Category Archives: Penguin

Frightful Friday: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

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Frightful Friday is a weekly meme in which I feature a particularly scary or chilling book that I’ve read that week. The featured title this week is The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey:

  • Age Range: 12 and up
  • Hardcover: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (May 7, 2013)
  • ISBN-10: 0399162410

When the first wave hit, it wiped out electricity.  The second wiped out entire coastlines. The third spread a deadly plague. During the fourth wave aliens known as The Others sought to destroy all surviving humans. The fifth wave is far more deadly and destructive.

Cassiopeia (Cassie) Sullivan has survived the first four waves. Quickly adapting to her new survivalist life, toting a M-16 her only goal is to rescue her younger brother, Sammie, from The Others. Along the way she is rescued by Evan Walker, a quiet and mysterious loner. His involvement in the fifth wave seems completely innocent at first but the more Cassie learns of The Others plans, the more she begins to question everything and everyone she has ever known. She must do anything she can to survive the alien attack and reunite with her only remaining family.

I’m purposefully being quiet vague in my synopsis of this novel. The beauty, and intensity, of this story is discovering the chain of events as it occurs. A long time fan of Yancey myself, I was once again rewarded with a truly remarkable and engrossing tale of horror and the unknown. Cassie is an incredibly strong protagonist; it is refreshing to see a young girl cast in this role. Secondary characters are so well-crafted that you will forget they are just that, secondary pieces or pawns in a larger scale story. Yancey varies the point of view allowing each of the key players to give readers a truly unique and unaltered portrayal of what could be the end of human life as we know it.

At nearly 500 pages, one would think that this book would take forever to get through. Completely untrue, for I couldn’t tear myself away from this book for a moment, eventually reading it in one afternoon. In addition to the incredibly compelling and terrifying storyline, Yancey writes a truly intelligent and thought-provoking read. While readers are asked to dispel belief in some cases, a large portion of this novel is completely plausible.

Plot twists scattered throughout the novel add intensity to the already fast-moving storyline. You will want to stop, shocked about what was just revealed yet you won’t be able to tear yourself away for one moment, a hunger for more that won’t be satisfied until you turn the last pages.  While this is geared toward young adults/older middle-grade, this is the sort of novel that adults would find to be compelling and enjoyable as well.

Bottom line: The 5th Wave is an intense, tremendously chilling and terrifying read. Highly, highly recommended.

Be sure to check out The 5th Wave website for additional information and content!

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Frightful Friday: Children of the Underground: The Children of Paranoia Series by Trevor Shane

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Frightful Friday is a weekly meme in which I feature a particularly scary or chilling book that I’ve read that week.

This week’s featured title is Children of the Underground by Trevor Shane:

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: NAL Trade; 1 edition (April 2, 2013)
  • ISBN-10: 0451239296
  • Source: Publisher

In this follow up to Children of Paranoia, eighteen-year-old Maria has just witnessed the brutal killing of Joseph, her lover and the father of their infant son, Christopher. The killer, Joseph’s best friend, Jared, claimed he did it for “the cause.” After killing Joseph, Jared tears Christopher from Maria’s grasp. Maria is now on a mission to locate her son, now nearly a year old. She attempted to contact others like Joseph, those fighting in this nameless war, but they shunned her, told her to forget she had a son and to get on with her life. Unable to do so, Maria tracks down Michael, another of Joseph’s friends involved in the cause, as well as a group known as the Underground, dedicated to “cleaning” the lives of those no longer interested in participating in the war. Together, they must carefully cross the lines waged by war, risking their lives in order to track down young Christopher.

Interspersed throughout the story are journal entries, reminiscent of the entries from the previous novel, that fast forward in time to Christopher’s youth and adulthood. Readers get a glimpse of the life Christopher led, immersed in a war that continues to have unknown causes and no indication of ending. Shane has crafted a truly terrific and chilling concept: a silent war rages, millions of citizens clueless to what is going on around them. Those involved in the war don’t have clear enemies or allies. It is rare to find someone you trust.

