I’ve read most of James Patterson’s novels in recent years and have particularly enjoyed the Alex Cross series. Alex is a Washington police detective, psychologist and profiler who is responsible for catching several high profile serial killers who have a habit of taunting and endangering him and his family.

Pop Goes The Weasel, one of the earlier Alex Cross novels starts out with the murder of a young black prostitute whose body is dumped naked in Washington. Alex ties the murder in with others that have occurred where the victims clothing and identification have been removed. His boss doesn’t agree and orders Alex to investigate another higher profile case of the murder of a businessman, but Alex and his lifelong friend police officer John Sampson continue to investigate the series of killings in their own time.

This isn’t a whodunit; we learn right at the beginning that the serial killer Geoffrey Shafer works for the British Embassy in Washington and has diplomatic immunity. He has a wife and young family who believe that he is Mr wonderful because that is the way that he behaves towards them. In private Geoffrey carries out an online fantasy game called the Four Horsemen with 3 other ex British secret service officers. In the game Shafer’s name is Death and the aim amongst the 4 players is to create a ‘better’ fantasy than the other 3 players but none of the players are sure if the other players stories are just fantasy or true.

Alex Cross is a widower with 2 children and a girlfriend called Christine. Early on in the novel Christine accepts a proposal from Alex and they go on holiday with his family to Bermuda. During the holiday Christine disappears and it is months before Alex discovers whether she has been kidnapped or murdered, or whether or not Christine’s disappearance is tied to the murder investigation.

My Review

Although I have enjoyed reading all of the other novels in this series I didn’t find Pop Goes The Weasel  as gripping as the rest. Perhaps because the character of Geoffrey Shafer wasn’t as believable as James Patterson usually makes his characters. The plot was a little too intricate to be believable and at times I lost the plot with it.

What I like about the Alex Cross series is the interaction between Alex and his family – especially Nana. Alex’s elderly grandmother Nana lives with and looks after him and his 2 young children. A wise lady, who at over 80 has more energy than most of us at half of her age. You often find humour in their conversations and the love between them is apparent.

James Patterson has invented a strong well thought out character in Alex who is dedicated to his family and job. At times the job seems more important but then there are heart-warming scenes with his family to temper the more gruesome accounts of murder.

The story also shows how police forces may differentiate wrongfully between crimes and the classes of victims. Prostitutes are human beings and have just as much right as businessmen not to be offended against and investigations should have equal importance.

Although I got a bit lost during the last few chapters the ending was satisfactory with a few surprises. Pop Goes The Weasel is certainly worth reading if you like this genre, but I would advise that you read the series from the beginning through rather than in a mixed order as I have.

Patricia has been writing reviews and articles for several years. You can find more of her work and free writers tools worth over $3000 at the Creative Writing site.

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I read Tell No One by Harlan Coben several months ago and remembered liking his writing style when I saw No Second Chance on the library shelves. Harlan is a very good writer who knows how to draw you in and keep you interested with twists and turns in the plot, but the ending of Tell No One lacked the punch that I expected and hoped for as I approached the final chapters.

As I began reading No Second Chance I felt a strong sense of familiarity and wondered if indeed it had been this novel that I’d read earlier. It wasn’t but in both stories the hero is not long married and their wives are murdered in mysterious circumstances. I couldn’t help thinking that Harlan maybe hates women or wives enough to make them victims but I pushed that thought from my mind as I read on.

Dr Marc Seidman is a plastic surgeon, one of the good guys who treats the needy and travels to the third world or war torn countries. His wife Monica is the daughter of a rich man. One morning Marc and Monica are shot in their home and only Marc is left alive, but is severely injured and initially expected to die. Twelve days later Marc wakes up in hospital with no memory of what has happened and finds that their 6 month old baby daughter Tara has been missing since that morning.

There are no clues at the crime scene and no apparent reason for the crime. Kidnapping Tara for ransom is the only logical explanation but no demands are made until the day Marc leaves hospital and is taken to visit his father in law. There he finds that a box with a clipping of Tara’s hair and a demand for $2,000,000 has been delivered. The hair has been DNA tested and found to be Tara’s and Marc is ordered to deliver the ransom by himself and without informing the police.

Marc takes the money given by his father in law and waits at his own home until the kidnappers call with a meeting point. Unfortunately the police learn about the demand and get in on the act. The money is taken but Tara isn’t returned to Marc, all he gets is a message telling him ‘no second chance’.

Desperately disappointed, Marc gradually returns as much as possible to a normal life but doesn’t give up hope that his daughter is alive and well. 18 months later his father in law receives another ransom demand for $2,000,000 along with another lock of hair and a message asking if he wants a second chance. After DNA testing it’s found that the hair is from a 2 year old child and a match of Tara’s. At least Marc knows that is daughter is still alive but can he swap a further $2,000,000 for his daughter without the police and FBI finding out and messing things up again?

At this point the pace of the novel became strong. Marc enlists the help of an ex girlfriend Rachael who just happens to be ex FBI. The question is can he trust her? She retired under dubious circumstances and Marc discovers that she had hung around his practice not long before the death of his wife and kidnapping of his daughter. Could she have had something to do with what has happened to Marc, could it be Marc himself as the police begin to think, or could it be somebody else entirely? With the police closely on his tail, the kidnappers always seem to be one step ahead of Marc as he follows clues in the hunt for his daughter and the killer. He begins to suspect that somebody close to him is leaking information but who can’t he trust?

I won’t divulge any more of the storyline, but there are lots of twists and turns to add enough suspense to make me want to keep on reading. Although I guessed whodunit early on, I didn’t guess the reasons behind the crime and it’s aftermath and I changed my mind several times throughout. The lead up to the end was excellent enough to keep me on edge and although the ending was a bit lukewarm it was better than the final chapters of Tell No One. To me No Second Chance was altogether a better read than Tell No One and I felt that this award winning author has improved from good to better than good in the 2 years since Tell No One was published and look forward to reading his future work.

