Club Dead. - Charlaine Harris

Synopsis: There's only one vampire Sookie Stackhouse is involved with - at least voluntarily - and that's Bill. But recently he's been a little distant - in another state distant. His sinister and sexy boss Eric has an idea where to find him, and next thing Sookie knows she's off to Jackson, Mississippi, to mingle with the underworld at Club Dead. It's a dangerous little haunt where the elusive vampire society can go to chill out and suck down some Type O - but when Sookie finally finds Bill caught in an act of serious betrayal she's not sure whether to save him, or to sharpen some stakes. The Sookie Stackhouse books are delightful Southern Gothic supernatural mysteries, starring Sookie, the telepathic cocktail waitress, and a cast of increasingly colourful characters, including vampires, werewolves and things that really do go bump in the night.

Review

Well, I'm certainly flying through this series, as the third book in the Sookie Stackhouse comes to an end, and I think this has been my favourite so far. I'm unsure why, but the action was even higher, the danger even greater, and the tension throughout was so strong it just poured through the pages.

This time Sookie faces a different dilemma to her previous excursions, as this time she doesn't have Bill. In the past weeks he's been cold and distant, and he finally leaves without really telling her why; a betrayal that hits hard when she is told by Eric. Next minute Sookie is travelling again, this time to Mississippi and to the kingdom of vampire Russel Edgington. The danger is high, and vampire bar Club Dead holds more dangers than she's ever faced before. Despite the moral dilemma, Sookie knows she needs to talk to Bill no matter what; she must save him, even if he has betrayed her.

Tortured and alone, Bill suffers with regret and pain; the betrayer betrayed. Sookie is on her way though, however, and although it costs her greatly she finds information that leads the vampires to Bill. Penetrating the compound, Sookie must use every talent she's used so far, and a little more, to try save the first person she's truly loved; no matter what. She's had the help of werewolf Alicide throughout, but this time she's alone; but she's dangerous, and always down for the fight.

Throughout this novel, I felt the character development from the previous two novels. We found out more about Bill's past, and I feel Sookie had finally learned to deal a little with her telepathy, exploring it more than ever to help her investigations. The book was just as engaging as the last two in the series, perhaps even more so, and the action didn't let up for even a moment, despite the underlying questions of morality that played such an important part in the book.

Overall, a strong addition to the series and I'll certainly be attacking the rest with gusto; these novels really are great, fast-paced reads which pass away the hours quickly without complaint. Enjoyable to both young adults and adults alike, if you haven't snapped them up (no vampire puns intended) yet, do so; you're missing out.

5/5.

Living Dead In Dallas. - Charlaine Harris

Synopsis: Sookie Stackhouse is living in Bon Temps, Louisiana, and she likes working as a cocktail waitress at Merlotte's. But she's having a streak of bad luck. First her co-worker is killed, and no one seems to care. Then she comes face-to-face with a beastly creature which gives her a painful and poisonous lashing. Enter the vampires, who graciously suck the poison from her veins (like they didn't enjoy it).

The point is the vampires saved her life. So when one of the bloodsuckers asks for a favour, she obliges - and soon Sookie's in Dallas, using her telepathic skills to search for a missing vampire. She's supposed to interview certain humans involved, but she makes one condition: the vampires must promise to behave, and let the humans go unharmed. But that's easier said than done, and all it takes is one delicious blonde and one small mistake for things to turn deadly.

Review

The second book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, then, and certainly just as enjoyable as the first. Sookie owes the vampires a debt, and she isn't one to let down a promise, as she travels to Dallas to help out in their investigations. Things don't run quite as smoothly as she wishes, however, and she soon finds herself way out of her depth.

The Fellowship lurk around every corner, and wait resolutely to harm vampires, or those that have associated with them; believing that they deserve to atone for their sins. They are at the centre of Sookie's discoveries and she travels to their headquarters in order to help her investigations, and save the person the vampires want returned. Soon though, she finds herself captured, betrayed, and ultimately alone; with only her skills to help her.

Danger fast approaching, Sookie faces her toughest and most stern test yet; she must escape, and she must help those she can. It's easier said than done, however, as the reader turns the pages in anticipation, and feels the anxiety of the characters. The novel is engaging, gripping, whilst at the same time a fast-paced read; a tribute to how easy it is to lose yourself in the pages.

I recommend this series so far to anyone that enjoys a novel that has a bit of everything; plenty of action, littered with humour and wit that had me laughing out loud at some points. It mixes tension and odd moments of romance nicely; a fantastic read.

4/5.

