Sunday, July 30, 2006

Patent to Kill, April Christofferson

Dr. Jake Scully and his wife Anna were doctor's in Nogales, Mexico. Jakes wife ends up dead under mysterious circumstances, it was supposed to be a suicide. Jake was asked to work in Seattle, Washington, with a pharmaceutical company that Anna was against. One of their sons became blind and Jake was doing research on this blindness, he held a patent on the beginning stages of this condition.
Asahel was a lawyer for Gen-Chrom, a pharmaceutical company that her father owned. Before her employment she was an activist against these corporate giants, because of their Biopiracy: the theft of healing secrets of native tribes to exploit them and make large profits on the patent to cure. Her father hired her to keep an eye on her.
Dr Jake Scully accepts the job with the pharmaceutical company and went to Brazil to go up the Amazon in search for the missing gene that was needed for this blindness. He begins his journey, only to find out things were not right. Asahel receives some very disturbing information and goes to the Amazon herself. She meets up with Jake by accident, Jake saves her life and they confide in each other to unravel the mystery. They proceed with the journey up the Amazon, that turns into a real adventure with death and mayhem. Christofferson puts together a real good story that ends up in Seattle with the truth of the matter, coming together with a good ending.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Hour Game, David Baldacci

Baldacci writes a very in depth account of a serial killer's motives. In the small town of Wrightsburg, Virginia, a serial killer strikes hard and fast. Sean King and Michelle Maxwell have a partnership in a Private Investigating team and they were asked to investigate a burglary at a millionaires estate of Bobby Battles. In defending Junior Deavers for the burglary, Michelle runs into a nude woman dead in the forest. This was the first killing of a serial maniac. It was replicated like the Zodiac killer of San Francisco. After a couple more deaths by this killer, the chief of police Williams makes Sean and Michelle deputies to help with the killings. The investigation of the burglary continues and so do the killings. Sean sees a connection with the burglary and the killings and starts coming up with answers to this bizarre situation. Remmy Battle, the wife of Bobby, was very adamant about the burglary and wanted Junior prosecuted. This caused Sean to think even more about the happenings and he comes up with the truth. It is very complicated but Baldacci puts it all together in a fine story. I would rate it as a four star book.......

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Divine Evil, Nora Roberts

Clare Kimball was a famous sculptor in New York City. Angie and Jean-Paul owned an art gallery there and were good friends of Clare. They had great success in showing and selling her work. Clare was having these recurring nightmares of a satanic cult sacrificing a goat with strange men in black robes and masks. Clare was seeing a therapist but that didn't help. She decided to go to Emmitsboro, Maryland and stay in her old home that she was raised in. Clare contacted her twin brother, Blair to find out the status of the house. It was vacant so she decided to go there to find the truth. She packed her bags and drove to Emmiitsboro arriving late at night. The old home brought back many memories of the past, including the fatal fall of her father from the third story window and impaling himself on garden stakes below. As she was looking at the inside of the home, she was tackled by a man, Cam Rafferty, the local sheriff. He thought she was a trespasser, but with further talk he realized the mistake. They knew each other from school days, Cam and Blair were chums. Clare moved in and started work on her sculptures. Cam came by to see how she was doing , they went out for a bite to eat and that started a relationship that turned into love. Clare used the teen, Ernie from across the street to model his arms for a sculpture she was making.
There were strange happenings in town, a grave at a cemetery was dug up but only the dirt was gone, this was to neat for teens to do. Atherton, the mayor talked to Cam about this, but had no solution. There were several women that were missing also. This bothered Cam!
Memorial Day was a big day for Emmitsboro with a big parade and picnics everywhere. Clare invited her friends Angie and Jean-Paul and her twin Blair for a week of fun and laughter. Jean-Paul was talking to Ernie when he noticed a satanic pendant around his neck. He cautioned Clare about the pendant and asked her to stay away from him. Cam and Blair were gathering information on satanic cults for Cam thought there was a cult in town. Come to find out there was a cult but Cam didn't know who was in it. After the parade things started to heat up. Clare ends up missing. She was captured by the cult and was to be sacrificed on the summer solstice. Cam was beside himself and searched everywhere for her. Things become serious and the ending is spectacular. There is a big surprize waiting for the readers with a big twist...

Monday, July 10, 2006

R is for Ricochet, Sue Grafton

Nord Lafferty was a wealthy man living in an estate in Montebello, Ca. He hired Kinsey Millhone, a private detective from Santa Teresa, to pick up his daughter, Reba who was incarcerated for two years in Corona prison for women. She embezzled $350 thousand from her former employer, Alan Beckwith, known as "Beck". Reba was a known gambler an alcoholic, a rebel. Kinsey and Reba talked little at the start of the trip, but became amiable after an hour into the drive. Kinsey had to take Reba to her parole officer. Kinsey ran into an old friend while there who was a detective on the Santa Teresa PD, Cheney. They chatted for a while and made future arrangements. Reba and Kinsey went to eat at Rosie's, Kinseys favorite hang out where Reba ran into her old boss, Beck. They were glad to see one another, Reba loved Beck and took the fall for the missing money. Kinsey was talking with Cheney about Beck, who had several federal agents after him for laundering money out of the nation. They didn't have the evidence they needed, so they approached Reba with some pictures that incremented Beck. Reba had been had, she spent two years of her life in prison listening to the lies that came from Beck. She wanted revenge! This starts a wild chase to Reno and Beverly Hills and back to Santa Teresa. The confrontation was intense, with a good ending.