The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

The Black Echo by Michael Connelly is the debut novel of the police detective character Harry Bosch who we have all grown to love.

Harry Bosch at this point has been demoted from the L.A Homicide squad to the lesser Beverly Hills squad.

On attending a suspicious death, he recognises the body of a fellow 'tunnel rat', on of the elite squad of soldiers whose task it was to search for Viet Cong soldiers in the burrows beneath many Vietnamese towns and cities during the Vietnam War.

 He always keeps keeps meticulous 'Murder Books' - the names for the police records of the circumstances surrounding a murder - and through his own records he is able to link this death to an unsolved bank job involving breaking into the vault via tunnels.

The FBI become involved and Harry Bosch with his brilliant detective skills builds up a case and his suspicions.

This is a superb books, well-written, action packed and fast-paced, and if you have never read Michael Connelly before, this is as great an intro as any.

Innocent Monster by Reed Farrel Coleman

Innocent Monster

 
A mystery/thriller, Innocent Monster by Reed Farrel Coleman is another case for retired Brooklyn private investigator Moe Prager.

A page turner, the story flows smoothly with an exquisite ending. The story is about an 11 year old child prodigy artist who has disappeared, and Moe, now a successful wine dealer, only agrees to help because his estranged daughter, Sarah, asked him to.

The little girl has been missing for three weeks and Moe fears the worst. Hi investigations bring him into contact with some shady dealers from the world of art, where a dead painter's work takes on a leap in value. Her own parents are shady too, and seem to be holding back information from Moe.

Innocent Monster is a page turner you will not want to put down. Cleverly-written, it will hook you in and keep your there until the story reaches its final conclusion.

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

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Unmissable, A Stolen Life details the confusion felt by the author, Jaycee Dugard, during her 18 years in captivity by monster Phillip Garrido.


While it is very difficult for us to understand what it cold be like to be stolen from your family at the tender age of 11, and held in captivity for an incredible 18 years, this really happened to Jaycee and this book is her way of trying to exorcise the demons in her head, while laying bare those emotions and happenings to try and help us understand what it was like.


Just as importantly, parts of the proceeds of this book is going towards a charity Jaycee has set up, called The J A Y C Foundation, to help other captivees. Believe it or not, it happens more often than we know, and no-one can offer help and advice to someone who has suffered such a fate better than those who have experienced it.


A Stolen Life pulls no punches. Beautifully written it will help you understand what it feels like to spent your young life with no human contact, except for occasionally seeing the one man, and to be left for hours and hours in dark dusty places with nothing more than the insects for company.


A Stolen Life is exactly what it was. Can you imagine being shut away at the age of 11, not to be freed until you are 29?


Buy this book now.


Here is the index of the table of contents to give you an idea of what to expect.


Author's Note 
Introduction
The Taking
Stolen
The Secret Backyard
Alone in a Strange Place
The First Time
First Kitty
The First "Run"
Nancy
Easter: Phillip on an Island
Christmas
Learning I Was Pregnant
Driving to a Trailer
Waiting for Baby
Taking Care of a Baby
Sarge
Second Baby
The Starting of Printing for Less
Birth of Second Baby
Raising the Girls in the Backyard
Nancy Becomes "Mom"
Pretending to Be a Family
Cats
Surviving
Discovery and Reunion
Firsts for Me
Milestones
The Difficult Parts of Life
Finding Old Friends
Therapeutic healing
Meeting with Nancy
Therapeutic Healing with a Twist 

Top Best Selling Books July 2011

1. Go The F**k to Sleep by Adam Mansbach and Ricardo Cortez 
2. Smokin' Seventeen: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich 
3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
4. The Days of Summer by Jill Barnett
5. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
6. Surrender the Heart (Surrender to Destiny) by Marylu Tyndall
7. Catching Fire (The Hunger Games Book 2) by Suzanne Collins
8. Water for Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen
9. Her Best Catch by Lindi Peterson
10. Mockinjay (The Hunger Games Book 3) by Suzanne Collins
11. One Deadly Sister by Roy Hoisington

Mockinjay (The Hunger Games Book 3) by Suzanne Collins

Mockinjay (The Hunger Games Book 3) by Suzanne Collins is the final of the trilogy and the end of the story.

Less action-packed than it's predecessors, Mockinjay looks deeper into the psyche of the characters and the effects of the war which finally ended.

Many people have described Mockinjay as unputdownable, and at the end they were left with a sense of loss and wonder.

Haivng read the earlier books in The Hunger Games, you have to read this one to put the whole story to bed.

Well worth the money and hopefully we can look forward to the next book by Suzanne Collins.

Catching Fire (The Second Book of The Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire (The Second Book of The Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins is every bit as exciting as the first.

In Catching Fire, we learn more about the personalities of the two combatants from the first book, The Hunger Games, Peeta and Katniss, who amazingly enough both survived through their ordeal as outlined in the story.

We see Katniss being seen as a folk heroine among the people, and becoming a bit of a celebrity.

We also see her becoming entangled in a love triangle, and she must choose just one.

Suzanne Collins has crafted a wonderful book which allows us a deeper insight into the political and social setup of Panem, the futuristic new America.

When you have read Catching Fire, you will be breathless for its sequel, Mockinjay.

Surrender the heart (Surrender to Destiny) by Marylu Tyndall

Surrender the heart (Surrender to Destiny) by Marylu Tyndall is a swashbuckling Christian romance story set around the War of 1812 (U.S versus The British empire).

Powerfully written, the characters are believable and can suck you in so that you end up reading half the night instead of putting the book down and going to sleep.

Surrender the Heart is, as the name suggests, a tale of love and romance which will draw you in and leave you breathless for more.

Peppered throughout are quotes from the Bible which would be historically accurate as during this period in history most people were God-fearing, especially those who journeyed across the seas.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a powerfully written book based around the shameless use of black women as live-in housekeepers in the homes of white families in the American South.

Set in the 1960s, just before the Civil Rights movement came into being, Skeeter is a young white woman who aspires to write a book about the lives and treatment handed out to those black women who are employed as maids.

She enlists the help of Aibileen and  Minnie who each tell their tales in a story interwoven with fear of discovery for being a part of writing such a book, while life goes on around them with household tasks to be carried out, children to feed and clothe, while the indomitable white ladies of the town go about their business with hardly a thought for the maids in their employ.

The Help is a powerful book that brings to life the characters, scenery and events in a way that will touch your heart, and leave you thinking long after the book is finished.

A full length feature movie has been made of The Help, and reading this book first will give you a head start and a real feel for the characters.

The Days of Summer by Jill Barnett

The Days of Summer by Jill Barnett is a perfect beach read.

It follows the tale of the Banning brothers, who meet up with Laurel Peyton on a beach in 1970. Laura falls for one brother, and then the other, causing friction between the siblings.

None are aware at first that fate has already joined them irrevocably.

Years before, the Banning parents and Laura's father had died in a tragic road accident together without ever having met before.

Some describe The Days of Summer as being heavy going and depressing at times, so it is best read under full sunlight.

Smokin' Seventeen: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich

Smokin' Seventeen: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich.

For those disappointed with recent Stephanie Plum novels, Smokin' Seventeen shows that Janet Evanovich is back on form.

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum finds herself in the middle of another exciting murder mystery with dead bodies appearing in shallow graves on a construction site.

Meanwhile her mother is encouraging her to dump both the men in her life, policeman Joe Morelli and security man Ranger, in favor of an old football star high school chum who is back in town.

Smokin' Seventeen has a smokin' good storyline and believable characters that'll keep you gripped to your seats until you have read it through.