Last to Die by Tess Gerritsen

Sometime ago, I was introduced to Tess Gerritsen's novels. Jane Rizzoli piqued my interest. Later, Maura Isles left me head over heels with the Queen of the Dead. It wasn't an easy journey. Tess Gerritsen's history of writing romance novels featured heavily in the first few novels, and, at times, it overshadowed the main plot.

The tenth novel in the Rizzoli & Isles series hit shelves last Tuesday, and I received my copy in the mail Thursday. I drove right into it, using my Labor Day weekend to devour all 338 pages of it. I entered the book still feeling the buzz from the previous novel, but I left feeling hungry still. Is it just me or has Gerritsen lost her "edge?"

Some will argue that she never had an edge, but I don't let the naysayers deter me from enjoying a book - unless, like Fifty Shades of Grey, it's godawful. I'm not ashamed that I like the series. Not even ashamed that I own all the novels in it. But the books felt too quick. And the ongoing insult of her very intelligent characters still stabs at me. How is that Jane Rizzoli is well respected, yet she always finds herself on the wrong side of the suspects blade in the end? Sure, one or two books might not have her falling victim, but Maura does. It gets knackering, you know?

"Last to Die", Two Children's Books, and More Buys

So, I might an addict. I can't just say no to books, you know? Especially when they're free. But more on that later.

I received the latest Tess Gerritsen novel in the mail yesterday – I pre-ordered it back in March while I was testing out Amazon Prime. I cracked it open and start right away. However, I'm run ragged these days. So I haven't gotten too far into it. I had to read some passages twice because I kept dozing off. Not a commentary on Gerritsen's writing, by the way.

As I have mentioned in the past, my work now involves me reading books in the department. Most of the time I select my reads from the 3rd through 5th grade shelves because their lengthier. However, because I do have an infant son, I'm drawn more and more toward the easy shelf.

In Maxine Trottier’s Migrant, we learn what’s like to be a migrant worker through the eyes of a young girl named Anna. Trottier relates migrant families to a flock of birds, comforts them with a kitten’s warmth, and compares their temporary housing to a jack rabbit’s burrow. The illustrations by Isabelle Arsenault bring Anna’s imagination to life – her transformation to a jack rabbit to comparing the voices of her fellow migrants to crickets before she is whisked away by one upon its back. As a child whose mother traveled across the state and country for work while she was growing up, this book echoes her memories. It’s beautifully written and wonderfully illustrated that all readers will fall in love with it immediately.

Exposure to art is equally important to a child’s development as reading. In his book, Magritte’s Marvelous Hat, D.B. Johnson infuses the joys of art and reading. Not only does Johnson name his character after René Magritte, his illustrations are riddled with references to the Belgian painter’s work. Interaction is also a must, so Johnson added in a few “clear” pages containing images that create new illustrations when they are turned. Johnson created a so much more than just a story about a dog painter and his marvelous hat, one that both parent and child can enjoy.

Of the two books, it's difficult to say which exactly is my favorite. They're both equally beautiful in their own right. So before I attempt some sort of compare and contrast of apples and oranges, I'll continue on to the next and former topic.

My addiction of book has reached an all new high. We have a new librarian – who is amazingly awesome – and she seems a bit miffed with the mess of donations we have in the back. It was a get rid of everything sale. Tons of things were placed in the back to recycling – all textbooks I have little to no interest in. Here's what I've made out with this time:

• Little Women by Lousia May Alcott
• The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
• Literary Journalism: A Reader edited by Jean Chance and William McKeen
• The Aeneid by Virgil (translation by Patric Dickinson)
• Social Anthropology in Perspective: The Relevance of Social Anthropology, 2nd edition by I.M. Lewis
• Man and His Measure edited by Francis Connolly
• Technical Writing Style by Dan Jones
• A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th edition by Kate L. Turabian
• The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
• Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, 8th edition by Joseph M. Williams
• Cognitive Psychology, 3rd edition by Robert J. Sternberg

Last to Die by Tess Gerritsen is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble; for Kindle and Nook. You can pick up Magritte's Marvelous Hat on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. You can pick up a copy of Migrant at Barnes & Noble or Amazon. Until next time, keep on huntin'.

