Maryland Books

May contain spoilers

In many of the novels in her Tess Monaghan series, Laura Lippman tries a different approach. One is told from Crow's point of view, one is set in Texas instead of Baltimore, etc. In "Spider's Thread" she uses multiple points of view. When one of these POVs is the scheming bad guy, this creates a problem because the bad guy obviously knows his entire scheme from the beginning, but he only doles it out to the reader (or Lippman only doles it out) in bits and pieces so the reader remains in what's-next anticipation. Too much a sense of the author's hand. It's better when it's only Tess' POV and I believe this novel could have been written that way.

By halfway through this novel it's pretty clear what everyone's motives are and why they are doing what they are doing. The only question is how it's going to play out. The ending is a classic How Will They Escape from the Death Trap? That's where Lippman absolutely nails it. I did not see it coming, even though I should have because it fit perfectly.

Also, the "explanation" of why the police would not suspect homicide at the end is so far fetched as to be unworthy of our bad guy. No message would be left behind?

Liked Isaac. One plucky kid. The Judaism bits were interesting. Mark seemed more like a construct than a real person. The portrait of the ex-con carpenter living with his shame touched me.

All in all, a good but not great Tess effort. It's still true that Lippman's standalones are her true masterpieces, expecially "What the Dead Know."

This was my second Laura Lippman book. I found it very compelling at the start, but it seemed to bog down as it went on. There were several red herrings, but I was completely suprised by the turn of events. The ending wasn't what I expected.

I loved "Another Thing to Fall", but was disappointed with this book.

There's a distinct lack of energy in this novel, no sense of urgency or energy. Also (and please, this is NOT an anti-semitic statement), I found the excessive references and asides regarding the main character's and other characters' religion to be very annoying. I'd say the same thing if we had to read constant references if the characters were Mormon, Catholic, or anything else. This adds nothing to the story and just adds more details which take away from the plot.

I chose to read Laura Lippman's By A Spider's Thread after learning she was an award-winning suspense novelist.

She writes well and the character points-of-view were fun to follow. However, I didn't find the story at all suspenseful, but rather quite predictable. I don't remember a climax coming or going in this story.

There were some scenes I found quite unbelievable which ruined the overall experience. For example, the protagonist, female private investigator Tess Monaghan, receives counsel and advice from an online network of her peers who call themselves the SnoopSisters. I found it hard to believe this group of women has nothing better to do than sit around on the internet to answer Tess's questions and have no work of their own.

In some scenes, Tess runs into problems eliciting information from would-be helpful witnesses and such. She is able to find success with these non-compliants by merely flashing her pistol holstered to her hip - an act I found lacked any true charismatic charm that would have found these hardened criminals speaking to a PI in real life.

Overall it is an okay book and Laura Lippman has her niche, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Part mystery, part suspense and part character study, By A Spider's Thread pulls it off. The shifting viewpoints let us see PI Tess' perspective, of course, but also into the two suspects' heads plus the novel's winning little hero, Isaac, a nine-year-old boy. Interestingly, the author does not go into the beleagured client's POV, but let's us see his world slowly, through other's eyes. It works wonderfully.

"The Gardens of Kyoto" started out semi-promising, but went nowhere. The story, the characters, the writing were all dull.
The only reason I got this book was because I was being rushed in the bookstore. I wish I had been given more time to look around since I'm sure I would have picked up something more interesting.

I struggle to write this review because I'm not sure if this book was good or terrible. I can only say, it is some of both.
I loved the story of Ellen and her cousin Randall - the commonalities they shared, the introspection and retrospection he inspired in her. The twists and turns of the story kept me turning pages. The author takes this tale and weaves into the story of Randall's father, his lost love Ruby, her brief encounter with Professor X who (and here the story gets very dull) is associated with the war department and the decision not to drop an atomic bomb on Kyoto Japan, and this wraps back to a book Randall loved and left to Ellen upon his death (no secret, he dies in line one). Beyond this, the author incorporates domestic abuse, slavery, abortion, adoption, the Korean War, mental illness, suicide, murder and millions of descriptions of social propriety as Ellen becomes an adult in post WWII Philadelphia. It's a jumble of flashbacks and somehow all of this is pulled together in an interesting story -although quite anti-climactic. This book was recommended to me and yet I hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for an entertaining read. It is definately thought provoking and even disturbing in a way - I find the author a bit squashing of the human spirit. Her characters lie, cheat, and keep awful secrets locked inside of themselves and do little to help their fellow man. The one character I liked dies in line one.

