Double Cross - James Patterson

Just when Alex thought his life was calming down into a routine of patients and therapy sessions, he finds himself back in the game--this time to catch a criminal mastermind like no other. A spate of elaborate murders in Washington D.C. have the whole East Coast on edge. They are like nothing Alex Cross and his new girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, have ever seen. With each murder, the case becomes increasingly complex. There's only one thing Alex knows: the killer adores an audience. As victims are made into gruesome spectacles citywide, inducing a media hysteria, it becomes clear to Alex that the man he's after is a genius of terror--and he's after fame. The killer has the whole city by its strings--and he'll stop at nothing to become the most terrifying star that Washington D.C. has ever seen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had some difficulty getting in to this book, but once I did I couldn't put it down. There were things that happened that annoyed me. I wont get into those annoyances, I'll leave them for you to discover on your own.

You've Been Warned - James Patterson

For Karen Burns, a talented young photographer, it was only natural to go to New York to chase her dreams. And it was only normal--just to pay the rent while she waited for her big chance--to work as a nanny for a young power couple, an attorney and his socialite wife, watching their two children. But for all the promise, the thrills, and the glitter, there are temptations and there are deadly dangers that come with life among the rich and powerful. Get ready for the Nanny Diaries from Hell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't even know where to begin with this one. I'm not sure if I liked it or didn't. It was a very strange book. I've passed this on to Pam with the "You've Been Warned" warning, and the promise to let me know what she thinks of it when she's finished. Hmmmm.......

Metro Girl - Janet Evanovich

Wild Bill is up to his gonads in trouble. Never the brightest spark, he's hired himself out as a boat captain to some shady American investors who have him ferrying unknown objects -- and the occasional Florida politician -- in and out of Cuba. Everything's going well, until an honest politician realizes the boat-trip will land him deep in Castro's pocket, with Bill's bosses netting a lucrative Cuban real estate package as their reward for securing his vote. When the politician threatens to go public, all hell breaks loose -- and Bill disappears. Dispatched to Florida to find her worthless baby brother, Alexandra 'Barney' Barnaby, the brains of the family, isn't too happy about trading her well-paid-if-boring job in Baltimore for the bugs and heat and bad-hair-day humidity of South Beach. Doing the rounds of Wild Bill's broken-hearted bimbos, she's thinking things can't get much worse than being unemployed and sunburned in Florida. Too bad for Barney -- she's wrong about the getting worse part.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Entertaining and funny at parts.

Hot Six - Janet Evanovich Book #36

Low-rent bounty hunter Stephanie Plum reaches depths of personal experience that other women detectives never quite do. In Hot Six, for example, a sequence of new and hideous cars bite the dust; she finds herself lumbered with a policeman's multiply incontinent dog; and she has several bad skin days. All this when she is trying to prove her distinctly more competent colleague and occasional boyfriend Ranger innocent of a mob hit; avoid the heavies trailing her in the hope of finding him; and cope with a wife-abusing bail-defaulter with nasty habits such as setting Stephanie on fire. The peculiar joy of this series is the comic sense of place; Plum's New Jersey is one where everyone you meet, even the most dangerous of criminals, was at school with you, or stole your mother's first boyfriend, or gave your great-aunt a middling good recipe for meatloaf. Evanovich has built up an attractive cast of comic characters with Stephanie's extended family and those of her two boyfriends, the dashing and sinister Ranger and Joe Morelli (the cop whose family are only too keen on his marrying Stephanie). Hot Six will not disappoint either her fans or newcomers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are times when I'm exasperated by the naivete of this character and then in the next paragraph I'm laughing my head off. Go figure. I'll continue reading this series, but more for the relationship between Stephanie and Joe than for anything to do with her other story lines or her bounty hunter prowess.

High Five - Janet Evanovich

"Uncle Fred was someone I saw at weddings and funerals and once in a while at Giovichinni's Meat Market, ordering a quarter pound of olive loaf. Eddie Such, the butcher, would have the olive loaf on the scale and Uncle Fred would say: 'You've got the olive loaf on a piece of waxed paper. How much does that piece of waxed paper weigh? You're not gonna charge me for that waxed paper, are you? I want some money off for the waxed paper.' "
The speaker is Stephanie Plum, the glamorous if slightly ditsy bounty hunter from Trenton, New Jersey, and one of the most original creations in recent mystery fiction.