The Legend of the Monkey King by Tess Gerritsen

Okay. Okay. The books called The Silent Girl - can you blame a monkey lover for renaming it in his post? Isn't that what the books mostly about, though? Forget the "silent girl" character in Tess Gerristen's novel, the ninth book in the Rizzoli and Isle series, the Monkey King steals the show!

A Jane Doe, murdered on a roof top, starts off this mystery. What irks Boston PD most is how she died. Not a gun shot - though the victim was holding a weapon. And not quite a knife, either. Her severed hand and slit throat indicates that this woman killed on the roof tops of Chinatown bit more than she could chew. And it leads Rizzoli and gang down the alleyways of this district into the land of mythical - and historical - China. But when Jane starts searching for clues, it leads her to the grips of a murder-suicide case nineteen years old. And if anyone knows that seeing isn't exactly believing, what she unearths is far more than any woman, mother, detective can take.

Of course, there are personal drama at hand, as well. Maura Isles begins her side of the tale in the midst of a trial. A vigilante cop indited on taking the law into his own hands by brutally beating and killing a cop-killer. The once beloved pathologist is now public enemy number one within the Boston police department, placing her at odds with long-time friend - and semi-partner - Jane Rizzoli. Still recovering from her relationship with Father Brophy and her near-death entanglement, there's no telling what lies in Maura's future. Only that Rat - the child-hero who saved her life in the snow-capped mountains of Wyoming - still offers her comfort, and let's it slip that Anthony Sansone talks about her a lot.

New on the team is Detective Johnny Tam, an Asian-American who joins Rizzoli and Frost in the Chinatown investigation. He adds the reminiscent of Jane's own fight to prove herself, which sparks admiration from both Rizzoli and the reader. 

Like a few other books in the series, Gerritsen mixes reality with fantasy by introducing the lore of the Monkey King, Sun WuKong. Because as the story gets deeper, a humanoid figure steps in to take matters in his hands.

It's a fantastic read, though I expected nothing else from the writer. I can't wait for what she has in store for us next. Until next time, keep on huntin'.

The Book Hunter Goes Shopping

Summer buys

I've already mentioned a lot of these books and read most of the ones featured on the bottom there. However, I do like to list what I've purchased.

1. The Bride Collector - Ted Dekker
2. Moment of Vengeance - Elmore Leonard (free)
3. The Zani Murders - Kelly Fero
4. The Mammoth Book of Zombie Apocalypse! - Stephen Jones (editor/creator)
5. American Short Fiction (publication, not a book)
6. The Silent Girl - Tess Gerritsen (currently reading)
7. The Crow - J. O'Barr
8. Son of M - David Hine (writer) and Roy Allan Martinez (artist)
9. Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage - (too many to list)
10. Wanted - Mark Millar
11. Marvel Zombies & Marvel Zombies 2 - Robert Kirkman (writer) and Sean Phillips (artist)

And a busy hunter I have been. As of this week - possibly only this week - I've hunted for and purchased four pairs of shoes. Have I crossed the line? Will the Men's Association come for me in order to expel me out? I doubt it. With all the vanity that comes with being men these days, I'm a sure fit. My new shoes include a pair of chocolate Converse All Star Double Upper Ox, as well as, the classic black-and-white All Star style. Along with this, I bought a cheap pair of LA Gear Terrain (for work) and a pair of Skechers Camaro for no apparent reason at all.

I don't think - in my entire life - that I've ever own four pairs of shoes at the same time. At least I don't have to worry about ruining a pair of shoes meant for an outing. Oh well, until next time, keep on huntin'.

Side note: At the rate I'm going updating this blog, I'll be engage. Wish me luck.

