Maine Books

I ordered the book from Amazon. It came in a very short time and in excellent condition. The price was amazingly low! I enjoyed the book immensely. I am a big Patterson fan. Recommend it highly.

This was a wonderful mind bending story full of emotional highs & lows. Patterson has created another fascinating and thrilling book and I would recommend it to everyone. I wish they would make more of the Alex Cross series into movies. S.L. Chessor author of Poodlums, Boogeymen and Booglers and My Tongue Fell Out. Poodlums, Boogeymen and Booglers: A Poetry CollectionMy Tongue Fell Out

James Patterson's "Mary, Mary" is a return to the interesting Alex Cross books that Patterson wrote early on in the series. This novel, the 11th in the series, hits the ground running practically from page one. Cross, while on vacation in California with his family, is thrust into a serial murder mystery that consumes him professionally while threatening to uproot the harmony in his family.

In "Mary, Mary", Patterson spins a complex plot that dares the reader to try and figure out the ending. One or two killers? Male or female killer(s)? These are just a couple of the questions that the reader must try to answer while speed reading through this novel. The usual short chapters and rapid-fire delivery of thrills and chills will keep the reader glued to this book.

If you are a fan of the early Cross novels, then you won't be disappointed with "Mary, Mary". Here's hoping that the 12th entry simply entitled, "Cross" will be just as strong.

James Patterson hits it right on the mark once again with his newest Alex cross novel, "Mary,Mary". The plot twists and turns to a thrilling climax and the characters continue to develop.

Once again we find Dr. Alex Cross torn between balancing his life with his family, significant other, & his work. Never boring, Mr. Patterson starts off & gets us to the mystery very quickly. We believe the serial killer to be a woman until the Storyteller appears. One goes through the novel mystified as to not only the identity of the killer, but the gender, as well. It all comes together very well at the end where all the loose ends are tied very neatly. The identity of the true killer is quite a surprise & unsuspecting. The end of the story gives the belief that Dr. Cross is headed for retirement to spend his time with his family. I doubt & hope that's not the case. As usual, you can't miss with an Alex Cross novel

I havn't read it yet, but I've seen my dvd of it (at least) 3 times already. Let alone, on tv a few times too. ;)

~a Stephen King Constant Reader

I've read many of Mr. King's books and I believe the reason they are so long is because he spends a great deal of time talking about trivial things such as the color of eyes, shape of eyes, length of hair, color of pants, etc. In this book Croatan is mentioned at least twice (and in the movie), but neither explains what a Croatan is! It's a werewolf! If you want true horror and excitement, try Clive Barker and I would suggest your first experience with Mr. Barker be "The Damnation Game". It's FANTASTIC!

Let me start off by saying that whatever else he is, you have to give Stephen King credit for doing innovative stuff. His serial novel "The Green Mile" is a good example of it, and releasing Storm of the Century as a teleplay is another one. I had never read a teleplay before, and it was definitely interesting to see the different format.

The novelty of the format alone was enough to hold my attention through what was, essentially, a pretty standard King story. King trots out all the hallmarks of his "schtick" here: supernatural tragedy comes to small insular town. Seen it in the Castle Rock stories, in It, in the Tommyknockers, in Salem's Lot, in Bag of Bones, in From a Buick 8...etc. I'll also point out that the insularity of his towns grows increasingly less believable in today's modern, wired world, but it's as if King's idea of what constitutes town life is stuck at say, 1950 or so--has he ever written a character who is a web-geek, for example? For that matter, has he ever *shown* a character using the Internet?

But anyway, all his standard cliches are here: Small, somewhat improbably insular Maine town? Check. Townsfolk hiding secrets? Check. Stranger with mysterious and evil powers showing up? Check. (Shades of Mr. Gaunt, Randall Flagg, etc.) Stranger knows and publicly reveals folks' secrets? Check. Odd nursery rhyme or saying repeated at intervals throughout the story? Check. Stephen King's stock characters trotted out? Check. The reenactment of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" at the end was about the only thing here that seemed somewhat fresh, and even then, Stephen King's fascination with that story has been demonstrated in many of his other books (check out the Dark Tower III, for example).

