byAriana Franklin
This is the fourth book in the Mistress of the Art of Death series.
In this story, set in 1176, the King of England is sending his 11 year old sister to Palermo as a bride for the King of Sicily. Travelling with the entourage is Adriana, a trained doctor from Sicily and her Arab companion Mansur. Because English society does not accept female doctor's she has to pretend she is the assistant to the Arab.
The King of England has encouraged her support by keeping her daughter in England. Her daughter is the result of a liaison between Adriana and and English Bishop.
As they travel along mysterious deaths occur and some of the party plot against Adriana, in addition, an old enemy -- she killed his liver-- is travelliing with them and doing what he can to bring dissent against her and get her murdered. She and some of the group are captured and accused of being Cathars. They are imprisoned and on the verge of being burned at the stake, but are rescued by one of the king's officers.
The princess becomes ill with appendicitis, the English doctor is not able to save her. The Catholic Church forbids bloodletting and surgery. Adriana is forced to operate and saves the girls life.
As the book ends they all arrive in Palermo but Adriana's enemy is still after her but he is killed during an attack on her.
The historical setting for the story was interesting and included a lot of detail about life at that time. The plot kept you interested. I think I would like to read the first book in the series sometiime.
Friday, 28 June 2013
Sunday, 16 June 2013
Until the Night
by Giles Blunt,
This is the first book I have read by this author. The story involves a police detective John Cardinal and his colleague Lise Delorme. The story has two tales being told alternately, one is about a team of scientists floatiing on an ice island in the arctic. One of the scientists goes beserk and starts to kill his colleagues, then the ice island splits into pieces and others of the team perish because of this. Only two people survive, one scientist and the man who is having an affair with his wife (she perishes in the ordeal).
The other story line is about women being found frozen, some of them shackled, wearing some clothes that are not their own.
The lead police officer on the female deaths is a prima donna and seems to be off track, Cardinal and his partner each go off on their own investigations, she especially is violating police practices.
In the end it is Cardinal's and Delorme's efforts that solve the case.
I kept wondering how the two stories were connected. It turns out that one of the survivors of the arctic incident, wrongfully convicted of murder by the testimony of the jealous husband, is wreaking revenge on people who spotted him and his lover but chose not to rescue them.
It was a very engaging story, I liked the characters but I can't believe the female officer would end up not getting reprimanded after her behaviour even though it did help to solve a crime.
I will read more books in this series.
This is the first book I have read by this author. The story involves a police detective John Cardinal and his colleague Lise Delorme. The story has two tales being told alternately, one is about a team of scientists floatiing on an ice island in the arctic. One of the scientists goes beserk and starts to kill his colleagues, then the ice island splits into pieces and others of the team perish because of this. Only two people survive, one scientist and the man who is having an affair with his wife (she perishes in the ordeal).
The other story line is about women being found frozen, some of them shackled, wearing some clothes that are not their own.
The lead police officer on the female deaths is a prima donna and seems to be off track, Cardinal and his partner each go off on their own investigations, she especially is violating police practices.
In the end it is Cardinal's and Delorme's efforts that solve the case.
I kept wondering how the two stories were connected. It turns out that one of the survivors of the arctic incident, wrongfully convicted of murder by the testimony of the jealous husband, is wreaking revenge on people who spotted him and his lover but chose not to rescue them.
It was a very engaging story, I liked the characters but I can't believe the female officer would end up not getting reprimanded after her behaviour even though it did help to solve a crime.
I will read more books in this series.
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Life After Life
Kate Atkinson,
This is a very unusual, inventive book. It is the story of a girl Ursula Todd, who seems to relive her life, with a variety of outcomes. Her family realize that she is troubled and take her to a psychiatrist. She is an unusual child, experiencing "deja vu", and at times taking steps to change outcomes, for example she trips her family's maid, to prevent her from going to VE celebrations in London and bringing back influenza which will kill her, Ursula's brother, and almost kill Ursula.
