The Rendition Experience

Now I have literally only just discovered that this book is also a film!! Impressed, it has the same name and is directed by Terence Young. It came out in 1979 so this book is a little older.

This is a good story!! I couldnt put it down on the way back from Reading. The time it was written in isn't even noticeable I thought it was a new book haha that's how timeless it is.

It's about Eliabeth Roffe a 23 year old young heiress to a giant Pharmaceutical and cosmetics company owned and ran by her father Sam Roffe and controlled by her extended relatives and their families.

In places this was hard to follow, there were so many threads to keep track of different family members having their own domestic problems each so very unique and all wanting the same outcome... let the company shares go public. Now Elizabeth doesnt do this she becomes suspicious about her fathers death (dont worry i havent spoiled it) is someone in the family trying to take down the company?? This is a completely family run company with no outside stock holders or board members so the story follows Elizabeth on her journey of being her fathers little girl to the most powerful member of the company. And buy does she do it well!! She's strong, beautiful and intelligent. You get to see her grow from being a child to a woman and all that she went through, you can empathise with her every step of the way.

The book starts with another character Rhys Williams who was Sam Roffe's closest aide and the only person allowed at board meetings who isnt family. He is a mysterious and yet completely raw character, who seems to be shaped by the presence of Elizabeth's character.

The family itself is amazingly well written, you have Helene Roffe a domineering, terrifying ambitious woman who is sadistic and cruel especially with her long suffering husband. You have Sir Alec Nichols born from his mother who was a Roffe and is an a reknown MP in England married to the most spoilt little girl whom he completely adores, and will do absolutely anything for and because of her. You have Simonetta Roffe a beautiful aggressive italien married to the italien male tart Ivo who is playing the field and managing two families!! And finally you have Anna Roffe frail, daydreamer married the love of her life Walther Gassner who is a movie star in his looks and personality but did he marry for love or for money??

There's so much in this book I cant even start to describe it. You're just going to have to read it I'm sorry :). I will leave you with a quote from the book I think it's a good one.

"Never let a friendly fox into your hen-house, one day he's going to get hungry"

Oh and this book shows you how the same can be true with friendly foxes amongst their own.

This story was a joint venture between the two above authors of which both you may have heard of they are quite reknown. They weren't for me authors I would normally choose, I am not sure why I think I like to stay with a particular author until someone recommends something else or I get bored. In this case I just wanted to get away from murder and gorey killings, investigations with cops etc... hmmm I couldnt be more wrong.

The story starts in the tibetan mountains, two travellers who aren't revealed to you are heading up the mountains to visit the monks temple. It obviously has more detail than that but the way it was written and how the story was described helped me visualise it in such a way that it made me want to find out who these characters were. So I bought it!

It's a slow starter this book but as you read on you do realise that this is necessary because further into the book just turns into chaos, the story line unfolds at such a rate after the first half that it's breathtaking. And sometimes not in a good way, there were a number of times I gasped out loud at this book too.

One of the main characters is Special Agent Pendergast, he's a strange leading man in this story not your typical tall dark hero but mysterious, quiet, almost smug with others as he has superior intellect with blonde hair and blue eyes (he sounds like bond doesnt he) but for me he did not have the suave attractiveness of a typical 'bond' like character, he was understated almost and with no romantic interests as it were in the story. This is complimented by the darkness inside him that's revealed later on in the book, this story gives you a window into the human soul and what it would be like to be completely free and ruled by evil. N0w I found this strange but in a good way a refreshing way, this story wasnt about love it is about sacrifice, darkness and the disgustingness of human nature that contains a few bright lights within it.

It's quite a mystical story but very much a murder mystery too. In fairness I am finding this book hard to describe because the plot is so intertwined if I say anything too much I will spoil it for anyone that may want to read it.

There are other stories with the main characters in Pendergast and his ward Constance Green, I will have to read more just so I can discover the relationship between these two strangest of characters.