I don't mean to sound as negative as the preceding might come across; it's just that this struck me as a fairly standard (and mediocre) King outing that basically rehashed a lot of material that he had used before. Perhaps after having written for such a long time, he simply doesn't have that much original to say anymore. *shrug* Nothing much to see here, folks; move it along.

This is the first screenplay that I read of S.King., it is so well written that you can imagine it as if you were actually seen the movie. The story is so good that it keeps you interested at all times, without a clue about what is going to happen at the end.

First I need to say that I was not very excited to read Stephen King's "Storm of the Century" because I was afraid that the screenplay format would strip away all the character building I enjoy in Stephen King's writing. Secondly, I have never liked many of his works written for, or adapted for, the screen. I began this book with some serious concerns.

No worries were needed. After I got through living with the residents of Little Tall Island for two nights during the biggest storm ever to hit the island, and the visitor who chose this time to rip the island's community apart, I was more than satisfied that I picked up "Storm of the Century".

The characters were stock King characters, but the anti-hero, Linoge, was actually even creepier because the screenplay format would not allow a deep dive into Linoge's motivation. All his physical actions, with no understanding (until the end) of his intentions, made Linoge unpredictable and a very strong evil character.

I also enjoyed seeing how Stephen King structured the suspense visually. From the quick cuts showing scenes of a town slowly being swallowed by the storm (and Linoge), to the great scene where Mike is chronicling the crime scene at Martha's with a Polaroid camera and each flash of the camera reveals new details of the crime. I thought his creative use of a visual medium was very good.

There were also enough pure Stephen King lines in the screenplay that you never forgot who the author was. The dialogue was not great, but some of the throw away direction is priceless. For instance, when one of the characters gets an axe to the face, Stephen King describes how he wants it sound (the action happens of camera) "it's like someone slapping mud with the flat of his hand". Or when he writes how the Town Hall should be depicted as the final safe haven in Little Tall Island and then adds "Of course the Titanic probably looked the same way before it hit the iceberg".

The theme of guilt within the tight family of islanders was also interesting, and I am glad the ending had a glimpse into the future (present) so we could see what happened to some of the main participants of the final tragedy.

All in all I enjoyed it a lot.

This is by far the best James Rollins book I've read so far. Demonstrating his impressive scope of vision and imagintion, he pulls together science, history and the occult into a plot that grabs you and holds you tight until the last page.

While I found some other books by this author quite readable but still sadly shallow and lacking feasibility, "Black Order" has no such flaw. The opening of the book takes place in post World War II Germany, which I think will hook many European readers as myself to the story. But the way Rollins intertwines these infamous events in European history with ancient lore, science and technology into a wild "super human" project orchestrated by a modern day "mad scientist" is awesome and raises an almost unbeatable challenge to the reader. The knot of this mystery stays tight throughout the book and only begins to loosen towards the end. So I simply have to give Rollins credit for that. I enjoyed the scientific background as well as the bits of Norse lore and mythology thrown here and there. Some of the conclusions he makes are a little far-fetched for my taste, but after all, this is a work of fiction, so I guess it's quite alright.

All in all, I would highly recommend this book. It is a great example of suspence literature that puts one's mind to work from the very first page and keeps it busy to the end. You can't go through the book without a decent amount of thinking in order to put all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together. Best of all, a significant amount of the information the book is based on is TRUE--which comes to show--as the author has repeatedly stated--that indeed "truth is often stranger than fiction." I do intend to follow up on the recommended readings because I really find some of the questions raised in "Black Order" worth exploring. This is a great read, and I hope Rollins keeps up the good work!

wow!
another page turning, thrill a minute tale by james rollins!
and another few sleepless nights for me!
i just COULD NOT put this book down!
highly recommended!
looking forward to reading mr. rollins' new book!

this was my first james rollins novel, and it was hard to put it down. it would make a good script for a hollywood sci-fi movie-- with all the actions and somewhat cheesy humors. thumbs up from me. i will definitely seek out more of this author's other books.

If you like other books like this you should definitely be reading James Rollins. His books read like a movie.

Just the biblical research on this one must have been time consuming. Would that I had his imagination!!! Great book!!

