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Ruth Galloway, archeologist, lives in a remote area near Norfolk called Saltmarsh.  She has experience recovering ancient relics & remains of the Iron Age people, but when a child’s body is discovered on a remote beach she is intrigued.  The local police, lead by  Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson, call in Ruth for asssistance.  The bones are believed to be those of a young girl named Lucy, missing for a decade.  Since Lucy’s disappearance, Nelson has been receiving bizzare letters about the young girl.

The bones turn out to be over two thousand years old, but Ruth becomes a part of the case when the letters reveal the writer has a knowledge of archeology.  Another girl goes missing and the pace of the investigation speeds up.  Soon Ruth discovers she’s a lot closer to the case than she’d like and in a great deal of danger.

I’ve always been fond of forensic mysteries. In college, I took several archeology courses and the entire science has always fascinated me.  When I heard about this series, I was instantly drawn to it. Griffiths paints a very exciting, heart-pounding portrait of a crime.  What I loved about it most was Ruth’s character. She was real, she had flaws.  She’s overweight and lives with a bunch of cats in a remote cottage. She wasn’t a Barbie doll, but a truly average human being.  In addition, she’s smart, independent and quite witty. These details make Ruth a fascinating and endearing character, one that readers will be drawn to and appreciate.

The setting added a great deal to the mystery.  Where the North Sea meets the land, the landscape is full of deep pits of mud, neither land nor water. Thousands of years ago the area held religious significance to its inhabitants. While Saltmarsh is a fictional location, I found an image of a similar landscape:

I highly recommend this book to those looking for a new mystery series. I’m looking forward to reading & reviewing the second book in this series, THE JANUS STONE, scheduled for release in January 2011.

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• Review: Ashes to Water by Irene Ziegler (3)
• Mini-Review: Running from the Devil by Jamie Freveletti (9)
• A Glimpse Inside Chelsea Cain’s Portland (12)
• Waiting on Wednesday: The Night Season by Chelsea Cain (11)
• Review:The Enemy by Lee Child (4)

• Hardcover: 394 pages
• Publisher: Five Star (June 16, 2010)
• ISBN-10: 1594148600
• Source: Author

Annie Bartlett returns to her small Florida hometown after her father is murdered.  She demands to confront the woman acquitted of the crime, and is astonished to find that she looks remarkably like her mother, who has been dead since she was a young girl, a victim of suicide.  It’s not difficult for Annie to remember what her mother looked like; she continues to see her nearly every day.  Her mother has “haunted” her since her death, berating Annie’s father and discounting his love to her.

After meeting his father’s accused murderer, she’s suddenly drawn to fight for this woman’s acquittal. She begins to dig a little deeper she discovers that some pretty powerful people are involved, and these individuals want to keep their secrets buried.

I was happy to have “met” Irene on Twitter and I was instantly drawn to the premise of this book.  She has developed some very complex characters; the reader learns a great deal about each of the major characters.  The storyline was evenly paced, keeping my focus and interest throughout.  Irene is definitely an author to keep on your radar, I see nothing but good things in her future. Highly recommended for fans of character-driven thrillers.

Thank you to TLC book tours for providing me the opportunity to participate in this tour.  Please check out the other stops along the way:

Monday, August 23rd: Lesa’s Book Critiques

Tuesday, August 24th: My Reading Room

Wednesday, August 25th: Booksie’s Blog

Thursday, August 26th: Café of Dreams

Monday, August 30th: Jen’s Book Thoughts

Tuesday, August 31st: My Random Acts of Reading

Wednesday, September 1st: Helen’s Book Blog

Thursday, September 2nd: Life In Review

Buy this book now from:

These are affiliate links. If you purchase an item from either of these links I will earn a small commission, which goes toward the hosting of this blog & other routine costs associated with running this blog.

