A Time to Kill Read When the Opening Was Not as Personal

A Time to Kill by John Grisham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When this book first was published our daughter was about 5 or 6 years old and, within a couple of pages, I simply had to stop reading. I could not handle the gruesome details of the rape of Tonya. My husband kept assuring me that beyond that part the book would be fine. Well, since I decided I wanted to read all of Grisham this year, I felt I had to start with the first book. It is true, once past the rape scene, the book is amazing if over long. I think I could have cut about 200 pages with no serious damage to the story. Still, the suspense of knowing whether a father who takes the law into his own hands will be found guilty of murder and sent to the death chamber or acquitted is exciting. The background workings of lawyers and judges in deciding venue and selecting jury members is interesting. And the details of the racial conditions of the south and how factions are stirred up and bolstered by outsiders is educational. The role played by religious leaders and their self-interest is deplorable. All in all, lots to keep the reader involved and a conclusion that is thought provoking and as divisive between mind and heart as it was for the characters involved in the book.

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Malin Fors Finds Herself in the Middle of An Earth Storm

Earth Storm by Mons Kallentoft
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Malin Fors' relationship with Daniel is getting stronger, her battle with alcoholism continues but she is winning, her daughter is working in the Congo which is stressful and she has a new boss, who doesn't seem particularly adept but who is supportive. The core group of detectives are working on the latest crime to hit Linkoping, Sweden. In his usual fashion, Mons Kallentoft allows the reader to hear the mind of the criminal and at least one victim as well as the workings of Malin's mind as she" listens" to the victims voices. In this case, the first victim is a vocal racist who appears to have seen the fault in his convictions and turned his views around. He is found naked in a ditch along a country road, with no apparent marks on his body to indicate the cause of death. As the victims increase and the killer sends emails and leaves cryptic notes at the crime scenes, the investigation takes on more urgency when it appears that the second victim is a 16 year old girl. She has been abducted and may be buried alive. Malin is convinced she is still alive and that they can find her in time, if only they can get at least one clue as to who this madman is. Clues, leads are extremely elusive, however, and as the investigation leads further and further into the realms of anti-immigration activists, it becomes even more convoluted. The short chapters add to the increased rhythm of the hunt.

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Eve Dallas and Crew Are on The Trail of The Photographer Who Takes A Portrait in Death

Portrait in Death by J.D. Robb
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

How this author manages to write such engrossing mysteries with incredibly different plots is amazing to me. They just get better and better--each new book introduces more of the background of Rourke and Eve, two of the most neglected and abused children to grow into such strong successful adults, with emotional scars so deep one wonders how they go on. Their relationship is a character in itself. Add to them their supporting cast of Feeney, Eve's mentor and friend in the PD, Peabody her loyal and increasingly able uniformed aide and friend, McNab the loveable comp geek who has finally succumbed to his love of Peabody and she for his, and, of course, Summerset, Roarke's surrogate father and major domo and you have a cast indelible characters. There are others, too, just as important to them professionally and personally but too many to mention. Everyone of them is three dimensional and as a reader, you come to know and appreciate them as much as the main characters.
Even without the gruesome murders Eve and the others find themselves racing to solve, the lives of those " people" are enough to keep you coming back for more.
In this episode, physically beautiful, artistic, morally impecible young people are being murdered. The killer does his/her best to not mar the bodies in any way and once entrapped and killed, they are posed using piano wire in such a way as to spotlight their beauty and purity, and then professionally photographed. Once done, the body is literally dumped somewhere to be found. Who is this meticulous photographer and what is the motive for cutting short such promising lives?

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