Ciryatan
Welcome to the Grove of Ciryatan....Free Hearts Must Fly; Just Stay Away From the Jet Engines....
intro
Patricia Cornwell
an instantaneous favorite of mine is Patricia Cornwell. a popular crime writer, she has also written a very good study book, for me at least, on the famous serial killer, Jack the Ripper. here are some of her books that made the list.
Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed
Trace
From Publishers Weekly
Jack the Ripper was renowned artist Walter Sickert (1860-1942) according to Cornwell, in case anyone hasn't yet heard. The evidence Cornwell accumulates toward that conclusion in this brilliant, personal, gripping book is very strong, and will persuade many. In May 2001, Cornwell took a tour of Scotland Yard that interested her in the Ripper case, and in Sickert as a suspect. A look at Sickert's "violent" paintings sealed her interest, and she became determined to apply, for the first time ever, modern investigatory and forensic techniques to the crimes that horrified London more than 100 years ago. The book's narrative is complex, as Cornwell details her emotional involvement in the case; re-creates life in Victorian times, particularly in the late 1880s, and especially the cruel existence of the London poor; offers expertly observed scenarios of how, based on the evidence, the killings occurred and the subsequent investigations were conducted; explains what was found by the team of experts she hired; and gives a psycho-biography of Sickert. The book is filled with newsworthy revelations, including the successful use of DNA analysis to establish a link between an envelope mailed by the Ripper and two envelopes used by Sickert. There are also powerful comparisons made between Sickert's drawing style and that of the Ripper; between words and turns of phrases used by both men; and much other circumstantial evidence. Also newsworthy is Cornwell's conclusion that Sickert continued to kill long after the Ripper supposedly lay down his blade, reaping dozens of victims over his long life. Compassionate, intense, superbly argued, fluidly written and impossible to put down, this is the finest and most important true-crime book to date of the 21st century. Main selection of the BOMC, Literary Guild, Mystery Guild and Doubleday Book Club.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Can truth be stranger than Cornwell's fiction? Here, the best-selling novelist claims to uncover the identity of Jack the Ripper.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
This is one of the most talked about books of the currentpublishing season; if you have not heard about it yet, you have notbeen keeping up with book news! Cornwell, author of the popular KayScarpetta mystery series, turns her hand here to nonfiction to explorea subject that recently has thoroughly riveted her attention: noneother than the ultimate in unsolved serial murder cases, that of Jackthe Ripper. Readers will remember that the Ripper plunged London'sEast End into abject terror for a few months in 1888, during whichtime he brutally murdered several prostitutes. Cornwell applied moderninvestigative and forensic techniques to answer the question of theRipper's identity, hardly leaving a single stone unturned in gatheringevidence, which she presents in this absolutely absorbing book. Whowas Jack the Ripper, then? Cornwell points her finger at Impressionistpainter Walter Richard Sickert, and her indictment rests on, amongother things, DNA testing and matching watermarks on envelopes. Sheadeptly sets the whole horrifying story within the tenor of life inVictorian England, and the result is a well-constructed, endlesslyfascinating account that is sure not only to arouse debate but also togenerate considerable demand in the library. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Now updated with new material that brings the killer's picture into clearer focus
About the Author
Patricia Cornwell's most recent number-one bestsellers include The Last Precinct and Isle of Dogs. Her earlier work includes Postmortem-the only novel to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards and the French Prix du Roman d'Aventure in a single year-and Cruel and Unusual, which won Britain's prestigious Gold Dagger Award for the year's best crime novel of 1993. Her fictional chief medical examiner, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, won the 1999 Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author. Cornwell helped establish the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine, the first forensic training facility of its kind in the nation, and serves as the Institute's Chairman of the Board. Visit the Institute's website vifsm.org and Cornwell's own website at patriciacornwell.com.
