My Sister is Going to Kill Me

Nina Simon, it turns out, writes from experience. She has a sister and they did a Grand Canyon trip together. 

Definitely a fun book to read, especially if you have a sister! This was an entertaining mystery that covered a lot of ground.  Hiking down into the Grand Canyon, whitewater rafting and camping out under the stars. That is quite a trip for two sisters with very different interests. 

Then layered onto that is the mystery aspects of the story with a group of campers who are all connected to a lifestyle company that is about to launch a new innovative product.  This is a chance for the board of directors to bond with thee investors and announce the new product with an influencer along for the ride. 

When things get sticky and uncomfortable, the sisters start to bond and when the CEO of the company turns up dead, those sisters really try to patch their differences and work together. There are obstacles along te way to test them and a murderer to find.  All making for a fun storyline.

Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel

 Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy Foley is, I am sure, the first of many in the new Agatha Christie series by a new author.  Sophie Hannah has been the author, authorized by the Christie estate, to continue the Hercule Poirot series.  Now Lucy Foley is continuing the Miss Marple series.

I am not sure that I felt the true Christie ‘s Marple character or the same style of writing, but it was all close enough that it was a pleasure to read.  It was a great twisty mystery.  Though I felt along the way that the murderer was too obvious, in the end of course I was wrong  and the talented Foley managed to bring it all to closure in an unexpected way.

If you have followed and visited with Miss Marple in St Mary Mead, you will know her friend, Dolly Bantry.  Dolly has taken the advice of her new young assistant, Diana Glass and brought Jane Marple along for a delightful cold weather vacation in a luxury hotel at the top of a snow covered mountain.

Reading this novel told from the perspectives of Diana, along with a few of the other guests at the hotel that week, we learn of the death of a prominent politician and another unlucky guest.  The politician’s wife  shares her story, the famous actress is also a guest at the hotel and after the two murders, a man announces he a French policeman on vacation, but he is happy to investigate until the police arrive. 

Coincidences abound as the plot thickens and Miss Marple deploys her usual quiet, inquisitiveness as she listens and observes the surroundings.  Knitting always in her hands she appears to be just a simple old woman and is often underestimated.  

It was definitely a fun, intriguing mystery novel written by an experienced and excellent author of mystery.

Mother, Daughter, Sister, Stranger

Isn’t it surprising that even if you grow up in the same house with parents and siblings that when you reconnect with your siblings later in life you realize how different you all are.  Also how different your memories are of the past.

That is what I was thinking about as I read Mother, Daughter, Sister, Stranger the newest exciting thriller from author Hank Phillippi Ryan. This is a fast paced well plotted novel that will keep the reader guessing about the ending all the way through.  With misinformation and just a cause for self doubt as the characters are introduced and then interact. 

Bea and Eliza are sisters, who grew up with a busy mother who was a professor and a father who spent a lot of time on the road traveling.  When the Bea is graduating from college, they jump in the private personal plane and with her father flying head for their vacation home. The plane goes down and both of their parents are killed but the girls survive.  They go to live with their aunt, their mother’s sister. Every year on the anniversary of the fiery crash they gather at the cemetery for a special remembrance ceremony. 

Surprisingly this year Bea is nowhere to be found as the special day approaches. She has left her daughter Piper with Eliza for a sleepover and has not returned home. Then she misses the cemetery gathering and Eliza is extremely worried. But deciding who to trust and ask for help becomes complicated. As secrets from the past come to light and Eliza learns more about her childhood she is not sure who to trust and who is a possible threat to her and Piper. She is desperate to save her sister, though she is not sure Bea is in danger or where she could be.

This is a novel of intrigue, family relationships, secrets and trust. The plot is well written, keeping the reader on their toes,  guessing who you think is responsible. But every time you think you have it all figured out there is another twist that sends the plot in a different direction opens more options for a thrilling ending.

How to Get Away With Murder

 How To Get Away With Murder is a clever mystery novel.  Make sure you are reading the book written by the author Rebecca Philipson.   You have to watch some titles are used by a multiple of authors.

This story is about a young woman, Samatha, who is rising in the police force when a difficult experience with her partner causes her to take a 6 month leave from the police force. Supported by her father’s best friend the police chief, Harry, Samatha wants to come back to work when she hears about a young girl found dead in the park.  Next to her body is a copy of the book, How To Get Away With Murder.