A book I'm looking forward to this summer

I fell in love with Rizzoli & Isles last year, after Amazon suggested I check out the first novel of the Rizzoli series, The Surgeon. It was a hard sell at first. Somewhere in the story muddled with romantic subplots was the heart of a beast waiting to be released. Of course, at the same time I decided to pick up The Surgeon, I learned TNT was releasing a television series. The series, in my opinion, failed miserably. I wasn't expecting gold - they can't all be Dexters, can they? - but was expecting something that was worth my while. 

On 5 July 2011, the ninth novel in the series - The Silent Girl - will be released and this reader is giddy with excitement. After the twists and turns of the last novel - Ice Cold - I can't wait to see what Tess Gerritsen has in store for us. 

More Rizzoli & Isles

Der be Books on thee Internet: Pirating and E-Books

It's almost been a year since I've been introduced to Tess Gerritsen's works. Around the time I became emotionally involved with her duo, Rizzoli and Isles, I also discovered Gerritsen's blog. It was this post that almost caused me to put down the novels. 

Like several other celebrities - mostly those in music and the porn industry - Gerritsen is grossly misled by the suits who publish her books. Where she sees her book sales being injured, I see it as boosting them. Let's face it, if it weren't for pirating, I probably would never have picked up The Surgeon in the first place. Of course, I purchased a used copy of the novel from Amazon shortly after, but my urge wouldn't have been there had it not been for the copy I downloaded. Does this pardon me? No, of course not. In the eyes of the industry, I'm still a monster, despite that I purchased used and new copies of the other novels in the series without downloading their pirated counterparts. 

I'm a book lover, however. That is, I love books. I love owning them, which is why owning an Amazon Kindle was a difficult transition for me. While I own the digital copy of a novel, I didn't physically own it. Which means, later on, the itch will happen and I will have two copies of a novel - one digital and one hardback (of course with the exception of those only offered in one medium). 

I'm not the only one who feels that piracy can boost book sales. There are others and evidence to back up the claim. Even Paulo Coelho, author of the best-selling novel The Alchemist, decided to use Bittorrent and filesharing sites as a way to promote his book. Did it work? Well, his sells went from 3,000 to 100,000 to one million in three years. 

So why is pirating seen as something wrong by several authors? That's something I'm still trying to figure out. We can always blame the suits. Notice how it's mostly industries that are suing individuals rather than the people they supposedly represent. Several authors, actors, musicians, etc. buy into the lie that pirating is hurting their sales. Actors get paid even before the movie is released, first of all. They get residuals, sure, but it's chump change most of the time. Musicians are known to make most of their money via concerts and merchandise. So what about writers? Do you really make that much money from your book sales? From those I've known who are in the publishing world - not just small time hacks like myself - the most they get is 15% of each sale. Where does the rest go? Oh, yeah, the suits. 

And now with the era of the e-book, readers are realizing how much they're being taken for fools. In some cases, purchasing a digital copy of a novel isn't always the least expensive. Some new releases are just a few dollars less than their hard copy counterparts. Book pirates are in mass now, aren't they? And it would see that Amazon Kindle has heightened the need for them. And as long as publishing companies continue to think they can screw over the fans, pirating will never truly go away. If anything pirates will become the thorn in their side and not even the threat of lawsuit will hinder their activities. Like cockroaches, if you stomp one out more will come and take their place. 

Solution? Lower e-book prices to something reasonable. Asking them to remove the DRM is bit much, but when you own a physical copy of a novel, you get to lend them to others. Kindle offers this service for Kindle users. However, if your buddy has the misfortune of owning a BN Nook, he's pretty much shit out of luck.

There are also other sites that offer e-books at a discount price - normally their own, but a few by authors we recognize. Some even offer free e-books, though these are usually in the public domain category - the real reason I wanted a Kindle in the first place. But don't be fooled and, most of all, don't do anything illegal. There are ways to spot a pirating site. 

