Sunday, June 7, 2009

Double Helix, The Christopher Killer, if the Witness Lied

Well I have survived. I added

Double Helix to my list from 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. This one hit home. With science and technology taking off the way it has and in recent years the talk of cloning this book left me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. To think that we would want a child so bad we would make choices that could affect others in possibly a negative way made it seem almost not worth the risk. What I am talking about is Nancy Werlin's story of a young boys quest for his future. His mother is dying of Huntington's Disease. As he prepares to graduate high school he is hired by the one lab and the one man his father despises. He has no idea why until he meets someone that looks like his mother did when she was 18. It is through his questioning and search for the truth that the truth in all its ugliness is found. Anything more I would say about this book would be a definate spoiler.



Next I read The Christopher Killer by Alane Fergueson. One word of advice, don't read this book at night in the dark by yourself. By this time everyone had retired to bed and I was alone in my livingroom with my cat who kept jumping up looking out the drapes. In this story 17 year old Cameryn has made it clear to her father, the local coroner that she wants to become a forensic pathologist. It was at this point I was hooked in the story. I love any and everything forensic. My mom calls it my sick side. Anyway, Cameryn convinces her overworked and understaffed father to let her become hs assistant. Her first case is a suicide in a motel who has been dead for several days. She handles it quite well. Her second case is not quite so easy. It is a girl she works with and it is a case of murder. While viewing and helping with the autopsy she discovers a clue. This clue tells them that the girl was the victim of the Christopher Killer. The killer leaves a distinct artifact that gave him the name. Cameryn decides it is her job to find and bring to justice the killer. I had two or three guesses about who I thought the killer was and didn't get a real clue until near the end. Since I have been a fan of Patricia Cornwell's forensic series I can honestly say that this is an awesome YA version of that genre. I was please to read an excerpt from the next forensic mystery at the end of the book.

The next book I read was If the Witness Lied by Caroline B. Cooney. This is another one of my favorite authors. A family has been torn apart by tragedy. The first is the death of the mother after giving birth to the last child. It was a choice she made against what others believed was best for her and her family. Their mother finds out she has liver cancer and doctors, friends, neighbors, and total strangers try to convince her to abort the baby to save her own life. She refuses and makes the children and father promise to love the baby with no regrest. So Tristan is well loved, that is until the mother's unknown step-sister comes to help the family. It is just a couple of years later when the second family tragedy strikes. Tristan is in the front of the jeep when it "accidently" rolls backward over their father killing him. Tristan is made out to be a moster in the press. They present him as the child who killed his mother when she made the choice to give birth to him and the child who has now killed their father. The family splits up. Madison goes and lives with her godparents, Smithy manages to get herself admitted to a boarding school in another state leaving Jack and Tris to live with the aunt who is slowly erasing the memory and existence of their parents. She has shut out all of their family and friends through lies. On the anniversary of their father's birthday the girls feel a need to go back home and so the journey into terror, frustration, a land of forgiveness and lies begins. Jack is told by his best friend and neighbor that his aunt plans on starting on his room and removing his junk. He goes home to rescue the few items he has managed to save of his father's from the day of the accident. Sneaking into the house he overhears his aunt talking to someone. As he listens he finds out she has planned a documentary of that terrible day that will paint Tristan as a monster and show how the children have been traumatized. As always Jack has to protect Tristan. Through a series of twists and turns the children all end up together and discover that their father's accident was not an accident and Tristan was framed. Somehow they have to catch and get rid of the murderer and protect their brother. I think that Cooney held the tension so high in this book that the reader won't be able to put it down and will be afraid of even taking a breath.



I ended up goingto bed this morning at 1 a.m. so my final schedule looked like this:
1:00 a.m. to 6:50 bed
7:00 a.m. - 11:06 If the Witness Lied
11:06 until now Post about the books.

I met the personal book goal I had set for myself of 10 books. I knew it would be tough. I am having my 5th and final eye surgery on Tuesday morning. To read I have to wear clip on magnifying glasses over an old pair of scratched up glasses. The new ones I got in November no longer work after my last surgery so it was back to square one. I get major headaches almost migraine strength. I pushed through this for this 48 hour read. Next year with my new eyes and new glasses I will be able to stay the course and read more than just the 34 or 35 hours I read. I won't need but a couple of hours to rest the eyes.
ON THE GOOD SIDE - I had set a goal of 60+ books to read over the summer. I actually have 125 on my shelves, and desk and have now completed 10 of those. Checking my email while eating dinner last night I had a couple of my students that I had completed 7 of the 10 books I had sat out to read and they boosted me up by telling me they never had any doubt I could do it. Hopefully they will take the initiative and challenge I set for them to read 10 books this summer and reach their goal. It has been fun. I will now spend time going back and looking at everyone elses posts and jotting down books for my wishlist. It isn't enough read books, I must possess them. My shelves at school are bursting with over 1200 books and now I have another 125 to add to them when I return in August. My husband has told me I need to change my blog name and my best friend suggested I just get a domain name. I am terrible with titles and names etc. However, I now have it: I will do the domain name and people can start reading Musing from a Book Addict. It fits. my best friend gave me a gift card for Amazon.com with the comment that Books were crack for readers and writers. Good luck to all who are still out there with the challenge. I look forward to reading your posts and then hitting the books again.
As always, Keep Reading!!!

1 comment:

  1. Double Helix sounds like a winner. I haven't read any books about cloning. This is a good one to get me started. I feel sad just thinking about what might happen.

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