Tropical Delusions……

White Is The Coldest Colour – John Nicholl

I was fortunate to receive this novel as an Advance Reader Copy, in exchange for an objective review.

Set in The UK’s Wales, this book is not for the faint at heart, as it’s subject matter deals with the all too dark behaviors of pedophiles and their sexual predation – while described scenes are fortunately bland, the subject matter is not.

Dr. David Galbraith is, by outward appearances, a very well respected and highly skilled pediatric psychiatrist. However, as the reader learns on page one, he is also a sadistic sexual predator – and his victims are very young boys.

Molly Mailer is a newly minted single Mom to her two children, as her husband has left her for another woman. Her teenaged daughter is a bot out of control, and her young 7-year-old son Anthony has developed some issues of his own – leading his pediatrician to make a referral to the local pediatric psych physician, Dr. Gilbraith.

Local social workers and police investigators have recently identified Dr. Gilbraith as a person of interest, but the investigation is in it’s beginning stages, as interviewing his young victims, and gaining useful information from their childish minds has been difficult and tedious work.

Dr. Gilbraith becomes fascinated by young Anthony Mailer on his first office visit and works to gently manipulate Anthony’s family into allowing unsupervised appointments – Molly, seemingly seeing positive changes in her son after a first visit, agrees, but later changes her mind and cancels later visits. But Dr. Gilbraith is not to be deterred and attempts to kidnap young Anthony, grievously injuring Molly in the process.

It becomes a race against time, as police and family services attempt to connect the dots, find the evidence to put Dr. Gilbraith away forever, but will they find young Anthony before it’s too late??

A fast-paced novel with edge-of-your-seat suspense as you cheer for good to prevail over evil! I was sucked in on page one, and I could not put it down!

After Anna – Lisa Scottoline

I was fortunate to receive this novel as an Advance Reader Copy, in exchange for an objective review.

Margaret (Maggie) Alderman has a good life – she’s blissfully married to the love of her life, Dr. Noah Alderman, and is Mom to his sweet young son, Caleb. But Maggie longs to find her daughter – a daughter that was taken from her by her estranged ex-husband after Maggie struggled with post-partum depression shortly after her birth.

Maggie receives a call one day, seemingly out of the blue – her daughter Anna is attending a prestigious private school in Maine and wants to meet her. As Maggie rushes to Anna’s side, she also learns that Anna’s father has been killed in a plane crash with the rest of his family overseas. Impulsively Anna decides to leave school and come home to live with Maggie, Noah & Caleb.

Soon, things begin to happen. Caleb seems at odds with his new sister Anna, and Anna seems to have difficulty adjusting to a new family and rules. She soon accuses Noah of molestation, tearing the family apart. Then, Anna winds up dead at Noah’s apartment and he is arrested for her murder, all while protesting his innocence.

The book opens with Noah standing trial for Anna’s murder, and each chapter details events that occurred ‘before’ and ‘after’ Anna, from various points of view, moves quickly, and then culminates in a discovery, and then an ending that you’ll never see coming!!

Lisa Scottoline is one of those authors whose books I’ll pick up and read immediately! I’m never, ever disappointed, and this novel is no exception! A great read!

Mystic – Robert R. Perkinson

I was fortunate to receive this novel as an Advance Reader Copy, in exchange for an objective review.

Trevor Howard is the Teton County, Wyoming sheriff, and he is investigating the recent death of 5-year-old Ronnie, along with four major arson events in and around the town of Jackson. He knows something is not right in his county, but there are few leads to go on, and no forensic evidence. Abe Anderson is the area’s pediatrician. Married to Nancy, and the father of some children, Abe has a secret fascination with a local actress and an unhealthy habit. Father’s Paul and Warren are the priests that preside over the local Catholic church, one of whom falls under scrutiny when an anonymous letter arrives, accusing one of them of misconduct with a child. And Holly Webb is an undercover police officer, brought in by Trevor to quietly investigate and infiltrate the county’s drug runners, until she finds herself in over her head.

Several different story lines are in effect and play into one another as Trevor investigates and attempts to identify the evil that has invaded Teton County. This book is loaded with fast paced action, colorful characters, and the beautifully descriptive scenery of the Teton Mountains. As Trevor continues searching for answers, a psychopathic personality disintegrates, a drug habit spirals out of control, and a young cop swears vengeance. But first all must survive the search for Mystics.

This book wasn’t quite what I expected, but it was a great read! However, there were a LOT of grammatical errors and misspellings – while they don’t at all detract from the story, I found myself quite surprised at the volume of errors.

All in all, still a great, suspenseful read!

Good Luck With That – Kristan Higgins

I was fortunate to receive this novel as an Advance Reader Copy, in exchange for an objective review.

Emerson, Marley & Georgia are three kids who meet at a summer camp for obese children and they become lifelong friends. Flash forward to the present – Georgia & Marley share a two story home (Georgia rents from her close friend), and Emerson lives a couple of hours away. While Georgia and Marley have successful careers and a close relationship, Emerson has drifted away a bit, seemingly happy in her career, and a relationship of her own.

Then the two get a call, summoning them to Emerson’s death bed, where the are shocked to see that she’s become a very morbidly obese woman, who’s health issues and imminent death are all related to her size. She leaves them a letter to be read after her death, and within the letter is a list that the three girls had created as kids. And she challenges Georgia and Marley to fulfill each task on the list.

The story is told from the perspective of both surviving women, and through excerpts from the late Emerson’s journals, as they each reveal their struggles with obesity, wanting to be thin, family issues, fitting in, discrimination, acceptance and love.

I initially had a hard time getting involved in this story, because – like most women – I could totally see myself and my own struggles in these characters. As the story progresses, and the personalities of each character emerge, I found the book hard to put down, and shed more than a few tears at the heartbreak and then love found within its pages. A very realistic and yet heartwarming read!!