Book Review: Blu (Violet Chain, #3) by J Kahele

Synopsis

Pearl has lived under the hard hand of a vicious man for years and when she finally makes her escape, she is hit by a car and wakes up in the hospital. She doesn’t remember anything from the night before, except for the comforting touch, of a beautiful man named, Christopher Blu.

Blu learns that Pearls life has been a circle of degradation, hurt and pain and he wants so bad to help her through it, that it completely envelopes his life. He cares for her and there is a mutual attraction between the two. But he's not sure if what he feels for her is real, or if it is just his compassion for a woman who has been so brutally scarred by her life.

This book is intended for mature audiences only.

Review

“What are you doing? We don’t stop here.”

Rita / Camille, on the issue of stopping a car dead in the road whilst another is coming in the opposite direction. – Mulholland Drive, 2001

Each of the Violet Chain books have upped the ante in terms of drama and sexual liaisons. Blu is strikingly different from its predecessors, so much so that it can be viewed as a standalone piece. But reading the other stories first will serve to make reading Blu a more enriched experience.

My initial interest as a male reader tipped unsurprisingly towards Pearl, who in a well constructed sequence is found to be the victim of a car accident, but that is only the start. With the chapter focus on a specific character, readers can get to know both Pearl and Christopher (the eponymous Blu of the title) with ease.

"Pearl feels like a real character to me." 

That is not to say Pearl’s back story is easy to stomach, but it is certainly an interesting take in a hot romance genre, and I especially loved these scenes, even though I felt a lot of empathy for Pearl as a character.

Like all of Miss Kahele’s female protagonists, they are strong willed and courageous, but never one trick ponies, nor do they lapse into cliche. It’s easy to overlook flaws in men and women when we read such characters in books, but Pearl feels like a real character to me and so I think this is possibly the author’s best work to date.

Some readers may find the profanity and very strong sex scenes offputting. In another way, one can consider this story as packaged – for mature audiences only.

Miss Kahele knows how to reward her fanbase, and Blu is no exception, offering a sneak peak at book four in the series. What I really like about the Violet Chain series is how certain characters appear again and again – it is storytelling at its most seamless and takes an author of merit to pull it off. 

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Book Review: Zodiac Lives by Rhoda D'Ettore

Synopsis: A child begins having dreams of things she could not possibly know. Things of another life. When her nightmares fail to subside, her mother researches the events and names the child keeps repeating. Unbeknownst to her, the daughter is remembering a past life. A life where she crossed paths with the infamous Zodiac Killer who terrorized San Francisco in the 1960s & 70s. 

The problem? The Zodiac was never caught, and he soon learns someone is online with intimate details about his identity. The Zodiac comes out of hiding to hunt down the mother and daughter who know too much.

Review: Well. Sit me down. In fact, pick me up off the floor. Before you think that's a bit over the top, let me just say that I do like serial killer stories, but they need to be clever, engaging, engrossing. Some go over the top with gore or other explicit details and it can spoil the enjoyment of the tale.

The author has crafted an excellent tale of the mysterious and very frightening Zodiac Killer. He reminds me a bit of BTK (Bind Torture Kill) a real murderer who killed many, and laid low for a while, until he was found out and after many years, prosecuted.

I have no interest in acting out what they do, in fact what they do repulses me, but in the world of fiction, a well drawn character like Z makes the story utterly enthralling.

It's hard not to rave about this book. I write as an honest reviewer and I can only say that each page was an utter joy to read. The characters are ones you feel for, even ones that are only in a few paragraphs (their existence cut short by Z). But the author pays attention to modern day ways in her tale too - the serial killer chat room for instance, where one of our heroines - Gail - may or may not be chatting to the actual Zodiac Killer. Even his online name - KillingIsFun, really creeped me out.

There's another story about the woman's young daughter inhabiting the soul of one of Z's victims. This is all plausible, well constructed and believable in its execution. I would argue that even if police / crime / serial killer mysteries aren't your typical genre, this could be the book to change your view.