This time I am to talk about Japanese manga books. I have been a fan of the Lone Wolf and Cub movies for a while and I started buying this manga for my fiancé. It has become a tradition with every celebration he gets one of these. It wasn’t till last month when I had a book break that I started reading these little manga books in between my regular books.

Yamada Asaemon is not really the Shogun’s executioner unlike what the name may suggest. Technically he is the sword tester. He is a Ronin but he works for the Shogunate on a regular basis. He is already a brilliant swordsmaster but in order to start his career as the sword tester, he needs to cut through a living body. This living body was his own father who ordered Asaemon to cut through him to get the feel for it and become the best. Only the first story and it already goes into extreme Japanese mental-ness.

The short stories happen in the period of feudal japan portraying tales that would not be seen in your average history book (not so graphically). All the comics I have read so far have an impressive consideration to the historical details. Asaemon is flawless in respect to code of conduct and honour despite the dodgy nature of his work that sometimes requires him to execute criminals. He is a fierce advocate who happens to have a sword.

I felt very surprised in book 2 where he gets harassed by a woman whose brother he executed. The man he killed happened to be innocent and Asaemon goes on a big mission to ensure that the police only send people to be executed if there is clear proof that they are guilty because he does his work based on trust and he needs to be confident that they are guilty when he executes them despite them screaming innocence upon their death hour.
I’ve only read three so far. The fantastic drawings and the history lessons make the comics worthwhile but Asaemon is the cherry of coolness on my triple chocolate sundae.
V.

I am annoyed and impatient once more. I was going to patiently wait for Brisingr to come out in paperback and read it in a few months time. I had to travel back to my home country (Portugal) recently and encountered something called an Airport Edition. It is in paperback but has the same size as a hardback. Not being able to contain myself I thought to myself that it was close enough to the rest of the books already at home and bought it. When it comes to books, I do get the stupidity bug. I had to carry this 800-page book all around the airport and try to stuff it in my hand luggage. The worse thing is that being abroad (or travelling home even... it is just weird), I’m meant to do all sorts of things I would not normally do at home (U.K.) like going out and enjoying the beach and sunshine and surfing. Well, I started reading this book in the plane because I had finished the other one I wrote about earlier. I was happy when my mom arrived late at the airport because it meant I had more time to read. I even wished she had taken longer because I was half way through a chapter.
My surfing morning was botched because I was reading till 4.30 am and could not wake up before 11am the next day. Luckily there were no waves that morning...The following days I managed to survive on 4-5hours sleep. On the return journey, my fiancé was late too so I read the book till there were two chapters left and I got even more annoyed that the story was nowhere near finishing.
So (some of you might wonder), why was I annoyed? Because the book is part of a series of books called Inheritance. Brisingr is book number three and instead of finishing here, Mr Paolini decided three wasn’t enough so there will be a fourth book. And why is this reason for annoyance? It is very very annoying because he hasn’t written it yet and I want to read the rest of the story!

*Venting finished*... On to the book now!

I want to spot the immaturity in the style of such a young writer because it is not fair that one so young should have all the talent when others like me have none. I want to say that it is a puppy of a story amidst the big hounds of fantasy. Truth is, Inheritance is pretty much on the epic scale of story writing. The books have grown with the author and to me Christopher Paolini was Eragon when he wrote it. All the feelings are genuine and it is evident that he is living the story as he writes it.

Inheritance is about a land ruled by the immortal evil King Galbatorix. He is the last dragon rider as he killed all other dragon riders who opposed him. Eragon (a young farm boy) finds a dragon egg and it hatches for him. He becomes a threat to the king so he is pursued. He joins these rebels who oppose the king and fights alongside them. He also gets to learn how to be a true dragon rider. His ultimate goal is to defeat the King. This is my oversimplified synopsis.
Brisingr is the ancient word for fire in the book. The title becomes clear towards the end (I can’t believe I didn’t see it coming!). This book is more complex than the other two as it portrays the finesse of treading in the political world. The world of Algaesia is populated with humans of different tribes, dwarves (who tend to stick to their own business), elfs (who are cryptic, beautiful and cruel as they do not share the same concerns as the mortal races), Urgals and Kull (ram like biped creatures). In order to defeat King Galbatorix, there needs to be unity between all races and difficulty arises when there is trouble even within the races themselves.

