Heather Graham - The Dead Room

She talks to dead people...

A year ago, archaeologist Leslie MacIntyre barely survived an explosion that took the life of her fiancee, Matt Connolly.

Since then she's slowly come to terms with both her loss and an unsettling ability to communicate with ghosts, a "gift" received in the wake of her brush with death.
Now she's returned to lower Manhattan, site of the explosion, to investigate a newly discovered burial ground. In this place restless spirits hold the secrets not only of past injustice but of deadly conspiracy against the city's women - including Leslie herself.

By night Matt visits her in dreams, warning her and offering clues to the truth. By day she finds herself helped by - and attracted to - his flesh-and-blood cousin Joe.
Torn by her feelings for both men, caught between the worlds of the living and the dead, Leslie struggles against the encroaching danger. As she is drawn closer to the darkness, she must ultimately face the power of an evil mind, alone in a place where not even the men she loves can save her.

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The Dead Room is the prequel to The Death Dealer but certainly is more developed then it's sequel.
Characters are more real and likeable, especially Leslie's.

It's been a year since archaeologist Leslie MacIntyre lost her fiancee Matt Connolly in a devastating explosion and a year in which she developed the ability to communicate with ghost. She sometimes even sees them without first recognising they to the other world. Before the explosion that threw her halfway around a room she had been blessed with hunches which helped her in her job but nowadays she uses her ability to help those lost souls still wandering on earth. When a burial is discovered near the place where Matt dies she decides to accept the offer to work there and finally try to make contact with Matt's ghost - if he is still there.

She's never met Joe, Matt's cousin but when she first meets him she's directly attracted to his resemblance to Matt but soon discovers they are alike but not one and the same person.

Joe, an ex-cop working as private investigator searches for young Genevieve O'Brien who vanished two month ago and he is convinced she's connected to a series of vanished prostitutes in the same area. Due to her work as a social worker she knew the area and it's 'inhabitants' well.

Joe is drawn to Leslie but knows she's been engaged to Matt and still loves him so he's mighty torn between his knowledge and his arising feelings for her. They soon become friends trying to find Genevieve and the secret behind the vanished women who might or might not be dead. Joe believes in Leslie's abilities and together they find pieced to a puzzle that seems insolvable and becoming more and more dangerous for Leslie's life.

Rating:
Visit Heather Graham.

Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Mira (March 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0778325202
ISBN-13: 978-0778325208

John Saul - Faces of Fear

Fifteen-year-old Alison Shaw may not be beautiful, but she doesn't really care: She'd much rather read a good book than primp in front of a mirror anyway. But Alison's gorgeous mother, Risa, knows that beauty can be a key to success and wishes only the best for her daughter, especially when Risa marries a widowed plastic surgeon and moves Alison from Santa Monica to Bel Air.
Beauty may be only skin deep, but to the denizens of Bel Air it means the world.
Everywhere mother and daughter look, they are surrounded by beautiful people, many of whom have benefited from the skills of Alison's new stepfather, the charismatic Conrad Dunn.

Conrad is certain he can turn Alison into a vision of loveliness, and Risa - drawn in by his cool confidence - is delighted.
Reluctantly, Alison agrees to undergo the first procedure, and her transformation begins.

But soon Alison discovers a picture of Conrad's first wife. To Alison's horror, she notices a resemblance between the image in the photo and the work her stepfather is doing on her.
Though Risa refuses to acknowledge the strange similarity, Alison becomes increasingly frightened. Digging further into her stepfather's murky past, Alison uncovers dark secrets and even darker motives - and realizes that her worst fears might fast becoming her reality.

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Now that's what I call a wrong book description of what's actually happening in the book. I sometimes wonder who writes those. Certainly not the author who should be familiar with what he wrote.
Cut the humbug about the mother who wants her child desperately being beautiful. Nothing of that is in the book.
In fact the last four sentences are almost completely nonsense.
It seems they tried to make the book more appealing to pot. buyers but probably didn't read it because it is in fact quite good and doesn't deserve a misleading description.

