31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan – Book Review

Jun 012010

31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan

When Dr. Harvey Burdell is discovered brutally murdered one morning at 31 Bond Street, his boarder and household manager, Emma Cunningham is immediately suspected. When a secret marriage certificate is found dating to two weeks before the murder, her fate seems to be sealed, until she manages to hire Henry Clinton as her lawyer. Alternating between the months leading up to the murder and the time after the murder leading up to the trial, “31 Bond Street” is grabbed my attention from the beginning and didn’t let go.

If you know my reading well, you know that I am often less than enamored with historical fiction set in the United States. There are a fair number of exceptions, but as a rule it doesn’t interest me – which is odd, because I have always loved American history. Happily, “31 Bond Street” was precisely one of those exceptions.

I was drawn to every aspect of “31 Bond Street.” First of all, real life murder mystery! It is a bit gruesome if you are squeamish about that sort of thing, but the details aren’t too pervasive, so you could probably sort of gloss over them. I loved the way that Horan drew the setting, I truly got the feel of mid-19th century New York. Then there was the way that the characters and their stories were unraveled: slow enough to keep me in suspense, fast enough that I didn’t get bored or annoyed.

I also thought the story and structure were fabulous. Horan did a wonderful job interweaving the historical facts as they are known with her own conjecture and conclusions. It kept the story moving and allowed for some sort of resolution to the mystery, instead of being left with the questions in the historical record. This is the kind of thing that breathes life into a story, and it was done perfectly. So too the decision to alternate between the time before and the time after the murder. Each storyline was told chronologically, and they both ultimately were leading to the same conclusion reached at different times, which lent a nice sense of balance to the story, while constantly building suspense.

Really, the only thing that disappointed me about this book is that it is Horan’s first, so I couldn’t pop out and grab another one to read. Even so, it was the kind of book that left me so high on the experience of reading it that I just wanted to keep reading anything I could get my hands on, even if it was completely different.

Buy this book from:
Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.*
Amazon.*

This review was done with a book received from the author.
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House Rules by Jodi Picoult – Book Review

May 142010

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

Emma’s son Jacob is obsessed with forensic science. He likes to stage fake crime scenes at their house, and fingerprint household items in his homemade lab. Jacob also has Aspergers Syndrome, so he doesn’t interact with the rest of the world in the same way that most teenage boys would. This becomes a real problem with Jacob’s social skills tutor, Jess, goes missing and is eventually discovered dead. Suddenly the way Jacob interacts makes him look suspicious, even guilty. When he is charged with her murder, will his Aspergers hinder him in trying to stage his defense?

I’ve had a lot of trouble with Picoult’s books lately. I used to really like her work, but then I think I burned out on her. I was sick of the emotional manipulation, and I was sick of the formula with the BIG TWIST at the end. Her most recent book I read, “Change of Heart” really disappointed me. With all of this in mind, I was somewhat reticent to pick up “House Rules.” After all, it is a big book at over 500 pages. I know that Picoult’s books are quick reads, but if was still not enjoying her work, that might be an annoying 500+ pages.

Luckily, I actually really enjoyed “House Rules!” I did not think it was as emotionally manipulative as much of Picoult’s work and not quite as formulaic, either. Instead, I thought Picoult did a fabulous job getting into the head of a teenager with Aspergers and giving insight into the life of a single mother trying to figure out how to do her best for her two sons, one of whom had special needs. The only thing that sort of annoyed me was Emma’s assertions that Jacob’s Aspergers was caused by his vaccinations, almost in the same breathe as admitting that autism rates continue to rise even after mercury has been removed from vaccinations. At least she didn’t go so far as being anti-vaccination.

Although this isn’t my favorite of Picoult’s books (those would be “My Sister’s Keeper” and “Keeping Faith”), I did enjoy it more than much of her work I’ve read recently.

Buy this book from:

Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.*
Amazon.*