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The Eight

Katherine Neville

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 365 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Katherine Neville's debut novel is a postmodern thriller set in 1972 ... and 1790. In the 20th century, Catherine Velis is a computer expert with a flair for music, painting, and chess who, on her way to Algeria at the behest of the accounting firm where she is employed, is invited to take a mysterious moonlighting assignment: recover the pieces of an old chess set missing for centuries.

In the midst of the French Revolution, a young novice discovers that her abbey is the hiding place of a chess set, once owned by the great Charlemagne, which allows those who play it to tap into incredible powers beyond the imagination. She eventually comes into contact with the major historical figures of the day, from Robespierre to Napoleon, each of whom has an agenda.

The Eight is a non-stop ride that recalls the swashbuckling adventures of Indiana Jones as well as the historical puzzles of Umberto Eco which, since its first publication in 1988, has gone on to acquire a substantial cult following.

Calculated Risk

Katherine Neville

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

This is more of a historical novel than you might suspect! 3 out of 5 stars.
10 of 11 people found this review helpful.

The first book I read by the author was The Eight, which I thought was terrific. The biggest problem I had with this one is how dated it's gotten...some of the background needed for the plot to work just hasn't held up over time. If you can suspend your judgment on that it's not a bad read. But if you've read The Eight, you're likely to be disappointed.

Editorial Review:

"A dizzying, enjoyable caper...After reading this hard-to-put down thriller, you may put all your money in your mattress."
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
When financial executive Verity Banks' latest proposal is axed by her boss, she decides to show how easy it is to break through automated security, hide money, and then show senior management where it is. Then her former mentor, financial wizard, Dr. Zooltan Tor ups the ante, and dares her to steal a billion dollars, invest it to earn thirty million in three months, then put the original billion back before anyone notices. To heighten the challenge, Tor and Verity will compete against each other, though Tor gives Verity an edge: she can use a computer for her theft, but he cannot....
A BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH-CLUB ALTERNATE SELECTION

The Magic Circle

Katherine Neville

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 301 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Neville's books surpass DaVinci Code 4 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Katherine Neville is a truly gifted writer. Her books are well researched, paced to keep you turning the pages, and are definitely more "literate" than the offerings of most authors in this genre. If you thought the DaVinci Code was good, you'll think Magic Circle is great. After you read this one...try her book "The Eight". It's amazing!

Editorial Review:

When her cousin is slain by an unknown assassin, Ariel Behn becomes the sole heir to a family legacy: a sinister cache of manuscripts that thrusts her into the deadly center of international intrigue--and an age-old enigma that spans the centuries. Whoever assembles and interprets the cryptic clues of this ancient mystery will possess the power to control the fate of the world.

What strange powers lie hidden within the manuscripts? Splashed against a lavish backdrop that sweeps from the rise of the Roman Empire to the fall of the Berlin Wall, THE MAGIC CIRCLE finds one woman standing at the center of it all: Ariel Behn. As she races across continents to reveal the dark secrets buried in her family's past, she begins to unlock the chilling truth of the coming millennium. . . .

Nightmare

Joan Lowery Nixon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Nixon fan, but . . . . 3 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I used to read every Nixon book I could get my hands on at the library a long time ago. I still read YA books from time to time (esp as I'd like to write them), and was pleased to see there were some newer ones than those I remembered. I picked this up to give it a shot. The writing is fine, as I did want to keep reading it. But it started better than it ended. There were moments in the beginning that I laughed out loud at. I would have liked her to explore Emily's relationship with her friends more though and I felt the climax was seriously rushed. I also would have liked to see Emily's family's reactions to everything that happened. It was enjoyable, but the realtionships could have been worked through better. I'm a hopeless romantic, so I wish they'd done a bit more with Maxwell, but the promising start kind of tapered off by the end. Maybe it could have just used an extra chapter. I'd recommend some of Nixon's older mysteries before this one. But this wasn't bad.

Editorial Review:

Emily has never fit in her overachieving family. Instead of getting straight As, she sits in the back row and hides behind her hair. As a result, her parents have enrolled her at Camp Excel—an academic camp for underachievers—for the summer. Emily doesn’t want to go, and not just because she feels it isn’t necessary. She’s been plagued by a recurring nightmare since she was a child. And there’s something about this camp that feels familiar—has she been there before? Why can’t she remember?

With the help of two new friends, Emily discovers that her nightmare is not just in her head. Someone at Camp Excel has a secret—and will do anything, even murder, to keep Emily from uncovering the truth.


From the Hardcover edition.