Risa and Alison Shaw are getting their life together without father Michael who discovered, after years of being married, that his affection towards his own gender is his fulfillment.
Nevertheless the family plus the new addition, Scott, still stays close and Risa finally found a new man, plastic surgeon Conrad Dunn.

He's been married and lost his beautiful women due to suicide. Beautiful as she was she couldn't life with the half disfigured face a boat accident left her with.
Margot Dunn was everything but beautiful in the beginning but Conrad made her the supermodel. He transformed her into a masterpiece of natural beauty.

Alison Shaw is overwhelmed from everything that happened during the year her father left their house. She doesn't like her mothers new man, nor does she like to live in his huge, expensive house. Going to a new elite school makes everything much more difficult for her. Surrounded by teenagers that already had undergone several surgeries to become the best they could get she feels insecure of herself and her looks. Reluctantly she agrees to undergo a breast surgery, to finally fit into this nice dress she found for her sixteenth birthday, in Conrad's office.

Meanwhile young women are murdered. The killer's MO always seems to be the same except that he always takes a part of each victim with him: A nose, the lips, ears, eyebrows.

Tina Wong, star reporter, is hard on his heels, desperately trying to figure out the connections between each victim and the killer's motive. She's puzzling at a picture of what the killer is creating but doesn't seem to get much further with it.

After Alison's breast surgery all seems to go well until the whole world seems to crash down on Alison and Risa.

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What I really liked about this book was that it never got boring and is in fact a great, suspenseful mystery.
Typical for John Saul's books he picks up certain topics which built the main frame for his books. Like in Faces of Fear one of the main characters is a teenager struggling. He again touched a serious topic with sensible, honest and modern words which made this book loveable from this perspective.
My recommendation.

Rating:
Visit John Saul.

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (August 12, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0345487052
ISBN-13: 978-0345487056

Sebastian Fitzek - Therapy

A twelve year old girl, Josy, has an inexplicable illness and vanishes without a trace from the doctor’s office during treatment. Her father, Viktor Larenz, a well-known psychiatrist, withdraws years later to an isolated North Sea island in order to deal with the tragedy. Here he receives a dangerous visit from a beautiful stranger. Anna Spiegel is a novelist and she suffers from an unusual form of schizophrenia: all the characters she creates for her books become real. And in her last novel she has written about a young girl with an unknown illness who vanishes one day without a trace. …
Is the inconceivable possible? Do Anna’s delusions describe Josy’s last days? Viktor Larenz begins the therapy in an attempt to uncover the horrible truth.

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When Viktor Larenz returns with a filled glass of water to the waiting area at his daughters doctor she's gone without a trace. Now 4 years later Viktor lives on a remote island in his summer cottage. Still dealing and suffering from not knowing what happened to his daughter he tries to cope with what happened while filling out a questionnaire for a magazine. Once a famous psychiatrist the public is still interested in him.
When Anna Spiegel enters his life he reluctantly agrees to work with her, who claims that every person she creates in her books enters her live in real and usually dies. It doesn't take long until Viktor realizes that Anna's describing disturbing things from his daughters life and his own.

Suffering from an illness he can't fathom yet, he tries to concentrate on Anna's words but, while pumped with Aspirin and other cold fighting medications when he begins making mistakes that do have their consequences.

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What an interesting novel for a than new author. The Therapy has just been translated from German into English so I can only talk from the German writing style point of view which was short and to the point. Fitzek didn't use much words on fuss but also managed to keep me reading the book in a very short amount of time.
The reader is in for some surprises here. Even if you think you already figured everything out, I'm certain there are things you will miss and with the book finished you're going to ask yourself how you could have possibly missed that.
Enjoy !

Rating:
Visit Sebastian Fitzek.

