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Author Margaret Coel was here Monday for a guest post. Today, I'm reviewing the two books in her Catherine McLeod mystery series. (My apologies, these reviews are two days late.)







title: Blood Memory: A Catherine McLeod Mystery

author: Margaret Coel

published: 2008

genre: crime thriller/suspense

pages: 305

source: sent by publisher for review

first line: The August night was perfect.

rated: 3 out of 5 stars







About:

Blood Memory is the first in the Catherine McLeod mystery books by author Margaret Coel.
Catherine is an investigative reporter for a Denver newspaper called the Journal. On one of her nightly routine walks with her golden retriever Rex, Catherine notices she is being followed. Narrowly escaping a brush with death, Catherine becomes involved in a crime investigation and realizes she is being targeted by a hit man. Being an investigative reporter has gotten her plenty of enemies, but she cannot think of anyone who would want to kill her. The hit man himself sends her an email, but it is basically a threat. From page one, Catherine is caught in a cat and mouse chase.



Catherine's rich ex-husband, Lawrence, insists she stay at his secluded family ranch up in the Colorado mountains until they find the man who is after her. Catherine reluctantly agrees. Meanwhile Bustamante, the detective assigned to her case is on the search for her would be assassin.

Catherine realizes there is a connection between her attempted murder and a story involving the Arapaho and Cheyenne Indians.





My thoughts:

Blood Memory is a suspenseful story that had me drawn in. I liked Catherine from the start. She's a strong woman with a mind of her own. The cast of characters is interesting and I was easily taken in by the storyline.



The Arapaho and Cheyenne Indians are involved within the plot and as the story unfolds you get to see how this is all connected to Catherine. This part of the story was a bit boring for me however, especially towards the end. I felt myself not interested in it as much as in the chase between Catherine and her would be assassin.



I liked police detective Nick Bustamante. He's your classic strong hero/good guy trying to save lives. I wanted to see if something would develop between he and Catherine.


I wanted Catherine to kick her ex-husband Lawrence in the 'you know whats'. He's your basic slimy guy who thinks he can get away with anything because he thinks he's entitled.


I also liked that Catherine's Golden Retriever Rex is involved the story, it gave it all a more realistic feel.




Author Margaret Coel wraps the ending up well and gives the story closure.







The Colorado setting was great, author Margaret Coel really makes it a part of the story. I could easily imagine the beautiful mountains and sky as the backdrop to the story.

There were scatterings of gray sagebrush and clusters of old cottonwood tress along the banks of dry creeks. The air smelled of dust and sage and outdoors. The great wall of mountains curved in the distance.
p. 43

Although the Arapaho and Cheyenne Indian aspect of the story dragged a bit for me, I found Blood Memory to be a good start to a suspenseful series.














title: The Perfect Suspect: A Catherine McLeod Mystery

author: Margaret Coel

published: 2011

genre: crime thriller/suspense

pages: 293

source: sent by publisher for review

first line: She never meant to kill him.

rated: 4 out of 5 stars







About:


David Mathews is a candidate running for Governor in Colorado. Journalist Catherine McLeod has been covering his campaign for some time. There are rumors of Mathews infidelities and shady business deals, but nothing has been proven. He and his wife seem to be the perfect couple.



One night Mathews is home alone and opens his front door to find his ex mistress Detective Ryan Beckman there. She insists on coming into his home and tries to convince Mathews the two can work things out.

When he asks her to leave, she shoots him dead. As Ryan leaves the crime scene, another one of Mathews mistresses sees her from outside the house. An eye witness.



Journalist Catherine McLeod is sent to the crime scene the next day to get the scoop. Ironically enough, Detective Ryan Beckman is assigned to the case along with her partner, Martinez.

At this point, Mathews wife is the prime suspect, the murder weapon is even found at her home, planted there by none other than Ryan.



Catherine receives an anonymous phone call from the eye witness/mistress, saying that she saw Detective Ryan Beckman flee the crime scene. She won't give her name or identity, being that she thinks she'll be ridiculed and possibly hauled in for questioning, since she is a private escort. Catherine has a gut feeling that this person is telling the truth and does all she can to prove who the real killer is.





My thoughts:


The Perfect Suspect grabbed me in from the first line and didn't let me go until the final page.
I read this book in one sitting and was really swept into the storyline.



