Isabella Ames isn’t looking forward to her last year of school. She attends a concert before the school year begins and gets more than she bargained for. While waiting in line at a fast food restaurant, a stranger jumps into her car. Startled, she hesitates until she realizes it is Jake Johnson, lead singer of the band. That night begins a journey of love and heartbreak. Views: 19
Sindiwe Magona's novel Mother to Mother explores the South African legacy of apartheid through the lens of a woman who remembers a life marked by oppression and injustice. Magona decided to write this novel when she discovered that Fulbright Scholar Amy Biehl, who had been killed while working to organize the nation's first ever democratic elections in 1993, died just a few yards away from her own permanent residence in Guguletu, Capetown. She then learned that one of the boys held responsible for the killing was in fact her neighbor's son. Magona began to imagine how easily it might have been her own son caught up in the wave of violence that day. The book is based on this real-life incident, and takes the form of an epistle to Amy Biehl's mother. The murderer's mother, Mandisi, writes about her life, the life of her child, and the colonized society that not only allowed, but perpetuated violence against women and impoverished black South Africans under the reign of apartheid.... Views: 19
John Tamberlain is The Tomahawk, the universe's most feared food critic – though he himself prefers the term 'forensic gastronomer'. He's on a quest, in search of the much-storied Hotel Grand Skies, a secretive and exclusive haven where the rich and famous retreat to bask in perfect seclusion. A place where the waiters know their fish knife from their butter knife, their carotid from their subclavian artery, and are trained to enforce the house rules with brutal efficiency. Blurring the lines between detective story, horror and sci-fi, Hunters & Collectors is a mesmeric trip into the singular imagination of M. Suddain – a freewheeling talent whose poise, invention and sensational sentences have already earned him comparisons to Vonnegut, Pynchon and Douglas Adams. Views: 19
The second book in the Lux series. *** As America falls, the survivors begin to build an army to fight against the corrupt government of Senator Angine, while the Lux experiment with their abilities and try to come to terms with what they are. Views: 19
In the famous vineyards of Provence, blood has begun to flow like wine The vineyards of the Willesford Wine Group occupy a particularly choice section of French wine country. From the grapes of Provence, the owners of this impeccably managed syndicate have squeezed international fame and fortune. Next to their spectacular estate lies the petite Peregrine Winery, whose shadowy owners suddenly make repeated requests to buy Willesford’s property—raising their offer each time. Unable to discern Peregrine’s motive for these persistent attempts, the Willesford group sends for London’s gourmet detective, a sleuth with impeccable reasoning and an even finer palate. When he arrives in Provence, he doesn’t even have time to sample the pâté before he finds a dead man leaning against a cart, dripping blood into the fine French terroir. For the winemakers of Provence, this will be an excellent year for murder. Views: 19
Seattle police sergeant Lou Boldt is stunned when the local fire investigator presents him with frightening evidence in a series of fires that have occurred in the Seattle area. These white-hot fires burn so cleanly that even the ash disintegrates--leaving not a trace of its victims or any evidence of criminal activity. Only when Boldt is taunted by someone sending him pieces of melted green plastic--houses from a Monopoly board--does he realize that an arsonist is involving him in a deadly game. HBO has optioned.
### Amazon.com Review
Ridley Pearson manages to make high-tech crime-fighting more human and fascinating than anyone else in the field--witness such bestsellers as Chain of Evidence. Once again, Sgt. Lou Boldt, inspired and seemingly tireless forensic investigator for the Seattle police, zigs from the lab to the field--this time to find out why single mothers are being burned to death by flash fires fueled by an unknown, amazingly volatile fuel. The chief villain might remind you of recent headlines, but Pearson's research and writing skills create fiction more interesting than fact.
### From Publishers Weekly
A rag and a bone are literally all the Seattle PD has to work with after a violent fire consumes a home and its helpless female occupant, a divorced mother. When a second victim dies the same way, detective Lou Boldt (Chain of Evidence, etc.) and police psychologist Daphne Matthews (both Pearson regulars) begin the process of profiling a serial killer who uses rocket fuel to torch women because they resemble his mother. Elsewhere, a young boy named Ben, whose abusive stepfather has all but driven him into the street, has been befriended by a fraudulent "psychic" named Emily Richland, who hires Ben to scout her clients' vehicles while they're meeting with her. This task leads, in the novel's best scene, to Ben witnessing an exchange of cash for rocket fuel, a sighting that in turn eventually takes the police to their killer. Much of the plot teeters on the coincidental nature of all these connections, and on the unlikely bits of evidence used to corner the suspect (e.g., a ladder's impressions left on backyard grass). The intricate forensics that have driven so many of Pearson's novels are largely missing here, and secondary characters are sketched quickly and without depth. Even Boldt and Matthews have lost their shine, bickering a lot while insisting that they love one another, while Boldt's long-suffering wife, Liz, is discarded in cruel fashion. But no doubt the Boldt-Matthews team will be back, hopefully to solve cases less confusing and farfetched than this one. Major ad/promo; author tour. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 19
Britain McCulley returns to her parents’ Malibu estate for the summer to play the part of the naïve, modest heiress that Mom and Dad want her to be.
When Jaime Rivera shows up to make amends with her family, he threatens to blow over her good-girl façade like a house of cards. Views: 19
Tragedy, comedy, and historical fiction come together to relate this bittersweet childhood tale. Set in Nazi-occupied southern France, the story follows young Dominique, who is a mere seven years old when his father is arrested by the Gestapo in May of 1943. The protagonist then flees Marseille with his mother and cousin Gérard, escaping starvation and seeking the safety of the countryside. Chronicling the liberation of the Jewish people, the narrator's miraculous reunion with his father, and the father's amazing story of survival, this moving novel illustrates the challenges of starting life all over again. Views: 19