What side am I on? Neither. Both are being foolish - one playing fast and loose with the law and the other with their readers. I'm an old fashion, printed word type of man. And you can't pirate those.

...well, you can, but that's for another post.

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Books in the Mail

My final BetterWorldBooks order of 2010 shipped in today, consisting of three books - two of which land on the naughty list. 

• Do Me: Tales of Sex & Love from Tin House - (inside flap) Do Me gathers the smartest, sexiest fiction and essays from the award-winning journal Tin House. In this collection, the stories do more than just titillate; Tin House authors explore sex from all angles: first moves, breakups, blind gay cruises, furrie conventions, married sex, bad sex, on the phone, and in pools, fun houses, Vegas hotels, and public parks. Hilarious and irreverent, Do Me puts a new spin on bedtime reading and its essential fare for those who crave food for the brain as well as the libido.
• Zen Sex by Philip Toshio Sudo - (inside flap) In zen, every moment is a chance to lose ourselves in the substance of life, every encounter an opportunity for spiritual awakening. In this passionate and inspiring guide, Philip Toshio Sudo explains the zen of sex.\\"Don't try. Do,m:" say zen masters. Put technique aside. Stop fretting over sexual frequency. Love your body. Frolic. Tease. Make love. All it takes to be a good zen lover is a giving heart, and the awareness of the life force coursing through our bodies. Zen Sex will help you cultivate that love within the capacity for feeling ecstasy and giving joy that is nothing short of divine. (This continues on, but that's the gist of the book.)
• Gravity by Tess Gerritsen - (inside flap) Emma Watson, a brilliant research physician, has been training for the mission of a lifetime: to study living beings in space. Jack McCallum, Emma's estranged husband, has shared her dream of space travel, but a medical condition has grounded and embittered him. He must watch from the sidelines as his wife prepares for her first mission to the International Space Station.\\Once aboard the space station, however, things start to go terribly wrong. A culture of single-celled organisms known as Archaeons, gathered from the deep sea, is to be monitored in the microgravity of space. The true and lethal nature of this experiment has not been revealed to NASA. In space, the cells rapidly multiply and soon begin to infect the crew - with agonizing and deadly results.\\A recovery attempt ends in catastrophe; the NASA shuttle crashes, and the space station is left dangerously crippled. Emma struggles to contain the deadly microbe, while back home, Jack and NASA work against the clock to retrieve Emma from space.\\But there will be no rescue. The contagion now threatens Earth's population as well, and the astronauts are left stranded in orbit, quarantined aboard the station - where they are dying one by one...

They all seem like interesting reads, don't you think?

15 Books You Should Have Read in 2010 - Culture - GOOD

Considering that the year is only three days old, there's no harm or foul to post a list of 15 Books You Should Have Read in 2010 compiled by Good.is. The truth is, the only book I read in 2010 that was released in 2010 was Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen. 

By the looks of the list, however, it's not exclusively for books published within the year as Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities was also on the list. Patti Smith's book, Just Kids, made it on the list, as well. In fact, her book and that of Keith Richards are the only ones that draw my attention. Sadly, I didn't get to purchase Just Kids as of yet. But the book hunter is patient. We have to be. I'll just tide myself over with her poetry collection in the mean while.

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The Last Book Hunt of 2010

I wasn't going to make a post until after New Year's, but how could I just ignore the impromptu book hunt of 2010? It's only the last book hunt of the year. I'm ending the year by reading Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice, despite what my GoodReads page states. I took said novel with me on the mini-road trip to Brownsville, Texas - where Jyg had her interview. 

I didn't do any reading at all while waiting for her. After, we headed to the Sunrise Mall where I rushed to the restroom. After coming out, I spotted it - the Mecca of my book hunting career. The holy land where it all started for me - a Waldenbooks. Brownsville and Harlingen are the last cities (that I'm aware of) that still house the Borders owned bookstore. I waltzed right in and was amazed by how much such a small store can hold. In there, I found a copy of John Green's Paper Towns, which I've been wanting to read for two - going on three - years for only $3.99. It wasn't the cover I originally wanted, but I wasn't going to let the opportunity slip me by. 