Samatha was traumatized at work and is under  psychiatric care, but it is very important to her to see justice for this young girl. The investigating officers are reading the book to find out what the killer may do next, and to figure out who the killer really is. The author of this self help book is Denver Brady , an alias for the real serial killer.  The police detectives are reading the book as they search for the criminal staying just maybe one step ahead of him.  Or could he be leading them down a garden path of misdirection?

The characters are well developed and the plot is very intriguing. 

Holmes, Marple and Poe

 James Patterson writes this new series with Brian Sitts.  Using the well known and loved classic mystery novel detectives as inspiration, these authors have created a team of detectives that will solve any crime.  They can even work more than one case at a time. Sharing their unique specialities they each contribute something to solving of each mystery.  Though in addition their individual eccentricities also can get in the way of their work as they help each other through the lows and demons they each face.

 Book two is already available and I do hope there will be more to follow.  I enjoyed this mystery both for the twisty cases but also for the way the authors captured the personalities of the Homes, Marple and Poe.

I Am Not The Only Murderer in My Retirement Home

 Fergus Craig has written an entertaining mystery novel about the life of an aging and former serial killer.  Carol has done her time and paid her dues and now leaving the prison sentence behind she is moving into a senior living establishment.  She has decided to turn over a new leaf and lead a honest life.  She has had enough of prison.  

When a fellow resident dies, Carol is the first person on the scene and calls the police.  But when they realize who she is and learn about her past, her freedom may be at stake.  The police may think they do not look any further than Carol for the crime, but Carol insists she is innocent.

This time Carol may have to prove who the real killer is to be able to prove her own innocence. 

Mad Mabel

 Mad Mabel written by Sally Hepworth, is a winner of a book. Hepworth is a masterful storyteller with a great ability to build suspense.  This time we meet Elise Mabel Fitzpatrick, an elderly woman living a quiet life down a small lane.  She waves to her neighbors but keeps to herself. When a neighbor dies, Elise’s sarcastic responses to the police bring her past under closer scrutiny. 

Now her quiet life is disrupted by neighbors knocking at the door and a need to tell the story of her past.  As Elise tells the story of her life interspersed between the current events happening on Kenny Lane, Melbourne, Australia, we get a picture of her life story. A difficult childhood, with indifferent parents, Elise has a hard childhood with many challenges and difficulties along the way.  She tells the story of her life and explains so many of the mysteries that have surrounded her and followed her through her life.

The Very Unremarkable Life of Etty Bloom

Talya Jankovits, has written a very endearing first novel, The Very Unremarkable Life of Etty Bloom.  Along with the title the novel takes a slow stroll through the life of Etty Greenberger as she grows up in the Hasidic neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  We watch her grow from the child of Holocaust survivors to a grown woman, getting married, becoming Etty Bloom, and struggling to have children.  We follow her life through to old age and find her not only growing old in age, but slowly growing smarter as she ages.  

Growing up in a time of great superstition, following the Holocaust, Etty's parents are over protective and social norms are constraining. The goal of every parent is to see their daughter married, taking care of a husband and many children.  Etty is headstrong and has other interests.  She has trouble fitting into the accepted society she was born into.  Her mother tries really hard to fit into the small world they live in and works hard to make Etty fit the role she is meant to play.  

Etty never seems to be happy.  She is not able to see the positive side of her life and experiences. As her friends all quickly make matches, marry and start building families, Etty has trouble accepting any of the young men she is offered in marriage. When she finally marries, she has trouble conceiving a child.  Then following the same mistakes her mother made, she imposes on her own daughter some of the same pressure to fit in, marry and raise a family.  Pushing her daughter to follow the accepted social practices of the Hasidic community, she did not favor. 

This is the story also of how from one generation to the next times changed.  Etty's daughter, Sarala, is very similar to Etty, but is stronger than her mother and fights the pressure of the community to stand strong in her beliefs. She is satisfied with her life even if it is not the prescribed pattern of the women in the neighborhood.

Though Etty Bloom’s life seems unremarkable, author Talya Jankovits has captured the voice of the NY immigrant Jewish community very well. The smells of the traditional foods and superstitious beliefs of the time period . The reader will be able to picture the Lower Eastside of New York and the life of the immigrants who came to America.  

The plot keeps you engaged until the end, always hoping maybe that Etty will find clarity and become a better person.  It will take Etty a lifetime but maybe she will finally realize that her unremarkable life is really rather remarkable. A wonderful lesson in humility, tzedukah and being your best self.

