Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Gillian Flynn is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.  Her books all tend to be the same.....start strong, build slowly, then at about 65% something happens and they just take off.  I started this book yesterday afternoon, I finished it at 2 am this morning (I hit that 65% mark, and I couldn't just stop).  So incredibly good.

The story takes place in Kansas City, and centers around Libby Day and her family.  Libby's brother, Ben, was convicted for killing her family (mom and two sisters) when she was young, and she testified in court to put him away.  She is contacted by a guy named Lyle, who is part of a "Kill Club."  They research various murders, and there is a section of the group dedicated to the Day murders specifically.  Libby is out of money from the account set up when all the well wishers sent her cash, and has never had a job, so she meets with the group in order to exploit some cash from them.  They think that Ben is innocent, and that the investigation was shoddy and left too many questions unanswered.  In helping them (and getting paid), Libby starts to question the details herself and wants to know more about what happened that night.

I can't say too much without giving anything away, but in typical Flynn fashion, there are many different facets of the story.  The book jumps back and forth from present day to past, and writes from different points of view, so you slowly build up to the night of the murder and what exactly happened.  Meanwhile, in present day, Libby is talking to everyone involved, trying to figure out the events of that night.  The style of writing keeps you hooked, as the end of every chapter has a bit of a cliff hanger, and you can't wait to return to that character.

One of my favorite things about Gillian Flynn is her books aren't happy go lucky stories.  The characters are real, have flaws, have agendas, and even the one considered the "hero" is far from perfect.  Or heroic for that matter.  The endings always fit together perfectly like a puzzle that only makes sense once you step back and look at everything.  Even now, I'm thinking of things I read early in the book, and realized it was a sign of things to come.  Truly incredible writing!  I highly recommend to ANYONE who loves twisting stories, or who has never read a Gillian Flynn before.

<3, jacq

Crossed by Ally Condie

Crossed is book #2 in the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie.  In the first book, Cassia is "matched" (given her spouse by society) to her best friend Xander and everything is going well until Ky's face comes up on her matched screen.  She's told it's an error but she soon starts falling in love with Ky.  This goes against society's wishes since Ky is an abberation and they threaten both Cassia and Ky with consequences if they continue their relationship.  At the end of the book, Cassia has chosen Ky but he is taken away by the officials for a new job posting in the Outer Provinces, and she is determined to find him.

In Crossed, Ky has been placed as a decoy warrior in the outer provinces.  They promise a return to society with citizen status at the end of the assignment, but no one has lived through the assignment yet.  They are given guns with blanks and live in the provinces in order to draw the enemy out, and then they are attacked.  Meanwhile, Cassia is given an assignment and is also in the outer provinces.  She soon gets transferred to the province where Ky is, only to find out that he has ran off into the canyons.  She follows to find him with her friend Indie in the treacherous canyons.  Cassia not only wants to find Ky, but find the Rising, a rebellion group trying to undermine society.  During their trek, she learns that Xander has a secret.  Both Ky and Indie know what it is, but they can't tell Cassia.  Ky is afraid if Cassia knows, she will choose Xander over himself.

The second book was good, but not as good as the first.  The majority of the book is just stories of them hiking through the canyons.  The first 25% was good and the last 25% was good, but the middle 50% just drag on a little bit.  I won't say much about the end due to spoilers, but it did make me excited to finish the trilogy.  There's not much to say about this book, because like most #2 books in a trilogy, it's simply a bridge between the first and third books.  Nothing outstanding about this book on its own, but it serves as a necessary part of the story since we learn more about the Rising, which will be important for book #3.  While this isn't one of the favorite trilogies I've read, I'm still excited to see how it all ends.

<3, jacq

Matched by Ally Condie

I've been hooked on dystopian novels since I read the Hunger Games trilogy, and I came across this trilogy on Amazon.  It's dystopian like Hunger Games but not as action oriented, although it still has good elements of suspense.

