Category Archives: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller

Review: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Middle Grade 8-12, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, , , ,

The Mysterious Howling (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place #1)
Maryrose Wood
HarperCollins
Published February 23, 2010 (Originally published 2009)

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Fifteen-year-old Penelope Lumley has been summoned to her first interview for her first governess position. As a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females and armed with the pithy and wise sayings of the school’s founder, Agathe Swanburne, Penelope is ready for anything.

When she is greeted by the skittish household at Ashton Place, however, and confronted by the strange howling children who are scarcely clad, Penelope realizes it will take all her training, education, and her fond memories of books about wild ponies, to handle this task. She will not be deterred. Not by the children’s wild fervor over chasing squirrels. Not by the unusual names (Alexander, Beowulf and Cassiopeia) bestowed on them by Lord Ashton himself. When Lady Constance plans an extravagant Christmas party that the children must attend, Penelope puts aside her plans for geography and mathematics in favor of table manners and appropriate dinner conversation. If only she can figure out what the Schottische is and prepare the children for it, she might have a chance at keeping her job with the children she has grown to love.

Not every governess is willing to take on three children who were raised by wolves. Literally. Now that they’ve been “rescued” from the forest by Lord Ashton, the children must be civilized and educated. Penelope sets herself to the task and achieves often hilarious and endearing results in this first book in a series which has been described as a mash-up of Lemony Snicket and Jane Eyre. The Mysterious Howling is brilliant and fun.

I read this book hoping to find a great audiobook to listen to on our family vacation. To my delight, I found it to be a wonderful story, one the entire family could enjoy. I found it impossible not to fall in love with Penelope and her three dear charges. The children make it appealing to a younger, more middle-grade audience, but because the tale is told from fifteen-year-old Penelope, it also appeals to teens. Those with challenging babysitting experiences may find it especially amusing.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
None.

Drug Content
When the children become the center of attention at the Christmas party, Lady Constance copes by drinking too much champagne and falling asleep at the table.

 

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Review: The Scratch on the Ming Vase by Caroline Stellings

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Middle Grade 8-12, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, , , ,

The Scratch on the Ming Vase
Caroline Stellings
Second Story Press
Published September 15, 2012

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Fourteen year-old Nicki Haddon arrives in Canada, ready to begin her training at the Fire Dragon Academy. But when she reports to the academy to meet kung fu master David Kahana, Nicki finds him lying in a pool of blood. He is only able to slur out a few words and begs Nicki to find a priceless vase and return it to its owner.

The search for the Chinese vase causes Nicki to question her past. She wrestles with the absence of her wealthy adopted parents as they manage their hotel chain, and her origin as an abandoned baby from a Chinese orphanage. Are her real parents still out there? Do they think of her at all?

Bravely facing danger and following sharp instincts, Nicki pursues Kahana’s attacker and the Ming vase. She gives her Chinese name so that her adopted name is not recognized. She lies in order to get a job and gain access to restricted files. She doesn’t appear to have any qualms about these actions. Along the way, she receives help from the butler, another Chinese family and the generous owners of a small deli. Together, they plan to find the vase and return it to its owner, as Master Kahana has asked.

I liked Nicki’s spunk and her independence. The characters kept my interest and proved memorable. This is a nice series for middle grade readers with a short attention span for reading, as it moves quickly and, at 164 pages, isn’t a long book.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
Nicki is the first to find her teacher after he has been stabbed. In several altercations, Nicki uses martial arts to disable her attackers. She handles a gun that a kidnapper produces, but does not fire. No gory details are given.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Review: Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Paranormal, ,

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment
James Patterson
Little, Brown and Company
Published April 11, 2005

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For fourteen year-old Max and the others in her care, life is anything but normal. How can it be even close when she has wings bursting out of her back? Max and the others spend their lives hiding from scientists who would put them back in cages and continue the genetic experiments which resulted in their avian mutations. Just when Max thinks the coast is clear, and she and her friends are safe, the Erasers, frighteningly strong boys who morph into wolves, close in on them. When one member of the flock is captured, Max and the others have only one choice: they must rescue her from the lab where they were once imprisoned.

Max finds more than her lost team member when she reaches her former home. A mentor who helped them escape seems now to have betrayed them. He warns Max that nothing is what it appears. Everything is a test. A strange voice in Max’s head echoes the strange idea and leads Max and her friends on an even more perilous journey to uncover a secret which they desperately want to know: who are their parents?

