love, a.k.a. deliria, to keep society safe. But 95 days before her treatment, Lena Haloway falls for a boy–and must face the truth about her own feelings and the world in which she lives.

 Product Description

Lauren Oliver’s riveting, original digital story set in the world of her New York Times bestseller Delirium.

The summer before they’re supposed to be cured of the ability to love, best friends Lena and Hana begin to drift apart. While Lena shies away from underground music and parties with boys, Hana jumps at her last chance to experience the forbidden. For her, the summer is full of wild music, dancing—and even her first kiss.

But on the surface, Hana must be a model of perfect behavior. She meets her approved match, Fred Hargrove, and glimpses the safe, comfortable life she’ll have with him once they marry. As the date for her cure draws ever closer, Hana desperately misses Lena, wonders how it feels to truly be in love, and is simultaneously terrified of rebelling and of falling into line.

In this digital story that will appeal to fans of Delirium and welcome new admirers to its world, readers will come to understand scenes from Delirium through Hana’s perspective. Hana is a touching and revealing look at a life-changing and tumultuous summer.

Review –

With Pandemonium not coming out until February 28th, I think the author, Lauren Oliver, released Hana to appease her fans. It was only released in a digital format and was free for just a few days on her website.    It was wonderful and makes me even hungrier for the next installment of this trilogy.  If you like young adult literature with romance,angst and trouble abound you should check out this series,

Deadly Harvest (The Flynn Brothers Triology #2) by Heather Graham

Product Description

When a young woman is found dead in a field, dressed up as a scarecrow with a slashed grin and a broken neck, the residents of Salem, Massachusetts, begin to fear that the infamous Harvest Man is more than just a rumor. But out-of-town cop Jeremy Flynn doesn’t have time for ghost stories. He’s in town on another investigation, looking for a friend’s wife, who mysteriously vanished in a cemetery.

Complicating his efforts is local occult expert Rowenna Cavanaugh, who launches her own investigation, convinced that a horror from the past has crept into the present and is seducing women to their deaths. Jeremy uses logic and solid police work. Rowenna depends on intuition. But they both have the same goal: to stop the abductions and locate the missing women before Rowenna herself falls prey to the Harvest Man’s dark seduction.

Review –

I’ve been listening to this series in the car while doing my almost daily errands and for several days have been sick and have missed finding out “what happens next”, but  finally after a box of Kleenex and several cold pills later I finished Deadly Harvest and can say that I enjoyed it even more than the first book.  I think the reason was the location where the story took place, Salem,MA, and you know what that means, WITCHES and TOIL AND TROUBLE.   This installment has mystery,myths, murders,handsome heroes,and budding romance. What more could a reader ask for.   Loved it.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Book Description

Publication Date: October 18, 2011

 

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Shiver and Linger comes a brand new, heart stopping novel.Some race to win. Others race to survive.

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line.
Some riders live.
Others die.
At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.
Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a choice. So she enters the competition – the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.
As she did in her bestselling Shiver trilogy, author Maggie Stiefvater takes us to the breaking point, where both love and life meet their greatest obstacles, and only the strong of heart can survive. The Scorpio Races is an unforgettable reading experience.

Review –

Beginning this book I moved along at a fairly quick pace but something happened about a third of the way through and it seemed to bog down and I thought I’d never make it to the half way point.  That said, when I did reach the middle of the storyline it flowed like the Mississippi River after a heavy rain.

The story is magical yet sad and while  the characters of Sean and Puck are totally at opposite ends of the spectrum in the beginning, they grow into a relationship with such chemistry and realness that it’s a joy to watch  develop.  When I reached the end I didn’t want it to be over and that it a sign of a great author, so my hat is off to you Maggie Stiefvater, you have done it again.