It's the story of Cassia and the society she lives in.  It's a "perfect" society where everything is laid out for you and there are no more diseases like cancer or AIDs.  The Society decides everything for you, like what you can eat, what activities you can do, even down to who you will marry.  You are "matched" with someone based on your genes and compatibility, and they become your spouse.  When you are matched you are given a micro card with everything you need to know about that person so you can learn more about them.  When Cassia is matched, she is matched with her best friend Xander which is highly unusual (usually your match doesn't live in the same province as you do).  She's thrilled until she puts in her microcard and the face that pops up isn't Xander's, but Ky's someone else from her province that's an abberation (unable to be matched).  It starts her questioning everything, especially the society and the officials.

While this is a dystopian novel, it's more about a girl learning about the ability to choose than it is action and suspense.  Cassia battles these two sides of her life; the one that fits into society's perfect mold and the one that wants more, including Ky.  As the story goes on, the society tends to overstep the people's personal boundaries, pushing their cause, and this makes Cassia want to rebel even more.  The story ends with a cliff hanger (as do most trilogies) leaving the reader to wonder what Cassia will choose to do.

The story itself is a fun read.  It moves quickly so you get absorbed into the story, but it's an easy, light read that you can pick up for fun.  Great for relaxing at home now that the weather is getting too chilly to do outdoor activities!

<3, jacq

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

This book has been on a must read list for a few months now but I never purchased it or checked it out.  I was browsing the KC Library ebook section and saw that it was available to rent on Kindle right away and figured it was a sign, so I finally read it.  I hope to watch the movie soon!

The book is about a boy named Oskar who's dad died in the World Trade Center attack.  He and his father were very close, since his dad understood his behavior.  Oskar was always very curious and wanted to learn new things, and constantly wrote people like Jane Goodall and Stephen Hawking.  He has a hard time with his father's death and finds a key in a vase in his dad's closet, with the work Black on it.  Since it's capitalized and obviously a proper noun, Oskar realizes it relates to a person and starts visiting and talking to every Black in the NYC area.  He meets many different kinds of people in his search across the city.  The book is about his journey to find the lock for this key and properly grieve for his father.

Oskar's mom and grandmother are also very important characters in the book.  Throughout the story, we learn more about his grandparents as well.  His grandfather left as soon as he found out Oskar's grandmother was pregnant with Oskar's dad.  His grandfather lost his true love, Anna (Oskar's grandmother's sister) in the WW2 bombings in Dresden and wasn't ready for a family.  Outside of Oskar's story we learn about their strange relationship and history and how it affects Oskar.

The book started moving quickly, but towards the middle just turned into these different stories of strange encounters with people in NYC.  It was interesting but a bit of a slow read.  It wasn't until other characters started to develop in the novel and cross into Oskar's journey that the book picked up the pace.  I won't reveal much about the end but there are multiple twists to the story.  It, in the highest overview, is a story of a young boy grieving and coming to terms with the loss of his father and the guilt he carries.

It is a good book, but it's like one of those books you read in Honors English in high school where you have to stop after each chapter and discuss/figure out what was said.  It's not an "easy" read in the sense that you can just put the story down and pick it back up.  However if you have the patience, and the desire to dive deep into what you read, you will really enjoy this book.

<3, jacq

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

I have heard SO MUCH about this book, but I never quite got around to reading it.  It wasn't until I saw it was being made into a movie that I finally read it (my OCD to read books before I see the movie kicked in).  After reading it, I completely understand how it has a cult following.  It's the perfect dystopian/space book, with enough action and suspense to keep you hooked.

Ender's Game takes place in the future, where the world is preparing for war with an alien race.  The military now breeds child genuises, and trains them for the military if they make the cut.  Each family is allowed two children, and the Wiggins have Peter and Valentine.  Both children were so close to what the military was looking for, they allowed the Wiggins to have a third, Andrew (better known as Ender).  Ender is taken to the military training complex at the age of 6 and starts learning about battle and command.  We soon realize that he is the military's greatest hope in winning this war.

Now without giving any spoiler alerts, I will say that the ending to this book is amazing.  There are just enough twists and turns, and I never would have been able to guess the storyline that takes us to the end.  The book was very difficult to read at times since you are dealing with children and war, but it had enough redeeming qualities that I couldn't put it down.  Outside the main storyline, there is an interesting sub story with Peter and Valentine that starts about halfway through, and is part of the conclusion of the story.  The characters all seem to be complex, and they are almost all children which gives the book a new twist.