In this book, Eragon faces some trials that do not require his physical strength to be resolved. He needs to be separated from Saphira (his dragon) for long periods of time which leaves him with a sense of loneliness and abandonment. The biggest test is the battle in his conscience as he suffers everyday from remembering all the souls he extinguished. It becomes a search for a philosophy through which he can live by that will prevent him from becoming power-crazed. Along with this inner search, he is also in a quest for a weapon (he lost his old sword - read the other books for more details :P) as no normal weapon can withstand his new elf like strength.

I really want to write more but what I want is to talk to someone who has read the book so that they don’t get angry with me for telling them everything that has happened. I’m tempted to re-read Eragon and Eldest. Maybe I will do just that and write about them.

V.

Well, I did not follow through with the Kathy Reichs’ book last time. Instead, I followed the advice of my one and only commentator up to now (C. doesn't count) and got myself a book by Chuck Palahniuk. I started with Fight Club of course because it was the first one to be written and I had seen the movie.
There will probably be some spoilers in this…

I shall start with the end, the afterword by the author.
I was surprised to find that it all started with a short story. When he was asked to expand that story into a book, all the author did was gather experiences from men all around him and put them together. I am over simplifying this… He collated these experiences together, writing in a simplistic half cynical way that made the story extremely compelling to me. In this, he wrote a code which men all around the world were already following or discovering for the first time. It amazes me how something done in a few hours of boredom could have triggered such an effect. Men all around the world.

So, basically, it is about a white collared job man who goes about his life feeling miserable. He makes himself feel better by being materialistic and by frequenting help clubs that help people cope with all sorts of random ailments. He doesn’t really have any diseases but goes there looking for some comfort for his misery.

He meets Tyler Durden during one of his business trips and after losing his home to a gas leak explosion, they start living together and start gathering to fight so that men can be men as they were meant to be.

Enough with the spoilers. I’m sure it is more interesting to actually read it.
I wish I had read the book before I watched the film. I think the impact might have been a lot bigger when, after the surreal read of intertwined of contradictory thoughts and dialogues, it all clicked into place and you realize it is two in one and the whole split personality thing.

So, what else makes this book so great? The answer is… it just tells you how it is. It is fiction but it is so real. We are all materialistic sheep defined by what we own and most don’t even know how to live and feel alive.

This is the story of a guy who is becoming lost in this world of pleasantries and fakeness and how his sub-conscious creates a personality in a cry for liberation.
His name is Tyler Durden and he is everything everyone wants to be.

PS - I never ever noticed in the movie or in the book until after I had finished that the narrator’s (main character’s) name is never mentioned, only his alternate personality.

PSII – This was one of the hardest reviews I have written so far. I have found it difficult to express the multitude of feelings I had when reading this book and I’m still not sure it is everything I wanted to say.

Wow 3 books to my one I better get cracking.

I had decided to give the slasher stabby killer novels a rest for the time being and read something more mystery and far fetched as it were, I do like the escapism from time to time. The book I chose was by an author I hadnt heard of before much but wrote in a similar style to the author who wrote the bourne supremacy and is similar to dan brown who i really like.

The story is based around the theories surrounding the untimely death of the great composer Mozart and the conspiracy theory that he was part of the masons and that it was rival sects of the masons that potentially got him killed. The central character is Ben Hope who appears in another of Scott's books and I think there is a planned series of books with this character. At first it's not something I immediately warmed to although it does grab you right from the start and you learn what kind of man Ben Hope really is. A well written story that twists and turns and leaves you breathless at times with shock at some of the ordeals that characters are put through.

This book was all action and plot twists the characters were developed enough for you to start to care about them but other than Ben Hope you never really get to the nitty gritty of any of the characters. In some ways this is a relief as the book is quite a detailed and action packed one. I didnt get tired of reading this book and there are times when I couldnt put it down in places as all I could think is "has he really done that to them??" There is also a certain amount of gore which made even me cringe.