One teeny disappointment was that I would have liked to see two of the characters enlarged upon a bit more. Lydia and Heshy are a gruesome twosome described well enough to make my skin crawl. The thought of that pair in the background added more suspense to the story, whether they had anything to do with the crime or not!

Marc was a likeable and believable character. His grief at the loss of his daughter and wife was portrayed well and made me want to find out if he gets Tara back. He is quite an ordinary guy really, but his search brings out a toughness and tenacity in him that you can only admire.

I was interested to read that Harlan Coben doesn’t start with an outline to a novel. He just plans a beginning and an end, with the core happening as he goes along. I suspected that during reading because you get quite far into the book before you see that it is heading in any particular direction. With some writers the result can be messy with too many loose ends, in No Second chance the loose ends are tied up despite there being so many twists.

Highly recommended if you like an intelligent thriller with enough twists to keep you guessing right through the book.

Get more reviews and free writers tools at  http://creativewriter.me.uk

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I used to read a lot of novels and then after a break of several years rediscovered reading for pleasure last year. I have found that my tastes have changed and that some of my previously favourite authors have become too predictable and just don’t do it for me any more.

I recall reading and thoroughly enjoying some of Maeve Binchy’s novels a decade ago. Maeve was a relatively new author back then and producing what I felt were lightweight but really enjoyable reads with interesting and believable characters. Great for bedtime reading without being too challenged. When I saw Scarlet Feather on the library shelves I wondered if my tastes had changed too much, or I would be able to turn back the years and find the same level of pleasure as I had in previously reading this author’s work.

Scarlet Feather is the name of a Dublin based catering company owned by Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather. Cathy is married to lawyer Neil Mitchell and Tom lives with his beautiful would be model girlfriend Marcella. After years of working hard for others they find suitable premises to run their business from and with financial help from Tom’s brother and Cathy’s aunt, good imaginative food and recommendations it looks like their business will do as well as they dream.

The first function that we read about is a New Years Eve party at Cathy’s in laws Hannah and Jock Mitchell’s home. Hannah and Jock live in a big house where Cathy’s mother Lizzie used to clean. The Mitchells and in particular snobbish Hannah had been against Cathy and Neil’s marriage and Hannah takes every opportunity to let them know that. Cathy has to grit her teeth and listen to her mother being referred to as ‘poor Lizzie’, but Cathy knows that her mother is only poor in a financial sense. She might have had to spend her working life cleaning and supporting her 6 children and a husband whose office is at the bookies but happiness does not always come with money and a big house. We see that Hannah is a bitter and lonely lady whose husband is a weak yes man who spends most of his free time on the golf course. Even so you can still feel Cathy’s anger at the slights and feel angry with her.

The party is interrupted by the arrival of 9 year old twins Simon and Maud. They are Jock’s brother’s children and have been left to fend for themselves with no food or money. Their father has disappeared on a jaunt to England and isn’t traceable. Their alcoholic mother is in a clinic and their older brother Walter who is supposed to be looking after them is at the party.

The rude and bad mannered twins are allowed to stay the night and decide to pick Jock and Hannah’s bedroom to sleep in. They create havoc with Hannah’s make up and the party guest’s clothes and the following day flood the bathroom. Their uncle and aunt don’t want them so Cathy and Neil take them in for a few days. They haven’t much time for the children because of Cathy’s new business, Neil’s work as a lawyer and the committees formed to help others that he is part of. Simon and Maud are then passed on to her parents Lizzie and Muttie who are only related by marriage to the children but offer the children love, stability and their first real home.

Simon and Maud who start out as children from hell quickly became my favourite characters in this novel. I loved the way Maeve described the pair who are what I would call real characters. The neglect from their upper class parents who we meet later on the book is sickeningly sad and these parents don’t even seem to realise that they are being neglectful. It is no wonder that they are a disagreeable pair when they have had little attention and know that nobody loves or really wants them. After fending for themselves so much they are more like mini adults but like children they ask the most awkward questions. “Do you only mate once a week Cathy?” made me smile, just as much as the changes in the children once they were looked after properly and gradually realised that others felt them worth caring about and wanted them around.

At first Cathy’s character didn’t gel on me. She seemed driven to succeed more to prove her in laws wrong than anything else. As the storyline develops Maeve shows us Cathy’s love and talent for the work she is doing and you want her to succeed despite some tough setbacks. There are hints of reverse snobbery with Cathy’s dealings with her mother in law and you know that the relationship will only work if they accept each other as equals who both love Neil. I began to like the character when she was placed in situations where quick thinking solved problems and stopped others from being upset.

I didn’t like Neil’s character very much. He seemed at times distant and cold to me, spending too much time making a name for himself promoting good causes and letting down those around him when they needed him. A man who believes that whatever he is doing is more important than the work of others and it might be but there has to be some balance.

Tom is a likeable character. A charmer who doesn’t know it and he is dependable. His partner Marcella comes across as selfish in her aim to become a professional model but that is only one side to her character.

There are other diverse characters and several entwined storylines. It isn’t a vastly exciting novel but it was still a very good read and just as enjoyable to me as Maeve Binchy’s other books. I found the characters believable and the insights into the many different relationships interesting. I know little offhand about Maeve Binchy but I feel that she is a lady who observes a lot and knows what makes people tick.

Maeve is from Dublin and her stories are usually set in or around there and about Dubliners. I’ve never been to Dublin but this author gives me a real feel for the place and those who live there. I loved Maeve’s often humourous behind the scenes descriptions of the functions and partys that Scarlet Feather cater for, the diverse guests and mishaps that Tom and Cathy have to deal with and still retain a professional image. Those descriptions are so true to life that I wondered if they had been drawn from real experiences.

