Nellibly

The book begins with the disappearance of two young girls in the pre-dawn hours of a summer day. It ends with the consequences of silence, of choices both made and not made, that lead to misunderstandings with tragic results.

Told in voices of five of the characters, the story evolves through the eyes of each: one of the missing children, her mother and brother, the father of the other little girl, and a deputy sheriff with a history intertwined with the one of the families. As the search for the children begins, each one slowly reveals the ghosts that haunt them and come to life on this one, terrifying day.

Young Callie has not spoken a single word since one terrible day of violence when her father whispered something malevolent in her ear. It is her father who has dragged her into the woods in a fit of drunken belligerence, and it is Callie's voice we hear as we follow along helplessly, fearing for her as each moment passes. But, Petra's voice, except for one brief moment at the beginning, remains agonizingly silent. All we know is she is not with Callie and her father, and we fear all the more for her.

Although Callie's silence is her choice not speak, it is the willful keeping of secrets and lies of omission by all the characters that culminate in the events that brings about the unbearable weight of silence of the book's title. In turn, we learn the secrets that Callie's mother, her brother Ben and Deputy Sheriff Loras carry with them through their thoughts of things not said, things not done, as each confronts the unfolding truths of the events. Petra's father battles his own demons as he confronts the possible loss of a daughter he who almost wasn't born.

This is a book you won't want to put down. It crackles with suspense as we listen the voices whisper to themselves, and the story tumbles toward what can only be a heartbreaking end. But the ending is not the one we think we see coming and not all will find redemption.

. . you got it right?

Would you? Get it right I mean. Most, if not all, of us look back on events in our lives and wish would have done at least one thing differently. With that comes the assumption that we would have made a better choice, even without knowing then what we know now. But, would we? For each decision we make, some in the shadow of a heartbeat, sets into motion a chain of events, and we can never be sure where they will end. Do we really choose our own destiny, or does our destiny choose us?

Author Kate Atkinson’s newest novel asks that very question. For Ursula Todd, dying at birth only to be reborn and instant later, beginning a pattern that would repeat throughout her life, the links of the chain break again and again only to rejoin in a different place with a new truth. In her different incarnations, we don’t know if we pity poor Ursula or find her deserving of the various travails she encounters as much for the choices she doesn’t make as for the ones she does. Equally as compelling is the character of Ursula’s mother, Silvie, whose own evolution is both perplexing and disturbing.

Atkinson’s prose and gift for imagery is exceptional. If you haven’t read any of her other books (and you certainly should!), this book brings to mind the novels of Kate Morton, weaving together the past – in this case many pasts -and present to a surprising conclusion. It does require focus to keep track of the many threads weaving together at one end and unraveling at the other, but it’s more than worth it.

Abby Cooper is a psychic with a knack for accidently stumbling into criminal investigations with the local police department. This is the second book in the series and second one I've read.

It's been a while since I read the first book and I decided to give this one try. Now I remember why I didn't immediately reach for the second one in the series after finishing the first. Here it is: I don't like Abby Cooper. If I had known her in real life, I would have run like a deer from her. She's selfish, whiny and not terribly bright. For someone who refers to herself as an "intuitive" she uses astonishingly bad judgment in her own affairs. It's too bad too, because the plots are interesting and the author does a good job of ratcheting up the suspense. But, as Abby runs headlong into danger without looking both ways, I find myself wishing that someone would kill her. At a minimum, I amazed that no one has.

While the narrator does an adequate job, her voice doesn't match the young, immature Abby Cooper. In any case, the is the last book in the series I will read.

Dulcie O'Neil is an idiot. For some reason this particular genre has a common type: stubborn, impulsive, overly emotional, with very poor judgment, and Dulcie just may be its poster child. She acts first and thinks later, ignoring both very good advice and flashing neon signs reading "Don't go in there!" The question isn't so much "how is she ever going to get out of this one," it's "how did she ever get herself into this one." And, that's just her professional side. She comes with as much emotional baggage as dysfunctional family of four. But, she is also highly principled and fiercely loyal to those she cares about. When she puts her own life on the line, it's to help and protect others.