Most of the life stories take place in England prior to or during the first and second world wars. However, two of the segments take place in Germany, in one of them Ursula is married to a German and unable to escape with her child at the start of WWII so she choses to kill them both. In another story she meets the Furer in a bar and shoots him.
The book does not have a finite outcome. This is annoying to some readers. It can be confusing as it jumps back and forth through time with different details and outcomes, however, it was a fascinating read to experience the variety of stories the author develops. It of course makes you think about how things might have turned out differently in our own lives if we had acted differently at certain key points in our life.
This is the second book I have read by this author, she writes very quirky stories. This is a book I will look forward to re-reading.
This is a very unusual, inventive book. It is the story of a girl Ursula Todd, who seems to relive her life, with a variety of outcomes. Her family realize that she is troubled and take her to a psychiatrist. She is an unusual child, experiencing "deja vu", and at times taking steps to change outcomes, for example she trips her family's maid, to prevent her from going to VE celebrations in London and bringing back influenza which will kill her, Ursula's brother, and almost kill Ursula.
Most of the life stories take place in England prior to or during the first and second world wars. However, two of the segments take place in Germany, in one of them Ursula is married to a German and unable to escape with her child at the start of WWII so she choses to kill them both. In another story she meets the Furer in a bar and shoots him.
The book does not have a finite outcome. This is annoying to some readers. It can be confusing as it jumps back and forth through time with different details and outcomes, however, it was a fascinating read to experience the variety of stories the author develops. It of course makes you think about how things might have turned out differently in our own lives if we had acted differently at certain key points in our life.
This is the second book I have read by this author, she writes very quirky stories. This is a book I will look forward to re-reading.
Sunday, 26 May 2013
Murder Below Montparnasse
An Aimee Leduc Investigation
by Cara Black.
This is the thirteenth book in this series, but the first one I have read. It takes place in Paris and is the story of a young private investigator. She has inherited her grandfather's business, her father was a disgraced police officer, whom she managed to clear of charges after his death.
In this story she is contacted by an old man who wants her help to protect a valuable painting. As she is on her way to assist him she and a colleague are involved in an accident, they have hit and killed a man, or was he dead before he hit their vehicle.
Aimee discovers that the painting has been stolen, she is upset that her partner, a computer genius, has left for a profitable job in the U.S. The old man calls her to tell her he doesn't need her help, then later calls to ask her to help him again and hints that he knows where her mother (whom she hasn' seen since a child) is.
She rushes to him but finds him brutally murdered. Then an art dealer is pushed onto the metro tracks.
It seems there are many people after the painting, but who has it.
Aimee finds herself and her other partner threatened by Serb ex-cons and tries to find out the truth behind a Rusian tycoon.
She eventually manages to recover the painting, stolen by an unsuspected person, the story ends with her shocked at the news that she is pregnant. The likely father of the baby is preoccupied by his daughter who is in a coma after a school bus accident....
The story was pretty good as a mystery, much better than some others I have read. The story was engaging with lots of action, but I'm not sure why the subplot about her partner going, and then returning quickly from the U.S. I wouldn't mind reading more in the series.
by Cara Black.
This is the thirteenth book in this series, but the first one I have read. It takes place in Paris and is the story of a young private investigator. She has inherited her grandfather's business, her father was a disgraced police officer, whom she managed to clear of charges after his death.
In this story she is contacted by an old man who wants her help to protect a valuable painting. As she is on her way to assist him she and a colleague are involved in an accident, they have hit and killed a man, or was he dead before he hit their vehicle.
Aimee discovers that the painting has been stolen, she is upset that her partner, a computer genius, has left for a profitable job in the U.S. The old man calls her to tell her he doesn't need her help, then later calls to ask her to help him again and hints that he knows where her mother (whom she hasn' seen since a child) is.
