Nighteyes by Garfield Reeves-Stevens

Title:  Nighteyes
Author:  Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Format:  PB
Pages:  433
Genre:  Science Fiction
Publisher:  Spectra, 1990
ISBN-13:  978-0553285031
Series:  Stand Alone

Favorite Quote:  The stars burned through the aurora.  Something hid among them even now, she knew.  Is there intelligent life on other worlds? her father had asked.  Not anymore, her child had answered.  We won.

Synopsis (PBS):  After years of observing us, abducting us, and experimenting upon us, they have finally made their first mistake.As the sun sets on a lonely Connecticut farmhouse the shadows come, gliding through windows, sliding up walls, enveloping Sarah Gilmour as she searches frantically for her missing child. Then the shadows, with their dark, inhuman eyes... more », are everywhere, surrounding her as she sobs silently, realizing with horror that they have taken her daughter once again. And that now they have come back--for her.

Review:  Alien abductions.  Time travel.  A future Earth that cannot survive without returning to the past.  There were so many things I loved about this story.  What I loved the best was that I just didn't see it coming --- the aliens are us, humans, from the future, changed beyond all recognition by genetic engineering to survive in a world that we can't imagine.

This book was scary, thrilling, and full of great characters.  Highly recommended.  I actually finished this book yesterday, so it counts towards October.

Rating:  9 / 10

The Experiment by John Darnton

Title:  The Experiment
Author:  John Darnton
Format:  HC
Pages:  421
Genre:  Science Fiction
Publisher:  Dutton, 1999
ISBN-13:  978-0525945178
Series:  Stand Alone

Favorite Quote:  Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:  Bacon said, "Let Newton be!" and all was light.

Synopsis (PBS):  A world we can't imagine may lie just around the corner . . . — With the brilliant combination of cutting-edge science and nerve-jangling suspense that made his first novel, Neanderthal, a major bestseller, John Darnton returns with The Experiment.On a remote island off the Southeastern coast, a young man named Skyler sees his friends vani... more »sh one by one. In a small New York town, a journalist observes a corpse with its fingerprints burned off. In New York City, an expert on twins stumbles upon a case that hits stunningly close to home for her. Soon, all three come together on the trail of a scientific experiment more audacious than they could have conceived--and so secret that none of them may be allowed to survive.

Review:  This was a thriller and a darn good science fiction novel.  All the objections to human cloning come true in this fast-paced story.  A group of children and young adults, all clones of the wealthy and powerful, being held on an island for organ harvesting in hopes of prolonging the 'prototypes' lives far past the norm. 

There are shots given to keep these same people youthful.  Of course, the entire experiment is a failure because the supposed cure for aging turns against the Lab and begins aging them even more quickly. 

The main characters are believable.  I did not see the surprise at the end coming and that's always a good thing.  Really a great read.

Rating:  8.5 / 10

Once Upon A Summer Day by Dennis L. McKiernan

Title:  Once Upon A Summer Day
Author:  Dennis L. McKiernan
Format:  PB
Pages:  372
Genre:  Fantasy
Publisher:  Roc, 2006
ISBN-13:  978-0451460318
Series:  Faery Series, Book 2

Favorite Quote:  Neither awake nor in a dark dream are perilous blades just as they seem.

Synopsis (PBS):  Borel, Prince of the Winterwood, has been dreaming of a beautiful, golden-haired maiden night after night. He believes that she truly exists-and that she is in terrible danger. To save her, Borel must journey through the land of Faery-and face the dark forces that await him...

Review:  I really love this series.  This book is based loosely upon the tale of Sleeping Beauty.  It's obviously far longer than the original story.  There are great characters, my favorites being Flic, the field sprite, and his companion, Buzzer, the bumblebee. 

This was a fast-paced romp through the land of Faery.  I highly recommend this series for both action and some great fantasy reading.

Rating:  9 / 10

The White Abacus by Damien Broderick

Title:  The White Abacus
Author:  Damien Broderick
Format:  PB
Pages:  338
Genre:  Science Fiction
Pubisher:  Avon, 1997
ISBN-13:  978-0380785599
Series:  Stand Alone

Favorite Quote:  "Honor is the duty one owes to oneself," the ai tells him.  "It is not on lien to those who chanced to bear you or to some arbitrary system of mad bigotry you just happened to grow up among."

Synopsis (PBS):  THOUSANDS OF YEARS FROM NOW THE HUMAN ANIMAL IS STILL A BEAST.

Now there are two sentient races inhabiting the known universe: one as human as Adam. . .the other of robotic mind.They share the Earth in harmonious coexistence. But elsewhere, only those who age and war and die are permitted.On earth, a young human prince has befriended a being far d... more »ifferent from himself. But usurpation and fratricide are calling them both to the royal youths embattled home planet--drawing them into a nest of treacherous family conspiracy and cruel, naked ambition where the enemy owns the armies, the power, and the very soul of the world. But the prince will have his revenge, though only ally stands at his side: a peace-loving creature of augmented intelligence in a place where he is am unwelcome stranger--a barbarous world where he is forbidden. . .and feared.

Review:  Much of this book is good.  Some of it isn't.  There were a couple of portions I skimmed because they were so completely confusing and really unrelated to the main story. 

