Reviews by Patricia S. (New Canaan, CT)

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Whispering Shadows
Whispering Shadows
by Jan-Philipp Sendker
Whispering Shadows (12/31/2014)
After reading The Art of Hearing Heartbeats for my book club, I couldn't wait to read Whispering Shadows, the 2nd novel written by Jan-Philipp Sendker. He didn't let me down. Confuscious once said "Trust once lost can never be regained" and Whispering Shadows tries to prove …more
All the Old Knives
All the Old Knives
by Olen Steinhauer
Information revealed piece by piece (12/7/2014)
This is the first of Olen Steinhauer's books that I have read, but know how popular he is. His writing is easy, often clever, and yet I found myself not always sure which character was narrating the chapter until I had more clues. The book is often like a puzzle, giving you …more
The Romanov Sisters
The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra
by Helen Rappaport
The Romanov family revealed (5/29/2014)
Having read many books about the Russian Royal Family in past years, I looked forward to filling in the gaps left by those books--and wasn't disappointed. The content is amazing, yet I felt somewhat mired in information toward the middle. The book shatters some of my …more
In Praise of Hatred
In Praise of Hatred
by Khaled Khalifa
Hard to get into (2/25/2014)
I so wanted to love this book, but as I was reading it, I had mixed emotions. I felt frustrated at the lack of translation for all the italicized words (nothing listed in the back of the book), disgusted by the atrocities in the 80's, (which continue to be worse even now) , …more
Doing Harm
Doing Harm
by Kelly Parsons
Cat and Mouse Game (11/6/2013)
Life seemed to be going well for Steve, a chief surgical resident at University Hospital, his wife Sally and their 2 daughters. He loved being in control-that's why he became a surgeon-but suddenly his life starts escalating downward-out of control. Who or what is …more
Children of the Jacaranda Tree
Children of the Jacaranda Tree
by Sahar Delijani
Touches your soul (2/18/2013)
Many stories have been written of a political nature of life in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, but the author has captured, with great emotion, the generations of the families affected in the neighboring country of Iran, whose lives were never the same. Painful lives, full of …more
Golden Boy
Golden Boy
by Abigail Tarttelin
Choices and Controls (1/8/2013)
The novel, alternating between the voices of the 6 main characters, brings more depth to the story, enabling us to this view this story of choices and controls quite intimately. That the author is only 25 and can write about such sensitive matter so maturely led me to re- …more
Salvation of a Saint
Salvation of a Saint
by Keigo Higashino
Hooked from the beginning (9/17/2012)
I really enjoyed the latest book from Keigo Higashino, but not quite as much as The Devotion of Suspect X because it took a longer to get to the conclusion. He kept me guessing throughout the book as he looked at each suspect in a different light with different clues. I …more
The Queen's Lover
The Queen's Lover: A Novel
by Francine du Plessix Gray
A diary of loves and revolutions (5/13/2012)
I hadn't expected to read a book so rich in history - spanning the American, French and Swedish revolutions - written in diary form by Axel von Fersen and his sister Sophie. The author has brought history to life as she weaves the story of Axel falling in love with the …more
A Partial History of Lost Causes
A Partial History of Lost Causes: A Novel
by Jennifer duBois
Would appeal to chess players (12/19/2011)
Had my parents not taught me to read a book through to the end, I might have stopped midway and given this barely a 3. I found it very tedious in the beginning and wished I knew something about the game of chess. However as the book progressed, it began to have more rhythm, …more
Heat Wave
Heat Wave: A Novel
by Nancy Thayer
Good beach read (4/28/2011)
I read the book in 1 1/2 days as it moved along very quickly, and the characters seemed more like friends than characters on the pages. Love, loss, and love again in Nantucket where the winters can be harsh and you need true friends but the summers are wonderful.

Nancy …more
Room
Room: A Novel
by Emma Donoghue
A mother's nightmare (12/20/2010)
This book will strike at every mother's heart as she imagines what she would do in the same circumstances. Ma was extremely creative in bringing up Jack in "the room" at her young age and there's no way that I could have done what she did and still stay sane and hopeful …more
The Devotion of Suspect X
The Devotion of Suspect X
by Keigo Higashino
Momentum builds slowly (12/13/2010)
A seemingly perfect crime in Japan is solved through scientific theory by a physicist turned detective as he meets with a mathematics professor, a former university friend. Momentum builds very slowly in this mystery, written in spare Japanese prose, and I couldn't become …more
A Lonely Death
A Lonely Death: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery
by Charles Todd
Another Inspector Rutledge winner (11/14/2010)
Although I haven't read any of the other 12 Rutledge mysteries written by the mother-son writing team Charles Todd, I'm looking forward to starting tomorrow. I had to refer back to a review of the first book to understand more about Rutledge's alter ego Hamish Mcleod. This …more
After the Fall
After the Fall
by Kylie Ladd
Tale of 2 couples (6/1/2010)
Although I found the book about an affair between 2 sets of friends to be interesting, it took me a while to get everyone's persona straight as the narrative flips between characters every page or two. Having been privy to other affairs, I felt the descriptions of the …more
The Swimming Pool
The Swimming Pool
by Holly LeCraw
Like father, like son (2/15/2010)
Like father, like son-- and so the story moves to the second generation-2 families looking for the pieces of the puzzle to life and love. Holly Lecraw's first novel draws you in from the beginning and leaves you breathless at the end. In between, she writes of fragile …more
Making Toast
Making Toast: A Family Story
by Roger Rosenblatt
A love letter to a daughter and her family (11/1/2009)
This book should be published on Feb 14th, not the 16th as it is truly a testament to love within the Rosenblatt family. I did shed a few tears reading this book from cover to cover in one sitting. As a grandmother of 3 boys, ages 1,3 and 5 and having just finished …more
The Elephant Keeper
The Elephant Keeper
by Christopher Nicholson
A man and his elephant (6/6/2009)
Although the book started off slowly for me, I was quickly drawn to the sensitive portrayal of Tom Page and the elephant he cared for, lived with, and talked to as one might talk to a close friend. Jenny provided a full life for Tom in 18th Century England as he taught her …more
The Secret Keeper
The Secret Keeper
by Paul Harris
Read it in one sitting (2/25/2009)
This novel moves back and forth between 2000 and 2004 in the US and Sierra Leone as a civil war rages - one that we all read about in the newspapers. This spell binding book brings the history to life as Danny, the American journalist, discovers that what's on the surface …more
Lima Nights
Lima Nights
by Marie Arana
Wanting more (12/15/2008)
Despite the promise of an erotic love story, I felt somewhat detached from the story of Carlos and his mistress Maria.

Because their personalities weren't well developed, they remained characters in a book, not people whose lives I could become involved in and care about . …more
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