The ending wasnt one that I liked for escapism purposes but in terms of plot twist it was a work of genius as now I cant wait for the next Ben Hope book and I am going in search of the last one with him in it. It is a good read for anyone into stories written in the style of Dan Brown or Ian Fleming. Give it a try you maybe surprised at its understated start but keep reading and the surprises keep coming.

C :)

I have always enjoyed the Bones series on TV (it is not just the fact that David Boreanaz stars on it, although that is a good contributor to my liking of the series...) so I have been looking forward to starting to read the books that inspired it all.

There are quite a few differences to start with. The character in the book is more believable as we get to hear her thoughts and doubts. Anyhow, this is about the book, not a comparison between television and book.

Temperance Brennan is a Forensic Anthropologist who specializes in determining causes of death by analyzing bones. She's middle aged divorced woman and mother to a teenage girl. She takes a position in Canada in order to take a break from her marriage and ends up staying there. 

The story starts when a mutilated corpse is found inside bin bags. After analyzing the remains, she sees a connection between the current case and one she analyzed before. The connection is faint but her instinct keeps telling her there is a connection. She has to deal with Claudel, a cynic detective who doesn't know the meaning of "being nice", scrutinizing her findings and dismissing her due to the lack of concrete evidence of a connection.

Throughout the rest of the story, she keeps finding these links to a puzzle that the police department doesn't think exists. She keeps investigating for herself, despite the admonition of her colleagues and puts herself in danger as the killer starts seeing her as a threat and targets her.

I have found this book difficult to read at times, as the mind of Dr. Brenan is a maze unlike any. The technical expertise of the author is evident when Brenan starts discussing her work with her old colleagues and a rain of technical jargon is spilled out, leaving me a bit lost. This would make it a bit tiring to read at times but did not affect the story which kept creeping surprise after surprise. The character does put herself in some stupid situations when I thought “Why are you doing that??”, but the state of mind that leads her to these is evident and helps keep it more credible.

Maybe I am a little biased because I do like the series where she is a strong confident woman who has a knack for jiu jitsu. But despite enjoying the book, it made me feel like something was missing.

I grabbed another Kathy Reichs’ one this morning. I have yet to decide whether to read it or not.

V.

I finished reading the previous book while I was away and ended up with nothing to read since I already borrowed all the books I wanted from the MILTB.

I finally found one stuck in the corner of the shelf. I had not heard of the author before so did not know what to expect but the little summary at the back of the book seemed decent enough.

The story starts as the relic bones of the three wise men are stolen from the Cathedral in Cologne. I always enjoy reading about places where I have been already. I can see it clearly in my mind as I imagine the events of the book developing on those locations.

The book gathered many aspects of my favorite genres. It had the specialized assault team (Sigma Force) with some very clever and charming characters who could all kill you in a blink of an eye. Gray Pierce the lonely commander, Monk the big guy with big guns and Kat the lady with blades in any imaginable place in her body. It also involved the Vatican and all its mysteries due to the fact the initial attack was seen as a direct attack to the church. There were plenty of riddle solving as this assault team along with Vigor, a Vatican official, and Rachel, his niece (an Italian expert in stolen artwork) worked against the clock trying to stop the culprits of the attacks and thefts (an ancient society called the Royal Dragon Court).

All the action happens on the most famous European Gothic Cathedrals and the author's descriptions have made me want to visit all the cities he mentions. Despite the rush of events, the author does not neglect to pay homage to the beauty of such places.

As we get enveloped in all the fast paced action, we get to know the main characters and how un-stereotypical they are. Without lengthy narrations of their personal characteristics, the author gives us the layer beneath the characters' mask to the world through their actions and through glimpses of thoughts.

My favorite aspect was definitely the riddle solving as they go through their hunt for more religious relics. The use of the religious knowledge to achieve the solutions has made me curious about religious texts. Not sure yet if to the point of wanting to read the entire Bible.