Whilst reading this book (over two days - it's that readable) I felt I could guess who the killer really was. I will leave it to you to make your own discovery.

The story has its brutal and shocking moments, but it is always in context, and I loved that.

I've read some excellent books this year, but if you only have time / money to get a handful of books, make sure this is is amongst them. In short -I give this book SIX stars.

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Book Review #31: Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay had some serious living up to do. After The Hunger Games, and Catching Fire, the issue for Suzanne Collins was how to reel readers in for a third time. The possibility of another Hunger Games taking place seemed implausible, and so we are taken on a street level tour of District 13 in this book.

The rebellion appears to be in full swing, but the Capitol have a weapon in the form of Peeta. They use him in the same way that Katniss, for a large part of this book, seems to be used.

Christopher Nolan, director of the Dark Knight trilogy, at first did not want to do a third film in the series. That film, which became The Dark Knight Rises, would have almost certainly featured Heath Ledger's Joker. Given the actor's death, revisions to the script had to be made. 

The general consensus is that 'Rises' is the weakest of the three movies. But I see the series as one whole, and if you look at it in those terms, it's very enjoyable indeed. You have a clear beginning, middle, and end.

  

Mockingjay has this too, and the ending to Catching Fire just made your pulse race harder than anything that was in the first book. Yes, it was that good, in my view. Surely after that, the only way is down? Christopher Nolan didn't want to do the third Batman film because 'how often does the third story beat out the previous ones?'

And he is right. It's so difficult to get the third story in the series right. Mockingjay also seems to have 

polarised many readers, but most seem to think this is a fitting end to the series. Here's my take on it, given I read the book nearly two years ago now, and with the new film coming out, I just had to reacquaint myself with the story.

I had previously rated Mockingjay 4 stars out of 5 on GoodReads. Would this rating stand up?

I recall that my experience mirrored many others. Book 1, read as fast as I could (in my case, 1.5 days - I even wanted to reschedule teaching lessons in order to finish the book!), Catching Fire, best part of a week, Mockingjay....nearly three months.

Was I 'Gamed out' by this point? Had I tired of Panem's situation? No, it wasn't that. The pace of Book 1 and 2 was frenetic, to put it mildly. Book 3, in contrast, was slow, plodding, and yes...a bit depressing. I wanted to know where the spirited Katniss had gone. 

She became one of my favourite heroines in book form, but Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal on the big screen elevated Katniss to something else. That's why I think the film will still be good. Is it really Suzanne Collin's fault that some readers feel let down by the pace of this final book? Most say 'I was expecting something mind blowing'? And of course, that is fair enough.

Another comment was that the publisher pushed Miss Collins to write this third book, one she never intended to write. The whole evolution of Katniss from plucky fighter who replaced her sister in the 74th Games to this inward looking girl, who cannot seem to choose between Peeta and Gale, really irked me.

I know she is young, and she has seen many horrors, but Peeta, though kind to her, was more of the Games's invention - they were star crossed lovers because that's what kept them alive. I never really bought the relationship, and I felt - always - that Gale was closer to her. 

In the latter part of Mockingjay, Katniss still seems very confused, and it's not something I was comfortable with. Maybe it is how the author saw the character growing, but I felt it was a step back. I wanted Katniss not necessarily to be the symbol of the rebellion...after all, anyone could be the Mockingjay, really - it was more that I wanted her to have a happy ending, and I am not sure Suzanne Collins gave us that.

Many of you will have read the series, but on speaking to many people I know, not so many have, so I'll leave the spoilers out.

Ultimately Mockingjay is a case of some missed chances. There's dramatic points parachuted in needlessly, whereas in the first two books, the drama was truly engrossing. These points were introduced in order to make the reader feel some emotion, but I felt a huge disconnect here.

There is one genuine shock I did not see coming, and for those who will just watch the movie, it will be a real high point of the series. 

Catching Fire - the movie, was almost certainly better than the first film. Somehow, I don't think Mockingjay will pull it off. But it will be an enjoyable ride nonetheless.

