LONG WAY DOWN by Michael Sears

February 7, 2015
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Michael Sears worked on Wall Street for 20 years and is therefore more than qualified to bring us a novel involving white collar crime in the financial world. His main protagonist, Jason Stafford, has appeared in two previous thrillers and is presented as a person with flaws but very well equipped to work on problems associated with the complex world of high finance.

Jason served two years in prison for insider trading while working for a Wall Street firm. Now, not able to return to his trade, he is dedicating himself to helping others who find themselves involved with problems within his previous field. Stafford is a complex individual fleshed out very well by Sears. He is a single father raising an autistic son and involved with a woman he is falling in love with while attempting to rebuild a life changed radically by prison time.

Philip Haley, an engineer whose company is close to developing a biofuel breakthrough, has been indicted for insider trading based on the projected increased value to be derived by the development. He asks Jason to help him prove his innocence and convinces him that the accusation is false. Stafford does take the case and finds himself involved not only with a white collar criminal accusation, but with murder and hit men attempting to do so.

Sears is extremely good at fleshing out his characters and allowing the reader to see them as human beings that are real and react to situations as most normal people would. He holds the reader’s attention by building towards a logical climax. The one flaw that I noticed is the use of overlong descriptions of various details which are extraneous to the plot and not essential in moving the action forward. While the novel has an overage of these details they should not cause the reader to lose interest in the action. An interesting and basically well written book, excellent characterizations, and one that delves into a world that most of us know little about but with descriptions that do allow the reader to understand what is involved.

2/15 Paul Lane

LONG WAY DOWN by Michael Sears. Putnam Adult (February 5, 2015). ISBN: 978-0399166716. 352p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

DESPERATE GAMES by Pierre Boulle

February 5, 2015
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Pierre Boulle, noted author of books like The Bridge on the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes, passed away in 1994. Among his other works is a dystopian science fiction novel of a world controlled by pure scientists translated and recently reissued.Dys

Boulle postulates scientists from all over the world getting together and deciding that all the problems that exist on earth are due to leaders who do not understand what they are doing, that they are men and women with no grounding in science and lack the perspective of what people really need. The physical scientists propose that they take over all governments on earth and have the current leaders step down and just enjoy life without the stress of governing.

Said and done, the scientists quickly choose a president by a method of formal testing, along with advisers and other officers. All governments are disbanded and countries are consolidated into a world wide organization. The scientists begin working on eradicating the pressures of disease, strife and conflict quickly allowing all mankind to work less and have more.

The required workday is cut to about 2 hours with plenty of time for recreation and rest. The new leaders, the physical scientists, believe that they have achieved the optimum conditions for all the planet’s inhabitants and everyone is happy with the new status quo.

In a short time it is noted that the rate of suicides has gone up and it is quickly determined that these are due to the lack of challenges for the people. The scientists decide that they will provide games to entertain similar to those held in the ancient world, namely fights to the death between trained individuals. This works for a short time until the rate of suicides again climbs.

The answer, of course, is to increase the participation and number of fatalities in the games. Continuing on to staging great battles based on real incidents fought throughout history, namely massive assaults such as the D-Day invasion of Normandy and the world war I battle of the Marne.

While the tone of the book is tongue in cheek and has some similarities to Animal Farm, it can also be taken as a serious condemnation of allowing any group to achieve absolute power without normal checks and balances. It was true while Boulle was alive, and just as true today where philosophies of one group are forced on others causing strife and war. If the book had received more publicity at the time Boulle wrote it it has the potential to be part of works like 1984 and Animal Farm and taken it’s place as a classic example of power run amok.

2/15 Paul Lane

DESPERATE GAMES by Pierre Boulle. Hesperus Press (January 1, 2015). ISBN: 978-1843915355. 208p.

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A DOG GONE MURDER by Elaine Viets

February 4, 2015
DOG GONE MURDER

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Josie Marcus Mystery Shopper (Book 10)

Josie has come a long way in this series, from struggling single mom renting her mother’s downstairs apartment to happily married to veterinarian Ted, living in their own home, a mid-century modern cottage. But she’s still mystery shopping, which I always find fascinating, maybe because I’ve been on the other side of the counter. When I worked for Borders Books & Music we were mystery shopped on a monthly basis, and people lost their jobs over those reports – or were rewarded!

