Book: A Circle of Souls

Genre: Suspense/Thriller

Julia Rating: 7

Comments:  Mr. Grandhi provided me with a review copy of his debut novel, A Circle of Souls.

This book involves several different characters and different points of view.  It’s about the investigation of a young girls kidnapping and subsequent murder.  An FBI agent is investigating the case and she, along with her police counterparts, is completely stumped.  In comes Peter, a young psychiatrist working to help a child with sleepwalking and nightmares.  The child has become a threat to herself while sleeping and Peter needs to solve the case.

One really wonderful thing that Preetham Grandhi does in this book is describe culture and backstory of the child in detail. However, Peter and pretty much all the other characters fell a little flat for me and I had a hard time staying interested while reading this book.

That said, there is a great twist ending, which I always love. I really thought I had everything all worked out by the middle, but at the end I found I was wrong.

I reason I gave this book a “7″ is because while I had a hard time getting through the first half of the book, the last half  was really well written and enjoyable.  So, if you’re okay with having a slow and slightly disjointed beginning, this book has a great ending.

Book: The Darkest Evening of the Year

Genre: Horror/Suspense/Thriller

Julia Rating: 9

Comments: I have to make an admission to start out with. I’ve never read Dean Koontz before horror month, so if I am missing some kind of a theme (aside from an affinity for golden retrievers) that is obvious to his long-time readers, please let me know.

I really liked The Darkest Evening of the Year, but from the beginning to about half way through it reminded me of an evaluation my boyfriend gave one of my short stories: “You got confused there in the middle, but you made it in the end”.  At the beginning of this book, Koontz introduces several major characters: the mysterious but lovable Amy Redwing, the boyfriend – Brian McCarthy, Nickie the golden retriever and a mysterious person introduced as Moongirl.  It takes a while for you to realize that they all have something to do with each other.  Maybe I’m just slow – and I don’t think I am – but the story didn’t delineate what was important and what wasn’t at the beginning.

Later in the book you find Amy Redwing has a history.  She currently saves golden retrievers, but she once was a young orphan raised by Catholics and has even had a relationship  with a man before Brian – the boyfriend.  Boyfriend Brian also has baggage, and once that is explained, the connections make sense.  Nickie the golden retriever also seems to have a history – supernatural though it is.

I think the other problem I had with this book is that Moongirl is such a cruel b**** that I could hardly read the sections with her.  You just want to take a knife to her and save everyone else the trouble.  That’s a good thing, of course, because it means Mr. Koontz did fantastic characterization and made a true villain, but it was hard to read.

All in all I recommend The Darkest Evening of the Year. If you’d like to purchase The book through Amazon, buy it here, via my blog. Since I don’t get paid to do this, each purchase from Amazon helps me spend more time reviewing books for you!

Book: In The Woods

Genre: Suspense/Thriller/Detective

Julia Rating: 7 (for writing skill)

Comments: Sorry, this book isn’t really horror. I thought it was, but it turned out to be a psychological thriller.

In the Woods is a book that showed great promise in the beginning, throughout the middle and failed (in my opinion) at the end. Tana French is a fantastic author. She keeps you interested, keeps the characters in constant upheaval and has you guessing what will happen next through the whole book. Sounds pretty good, right? The only problem that I encountered is that from the beginning Ms. French opens with a certain promise which, by the end, she fails to fulfill. (If I said more, this review would simply be a big fat spoiler, so I’m not going to say more. If you want to know what the promise is, or simply experience some of Ms. French’s fabulous writing, buy the book.)

This book is a very well written, though very depressing, psychological thriller that has a small element of horror in it (there are some horrible disappearances and murders – and a really repugnant psycho in there), but I was very disappointed and left frustrated by the ending.  There are some who may like endings that don’t answer every question, that leave you hanging a bit, but that’s not generally me.  I know real life doesn’t often tie everything up in a pretty bow, but I read partially to get away from real life. 

If any of you have read In The Woods and/or has an opinion about the book, by all means comment. And, please remember that this blog is a labor of love – but is something I’d eventually like to make me some money, so if you want to buy a book at Amazon.com , please use the links provided on my blog, or use the Amazon.com link provided right here.

Genre: Thriller/Suspense/Detective

Julia Rating: 6 out of 10

Comments:  John Sandford writes the Prey series, which I just discovered.  I liked the book, it was interesting.  However, I found that the format it was written in is sometimes confusing and it really didn’t have to be written that way.  Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not a two year old with the attention span of a paragraph.  I like when writers delve in there and give me a good, solid page that doesn’t jump between two or three characters.  I would rather a chapter per character or something.

I read it on the plane flying home, and I recommend it as a great plane book.  It’s fast paced enough that you don’t nod off on the plane and interesting enough that you look engrossed, so you don’t have to talk to the person next to you.

The Author: Stephen King

Julia Rating: 6 out of 10

My Comments:
This was a decent novelette. It did get a little boring and sometimes I find Mr. King’s need to put a sex scene or something about sex in almost every one of his books annoying, especially when it’s not really applicable to the story. Also, this is kind of an “under siege” type of book, and it gets a little bit boring at points. The story keeps you going in true Stephen King style, however it’s a little slower than I’m used to.

The basic idea is that a young family in Maine are split up (father and son in the grocery store and mother at home) when a strange mist comes into town, bringing all sorts of terrible monsters along with it. No one knows where it came from, but it’s ripping their world apart literally and the father and son have to fight for survival. It’s well written (of course) and is gripping and interesting.

The ending was… different. I liked it, but it’s not the sort of ending I usually like. I don’t want to spoil it here, but if you’d like to comment and want a spoiler, I’ll give one to you.

A note on the movie: I have to put this in here. If you are interested in this story, DO NOT go see the movie. The movie is terrible. This applies to all those people who say “Oh, I’ll just go see the movie”. My boyfriend is that kind of guy and he hated it too. Just don’t do it. Life will go on.

Also, don’t judge this book by its movie. The book is about 4 trillion times better than the movie. AND, if you’ve seen the movie, the book doesn’t end that way. The ending of the movie sucked. The ending of the book was decent.

Julia Rating: 10 out of 10

My Comments:
This book is incredible. It has it all, suspense, fantasy, action and horror. I’m sure most everyone has seen the movie. Compared to the book, the movies suck. Even the one with Jack Nicholson. And – despite my boyfriend’s insistence otherwise – the item used at the end of the book to mow people down with is way scarier than an ax. This book is a must read if you love being in suspense, Stephen King, getting freaked out, etc. If you want a relaxing read for after the holidays, this book is probably not for you.