I was drawn into the story right from the first page and hated putting this easy to read book down. The 10 chapters of this 598 page book are long so telling myself that I’d go to sleep at the end of a chapter meant reading on long after I should have been asleep. I was happy with the not unexpected ending which seemed to me left open enough for a sequel.

After reading Scarlet Feather I know now that I will look out for the books that I’ve missed from this author who is now restored to one of my favourites.

Review Source: http://creativewriter.me.uk

Eighty-year-old Troy Phelan jumps out of his wheelchair, practically runs across the room out onto the terrace and dives from the top floor of his 14 story building to his death. The sick, sad, lonely self made multi billionaire knew that he wanted to die, knew that his family wouldn’t mourn him much and wanted to cause them as much grief as he could by setting the scene for the last act of his life.

A short time before his death Troy who was one of the richest men in the USA was examined by 3 notable psychiatrists and pronounced sound in mind. Then he signed a 90 page professionally prepared will sharing his billions out equally amongst his 6 children from 3 broken marriages. All of who were in the room with their individual lawyers at the time of the examination and signing. His families, their lawyers and the psychiatrists then left the room totally satisfied with the filmed proceedings.

Camera still running, and with just 3 others remaining (Josh Stafford, a partner in the law firm and Troy’s gofer Snead) Troy shredded that will and produced and signed an handwritten 1 page will revoking all others and leaving his billions to illegitimate daughter Rachael Lane. Only Troy knew of her existence and nobody including him had more than a vague idea where she was.

In a letter to Josh he ordered the contents of the will not to be disclosed until January 9th, one month after his death. In that final testament all he left his 6 legitimate heirs was payment of any debts incurred before the reading and that would be only on condition that none of them contested the will. Immediately after signing the will he jumped to his death leaving behind a great deal of controversy and uncertainty.

His slick lawyer Josh Stafford was faced with the problem of finding Rachel Lane. All he had to go on was that she was a trained doctor and a World Tribes missionary in Brazil working for a religious outfit who had been sworn to secrecy about her. As far as his 6 children were concerned they were his heirs and had no idea that the final will had cut them out. Their problem was in getting enough credit to buy the expensive things that they desired and would be able to afford once they inherited the money.

At this stage I pondered on the fairness of a man that can play games with his children and detest them so much that he can disregard the security of their futures yet leave a massive fortune to a daughter that he had only met once and 20 years earlier. We learn that he had little interest in them as children and that each had received a trust fund of $5,000,000 on reaching 21, excepting for his weird 14 year old son Ramble whose money was waiting in trust for him. The 5 who had received their trust funds had gone through most or all of the money and some were in debt. Troy had worked hard for his money and was certain that his incompetent children and their partners would fritter the fortune away. I can understand that point of view but heck what’s the point of having money if you live austerely as Troy did and don’t enjoy it.

Josh decides rather strangely to send 48 year old food litigation lawyer Nate O’Riley to Brazil to look for Rachael. At the time of Troy’s death alcoholic Nate is drying out in a rehab centre for the umpteenth time and hardly the most suitable choice for the task and the temptations on the way. With 2 failed marriages and children that don’t like him, Nate’s excess baggage includes self-pity and to a certain extent the self-delusion of an alcoholic who has often stumbled at the hurdles of reform.

Nate travels to the Brazilian jungle while the Phelan heirs and their many legal advisers wrangle greedily over the inheritance. The book swings back and forth between both aspects of the story but my favourite parts were the descriptions of Nate sailing down an alligator infested river in a storm and the settlement of hostile semi-naked Ipica Indians and their surroundings.

I won’t say any more about the plot except that the will was read 2 weeks instead of a month after Troy’s death as he specified. I found that rather odd and there was no real reason given for not carrying out Troy’s last wishes, certainly not enough to affect the plot.

I haven’t read anything by John Grisham before and only picked this book in the library because of reading enthusiastic opinions about some of his other books. I wasn’t disappointed in my choice and found the storyline interesting enough to want to read to the end and find out what happens although it didn’t totally absorb me to a point where I couldn’t put the book down. I found some of the plot implausible but it seemed to strengthen rather than weaken this piece of fiction.

The main character Nate was well described and it was quite easy to build up empathy with him, but in parts I wanted to give him a big nudge with an extreme part of my anatomy. Part of the implausibility of the book was the speed in which Nate managed to travel to a remote part of Brazil called the Panatel, have some adventures and find Rachel with little information to go on.

When Rachel finally comes into the story I found it hard to find any empathy with her. She’s a good woman, dedicates her life to her religion and caring for natives in a remote part of the world with little access to what we call civilisation. Suffers unimaginable hardships every day stoically. A tough lady yet disappointingly little of her personality is exposed.

My favourite character was Jevy, Nate’s guide and translator in Brazil. Jevy had lived in the USA for a while and one day wanted to go back there. He came across as a caring, loyal, humorous and intuitive young man and was used in the story to keep Nate’s feet on the ground. I would liked to have seen the character expanded upon and explored more.

The Testament drew to a satisfying conclusion, leaving me with lots of things to think about. We all have to die sometime but wouldn’t it be awful dying knowing that the uncaring vultures waiting to pounce on what we leave behind are our children and the ones that we would most want to mourn us. It made me think about the lives of children with rich parents who spend time making more money instead of loving, raising, guiding and enjoying their children.

I learned something about the perils of the jungle and the way primitive tribes still live even now. I thought about the value of missionaries who apart from bible bashing offer invaluable medical care and knowledge making a not always welcome good and real difference to the existence of people from remote areas.

Greed was the motivation of many of the characters in the book, including some of the lawyers. You learn that those who uphold the law are not always honest when millions are at stake and hope that the storyline isn’t too true to life. Once the scenes with the lawyers came in I expected to find the book boring. I didn’t, I found myself curious to know how the Phelan heirs would react and just how low they and their lawyers would stoop. The switches to the jungle adventure were perfectly timed to stop me from ever feeling bored.

