GONE

by Mo Hayder - to be released in February 2011

Det. Jack Caffery is called out for a carjacking case when he discovers there was an eleven year old girl in the car at the time. With very few leads, he and his team are doing everything possible to find young Martha when there's another carjacking and this one also includes a young girl.

Police diver Flea Marley has had some serious problems which led to an estrangement from Jack. Because of her lack of leadership Flea's group has become disorganized and disjointed. Pulling herself and her team together, they start their own investigation into the carjackings hoping to not only find the missing girls but to also prove their dedication and improve her team's reputation.

When the "jacker" starts sending notes to the families of the missing girls the police realize this is a much different crime. As they find themselves racing to try to rescue the girls as well as prevent more kidnappings, they realize that the kidnapper knows exactly what they're doing and what their next moves will be. Caffery finds himself even more emotionally involved with the families because of the disappearance of his brother many years ago.

Since I had never read anything by Ms. Hayder before, it felt like this was a sequel to another of her books and that the background between Jack and Flea was missing. It took quite a while for all of the bits and pieces of the cause of the tension between them to surface, which made the story drag a little.

I liked this book and I enjoyed reading it but I'd recommend that you start with the previous Mo Hayder book so that you'd have the proper background for the protagonists' relationships.

A STRANGER LIKE YOU

by Elizabeth Brundage - available in bookstores

Hugh Waters is a mess. Unhappily married and working at a dead end job as an insurance underwriter in New Jersey, Hugh Waters suddenly had a bright future; Gladiator Films bought his screenplay for enough money to fuel his fantasies of a better life. But just as quickly, everything changed for the worse for Hugh when the executive producer passed away and was replaced by Hedda Chase. Chase has decided she's finished with violent and sexist movie scripts and axes Hugh's script, sending him a vitriolic letter that sends him into a tailspin.

After Waters receives Chase's missive, he travels from New Jersey to LA to confront her and prove her wrong. Not getting the response he wants, he acts out his screenplay by kidnapping Hedda, locking her in the trunk of her car and leaving her at LAX long term parking with the keys in the ignition and walks away leaving her to chance.

Reminiscent of the movie "CRASH", Brundage weaves narratives by Waters, Chase, a teenage runaway and a troubled young soldier just home from Iraq and working as a parking lot attendant at LAX. While you hold your breath waiting to find out Hedda's fate, Hugh insinuates himself into her life and social circle.

The novel explodes when the characters intersect in this terrific and quirky thriller. I'll definitely be reading Brundage's previous books.

THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS

By Rebecca Skloot - available in bookstores

Harry S. Truman was President in 1951 when Henrietta Lacks died, but her cells and her legacy live on today. Known for years only as HeLa, the first "immortal" human cells grown in culture that continue to grow today. They have been and still are a vital medical research tool. For most of the past 60 years, scientists never even knew the real name of the woman whose cells sparked a spate of research in both the medical and pharmaceutical fields.

A poor, unassuming and uneducated woman, Mrs. Lacks was treated in the Colored Only Section of Johns Hopkins University Hospital. Her husband and family never even understood just what lived on after her death; believing that a part of Henrietta had actually been kept alive. Her cells were used for wide ranging medical research over decades including polio research in the '50s, the effects of the Atom bomb, cloning, gene mapping and testing for the HPV (papilloma virus) vaccine, the first ever cancer vaccine that was approved in 2006, just to name a few.

Add the civil rights struggle to this blend of science and personal information about Mrs. Lacks in Ms. Skloot's fascinating book. The very real human debate in the book centers on the untold millions made from HeLa research and the abject poverty her family faced. Her children were continually tested by researchers, even as they continued to live in poverty and ironically, without medical insurance. Mrs. Lack's legacy is heroic on so many levels, yet she rested for decades in an unmarked grave in her hometown.

Ms. Skloot has written an amazing and thought provoking book that I thoroughly enjoyed and I highly recommend THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS.

THE THINGS THAT KEEP US HERE

by Carla Buckley - available in bookstores

Ann and Peter Brooks are just a regular unhappily married couple with two children. Newly separated, Ann is an art teacher at her daughters' school and Peter is a university researcher working on an NIH grant.