Murder on the Marlow Belle

As we move through the series of the Marlow Mystery Club it gets harder to keep the mysteries intriguing but Thorogood is nothing but great at his craft. Judith an her friends still manage to present a interesting and compelling read and keep the reader in suspense all the way to the concluding page. This time even though it seems the murderer has been apprehended there is a last minute current that sends the plot downstream toward another possible ending.

This time Judith Potts, the puzzle solving, woman of a certain age, citizen detective is called to a woman's home when her husband seems to have disappeared. Then when his body is found Judith, Suzie and Becks, the Marlow Murder Club, start to quietly ask questions.  This time DI Tanika Malik asks them not to investigate because she is being harassed by her colleague, who doesn't like the trio getting involved in police investigations. 

Judith joins the local amateur actors group, playing a role in the upcoming performance, which gets her on the inside with all the suspects.  The murdered man was the director, Oliver, who had issues with every one of the cast members. The cast members were all together on a boat ride, the Marlow Belle,  when the murder occurred. 

Blunt Instrument

 Amy Bloom has written her first crime novel, Blunt Instrument.  What a wild ride it is .  We follow self-taught private investigator, Dell Chandler, as she takes on her first solo case.  Dell was professor of English before she was fired from her position. The year her mother died she did everything she could do wrong in the job and ended up without a career.  Her Uncle Lou, who she had worked for through her teenage years, helping him with his private investigator firm, Martinez and Associates, offered to take her on as a partner.  She learned what she could from watching Law & Order.  Then she went to the gun range and learned how to shoot for protection.

Now her uncle is gone and her father has given her name to the Cromwell College president, Elizabeth Curry, as someone who can find the killer of Professor Oliver Bullfinch.  Killed in his office, Curry wants to find an answer quickly and the police have not been able to find the killer.  Dell sets to work trying to smoke out the killer.  She runs into many obstacles along the way.  The police do not want to share information.  She has angered a few people and they are trying to scare her away.  

She might be falling in love and she is not really sure who she can trust.  Someone who seems like a friend  could be or they could be a suspect.  As Dell negotiates her way through the suspect list and tries to keep herself, her father and her godfather, Theo Gurwitz, who was her mother’s closest friend, safe.  At seventy five he was blind and supposed to be retired but was still teaching on class at Cromwell.   

This novel takes the mystery plot a little deeper, building character development to round out the private investigator and the prime suspects personalities. Giving more depth to the relationships and motives.  Clever dialog and descriptions make this a perfect read.

The Secret of Cherry Hill Orchard

 

The Secret of Cherry Hill Orchard , written  by Kim Davis, is the second in the series about 11 year old, Amber and her younger 5 year old half sister, Ava.  In the first book they were playing a game and they were pulled into the land of the game.  This time Amber is supposed to babysit for Ava and her friend Harper.  Their mothers are going shopping for items they will both need when they each give birth to their next children.  Amber, Ava and Harper are not so excited about the new additions to the family.  As they start to play a game called Cherry Hill Orchard, a large cherry appears and takes them into the game.  There they meet a group of cats who are being harassed by a group of dogs. The dogs are chasing them and keeping the cats from harvesting their cherry trees. All the food the girls get to eat there are made with cherries.  Cookies, pies, even the drinks are cherry flavored. The three girls learn the importance of working together and getting along as they try to bring peace between the cats and dogs.  They travel through dangerous territory to meet the Queen and ask her to punish the dogs and protect the cats.  It is only then that they can return to the real world.  

A Slice of Murder

 A Slice of Murder is the first mystery novel in the Abigail Murphy series, written by Sophie Maddon. 

Abigail is a socially awkward young woman who works in the IT department, working on a new computer system for  a biscuit making factory.  She has set routines that work for her, like eating the same lunch everyday for a week and then switching to something new. Buying certain cheeses at the local shop after taste testing some new varieties.  She is not very sociable, but likes to spend time with her best friend, Hannah.  Abigail also likes to solve puzzles like Sherlock Holmes. 

When her tyrannical boss asks her to investigate an anonymous letter she received Abigail has no chose.  Then her boss is missing and the office director gives Abigail a promotion,  her boss' job.  Now she has to do the work of both positions. 

Abigail tells Hannah she knows something is wrong and when her boss turns up dead, it is time to put her dection skills to work. How would Holmes follow the clues?  Abigail and Hannah start doing some sniffing around and are ready to share information with the police to make sure they do not think Abigail is the number suspect. 

A light entertaining cozy mystery.  Easy to follow and there are some good red herrings.  I was on the wrong trail for the killer .. 