Although classed as a thriller it wasn’t thrilling, just a well told story with adventure, a hint of romance, a delve into the lives of spoilt filthy rich, an insight into the mind of a reforming alcoholic and the amount of money that lawyers can make out of other peoples deaths. Not the best book that I’ve ever read but still eminently readable and recommended for long winter evenings curled up in front of the fire. I shall certainly read more of John Grishams work in the future.

The author Patricia Jones loves writing and building websites.
You can see more of her articles and reviews at The Creative Writer - Make Money From Writing and the UK Travel Guide

Approaching her mid thirties, Lydia was terrified of looking and growing older. Then in the summer of 1991 I read in a national newspaper about a new book that had been released that could help you to look younger. Lydia’s birthday was the following week so I thought perfect and trotted off to WH Smiths and bought Eva Fraser’s Facial Workout for £3.99.

When I got home I was curious yet dubious about the content, especially as at the top of the front cover it states ‘Look fifteen years younger’. I read it through and it made more sense than the promises on the labels of expensive lotions and potions, so I kept that copy for myself and bought another for Lydia.

At the time I was training regularly at a gym and had learned that exercising the muscles in my body was helping to tone my skin up and diminish the dreaded cellulite. This book takes exercise one-step further and teaches you how to use the muscles in your face to tone your skin up.

The following is an extract from the introduction:

‘The muscles of the face differ from those of the body in that they are attached directly to the skin that covers them. This means that when the facial muscles sag, the skin attached to them sags too. In fact the slackening of the facial muscles is one of the main causes of the sagging and drooping that most of us eventually experience, leading to bags under the eyes, loose folds of skin on the upper eyelids, pouches, jowls, turkey-necks. If the body were as neglected as so many faces appear to be, some of us would have muscles so wasted away that we would barely be able to walk.’

Maybe an exaggeration, but we’ve all heard it said that there are more muscles in your face than the rest of your body and that smiling a lot keeps you looking younger. If you follow those thoughts through then you know that there should be a lot that you can do for yourself to help you to look younger and there are very detailed instructions in this book.

Before you start the exercises you prepare yourself by learning how and why they work. You are warned that results don’t happen overnight because your facial muscles have been sitting there mostly unused for all of your years. As with any type of exercise you need to start out gradually and build up, but once you are used to the exercises you will only need to spend about 10 minutes on them every day.

Apart from facial exercises you are taught how to relieve tension and stress and given tips on how to look after your body. There are illustrations and written instructions for all of the exercises that help to make the book very easy to follow. I decided to give the exercises a try back in 91 and started by warming up which is basically relaxing for a few minutes.

Neck Exercises

I often used to get neck ache through tension and found the gentle exercises a real help towards relieving the pain.

Eye Exercises

Not sure what they are meant to achieve but according to Eva the look up, down, sideways exercises are a vital part of your routine.

Basic Workout

There are five workout programmes and you start with The Basic Workout and slowly build up to the fifth The Advanced Workout over a period of months. At first you do the exercises twice a day for 5 minutes and later cut that down to about 2 minutes twice a day – I cheated and did them all in one go.

Before you start you should follow a few basic rules: don’t do the exercises when you are tired, always clean make up or creams off your face and only use Vaseline under your eyes. Stand or sit in front of a mirror and always start with the neck and eye warm up exercises. As my mirror is next to my kitchen window I’m sure that the neighbours wondered what on earth I was up to. Not for long though, once you are used to doing the exercises you can do them anywhere and without a mirror.

It’s hard to describe what the exercises are like but I’ll try. The first 3 exercises involve smiling slowly and holding for a few seconds then relaxing and breathing. The next 2 are lifting your cheek muscles towards the corners and then centre of your eyes, hold for a few seconds then relax and breathe. Exercise 6 is snarling and exercise 7 is raising your eyebrows. You do that workout for a couple of weeks or until you are used to it and then move on to the next stage. I remember finding the Basic Workout very easy and thinking that my facial muscles must have been well exercised already with all of the smiling that I do.

Basic Workout Plus

You continue to do the basic workout but now there are 6 more exercises to add which combined take about 10 minutes. With this new routine you exercise the muscles at the right side of your face and then the left. The smiling didn’t help me here; at first I couldn’t budge those muscles no matter how hard I tried. Gradually I learned to control the targeted muscles and was able to move them more and more. As the book tells you, one side of your face is usually weaker than the other. My weak side was the left but in time it seemed to become as strong as the right. Once you are totally used to the exercises you discard the first 2 workouts and move on to the next one.

Intermediate Workout

You only need to do this routine once a day and for 5 or 6 days a week and you should use a mirror and concentrate hard. The 7 exercises are meant to strengthen your neck, mouth corners and lower and upper cheek muscles and are similar to the exercises in the Basic Workout. This time round you add more stages to each exercise and I realised that if I hadn’t completed the first 2 routines it would have been impossible to use my muscles so demandingly if that’s the right word.

Intermediate Workout Plus

Once I was completely familiar with the Intermediate Workout I added the Intermediate Workout Plus to my session. The routine is similar to the last one but you again exercise each side of your face separately. After a few weeks you should be ready for the last stage.

Advanced Workout

I caffled (copped out) with most of this stage and just added some of the under chin and forehead exercises to the last routine. I was not going to wear rubber gloves and put my fingers in my mouth and pull my face about no matter how young it might make me look – there are some things that even I will not do to experiment.

Do The Exercises Work?

Even without completing the last stage I noticed a significant improvement in my skin tone as time passed. Before I began the exercises my skin looked dull and lacked elasticity, I had awful moments when putting make up on or removing it. Just stretching the skin around my eyes a little sometimes produced saggy lines that didn’t bounce back until hours afterwards. Gradually as the elasticity returned to my skin I eliminated that horrible effect.