Related posts

• Review: The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths (5)
• Mini-Review: Running from the Devil by Jamie Freveletti (9)
• A Glimpse Inside Chelsea Cain’s Portland (12)
• Waiting on Wednesday: The Night Season by Chelsea Cain (11)
• Review:The Enemy by Lee Child (4)

Emma Caldridge is running in an ultramarathon in South America.  A bomb explodes on the race route, and as Emma recovers from the shock of the blast a stranger injects something into her arm.  Amazingly, Emma is able to complete the 55 mile race and does so in record time.

Emma’s not the only one under attack. Back in Washington D.C., Emma’s good friend Edward Banner is defending Darkview (a security agency) from the FBI, Congress, & the IRS, due actions that took place in Colombia (Running from the Devil).  Cameron Sumner, the man responsible for saving Emma’s life in Colombia, is on board a luxury cruise ship off the coast of Somalia.  When the ship is attacked by pirates, Sumner is the only one onboard with a weapon powerful enough to defend the ship, albeit temporarily.

The three characters are brought together when Sumner learns that a chemical weapon is onboard the ship.  Emma, a chemist, must risk her life to get onboard the ship and determine how how dangerous this weapon is.

Once again, Freveletti doesn’t fail to impress me.  As in Running from the Devil, there is no lack of action and suspense in Running Dark.  From beginning to end, my heart was pounding. Fans of Running from the Devil will be happy to read more about it’s characters, but the author provides enough back story to get a new reader up to speed. My only complaint would be the resolution…it all seemed to end a bit too quickly for me.  Granted, it was very intense and exciting, I just wanted a little more. It is obvious that Freveletti plans on continuing the series; I’m definitely interested in reading more from this author!

Be sure to check back later today and win an ARC of Running Dark!

On December 24, 1800, an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Napoleon brutally massacres several innocent bystanders. Chief Inspector Roch Miquel must rush to find the guilty party before another attack is attempted.  His efforts are thwarted by internal politics and  corruption within the police force.  His work is also hindered by his superior, Minister of Police Fouche, who arrests his father when Miquel’s investigation leads him in a direction Fouche finds undesirable. His father’s fate and life are held in the balance. Can Miquel reveal the identies of the guilty parties and preserve the life of his dear father?

Delors paints a very vivid setting. For the King combines two of my favorite genres: history & thrillers. Although the reader knows of the identities of the bombers early on in the book, their motives and incentives for the bombing are carefully and intricately revealed throughout.  What I really enjoyed about this book is the amount of historical detail.  It’s not only an investigation to find and put to justice three individuals, but a history lesson as well.  The reader also learns a great deal about the politics and turmoil of France at this time.

Initially, not very much about Miquel is known, but Delors provides a bit of history about this character through flash-backs to his childhood. Miquel is an extremely likeable and compelling character.  Unlike others in his station, he did not come from a wealthy family. His promotion to such a high level within the police force shows his dedication to this cause.

 I highly recommend For the King to readers of historical/political thrillers.

Biochemist Emma Caldridge is on a flight from Miami to Bogota when the plane goes down in a fiery crash.  Shortly after the crash, a group of guerrilla soldiers round up the survivors and force them to march into the rainforest.  It is soon realized by the survivors that the crash was no accident; the plane was brought down intentionally. Emma is  thrown from the wreckage, far enough away that the soldiers don’t see her.  She’s able to recover some supplies and food from the wreckage before it is blown up by the soldiers.

She begins to follow the soldiers and the survivors through the hot, deadly Colombian rainforest. She’s a chemist for a lucrative cosmetics company, constantly looking for natural ingredients to enhance the cosmetics this company creates. Her knowledge of the local plant life and her experience as an ultramarathon runner gives her an advantage.  She’s soon joined by another survivor, Sumner,  a government agent, and they both head out in an attempt to rescue the remaining surviviors.

Meanwhile, the United States government has formed a task force ordered to rescue the survivors of the plane crash. They can’t seem to figure out what made this plane so important…who on the plane was worth killing so many people?  After doing a bit of investigating, it is soon revealed that Emma has a bit more riding on this trip than originally believed.

