Obedience by Will Lavender

Obedience: a novel, Will Lavender. New York: Shaye Areheart Books/ Crown Publishing/ Random House, 2008. paperback, 289 pps.

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https://willlavender.com/


     Professor Williams teaches a college course called Logic and Reasoning 204 at Winchester University in Indiana. The fall semester is short-- six weeks-- and there are no pictures of the face of the professor to be found anywhere. Unlike other professors, he wears jeans and sneakers to class. He also says the f-bomb. The first class, like Professor Williams, is a mystery. He announces that a female by the name of Polly went missing in August. He says if the class cannot figure out who kidnapped her by the end of the six weeks, she will be killed.

     Mary is a student in the class as is an ex-boyfriend named Dennis. There is also Brian, a young Republican whose brother had recently suicided. They become a sort of trio as the six weeks wear on. The three students take a road trip.

sapphoq reviews says: Will Lavender has written a truly creepy book. Although the dialogue did not move fast enough for me at times, I read Obedience in one sitting. It was a story inside of a story. The plot intrigued me in spite of my misgivings about a six week fall semester and the Winchester students' obsession with finding out what an unknown professor looks like before the beginning of class. The Milgram experiment was rather sneaky I thought. The point of obedience to a higher authority regardless of the consequences to another human being felt a bit lost in the parade of characters. Even so, I do recommend it for adults only.

A Killing at Cotton Hill by Terry Shames

A Killing at Cotton Hill (Samuel Craddock Series #1), Terry Shames. Amherst NY: Prometheus Books, 2013. ebook, 205 pps.

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     Retired police chief Samuel Craddock lives in a small town in Texas. An old friend is murdered in her kitchen. Samuel gets involves seeing as the current police chief likes to drink more than anything related to work.

sapphoq reviews says: I enjoyed the small Texas town feel of A Killing at Cotton Hill, complete with regional accents. The scenery reminded me of places in Texas where I've been. The conversations were realistic. An absence of curse words, gratuitous violence, and graphic sex scenes make this book readable for those who are sensitive to that sort of thing. There are a few secrets revealed which may trigger survivors of childhood abuse but the way those things were described was with sensitivity and respect. The mystery itself was engrossing. In short, I love this book and I will be reading more of the series in short order. Suitable for mature teens and adults. Highly recommended.

The Big Exit by David Carnoy

The Big Exit, David Carnoy. New York: The Overlook Press, 2012. ebook, 318 pps.

     In this second book of David Carnoy's whodunnit mysteries, Beth Hill returns home to find her husband murdered. For reasons known only to herself, she lawyers up immediately. Suspicion falls upon her and also upon an ex-lover ex-con Frank Sinatra impersonator.

 sapphoq reviews says: Those who have read Knife Music will recognize some characters from that novel who are included in this one. The author once again excels at developing the personalities of his characters as well as realistic cop-speak and physician-speak. I got a real kick out of the Frank Sinatra impersonator. I loved this book and I am looking forward to more from David Carnoy. Once again, a mystery with intelligence behind it and a whopper of a whodunnit factor. Highly recommended.

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith aka J.K. Rowling

The Silkworm: A Cormoran Strike Novel, Robert Galbraith a.k.a. J.K. Rowling. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2014. e-book, 481 pps. 


     This is the second book in the Cormoran Strike series. The Silkworm deals what happened to a guy named Owen Quine who goes missing. Mrs. Quine hires Cormoran Strike, private investigator to find out where her husband is. Husband Owen Quine is an author of sorts who has a reputation for one good book followed by some pretty bad ones. His latest was leaked and bunches of people didn't like what the book was about at all. 

sapphoq reviews says: I liked the first Comoran Strike book and I enjoyed this one too. Here there be fancy publishers and A-list parties, weddings and funerals, and bits of traveling about. For those who enjoy murder mystery fiction as good as Agatha Christie, highly recommended.

You've Been Warned by James Patterson and Howard Roughan

You've Been Warned, James Patterson and Howard Roughan. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2017. hardcover, 306 pps.

     Even living here in the middle of nowhere is not an adequate excuse for never having read any James Patterson until today. I don't know why I haven't either. But now that I've read this one, I will probably read more sometime.

     I've never read anything by co-author Howard Roughan either. But then again, I'd never head of Howard Roughan. Maybe I really am a country bumpkin.

     Kris is a woman with a dream. Several of them actually. A recurrent dream which wakens her screaming and her neighbors don't care for that much. And a waking dream of being a photographer. She shoots pictures, works as a nanny, dates, and eats lunch with her two girlfriends.

     She also seems to be going a bit over the edge. Reminiscent of the 1999 movie Sixth Sense, she begins to shoot dead people. Or is she? 

     Screaming in a taxi cab earns her an overnight trip to a local emergency room. Even her old shrink does not want her back in therapy with him. Why oh why is everyone picking on her?

sapphoq reviews says: Although set primarily in New York City, the descriptions of various places there littered throughout the novel was not evocative for me. I've ducked under subway turnstiles, prowled the streets at all hours, been exploring in places that my parents to this day don't know that I've been to. The real strength of You've Been Warned for me was in the character development. Every person in the novel had their own unique personality. And I liked that. Suspense building and the glimpses of the terror inside Kris' head were both also very satisfying to me. For those who like spooky psychological thrillers, highly recommended.

Ripper by Isabel Allende

Ripper, Isabel Allende. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2014. e-book, 426 pps.

     Having read Maya's Notebook, I looked forward to reading Ripper and I was not disappointed. Ripper is set in San Francisco, an area of the country that I am quite fond of and know well enough. A teenager and her internet cohorts who play an online game called Ripper use the game to figure out who is leaving a trail of bodies in San Francisco.

sapphoq reviews says: Isabel Allende did an excellent job penning this serial killer novel. There was a twist at the end that was unanticipated. The scenery was spot-on. The characters were believable, especially Amanda the teen, her leftover hippie mom with poor taste in men, and her grandfather. And Save the Tuna was especially endearing. I like abandoned buildings in real life and in the novels I read. Highly recommended.