Blaze was a decent, short novel by King, though not his best work by a long shot (he says so in the forward). You can't help feeling a little sorry for the lead character "Blaze". His troubled past was really the cause of his present, and you can't help but wonder what could have been.....

I really wasnt expecting to like this book too much but I was happily mistaken. The character, Blaze, although on the wrong path, elicited my sympathy and I liked him and wished he could have been raised differently. All in all it was a good book.

Stephen King writes best as Richard Bachman. This story was a page-turner and I read it all in one weekend.

I'm surprised at how many reviewers found Blaze to be a sympathetic antihero. I've experienced that feeling before when the part is written strongly, like in the original Jackel movie, but I did not experience that here.

Blaze is a book about a thug. He has some of the usual, my upraising was bad and I got whipped a few times excuses, but it becomes quite evident that Blaze is a thug and likes being a thug. He gives no real thought or regret to anyone he harms who is in his way.

I expected this story to take the next step and go beyond, holding out hope that it could rise to the level of later King novels, but it didn't. I won't say what i expected for the sake of not putting spoilers in this review.

King can always keep me listening, he is an excellent storyteller, but I didn't find anything the character he picked, all that interesting.

I was rooting for his demise.

Clayton Blaisdell is "...soft in the head..." due to being thrown down the stairs three times by his father, and although they were partners in crime, Blaze has had George to look after him in many ways....just as the George in 'Of Mice And Men' looked out for Lennie. Therefore anyone who has read 'Of Mice...' can't fail to be reminded of it when reading this book.
BUT - the George in this story is dead and only lives in Blaze's head which Blaze realises to some extent and which worries him at times. George is the 'bad voice' on Blaze's shoulder...telling him things which might save his skin but that Blaze doesn't always want to do...and Blaze is ultimately a criminal who endears himself to you. You can't help but feel sympathy for a boy who's had the life he has. He's been abused and misunderstood and every time there's a glimmer of something better, had his hopes dashed.

The chapters move back and forth from the present day where Blaze is planning to kidnap a baby for a ransom, to his growing up in care and his friendship with John Cheltzman.

I found the way Blaze cared for Joe quite touching and very believable for this gentle giant who after all is just yearning for something of his own to love and love him back. Whilst I knew it couldn't happen (could it?) I really was rooting for him all the way.

Not a horror story in Kings normal style...instead he gives us sociological observations on society, encased in a good story. Unlike some reviewers I liked the ending...it was moving to know that when Joe cried "It was the wrong face..." that bent over and tried to comfort him.

As an adult I normally loathe stories with talking animals, animals who reason, etc. I'm also not that fond of mice! But "Stuart Little" is done in an engaging way, and it's far better than the live-action movie of the same name. The story is a little more serious and less action-oriented, and the book as a whole is evocative of a simpler time.

I see the reading level as 9-12. Yikes! If Harry Potter is 9-12, then Little should be 1-3. I did love the beginning of this story. There is no explanation as to why a human mother presumably gives birth to a mouse instead of a human child. The story goes on without anymore reference to it. As if this is just the way it was. End of discussion. I loved that! Funny. And the writing is charming, to be sure, but the story just goes on without getting anywhere. It's one adventure after another without an end in sight. No goal. That's my trouble with Stuart Little.

To explain the sudden and unsatisfying ending, I did hear that the author, White, was quite a hypochondriac. At the time of this book's writing, he was convinced he was going to die at any moment, (He ended up living a number of decades after Stuart Little was first published.) So, fearing certain death, White demanded the publisher to publish the book now!, as is, "before I die tomorrow!" Amazing, but true.

I enjoyed this book, but I didn't really enjoy the ending. The beginning and middle were well written, the characters were well thought out. The boat race was probably the most exciting part. The ending was poorly written. However, EB White was suffering from hypochondria, and this is why he ended the book so abruptly and never wrote a sequel. He could have written one, but was suffering from this illness. I prefer the movie, very sadly, in this one instance.

my 6 yr old read charlotte's web - wanted this one - loves it also

When Mrs. Fredrick C. Little gave birth to her second son, everyone was surprised when it was a mouse. Even though Stuart is only two inches tall, he has all the attributes of a human, including the ability to talk. And he finds that his small size is a help around the house. But it also gets him into some dangerous situations since people often overlook him. Whether it's going down the drain looking for a ring, sailing a boat on a pond in Central Park, or accidentally getting thrown out with the garbage, you can bet that Stuart will face any obstacle head on.

