Book Reviews | Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

HOST by Robin Cook

November 15, 2015

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Robin Cook has in most aspects, pioneered the intelligent medical thriller. He made his bones years ago with the novel Coma, and that novel has continued to be considered his high watermark, so much so that he has apparently utilized a good bit of the format in writing Host. Not that it detracts from enjoying the present book, but if you haven’t read Coma, it makes it easier to become mesmerized by Host.

Lynn Pierce, a fourth year medical student at Mason-Dixon University, has an otherwise happy life with a very bright future. She’s thrown for a loop when her boyfriend Carl enters the hospital for what appears to be very routine surgery. Due to some unforeseen complication, Carl fails to return to consciousness after the procedure, and an MRI scan confirms brain death.

Lynn enlists the help of a friend of hers, Michael Pender, a fellow medical student, to try and find out the truth of what really happened to Carl. What they discover is apparently a far reaching conspiracy going very far beyond an isolated occurrence during Carl’s operation.

What is really behind Carl’s unfortunate result during a routine procedure and the reasons for it form the major part of the story. Along the path to the truth, Cook’s distrust of Big Pharma becomes part and parcel of the plot involved.

Medical procedures, cause and possible effect, are explained so that the reader who has no medical training can readily understand what has transpired. An all nighter if there is ever one, which inspires a willingness to want to read future novels by this author.

11/15 Paul Lane

HOST by Robin Cook. G.P. Putnam’s Sons (October 20, 2015). ISBN: 978-0399172144. 416p.

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TOO MANY COOKS by Dana Bate

November 14, 2015

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Kelly Madigan is a cookbook ghostwriter; she helps professional chefs turn their recipes into something a home cook could use. She lives with her boyfriend of six years, who is neat, dependable, a cardiologist in training and ultimately boring. Then she loses her mom suddenly, and finds her mother left her a letter with her dying wishes, the ultimate guilt trip.

Her mom tells her that she needs to take risks, leave the Midwest and travel a bit, and not rush into marriage with Dr. Boring. So when Kelly is offered the opportunity to ghostwrite a major Hollywood star’s cookbook, she jumps at the chance, even though it means moving to London for the better part of a year.

Her boyfriend is devastated and furious. He kicks her out and she gets to spend a few weeks with her father before moving to London and perhaps making the biggest mistake of her life.

Natasha Spencer is imperious, demanding and a definite nut case. Her assistant, Poppy, isn’t much better and they combine to make Kelly’s life a living hell. But the money is too good to pass up, even if she doesn’t get paid for months, and the only bright spot is Natasha’s husband, a rising star in Parliament who seems like a genuinely nice guy. They are a power couple to be sure, except that they sleep in separate beds and seem to live separate lives.

This was an interesting look at how a cookbook ghostwriter works, and how all that Hollywood glitz and glamour comes at a price. It reminded me a bit of The Devil Wears Prada (the movie version, not Lauren Weisberger’s awful book) but veers off in the romance department. All in all, I liked it and if you’re a fan of foodie fiction like I am, then this is the book for you.

11/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

TOO MANY COOKS by Dana Bate. Kensington (October 27, 2015). ISBN 978-1617732621. 352p.

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THE GATES OF EVANGELINE by Hester Young

November 13, 2015

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Charlotte Cates is still reeling from the loss of her son when she starts to experience strangely prophetic dreams. The dreams coincide with the offer of a book deal that would send her to the famous Evangeline plantation in Chicory, Louisiana – the site of the long unsolved disappearance of Gabriel Deveau. It’s a job Charlotte is ready to refuse until she dreams of Evangeline and a boy she believes might be the missing child.

Though the book is being done with the full support of the family, Charlotte soon realizes that the Deveaus are keeping more than a few secrets. First and foremost, the ailing Deveau matriarch believes the project to be one on the architecture of the home rather than her son’s disappearance, a lie her grown children are adamant that Charlotte maintain at all cost. Charlotte isn’t certain her visions can help solve the case, but she’s promised the boy in her dreams that she’ll try. And it’s a promise Charlotte intends to keep.

The Gates of Evangeline is a great mystery. Charlotte, the Deveaus, the history and secrets of Evangeline, and the overall setting come together to create a tale that’s irresistibly compelling. And the hint of paranormal with Charlotte’s dreams – and the bit of romance – added just the right amount of suspense and steaminess.

I was quite pleased too that Hester Young’s debut is actually the first in a new trilogy. I did so love getting to know Charlotte and will be anxiously looking forward to more of her story.

11/15 Becky LeJeune

THE GATES OF EVANGELINE by Hester Young. G.P. Putnam’s Sons; F First Edition edition (September 1, 2015). ISBN 978-0399174001. 416p.

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SUNFAIL by Steven Savile

November 12, 2015

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Jake Carter, a former Special Forces operative, now works as a New York City subway electrician. As the book opens, Jake is contacted by a woman that he hasn’t seen or talked to in over a decade to advise him of an international plot to take over the world.