Freveletti weaves an extremely fast-paced, thrilling read. I thoroughly enjoyed Emma’s character: she was a no-nonsense woman, set on survival.  It’s refreshing to see such a powerful woman in a thriller, oftentimes a male holds this position. This was a quick, intense read.  Highly recommended!

I finished reading this book just in time!  This weekend, Running from the Devil won the Best First Novel award at the 2010 Thriller Awards!  Congratulations, Jamie!! Be sure to check out her newest book, Running Dark!

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• Review: Ashes to Water by Irene Ziegler (3)
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• Review:The Enemy by Lee Child (4)

• Hardcover: 289 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (June 1, 2010)
• ISBN-10: 1439153981
• Source: Publisher

Lena Trainor is full of emotions as she puts her nine-year-old daughter, Sarah, on a bus to camp for the first time.  She’s nervous and anxious for her daughter, but her mind is also on her relationship with her husband.  She’s so unfocused that she really doesn’t pay much attention to the camp counselor who picks up Sarah.  Until a few minutes later when the real bus shows up.

She hurridly begins to call the parents of the other children to be picked up.  A total of four children were abducted, including Linda, Sarah’s good friend; Franklin, the son of a local minister; and Tommy, the son of a local contractor.  Within a few hours the parents all receive an email, demanding a $1,000,000 ransom.

When the FBI is called in, secrets are revealed, causing conflict within and between the families. No one knows who to trust, they simply want their child back. When the 24-hour mark passes, they begin to wonder if they will ever see their children again.

I simply cannot believe this is Magee’s first novel.  He reveals a story that is both captivating and chilling.  Losing one’s child is a parents worst nightmare, but the fact that these parents literally (although unwittingly) handed their children over to their abductors compounds it tremendously.  As a parent myself, I couldn’t help but feel the hurt, guilt, and anguish the parents were feeling.  It probably doesn’t help that my son’s away at camp now, right?  Never Wave Goodbye is not only a tale of suspense, but a study in the human condition, in how well one stands up to such a catastrophic event, seen from not only the parents’ eyes but the of the children as well.

My only complaints were very minor.  First, the vehicle used to abduct the children was described several times as being a camp van, but the cover clearly shows a school bus.  I know that oftentimes authors don’t have much say in what their cover looks like, so I don’t blame the author. The second is the maturity of the children.  They are all nine years old, some from pretty affluent families. They seemed be rather naive when it came to technology, such as using a computer, sending email, etc.  My oldest son was able to do these things at a fairly early age, well before the age of nine.  Again, a very minor complaint, but one I thought I should mention.

All issues aside, I do highly recommend this novel.  It’s the perfect thriller for a warm summer weekend…just don’t read it while your child is away at camp!

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Eric Shaw is a failed filmmaker who, rather than making the films in LA as he’d hoped and dreamed, is now making a living making family videos for the families of those who have passed. When he is approached by Alyssa Bradford, a wealthy young woman and promised a substantial amount of money to travel to French Lick, IN to research her father-in-law’s history, Shaw cannot refuse.  She describes her father-in-law, Campbell Bradford, as an extraordinary man who was extremely financially successful in his youth, despite the Depression.

Alyssa presents Shaw with a small bottle of water, the only evidence she has of her father-in-law’s past.  The bottle is full of Pluto Water, spring water from the famous mineral springs that flow around the West Baden Springs Resort. Eighty years ago, the water contained in that bottle was considered a cure-all for all life’s ailments. That water alone brought people from all over to the West Baden Hotel and surrounding area.

The moment he arrives Shaw realizes something is amiss.  When he mentions the name Campbell Bradford, the residents of French Lick insist the man is long dead.  How is this possible, when Shaw himself met the man just days before his departure? He’s also described as a horrible man, who ran away from the town, leaving a wife and child behind. “People were terrified of the man…thought he was evil.” 