It is not often I am made to gasp while reading and there were occasions when I had to re-read several times just because I could not believe the author had dared to put the character through such ordeal.

I simply adored the main characters and was hoping to see them again and again as I believe they still have exciting lives to live in paper. 

V.

This was the first time I ever bought a book that came as a suggestion in a magazine. I read the mini description and just felt like buying something on impulse.

When I got it, it had a big sticker mentioning how it had been advertised on Richard and Judy's show. I started growing a little skeptical of my new acquisition.

Please forgive me if I leak too many spoilers.

The book starts as this teenage girl (Cynthia) wakes up to find her house completely empty. It then jumps forward 25 years later where

At first the book seemed to be about this girl (now a woman) and the way she is coping with her family disappearance. There's a coziness about the way the author writes that makes me want to know about all of the character's habits, insecurities and fears. I could have kept reading if it was just about the emotional and psychological gripes of her everyday life.

So it was a bit of a surprise when that carpet of coziness got taken from under my feet even though at the back of the book it said something like “She goes looking for her family but will end up regretting it..." (Not so eloquently put obviously).

The book is written from the point of view of her husband after the first, maybe the second chapter too. Through him we get what the world sees of her without ever penetrating into her psyche. When she mentions any strange events we see them as her own paranoia due to the events that scarred her 25 years earlier.

As it becomes more obvious that the strange events are not her paranoia, some doubt arises as to whether she has something to do with what is happening just to get attention.

All throughout the book Cynthia keeps mentioning dreams where she can hear her family talk. In between chapters you also get anonymous dialogues full of evilness and creepiness. Despite these being anonymous, you get hints and it seems like the voices off Cynthia's dreams, like it is her family talking about her without her being there. It got me so intrigued as there was no hint earlier that her family was anything but a loving normal family until they had disappeared.

It was cleverly written so that you get surprise after surprise right to the last page when you think all it is over. I could keep on writing about how each chapter surprised me and made me want to read every single word, but I think I have done enough spoiling.

Finally I got to read the final book of the Harry Potter series. I had decided a while ago that I was not going to be putting extra money into publishers pockets and get the hard back version. Mostly it was because all my collection is paperback and I decided to be stubborn and wait.

The torture was only a couple of months long as everyone else read theirs fairly quick. After that I had nearly forgotten it until I got the newsletter from Waterstones announcing it.

As you can tell, I am just filling post space because there isn't a lot to say about this book apart from... Wow! It was great!
Very dark... not sure how it can get away with being a children's book. It was a very fulfilling finale and I can safely say: "Aha! I knew it about Snape!". Despite a few correct guesses, the way it was delivered filled my imagination and made me a very bad employee as I slept late every night and was antisocial spending every lunch hour reading.

Now I just wonder, what else will J.K.Rowling have to offer in the future...
V.

This is another of Tess Gerritsen's masterpieces, it is now official... I am hooked!!

The books do all follow the same sort of style, all surrounding the Boston PD and their affiliates. This does not in anyway make the stories 'samey' or boring. Each one revolves around a character you may or may not have gotten involved with in the last Tess Gerritsen novel. You get wrapped up in each case that they have to solve and you along with the characters try to profile the 'unsub'. The read is as challenging as it is gripping but not in the tiring sense of challenging there is always something new, something fresh to take away from these books. They are truly a work of art. I have incidentally on another note found another who enjoys these books as much as I do and just like me they helped her get back into some good old fashioned keeping your light on at midnight gritty reading!!

Now to the story, of course surrounding murders of sometimes the most gruesome type, this one wasn't like Vanish, this one related very closely to The Surgeon. It lets the reader get closer to the hard female detective Rizzoli and see a much more vulnerable side to her character and also showed that like any human being that she sometimes needs protecting. Oddly enough this one was quite a warming empathic story even when Tess Gerritsen scrutinises the life of the killer. You get to see much more of the Apprentice from The Surgeon get deeper into his psyche. It never fails to make my skin crawl.