Maximum Ride is packed with action and teen angst, but the ending was a bit anti-climactic, almost as if the book ended partway through the story. Max is above all an empathetic leader committed to protecting the weak, no matter the cost. Her struggle to discover who she is makes for a powerful undercurrent to Patterson’s first book in the Maximum Ride Series.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild. H*ll appears a couple of times.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
The central characters are part of genetic experiments and spent a great portion of their childhood locked in cages like animals. After their escape, their former captors pursue them, making for some moderately gory battle scenes.

Drug Content
None.

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Review: Black Helicopters by Blythe Woolston

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Black Helicopters
Blythe Woolston
Candlewick Press
Published March 1, 2013

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She heard the sound of the black helicopters approaching the day Mabby died. Since then, Valley and her big brother Bo have been hiding and waiting for their Da to come home. Staying out of sight because you never know when Those People will show up again. Valley wants to help. Da sends messages to Those People, ones they will not forget. Ticking packages that make Them listen.

But Da is gone now, and it is only Valley and Bo. Bo is forgetting. Only Valley remembers what Da said. Only Valley sees the bigger game. She will make Those People listen to her message. With one flick of her finger, they will feel her pain, her terror and never forget.

Indoctrinated from her youth, all Valley knows of the world is that it’s not safe. Life is carefully controlled by an elusive group who will shoot down anyone who tries to live outside their ways. The black helicopters will come. She marches along a dark path, fraught with poverty and abuse, determined to continue in her father’s footsteps. To destroy the world her enemies have created and make her voice and her story heard. Woolston creates a haunting tale of misery and paints the humanizing but tragic story of a girl whose life prepares her for only one fate: to become a suicide bomber. Readers who enjoyed Impulse by Ellen Hopkins or Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher will enjoy this novel.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A small handful of heavy curses.

Sexual Content
Valley is abused by a man who is supposed to care for her and her brother. One scene briefly but graphically describes the abuse.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
This is the story of a suicide bomber, so it’s heavy material. However, there is little violence described. Valley threatens a boy and his dog. Her mother dies standing outside in a garden, but there is no gore.

Drug Content
Valley’s brother Bo drinks beer. Valley sips mead and elderberry wine.

Reviewer’s Note: A Deeper Look at Black Helicopters

I finished reading Black Helicopters as news of the attack in Boston began to break. Suddenly I felt like Valley stepped off the pages of the story and into our lives.

As headlines poured in, like most of America, I felt angry. Such senseless violence. What’s the gain here? What is an event like this supposed to accomplish?

The truth: Valley’s story awakened in me a grudging sense of compassion. Talk about a kid who never had a chance at normal. She was her own first casualty.

Tragic.

Yet this isn’t the word I think of when I see the images of the men who stowed bombs that injured and killed innocent people. And yet the choices made that led to the April 15 attack by the Tsarnaev brothers are tragic.

Innocents lost their lives. Survivors were forever changed. But before April 15, 2013, hatred devoured two brothers.

Please understand: I believe what happened was inexcusable and wrong. But the tragedy began long before those bombs exploded, and for Ms. Woolston, Valley’s story began in the wake of another tragedy: September 11, 2001. On April 17, 2013 she posted a blog detailing her response to the Boston bombing and the release of Black Helicopters. Like her novel, it’s brief but powerful.

Book Giveaway!

Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a FREE copy of Black Helicopters by Blythe Woolston. (Winner must have US address for shipping.) Contest ends Monday May 13, 2013 11:59 pm Eastern Time.

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Review: The Kill Order by James Dashner

Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, , , , ,

The Kill Order
James Dashner
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Published August 14, 2012

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With memories of the sun flares that destroyed major cities and much of the world’s technology still fresh in their minds, Mark, Trina and their friends find themselves face to face with another catastrophe, and this one may not leave any alive.

The plague’s first victims survive mere hours. But as the disease mutates and spreads, its victims survive longer, becoming mad long before the end takes them. Mark and Trina band together, determined to stay well, track down the source of the vicious illness, and do whatever it takes to stop it.

In this prequel to the Maze Runner series, James Dashner reveals the story of civilization’s fall and the mysterious disease that ravaged mankind in its wake. While providing answers to many of the questions Maze Runner fans have been asking, The Kill Order lacked the density of thrill and suspense that have rocketed readers through the bestselling series. I wish this had been a novella or short story instead of a full-length novel. I think I would have liked it better in that format.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild to moderate.

Sexual Content
Moderate to heavy. While much of the physical romance takes place off-scene, it is still known that the hero and his girlfriend are having sex.

Spiritual Content
Not much mentioned.

Violence
Lots of scenes depicting terrible illness and some insanity.

Drug Content
The characters are on a quest for a cure to the mysterious disease that is spreading like wildfire. No recreational drug use.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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