Every Breath You Take

 Shirley J.                 Adult Fiction            Reality T.V. Show,  Cold Case Files

Every Breath You Take by Mary Higgins Clark (Under Suspicion Series)   287 pages

Laurie Moran is the host of a reality based t.v. show, "Under Suspicion,' which delves into unsolved criminal cold cases to try and solve them through interviews with the witnesses and suspects from the time of the event and by researching all the clues.   Her new co-host Ryan Nichols is the nephew of one of Laurie's boss' friends and landed the job and seems like he is trying to take over the show.   When Ryan sets up an interview with his personal trainer, Ivan Gray, who was under suspicion of murdering his much older wealthy girlfriend 3 years ago, Laurie is ready to hit the roof until she looks deeper into the details of the case.  Wealthy widow, Trustee on the Board of the Met who gives money and expensive presents to her lover and when her grown children and nephew give her grief about his being a golddigger, she decides to cut them all out of her will and donate her vast fortune to charity leaving them only their father's company to run or run in the ground as their inheritance and while her husband suggested leaving her nephew a quarter million s his inheritance, she cuts him down to $50,000 due to his gambling addiction .  Word gets back to her kids and nephew of her plans and the next thing she is tossed off the roof of the Met during a lavish fund-raiser.  The suspect pool has increased significantly.  While the siblings and cousin are all pointing the finger at the boyfriend are their hands completely clean?  Good book, excellent murder mystery.  I will be reading all 7 books in this series.   I recommend this one to highschoolers on up and expecially for murder mystery fans. 

You Don't Own Me

 Shirley J.                  Adult Fiction                     Reality Cold Case File T.V. show   

You Don't Own Me by  Mary Higgins Clark  271 pages

Robert and Cynthia Bell contact Laurie Moran to reconsider re-opening  their son's murder case.  They believe their daughter-in-law murdered him though it was never  proven.   Their son was an upstanding member of the community, a doctor no less, well respected and had no enemies.  He was unhappy with his wife and wanted to divorce her but was afraid he might lose custody of their two children.   After his death, his parents wanted the mother found guilty and they want to take the two kids to raise saying their daughter-in-law is unfit, she drinks, she takes drugs and witnesses have said she was in the company of a rough looking guy and the nanny said she would keep large amounts of money.in drawers around her room then all of a sudden the money would be gone but the nanny didn't see any purchases to show for it.   So many accusers but no guilty conviction.   Can Laurie prove her innocence or guilt on "Under Suspciion," or will new evidence come to light?   Good story, good plot line all the way to the end.   I would recommend this to  highschoolers on up.                 

The Favorite Sister

The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll     384 pages

"When five hyper-successful women agree to appear on a reality series set in New York City called Goal Diggers, the producers never expect the season will end in murder…"

Brett, the fan favorite, is dead. Her sister Kelly isn't entirely innocent. Actually, one could say that none of the Goal Diggers are entirely innocent, although someone is definitely guilty. You go into this story knowing that Brett is dead and beginning things with Kelly doing an interview about her sister. From that point forward, you're in the past, reading perspectives from different characters, in the timeline leading up to Brett's death.

This book had a lot of great reviews including this one, "Engrossing...Deliciously savage and wildly entertaining."-- People Magazine (Book of the Week)

I did not find the book engrossing or wildly entertaining. I actually found it pretty annoying at the beginning because I couldn't remember who each character was, how they were connected to Brett, and how their part of the storyline was tied in. I put the book down for about a week and then picked it up and tried again; I kept reading until the end because I was curious about who killed Brett. I had no idea, partly because I had a hard time keeping the characters straight, caring about them, or caring about Brett.  I just didn't find the characters that interesting . . . and in fact, this reminded me of a Real Housewives episode.  For me, that means an episode of one of the Real Housewives story that I happen to be watching because it's late night and nothing else other than infomercials, old reruns and soft core porn are on tv.  Probably that was oversharing --- but that's what this book felt like a lot of time.  Not for me, although I'm sure there are readers who will love it.

Trump and Me

Trump and Me by Mark Singer, 108 pages

Donald Trump has been good to Mark Singer.  Certainly, he called the journalist's 1997 New Yorker profile "a new low".  True, he responded to the piece's reprint in a 2005 collection with the personal message, "Mark, you are a total loser!  And your book (and writings) sucks!", adding the inimitable Trumpian flourish "PS And I hear it is selling badly."  But the Donald's presidential campaign has now allowed Singer to triple-dip on the time that the two spent together as a result of editor Tina Brown's expert matchmaking.

To describe his subject, Singer likes a quote from an anonymous security analyst so well he uses it twice: "Deep down, he wants to be Madonna."  Yet Trump's own comments are just as revelatory: "... the show is 'Trump' and it is sold-out performances everywhere."  "It's always good to do things nice and complicated so that nobody can figure it out."  "Part of the beauty of me is that I am very rich."  Singer sees these, no doubt correctly, as expressions "of a single theme: Trump.  Me.  Look."

Riptide Ultra-Glide

Riptide Ultra-Glide by Tim Dorsey, 294 pages

Patrick and Barbara McDougall have just been laid off form their jobs as teachers and have decided that now is the perfect time for them just get away for nice Florida vacation. Unfortunately thing start to down hill for them the minute they arrive. Their luggage is lost, their motel isn't exactly how it's pictured in brochures, and a string of events now prevents them from leaving the state. Meanwhile the there's a war brewing between rival drug smugglers over the control of Florida's growing number of pain clinics. To top everything off Coleman seems to have become famous enough for everyone to want his signature. All of this fits perfectly with Serge's next big idea though, and that is to film the next great reality show, starring against their wills, the McDougalls who may or may not be safer with Serge around.

Dorsey continues his series with more strange characters and interesting deaths, such as murder by pelican or death by sandcastle. One the best things about this book is that it continues to explore the character of Coleman, letting him recount an adventure without Serge and making him mildly famous to allow him to share his drug culture wisdom with his fans. While this series generally follows the same overall style every book the characters and details continue to make it worth reading  

Something Real

Something Real by Heather Demetrios, 406 pages

As someone who pretty much despises reality T.V., I loved this story. BonnieTM, aka Chloe, Baker is one of the oldest children from the show, Baker’s Dozen. The show has been off the air for four years, since she attempted suicide and her parent’s divorced, but now that she is 17, a senior in high school, and nearly adjusted to having a normal life, her mother is restarting the show. Chloe is devasted and not sure what to do. She doesn’t want to participate, and knows that once she graduates she can be free of the show forever. But isn’t sure she can wait that long, especially since she may have a possible relationship brewing with Patrick, the guy she’s been crushing on for a year. This was a fabulous book and one that I think a lot of teens would like, whether they love or hate these types of shows.