Dead Until Dark. - Charlaine Harris

Synopsis: Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much. Not because she's not pretty. She is. It's just that, well, Sookie has this sort of 'disability.' She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. And then comes along Bill: he's tall, dark and handsome - and Sookie can't 'hear' a word he's thinking. He's exactly the type of guy she's been waiting for all her life. But Bill has a disability of his own: he's a vampire. Worse than that, he hands around with a seriously creepy crowd, with a reputation for trouble - of the murderous kind. And when one of Sookie's colleagues is killed, she begins to fear she'll be next.

Review

Now the Sookie Stackhouse series is one I've been meaning to get around too for years now, especially after hearing from friends how good it is, and after seeing it made into television hit show True Blood. In any case, Dead Until Dark is the first in the series, and I enjoyed it immensely.

Dead Until Dark is one of those fast-paced, easy reads, that you can sit back with, enjoying a brew; passing the hours by without really knowing where they have gone. The action is plentiful, the writing engaging, and the characters believable enough to feel involved with what they are going through.

The novel centres around young Sookie Stackhouse, the cocktail waitress from Bon Temps, Louisiana, who has the often horrible talent of being able to read people's minds. Not a moment of peace is granted to her; it's an affliction she has to put up with all day long. That all changes when she meets Bill the vampire; handsome, mysterious, and a breath of fresh air, since she all she meets is wonderful silence when she tries to reach his mind.

Despite this though, falling for a vampire looks like it has its consequences. Nobody approves, everyone's weary of him, and it helps not that all around the town woman are being brutally murdered; those who have an association with vampires. It's frightening; Sookie fears she is next, and doesn't know who to trust. The darkness and the murder close in, the danger piles up; someone or something stalks the night, with the attention of causing her harm.

4/5.

Deal Breaker. - Harlan Coben

Synopsis: When a woman who everyone, including the police, believes is dead makes a phone call to a young sportsman about to hit the big time, it seems that more than just his career is on the line.

Myron Bolitar investigates and is plunged into a baffling mystery of sex and blackmail. Trying to unravel the truth about a family's tragedy, a woman's secret and a man's lies, Myron soon reveals that image and talent might make you rich, but the truth can get you killed.



Review

Earlier in the year I read Caught by Harlan Coben, and was impressed with how fast-paced and well-written the novel was, prompting me to pick up another of his. I settled with Deal Breaker. This time not a stand-alone novel, but the first in the Myron Bolitar series; something I admittedly didn't know when I picked it at random from the author's shelf of novels in the book-store.

I haven't been disappointed. The novel tells the story of a mysterious disappearance of a young woman who has gone missing, believed to be dead. Her family and her boyfriend are left hysterical, and just a year after tragedy strikes the family again: the father dies in an apparently unrelated mugging. For Jessica, coincidences are too good to be true, and she believes there is a connection between her sister's disappearance and her father's death.

Not everything is how it seems, and everyone has something to hide. Jessica enlists the help of Myron, agent of Christian Steele, upcoming NBA star and the boyfriend of Jessica's missing sister Kathy. With his best friend Win in tow, he's got his back covered, as he starts delving into a strange investigation that ground to a halt two years ago. Win is the character that makes this novel so engaging for me; a handsome, golf-playing nerd, Win holds all the contacts, all the finances and all the means at Myron's disposal. Oh, and he's quite handy at taekwondo also; his protection something that Myron will need.

In some senses, the plot is a typical one; girl goes missing presumed dead, multiple suspects, personal agendas, secrets kept; the reader knows not who to trust. That's what makes it so engaging, as the threads weaved between the characters' lives continue to be revealed one by one; each twist and turn presenting new revelations to shock and surprise the reader. In essence, a fact-paced, action-packed read that left me wanting the next in the series.

4/5.

The Shadow of the Wind. - Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Synopsis: Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the 'Cemetery of Forgotten Books', a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles. To this library, a man brings his ten-year-old son Daniel, one cold morning in 1945. Daniel is allowed to chose one book and from the dusty shelves pulls The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax. But as Daniel grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find. What begins as a case of literary curiosity turns into a race to find out the truth behind the life and death of Julián Carax and to save those he left behind.

Review

First of all I must mention that I will remain forever thankful to a friend that plucked this out of hundreds of choices for me to read, otherwise it would have been left gathering dust on my shelves; a tragic waste for certain.

The novel piqued my interest immediately when I discovered it were to be a novel about novels, but it should be noted that it works on so many more different levels. From the moment Daniel stumbles upon one of Carax's books, he becomes caught up in a world more terrible than he could have ever imagined. His instant connection with the book draws him in, and from then on he is captured and entangled by the author's story, which won't let him go; he feels the need to discover the truth behind the mysterious Julián Carax.