The most noticeable difference was in the mornings after drinking sessions and there were plenty of good times back then. My skin would look tired and dull and the elasticity was poor. 10 minutes of facial exercises and my skin looked and felt great. So yes they do work if you stick to them, most people guessed my age to be about 30 after I had been doing them for a few years but I was closer to 40.

Alas I gradually stopped doing the exercises – too much interest from toy boys became tiresome when maturity was of more interest to me!!! I started doing them again 3 weeks ago when I decided to write this review. I felt then that it was better to experience part of it again than to just write from memory. Already my facial muscles are starting to feel toned up again and my skin looks a little better – who knows if I will keep it up!

Make Up And Hair

In the middle of the book there are several glossy pages with coloured pictures offering advice on make up and hair. Some of the tips are useful and especially a recommendation to always use Vaseline underneath your eyes instead of moisturiser. Years ago I started to get little white spots underneath my eyes and was told that it was due to a build up of moisturiser. I used Vaseline after reading the book and the white spots gradually faded.

Diet

This section isn’t just about losing weight but how we feel in ourselves. We are given information about the different vitamins and minerals and how they can affect your health and well-being.

Skincare

This part explains why your skin ages and lists sun, pollution, smoking, diet, alcohol, caffeine, detergents and soaps, winds and cold, lack of sleep and exercise as many of the reasons. We are then given advice on how to improve and take care of your skin. I didn’t know previously that iced water can be harmful to the skin on your face and neck – some people use iced water as beauty treatments.

It helps to exfoliate the skin on your body and face at least once a week and remove the dead cells. For your face you can use a towel rubbed in gentle circles every day, but on your body and hands table salt does the job well and costs less than expensive beauty products.

Exercises and Fitness

The next section details exercises for all parts of your body including some to reduce stiffness in your fingers. I found the leg exercises particularly useful to help trim the fat and reduce cellulite.

Massage and Circulation

This chapter shows you the pressure points on your face and neck and how to relieve tense muscles with massage.

Tips And Advice

The last section offers dressing tips to help you look slimmer and younger, colour sense and how to choose a hairstylist. Most of it is pretty standard advice like avoiding clingy jersey fabrics or tight underwear that shows bulges underneath your clothes.

Final Thoughts

The £3.99 that I spent on this book was money well spent. I got a lot of use out of it for several years and although it was hidden away in the cupboard until a few weeks ago I can see from looking at it again that I have followed some of the advice automatically and found it very useful. The routines are easy to follow and they don’t take much time up. If you want to improve your skin or look and feel younger without spending money on expensive lotions and potions that may or may not work I can highly recommend Eva Fraser’s Facial Workout.

You will find the paperback currently at Amazon for £5.99 and the video for £8.47. Also available for on amazon.com is Eva Frasers Face and Body Program for $78.97.

P.S. Lydia was offended by the gift at first because she thought I was saying that she looked old rather than my intention being to help her to allay her fears. A few months later she thanked me and said that it was one of the best presents that she had ever received.

The advent of the Internet added new dimensions to the lives of computer users, many of them good, but as with a lot of things in life there is a downside. Many thousands of adults get caught out by online scammers and as we expect children to be more gullible than adults they need protecting from predators, making child safety online absolutely essential.

Protecting our children is mainly common sense, but for those who are new to the Internet it can be baffling without knowing what to watch out for and how to deal with problems. Before I review the ebook I’ll tell you about my friend and her daughter.

Five years ago my friend’s 12 year old daughter was groomed by an online predator and my friend had no idea what was happening until it was too late. She thought that her daughters growing behavioural problems were down to the transition from childhood to becoming a teenager – those difficult years. My friend didn’t know that she was using school and a friends computer to go online and visit chat rooms. That her daughter lost her childhood to a monster more than twice her age who she met in a chat room.

My friend fought back and was even instrumental in getting the law changed to help protect children more. It took a long time and a lot of pain and sorrow for all of the family before things got back to anything like normal. Although things are much better now the harrowing events of 5 years ago have tainted their lives and that can never be altered.

Whats In The Ebook

In Child Safety Online there are detailed tips of what parents should watch out for and how to deal with any potential problems from perverts. Apart from online predators there are other dangers which include pornographic websites, bullying, gambling and online games that are not suitable for children.

In this ebook you learn about two types of Child Internet Protection Software and how to use them. Also step by step instructions are given on how to find out what sites your children have visited and how to block them from accessing any danger sites. There are even sections on identity theft, spyware and malware and how to avoid and deal with the problems.

What I Think About It

Child Safety Online is well written and I felt that it explored potential problems and the warning signs to watch out for in children thoroughly. The ebook is full of excellent advice, in fact much better than I expected. To me the only downside was that parents could easily find themselves getting paranoid whilst reading the warning signs, but it’s a sad fact that sickos on the internet are a real threat and a little paranoia is less harmful than online predators who try to catch children at an impressionable age with the intent to do irreparable damage to those precious lives.

If you are worried about online threats to your children then I can recommend ‘Child Safety Online’ as a source of good information and advice.

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We start off playing happy families with 39 year old Page, 45 year old husband Brad and children Allyson 15, Andy 7. They live in San Francisco and as far as Page is concerned everything is near perfect, her marriage, children and lifestyle. So much so that she wonders about having another child before it’s too late.

Suddenly as is typical in Danielle’s novels their lives are torn apart one dreadful Saturday night. Allyson sneaks out on a double date with her school friend Chloe and two 17 year old boys Jamie and Phillip. It is Allyson’s very first date but knowing that her parents won’t approve of her going out with an older boy she and Chloe tell their respective parents that they are at each others homes. They have an enjoyable night; a meal and the boys drink wine but only half a glass.

Allyson’s date Phillip is driving and the other couple are in the back seat. They are crossing the Golden Gate Bridge when another car driven by a Senator’s wife hits them. The crash causes the instantaneous death of the driver Phillip, Ally has terrific head injuries, Chloe has leg injuries and Jamie walks away with a few bruises. The senator’s wife is unharmed and her white dress isn’t even marked.