I liked to see that Catherine and Nick (Blood Memory) are together and that she is moving on with her life after what happened in book 1.



The storyline in this one was great and the author does a wonderful job at getting the reader inside the minds of these characters. Detective Ryan Beckman is ironically assigned to a murder case for a crime of passion that she herself commited. She is hell bent on framing Mathews wife. She is also being very careful of what information she divulges, since she's been inside Mathews homes and knows her way around. She is very careful while interviewing suspects and friends of Mathews, even coming across one of his interns who saw the two together and knew of the affair.

Rumors swirled about the candidate-financial improprieties, shady business deals, extramarital affairs. She had never suceeded in running down any of them. They were like a dull throbbing in her head, elusive, maddening and persistent.

p.14

Catherine is on the prowl, trying to get as much information as she can, risking her life in the process.

There is plenty of suspense in this one, and I was really curious to see how it would all end. All in all, a great read and I do recommend this one to fans of this genre or for anyone looking to get swept up in a great thriller.






Overall, Blood Memory and The Perfect Suspect, are both suspenseful entertaining reads and I do recommend them. Although they are part of a series, they can be read as stand alone books.


Out of these two book, I enjoyed The Perfect Suspect more.







Special thanks to Kaitlyn over @ the Penguin Group for making this possible.

title: When No One is Watching

author: Joseph Hayes

genre: political thriller

source: sent by publisher for review

pages: 317

published: 2010

first line: "I love this ride, Dano!"

rated: 5 out of 5 stars

I think that, in the end, we mostly live the kind of life we deserve.

About:

When No One is Watching is a story about family, friendship, betrayal and redemption that had me hooked from the start.




Lawyer Danny Moran is a recovering alcoholic. His supposed best friend and colleague Blair Van Howe, is driving Danny home one night after a work related dinner. Despite being sober for a few months, Danny decided to have a few drinks and is in an alcohol induced stupor completely passed out in the passengers seat of his sports car. Blair is driving Danny's Porsche at full speed when he causes a horrible accident involving a father of two.

Instead of taking the blame himself, Blair gets out of the car, drags a passed out Danny over to the driver's seat and leaves the accident scene. Blair is running for Congress and cannot afford a scandal that will ruin his political career.
At this point, he doesn't know whether the innocent victim survived the crash or not, but Blair frames Danny for the accident.





When Danny awakens he finds himself in the midst of a horrible car crash and is being arrested for drunk driving and possible manslaughter. Danny cannot remember how he got into the drivers seat, since he never drove drunk before. Meanwhile Blair is home trying to cover up his tracks. He involves his wife and his father in law, who is a well known and politician, as dirty as he is.


Detective Vic Slazak arrives at the gruesome scene. He is assigned to the case, that seems like a regular DWI, yet he can't shake the nagging feeling that something is not right. He begins to investigate even further in search of the truth. Plenty of obstacles are curiously put in the way of his investigation, and Slazak realizes there are some powerful people who do not want him to uncover what really happened.




Riddled with guilt and humiliation, Danny spirals downward and continues to drink heavily, losing his wife and breaking his own family apart in the process. Never giving up hope, Danny tries to beat his alcoholism and redeem himself. He doesn't even blame Blair or hold grudges, although Blair dissappeared from Danny's life shortly after the crash.



A decade passes and Blair is now running for President of the United States, but there is always that small chance that his past lies will be uncovered.










My thoughts:

While reading When No One is Watching I really got swept into the story as author Joseph Hayes took me for a emotional and thrilling ride.



Blair Van Howe frames his best friend for a crime he committed himself then tries to console Danny after the fact. He seems like your everyday average Joe, yet he has it in him to do this horrible thing. After everything is said and done, Blair feels remorse for his actions, yet he lets Danny take the rap, almost ruining his life.



I rooted for Danny Moran from page one. His addiction makes him vulnerable and he is really a good guy battling his personal demons, even visiting the victims family to apologize for his supposed drunk driving. The supporting characters in this book were well written and the relationship between Danny and his 17 year old daughter seemed real to me, tugging at my heartstrings. I chocked up during one scene where Danny was home alone and drunk watching Blair on the television. He was cheering Blair on loudly.