My rating holds for now.

Book Review: Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

People fall into two camps when the conversation turns to Stephen King. Some find his writing a bore, self-indulgent, a mess. Others find his descriptive style and narrative tone engrossing. For me, I find myself sometimes in group one, at other times, in group two. As a youngster, I would buy one book after another of Stephen King's, placing me firmly in group two.

It's not hard to know why. Carrie, The Shining, Salem's Lot, Pet Semetary et cetera were all brilliant books in my view. How can an author strike gold three times with his first three novels? It cannot be all down to luck, can it?

However, I will admit to having seen the film version of The Shining before I read the book, and here's where I encountered a problem. You see, I thought the film was brilliant and utterly terrifying. I can watch it again and again and still feel very scared. It fails to date, even though it should.

The film was criticised by Stephen King, who said it was more Stanley Kubrick's version than his own, and on reading the book, I understood why Stephen King felt that this was not a book-to-screen adaptation.

Too many things are different between the two, but I appreciated the book for what it is, and also the film.

Inbetween the release of the follow-up, Doctor Sleep, there was a Stephen King approved TV movie version of The Shining, but I didn't like it at all,sorry to say.

So I had this book on order for a while, but kept from reading it because I was a bit in Group One regarding his books in recent years. Yes, he could still do it....books like Desperation, and Misery, were high points....others, like Gerald's Game and Hearts in Atlantis were poor offerings indeed.

So I opened the book up and it reminded me of a post I saw recently about FEAR (Forget Everything and Run / Face Everything and Rise), because it says FEAR stands for F*** everything and run!

Typical King. He uses a LOT of profanity, but sometimes, it's really funny when kept in context.

People who have seen the film of The Shining but have not read the book, will be most confused by reading Doctor Sleep, so you really have to read Book One, and that book did set a standard for scares (although I do believe Pet Semetary is the book SK should be remembered for).

I even re-read The Shining prior to finally reading this one and I am glad I did.

The pace is reasonable at the start, and I wondered how Danny would fair as an adult, given all he had gone through as a kid. Two parts of Book One stood out for me - the woman in the bath tub (which scared me more in the book than in the film....if that doesn't seem possible I assure that it is) and the twin sisters who would appear asking Danny to play with them - forever.

Doctor Sleep makes more of an impact through our emotional connection to Danny, Wendy and Dick, although I kind of miss Jack (John) Torrance as a principle character, and it is something I wrestled with when writing my own take on the horror genre.

It starts well, but kicks into high gear about mid-way through the book. Stephen King is back to his best in this story, and it's the best book of his that I have read since 1997's Desperation. I hope he keeps going now. It's very brave to revisit a story so well known, but I think he's just about pulled it off. It is not as good as The Shining, but Dan the adult is an interesting, well rounded character, though there is a generous homage paid to him as a child from the first book.

In a world where writers feel pressured to write trilogies relatively quickly, it's refreshing that Stephen King can take his time to craft a wonderful sequel. The two books are best read together.

I suppose he has the luxury of being an established writer, so much so that there was great excitement about the title of the book, long before it was released.

Where the book failed a bit, was to put the Jack Torrance template, to a large degree, onto Dan as an adult. I felt it was a bit of cop-out to make him an alcoholic, just like his father. It's like SK is saying 'you've got your daddie's genes, so if he downs a litre of bourbon a day, you will too son!'

So I think it was an opportunity missed, because Danny as an adult should have come to terms with the events he had as a child. Of course, we have all had experiences as children that may shape us as an adult, but we should not let those dark elements win. They must know their place - and we should put them in their place.

It's like the adult Dan totally gave into it, and in this regard, Doctor Sleep fails in the scare factor, whereas The Shining hit them out of the park time and again.

It's a good to almost great book. If The Shining didn't exist, in a weird way, this book would be higher rated in my view.

So it's good - very good - and worth reading. Just forget (to some extent) all about The Shining and you'll enjoy the ride!