She is going home from a party and claims not to have had a drink. The police believe her and don’t bother to breathalyse her. They cannot tell how the accident was caused because there was too much damage to the youngster’s car, but the implication in the newspapers is that Ben was under the influence of alcohol despite having had only half a glass of wine. The senator’s wife is an ex alcoholic and the families have to question whether she had lapsed and been drinking and if there was a cover up because of her husbands position.

Page rushes to the hospital to find her daughter in a coma and needing brain surgery. The doctors cannot tell whether she will live or not and if she lives how badly affected she will be. At first she cannot contact her husband who is supposed to be on a business trip and has to get in touch through his boss. Normally he leaves a contact number, why hasn’t he this time, why did he sound annoyed at her and why did he only take an hour to get to the hospital when it should have taken six?

Yes the story drew me in and absorbed me for at least the first two thirds of the book. Danielle Steele writes in an easy to read manner that plays on your emotions. Throughout I wanted Allyson to come out of her coma and every time she had a setback and was expected to die I felt sad but then glad when she stabilised.

The book is mainly about a woman and mother dealing with problems that come out of the blue but are far reaching. Page has to juggle her life around spending hours at her daughter’s bedside willing her to come out of the coma and without much support. Wondering if she will ever be the same if she does, how much the family’s lives will be affected if there is brain damage, but most of all preparing herself for Allyson’s death.

She also needs to spend quality time with her young son and faces the dilemma of should she reassure Andy and let him think that everything is going to be back to normal or should she prepare him for the worst. Then there are marital problems to be faced, more reassurance for Andy – it isn’t his fault that his wonderful father is turning into a rat.

More crap is thrown at Page when her selfish mother and sister who live in New York come to stay for a week. Supposedly out of concern but they expect to be waited on hand and foot and are more interested in shopping and getting their hair and nails done than visiting the hospital.

Danielle described those two characters very well. She made me loathe them but I think that she didn’t need to go further and add that the two women had locked Page in her bedroom with her doctor father when she was a young teenager. Too much information and I felt unnecessary to bring incest into the storyline. I also felt that the whole scenario was unrealistic. If I had moved thousands of miles to get away from the gruesome twosome I wouldn’t have them to stay in my home that’s for sure. But then Danielle was throwing every bit of conflict that she could at her main character to test her strength and courage.

As a main character, Page came across well. We are shown that a woman portrayed originally as very ordinary can produce an extraordinary amount of inner strength to enable her to deal with terrible situations without falling apart.

There are some special moments in the book when Andy befriends Bjorn, Chloe’s 18 year old brother. Bjorn has a mental age of ten and loves being around young children and Andy is proud to have an older friend. It was a nice touch to add the character of Bjorn and a demonstration of how good can come from bad. I would have liked to read more about the developing friendship, it expressed to me how young children don’t have prejudices and can easily accept somebody who is a little different. A week after finishing Accident I feel that I enjoyed those small sections the most.

I enjoyed reading the rest of the book to a certain extent, my emotions were played with and at first I found it hard to put down. Then the storyline became all too familiar and I realised why I had stopped reading Danielle Steele before. After the first few chapters I had a good idea of what was going to happen, leaving little surprise element, though the ending did leave some questions unanswered.

If I were new to reading Danielle Steele’s novels I would probably have thoroughly enjoyed this one. Perhaps over familiarity with her style and technique induced a boredom in me towards the end which I would normally only find when reading work from less skilled authors. I feel a little sad to be taking Danielle Steele off my reading list knowing that I was previously enthusiastic about her work. I have changed but Danielle hasn’t.

I find it hard to rate this novel because I would have found it compelling throughout a few years ago and know that my tastes have changed. Therefore I will recommend it to those who like a romantic/tragic read with the power to play on your emotions.

Patricia has been writing articles and reviews for many years. You can view
more of her work and find some great free advice about writing and free writers tools worth over $3000 at the creative writing guide and her Make Money From Writing website Cashwrite.info

I don’t think that I’ve read a book written by Val McDermid before so from the first page it was like starting out in unexplored territory, not knowing what to expect.

The main character is Professor Fiona Cameron, in her late thirties and lives with crime thriller writer Kit Martin in London. She is a psychologist, teaches but also uses computers to build up crime linkage and geographical profiles to help the police in their search for serial killers. She works out where they may physically live and the links between crimes by inputting details into a specially designed programme rather than character profiles, an idea that I find fascinating.

There are several different storylines running alongside each other, multi layered the cover says. That sounds as if the book could be confusing but it wasn’t, for me it added to the tension and made the book more interesting.

One of the sub plots is that Fiona is called to help in the search for a serial killer in Toledo, Spain. Bodies of tourists are found displayed in surroundings important to the history of Toledo and the police are baffled. They have no clues and no ideas as far as motive is concerned. Fiona and Kit fly out to Toledo and Fiona visits the murder scenes. She doesn’t really need to because her work is done on the computer with facts, but her visiting the murder scenes of each case reassures the police who don’t understand how the programme works.

She inputs what facts are available and comes up with an area that the killer probably lives in. She can see that the crimes are against tourists – all armed with the same travel book and points out that this killer must hate tourists and perhaps his or her life has been badly affected by tourism at some point. She then asks for details of older crimes against tourists that haven’t resulted in death. When these crimes are input into the programme she comes up with a different area and suggests that perhaps the killer had moved from that area to the other area and that the reason for the move had angered the killer and that the assaults had accelerated into killings. This is enough information for the police to open new lines of inquiry but I won’t say if they were successful, my aim was to give more idea of the work that Fiona does.

At the same time crime thriller writer Drew Shand is murdered in Edinburgh. His death and the grusome display of his bloody remains are similar to a scene in one of his books. Because Drew is gay and into rough sex it is assumed by the police and media that his death was a sexual encounter gone wrong.