Detective Slazak was a great character as well. I was sure that he would uncover the truth and set Danny free from his guilt and shame. He was on a mission to set things right, even a decade later.



If you're in the mood for a political thriller dealing with issues of morality, betrayal and family, I recommend When No One is Watching. The author creates multi-faceted characters with an interesting storyline, which in turn make for a thought provoking and emotional read.


You often hear the advice that writers should 'write what they know'. Which is what author and lawyer Joseph Hayes does here. And it really works well. This will be on my top reads for 2011.

















about the author:

Since obtaining his law degree from Berkeley, Joseph Hayes has practiced law in Chicago, San Diego and Houston. He currently serves the chief ethics officer for a Fortune 1000 company. Hayes resides in The Woodlands, Texas, with his wife, Susan, and their three children.

Jillian asked if I'd post my favorite horror novels. I can never resist an invitation to discuss one of my favorite genres. Here they are, my favorite horror/thrilling reads listed in no particular order. These are the books that kept me up late at night wondering what that mysterious 'noise' was in the kitchen. These are also the books that made me afraid to go down to my basement alone. I read these wide eyed, biting my nails.



None of these are for the faint of heart.







10. The Ruins by Scott Smith


I randomly got this one at a library sale for 25cents. It's one of the scariest books I have ever read. Four young American tourist couples are vacationing in Cancun Mexico. They wind up going deep into the jungle and stumbling upon ancient ruins. Little do they know, the horror that awaits them once they set foot on these ruins. This one was fast paced and scary with no chapter breaks in between.











9. Misery


Retired psycho nurse Annie Wilkes 'rescues' her favorite author Paul Sheldon from a car crash and nurses him back to health in her home.
Remember the hobbling scene in the film? When she hobbles Paul in the book, it's much worse.











8. Heart Shaped Box


The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Stephen Kings's son seems to have inherited his fathers gift of telling a good scary story.


Famous musician Judas Coyne collects rare and grotesque items.
When his personal assistant tells him there is a ghost for sale on the internet, Jude buys it for $1000.00. The package arrives at his door, it is a black heart-shaped box, inside is a suit belonging to a dead man. Jude just puts the box away in his closet and forgets about it until one day he sees an old man in his home, wearing the suit. Sound creepy? It is.











7. Heartsick by Chelsea Cain

This books villain is Gretchen Lowell, a female serial killer.
Gretchen is the female version of Hannibal Lecter, minus the cannibalism. This is one of the best female villains I've read. The relationship between Gretchen and the detective on the case is intriguing to say the least.













6. The Taking by Dean Koontz

When a married couple living in a small town awakens one morning to a soft rain that just doesn't seem right, they soon realize there is an odd weather phenomena across the world. Before they know it, power lines are down, a strange fog has taken over and the townspeople get together in hopes of finding out what is going on. This is an end-of-the-world story that will send chills down your spine. One of my favorite Koontz reads.















5. The Shining

(see a recurring S.K. theme here?)



Recovering alcoholic Jack Torrence, takes the job of caretaker of the 'Overlook Hotel' for a few months in the winter. His family will be in complete isolation in the hotel with no quick way to leave and barely any contact with the outside world. Once the snow falls they will be stranded. This hotel is located in Colorado and is famous for housing some famous people. It's also known for a triple murder/suicide that occurred there from the previous caretaker who suffered from 'cabin fever'.
Just the idea of being isolated during a blizzard in a haunted hotel with someone who is slowly going insane is terrifying.













4. Interview With the Vampire
Beautifully written and dramatic. Anne Rice's vampires are deliciously wicked, gorgeous and flamboyant.



I developed a crush on the vampire Louis while reading. This one has a child vampire within the story, Claudia, that really creeped me out.
The New Orleans setting was great, the story was better, and some of the vampires have a touch of humanity that makes you root for them.










3. Salem's Lot

Stephen King's vampires scared me to bits. Again, King makes the story believable.
Writer Ben Mears returns to the town he was born Jerusalem's Lot in Maine.
He wants to write a book about an abandoned mansion in town called the Marsten House which is now inhabited by a vampire. Little by little, the townspeople are all becoming vampires.








2. Undone by Karin Slaughter

I had to include Undone on my list. This book has everything a good crime thriller should have. A sadistic serial killer, complex characters and plot twists and turns.
This one had me on the edge of my seat while reading, I was unable to put it down.














