Hideaway

From This That & The Other Thing:

Hideaway by Dean Koontz

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Hatch Harrison and his wife Lindsey were on their way back from a vacation to try and rekindle their marriage (they lost their son almost 5 years ago) when they are in a terrible car accident. Hatch is actually killed in the accident but is successfully resuscitated by a dedicated doctor at the hospital. It's this second chance at life that revitalizes their marriage and Hatch and Lindsey decide to adopt a disabled child, Regina. Unfortunately, Hatch seems to have brought back a disturbing ability with him -- he has an inexplicable connection to a psychotic serial killer and is able to see through that man's eyes.

As Hatch struggles with the disturbing visions and dreams, he soon realizes that the killer is also able to see through his eyes and that it places his new little family in danger.

Is the killer a human or some evil manifestation from hell? That's just one of the myeteries to be cleared up.

This was an exciting, very suspenseful book which became almost unbearable toward the end. There was a couple of real nail biting twists in the story, something Koontz is very skilled at introducing into his stories.

This is one of his earlier books but one I hadn't read. I'm looking forward to reading more of his books.

The Colorado Kid

from This That & The Other Thing:


rating: 2 of 5 stars
I was very disappointed with The Colorado Kid by Stephen King. He wrote the book especially for "Hard Case Crime", a series of books by classic mystery writers and new ones that were supposed to have a 1940s/1950s old time mystery feel to them. I was expecting a hard boiled crime story and what I got was two old geezers in Maine telling their wide-eyed intern about some guy from Colorado who may or may not have choked to death on a steak sandwich. I kept waiting for the book to get better and it was charming but that is about all. Waste of time.

Pervasive Developmental Disorder: An Altered Perspective

From This That & The Other Thing:

Someone (I wish I could remember who) recommended that I read Pervasive Developmental Disorder: An Altered Perspective (by Barbara Quinn and Anthony Malone) so that I could understand better about PDD-NOS. I would like to thank that person because yes, this book helped so much! There are some sections in the book that are a little difficult to understand because the discussion is about biology and how our brains work. However, the authors suggest that the reader start out where the greatest needs or questions lie and skip around. I learned the differences between the spectrum disorders but basically it all boils down to this: the kids with PDD have some issues all of their lives, especially with socializing. There are a lot of interventions and medications available so a diagnosis of autism or PDD is not the end of the world. The book concludes with stories told by the parents of four kids diagnosed with PDD. The stories are hopeful without being sappy, realistic without being scary. I would recommend this book to anyone whose family member has PDD.

Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince

reprinted from This That & The Other Thing:

Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince
Reading the Harry Potter books is like watching Everybody Loves Raymond: I don't care for the main character but enjoy the supporting characters. Harry's become a cheeky, selfish bratty teenager--not all that much different from your typical adolescent. I just want to grab his shoulders and shake him for the disrespectful way he treats adults and other people he doesn't like. He's been known to criticize even those people he does like--Headmaster Dumbledore for one. He thinks he knows more than anyone else does and this in spite of all Dumbledore's wisdom and experience. Well, all right then.

Harry's been through an awful lot in his sixteen years. First, he was orphaned by the very evil Lord Voldemort when he was barely a toddler. Voldemort was trying a pre-emptive strike against Harry (the intended target) because of a prophecy made about the two of them. Harry's mother put herself between the baby and the dark lord after her husband was murdered and refused to budge, thereby saving the baby's life. Voldemort was weakened by his attack on Harry and ran off into the unknown. Dumbledore and several other protectors stepped forward to see to it that Harry survived. They left him with his aunt and uncle, a pair of truly despicable foster parents.

Once Harry was eleven, learned he was a wizard and went off to Hogwarts the wizarding school, he faced more traumatic events. For each of the years he was at Hogwarts, an attempt was made on his life. Voldemort was determined to come back to power but Dumbledore, headmaster of the school and prime champion, protected Harry throughout the years...until now. Each book has become darker with more twists, more deaths, and more tragedy for Harry. Lonely and neglected Harry learned he had a godfather--who was killed shortly thereafter by Voldemort's supporters. Not surprisingly, he's turned into a very angry boy.

