Reading on a Rainy Day

Published in : 2014 Format read in : ebook Location : Somewhere in coastal Australia Rating : 5/5 Why I read it : Ti’s review of how it looked like a fluff book though was anything but convinced me to read it. One line review : A page turner whodunnit with a good balance of of levity and serious issues. Who should read it : If you enjoy suspense or thriller and like school settings, this one may win you over. About : A murder...A tragic accident...Or just parents behaving badly? What’s indisputable is that someone is dead. Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny, biting, and passionate; she remembers everything and forgives no one. Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare but she is paying a price for the illusion of perfection. New to town, single mom Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for a nanny. She comes with a mysterious past and a sadness beyond her years. These three women are at different crossroads, but they ...

I’m not someone who can be depended on five days a week. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday? I don’t even get out of bed five days in a row -- I often don’t remember to eat five days in a row. Reporting to a workplace, where I would need to stay for eight hours—eight big hours outside my home -- was unfeasible. Ever since I read Gone Girl , I have been looking forward to reading more of Gillian Flynn's books. Not that Gone Girl was the perfect read, but it was certainly a hard-to-put-down book with so many twists and turns that I had to see more of what Flynn could deliver. In Dark Places , Libby Day lost almost her entire family in one night - two sisters and her mother murdered by her brother. For the next twenty-four years, Libby lived on donations from people who wanted to help her and some money earned through the sales of a self-help book. But now, that money pond has dried up and Libby needs to find a way to survive. She doesn't want a job because she cannot...

Nothing is more creative... nor destructive... than a brilliant mind with a purpose. I still remember the thrill I got when I read my first Dan Brown - The Da Vinci Code . His book was already gracing so many bestseller lists that it was hard to back down and say no. Besides, I was very curious about this dude and whatever it was that he had written. I read. I enjoyed. I favorited. Then, I read all the articles of how he didn't really get all his history right and how he bungled some of them for maximum impact. Literary license, they said. That fogged my impression of Dan Brown tremendously, but not before I devoured two more of his books - Angels and Demons and Digital Fortress . Later, I also read The Lost Symbol , and was excited by the fact that it was set in a place I had actually visited multiple times (D.C.). Still, none of the books, barring Angels and Demons really reached the caliber and awesomeness level of The Da Vinci Code , Inferno included. By now, everyo...

There’s something disturbing about recalling a warm memory and feeling utterly cold. On his fifth wedding anniversary, while Nick wonders thoughtfully about the state of his marriage with Amy, his wife disappears. There are signs of violence in his house, causing all fingers to point to Nick. Nick's own thoughts aren't guilt-free either. Alternating chapters with Nick's narration, Amy's diary reveals her side of the marriage up until that day. She isn't the easiest of persons to be around with, but her story indicates a marriage expectation gone sour. And then came Part 2 of the book. Like everyone else on Bloglandia, I'll have to not reveal any spoilers here. Most likely, you have already read this book. If not, you are probably planning to read it. Around the time this book started making waves, I was following bookish news on and off, mostly off. It seemed like suddenly this book rose up to the top of many must-read lists. Even then, I wasn't rea...

"I have that information you were looking for." The friendly grandfather tone was gone, replaced by serious cop. "Do I want to know?" I laughed. He didn't. "You were right, Julia Laroche isn't her real name -- it's Karen Christianson." "That's interesting. Do you know why she changed it?" "You don't recognize the name?" "Should I?" " Karen Christianson was the only survivor of the Campsite Killer. " Sara Gallagher was adopted as a baby, by foster parents who couldn't conceive. But then her foster mom soon gave birth to two girls, who have been the apple of their father's eyes ever since. Her foster dad never showed any affection towards Sara, and was always ridiculing or scolding her even for no fault of hers. This contributed to her increasing curiosity about her birth parents, forever wishing for them to c...

She smiled darkly and shook her head. "I'm not crazy. I'm not. Of course what else would a crazy person claim? That's the Kafkaesque genius of it all. If you're not crazy but people have told the world you are, then all your protests to the contrary just underscore their point. Do you see what I'm saying?" My very first introduction to Dennis Lehane was through the movie, Mystic River . At that point, I didn't know the movie was based on a book, but when I did come across the book many years later, I knew I had to read it. Now I have a huge tome of Mystic River staring at me every time I look at my shelf. It's not that I'm not keen on reading it, I'm terrified. One, because it's huge. Second, because I never really understood the movie, Mystic River , and had to read reviews and spoilers to actually know what it was about. I assume the book is the same. So instead, when I saw Shutter Island at an airport bookstore, after brow...

Annie O'Sullivan, a thirty-two year old realtor, was at an open house, trying to sell a house, but the day moves slow for her, with very few customers. Just as she is about to close, in comes a charming guy who is very keen on buying the house. Believing it to be her lucky day after all, Annie proceeds to give the visitor a tour of the house. Halfway through, however, she is attacked by him and dragged to his van. Annie spends her next one year in captivity. Her abductor, whom she refers to as the Freak, has taken her to a cabin, from which escape is impossible. He doesn't allow her to leave the cabin for any reason. She has no way of knowing whether it is day or night outside, except by crouching on the floor of the bathroom and looking through a very tiny crack on the floor. He doesn't allow her to use the restroom as per her wish. Instead, each trip is scheduled. One time, when she sneaks a trip to the toilet in his absence, she is accidentally caught by him and assa...

