The Kari AnnAlysis

Posts Tagged ‘james patterson’

Someone is targeting newylweds before they even have a chance to get out of their dresses and tuxes. Four hard working women, including a homicide inspector, a medical examiner, an assistant DA and a crime desk reporter are doing their best to track this homicidal creep down, but the usual procedures aren’t working. So, they step outside the box and make the “Women’s Murder Club.” They sit around and toss back a drink and just lay it all out on the table, off the record of course, and hope that four heads will be better than one. They need all the help they can get to get this homicidal maniac off the streets and give soon-to-be married couples a sigh of relief before their big days.

I have heard wonderful things about this book for years and fell in love with James Patterson after reading a random book I picked up of his a couple of years ago for a reading challenge. He always writes in so many twists and turns and just when you think you have it all figured out, BAM, everything you thought you know is out the door. I picked this book up at a book sale at our local library last year, along with the second one in the series. They had them both in hardback and I had to get them. But it took me a while to actually get to the book.

But once I started it, I couldn’t put it down. I loved the mystery this book brought along with it. And I am admittedly creepily intrigued by the view point of a killer during books. Although I know it’s not a real killer, I always want to get inside their minds. I think that’s the part of me that wanted to be a psychologist in the prison system and figure out why people kill. Instead, I went into news to report on these people.

So, I guess I could still be part of the group right? And that leads me to the group. I am always a fan of strong female characters and this book not only had one, but four bad ass women. I wonder if there are groups that do this in real life? I know when there are major unsolved stories that we cover, we always speculate in the newsroom what could have possibly happened. I actually ran one of these by a local sheriff recently on an unsolved case and he laughed at my idea. I followed up with that I watch way too many Lifetime movies. He did not disagree

But I loved this book and can’t wait to see how this group continues to grow in the rest of this series. I give 1st to Die 5 bookmarks.

ISBN: 978-0446610032
Released: February 2002
Author Website
Kari got this book from a library sale

Released: October 20, 2009

I won this book from Vicki over at Reading at the Beach.I have only read one other Patterson book, and it was one of my favorites this year (The Quickie). After I read that, I saw this was up for grabs and signed up.

This book is about homicide detective Mike Bennett. He’s the single father of 10 adopted kids. The book starts with a standoff that doesn’t end very pretty, but that’s the least of Mike’s worries. Just when he takes a personal day to take care of his gaggle of sick kids, there’s a major crisis. A madman is on the loose, killing two people a day. But these aren’t random murders, not all of them. He has this planned out. The murderer, self proclaimed as The Teacher, has a checklist. Now Mike is in charge of catching this guy before he gets too far down the list.

I really liked this book. One of the things that is a shoo- in for a good review is if I can picture it being a movie. And this one I definitely could. I have become a big fan of Patterson’s books, after only reading two. Even though they are 400+ pages, I always get through them in a couple of days. They’re page turners and always have so many twists.

With 100 pages left in this book, I was SURE that I had figured this book out. I was wrong! I hate when that happens

One thing I liked about this book was that while it was very action packed and dramatic, it also had kids. I am a sucker for kids in movies and books. And these kids were hilarious. They may not be hilarious if I had to babysit them, but to read about them and their sick antics made me laugh.

The only thing I didn’t like about this, and it’s not the book’s fault, but I didn’t realize until after I had started this book and already got sucked in that it was part of a series, and this was the second one. I love reading a series, but this is the second time I have started the second book first and it drives me nuts. But, it was written in a way that I didn’t need to read the first book to know what was going on. Much like the Evanovich books, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. So, I guess that’s something else in the plus category.

I give Run for Your Life 4 bookmarks and can’t wait to get the first one and for the 3rd one to come out.

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi over at The Story Siren. I’ve changed the title to match my blog more. Until this week, I’ve been more of a book store junkie than to have books mailed to me. This week that all changed for me though!

This week’s On My Bookshelf post is very exciting for me for two reasons.
1. It contains the first book I’ve won in a contest!
2. It contains the first book I’ve received for review as well as two other books I got for review this week. 3 in one week? I’m pumped!

CONTEST:

I won this book from Vicki over at Reading At The Beach.

I have read one Patterson book and fell in love. Plus, the cover of this is very cute! Can’t wait to read it!

“A calculating killer who calls himself The Teacher is taking on New York City, killing the powerful and the arrogant. Discovering a secret pattern to The Teacher’s lessons, Detective Mike Bennett realizes he has just hours to save New York from the greatest disaster in history.”

REVIEW: This is the first week I’ve received books to review and I got three! WOWZA!

The first book I got is an ARC from the Kelley and Hall Company. It comes out next month.

The company says Wilson’s debut novel “creates a bridge between adult horror and teen adventure.”

They also say he “picks up where R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps left off.” I don’t know about you, but I loved me some Goosebumps. 

