Book Review: Scream For Me (Karen Rose)

Books

Author

Karen Rose

Title

Scream For Me

ISBN

0755337107

Description

Daniel Vartanian is trying to come to terms with a chilling discovery. Photographs taken, and kept hidden, by his brother years ago, show a group of unidentifiable teenage boys raping young girls for fun. With his brother now dead, Vartanian is determined to find the girls and bring the rapists to justice.

Alex Fallon is unable to forget her past. Her family fell apart when her sister was murdered and now with her step-sister Bailey’s disappearance, history seems to be repeating itself.

When Vartanian meets Alex, it’s as if a ghost has walked into the room. The double of one of the girls in the photographs, it is only when he learns that she had a twin sister that it begins to make horrifying sense.

With Bailey’s life in the balance and events escalating out of all control, Daniel and Alex will have to confront their pasts head-on if they are find the missing woman before it’s too late.

Opinion

This book is a sequel to “Die For Me” by the same author.  I enjoyed this book as it took one of the minor characters from the previous story into the limelight.  There is a lot going on during the story and it can sometimes feel confusing, but the further into the story you get, the more it’ll start making sense.  I did feel that the relationship that builds between two of the main character was recycled from a similar one in the previous book (and the next one appears to use this again).  Apart from this it’s a good book that takes you on a compelling adventure into some very dark crimes.

If you like fictional crime stories or have read the prequel, I’d certainly give this book a go.

Rating

I’ll give this book 7/10.

Book Review: A Prisoner of Birth (Jeffrey Archer)

Books

Author

Jeffrey Archer

Title

A Prisoner of Birth

ISBN

033046406X

Description

Danny Cartwright and Spencer Craig were born on different sides of the track. Danny, an East End Cockney, leaves Clement Attlee Comprehensive School at the age of 15 to take up a job at a local garage. He falls in love with Beth, the boss’ daughter, and asks her to marry him. Spencer Craig resides in the West End. A graduate of an English public school and Cambridge University. After leaving university he becomes a criminal barrister and is soon tipped to be the youngest Queen’s Counsel of his generation. Danny and Beth travel up to the West End to celebrate their engagement. They end the evening in a wine bar where Spencer Craig is also celebrating – his 30th birthday, along with a select group of university chums. Although the two young men don’t meet, their lives will never be the same again. For, an hour later, one of them is arrested for murder, while the other ends up as the Prosecution’s chief witness in an Old Bailey trial.

Opinion

I wasn’t sure what to make of this book when I was given it. Having heard of Jeffrey Archer, the writer, from his career as a politician (something that has never captured my interest) and how he was jailed.

To my surprise though, he manages to create a wonderful exciting story of a man’s journey through imprisonment and his thirst for justice and revenge against those who wronged him. This is a great read and although some of the plot devices are a bit of a stretch sometimes, the story is still enjoyable and you don’t feel too daft letting certain things slide.

Another book I’d recommend but only if you feel that you can give the book a certain amount of leeway.

Rating

I’ll give this book 7.5/10. Great book, knocked off a point just for the plot devices that felt a little too stretched to be totally believable in the story.

Free Zend Framework Poster

PHP

Received my free Zend Framework poster today from Mayflower/thinkPhp.  It’s gone straight up on the wall, forcing the ColdFusion8 poster to move over

This very nice large poster is split into three areas covering:

• Application & Controller
• Validate & Filter
• View & Layout

It appears to cover a good deal of the classes and methods, can’t wait to make good use of it on future developments.  Compared to the CF8 poster that I wangled off Adobe, the whole poster is over double the size making the text readable from my desk, which is a huge plus.  Thanks MayFlower / ThinkPhp!

Book review: K-PAX (Gene Brewer)

Books

Author

Gene Brewer

Title

K-Pax

ISBN

0-7475-2547-1

Description

A man claiming to be from outer space is brought into a mental institution as a patient.  He calls himself ‘prot’, an alien visitor from the planet K-PAX.  Dr. Gene Brewer tries to find out the man’s identity and help him recover before ‘prot’ must return to his home planet.

Opinion

I really liked this book, it had light feel to it and kept building gently towards the big finish.  There are several minor characters that help keep things entertaining without being too distracting with very few moments where the story seemed to drift from it’s main purpose.  I recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen the film, like me, and they enjoy a little light scifi’ish fiction with a splash of comedy.

Rating

8/10.

Book review: Just After Sunset (Stephen King)

Books

Author

Stephen King

Title

Just After Sunset

ISBN

9780340977163

Description

A collection of 13 short stories by Stephen King.

Opinion

I’ve never really been interested in short stories but this book has changed my tastes when it comes to them.  Each of the stories in the book grabs you quickly and takes a good hold without feeling rushed or pushed to get too much story over quickly.  The pace is just right and the different styles of story-telling leaves each one feeling fresh and different from the last.  Out of all the stories, I only found one that didn’t catch my attention like the rest due to the slightly ponderous start, only to be saved by fantastic ending.

Several of the stories deal with mysterious happening without too much horror throughout.  I think most people who like fiction would find a few of the stories enjoyable.

Rating

I’ll give this book 9/10.  Really enjoyed it and gave me a new found taste for short stories.