Josie’s weaselly boss asks her to check out three local doggie day care centers that are seeking accreditation. This behind the scenes look at these establishments will hopefully give dog owners the gumption to look around themselves before dropping off their pets.

But it wouldn’t be a mystery without a murder, and sure enough Josie finds the popular Uncle Bob’s Doggy Day Camp local television spokesperson/celebrity, Uncle Bob himself, dying in his office. Is it natural causes brought on by a high meat diet or did someone poison Uncle Bob? There are lots of suspects, all his employees have issues with the man and he and his wife are separated.

Josie continues her mystery shopping assignment but when her mom’s new renter and possible love interest is arrested for the murder, Josie has to help out and find the real killer.

I love this series and this latest mystery is a good one –  I couldn’t put it down and read it in one sitting. Viets creates believable characters, both good and bad, and I find myself thinking about them long after I turn the last page. Another winner from one of my favorite authors.

2/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

A DOG GONE MURDER by Elaine Viets. Signet (November 4, 2014). ISBN 978-0451465986. 304p.

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Win THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah

February 3, 2015

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I loved this book so much that I want one lucky reader to get a free copy! Read on for my review and how you can enter to win.

This was quite a departure for Hannah, who typically writes really good stories about contemporary women’s lives. This time she starts out that way, but quickly goes back in time to 1939 France as the war is getting underway.

Sisters Isabelle and Viann have lost their mother, and their father, damaged from World War I, can’t deal with his loss and his daughters so he sends them away. Isabelle is rebellious and gets kicked out of one boarding school after another, until she’s sent to live with her older sister Viann and her husband. Things don’t work out there and the sisters part ways. But when Viann’s husband goes off to war, eighteen year old Isabelle is sent back to stay with her sister again.

Isabelle wants to be involved in the war effort, but not in a typical-of-the-time way of rolling bandages. When she meets Gäetan, a partisan rebel, she falls in love and wants to go off with him to fight, but he sneaks away, leaving her angry, frustrated and heartbroken. As the Nazis move in to France, the country is divided in two, the Nazi occupied territory, and the Free Zone under Vichy government. The sisters’ small town is taken over by Nazis, and one is billeted in their home.

Isabelle joins the Resistance movement at great personal risk. Her exploits become legendary as eventually she leads downed British and American airmen out of France, walking them across the mountains into Spain and freedom. She becomes known as the Nightingale.

Meanwhile, back at home, Viann’s best friend Rachel is Jewish, and we all know what happens there. She begs Viann to take her baby boy, and as dangerous as it is, Viann acquiesces. Then another Jewish friend is being taken away, and leaves her son as well. Viann knows she can’t keep another Jewish child, so she approaches the Mother Superior at the local convent orphanage, and they take the child. They decide there will be more Jewish children to be saved, and eventually Viann saves several more.

The story moves occasionally back to contemporary times, when one of the sisters is being moved to a nursing home by her son, a doctor, who knows nothing of his mother and her sister’s past – and, in a brilliant stroke on Hannah’s part, we don’t know which sister she is.

This was a completely mesmerizing story, a female side of the war that isn’t often explored. I was totally immersed in their world, and often brought to tears. It is a difficult subject, and the brutality and violence is not whitewashed at all, but is necessary to the story. I have read a lot of Holocaust fiction and this was one of the more interesting, unusual and compelling books on the subject. This strong, well written feminist historical fiction is simply not to be missed. It is sure to make my favorite list for 2015.

To win your own copy, please send an email to contest@gmail.com with “WIN NIGHTINGALE” as the subject.

You must include your snail mail address in your email.

All entries must be received by February 20, 2015. One (1) name will be drawn from all qualified entries and notified via email. This contest is open to all adults over 18 years of age in the United States only. Your book will be sent by the publisher, St. Martins Press.

