Book review: Panic by Jeff Abbott

Panic - Jeff Abbott

Synopsis:
Evan Casher is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, who thinks his life is moderately normal- especially in comparison to his film subjects. He has a great new girlfriend, and his mother and father, a travel photographer and computer consultant respectively, have a strong and steady marriage.

But everything changes when Evan receives an urgent phone call from his mother, telling him to return immediately to the family home in Austin. She offers no explanations, and Evan, understandably expecting the worst, travels across Texas to see her.

However, when he arrives at the house, he discovers his mother’s brutally murdered body lying on the kitchen floor, a hitman waiting for him, and his life in mortal danger.

With his father missing and his girlfriend gone AWOL, Evan learns that the important people in his life are not who he thought they were. He has to sift through the entangled web of lies and deceit that create the foundation of his life, in an effort to discover the truth about his past, before he too suffers the same fate as his mother.

What I gained from reading this book:
This book is a good reminder that you shouldn’t take anything for granted. Evan’s whole life as he knows it is ripped apart, and with no warning, after his mother’s untimely death. Evan has to struggle to put the pieces back together and create some semblance of the life he once knew.

Positives:
This fast-paced novel, which takes place over 29 days, is big on gun-toting characters but its Abbott’s well thought out plot that makes this book such an intense and interesting page-turner. With a storyline that could easily be adjusted to suit the big screen, Abbott manages to create an exciting, and somewhat believable story filled with intrigue, assassins, spies and mystery.

Negatives:
This book is probably not a good choice for people who are looking for a light and entertaining read. Panic is very much a murder and espionage-type novel, filled with car-chases, shoot-outs and the obligatory bad guys. You won’t find any sweet storylines here.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Genre: Crime/ Thriller

Recommended for: People who enjoy reading murder mysteries with a twist

Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below:

Book Review: The Last Of The Red-Hot Vampires by Katie MacAlister

The Last Of The Red-Hot Vampires - Katie MacAlister

Synopsis:
Portia Harding is a physicist, and believes that everything can be explained by logic and science. When she accompanies her best friend Sarah on a three-week ‘supernatural safari’ to England, Scotland and Wales to seek out ethereal beings, she is initially pessimistic about the supposed ‘magic’ in the air. That is, until she finds herself in the company of a supernatural individual named Hope, who gives her a gift that allows her to control elements of the weather.
With this gift comes the arrival of the handsome Theondre North, the bastard son of an angel, who wants to change his fate- and needs Portia’s help to do it. But in their encounters with creatures from both the heavenly and hellish realms, Portia inadvertently gets Theo turned into a vampire. With time on the line, Portia has to not only find a way to understand the supernatural world, but save her new love’s soul.

What I gained from reading this book:
This book was relatively entertaining, and introduces a whole new aspect to the supernatural and vampire themes of the genre. The reader is treated to whole new societies, with an emphasis on the existence of worlds other than the one that we live in.

Positives:
This novel is perfect for people who enjoy love stories with a twist. The relationship between Portia and Theo is tumultuous but loving, and Theo’s vampirism adds uniqueness to the situation.

Negatives:
MacAlister’s characters, although charming, tend to be on the excessive side. Although Portia is strong-willed and determined, she also comes across as abrupt and irritatingly distrusting- especially at the beginning of the novel, when she questions every single thing that happens during their trip. Surely it’s not possible for someone to be so logical and scientific about everything? But luckily she softens towards the middle of the book and readers are able to relate to her more.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Genre: Supernatural Romance

Recommended for: People interested in paranormal universes



Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below:

Book review: Apocalipstick by Sue Margolis

Apocalipstick - Sue Margolis

Synopsis:
Rebecca Fine has dreams of becoming a hot investigative journalist and settling down with the man of her dreams. Instead, as a reluctant beauty columnist, she has to write menial articles about makeup woes, and endure dates that her grandmother has set up for her with boring men that still live with their mothers. To make matters worse, her widowed father announces that he is getting married - to Rebecca’s old high school nemesis Lipstick- and Rebecca immediately suspects that she’s up to no good.
But things begin to change when Rebecca meets Max Stoddart, her new workmate who closely resembles Hugh Grant, and who seems to have an extreme interest in her.
And when Rebecca discovers a scandalous secret about a new miracle anti-wrinkle cream that is about to be launched, it seems that her chance to prove herself as a journalist is about to arrive.
But will her revelations ruin the beauty industry forever? Is Max really interested in her? And is Lipstick really reformed, or back to her old tricks?