The Gardens of Kyoto is the story of several dull characters who only shine when compared to the dishrag-like personality of the passive main character, Ellen. It's like listening to the dementia-fogged ramblings of that great-aunt no one can stand.

The narration is overclogged with bizarre and inapt descriptions. Point of view jumps back and forth with no rhyme or reason, and she leaves things unexplained for far too long. For example, I didn't figure out what the character's first name was until book three. She describes scenes which entice the reader to find out more; such as the hidden room in her uncle's house which was a hiding place of runaway slaves, and then she drops them, or explains them with an easily missed sentence or two. I wanted to find out more about something, anything, that involved a plot, but alas, a plot was not forthcoming.

If it weren't for my husbands insistence that this book was interesting, I would have put it down in the first chapter. After a while, and with repeated promises from him that it would get better, the loose ends and the irrational passivity of the main character kept me enrapt. As he warned me, it's like a train wreck. I have to say that the loose ends were wrapped up at the end, and yet it was extremely unsatisfying. A character driven novel should have intriguing characters, and yet The Gardens of Kyoto is filled with bland passive automotons who merely stagger through life allowing things to happen to them. The only time the main character actually takes action of her own accord, is when she is doing something pointlessly destructive. From page one to the end, this book kept me asking, "(...) When's something going to happen?"

Confused?....I am

In writing this review, I'm not sure I enjoyed this book as thoroughly as I have others. But I am sure that I don't hate it.

The story centers on the protagonist Ellen. Early on as a child, she meets her cousin Randal. A fair boy with nice hands and red hair. It seems an attraction between these two set and there are a few moments that are a bit awkward because they were cousins. But I won't ruin the story. He goes off to fight the war (the 2nd one) and he dies, but not before giving a few letters and what not. He never said out loud how he feels, but does say that she is his main audience. It is about the middle of the book when we hit this part. She then meets Lt. Henry while at a football game. At this point she is a college student. He is not attracted to her, but rather a friend, Daphne, she brings along. He goes to Korea and asks her friend to continue a correspondence with him. She doesn't say no, but since it is hinted that she is a communist, she gives it to Ellen instead. She reads all his mail and falls in love with him. He returns and still thinks that her friend is writing to him. I won't divulge anymore of the plot, but I will tell you that at this time her minds start confusing and mixing up between Randal and this captain.

I won't deny that it isn't original. But I couldn't find anything to grasp myself into. The characters were okay, but they don't stick with you. The writing was a bit shaky and a bit confusing when you read it. But if you give it time, I suppose the story will sink in. It is the writing that makes it confusing. The transition between Henry and Randall could have been a bit smoother. The story was a bit slow. There is no external antagonist to deal with, but rather the conflict lay on the shoulder of internal conflicts of Ellen. But I feel the one reason why I could not enjoy this book was that I just didn't like the characters. I didn't like Ellen because she was so different from myself. And often I find a book more enjoyable when you relate to the characters. I did not find one character that I related too.

Overall, it is an okay book. It is rather short; around I say 200+ pages. It's a fine book to past the time with.