Paperback: 293 pages
Publisher: Pan Books (August 1, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0330453157
ISBN-13: 978-0330453158

Diane Carey - Enterprise: Broken Bow

It is the twenty-second century ... and the dawn of mankind's boldest adventure. Thanks to the amazing breakthroughs in warp technology, an era of true interstellar exploration is about to begin, and a whole new universe, full of astounding wonders and unparalleled dangers, has just opened up for humanity.

Someone has to lead the way, and that someone is Captain Jonathan Archer of the first Starship Enterprise, NX-01.
Archer and his crew, including Vulcan Sub-Commander T'Pol and the enigmatic Dr. Phlox, will face challenges previously unimagined as they truly go where no man has gone before.

But they must also survive first contact with a fearsome extraterrestrial race known only as Klingon's.

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It is the moment mankind has waited for for a long, long time. It is the moment when Jonathan Archer enters the bridge thinking about his father, who built this ship but didn't live long enough to experience this moment.
It's the time where mankind's journey into space finally begins despite their Vulcan's friends concerns that mankind isn't ready for space travelling.

When a Klingon is killed on Earth the crew of the Enterprise NX-01 faces their first journey: Bringing back the unconscious Klingon back to his home planet. The only disturbing point on this journey seems to be the presence of a Vulcan female, with a leading position as science officer.
During a major power failure the Klingon is kidnapped from the ship and Archer is determined to get him back from a species called Suliban.

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Who hasn't seen the first episode of Star Trek: Enterprise where the first Enterprise left the dock to begin it's journey ?
I was surprised at how close the book and the episode are. The characters are probably the truest to all the other Star trek books. They think like we do. The Vulcan's think humanity is premature and it was so enjoyable to dive into the thoughts of the crew during this era. Almost funny were the sarcastic thoughts Archer had but didn't dare to say out too loud.
It's a daring adventure the crew is up to.
Enjoyable and exciting for every Star Trek fan.

Rating:

Hardcover: 232 pages
Publisher: Star Trek (October 1, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743448626
ISBN-13: 978-0743448628

Jodi Picoult - Salem Falls

Love can redeem a man ... but secrets and lies can condemn him.

A handsome stranger comes to the sleepy New England town Salem Falls in hopes of burying his past: Once a teacher at a girls' prep school, Jack St. Bride was destroyed when a student 's crush sparked a powder keg of accusation.
Now, washing dishes for Addie Peabody at the Do-Or-Diner, he slips quietly into his new routine and Addie finds this unassuming man fitting easily inside her heart. But amid the rustic calm of Salem Falls a quartet of teenage girls harbor dark secrets - and they maliciously target Jack with a shattering allegation. Now, at the center of a modern-day witch hunt, Jack is forced once again to proclaim his innocence: to a town searching for answers, to a justice system where truth becomes a slippery concept written in shades of gray, and to the woman who has come to love him.

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The past eighth months Jack was a prisoner convicted of statutory rape. He was offered a plea bargain and his only way to get over with it was accept the offer even if the accusations against him where a mere fiction of a young girls diary.

Trying to get his act together, get a life back he arrives in small town Salem Falls and gets a job as dishwasher in Addie Peabody's Do-Or-Diner. Dutifully he registers at the sheriffs office as a sexual offender.
His relationship with Addie soon intensifies bound through Jack's closeness and fear of being touched and Addie's mourning for her daughter who died years ago. When everything seems to be going it's way the town learns of Jack's former conviction there is no way they are willing to accept a person like him in their little, peaceful town.

Gillian Duncan as a close circle of friends, a coven. The girls are trying to witches, doing good for the people in their town when one of their spells actually works. They decide if their powers are such strong they also could do good for people who have been done wrong by others. Seeing Jack for the first time Gillian develops a crush on him and has to live with his rejection. Only she doesn't want to accept it.