Brash, sassy John Corey is on the Anti-Terrorist Task Force team, waiting to meet Asad Khalil - a terrorist suspect who had defected. He waits with four others in the Conquistador Club, for the flight to land at the NY airport. Asad however has other plans, which do not include surrender. Although he was handcuffed and escorted by two armed officers, he manages to escape after committing a puzzling, almost impossible crime. Worse, no one knows what he is up to. I have deliberately left out some things from the summary, because there is so much to this book than the plain escape of a terrorist. I have to admit, reading about terrorism is so not my cup of tea. So I was definitely pensive about what I will find, going into this book. I worried needlessly. The suspense in this book was simply awesome! Crimes that seem so impossible being pulled off with panache, making you wonder 'How did that happen?' I'm not big into thrillers, and usually pace them out but The Lion's ...

Title : What the Dead Know Author : Laura Lippman First Published : March 2007 Publisher : William Morrow Source : Library | This book was referred to me by a friend in a Goodreads group 376 pages In a nutshell Two sisters, Sunny and Heather Bethany, ages fifteen and eleven, disappeared from a shopping mall. They never returned, their bodies were never found, no calls for ransom came in. Now, thirty years later, a woman has appeared claiming to be Heather Bethany. She had just been in an accident and in the consequent delirious state, she claims to know something about the disappearance of the Bethany sisters. Soon as she lets that slip, she clams up. Is she just being delusional or telling the truth? I think... What the Dead Know has some very vivid characters. I could almost love or hate some of the characters strongly. The woman-in-accident was a vibrant character, who I hated from page one . That's saying something since a major chunk of the book is from her...

This is a meme hosted at Reading at the Beach . To join, here's all you have to do: Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the letter of the week. Post:     1~ a photo of the book     2~ title and synopsis     3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.) The letter for this week is D. I chose Drawn in Blood by Andrea Kane , which I received as an ARC from the author and read in September 2009. This is actually the second book in the Sloane Burbank/Derek Parker series, but it can be read as a standalone too. I would still recommend reading the prequel first, Twisted , if only for understanding the relationship between Sloane and Derek better. I gave it 4 stars. Here's a synopsis, from the back of the book: Former FBI Special Agent Sloane Burbank has seen her share of danger. She's faced down a serial killer and survived life-threatening injuries... but she never expected that danger to invade the lives of her family......

Title :  The 13th Hour Author : Richard Doetsch Genre : Thriller, Time travel First Published : December 2009 Publisher : Atria Source : Library Challenges :  100+ Reading Challenge ,  A to Z Challenge ,  Support your Local Library Reading Challenge 352 pages       On the flap Nick Quinn is being held in jail, accused of the murder of his beloved wife, Julia. He knows she's dead; he saw her bloody corpse, shot in the head at point-blank range. The police tell him they found the murder weapon with his fingerprints on it in the trunk of his car. Nick is confused, grief-stricken -- and completely innocent. At 9 p.m. on July 28, a gray-haired gentleman visits Nick in the police interrogation room and asks him a simple question: "If you could get out of here, if you could save her, would you?" He hands Nick a golden talisman that allows Nick to go back in time, one hour at a time, for a total of twelve hours. With each hour that Nick travel...

This is a meme hosted at Reading at the Beach . To join, here's all you have to do: Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the letter of the week. Post:     1~ a photo of the book     2~ title and synopsis     3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.) The letter for this week is C . I chose Creepers by David Morrell , which I read in September 2009, and enjoyed quite a bit. Marce @ Tea Time with Marce was looking for a horror book capable of giving sleepless nights ::wink::, so I suggested her this book. Since the letter for this week is C , I thought I will post my review as well. I gave it 4 stars. (Note: I do not generally read horror, so this one might not be scary enough to the horror aficionados out there!) Here's a synopsis, from the back of the book: On a cold October night, five people gather in a run-down motel on the Jersey shore and begin preparations to break into the Paragon Hotel. Built in the glor...

This is a meme hosted at Reading at the Beach . To join, here's all you have to do: Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the letter of the week. Post:     1~ a photo of the book     2~ title and synopsis     3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.) It's been some time since I took part in this meme, so I thought I'll recommend a book I read last year. The letter for this week is B . I chose Blue Heaven by C.J. Box , which I read in November 2009, and enjoyed quite a bit, though some things did bother me. I gave it 4 stars. Here's a synopsis, from the back of the book: A twelve-year-old girl and her younger brother go on the run in the woods of North Idaho, pursued by four men they have just watched commit murder---four men who know exactly who William and Annie are, and who know exactly where their desperate mother is waiting for news of her children’s fate. Retired cops from Los Angeles, the killers easily pers...

Title : Haunted Ground Author : Erin Hart Genre : Mystery First Published : April 29, 2003 Publisher : Pocket Books Source : Personal copy Challenges : 100+ Reading Challenge , A to Z Challenge 471 pages Book summary A grisly discovery is made deep in an Irish peat bog -- the perfectly preserved severed head of a red-haired young woman. Has she been buried for decades, centuries, or longer? Who is she and why was she killed? American pathologist Nora Gavin and archaeologist Cormac Maguire are called in to investigate, only to find that the girl's violent death may have shocking ties to the present -- including the disappearance of a local landowner's wife and son. Aided by a homicide detective who refuses to let the missing be forgotten, Nora and Cormac slowly uncover a dark history of secrets, betrayal, and death in which the shocking revelations of the past may lead to murder in the future.... I finished reading this book at lunch yesterday, but since th...