This is a book to give to those people who lament the decadence of modern society and look longingly to a more innocent time: a time when every husband was right, every wife happy, every soldier heroic, and every girl a virgin until marriage.
Apparently, that's what social mores of the 40's and 50's insisted on. So what could you do, if your life wasn't as picture-perfect as it was supposed to be? The characters in Walberg's book face this dilemma. Some of them sacrifice their desires in order to fit in, while others die themsleves as sacrificial lambs on the altar of conformity, and the rest simply spend their lives lying about who they are.
Five characters in this book are soldiers; none fits the "hero" mold that society prescribes for them. Even the one who died on Iwo Jima was not killed in combat, but died accidentally after the fighting was over. Yet this isn't really a book about war - more about a society that worked so hard to keep up appearances, that no one was allowed to be different, or even human.
Consider the plight of the narrator's oldest sister. In one of the most poignant moments in the book, she breaks decorum by crying at the dinner table in front of the whole family, then confesses a desperate and shocking problem. Members of the family silently look to the father, waiting for his response. But Rita's problem is so far outside the bounds of what "nice people" talk about, that all he can do is mumble weak, useless platitudes at her. The pitiful thing is that he adores his daughter -- but social conventions won't let him help her, or even admit that her problem is real. When the problem leads to her death, the whole family continues to lie to eachother as if they never saw it coming. And in the ultimate victory of good etiquette, the narrator politely thanks her sister's killer just hours after Rita's death, knowing full well what he has done.
Those were the good old days? Thank God I missed them.

Highly recommend this pattern book. Another great source of inspiration for classic Baltimore Album patterns and Elly's pattern ideas.

A true classic for anyone who loves Baltimore Quilts and Applique'. I was really fortunate to get this one as its now out of print. Keep an eye out for it as its truely a beautiful book. One of the best available.

The patterns are great, but refer to other books for instructions. If you do not have the other books, you can still do the project, but on your own to some extent.

Highly recommend this pattern book. As with all of Elly's books, this is a great reference book.

I am new to Baltimore Album Blocks and was disappointed that there were no sample color blocks provided in the book at all. I would recommend this book only to those well versed in Baltimore Album blocks who don't need to see pictures of blocks for guidance on color selection.

I loved everything about this book, and the characters in this mystery were so real and well-developed. Throughout the novel, minor characters float in to give the book substance. However, they serve their purpose.

There were really two plots going on in this book. The first one was Susan fear for her life as Barry Foreman and his brother Noah tries to unravel her predicament, which they find involves several odd murders and corporate deceit. The second plot was the ruthless Carl Rudd and German international alliance to rule the satellite telecommunication market regardless of the cost or lives.

Mr. Saunders does a remarkable job of weaving these two plot lines together and having them mesh at the end. The result was just so good that I savored every word. I really hope that all book-lovers will get a chance to read this wonderful refreshing mystery.

In his blog on this page, the author claims to have 5 books published. If they are all with BookSurge, he lies. He has no books published. Being published requires a publisher, which BookSurge isn't. Writers (who can't find publishers) _PAY_ BookSurge to print copies of their work when/if people are willing to buy them. You click "buy" and BookSurge spits out a copy. You won't find these things in bookstores, since they are not, hum, what's the technical phrase? Ah yes, _published_. They are not published. Since the author has to pay BookSurge, this _is_ -- as another reviewer speculates -- a vanity press. It's also called a P.O.D. or Print on Demand.

Planting plugs for vanity press books in reviews of real books (several people comment on that here) is just S.A.D. And a bit dishonest.

I have just finished reading The Monopoly Factor and I was sad that it was over, so I turned it over to my husband to read. I really didn't know what to expect when I started reading this book, since I'm new to the author. I soon found that this was a "different" sort of mystery. There are no gruesome bodies falling down chapter after chapter. The murders are there but they make sense. There was no unrealistic macho man saving the day for the meek woman. The characters in this story had depth and they were developed in such a way that I couldn't help but feeling for them. Barry and Susan was just a wonderful jewel to read about and the relationship between Barry and his brother Noah was a nice piece of work to add to this legal mystery. There are separate scenarios taking place, and the author blended them seamlessly. The story is solid and Mr. Saunders didn't disappoint me at all and I'll surely check out his other books. I Highly recommend this book to all my friends and to all readers. Have a good read.

I read this book after reading the reviews by other individuals and I was not disappointed. For me it was non-stop reading until the end.

The author does a great job of setting the reader into the heart of the dilemma that faces the main character, Barry Foreman. From that point, the reader is guided through many twists and turns, that occur slowly and methodically. The story kept me turning page after page to find out just what Barry would do next to save his client Susan Graham. The characters actions flow smoothly that is combined into a tale of intrigue and delusion. The book is a page turner and is entirely plausible and be prepared for a shocking ending.