This sophomore book has absolutely no inklings or hints of a sophomore slump. As a matter of fact, I think this novel is more intense than the previous. Perhaps, because I am a mother myself, I found it easier to connect with Maria’s character than Joseph’s in the previous novel. Although she is still a teen in age, Maria has been forced to endure a lifetime worth of loss and pain. One wants to feel sympathy for her character, but Maria’s strong will and emotion will not allow it.

The character of Michael was an incredibly unique one as well. Despite being scarred by the war he reenlists, fighting for a cause he does not believe in because he knows it is the only way Maria can get her son back. A killer by trade, on the surface he appears cold and emotionless yet his dedication to finding Christopher shows a softer side.

As mentioned, this is the second book in a series. While Shane does provide a bit of back-story and history of the characters, I do believe it is best to start this series from the beginning. It is imperative to see the progression of the characters and their motives, to truly comprehend the depth of the battle they are fighting.

Fans of a wide range of genres would appreciate this series, from action and adventure to thriller. I see great things ahead for this truly talented writer. Highly highly recommended.

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Review: The Burn Palace by Stephen Dobyns

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  • Hardcover: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Blue Rider Press; First Edition edition (February 7, 2013)
  • ISBN-10: 0399160876
  • Source: Publisher

Brewster, Rhode Island is your average small town. The majority of the residents were born there and will likely die there, their roots to the tight-knit community are strong. In a matter of a few days, however, numerous inexplicable events take place, starting with the “abduction” of a newborn baby right from it’s bassinet in the hospital. Replacing the newly born infant is a snake. This marks the beginning of a host of horrific activities, ranging from a scalping of an insurance investigator to an attack by a pack of unnaturally fearless coyotes.

The local police, including Detective Woody Potter, are stunned into action. Is it possible that all of these attacks are connected? The strange events started after two young girls were drugged and raped during some sort of Satanic ritual in the woods. One of these young victims was the mother of the missing baby, strangely not concerned after her child’s disappearance, likening it to the demonic child in Rosemary’s Baby.

Something decidedly supernatural is at hand, forcing the small community to reexamine one another in a completely new light. From a young boy somehow caught up in the events to his mentally unstable and incredibly violent stepfather, Dobyns creates a truly remarkable set of characters, all revealed within the first several pages. By the end of the novel, these characters are found to be connected, leaving the quiet town of Brewster forever changed.

It is hard to classify this novel into just one genre, instead it is a wonderful blend of literary fiction, crime fiction, and horror. What makes this novel stand out is that it isn’t simply a story of one small town’s demise at the hands of the supernatural, but instead a truly remarkable character study of the dark side of human nature.  To do so, Dobyns slows down the pacing to what could have been a much shorter book, instead replacing it with extensive detail and examination of each of the characters. Other reviews state the pacing was too slow, the detail too expansive, but to me this truly aided in the brilliance of this novel.

Typically, I’m not one to be won over by blurbs but when my idol, Stephen King, the master of horror, blurbs a book I listen. The power of this blurb is increased when I see that it’s not just your typical one line blurb but instead a page-long rave detailing his love and respect for this novel.

I’ve written some “secrets of a small New England town” books, and in The Burn Palace, it’s as if Stephen Dobyns is saying–very gently–”Hey Steve…this is how you really do it.

 

Typically, if I find myself reading the same book for more than a few days I get antsy. In the case of my reading of The Burn Palace, I savored it for three days, truly relishing in Dobyns’ incredibly skilled writing and his genuinely unique characters. Highly, highly recommended.

 

 

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Review: Everything Was Good-bye by Gurjinder Basran

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  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Pintail; Reprint edition (December 31, 2012)
  • ISBN-10: 0143186817
  • Source: Publisher
Meena is the youngest of six daughters raised by a widowed mother. Her family, native of India, continues to hold on to many of their culture’s customs. A young woman in her last year of high-school, Meena struggles to continue to honor tradition while living the life of an American young woman. Her older sisters were restricted by these traditions but Meena refuses to become a victim of the same fate. She must decide what is more important: tradition or following one’s own heart. The choice Meena ultimately makes has lasting, irreversible effects.