One entry per email address. Subscribers to the monthly newsletter earn an extra entry into every contest. Follow this blog to earn another entry into every contest. Winners may win only one time per year (365 days) for contests with prizes of more than one book. Your email address will not be shared or sold to anyone.

1/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah. St. Martin’s Press (February 3, 2015). ISBN 978-0312577223. 448p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

SYNDROME E by Franck Thilliez

February 2, 2015

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While keeping watch over her sick daughter, Lieutenant Lucie Hennebelle receives a quite shocking call: her ex has been struck suddenly and inexplicably blind. And while it was somewhat coincidental that Lucie’s was the number he dialed, she is both willing and able to help.

Ludovic Sénéchal was the first to arrive at the estate sale. This meant he had first pick of ad’s promised 800+ historic film reels. His most exciting purchase, though, is a reel found hidden away on a top shelf. The unlabeled movie is the first thing Ludovic loads onto his projector as soon as he gets home. And it’s the last thing he sees.

Miles away, five horribly disfigured bodies have been discovered at a work site in northern France and Chief Inspector Franck Sharko has been assigned to lend his profiling expertise. While at first the two incidents are seemingly unrelated, an anonymous call indicates otherwise, leaving Hennebelle and Sharko forced to pool resources in order to unravel a bizarre and twisted crime.

Syndrome E is fantastic. The plot is perfectly executed – with just the right amount of tension and twists – and the characters are wonderfully realized. Both Hennebelle and Sharko have great stories, though Sharko and all of his idiosyncrasies make him my own favorite of the two. They’re perfect for driving a series, which is fortunate considering they’ll both return this month in Syndrome E’s follow up, Bred to Kill.

2/15 Becky LeJeune

SYNDROME E by Franck Thilliez. Penguin Books; Reprint edition (April 29, 2014). ISBN: 978-0147509710. 384p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

LEAN IN by Sheryl Sandberg

January 31, 2015

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Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

I don’t read a lot of business type books, but I received an invitation from Random House to host what they were called “an authorless event” around this book, and I took them up on their invitation. They sent me flyers about Lean In, bookmarks and a DVD with a few brief messages from the author, including one geared towards book discussion groups. They also sent me book discussion guides.

After reading the book – which I ripped through in one Sunday afternoon – I could see why there has been so much hype around this book. The title alone, “lean in,” has become part of the vernacular. The book is part memoir, part career advice, and eminently personal. It reads as if Sheryl were there in the room, just having this conversation with you, the reader. She talks about some of the difficulties she’s overcome, and ones she still faces. She talks about her personal life, the “myth of having it all” in which working women seamlessly juggle a career (not just a job), a family, keeping a home, and do it all without any help. She calls BS on that, in her own way, and talks about guilt, the importance of choosing the right partner, and even suggests way to get your partner to do their fair share.

Sheryl’s dream is that half of all executive positions in America will be held by women, and half of the people doing the majority of the parenting will be men. She dreams big, and so far it’s worked for her. She is the first to point out that she is very lucky to be able to afford hired help, and to have such a supportive husband, but even with all her blessings, she still carries guilt around.

She talks about the importance of raising our children to respect leadership and talks about how little girls who show leadership are called “bossy” and little boys who do likewise are encouraged. She talks about why women should “sit at the table” and not fade into the background, why girls should raise their hands and speak up, even when being admonished for doing so, while it is acceptable for boys to do the same thing.  She has facts and figures to show that women are hired or promoted based on their accomplishments, while men are judged on their potential.

One of the more interesting statistics was about how people feel about feminism:

Currently, only 24 percent of women in the U.S. say that they consider themselves feminists. Yet when offered a more specific definition of feminism — “A feminist is someone who believes in social, political, and economic equality of the sexes”– the percentage of women who agree rises to 65 percent.

Frankly, I was surprised that number wasn’t even higher.