I got this book based on the superlative reviews given by the Amazon reviewers. After reading I can only agree with one other reviewer in that obviously this author does not use a proof-reader at all. The number of typos was pretty unreal. I can not believe that only one other reviewer noticed this. Even a number errors in carrying a story fact from one page and restating it totally different a couple of pages or chapters later. Even the dialogue was pretty unreal. The main character even dismissed the love of his life when she came up missing and opted to go to dinner rather than searching for her. Pretty unreal. The ending came as someone who had just plain run out of story to tell. After noting that the book did not have a major publisher I guess the explains it all. I realized I am minority based on the reviews but somehow I do not believe that I read the same book.

When PI Tess Monoghan and her boyfriend, Crow befriend (a little unwillingly on Tess's part) Lloyd, a tough, black teenager from the ghettos of Baltimore, they put in motion a series of events which are connected with murder, drug dealing and extortion by people who should know better. Lloyd is living on the streets in a hand to mouth fashion, getting money for food from begging, scams and from skirting around the edges of a criminal element which uses young boys to do their dirty work. When the body of Federal Attorney, Gregory Youssef is found, Agents begin digging to find connections with drug dealers and Lloyd clearly is frightened by the name of Youssef, even though he claims never to have met him. Tess, Crow and their families are threatened when crooked Federal agents try to locate Lloyd and so are forced to go into hiding and to call in favours from family and friends, to remain alive. It's an exciting, pacy read which fans of Tess Monoghan will thoroughly enjoy.

A Tess Monahan novel. Review based upon the unabridged audio CD version.

Tess, Crow, and Lloyd, three characters caught up in a deadly web of poverty, murder, extortion, and double cross. Operating from three different backgrounds, with three divergent motives, they must find a way to work together or they will sink separately. Once Tess and Crow get the lay of the land, she assumes responsibility for the investigative duties, while Crow takes on the unfamiliar role of bodyguard to a street kid who doesn't make it easy. Unable to communicate, they're flying by the seat of their pants.

Like Elizabeth George's What Came Before He Shot Her, No Good Deeds takes a fresh, edgy approach to the affiliation of poverty, greed, and crime, by writing from multiple perspectives and delineating the roles of circumstance and psychological state. The reader is left in no doubt as to what happened and why it happened, not simply the who and how.

Ably narrated by Linda Emond, who has been criticized for her rendering of Southern accents, but as a Northerner, that's not an issue for me. Very enjoyable mystery, set in Baltimore.

I will try to read more of her only because it took me
3 chapters to figure out who did what. Will never be a PD James.

In Lippman's latest installment of the Tess Monaghan series, Tess has taken on a new gig as consultant to the local newspaper, where her job duties are to train reporters in investigative techniques, using three recent cases as paradigms. One of the cases Tess plans to focus on is the murder of a local federal prosecutor. When Tess's significant other, Crowe, befriends a homeless street kid, Tess inadvertently learns the young man has information about who killed the prosecutor. In an effort to inform the authorities without identifying her source, Tess sets up an interview between the young man and a reporter. Although she promises Crowe she will do everything she can to protect the young man's identity, federal agents insist she reveal her source. When Tess doesn't cooperate, they begin to threaten her family and hint at filing felony charges against her. Crowe goes into hiding with the young man, unaware that two federal agents have honed in and are after them, not to bring them in but to kill them.

The Tess Monaghan series remains a constant bestseller in PI series to date. Tess is a strong character, a young woman with an edge. To counterbalance her cynicism is her mate, laidback and amiable Crowe. Lippman excels at characterization, and with No Good Deeds allows the reader a deeper look into Crowe's persona and background. And, as always, spending time with Tess is a bonus. This must-read moves at a fast pace and has plenty of interesting characters.

This is the third Tess Monaghan novel I've read and I don't think it compares well with Ms. Lippman's earlier work. Crow is an annoying character. It is hard to understand how Tess even tolerates him. While reading it I kept thinking how two-dimensional he is. A 1960s hippie-wannabe who doesn't seem to understand how the world works. It also bothered me that by the end of the book there were still a couple of unresolved plot twists. Ms. Lippman is an excellent writer and her style and pacing kept me interested enough to move through the book in a single sitting. Because of her writing ability I'm looking forward to reading her latest novel, "What the Dead Know." At least I know I won't have to put up with Crow in that one. (It is a stand alone book, not part of the Monaghan series.

