Mr. Monster Review

Mr. Monster by Dan Wells

Publisher: A Tor Book
Hardcover: 287 pages
Reading Level: Young Adult
Series: 
Book 1  I Am Not A Serial Killer (Mar. 2010)
Book 2  Mr. Monster (Sept. 2010)
Book 3  I Don’t Want to Kill You (Mar. 2011) 

Summary: John faced a demon in the last book. In this one we find out who that demon really was. And Clayton County, you can thank your lucky stars John is still obsessed with serial killers. He’s the best defense you have against a new evil doer who’s been preying on your innocent population. The previous serial killer murdered quickly and for love. This one enjoys the game—kidnap, restrain, torture, kill.

Review
In this second book of his trilogy, Dan Wells brings new readers up to speed, painlessly, while continuing to move the story along. He has John saying, “I’ve spent my whole life trying to keep my dark side locked away where it couldn’t hurt anybody, but then that demon showed up, and letting my dark side loose was the only way to stop it. And now I don’t know how to lock it back up.”… “I call my dark side Mr. Monster: the side that dreams about bloody knives and imagines what you’d look like with your heads up on a stick.”

Then, the author cleverly and humorously has John and his only ‘friend’ Max discuss the new killer’s possible motivation in blatantly leaving the bodies to be found like calling cards. Wells also deepens the relationship between John and his crush, Brooke.

The only letdown for me is the murderer. He’s not as intriguing as the one in the last book. And the scenario with his victims seems mundane…like I’ve seen it before. The author doesn’t need to make it more evil, just a little more original. But I love how John figures out how to somewhat control his enemy. Let me know how you like the scene in the kitchen where John plots to overcome the villain.

As I noted in my last review, I don’t usually care to read violent thrillers, nor do I enjoy reading again about how bodies are prepared in a mortuary. Yet, Dan Wells does write an interesting predicament for his protagonist. John is surprised to find he has a stable, responsible reputation with Brooke’s father. But on the inside, John is struggling with his dark side. I’ve got some theories about where this series is going. I’ll go out on a limb and predict that by confronting these real “Monsters,” John will be able to resolve his own inner, fearful thoughts. The third book comes out in March. I can hardly wait because the last line of this book is chilling. Don’t peek! Just read the whole book and wait for it!

Cover:  5/5 (again, a pristine cover that is menacing in its simple threat)
Plot:      4/5
Characters: 3/5
Writing: 5/5
Ending:  5/5
Overall rating: 4/5

To read my review of I Am Not A Serial Killer, the first book in the series, click here.

Moonraker's Bride & Golden Urchin Reviews

Have you heard of the Madeleine Brent books published in the 70s and 80s? They’re famous not only for adventure, mystery and romance but also for the use of fascinating story settings around the turn of the twentieth century. The narrator is always of English heritage, a brave, capable teenage girl of moral strength, living in a foreign culture under extremely challenging conditions. There are nine Madeleine Brent books. I think they are the best of their genre. At the time of their publication, they were not considered young adult books; they were for adults. If the same books were published today, they would certainly be classified as YA. Here are reviews of two of my favorites.

Moonraker’s Bride by Madeleine Brent
Publisher Souvenir Press
Hardcover 342 pages
Reading Level: YA

Summary:
Lucy Waring is a 17 year old living in turn-of-the-century China in an impoverished Christian mission, the oldest of more than a dozen orphans. Of English heritage, she is considered an oddity with her round eyes by a Chinese society that hates foreigners. Since the only adult left to care for them is bedridden, Lucy must provide for the orphans. With no food or money she has few options, and the one she chooses lands her in jail. There she meets Nicholas who is condemned to death for the unwitting desecration of a Chinese official’s tomb.
The result of that meeting is life-changing for Lucy, sending her to live with a family in England , to solve the mystery of an intriguing riddle, and to return to China for a treasure.

Review:
This is one of my all-time favorite books. It’s a fantastic story with many well-drawn memorable characters. The author’s descriptions of people and places are excellent. I think the most fascinating part is the first 1/3 of the book that lets us see the Chinese culture of a century ago through Lucy’s eyes. I was quickly drawn into another time and place. And I really cared about what would happen to Lucy. She is someone you’d admire and want along on your adventure when the going gets tough.  And the scene in the jail between Nicholas and Lucy is just perfect. I fell in love with Nicholas right then and there. Maybe Lucy did too.

Cover: 3/5 (interesting, mysterious, but a little outdated)
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Ending: 5/5
My over-all rating is an enthusiastic:

Golden Urchin: by Madeleine Brent
Publisher: Doubleday and Company
Hardcover: 278 pages
Reading Level: YA

Summary:
The story unfolds in the Australian Outback. The teenage narrator is called “Mitji” (which means “white woman”) by the aboriginal people with whom she has lived since the age of two. Like Lucy in Moonraker’s Bride, Mitji is a fish out of water and an outcast, rejected by the surrounding society. She is far from her people, the walypala (‘white people’ in the aboriginal language). But Mitji has the intelligence, courage and all the survival skills she needs to run away, cross the outback and find people who will accept her. On her journey through the desert, she rescues a young man who afterward takes her home to live with him and his wife. There she learns the English language and the customs of her new life. Just as the reader thinks the adventure is over, the mystery of who she really is, how she came to live with the aboriginal tribe and what happened to her parents is revealed. And Mitji plunges once more into a dangerous adventure where her bravery and talents are vital.