In this fifth entry in Janet Evanovich's increasingly popular series, Stephanie's problems are many and varied. She's not making enough moneypicking up FTAs (Failures to Appear) for her cousin Vinnie, of Vincent PlumBail Bonds; her red-hot love affair with Detective Joe Morelli has cooled off; and her giant extended family is no help at all. For instance, Uncle Fred the cheapskate has disappeared, leaving behind some suspicious photographs of body parts in garbage bags and links to some really dangerous people.

When Stephanie turns to her friend and mentor, Ranger, for financial advice, he gets her involved in a gang of toughs doing instant evictions for landlords. (She complains to Ranger about the job and its dangers, prompting one of the hired thug to say, "Man, you don't like to get shot. You don't like to get arrested. You don't know how to have fun at all.")

Most of Stephanie's charm, of course, comes from her attitude--a combination of the brazen bravado that turns a failed lingerie model into bounty hunter in the first place and the normal fears of a person in over her head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, what can I say? Another in the hilarious life and times of Stephanie Plum. A fun and entertaining read. Damn it to hell!!! I need to know who was at the door at the end. As if I (we) wouldn't read book #6! Who the heck did she call???? GRRRRR :)

Vanish - Tess Gerritsen

A blessed event becomes a nightmare for pregnant homicide detective Jane Rizzoli when she finds herself on the wrong side of a hostage crisis in this timely and relentless new thriller from the New Your Times bestselling author of Body Double.

A nameless, beautiful woman appears to be just another corpse in the morgue. An apparent suicide, she lies on a gurney awaiting the dissecting scalpel of medical examiner Maura Isles. But when Maura unzips the body bag and looks down as the body, she gets the fright of her life. The corpse opens it eyes.

Very much alive, the woman is rushed to the hospital, where, with shockingly cool precision, she murders a security guard and seizes hostages…one of them a pregnant patient, Jane Rizzoli.

Who is this violent, desperate soul, and what does she want? As the tense hours tick by, Maura joins forces with Jane’s husband, FBI agent Gabriel Dean, to track down the mysterious killer’s identity. When federal agents suddenly appear on the scene, Maura and Gabriel realize that they are dealing with a case that goes far deeper than just an ordinary hostage crisis.

Only Jane, trapped with the armed madwoman, holds the key to the mystery. And only she can solve it-if she survives the night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This was a great book; number 5 of the Jane Rizzoli series. As much as I enjoyed the book, the subject matter was extremely disturbing. I find Tess Gerritsen really has a way of verbally painting such a vivid picture it can feel as though you are living right along side the drama of the moment.

If I've enticed one on my blog readers to pick up this book, beware!

Sheer Abandon - Penny Vincenzi

One night in 1986 an abandoned baby girl is found in a cupboard at Heathrow airport. A year earlier Martha, Clio and Jocasta had met by chance, at the start of a backpacking adventure: they travelled together briefly and then went their own ways, swearing to meet again when they return home. But it would be a long time until they met again: not until Kate, the foundling, is a teenager, and all three are leading successful lives. Martha is a single, highly paid lawyer, Clio a doctor, locked in an unhappy marriage, and Jocasta a reporter, in love with a charming commitment-phobe. Which of them is Kate's mother? Why was she desperate enough to do such a thing, and how did she survive it?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It took me a very long time to read this book, but it had nothing to do with my enjoyment level. This book was very good, but reserved books kept coming in from the library that kept getting in the way.

The Burnt House - Faye Kellerman

At 8:15 in the morning, a small commuter plane carrying forty-seven passengers crashes into an apartment building in Granada Hills, California. Shock waves ripple through Los Angeles, as L.A.P.D. Lieutenant Peter Decker works overtime to calm rampant fears of a 9/11-type terror attack. But a grisly mystery lives inside the plane's charred and twisted wreckage: the unidentified bodies of four extra travelers. And there is no sign of an airline employee who was supposedly on the catastrophic flight.

Decker and his wife, Rina, have personal reasons for being profoundly shaken by the tragedy, since the "accident" occurred frighteningly close to their daughter Hannah's school. Luckily, their child and her schoolmates escaped unscathed. But the fate of the unaccounted-for flight attendant—twenty-eight-year-old Roseanne Dresden—remains a question mark more than a month after the horrific event, when the young woman's irate stepfather calls, insisting that she was never onboard the doomed plane. Instead, he claims, she was most likely murdered by her abusive, unfaithful husband. But why, then, was Roseanne's name included on the passenger list?