I was first read this book in first grade and loved it for the most part. Even back then, the ending bothered me. Still, there plenty of laughs at some of Stuart's adventures, and the early chapters are entertaining. Garth Williams' illustrations are absolutely darling, and add much charm to the story.

However, the second half really disappointed me when I reread it. The first half is pretty much a series of unconnected adventures. The barest hint of a plot begins to take shape in the second half, but it goes no where. Furthermore, Stuart begins to show some rather immature behavior in those last few chapters. While he had always had some arrogance, it became too much by the end. And that doesn't even touch the ending, which leaves the plot that had finally taken hold completely unresolved.

This book is really a character study rather then a story. Parts of it will entertain kids. But the second half will let them down and the ending will leave them unsatisfied. The book isn't bad, but it's too bad it doesn't live up to my memories.

I'm not quite sure why this book got such glowing reviews. It's a quick read - a standard mystery/thriller suitable for a day on the beach. But as far as being a GREAT book - it really wasn't. You could see what was coming two chapters ahead. Nothing unexpected ever happened in this book - no plot twists, not even a suitable climax. The dialog was almost childish at times. I've never seen the word "bro" used that often in a book. As far as it being a "business" thriller - it wasn't. It was actually closer to Rambo - military guy goes wacko. The characters were either boring (Jason and Kate and their whole family) or ridiculously unbelievable (Kurt), with a few other undeveloped characters thrown in because he needed them to try and make at least some kind of sense.

If the rest of his "business thrillers" are like this, I think I will pass.

Joseph Finder does it again. I have not read one book of his that I have not loved. This is another great one. Now I've read all of his books and can't wait for the next one. If you want a fast-paced, exciting, scary, thrilling, book, read this. It's fantastic. My husband and I read it together and both loved it.

I don't usually read fiction books - most of the time I read non-fiction adventure stories. I was given this book by a friend who highly recommended it. It took me six months before I finally picked it up to read - I should done this much sooner. I must say that this book was so good I will be looking for more of this type & by Joseph Finder in particular. The book had great characters you can relate to & just the right mix of technology & action. It is not only an exciting story but had many funny parts as well. This was one of the rare books I didn't want to put down & I pounded through the 400 pages in 2 or 3 days - at the same time it hardly seemed like I spent any time reading it - it was that enjoyable.

I'm looking forward to my next Joseph Finder novel.

This is only the second book by Joseph Finder that I have read but it certainly won't be the last. His books are totally engrossing and keep the reader turning the pages at a rapid rate!

'KILLER INSTICNT' grabbed me from the very beginning when Jason Steadman meets tow truck driver & ex-special forces Kurt Semko and they immediately hit it off.

Jason soon gets Kurt a job at his company as corporate security. And before Jason knows it things begin to look up for him, his beautiful wife is with child and he is swiftly moving up the corporate ladder. However, it seems that his new friend has been helping him climb the ladder in some less than ethical ways. When Jason tries to put a stop to Kurt he soon realizes that it is better to have Kurt Semko as a friend than as an enemy.

Yet another gripping novel Joseph Finder, I cannot wait to get my hands on his next!

A great story with great theme and moral value. A friend who went out of his way to help another friend.....but for a high price to pay. In the end, they tried to kill each other. Very suspenseful pace. Cold Eyes

When Art Bechstein was finally able to leave Washington, D.C., and his mob father behind, he ran to Pittsburgh to attend school. His last summer in the sweltering city proved to be an exciting and intriguing adventure.

The handsome and personable Arthur Lecomte introduces Art to women, sex and a new way of life, but with the arrival of Arthur's mysterious friend, Cleveland, Art must face his father and the "family" he tried to forget.
Michael Chabon's debut novel, set in the 80s, is a coming-of-age tale of excess, sex and friendship. It paints a different side of the crumbling steel city, a side of grit and grime, where the unexpected is lurking behind every corner.

Chabon's writing is colorful and imaginative, but the story lacks real excitement. It is slow to take off and quickly fizzles. It is a story that is always on the edge of breaking through, but never pushes the reader over the ledge.

