Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker

From the book: "When Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch arrive in Appaloosa, they find a small, dusty town suffering at the hands of renegade rancher Randall Bragg, a man who has so little regard for the law that he has taken supplies, horses, and women for his own and left the city marshal and one of his deputies for dead. Cole and Hitch, itinerant lawmen, are used to cleaning up after opportunistic thieves, but in Bragg they find an unusually wily adversary - one who raises the stakes by playing not with the rules, but with emotions.
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult (June 7, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399152776
ISBN-13: 978-0399152771

My thoughts: I haven't read a western in YEARS. This was quite a re-introduction to the genre.The story line was familiar: a bad rancher and his hired help terrorizes the helpless town folk who then hire outside help to clean up the town. In this case they hire Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch. I liked these two characters, they were unique. They were hired as lawmen, but Cole made the laws and they walked a line between the law and simply being hired guns. Everett was a kind of mystery to me. He was an educated man and a West Point man as was his father but how he ended up leading this kind of life . It tells at the beginning how he gets hooked up with Cole, but why stay on? I didn't like the character of Allie, Cole's girlfriend, but I don't think Parker meant for anyone to like her. She is what she is and everyone knows it. This was a quick, easy read that kept me interested through out. The ending was a surprise, which I liked. I'm off to the library today to get the sequel, Resolution.

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Pandora's Daughter by Iris Johansen

From the back: For as long as she can remember, successful young physician Megan Blair has tried to silence the voices in her head---voices that bring her to the edge of madness and terror. Megan possesses psychic powers that have been dormant for years, hidden deep in the past she's tried so desperately to forget. But now everything has come to a boiling point---someone is trying to kill her, and others are trying to use her, including the deadly and seductive Neal Grady. Shocking secrets about her life and her mother's death bombard her as she fights to take control of her heritage and save herself and everything she believes in. Grady holds the key to understanding her future, a future in which Megan's life will never be the same.If she survives to have a future.

My thoughts: I first started reading Johansen's Eve Duncan novels and enjoyed them so have continued to read other's of hers. Pandora's Daughter is a fast paced story with a little paranormal thrown in, a variety of psychic gifts. It was a quick read but I found Neal, the romantic interest for Megan a little creepy.

Breath of Scandal by Sandra Brown

From the back: On a rainy Southern night, Jade Sperry endured a young woman's worst nightmare at the hands of three local hell-raisers. Robbed of her youthful ideals and at the center of scandal and tragedy, Jade ran as far and fast as she could. But she never forgot the sleepy "company town" where every man, woman, and child was dependent on one wealth family. And she never forgave their spoiled son, who with his two friends changed her life forever. Someday, somehow, she'd return ... exacting a just revenge, fleeing herself from her enemies' grasp, and, perhaps, fulfilling a lost promise of love.

My Thoughts: I rushed to the library after work to grab another audiobook. I saw a Sandra Brown and grabbed it. It was Breath of Scandal. After reading (or rather listening to) Chill Factor I was expecting a thriller, but got an engrossing contemporary romance. It was not your typical feel good romance. I liked this story of a strong woman overcoming and making a good life for herself and her child, as well as getting revenge on those that hurt her. I liked that we learned about the main romantic interest and his life before he showed up in Jade's life. I did think it was very unrealistic to take her child, the product of the rape, back to that town to risk him being hurt, but it all turned out good in the end.

Adam by Ted Dekker

From the back: It takes an obsessive mind to know one. And Daniel Clark knows the elusive killer he's been stalking.
He's devoted every waking minute as a profiler to find the serial killer known only as Eve. He's pored over the crime scenes of sixteen young women who died mysterious deaths, all in underground basements or caverns. He's delved into the killer's head and puzzled over the twisted religious overtones of the killings.
What Daniel can't possibly know is that he will be Eve's next victim. He will be the killer's first Adam. After sixteen hopeless months, the case takes a drastic turn on a very dark night when Daniel is shot and left for dead. Resuscitated after twenty minutes of clinical death, Daniel finds himself haunted by the experience. He knows he's seen the killer's face, but the trauma of dying has obscured the memory and left him with crushing panic attacks. Nothing--not even desperate, dangerous attempts to reexperience his own death--seems to bring him closer to finding the killer.
Then Eve strikes again, much closer to home. And Daniel's obsession explodes into a battle for his life . . . his sanity . . . his very soul.