She rushes to him but finds him brutally murdered. Then an art dealer is pushed onto the metro tracks.
It seems there are many people after the painting, but who has it.
Aimee finds herself and her other partner threatened by Serb ex-cons and tries to find out the truth behind a Rusian tycoon.
She eventually manages to recover the painting, stolen by an unsuspected person, the story ends with her shocked at the news that she is pregnant. The likely father of the baby is preoccupied by his daughter who is in a coma after a school bus accident....
The story was pretty good as a mystery, much better than some others I have read. The story was engaging with lots of action, but I'm not sure why the subplot about her partner going, and then returning quickly from the U.S. I wouldn't mind reading more in the series.
Sunday, 5 May 2013
The 100-Year-Old Man who Climbed Out the Wndow and Disappeared
by Jonas Jonasson
This story is about a 100 year old Swede who walks away from his senior's complex on the verge of his 100th birthday party. He stumbles upon a suitcase with milliions of dollars in it and meets up with people who try to help him get away, while the thieves who owned the money try to find him. The police are also trying to find him, to save him from kidnappers, or is it to arrest him for murders??
As the story moves forward we also hear about the man's past. He has apparently been part of major world events and met/helped many famous world leaders, including General Franco, Stalin, Mao, de Gaulle, several U.S. Presidents, etc. He has helped the Americans and also worked against the Americans. He is a spy for the U.S. for the time.
The story is very much like a Forest Gump story with the man bumbling through various events, getting into trouble and then getting out. In the end the man and his friends, and the police detective who was seeking him, all end up happily in Indonesia.
This was an entertaining read, but not intellectually challenging. The author did a great job of tying various world events around this one character. It was an okay summer read.
This story is about a 100 year old Swede who walks away from his senior's complex on the verge of his 100th birthday party. He stumbles upon a suitcase with milliions of dollars in it and meets up with people who try to help him get away, while the thieves who owned the money try to find him. The police are also trying to find him, to save him from kidnappers, or is it to arrest him for murders??
As the story moves forward we also hear about the man's past. He has apparently been part of major world events and met/helped many famous world leaders, including General Franco, Stalin, Mao, de Gaulle, several U.S. Presidents, etc. He has helped the Americans and also worked against the Americans. He is a spy for the U.S. for the time.
The story is very much like a Forest Gump story with the man bumbling through various events, getting into trouble and then getting out. In the end the man and his friends, and the police detective who was seeking him, all end up happily in Indonesia.
This was an entertaining read, but not intellectually challenging. The author did a great job of tying various world events around this one character. It was an okay summer read.
Thursday, 18 April 2013
The In-between World of Vikram Lall
by M.G. Vissanji
This is the second book I have read by this author, the first being The Magic of Saida, which I found very captivating.
This book is the story of an Indian man whose family emigrated to Zambia and who has become engaged in unethical financial activities and is being villified for his behaviour.
The book tells the story of the boy's family life as he and his sister make friends with an African boy and two white children. There is racism in Africa, whites are considered top of the heap, then the Asians and lastly of course the blacks. The young man's sister develops affection, which develops into love for the African boy. The young boy really liked the white girl, and is devastated when she and all her family are murdered by black independence rebels.
As the boy grows into adulthood he has an Uncle who it turns out is in favour of the African rebels and is supporting their efforts. The uncles actions likely contribute to the African boys grandfather being imprisoned and dying in prison and the death of the white girl and her family. He doesn't tell anyone about this but it ruins his relationship with his uncle. The boys sister wants to marry the African boy but her parents won't allow it so the young black man tells her he must leave her and eventually goes off to marry another woman. She then marries a man of her parent's choice but carries her love for the black man with her into the future when she and the African man meet again.
While this is going on the young man gets an education and through the help of his African friend lands a good job in the transportation department. Life is good for him but then he is offered a job as the assistant to a key government official. His african friend warns him not to take it but he doesn't listen and eventually gets involved in money laundering for the state.
