The White Mary by Kira Salak

ISBN: 978-0-8050-8847-2
Publisher: Henry Holt
Hardcover: 368 Pages
Genre: Fiction
First Lines: The black waters of Elobi Creek show no sign of a current. It is another dead waterway, Marika tells herself, one that will breed only mosquitoes and crocodiles. Another waterway that somehow reflects - in the darkness of the water, in its stillness - all of her feelings.
One Word Review: Gritty
Tentative Release Date: August 2008

Marika Vecera is a young but accomplished journalist. She's spent her adult life traveling to remote and dangerous areas in search of her next story. After a particularly brutal assignment in the Congo, Marika returns to her home in Boston to learn that a fellow writer she's long idolized, Pulitzer Prize winner, Robert Lewis, has committed suicide. Amidst a series of self-destructive escapades, Marika decides to write his biography. While researching her story, she discovers a letter from a missionary claiming to have stumbled upon Lewis in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. Her journey to discover the truth is ultimately a journey of self-discovery.

Kira Salak is herself an award-winning journalist who has obviously spent a great deal of time in the areas about which she writes. Her vivid depictions of Papua New Guinea are so intense, you'll feel as though you're trudging through the jungles, machete in hand, right along with Marika. It is this quality that I feel really makes this book worth reading.

Descriptions of Marika's travels are interspersed with flashbacks of her downward spiralling love life. While I suppose these chapters give the reader a further glimpse into Marika's psyche, I think they also serve only to make her a far less sympathetic character. She's not someone I would ever want to know. In fact, I found her a bit too self-righteous in all her faults. I could easily have done without back information on all of her sexual exploits.

Fortunately, the guts of the book center around Marika's search for Robert Lewis and her experiences in PNG. Salak is obviously a talented writer and her ability to keep the reader interested creates a story that is truly captivating. I think I would have preferred if it had been written more as a memoir with more focus on the travels and less on Marika's internal conflicts, but overall, I thought it was a great debut novel (Salak has written other works of non-fiction). It's not light reading, but it's full of adventure and excitement and a good read overall.

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

ISBN: 978-0-385-52494-0
Publisher: Doubleday
Hardcover: 480 Pages

Genre: Fiction
First Line: Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love. (Taken from an advanced release copy - possibly subject to change)

One Word Review: Prodigious

Tentative Release Date: August 5, 2008

I often feel as though I'm always a little bit late to the party. I'm rarely, if ever, the first to read books that become 'must-reads,' more often than not it'll be in paperback form before I ever pick it up. It's not by design on my part. It just seems to be the way things go. So, with The Gargoyle I've sort of felt rather privileged that I'm somewhat ahead of the reading pack, so to speak. Not to say that there hasn't already been much tongue-wagging over this amazing debut novel, but as it's still yet to be released, I'm allowing myself a small amount of pleasure over the fact that I will be the one saying, "You should read this book..." And I do mean, you should read this book.

On the face of it, it's hard to determine just what makes the tale so special. It's the story of an unfortunate young man who's been badly burned as a result of a horrific car accident. As he's biding his time in the hospital with thoughts of suicide, he encounters an unusual woman who claims to be his lover from a past life in fifteenth century Germany.

I would say The Gargoyle is a love story, but it doesn't really capture the full scope of the work. That, and I'd hate to turn anyone off based on the idea that it's anything remotely resembling a gooey mush-fest. It's anything but. It's moving and honest, and at times brutal. It's also nearly impossible to put down. What is most astonishing, in my opinion, is that this is Andrew Davidson's first novel. His writing style is compelling yet easy to read, his characters are well-written, and his attention to detail is amazing. He evokes images that are at times almost too much to witness. The Gargoyle is by far one of the best books I've read this year, and I'd recommend it wholeheartedly.

Book Review: A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander

A Fatal Waltz is an historical mystery that surrounds the life of Lady Emily Ashton. From the lovely ballrooms of her home of London to the more seedy areas of Vienna, the story follows Lady Ashton in her attempt to prove one man's innocence and save the life of another - the man she loves.

I found A Fatal Waltz to be charming as well as enthralling. I started the book with some reservations. Not having read many historical mysteries, I had expected it to be somewhat dry and not particularly easy to read. I was completely off the mark. From page one, I was hooked. Tasha Alexander's writing is fluid and immensely easy to read. The story is well paced, and her charcters are just as endearing as the novel itself. Lady Ashton is a perfect blend of wit and charm. The supporting cast of characters are equally well-written. I was perhaps not shocked by the ending, but it wasn't entirely predictible either.

I finished A Fatal Waltz in one day, and as I was reading, I found myself wondering why I hadn't read more historical fiction. I will certainly be adding Tasha Alexander to my list of to-read authors.

Buy this book on Amazon.

Book Review Shadow Command by Dale Brown

Shadow Command is the latest novel by Dale Brown. It is a military / political thriller set in the near future. I have to admit that I had a difficult time getting into this book. It's the latest in a series, so I will assume that some of the problems I encountered stemmed from the fact that I had no prior knowledge of these characters and their previous endeavors. It was not easy to keep up with who was whom, and really what was going on in the first 150 pages or so. Around that point, however, I started to get a feel for the cast of characters, and the military-speak became easier for me to decipher. Also at this point, the action seemed to pick up, and where prior to this there was much talking and little doing, the plot started to take shape and become more exciting.