Almost immediately he encounters two young men apparently spreading graffiti on the subway walls. He realizes that the graffiti are actually messages in a lost language and that the “Hidden” are communicating with each other. He finds that the Hidden are groups of the richest and most powerful people on earth that his ex-girlfriend alluded to, and the messages are a call to arms for them.

A raid is launched against Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn by a band of terrorists supported by the Hidden. At the same time thousands of birds begin falling out of the sky. Dogs begin running wild and howling on the streets.

Jake begins an investigation of his own which is seemingly against all logic with his life being threatened at every turn. How do you fight against an enemy that can’t be seen? How do you stop the richest and most powerful people on the planet from taking what they want?

A conundrum almost impossible to solve but Jake goes against these impossible odds. The book is pure entertainment which requires more than a little stretch of the imagination to imagine that one person can prevail against the might stacked against him. Given this stretch makes Sunfail an entertaining read and one that will keep the reader going until the end.

11/15 Paul Lane

SUNFAIL by Steven Savile. Infamous Books (November 3, 2015). ISBN 978-1617754067. 300p.

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THE CLOUD COLLECTOR by Brian Freemantle

November 11, 2015

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Brian Freemantle comes out with an intricate novel concerning attacks on both the U.S. and Great Britain by Al Qaeda. An Iranian computer genius launches attack after attack on both countries via the Internet and social media.

Sally Hanning, a brilliant MI5 agent, is seconded to the CIA task force to help in finding and stopping the Iranian attacks. She meets with and works with the CIA’s master code cracker Jack Irvine in finding answers to the continued onslaughts. The pair find an unusual communality in that Jack’s father instigated an ambush in which Sally’s parents were killed. In spite of this past event while in the course of foiling attack after attack the two develop a sort of love affair, which while attractive to both, does not develop into something major.

Attack after attack by the Iranian terrorist and master computer expert is defeated until it appears that one final attempt looks like it is going around MI5 and the CIA’s best efforts and will be successful.

I found that Freemantle’s propensity to delve deeply, very deeply into the thought processes of the protagonists becomes a spoiler when one deviation after another is described ad infinitum losing me at times in the wordage. The action that should be constant and breathtaking is not present in a plot that calls for it.

A book that in the hands of an author with the talent of Brian Freemantle should be an exciting read, but is held down by the overabundance of description after description.

11/15 Paul Lane

THE CLOUD COLLECTOR by Brian Freemantle. Thomas Dunne Books (November 3, 2015). ISBN 978-1250066237. 352p.

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HOSTAGE by Kristina Ohlsson

November 10, 2015

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The Fredrika Bergman Series (Book 4)

In a bit of a departure from the police procedurals featuring Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht, Ohlsson moves her characters into different jobs and creates a thriller based on the 2010 terrorist attack on Stockholm, making this a much more personal book, which she addresses in the afterword.

Bergman is now working for the Justice department and Recht has moved to the National Bureau of Investigation which is investigating several bomb threats throughout Stockholm, including one at the Rosenbad, a government building. Sweden’s security force, Sapo, takes the lead on the investigation that also includes Eden Lundell, the head of the counter-terrorism unit.

They don’t find any bombs, but the next day there is another threat, this time aboard a flight from Stockholm to New York. The U.S. is hypervigilant of a terrorist attack and is at odds with the Swedish government, whose priority is trying to protect its citizens on board the flight. To complicate things further, Recht’s son is the captain on board.

The two governments need to find a way to work together before the plane’s fuel runs out or it enters U.S. air space. This is a tense, complex story that will satisfy fans of this series and Scandinavian thrillers.

11/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

HOSTAGE by Kristina Ohlsson. Atria/Emily Bestler Books (November 10, 2015). ISBN 978-1476734033. 400p.

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MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE by Taylor Jenkins Reid

November 9, 2015

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I didn’t realize how much I missed reading chick lit until I read this. Now it’s probably called women’s fiction since chick lit appears to have disappeared from book vernacular, but however it is being characterized, it’s a fun read, and an interesting one.

I love those books that ponder the road not taken; one of my favorites is What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarity (2011.) That book looked at woman who forgets the previous ten years of her life. This book looks at the future instead of the past, and it’s just as intriguing.

Hannah Martin is twenty-nine years old and still searching for…something. Her parents and sister moved to London while she was in high school, leaving Hannah to live with her best friend Gabby back in Los Angeles. She graduates from college and starts drifting from city to city, job to job, boyfriend to boyfriend – her last being Michael, a married man with two children, but never forgetting her first love, Ethan. They broke up during college but both still harbor the feeling of unfinished business.

Hannah decides to move home to L.A., and Gabby offers up her guestroom. Gabby is married to Mark, who Hannah likes well enough, and they all get along. Shortly after arriving, they go out to a club where Hannah runs into Ethan. Later that night, Gabby tells her she needs to get home and Hannah needs to decide whether to go home early with Gabby, or hang out with Ethan for a while longer.