The story is structured with the main character living in a cottage in nothern Ontario and reviewing his life while he tries to decide if he should return to face his accusers. While many of the people around him, his father, his uncle, his sister, his African friend seem to be very ethical, principaled people, the main characters does not appear to be principled. He seems to present his activities as almost naive, inadvertent.
He does decide to return to admit to guilt in some areas and make restitution but that stirs up concern from the politicians and officials whom his efforts benefitted and his life is endangered.
This was another very complex story, which asks very important questions and where not everything is clearly black and white or good and bad.
Another wonderful story that will stay with me for a long time.
This is the second book I have read by this author, the first being The Magic of Saida, which I found very captivating.
This book is the story of an Indian man whose family emigrated to Zambia and who has become engaged in unethical financial activities and is being villified for his behaviour.
The book tells the story of the boy's family life as he and his sister make friends with an African boy and two white children. There is racism in Africa, whites are considered top of the heap, then the Asians and lastly of course the blacks. The young man's sister develops affection, which develops into love for the African boy. The young boy really liked the white girl, and is devastated when she and all her family are murdered by black independence rebels.
As the boy grows into adulthood he has an Uncle who it turns out is in favour of the African rebels and is supporting their efforts. The uncles actions likely contribute to the African boys grandfather being imprisoned and dying in prison and the death of the white girl and her family. He doesn't tell anyone about this but it ruins his relationship with his uncle. The boys sister wants to marry the African boy but her parents won't allow it so the young black man tells her he must leave her and eventually goes off to marry another woman. She then marries a man of her parent's choice but carries her love for the black man with her into the future when she and the African man meet again.
While this is going on the young man gets an education and through the help of his African friend lands a good job in the transportation department. Life is good for him but then he is offered a job as the assistant to a key government official. His african friend warns him not to take it but he doesn't listen and eventually gets involved in money laundering for the state.
The story is structured with the main character living in a cottage in nothern Ontario and reviewing his life while he tries to decide if he should return to face his accusers. While many of the people around him, his father, his uncle, his sister, his African friend seem to be very ethical, principaled people, the main characters does not appear to be principled. He seems to present his activities as almost naive, inadvertent.
He does decide to return to admit to guilt in some areas and make restitution but that stirs up concern from the politicians and officials whom his efforts benefitted and his life is endangered.
This was another very complex story, which asks very important questions and where not everything is clearly black and white or good and bad.
Another wonderful story that will stay with me for a long time.
The Prisoner of Heaven
by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
This is the third book in a loosely connected series by this author about and continues the story started in the first book Shadow of the Wind. In this book the son of the bookstore owner is happily married and has a young child, business is not great but things start to pick up. Then, an ominous stranger arrives with a threat.
The book then goes on to describe activities that happened decades before in a prison in the citadel on the hill in Barcelona. One of the prisoners is an author, another is Fermin Romero del Torres. Both of these men are friends of the bookstore owner and his son. Del Torres has been thought to have died in the prison, the story describes the details of his successful escape.
This book was an interesting read, as were the other two, but I have to admit that I got a bit mixed up with the details of the connections between the three books. I think I would have to read all three again to get a better understanding of the story.
This is the third book in a loosely connected series by this author about and continues the story started in the first book Shadow of the Wind. In this book the son of the bookstore owner is happily married and has a young child, business is not great but things start to pick up. Then, an ominous stranger arrives with a threat.
The book then goes on to describe activities that happened decades before in a prison in the citadel on the hill in Barcelona. One of the prisoners is an author, another is Fermin Romero del Torres. Both of these men are friends of the bookstore owner and his son. Del Torres has been thought to have died in the prison, the story describes the details of his successful escape.
This book was an interesting read, as were the other two, but I have to admit that I got a bit mixed up with the details of the connections between the three books. I think I would have to read all three again to get a better understanding of the story.
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