Now that he is aware of the prophecy, Harry finds he has to learn all he can about Voldemort. His guide is his beloved mentor, Albus Dumbledore, who shows him through memories how Voldemort became the monster he is. At the climax, Dumbledore is betrayed by someone the headmaster believed to be an ally. Or was it a betrayal? Harry seems to think so but I'm not so inclined.

The half-blood prince refers to a certain someone who "helps" Harry get through one of his classes. It's totally ironic to me that Harry would feel such a pull toward taking the student's advice. Like Hermione, Harry's friend, I'm a bit miffed he felt it was okay to cheat. Well, we're all human right?

Speaking of seeing the human side, I also enjoyed seeing the "softer" sides to some of the previously thoroughly obnoxious characters...even Lord Voldemort was a thinking, feeling child once.

This was a very good book if you can get through the teenage angsty bits, the adolescents' crushes and loves, and other little boring details. There is enough of the good stuff to keep you going.

The last book is set to come out in print in July. Everyone is up in arms, worried that Harry Potter might die in the book. Stephen King, Lemony Snicket & other book writers have been appealling to Rowling to spare Harry. I sort of hope he lives even if he is bratty!

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
There is so much to love about this book. The characters are vibrant, the language is rich and there are good life's lessons throughout--but it's not preachy. This is a story told with lots of humor although it does have it's tear-jerker moments. Young Will Tweedy is 14 at the turn of the century and is living in the town of Cold Sassy, Georgia. His grandfather causes an uproar in this sleepy little town by eloping with the beautiful young employee in his store. That's bad enough but what really sets the tongues to wagging is that Grandpa's first wife just passed three weeks ago and is barely cold in the grave. The events subsequent to this scandalous event changes Will's outlook on life forever. He has an "old" grandpa who is made young again by the pretty young wife and he himself begins to grow up as he romanticizes about women, kisses someone for the first time, and drives around town in his grandfather's new automobile. Thumbs both up!


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Gump and Company by Winston Groom

Gump & Co. by Winston Groom

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I absolutely loved the movie "Forrest Gump" so when I saw this book at a library sale, I had to have it. It picks up where the movie left off but I have to say that the first book and the movie must have been quite different. For instance, Forrest's shrimp company apparently went bankrupt and he was left flat broke. His true love Jenny didn't die as she did in the movie although she was pretty quickly dispatched in this sequel. Forrest got into plenty of adventures in this book as well, including Iran-Contra, the first Gulf War, the fall of the Berlin War, and other historical events from the 1980s. Forrest even met Tom Hanks who suggested that a movie should be made from Forrest's life. Heh. It was an amusing book, very light and easy to read.


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Duma Key by Stephen King

Duma Key by Stephen King

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I just finished reading the book and while I liked it, I don't consider it to be one of his best. My favorite is and always will be The Stand, I guess. T



Edgar Freemantle was a happily married, middle aged owner of a construction firm when a horrible accident severely injured him physically and mentally. In the aftermath of such traumatic injuries, he's changed and as a result, his life takes some dramatic changes. His therapist suggests a change of scenery and Edgar chooses to relocate from Minnesota to Duma Key, FL.



Edgar had already begun sketching by the time he moves to the house he renames "Big Pink". Suddenly, he is a prolific artist, moving on from pencil drawings to oils.



There is a chilling mystery on Duma Island. Why is the southern part overgrown with trees and plants not really native to the area? Why does no one live on that part of the island? Edgar's only neighbors are an elderly patron of the arts struggling with Alzheimer's and her caretaker. As Edgar becomes friends with them and learns more about them, his artwork takes a dark turn.



I don't want to go any further and include spoilers. I enjoyed the book but felt it was too long. That's been an issue with some King books I've read, particularly the ones since his accident. His writing has changed and while I haven't read everything he's written since then, I haven't been a big fan of the stuff I have read. The story could have ended a lot sooner. Part of the ending reminded me of something that happened in one of his other stories and I didn't think it was necessary to have it happen in this book.



I love Stephen King and will continue to read whatever he writes, including going back and re-reading the old stuff.


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