But, the main story was good.  A human, raised out on an asteroid, comes back to Earth and is befriended by one of the intelligent robots that are now part of our society.  They return to the asteroid and change the lives of those backward people, and perhaps all of humanity, forever.

It wasn't one of my favorite Science Fiction novels ever, but I'm still glad I read it.

Rating:  5.5 / 10

Interest of Justice by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg

Title:  Interest of Justice
Author:  Nancy Taylor Rosenberg
Format:  HC
Pages:  368
Genre: Thriller
Publisher:  Dutton, 1993
ISBN-13:  978-0525936800
Series: Stand Alone

Favorite Quote:  "Nah, I don't want a motorcycle," he said thoughtfully.  "I've decided I want a dog.  Then we'll be a real family.  All we need is a dog.  I never had a dog."

Synopsis (PBS):  The author of the explosive bestseller Mitigating Circumstances again applies her insider's knowledge of the criminal justice system in a riveting new legal thriller. When Judge Lara Sanderstone's sister and husband are murdered, Lara takes in their teenaged son--who may be a suspect--and Lara may be the next victim.

Review:  Now, this was a thriller.  A corrupt judge, a pedophile, a murderer with a penchant for rape, another judge who, while she's a good person, is somehow related to all these, and a hard-nosed cop determined to get to the bottom of a real mystery.  Fast-paced and easy to read, this book was everything that's good in a thriller.

The main characters were believable.  The secondary characters were even better.  The bad guys were really bad.  I loved it.

Rating:  9 / 10

September 2011

This was a dismal month for my reading.  I moved, lost internet access, had my computer get fried by lightning, and generally had more stress than I knew what to do with.  I read three books, for a total of 1747 pages. 

1. The Passage by Justin Cronin (8/10)
2. The Magic Circle by Katherine Neville (3/10)
3. Jury of One by David Ellis (8.5/10)

I finished one horror and two thrillers.  There's really not much competition this month for best book, but I liked the last one a lot.

Favorite book for the month:  Jury of One by David Ellis

Jury of One by David Ellis

Title:  Jury of One
Author:  David Ellis
Format:  PB
Pages:  421
Genre:  Thriller
Publisher:  Berkley, 2005
ISBN-13:  978-0425201459
Series:  Stand Alone

Favorite Quote:  But in her three-plus decades on this earth, she was relatively sure that she had never seen a human being move so quickly as Paul Riley raised his hand and called for the check.

Synopsis (PBS):  Children's rights advocate Shelly Trotter is out of her depth in criminal court, defending a teenager accused of killing a cop. And when she discovers that he may be her own son, nothing--not legal ethics, not political pressure--will stop her from keeping him off of death row....

Review:  This book was a fast read.  Two days and done.  It was exciting and had twists and turns that I never saw coming.  I love finding a really good new author.

Rating:  8.5 / 10

The Magic Circle by Katherine Neville

Title:  The Magic Circle
Author:  Katherine Neville
Format:  PB
Pages:  552
Genre:  Thriller
Publisher:  Ballantine, 1999
ISBN-13:  978-0345423139
Series:  Stand Alone

Favorite Quote:  Maybe the mystery is the ancient wisdom, how to use earth's natural rhythms and energies to support us, instead of damming up rivers that are her arteries, ripping merals out of her belly, cutting down trees that are her breath, building walls to confine all life to allotted spaces.

Synopsis (PBS):  When her cousin is slain by an unknown assassin, Ariel Behn becomes the sole heir to a family legacy: a sinister cache of manuscripts that thrusts her into the deadly center of international intrigue--and an age-old enigma that spans the centuries. Whoever assembles and interprets the cryptic clues of this ancient mystery will possess the power to control the fate of the world.

What strange powers lie hidden within the manuscripts? Splashed against a lavish backdrop that sweeps from the rise of the Roman Empire to the fall of the Berlin Wall, THE MAGIC CIRCLE finds one woman standing at the center of it all: Ariel Behn. As she races across continents to reveal the dark secrets buried in her family's past, she begins to unlock the chilling truth of the coming millennium. . . .

Review:  This was the strangest book.  It had some thrills, although too few for my tastes.  It was more of a historical fiction, mixed with a philosophy text.  It was pretty dry and boring in many parts. 

It skipped between the times of Jesus and Hitler, returning to present time rather suddenly.

I kept reading, hoping it would get better, but I was pretty disappointed, especially since the ending told me very little about the big secret the main characters were looking for during the other 500+ pages.

Rating:  3 / 10

The Passage by Justin Cronin

Title:  The Passage
Author:  Justin Cronin
Format:  PB
Pages:  774
Genre:  Horror
Publisher:  Ballantine, 2011
ISBN-13:  978-0345504975
Series:  Stand Alone

Favorite Quote:  I am Babcock.  One of Twelve.

Synopsis (PBS):  An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy–abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl—and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape—but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world.

Review:  Unfortunately, I've lost internet connection at my home.  I read this book at least 2 weeks ago.  I know it was a great story, but my review is going to be really short since I really can't remember what I wanted to say.

This book was recommended to me by the librarian at the local library.  She was right.  I did like it, very much.

Rating:  8 / 10