1. Pet Sematary

This is the scariest book I have ever read.
With a horrifying plot and well written characters Pet Sematary had me hooked from the start. S.K. makes this story almost believable, I think that's what makes it so terrifying. Turning the pages felt scary to me, I feared what was next while reading this book, but I just couldn't stop reading.
I don't know which was worse, the grave robbing or the creepy Zelda.




Those are some of my favorite scary reads. As the years go by, I hope to add plenty more to the list.

Have you read any of these? Can you recommend any scary reads?

title: The Shepherd

author: Ethan Cross


genre: crime thriller

publish date: available March 16, 2011

pages: 326

source: ARC/sent for review by author

first line: Jim Morgan watched as reflections of the patrol car's flashing lights danced across the front window of the remote gas station.

rated: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars








Marcus Williams and Francis Ackerman Jr. both have a talent for hurting people. Marcus, a former New York City homicide detective, uses his abilities to protect others, while Ackerman uses his gifts to inflict pain and suffering. When both men become unwilling pawns in a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of our government, Marcus finds himself in a deadly game of cat and mouse trapped between a twisted psychopath and a vigilante with seemingly unlimited resources. Aided by a rogue FBI agent and the vigilante’s beautiful daughter -a woman with whom he’s quickly falling in love- Marcus must expose the deadly political conspiracy and confront his past while hunting down one of the most cunning and ruthless killers in the world.




When author Ethan Cross contacted me about a possible book review, I jumped at the opportunity. Now, after reading his book, I am very glad I did. The Shepherd is a thrill ride that takes off from page one, with plenty of twists and turns that do not come to a halt until the final page. Once I started reading, I really couldn't put this book down. I found myself reading it while doing everyday things like sitting at my kitchen table having my breakfast or sitting in my car waiting for my kids to get out of school.



About the book:


Marcus Williams is a former NYC homicide detective with a haunted past. After wanting to leave that life behind him, Marcus moves to a small town in Texas where he inherited a ranch from his late aunt.


On his first day in town he meets and helps Maggie, the Sheriff's daughter, out of a dangerous situation. Soon enough he meets the town Sherriff who informs Marcus about a killer on the loose.




There is a serial killer named Francis Ackerman Jr. who has escaped from a mental hospital and has been on a murder spree. Suffering at the hands of his demented father as a child, Ackerman was almost 'trained' to become the monster that he now is.



His latest victim happens to be a woman named Maureen Hill, Marcus' neighbor. When Marcus stumbles upon the gruesome crime scene, he soon becomes a suspect and finds himself having to run for his own life.



What ensues is a hunt for the serial killer with a conspiracy that spreads further than Marcus could possibly have imagined. Marcus does not know who he can trust or if he will be able to stop Ackerman and save innocent people, let alone clear his own name in the process.

The book's storyline goes from Marcus to Ackerman and ends with the two finally facing off, good vs. evil.





I liked Marcus from the get go, he's your everyday good guy. I wanted things to turn out alright for him. He was going through personal struggles due to his past actions and often questioned himself.



Ackerman was very creepy, especially the way he would play mind games with his victims often giving them false hopes of escaping. This is the type of villain that will give you nightmares.



Author Ethan Cross keeps the story going at full speed until the final page. This one has a shock ending that really took me for surprise.

He also creates interesting characters, each with a story of their own and as you read you get a sense of the rhyme and reason behind their actions.




I get a kick out of reading books where the characters visit places or talk about places that I'm familiar with.
Early on in the story, Marcus remembers how he loves the red velvet cupcakes at The Magnolia Bakery in NYC. I giggled at that one, since going to Magnolia's for their awesome cupcakes is my yearly birthday tradition.




Reminiscent of Dean Koontz, who is a favorite of mine, Ethan Cross' writing had me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. Well written and full of action, I really enjoyed this one.

Highly recommended for fans of this genre or for anyone looking for a thrilling read. The Shepherd is the first book in a series of thrillers. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the next book in this series.

"We're two sides of the same coin. So you see, Marcus, I am the darkness, but you...you are the light."

p.233, The Shepherd

Special thanks to the author for this opportunity. Stay tuned, author Ethan Cross will be stopping by my blog on March 8th for a guest post!