Review: 
Again, Madeleine Brent has written an exciting story with a fascinating setting. I loved reading this book! If you like well-researched historical novels, this book has everything—a heroine I would like to know (and wish I had the qualities of), adventure, mystery, and a touching romance.

Cover: 4/5  (The cover draws me in. I want to know who she is and what she is thinking)
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Ending: 5/5
My overall rating:

About the Author: 

After Madeleine Brent’s last novel, The Golden Urchin, was published, and to the surprise of most of us, it was revealed that M. B. is the pseudonym for English author Peter O’Donnell, famous for creating Modesty Blaise, a comic strip action hero. According to Wikipedia, he began to write the historical adventure stories as Madeleine Brent at the request of his publisher. “The novels are not a series, but feature a variety of strong female protagonists. They are written in first person, take place in the late Victorian era, and although every protagonist has connections to England , part of each book is set in various locations around the world—including China , Australia , Afghanistan , and Mexico . Identity—the need to discover who she really is—is often a major part of the protagonist's struggle.” (Thank you Wikipedia)

Book Availability:
The books are currently out of print, but the libraries have many of them, or they can be purchased at Amazon, on Ebay or from other used booksellers.  

happy reading,

I Am Not A Serial Killer Review

I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells

Publisher: Tor Books

Hardback: 271

Reading Level: Young Adult
Series:
Book 1  I Am Not A Serial Killer (published Mar. 2010)
Book 2  Mr. Monster (published Sept. 2010)
Book 3  I Don’t Want to Kill You (to be published Mar. 2011) 

Summary:

John Wayne Cleaver is the 15 year old narrator of the story. And he is NOT a serial killer---not yet! He has read all about serial killers. In fact, he is an expert, and he believes he’s fated to be one. After all, he has their lack of empathy and a complete inability to relate to others. He has carefully created some rigid rules to live by to prevent himself from becoming a killer. When the police find a body in John’s quiet little town, John is immediately intrigued because he recognizes there is something gruesomely different about this murder. As other bodies are found, he is the perfect person to connect the dots and find the killer. In putting the clues together, John realizes this killer is outside of his known reality. And to defeat him, John must abandon the rules that have kept him from his feared violent nature.

Review:
In my last book review, I lamented the lack of fiction that is exciting, memorable, and fresh. I asked this blog’s followers to recommend something, and Karin Anderson rescued me by recommending I Am Not A Serial Killer. She wrote this comment: “It has an interesting plot with good character development. It sounds weird, but I think you’ll like it.”

Thanks Karin, you are so right! I’m not usually into violence and horror, but I loved reading this book because the premise of this dark mystery is so fresh. John is a likable, sympathetic character if somewhat creepy in his obsession with his “fate.” I was inside his head while he dealt with his sociopathic tendencies...feeling his fear of becoming too obsessed with a girl he is attracted to, feeling his overwhelming need to cling to his rules or lose control over himself. I’m curious to see in the next two books if he ever works out this obsession.

Dan Wells creates the perfect setting for his book, contrasting the normalcy of the town and its people with the threat of this serial killer. The killer itself is not your typical cardboard villain. There’s some depth there with plenty of motivation for his killings. It’s a plot driven story, and I love reading a book with a plot I can’t second guess. I am soooo tempted to tell you some of the exciting, extremely dangerous things John does, especially in the second half of the book which becomes increasingly perilous for John all the way to the end. But, I am going to restrain myself because it would spoil the surprises Dan Wells has in store for you.

I would have given this book a 5 out of 5 rating except I thought the author hit me over the head with repeating the boy’s obsession with his probable fate. Also, there were some gory details about working in the family-run mortuary that were important to the plot but not something I cared to read about.

Cover: 5/5 (It’s a simple cover, but somehow perfect)
Plot:5/5
Characters:5/5
Writing:5/5
Ending:5/5
Overall Rating:4/5  

happy reading,

Rescue Me from Reader’s Purgatory, Please!

Currently, I’m suffering a reader’s purgatory wherein every novel I read is mundane with cardboard characters, a plodding plot, or uninspired writing. Let me tell you about it: 

I read a book which is a young adult paranormal novel about a girl who falls in love with a young, mysterious, fallen angel. I liked the premise and thought it might be wildly, wickedly romantic and entertaining. A week after I read the book, I couldn’t remember a thing about it. Not one. To tell you this much about it, I had to look it up online. I can’t recommend a book that is so unremarkable. I still don’t know how the title relates to the story, but the best thing about the book was the cover and the promising title, Hush, Hush. Perhaps you’ve read it.