Overall, I'm really glad I read it because I think the movie is going to be a great sci-fi hit.  I normally never read sci-fi, or even watch sci-fi (except for Star Trek movies, because Chris Pine is the next Mr. Jacquie Ward) but this book really caught and kept my attention.  I might just start into a new genre now!

<3, jacq

WitSec: Inside the Federal Witness Protection Program by Pete Earley and Gerald Shur

I've always been interested in crime.  When I was younger, I actually wanted to study psychology and learn more about criminal profiling.  Nature v Nurture and the inner workings of a criminal always fascinated me, however, the incredibly low hiring rate didn't work for my need to have a job!  Even though I didn't choose it as a career path, I often read books regarding crime.

I've been living in Kansas City for about 2.5 years now, and it wasn't until this year that I really started to understand how involved KC was in the gang scene.  Organized crime, crooked politics, and gangs ran rampant through KC due to it's prime geographical placement.  I started reading more about organized crime, and you can't read about organized crime without learning about witness protection.

Enter; my desire to read this book.  It's essentially a history of the entire program, from inception through today.  Wit Sec was originally a political issue that the Kennedy brothers started.  When R. Kennedy was US Attorney General, he started the program that would develop into Wit Sec.  He wanted to wage a war on organized crime.  At the time, "Omerta" ran deep in the mafia.  No one would speak out for fear of being killed or putting their family at risk.  Gerald Shur was chosen as one of the attorneys on this task force challenged with breaking up organized crime.  They soon realized if they could convince one member to turn, the enterprise was so inner connected they could bring down the top members of the mafia.  They started to promise witnesses protection, which led to new identities, which led to the witness protection program.

There is so much in this book!  You can see how the Wit Sec program develops from these Cowboy type Federal Marshals that have to write their own rules in the field, to the highly structured program it is today.  There are also interesting stories about crime bosses, relocated witnesses, and even a section written by a relocated witness about her experience.  It's incredibly hard to sum up the story in a paragraph because every election, federal appointment, and large arrest drastically changed the program.

Anyway, if you are a crime nerd like me, you will definitely enjoy this book!

<3, jacq

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Ever since I read The Hunger Games trilogy, I've been loving dystopian novels.  I got the first of this trilogy, Divergent, for Christmas and read it in two days.  When Insurgent came out, I got it right away.  Unfortunately, due to weddings and the craziness of moving I couldn't start it for a couple weeks.  Once I did, I finished it in a day because I just couldn't stop! 

The book picks up where the first one left off.  Tris and Four are in Amity headquarters, where Four reunites with his father.  Along the way, they also run into Four's mother, who is not dead like he was led to believe.  She is a leader of the factionless, and wants Four to help.  The Amity state that people can stay as long as they agree to no violence, which is naturally hard for the Dauntless.  Meanwhile, Eric and other Dauntless leaders are still working for Jeanine and trying to gather Divergents to study.  At one point, Tris gets captured and is studied by Jeanine and her brother, who chose Erudite at the choosing ceremony.  There's not to much more to say that won't reveal key parts of the plot, but it's much more stacked than the first book in terms of stories.  There seem to be multiple story lines going on at one time, which keeps the book moving at a quick pace.  The cliffhanger at the end of the book is KILLER.

Tris and Four's relationship grows a lot more in this book.  They constantly battle due to Tris's disregard for her own safety in search of the truth, and the fact that Four would do anything to keep her safe.  Because of that, there are things Tris hides from Four in an effort to keep him safe and help the cause.  Naturally when he finds out he's angry, and their relationship is on the rocks most of the book.  Regardless of what happens, or what Tris and Four do, they always seem to come back to each other.  Their romance is one of the better ones I've read in young adult books, because they don't let their feelings stop them from doing what's right.  They also have a good sense of self, and don't lose themselves in their relationship with each other.

We also learn a lot more about Four's family in this book.  We meet his mother whom we thought was dead, and see her as a leader of the factionless.  Four is mad because she left him alone with Marcus, knowing what he did.  Tris and Marcus have an uneasy alliance at one point because they are both out for the same thing, the truth.  This puts distance between Tris and Four, but he eventually sees why she's doing it.

Overall, great read!  Can't wait until Allegiant comes out this fall.  Side note.....they are currently shooting the movie in Chicago right now.....

<3, jacquie