You do have to forgive me if while writing these posts I misquote or get my characters confused from one story to the next. Don't misunderstand this to be forgetfullness due to the lack of difference in the stories because I will put you straight they are all very different, but if you read them and find yourself hooked you will also find yourself as caught up in the world of Boston written from these books as I have, it's very easy to confuse events when they are so vividly written and the characters so well developed you feel as though you know them and all their work intimately.

Go on I dare you, pick one up, see if you can resist the pull of the gruesome, gritty and dark ;)

C

Finally! I got to read book three of David Gemmell's Troy. I read the other two way way before I started this blog so tough... No review! This novel was incomplete at the time of D. Gemmell’s death and was completed by his wife (I couldn’t really tell much difference in writing style from the other two). It is a great shame to know that there will be no more.

This is the conclusion to the trilogy of David Gemmell's interpretation of Homer's Iliad. Just out of curiosity, Iliad is now on my “to read” list. Although due to the genre I imagine it is written with a lot of epic-ness (I made this word up). The third book is the story of the siege of Troy.

With the assumption of Iliad being all for epic-ness, I think David Gemmell's interpretation is at his usual style of humanizing the characters.
We see the heroes' fears, doubts and flaws. He shows us how there are no bad sides and how war turns the best of men into animals and despite all the horrors committed by the characters, you still empathize with them. In fact, Helikaon (central character), as the torturer, the burner, the ruthless, is portrayed as a caring father and husband (and in my own little imagination, a pretty hot one too).

The war scenes are full of gory scenes with amazing attention to detail that kept me glued to the book until the early hours in the morning (4.30 am to be precise... I had to stop as my other half lovingly decided the light needed switching off as it was annoying...). I knew the story inside out and yet I could not put it down sneakily glancing at the book whenever I could just catch a glimpse of the next few lines.

I loved the Trojans and their allies and their enemies and their enemies’ allies because they were all just men fighting for a cause. Even Agamemnon the Mikene King shows all the weaknesses and insecurities that make him to want to destroy the golden city of Troy.

When I first picked up the first volume of Troy, I had my doubts that the Troy trilogy would live up to the likes of “Legend”. I wasn’t ready for the fact that it would exceed my expectations by a mile and the melancholy that would come to me at reading Fall of Kings knowing it would be the last of David Gemmell’s genius.

Despite his death, he will live forever, like Odysseus the storyteller, as long as his stories survive.

V.

This was a story of woe, pain and unimaginable suffering. I could never imagine what it would be like leaving my country to end up in a brothel being forced to do things I dont even want to describe. It's an awful truth that the author hones in on in this book. It isnt the central focus but the dark, honest undertones remain throughout the story, and at one point later on in the book I found I could not sleep as I could not shake the image that Tess Gerritsen so vividly portrays.

The central characters are ones I have met before in the Surgeon. Jane Rizzoli the hard core, kick ass female detective, I didn't warm to her so much in the Surgeon but in this one she still has that kick ass quality about her without seeming sometimes a little too defensive about being a woman, it's refreshing and a very good character to relate to and follow loyally throughout the whole story. The quiet cop Thomas not a central role in this story but it is a welcome cameo from the surgeon as the readers can see how his life has progressed since that tale and how close him and Jane have become. There are newer characters the Medical Examiner who is a strong female lead character, but who never really opens up in this tale, hopefully she'll appear in others. And the doting, dutiful FBI agent Gabriel, I grew fond of his character you really can feel for his plight and his frustration as the story unfolds. Also Tess Gerritsen manages to convey the darkest fears of any husband and parent so effectively you feel as though it is your loved ones at risk your fears.

I liked this book, despite the darkness it had a sense of justice about it something I could relate to but that would keep me thinking for weeks afterward, just what does go on behind closed doors, and the abuse that plagues our society and young girls bought and sold as though they were material items, and how people calling out for help to be heard can be thought of as terrorists. It's thought provoking, dark, gory and will make you cringe, but again I recommend this one a thoroughly gripping read beginning to end.

Book Master strikes again. This time I got introduced to an author known for collaborating with James Paterson occasionally. I liked James Patterson so I thought I'd give Mr. Gross a try (his name always makes me giggle as I think of Calvin and Hobbes.... childish, I know).

