General Chat

Please review Gone for good , Mother of Pearl and/or The River Knows

Review Gone for Good by Harlan Coben

Again not the sort of book I would have voluntarily bought to read.
However, the book is excellently written with many twists and turns in the plot. Some of the writing is quite graphic but I didn't thin any of the violence was gratuitous.

This is a very clever writer of this sort of story, he keeps you guessing and even at the end with Ken's final betrayal there is a surprise.

Yes I did enjoy it and just maybe I would read more of his books.

Review Mother of Pearl by Maureen Lee

A fairly light read with many flash backs, some of which I found a bit confusing.
I was a little puzzled when Amy arrived home with Barney and told her Mother they had got married. This was 1939 if I remember correctly and she was 18. Would she not have had to get her Mother’s permission, wasn’t 21 the age of consent at that time?
It was a good story and I enjoyed it as far as it went. However, somehow I felt it could have been better. Maybe it was the way the story unfolded, the constant back and forth in time seemed to destroy the ‘atmosphere’ of the story. Maybe it would have been better if the flashbacks were spaced out more and in larger ‘chunks’.
I also felt the story would have had more ‘punch’ if Pearl had found out the secret in her past instead of living happily ever after.
The characters were all nicely rounded out, could easily imagine Hilda Dooley with her buck teeth, and Marion with her snobbish ways, although I felt the gypsy beginning didn’t sit well with the story but maybe that was just me.
Still, all in all, I liked it.

n

Had read Gone for Good a long time ago, thought it was upto the author's usual standard and enjoyed the read as I always do with Harlan Coben.

Mother of Pearl kept me reading to the end and I enjoyed it but for once I didn't guess the outcome. Like Ann I would have liked Pearl to have been told the truth and realise the sacrifice he Mother made for her.

I also read The River Knows.

I was unsure about this book at first but after getting into the first few chapters thoroughly enjoyed it, I did guess who the mysterious lady was but this didn't spoil the plot for me.

I actually managed to read all three books!

Mother of Pearl by Maureen Lee
I found this book easy to read. It seemed well researched and the graphic descriptions of the bombing of Liverpool reminded me that it wasn’t just Londoners who suffered during World War 2. Although there is tragedy the humour helped to lighten the book. I felt she wove the strands of the story from different times and different character viewpoints skilfully, although as Ann says it probably would have been better with longer chunks.

Gone for Good by Harlan Coben

Took a while to get into this book and had to reread some of the beginning to sort out the different characters but after that I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a very inventive plot and the psychological insights into the characters’ actions made it more interesting. The ending was unexpectedly happy considering the trauma of the rest of the book. I shall probably look out for more books by Coben.

The River Knows by Amanda Quick

I enjoyed reading this escapist romance. The ‘heaving bosoms’ and ‘palpitating hearts’ reminded me a little of Barbara Cartland (alright, I confess, in my early teens I read some Cartland books!) but the plot was stronger .

Thanks for those

Marked for tomorrow (my timezone) I have about twenty pages of the last book to go and it is midnight and I should really be asleep.

OK Michelle, thank you.

I have to agree with Ann about Mother of Pearl, I just found it too confusing with all the backwards and forwards but at least I finished it and agree that it would have been better for her to learn the truth.
This was the only one I finished sorry, Gone for Good just left me cold and I could not finish it, a big big sorry.
Angela

Right I did come back - I've had to deal with a Trogan attack on my laptop in the past few days, then when I finally get everything sorted and time to come online the weatherman created enough wind to knock the power out, :-)

The River Knows – Amanda Quick

Like chocolate is to a balance diet, Amanda Quick books are a guilty pleasure when it comes to reading material. I have always enjoyed her books and liked this one as well. I do always get a little bit of a giggle where in most of her books the heroine always starts out as an independent woman until she meets the main male character. I too guessed early on who the myseritous lady of the night was. What I did find quite interesting was the observation of the era of the story of the belief that a woman could not hold her place in society without a man at her side.

Mother of Pearl by Maureen Lee

I wasn’t sure about this when I first started reading it whether I would like it or not, generally by the end I did find it quite enjoyable. Though I did find some of the flashbacks a bit confusing like others did, I think the book would have been an easier read if it was in two or three sections dealing with each era. The happy ever after ending was a bit of a let down.

Gone for Good by Harlan Coban

I found this quite entertaining, even if I do find that a lot of American author's write as if they think a movie is a forgone conclusion, there were a couple of moments when it seemed that a visual represantation was expected. I was not at all surprised by the outcome of the girlfriend's funeral chapter.

Michelle re the Harlen coban book, you seem to have read a different one to the rest of us. We read gone for good which was the vote winner.

Not to worry if you couldn't get hold of it.

Ann
Glos

Ann no it's me writing the wrong title there, that's the one with the poster all over the Library at the moment and it must have imprinted itself on my brain, lol

Oh that is good!!!! Glad I am not the only one with senior moments. having yours early!!

Actually the book obviously didn't make an impression on me because ic can't remember the funeral!!!! I am awful at retaining plots unless I glance at the book again and I left that one in Tenerife.