Wednesday April 29, 2009 "No Time For Goodbye" by Linwood Barclay

I enjoyed this book.  I wouldn't say this book is a work of literary genius but I'm not sure I would know that when I read it anyway.  

The best thing about this book is the premise of the book.  A teenage girl wakes up on a school day to a completely empty house, after a night of drinking and getting caught by her father. Everyone has vanished. Creepy right?  The parents surely would not have left her just because she was a little out of control would they?  This is definitely not a subject that has been covered before.  Twenty or more years go by and evidence surfaces about the disappearances.  

The next best thing about this story is that the ending doesn't wrap up everything with a bow and make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  It does have an ending but it's not the ending you might imagine and the author doesn't try to make us like and understand the reasons why the original disappearances occurred.  

The thing I didn't like about the book is the relationship between the abandoned girl as a woman and her husband.  The husband says he loves his wife but has some doubts about her stability.  I really understand that and I don't have a problem with it BUT the normal dialogue between the two do not make me believe they are really in love and devoted to one another. Perhaps the author could have developed more of a history between the two that show a strong and loving relationship to make me believe their current devotion to each other more.  

Favorite item in the book is when the daughter asks the father, "Did I commit a fox pass?" instead of "faux pas".  Too cute! 

The Gold Coast by Nelson Demille

If you loved this book, you will not like my review.  Let me first say that I love to read and I love many books but this one, I could not even finish.  It bored me.  The critics love this book and my husband loved this book.  I tried very hard to love this book also.  

The biggest reason I dislike the book is that I feel like the author is challenging us to find him a fraud.  I think he came up with some of the most ludicrous situations possible and he's laughing at us the reader for buying in to any of it.    

The most ludicrous situations are when John Sutter, an intelligent and competent lawyer we are told, constantly finds himself involved with a Mafia Don and he is moody and angry about it.  I understand being nervous about anyone in the Mafia living next door but what I don't understand is why John Sutter would constantly get involved with the Don.  It would make more sense to me if he gets involved by means not in his control.  Going to the Mafia Don's house for drinks is NOT beyond John's control.  Allowing the Don's construction team to move a barn for you at a severely discounted price is NOT beyond someone's control.  Swapping spouses for sex is not beyond someone's control.  If Demille wants these things to happen, fine, but why make John Sutter crazy about it.  He just walks into the situations.  It would be plenty entertaining if these things happened without the premise that John Sutter does not want to be around the Don for moral reasons.  

The second ludicrous situation John gets into is when an IRS auditor threatens him with fines and jail time for failing to report a sale of a home correctly.  This situation throws John into a situation of asking the Don for help.  You don't think this is ridiculous?  It would not be if John were not a Tax Attorney who would have known full well how to stay out of this situation and would have also known how to get himself out of it.   He would not have felt like he needed to get involved with a Mafia lawyer to get himself out of it.  

There are some other crazy things, like the Sutters receive vegetables to plant from the Don and they plant the vegetables.  The Sutters DON'T cook.  

It is just too frustrating to me to read about how upset John Sutter is about the Don when he continues to get himself involved.  I found myself saying "why would John do that" until I finally said to myself "Why would  I keep reading this book?  I know what's going to happen, I know how it is going to end and in between there will be lot's more fantasy sex and witty conversation. "  I put the book back on the shelf.  

Stay tuned.

This is Susan. I read and review books.
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