This book is a classic thriller. There is money, sex, occasional violence, crime solving and cheesy love scenes. They could have put that on the cover and that would have made me want to read it straight away.

The basic plotline is about a guy who dies in a train explosion on his way to work. After his family mourned his death, things appear that hint at the fact that he may not be dead at all and the disappearance of a substantial amount of money may have something to do with it.

At the same time, a couple of murders appear that the police files as unsolved. These tie up to the plot in the end.

Mr. Gross cleverly reveals small parts of the puzzle, which at first feel like we emptied the box onto the table, but slowly connect as we read along.

The characters are believable as we see them err and doubt themselves as the events occur and that makes me connect to them .

The book didn’t offer me anything new but it was a very enjoyable read and an interesting story.

I had never heard of this author before if I am to be honest. A friend from work lets call her the book master :) let me borrow her copy as she thought I would like it.

The Surgeon is a thriller novel, all about a serial killer who stalks and preys on women who live alone. It focuses in on the deepest darkest fears I imagine most women have had at some point in their lives. For myself it's the sort of fears that are always present in the back of my mind, when reading this book it felt like the situations had been plucked out the darkest recesses of my mind and laid bare for all to see. It's a revealing book and gives a disturbing insight into the mind of a serial killer without ever really getting too close. During the time I was reading it I was moving to my own place for the first time, so these fears were much more prominent but even so I could not put this book down!

The main characters are well constructed and thoughtfully written. The women are strong, independent yet very different from each other. They represent different aspects that I feel most women have, strength and yet a vulnerability most women don't like to put on display. The story focuses mostly on these specific crimes against certain women, focusing mainly on one central character, however this does not mean the male characters are forgotten about. The central male character was my favourite character by the end of the book as; even as a woman I could relate to him and empathise with him throughout the story.

In all it's a superbly written book one I would definitely recommend but since reading it I no longer sleep with the windows unlocked that's for certain :). Tess Gerritsen has gone deep into my psyche and has torn apart the safe world which I thought I lived in, it really makes you think about the people you see everyday at work and in social situations, do you really know what they are thinking even as they shake your hand? The possibilities are endless and terrifying.

This one is a keeper!

The first book I shall write about was one given to me by lovely C. on my birthday.
It was my debut in Ben Elton and I'm not sure I was ready for what I read.

The book is set in a future where global warming has done its thing and everyone lives very crowded lives in whatever land there is leftover.
It is meant to be a dark comedy, but when I started reading it I felt like it was a horror story where my worst fears come true.

Due to the catastrophe of the floods, many things were lost. Fiction stories, science, logic, all things I treasure... As if that wasn't enough, everyone lives in a Big Brother like world. There are cameras everywhere from the toilet at home to the coffee room at work. The title comes from the system that rules this world. A world where everyone has to be like the Big Brother residents of our current shows... That is the faith and the faith is law. You don't question it, you just follow it... well, blindly.
I don't want to go into too many spoilers, so just imagine everyone being as fake, loud, and intrusive as in the Big Brother shows (Yes intrusive, no matter how much you try to ignore it, you always end up watching a glimpse of it somewhere which makes you cringe) and if you're not like that then you become an outcast in society and will probably be lynched by a mob because you hurt someone's feelings.

It is all less scary once the main character starts rebelling against this system, starts keeping secrets and thinking for himself. I found myself rooting for this guy to be able read the books I take for granted.

I found this book to be a spark of introspection and, despite being fiction, I can see it as a potential future hopefully in a parallel universe rather than my own. Since reading it, I have been valuing my privacy and the fact that I am no one in the world but still own my identity. It seems ironic but I reached the conclusion that sharing myself in the World Wide Web is a not always a good thing yet I am sharing my view in a blog. However, this new project is a product of introspection from reading "Blind Faith". My own personal blog which I kept for over 4 years is now on hold until further introspection...

We like books.
We want to write about books.
The end.

V. and C.