Visit the author's website here: http://www.ethancross.com/

You can find out more about the author and his book.

title: The Broken Parachute Man: A Novel of Medical Intrigue

author: Robert Bolin

pages: 292

genre: fiction

published: 2008

first line: I've always wanted to be what I am not.

rated: 3 out of 3





Clyde Young works for a pharmaceutical company and is aboard a plane on his way to make a presentation for work. While aboard, terrorists hijack the plane and Clyde winds up being thrown out of the plane, and using a parachute that barely works, he manages to land and survive the fall.



The scenes were Clyde is trying to survive in the wilderness were interesting but I did find it completely unbelieveable that he survived falling out of the plane to begin with. He also doesn't seem like the kind of person to survive such extreme weather and conditions. He's overweight and over fifty years old. And there's nothing wrong with overweight 50 year olds, but for this character to survive falling out of a plane, only to be stranded for weeks in the middle of the wilderness in snowy Idaho is highly unlikely if not impossible. Plus, he's only wearing a business suit and has no snow gear at all. He loses most of his fingers and toes due to frostbite and is even stalked by hungry wolves at one point, he survives that also. Once Spring arrives, he is able to make it down the mountain and is found by snowmobile riders who take him into town. No one believes Clydes story, and he is even suspected of being one of the terrorists. He then makes his way to Las Vegas, meets a few interesting characters and begins to investigate why all this has happened to him. As he is trying to find answers, Clyde discovers that his employer has created a drug that has deadly side effects. He knows he must expose them before its too late.







So as I said, if you are willing to believe anything can happen, then you will enjoy this book. I thought it was an okay read, I just need my books to be somewhat believeable, even if they are fiction. I wouldn't count out reading anymore Robert B. Bolin books, this book was interesting enough to keep me reading. My one big bother with it was its lack of belief.






Special thanks to Elizabeth McCurry over at http://www.phenixpublicity.com/ for sending me this book.

This book has also been reviewed by: Debbie and Cheryl


About the author:

Robert B. Bolin, M.D. is a hematologist and oncologist for the Skylakes Medical Center. He holds a Bachelor of Science from The College of Idaho and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Colorado. Bolin currently resides in Klamath Falls, Ore., and is working on his third novel, The Pepperbox Diary, which is a
historic look at the prejudices miners faced in early 1900s. For more information, please visit http://www.robertbolin.com/.

title: Heartsick

author: Chelsea Cain

genre: thriller/suspense

published: 2007

pages: 324

first line: Archie doesn't know for sure that it's her until that moment.

rated: 4 out of 5







Heartsick is one of the many books I have discovered through blogging friends recommendations. What can I say about this book? It was really good. Heartsick had me hooked from the start and had me cringing from chapter one.
This did remind me of The Silence of the Lambs.





While working on 'The Beauty Killer' case, detective Archie Sheridan is taken by the same killer he was searching for, Gretchen Lowell. She tortured him for 10 days.
Gretchen left Archie with her signature, a scar on his chest, shaped like a heart....after breaking his ribs with a hammer and nail, among other things. I told you, this book made me cringe. So naturally, Archie is forever psychologically scarred after his encounter with Gretchen. After torturing him, remarkably, Gretchen calls 911 and turns herself in, and ironically, saves Archies life as well. She is now in prison serving a life sentence.


Archie has left the force, become estranged from his wife and is addicted to pain killers. Only now, there is another serial killer on the loose, and his old boss wants Archie's help.

Archie was high. He stood at the river's edge, hands in his pockets, a fine mist of rain settling on his shoulders. One of these days, he was going to get one of those waterproof jackets everyone kept recommending. It was nearly two o'clock in the morning. But he wasn't tired. The right does of Vicodin kept him in a state of perpetual in-between. Not tired, not awake. It wasn't such a bad state of mind once you got used to it.

Archie agrees to come back to work. This new serial killer is dubbed 'The After School Strangler', and as Archie works on the case, he is being profiled by journalist Susan Ward. Susan has her own personal demons to battle. She starts to spend time with Archie during the investigation and tries to learn more about him, in order to write articles on the case for the newspaper.





As the story unfolds, the reader gets flashbacks, seeing a glimpse of what was happening to Archie while he was held captive by Gretchen.





