Book Review: The Einstein Pursuit by Chris Kuzneski

It starts with an explosion in a research facility in Stokholm, where 20 scientists, once the brightest minds of their generation are killed, sending Sahlberg, a Swedish scientist living in America to reach out to the son of a previous employer, Jonothan Payne, asking for protection from those he believes are responsible for the attack. 

Payne agrees to meet Sahlberg, having never met the man himself, on the possibility of getting to know more of his late father's mysterious past. Arriving at the meeting, Payne and Sahlberg are attacked, so Payne reaches out to David Jones, best friend and ex-military officer, telling him to come ready for battle.

After the initial battle is won, Payne and Jones reconnect with old sources and friends to get answers about why the scientists were targeted, while the man looking to abduct Sahlberg is getting closer to them.

This book is pure thrill ride, non-stop action with some comedy throw in the mix to keep the reader involved. Kuzneski is in his stride within the genre and the reader trusts that he will have them guessing till the end.

Rating: 4/5

Book Review: Dexter's Final Cut by Jeff Lindsay

It opens with Dexter dead.

Actually, he is imagining himself dead, acting on the set of a TV pilot shooting in Miami, a role which he finds himself quite adept at, given his need to hide his Dark Passenger from everyone in his life.

The TV show stars are following Dexter and his sister Deb, trying to get insight into how the real people perform their roles on the show.

Dexter is initially paired with Robert Chase, who will be portraying a forensics assistant on the show. From their first meeting, Robert triggers something in Dexter, but he cannot work out what it is that makes his Dark passenger want to sharpen those knives.

While on the job searching for a killer that is killing and mutilating women, Jackie Forest, famous TV star is being stalked and Dexter is assigned to be his bodyguard, which places a strain on his marriage to Rita and his need to protect her two eldest children from a previous relationship from embracing their own Dark Passengers.

As they close in on the killer, Dexter realises what Robert is hiding from them is much darker than he intially figured, leading him to lose control of the situation in a most un-Dexter like way.

This isn't the TV show from Showtime, the characters are the same, but there is a darkness in the book that the show hasn't captured.

Rating 3.5/5

Book Review: Revenge Wears Prada

I finally succumbed. After seeing it on the shelves I had to know, how did Miranda get her revenge on Andy for her actions at the end of The Devil Wears Prada?

Set ten years after Andy quits Runway, she is minutes from walking down the aisle to marry Max and running her own magazine with ex-Runway staffer, Emily (who has turned into her best friend, bonding over a mutual hatred of Miranda Priestly).

They have built their wedding magazine using connections from their Runway days, albeit blurring the truth to meet their needs. While both Andy and Emily fear repercussions for doing so, they do know that without using them, they will not succeed.

A chance meeting with Miranda at a society function, brings back all of Andy's nightmares and anxiety about being around this woman. This is very real to me, having read The Devil Wears Prada and knowing Andy's past with Miranda.

Soon after, Andy and Emily are called in to meet with Miranda where they are made an offer: sell their magazine to Elias Clark, the catch is, they will need to work for Miranda again, for a year.

Andy has her doubts of how this will work, knowing that it cannot be done, however Emily pushes for Andy to make the 'right' decision.

An unexpected pregnancy in a troubled marriage holds back Andy's decision as her friend and husband urge ever to take the deal, leading to a betrayal after the birth of her child that she cannot accept.

At first, the time skips back and forth to explain how Andy and Emily reconnected, and how Andy and Max met are a little confusing and they do take some getting used to, but overall it was an interesting conclusion to the Andy/Miranda story, albeit the revenge that the title implied was less than I was expecting, and Miranda seems almost somewhat less 'devil'-like than in the previous book.

Rating:  3/5