What I gained from reading this book:
While reading this novel, one theme came up quite a lot- the issue of trust. Rebecca’s relationship with Max, while wonderful, is also extremely rocky due to moments when she feels that she is unable to trust him. The same is evident in her tentative friendship with her father’s new fiancé who Rebecca already holds a strong aversion to, especially after being bullied by Lipstick while in high school.
This book teaches that honesty needs to be valued, and that sometimes it takes a long time to be able to earn the trust of someone, especially after wrongs have been done.


Positives:
Margolis combines her well thought-out storylines with points of interest and topical humour. She makes brilliant observations about the fickleness of the beauty industry and the importance of advertising in the media, but also adds wit by detailing Rebecca’s grandmother’s quest to find her granddaughter a suitable husband. The end result is an interesting but effective mix.


Negatives:
Although this novel is meant to be funny, some of the jokes fall flat- although that may depend on your sense of humour or your interpretation of the joke.


Rating: 6 out of 10

Genre: Comedy/ Romance

Recommended for: People who are looking for romance and laughs

Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below:

Book review: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

Synopsis:
While sailing through the icy seas near the North Pole, adventurer Robert Walton and his crew come across a foreign man close to death and stranded on the snow.
After picking him up and attempting to nurse him back to health, the man reveals himself to be a scientist named Victor Frankenstein, whose interest in creating life through alternate means has led to his ultimate downfall.
Through letters to his sister Margaret, Robert Walton recounts Frankenstein’s tale, which has been dictated to him throughout their long conversations.
He reveals Frankenstein’s fascination with creation as a young man, and about his experiment, in which he combines body parts of the deceased to form a new being, which he brings to life with a shock of electricity.
But Frankenstein’s joy following his success is undermined once he looks into his creation’s ‘watery eyes’, and he rejects the creature on the basis of its looks, denying it any chance of being assimilated into his township, or into everyday human life. In a show of vengeance, the creature decides to wreak havoc on Frankenstein’s existence, and sets out to destroy him, and all that he holds dear.

What I gained from reading this book:
Mary Shelley’s classic novel raises many questions concerning the limitations of human creativity and highlights the moral boundaries that Victor Frankenstein breaches when he rejects his creation, and the creature’s subsequent requests for a mate. Readers have to question if the events in the novel would ever have occurred had Frankenstein treated his creature with respect, especially since the creature shows no sign of malevolence before being rejected. This book makes readers consider how tolerance and education can shape somebody’s attitudes to life, and highlights how fine the line between good and bad really is.

Positives:
This is one of the most famous gothic novels to ever be written and the influence it has had on other literature and film is astounding. Not only is this story written with gripping detail, but Shelley lets us see the story from both sides. The reader is given an insight into Frankenstein’s mind as he struggles to control and hide his disgust at his creation, and several chapters are dedicated to the creature’s interpretation of the same events. This allows the reader to see why each of the characters reacts in the way that they do.

Negatives:
This novel was originally published in the year 1818, so if you are not a fan of ‘old-fashioned’ writing, then this book is probably not a good choice for you.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Genre: Classic Horror

Recommended for: People who want to read a classic book that still raises questions today.

Australians can buy the book by clicking the picture below

New book review blog

Hi everybody my name is Catherine. I will be reviewing novels and biographies to help you decide if a book is right for you. I am a literature and journalism graduate and enjoy reading books whenever I can.
If you have any books you would like me to review please let me know. If you have read any of the books reviewed here, feel free to add your own comments to help out other people.

Catherine