Theo of Golden

 I really did not want to read this book.  Everyone is talking about it.  There is so much publicity about how great it is , touching the heart strings, making you feel good in a time when people are so angry and bad tempered.  So I held out as long as I could and finally the stars aligned.  My book group put it on the to read list and just as I had thought maybe I will skip the meeting to discuss Theo of Golden, the book was sitting on the pile fo returns when I walked in to the library.  Ok I guess I was meant to read the book.

It is what everyone is saying, a feel good book about an elderly man who shows up in a small southern town to live for a short while.  He wants to do something good in life before the end.  He wants to give to others in need without the thought of thanks or reward. 

Walking into a small coffee shop in Golden he sees portraits hanging around the room of townspeople.  He decides to buy them and give them to the person in the painting.  We meet the members of the community as Theo meets them as he gives them each their portrait.  He learns their life story. Using the art of evasion he does not answer their questions. 

I kept reading because I knew somewhere in the end there had to be a connection  that has brought to this town and these people.  Of course I will not ruin the surprises but needless to say there two twists at the end that bring the story around to full closeure.

It is a feel good book with a happy ending that ties up all the loose ends in a neat package. 

This is Not About Us

I just finished reading Allegra Goodman's newest book, This Is Not About Us.  

I am blown away.  It was an incredible collection of stories that tied together so well I forgot at times I was not reading a novel.   The book spoke to me in so many ways.  So many of the life experiences were so relevant to my life like sibling rivalries. So many overlaps of the places I have attended and am still involved with.  Camp Ramah Palmer, Emerson College, Brandeis University.  I closed the back cover and announced to the empty room, " I am in love with Allegra Goodman!"  

This is a collection of short stories that follow a family through many lifecycle events.  

Reading this book and learning the perspectives of the various characters is enthralling.  You are pulled into the family dynamics, agreeing with some and finding fault with others. It is like living with your own relatives. Meeting up at get togethers and holidays and seeing the interaction between siblings, cousins and the aunts and uncles.

We meet the three Rubenstein sisters who are the matriarchs of the family. Jeanne, the sister who held the family together, is dying from cancer leaving Helen and Sylvia to figure out their place in the puzzle that has lost a piece of the whole.  At the shiva Sylvia turns up with an apple cake. Helen says that was her recipe and sees a slight in Sylvia's behavior.  It is not really about the apple cake, it is the competition and fighting for attention that siblings experience that never leaves the relationship. The estrangement will last through all the family lifecycle events that follow.  

In each story we meet the children and the grandchildren of this family. Seeing lfe from their perspective as they negotiate the everyday experiences of family and life. The balancing of carpools and after school activities, preparing for Bar/Bat Mitzvah and getting home to make dinner.  Keeping a marriage together or figuring out the divorce with children.  

We meet their families and see how the different personalities all work in concert with each other.  It is an incredible book that I think touches on so many personal issues that all of us can relate to.  I really felt like the author knew me and was paralleling my world. Every family has drama and disagreements.  Every family member just wants to be seen and loved. How we all fall into the traps of birth order and the competition for approval.

The author captured the personalities and needs of people, blending them between the short stories seamlessly. The book reads like a novel, not a set of individual stories.

The Murderous Affair of Judith Potts

 The Murderous Affair of Judith Potts is the latest in the Robert Thorogood mystery series about Judith Potts and her friends in Marlow. 

We have watched Judith, Becks and Suzie solve many murders assisting the police of Marlow, led by their friend DI Malik, with their crime board and access to old newspapers piled in a spare room in Judith's exotic home. They also have the ability to interview and question people who will not speak to the police.  They have been dubbed citizen investigators by DI Malik, but this time their badges have been taken away and DI Malik is taken off the job, suspended.  

Now two celebrities have been murdered and it is up to our friendly trio to solve the mystery of the connection between the two seemingly unrelated cases.  First a professional soccer player and then a thriller author turn up dead.  Judith seems distracted and not paying attention to the clues that Becks and Suzie are sharing with her.  Without Judith will they be able to solve these murders?  Will her friends be able to find out what is bothering Judith and bring her back to their group in time?  this could finally be the disclosure of the nagging history that has been following Judith since she moved to Marlow... What was she trying to escape?

The Marlow Murder Club

 The Marlow Murder Club is the start of a new series of murder mystery novels. This time the amateur detectives are women of a certain age.  Written by Robert Thorogood, a British screen writer and novelist.  His latest excellent television series is Death In Paradise.

