Mind Me, Milady

Jane Larson is an attorney on the Upper East Side of New York City, and the Gentleman Rapist has chosen her to receive his calls announcing each conquest. He also reminds her in chilling terms that he will one day twist his wire around her throat and bend her to his will.

Jane has professional and personal problems of her own, but she is forced to try to catch this monster when he stalks her newest client. Susan is a sweet young woman who cannot remember large time periods of her past and who has dreams about a prior life in which she was raped. Soon, the Gentleman escalates to murder, and Jane wonders if he was involved in Susan’s forgotten past, or if Susan is simply a means to get to Jane. Either way, Jane is caught in the deadly game of stopping the Gentleman before another woman feels the wire at her throat and hears his sinister whisper to Mind Me, Milady.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Jane Larson has returned with an array of new clients in Mind Me, Milady, by Anne Rothman-Hicks and Ken Hicks. In this mystery, a young woman is targeted for memories of a past life while Jane is also fighting back against a serial rapist who soon ups his crime spree to include murder. If Jane can figure out how it's all related, then maybe she'll have a chance at stopping the monster who keeps her informed of his every misdeed. 

Jane Larson was first introduced to me in Weave a Murderous Web and her character is just as persistent and determined as before. Maybe even more so now that she's cleaning up her mother's client list. What connected me most to Jane was her emotional realization that she was both proud of her mother and more inclined to be like her mother in terms of being a lawyer. As the book progressed, so did Jane's emotional evolution. She learns that she likes helping people who need it rather than helping businesses or people who are assigned to her by her boss. And in this story, there are lots of people who need help. Jane's emotional strength and intelligence work in her favor as she tries to help the young and inexperienced Susan. Though Jane can be a little harsh, she has her client's best interests in mind. Couple that with her other likable personality traits and Jane becomes a character that can be respected. 

The storyline of this novel begins with Jane finishing her mother's cases after her death. While doing so, Jane becomes entwined in several plot lines that do get a bit confusing at times. There is a wide cast of characters that frequently come and go, making them a bit hard to remember. The main story involves Susan and the inheritance of her Aunt's estate and a serial rapist who keeps contacting Jane after every incident. Jane feels the two are related somehow but doesn't know exactly. The only thing a bit bothersome about the book was it's incredibly heavy focus on detail. I usually like having all the details but I felt bogged down by the systematic info dumps that didn't seem to contribute to the plot of the book. I feel like that kept me from seeing this book as un-put-down-able. The main reason I think this bothered me so much was because when the criminal was revealed at the end, I didn't remember him being a part of the book. That disappointed me the most. 

Though I would recommend this book to lovers of the mystery genre and to those who have read the previous books about Jane Larson, I think I'd accompany the recommendation with a warning that it moves slowly because of the heavy explanations. I'd also include that the Kindle version (at least the one I received) did have a few errors in it that were a bit distracting, like Jane being called Kate, just to point out one example. Overall, I did feel the connection with Jane initially established in the previous novel was built upon and that the storyline was intriguing, while just confusing enough to not be predictable.

Rating: 3/5 Cups

Read the review of Weave a Murderous Web

What's Next, Wednesday (104)

•  To play along share a book you've been looking forward to reading, whether it's new or has been on your reading list for a while.

I'm looking forward to... 

Summer in a Cornish Cove by Kate Ryder. Hopefully, I'll be putting this on my reading list soon! After a couple of serious reads, I'm ready to switch back to something easy and fun. Obviously, I like to keep my reading list guessing! haha. Seriously though, love stories and summer adventures are a great switch up after murder mysteries and dramas. In this book, a popular film star meets a widowed mother of two and it may just end up changing his, and her, life. 

Teaser Tuesday (315)

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR, or just share what you are currently reading. It is very easy to play along:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.

Mind Me, Milady (Kindle 33%)

    - Anne Rothman-Hicks and Ken Hicks

"Did it work? Were you able to learn anything?"

...

"Your name was Sarah. You lived as some sort of servant, many years ago, at the time of the American Revolution." 

The Kite Runner

Amir is the son of a wealthy Kabul merchant, a member of the ruling caste of Pashtuns. Hassan, his servant and constant companion, is a Hazara, a despised and impoverished caste. Their uncommon bond is torn by Amir's choice to abandon his friend amidst the increasing ethnic, religious, and political tensions of the dying years of the Afghan monarchy, wrenching them far apart. But so strong is the bond between the two boys that Amir journeys back to a distant world, to try to right past wrongs against the only true friend he ever had.

The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies.

A sweeping story of family, love, and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful novel that has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind classic.

*May Contain Spoilers*

I should have known after I read And the Mountains Echoed that The Kite Runner would be a great book. Khaled Hosseini does an amazing job crafting a story that is both hauntingly beautiful and powerfully terrifying. To be honest, I was nervous to read it before because I'd heard about the brutality that moves the book forward, but overcoming that uncertainty rewarded me with a story that will stay with me. 

The main character, Amir, isn't the most likable or relatable, but for half of the book, he is a child who doesn't know better. Or, at least, I found myself giving him that excuse. He's a little cowardly, yet intelligent. He's a beautiful writer but suffers from selfishness. He loves his best friend, Hassan, but still recognizes that, in society, Hassan is beneath him. However, I think Amir's best trait is his guilt. Though it takes Amir a long time, years actually, Amir does get the chance to make up for everything wrong that he believes he did as a child. Emphasis on the 'as a child' phrase. As a reader, there's not as much blame to cast on Amir as his character thinks. In the face of adversity and evil, a young boy doesn't have much of a chance. And this is what is haunting about Hosseini's writing: the morally gray area that his characters live and die in. As Amir shares the truth of his childhood from a present-day point of view, readers will see that as a child, he didn't have as much power as he thought. Therefore, his lack of bravery and courage won't be seen as marks against his character, but rather as traits that had not developed yet. When those traits do appear, as an adult back in Afghanistan charged with rescuing another young boy who is being abused, Amir would choose death over inaction, demonstrating that he has evolved into the man he always wanted to be. 

The plot of this novel begins with Amir's life as a young boy and how he grew with feelings of personal disappointment. When Afghanistan becomes really dangerous, Amir leaves the country with his father to make a new life in the U.S. After he marries and settles into his adult life, Amir learns that his favorite family friend from childhood is dying and travels back to his home country. There he learns of his childhood best friend's death and the tragedy of his son. With everything to lose, Amir chooses to try to save the boy in order to pay for his past sins of not saving the boy's father. The combination of Hosseini's writing style with the realistic nature of this book, marking it as almost autobiographical, gives The Kite Runner a power that condemns, forgives, and overcomes. Though I want to say I'd recommend this book to everyone, there are a few graphic scenes that make it inappropriate for all readers. Though it truly is an extraordinary book of friendship, love, and atonement. 

Rating: 4.5/5 Cups