Death Comes As Epiphany: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery (Catherine LeVendeur)

Sharan Newman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A Charming Medieval Series. 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is the first book in the Catherine LeVendeur series, and it appears to be a strong entry. I am certainly interested in reading this series further. It is set in 12th century France and Catherine is novice in a nunnery. When the book opens she has not taken her final vows. Catherine is asked by her Mother Superior to retrieve something that has been found near her home so she leaves the convent to do so. She gets embroiled in a nasty conspiracy that forces her to use all her wits to keep herself and an interesting scholar that she meets out of trouble. There's lots of excitement - dead bodies, stolen gems and more plots and counterplots within a great abby. Catherine manages to uncover all the mysteries, and finds love at the same time. This book has a bit more romance in it than I usually go for in mysteries, but it's fun all the same.

Editorial Review:

Catherine LeVendeur is a young scholar come to conquer her sin of pride at the Convent of the Paraclete, famous for learning, prayer, and its abbess, the fabled Heloise. When a manuscript the convent produced for the great Abbe Suger disappears, rumors surface saying the book contains sacrilegious passages and will be used to condemn Heloise's famous lover, Peter Abelard.To save her Order, and protect all she holds dear, Catherine must find the manuscript and discover who altered the text. She will risk disgrace, the wrath of her family and the Church, and confront an evil older than Time itself--and, if she isn't careful, lose her immortal soul.With Death Comes As Epiphany, the first in the Catherine LeVendeur mystery series, medievalist Sharan Newman has woven dark mystery and sparkling romance into a fascinating and richly detailed tapestry of everyday life in twelfth-century France, and one of the most moving love stories of all time: Abelard and Heloise.

Whispers from the Dead

Joan Lowery Nixon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

visions of murder 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This book is about a girl named Sarah. Her family decides to move to this huge house that was on a beautiful neighbor hood. What Sarah's family didn't know was that someone was murdered in the house before they moved. Sarah found this out first hand when she starts hearing voices and seeing things such as puddles of blood on the floor. When she lived in her old town she almost drowned when she went swimming, Ever since she has been linked to another world. She feels as if a dark shadow was following her and when she moved into the house the Spanish voices whispering to her for help. Sarah finds out that the voice she was hearing in the house was from the girl who was murdered. She from there tries to find out what really happened in the murder.

The things I liked about this book were how the detail of the book helped you see and feel and hear what Sarah did. I liked this because it really gets you into the story and you feel as if it were you, not Sarah. One thing I didn't like about the book was how it was kind of boring. Usually when the beginning is boring the person never wants to read on to find out what happens, but I advice everyone to read on because it is a really good book!

People who would like this book would be someone who likes a little mystery or somewhat scary books, even maybe suspense or thriller novels.

Editorial Review:

Only Sarah senses the horror.



The minute she steps through the doorway of her family's new home, Sarah feels a smothering cold mist, and hears the echo of a scream and a heartbreaking whisper in Spanish, "Help me!"



Sarah feels compelled to find out who is trying to reach her. But can she uncover the mysteries of the past before terror strikes again?

Blanche on the Lam (Crime, Penguin)

Barbara Neely

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

LOOK OUT 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

If you don't want Blanche to know you better not do it around her. This book was o.k. if your the type of person who likes everything to be described to you in great detail which is o.k. I think there were ways around all that. But overall it was a good book. I will purchase the other books in these series to see what Blanche will do next. Two thumbs up for Ms. Neely.

Watch Out 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

You don't want nobody to know, you better not do it around Blanche. Blanche is a woman of courage, strength and wit. She takes you on to a path of problem-solving mystery that's fun and adventreous. I will buy the next book in the series to see what Blanche will do next.

A Mystery Among The Wealthy From A Different View. 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Blanche White is a woman who knows how it feels to fear for her life. After working as a domestic at day work for genteel Southerners in North Carolina, she has a "so-what-if-I've-got-an-attitude" manner. This is called Southern Gothic, a mystery with a message, but it is he debut of Barbara Neely and we all know that first novels have a lot of truth in them.

She's middle-aged, caustic, plump, street-smart with a nickname of 'Tar Baby' and a feminist. She's the anthisis of Vivian Sims, a light skinned radical from New York. And yet they have the same way of getting what they want at other's expense. As different as night from day, Vivian married a technical school administrator and moved right into his first-wife's artistic home and started making her own wine for friends from the big town. She and her mother, from Harlem, would go on a yearly trip every year with Mr. Sims who was always the target of attraction because of the hue of his skin. Since he was paying the bills, they enjoyed watching him being followed as an oddity and bought all the things they'd ever wanted with his money.