This is the start of a delightful relationship between between Judith Potts, a single woman who has recently inherited her wonderfully eclectic and messy home from an aunt, along with two women from the small English town of Marlow, Suzie, a professional dog walker and Becks, the vicar's wife.

In this first novel of the series the scene is set as we meet Judith for the first time.  She has run away from something which is never revealed.  She is living in this cluttered mansion, writing crossword puzzles and drinking whiskey and surprisingly swimming in the all together down the Thames.

One day while swimming she hears a gun shot from the shore near her neighbor's house. She calls out but there is no answer.  She swims home and calls the police. They take her concerns with a grain of salt, do an cursory investigation and find nothing. Judith is not convinced they are correct, so she investigates herself and finds clues to the death of her neighbor.  From there she meets her fellow detective friends and they solve the crime.  

So entertaining between the interesting characters and the small town of Marlow this is a setting for a wonderful series of mysteries for one to follow and try to solve.

Dreidels and Dead Ends

Memories of sitting under the hairdryer at the beauty salon with your head full of curlers and reading a magazine came back to me as I enjoyed reading this fun mystery novel. Maybe a more modern version is sitting reading this novel while waiting for the hair color to set.  Dreidels and Dead Ends by Nancy J Cohen is an entertaining mystery novel for reading at the hairdresser.

Cohen has created the perfect setting and real time job position for an amateur detective to have while trying to solve local crime in a small town.  Where would there be a better place to interview suspects than while they are having their hair styled.  Also the women that come in for a wash and cut are always ready to share the news they have heard.

This novel is the newest in this long running A Bad Hair Day Mystery series.  Hairstylist Marla Vail owns the Cut 'N Dye salon and is now married to Dalton, the newly retired police homicide detective.  She and Dalton have teamed up solving crimes in their small town in Florida.

When a diamond studded hairbrush is stolen from the local museum, Marla and Dalton are on the trail to get it back and save the museum from having to close down. Marla was asked by her friend Becky Forest, the curator for the local museum, to fill in last minute as a featured speaker for a fundraising event and Marla agrees.  That puts her and Dalton at the scene of the crime. The antique hairbrush, on loan, an heirloom with a family curse, is stolen during the opening night event and the injured security guard is sent to the hospital. When more unexplained accidents start occurring to people involved with the museum Marla is not convinced it is the curse. She is sure someone is behind the unpleasant problems.  Then another security guard turns up dead and the pressure increases to find out who stole the hairbrush and return it to its rightful owners.

An added characteristic to this mystery series is that Marla is Jewish and the author has added many Jewish references to her novels. In this novel the winter holidays are just around the corner and as she is interviewing suspects, Marla is also thinking about her holiday parties and her gift lists.  She has to pick out Chanukah and Christmas presents for her new extended family along with getting the latkes and donuts for their son, Ryder's, daycare class Chanukah party. 

 

The Half Life

 The Half Life is the newest novel by author, Rachel Beanland. She is the author of another excellent novel, Florence Adler Swims Forever.

Exploring historical themes in her novels, Beanland writes historical fiction that really is a history lesson in disguise.  in The Half Life, the reader enjoys a moving plot about two young people living in the southern United States during the Vietnam War years. Twenty three year old Eileen O’Malley meets the handsome naval officer, Paul Archer in a department store.  Their relationship develops quickly and when Paul gets his orders o ship out to the tiny Mediterranean island of La Maddalena, he proposes to Eileen.  She has never traveled away from her hometown.  Having lost her brother recently in the Vietnam War, Eileen is ready to leave her home and have an adventure, though she is concerned about leaving her parents.

In La Maddalena, Eileen joins the other navy wives and finds ways to learn about her new home.  She takes Italian language lessons from a local woman, who also teaches her to cook local foods.  She becomes involved with a group of Italian scientists and activists, who along with environmentalists are concerned about the American submarine base on their island. They are concerned that the nuclear powered submarines could be depositing nuclear contamination into the water.  

Eileen becomes aware that the United States government in an effort to make sure that Italy doesn't vote Communist in the next election is willing to do whatever it takes even though it could endanger the wildlife in the water off the island.  They members of the island are protesting and Eileen is starting to side with Italian citizens.  Her marriage is on rocky ground and she can see that the US thinks it is superior to the citizens of La Maddalena. 

Eileen needs to choose, her husband and her country or the new friends she has made and their best interests.  This is a story of love, loyalty and the awakening of a woman realizing she can make her own choices.