"Mysteries" is an easy read that doesn't force the reader to think too much. In short, if you don't want a tough plot that twists and turns like a rollercoaster, then this book is it.

I loved the flow of language and the development of character. This story develops like a fairy tale with a gritty edge and depth of reality that makes the reading a profound experience.

I received this book for Christmas 3 or 4 years ago and finally read it last weekend. I am very sad that I've missed out on Chabon's beautiful prose style until now and I am going to remedy this post-haste. I thought the narrative drive of this book, its sense of tragedy and events coming to an unavoidable head, was very powerful. I enjoyed Art Bechstein's character immensely. I enjoyed the others a little less--with the notable exception of Cleveland. I wish Cleveland had had more face time in the book. While Phlox and Arthur are there just to allow Bechstein to discover his sexual identity, or so it often seems, Cleveland highlights one of Bechstein's far more interesting, in my opinion, character issues--his relationship with his father and his father's profession, and the issue of being honest with one's self about anything period. My main complaint- and it's not really a complaint, just a comment- about the novel is that it is rather disjointed. For 100 pages or so Art/ Flox/ Arthur are just buddies and then all of a sudden, it becomes about Art being gay. Cleveland's self-immolation, positively Wagnerian, is also a bit sudden. However, this book was never dull and was always emotionally moving, and I am looking forward to reading more Chabon soon.

This is can be a very painful book to read. All of the characters are larger than life except the women. Or should I say the woman, the female love interest who turns out to be a cardboard doofus. All the cool guys are cooler than frozen cucumbers; they are physically formidable and intellectually blank (as is the current ideal). Daddy is a gangster. Sonny is clueless. Then he discovers homosexuality. Wow! Brave new world that has such magical, mystical, manliness. I can't put it down fast enough.

For awhile now, I have heard the name Michael Chabon mentioned...among book friends, recommendations online, you know the sort of thing. I'd never read anything by him and didn't really know where to start. I just picked the first Chabon book I came across. What a lucky discovery for me. Even more so in that this is his first book (he later went on to win the Pulitzer for another....so I guess there should be little surprise that people had been name dropping Chabon).

In short, I loved "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh," and can't wait to get more books by this wonderful author. For those of you out there who haven't discovered Chabon, you are in for a treat. This book centers on one Art Bechstein, a new college graduate who takes a summer job at a big chain bookstore for one last summer of fun before he truly settles down. What a summer it is! His conjuring of love, sex, and friendship (a coming of age story) is like nothing you've read before. There's magic in these pages.

Whether he's describing the pretentions of his girlfriend, describing a road trip to a summer cottage, or simply admiring his friends walking down the street, Chabon can captivate. You want to know these people, or maybe you already do from your own college/young adult life. There is a darker element to the story when he meets Cleveland, a thug wannabe (or is he just the shadow of someone that could have been great?). Cleveland also leads him to examine his own choices and family situation more carefully and reveals a darker side to Pittsburgh.

More than the interesting storyline, however, is the amazing picture painting Chabon is able to do with words: He can turn a bleak Pittsburgh landscape into something extraordinary. He describes the city lovingly, without the jaded eye of age and oppressive dose of reality. His characters and their actions lead into fully understandable, complex, and likable people that we hate to leave when the story ends. In short, it's little surprise that "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" has been compared with "Catcher in the Rye." It's a wonderful book. Don't miss it.

It scared me more as a child, when I thought the story was true. After discovering it was a hoax, the story's ability to frighten me lessened until now, I find the whole thing laughably silly. And look what happened
to George and Kathy Lutz for all that!

This book was okay, not as 'scary' as I assumed it to be, regarding all the hype surrounding the house at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville. I don't really believe its a 'true story' as stated on the cover. A well written horror novel by all means, but just a fiction novel at that.
Whether the Lutz's ordeal really happened is another thing, many people believe it happened, many don't. I'm undecided, I don't think I would of wanted to stay in a house where a family massacre occured.

For horror fans a good book to read and have in your collection.