When Shaw meets Kellen, a young college student researching the African-American history in the area, he learns of the murder of Shadrach Hunter, a black casino owner who was murdered shortly before Campbell’s disappearance.  Campbell was believed to be the killer.  Kellen agrees to help Shaw in his hunt for the “true” Campbell Bradford.

Shaw, largely out of curiosity, takes a drink of the eighty year old spring water presented to him by Alyssa Bradford.  He is instantly sickened by it’s foul taste. After drinking the water, he begins to have visions, ominous and haunting snapshots of Campbell Bradford. He also begins to succumb to horrible headaches, the only way to alleviate them is to drink more of the ancient spring water, which now tastes sweet.

Anne, an elderly woman who has lived her entire life in that area, is key to Shaw’s “investigation.”  Anne has quite the collection of Pluto Water and is able to provide Shaw with a bit of history that no one else can.  Another vital part of the story: Anne’s an expert on weather and storms; she keeps a daily record of barometric activity in the area. She begins to notice a significant change in the weather since Shaw’s arrival;  perhaps “the” storm she’s been predicting will finally make an appearance.  Anne has always been aware of something “different” in the area:

“I’ve always connected it more to the weather myself…there’s something different in this valley…You can feel it in the wind now and again, and on the edge of a summer storm, or maybe just before ice comes down in the wintertime.  There’s something different.  And charge is the best word for it.  There’s a charge, all right.”

Shaw & Kellen soon realize that evil has returned to West Baden, evil buried decades ago. Rather than leave, Shaw feels he must get to the cause of this evil and find out more about the illusive Campbell Bradford.

Let me just start out with this: Koryta’s writting is stunning!  The pacing of this thrilling chiller is perfect, it starts out slow, slowly building with momentum, until it explodes at the end.  I can’t help but compare this to the storm that builds and builds and then unleashes it’s wrath throughout the book.  This storm is like a character itself…it slowly builds and progresses along with the storyline.  The way Koryta describes it makes it appear humanlike:

“The mass above it was black and purple but the funnel cloud was stark white. It eased to the ground almost peacefully, as if settling down for a rest, and then its color began to change, the wite turning gray as it blew through the fields and gathered dirt, sucking soil and debris into its vortex.”

The other characters, particularly Shaw himself, are very well laid out and organized.  As the book progresses, we learn more about Shaw, his life, his history. Anne’s character is an important one; she ties the present to the past.

One of the things that really interested me in this book was the setting.  I was lucky enough to visit the West Baden Springs Hotel while it was undergoing renovation. To state it is breathtaking would be an understatement.  Here are just a few pictures:

The exterior of the hotel. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to walk along the dome. Despite my fear of heights, I stepped outside, knowing I’d never have the opportunity again.

Inside the atrium…the tilework, the detail, simply magnificent!

All in all, I highly recommend this unique, chilling thriller!  Check back later today for a giveaway: a autographed ARC of the book!

 Emmy Hamilton is a recent widow; her husband, a soldier, was killed in Afghanistan.  As to be expected, she’s having a difficult time getting over his death.  Her mother, Paige, insists that he would have wanted her to do more with her life other than stay in their small town in Indiana and work at Paige’s bookstore.  She encourages Emmy go to Folly Beach, a sanctuary for many, and buy the small town’s bookstore, Folly’s Finds.

Emmy is reluctant at first; she’s perfectly fine with staying where she is.  However, when her mother buys a box of books from Folly’s Finds, Emmy discovers that several of the books have messages written in them.  She’s always had a special “sense” about certain things, and when she touches a few of the books they send tingles up her spine.

She arrives in Folly Beach and meets Abigail, the current owner, and Abigail’s aunt Lulu.  Lulu is quite the interesting character; she’s not exactly pleased to see Emmy there.  Emmy purchases the bookstore, with the condition that Lulu will be allowed to remain as an employee of Folly’s Finds and continue to sell her very interesting bottle trees.