This is a well researched book with footnotes that are clearly laid out in more than 30 pages of notes in back, and there is a detailed index as well. Since I mostly read fiction, I forgot how wonderful it is to have an index when you are looking for a quote like the one above. The icing on the cake is that Sandberg founded a women’s empowerment nonprofit, LeanIn.Org.

In my day job, I’m a librarian for the Palm Beach County Library System and I’m the programming librarian at my branch. That means I’m responsible for creating a community oriented variety of programs that will hopefully inspire, educate and entertain, and on a really good day, maybe stimulate some discussion that lasts long after the program ends. I decided to build a program around this book, and my recent Business Women’s Networking and Book Discussion did just that.

I was fortunate to have access to a couple of really good resources, Susan Berger, our Business Librarian, and Sharon Geltner, the Small Business Development Center Certified Business Analyst at Palm Beach State College. Both women have done programs at my library, so I invited them to each speak briefly about the free resources available to businesses in Palm Beach County.

Then it was my turn to facilitate a book discussion of the Sheryl Sandberg book, and it was enlightening and better yet, started the seed of something bigger – a Lean In Circle. This is an inspirational and important book, and I urge anyone who works to read it – both men and women. There is a new edition called Lean In for Graduates, which expands on this book with additional chapters “offering advice on finding and getting the most out of a first job; résumé writing; best interviewing practices; negotiating your salary; listening to your inner voice; owning who you are; and leaning in for millennial men.”

1/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg. Knopf; 1 edition (March 11, 2013). ISBN 978-0385349949. 200p.

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BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman

January 30, 2015

Four years ago something devastating began infecting people around the world. The outbreak was so baffling and odd that at first no one was quite aware of what was happening. People turned on one another – reports of violence in remote areas expanded and spread until those left began barricading themselves indoors. It was a viral madness, the cause of which seemed to be as simple as seeing something so horrible that it drove the viewer insane.

Malorie has lasted this long by living in perpetual blindness. It’s an awful and horrifying existence, one that her two children have only ever known. But Malorie knows they can’t continue like this and decides it’s time to try and move on. To do so means exposing them all to whatever caused this plague of insanity and hoping they can get to their final destination without laying eyes on it.

Josh Malerman’s debut is crazy fabulous. From page one I knew it was going to be unique but quite soon after that I realized it was going to be amazing.

Malorie’s world is cut off. She lived with her sister when the outbreak started, discovering that she was pregnant just as things got really bad. And then she was alone. But she was able to find others. She was able to find a safe haven. And they learned more about what was going on around them. All of this is revealed to the reader as the story progresses. Malerman begins the book with Malorie facing her coming journey with the kids, unfolding the past and present portions of the story through alternating chapters.

As the book progresses, we learn just how strong Malorie is and just how determined she’s had to be to get by this long. It’s a tense and terrifying tale. In fact, Bird Box is one of the outright creepiest horror reads I think I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading.

01/15 Becky LeJeune

Read on for the BookBitch review:

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Malorie is a young mother of two children known simply as Boy and Girl, and she is a survivor living in a post-apocalyptic world, raising her children to use all their senses, especially their listening skills, as sight is not an option here.

In this world, the survivors struggle to stay alive by living indoors with all the windows boarded up; the sight of whatever is outside is causing people to become violent murderers, as well as suicidal, in the most horrific ways possible.

The book moves back and forth over a four year period when all the insanity began, exploring the personalities of the people that came together and survived, and how they managed to live after all ways of communication effectively withered and died with most of the population. It ends with Malorie rowing her children down a river while blindfolded in hopes of taking them to safety.

The characters are interesting, the story moves along very rapidly as the suspense builds, but unfortunately, the ending is a disappointment; the reason for all the bloodshed is never explored or explained. Recommended for readers who enjoy horror and post-apocalyptic fiction.

Copyright ©2014 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

5/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman. Ecco (May 13, 2014). ISBN 978-0062259653. 272p.

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VERONICA MARS: THE THOUSAND DOLLAR TAN LINE by Rob Thomas & Jennifer Graham

January 29, 2015

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It’s Spring Break and Neptune is the place to be. But when a partying coed goes missing, travel plans to the beachside city start to go south… and north. In fact, the Chamber of Commerce is worried that the missing girl and the town’s inept sheriff’s lack of action could be pretty detrimental to the season’s tourist dollars. Out of desperation they turn to Mars Investigations for help.

