For The Sake of Elena by Elizabeth George

Synopsis :

Elena Weaver was a surprise to anyone meeting her for the first time. In her clingy dresses and dangling earrings she exuded a sexuality at odds with the innocence projected by the unicorn posters on her walls. While her embittered mother fretted about her welfare from her home in London, in Cambridge—where Elena was a student at St. Stephen's College—her father and his second wife each had their own very different image of the girl. As for Elena, she lived a life of casual and intense physical and emotional relationships, with scores to settle and goals to achieve--until someone, lying in wait along the route she ran every morning, bludgeoned her to death.

Unwilling to turn the killing over to the local police, the university calls in New Scotland Yard. Thus, Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, enter the rarefied world of Cambridge University, where academic gowns often hide murderous intentions.

For both officers, the true identity of Elena Weaver proves elusive. Each relationship the girl left behind casts new light both on Elena and on those people who appeared to know her best—from an unsavory Swedish-born Shakespearean professor to the brooding head of the Deaf Students Union.

What's more, Elena's father, a Cambridge professor under consideration for a prestigious post, is a man with his own dark secrets. While his past sins make him neurotically dedicated to Elena and blind to her blacker side, present demons drive him toward betrayal.

The above synopsis was taken from goodreads.com.

 This is my second time reading Elizabeth George.  The first book was about six years ago.  I wasn't very wowed by her then but am glad to say that For the Sake of Elena fares much better.  With so many to be read books, I tend to get impatient if a particular book did not live up to expectation.  While For the Sake of Elena wasn't great, it was quite good and I was quite patient with it.

Sad to say, I wasn't able to guess who the murderer was but it was revealed quite suddenly and there wasn't any clue for me to pick on as to who it might be. Perhaps I am not as good as I was in picking up clues nowadays in such detective novel. :)

The Shinning by Stephen King

Synopsis :

Danny was only five years old but in the words of old Mr Halloran he was a 'shiner', aglow with psychic voltage. When his father became caretaker of the Overlook Hotel his visions grew frighteningly out of control.

As winter closed in and blizzards cut them off, the hotel seemed to develop a life of its own. It was meant to be empty, but who was the lady in Room 217, and who were the masked guests going up and down in the elevator? And why did the hedges shaped like animals seem so alive?

Somewhere, somehow there was an evil force in the hotel - and that too had begun to shine...

This is one of the BEST horror book ever!  I read this when I was much younger many, many years ago and I decided to re-read it again recently.

Re-reading it doesn't make it less scary.  I remember being spooked out at home one night recently after reading this in bed and I refuse to venture into the kitchen to get a glass of water!

Readers have to pay attention to the details described by Stephen King.  One of my favourite part is of course the lady in room 217. That is just pure classical horror and the animal hedges that came alive....another superb narrative.

Danny's story continues in Doctor Sleep which was written by Stephen King in 2013, 16 years after The Shinning.  I have yet to read Doctor Sleep.  Will keep a lookout for this book in the store.

Paranoia by Joseph Finder

Synopsis :

It was only a prank: diverting cash from Wyatt Telecom's executive slush fund to throw a retirement bash for a member of the loading dock crew. But when corporate security catches up with Adam Cassidy, a low ambition junior staffer at the high-tech behemoth, they call it something else: embezzlement, to the tune of nearly $80 grand.

Ruthless CEO Nick Wyatt is impressed by Adam's scheming, and offers him one way out-take on the role of a rising corporate hotshot and infiltrate Wyatt's rival, Trion Systems. His mission is to get close to Trion's legendary founder Jock Goddard, and his ultra-secret "Project Aurora," and report back to Wyatt.

With Wyatt pulling the strings and a dramatically improved identity, Adam is set up as Trion's new boy genius. Suddenly, he's got a sweet new Porsche, a closet full of $1,500 suits, and even a lovely lady who thinks he's a dream. But it's all just a mirage, because Adam is about to learn that nothing is what it seems and that it isn't paranoia...everyone is out to get him...

Having greatly enjoyed reading Buried Secrets by Joseph Finder in August this year, I have been on a lookout for his other titles each time I went book shopping.  It was such an excitement when I came across this title recently when I was least expecting it.  Actually, I didn't bother much about the title. As long as it's written by Joseph Finder, I will certainly want it.

Paranoia did not disappoint.  It's a corporate espionage thriller which was both engaging and thrilling.  I wasn't supposed to read this yet as I have a few other titles  that take precedent but I was too impatient to wait.  Character development can be better but plot wise, it was exciting and I am always a fan of twist in the storyline and I certainly got that.

I think Joseph Finder is a wonderful thriller author and having just read two of his titles, I want more!

By the way, a movie adaptation of this book was released in year 2013. If I am not mistaken, it's very different from the book.  Knowing me, I prefer the book anyday.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Synopsis :

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life and a role that she has never challenged... until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister—and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

A provocative novel that raises some important ethical issues, My Sister's Keeper is the story of one family's struggle for survival at all human costs and a stunning parable for all time.

