Book Review #69: "Incendiary"

Hey Everyone,

  

     I am going to review the book "Incendiary: The Psychiatrist, the Mad Bomber, and the Invention of Criminal Profiling," by Michael Cannell. This book is hot off the press as it was published on April 25, 2017 by St. Martin's Press: Minotaur Books. For those of you who would like to purchase a copy of this book CLICK HERE. Michael Cannell is the author of two other non-fiction books "The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit," and "I.M. Pei: Mandarin of Modernism." This book is about the Mad Bomber in New York City during the 1950's. The mad bomber terrified New York City with dozens of home made bombs over a 16 year period of where he was unanimous. This book is about the hunt for the killer. This book was also about the beginning of criminal profiling. Criminal profiling got its roots from this hard to solve case.

     Overall I rated this book four stars out of five. This book was well written and very informative. It captured all aspects of these crimes. It did go into depth about the mad bomber case. This book had excellent character development, it went into detail describing all the main players in the story. There were times in this book that I felt the story did not flow well and got off track, but overall it was a great read.

     I would like to thank Netgalley, Michael Cannell, and St. Martin's Press: Minotaur Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Until the next page,

Jill

Book Review #63: "Mercies In Disguise"

Hey Everyone,

     I am going to review the book "Mercies In Disguise: A Story Of Hope, A Family's Genetic Destiny, And The Science That Rescued Them," by Gina Kolata. This book is hot off the press as it was published March 21, 2017 by St. Martin's Press. For those of you who would like to purchase a copy of this book CLICK HERE. The author Gina Kolata is a well known journalist at "The Times," who specializes on Science and Medicine, which made her an excellent fit for this book.

This book is about a well established family The Baxley's who fought an extremely rare genetic disease GSS that mimicked Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. It was about this family's dedicated efforts in finding out what was killing their family's members. It was also about one family member in particular who made the extremely hard decision to be tested to see if she too would be afflicted with this disease.

     Overall I rated this book four stars out of five. It was an excellent read that covered this family's journey and the history behind this disease in great detail, all while capturing your attention throughout the book. It made me think and put myself in this family's shoes in what would I do if it was me? What decision would I make? Do you put it in God's hands or do you leave it to science? The only criticism that I would make is that there was one chapter in the book where it went into the history of In Vitro Fertilization that I felt was unnecessary to add in the book. I think that it would have been better to leave this chapter out because it brought up a whole new set of questions that took the focus away from the real story that was going on. But again it was still interesting learning about the history of it anyways so I don't put a lot of weight on this criticism. I would definitely recommend this book for all to read.

     I would like to thank Netgalley, Gina Kolata, and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Until the next page,

Jill

Book Review #43: "The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko"

Hey Everyone,

     I am going to review the book "The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko," by Scott Stambach. This book was published on August 9, 2016 by St. Martin's Press.  For those of you who would like to purchase a copy of this book CLICK HERE.  This book is about a seventeen year old boy Ivan who has spent his life in Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus. It is about him surviving living every day the same, until he meets a girl, a fellow patient Polina who unravels Ivan's daily routine. 

     As you can see I rated this book five stars out of five. And may I take a moment to say how absolutely amazing this book was. It is always great when a book surprises you in it being better than you ever expected. This book, at least in my opinion is similar to "The Fault in Our Stars," by John Green, except that it is better. It was a book that I never wanted to end. I can't tell you how few books that I actually laugh out loud while reading it, and this was one of those books. The sarcastic and humorous tone that this book had made it what it is. This book had many twists and turns and each page was a surprise. It was a book that while reading you felt the whole spectrum of emotions from sadness, to anger, to hopefulness and to humor. 

     I would like to thank Netgalley, Scott Stambach, and St. Martin's Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Until the next page,

Jill

Book Review #42: "All the Ugly and Wonderful Things"

Hey Everyone,

     I am going to review the book "All the Ugly and Wonderful Things," by Bryn Greenwood. This book is hot off the press as it is published today August 9, 2016 by St. Martin's Press: Thomas Dunne Books.  For those of you who would like to purchase a copy of this book CLICK HERE. This book is about a young girl Wavy, who is raising herself and her younger brother because of her meth addicted parent's neglect. Wavy comes to meet a troubled older man, and forms a serious relationship with him. They come to both rescue each other. This book shows the depth of love and how far one will go in the name of love.

     Overall I rated this book three stars out of five. While this book was well written, I did have a hard time reading this book. At times it got uncomfortable reading the details of the sexual narrative. However, I do commend this author for writing this piece of fiction, because in life there are always going to be things that make us uncomfortable. It is a matter of exposing oneself to these things in order for us to understand and feel comfortable. I love how the end of this book tied everything all together, in that a family is what you want it to be. Love is love and all love is real. 

     I would like to thank Netgalley, Bryn Greenwood, and St. Martin's Press: Thomas Dunne Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Until the next page,

Jill

Book Review #32: "Morgue"

Hey Everyone,

     I am going to review the book "Morgue: A Life in Death," by Dr. Vincent Di Maio and Ron Franscell. This book is hot off the press, as it is available today May 17, 2016. For those of you who would like to purchase a copy of this book CLICK HERE. This book is well researched and well written, as it is written by two extremely experienced people. Dr. Vincent Di Maio is a nationally renowned forensic pathologist whose specialty is on gunshot wounds. Ron Franscell is a best-selling author and well known journalist. So you pair these two together and what do you get? An amazing and unforgettable book. This book is a memoir on the life and experiences of Dr. Vincent Di Maio. It discusses his experiences, knowledge and participation in many well-known investigations, from the deaths of Vincent Van Gogh to Trayvon Martin. 

     As you can see I am highly recommending this book as I rated it four and a half stars out of five and is on my "favorites list" on Goodreads. This book is broken down into discussing the many different cases and investigations that Dr. Vincent Di Maio took part in. Because of this, you could say it is similar to a short-story book format. However, because the authors wrote it in such a personal way, injecting the book with Dr. Di Maio's personal life, his background and his very own opinions and feelings it made this book flow and mesh together extremely well. This was an intriguing book, I did not want it to end. I wanted to hear more and I felt disappointed when I finished this book. Disappointed because this book was that good. You must read this book for yourself to find out how good it is. This book will not disappoint you. 

     I want to thank Netgalley, Dr. Vincent Di Maio, Ron Franscell, and St. Martin's Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Until the next page,

Jill