Peter quickly discovers a virulent strain of avian flu that has begun to spread throughout the United States. Called H5N1, this deadliest form of bird flu kills fifty percent of those infected. The ensuing change in the landscape of every part of life is frightening. Schools are closed and all public gatherings suspended. People are urged to stay indoors in their own homes. Gasoline and food are quickly in short supply as people begin to hoard what they can and fight over what they need. A weeks' long power outage following a winter storm makes everything even more difficult, compounding the isolation and fear. Peter is forced to return to the family home with his research assistant whom Ann fears is his lover.

I don't know why, but I love disaster books and movies. I enjoyed THE THINGS THAT KEEP US HERE even though it's more women's fiction than science fiction. The author's depictions of the growing crisis and Ann's insistence on trying to keep at least a semblance of normality for her daughters are good. Her characterizations are not as strong, but all in all it was a nice book to read.

OUTSIDE THE ORDINARY WORLD

by Dori Ostermiller - in bookstores now

Sylvia Sandon and her sister Allison grew up in California in the '70s in a home filled with lies and deceit. Their mother's long-term affair threatened their stability throughout their childhood. The last thing Silvia ever wanted was to be like her mother.

Fast forward to a grown up Sylvia, married with her own family and living in New England with a very distant relationship with her mother, both emotionally and geographically. An artist, she finds herself unable to focus on her art, except for the portraits she commissions to keep her family above water financially. Her husband, Nathan, is completely obsessed with renovating the county home they bought almost ten years ago while the family continues to live in a rental. His time and their money are invested in the house while Sylvia's discontent grows.

It seems that history is repeating itself when Sylvia's daughter discovers her mother's attraction to Tai Rosen, a local landscape designer. Sylvia finds herself in a struggle to balance her own happiness with the needs of her children and the future of her family.

OUTSIDE THE ORDINARY WORLD is nice women's fiction.

MOTHERS AND OTHER LIARS

by Amy Bourret - available in bookstores now

Nineteen year old Ruby Leander was leaving Oklahoma for California following her grandmother's funeral. Stopping at a rest stop changed Ruby's life forever when she discovered an abandoned infant.

Nine years later, Ruby is now living in New Mexico with her daughter, Lark, and dating Chaz, a local policeman. A nail technician, Ruby sees a magazine article with a photo of a missing infant that can only be Lark and the parents who have been searching for her for almost a decade. Shocked, scared and unsure what to do, Ruby's decision is taken out of her hands when Lark discovers the article in Ruby's purse.

Ruby's consults an attorney in her quest to do the right thing, even though she can't imagine life without Lark. Complicating matters, she discovers that she is pregnant with Chaz' child.

Ms. Bourret's novel was a delight to read with good characters and strong writing until she injected a ridiculous plot line worthy of King Solomon in the Old Testament.

Downhill from there; you should skip this one.

THE HANDMAID'S TALE

I've never turned a book review into Lynn's Chatter, but THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood affected me so much that I really had to do more than just a review. Available in paperback, it was first published in 1985. It's a feminist dystopian novel set in the near future. The U.S. Government has been overthrown and everyone is now living in a totalitarian theocracy. My blog entry isn't meant as an indictment of any religion; like some of the internet jokes currently being passed around, this blog entry contains something that can offend everyone.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I wasn't fully aware of burkhas until the tragedy of 9/11. As with most of us, I'm able to live my daily life without the specter of that awful day. However, every September my thoughts turn to that event and I realized recently that I have become more aware of people wearing burkhas. I honestly don't remember seeing them before, but now they're popping up in the most unexpected places; in the center of Morristown, NJ and in many smaller U.S. towns.

I've thought about how insidious are the lives of the women forced to live with rules that don't allow for any individuality or personal freedoms of which burkhas are just the outward symbol....a symbol of lost hope and repression based on religious practices. I've tried to imagine how that could ever happen in our country, a country filled with strong, resourceful women, most of whom enjoy more freedoms and protection under the law than at any other time in our history. I can't picture the women of Mendham, NJ succumbing to such restraints, or the women in New York City. A number of years ago, the black wife of a friend of ours responded very loudly to something she found objectionable at a school board candidates' debate. Imagining this woman, Joyce, being told she couldn't go out in public without this imprisoning garment, own property, show off her wonderful dreadlocks or even read a book and be completely under the control of her husband and the government. All that comes to mind is, "Yo, WHAT??!!", her response that long ago day.