Adrian Havill is the kind of disguise artist readers will want to watch carefully. Most writers do their homework and figure out what they're talking about; and don't try to hide monstrosities silently in progress creating autism epidemics from the survivor brain damage victims the SIDS mortality doesn't kill.

Since Havill is such a sleuth...maybe he'll get to the bottom of it eventually. Turns out people have brain stems they need in order to breath while they're asleep. Wow, shocking new scientific discovery? No. Sensitive to a horrific toxin, likfe fluorine? Yes.

Garrett Wilson was far from a model citizen. He was convicted of embezzlement, theft, and was accomplished in deceiving women. Seven years after he had a second child died of SIDS, his wife decided that Garrett Wilson must also be a murderer. While arguing the case of Wilson's guilt, the author simultaneously raises the question of whether Wilson's former wife is merely a scorned former lover seeking revenge. Even though some startling arguments are raised in this book, a reasonable doubt as to Wilson's guilt does exist.

Garrett Wilson allegedly had several siblings die from SIDS. This was his reasoning for purchasing a life insurance policy on his daughter Brandy Jean and son Garrett Michael shortly after their birth. Any time a baby dies from SIDS, the circumstances are suspicious. While Wilson's behavior surrounding the death of his children may be suspicious, much of the evidence seems circumstantial. Though Garrett Michael's edema may suggest trauma from suffocation, an edema can arise from other forms of trauma aside from suffocation. Being the last person to see his children alive before they died does cause some serious eye brows to be raised. Particularly with the accusation that he drugged one of his wives to make her sleep through the murder.

Is it possible that Garrett Wilson killed his two children to collect life insurance? Based on his shadowy financial reputation, his guilt is quite possible. The evidence has obviously left doubt in the mind of other reviewers based on their reviews. I will give the author credit, he did pick a compelling story for his book.

This book wasn't bad, but as true crime, it wasn't all that great. A lot like Garret Wilson himself; I could not see why women were fighting over him...it must be his charisma or something. I think he probably did murder both babies for the insurance money, but the evidence as presented in this book would not be enough for me to vote for conviction. Also, Missy wasn't that sympathetic a character, as it seems she didn't suspect her husband of murdering their baby until he left her for another woman. Then she gathered her info and recollections and began her crusade.

This book didn't tie up all loose ends or erase all doubt, so to me, it was rather disappointing.

This book is a capable chronicle of an interesting true crime story that spans over many years. For those who are fans of this genre they will find the mystery itself and the people sho demanded these deaths be prosecuted, despite the inital lack of police interest, to be the substance that carries this book.

The author did his homework and wrote the book in a straight forward fashion that neither gets in the way of the story nor overly dramatizes the tale. The background info on the central charachters is adequate, but there were times I would have liked to have them flushed out some more.

I think the book does justice to prosecutor Doug Gansler, who really carried the ball on the case when it would have been just as easy to decline.

Excellently written book. Compelling story.

It never ceases to amaze me how some women will turn a blind eye to the obvious rather than be alone. Whatever did these women SEE in a fat sociopath like Garrett Wilson anyway? And what did HE see in his last wife, Vicky, who wasn't even in the same class as Missy Anastasi? He used women and then threw them away like used Kleenex when he tired of them.

I hope Wilson does not escape punishment for his crimes: killing two of his own children for financial gain. How can anyone put a dollar value on a child's life? What he did was greed at its worst. This is an individual who didn't want to work to get what he wanted so when he wasn't living off his wives or girlfriends, he used his children as cash cows.

Horrible person who doesn't belong in society.

Anyone who can give this book above a one star rating is just too easy to please. Don't waste your money on this. It's a convuluted mess and I forced myself to push on through page after page hoping against hope that it would get better. The ending was a big let down especially after forcing my way through the book. The only thrilling part of the book was reading "The End".

This is a very good book. The plot is very interesting. If you are into Stephen King books you will like this one.