This story is very well written. I'll admit that I slept with my lamp on while I was reading this. It scared the hell out of me! It's a fast read as well. Things just keep happening over and over again. It was hard to put it down! The Amityville Horror is a truely scary book. It's down right horrifying. I don't care whether it's true or not because it's such a good read. If you want to be scared, then read this. You will not be disapointed. Damn good book!

The movie left you with so many questions!!! This book leaves you with REAL answers! I couldnt put it down! I loved it!!!

I know this book has been around for decades, and was written at the request of the Lutz family who hired Mr. Anson to turn their story into a book. Most people by now have seen the movie(s) and are familiar with the fact that the Amityville horror story has been debunked.

But, I thought, what the heck? It's probably a good read since it inspired such a long series of movies and even a remake (what hasn't?). I have to say that I didn't particularly care for this book. It's not that the story wasn't there, or that it didn't have the potential to be scary. It was the writing style. I felt like I was reading an 300 page newspaper article. The author is SO withdrawn from the story that you just read event after event with no connection to the characters or their true mental state. I suppose that I had really high hopes from this book, it's rare to find a really good haunted house story. Unfortunately this is not one of them.

Jumping back and forth from watching the Lutz family and Father Mancuso you really get the idea that a reporter just sat and interviewed them then smashed it all together to make a book. By simply relating the events I believe that they were going for the "this is the truth, draw your own conclusions" but the problem is that now, 30-40 years later, we know it is all hogwash. Without the mystery of calling it a "true story" the writing style does not hold up as a fictional story.

I'm not going to tell you not to read it, because if you're like me you won't listen anyway. I'm just saying buy the book used or get it from the library because it certainly isn't something you will want to read over again.

I cannot add much to the five star reviews other than to say that I grew up on Waumbaugh's novels (and on the Waumbaugh inspired "Police Story") and it is good to see him return to his LAPD roots with such a bang. Come on Joe, crank it up. Even your worst is better than most.

This is Wambaugh at his best. An incredible cast of fascinating characters. A very well plotted story and completely satisfying read. Loads of humor and suspense!

This book has its moments of classic Wambaugh police humor, and politically correct it is not. Having said that, it is nowhere near the epic police novels that were "The Blue Knight" or "The New Centurions." Hollywood Station is more a collection of funny cop stories, most no doubt (partially) true, than a tight novel. In fact, the plot does not even begin to roll out until well into the second half of the book. I grew up on Wambaugh and his early novels (as well as "The Onion Field") had an impact on who I am today. But this book did not measure up.

My all time favorite humorist is P G Wodehouse, and I never thought I'd find an author that made me laugh out loud like Wodehouse's books do. But "Hollywood Station" is outstanding, as read by Grupper.

Not to mention that Wambaugh's characters are sheer perfection. Who could forget Hollywood Nate, a policeman who longs to become a famous movie star? Or the surfer cop team, the Oracle, or Farley, the meth addict?

The police try to keep a lid on the boiling cauldron of Hollywood, with its crazy mix of drug dealers dressed in Spiderman costumes, prostitutes who are men in drag, and new immigrants with murder on their minds. And they have to do this with their hands tied behind their back due to the supervision and laws passed since the Rodney King incident. Not to mention while understaffed.

It's a crazy mixture, and Wambaugh paints it to perfection.

It's been literally decades since I've read a Joseph Wambaugh police procedural thriller. Once his plots left the realm of the LAPD, I lost interest. But he returns with all the old panache with HOLLYWOOD STATION first published in 2006, 14 years after the legendary Chief Daryl Gates retired, or, as some say, was forced out by the 1992 riots that followed the wretched Rodney King episode (and "wretched" is used as a modifier of both King and the episode, especially the former considering his subsequent performance as a citizen). It's a new world for the force.

The characters of this novel are the law officers and miscreants they police in the Hollywood Division, which I drive through every day on the way to work unaware of the human dramas and comedies bubbling just below the surface. It's the beat that includes Grauman's Chinese, the Walk of Fame, the Kodak Theater (of the Oscars) and the famous HOLLYWOOD sign. On a broader scale, it's interesting to learn the author's take, as seen through the eyes of his cop heroes, on the doldrums the LAPD has entered under Gates' lackluster successors and the current activist city mayor. The federal consent decree, under which the department currently operates, is particularly odious. Only the watch of the current police chief achieves a hint of approval.

