DEAR STEPHEN KING

Dear Stephen King,

First and foremost, I'd like to say how very much I enjoyed your new book, FINDERS KEEPERS.  In this latest thriller, Bellamy is the perfect creepy fan of  John Rothstein, while Pete Saubers is portrayed as a nicely obsessive one.  Black and white hats and who will win?   Certainly not Rothstein.

What can I say about your books overall that you haven't already heard, except that I've loved almost all of them.  You were the first (and only) author I ever wrote to and that was way back in the early '80s;  just to compliment you and ask you to write faster.  I never heard back from you but I didn't expect to.   I love books and I love reading and your books are always at the top of my list.

Sometimes an author writes something that just zings to my heart and forces me to share the thought with friends.  FINDERS KEEPERS had that special paragraph that felt like it was written just for me.  To wit, "

"For readers, one of life's most electrifying discoveries is that they are readers--not just capable of doing it, but in love with it.  Hopelessly.  Head over heels.  The first book that does that is never forgotten, and each page seems to bring a fresh revelation, one that burns and exalts:  Yes!  That's how it is!  Yes!  I saw that, too!  And, of course, That's what I think!  That's what I FEEL!"  

ZING!  And I immediately knew what the book was that made me fall in love!  GOOFY MRS. GOOSE by Miriam Clark Potter.  It's also the reason I make yearly donations to the Newark Public Library.

My family never had any money, so there weren't going to be any summer camps or outings in our future.  On the first day of summer vacation from school, my brother and I took a friend's little red wagon to the branch library on Bergen Street in Newark, New Jersey.  I was about seven years' old and Bob was probably nine.  The very kind librarian told us we could each take ten books for the summer.  HA!  What did she know??!!  One of the books I borrowed was GOOFY MRS. GOOSE.  That was it!  I was hooked!  These weren't nicely colored Golden Books.  These were black and white with illustrations by the author, with more words than drawings, but Ms. Potter unlocked a whole new life for me!  One that used my imagination!  I raced through all ten books in a week, as did my brother, and off we headed to return our allotment and borrow more.

The librarian was fairly shocked that we returned so quickly, but I just had to get more of Mrs. Goose and her friends.  Three-Ducks, Mrs. Squirrel, Black Cat and Old Lady Owl, just to name a few.  Oh my, I felt like I had just discovered my new family!  A beautiful family who always helped Goofy Mrs. Goose out of her latest quandary with kindness and humor.  I could escape my own family's poverty, arguments and unhappiness and spend my time in Animaltown that summer.  And so, I was hooked on Mrs. Goose, but even more hooked on reading, and I have spent the better part of the last sixty years doing just that!

I'm now the proud owner of ten of the MRS. GOOSE series written by Ms. Potter.  They're in fair to miserable condition being library castoffs for the most part. But to me they are my prized possessions!

So, thank you, Mr. King, for reaching my heart and reminding me why I started this blog in the first place.  It's been my great pleasure to spend time with your books over the years.

Very truly yours, A Constant Reader

ISBN:  978-1501100079  
Pub. Date - June 2, 2015
448 pages
Hardcover and eBook       

THE VAULT - An Inspector Wexford Novel

by Ruth Rendell - to be released late September 2011

When four bodies are discovered  in an underground chamber below a London house, local detectives are unable to solve the case.  The police elicit the aid of retired Chief Inspector Wexford to help solve the mystery.

Reginald Wexford and his wife Dora are splitting their time between a guest house on their daughtter's property in Hampstead and their own home in Kingsmarkham.  Still adjusting to retirement, Wexford is more than happy to assist the local police.

Despite trying not to step on  Det. Superintendent Tom Ede's toes, Wexford finds himself more and more intrigued by this new case.  No one seems to know when the door from the inside of the home to the basement was covered over, but it's a major link to the timeline for when the bodies became entombed.  It adds to the puzzle when it's determined that one of the bodies has been underground in the vault for a much shorter time.

Wexford and his wife are also dealing with a major family drama and his daughter and grandchildren have taken over their home in Kingsmarkham.

While Rendell has a huge fan base, I found THE VAULT to be quite slow and plodding and lacking excitement.

ISBN978-1-4516-2408-3
288 Pages
To be released later in September 2011
Hardcover and eBook

SPIDER BONES - Temperance Brennan Series No. 13

by Kathy Reichs - available in hardcover

Dr. Brennan, a forensic anthropologist, is called to investigate a floater in Montreal who appears to have died during a weird sex act.  Once the victim is identified from his fingerprints as John Lowery, nothing makes sense because Lowery was declared dead in 1968 while on duty with the U.S. Army in Vietnam. 

Temperance is teamed up with her old flame, Detective Andrew Ryan in her quest to figure out who was buried in Lowery's grave in North Carolina.  Working with JPAC, the U.S. military Joint POW/MIA Command, they're trying to identify the remains as even more body parts turn up in Hawaii that appear to be related to the search for the unknown person buried in North Carolina.  Reichs keep switching victims' identities; first the floater found is Lowery, then he's not, then he is again.  Add to the mix a Samoan gang and the unwillingingness of John's father to help in the investigation for entirely different reasons and the plot just gets muddier. 

Reichs' novel sent me to the internet to research JPAC.  This group is still working valiantly to identify the remains of fallen soldiers from past wars so that their families will finally have closure and the soldiers can have proper burials. 

The one bright spot in SPIDER BONES is Reichs' main character.  Usually so rigid, in this thirteenth of the Brennan series, it's nice to see that Temperance is finally loosening up, showing a little more humor and using a little more profanity.  But overall, this is a winding, confusing tale that only the most dedicated Reichs' fans will enjoy. 

DEVILS IN EXILE

By Chuck Hogan - just released in hardcover

In Chuck Hogan's newest, the main character, Neil Maven, has returned from his tour of service in Iraq with incredible skills but none that translate into a decent job stateside. Having no family and no connections, he works at menial jobs while trying to figure out his life. Circumstances bring him together with an old high school crush as well as a group of vets fighting another war; the war on drugs in Boston. I enjoyed reading their strategies and successes in ripping off high-level drug dealers. (Our legislators could take a page from Mr. Hogan's book.)

As in most thrillers, nothing postive is without a downside and that's true with Devils in Exile. To the author's credit, not everything turns up roses which makes this an even more believable story. Good book!