Promises In Death ~ J.D. Robb

Amaryllis Coltraine may have recently transferred to the New York City police force from Atlanta, but she’s been a cop long enough to know how to defend herself against an assailant. When she’s taken down just steps away from her apartment, killed with her own weapon, for Eve the victim isn’t just “one of us.”

Dallas’s friend Chief Medical Examiner Morris had started a serious relationship with Coltraine, and from all accounts the two were headed for a happy future together. But someone has put an end to all that. After breaking the news to Morris, Eve starts questioning everyone, including Coltraine’s squad, informants, and neighbors, while Eve’s husband, Roarke, digs into computer data on the dead woman’s life back in Atlanta. To their shock, they discover a connection between this case and their own painful, shadowy pasts.

It’s almost hard to believe that this is the 28th entry in the In Death series. Why? Well, for one, I never tire of it. I can’t see myself ever getting to that point, in fact. Because even when some entries aren’t as good as others, I never feel let down or disappointed; at their core, the weaker ones are still good, still remarkably enjoyable. All that said, I knew without a doubt Promises In Death was going to be a strong installment, and, as it turns out, I was right.

I could go on ad nauseam about how much I love Eve and Roarke as characters, individually and as a team. But I’ll let a sentence from Promises that tugged at me speak for this matter:

After a while, Eve thought, marriage turned walls into clear glass so both of you could see right through each other.

They work because they have fantastic chemistry. After all this time, I, as the reader, still care about their relationship deeply. This book was full of intimate moments between them, scenes that I read and then read again for the tenderness or passion implicit in them.

But what I loved most about Promises was the relationship between Eve and Morris. I’ve always wanted more of his character because there was just something about him. He and Eve share a lot of common points; they’re both admirable in their dealings with life and death. As was no doubt the plan, Eve’s reaction to his relationship with Detective Coltraine in the last novel truly set this one up nicely, which made Promises all the more heartbreaking. Again, there’s a scene that will stand in as example:

…Summerset walked in. “Let me show you your room, Dr. Morris, and you can tell me if there’s anything else you need.”

“Thank you.” Morris looked back at Eve. “I have what I need.”

So simple, right? But it shook me because these people don’t throw the word ‘need’ around. And that it’s Eve that Morris looks to…I let out a sigh as I read it, and, yeah, I read it again.

All of Robb’s mysteries tend to be intricate and it’s always a treat to watch Eve unravel the threads, putting it all together with determination and not a little help from her friends. This one was solid, building on a plot arc from a previous novel. I found myself more then once wanting to go back and read sections from some of the older books in the series. I think, actually, I might do just that as soon as I’m done with this.

And that, I’d say, is testament to just how good, how sustaining, the In Death books are.

The Goods

I’ve got a few reviews coming up – I’m reading Promises In Death now and will definitely be posting about it – but for now…

Here’s what a trip to two bookstores yielded:

From left to right:
The Shadow Queen – Anne Bishop
The Cry of the Icemark – Stuart Hill
The Better to Hold You – Alisa Sheckley
The Swan Maiden – Jules Watson

And that bag? It’s even more gorgeous in person. The peacock is handpainted on the fabric. It looks small, but I was able to fit those four books in there with room to spare.

The Bishop book is a coup because it’s official release isn’t until next week; I grabbed it off the shelf the moment I saw it. And it feels like I’ve been wanting The Swan Maiden for forever. I flipped to a random page and loved the little I read. Not a single library in my consortium has the Sheckley book so it seemed sensible at the time to just buy it. AndThe Cry of the Icemark? Total impulse. But it looks good and the girl on the cover is beautiful, don’t you think?

So that was my day in books, and I’d say it was a good one!

What Made Me Smile Today

I was catching up on my Neil Gaiman journal reading, and felt the biggest smile stretch my lips when I saw this…

The picture comes from this post. Since he rescued the pup, some of my favorite posts on his journal have found him talking about how much he misses Cabal when he’s away, or how pleased he is to be back home with him. I mean, I already loved, respected, and adored Neil Gaiman as an author, but the moments he shares with his dog just push all of my fangirl buttons.

Because I tend to put the man on a pedestal and will start waxing poetic on his brilliance at any given moment, I think seeing a picture like this kind of humanizes him for me. Sometimes I need the reminder that he’s not an untouchable God, sharing his talent and wisdom with us from some unearthly sphere.

So, yeah, I love everything about that picture and, if he allowed comments on his journal, I’d tell him how happy and thankful I am that he is willing to post things like that. Instead I guess I’ll just read my favorite passages from American Gods and smile some more.

Fade ~ Lisa McMann

For Janie and Cabel, real life is getting tougher than the dreams. They’re just trying to carve out a little (secret) time together, but no such luck.

Disturbing things are happening at Fieldridge High, yet nobody’s talking. When Janie taps into a classmate’s violent nightmares, the case finally breaks open — but nothing goes as planned. Not even close. Janie’s in way over her head, and Cabe’s shocking behavior has grave consequences for them both.