From Publishers Weekly
Cornwell's latest after the disappointing Blow Fly has indomitable medical examiner Kay Scarpetta returning to her office in Richmond five years after being fired. This homecoming will cheer fans: not only does the move put Scarpetta on her own turf, it reinvigorates Cornwell's storytelling, restoring some of the spunk lately lacking in her lead character. Dr. Joel Marcus, Scarpetta's replacement as Virginia's chief medical examiner, has summoned her back to help him puzzle through the mysterious death of a 14-year-old girl. Marcus is generally loathed: he's petty, inept, has a secret garbage-truck phobia and harbors an intense hatred for Scarpetta. Meanwhile, Scarpetta's niece Lucy, owner of a fabulously successful private-eye firm, has her own troubles trying to sort out who attempted to kill her friend Henri (short for Henrietta), who's now under psychiatric treatment by Scarpetta's lover in Aspen, Benton Wesley. Lurking in the background is Edgar Allan Pogue, a nutcase who has a thing for dead bodies and a grudge against Scarpetta. It's her job, as always, to connect all the puzzling forensic dots and identify the killer in time to save herself and her loved ones. She does this, mostly, but leaves the reader to puzzle out a few salient points on his or her own. Cumbersome backstory slows the action, but in general the old Scarpetta comes through, at least in the main, and this will be enough to reassure her many fans and carry them over until her next appearance. BOMC, Literary Guild, Mystery Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selection.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Against advice from her niece Lucy, Kay Scarpetta answers a request to return to the Richmond medical examiner's office, the same office from which she was fired, to help with the sensitive case of a dead teen. When she and Pete Marino arrive, they find the new medical examiner to be a vituperative, uncooperative martinet and the office that Kay ran so efficiently in chaos. Two murders, oddly linked, demand their attention. In the meantime, Lucy, still unsettled despite her success with the Last Precinct investigative agency, is having personal problems (there's been an attack on her housemate), which strangely enough find her treading the same path as her aunt Kay. Traces of the smart, dynamic, yet vulnerable Scarpetta of the early novels are in evidence here, and Cornwell has better control of her plot and characters than in her last few efforts, faltering only occasionally when psychobabble weighs things down. The mystery is intriguing, there's plenty of forensic detail, and the ending, though perhaps too abrupt, opens the way for Scarpetta and her associates to proceed in any direction that calls to them. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'When she is this good, she is hard to beat.' New Statesman 'Forget the pretenders. Cornwell reigns.' Mirror
Five years after getting eased out in a nasty political brawl, Dr. Kay Scarpetta (Blow Fly, 2003, etc.) is back in Richmond to battle still another monstrous killer. Virginia's newly appointed Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Joel Marcus, hasn't a clue why 14-year-old Gilly Paulsson died. Gilly's flu had been responding to antibiotics, and the CME's office can find no apparent cause of death. So Marcus calls Scarpetta back from Florida, where she works with her niece Lucy Farinelli's security firm-ostensibly to consult with her, but actually to criticize and humble her. Tempers flare from the moment Scarpetta shows up with mouthy ex-Richmond cop Pete Marino in tow. But the battle really heats up with the news that the body of Theodore Whitby, a construction worker accidentally killed in the demolition of the old CME building, is marked by the same trace evidence as Gilly Paulsson, who died in bed miles away. Scarpetta must have contaminated one of the bodies, Dr. Marcus insists, because what else could the two cases have in common? Plenty, as readers will know if they've been following the dark doings of sickly Edgar Allan Pogue that Cornwell's planted along with half a dozen other grisly subplots. Cornwell's full-employment approach to evil hits all her high notes: grueling forensics, supernal villainy, Scarpetta's righteous duels with bullying authority figures. If the result is more synthetic than inspired, fans won't be disappointed. (Kirkus Reviews)
It's a cause of real celebration for Cornwell fans that the author has left behind her recent obsessions (such as her eccentric attempt to pin the Jack the Ripper killings on the painter Sickert), and is again chronicling the collar-gripping activities of consultant pathologist Dr Kay Scarpetta, who in Trace finds herself once again in Virginia looking into a baffling death, that of young Gilly Paulson. The new Chief Medical Examiner, Joel Marcus, has called the resourceful Scarpetta in, but her investigations are sidelined by her dismay at various changes: her old morgue has been bulldozered, and she is unsettled at the thought of meeting the man who took her job. Other members of the extended Scarpetta family are yoked in: her niece Lucy Farinelli and her partner Benton Wesley are tracking down an assailant who has nearly ended the life of one of Lucy's colleagues. It'll be no surprise to the reader to hear that the two cases turn out to be connected, but the key thing to note here is that Cornwell is back on form, comfortable with her signature character and torturous plot (involving lethal bomb-makers and deviant sexual behaviour). (Kirkus UK) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"The mystery is intriguing, there's plenty of forensic detail, and the ending . . . opens the way for Scarpetta and her associates to proceed in any direction that calls to them."
-- Booklist (Booklist )
"Cornwell's . . . approach to evil hits all her high notes: grueling forensics, supernatural villainy, Scarpetta's righteous duels with bullying authority figures."
-- Kirkus Reviews (Kirkus Review ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Product Description
Now freelancing from south Florida, Dr. Kay Scarpetta returns to Richmond, Virginia, the city that turned its back on her five years ago. Investigating the death of a young girl, she must follow the twisting leads and track the strange details in order to make the dead speak-and to reveal the sad truth that may be more than even she can bear.
About the Author
Since the first novel was published in 1990, Patricia Cornwell and her creation, Kay Scarpetta, have become household names & she has earned widespread critical acclaim. She helped to establish the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science & Medicine & serves as Chairman of the Board.
Cassandra Clare
Author of the Mortal Instruments series, she has managed to capture my interest and drag me away from the seduction of Twilight.
Books in the Series:
City of Bones
City of Ashes
and newly released!!!!: City of Glass
Review
"Funny, dark, and sexy. One of my favorite books."-- Holly Black
"City of Bones has everything: vampires, werewolves, faeries, true love, and stuff that blows up. What's more, Clare's characters are brilliant -- she better not kill any of them off in the next two volumes!"-- Justine Larbalestier, author of Magic or Madness
Product Description
Their hidden world is about to be revealed....
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Clary knows she should call the police, but it's hard to explain a murder when the body disappears into thin air and the murderers are invisible to everyone but Clary.