Chris Nielson, an unemployed rock musician, is hired by Ted Harper, an old friend of his father, to watch his house in Point Fury on the Maryland coast during the cold winter months. Apparently, there have been past robberies in this community and Ted wants the house to be lived in. Chris feels the solitude may give him a chance to develop his musical skills so accepts the job with some trepidation. As the long winter settles in, Chris notices a mysterious woman has moved into the house next door. Discovering who she is and why she is there proves to be highly dangerous to Chris. Dangerous enough to possibly cost him his life at the hands of a madman.

John Maxwell has written a superior psychological suspense thriller. The isolated frigid locale plays very much a part in this tale, which, in a sense, is a cat and mouse game. The nightmare scenario is very well played out by the realistic characterizations. The highly entertaining plot is well paced. POINT FURY IS another excellent read for the summer months. Rating

John Maxwell's writing debut is a pretty good book. It held my attention throughout with nonstop suspense.

Chris Nielson is a college graduate in his twenties whose life seems to have little direction. He was a member of a hard rock band, but a fight ended that relationship. A rich friend of his father's offers him a job house-sitting his beach house. The house is located in a pretty deserted are of Maryland. There is little to do. Chris figured he was in for a mostly boring winter hanging around doing pretty much nothing. But little did he know what he was really in for. The owner of the house is insane, and Chris will have to deal with an awful lot.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was suspenseful and kept me guessing a lot. I will definitely be reading the next book John Maxwell writes.

I bought this book yesterday and read almost the entire book in one night, I finished it today.

I couldn't put the book down, it had me interested right from the first few pages all the way until the last page.

I hope to read more from this author.

This book isn't really much of a novel. The author doesn't stray far at all from the historical record in any meaningful manner, and unlike (for instance) the Killer Angels, he doesn't concentrate on one portion of the battle and ignore the others. Instead, Croker recounts pretty much every aspect of the Battle of Antietam, constructing what's not a formal historical account, but a pretty accurate narrative of what happened in novel form. While I don't dislike this, it's hard to call it either a novel or a history.

Antietam was an especially bloody, frustrating battle. The book spends considerable time building up to the battle (fighting doesn't start until just about halfway through the book). All of the various incidents that occurred during the course of the fighting, from the captured Union officer who was duty-bound not to warn his colleagues about a Rebel ambush, and couldn't quite bring himself to refrain from doing so anyway, to the famed Lost Order, Longstreet in his carpet slippers, and so forth, everything is carefully recounted, and the result is very satisfying, though of course by the end of it you'll want to strangle McClellan. One annoyance is the lack of good maps.

I enjoyed this book, and would say that it could almost serve as a substitute for a historical account, if you're not going to school or something.

As a newly minted Civil War buff I didn't know much about CW battles, except for Gettysburg. But this account of Antietam got my attention and has spurred me to become an even more avid civil war fan. I found many of the personalities and their machinations in this book fascinting, especially the portraits of McClelland, Lincoln, his cabinet, and Stonewall Jackson. I must confess that the battle scenes were so detailed, with so many names and accounts of troop movements fired at me that I became overwhelmed and just skipped over a number of pages. I just couldn't keep remembering who was where and couldn't visualize the battlefield, due to the inadequacy of the few maps in the book. But all in all, it was a good read, it taught me a lot about a major battle in a savage war, and I now intend to wade further into the vast and bloody river of Civil War books, fiction or non.

I am a bit of a CW enthusiast...I dont normally read fiction, but this one is absolutely the best I've read in years! A park ranger turned me onto it. He said it was as good as Michael's and better than Jeffrey's. He may be over the top on "as good as Michael's"...Killer Angels is hard to best.
Can't wait for Croker's next!

I have just finished "No Greater Courage" and would just like to say that it and "To Make Men Free" are some of my most favorite examples of historical fiction. I have always been fascinated by the Battle of Antietam, and appreciated a book finally being written solely about it that was a fast-paced, enjoyable read. "No Greater Courage" was equally as well done. I'd recommend them to anyone.

William Tecumseh Sherman is credited with saying "War is Hell", and in To Make Men Free, Richard Croker has illustrated that truism. Croker's novel covers "America's bloodiest day" from its inception in the strategy of Robert E. Lee, through each and every hour of the battle, to its aftermath. He ably demonstrates the clash of politics and generalship, popularity and competence, arrogance and sincerity. His portrayals of the great men caught up in this battle ring true, despite the necessity of fictionalizing conversations, and he also conveys a sense of the plight of the common soldier around which all the chaos swirled. Croker does a creditable job of enlivening the story of one the most difficult of all Civil War battles to narrate and describe. Recommended to all with an interest in this heartbreaking national conflict.

In the blair witch book the authar tryed to make the reader feel as if they were there.the authar tryed to put thing just like people say they hapened and were thought to happen.In the book there were thing compareing the book,movie and what was said to of happened in real life.The parts of the books that i really like was when they whent out in wood to see what they could find and when they sarted to interview poelpe to see wha t they knew and thought.but most of alli thought it was a good book for poeple who are into things like that.

A timely novel for grandmothers raising grandchildren, but more than that, it's a great read. Day by Day is a heartwarming story of three women, dreaming of the day they retire and how they'll spend those years. But each of their lives gets interrupted and dreams are put aside.

Parr deals with the subject with honesty, not hiding the real emotions these women go through. A grandmother myself, I was able to relate to one or the other of these characters all the way through. And I love the characters she develops. They're all such different personalities if they hadn't the commonality of grandchildren, they would never have become friends. That's one of the things that makes this book work so well.

I'm not going to talk about the plot, but simply tell you to get the book. Parr writes wonderful stories that captivate and hold you spellbound until you turn the last page. She has jumped to my five favorite authors list. If you love Deborah Raney, Robin Lee Hatcher, Sally John or Roxanne Henke, you'll love Delia Parr. This reviewer gives Day by Day a high recommendation.

Sure, it is a movie tie-in, and I suspect its release was timed to build the hyper for the Blair Witch sequel, but The Secret Confession of Rustin Parr is actually a satisfying, quick mystery/horror novel. I admire the author for keeping it short and sweet, for not overextending the material.

It's a pretty basic plot: Rustin Parr admitted to the murder of seven children in Burkittsville, Maryland in 1941. He was a hermit, anyway. Sentenced to be hanged, he confessed a shocking truth to a priest named Dominick Cazale on the night before his execution. Cazale doesn't reveal the truth until he is own his own deathbed, 60 years later, as a result of a tragic house fire.

As with the Blair Witch movies, the twists and the ending of this novel tie-in are ambiguous and open to interpretation. Recommended to any horror fan.

I gotta tell you, I love the Blair Witch movie.SO I thought the book series would be interesting. This is the first volume I bought. And frankly, it is well written and inventive, but I found it boring. I am buying another volume in hopes of a scary read.

Journalist D.A. Stern gets a call that his 87 year-old friend Dominick Cazale has been hospitalized, incurring severe burns over 30% of his body after setting the fire to his Miami home and killing his wife Mary. After arriving in Miami, Stern receives a journal Cazale had kept of the final weeks leading up to the fire.

Reading from the journal Stern discovers that after Dominick and Mary returned from a vacation in Burkittsville, Maryland (the center of the Blair Witch legends), the woman developed mental disorders, reducing her to become a shut-in and hysterically delusional, with strange markings soon developing on her body. After Dominick found her chasing a cat she had lured inside, he writes how he became increasingly worried about the risk Mary posed as a danger both to herself and to others.

In addition to the Cazales' misfortune upon returning from Burkittsville, Stern also discovers that Dominick, a former Roman Catholic priest, once was the pastor of that town. Specifically, Cazale was there in May 1941. It was during that time that the remains of the bodies of seven missing local children were found in the basement of the home belonging to a recluse named Rustin Parr. Another child who was missing, Kyle Brody, would turn up claiming Parr had taken him too, keeping him alive only to witness the violation and murder of the others. An acquaintance of Parr's and the closest thing he had to a friend, Cazale wrote in his journal that he was the last person to speak with the man, and that he had told him the real and full truth of what had happened out there in those woods.

Ultimately THE SECRET CONFESSIONS Of RUSTIN PARR is an interesting but lackluster addition to the Blair Witch 'mythos.' Stern developed an even paced and intriguing plot, then gets it sidetracked with nostalgia until it simply peters out and fails to deliver anything worthwile. The book itself is short, and half of it comprises Dominick Cazale's journal. Although supposedly panic-stricken over the degeneration of his wife, Cazale, however, prefers rather to reminisce about his mother and two brothers and their old Baltimore neighborhood. When he writes about Burkittsville, he spends too much time on the diffulties he, as a "city boy," had to overcome living out in the country. He also dwells far too long over the mutual infatuation between him and Kyle Brody's mother, Carol. That which we are waiting for: Parr's confession, isn't brought up until the near end, where it is surrounded by melodrama and vague enough to be considered simply an intimation.

What Stern wrote here could become the basis for a very good story about a young priest's early ministry. But it certainly isn't good horror.

This third book in the series isn't my favorite, but it was a pretty good read/listen.

Mariah Stewart always does a good job of sucking you in to the story and making you want to stick around until everything is resolved. Being a fan of series books, I love that we get new characters with news stories, but get to visit with old friends. Stewart is excellent at maintaining the ongoing story lines and I really enjoy that aspect of her writing.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a new favorite author. Her series are really quite good!

If you like suspense, if you like well written characters and if you love exciting twists and turns than this is the book for you. Just make sure that once you start it you've left a nice open block of time to finish it because I promise, you won't be able to put it down!

Very average crime novel. This is my first time reading the "Truth" series. I agree with some of the reviewers who stated that the pieces of the story didn't fit. Very jarring in fact, for a first time reader like me, the sub-plot was very unnecessary. It made me so confused, so who is this Eddie Kroll and what is he doing butting into the story like that? Then, again why dwell on the murder weapon and then leave it unresolved?

Next stop was how the story unfolded in a flash back narrative that takes away the thrill of reading a crime novel, it was too passive and mystery factor was diminished. Yes, you can solve this crime before you reach the end of the book. Quite obvious.

I will skip her books as this author specialises in flash back narrative murders. Not my type of crime thriller.

Nina Madden is a book editor from New York City. Her parents were divorced and, after her mother died when she was fourteen, she lived with her college professor father, step-mom and step-brother. When she was eighteen, her father was arrested and eventually convicted of raping and murdering four of his students.

Nina lived with an aunt and tried to forget what her father did. Her father died in prison. Then Nina's step-mother dies and Nina receives a box of her father's prison belongings, including a letter her father wrote to her step-mom, maintaining his innocence and promising to never tell what the step-mom did.

The letter leads Nina to ask her true crime writer friend for help and they, along with a cop and FBI agent, dig deeper into the 16 year old murders.

This book was predictable and plodding, with an excruciating attention to Nina's movements which led to skimming. The killer was obvious (to me, anyway). The resolution was a mess, a convoluted, ridiculous mess. And whatever happened with trying to find the murder weapon? Did they ever find it? Do I care? No.

Dark Truth is the third in the Truth series and honestly it is just a mediocre read in my opinion. I read some of the other reviewers and was a little stunned by what they wrote. It started off a bit slow and like the other books, there was a lot of tedious information that did not pertain to the story at all or more reiteration of events that the reader just read about. This is the first in the series that I wouldn't classify as a stand alone book. Only because the underlying story with Regan and Mitch and her quest to find Eddie Kroll leaves the reader hanging. For those who read the two previous novels, they understand what is going on, but if one were to pick up this book without knowing anything about the connection and that Final Truth is the last book in the series, they would be very unhappy with the book. My only real problem with this series of books in comparison to other Mariah Stewart novels is that she never fully develops the characters emotions. It's more like reading the facts and not the real story.
I also have a hard time categorizing this book as a mystery thriller like another reviewer mentioned. There was very little of the whodunit aspect. Not enough red herrings to make the reader surprised at the ending. I'm sorry, some may disagree with my opinion, but I just didn't think it was the kind of story you would remember after a couple of weeks.

So, is it worth the money? Not as a single novel. As part of the series, on sale maybe. This whole series would be better to have been checked out from the library if it were available. The second in the Truth series was definitely the best and did hold it's own. Dark Truth is better if followed with Final Truth.