Everything Was Good-Bye is, at its very core, a incredibly emotional, brilliant examination of a young woman trying to seek a voice, an identity, while living in two vastly different cultures. Basran excels at building a truly genuine character in Meena that is both challenging and sympathetic. She so masterfully details the struggles Meena experiences in her strict, traditional Indian home, struggles that many of us outside the culture cannot comprehend. The reader follows Meena as she matures from a young high school girl to a more mature, more independent adult. The growth she experiences is tremendous, solely made possible by her hard-headed desire to live beyond the life planned out for her by her mother. What Meena experiences at each stage of her growth is certainly not easy, for she is forced to overcome more challenges in the span of a few years that many don’t face in an entire lifetime.

Though this novel is brief in pages, the content within is vast, an epic story told in a condensed manner. My challenge as a reviewer is that I want to give much more detail about the storyline, but doing so may spoil the experience for readers. Though this review is brief it is certainly not due to my lack of feelings and response to this novel. My only qualm with this novel was the ending; I wanted to know more about Meena and her future. To me, the ending seemed a little rushed, abrupt, when I wanted more detail. Nevertheless, this title destined to make an appearance in book clubs for Basran’s debut novel will have a lasting effect on its readers. Highly, highly recommended.

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Frightful Friday: The Watcher by Charles Maclean

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Frightful Friday is a weekly meme in which I feature a particularly scary or chilling book that I’ve read that week. The featured book this week is The Watcher by Charles Maclean:

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books; Reissue edition (September 25, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0143122517
  • Source: Publisher

Martin Gregory rushes to catch the train home. The following day is his wife’s birthday and he has a lot to prepare before then. He and his wife are the typical couple, living the average suburban life. Until the following morning…

Martin wakes to present his wife with her birthday gift, but what she finds instead is so appalling and disturbing she’s worried about Martin’s sanity. Meanwhile, Martin has retreated to a remote motel, experiencing random bits of consciousness, not certain just what has transpired. When he learns what he has done, however, he is truly mortified. He agrees to start seeing a therapist, Dr. Somerville.

The narrative that follows is a winding, spiral into the deep recesses of Martin’s mind. Told in alternating viewpoints of Martin himself and Dr. Somerville, the reader watches as Martin regresses into deeper and darker shades of madness. Dr. Somerville uses regression therapy and hypnosis to step inside Martin’s subconscious, revealing the truly horrific madness that lives within. The differing viewpoints are quite stark, leaving the reader questioning whom they should trust and believe: a mad man or a manipulative doctor? Martin’s spiral into madness is quite rapid, yet at some points his character seems so “normal” and believable. Additionally, Somerville appears to be attempting to help treat Martin, but it’s not difficult to see him in a darker light.

Originally published in 1982, this truly phenomenal piece of psychological horror was recently republished to the delight of Maclean’s fans. It is a novel that will leave readers questioning everything they read, a truly dark exploration into the mind of madness. A warning: there are scenes that are relatively dark and disturbing, particularly if you are a dog lover. These take place in the early pages of the book and serve to prove the intensity of Martin’s (potential?) madness. The pages that follow delve more into psychological aspects of horror and madness rather than the physical gore. Therefore, if you can get past the first several pages, you will be rewarded with a truly astounding novel, a story that has an intensity to survive decades.  Highly recommended.

Following is a review from the original 1982 release, proving the timelessness of this novel: NY Times

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#Mx3 Review: Your House is On Fire, Your Children All Gone by Stefan Kiesbye

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  • Paperback: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books; 1 Original edition (September 25, 2012)
  • ISBN-10: 0143121464
  • Source: Publisher

Set in the village of Hemmersmoor in Germany, not long after the closing of the concentration camps and the raising of the Berlin Wall, Your House Is on Fire, Your Children All Gone shares connected stories of a village shrouded in death and despair. It starts off with the funeral of Anke, the final remaining heir to the von Kamphoff manor. Each story that follows details retellings by children, now adults, who grew up in Hemmersmoor. The villagers were incredibly suspicious and superstitious people and for good reason. The village appears to be cursed, the residents punished perhaps for previous deeds.