I noticed Nicholas Sparks has a new book published and thought it would be great for my next book review. It’s called Safe Haven and tells the story of a woman with a secret and a good guy who falls very quickly in love with her. I delight in a love story where the reader can savor the clever dialogue between the couple as the romance builds. This is not that story. These characters fall in love ‘kerplunk’ as if they need to fall in love with someone….any highly attractive, nice person will do. The story is reminiscent of one of the lesser Hallmark Channel movies...been there, done that. The young woman’s secret is an abusive husband. There are details of the abuse that I really didn’t want to read about. Too tell the truth, I decided to do something I hardly ever do—I decided not to finish the book. I glanced at the end and realized there is a twist to it…maybe that and the author’s reputation will create some interest for you to read the book.

Because Safe Haven was commonplace, I began a search for a book with the promise of more excitement. I came across an online article about a new book that Steven Spielberg is developing a film from-- a posthumously published novel by the late Michael Crichton. Perfect! Remembering the uniqueness and thrill of Jurassic Park, I decided to read Pirate Latitudes. The first few chapters introduce the flavor of the often lewd, coarse 17^th century living conditions, customs and habits of the residents of Port Royal, Jamaica. I could tell from the details that Michael Crichton had done his historical research. Captain Charles Hunter selects his pirate crew according to their various talents to aid in seizing a Spanish treasure galleon anchored at an impregnable Spanish harbor, guarded by a garrison of soldiers with a particularly nasty villain in charge. What follows is one adventure after another. Yet, the adventures are superficial and seem hurried. And the characters seem flat. I didn’t care if they triumphed or not. Again, I did something I rarely do—skipped to the end after reading two thirds of the book. Since this story was found on the author’s computer after he died, I’m wondering if it was actually not ready for publication. Perhaps, it is a comprehensive outline and would have had more depth of character and plot had the author finished it.

So, here I am once more, an avid reader on a quest for an exceptional book--exciting, memorable, fresh. Perhaps you can help with a recommendation of which I will be most grateful.

Review of The Help by Katheryn Stockett

Which is it? A Five-star or a One-star Book? You decide.

By Linda

Summary: The year is 1962 in Jackson, Mississippi. The book begins with Aibileen, a black maid who must endure racial disrespect from her employer and her employer’s friends. Aibileen tells her story in first person and begins with her care for a little girl who is selfishly ignored by her mother, Aibileen’s employer. Aibileen also shares the tension she experiences when her employer’s racist friends don’t want to use the same bathroom as the “colored” maid. They convince their friend, Aibileen’s employer, to build a small wooden bathroom in the garage for the maid to use. Aibileen never expresses her opinions or feelings to these ladies and submits to saying thank-you for the bathroom when pressed. She knows it’s not safe for her to express her anger or make any mistakes. One young black man who has befriended Aibileen merely makes a mistake and suffers a terrible consequence.

The second part of the book has her friend Minnie, also a maid, as the first person narrator to further the story. Minnie can’t control her anger at the way she is treated with contempt by the white people in her life. Minnie ‘talks back’ and when one of her mean-spirited employers takes offence, she accuses Minnie, unfairly, of stealing and fires her. As a result, Minnie takes an ‘unspeakable’ revenge. And she has a very difficult time finding another employer.

But the tables are about to turn because the third and final narrator is a young white woman who sees the treatment of the black maids as unjust. She wants to interview them for a book that will reveal the facts, and she has the ear of a New York editor who thinks this idea will make a perfect book for them to publish.

My Review: I was immediately drawn into Aibileen’s story. In many cases, she was the only voice of reason, and there was something very likable about her. But the fact is, I would have enjoyed the book more if she had remained the narrator for the entire book. I don’t find the ‘voice’ or the stories of the other two characters as vibrant. I wonder if the author felt more affection for Aibileen too.

On Amazon.com there are 2,706 reviews of this book so far—an astounding 2,160 people gave it 5 out of 5 stars and only 94 people gave it one star. The contrasting viewpoints of the reviewers were whether or not the characters’ dialect was representative of the story’s setting, whether the events were true to life and whether the characters seemed real or were cardboard stereotypes.

As to the debate about the authenticity of the dialect, I am not personally familiar with the southern black dialect of the 60’s so I found Aibileen’s words and way of speaking different from my only sources of information—tv and the movies. However, the plot seemed realistic and the characters seemed to be genuinely motivated.

Five-star or one-star book? You decide. If you like a detailed, thought-provoking, character and relationship driven, slower-paced novel with a message, then, this one is definitely your cup of tea.

About the Author: This is Kathryn Stockett’s debut novel. She was raised by a black maid, Demetrie, in Mississippi and says she wanted to write the book because she has spent years wishing she had asked Demetrie what it felt like to be black in Mississippi , working for a white family.

As a side note, I highly recommend a movie from the early 90s that starred Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek called The Long Walk Home. It has a similar theme of a black maid in a white household. The story takes place in Montgomery , Alabama during the mid 1950s, the time of Rosa Park’s arrest, the bus boycott, bombing of Dr. King’s house and the beginning of the civil rights movement. I cheered for the black lady who stood up quietly, yet proudly, for her civil rights and also for the honorable white lady whose response to injustice was defiance.