Book reviews

Trial by Fire,

by J.A. Jance

Simon & Schuster, 2009

(Available Dec. 1)

Hardcover $25.99, 357 pages

J.A. Jance fans, especially fans of the Ali Reynolds series, will not be disappointed with this new novel. It’s a page turner.

Ali is asked by Yavapai County Sheriff Gordon Maxwell to stand in temporarily as the media relations person for the department. Her qualifications are outstanding considering her background as a TV anchorwoman in several major television markets, including L.A. The job does not require detective work but, as Ali Reynolds fans know, she can’t help getting involved when a new subdivision goes up in flames and is tattooed with the logo of a domestic terrorist group called the Earth Liberation Front. The crime becomes major news after a local fireman hears a moan inside one of the burning structures and rescues a woman who is barely alive and beyond recognition.

Ali has a full-time job keeping the news media at bay and circumventing question about the arson and the link to the ELF group. The focus of the media is the Phoenix hospital where the burn victim is hanging on to life by a thread. She comes in and out of a coma but can only communicate by blinking her eyes. Initially, she has amnesia and the hospital is filled with reporters as the case goes nationwide and the world waits to find out who the woman really is.

Finally, the mystery of her identity is solved, and her relatives assemble. Sister Anselm, a hospital patient advocate, asks Ali to help her protect the patient as it appears one or more of the family members may have been involved, and now have even more need to finish the job.

Despite the danger to the patient, to Sister Anselm, and to herself, Ali fearlessly charges ahead and discovers a secret that is even darker and more twisted then she ever could have imagined.

J.A. Jance will talk about her book at 3 p.m. Dec. 10, at Joyner-Green Valley Branch Library, 601 N. La Canada Dr., Green Valley.

— Ned Lord

Sneakaboard Press

Broken Promises, Next Generation,

by Dolores Allen

Authorhouse, 2009

242 pages

“Broken Promises, Next Generation” is the sequel to Dolores Allen’s first novel. This one takes off with Joey, the son of the first novel’s protagonists, Millie and Jacob. He comes home to find his wife murdered, but unlike most novels the story line is not as much about solving the murder as it is about the dramatic changes it brings to the lives of the victim’s family and friends.

Like any historical novel, it is complicated and rich in characters as it follows not only the protagonist but his family through a maze of life-changing events including marriage, divorce, birth, death and numerous sexual encounters.

Religion plays a major role in this novel with the ministers sometimes being greater sinners than anyone in the congregation.

— Ned Lord

Metro Girl,

by Janet Evanovich

Harper, 2005

384 pages

I must state up front that I did not read the book.

I listened to the unabridged version on my last trip to Monterey, Calif. It was 12 hours of pure Evanovich!

This story was so thoroughly entertaining I missed one of my exits on the freeway and had to double back.

If you’ve never read Janet Evanovich you need to know up front this is not an epic masterpiece. Just laugh-out-loud fun!

Metro Girl introduced a whole new crop of oddballs, starring Alexandra Barney Barnaby and her NASCAR guy buddy, Sam Hooker.

The plot was shallow, but well-written and the characters were colorful and interesting.

Barney, a former family trained garage guru-turned-insurance adjuster, heads from Baltimore down to Miami looking for her brother, Wild Bill, who has dropped off the face of the earth after a middle-of-the-night phone call to his sister that ended with a woman’s scream.

Big sister, Barney and Sam join forces to find her brother and Sam’s missing yacht. Brother Bill is on a mission all his own to help out the newest love of his life find a treasure she believes her father and grandfather hid during the Cuban Embargo.

I love the wit and barbed dialogue between Sam and Barney as they flirt outrageously staying one step ahead of the bad guys page after page. Both characters are quirky and go out of their way to give folks the wrong impression of their true selves. They tangle with one another as they stumble through the confusing mess Wild Bill leaves in his wake.

Besides Barney and Nascar Guy we meet politicians, federal agents and Cuban nationals. They run blockades, search for sunken treasure, jump out of helicopters and are wrongfully imprisoned. The threat of chemical warfare, kidnapping, explosions, murder and true mayhem keep you hanging on every word as Janet Evanovich pulls you into the world of her new heroine, Barney.

— Lacy Nathan

2nd Look Books

My Pal Valentine,

by Heather MacLeod

Publish America, 2009

$14, 42 pages

This is a short book that tells the story of the life and death of an extraordinary Labrador Retriever mix and her interaction with the author and her other dogs, cats and horses.

It is written in a narrative fashion filled with anecdotes about the author and Valentine.

The publisher, Publish America says they have “allowed this work to remain exactly as the author intended, verbatim, without editorial input.” You might feel as if you were sitting in Ms. MacLeod’s living room, enjoying a glass of wine and listening to her tell stories about Val.

It’s a love story.

— Ned Lord

The Art of Racing in the Rain,

by Garth Stein

Harper

Paperback $14.99, 336 Pages

For anyone that has ever wondered what their dog thinks about, you may not want to read this book. They may know more about you than you think. In Garth Stein’s book, Denny Swift’s intuitive dog Enzo chronicled their life together before and after Denny’s marriage. This unique look will leave you with a new perceptive of dogs and the strength of the human and canine spirit.

Denny Swift is an up and coming race car driver and racing is a passion that the two of them share. In addition to seeing the world through Enzo’s eyes, throughout the book auto racing analogies are used to compare navigating a race track with navigating through life.

There are a few surprising twists and a few dark moments in the book that will leave you having thoughts about reality, perception and good and evil The end left me smiling with the promise of the ever after!

You need not be a dog lover or a race fan to enjoy this book. It is a story that you read with mixed emotions and after all, isn’t that why we read?

— Dianne Sevick

The Book Shop

Smilies are Naturally Bald,

by Irena Monticelli

RCM Biomedical Vis-Com, 2007

Soft cover, 54 pages; $26

“Smilies are Naturally Bald” is a book about living with cancer, and it’s written in a sometimes painful, but mostly humorous fashion.

The subtitle is “Warped humor for the twisted path of cancer.” I think it is a helpful little book, but then I don’t have cancer. I found the book interesting enough that I put it in my library along with books like “How to Deal with Internet Explorer” and “All You Need to Know about Sailing,” and other helpful manuals. It will be there if I need it.

This book is written by a Stage 2b cancer patient, edited by a Stage 4 cancer patient, and illustrated by the caretaker. They are sisters. It may be a good tool for a cancer patient or for the caregiver of a cancer patient. It is presented in a cartoon format and follows Joe the Lab Rat through his cancer diagnosis and treatment in a down-to-earth comic graphic style. The publisher says it is about surviving the absurdity of cancer.

The writing describes the journey of the two women, disguised as Joe, who decided to laugh a little as they traveled the well-worn path. Some parts of this book will make you laugh, some might make you afraid, and some are a little sad. Overall, I think it is a worthwhile read for the caregiver, everyone who has cancer, or for anyone in the age group for whom each visit to the doctor carries with it a deep fear of bad news.

The art work is very nice and the little smilie faces on each page are cute.

— Ned Lord