Island of Lost Girls (Jennifer McMahon)

From back blurb: While parked at a gas station, Rhonda sees something so incongruously surreal that at first she hardly recognizes it as a crime in progress. She watches, unmoving, as someone dressed in a rabbit costume kidnaps a young girl. Devastated over having done nothing, Rhonda joins the investigation. But the closer she comes to identifying the abductor, the nearer she gets to the troubling truth about another missing child: her best friend, Lizzy, who vanished years before.

This was a terrific read. It had two mysteries that kept the suspense high throughout the story. The drops of pieces to the puzzle were well done and left me not having a clue to who the abductor was. The story is laced with twists and mystery leaving the reader wondering with anticipation where the writer was taking them.

Though I found the ending fulfilling, I was a bit disappointed with the climax of the one mystery. "I have a story to tell you." Finally, reading the entire book and having all the pieces of the puzzle I waited to fill the missing gaps with a juicy story. A real doozy of a twist. Instead, the story was basically what I had already concluded. I had done the unthinkable in mystery novels; I solved the mystery.

*SPOILER* - In addition, one of the pieces of the puzzle did not make sense. The children were not suspects in the death of Daniel since police had no evidence to link them. However, Lizzy's postcards would have been enough to show she had knowledge or some type of involvement in Daniel's death since she claimed she was with him even though he would have been dead by that point. But, overall, I was pleased with the ending and the mystery and would definitely recommend this book and am looking forward to reading more of Jennifer McMahon's work in the future.

The Thirteenth Tale (Diane Setterfield)

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

I picked up this book when I heard it being called a modern classic in the style of Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre. Unfortunately, it doesn't hold up to all the hype. The biggest problem I have with it is, there seems to be a lack of action. The first hint of action or suspense doesn't actually occur to near the end of the book when a murder occurs. And, at last, grabbed my attention.

The book starts off very slow and I struggled to keep on reading. The narrator is what I refer to as a "talker". She describes every room and every scene and gives flashbacks to almost every character that makes an appearance. But, remove these, and there wasn't much of a story. Or a mystery, for that matter.

The book's entire premise is based on a mystery of a famous writer's true life story. A person the narrator seemed to forget that the reader needs to be able to relate or sympathize with in order to care what that mystery was. The writer didn't give me the chance or opportunity to connect with the famous writer, so I was left not really caring what her story was, and hence not interested in solving the great mystery. It wasn't until much further into the story that I begin to feel for the character of Adeline/Vida, but for some readers that can be far too late and have given up on the book.

My other beef with the story was it's overuse of the word "ghost". It was like the writer was trying to reiterate this was a ghost story. Over and over again. I would have preferred feeling the presense of a ghost rather being told about it. As well, she went overboard on the references to Jane Eyre. The author wrips from the classic novel but in no way can compare. An insult to Jane Eyre fan's, really.

Overall, the story wasn't bad, however, the author's writing style is very flowery rather than bold and straightforward which I think this story needed instead. And that, of course, is a matter of personal preference. Those who enjoy flowery writing might just well enjoy this book.