Books by Jodi Picoult are never straight forward. It has to either be thought provoking or heart tugging.  In this book, it's gut wrenching but in a good way.

Anna filed a petition against her parents to prevent them from harvesting her kidney for her sister who is suffering from leukemia.   But is that all there is? Are there no other reasons?  Is that what she really didn't want to do?

I read this book over a couple of days.  I am glad I read it while at home cos I was crying buckets on and off.  Some people didn't like the ending but then I always like a twist in a story and I certainly get unexpected twist in this title.

I have yet to catch the movie.  I shall one of these days.

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

Synopsis :

The death of Judd Foxman’s father marks the first time that the entire Foxman family—including Judd’s mother, brothers, and sister—have been together in years. Conspicuously absent: Judd’s wife, Jen, whose fourteen-month affair with Judd’s radio-shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public.

Simultaneously mourning the death of his father and the demise of his marriage, Judd joins the rest of the Foxmans as they reluctantly submit to their patriarch’s dying request: to spend the seven days following the funeral together. In the same house. Like a family.

As the week quickly spins out of control, longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed, and old passions reawakened. For Judd, it’s a weeklong attempt to make sense of the mess his life has become while trying in vain not to get sucked into the regressive battles of his madly dysfunctional family. All of which would be hard enough without the bomb Jen dropped the day Judd’s father died: She’s pregnant.

This book is both funny and sad...I can even go so far as to say it's funnily sad and sadly funny at the same time.  There are moments of near heartbreak but the next moment you will be ROTFLOL (rolling on the floor laughing out loud) ...er...did I get that right?

I felt for Judd throughout the book as he tries to come to term with all that happens and although he didn't say much, readers can sense that he missed his dad too and in a way, he missed is siblings.  There's a lot of stories that developed from this especially involving other siblings like Wendy and Philip.

It's quite like a chic lite but the main focus is a guy so what's the term for a male version of chic lite? 

I enjoyed this book and am happy with it. :)
 

Breaking the Rules by Barbara Taylor Bradford

Synopsis :

Following a terrifying encounter in the quiet English countryside, a young woman flees to New York in search of a new life. Adopting the initial M as her name, and reinventing herself, she embarks on a journey that will lead her to the catwalks of Paris, where she becomes the muse and star model to France’s iconic designer Jean-Louis Tremont. When M meets the charming and handsome actor, Larry Vaughan in New York they fall instantly in love and marry. Soon, they become the most desired couple on the international scene, appearing on the cover of every celebrity magazine, adored by millions. With a successful career and a happy marriage, M believes she has truly put the demons of her past behind her. But M’s fortunes are about to take another dramatic twist. A series of bizarre events turn out not to be accidents at all, but assaults on M and her family. The dark figure from M’s past, a psychopath with deadly intent, has made a vow: to shatter M’s world forever. But M also makes a vow: she will do everything to keep them all safe. When those you love are threatened and at risk, there’s nothing you won’t do to protect them… you’ll even resort to breaking the rules! Moving from New York to the chic fashion capitals of London and Paris, to the exotic locations of Istanbul and Hong Kong, this new tale from a renowned storyteller is a genuine page turner.

I am pretty disappointed in this book.  For a book that's about the great-grand daughters of Emma Harte, there's no substance and certainly no depth in any of the characters and in the storyline. 

I quite double of Barbara Taylor Bradford actually wrote this book because if she did, then she has very most lost it.

There's nothing much I can say except I will never read another book by Barbara Taylor Bradford again.

 

Certainty by Madeleine Thien

Synopsis :

Madeleine Thien's stunning debut novel hauntingly retells a crucial moment in history, through two unforgettable love stories. Gail Lim, a producer of radio documentaries, is haunted by the mystery of her father's Asian past. As a child, Gail's father, Matthew Lim, lived in a Malaysian village occupied by the Japanese. He and his beloved Ani wandered the jungle fringe under the terrifying shadow of war. The war shattered their families, splitting the two apart until a brief reunion years later. Matthew's profound connection to Ani and the life-changing secrets they shared cast a shadow that, later still, Matthew's wife, Clara, desperately sought to understand. Gail's journey to unravel the mystery of her parents' lives takes her to Amsterdam, where she unearths more about this mysterious other woman. But as Gail approaches the truth, Ani's story will bring Gail face-to-face, with the untold mysteries of her own life. Vivid, poignant, and written in understated yet powerful prose, CERTAINTY is a novel about the legacies of loss, the dislocations of war, and the timeless redemption afforded by love.

Madeleine Thien is an Asian Canadian author. I was given this book by a friend who's migrating to another contry and I kept and read this book most in my car and while waiting for traffic.

It' s a rather sad book and has lots of flash back.  I didn't quite like as I find the flow of the story wasn't really connecting but yet at the same time I was much intrigued by the story of Matthew and Ani.  That, to me, should be the focus of the book and in my opinion, if only it was developed that way, it would have been a great book.  

As it is, it's only a rather good book.