I really enjoyed this book, I found Gretchen to be the creepiest characters i've ever read. I liked reading about Archie and Gretchen more than the other characters, I really wanted to see what was going on with them. He has such an odd fascination with her. And what she did to him made me cringe...yikes!



They have such a twisted relationship, even at the end, I didn't fully understand it. I liked Archies character, you can't help but feel bad for him. I liked Susan too, there's more to her than you think. The storyline was good and so was the ending. Gretchen is a female Hannibal Lecter, minus the cannibalism. She also reminded me a bit of psycho nurse, Annie Wilkes in Stephen King's 'Misery'.



If you are looking for a good, creepy thriller, pick up a copy of Heartsick. You won't be dissapointed. However, this one is not for the faint of heart.



Heartsick has a sequel! It's called 'Sweetheart', and yes, I will be reading that one too.




About the author:

Chelsea Cain lived the first few years of her life on an Iowa commune, then grew up in Bellingham, Washington, where the infamous Green River killer was "the boogeyman" of her youth. Her first novel featuring Detective Archie Sheridan and killer Gretchen Lowell, Heartsick, was a New York Times bestseller. Also the author of Confessions of a Teenage Sleuth, a parody based on the life of Nancy Drew, several nonfiction titles, and a weekly column in The Oregonian, Chelsea Cain lives in Portland with her family.

this book has also been reviewed by the following: (let me know if you have reviewed it too, i'll link you here)

ladytink

cheryl


melody

title: First Daughter

author: Eric Van Lustbader

pages: 400

genre: thriller

first line: 'Alli Carson sat in the back of the armor-plated limo, sandwiched between Sam and Nina, her Secret Service detail.'

published: 2008

rated: 3 1/2 out of 5












This is my first time reading a book like this. I'd been wanting to read a good political thriller.



Alli Carson, the daughter of President Elect Edward Carson, is kidnapped a few weeks before the Presidential inauguration.
Agent Jack McClure is assigned to help find her. Jack is dyslexic and the way his brain works, he is able to pick up on details the average person wouldn't. Jack has a personal connection to this case, his daughter Emma was Alli's best friend and roommate in college. Emma died in a car crash and Jack has never recovered from losing his daughter.



Now Jack is in a cat and mouse chase, trying to find Alli and the man who kidnapped her.




It took me about 60 pages in, to get really hooked. Eric Van Lustbader uses flashbacks in the storytelling, which I don't usually enjoy, but once I got used to this, the storyline was pretty good.
He also writes the story from different characters perspectives, so there is alot going on in this book.



I liked Jack. You get to see into his past. He comes from an abusive home, and he's been through so much hurt and he's survived it all, that you can't help but like his character.

'He was powerless to stop his thoughts moving toward Emma. His longing to talk with his daughter, so that she could spread the balm of forgiveness over him, brought tears to his eyes. His hands shook.

He was like an alcoholic with a bottle to his mouth. Every fiber in his being ached for the chance to say he was sorry, to tell Emma how much he loved her. Why was it, he asked himself despairingly, that he could acknowledge his love for her only now, when it was too late? '

I also liked reading the story from Ali and her kidnapper's point of views. He is very creepy and the way he is brainwashing her was scary. The way Ali begins to think and the things she doesn't know about her kidnapper made the storyline very interesting.




The one thing I didn't like about this book was that the current president, who remains unnamed throughout, was too strange for me. He was this religious fanatic who uses religion as a basis for all his decisions. He just became too annoying and while I read about him, I grew easily bored with the story. I found myself at time just kind of *rolling my eyes* and wondering 'What the heck?' I think if this character wasn't such a fanatic and constantly talking about religion and how athiests rule the world, this would have been a 4 star read for me.



All in all, this is a good read. Especially if you're looking to read a decent thriller.





about the author:

Eric Van Lustbader is the author of more than 25 international bestsellers, including The Testament and the three most recent Jason Bourne novels: The Bourne Legacy, The Bourne Betrayal and The Bourne Sanction. His books have been translated into over 20 languages. He and his wife, author Victoria Lustbader, live in New York City and Long Island.

Special thanks to j.kaye for sending me this book to read & review. Visit her blog for details on how to become a guest reviewer.