THE HANDMAID'S TALE is not a new book, having been published in 1985. Sometimes I am just resistant to reading what everyone else is reading until long after it's popular; for this same reason I can't currently bring myself to read "Eat, Pray, Love". I finally read this very intense and disturbing book by Margaret Atwood and I'm glad I waited. Ms. Atwood's tale is almost a blueprint of how severe changes to our very existence could actually occur. It's a good lesson for us to all protect the freedoms we do have and reminds us to not be so quick to jump on the bandwagon of anything that lessens any one else's personal freedom. Just as women all lost their jobs and access to any of their finances and basically became chattel of the men in society in THE HANDMAID'S TALE whether they were wives, handmaids or Marthas you could just imagine how quickly it could happen.

Many religions have restrictive covenants for women. Before some orders of Catholic nuns became more secular, most if not all were enrobed in garments very similar to burkhas. They were not allowed to adorn themselves with makeup and trinkets, took vows of chastity and poverty and in the more restrictive convents, took vows of silence. They lived very basic lives and their rooms actually resembled the rooms of the handmaids described in Ms. Atwood's book. But the difference was that most of these women had a CHOICE to become a nun and live such spare lives, following their own religious beliefs. It wasn't foisted upon the entire population of women who were practicing Catholics.

This is not to say that all women who wear burkhas don't want to. Some wish to modify their lives because of their religion, but just as in Margaret Atwood's tale the key that is missing and is so alarming is CHOICE.

Perhaps the women in Islamic countries didn't notice or become alarmed by the small changes in their lives. Maybe they didn't realize just how desperately things were changing until one day they found themselves swaddled in burkhas.

As you can see, THE HANDMAID'S TALE is a powerful and frightening book and if you haven't read it, you should.

INSIDE OUT

by Barry Eisler - available in bookstores

Ninety-two classified CIA torture tapes are missing, stolen by Daniel Larison, a former black ops operator who is blackmailing the government. Meanwhile, black ops soldier Ben Treven is in a Manila jail after a deadly bar fight. He's visited by his former commander, Col. Scott Horton, who can get him released if he's willing to find and kill Daniel Larison and recover the tapes. The biggest concern is keeping even the knowledge of the tapes from the media and the public.

Ben's not the only one on a quest for the missing tapes, pitting him against the CIA, mercenaries and even the White House. He's matched step by step in his search by Paula Lanier, an FBI agent. Who will get to them first and who in the government is trying to keep this all quiet for their own reasons?

A former member of the CIA, Eisler has written a fast paced, and believable scenario reminiscent of the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up. You'll enjoy this one!

LAW OF ATTRACTION

by Allison Leotta - to be released in October 2010

Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna Curtis works domestic violence in Washington, D.C. She's trying to convince her newest client, Laprea Johnson, to finally make the abuse charges stick against her boyfriend. Anna is shocked to learn that her own boyfriend, Public Defender Nick Wagner, is representing D'Marco Davis, the accused.

When Laprea lies on the stand to protect D'Marco and then turns up dead, D'Marco is arrested for her murder despite his pleas of innocence. Curtis is determined to find out what really happened.

Throw in a jailbreak, sexual attraction and intrigue and Ms. Leotta's debut novel is fun reading. The only problem is that the plot is a little too far fetched and way too early on you can see where it's going.

I'M BACK!

Well, now I know.....August is my blog vacation! I've only been doing the blog since February and didn't realize how hectic the summer would be. I've still been reading tons of books, but unfortunately with vacation, summer guests in Connecticut and our niece's wedding in Maryland, August just seemed to disappear.

If you're a regular reader of Monarch Book Reviews, please accept my apologies. I hope that I provided you with tons of great books to read for the summer in my previous blog entries.

Now, it's back to work and I'll be reviewing the books I've been reading so you'll see lots of reviews in the next two weeks.

Hope you had a wonderful and happy summer filled with lots of good books and I hope Hurricane (or is it now Tropical Storm) Earl has passed you by without any harm.

FYI, my husband asked me what color I'd like to paint the milk house in Connecticut, so of course I said I wanted it painted.........COW. George and our youngest son, Bill, painted it for my birthday. Doesn't it look spectacular?! It can bring a smile to everyone's face.