Divergent by Veronica Roth

I had read the cover of this a few times & put it on my mental 'to buy' list, but I saw the upcoming movie trailer for this while at the cinema & knew I had to get my hands on it as soon as possible. This is absolutely brilliant, so much action & yet plenty of emotional turmoil thrown in for good measure. With characters the reader can believe in & identify with, this is a novel that you can get lost into in no time. It draws some parallels with what we already experience today & therefore can imagine how the world created by Veronica Roth could become our own.

Beatrice is facing the toughest decision of her life. Her world is divided into factions based on a populations beliefs for the reason war was rampant in the years gone by. These factions were created for peaceful co-existence, to eradicate the motives that caused war & create a harmonized world in it's place. Beatrice was born into one of these factions, but now at the blossoming age of 16 it is time for her to take the test of a lifetime & make the biggest decision she will ever make. Will she choose to stay in the faction to which she grew up, or does she betray her family & her faction by leaving them behind? And what impact will her choice have on her personally?

Now it is also a major motion picture coming out in 2014! Watch the Official Trailer below: 

Bookshelf Back In Time...

I have been re-reading the Hannibal series by Thomas Harris the past few weeks as it has been a long time since I lost myself in their atrocities. Thomas Harris can certainly twist a gruesome web. For anyone who has not read the trilogy I would recommend they get their hands on copies. Especially with the new (awful) Hannibal TV series that aired recently. The real feel for the character's is in the books where Thomas Harris unveiled them in all their darkness & secrets. The true identity of who these people are, & why they have become the people the are is all released throughout the series of these 3 horrifying books. 

Each novel is as intricately detailed as the last, weaving us through the labyrinth that is the world where Dr Lecter exists in the back of everyone's minds. 

Contrary to popular belief, Red Dragon is the first in this series - in the books & in the movie versions, followed by Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal being the Finale bringing up the rear. 

Silence Of The Lambs (1991) movie was made before Red Dragon (2002) & Hannibal (2001) is the third in the trilogy. Thomas Harris then wrote Hannibal Rising as a prequel to the others, & the accompanying movie came out in 2007.  

As expected you get much more detail in the books, however the movies do the books justice - most likely because Thomas Harris co-wrote those too. If you like psychological befuddling crime novels with some  stomach churning violence then these are definitely ones to pick up. 

12th Of Never by James Patterson

As is obvious by the title, this is the twelfth book in the Women's Murder Club series.

Lindsay Boxer is faced with two grisly cases, an English professor claiming to be having prophetic dreams that to the astonishment of Lindsay & Conklin appear to coming true, & the death of a young woman shot in her car, who turns out to be the girlfriend of a well known football star; as well as trying to juggle life as a new mom after her baby is born one stormy night. Mean while, Yuki is taking on a challenging case that could make her career as she goes up against one of the toughest & dirtiest defense lawyers in the business & Claire, who faces a devastating assassination of character and position after a security breech at the morgue

This one I have to say is not as gripping or as challenging as the previous stories in the Murder Club series. It focuses very much on Lindsay individually in her struggle with motherhood & her attempts at juggling the responsibilities of her job. It has lost that traditional 'Women's Murder Club' feel to it as the the other women's involvement in these cases is very limited & the corresponding story lines for Yuki & Cindy are not interlinked to the cases as they have been throughout the series which are also very much focusing on their own personal issues rather than an intertwining connection to the main story line. The only character that has a connection with a case is Claire, & even with this there are no real meeting's between the girls at Suzi's to discuss the in's & out's of their lives like we are all accustomed to from previous books, & Lindsay shows a rather self centered side in this, although it wasn't the intentions of the author's for it to come across this way.

Although a great read - I blast through it in two days - I have to admit I was a little disappointed with this one. 

Criminal By Karin Slaughter

Once again I have a slightly biased opinion - I adore Karin Slaughter! However her talent for the twisted is undeniable in this latest novel in the colliding Will Trent / Sara Linton series. 

With their fresh relationship still on ice and Will's elusive behavior over his past like a constant elephant in the room, it comes as no surprise that things become tense on all sides when Will has to confront his past head on after he decides to challenge Amanda when he finds her brandishing a hammer at his old abandoned children's home when he takes Sara there to open up about a few of the skeletons in his closet. 

As we travel back and forth through time discovering what Amanda already knows and Sara being thrown into a case Will would rather she knew nothing about, we begin to uncover a gruesome and sadistic killer whose aftershocks are reverberating right through to the present day! 

Can their relationship withstand the dark secret Will's being hiding? Or will a drop in visit from Will's wife Angie push them apart?