Book Reviews - Channan M. (shiner716)

1 to 20 of 25 - Page: 1 2

I've never been one for the Sci-Fi or science type stuff but I had to read this for a class in college and WOW!.. I had to keep checking and double checking because it was so good I thought it was a true story. All the extra documentation and "printouts" were an added bonus that helped with the believabilty. If you read only one Sci-Fi book, make it this one. (It's *much* better than the movie which I had to watch for the same class.)
Review Date: 12/18/2007

"Just like reading John Grishman or Scott Turow"
"You won't want to go to sleep before you finish"
"Riveting page turner"
Review Date: 10/23/2005

Make the most of bedtime!

Children love bible stories, especially when they are written in age appropriate, easy-to-understand language.

Bible stories for bedtime, written specifically for ages 3 to 8 years, has more than 300 pages worth of the best loved bible stories your children will delight in. All the excitement, adventure, history and spiritual truths of the bible are skillfully presented. At the end of each story, you'll even find questions to help stimulate discussion and to help precious young minds understand God's Word.
[from back cover]

Illustrated by: Kathy Arbuckle
Review Date: 5/24/2006

A lovely quick read. Not at all what I expected when I picked up the book -- EVEN BETTER!
Review Date: 11/15/2006

A talk radio host in a small town gets a phone call from a little girl asking for help but she can't tell him where to find her and who is hurting her. He must piece together clues and rescue the girl and her mother from the hands of a cult that worships animals and practices ritual sacrifices and unspeakable amounts of child abuse.

Some descriptions of sexual abuse and rituals are graphic and disturbing. Care should be taken by readers who are troubled by such things.

Overall, I liked the book in spite of it's heavy nature. The story is supposed to be based on true events and it reads like all those satanic cult stories of the 80s. Whether you read it as 100% fiction or not doesn't matter, it was full of action and worth the time it took to read. Glad I picked it up.
Review Date: 12/14/2007

The ending was abrupt and left a lot of unanswered questions but I really liked the book and tore through it in about 24 hours. The whole story is an emotional roller coaster and makes one wonder what would happen should events like this really occur. I'm not sure I would be as strong as Alex. I'm hoping there is a sequel that I don't know about yet as I'm looking forward to knowing what happens next.
Review Date: 4/7/2009

Like driving past a car wreck, you can't help but slow down and stare. This book is disturbing and often gross and yet, you won't put it down until it's through. And as the years pass, you'll thik of it often and worry about your own sanity for thinking about it.. remembering it.. and wanting to read it again.
I first read this years ago and it has never strayed far from the front of my mind. I recently picked it up again and experienced the same horror, shock and sick fascination with it's contents. I read it straight through in a night.
I'm telling you, it's well worth the read. I don't know if calling this a really good book says something about my personality, but I'm putting it out there anyway.
Review Date: 4/22/2008

It was a quick read - finished in less than a day. But then, I read fast and have no life...
Anyway, it was intense. I felt there were still loads of unanswered questions though. I wonder if there is a sequel? There ought to be. The ending was far too abrupt.
Review Date: 6/22/2006

An excellent read! Alice is slowly slipping into schizophrenia and her life has some strong parallels to Alice in Wonderland which fuels her delusions. I both laughed and cried while reading this. Some of the writing was so vivid and real I found myself thinking I was right there struggling alongside Alice. A *must* read!
Review Date: 8/4/2006

It's been awhile since I read this but from what I recall, it was a good story though slightly long winded in some areas. Given headlines in recent years when I read this I almost thought it was a true story.
Review Date: 5/16/2006

from armchairinterviews.com

Justin Evans' debut novel, A Good and Happy Child, is an intelligent and highly sophisticated psychological thriller.

George Davies has a problem--he cannot bring himself to touch or interact with his newborn son. To salvage his relationship with his confused and frightened wife, George goes to therapy. During these therapy sessions, George confesses to his doctor he has been in therapy before; however, when asked why he had been in treatment, George seems unable--or unwilling--to answer. Giving George a notebook, the doctor suggests he write as much as he can remember about his past problems.

What emerges in George's notebooks is a nightmarish cocktail of childhood fear, loneliness, and evil. In them, George writes that his father died when he was eleven, and that three months later, George became possessed with a demon, the same demon that had caused his father's death.

As the adult George remembers and writes about the terror and uncertainty his eleven-year-old self faced, his grip on the present begins to slip, threatening to push him back into a past he has, until now, successfully smothered.