In addition the the overall feeling of dread due to the overwhelming number of deaths, primarily of children and infants, the town is also riddled with individuals who are obviously disturbed, from a young boy who kills his sister to a father who attacks his daughter, leaving her permanently scarred. This, with the overall feeling of dread and despair adds up to a truly chilling read.

Fans of Shirley Jackson’s classic horror fiction will be certain to enjoy this truly chilling novel. A bit of a warning, however. This book does contain some graphic scenes, not particularly gory but still unsettling. All in all, an overwhelmingly terrifying book, not necessarily because of ghosts and monsters but instead “real” monsters within the residents of Hemmersmoor. Recommended.

 

 

 

 

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Review: Looking at Lincoln by Maira Kalman

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  • Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  • Hardcover: 32 pages
  • Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books (January 5, 2012)
  • ISBN-10:
  • Source: Publisher

A little girl is walking through the park when she sees a tall man who reminds her of someone.  She can’t remember who he is at first, but when she pays for lunch (with a five dollar bill) she recognizes him at once: Abraham Lincoln.  She becomes fascinated with Lincoln and goes to the library to learn more about him. Throughout the book, she relays facts that she comes across in her reading, from his birth in a small log cabin to his presidency, the Emancipation Proclamation and his death. Told through a series of colorful illustrations, Lincoln’s history comes to life on the pages. 

Jenn’s review: As a mom, I appreciated this book because it contained not only useful, textbook type information about Lincoln, but also not so common information, like that his favorite cake was vanilla, he always had an apple on his desk, and that he kept notes he’d jotted down in his tall hat. At just 32 pages, it gives young children a glimpse of Lincoln’s life and information about why he was one of the most powerful presidents in our nation’s history. But my review isn’t important…from the mouth of a child, my six-year-old son Justin’s review:

I really liked the colorful pictures. They aren’t drawn perfectly, but look like they are done by someone my age. Also, did you know that Lincoln’s stepmother lead him read anytime he wanted and sometimes didn’t do his chores. I wish I could do that! It was sad to read how he died. He loved people, all people, and because of this he was shot by a very bad angry man. I got to see his big tall hat at the museum in Washington, DC once. It really is a tall hat. I wonder how he was able to walk through doors with that hat on. Mommy says he was a tall man, almost 7 feet tall! Anyway, I think this book is the perfect book to read to celebrate President’s Day.  I want to go to see Lincoln’s Memorial soon.  It’s too bad I can’t climb up in his lap and talk to him. I think we would have a lot to talk about. 

 

This is our first picture by Maira Kalman, I guarantee it won’t be our last. Highly recommended!

 

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Review: An Appetite for Murder by Lucy Burdette

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  • Paperback:320 pages
  • Publisher:Signet; Original edition (January 3, 2012)
  • ISBN-10: 0451235517
  • Source: Author

Haley followed her “soul mate” and moved to Key West.  Unfortunately, when she catches him in bed with another woman, the relationship ends abruptly. Haley’s a strong, independent young woman and vows to make a life for herself in Key West.  She’s always been a foodie and decides to apply for a food critic job for a new Key West style magazine.  When she learns that her potential new boss, Kristen Faulkner, is the very woman who stole her “soul mate”, she doesn’t think things can get worse. Unfortunately, they do.

Kristen is murdered, killed by a poisoned Key Lime pie, the very pie Haley writes an article about shortly after Kristen’s death.  Due to her relationship with Kristen, the police name her the number one suspect in her murder. To save her reputation, and, frankly, any attempts to be a food critic, Haley must find out the identity of the real killer.

