Review: Deep Down

Last night I finished up reading, Deep Down, by Karen Harper. This wasn't the worst book that I have read, however, it wasn't the best either. The story takes place in Deep Down, Kentucky surrounding the wild ginseng that not only grows back among the mountains, but is highly sought after, even by the Chinese.

Jessie's mother, Mariah, is murdered while out counting the ginseng. Jessie was sent away after a mishap that happened years ago between her and Drew, the now sheriff of Deep Down. There are different possible suspects in this thriller and more questions are raised when a second dead body is discovered.

Though this takes me briefly back to my home roots of Kentucky, the development of the characters could have been better. I almost got the feeling that Jessie was more concerned about Drew (the Sheriff) then her mother. Jessie came off as a weak character to me. However, it was a quick read and out of curiosity, I had to know if the killer was a person or if it was the legendary Siberian Ginseng Hunter.

Book Crossings

In searching for blogs to follow, I stumbled upon a neat site that I just have to share.

Book Crossing. It reminds me a lot of a catch and release system. The concept is this: you finish reading a book and you can either pass it on to a friend or leave someplace like a doctors' office, coffee shop, hairdresser. The finder has a book to read and goes to the site to journal briefly about that book. Before you release a book, the site offers material you can purchase(bookmarks, stickers, bookplates), each book you register on the site is assigned a number and BTW, you can copy/past a blurb to put in that book before dropping it off into the wild. This number is what the finder enters in on the site. Ever remember seeing $1 bills stamped with "Where's George?" something like that, well this about the same.

You can also create wishlists for books and it also appears that some members are willing to trade books, so in that case, you would mail your book out at your expense.

I ordered some stickers and bookmarks and got a one month membersip for $5 to see if I need any of the paid subscriptions or if I can make do without those. Membership information can be found here. The only reason I'm posting a link is because it took me a little while to find the member info; it wasn't easy. I think the idea is really neat, interactive and fun.

Book Review: Afraid

I belong to an online book cataloging site known as Library Thing. Every month Library Thing gets a selection of books from various publishers for their registered users to read and review. I was lucky enough to have the chance to read and review one of these books.

My selected book is Afraid, written by Jack Kilborn aka J.A. Konrath. My first time reading anything by this author. As much as I was freaked out with the certain characters in this book and the further I kept reading, the goose bumps and chills just wouldn't stop- a page turner to the end.

Right away I was drawn in on this small Wisconsin town and how similar this town is in its likeness to my small Minnesota town, with the vast woods and secluded homes surrounding various lakes. I found the setting to be ideal- a small town with a small amount of people for this horrifying tale to terrorize and annihilate the citizens. A small enough town with a small population is ideal for the government to consider keeping the lid shut on this one.

Landing in this small Wisconsin town is a special ops team, highly trained to set out on a mission in search for one particular person and kill everyone in their path. I won't lie, there are some graphic parts in this book.

This book has it: action, horror, fast paced, psychos, gut-wrenching, and torture. Tough characters like Fran. Even after having her toes munched on, she got over the pain; what drove her the most, knowing her 10-year-old son, Duncan, was home alone with these psychos roaming about. Monsters really do exist.

Check your library for this thriller/suspense. Don't forget to lock the doors and bolt the windows when you get home too!