 I got the E-Book copy of Dirty Little Angels. Since I have to look at a computer for 9 hours at work, I decided to print off the book so I’ll have a hard copy of it! I hope to start it this weekend. Here’s a summary of the book:

“Set in the slums of New Orleans, among clusters of crack houses and abandoned buildings, Dirty Little Angelsis the story of sixteen year old Hailey Trosclair. When the Trosclair family suffers a string of financial hardships and a miscarriage, Hailey finds herself looking to God to save her family. When her prayers go unanswered, Hailey puts her faith in Moses Watkins, a failed preacher and ex-con. Fascinated by Moses’s lopsided view of religion, Hailey, and her brother Cyrus, begin spending time down at an abandoned bank that Moses plans to convert into a drive-through church. Gradually, though, Moses’s twisted religious beliefs become increasingly more violent, and Hailey and Cyrus soon find themselves trapped in a world of danger and fear from which there may be no escape.”

This is also a book I received from the Kelley and Hall Company. Here’s what the back of the book says:

“What Would You Do If…

You were a lovelorn wizard with a rat that lived in your hair (your trademark in the very competitive business of wizardry)? Would you turn it into a human to spy on the damsels for you? What if you were a little Princess, and no one would listen to you when you tried to warn them about the murderess who was trying to take over the kingdom? Would you go looking for the wizard of Fandon whom no one had ever seen, but had the best fireworks of all, and so, was surely the greatest of all the wizards? And if you were her brother, the Prince, would you try to rescue her from certain death?

What if you were a real life little girl, dying of a mysterious illness, and had an equally mysterious and deadly creature living in your closet? And what if you were her little brother? What would you promise the creature in return for saving the life of your sister?

The story starts with Father, a gifted storyteller, telling a fairy tale to his son, Charles, a troubled loner, and his daughter, Tanya, who is very, very ill. Each night Father tells more of the fairy tale, but later at night and during the day Charles and Tanya have real life problems of their own. Charles must fight his own descent into hellish darkness and Tanya must confront her coming death and the mysterious noises, scratches and bumps that echo every night from her closet.

The Duty of Love is about a girl who is dying physically and a boy who is dying spiritually. It’s about rats that become humans and humans that become lizards. It’s about a wizard who becomes wise and a wizard who tells lies. It’s about well-meant little compromises that turn deadly, and heroic stands against all odds. It is also the story of a mysterious maiden, who is sure she knows the deepest and greatest secret of all. But most of all, it’s about what it means to love and what it means to be human.”

BORROWED:

This is the front and back cover of Stephen King’s Duma Key. A co-worker brought this one to me after I told him how excited I was for Under the Dome to be released. I’d never heard of this book, but the last one he brought me was The Historian and I absolutely LOVED it, so I’m expecting the same from this. Here’s the summary from Fantastic Fiction:

“Six months after a crane crushes his pickup truck and his body self-made millionaire Edgar Freemantle launches into a new life. His wife asked for a divorce after he stabbed her with a plastic knife and tried to strangle her one-handed (he lost his arm and for a time his rational brain in the accident). He divides his wealth into four equal parts for his wife, his two daughters, himself and leaves Minnesota for Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily remote stretch of the Florida coast where he has rented a house. All of the land on Duma Key, and the few houses, are owned by Elizabeth Eastlake, an octogenarian whose tragic and mysterious past unfolds perilously. When Edgar begins to paint, his formidable talent seems to come from someplace outside him, and the paintings, many of them, have a power that cannot be controlled.

Soon the ghosts of Elizabeth s childhood return, and the damage of which they are capable is truly terrifying.”

You may notice a trend in my reviews lately. I keep saying “I just got this book because I needed it for my A to Z Challenge.” You may also notice that I have REALLY liked all of them. And this one went way above and beyond.

I have always heard great things about James Patterson, but this is the first one of his that I’ve picked up.

I knew from the back of the book that cheating was involved and a murder, but I was shocked throughout the entire book how many twists and turns there were. Every time I thought nothing else could happen, another curveball was thrown. There’s really not a lot I can say about this book without giving things away, except don’t ever think you’re in the clear of the drama. It’s always around the corner.

One of the things I really liked about this book, and I’m not sure if it rings true for all Patterson books, but they have super short chapters. Most are 2-3 pages. Yes, there are over 100 chapters, but I’m the kind of reader who likes to pop open my book when I have a few minutes here and there. With such short chapters, I was able to knock out a chapter in my couple of  minutes and not get stuck in the middle of something huge.

This book is definitely not the normal type of book I read. I am more of a fluff reader, but after this, I’ll have to start picking up more of his books. If they’re all this drama filled, I’m a lifer

I wish I could just spill all the drama, but I’m not going to. Instead, I am going to give this book 5 bookmarks. Yes, you heard right. There’s not one thing I have to complain about this book. Absolutely loved it!

Happy Teaser Tuesday friends.

As you see by the somewhat vulgar title and picture to the right, I’m reading The Quickieby James Patterson. Wasn’t sure how I would feel about it, but absolutely love it. I’ve been thinking all day about what today’s tease would be. There’s so many freaking turns and twists, I don’t know where to start.

Since I don’t want to give too much away, I won’t go too deep into the book.

Pg. 38 “Both shadows stopped moving. Then one dropped. He actually bounced off the ground before he lay completely still. Who was hurt? Who was down? I wondered with a kind of dumbstruck curiosity. Then the scariest question of all occurred to me. One that took my breath away as it nicked through my heart like a cold razor. Who did I want it to be?’

This is the kind of book you wish you could do a teaser for EVERY week! I bet I could get one from each chapter. Hope to finish this within the next day and get my review up! Enjoy!

What are you reading????