So it happens that Jack after he got terribly beaten up, had a fallout with Addie, runs drunkenly through the woods when he disturbs one of the girls rituals.
The next day he's arrested for the rape of Gillian Duncan.

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What disturbs me most was the fact that Jack is a character I am used to from my own child/teenage hood. A caring person, a teacher rarely seen these days and certainly bound to suspicion in the United States. It showed me again the differences in attitude between where I come from and where I live today. Being a male teacher and/or coach and being male in the U. S. seems to be just what it is these days: a hot seat I never would want to sit in. It is terrible to know what can be interpreted into a friendly slap on the back.

However, the book keeps a few surprises that aren't mentioned in the books description but as you read they just seem normal, fitting into the plot.
Although I think the ending fell out quite flat without much surprises at that point, it is entertaining from the beginning to the end.

Rating:
Visit Jodi Picoult.

Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Washington Square Press (August 6, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743418719
ISBN-13: 978-0743418713

Gayle Wilson - The Suicide Club

Lindsey Sloan teaches the best and brightest students at Randolph-Lowen High School - exceptional teens with promising futures far from their small Alabama hometown. So when brash detective Jace Nolan arrives from up north and accuses her kids of setting a series of fires in local black churches, Lindsey is furious.

No matter how Jace tries to convince her, Lindsey can´t believe her pupils could do something so horrible, let alone be addicted to the rush of getting away with it. But when her attraction to Jace places her in mortal danger and people begin dying, Lindsay can no longer be sure just what her students are capable of.

If Jace is right, it's up to the two of them to outsmart these criminal minds... before they carry out the ultimate thrill-kill.

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Three black churches have been burnt in the past months when the police faces the problem of not finding any kind of evidence pointing to the possible arsonist. The briefly involved FBI profiles the subject to be highly intelligent, young, white and male. Worse of what already happened the profile predicts the torchings to be a thrill-crime soon to become a bore to the subject who's soon going to take the next step to thrill himself.

The police, with Detective Jace Nolan as the lead investigator, now concentrates on the Randolph-Lowen High School and it's class of gifted students, taught by Lindsey Sloan.
After threats to her own life, an attempt to kill her in a ticket booth and the suicide of two teenagers Lindsey soon has to change her mind from defending her pupils as victims of police absurdity soon has to the possibility the detectives accusations might be possible.

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I've read a lot of opinions comparing this book to school massacres that happened in the past but I honestly have to admit this thought is a bit far fetched.
The plot is fine and keeps you reading and enjoying the suspense.

Rating:
Visit Gayle Wilson.

Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Mira (July 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0778324699
ISBN-13: 978-0778324690

Stephen Booth - The Dead Place

The anonymous calls indicate a disturbed mind with an unnatural passion for death.
Cooper and Fry are hoping against hope that the caller is just a harmless crank having some sick fun. But the clues woven through his disturbing messages point to the possibility of an all-too-real crime ... especially when a woman vanishes from an office parking garage.
But it's the mystery surrounding an unidentified female corpse left exposed in the woods for over a year that really has the detectives worried. Whoever she might have been, the dead woman is linked to the mystery caller, whose description of his twisted death rituals matches the bizarre manner in which the body was found. And the mystery only deepens when Cooper obtains a positive I.D. and learns that the dead woman was never reported missing and that she definitely wasn't murdered. As the killer draws them closer into his confidence, Ben and Diane learn everything about his deadly obsessions except what matters most: his identity and the identity of his next victim.

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Sometimes you need to decide what is more important: The pile of unread books waiting to be read or the book you're currently reading that seems to be so much wasted time. I definitely go with my pile of gorgeous books and quit reading The Dead Place half way through.

The book has a lot of inconsistencies. The plot itself isn't a bad one but seriously, all the nice crime scene descriptions won't help in making the book better or interesting.

Rating:
Visit Stephen Booth.

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Bantam (May 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385339062
ISBN-13: 978-0385339063