As she renovates the bookstore, Emmy continues to find old books with messages written in them.  They appear to be love notes written by a young man and woman during World War II. She eventually finds out more about the history of Folly Beach and of the couple who communicated via the old books from an initially reluctant Lulu.  She learns that it wasn’t merely a young love that was kept secret between the pages, she also discovers a possible murder & mysterious disappearance.

Karen White’s writing never ceases to amaze me.  I’ve read all of her previous work and have enjoyed each of them tremendously.  In On Folly Beach, White intricately weaves together two stories of love and loss.  The chapters shift between the 1940s and present day and this is done in a very fluid manner. Each chapter reveals a new piece to the puzzle. I instantly became invested in the storyline and the characters. White added a bit of history and folklore to the story, really enhancing the already powerful story. 

Lulu’s bottle trees intrigued me.  African slaves brought the tradition of the bottle tree to the United States in the 18th century.  The bottles on the trees ward off evil spirits; spirits who get caught in the bottles are unable to escape.  Here is a picture of a bottle tree:

 In the story, a young Lulu also uses the bottle trees to communicate with loved ones who have gone away. 

In case you haven’t realized it yet, I highly recommend these books.  The Southern setting, the mystery, the characters all come together to form a phenomenal read!  Be sure to stop by tomorrow for a guest post by Karen White and a giveaway!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for giving me the opportunity to review this book.  Please be sure to check out the other stops on this tour!

Monday, May 3rd: Rundpinne

Tuesday, May 4th: Downtown Southern

Thursday, May 6th: Life in the Thumb

Friday, May 7th: Café of Dreams

Monday, May 10th: Diary of an Eccentric

Tuesday, May 11th: Peeking Between the Pages

Wednesday, May 12th: Write Meg

Thursday, May 13th: Savvy Verse & Wit

Friday, May 14th: Luxury Reading

Monday, May 17th: Lit and Life

Wednesday, May 19th: Books Like Breathing

Thursday, May 20th: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Monday, May 24th: From the Land of Cotton

Tuesday, May 25th: Natalie’s Sentiments

Wednesday, May 26th: A Tale of This Newlywed

Thursday, May 27th: Good Girl Gone Redneck

Friday, May 28th: Flower Patch Farmgirl

Monday, May 31st: Sasha and the Silverfish

Tuesday, June 1st: Red Lady’s Reading Room

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• A Glimpse Inside Chelsea Cain’s Portland (12)

Four young friends from Sexton College in Vermont formed a group called the Compassionate Dismantlers.  The motto of the Dismantlers was: ” To understand the nature of a thing, it must be taken apart.”  The leader of the group is Suz, whose main motivation is revenge.

They spent a summer in a remote cabin with Suz plotting crazy pranks and seemingly innocent acts of destruction. Suddenly, Suz’s plans become much more violent and Suz is killed. The group breaks up, vowing not to speak of the incident, and they go live their own lives. 

A decade later two of the members, Henry DeForge and Tess Kahle, have married and now have a nine year-old daughter, Emma.  Their marriage is in a shambles and Henry has moved into the garage apartment.  Emma and a friend are determined to get Emma’s parents back together. They come across evidence of the couple’s past. Believing that reuniting the group of friends will bring the couple back together, they  decide to send postcards to those individuals who played such a key part in their lives.

Soon after Henry and Tess learn that one of their friends has committed suicide. They fear what happened ten years ago has been revealed and is beginning to haunt them.  A private investigator has been hired by the family of the suicide victim and begins snooping around, asking a lot of questions.

Young Emma plays a very key role in this story.  She has an imaginary friend named Danner, who starts making comments and asking questions that remind Henry and Tess of Suz and that tragic summer long ago. They soon feel like they are being watched.  Is it possible that Suz has returned from the grave to make them pay for what happened so long ago?

McMahon weaves a very intriguing tale in Dismantled, a character-driven thriller told from the point of view of several of the  main characters. She weaves the past with the present in a very fluid manner.   The several plot twists keep the reader engaged, not knowing what to expect with each turn of the page.   I warn you, this one is addictive, forcing me to stay up late at night to finish reading it.  I’m quite a fan of psychological thrillers, those seem to be the only type that really spook me.  Mcmahon wove bits of suspense in with the supernatural. I found myself turning on all the lights in the house, jumping at every little sound I heard. This book got to me…in a very good way.  Highly recommend to fans of literary thrillers.