The novel's narrative switches between the older George, who speaks directly to his therapist in the book, and George's notebooks, in which he records the events and experiences of the younger George struggling to come to terms with his belief that he has been possessed by evil.

A Good and Happy Child is a gem of a novel: its writing is quiet and assured, maintaining throughout a deceptive calmness that paradoxically magnifies the horrific memories George calmly records in his notebooks. Without relying on the physical or sexual violence that many thrillers use to ratchet up suspense, A Good and Happy Child manages to terrify using only the terrain of the mind--sometimes the most frightening place of all.

Armchair Interviews says: This is an intelligent psychological thriller that crescendos to a startling conclusion, and will leave you sleeping with the lights on.

Review Date: 10/14/2008

Dallas homicide detective Rachel Collazo is one tough cop-- as foul mouthed as she is beautiful, and almost fanatical about her work. When a woman comes to the station with suspicions about her sister's death, Collazo jumps on the case. Then another mystery surfaces- then apparently unrelated suicides of two medical professionals, both married men, whose last acts in this life were unprecedented and remarkably grisly - and Collazo begins the search for a common denominator. And a common perp.
Kelly McLaughlin is a nurse with beauty, brains - and dark and dangerous inner demons. Her dreams of love have been dashed time and again, but she's learned to eliminate both those who get in her way and those who disappoint. Detective Collazo soon falls into the first category, and McLaughlin turns her lethal talents to ending the investigation by any means. Because in their deadly game of cat and mouse, winning isn't everything - it's life.
[from back cover] [isbn: 1416510878]
Review Date: 4/6/2006

Good book; hard to put down. I may be neither thin nor beautiful but it was easy to see myself in Frannie's shoes. Even though our stories are totally different, we had a lot in common. My only complaint is standard happily ever after ending. Life is funny like that -- things may get better but they never get perfect.
Review Date: 10/5/2006

Detailed step by step directions for building all sorts of very nifty kites.
Review Date: 9/15/2006

Very good book, so hard to put down!
Review Date: 8/8/2006

From the flaming wreckage of the jetliner that claimed over one hundred souls, only Dave was spared. Everybody hailed Dave's miraculous good luck. But it was more than luck that left him the sole survivor... Crippled and slowly working to recreate his life, Dave returns to his home on the Northern California coast. There he finds a welcome solitude. And there he is also isolated and vulnerable to the forces that allowed him to live for an unholy price...a price he must now pay to the powers from hell unleased against him. The bloody, nightmare images that keep him chilling company are not part of his dreams... Only one woman can help Dave: Paula Bjornson, with her supernatural gift for distinguishing truth form lies, can feel his danger from a thousand miles away. Without her, Dave faces immediate death for his body...and a far worse, hideous fate for his soul... NIGHT SOUNDS
(from back cover)
Review Date: 10/24/2005

Guideposts hardcover edition
Review Date: 11/17/2006

The beginning was interesting; the middle lagged; the end was boring and repetitive. I was expecting so much more from this book and somehow the author dropped the ball.
Review Date: 11/21/2006

Lauren Stratford lived the agony of being trapped between 2 worlds -- the outside world of school, church, and friends and the inside world of an unending nightmare. As a young child, mind control and fear were Lauren's constant companions. At an early age she was sold to men for their perverted pleasures. She was compelled to pose with animals for pornographic publications. Ultimately, she found herself part of a collection of young women and children forced to surrender their bodies in some of the most evil satanic rituals imaginable. Shocking crimes against children - crimes unchecked because they are unbelieveable. Literally thousands like lauren are gripped in evil's vice. Without help, they have no hope. Yet, Lauren's story is a story of hope - about how a trgaically devastated woman found God's deliverance. Through this powerful story, victims like Lauren, parents, counselors, law enforcement personnel, and anyone who might come in contact with those who have been abused will find invaluable counsel and the compelling invitation to reach out to those who are suffering.
Review Date: 11/4/2006

It's a good book - quite captivating, and you're supposed to feel good about how things turn out. But in a way the book is terribly unfair. Because miracles don't happen to everyone. You hear through the whole story about everything the mother was doing wrong and everything that Sean was doing wrong and all the doctors were wrong... and then one day everything is roses and rainbows. It's almost like telling parents to just hang in there and one day your autistic child will "recover" too. It's not an accurate picture (the outcome anyway) and you won't learn anything that will help you and your child but it's a nice read.
Review Date: 11/18/2007

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