Blanche, on the other hand, was a woman who'd fought for her life and won; that woman, no matter how much she had changed, was still capable of negotiating 'enemy territory.' She was a pro at the old-girl network among domestic workers and felt that she could find a job as easily in Boston as in North Carolina, where she was on the lam for writing a few bad checks. She had no place else to go, so she took the money she was given and caught the Greyhound to save on traveling costs.

Always around the filthy rich with all their inbred fights and murders, she is ready to be anonymous in a large city. Ms. Neely followups with BLANCHE AMONG THE TALENTED TENTH, BLANCHE CLEANS UP and BLANCHE PASSES GO.

Editorial Review:

Blanche White lends a refreshing African-American, female twist to the mystery tradition, as she turns from domestic worker to insightful--if reluctant--sleuth. A middle-aged housekeeper with a strong sense of humor, Blanche becomes an unlikely yet ingenious sleuth when murder disrupts the wealthy household of her employers.

The House On Hackman's Hill

Joan Lowery Nixon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 116 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Scary house 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is about when two cousins, Debbie and Jeff, find out about a old house that their grandparents house live next to. They go to the old house to ask the old owner some questions about the house. Mr.Karsten (the owner) tells them that the mummy is in the basement of the house. The mummy is worth $10,000 dollars. They pack their stuff and set out to the house. When they get inside they are trapped from a blizzard, but they are not the only ones in the house. First, they enter his library and find secret passage way. After they hear a howl of a Jackal, they find a statue of a Jackal head and a man's body. At the bottom is the word Anubis. They find the mummy and a man's body, but then a live size statue comes to life. They dodge him and run out of the house, leaving the mummy behind. The house catches on fire, but they find two Egyptian jewels and return home safely.

Editorial Review:

A $10,000 reward for a missing mummy lures cousins Jeff and Debbie into an old mansion. But a raging snow storm forces them to spend the night ­ and an evil ancient spirit might not let them see the dawn.

Hush

Mark Nykanen

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Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Hush opens with the gruesome murder of 7-year-old Davy Boyce's mother by his stepfather, Chet. Chet kills the woman with a straight razor after she confronts him about his abusive behavior towards Davy. We soon find that Chet has married Davy's mother only to be close to Davy, who he molests throughout the book. Once she's dead, Chet packs up the trailer and takes Davy to the remote, Oregon lumber town of Bentman. That's when Hush really takes off.

Chet's plan to have Davy all to himself is quickly derailed when Davy becomes both an elective mute and a biter. He is taken out of school and placed in the Bentman Children's Center where he meets 38-year-old Celia Griswold, the art therapist assigned to his case. Celia has her own problems. Her cheating husband, childless marriage, and uncooperative boss drive her to develop a bond with Davy, and the boy's sinister artwork leads her to suspect Chet of the crimes he's committed. Chet does not plan to give up "his boy," and launches an assault on Celia to ensure that he doesn't have to.

Edgar- and Emmy-award-winning journalist Mark Nykanen has written a debut thriller that is sure to chill even the most weathered mystery fan. Davy, Chet, and Celia hold the story together as both fascinating and believable characters. There are moments in the story that are difficult to believe, but despite its few weak spots, Hush is almost impossible to put down. --Mara Friedman

The Seance

Joan Lowery Nixon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 45 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

This is a MUST read book 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The S?ance

By: Joan Lowery Nixon
Reviewed by: Justin
Ages: 11+
Grades: 5th and up
________________________________________________________________________
This is a very exciting book and a great read. From sentence one you will be grasped and you will want to read more. This is about a young girl named Lauren who had wanted nothing to do with the s?ance her friends are having at Roberta's house. In the dark when they flick off the lights, she senses a presence of evil. As they turn on the light her friend Sara is missing but all the doors are sealed and locked from the inside. Sara's body was found the next morning in the swamp. When the second girl from the s?ance was murdered Lauren realizes she must find out what is happening or she might end up as the next victim.
This is a story that will teach you how to work with others and also to trust one another. This is a great, mysterious, intense and smart book. I recommend this book to 5th grade and up because this book might have some words that you will not know. This book is such a great book but you have to understand it.
The book is set around 1970's. This book captured my mind so fast I just could not stop. The details and the intense story line are great. I would rate this book 5/5. It was a great book and Joan Lowery Nixon has more books: The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore, A Deadly Game of Magic.

Editorial Review:

Lauren is reluctant to participate in the séance, and she feels the first foreboding of evil shortly after the room is darkened. When the lights come back on, her fear turns to shock: Sara Martin is missing, even though all the doors and windows are locked from the inside. . . .