Book Review: Touch & go - L. Gardner

“Violence, the great equaliser. Cared nothing for money, class, occupation. One day, it simply found you.” 

My first Lisa Gardner's book and I loved it! Such a suspense filled, fast moving detective story!

I really liked all the main detective characters and, even if I didn't read the first book in the Tessa Leoni's serie, it was quite easy to catch up with her personality and to like her. The character I really liked though is Wyatt Foster, a lied back, easy going, smart sergeant in New Hampshire, very down to earth and likable I really hope the promises of a relationship between the two gets concrete in the next chapter of the serie! I just bought Love you more, the first novel with Tessa Leoni, as I am curios to read about her deceased husband and how she went from police office to private investigator.

I'd highly recommend this novel to readers who like books filled with a lot of surprises, plotting, detective work. Brilliant!

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Overall rating: 8      Plot: 8     Writing style: 7      Cover:  6

Title: Touch & Go
Author: Lisa Gardner
Publisher: Headline
Pages: 480
Publication year: 2013

Plot:

Justin and Libby Denbe have it all: a beautiful daughter; a gorgeous house; a great marriage, admired by all. Arriving at the crime scene of their home, investigator Tessa Leoni finds no witnesses, no ransom demands or motive - just a perfect little family, gone. But Tessa knows that flawless fronts can hide the darkest secrets. Now, she must race against the clock to uncover the truth. Who would want to kidnap such a family? And how far would they be willing to go?

The Author:

Lisa Gardner, a #1 New York Times crime thriller novelist, began her career in food service, but after catching her hair on fire numerous times, she took the hint and focused on writing instead. Lisa lives in New Hampshire with her auto-racing husband and black-diamond skiing daughter. She spends her days writing in her loft with a young silly sheltie and a adventurous terrier. http://lisagardner.com/about

Book Review: Three Martini lunch - S. Rindell

"I thought most girls were just waiting for a ring." "Well, I am waiting for a ring... On the telephone. From my boss. Telling me I've been promoted." 

I was captured by the title of this novel, I never heard of that American expression before - I had to google it! - but I love Martini (my poison is Martini bianco not the cocktail Martini, though), I love NY and stories set there, especially in the 50s, and I definitely love novels about the publishing world. So this looked like the perfect read for me, hopefully as enjoyable as My Salinger year by J. Rakoff or No Angel by P. Vincenzi.
I loved the female main character, Eden, how determined she is to make a career for herself in the publishing world, despite her being a woman.
I did not love, however the "digressions" about the other book characters, good stories on their own, but a bit too much jumping around plots in my view.
Overall a pleasant read, I'd have loved it if it was just all about Eden though.

“Back in those days My Old Man was king of what they called three-martini lunch. This meant that in dimly lit steak houses all over Manhattan my father made bold, impetuous deals over gin and oysters. That was how it was done. Publishing was a place for men with ferocity and an appetite for life.” 

Overall rating: 6,5      Plot:  6,5    Writing style: 6,5      Cover:  5

Title: Three Martini lunch
Author: Suzanne Rindell
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Pages: 543
Publication year: 2016

Plot:

Cliff Nelson is the privileged son of an editor at a New York publishing house. Having dropped out of college he's slumming it around Greenwich village, enjoying the nightlife, booze, drugs and the idea that he's the next Kerouac. Eden Katz arrives in New York fresh-faced and filled with ambition to realise her dream of becoming an editor. She has to develop a thicker skin and adopt an imposture of her own in order to succeed. Finally Miles Tillman, a black soon-to-be Columbia graduate and publishing house bike messenger, is an aspiring writer who feels he straddles various worlds and belongs to none. Their choices, concealment's and betrayals as they reach for their goals ripple outwards leaving none of them unchanged.

The Author:

Suzanne Rindell is a doctoral student in American modernist literature at Rice University. Her first novel, THE OTHER TYPIST, debuted on May 7, 2013. It has been translated into 15 languages and optioned for film by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Her second novel, THREE-MARTINI LUNCH, is forthcoming from Putnam on April 5, 2016. She lives in New York City and is currently working on a third novel.