August 27, 2014

Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson

Synopsis:
James Patterson returns to the genre that made him famous with a thrilling teen detective series about the mysterious and magnificently wealthy Angel family... and the dark secrets they're keeping from one another.

On the night Malcolm and Maud Angel are murdered, Tandy Angel knows just three things: She was the last person to see her parents alive. The police have no suspects besides Tandy and her three siblings. She can't trust anyone -— maybe not even herself.

Having grown up under Malcolm and Maud's intense perfectionist demands, no child comes away undamaged. Tandy decides that she will have to clear the family name, but digging deeper into her powerful parents' affairs is a dangerous -- and revealing -- game. Who knows what the Angels are truly capable of?
When this book first came out, I was really excited to get my hands on it. It took awhile, but I finally read it.

I must say – I was pretty disappointed.

It seemed pretty cheesy to me most of the time. I didn’t take a liking to any of the characters, and it was just pretty hard to connect with. I get that it was targeted to a young adult audience, but in a way it just seemed almost childish.

It never really hooked me at any time. The plot was interesting, but the execution just didn’t really do it for me. It was okay enough to get through and finish, but it wasn’t great by any means and didn’t live up to what I hoped it would be.

I was also expecting some great twist at the end when everything was revealed, but we didn’t even get that.

2/5 Stars

 Click To Purchase!

August 20, 2014

Double Cross by James Patterson

Synopsis:
Just when Alex Cross's life is calming down, he is drawn back into the game to confront a criminal mastermind like no other. The elaborate murders that have stunned Washington, DC, are the wildest that Alex Cross and his new girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, have ever seen. This maniac adores an audience, and stages his killings as spectacles in public settings. Alex is pursuing a genius of terror who has the whole city on edge as it waits for his next move. And the killer loves the attention, no doubt-he even sets up his own Web site and live video feed to trumpet his madness.

And in Colorado, another criminal mastermind is planning a triumphant return. From his supermaximum-security prison cell, Kyle Craig has plotted for years to have one chance at an impossible escape. If he has to join forces with DC's Audience Killer to get back at the man who put him in that cell--Alex Cross--all the better.
Kyle Craig is like an annoying gnat that will not go away. It is kind of nice to have the continuity of one of Alex’s enemies throughout the series, but he is just so annoying. So, I cannot really tell if keeping him around is a pro or a con, but he did make this book pretty interesting.

The continuous guessing game throughout the book keeps you guessing until the end. There are so many little pieces that go into the crimes that are being committed, that it becomes really interesting when it is all revealed.

There was less family time in this one. Over the past few books, Alex has been with his family almost as much as he has been solving crimes. It was nice to go back to Alex just working on cases. I do love his family, but I think a book like this was a needed break.

I feel like I still don’t really know the reasons behind all of the murders, the first one in particular. I feel like it was starting to get explained and then never did aside from the murderers wanting to be famous. I wanted a better explanation of their connection to Kyle Craig as well.

Overall, it was a good read and kept me turning the page until the end. I wish there would have been a bit more explanation, but it was entertaining and I liked how it was more about the crimes/criminals than about Alex and his life outside of work.

4/5 Stars

 Click To Purchase!

August 8, 2014

Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz

Synopsis:

Harry Lyon was a cop who believed in order and reason, until the fateful day he was forced to shoot a man. Now he is haunted by the words that were uttered by a homeless stranger with bloodshot eyes..".Ticktock, ticktock. You'll be dead in sixteen hours...Dead by dawn...Dead by dawn...Dead by dawn..".

This was my first Koontz book, and it sure was a crazy journey.
It is one of those books that never lets off the action. Once it starts, it is pretty intense all the way through until the end.

It surely keeps you on the edge of your seat by keeping you guessing as to what is going on.
The villain is very mysterious in the beginning, but once everything starts getting revealed it get weirder and weirder. It turns into more of a sci-fi/horror novel.

Harry and Connie were pretty good protagonists. As the novel went along their chemistry kept growing.

I didn’t feel like there was any part of the story that dropped off in entertainment value, it was consistently intriguing cover to cover. Every character had a purpose in the story so it all flowed well together and made sense.

I really enjoy a good crime novel, and this one fulfilled that while also being filled with elements of horror and science fiction.

4/5 Stars

Memorable Quotes: “No death made sense. Madness and chaos were the engines of this universe. Everything was born to die. Where was the logic and reason in that?”


“Real justice for the victims could never be extracted from a perp who was so far gone that he couldn’t feel remorse or fear retribution"


 Click To Purchase!