Under intense pressure from the department to come up with answers, Decker launches an investigation that carries him down a path of tragic history, dangerous secrets, and deadly lies—and leads him to the corpse of a three-decades-missing murder victim. And as the jagged pieces slowly fall into place, a frightening picture begins to form: a mind-searing portrait of unimaginable evil that will challenge Decker's and Rina's own beliefs about guilt and innocence and justice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I discover a new author, I will read the cover of the first book and if I like I won't read the cover of future books. I find the jacket gives away too much story line and in the end takes away from the experience. I will sometimes read the book then read the cover. I did that with this novel and I'm glad I read the book without the direction given from the cover information. The cover touted this novel as intense and indicates that Decker will be pressured from many angles to crack this case. I didn't find this to be the way of the novel at all. Decker was under pressure from one source it seemed, the father of one of the murder victims. Rina was pretty much a non-factor which was neither here nor there.

All in all the book was good, but if I were using the jacket description as my guide I would have been disappointed.

The Quickie - James Patterson

Lauren Stillwell is not your average damsel in distress. When the NYPD cop discovers her husband leaving a hotel with another woman, she decides to beat him at his own game. But her revenge goes dangerously awry, and she finds her world spiraling into a hell that becomes more terrifying by the hour.

In a further twist of fate, Lauren must take on a job that threatens everything she stands for. Now, she's paralyzed by a deadly secret that could tear her life apart. With her job and marriage on the line, Lauren's desire for retribution becomes a lethal inferno as she fights to save her livelihood--and her life.

Patterson takes us on a twisting roller-coaster ride of thrills in his most gripping novel yet. This story of love, lust and dangerous secrets will have reader's hearts pounding to the very last page.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OMG! OMG! OMG! I gasped out loud at about page 15 and do so numerous times thereafter. What an amazing book. It kept me guessing right up the very end. Highly recommend this one!

Double Take ~ Catherine Coulter

It's been more than six months since her husband's brutal death, and Julia Ransom is just beginning to breathe again. She loved her husband, renowned psychic August Ransom, but the media frenzy that followed his murder sapped what little strength she had left. Now, after dinner with friends, strolling along San Francisco's Pier 39, she realizes that she's happy. Standing at the railing, she savors the sounds around her-tourists, seals on a barge-and for a moment enjoys the sheer normalcy of it all. And then it comes to an end.

Out of nowhere she's approached by a respectable-looking man who distracts her with conversation before violently attacking her and throwing her the railing. If it hadn't been for Special Agent Cheney Stone, out to stretch his legs between courses at a local restaurant, Julia would have vanished into the bay's murky depths. Not only does he save her from a watery grave, but he senses a connection between her assault and her husband's death, and sets out to serve as her protector while reopening August Ransom's murder investigation.

Meanwhile, in Maestro, Virginia, Sheriff Dixon Noble-last seen in Point Blank-still mourns his wife, Christie, who vanished hree years earlier. His life, too, is just getting back to normal when he learns of a San Francisco woman named Charlotte Pallack, whose shocking resemblance to Christie sends Dix across the country. Though he knows in his heart that she can't possibly be his wife, Dix is compelled to see her with his own eyes. Once in San Francisco, Dix and Cheney's paths inevitably cross. With the help of agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock, whose San Francisco connections prove essential in unlocking the mystery behind Charlotte Pallack's identity as well as the forces behind Julia Ransom's attempted murder, Sheriff Noble and Agent Stone push deep into a complex world of psychics and poseurs. As the stakes and the body count rise, Savich, Sherlock, Dix, and Cheney fight for answers-and their lives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I quite enjoyed this book. It was a perfect quick summer read. Nothing much exciting and rather predictable.

Paint Me Rainbows ~ Fern Michaels

Traveling with just her shattered pride and a wedding dress, Jill Barton headed west--attempting to escape the heartbreak and humiliation of being left at the altar. Her desperate flight took her deep into the woods of Washington State . . . and into the arms of hard-bitten Logan Matthews.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not much to say about this novel. It was a typical Harlequin Romance-type novel. Extremely predictable and very much fluff. I'm trying to make my way through the works of Fern Michaels, to the best of my abilities, in chronological order.

Awwww, who can't use a little more romance and fluff in their life. If that is your fancy this book is most definetely for you.