Fiona’s long-time friend Detective Inspector Steve Martin has problems. Susan Blanchard was raped and murdered on Hampstead Heath and the man who was charged with the murder has just been released from the Old Bailey. Freed because the judge said that the case was brought to court through entrapment and little real evidence. Steve needs some help from Fiona when he and his team decide to give up their free time to hunt the murderer, be it the man who was tried or somebody else entirely. The trail has gone cold and so is Fiona initially towards his need for help. She had vowed never to help London Met again after Steve’s superior had taken her off the case and put somebody less competent on it.

Jane Elias, another thriller writer is killed in a similar manner to a victim in one of her books. Her gruesome remains are found on her estate in County Wicklow, Ireland. The police and media believe that it is a copycat killer and don’t link it to the murder in Edinburgh. Despite that Kit and Fiona feel the beginning of fear, and distress because both writers were friends of Kit and they all wrote the same type of novels.

Throughout the book are extracts from a serial killers diary, describing what he does to his victims in an almost matter of fact way that left me shuddering but not feeling sick with the details. The extracts work well in helping to build up suspense and throughout you don’t know whose diary it is.

I found the main character Fiona quite cold and it wasn’t easy to build any empathy with her. She is driven by her sister’s unsolved murder many years earlier. She felt guilty because she had encouraged her to go to University and her choice of career stems from her pain and guilt at the murder. Her relationship with her friends and lover Kit show a warm side to her character but when about her business the coldness is there. Perhaps a defence mechanism against the gruesome nature of her work or maybe Val McDermid couldn’t imagine anything but a cold female in this line of work.

Kit remained a bit of an enigma to me. Maybe because he came across as very ordinary whereas I imagine a best selling author to be quite extraordinary. At times Fiona practically mothers him. You know that it comes from a fear of her losing somebody that she loved in a terrible way but wonder why he doesn’t get irritated more.

Steve comes across as a bit of a lovelorn wimp. Although he has a tough demanding career; unnaturally to me he hangs around with Fiona the woman who he has loved for years and her lover – talk about rubbing your nose in it.

The places that we visit in the book are described well and helped me to picture events more vividly. Scenes in the Scottish Highlands in particular almost made me feel as if I was there watching on.

Did I enjoy the book? So much that I couldn’t put it down and unlike me, missed going on the internet for a whole day in favour of reading it. I managed to complete all 549 pages within 2 days, which is quite a feat for me. It is fast paced and I found it totally compelling. From the first chapter I wanted to know what surprise the next one held and I was absorbed right until the breathtaking, exciting conclusion.

I didn’t guess the ending and found Killing The Shadows not totally but less predictable than some of the books that I’ve read recently. Crime thriller novels have never previously been my first choice of reading matter but some of the best books that I’ve read in recent months are of that genre and I would say that this novel is the most outstanding of anything that I’ve read for a long time. Apparently it’s not thought of as the best work by Val McDermid, if that’s the case then I can’t wait to read more of her work.

Patricia has been writing articles and reviews for many years. You can view
more of her work and find some great free advice about writing at the creative writing guide – Submit travel reviews and find free travel articles at Articles Abroad

Trapped is the first visual adaptation of a story by Dean Koontz written in 1989. Published in 1992 by Eclipse it is a short story adapted by horror writer Edward Gorman and illustrated by Anthony Bilau. Think comics with a glossy card cover and brightly coloured glossy pages and you might be able to picture the effect.

Caught in the pool of light from my bedside lamp I could see the creature staring at me. The malevolent expression on the big white rat’s face was enough to make me shudder – or was that caused by the cold I wondered as I snuggled further into my bedcovers. On further inspection I could see that the rat on the front cover of the book looked cute rather than scary, especially as it’s red eyes look crossed.

The story is quite simple. Meg and her 10-year-old son Tommy are driving home from the doctor’s office in a snow blizzard. Tommy has broken his leg and both are still mourning the death of his father. They pass the curve where a drunk driver crashing into and killed his father and you feel sorry for the widow and her son. They come to a road block and their car is checked over by men carrying rifles. Meg suspects that they are looking for bombs when really 8 white rats have escaped from a laboratory.

They reach their farmhouse unscathed but it isn’t long before they realise that they have aggressive furry visitors. These are not ordinary rats, they are very clever as Meg realises after baiting some traps with Warfarin. Not long afterwards she finds the traps sprung, no trapped rats and the Warfarin pellets have been moved. Deposited in a box of All Bran cereals, the rats have tried to turn the tables on them.

Meg and Tommy can’t escape in the car because the rats immobilise it and they don’t think about the telephone until it’s too late. They are alone in the middle of nowhere and the snow is deep. Tommy is wearing a pot on his leg and can’t get far under his own steam. Meg tries to pull him on a sledge but she has doubts that she will be able to reach the road. Will they escape or will the rats get them?

I haven’t read the original story but guess that chunks were taken out during the adaptation to enable the illustrations to work on the reader’s imagination. It didn’t work for me, the story wasn’t scary, not many twists and turns, little suspense and the ending was very predictable. Perhaps it was better in its original form, Dean Koontz isn’t usually so predictable.

The illustrations are good if you look at them on their own but I found them a garish distraction while reading the story. On some pages the story seemed disjointed making you rely on the pictures more than I liked to get the drift of the tale. I’m not used to reading comics so perhaps that’s why I found the pictures distracting rather than an enjoyable addition.

It was less than 30 minutes before I could snuggle down further in my bed, book finished and sure that I wouldn’t have any nightmares. I got my copy from the library but I doubt if I’d have been happy at paying the new price of £6.99 on Amazon if I had got it for the story alone. I was curious to see an illustrated Dean Koontz story and have spent quite some time poring over some of the individual illustrations since finishing the story, which has given me some enjoyment of the book.

As it’s hard to find much information about this book on the internet, unusual for anything of Dean Koontz I wonder if Trapped will become a collectors item in years to come and worth investing in a copy. I did find a site where the original artwork is up for sale by the page and for $60 each.

