The Burnt House Faye Kellerman

A commuter plane crashes into an apartment building. All officers that are available to help are called to the site, including Lieutenant Peter Decker. It takes months to shift through the wreckage and try to piece together what had happened and also to account for all those that were on the flight.
One person who was listed as one of the dead was flight attendant Roseanne Dresden. But her parents swear she wasn’t on the plane and her body had never been recovered. Decker looks into this and everyone is relieved when a female body is discovered at the bottom of the wreckage site. The remains have to be the unaccounted for Roseanne, right?
This is my first Faye Kellerman book and all I can say is it won’t be my last. Upon finishing this book I immediately hopped on line and order a few more from her Peter Decker series.
I really enjoyed this book. The plot was intriguing and the twists and turns were believable. The characters were all likeable, and while Decker is the main character, the story wasn’t told strictly from his view point. Other detectives were involved and we got to get a feel for Decker’s family.
I read a lot of mystery books. This is the first one that I’d read that actually goes into some detail about the day to day running of an investigation. And it was this aspect of the book that I enjoyed the most. A lot of time with murder mysteries, you get the feeling that the lead character is simply brilliant at what they do and everything falls into place in the matter of a few days. They get one clue and bam! mystery solved. This is not the case in The Burnt House. While Decker is brilliant at what he does, there is a lot of foot work and team work and waiting around. And for me, this was a very realistic portrayal of police work. I also like that Decker didn’t do it all himself. It took teamwork. His detectives helped break the case. Even his wife had a small part in it. Average people coming together to accomplish extraordinary things.
I highly recommend The Burnt House.

Everyone Worth Knowing Lauren Weisberger

Okay I LOVED the Devil Wears Prada. Loved it, loved it, loved it! So when I spotted Everyone Worth Knowing on a trip to the book store it was a no brainer. Of course I picked it up. And immediately started reading it. (Okay, well not immediately. I might have read a few others first.) I really should have liked it. After all it was almost exactly the same basic story as the Devil Wears Prada. Don't believe me? Here's a quick rehash of the two books.
The Devil Wears Prada: Dorky girl takes a job at a fashion magazine. Becomes a basic slave (although stylish one) and consumed with the fashion world. Neglects her friends over and over for her job but feels real bad. Realizes in the end she doesn't like who she's become and tells the fashion world to go screw itself. Makes up with previously mentioned friends and gets an awesome job writing at another magazine.
Everyone Worth Knowing: Dorky girl quits bank job and gets a job at a PR company. Becomes a basic slave (although fashionable one) and consumed with the PR world of who’s who. Neglects her friends over and over for her job but feels real bad. Realizes in the end she doesn't like who she's become and tells the PR world to go screw itself. Makes up with previously mentioned friends and decides to become a romance writer.
Now, there were a few plot twists in Everyone Worth Knowing, but they weren't very clever or original. The romantic interest? I think I knew who it would be before the author knew. And through out there is a vicious gossip columnist called Ellie insider who seems to be out to ruin our main gal. If you read this book and can't figure out in five seconds who it is, you deserve to be slapped. Or kicked. Or made to read this book over and over.

The Septembers of Shiraz

In The Septembers of Shiraz, Isaac Amin, a rare gem dealer is arrested in a post revolutionary Iran as a spy. Blind folded and taken to prison he has no idea where he is or if he will ever see his family again. At first his wife Farnaz tries to find them, but soon realizes that she herself might be in danger. Their children Shirin and Parviz each deal with their father’s incarceration in their own way. Shirin, still at home tries to save others in her own way and Parviz, sent away to New York deals by not dealing, growing more apathetic towards everything each day.
While I didn’t necessarily find this an easy read, it was definitely an enjoyable one. The plot was intriguing and the story weaved effortlessly between characters. But, for me, it was the writing style that held my attention the most. By describing very emotional events in a very non-emotional way, Dalia Sofer made the characters and what was happening to them more real. And more tragic. In the post revolution state that they find themselves, where their friends and family are disappearing only to appear some time later on the executed list in the newspaper, you get the sense that while they are devastated by his imprisonment, no one is surprised. The almost neutral writing style really brings forth the desperation that the characters are feeling and the numbness that all the horror is causing them to feel.
I enjoyed this book immensely and would definitely recommend it.

A quick hello

Hello one and all. As the name says, I'm a book addict. And I figured it was high time to let people know what I think of some of the books I've read. I read pretty much anything (except romance). Popular fiction, literary works, non fiction, some crap from time to time. I will be posting book reviews on recent reads but will every once in a while try to delve into my memory on long ago reads. If you are looking for an academic take on books, then you should really go somewhere else. My reviews are straight forward this is why the book was good/sucked.
I'm new to this blogging thing, so have patience. I'm a quick learner but not a genius.
And this is my page. I might decide to rant or bitch about something besides books. If you don't want to read it, then don't.

And with that wonderful hello, welcome to my blog.
CelticAura