Review - The Art of Uncontrolled Flight: A Novel by Kim Ponders

Annie Shaw wanted to fly for as long as she could remember. Her father was a pilot in the Korean War, and when he was home she would eavesdrop on his late night conversations with his buddies while they traded combat stories. After a family tragedy that occurs when she is young, Annie assumes a focused, self-analytical perspective on her life that borders on unnatural. She is driven to fly. She wouldn’t know what to do if she were unable to have the freedom of flight.

As an adult, Air Force Captain Annie Shaw is married to a civilian. When Annie is deployed to the Gulf War, she must leave behind the man who knows her best. As an aviator, and as the only female in her unit, she must be focused on her job at all times. Annie must compartmentalize her feelings in order to manage the struggle between her two lives.

Ponders gives us a frank, poignant glimpse into the bared soul of a woman dealing with the reality that she must give up part of herself in order to pursue her passion. The first-person point of view is enthralling and easily leads us between the past and the present, as though we are in conversation with the main character. This novel is also gripping because of the Gulf War setting.

Even though this is a work of fiction, you can feel the pull of authentic details the author used from her own experience as one of the first US female pilots to fly in combat. The Art of Uncontrolled Flight, Ponders’s debut novel, is simply powerful.

Title: The Art of Uncontrolled Flight: A Novel
Author: Kim Ponders
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 978-0060786083
Pages: 192
Price: $19.95

Review - Personal Enemy by Sylvie Kurtz

As exciting as an award-winning action film, this novel opens with a child’s life being torn apart before her eyes and ends in an unexpected, satisfying way.

The protagonist, Adria Caskey, is a strong woman whose job it is to protect lives. Partners with her grandfather in the protection business until his recent death, Adria now has one final promise to fulfill to her grandfather before she officially closes the doors to the family business.

Her staff of security specialists is made up of strong, talented women who are like sisters. There is implicit trust among them that supersedes the need for them to speak to each other at times. No one is happy to have the business close. For some, it is the only thing they know and they do not know how to move on.

Adria’s final client, Peter Dragon, unknowingly has ties to Adria that span their lifetime. She and her staff of executive protectors must be at their best in order to see this case to a successful conclusion.

Sylvie Kurtz has an amazing ability to describe a scene so that you feel you are in the action and not simply reading words on a page. You can smell the aroma of fresh pasta sauce so strongly that your taste buds engage. When a character’s teeth chatter due to a recent douse of ice cold water, so do yours. And when Adria is completed exhausted from having been on the run, you feel her disorientation.

Personal Enemy is a gripping thrill ride that any fan of strong action, female leads, and good mysteries will enjoy. You will feel like you’re in the passenger seat during the high-speed chases, and you’ll find yourself ducking when the bullets start flying. This book is a thoroughly engaging read.

Title: Personal Enemy
Author: Sylvie Kurtz
Publisher: Silhouette Books
ISBN: 0-373-51343-7
Pages: 304
Price: $4.50

Review - A Rose at Midnight by Sylvie Kurtz

A Rose at Midnight is filled with strong musical descriptions that enhance this romantic and mysterious tale. “A familiar symphony of sensations arose,” Kurtz writes, “cellos of longing, saxophones of sensuality, trumpets of warning.”

The opening words, “feelings were for fools,” set the stage for successful pianist Daniel Moreau and the woman who has been on his mind for nine years, Christiane Lawrence. Daniel has not played the fool for nine years and he is determined not to start now just because Christi has entered his life again. She is unaware of the power she has to easily destroy him, and that makes her the most dangerous person in his life.

The female protagonist is strong in her love for her daughter and her desire to learn about her family history. She has learned through bittersweet experience to follow her head and not her heart, yet is quite aware how quickly her heart can overtake rational thought.

The setting is Quebec City at the approach of Mardi Gras. The city is filled with life and fun and celebration. Christi is joyful at her vacation far from her Texas home, happy to discover her roots through an old family friend. This vacation is meant to help her recover from a recent tragic loss. She is grateful for the attentiveness of her host and oblivious to the darkness that cloaks her. As Daniel re-enters her life, Christi quickly discovers how strong, and deadly, family ties can be.

A Rose at Midnight is refreshing in its ability to pull readers into another time and place. Sylvie Kurtz piques our interest early and raises the intrigue slowly and gently until it peaks at crescendo. Then the story eases down to a soft pianissimo that leaves us feeling satisfied.