An Appetite for Murder is the first book in Burdette’s Key West food critic mystery series and it is a true delight! Not only does she cause your mouth to water with all the talk of food, but she really captures the essence of Key West as well; the culture, the people, the food, comes to life on the pages.  The setting is absolutely perfect, particularly for those of us up North suffering from frigid temperatures this time of year! 

Haley’s character is completely likeable; while she is a food critic she’s not snooty at all, she’s actually quite fond of tasting and critiquing food from local fast food restaurants.  The secondary characters are quite rich as well; I look forward to reading about them more in subsequent books. Finally, you can’t have a foodie book without recipes! Recipes for a few of the dishes Haley makes throughout the course of the book are included as well.

Bottom line: if you are a fan of cozy mysteries this is a series you can’t afford to miss out one! Highly recommended!

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Review: The Dispatcher by Ryan David Jahn

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  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin ((December 27, 2011)
  • ISBN-10: 0143120700
  • Source: Publisher

Seven years ago, the daughter of Texas police dispatcher Ian Hunt was abducted while he and his wife were out to dinner. The abduction destroyed his family; he and his wife are no longer together. He hasn’t spoken to his son, responsible for his sister’s well-being that evening, in some time.  Four months previously, they finally declared Maggie dead, burying an empty coffin.

One day, however, he receives a phone-call from Maggie, now a teenager. She’s able to give her father a brief description of her abductor before she is ripped from the phone. Not nearly enough to make an arrest but certainly enough to re-open the investigation.

When the bodies of several young girls are found on the property of a local man, the local police finally has the leads it needs to generate a full-scale investigation. Ian can’t lose his daughter again, so he takes off on his own on a cross-country chase after the local couple responsible for Maggie’s abduction.  He abandons everything, including the law, to get his daughter back.

The Dispatcher is a chilling, absorbing, addictive read. The desperation this poor father has to find his daughter is heart-wrenching. He feels that in losing his family already he has nothing to risk, nothing to lose. There is a bit of violence so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book for the weak-stomached.  But if you want an engrossing, heart-pounding, fast-paced, crime novel? The Dispatcher is the book for you. Highly recommended.

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Review: The Bungalow by Sarah Jio

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  • Paperback:320 pages
  • Publisher:Plume; 1 edition (December 27, 2011)
  • ISBN-10: 0452297672
  • Source: Publisher

The summer of 1942, young Anne Calloway sets off to the Pacific island of Bora-Bora to serve as a nurse for the Army Nurse Corps.  She’s engaged to get married; this venture is her last bit of adventure before becoming a married woman.  She goes to Bora-Bora with her best friend, Kitty, a flirtatious, free-spirited young woman.

Once they reach Bora-Bora, an island full of military men who haven’t seen women in ages, it doesn’t take Kitty long to find a few potential love interests.  Anne, still questioning her engagement, yet also feeling guilt for “abandoning” her fiance to embark on this adventure, soon forges a friendship with a soldier named Westry. They find solace in one another at an abandoned bungalow, leaving notes to one another using fictitious names. Soon, their friendship blooms into something much more.  A horrible murder & the ravages of war threaten their budding romance.

The reader “meets” Anne decades later, an elderly woman now.  As she ages, she can’t help but look back upon this time spent in Bora-Bora, wondering “what if.” She’s taken back in time when she receives communication from the island that forever changed her.

Spanning not only time but location, The Bungalow is a breathtakingly beautiful look at undying, endearing, true love. Those that know me well know that I’m not really a fan of love stories, yet for some reason the power of Jio’s writing envelopes me, takes me away to a completely different time and place. She did so with The Violets of March and succeeded and doing it again with The Bungalow.  The love that is shared between Anne & Westry is a genuine one, not over the top or forced. The setting, despite taking place in the midst of World War II, is a beautiful one. It adds to the romance shared between these to young individuals.

Bottom line: The Bungalow is a book that will completely engage you; don’t be surprised if it forces to be read in one sitting. It’s a story of love in the midst of death, love that continues despite the passing of time. Highly recommended!

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