Review: Blood Bayou by Karen Young

I received Blood Bayou by Karen Young from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. I have not read any other of Karen Young's books but after reading Blood Bayou, I plan on searching them out. It was a unique twist on the 'clear the clueless fellow' plot - and a rather good one! There are a significant number of potential bad guys, a few good yet tarnished folks and a very interesting dead gal. The characters are quite well-defined and interesting, their interactions fun to participate in.

My only drawback, and thus the 4 instead of a 5 rating is that I figured out the 'whodunit' rather early in the book. I'm not sure why because it definitely wasn't obvious, but I would have prefered to be guessing until over halfway through. Even with that, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and definitely recommend it to mystery lovers!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Book memory

"What was the name of the last Kinsey Millhone book?"
"Did I read the latest Lisa Gardner book? It came out last year."
And at book club - "When she talked about the mess in her office..." Me - "Uh, what mess?"

I have a TERRIBLE book memory. I don't know if it's related to my regular memory which isn't very good either. But I am horrible at remembering even the main plots of books. Or even if I've read the book at all! I read alot of books and would say that what I do read is not really many different genres. I tend to stay with the mystery/suspense and 'chick lit'-ish (technical literary term there! LOL).

If it's a series of books, I can definitely tell you about the main characters and their lives. It's almost like they become a friend of mine. I can even tell you about some of their adventures, but definitely not everything. If you asked about a specific book in the series, I could not even remotely tell you what happened, even if it's the last one I've read. Singleton books - nope! I generally can tell you my long term impression of the book but nothing else usually pops into mind.

In fact, I could not tell you many details from even the last book I've read. This seems so odd to me. I feel like I should be able to talk about that. Is this memory issue normal? I tend to think not but who knows. For the record, if someone is talking about the book to me, I can usually recall what they are discussing (so, yes, I can talk at book club!).

For 2007, I was just keeping track of the books I'd read and the basic rating (out of 5 stars) on Library Thing, not really commenting. So I could look and see if I'd read a book but not really recall much about it. At the beginning of this year, I saw that a friend puts comments on her books so I started doing that. Made a big difference in helping me recall the book. Course, now with this blog, I hopefully will remember even more about the books. Or really, I still won't remember. But I can just look here and wow myself with my recall!

Takeover by Lisa Black

This book was my first book in the Early Reviewer program at Library Thing. It totally got me hooked on the program. Because I absolutely loved author Lisa Black's first novel, Takeover! I couldn't put it down!

It has a great female character in a forensic role that is thrust into a bank robbery and hostage situation where she is out of her element. But she is able to use her instincts and her experience to help resolve the situation. I look forward to reading more of this author and hopefully this character. Definitely one of the best 'first novel' mysteries I've read in a long time.

Home Girl: Building a Dream House on a Lawless Block by Judith Matloff

I received this book as an advanced copy through
Library Thing and their Early Reviewer program.

I was a little leary at first as I am not one to read much non-fiction and memoirs I've read run the gamut from boring to extremely engaging and fun. I am pleased to say that Judith Matloff's story of her family's experience was very interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Judith worked for years as a foreign correspondent living in a variety of other countries. After getting married in her late 30's and having two miscarriages, she starts longing to put down roots closer to her family. While her Dutch husband waits back in Russia for his visa, she moves into her mother's basement in New York and starts looking for a house. She ends up finding a 'home with potential' in West Harlem among the dealers and the crack addicts. This story tells of their journey with contractors, the neighbors, the dealers and many others.

Her history of being a foreign correspondent blended well into relating the experience of moving into a 'lawless block' in New York. I worried for her, shook my head at her foolishness and how naive she was. But I also smiled with her choices on friends, the workers, and as she became a mom. And also as the 'lawless block' turned into something great. I recommend this book to all.