Title: A Rose at Midnight
Author: Sylvie Kurtz
Publisher: Harlequin
ISBN: 0-373-22822-8
Pages: 256
Price: $4.99

Review - Green Girls: A Novel of Suspense by Michael Kimball

Green Girls opens with Jacob Winter, pseudo-novelist and expert carpenter, waking up in a jail cell. He's told that he assaulted his former psychiatrist and his wife's boss. Jacob recalls some events of the previous night, but no assault. Told that his wife has left his car in front of the police station, packed with his clothes and a sleeping bag, Jacob is baffled. He has no idea how he ended up in jail, why he's not allowed contact with his family, or why Alix Callahan, a former college classmate who never spoke to Jacob, has bailed him out.

With no place to go, Jacob tracks down Alix and her lover and business partner July at their exotic-plant greenhouse, Green Girls. The tension between Alix and July is apparent and Jacob is quickly intrigued by July, the young half-Kogi Indian woman from Colombia whose shaman husband is in jail for biting off her finger.

Jacob's desire to be with his son tears at him, and the restraining order keeping him from his wife makes him crazy. He tries to get away, but July and Alix exert a mysterious pull. Finally, Alix summons July and Jacob to the Piscataqua River Bridge-the bridge that separates Maine from New Hampshire-where Jacob watches Alix fall to her death. Though her body isn't found, the police consider Jacob a prime murder suspect.

Green Girls is a page-turner. The plot's twists and turns are almost too much, but the characters are intriguing and the suspense complete. Although we know who the antagonist is, the motivation is drawn out until the end. Descriptions of July's Colombia home, the backyard rainforest she and Alix maintain, and the regular appearance of poisonous dart frogs give a sense of strangeness and danger.

Michael Kimball's previous novels include Mouth to Mouth, Firewater Pond, and Undone. Portland Monthly recently named Kimball one of "The 10 Most Intriguing People in Maine," where he lives with his family.

Title: Green Girls: A Novel of Suspense
Author: Michael Kimball
Publisher: William Morrow
ISBN: 978-0060087371
Pages: 384
Price: $24.95

Review - Traps by Paul Lindsay

Banter between lead characters, a look at office politics and FBI procedures and the discovery of an unlikely hero all make Traps, the latest novel by FBI veteran Paul Lindsay, an enjoyable read.

FBI explosives expert Jack Kincade is a loser in many respects, but there is a sense of decency about him. Ben Alton, an agent on light duty, lives for the FBI, working to prove himself worthy each day.

Kincade and Alton rub each other the wrong way, yet each finds something admirable in the other.

Conrad Ziven's daughter Leah was kidnapped three years ago. The FBI let the case get cold. Ziven devises and executes a plan to get the FBI's attention: he is the only one with the code to the 800-pound bomb he planted under a jail that houses 15,000 prisoners.

His demands to the Feds are simple: find Leah and the bomb will be disarmed.

Kincade becomes the central agent in the Ziven case. Kincade supports his poker and drinking habit by "trapping" bank night depository slots. He is now the agent in charge of the recent flurry of bank robberies, and isn't concerned with getting caught.

Alton, an amputee due to cancer, is assigned the bank robbery cases that have gone nowhere, while Kincade moves to the Ziven case. Alton is sent to the seedy motel where Kincade lives with his border collie to get some background on the depository robberies.

Before either of them knows it, they are working together on the Ziven case.

Kincade and Alton solve the cold Ziven case quickly and the bomb is disarmed. It turns out Leah died three years ago, and her killer was murdered a few months later. Kincade is thrilled to go back to his bank trapping and poker games, but Alton has a nagging thought that the Ziven case couldn't have been one man working alone.

Together with Kincade, Alton discovers that Leah's psychopathic killer is still very much alive and has an enormous grudge against the FBI.

Kincade and Alton know who the psychopath is, but he has covered his tracks well and forcing him into a corner leads to a suspenseful, nail-biting countdown to save one of their daughters, who is now the latest kidnapping victim.

Paul Lindsay has written four previous books subtitled "A Novel of the FBI:" Witness to the Truth, Codename: Gentkill and Freedom to Kill feature Detroit FBI Agent Mike Devlin. The Fuhrer's Reserve and Traps are breaks from the series character.

Lindsay lives on the New Hampshire seacoast with his wife.

Title: Traps
Author: Paul Lindsay
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 978-0743215060
Pages: 272
Price: $24.00

Review - Bubbles in Trouble by Sarah Strohmeyer

If I hadn't been asked to review Bubbles in Trouble I wouldn't have considered reading it. The title alone turned me off. The book jacket is pink, blue and yellow with a pair of spike-heeled leopard print shoes and a water pistol emitting yellow bubbles. My first thought was that it was a book about a monkey. When I ran the title by two male friends they assumed it was about a stripper.