About Jennifer McMahon

I was born in 1968 and grew up in my grandmother’s house in suburban Connecticut, where I was convinced a ghost named Virgil lived in the attic. I wrote my first short story in third grade. I graduated with a BA from Goddard College in 1991 and then studied poetry for a year in the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College.

A poem turned into a story, which turned into a novel, and I decided to take some time to think about whether I wanted to write poetry or fiction. After bouncing around the country, I wound up back in Vermont, living in a cabin with no electricity, running water, or phone with my partner, Drea, while we built our own house. Over the years, I have been a house painter, farm worker, paste-up artist, Easter Bunny, pizza delivery person, homeless shelter staff member, and counselor for adults and kids with mental illness—I quit my last real job in 2000 to work on writing full-time. In 2004, I gave birth to our daughter, Zella. In 2005, we left the woods (for now), and moved to Barre, Vermont—producer of one-third of all the granite gravestones and mausoleums in the US.

My first novel, Promise Not to Tell, was published in 2007. The follow-up, Island of Lost Girls, was published in 2008, as was my debut young adult novel My Tiki Girl.

Visit Jennifer at her website, www.jennifer-mcmahon.com, and friend her on MySpace!  If you are attending BEA, McMahon will be signing copies of Dismantled, Thursday, May 27 from 3-3:30 PM at Table 20!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for giving me the opportunity to take part in this tour.  Be sure to check out the other stops:

Tuesday, May 18th:  Rundpine

Thursday, May 20th:  Luxury Reading

Tuesday, May 25th:  The Cajun Book Lady

Thursday, May 27th:  Lit and Life

Monday, May 31st:  I’m Booking It

Tuesday, June 1st:  Drey’s Library

Wednesday, June 2ed:  Bookalicio.us

Thursday, June 3rd:  Chick With Books

Monday, June 7th:  Regular Rumination

Wednesday, June 9th:  Booksie’s Blog

Thursday, June 10th:  Take Me Away

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In the eighth book of the Jack Reacher series, we flashback to 1990.  Reacher is a twenty-nine year old military police major for the 110th special unit. The Soviet Union is about to collapse and, with the Cold War at an end, the military faces a reduction in force.  The body of a two-star general is found in a seedy hotel near the base.  He appears to have experienced a heart attack. Reacher, recently reassigned to Fort Bird, NC is assigned to the case.  The general’s briefcase is missing, inside was an agenda to a very secretive meeting.  When the general’s wife is found bludgeoned to death just a few hours later, Reacher realizes the general’s death can’t be attributed to natural causes.  A third body is also found, the body of a gay soldier who was killed in a horrific manner. His superiors want Reacher to report this as  training accident.  During his investigations, Reacher learns his counterparts at 20 other bases were reassigned at the same time he was, December 29th.  Clearly something is going on, for who would exert the power required to accomplish a reassignment of this magnitude?

Reacher has a lot to deal with in his personal life as well. His mother, who lives in France, admits to Reacher and his older brother Joe that she is dying of cancer and doesn’t have much time to live. This foray into his personal life gives long-time fans of the Reacher books a rare glimpse of the personal side of Jack Reacher.  What transpires between Reacher and his brother in this book further explains their relationship in previous books.

When I started listening to this book, I was a bit wary of the flashback.  Ultimately, however, I was able to gain a better understanding of Reacher as a person as well as his motives.  As always, Child really delivers with this one.  His books never fail to impress me. They are consistently full of plot twists, action and intrigue.  The Enemy probably has more political commentary than the other Reacher books I have read thus far; this was a change that I really enjoyed.

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• Review: Never Wave Goodbye by Doug Magee (8)
• Review: Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth (8)