Business has been slow since Veronica chucked her plans to return to New York City and the chamber’s case is a welcome one. Keith is still recuperating and under orders to take it easy so no matter how much he’d prefer his daughter return to the big city and her potentially big career as a lawyer, even he can’t muster up too much of a fuss in her handling this one. And it’s not like either Mars is going to miss out on a chance to show up Sheriff Lamb.

The Thousand Dollar Tan Line is a solid new installment in the seemingly ever-growing (YAY.) Veronica Mars franchise. The plot is definitely worthy of Mars and sure to please Marshmallows, but newbies will probably want to start with the show before diving into the novels. For one thing, there are the characters’ established histories and the town of Neptune itself to consider. For another, Thousand Dollar Tan Line continues plot lines started in both the series and the movie.

1/15 Becky LeJeune

VERONICA MARS: THE THOUSAND DOLLAR TAN LINE by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham. Vintage (March 25, 2014). ISBN: 978-0804170703. 336p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

THE MARTIAN by Andy Weir

January 28, 2015

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The Ares 3 surface mission to mars was supposed to last thirty-one days. While there, a team of six scientists would live on and study the Red Planet, the third of a projected five missions to Mars. Just six days in, however, Ares 3 is forced to abandon their assignment when an unexpectedly strong storm hits their landing site.

One of them doesn’t make it.

Mark Watney’s crewmates saw him impaled by an errant antenna. They thought he was dead in an instant. They were wrong. Through a freak and fortunate series of coincidences and pure science, Watney lived. But his injury is just the beginning. Now, with very limited resources and no way to contact Ares 3 or NASA, Watney must figure out a way to survive long enough to be rescued.

The Martian is the perfect science fiction read for a mass audience. It’s wholly approachable and highly entertaining. Watney is charming and clever; watching him theorize ways to survive and attempt to put those theories into action is just part of the fun with this book. The other part is believing that it could happen. Weir takes definite care in explaining the science of The Martian in a way that even the most non-science minded reader can swallow. And he does so while keeping the pace of the book constantly moving.

Originally self-published, Weir caught the attention of Crown with his debut, earning him not only a publishing deal, but a movie deal to boot. The Martian is currently under production and set to hit theaters this year with Matt Damon starring in the lead.

1/15 Becky LeJeune

THE MARTIAN by Andy Weir. Broadway Books; Reprint edition (October 28, 2014). ISBN: 978-0553418026. 387p.

2 Comments | Book Reviews, Fiction, Sci-Fi/Fantasy | Permalink
Posted by Stacy Alesi

THE GHOST SHIFT by John Gapper

January 26, 2015
GHOST SHIFT

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John Gapper’s first novel is a riveting express paced book taking us into the world of modern day China.

Song Mei is a young woman who has been taken into the government Commission for Discipline Inspection and been in training to probe political corruption. She is considered a member with a bright future. Out of the blue she is taken to the scene of a police investigation of the death of a young woman and is jolted by the dead girl.

The woman is the exact replica of Song Mei, both in features and body form. Song immediately comes to the inescapable conclusion that the dead girl is related to her since any other explanation would not be creditable. Her superiors tell her to not attempt any investigation of the crime but Song’s every thought is to find out about her and what were the factors causing her death.

The novel takes us into the higher echelons of the party, a connection with the American CIA, the finding of Song’s parents and identifying the dead girl. Action involves a trip to the United States, the investigation of a Chinese manufacturer of electronic control boards and the discovery of an international conspiracy to spy on key figures in both the US and China.

Gapper has created a fascinating young lady about whom another book should be written following her adventures and providing more sleepless nights for his readers. A very well done book by a very promising author.

1/15 Paul Lane

THE GHOST SHIFT by John Gapper. Ballantine Books (January 20, 2015). ISBN: 978-0345527929. 320p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

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