Company Man, by Joseph Finder

Its funny how sometimes you can find yourself at the confluence of bad luck and bad decisions. Nick, once beloved CEO of an all-American office furniture company, finds himself in such a position. He orchestrates a cover-up after a former employee is killed at his house following months during which his family was hounded by a stalker feared to be one of thousands of disgruntled laid-off employees. Nick as a character is multi-dimentional and human, a company man and yet a family man, emotional yet strong, troubled yet utterly dependable.... in a nutshell, he is flawed but whole. The reader is immediately drawn to his side. I had to chide myself as I found myself hoping he would be able to evade the consequences of his rash actions. This was a wonderfully paced story in which you got to see all sides of it as it developed almost chronologically. The reader was never ahead of the characters and learned things as they did, had a moment to evaluate their implications as they became clearer, a moment to see through my own eyes without the exasperating presence of an omniscient narrator. I will certainly be reading another book from Finder.

SCORE: 4.5 Pearls

The Book of Murder by Guillermo Martinez

This was an interesting read, a different pace with an unexpected twist. The central theme, I gathered, was fear. Luciana is tortured by its invisible hand after her actions lead to her employer, murder mystery author Koster, losing his family. She has lost nearly everyone she loves and is in fear for her own life and that of her younger sister. The most remarkable thing about the story is the beautiful traps that she believes Koster has been setting for her. Mind traps and natural occurrences that she believes only she can see through while the world labels her insane. I can only imagine the torture that is her life as she becomes a shell of her former self. This was an easy but fascinating read. I made a mental note to broaden the selection of authors I read to other regions of the world.

SCORE: 4 Pearls

The Dead Room, by Heather Graham

I read this book for two reasons, I love New York and am intrigued by the extraordinary - yes, that includes death and the different lines of thought that surround it. As with all things that we cannot have a shared experience of, death is one of humanity's biggest mysteries. It is surrounded by as many theories as myths. We cannot believe that there are people who are attuned to the dead because the experience is not evidential. We are living in an age of reason, of numbers and hard facts... the idea of ghosts surrounding us and of people being able to converse with them is to us absurd. And to add to that, the religious systems to which most are exposed had specific beliefs about the dead and the souls of the dead, and these do not include the notion that they haunting the scene of their deaths until a wrong is righted or a final wish granted.

Lauren was an interesting character. What lingers most in my mind was her exasperatingly irrational behavior- constantly putting herself in danger, never heeding warnings, pursuing inner and outer ghosts to her own near-peril. It is hard to admire such bravery and talent when it is accompanied by mere foolishness and irrational behavior. However, her story was an interesting one and the web of mystery of her love's death and disappearances of women in New York City is a well formulated story that kept me glued to the book. The plot and wealth of characters (though most were one dimensional) managed to highlight the stratified nature of our society, human determination to attain our own desires at all costs and the power that death has over us even while we live. Lauren did not fear death as most do and yet her obsession with the departed was far more disturbing to me than a healthy fear of things that go bump in the night. All in all, The Dead Room was an enthralling read.

SCORE: 3.5 Pears

Ride a Painted Pony, by Kathleen Eagle

Every now and then, a character comes along that you completely resonate with. John Red Shield and I are kindred spirits. His quiet spirit emanates power, his loyalty is fierce and yet he possesses an alarming naivete. The hurts of his past have made him an inward-looking man and his own natural disposition causes him to be unwaveringly dedicated to meeting his own goals. He is loving in a unique way that one would have to uniquely understand in order to celebrate friendship with him. For me, he was the central character, even though perhaps Joey was the intended protagonist. This book reminded me of the uncertainty of romantic love, the steadfastness of motherly love. It was very refreshing, even though predictable with a far-fetched plot.

SCORE: 3 Pearls

The Best Laid Plans, by Sidney Sheldon

I decided to read another Sidney Sheldon book even though the last one was a disappointment to me mainly because I had already bought the book. This one turned out to be a great read. It was fast-paced from the onset and spanned such broad areas in subject matter, that it was also quite instructive. One of its central characters is Leslie Stewart, a P R executive, who decides to model her life after media mogul Katherine Graham after being jilted by Oliver Russel. Russel is an attorney who an all-powerful senator Todd Davis has earmarked for success, even presidency. Russel chooses to sell his soul to politics, success and Todd Davis, over love. Leslie follows his life closely and waits to publish the story that would destroy him as soon as it appeared to him that all his dreams were within reach. Her one chance seems to fall into her lap when a series of deaths involving liquid ecstasy is linked to President Russel, who's major failing is a weakness for the fairer sex.

Revenge is one thing that we all wrestle with but very rarely admit to indulging in. Sheldon very adeptly lets us glimpse the poisonous hate that the a need for retaliation cultivates in all of us and portrays it as both a motivating and a self-defeating impetus. Even thought The Best Laid Plans starts like the tale of the revenge of a woman scorned, it unfolds into much more and exceeded my expectations. It has a wealth of characters that Sheldon develops in parallel, while leaving the reader in complete suspense of how the story will unfold.

SCORE: 3.5 pearls

Codex, by Lev Grossman

Why on earth am I doing what I do? What do I forgo by taking the path well-trodden as opposed the path that my heart truly desires? This may not be what most see when they read Grossman's Codex, but that was the one thing that hit home for me. Seeing the main character lose himself in yearning for fulfillment the one instant he paused from his busy life caused me to force myself to pause....

In Codex, Grossman walks the reader through a month in a life of a star investment banker, Edward Wozny, who is facing a minor existential crisis while on vacation before taking another high powered position in London. Edward finds himself questioning what the point of his life has been as he embarks on a quest to locate a book that could shed doubt on an obscenely wealthy Duke's lineage. He does so at the request of the Duchess, Blanche, who he manages to romanticize and at whose beckon and call he throws himself regardless of the consequences to himself, or to her. On this quest, he meets Margaret, a Columbia graduate student who is very knowledgeable about all things medieval literature and whose charm is her lack of charm and common graces, and her quiet beauty.

Grossman narrates the story with such ease that I as the reader felt like an insider in the world of medieval literature and larger than life role playing video games. These very different genres are married together quite harmoniously in this pager turner. This a great book for anyone who has ever wondered why they wake up every morning and do as they ought to, and who has ever wondered what it would be like to toss it all to the wind and for a moment go after that one thing that your heart wants the most. This aspect, which is a major appeal of the book, is also one of its major frustrations: As Edward loses himself in finding and delivering the codex, his questionable decisions and eagerness to trust belie his four years as an investment banker.

Maybe all I need to do is find where the intersection of my hearts desire and human expectation lies.

SCORE: 4 pearls

Memories of Midnight, by Sidney Sheldon

Looking through Sidney Sheldon's eyes, I cannot help but think that when he looks at humanity, all he sees are our flaws and weaknesses. Most writers tend to create one dimensional characters who are either all good or all evil. While Sheldon does not necessarily fall into this trap, his characters are, on the other hand, all too human. They revel in their vices, they are tormented by their fears, they are drawn ruthlessly by their obsessions, their carnality overpowers them. This all too distorted lens through which he portays his characters does not appeal to me.

Memories of midnight, in particular, read like a screenplay. The central character, Catherine, returns from the grave only to fall into the care of a man who would wish to see her dead, but only after he seduces her. The man, Constantin, is a demigod with a knack for revenge. The central themes of the story are love, hate, money, power and vengeance. All in all, this book is Harlequin Romance meets soap opera meets psycho-killer thriller meets the all-knowing mafia-like arm of power and money. This concoction has all the makings of an unmemorable made-for TV movie.

SCORE: 2 pearls.