Gathering Prey

by John Sandford

            The 25^th in Sandford’s prey series focuses on Lucas Davenport and his adopted daughter, Lettie. Fans of this series will be pleased to see Lettie getting more involved in Davenport’s job.

            The book opens with Lettie meeting a couple of Travelers in California where she’s attending college. Travelers are people who move from city to city, panhandling, and generally causing little or no harm. Lettie is interested in their story and gives them her phone number when she finds they may be coming to Minnesota that summer. When Lettie receives a phone call later that summer telling her that one of the Travelers is missing, she enlists Davenport’s help. A skeptical Davenport agrees to help the Traveler but believes his daughter is being played. He couldn’t be further from the truth. The Traveler’s story will lead Davenport and Lettie into a world of evil they could never have imagined.

            It’s amazing that after 25 books in this series, Sandford can still keep readers on the edge of their seat. This latest appears to lay the foundation for a big change, which of course, I won’t reveal. It’s another Prey book that you will lose sleep over.

            Now, Mr. Sandford, could you write a little faster? Please? 

The Ice Twins

by S. K. Tremayne

            

           The premise of this book sounded so intriguing. A young British couple, Angus and Sarah Moorcraft, tries to cope with the death of one of their twin daughters, Kristie. A year later, the surviving twin announces that she is actually Lydia, the twin that was thought to be dead. In the midst of this turmoil, the husband inherits an island in Scotland from his grandmother. Hoping a change will help them heal, the family moves to this tiny island. Far from helping, the move only serves to compound their problems, as Kristie/Lydia becomes more and more disturbed and Angus and Sarah’s marriage fractures.

            I wanted to love this book after reading the synopsis. I really did. But this novel has so many problems. First and foremost, the characters are so unlikeable. Sarah is impulsive, shallow and just wholly unbelievable as a mother. Angus is a mystery throughout the book. He is at times portrayed as a loving father, an alcoholic, an uncaring brute and an indifferent husband. The surviving twin, whomever she is, is in need of serious psychological help. Which she never gets. The book moves very slowly. I would not call it a suspense novel at all. By the end, which is so anti-climactic as to become almost a clique, it’s hard to care what happens to this family.

            There are so many good suspense novels out there, why bother reading a bad one. This one deserves a pass.

            Scheduled for publications May 19^th, 2015.

            Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Memory Man

by David Baldacci          

           

Amos Decker’s life has had two defining moments: when he died twice on a football field, and when his wife and daughter are murdered. The first left him with a mind that recalls everything that happens to him. The second destroyed his life.

Over a year after the murder of his family, their deaths remain unsolved, until a man walks into the police station and confesses to the murders. As Decker tries to come to grips with this, a school shooting paralyzes the town. Decker, now a private investigator is asked by his old boss to assist the police in finding the school shooter. Decker soon realizes that the shooting and his family’s murder are connected, and the connection is Decker.

You have to wonder where the fertile mind of David Baldacci comes up with his characters. Most of them are not someone you would meet on the street, or ever know. Almost all of them have their quirks, and his latest is no exception. Amos Decker is an obese ex-detective, working as a private investigator and living, just barely, in a room at a local motel. As the main character in what is being billed as a new series by Baldacci, Amos Decker is the antithesis of a hero. He’s anti-social, lacks empathy and in general doesn’t like being around people. In fact, it could be argued that he displays some Asperger symptoms. Yet, in spite of Decker’s flaws, Baldacci manages to make him a highly likable character.

Memory Man may be Baldacci’s best novel yet. This is a novel that grips the reader early and never lets up until the final crescendo. I suggest not planning on having a life while reading this, because you won’t. Yes, it’s that good.

Buy this book and plan to lose a weekend.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.