As it turns out, Bubbles in Trouble is good for laughs, entertaining characters and well-worked story lines. Vermont novelist Sarah Strohmeyer weaves a good mystery. The whodunits, all three of them, had me guessing until the very end.

But the character names distracted me from the mysteries. Bubbles Yablonsky? Who would name a child Bubbles? Bubbles has dealings with Nimrod Oggledorp, a store clerk. Bubbles' man of the hour is Steve Stiletto. Her ex-husband is Dan the Man, who now goes by the name Chip. Her mother is LuLu, who lusts after Fast Car.

There is a definite Janet Evanovich feel to Bubbles in Trouble, right down to the prominence of TastyKakes. Strohmeyer mentions on her Web site that she once interviewed Evanovich and said she'd like to write similar books. The title for the first Bubbles novel, Bubbles Unbound, came from Evanovich.

Bubbles is a life-loving character with a big heart and determination to get the job done. She is beautician extraordinaire at the House of Beauty in Lehigh, Pa. She is very proud of her bleached-blonde big hair and her ability to gossip with the best of them. Bubbles is also supremely dedicated to makeup, high heels, a Valentine-red Super Wonderbra, and Saran-Wrap-tight tank tops and sweaters. She drives an old Camaro, her dream car.

Bubbles works part time as a newspaper reporter, which is what sends her off in search of answers in Bubbles in Trouble. The story is set mostly in Amish country. To read about Bubbles giving up her clothes, makeup, electricity and running water for undercover work is entertaining to the point of out-loud laughter. Furthermore, she is the first character I have come across whose IQ increases to genius level after ingesting marijuana.

At the least, I expected the book would be a quick read and mildly entertaining. At the most I hoped that I was completely wrong with my first impressions and I would be turned on to a new novelist.

I'm not persuaded to go back and read the first "Bubbles" book, but I'll keep it in mind if my library runs short.

Sarah Strohmeyer is a former journalist who grew up in Pennsylvania and now lives near Montpelier, Vt., with her family. Her first Bubbles book, Bubbles Unbound, won the Agatha Award.

Title: Bubbles in Trouble
Author: Sarah Strohmeyer
Publisher: Dutton
ISBN: 978-0451208507
Pages: 336
Price: $7.99

Review - Gray Matter by Gary Braver

Do intelligent people have better lives? Do more opportunities come their way? Do they get into better schools?

If you could give your child straight white teeth, would you? If your child needed plastic surgery to be accepted on the playground, would you have it done? If your child were falling behind in the classroom, would you do anything to help him become smarter?

Gray Matter is a page-turner by Northeastern University professor Gary Braver that asks these questions. I literally could not put this book down until I was finished.

Rachel Whitman has everything going for her: she's young, beautiful, and wants for nothing. Her husband is CEO of his own company. They've just moved to an upscale Boston suburb with their 6-year-old son Dylan.

Dylan is enrolled in DellKids, a kindergarten on the grounds of the Dells Country Club. Dylan isn't having an easy time. He's not as quick to learn as the other kids and is harassed by the star pupil.

His IQ is below average. Rachel struggles with the fact that her child has a learning disability and, due to past use of a drug that's now known to be dangerous, she may be to blame for his condition.

Not all is bad with Dylan. He may pronounce "Mrs. MacPhearson's Jaguar" as "Mrs. M'Phearson Jagger," but he has a fantastic singing voice and can remember songs as soon as he hears them. Still, Rachel worries that if he's already behind, he'll be picked on more as he gets older and that he won't be able to follow in his father's footsteps.

Then Rachel learns of an "enhancement" procedure that can increase a child's IQ threefold. Should she and her husband put up all their money now so that Dylan will have a chance at a successful life? As Rachel gathers information, she questions whether the procedure will be worth it to Dylan in the long run. The decision has to be made soon; the doctor won't perform the surgery if the child is more than 6 and a half years old.

Gray Matter is a must read for any fan of medical thrillers, mysteries, science fiction, or just damn good writing.

Gary Braver is the pen name for Gary Goshgarian. His first thriller, Elixir, about finding the fountain of youth, was published in 2001. He teaches creative writing and popular culture, and lives with his wife and two sons outside Boston.

Title: Gray Matter
Author: Gary Braver
Publisher: Forge Books
ISBN: 978-0312876135
Pages: 400
Price: $25.95