Worse yet, Janie learns the truth about herself and her ability — and it’s bleak. Seriously, brutally bleak. Not only is her fate as a dream catcher sealed, but what’s to come is way darker than she’d feared….

If you haven’t read Wake, read it. And then take yourself off to any purveyor of books and pick up Fade. Because I can guarantee you, for all that you may be like “what the?” you will get sucked in and you will most definitely come back for more.

If I’m being honest, when I first started reading it, I had some doubts about Wake. Mostly about the concept of a Dream Catcher and mostly because it goes unexplained in that novel, but none of it mattered because 1) the story draws you in and 2) Janie and Cabel are seriously awesome characters.

“Janie and Cabel are well matched, and, well, as inarticulate as it sounds, there’s just something about them together. I think most readers will respond to the rhythm between them; I know I did.” That’s what I said in my review of Wake, and that rhythm got even better in Fade. Maybe it’s the setup – Cabe being worried about Janie taking on a case involving a sexual predator, or maybe it’s just all of the other pressures of high school, teenaged life – whatever it is, these two characters just work, and their relationship is almost painfully sweet and relevant. Check this out, in a chat with Janie, Cabel says:

As much as we have been through in the past few months, we still don’t know each other very well, do we? I want to change that about us. Do you? I want to know you better. Know what makes you happy and what scares you. And I want you to know that about me, too.

The sentences themselves are so simple, so straight to the point, but the emotion behind them is incredible, and that’s one of the elements that made it impossible for me to put Fade down. I was invested in these characters from start to finish, and I was totally on the roller coaster of danger and security along with them.

I think Lisa McMann made all the right moves in this novel, and I loved every minute of it. From how Janie handles the sexual predator case, to Cabe’s reaction to it, to what it means to be a Dream Catcher, Fade delivered so much in such a short page count.

So read Wake, then Fade, and wait anxiously with the rest of us for Gone.

(For those with the book, question: What the heck is in the water? That is supposed to be something, right? It’s been driving me nuts!)

Mailbox Monday (A Bit Late)

For once I could participate in Mailbox Monday, but I forgot to post about it! On the way home from work yesterday my husband pointed out the mail he had stuffed on the dashboard and said: “Oh, and there was a package stuffed in the door.” When I tore open the envelope I had this:

An ARC of Peter V. Brett’s The Warded Man! I’ve actually wanted to read this one and have been waiting for a library to finally add it to the catalog so I could get on the hold list. Now I don’t have to.

As darkness falls each night, the corelings rise–demons who well up from the ground like hellish steam, taking on fearsome form and substance. Sand demons. Wood demons. Wind demons. Flame demons. And gigantic rock demons, the deadliest of all. They possess supernatural strength and powers and burn with a consuming hatred of humanity. For hundreds of years the demons have terrorized the night, slowly culling the human herd that shelters behind magical wards–symbols of power whose origins are lost in myth and mystery, and whose protection is terrifyingly fragile.

You can read the full synopsis on Amazon. I have to say, though, I read through the first few pages and was very impressed with the language and the immediate sense of story and atmosphere. I can’t wait to find a moment to sit down and read it through. The Warded Man officially releases on March 10th.

Have You Seen This?

A co-worker/friend just presented me with an ARC of The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. She thought it might be a bit too disturbing for her, but right up my alley. So, um, does that say something about me, I wonder? Anyway, here’s a little more about it:

A heart-stopping thriller-the first in a trilogy-about an invasion of vampires by one of Hollywood’s most popular and imaginative storytellers, the creator of the Oscar-winning Pan’s Labyrinth.

A Boeing 777 lands at JFK after a flight from Berlin and is on its way to the gate-when it suddenly goes dark. Just stops dead. The control tower loses contact with the pilot and all electrical activity shuts down. No movement or communication from inside. Nada. An emergency crew gathers, everyone watching the silent plane now bathed in floodlights. Then a sliver of black quietly appears on the fuselage. It’s a door opening from within.

Dr. Eph Goodweather, head of the CDC’s New York team, enters and finds a cabin looking like a winged graveyard where everyone appears to be dead. As he begins to remove bodies for transport to the morgue, four victims are discovered miraculously alive-and relatively unscathed apart from complaints of disorientation and a strange soreness.

But this is just the beginning

A couple of months ago I watched Pan’s Labyrinth, and while it was beautifully shot, it was indeed disturbing at times. (I’ll admit there were scenes that made me cringe and want to close my eyes for a moment.) The Strain seems like it will present an intriguing take on vampires with suspense to spare. Published by HarperCollins, its official release date is June 2nd, but I hope to read it long before then and put some thoughts up here. Make sure to check back if this book sounds interesting to you!

What will I be doing on my day off?

