Novel
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This is a Guest Review by Mrs. Sneakyreader
Subtitle: The First in an Unfoogettable Series
Author: Obert Skye
Genre: Young Reader Fantasy (9+)
Rating: **** (4 Stars)
Summary:
Leven Thumps is a fourteen year old orphan living in a trailer home with his aunt and uncle, who don’t really want him around but feel obligated. Unknown to Leven, he lives near a gateway to a magical world called Foo. Foo is threatened by the malevolent Sabine, who, if victorious, will destroy not only Foo, but our world as well.
By Fate, Leven meets three messengers from Foo, who tell Leven about Food, and explain that Leven alone has power to save it from the forces of Sabine.
This is the first of a series of books describing Leven’s efforts to save Foo.
Tags: Brandon Mull, gateway to foo, leven thumps, Novel, Review, Young Reader Fantasy
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This is a Guest Review by Mrs. Sneakyreader.
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Rating: *** (3 Stars)
Summary:
Isabella (“Bella”) Swan is a high school student who moves Arizona to Washington State to live with her father, Charlie. On her first day at her new school, Bella catches a fellow student, Edward Cullen, staring at her. He is in one of her classes, but gives her the cold shoulder and tries unsuccessfully to transfer out of the class, causing Bella to think she has offended him somehow.
Later, Edward pulls Bella out of the path of a speeding car, then saves her from a group of men who are harassing her. They become aware of their mutual attraction and begin spending lots of time together.
Tags: Novel, Review, stephenie meyer, twilight, vampire
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Author: Lee Child
Genre: Thriller, Detective Fiction
Rating: ***** (5 Stars)
Summary:
Jack Reacher is a former military policeman who lost his job to military downsizing. He is living off his severance package and drifting from place to place without much of a plan. On a whim, he gets of a Greyhound bus and walks into the small town of Margrave, Georgia, where he is falsely arrested for murder.
Reacher is interrogated by the town’s only detective, a man named Finlay who formerly worked in Boston. Reacher convinces Finlay of his innocence, and because of his military police background, ends up helping the police department with the case. He learns, to his horror, that the murdered man is his own brother, Joe, who was working for the Treasury Department investigating and prosecuting counterfeiters.
Tags: investigation, jack reacher, killing floor, lee child, Murder, Novel, Thriller
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Author: Michael Connelly
Genre: Detective Fiction
Rating: ***** (5 stars)
Summary:
Terry McCaleb is a former FBI agent, forced to retire by heart disease. While recovering from his heart transplant he is restoring and living on his deceased father’s boat in Long Beach, California.
One day, Terry is visited by a woman who introduces herself as the sister of the woman whose heart now beats in Terry’s chest. Her sister was shot in a convenience store robbery that was never solved, and the surviving sister asks Terry to look into it. Although he is ill, retired, and has no official standing, Terry agrees over his doctor’s objections.
Tags: blood work, michael connelly, Novel, Review
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Author: Stephen King
Genre: Science Fiction/ Horror
Rating: *** (3 Stars)
Summary:
Dreamcatcher reads very much like King’s earlier novel, It, published in 1986. Both books use flashbacks to simultaneously tell two stories involving the same characters. The story begins as a hunting party of four men, friends since childhood, meet a man lost in the Maine woods and suffering from exposure. They take him back to their cabin, where, instead of recovering, the man dies painfully, and gives birth to a large and vicious parasite that has been growing inside him.
At the same time, the Army is responding to reports of UFO sightings, missing hunters, and strange animal behavior. They attack and destroy a crashed alien spacecraft, and quarantine everyone who comes out of the woods.
Tags: dreamcatcher, Novel, Review, Stephen King
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Author: Lawrence Block
Genre: Mystery
Rating: *** (3 Stars)
Summary:
About the Series
In the Midst of Death is one of Lawrence Block’s many Matthew Scudder novels. They tell the story of an ex-police officer turned private investigator, who retired from the police force after the accidental death of a little girl during a shoot-out with two armed robbers. He is also a heavy drinker, although he doesn’t admit that to himself until much later in the series. Although the novels follow a rough chronological progression, they don’t have to be read in order. Each story stands alone, and backstories are briefly described for the benefit of readers who may not be familiar with them.
Tags: in the midst of death, lawrence block, Murder, Novel, Review
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Author: Stephen King
Genre: Action/Adventure
Rating: ***** (5 Stars)
Summary:
The Talisman is a collaborative effort between Stephen King and Peter Straub. It and its sequel, Black House, tell the story of Jack Sawyer, a very special boy who has many magical adventures while saving his mother’s life.
Jack is in his early teens. His father has been killed in a hunting “accident” which later turns out to be murder, and his mother, Lily, a retired actress, is terminally ill with cancer. Morgan Sloat, a business partner of Jack’s father is harassing Lily as part of a scheme to take over the Sawyer family’s share of the business.
Tags: Novel, Review, Stephen King, Talisman
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Author: Stephen King
Genre: Horror
Rating: ***** (5 Stars)
Summary:
It consists of two stories involving the same group of characters. The first story happens when they are children in Derry, Maine, in 1958. The second occurs in 1984, when most of them have moved away, and are highly successful in their careers. Both stories revolve around a monster known simply as “It.” It takes various forms, and can only be seen by children. To some of them, It looks like a clown, others see a werewolf or a giant bird. In almost all cases, the children who meet It are brutally killed.
Tags: book, Horror, It, Novel, Review, Stephen King, Story
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Author: Lawrence Block
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Humor
Subject: Murder
Rating: ***** (5 Stars)
Summary:
The Burglar in the Rye is one of Lawrence Block’s many “Bernie Rhodenbarr” novels, which are set in Manhattan. Bernie is a burglar. Not just any burglar, he is a highly skilled burglar, who prides himself on never leaving any sign of his presence in a home, except for the absence of valuable items of course. In fact, he has nothing but contempt for smash and grab artists who clumsily force their way in, and leave messes in their wake.
Bernie also owns a used bookstore, which he runs during the day. He rarely makes much of a profit, but that’s all right with him. It provides good cover for his real source of income.
Tags: bernie, burglar, burglar who, in the rye, lawrence block, Mystery, Novel, rhodenbarr, Whodunnit
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Author: Jeffrey Archer
Genre: Crime, Humor
Subject: Conning the Con Man
Rating: ***** (5 Stars)
Summary:
Harvey Metcalfe is the son of Polish immigrants to the U.S. Through hard work, ingenuity, and a lack of scruples, he has become quite wealthy, mostly through shady deals and con jobs. The story begins when Harvey pulls off a stock scam that nets him one million dollars from four previously well-off British professionals: James Brigsley, an earl; Stephen Bradley, a mathematics professor at Oxford; Robin Oakley, a private physician; Jean-Pierre Lamanns, an art dealer.
After learning of his financial ruin, Bradley, the professor, contacts the other three victims and persuades them to dine with him. Over dinner, they agree that they are going to take back their money. Each of them is to generate a plan to con Metcalfe out of a portion of the million dollars, with the understanding that they will take only what they have lost, plus expenses.
Tags: con artist, Crime, Humor, Jeffrey Archer, Not a Penny More Not a Penny Less, Novel, revenge