The book then moves forward in two storylines; one in which she goes with Gabby, the other with Ethan. Told in alternating chapters, Hannah is living two different lives, a sort of choose-your-own-adventure with amazingly different results.

This was an engrossing story and a real page turner. I was torn between which life I thought she should be living, up until the very last page of the book. Reading this is like going on a roller coaster through Hannah and Gabby’s lives, and these characters were so well developed and likeable that I didn’t want the ride to end.

11/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Washington Square Press (July 7, 2015). ISBN 978-1476776880. 352p.

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THE CHEF NEXT DOOR by Amanda Freitag

November 8, 2015

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A Pro Chef’s Recipes for Fun, Fearless Home Cooking

On the one hand it’s kind of hard to imagine that a professional chef, much less one who obviously thrives in the high stress New York restaurant scene, could be intimidated by home cooking. And yet, I’d imagine that being faced with swapping a professional kitchen’s space, amenities, and resources for an apartment kitchen could do that to anyone.

This is the premise Amanda Freitag’s new cookbook begins with. Freitag admits that though she was comfortable in a restaurant environment, she rarely cooked at home. And so she went back to basics, the first chapter of The Chef Next Door.

Freitag’s basics, though, aren’t necessarily how to boil an egg kind of basics. Instead, they’re basic base recipes that will help in strengthening kitchen skills as well as providing starting points or inspiration for more advanced or creative dishes. Her “Basic Risotto,” for example, the very first recipe in the book, is a full risotto recipe intended to help home cooks build their confidence in the kitchen. And it’s a great recipe to begin with because, as any food reality tv viewer knows, it’s something that seems so difficult. In reality, as Freitag points out, it’s quite simple as long as you follow the steps and use the right ingredients.

The book is broken into nine chapters: the aforementioned Back to Basics; Sauces, Marinades, and Other Flavor Secrets; First Impressions; More Than a Salad; What’s for Dinner; Low and Slow; Sides; The Scary Stuff; and For Your Sweet Tooth.

Recipes are clear and concise and include a break out prep step as well as one of my absolute favorite pieces of the book, tips, short cuts, substitutions, and suggestions for serving. Recipes like the “Caramelized Onions,” include a further recipe for use. In this case those onions are the first step in a “French Onion Soup.” Freitag’s “Pop’s Beer-Braised Bold Beef Stew,” a dish I’ll be making frequently this winter I’m sure, talks about things like asking your butcher to cube the beef for you, using store-bought stock, and a suggestion for serving over the “Smashed Yukon Gold Potatoes” from the Sides chapter. And that potato recipe? Well, Freitag says you can just as easily use Red Bliss, Idaho, or even sweet potatoes and that you can sub in Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream.

The Chef Next Door is a great book for anyone who has experience cooking at home but maybe hasn’t tried their hand at dishes they’ve deemed to be somewhat intimidating – risotto, short ribs, roasting and stuffing whole fish, trimming a fresh artichoke… Freitag addresses all of those and more, making it all possible for you – the average home cook – to do at home just as easily as a restaurant chef would.

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11/15 Becky LeJeune

THE CHEF NEXT DOOR by Amanda Freitag. William Morrow Cookbooks (September 29, 2015). ISBN 978-0062345837. 320p.

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CHRISTMAS BELLS by Jennifer Chiaverini

November 7, 2015

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I figured if I keep reading Christmas novels, eventually I’ll find one I can rave about…and here it is!

This book is a twofer – two stories told in alternating chapters that are set over a hundred years apart. The obvious inspiration of the historical story neatly focuses the modern day one, and I loved them both.

“Christmas Bells” is a Henry Wordsworth Longfellow poem (see below) that was turned into a Christmas carol, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” Chiaverini tells the story of how the poem came to be written, which is a mostly a biography of Longfellow, and she does a terrific job. Starting at the beginning of the Civil War, right before the first shots are fired, we learn how Longfellow lived, the tragedies that befell him and his family, and about his home and its historical significance in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The alternating stories are about St. Margaret’s, a Catholic church in the nearby town of Watertown. Sophia is a music teacher whose job is threatened by budget issues. She also is the children’s choir director at the church. Her accompanist is in love with her, but it is an unrequited love due to various factors. Stories also are spun about two of the children in the choir, Charlotte and her younger brother, whose father is serving in Afghanistan.

One of the most memorable characters in the modern day story is Sister Winifred, a nun who has the rather unnerving habit of talking to herself. But she also has the uncanny ability to ferret out truths about her parishioners and the priest that seem other-worldly, or perhaps divine?

This is heartwarming, of course, but also fascinating and beautifully written. This will be the Christmas book I”ll be recommending this season.

11/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

CHRISTMAS BELLS by Jennifer Chiaverini. Dutton (October 27, 2015). ISBN 978-0525955245. 336p.

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Audiobook

I HEARD the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat