Suicide Books

This novel tells the story of an American living in Thailand who hears about a Dutch woman who mysteriously dies in prison, after inheriting a large sum of money. The woman had been a PhD student in a top anthro program when she first arrived in Thailand, but ended up in a Thai prison for murder. The narrator sets out to discover what happened.

I really liked this book up until the last 50 pages or so. The author did an excellent job of really drawing the reader into the life of an anthropologist in the field, the life of a missionary in Asia and what can happen to a woman obsessed. But then, it almost seemed like someone was saying, "ok, wrap it up" and the explanation of why the main character did what she did was very rushed. It also didn't explore the in between---what happened after the arrest and her time in jail. Also, was it really suicide?? A lot of unanswered questions. Overall, a very nice first novel and I look forward to reading whatever he writes next.

I think my expectations for this book were too high. I'd read many rave reviews here plus the Stephen King piece about the all-around poor handling it received from its publisher. And the book starts out very strong.

However, I agree with those who've called it slow. I think it bogs down in the section about the Walker family. Too much space devoted to what came off to me as generations of caricatures. Berlinski's non-missionary characters are much more well drawn.

I think Berlinski is talented. Also very interesting and imaginative. I look forward to his next book. I hope he gets a better editor.

I read a lot, and I've also done fieldwork myself. The story is interesting and compelling and feels very authentic. I actually read it and loaned it to three friends (and counting), all of whom also enjoyed it. Highly recommend!

A deserving prize winner. Given its subject matter -- Christian missionary culture (among other things) -- it ranks right up there with Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible. A wonderful, engrossing read.

I bought this novel after reading an online, professional review, and also because I had once done anthro fieldwork myself. A very fortunate whim, as I took it on vacation with me and could NOT get my nose out of it!
What a delight to read intelligent prose, wry and witty insights and what is obviously the distillation of a tremendous amount of research on the part of the author. Sigh. If only all fiction were this well-written....
Berlinski draws the reader further and further into the worlds of his characters, giving us at once a third-party (and remarkably humane) vantage point in the person of his narrator/fictional self, and an intimate look at the universe as seen through the eyes of both a family of missionaries and an anthropologist, all involved with the same group of native people. The reader almost risks becoming as immersed as the missionaries and the anthropologist.
It is the exceptional voice of the narrator that holds the story together for the reader, providing a perch of normalcy and humor to balance perfectly the unusual world-views and almost abnormal lives of his other characters.
I see that others have found the plotting of the novel too slow: I cannot disagree more. The novel moves exactly at the pace of human interactions and conversations, and there is something of a tropical languor that seeps in--anything faster would have felt very out of place.
I SO hope this young man continues to write novels of this caliber.

As I do with most of my paperback mysteries, I gave this to the thrift shop soon after reading it. I wish I hadn't. It was one of those rare stories that sticks in the mind, and I'm actually tempted to get a new copy. Every Walters book is terrific, and I think this one's the best I've read.

This book is a huge disappointment, given what an extraordinarily gifted writer Walters is, and how good her other books are.

The hero with amnesia is a plot device that one must be careful with, because such a story can degenerate into obvious reader manipulation if, as here, it isn't handled with finesse or creativity. Walters drops the ball with this one, and the result is a story that is on the level of Agatha Christie's lesser works, combined with an ending that is marginally better than "...and she woke up to discover that it was all a dream."

Even that isn't necessarily all that great a crime. Let's face it, when you're on vacation lying on a beach, Dame Agatha remains quite readable all these decades later. But if one is going to write something so predictable and pedestrian, one could at least have the decency to do it is less than FOUR HUNDRED #$&@ING PAGES!!!! Had this tripe been condensed into 200 to 250, which given the overall lack of content it easily could have been, it would have been worth an extra star.

Jinx Kingsley is found thrown from her car which has smashed head-on into a wall. It is believed that she was trying to kill herself because her fiance Leo has run off with her best friend Meg. Jinx's father Adam, a former gangster and now extremely rich and powerful businessman has Jinx admitted to a hospital where Dr. Protheroe tries to help her with her amnesia and why she doesn't believe she would try to committ suicide. Then Leo and Meg are found murdered and the police discover that Jinx's first husband was also murdered in a similar fashion. Now she and her gangster father are the prime suspects in three killings of which she can only remember bits and pieces.

The Dark Room is technically well written and Walters gives all the characters depth. The story keeps your interest enough that you want to know who actually committed the murders. However, the mystery is overplotted. Their are too many characters to keep straight and too many people lying so you, as the reader, never know what is going on either. The entire book devolves into nothing but conversations and question and answer sessions whether it's between Jinx and the police or Jinx and her doctor or Jinx and another patient or her half-brothers. Nothing happens for much of the book and it gets tedious covering the same ground again and again from a different character's perspective. Jinx, as the main character, is not all that likable either. She's petulant and arrogant and lies as much as everyone else. The ending is also a let-down, the real killer revealing theirself in an anti-climactic fashion and turning out to not have that much to do with the rest of the story anyway.

Lately I have been on a Minette Walters jag - reading one after the other of her fine psychological novels. This is one of the best because of the unique plot and the mesmerizing, no-nonsense Jinx - what a gal!! Walters has taken the familiar suicide attempmt/amnesia/murder story and given it wings. She takes off as we set out on our journey to discover the dark secrets that remain unlocked in her head.

Jinx, despite her near-death accident and subsequent trauma, maintains a saucy manner, brutal honesty and fragility that combine into an authentic character that one can easily picture scolding, berating or confessing in a moment of weakness. This is a woman trapped by her exacting standards, finding no one who measures up to what she expects - not of others but herself. As usual there is a male romantic interest and, as usual, the circumstances under which they meet are not optimal. Walters excels as presenting adults (not horny teens) in hesitant situations. As complex as her characters are presented, the human relationships are even more strained. This is a classic case of English angst a la Carre. The male hero, her doctor, even identifies himself as an existentialist.

I graded down 1/2 point for what I consider a frequent error in mysteries. The identity of the villian is a surprise to the reader because there were no clues provided or rather, there were a host of misleading clues. But once again this was handled with subtlety by a case of look alikes.

My grade: A

Jinx Kingsley wakes up in a strange room, only to be told that she's been in a head-on collision (with a concrete pole, no less) and is now in a hospital. Apparently, they say, she tried to commit suicide. But Jinx doesn't believe this. She doesn't remember anything, but simply can't make herself believe that she is the type to kill herself. Even though her best friend and her fiance just ran off together is no reason to off herself. She was happy about it! Wasn't she??

But then the police come to question her, and she finds out that her two friends are now dead--and the police suspect her or someone in her family. How can Jinx clear her name when she can't remember anything? All she knows is this sense of panic and fear. Who could have done this? Who would want to set her up? Can she figure it out before it's too late?

Dr. Alan Protheroe is at the clinic with Jinx and works to help her regain her memory. But in the process, an attempt is made on his life as well and he realizes just how serious this situation is. Can he protect Jinx? He knows she didn't do it, but can he figure out who did? There has to be more to this than meets the eye.

Armchair Interviews says: Minette Walters does a great job of twisting the tale to keep the reader from figuring out the real killer. This British author has written ten other books. Check then out.

I am currently in the middle of the book and let me tell you it's a struggle. I think Buffa can write; the problem is that he wants to tell you EVERY detail of every character, past, present and future! This slows the book down to a crawl and you end up with 30% to 40% of the book being irrelevant. The characters are interesting but when you read 10 pages that should have been a paragraph and 20 pages at a clip that add nothing to the story, it kills the book. If the editor of the book would have done his job and shrunk the book to 250- 300 pages of story instead of 480 pages of minutia this would be a best seller 4 stars!!!!! As for the other reviews, I don't know what book they were reading!!!!!

D.W. Buffa is an excellent writer.

This isn't so much a mystery novel as just a (very good) novel.

His characters are memorable and complex, his plot exceedingly well-developed, his prose relentless.

As a writer, he reminds me of Henry James (the many layers of meaning and suggestion, but without the tedious self-indulgent style) and Dostoyevsky (the psychological penetration, the unflinching look at life's horrors).

But he is more of a poet than either. Buffa gives a real sense of place and movement, the sometimes ecstatic relation you can have with your environment--unlike James, who doesn't deal with it, and Dostoyevksy, for whom the environment, indoors or out, is always a gunmetal gray.

Buffa has their intellectually questing style: pursuing every implication to its end, and still surprising you with what is unspoken.

A truly wonderful writer.

In addition, he deals well with big themes: homelessness, insanity (always a matter of the "judgment" of the title), love and loss, acceptance and renewal.

What a ride. This third book in the Joseph Antonelli series does not disappoint. However, I would advise, when you get it, don't even start the first sentence unless you are prepared to curl up and read it straight through. You won't want to put it down.

I've rarely finished a book that was this hard to get into, but as it was for the book club, I plowed through it. The writing was dry and the characters terribly unbelievable - but it did manage to spark some interesting conversation, mostly about how there's a difference between looking smart and being smart. The main character is a criminal trial lawyer, and one of the reasons given for his win rate was the way he spoke to the jury. He didn't talk down to them, nor did he try to overload them with twenty-five cent words. And it occurred to me that the smartest people I know are some of the most plain-spoken. People often hid behind big words, trying to make themselves look smarter. Sure, there are people who love language and just like to use big words - we all have our favorites - but there's a strained quality to those who use language to try to impress. Just because someone says "I walked my dog" instead of "I ambulated with my canine" doesn't make them any less intelligent.

There's also a good deal on mental illness in this book, most of which is incredibly annoying and preachy. The storyline was slow and thin, and oh so very, very, very predictable.

This book has several factors working in its favor. Primarily it is a plot that is very unusual that will grab you attention and keep you hooked long enough to finish the book. But... other than that, this is pretty much a wasteland of bad writing all around. Even the plot itself is more than a little ridiculous if you sit back and think about it for a moment.

I really started to feel the pain here when Buffa introduces a love affair for Antonelli. I was groaning out loud over the complete sappyness of this side story that just fills in a few pages with wasted thoughts. Buffa has garnered my respect here by producing perhaps the worst love affair ever to be placed on the written page.

The Amazon Editorial Review had a good thing to say about this book. And that is "At some point during The Judgment (the exact moment will vary according to individual tolerance), you may find yourself putting the book aside and picking up an Elmore Leonard for an emergency infusion of quality dialogue." I had to laugh when I read this because it is so true and it summed up my feelings strongly here. However, Amazon does go on to praise the courtroom scenes. I have to beg to differ. I am not a lawyer and don't watch more than a couple of hours of lawyerly centered TV a year. But even I, a novice in such matters, had to scratch my head at the way Buffa totally pulls out a courtroom scenario from left field and manages to present it so artificially that it felt like I had an attack on my sense of plausibility.

Turn aside here, heed my warning. If you are looking for a courtroom thriller, you might want to go back and read Turrow's first book `Presumed Innocent.' A much superior mystery than the Judment.

Half-life is not an easy story, above all for who, like me, has suffered a loss of a dear one: how can Adam behave in that way? The book follows two weeks in the life of Adam (starting the 6 of June 1999, 6/6/99, you can up turn the date and it is always 6699, it's just a case?), a 18 years old gay boy from Angelito, an imaginary suburb town of Los Angeles.

Adam being gay is not the main issue in the story, and this maybe makes this book different from the usual coming of age stories; Adam has not hidden secrets, unbearable pains or vengeance feelings. Adam is gay, but so is his best friend Dart and his friend Fran, who has two "moms" and a girlfriend. Adam is gay and it seems that no one has a problem with it... and maybe this is the problem: Adam craves the attention of his family, but they are inhexistent. When Adam's mother divorced from her husband, she apparently divorced also from her children and now they see her every other weekends, if she is not too taken with her work and with her new up-class lifestyle and husband. Adam's father is depressed, he didn't expect his life to be like that, he loves his children, but now that they start to be independent, he seems to not have any more reason to live. He is clearly in a down fall phase and it seems that only Adam sees that.

Adam wants to be a teen, he has the right to be a teen, but in this situation it's not possible for him; his teen years are running away, high school is near to end and adulthood is around the corner. All his friends are craving to reach the point, all of them but Adam. And to make the thing worst, Adam meets Jeff, 38 years old cop and gay. Where Adam is older than his age, Jeff is younger. He realized later in his life what he wanted to be, and so now he is still in a growing phase, he is still learning from life and he is still building his future.

There are big life changing events in the book, but it seems like they are in an undertone; it's like if you are waiting for something to happen, time is hanging up, but when something happens, it's not yet the trigger event, and so you go on waiting for the next one. In the end nothing happens and all happens... since what it seems big from a near perspective, in the big game of life is only a little piece without importance.

Half-life is more a novel about details than the telling of the "great discovery" of Adam; Adam doesn't need to grow, he just did that. Maybe this is the most unsettling thing of the book... the reader is waiting for something that will change Adam, and instead all happens around him, and he stays alike; he has so much protective layers around him that nothing apparently arms him... but then, it's only two insignificant weeks... a great loss, graduation, a new lover... for everyone else but Adam, changing life events, for Adam a reason more to add a protective layer around him. What, or who, or when he will let go all his layers you didn't know.

It's refreshing to have a novel about gay teenagers that ISN'T a typical gay teen novel. "Half-Life" doesn't focus on the usual cliches that come with the territory: coming out, telling one's folks, dealing with rejection by friends etc. Krach tells a different type of tale that's original and unusual. In this story, the parents are not moralists who only exist in their homes to pass judgement and dole out punishment, but they are fleshed-out and flawed. The theme of sexual attraction across age gaps, so often seen as taboo, is explored with intelligence rather than knee-jerk skittishness.

The character of Greg, Adam's father, stands out in particular as making me feel sympathy for him one moment, and the next wanting to shake him out of his stupor. Greg is such an interesting character that even when his part of the story is completed, he still haunts the rest of the novel. The climactic scene between Greg and his son Adam is disturbing and is one of the more memorable scenes in fiction that I've read lately.

"Half-Life" is a good first novel and it's too bad that so many books with gay themes are relegated to a certain section of a bookstore, (if at all.) This book transcends labels and stands on its own as a complete and satisfying work of fiction.

Krach, Aaron. "Half Life", Alyson 2004

Needing to Connect

Amos Lassen and Literary Pride

Aaron Krach's "Half Life" is an emotional and moving novel as it tells the story of the last weeks of a gay teenager in high school in a Los Angles suburb. Adam Westman is young, gay and knows it--he has no real problem with his sexuality. His parents are divorced and he and his eleven year old sister live with his father. His father is a teacher who suffers from severe depression. His mother, now remarried, is head of a film production company and she does have much to do with her children until the death of her ex-husband when the children move in with her. Adam is quite cynical and self-reliant.
"Half Life" looks at Adam's relationships--with family, with friends, with his boyfriend and one thing becomes very clear. What Adam needs is some form of human connection. When a strange and shocking tragedy forces both his family and several of his friends and a good-looking police officer into an uneasy relationship, the novel takes off.
Dysfunctional families have become quite popular in literature lately. This time we see how the family, which is anything but "regular", pulls together and redefines itself. Adam and Jeff, the police officer begin, to build a relationship under very odd circumstances but it is a wonderful study of the human condition and how the need for friends is so important.
Jeff is a good deal older than Adam. He is 38 and Adam is 17. We do not learn why Jeff pursues Adam--Jeff is closeted. When he becomes involved in the investigation of Adam's father's death, he discovers that he has "affection" for Adam. Jeff begins to "shower" Adam with affection ad Adam must come to terms with what love is at the same time that he is forced in dealing with the death of his father.
While the novel leaves a lot to desire grammatically, it makes up for that in the way that Krach deals with his characters. The book is a wonderful exercise in character study. Krach shows us what s going on in the minds and lives of urban kids who happen to be gay. As we follow Adam as he deals with his emotions about Jeff, we meet the supporting characters as they all pass a summer together and search for and find the answers to the challenges of life. While Adam and Jeff progress slowly, they and Adam's friends learn of the value of friendship.
What I thought was going to be a coming of age story turned out to be just that as well as a story of young love. Adam seems to have been born melancholy and we watch him overcome his sadness. Through the dialog of the novel, we see the fears that our characters face and how they learn to become comfortable with themselves.

I very much enjoyed reading this book. I found it almost a thriller just waiting for someone to make a move. When reading it, it was crushing what happens to bring these two men together. Although I think the both got what he wanted in the end. Well it was very exciting watching them play this game from first glance to first kiss.

I found this book to be a bit of a disappointment. My biggest complaint is that none of the characters are developed to the point where I, as a reader, could relate to them or, for that matter, care about them. We know Adam, the main character, is gay, we know he had trouble with his father, but beyond that there are no real insights into his personality. Furthermore, the relationship between Adam and Jeff is so under developed that I not only found it unbelievable but also a little bit disturbing; I think more complex interactions are needed to justify a thirty-eight year old cop making advances on an eighteen year old who was involved in a case he was investigating other than what happened in the book. I found the sex scene at the end, therefore, to be more than a little creepy; the only thing that I could think of while reading it was "this man is almost forty years old and is taking advantage of an eighteen year old high school kid whose emotional well being he has openly questioned". This book did have its moments, however, and I found it most enjoyable when the story was focusing on Dart and his potential romance. It wasn't a horrible book but I wouldn't be quick to recommend it.

In this well-written mystery, a young girl named Marti does not want to cope with the fact that her best friend, Barry,has commited suicide. It just doesn't make sense. Although Marti believes Barry didn't commit suicide, no one else can believe her.That is everyone but Karen, a police officer, that helps Marti throughout the entire novel.
Like in all mysteries, Marti and Karen, figure out clues throughout the entire story, leading up to the unraveling mystery. Even though they reach obstacles, such as two characters that try and persuade Marti that what she's doing is not going to make anything better, the mystery ends smoothly. Also, along the way Marti is in a troubled friendship with her friend Kim, who also doesn't believe her. In one of the scenes, Kim asks Marti if she should go with her to see Dr. Emery, the church minister, and one of the characters who doesn't listen to Marti. Then Marti replies no, and Kim gets really upset and asks if she really has to go and talk to him. That's when Marti says," Yes, for Barry I have to." Overall, this plot is very complex, and there are several tell- tale events that lead up to the mystery.
The story takes place in a small town, right outside of Houston, called Farrington Park. In this small town, Marti lives in a neighborhood of houses in which Marti feels sorry for. She thinks that the houses look empty, with the windows, looking like huge glass eyes searching for their owners. Also, some of the scenes take place in the Cuatros' houses. The Cuatros was a clad of four best friends, including Barry. Barry's house is right across from Barry's, in which the beginning of the story takes place in. Most of the story takes place right inside Marti's home, but some of the events take place right inside of the school.
The central conflict of this story is about how no one believes Marti that Barry didn't take his own life, except for Karen. Throughout the conflict, Marti builds up on her friendship with Karen, and that's when Marti keeps on trying to prove that her friend didn't kill himself. The resolution is solved at the very end of the story, when they find the killer. Also, some of the smaller conflicts include the ones in which Marti tries to deal with her frienship with Kim, and another which turns you off track that deals with the Cuatros.
The characters in this story include Marti, the main character, who is very determined in to finding out the real truth behind the "suicide". Officer Karen Prescott is a very friendly police officer who eventually helps Marti solve the complex mystery, and helps her get over the obstacles that occur within the chapters. Marti's parents help Marti, but they don't believe her, and aren't very aware of her friendship with Karen. They are just kind of out there, and don't really know as much as Marti does until the end. The Cuatros are made up of Barry, Charlie, Tony, and Thad. These characters were all friends before Barry died, and not any of them believe Marti, but Charlie and Tony help Marti get information, that leads to the key to unlocking the mystery. Dr. Granberry, Dr. Emery, and a few other people, are characters that try and use Barry's death as a way to teach other people about teen suicides. Marti doesn't want them to though, so she tries to prove to them that Barry didn't do a copycat suicide. All of these characters play a role in this mystery, even if it's good or bad.
Overall, I think that this mystery was very well written, doesn't reveal who did it, and tricks you along the way. I think that this was on of Joan Lowery Nixon's best mysteries. I think that teens can learn a lot from this book. Most of all, it was a very suspenseful and thrilling novel.

- Allie

Secret, Silent Screams is a great book for teenagers. It has to deal alot with life. Helps teens see that life is not always fun and perfect. Sectret, Silent Screams is about a young girl named Marti who believes that her good friend Barry was murdered but no one will believe her. Everybody was lead to believe that Barry comitted suicide. The only person who believes Marti is a police officer who is doing her best to help. The problem is that an investigation takes alot of time and most people believe it is pointless because he committed suicide. There isnt much time though, if Barry was killed his murderer is still out there he could finding his next victim. In this book Marti is trying to convince people to help her and to believe her when she says it wasn't suicide. I believe that most teens should read this book to get a little look on the way life can be and how to deal with a situation like or simular to this one.

This is book is the best i just couldnt put it down copywrite 2005

Marti knows that her best friend Barry did not commit suicide.He was murdered.Another awesome mystery by Nixon describes Marti's race against time to find the killer who is ready to strike again.

A Suicide or a Homicide?

"Barry didn't kill himself! He didn't! Barry was murdered!" screamed Marti. Imagine that your best friend committed suicide and only you denied it. No one will believe you. Not the police or anyone else will believe you. How would you feel? Secret Silent Screams by Joan Lowry Nixon is a gripping murder mystery.

Marti is a teenager from Farrington Park, Texas. Her best friend Barry has just supposedly committed suicide. All the clues lead to him. To make matters worse there have been 2 other suicides cases that have the same description to Barry's and it's just said to be another copycat. Nobody will believe Marti when she says Barry didn't do it. Marti is determined to find the true killer, no matter what it takes. She is willing to die trying to just clear Barry's name.

I adored this book. I was pulled into this book from the first page. I couldn't stop. Joan Lowry Nixon has you running for the next page. Due to the way that each scene is described, you can picture it going on in your head. It's exhilarating! It was Impossible for me to put down this book!

This book is like another book I have read. The stalker is another thrilling murder mystery also by Joan Lowry Nixon. They both leave you hanging at the end of the page. You will end up reading faster and faster every time.

This book is strong, exhilarating, and intense. I would recommend this book to preteens and teens because of the theme in this book. I feel that the theme of Secret Silent Screams was that death is horrible and it hurts many people. You learn this because death is a big part of this book and you can come to realize that it hurts many people that can be important to you. Still this book is smart, witty, and powerful. So I suggest that you read this book. It's superb!

Ian Rankin's THE NAMING OF THE DEAD receives James Gale's award-winning voice and theatre training as it tells of Inspector Rebus, who begins work on a simple suicide case during a pre-conference dinner at Edinburgh Castle and finds his probe leads to some dangerous and unexpected venues of higher power and murder. Politics and drama come to life in this audio drama, a recommended pick for any collection strong in audio murder thrillers.

The latest installment in a long-running series featuring the alcoholic policeman and outsider John Rebus. This is another variation of the classic Raymond Chandler device of an alienated hero who is an obsessive seeker of the truth. In this case, set in the mildly exotic locale of Edinburgh. This book is as much about Rebus' partner, Siobhan Clarke, as Rebus himself, and deals with issues of revenge and temptation. Rebus' long time gangster nemesis makes an appearance. The quality of writing is above average. The plot, however, is excessively complex with a somewhat strained ending.

How you rate this Inspector Rebus story may depend to some extent on what you think of the solution to the mystery, which is obviously something a reviewer ought not to give away. On the other hand it will take you nearly 500 very enjoyable pages before you get there. So far as this reader is concerned, there is nothing much wrong with the solution. I can't persuade myself that it is the job of a detective story to turn out like a factual police investigation in real life, and although the outcome should not be preposterous it ought to be imaginative, and it is imaginative here.

I have no idea whether Ian Rankin belongs to the Agatha Christie school of whodunit plotting, or to the Raymond Chandler school. We know from Chandler himself that he wrote most of his Marlowe tales without knowing who the murderer was: Mrs Christie was not so forthcoming so far as I am aware, but surely she must have had the final denouements in mind from the outset and structured the rest of it round them so that we can be as amazed as the respectful and silent gatherings who listen to Poirot or Miss Marple explaining all over ten or a dozen pages. Where Rankin seems to me to side with Chandler is in making the rest of the story and the characterisation more significant in their own right than they are in the solution-focused Christie style, and I find that to my own liking. In fact this is the first Rebus story I have ever read, but it will not be the last. The glum, dogged and cantankerous old corner-cutter is getting on in years, now within a year of compulsory retirement and obviously facing a bleak outlook when that comes, as there is nothing much in his life except the job. His portrayal is sympathetic and quite convincing if not exactly delineated in as much depth as Hamlet, so is that of his oppo Siobhan Clarke, and convincing also, if less sympathetic, is that of the other main players. The storyline is absolutely excellent in my own opinion, and it held my interest completely through what is quite a long book. Rankin has true storytelling technique, the result of experience as well as of talent. Links between episodes are very artfully done and if one's attention wanders at all it is liable to mean rereading a couple of paragraphs. The background in July 2005 - the Gleneagles summit of the G8, the British Olympics bid for 2012 and the 7/7 bombings in London - is inspired, and the scene-setting in the author's native Edinburgh is as authentic as we would expect. The writing is of high quality, but in case anyone was wondering, a `rammy' is a fight and `Shug' is `Hugh'.

One detail in particular has not worked out in quite the way Rankin obviously expected, and Mr Blair's brainwave of obtaining `loans' rather than donations to the Labour party (the idea being to avoid declaration) blew back in his face in spectacular fashion. This very excusable misprognostication does affect the credibility of one aspect of the final outcome, I suppose, but at the end of the day this is fiction, and the historical backdrop is very convincing by and large. I don't believe I would have wanted the story to resemble the miserable real-life murder investigations that I have become all too familiar with. There is an appropriate standard for different kinds of things, or `Est modus in rebus' as they say in the Classics, and that suits me very well provided the narrator is good enough at his job. I was sorry to come to the end of this book. Dear old Rebus may be bowing out, but I have all his previous adventures to get to know, and I am looking forward to it.

"The Naming of The Dead," by Ian Rankin, current, highly-successful dean of Scottish mystery writers, is 18th in his "tartan noir" Detective Inspector John Rebus series, and is set in and around the beautiful-to-the-tourist, but not necessarily to the locals, east coast Scots city of Edinburgh. It takes place in July, 2005; Rebus's younger brother Michael, of whom we occasionally heard, has just died at 54, victim, Rebus proposes, of "Scotland's mortality rate that of a Third World nation. Lifestyle, diet, genes - plenty of theories."

The Group of Eight (G8) summit, of political and economic leaders of the most industrialized eight countries, is set to open in the famous golfing resort of Gleneagles, near Edinburgh. Leaders as diverse and famous as American President George Bush, British Prime minister Tony Blair, and Russian premier Putin are about to converge here, and all the British intelligence services, particularly Edinburgh's, and its police brass, are determined to keep a lid on things. They've warned off trouble-making Rebus, and buried him as far from the action as they can. But crowds of protesters, led by Sir Bob Geldorf, record industry figure/philanthropist; Bono, lead singer of the Irish band U2, and Bianca Jagger are coming too. The last thing they want to do is keep the lid on.

Then Ben Webster, British cabinet undersecretary, dies in a mysterious fall from his hotel room. It could be murder, and it could be suicide, and, suddenly, Rebus and his protégé, DI Siobhan Clarke, are on the scene, too, much to the horror of the mighty. Furthermore, there's soon another, apparently interconnected, serial murder case: someone's killing off really unpleasant sex offenders. Rebus and Clarke are on the case, no two ways about it; the brass is really unhappy.

This book is, unfortunately, complex and confusing. Rankin's reportage on the G8 summit is accurate and vivid: furthermore, we get the -imagined-- pleasure of watching a hung-over Rebus knock President Bush off his bike. Then, towards the end, Rebus veers off into the horrific London underground bombings that also happened that July, killing more than 50 people. I consider myself an intelligent reader, but I've no idea why he felt it necessary to do that. Any serious author wants to extend his skills; but the Politics and Current Affairs books are on whole different shelves, aren't they? The music books too, come to that. And when reviewers talk about a mystery transcending its genre, I worry.

However, the mystery as such is quite passable; the characterizations of the major characters, Rebus, Clarke, and Morris Gerald (Big Jer) Cafferty, Edinburgh's crime czar, continue to be enriched. The author can still deliver that city in lively, accurate detail. At one point, he discusses an Edinburgh neighborhood, "Once an area of breweries and factories, where Sean Connery had spent his early years, Fountainbridge was changing. The old industries had all but vanished. The city's financial district was encroaching. Style bars were opening. One of Rebus's favourite old watering-holes had already been demolished, and he reckoned the bingo hall next door - the Palais de Danse as was -- would soon follow. The canal, not much more than an open sewer at one time, had been cleaned up. Families would go there for bike rides, or to feed the swans."

Or: "The City Chambers had been built on top of a plague street called Mary King's Close. Years back, Rebus had investigated a murder in the dank underground labyrinth - Cafferty's own son the victim. The place had been tidied up and now was a tourist haunt in the summer." Guilty as charged; tourist, me. I do love Rankin's work, and a few years ago, did make a pilgrimage to Edinburgh, where I found the relevant tour, right under the City Hall.

Remember the G8 conference and the tube/bus bombings in London? Inspector Rebus' latest case revolves around those incidents, which captured the attention of the world. In addition to the hellacious security problems, Rebus is faced with the death of his brother, a serial killer, the apparent suicide of an MP, and the death of a local politician. The higher ups have had it with him anyway, and forbid him to rock the boat while the eyes of the world are upon Edinburgh.

Rebus and his protege, Inspector Siobhan Clark, aren't the type to just let things go, and they forge ahead, under the radar, regardless of what the chief constable thinks. They lose their way quite a few times, and it when they finally figure out what's what, they are astonished. Author Rankin brings his readers on a crawl through Edinburgh, from the richest to the seamiest, from the powerful to the punks. Nothing cozy here, nothing fancy, just gritty, dogged, intelligent police work. And real, multidimensional characters.

Naming of the Dead is worth a second perusal, just to pick up on all the missed cues and clues. Great crime fiction.

I highly recommend this book to everyone. Stated as a, "Social Skills Help for Adults with AD/HD", I feel it is an invaluable tool for everyone. From adults, to teens, and of course, to those afflicted with AD/HD, what a well written resource of the "do's and don'ts" of social interaction. The format of the book allows the reader to read just the main points of each chapter, or read examples and expanded information.

This unique book attempts to explain how ADD symptoms affect other peoples' feelings and view of the person with ADD, and how to adjust behavior to improve relationships. There's probably some valuable information in this book for anyone whose ADD has created friction, but it's not always easy to pick out what applies. It's occasionally condescending and a bit wordy. Other than that, the intro contains some really important basics, and the rest of the book is divided into specific problem areas.

I wonder how many people WITH ADD have actually sat through and read this WHOLE book... just pondering...

The title is too long, especially for anyone with AD/HD. The book is helpful but focus is difficult to maintain....which may not be the author's fault as much as the target demographic's inherent problem set. Still it is a worthwhile addition for anyone with AD/HD seeking to understand why simple social events are so often filled with anxiety and disappointment.

Do you think your partner might have ADHD, but he or she either resists the idea or you don't know how to broach the subject? Buy this book by Dr. Michele Novotni.

Rather than telling someone, "I think you have ADHD," it's usually better to first empathize with and validate the person's experience. This book does that and more, opening the door to the reader wanting to learn more about ADHD. The title immediately appeals to anyone with ADHD who has never understood why their best intentions to make friends and fit in social groups haven't always worked out.

In my seven years of leading support groups for the partners of adults with ADHD, I've heard repeatedly that this book is one of those most likely to catch their ADHD partners' attention--and keep it. Even men with ADHD who seldom sit down to read become absorbed by this book -- because it so closely describes their experience. Finally, they feel understood and, typically, they feel great relief that they're not the only ones who somehow didn't learn "what everyone else knows". This alone goes a long way towards dissolving ego defenses around the idea of having ADHD.

Dr. Novotni knows this subject intimately, having been a national lecturer on ADHD for years and a pioneer in creating awareness about adult ADHD. Her tone throughout this book is both matter-of-fact and compassionate, never condescending. To get a sense of her approach, you can read articles at her website: http://michelenovotni.com/

A person with ADHD could spend a year in therapy talking about their feelings of social awkwardness and never gain the lessons found in this book. Highly, highly recommended.

Gina Pera, author, advocate
Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.? Stopping the Roller Coaster When Someone You Love Has Attention Deficit Disorder
ADHDRollerCoaster.com

I checked out many books at the library that attempt to explain death to a 5 yr old. "When Dinosaurs Die" is the only one I felt covered everything I wanted my son to know and it did it in a positive way. It is the only book I ended up actually purchasing.

Understanding death and discussing death is difficult. How do we approach this subject with children? A strength of this book is that it is not a story. The book is divided into topics giving answers and explanations to questions a child may ask. The opportunity to open the door for further discussion on any of the topics is there. The book is good for using in small sections in response to questions on a particular topic. Recommendation: read the book before using with children - then you are prepared for what is in each section, what you want to present, and you can anticipate follow-up questions/discussion.

In my work I deal with individuals learning to express their feelings. The section, Feelings about Death, is a good start for discussing the various feelings children may experience during their grief journey.

This is an excellent book. I purchased it to read to my almost 4 year old grandson whose "grandpa" died 3 months ago. I particularly enjoyed the way the book starts out with - What Does Alive Mean? and then goes on to explain what it means and also what dead means. The artwork is great and non threatening. This has become a favorite.

I want to put in a strong vote of confidence for this book, even though some parents have found it too much, too soon. My dad died when my oldest daughter was not quite three; my mom, when she was not quite four. This book was an enormous help in explaining to her what had happened, putting it in terms that were both straightforward and manageable. Kids want to know the facts, because the facts are usually less scary than what a kid can imagine. Also, let's face it, every kid is going to have major issues with death--don't we as adults? If kids ARE given too much information, they will let us know--by facial expression, or changing the subject, or saying they don't want to read the book. If that happens, of course any parent would take the book away. However, I found it a big help.

My eight year old son struggled with the death of an uncle. We found this book at the local library. He read it and then recommended that I read it - "it will help you too, mom." We had to purchase our own copy and got one for our school's guidance office. Great way to remember a loved one and deal with the loss at the same time.

This was my first Ian Rankin novel. There are three investigations going on in this novel and at the end they all tie in together. John Rebus is well drawn and is interesting. I found the story dragging at times. It's a complex crime novel. I rate this a A-.

I have been reading this series in sequence, so I have been entertained by how Rankin is getting better at creating complex and convoluted plot twists and marveled at how refined his character development has become.

I believe this book marked a turning point. Rebus' drinking had always been a continuous and important sidebar of the story, it got relief earlier in the series. But when Rebus'friend Jack Morton was killed, Rebus fell off the wagon hard, and it really and truly made the character all the more complex and interesting. The drinking is now front and center and ruling his life and his work. Rebus can be seen to be in a slow death spiral towards uncontrollable depression, or does it? This is the beauty of the Inspector Rebus series, you begin to care about Rebus, no matter how bad he is with truth, women, relationships, and rules. As in a relation ship with real people, no one starts being completely hateful, but over the series of 12 books, I have come to know the character, I feel I know his history, and despite his odious state of de-evolution, I still care about the character because of the history that Rankin built up over the 12 books. I can't wait to read the rest of the series just for the Rebus development.

The mystery part involves three seemingly disparate deaths, one of a tramp, the second of a up and coming politician, and the third of a man whose death went unnoticed 20 years ago but he jumped back into the public consciousness in a very notable way. At first blush, I didn't think Rankin would be able to pull all this together into one story arc, but he did. I really should stop doubting his ability to do this. The procedure and methodology that Rankin uses to progress his story is once again, very enlightening. Mix in his accounting of the Scottish government and history, the history of 60's and 70's rock and roll, as well as his understated sarcastic asides makes this a very complex and enjoyable read, if you like life complicated, real, and not easily categorized nor understood. The story comes to an end, a very conclusive end, but also with a very depressing twist which sets Rebus up with a very difficult reality. You may not like it, but it is definitely a juicy beginning for the rest of the series.

Once again (it's so repetitious) Ian Rankin has written a novel that is almost perfect in every way. The story just seems to grow as it goes along, and the characters appear as if this is just a narrative of some tragedy that actually happened and Rankin is just the reporter.

A murder (of a man of a well known family who is standing for the Scottish Parliment and brother of an MP), a suicide (by a man we would call a street person) and a dead body (murdered twenty years ago and wall up in a building under renovation. All this is happening around and in the new Scottish Parliment building and John and Siobhan are off on the most interesting story so far (until the next one).

With the imminent retirement of the Chief Super, Farmer Watson, we know that John is in for trouble with whoever becomes his next boss. It's nice to see Watson get in a few good licks before he leaves the scene. Another DI (the blue eyed boy), is sent by Fettes to watch over this case which they feel is too high profile for a maverick like Rebus.

Of course Rebus gets on his bad side immediately, not to mention everyone else. But with the tenacity that he brings to everything his does, Rebus will find out the truth in the end. What he's not expecting is how. Once again a great read.

A body found in a bricked up fireplace after twenty years, a murdered candidate for Scottish parliament, and a suicide with a big secret and it all ties together? Well, it's a bit of a stretch in this one. Renkin works hard and it shows. This is a disparate lot of puzzles, and it is really reaching to work them together. Without the deus ex machina in the form of Rebus's favorite foe, Big Ger it wouldn't really happen at all. It is this occasional dependence on the Scottish crime lord that often works against the series, sometimes it seems an easy way out when Rebus needs something done, either directly or indirectly, and in pops Cafferty. This is a solid outing, but too many characters pop in and out without real purpose making the novel probably 100 pages more than it needs to be.

Hard-drinking, hard-smoking, divorced Edinburgh cop DI John Rebus is a man who does things his way as he moves through the brooding city of Edinburgh, searching for both his own lost soul and the criminals who lurk in its dark places. DI Derek Linford, in contrast, does things the boss's way, much to Rebus's chagrin.

Both are seconded to the police liaison team for the new Scottish Parliament at Queensberry House when a corpse is found hidden behind a fireplace in one of the parliament buildings. From the condition of the body, it appears that it's been there a long time, years, decades.

A few days later the body of Roddy Grieve, a Labor Party candidate for a seat in the new parliament, is found on the grounds. Grieve comes from a well-known Scottish family. His mother is a famous artist, his brother is a Tory MP, his sister is an ex-supermodel married to an ageing rock star and there is another brother who went missing 20 years ago. Sniffing about for clues as only he can, Rebus comes to suspect the body in the fireplace may be connected to Grieve's murder.

Meanwhile, Rebus's former partner, Detective Sergeant Siobhan Clarke, is driving home one evening when she happens to see a homeless man leap to his death from a bridge. Following up, she discovers that the supposedly poor and destitute man had over £400,000 in a building society account. He also had the same name as the man whose remains were found behind that fireplace.

Add to the above the escalating violence of a serial rapist who targets women in singles clubs and, as if that isn't enough, Rebus must face the unexpected prison release of his old nemesis, Edinburgh crime boss Big Ger Cafferty, whose interest in Rebus isn't exactly friendly. And through all this, Rebus has to work alongside Linford, a paper pusher on the fast track to promotion.

Little of modern Edinburgh has escaped Rankin's attention here. In fact, one might mistake this excellent novel as a travel guide about where not to go when visiting there. However, there is hope in this book, too. It's just that sometimes it's just a little hard to find, especially when Rankin writes about, corruption, homelessness and despair as if he's been there and seen it all. Yes, this is a dark book. It's also a book that stands apart from others in the genre. It's the kind of book the others aspire to.

Haley Lawford, SV Cheerleader Too

I devoured Lover of Unreason in two days while on vacation. Wow! This is such a powerful biography of an unconventional woman whose reputation is that of the "other woman" in the Ted Hughes/Sylvia Plath debacle. But to write her off as merely that denies the rest of her fascinating life. Assia was far ahead of her time in terms of sexual freedom and could be considered a sort of proto-feminist. A fair amount of time is spent on Assia's childhood; enough to get to know where she came from but not too much that the reader becomes bored. She married several times for various reasons before falling into a relationship with Ted Hughes that would destroy her. In 1969 she committed suicide, taking her dear daughter with her. Terrible, yes, but reserve judgment until you've read the book.

Several reviewers have complained that Assia was cruel and heartless to have taken her daughter with her when she left this earth. But I would argue that Ted Hughes is the real monster. Having neglected Assia and almost completely ignoring their daughter, Shura; Assia was the only person in the world Shura had. In a way, by killing her daughter, Assia did her a great favor. Suicide is greatly misunderstood but I think the authors do a beautiful job of taking the reader along for the tragic journey.

Other reviewers have complained that they couldn't assign Assia a role. Was she a selfish, cruel, husband-stealer, or was she a brilliant, unappreciated soul? As with any character in a book, or person in life, complexity, contradictions, and depth are what make people interesting and likable or despicable. Assia had qualities of each. Instead of trying to define her into a neat square, try to let yourself be swept along on this journey of madness, genius, love, and of course, tragedy.

If you have read the poetry, letters, diaries and biographies of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, you may have longed to know more about the mysterious Assia Wevill who flung open the door into their lives three years before Sylvia committed suicide. This wonderful biography of Assia fills the gap, telling the story of this striking, exotic, gifted but ultimately deeply selfish woman. Born in Berlin, Assia and her family escape the Nazis to live in wartime Tel Aviv. Her story moves to Canada, colonial Burma, and ultimately to London. Along the way she marries and divorces three long suffering husbands and eventually bears a daughter to her lover Ted Hughes, who wrote of her "Assia was my true wife and the best friend I ever had" . His actions belied his words however and Assia's despair and disillusion with their failing relationship lead to the death of both Assia and her daughter Shura in an uncanny echo of Sylvia's own suicide.

this was a great read and lets you see inside of Wevill's head...makes you love her or hate her

This is the first, full length treatment of the "other" woman in the Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes triangle. The authors present Assia Gutmann Wevill by availing themselves of documents, letters, journals and interviews, to present a complex portrait of this most unique woman.

In relevant ways, her story is part of the story of the Jewish experience of the 20th century. Assia was not able to fit into Jewish Palestine, and found it equally difficult to find a home in Canada and England. Even though she spent most of her life in England, she was never fully English. Zionism failed her, and with nothing to replace its failed promise, a crisis of identity appears to have set her life on a course of failed marriages and still born ventures.

But what amazes most in reading this biography is that Gutmann-Wevill never became an artist of any merit. One of the more enlightening elements of this book are her insightful and penetrating diary entries, quoted throughout. She had keen and relevant observations about her contemporaries, including two literary giants, Hughes and Plath. In her writing one can sense a voice of great clarity and vision expressing life with precision and accuracy. She never translated this into sustained, artistic endeavors. It seems her failure was self-realized. She wrote: "I was endowed with too many minor qualities, but neither the will or the huge intelligence to bring them a life of their own." She is being unkind to herself here. As this memoir makes very clear, it is apparent that her will was more impaired than her creativity or intelligence.

I think of myself as someone very well read on the subjects of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. I must admit I've always held a bit of contempt for Assia--but I thought I should give her a fair chance and read this biography. It was terrible. Extremely subjective, certainly not an objective account with well researched and accurate information, as a biography should be.

Ted Hughes was not given an accurate representation in the least. The authors repeat over and over that Assia had a very dramatic personality and often exaggerated and embellished stories, but then they use her journal entries--written in the midst of serious depression--as an accurate source, from which they described Hughes' "horrible" mistreatment and even abuse of Assia. They also cite a poetry book in which the feminist Robin Morgan writes that Hughes murdered both Plath and Wevill, and that Assia took Shura with her "'rather than letting Hughes raise the child.'" I see absolutely no reason for this to be included in the book, other than making Hughes look like the bad guy.

Not to mention, the chapter titles sound like cheesy love songs from the 80s ("Torn Between Two Lovers," "Fatal Attraction".) And check out this opening sentence from Chapter Nine, entitled "A Fateful Meeting": "London in the swinging sixties: the pill, the Beatles, acid trips, the sense that the times were changing and 'anything goes'--but none of it was blowing Assia's mind." REALLY?

I dragged myself along, and finally reached the point in the story describing Assia's suicide--when I thought the story would finally end, and I would reach the nice thick bibliography that should appear at the end--and block off a nice chunk of the book that I didn't have to read. But no, they go on and on about suicide, filicide, throwing out all kinds of irrelevant statistics ("A study in the American Journal of Epidemiology revealed that people were less prone to suicide if they had known someone who had killed himself." HUH?) and various other kinds of crap.

One part I was interested in, though, were the pictures. I hadn't seen many pictures of Assia and the inserts certainly had plenty. Although... at then end, there is a picture of one of the authors with Ted Hughes. Right before the paragraph where they inaccurately describe how he wanted to completely rid his life of any reminders of Assia--and then they quote the feminist. Isn't that kind of wierd?

This book was obviously written for a bourgeois audience who love to read about romance, sex, and suicide--I guess I can see why the authors were interested in writing a biography about a person like Assia. I honestly felt sick at the end. Don't read this book--really, for the sake of your health, and for the sake of Ted Hughes, and extremely skilled poet and genuine, but private, man who deserves the be portrayed accurately.