After Brownsville, we made a stop at Valle Vista Mall in Harlingen before heading home. Another Waldenbooks to venture through. There I found two books, both $3.99 each. The Real History of the End of the World by Sharan Newman - author of The Real History Behind the Templars and The Real History Behind the Da Vinci Code - seemed like a must have for next year's religious text challenge. And the just-for-fun pick, All the Sad Young Literary Men by Keith Gessen. 

As we speak, I have four books and one toy - which I'll reveal come January 4th (the date may vary). Three books ordered from my favorite online booksellers, BetterWorldBooks, which are: Gravity by Tess Gerritsen, Zen Sex: The Way of Making Love and Do Me: Sex Tales from Tin House. From Amazon, I purchased the toy and the novel Annabel by Kathleen Winter. 

I bid you farewell, 2010. Here's looking at a bright, new future of 2011. May your year be blessed with many books. Until then, keep on huntin'.

Be sure to check out the great deals @ BustedTees!

All Good Things Must Come to an End (Until They Start Up Again, That Is)

By the time I finished reading The Keepsake, I wasn't looking forward to reading Ice Cold. I was even considering to put it off for another week, read another author for a change. Maybe it would freshen my outlook on the Rizzoli & Isles series - giving myself some time to forgive Tess Gerritsen for the seventh novel. But I couldn't resist. I cracked the novel and dove in. And while at the beginning of the novel, I felt like Gerritsen was working on some deadline to release a novel during the time the series was going to be released, the journey it took me on caught me off guard. Has it renewed my faith in Gerritsen's prose? Perhaps. Has it left me pining away until she releases a ninth novel? You bet your sweet ass it has.

Unlike the predecessors, Ice Cold seems to focus mostly on Dr. Maura Isles. Jane Rizzoli still remains the series's central character, however. Starting up on the winter after the events in The Keepsake, we open up with the beginning of the end of Maura and Father Daniel Brophy's affair. Leaving for Wyoming, Maura doesn't want to face the facts that have been so painfully obvious for months now. Still, rather than ending it there at the airport, she boards the plane knowing that the one person who has made her the happiest has also left miserable. At the conference in Wyoming, she meets up with an old college alumnus, Douglas Comley - a character who is Maura's opposite. Seduced into living a little wild, Maura agrees to join him, his daughter and two friends on a road trip to sight see after the conference commences. However, a wrong turn takes them on a deadly path that neither foresaw. 

Taking shelter in an abandon compound called Kingdom Come, the quartet begin to uncover a mystery. Meals have been abandoned; pets are found dead. Something strange has happened in Kingdom Come, and someone is watching them intently.

When Jane Rizzoli learns of Maura's failure to board the flight back to Boston, she sets off for Wyoming - husband Gabriel Dean and Father Daniel Brophy in tow. The trio learn of Maura's death, leaving a greater mystery to uncover. 

I don't want to give too much away, because I liked being on the edge of my seat. However, if you remember correctly, Maura Isles has died before in Body Double. I was confused about the novel when I first started reading it. Several times I found myself wondering if any of the actions were really those of the characters. It felt like Gerritsen was meeting some deadline - a way to promote the TNT series by labeling the novel "A Rizzoli & Isles Novel" rather than the usual "Jane Rizzoli Book #". Some of Maura's actions were questionable, but I learned to accept them. However, the ending was a little flat. Not to mention the mystery's ending was a little too familiar, as well (ahem, can anyone remember The Sinner?).

Old friends are brought back - Anthony Sansone returns, as well, with a cameo appearance from The Mephisto Club victim, Lily Saul - and new ones are made - possibly the most memorable, Julian "Rat" Perkins, who serves as the sort of anti-hero. 

Even though it might not have been the best book in the series, it still garners a four-star rating from this book hunter. Until next time, keep on huntin'.