My thoughts: This is a very dark, scary, & at times gruesome book that will make many uncomfortable. It is a psychological thriller with a Christian message. It's not just a book about a serial killer. It explores how he became a serial killer. Abuse, fear, evil, and victimization all were part of his making. After being lead at breath taking speed through the story I really was dissapointed at the ending. It didn't seem to be completly finished to me. It led me right to the edge, to the salvation of Daniel, then stopped. The final chapter, an article that was part of the story, indicated little of what became of the main characters. I listened to this, I love listening to books, but thought a couple of times that I might have enjoyed reading this one more. I found out through reading reviews, that an extra chapter was added to books that were sold in Christian bookstores. Now I'll have to find one of those and see what I have missed.

I have read three of his books so far and his book Thr3e is my favorite. What a twist in it at the end.

Ted Dekker talks about his book Adam:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXKhTWukUtU&feature=related

Here is Dekker's site.

The Memorist by M. J. Rose

From the cover: The Dreads are back. As a child, Meer Logan was haunted by memories of another time and place always accompanied by the faint strains of elusive music. Now the dreads are back. The past has reached out again in the form of a strange letter that sets her on a search to unlock the mystery of who she once was. With the help of her father – a Kabbalist, known as the Jewish Indiana Jones – Meer attempts to learn the meaning behind her hauntingly vivid memories. What they discover could reveal a frighteningly powerful secret hidden for generations by one of the greatest composers of all time. With each step she comes closer to remembering the connections between a clandestine reincarnationist society, a lost flute linked to Ludwig van Beethoven and David Yalom, a journalist who understands all too well how the past affects the future. David knows loss firsthand – terrorism is a reality that cost him his family. He's seen every solution promised by security experts around the world – and he's seen every solution fail. Now in a concert hall in Vienna, he plans to force the word to understand the cost of those failures in a single violent act. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

My thoughts: The Memorist is a complected story with its combination of past and present, history, mystery and suspense. At times I found it tedious. The number or characters to keep track of, plus who they were in the past (this near the end of the book) was challenging for me. Even so, I enjoyed this book. The story hooked me just enough to keep me going. I don't believe in reincarnation, personally so it read like sci-fi for me. I liked the way Rose gives readers little glimpses into Meer's past lives to share those stories and bring more meaning to the present. The sub-plot add suspense to the overall story.

Visit the author's site here.

Dragonheart by Todd McCaffrey

Product Description; Todd McCaffrey’s first solo novel in the classic Dragonriders of Pern series, Dragonsblood, was hailed by critics and embraced by the countless devoted readers of the landmark science fiction saga created by his mother, Anne McCaffrey. Now the chronicles of Pern take another captivating turn as the embattled planet, the brave pioneers who call it home, and the magnificent flame-breathing creatures who fly high to protect it confront a dire new challenge.The grim specter of sickness looms over the Weyrs of Pern, felling fire-lizards and posing a potentially devastating threat to their dragon cousins, Pern’s sole defense against the deadly phenomenon that is Thread. Fiona, the youngest and only surviving daughter of Lord Bemin, is just coming of age, and about to assume the duties of a Weyrwoman, when word spreads that dragons have indeed begun succumbing to the new contagion. With the next season of Threadfall quickly approaching, and the already diminished ranks of the dragons once more under siege, every Weyr across Pern is in crisis mode. It is hardly the time for disturbing distractions–such as the strange voice Fiona suddenly hears in her mind at the darkest and most urgent moments. Circumstances and the mood of the weyrfolk worsen when advance patrols relay the dreaded news that black dust–the unmistakable herald of falling Thread–has been sighted. As more dragons sicken and die, leaving only a new generation of weyrlings too young to succeed them, Weyrleader B’Nik and queen rider Lorana arrive from Benden Weyr to comb Fort Weyr’s archives in a desperate search for clues from the past that may hold the solution to the plague. But could the actual past itself prove the pathway to salvation for Pern’s stricken dragons and the entire imperiled planet? Guided by a mysterious ally from a wholly unexpected place, and trusting in the unique dragon gift for transcending time, Fiona will join a risky expedition with far-reaching consequences for both Pern’s future and her personal destiny.

My thoughts: I loved all of Anne McCaffrey's Pern books and I read one of Todd's books that I liked. I went into this book fully expecting to love it as well. However I was somewhat disappointed and found myself skimming. This was a 538 page book that seemed to be just a bridge to the next book. I enjoyed revisiting Pern, Todd has a full grasp of the story and world of Pern from his mother. I guess as a Dragonriders of Pern fan, I'm glad I read it, but if you haven't read these books before, start with Anne's!