Body Double by Tess Gerritsen

Mystery

When Dr. Maura Isles returns from a trip to Paris, she finds her street buzzing with police activity. Wondering which neighbour got in trouble, as she gets closer she notices the activity is outside her house. A woman was shot in her car, right infront of Isles house and the woman looks exactly like Dr. Isles. Before she showed up, the police thought it was Dr. Isles, the medical examiner for the area. Relieved that it wasn't her, there are a lot of questions. Who was this woman, why was she there, and who killed her?

Dr. Isles' friend Detective Jane Rizzoli is the one investigating the crime and finds out that this woman is actually Dr. Isle's twin, whom she wasn't aware existed. Dr. Isles is confused but wants answers.

This is the forth book in a series that I haven't started. I knew there was a television show created based on these characters but that was about the extent of my knowledge. It was easy to pick up, though I felt far more connected with Dr. Isles than Detective Rizzoli because most of the book centred around the doctor. I'd like to know more about Rizzoli, but really would like to know more about the relationship between the two. I wish there was a little more background on this history in the book for those that haven't started at book one.

The mystery felt a bit disjointed as I was reading it. I wondered how certain events could possibly be connected together but they did end up all getting tied together in the end. Not a bad book!

First Line: "That boy was watching her again."

Rating:
(4/5)

The Mermaid's Daughter by Ann Claycomb

Fiction

In a modern day, tragic re-telling of the Little Mermaid, Kathleen comes from a long history of women that have a strong affinity to the sea. Kathleen isn't fully aware of her history, but she does know that her mom walked in to the sea one day when she was a baby with rocks in her pockets. She suffers from the same stabbing pain in her feet and mouth that her mom did and wonders if she is bound to the same fate. Thankfully, she has two things to help her get through this pain: her girlfriend Harry and music.

Harry and Kathleen vacation in Ireland to learn more about Kathleen's family history and find out that the tragedy extends back many generations. To help Kathleen cope with this, Harry and Kathleen's father set out to compose an opera specifically for her. They wonder if they can reverse the curse in Kathleen's family and save her with music.

I really enjoyed the Disney movie The Little Mermaid but had never read Hans Christian Andersen’s tale, so I only know the child-friendly version of this story. We know that the Disney movie is a musical and it suits the story very well that this re-telling also involves music. The most enjoyable part of this book for me was when Katheleen's dad and Harry were creating the opera for her. There was underlying tension of Kathleen possibly getting worse, combined with the stress of creating and producing on an opera.

Unfortunately, compared to Arial, Kathleen was a completely selfish, annoying character. This is called out by herself and Harry throughout the novel, but it doesn't help me connect with her. By the mid point of the book I was rather fed up. I understand that she's in a lot of pain but she treats her partner like garbage when all Harry wants to do is help. I feel like this could have been toned down a bit to allow me to feel more sympathy for Kathleen rather than hating her.

Still, Harry and Kathleen's father more than make up for the dislike I had for Kathleen. That combined with the interesting story make this a worthy read.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for letting me be a part of this tour! If you're interested in picking this book up, you can get it here.

First Line: "'Kathleen,' she says, 'you are going to go mad.'"

Rating:
(4/5)

About the Author Ann Claycomb’s fiction has been published in American Short Fiction, Zahir, Fiction Weekly, Brevity, Hot Metal Bridge, The Evansville Review, Title Goes Here, and other publications. She has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has an MFA in fiction from West Virginia University. Find her on Harper Collins' bio page.

The Big Dig by Linda Barnes

Mystery

Carlotta Carlyle is an ex-cop, current private investigator. Needing some extra cash, she decides to help out a friend and is put undercover as a secretary for the big dig, a huge over budget in Boston to put roads underground. Carlotta is searching for fraud on the worksite, and ends up working in the same trailer as those running the entire project. She's also taken on a missing persons case, hired by her landlord. Carlyle has her hands full working on both these cases.

I do most of my reading on the train and find that a good measure of how interesting a book is is how often I find myself snoozing off on the train. If I'm very interested in the book, I'll rarely fall asleep. For this book, every time I was on the train reading it, I was falling asleep. Needless to say, I didn't find this book the most exciting.

My main problem with this book is how boring Carlotta was!! You'd think as an ex-cop she'd say and do interesting things but that's not the case at all. I couldn't even really get behind her as an older sister because that part of the story is never really flushed out.

Unfortunately, I couldn't finish this one.

First Line: "I used to work with Happy Eddie Conklin when I was a cop."

Rating:
(2/5)