Body Double ~ Tess Gerritsen

Pregnant women play key roles in this bone-chilling fourth novel in Gerritsen's edgy, suspenseful series of thrillers featuring Boston Medical Examiner Maura Isles and Homicide Detective Jane Rizzoli. Both of the usually gritty crime fighters are uncharacteristically vulnerable. Rizzoli is carrying her first child, and Isles—divorced and alone at age 40 and suddenly, unsettlingly aware of her biological clock—is experiencing decidedly unspiritual feelings for her priest. As the novel begins, Isles—an adopted child who never knew the identity of her birth parents—is confronted by the corpse of a murdered woman who is apparently her identical twin. Another detective, Rick Ballard, comes forward to say that he knew the victim and is certain her killer is a powerful pharmaceutical baron known to have stalked her. Isles falls for the handsome Ballard, but she isn't convinced by his theory, and she launches an investigation into her sister's past, following the trail to a state correctional facility and a schizophrenic inmate who may be her mother. This opens the cobwebbed pages of a nightmarish family album and leads Isles to a remote cabin in Maine where the long-dead body of a pregnant woman is discovered buried in the woods. The killer, Isles discovers, has been murdering pregnant women for decades, making periodic sweeps of the country. Meanwhile, brief scenes chronicle the diabolical kidnapping of an affluent pregnant housewife who is kept buried in a crude coffin. An electric series of startling twists, the revelation of ghoulishly practical motives and a nail-biting finale make this Gerritsen's best to date.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This was probably my least favorite in the series. The story was good, but didn't leave me anxious to get back to the novel when having to put it down for whatever reason. The last two novels centered around Dr. Isles, which I didn't expect. I was expecting more from the life of Jane Rizzolli. I must say in conclusion though, the ending very much surprised me, didn't see 'that' coming, so now I am anxious for the next installment! Tess Gerritsen has done her job again, if my desire to get my hands on the next novel is any indication!

The 6th Target ~ James Patterson

A TERRIFYING ATTACKER
A burst of gunfire leaves several people dead–and one woman fighting for her life. That victim is a member of the Women's Murder Club, four friends who join forces on their toughest cases. Detective Lindsay Boxer pursues one lead after another to capture the man who tried to kill her friend…but the clues don't seem to make sense.

CHILDREN ARE VANISHING
While Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castellano prepares to prosecute a high-profile trial, the city suffers from a chilling crime spree. Children of wealthy families are being abducted–along with their nannies. Yet the kidnappers are silent and do not demand a ransom. Parents everywhere fear the worst. Now with the entire city gripped in fear, Lindsay must frantically work with her new partner to connect these horrific crimes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Another great James Patterson novel and as with most all his novels couldn't put it down.

The Other Woman ~ Joy Fielding

"Hello, I'm Nicole Clark. I'm going to marry your husband." The young woman was stunning and her message stunningly clear when she told Jill Plumley. What wasn't clear was how Jill could save her perfect marriage and her attractive husband from the younger, sexier, very clever Nicole. The frightening thing was, Jill knew that David could be stolen. She had done it herself. She had taken David from his wife when she, Jill, had been the other woman. And David was still a prize catch: handsome, rich, successful and irresistible. Yes, Jill knew what it was like to be David's mistress; she knew everything that would happen. But she didn't know what to do about it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I found this to be a very interesting read, maddening at times, but very good.

The Alibi Man ~ Tami Hoag

She was a vision. She was a siren. She was a nightmare. She was dead. Now he needed her to disappear. And he knew just how to make it happen. The Palm Beach elite go to great lengths to protect their own—and their own no longer includes Elena Estes. Once upon a time a child of wealth and privilege, Elena turned her back on that life. Betrayed and disillusioned by those closest to her, she chose the life of an undercover cop, the hunt for justice her own personal passion. Then a tragic, haunting mistake ended her career. Now Elena exists on the fringes of her old life, training horses for a living. But a shocking event is about to draw her back into the painful vortex she's fought so hard to leave behind.

First she finds the body—a young woman used, murdered, and dumped in a canal. Not just a victim, but a friend. As Elena delves into her dead friend's secret life, she discovers ties not only to the Russian mob but also to a group of powerful and wealthy Palm Beach bad boys known for giving each other alibis to cover a multitude of sins. A group that includes a man Elena once knew very well—her former fiance, Bennett Walker, a man she knows has already escaped justice at least once in his life.

Finding her friend's killer will put Elena at odds with her old life, with her new lover, and with herself. But she is determined to reveal the truth—a truth that will shock Palm Beach society to its core, and could very well get her killed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Book #2 featuring Elena Estes. A good read, but an absolute have-to-read? I don't think so. I found I was just plodding along in the beginning and end. The middle was entertaining, but that was about it. I know I'll continue with this series, only because that is how I am, but I'll be less than excited about doing so!