The plots and other characters are interesting and, when Dulcie isn’t getting in her own way, there’s enough suspense to keep the reader engaged. By the third book, Great Hexpectations, it appears our little girl may be growing up. The narrator, Therese Plummer is very good and does a great job of bring all the characters to life.

All and all, I do recommend the series if you don’t mind periodically rolling your eyes and thinking, “For God’s sake, Dulcie, grow up!”

This is fun book from the "Paranormal Cozies" category. Olivia is a newly discovered "Magical," a person with some magical powers. But, it turns that she is much more powerful than most, and some malevolent force wants her power at any cost.

Like many heroines of this genre, Olivia is impulsive, none to bright, and stubbornly convinced that she "can take care of myself!" despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. She also is maddeningly blind to clues dancing in front of her like small children begging for attention. The reader will likely arrive at the "Ah Ha" moment long before Olivia does. Still this promises to be fun series, especially if the books continue to be narrated by the wonderful Amanda Ronconi. That woman could read from the phone book and make it sound interesting. I look forward to the next book.

Full disclosure: I didn't finish it. I listened to this on a long road trip. After seven hours, I just gave up.

The plot sounded so intriguing. Bringing together all those historical characters to solve the mystery of Jack the Ripper seemed like a "can't fail" idea. But long, tortuous passages whereupon the protagonist, an upper class British gentleman, carries on and on about his obsession with a common street prostitute, nearly put me to sleep at the wheel waiting for something to happen. Occasionally, something interesting does happen, but just when you think the plot may be thickening, the pitiful angst resumes. Sadly, the writing is very good and the narrator does and excellent job, but the pace of the story is like watching paint dry. I have no idea how it all turned out, but I just couldn't bring myself to care.

This is a fun Victorian mystery, or what was called in the day a "sensation" novel. But what really makes the book is the narration by Juliet Stevenson. She has so many voices, you would swear there is a whole cast of actors narrating the book! I hope she does many more.

Juliet Stevenson's narration of Jane Austen is pitch-perfect! She captures the spirit of prose and voices of the character's flawlessly. The only one of Austen's books not available with her narration is Pride and Prejudice. They need to fix that.

After reading some of the reviews for this book, I expected a suspenseful ride. I got a slow walk to a mundane ending. For most of the book, we have no idea why Lauren Walsh in in danger. We watch her go through her days, unable to contact her ex-husband who is vacationing with his new girlfriend. Why does this matter? Lauren's whiny young daughter has lost a stuffed toy her father gave her and won't shut up about it. Various other characters come and go and we have no idea why they matter or what they have to with anything. It's not until the last hour or so of the book, that any of it starts to make sense and by then I was past caring. Suddenly, the sinister plot is revealed as if pulled out of a hat. A thoroughly wasted credit.

Wizard Harry Dresden face his most daunting battle ever in this latest installment of his war with both the evil in the world of magic and the demons within. This time he must fight to save both himself and the daughter he only recently learned existed.

Like all of Dresden???s adventures, the book begins with the revelation of an evil plot leading to lots of little battles culminating into an epic confrontation. We know that Dresden ultimately will win, but author Jim Butcher does and outstanding job of ramping up the suspense by creating heart stopping how-is-he-ever-going-to-get-out-of-this-one encounters with the badest of the bad monsters from the netherworld. This one, however, is different. The ending is a twist I didn???t see coming, and it does indeed change everything.

The next book in the series is due out this fall and it will no doubt be very interesting to see how Butcher does get Harry out of this one. I think there may be clues in some of the recent books, but we???ll have to impatiently wait and see.

Narrator James Marsters, as always, does a magnificent job of channeling Dresden and bringing Butcher???s imaginative writing to life.

Eve Duncan, a famed forensic sculptor whose daughter disappeared when she was a child, has been searching for her ever since. Her relentless search usually places her in the path of one deadly killer or another from which she barely escapes with her life.

The is the second Eve Duncan book I've read and I found it, well, just silly. Another serial killer "du jour" book, the author threw in a little of the supernatural just for fun. And it might have been if the dialog hadn't been so overwrought, bordering on absurd. It follows the same formula as the first book I read and was, quite frankly, a bit of a bore and I nearly didn't finish it. I won't read another of this series.