I’ll end by saying that I was disappointed in the storyline. Rare for something by Dean Koontz, but it is an adaptation by another writer and perhaps it might have been better if Dean had adapted it himself. It’s too predictable to read again but at least my curiosity has been satisfied.

Patricia writes reviews and articles for  the Creative Writing Guide and the Make Money From Writing sites where you can find some great free advice about writing and free writers tools worth over $3000.

Cannie Shapiro is overweight and her size makes her feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. When she goes to the beach she covers the rolls with a sarong. Sounds familiar, we are conditioned to think that thin is beautiful and fat should be hidden.

At the beginning of the book we hear that 28 year old Cannie is a journalist, writes a column about the famous for the Philadelphia Examiner. She had ended her 3 year relationship with writer Bruce Gruberman 3 months earlier by saying that she wanted a break. She is fine with that until she picks up a copy of Moxie, a popular women’s magazine. There she reads an article by new columnist Bruce called Loving A Larger Woman.

The first sentence of the article says: ‘I’ll never forget the day I found out my girlfriend weighed more than I did’. He goes on to let the readers know that he never thought of himself as a chubby chaser. Cruel you think until you read further and see that he understands that her hefty 5’ 10” well covered body makes her feel bad when really to him big is beautiful. He ends the article by saying:

‘Loving a larger woman is an act of courage in this world, and maybe it’s even an act of futility. Because, in loving C., I knew I was loving someone who didn’t believe that she herself was worthy of anyone’s love. And now that it’s over, I don’t know where to direct my anger and sorrow. At a world that made her feel the way she did about her body – no, herself – and whether she was desirable. At C., for not being strong enough to overcome what the world told her. Or at myself, for not loving C. enough to make her believe in herself’.

I included those sentences from the book because they struck a chord with me. Some people can live happily with being overweight but for many every extra pound means miserable self-consciousness and guilt trips – straight to the kitchen cupboard usually! The bigger you get the less desirable you feel and you start to believe that is the way that others perceive you. I wondered if any of my partners had thought loving me an act of courage at the times in my life that I’ve been overweight.

Cannie is very hurt that Bruce could discuss her size with the huge readership of the magazine. She knows that people who know her will read the article and realise that it’s about her. Cannie cries her heart out, gets drunk and cries a lot more. She rings Bruce in anger but then ends up missing him and wishing that she hadn’t ended the relationship.

Her mother Ann calls round to Cannie’s flat to offer her comfort and advice. Not welcome because she has a problem with her mother. Ann came out of the closet in her mid fifties and is living with Tanya who Cannie resents too much to give her a chance to get to know her properly. Cannie’s father a plastic surgeon who was very critical of her, walked out on the family when she was twelve. He disappeared from her life leaving her with much insecurity about herself.

Her only consolation is her little dog Nifkin, named after a naughty part of the male anatomy. Nifkin had never really got on with Bruce – dogs know you know. Before the article Cannie and Nifkin were drifting along quite happily, but suddenly her life was in turmoil and her insecurities came to a fore. She tries to get her life back on track by deciding that she wants to get back with Bruce, pesters him with phone calls which he always ends and becomes increasingly distant. She blames her size on a lot of her misfortunes and decides to join a fat clinic where some humour is introduced.

Good In Bed is described as ‘wildly funny and surprisingly tender’ on the front cover. I have to disagree with it being wildly funny. I found the book amusing in parts but never found myself laughing out loud. I grinned when I read about Cannie going to a New York hotel to interview film star Maxi. The interview was cancelled by an over zealous agent who was afraid that Cannie would ask awkward questions that would expose the real Maxi to her fans. She got her interview after a touching meeting in the ladies toilets and a drunken girlie night out where the over protected film star was allowed to be herself for once and not act like the image built up for her.

Surprisingly tender, yes it is. The story is set over a year and each month a new article appears to hurt Cannie. She reads how Bruce misses her but then gets a blow-by-blow account of how he moves on. I found the book true to life in that I could identify with the emotional turmoil felt at the end of a long-term relationship. You end things for the right reasons and are jogging along quite happily with your life then a few weeks or months down the line something happens or you suddenly miss your ex partner and put yourself through the emotional grinder wondering if you made the right decision. Usually you have but sometimes you have a re-run just to make sure. Will Cannie? I’m not telling.

I enjoyed reading Good In Bed but I found it an interesting read rather than compelling. I was able to put it down easily but always looked forward to reading a bit more the next night. Perfect for me when I am tired and just want to read a little to help me relax before going to sleep. There isn’t tons of sex as the title and front cover might suggest, but that would have spoiled the book for me anyway. Instead of finding it wildly funny I found it an amusing, thoughtful read. It was well written enough for me to be able to visualise Cannie’s world and understand her feelings and turmoil while she comes to terms with everything that is happening around her.

The ending was unexpected but it wasn’t one of those books where you are trying to figure out the outcome from word go. It is a story that takes you through a period of lots of big and unexpected changes in Cannie’s life and you learn how she deals with them. Not always well but it’s nice to read about somebody who isn’t perfect – just like the rest of us.

This is the second book that I’ve read recently with an overweight heroine and what a refreshing change it is to read about characters who aren’t the stereotyped skinny beautiful heroines that you often find in novels. Unfortunately both were classed as humorous – we big girls don’t just do humour but it’s a good job we can laugh.

Good In Bed was Jennifer Weiner’s first novel, published in 2001. Jennifer is a staff writer and columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. It is said that it’s always best to start writing about something you know and Jennifer gives a real feel of what it’s like working as a journalist, adding a great background to a pretty good story. I will certainly look out for her second book ‘Get In Her Shoes’.

The author Patricia Jones loves writing and building websites.
You can see more of her work at The Creative Writer - Make Money From Writing and UK Travel Guide