On his journey he suffers unrequited love, pain and misery, as he begins to grow up and see the world in a different light. From the loss of his best friend, who begins to hate him; the love of Bea, of Clara, the discovery of passion and of lust, Daniel in a sense becomes out of his depths. He finds hope and inspiration in a beggar he finds on the streets; a beggar that becomes an acquaintance, a friend, and who has his own story to tell.

Yet it is not just he that searches endlessly for the truth surrounding Carax. A mysterious, dark figure stalks the shadows, questioning book-stores and collectors alike for information on Julián's novels. He seeks them not to read, but to destroy; he longs to burn and eradicate the stories of Carax forever, and it is unclear why. The past holds the answers to all, and for all the efforts of some, it struggles to remain buried.

Those that were once friends, now turned evil; death, destruction and murder litters the streets. Daniel is in more danger than he could possibly ever know; for every person that works with him, another more sinister conspires against. And yet it is a connection that can't be broken; Daniel must search onwards. Will he discover the truth behind the eerie Julián Carax?

In essence, this novel was fantastic; a wonderfully written plot integrated with brilliant characters that each stood out individually for me. The story is an ambiguous one; unanswered questions lead to sub-plots, which lead to further seemingly endless mysterious that have the readers guessing and wondering throughout. The way Zafón weaves the parallels into the different characters' journeys is clever, and often I found myself surprised at revelations that I was definitely not expecting.

The observant readers may guess some twists, but it seems that these turns will not stop right until the very last page, and the fast-paced action will carry you to that destination before you even realise the hours have past. I would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a good fast-paced mystery novel that ultimately has you questioning everything, and everyone.

5/5.

Love In The Time Of Cholera. - Gabriel García Márquez

Synopsis: Florentino Ariza has never forgotten his first love. He has waited nearly a lifetime in silence since his beloved Fermina married another man. No woman can replace her in his heart. But now her husband is dead. Finally - after fifty-one years, nine months and four days - Florentino has another chance to declare his eternal passion and win her back. Will love that has survived half a century remain unrequited?

Review

Well, where do I start with what has been such a wonderfully charming read? I picked this once up on whim from the classics section of a bookstore a couple of months back now, and I certainly haven't been disappointed. It seemed like from the onset something special and poignant was in store, when I discovered that I was to start this novel in the shadows thrown up by candlelight, after my electric had cut out.

From the very first page I was gripped by the imagery thrown up; Márquez writes with such simple but beautiful elegance, and this style continues throughout. For some, the story of a love-stricken man waiting over half a century just to tell his teenage love that his feelings have never changed, could be considered desperate; for others like me, it is a heart-breaking story of love, and I found myself the most sympathetic towards the character of Florentino throughout.

As a young, apprentice telegrapher, immersed in novels and the poetry of love, Florentino Ariza falls hopelessly and irrevocably in love with the haughty teenager Fermina Daza. Although the two barely meet, they manage to continue a passionate correspondence via love-letters and telegrams, until one day, Fermina Daza, realising in a mere heart-stopping moment, that Florentino is more but a 'shadow than a substance,' tragically rejects him and eventually marries the wealthy Dr. Juvenal Urbino instead.

Florentino, who has sworn his undying love to Fermina, is, of course, stricken to the core, but Fermina's marriage is nothing that the young man can't handle. As one century closes and another begins, Florentino Ariza rises through the ranks of the River Company of the Caribbean and sets off on a series of erotic encounters, both 'long term liaisons and countless fleeting adventures', all of which he chronicles. Despite this, his real love is for Fermina Daza, and although many women come and go, he maintains the belief that his destiny is to be with his teenage sweetheart, no matter how long it takes.

Fifty-one years, nine months and four days after Fermina Daza's wedding, on Pentecoast Sunday, fate intervenes and Fermina becomes a free woman yet again. When he finally gets the opportunity to declare his love once more, the reader holds its breath in anticipation for what she will say. It is in vain, however, as although we have an initial answer, all is not revealed, as the story back-tracks and sends us on the spiralling journey the two have taken to reach the place of that very meeting; we are left waiting another couple of hundred pages before we get some actual finality in our answers. This is a story of monumental proportions: Florentino's love for Fermina is endless: she is the one he wishes to be with after all this time. Will he get the chance, when old age has crept upon them both, or will he be rebuffed once more and left to suffer with the fact his wait was for nothing?

In essence, this is a novel that tackles the issue of love in all its forms, and although reading it on the surface as a simple story between the two young lovers Florentino and Fermina can be rewarding, to look beyond the realms of surface meaning is where the reader can truly recognise Marquez's brilliance. Unrequited love, jealous love, angry love, and adulterous love: the author mediates a discussion on all the different forms love can take, in what is such a remarkable and fantastically written novel.

5/5.