Pamela

Love, love, love Harlan Coben. He has always been one author you could depend on for an excellent story line, fantastic characters and plenty of twists and turns in the plot. "Stay Close" flopped. The premise of this mystery is of an ex-stripper turned soccer mom. A crime took place and Megan goes back to her roots and finds herself involved than she anticipated.

Problem on my part is I didn't really care about the characters. Megan was boring. She was a boring mom, boring wife and a boring stripper. Her husband is boring. The detective is unlikable. The two serial killers are unbelievably creepy with a love for Jesus thrown in for good measure. What the heck? If Mr. Coben's name wasn't written on the jacket I would swear I was reading one of those "I-publish-8-books-a-year-and-none-of-them-are-worth-reading" writers. I managed to finish as I was hoping it would get better. Unfortunately it didn't. Very disappointed, Mr. Coben. Usually you don't resort to the sleezy scripts so prevalent with others in your field.

Sweet story of a battered dog and a loving family who took him in. Used as a bait dog due to his loveable nature, Oogy was left to die. A determined vet and a caring family has made this special dog's life wonderful. The story also gives ia small glimpse into the world of dogfighting. Dogs are housed at abandoned properties and rotated so they cannot be linked to any owner. People who fight dogs will look for bait dogs on Craig's list or other forms of advertising, targeting the "free to good home" listings. ( I found this enlightening.)

Oogy, however is not a sad story but one of overcoming obstacles and rescue. I would thoroughly recommend this tale (no pun) if you need encouragement.