Four To Score ~ Janet Evanovich

Stephanie Plum's charge is on the run. As a bounty hunter she is responsible for her charge and making sure she attends court. As things start to go wrong Stephanie becomes aware that the girl is hiding a treasure and that people will kill to get it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once again, another laugh out loud book about the escapades of Stephanie Plum. I'm looking forward to book #5 to see what kind of trouble Stephanie will get in with Morelli, as well as the type of case she'll be working.

Jonathan Kellerman ~ Blood Test

Dr. Alexander Davenport, a child psychologist in Los Angeles, is called in to evaluate the case of a leukemia patient whose parents want to discontinue chemotherapy. When the boy disappears from the hospital and his parents are found dead, the only leads are the boy's sensual older sister and a holistic-meditative cult called The Touch. Davenport's search for the child takes him to a small town near the Mexican border where he finally unearths the dark secrets kept by the boy's family and the townspeople. He also uncovers drugs and group sex in the commune and survives a few harrowing attempts on his life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This was a good novel, but touched on incest. I didn't see this developing! Freaked me out big time! I'm not 100% on Jonathan Kellerman's style so I'll give it some time before I follow up with the 3rd novel in this series.

Sisters ~ Danielle Steel

Four sisters, a Manhattan brownstone, and a tumultuous year of loss and courage are at the heart of Danielle Steel’s novel about a remarkable family, a stunning tragedy—and what happens when four very different young women come together under one very lively roof.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This was a good book, BUT I sometimes wonder why I bother. I've not read a Danielle Steel book in ages, but in all actuality I come away from this one thinking I've already read it. The characters are different, of course, but the story seems the same in every book. All things end up perfect after the 'tragedy'. I'm not a pessimist by nature, but does life really ever turn out so perfect?

Three To Get Deadly ~ Janet Evanovich

Trenton, N.J., bounty hunter and former lingerie buyer Stephanie Plum (last seen in Two for the Dough) becomes persona non grata when she tracks down a neighborhood saint who has failed to show up for his court appearance. No one wants to help Stephanie, who works for her bail-bondsman cousin, Vinnie. While questioning admirers of the man nicknamed Uncle Mo, Stephanie is attacked and knocked out as she cases his candy store. She comes to next to the dead body of her attacker, who turns out to be a well-known drug dealer. Suddenly, she can't avoid stumbling across the bodies of dead drug dealers: one in a dumpster, one in a closet and four in the candy store basement. Stephanie suspects that mild-mannered Mo has become a vigilante and is cleaning up the streets in a one-man killing spree. But when she's repeatedly threatened by men wearing ski masks, she wonders if Mo has company and just might be in over his head. Despite her new clownish orange hair job, Stephanie muddles through another case full of snappy one-liners as well as corpses. By turns buttressed and hobbled by her charmingly clueless family and various cohorts (including streetwise co-worker Lulu, detective and heartthrob Morelli and professional bounty hunter Ranger), the redoubtable Stephanie is a character crying out for a screen debut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I found this book to be the funniest yet. I had so many laugh-out-loud moments with this one. The banter back and forth between Stephanie and Joe is hilarious and the eventual coupling promises to be filled with hilarity and trouble as only Stephanie can find.

Two For The Dough ~ Janet Evanovich

With her bounty hunter pal Ranger stepping in occasionally to advise her, Stephanie staggers knee deep in corpses and caskets as she traipses through back streets, dark alleys, and funeral parlors.

And nobody knows funeral parlors better than Stephanie's irrepressible Grandma Mazur, a lady whose favorite pastime is grabbing a front-row seat at a neighborhood wake. So Stephanie uses Grandma as a cover to follow leads, but loses control when Grandma warms to the action, packing a cool pistol. Much to the family's chagrin, Stephanie and Granny may soon have the elusive Kenny in their sights.

Fast-talking, slow-handed vice cop Joe Morelli joins in the case, since the prey happens to be his young cousin. And if the assignment calls for an automobile stakeout for two with the womanwho puts his libido in overdrive, Morelli's not one to object.

Low on expertise but learning fast, high on resilience, and despite the help she gets from friends and relatives, Stephanie eventually must face the danger alone when embalmed body parts begin to arrive on her doorstep and she's targeted for a nasty death by the most loathsome adversary she's ever encountered. Another case like this and she'll be a real pro.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These novels are such fun. The possibility of such things actually happening is highly unlikely and that is what makes this series so enjoyable. I read to get away from the everyday and these books do just that, offer an entertaining escape