The Beginning

The Beginning by Catherine Coulter 534 pages

This book contains Book 1 (The Cove) and Book 2 (The Maze) of Coulter's FBI thriller series.

The Cove

Sally St. John is in a crisis, everyone is looking for her and she doesn't have any answers to give them. Her father has been murdered and everyone thinks either she did it or her mother did it and Sally is covering up for her. The most dedicated to finding her is Special Agent James Quinlan, who won't stop until he has the truth from the terrified and yet surprisingly strong Sally. Oh yes and there's a small town that is so picture perfect it's practically unbelievable just like its inhabitants.

There is action and romance in this story. I myself don't understand why there has to be romance in these stories, but a man meets a woman and despite the crazy circumstances they find affection for each other and so on and so forth. I enjoyed this story. There was enough action that the (in my opinion) unnecessary romance didn't take away from the story. I guess I'm picky when it comes to dialogue, the way this writer writes people talking almost sounds wooden like it did on the Dragnet TV and radio show. Nevertheless, it kept me turning pages and wondering who did what. It wasn't entirely unpredictable, I could easily tell when someone was going to sneak up on Sally, but it wasn't the bad kind of predictable. I did like the ending of the story and how things were wrapped up, I'm pretty sure I laughed at the antics.

The Maze

Lacey Sherlock is a new agent with the FBI and she has joined for a specific reason. She wants to take down the man who killed her sister seven years ago. However, even though she helped the FBI catch him, there are lingering doubts that she and her boss (and of course lover) Dillon Savich have to iron out. Lacey's family is the epitome of dysfunctional. She finds out that her sister wasn't all she thought she was and that her killer is a lot more tenacious than she gave him credit for.

I liked this story as well. It was almost an identical twin of the story before it, but that wasn't a bad thing. Both have women in crazy circumstances who get helped by handsome FBI agents and they get together in the end. What I didn't like about this book was how scared Lacey was ALL the time. I get it, there's mean people who want to hurt you, but did it have to mentioned so often that she was scared? It just made her seem wimpy, but she wasn't a wimp, she did what needed to be done. There was more fear than steely resolve and that bugged me. One other thing that bothered me was both Quinlan and Savich got gut feelings at interesting times, they only seemed to get them to suit the plot and at other times it was non-existant, for me it took away the authenticity although I understand why the author did it. Other than that I enjoyed it. The dialogue was still wooden and some of the writing was stilted in places, but as far as plot goes it was good.

Edmund Campion

Edmund Campion: A Scholarly Life by Gerard Kilroy, 396 pages

St Edmund Campion grew to adulthood during the successive reigns, and successive religious revolutions, of the children of Henry VIII.  After a brilliant academic career at Oxford, he was faced with the necessity of committing himself to one of these visions of the truth.  Taking St Patrick as his patron, he chose to leave behind a promising career in the Church of England to serve Christ in the Society of Jesus.  After a decade on the Continent - studying in Douai, being ordained in Rome, teaching and writing in Prague - he was ordered to return to England to minister to the Catholics living under persecution there.  After a year he was betrayed and arrested, taken to the Tower of London for torture and trial.  A series of semi-public disputations were held between Campion and Protestant scholars, and despite his being fresh from the rack and bereft of books it was generally conceded that he more than held his own.  At his trial he further embarrassed Her Majesty's government by revealing that he had been offered a bishopric if he would join the established church, demonstrating that he was being persecuted for his religion and not for any alleged treason.  As he was being drawn and quartered, a drop of his blood landed on the coat of the young lawyer Henry Walpole, who subsequently eulogized Campion in his poem "Why doe I use my paper, ynk and pen", immortalized in music by William Byrd:

     Saynt Marie churche can tell, and all the scholes do know,

     the walles may yet resound his praise, where he excelled soo

     how scharpe yn science sound, how rype yn skyll was he?

     how sweate for toung, how grave for trowthe, how deape for memoree? 

     how skyll yn antique writers, how rare yn everie arte, excelled.

     And that wich most appearde, yet rarest for to fynde,

     the more of learnyng he possest, more humble was hys mynde.