The book had enough action (especially toward the end) to keep me interested. However, I did have issues with some aspects of it - the portrayal of women being the biggest of these issues. While there were women in high positions, each of them used her sexuality in one way or another to advance her agenda, and I found that to be annoying (I would say offensive here, but it being a work of fiction, I wasn't really offended). There were a few ill-placed rather gratuitous sex scenes that I felt would have been better left out all together.

Overall, I'd say that Shadow Command was sort of mediocre. It wasn't awful, but there wasn't any point where I felt really pulled into the story. I didn't feel anything for the characters, and I probably wouldn't seek out the next in the series. But, if you've read Brown's previous books and know enough of the backstory involved, it would probably be worth reading this one.

Buy this book on Amazon.

The Wednesady Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

The Wednesday Sisters explores the ties of friendship that bind five women together. Set against a backdrop of the turbulent 1960's and 70's, Frankie, Linda, Kath, Brett, and Ally come together each week as they form a sort of writer's group. It soon evolves into much more than that as they share in each others' successes, failures, heartbreaks, and joys.

I really enjoyed this book. The story was compelling, and the setting was perfect. Having not experienced the time period first hand, I gained a lot of insight into the roles of women before the liberties I take for granted were ever realized. It actually helped me to understand and appreciate my mother a little more. The Wednesday Sisters is a beautifully written and touching novel that speaks to every woman's desire to find her place in the world. The characters are vivid and real, and the first-person narrative left me feeling as much a part of the group as any of the 'sisters.' I cried, laughed, and cheered right along with them. We should all be so lucky as to find our own 'Wednesday Sisters.'

Vamps by Nancy A. Collins

I received an advance release copy of Vamps through the Harper Teen First Look program. I have to admit, it was not at all what I was expecting.

I was extremely put off by the beginning of the book. The reader is introduced first to Lilith Todd, the daughter of a powerful vampire tycoon. She's rich, beautiful, spoiled, and stuck up. I got tired early of the description of every item of clothing she was putting on from her Dior dress and Patek Philippe watch down to her silk Perla underthings. OK, she's wealthy. We get it. Move on, please. The thing that bothered me the most initially was thinking that I was supposed to like this character and her sycophantic entourage of friends. Around page 60, however, there was shift, and it becomes apparent that perhaps she's not intended to be the character I'm supposed to be identifying with / rooting for.

I'm not sure I am best equipped to review this book for it's intended audience, but I'm going to give my opinion anyway.

First of all, this book is being marketed to teens and tweens, and in my opinion it is not appropriate. Perhaps I'm a prude...ok, that's fine. But, I think books with teenagers (albeit teen vampires) having sex in public restrooms, being hungover from the drugged blood they ingested the night before, and hanging out in bars drinking blood laced with alcohol is going too far. I'm not sure when this became ok for teen literature, but it bothers me.

That said, once I got through the first third of the book, I was better able to appreciate the story. The writing is pretty good - not extraordinary, but solid. At times the plot feels rushed - that could just be a genre thing, though. If you can look past the inappropriate bits, the book isn't that bad. It is important to note that this is obviously the first in a series, because there's really no closure in the end. And perhaps a sign that it was a pretty good story is that I was a bit ticked that it ended when it did. It left me wanting more. Although, I don't think I'll actually seek out the second installment.

Teenage girls will probably really enjoy the book. And perhaps the sex and drug references are commonplace in young adult literature now. It just didn't suit me.

The Last Oracle by James Rollins

The Last Oracle, by James Rollins, is the latest in a series that follows the men and women of Sigma Force, a science-minded group of former Special Forces soldiers. Set against a backdrop of the nuclear devastated area of Chernobyl, it shows just how far some are willing to go to achieve their goals.

As an intellectual thriller, The Last Oracle works. It's smart enough to be enjoyable without being too cerebral. Some of the action sequences were a bit over the top - lots and lots of shooting with very few injuries on the part of the Sigma Force team (think Bruce Willis in Die Hard , who's constantly being shot at, yet never really getting hit). However, the plot was well-planned and executed, with enough suspense to keep you turning the pages, and with an ultimately satisfying conclusion. I found the afterword in which Rollins gives insight into his inspiration to be particularly fascinating.

This was my first experience with James Rollins' Sigma Force, and it can certainly be read as a stand-alone novel. However, I think following the characters from the beginning would add another level of enjoyment to an already fun read.

Bulls Island by Dorothea Benton Frank

I received an ARC of Bulls Island as part of the Early Reviewers program at Library Thing. Because of this, and other perhaps less idiotic reasons, I had high hopes for this one. I wanted to be able to write a glowing review. Unfortunately, it was not to be. There were so many things that bothered me with this novel, not the least of which was an incredibly long prelude. There was so much fretting by the main characters concerning what would happen when the story actually got started that I can only describe it as a 140 page pity party. While I'm on the subject of the main characters, I have to say that I felt absolutely no sympathy for these two completely self-involved narcissists. I know I was supposed to be rooting for them, but they were both so unlikeable. Top all this off with an abrupt writing style and oddly forced dialogue that at times seemed like ill-advised public service announcements, and you've got a book that was a chore to finish. I will say that of the Library Thing reviews, I seem to be fairly alone in my opinion. Most of the other people seemed to really dig it. So, perhaps it's just me.