I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

Nineteen year old Ed Kennedy doesn't have much going for him. He drives a taxi, is in love with a girl who doesn't love him, spends his spare time playing cards with friends and is bad at sex. After stopping a robbery at a bank he and his friends were in, he starts receiving playing cards in the mail. Aces to be exact, and written on each card is three things. Three tasks he must complete, messages he must deliver, and in each of these tasks he finds that maybe he isn't so useless after all.

Not as good as The Book Thief. Some of the places he had to go and messages he had to deliver were pretty hard to read about, but the book is written in a way that keeps you reading to see what happens and how everything is going to play out. It was a 5 star book until the end. It totally confused me and I had to reread it a couple of times. I'm still not too sure I understood it.

4 stars

In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff

Sarah Wingate is found brutally murdered in her aunt's home and Dobson, New York in 1905 and police detective Simon Zeile is called in to investigate. No one saw anything, but everyone reports hearing the same blood curdling scream at the exact time Sarah was killed. In the early stages of the investigation, Zeile is contacted by Alistair Sinclair, a professor at Columbia University and founder of a group of criminologists at the school. He believes he knows who killed Sarah, but as the investigation proceeds, every clue eludes Zeile, Sinclair and his team. Why was Sarah Wingate killed and what is her connection to the person Sinclair believes killed her? And are Sinclair's motives truly in the best interest of the investigation? Zeile must discover this and come to his own conclusions if he hopes to solve a brutal murder that is not as simple as it seems.

Pretty good story. The only reason it didn't get 5 stars was because of all the corrupt political sidelines that seemed to be thrown in for no reason. The book ends with some questions unanswered and leaves it wide open to a sequel, which I hope does happen because this has a lot of potential. Good thriller. Check it out.

4 stars

Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer

Two very different men from very different backgrounds, try to fulfill their dreams and destiny in the banking/hotel world and along the way develop a hate for each other that may cause them both to lose it all.

William Kane, son of a wealthy banker, follows in his father's footsteps, attending Harvard and going into the family banking business. Abel Rosnovski, of Polish descent, survives Russian war camps and a journey to the "New World", America, to make a better life for himself. Kane continues in his father's footsteps where Abel eventually ends up running a hotel empire. However through one misunderstood event, they cannot get past the deep seated hatred they have for each other as each tries to ruin the other. All of their choices and misconceptions come to a head when Abel's daughter falls in love with Kane's son, neither having any idea of what the truth really is anymore.

5 stars

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

Author Sarah Vowell has a morbid fascination with Presidential assassinations. In her book, Assassination Vacation, she explores three that interest her the most, President's Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley. From following the path John Wilkes Booth took after fleeing the Ford Theater that fateful night, to going on a tour of the city of Oneida, where in the 1800's the members practiced a kind of "free love" way before its time, she takes you along on the trip.

The very long, boring trip. If you are into history then I think you would really enjoy this book. It had me laughing out loud at some parts, but it is mostly about presidential history, and history was never my big interest. I did find out about a website to check out from reading this book: www.FindAGrave.com. And there were some funny anecdotes that I will be using, but I am glad I didn't buy it.

2 stars