This was my first Ridley Pearson book, and Beyond Recognition made me an instant fan! This book was first published back in 1997, so I am a little behind the times in reading it. It has been sitting on my shelf for ages, the result of a missed "decline shipment" deadline for the Mystery Guild. I picked it up because it has been a while since I have read a mystery. It was a terrific book.
The book is about a detective on the hunt for an arsonist that is using some unknown accelerant for his fires. The accelerant used burns everything fast and super hot. Like the accelerant, this book is fast paced and interesting for the whole ride. The supporting characters are fantastic and compliment the storyline nicely. Enough scientific and forensic detail is given to make the story believable and very interesting, but not so much that the reader doesn't understand or gets bored. There is a subplot that involves the complex relationships of this married cop, and his struggles to balance work and life.
I found that the author is very good at using his language to set the pace. When the detective, or another character is being contemplative or things are moving slower, the language used and sentence structure takes the reader at a slower pace. When the action picks up and time is racing, the language changes and the sentences are more clipped. This causes the reader to speed up their pace, too.
This book was a real page turner. I am a fan of Ridley Pearson now and look forward to reading another of his novels. This book was great as a stand alone, but it turns out this is the 4th book in a series about the detective, Lou Boldt. I plan on getting the other books in this series out of the library so I can catch up on Detective Boldt's life. When I finished the book, I wanted more. I am very glad that I can have it! There are 9 total novels in this series and according to Ridley Pearson's website, another is due out next year.
Happy Reading!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Monkey Love
Monkey Love is Brenda Scott Royce's debut novel. It is billed on the cover to be "hilarious", "laugh out loud", "a hilarious romp of a novel". It was funny, it was a romp, an easy, fun book. Hilarious is going a little far, and I don't think I quite laughed out loud. Maybe I chuckled once. That isn't to say that it wasn't a cute book or that I wouldn't recommend it.
Monkey Love is about a single woman (Holly) living in New York who is going through life day by day, hour by hour even and not really thinking about the big picture. Holly is very likable, a little scattered, and quite resourceful. She is busy trying to make ends meet any way she can: pet sitting, typing, running errands for neighbors, and cutting hair. Her family is a little dysfunctional, and not quite lovable sometimes. Her friends are all mixed up in whirlwind lives themselves, and Holly finds herself always cleaning up others messes. Holly realizes that maybe she needs to get her life in order. Maybe instead of jumping from fire to fire, she needs to pick one track and stick to it. But just what is that track?
Along the way she meets a monkey with as much of a personality as any of her friends, and a dad and his little girl. They are a sweet combo that add some interest to Holly's life. Overall the book is enjoyable. Girl's life is crazy, girl meets boy (and child), girl and boy date, girl thinks maybe there is another boy that she likes, girl and boy (with child) fall in love, but is that enough in this crazy life?
I would recommend this book as a light, vacation type read. A book to have fun with, but not one that you will necessarily remember reading. In fact, I realized a few chapters in that I thought maybe I had read it before. A little more than half way through the book I was sure that I had read it before. It took me a while to be positive that I had read it. I still enjoyed it the second time through, though.
Happy Reading!
Monkey Love is about a single woman (Holly) living in New York who is going through life day by day, hour by hour even and not really thinking about the big picture. Holly is very likable, a little scattered, and quite resourceful. She is busy trying to make ends meet any way she can: pet sitting, typing, running errands for neighbors, and cutting hair. Her family is a little dysfunctional, and not quite lovable sometimes. Her friends are all mixed up in whirlwind lives themselves, and Holly finds herself always cleaning up others messes. Holly realizes that maybe she needs to get her life in order. Maybe instead of jumping from fire to fire, she needs to pick one track and stick to it. But just what is that track?
Along the way she meets a monkey with as much of a personality as any of her friends, and a dad and his little girl. They are a sweet combo that add some interest to Holly's life. Overall the book is enjoyable. Girl's life is crazy, girl meets boy (and child), girl and boy date, girl thinks maybe there is another boy that she likes, girl and boy (with child) fall in love, but is that enough in this crazy life?
I would recommend this book as a light, vacation type read. A book to have fun with, but not one that you will necessarily remember reading. In fact, I realized a few chapters in that I thought maybe I had read it before. A little more than half way through the book I was sure that I had read it before. It took me a while to be positive that I had read it. I still enjoyed it the second time through, though.
Happy Reading!
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