Novels Now

You are browsing the archives of 2008 September.

Faces of Fear by John Saul
Pages: 324
First Published: Aug. 12, 2008
Genre: psychological suspense, thriller
Rating: 3.5/5
First sentence:
He had to look.
Comments: A plastic surgeon’s wife, a famous model, kills herself because she was disfigured in an horrific accident. A year later plastic surgeon Conrad Dunn and divorced Risa Shaw are married. At the same time a serial [...]

333 pages
Elizabeth Phoenix used to be a police officer for the Milwaukee Police Department. She is a psychic and she used her skills in her job but she quit the force when her partner was killed. She now works as a bartender for her dead partner’s wife. One day, while on the job at the [...]

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Against Medical Advice: A True Story by James Patterson and Hal Friedman
Amarcord: Marcella Remembers by Marcella Hazan
American Prince: A Memoir by Tony Curtis with Peter Golenbock
The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe by William I. Hitchcock
Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart by Tim Butcher
Bones: An Alex [...]

The Activist: John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, and the Myth of Judicial Review by Lawrence Goldstone
American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century by Howard Blum
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Aphrodisiac by Allyson Roy
Beside a Burning Sea by John Shors
Blood Memory [...]

Enjoyable Debut Novel
Susanna Smith’s last living relative has recently died and she goes to Weymouth, Massachusetts to settle her aunt’s estate. Susanna’s faithful companion, a Weimaraner, goes along.
This is no usual estate. Both Susanna and her Aunt Susanna are both descendants of Abigail Adams, wife of President John Adams. The house is listed in the [...]

Beautiful and Haunting Story of an Portuguese Immigrant Family
Manuel was sent off to fish for his Portuguese village, as all other men and boys do. But he wanted more for his life, and wanted to get away from this life forever. This is the story about him and his family’s immigrant experience in Canada.
This is [...]

Warning: Do not read this right before bed!
The year is 1837 and Liberty Lane, runs away from her overbearing aunt to meet up with her father in France. She receives an anonymous note telling her that her father was shot in a dual. She knows that this can’t be true, due to her father’s ethical [...]

Victorian Divorce — a National Scandal
In 1864 a scandal of huge proportions shook Great Briton. That scandal was due to a divorce case, which was quite new at the time. The Sealed Letter is based on this true scandal.
Miss Emily “Fido” Faithful was a businesswoman and feminist active in the British women’s movement. She was [...]

Fun Cat Memoir for Cat Lovers
This is Chloe Anne’s memoir, written for her by her mother Valerie Oblath.
Poor Chloe Anne, her family is moving and gave her to the Humane Society. She lives in a little cage until her new mom and author, Valerie Oblath adopts her. Chloe Anne loves her new home and cat [...]

Deeply Moving and True to Life
Its 1975 Yellowknife where Harry arrives on the scene to temporarily manage the small town radio station, back where his radio career started. When he arrives, he is enchanted by an exotic and sensual female voice on the air, that of Dido. He falls instantly in love but finds out [...]

Rich Details and Decadence of 17th-Century Court
This is the story of real life Louise de la Vallière, mistress to France’s King Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King. At a young age, Louise, lovingly nicknamed Petite by her father, uses bone magic to tame a wild stallion.
Though of minor nobility, her family doesn’t have [...]

Written for Young Adults, but Just as Engaging for Adults
The year is 1925 in small town Tennessee. The school year is winding down and the children are excited about having a laid back summer. However, when it comes to the towns peoples attention that the science teacher, J. T. Scopes taught Darwin’s theory of evolution [...]

Powerful!
The Gargoyle is a difficult book to review and summarize. The plot crosses many genre lines and deals with many issues. That said, here is my attempt.
The novel begins with the narrator getting in a car accident after bingeing on liquor and cocaine. He has a bottle of bourbon between his legs at the time [...]

The Road Home
By Rose Tremain
Completed September 27, 2008
The Road Home was the Orange Prize winning novel by Rose Tremain – a story of Lev, a Russian immigrant living in London. Lev immigrated to Britain after the mill in his village closed, leaving him without a means to support his mother and daughter. The decision to [...]

Night Runner by Max Turner
Pages: 261
First Published: Sept. 8, 2008 (Canada only)
Genre: YA, paranormal
Rating: 5/5
First sentence:
My name is Daniel Zachariah Thomson.
Comments: Zack is an orphan. His father died in an accident when Zack was four. Zach was there as well and was sent to the hospital in a coma. After awakening from the coma it [...]

I was first introduced to Clyde Edgerton when I read and enjoyed Walking Across Egypt (4 stars) last year, so I was really looking forward to reading this book.  Henry Dampier is a young man determined to make his fortune by door-to-door Bible selling; although, truth be told, he gets the Bibles for free.  Still, [...]

The Loveliest Woman in America: A Tragic Actress, Her Lost Diaries, and her Granddaughter’s Search for Home by Bibi Gaston
Pages: 335
First Published: June 10, 2008
Genre: nonfiction, memoir, biography
Rating: 3/5
First sentence:
For forty-three years, all I knew was that Rosamond was beautiful and that she had killed herself.
Comments: This is the story of Rosamond Pinchot told through [...]

Anita Shreve
305 pages
ARC from Hachette Book Group
Several students at a private boarding school have participated in illicit sexual activity. Worse than that, they were foolish enough to tape it. When the tape makes it’s way into the hands of the headmaster, that’s just the beginning of a cascade of events that will leave many lives [...]

I stared at my attorney as he began his defense that I did not share the blame in the murder of my son. [first sentence]
Janeology by Karen Harrington
Künati, 2008
Fiction; 246 pgs
It is difficult to know where to start in describing a book like Janeology. It is thriller-like on one level but also a bio-psychosocial [...]