Kilroy's biography is thorough and impeccably researched, a scholarly biography of a scholarly man.  Unfortunately, this also necessarily means that the book is a less than thrilling read, as the author carefully makes his way through the sources.  Kilroy places Campion's mission to England in the context of the Sander expedition which sought to drive the English from Ireland with papal support, climaxing in Campion's arrest by troops mustered to defend England from Sander and his allies.  Indeed, Kilroy uses Dr Sander as St Edmund's foil, as determined to restore Catholicism in Britain by military force as Campion was by the power of persuasion and the sacraments.  Kilroy also briefly touches upon the immediate explosion of literature celebrating Campion and condemning the English government, published at underground presses in Britain and openly abroad, which establishes Campion's execution as a landmark in the increasing isolation of post-Reformation England from the culture of the Continent.  Throughout, however, Kilroy keeps the focus on the person and personality of Edmund Campion, along the way proving the truth of Walpole's tribute, "the more of learnyng he possest, more humble was hys mynde."

Higurashi when you cry Eye Opening Arc

Higurashi when you cry Eye Opening Arc volumes 1-4 by Ryukishi07, 752 pages (4 books)

In all reality this review should have gone in with the previous review of this series. It follows the same byline: retelling the same story, but with a different character going mad and trying to kill all of their friends. In all honesty I am getting tired of it. The only thing that keeps me reading this series is the fact that the story changes just enough with the different madnesses to keep it interesting, and for what I am hoping is going to be a big payoff when everything is explained at the end.


This arc was a little more gruesome than others, there was a lot of torture. It was made all the more horrifying as it is friends torturing other "friends".

House of Evil

House of Evil: The Indiana Torture Slaying by John Dean, 231 pages

In July of 1965, Gertrude Baniszewski, a 37 year old mother of seven living in Indianapolis, agreed to care for 16 year old Sylvia Likens and her 15 year old sister Jenny in exchange for 20 dollars a week.  In October, police responding to an emergency call found Sylvia dead, emaciated, her body covered in bruises, burns, and open sores, the words "I'm a prostitute and proud of it!" carved into her stomach beneath a branded "3".

Horrific as it was, Sylvia's torture and death would blend into the background of child abuse if not for the identity of the perpetrators.  As it came out, not only did Gertrude abuse the girl, her children were also encouraged to join in, and their friends participated, too.  It became a neighborhood game to put out cigarettes on Sylvia's body or push her down the stairs.  Her three oldest children were arrested along with six neighbors, Gertrude was ultimately convicted of first degree murder, her eldest daughter of second degree murder, and three boys of manslaughter.

This book tells the story poorly, although how much of this is due to a failure on Dean's part and how much the result of conflicting stories and foggy details is unclear.   It seems as if, in a case with so many witnesses, a better account could have been constructed despite the obvious difficulties, but Dean seems to have relied almost exclusively on courtroom testimony - House of Evil was originally published soon after the trial and it is unclear how much it has been updated.  The children are portrayed more like preteens than the teenagers they were.  There is a natural reluctance to defame the victim, but Dean loses a great deal of credibility when he seemingly accepts the transparent lie that Sylvia found a set of gym clothes lying in the street - important because it ties in with claims by the tormentors that Sylvia had been caught stealing on other occasions.  Worst of all, the chronology is vague and confused, making it extremely difficult to chart the escalation of abuse and the manner in which the abusers fed off each other, which is the key narrative.  Instead, the story is a catalog of seemingly random horrible things that horrible people did to an almost entirely innocent girl.

The Bunker Diary

The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks, 260 pages

Linus has been kidnapped by a strange man.  He’s in what appears to be some kind of underground bunker.  Because he ran away a few months ago, no one even realizes that he’s missing.  Over the next few days, five more people appear in the bunker:  Jenny, a nine year old girl, followed by Anja, Fred, Bird and Russell, all adults.  The kidnapper eventually starts sending down food and other supplies but gives no indication of what he wants.  Time passes and the group tries to plot an escape, but after a failed attempt, the kidnapper punishes them by withholding food, drastically changing the temperature from one extreme to another and playing loud noises.  As time passes, Linus begins to give up hope.  This is a really well written teen book about an unusual kidnap situation.  I really liked but I was really unsatisfied with the ending.  I’m not sure I would personally recommend it because of that but I think that there are people who would like it who would be ok with the ending.