Saturday, October 27, 2012

No One Left To Tell

I had only read one other book by Karen Rose before: Don't Tell. It was enjoyable, but nothing special. It was the usual romance/thriller story. So I expected nothing when I picked up 'No One Left To Tell', but this one turns out to be much much better than Don't Tell, which is her debut, published in 2003, nine years before.

No One Left To Tell has good plots, fast paced, with many body counts. The book is quite thick, but actually all the actions only happen in 4 days. It started 6 years ago, with the murder of a young girl named Crystal Jones. Prosecutor Grayson Smith had sent Ramon Munoz to jail for the murder. Ramon's wife and mother never believe he is guilty, so his wife goes to see Smith to ask for a re-trial, but a week later she is murdered. Shortly before her death, she gave proofs of her husband's innocence to PI Paige Holden, along with a message that 'a cop did this'. Holden then works together with Smith to re-investigate the case.

The title is appropriate: No One Left To Tell - because the killer(s) murdered all the witnesses along the way.[So many deaths in the span of 6 years, yet the police couldn't see the connection.] However there are of course several who are spared by Ms Rose - to help the hero and heroine crack the case (in 4 days!) and save the day.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Uncle Scrooge & Donald Duck by Carl Barks

Although now I have 2 ebook readers, 1 Nook Simple Touch and 1 Nook Tablet, there are some books that still worthy to buy in hard copy. I bought these 2 books in July : Uncle Scrooge "Only a Poor Old Man" and Donald Duck "Lost in the Andes".


"Only a Poor Old Man" features "Only a Poor Old Man", "Back to the Klondike", "The Horse-Radish Treasure", "The Round Money Bin", "The Menehune Mystery", "The Secret of Atlantis", "Tralla La", and "Outfoxed Fox", plus 1 short story and 18 one-page gags. The introduction is by George Lucas and there are story notes and some old comic book covers.

"Lost in the Andes" features "Lost in the Andes!", "The Golden Christmas Tree", "Race to the South Seas!", and "Voodoo Hoodoo", plus 9 short stories and 7 one-page gags. There are also introduction, story notes and some old comic book covers.

I am never tired reading the works of Carl Barks and think these stories can still be read by future generations. I am waiting now to be able to buy the next volumes from this series.

Since I missed the first 2 books from Kisah Terbaik Disney Karya Carl Barks from Gramedia, I try to lay my hands on everything by Carl Barks. Maybe it's a sort of compensation.

Daddy's Home (A Holly Jennings Thriller)

I cannot say I like this book by A.K. Alexander very much, but I must admit that I enjoyed reading it. The heroine of this story is Crime Scene Investigator Holly Jennings of the San Diego Police Department, a single mother of a little girl. She is investigating a serial murders of single mothers and their only child. The murderer is then nicknamed 'the Family Man' - a man who dreams to be the perfect father and have the perfect family by kidnapping a single mother and her only child, pretend to be the head of the family, and if things doesn't work out, he kills them. In simple way, a very sick man.

Holly Jennings herself, during the story, meets a man with 2 daughters (the wife has left them) and begins a relationship with him.

I think the style of the writing is similar to Mary Higgins Clark's. We are brought to follow Holly Jennings's mind and the killer's mind. I find the killer's mind is more interesting, although it is sometimes silly and ridiculous.