Why, reading this, of course…

Even though I have two other books in progress, they’re getting bumped aside in favor of this one. So excited!

In My Library Queue

When I looked at my library record today I was, well, not surprised really, but I did blink when I saw that there were 69 books in my reserve list. I swear half the time I forget what’s on there.

Here are the most recent additions to the queue:

The Mystery of Grace – Charles de Lint
In a major new novel, Charles de Lint mingles Native American, Hispanic, and Celtic magic to invoke a world where classic hot rods and surf guitar mingle with brujeria and angry ghosts — and where on nights when the barrier between the worlds is thin, the living and the dead can touch.

Since I’m not counting false starts, this will be my first true foray into de Lint’s writing. It sounds interesting, at least. What do you guys think?

Schemers – Bill Pronzini
A locked room mystery that goes from stolen books to stolen lives and the hunt for a phantom stalker with a penchant for pouring acid to make his point give Nameless and his partner Jake more than enough work to earn their fees—as long as neither turns his back at the wrong moment.

I think this one might be part of a series, and while it may not be best to jump in after the fact, I’m going to anyway.

The Collector of Worlds -Iliya Troyanov
This fictionalized account imagines the life of Sir Richard Francis Burton—a nineteenth-century British colonial officer with a rare ability to assimilate into indigenous cultures. Burton’s obsessive traveling took him from England to British India, Arabia, and on a quest for the source of the Nile River in Africa. He learned more than twenty lan­guages, translated The Arabian Nights and the Kama Sutra, and took part in the pilgrimage to Mecca, in addition to writing several travel books.

One of John Dunning’s Bookman novels featured Richard Francis Burton and I’ve been fascinated ever since.

Bloodline – Katy Moran
In the wilds of Dark Age Britain, a bard abandons his son, Essa, in a village trapped between two feuding kingdoms. As the once-nomadic boy grows rooted in the life of the Wolf Folk, forging allegiances and young love, King Penda of Mercia threatens to attack, thrusting Essa into the violent and cunning world of the tribal rulers. Joined by unlikely friends, unsure of whom to trust — or even of who he is — Essa sets off on a dangerous journey, using his newfound intuitive gifts to guide them as a deadly battle brews. Will his desperate efforts to save his loved ones bring him closer to understanding why his father has never returned? Fast-paced and full of intrigue, this debut novel transports readers to a time of blood and steel, when peace was fleeting and won only at a cost.

This young adult novel looks really good. And I’m loving the cover – I think it’s all of the fiery red tones – and the typset for the title.

So how about you? What do you have on your library reserve list? There’s always room for more on mine, so I’d love to know!

Percy Jackson Cover Revealed!

Isn’t it gorgeous?! And there’s more! If you visit Rick Riordan’s blog you can catch Percy’s interview with Blackjack the Pegasus…

Percy: Hey, man. I hear you had the final say on our new book cover.

Blackjack: That’s right, boss! Looks pretty awesome, huh?

Percy: Um, I notice it’s a picture of you.

Blackjack: Well, sure, but if you look really close you’re in there too. How about those wings, huh? And I like the way my head tilts heroically to one side. It really plays up the best things about this book!

Plus, there’s a synopsis up! And the book is going to be 400 pages long!

All year the half-bloods have been preparing for battle against the Titans, knowing the odds of victory are grim. Kronos’s army is stronger than ever, and with every god and half-blood he recruits, the evil Titan’s power only grows. While the Olympians struggle to contain the rampaging monster Typhon, Kronos begins his advance on New York City, where Mount Olympus stands virtually unguarded. Now it’s up to Percy Jackson and an army of young demigods to stop the Lord of Time.

In this momentous final book in the New York Times best-selling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the long-awaited prophecy surrounding Percy’s sixteenth birthday unfolds. And as the battle for Western civilization rages on the streets of Manhattan, Percy faces a terrifying suspicion that he may be fighting against his own fate.

I am giddy, I tell you, giddy!

Waiting on…Promises In Death

Whenever J.D. Robb releases the title for upcoming books in the In Death series I troll my library’s catalog, waiting to pounce. Usually I’m first on the list. I certainly am for Promises In Death, and, I have to say, I’m looking forward to this one in particular. Why? Mostly because there will be more of Chief Medical Examiner Morris.

Amaryllis Coltraine may have recently transferred to the New York City police force from Atlanta, but she’s been a cop long enough to know how to defend herself against an assailant. When she’s taken down just steps away from her apartment, killed with her own weapon, for Eve the victim isn’t just “one of us.”

Dallas’s friend Chief Medical Examiner Morris had started a serious relationship with Coltraine, and from all accounts the two were headed for a happy future together. But someone has put an end to all that.

The friendship between Eve and Morris has really started to deepen in recent books, and I’ve enjoyed it very much.

If you can bring yourself to be left at a bad spot, there’s a fifteen page excerpt up on Robb’s/Roberts’ website.