The Half Life takes an incredible story of American history that is not taught in school and shows the reader the horrific ways the United States has through history put its interests first with thoughts of exceptionalism.  We are still participating in this practice today. 

Are They Dead Yet?

 Ok I realize the title of this book could scare off some readers or make others question my reading interests, but Are They Dead Yet? written by Sam Roberts was actually an interesting and entertaining look at the history and importance of the newspaper obituary.

I have always been fascinated by the question who gets to have their obit mentioned in a major newspaper, especially the New York Times.  Obituaries are a part of a person's legacy. But which people are worth remembering? When you read the obituary of a famous person, you learn not only about how they died but also how lavishly they lived. 

Though it is the standard way to see if someone has passed, the obituary has become more than a death notice. It is a celebration of the person's life. It is a short biography of the person and their accomplishments during their lifetime, a way of memorializing a person. Looking at someone's life through ups and downs, with advantages or disadvantages, with opportunities or difficulties, and seeing how they applied those challenges to become their best selves. 

It has long been a joke that people would get up in the morning and read the obituaries first when reading the newspaper. This gallows humor is credited to Ben Franklin who is thought to have said, "I wake up every morning at nine and grab the morning paper.  Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up."  Franklin began publishing obituaries in the Pennsylvania Gazette, which he bought in 1729.  He was certain that a contemporary record of deaths would draw readers.

As a young Jewish boy growing up in Brownsville, New York, Roberts was six years old when he witnessed the hearse carrying Julius and Ethel Rosenberg's bodies from Sing Sing prison to the funeral home for their funeral. This event and the fact that his parents and many other adults in his neighborhood were survivors of the Holocaust had a major impact on the author and death haunted him throughout his childhood and even as an adult.

Over the decades, Roberts worked as a reporter, columnist, and editor at both the New York Daily News and the New York Times which has culminated in tenure now at the  New York Times working as an obituarist. In this book, Are They Dead Yet?, he gives examples of many obits written over the centuries.  Some are funny and some are surprising, but they are all fascinating. He also outlines the history around the world of the obituary. 

Roberts writes that people want to be remembered and the public is always curious about the lives well-known people have led. In small towns, local newspaper obituaries connect one generation to the next. They provide the biographical data of an individual. Obituaries provide the family connections linking generations, sharing the birthplace, a daughter's maiden name, and married name.  This will give researchers valuable tools for following family roots and genealogy.

Interestingly it is also supposed to be an honest accounting of their life. It should not sugarcoat their history or embellish any shortcomings. Though obituarists conform to the advice that "one can't defame the dead", Roberts reminds us of Volaire's saying, "to the living we owe respect, to the dead we owe the truth".

Roberts quotes Nigal Starck, author of Life After Death: The Life of the Obituary, who argues that obituaries provide a glue that bonds society not in grief but in aspirational reevaluation of our own lives. "There is nothing inherently gloomy about the newspaper obituary page", Starck writes. "Done well, it should capture life rather than wallow in death." 

The Last Mandarin

 The Last Mandarin is a collaboration between incredible mystery author Louise Penny and non fiction author and news correspondent, Mellissa Fung.

What a terrific combination that turns out to be.  Using the historical facts of the Titanium Square and the young people who were revolting against the new regime who were taking over China and changing the government. Starting with the iconic picture of the small thin boy, later named, Tank Man,  standing holding back the tanks at Titanium Square in 1989.  The protests ended in violence and a crackdown by the Peoples’ Liberation Army.  Many of the dissidents escaped through a program called Yellow Bird to Hong Kong and the US.  Many foreign intellect agencies were involved, including the CIA. 

Now imagine that 50 years later some of the teenagers involved in the original revolt have been secretly meeting underground all this time and planning their next uprising.  With all the new technology and innovations it is time to reveal themselves.  Using history and superstitions of Chinese emperors, Fung and Penny have created a fascinating storyline that brings the past to meet the present.  

It may even be a futuristic. In this scenerio all the countries are in conference trying to work together after a siren is sounded all around the world at the exact same moment.  Then days later another attack on the world happens that kills thousands.  Working hard to find out who is to blame and uncover the spies within the administration each world leader needs to figure out who they can trust and who they should fear.

Written with quick scene changes, between the government officials and switching to the group of citizens who with knowledge of the situation are racing to save the world before the next attack. 

The suspense is palpable, written so tightly that your heart rate is rising as you hope that the danger will not reach the worst case result.  You are running through tunnels with the hero's, and hoping the US President will understand the secret messages the Chinese Prime Minister is trying to convey and the  opposite way around also.