Equally startled by her ability to see them, the murderers explain themselves as Shadowhunters: a secret tribe of warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. Within twenty-four hours, Clary's mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know....
About the Author
Cassandra Clare is the author of City of Bones, the first book in the Mortal Instruments trilogy and a New York Times bestseller. She was born overseas and spent her early years traveling around the world with her family and several trunks of books. Cassandra lives in Brooklyn with her boyfriend, their two cats, and these days, even more books.
www.mortalinstruments.com
Stephenie Meyer
yeah, yeah, sure, whatever. i dont particulary care what you guys think about twilight. it's a so-so series, but the bomb in my mind is the Host. makes you really think about what might happen in the future.
Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, May 2008: Stephenie Meyer, creator of the phenomenal teen-vamp Twilight series, takes paranormal romance into alien territory in her first adult novel. Those wary of sci-fi or teen angst will be pleasantly surprised by this mature and imaginative thriller, propelled by equal parts action and emotion. A species of altruistic parasites has peacefully assumed control of the minds and bodies of most humans, but feisty Melanie Stryder won't surrender her mind to the alien soul called Wanderer. Overwhelmed by Melanie's memories of fellow resistor Jared, Wanderer yields to her body's longing and sets off into the desert to find him. Likely the first love triangle involving just two bodies, it's unabashedly romantic, and the characters (human and alien) genuinely endearing. Readers intrigued by this familiar-yet-alien world will gleefully note that the story's end leaves the door open for a sequel--or another series. --Mari Malcolm
From Publishers Weekly
In this tantalizing SF thriller, planet-hopping parasites are inserting their silvery centipede selves into human brains, curing cancer, eliminating war and turning Earth into paradise. But some people want Earth back, warts and all, especially Melanie Stryder, who refuses to surrender, even after being captured in Chicago and becoming a host for a soul called Wanderer. Melanie uses her surviving brain cells to persuade Wanderer to help search for her loved ones in the Arizona desert. When the pair find Melanie's brother and her boyfriend in a hidden rebel cell led by her uncle, Wanderer is at first hated. Once the rebels accept Wanderer, whom they dub Wanda, Wanda's whole perspective on humanity changes. While the straightforward narrative is short on detail about the invasion and its stunning aftermath, it shines with romantic intrigue, especially when a love triangle (or quadrangle?!) develops for Wanda/Melanie. 10-city author tour. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
You might assume that Meyer’s best-selling Twilight series (published for YAs), about the intense love between a human teen and a vampire, takes the interspecies relationship thing about as far as it can go. There’s where you’d be wrong. Meyer’s ingenious adult-market debut, heavily but not tediously indebted to Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, imagines the tangled web of attachments between an alien parasite and the colony of humans to which the alien’s host body once belonged. Meyer boldly chooses to narrate from the perspective of the invading alien, a 1,000-year-old female “soul” named Wanderer, and it is a tribute to the author’s skill that Wanderer is a sympathetic protagonist despite the fact that she tells her tale while clinging to the cerebellum of a human victim, 17-year-old Melanie. As Melanie’s unusually resistant consciousness begins to seep into Wanderer’s own identity, she finds herself seeking out one of the last outposts of human civilization to reunite with the people her body once loved. Some readers will find the opening scenes too hurried and contrived, and the unusually large number of humans willing to fraternize with the enemies seems idealized. But the view of the apocalypse from the vantage point of one of its horsemen makes for propulsive reading, laden with unforgettable, unsettling scenes that raise fascinating questions about distinctions between essential human identity and its physical vessel. Consider buying duplicate sets of Meyer’s ouevre, one for adults and one for YAs, since this entertaining, somewhat soft-focus sf saga will only serve to broaden the penumbra of Meyer’s fame. --Jennifer Mattson
Review
"A brilliant and fascinating premise.... Its mix of adventure and new love on a new Earth is just right to get lost in this summer." (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sherri Hallgren 2008)
"The Host lives up to the hype, blending science fiction and romance in a way that has never worked so well." (Library Journal Jane Jorgenson 2008)
"An epic story of love, family, and loyalty. . . . The Host is The X-Files meets Days of Our Lives." (USA Today Carol Memmott 2008)
"Meyer is more interested in relationships than in flashy genre conventions. . . . Meyer's affirmative life lesson is disarming." (Entertainment Weekly Jeff Giles )
"Meyer has, like one of her vampires, turned into something rare and more than merely human: a literary phenomenon....The way she manages the reader's curiosity maintaining tension and controlling the flow of information, is simply virtuosic....People do not want to just read Meyer's books; they want to climb inside them and live there." (Time Lev Grossman )
"A fantastic, inventive, thoughtful, and powerful novel. The Host should come with a warning label: it will grab you and keep you reading well into the wee hours of night, and keep you thinking, deeply, hauntingly, well after the final word. Stephenie Meyer captures characters and handles story line like a master--a hybrid combination of Stephen King and Isaac Asimov."
(Ridley Pearson )
"Stephenie Meyer is an amazing phenomenon--out of the brightness of her mind and spirit comes the illuminated darkness of her stories. For no matter how much pain her characters suffer, Meyer infuses the tales with light and hope." (Orson Scott Card )