The crimes and misdemeanors of Hollywood's low-life, and the situations confronting L.A.'s finest, are often bizarre. You couldn't make this stuff up, and I suspect that Wambaugh hasn't. At the book's beginning, he gives credit to the police officers of Los Angeles, San Diego and Palm Springs for providing him with anecdotal stories. So, even if the Hollywood Division isn't quite so lively on a daily basis as depicted, the stretch to the imagination is more about frequency than substance and the descriptive "Hollyweird" perhaps has basis in fact.

Wambaugh is back! And I've already got his latest book, Hollywood Crows: A Novel(involving many of the same protagonists), on my Wish List.

I thought this book was absolutely wonderful. I felt like I knew the characters and was sad when I finnished reading it. Great for a weekend read and I felt completely satisfied. I would encourage anyone to read it!

I read this book a few years back after getting it from the library. I now want to buy it because even though much time has passed, the characters and the story still fascinate and haunt me. This is a story you won't forget, and it's a great one!

This is the story that Hannah Grey has waited a long time to tell. It's the story of what happened to her the summer she was seventeen, living in Maine. The summer she met Conary Crocker, the wild boy she fell in love with.

It's also the story of what began to happened with the Haskell family who lived in isolation on an island off the mainland of Dundee, Maine back in the late 1880s.

It's part love story, part ghost story.
And the two stories eventually collide...

I thought this was very well done. The characters were realistic, and well developed and I found it to be an easy and satisfying read. I will look for more books written by Beth Gutcheon.

MORE THAN YOU KNOW

This is my first Beth Gutcheon book but certainly will not be the last. I really enjoyed this book. It was cool how past and present were totally tied in with each other.

Hannah Gray tells of the summer she met the love of her life, Conary Crocker, resident bad boy. This is a summer during the Great Depression. Hannah and her half-brother and nasty, mean step-mother summer in Dundee, Maine. Not only does Hannah meet Conary, but they also meet some nasty, evil ghosts who are haunting the house where Hannah and family reside.

We also meet the Haskell family from 100 years earlier. They are a miserable, mean, unhappily wed couple who also have two children. Claris, the mother, marries Danial, which is odd due to the fact that Danial is a strange man, mean, cold, nasty, rude. Claris comes from a fun-loving, music-loving, happy, close-knit family and marrying Danial turns out to be the BIGGEST mistake of her young life.

All of these characters become involved with each other through ghosts and/or lost souls -- what have you. This book is a story of two couples and their relationships and how both of these relationships are intertwined even though they lived 100 years apart. The book tells of love, hate, hauntings, murder, great secondary characters, good story line, and history.

The wildly happy couple -- Hannah and Conary and the miserable, hateful couple -- Danial and Claris -- will stay in your mind for a long time. The book tells the stories of these two couples and their families in a way that will delight and scare you. This is good writing. I also enjoyed the history of the area, be it true or not!

This is a very well written book, one I thoroughly enjoyed, and one I will highly recommend to my friends/family.

Thank you!!! Pam

In "More Than You Know," Beth Gutcheon tells two stories, both set in a town in Maine, at once: first the story of Hannah Gray and the summer she spent with her irritating stepmother and the love of her life, Conary Crocker and second the story of the Haskells, a family that could not stand each other. As Hannah faces her own struggle with Edith (her stepmom), a spirit from the past begins to haunt her. At the same time, she begins to look into the Haskell murder mystery, which occurred many years before her time. The novel is about discovering our pasts and the importance of moving on--the danger of closing our minds to the world around us. Hannah becomes freer in her relationship with Conary while discovering what isolated and unhappy lives the Haskells lived because they were alone on an island and would not admit their anxiety and anger. This discovery is important to what happens later in Hannah's life: a reverence of the past, tradition and family, but not a slavish devotion to it. The ambitious, well-written and impressive novel is crafted beautifully and effectively. The problem is, in the end, the storylines are not all that exciting. Gutcheon's story needed more pizzaz, more flash and more style to draw the reader in more. She does all she can with the spare storyline, but to really accentuate the meaning of the novel, she needed to highlight it, rather than watercolor it across the page.