Book Notices | Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens / The Givenchy Code by Julie Kenner
Chevy Stevens, Never Knowing |
Amazon The premise of this book kept me reading: An adopted woman's search for her birth parents goes about as badly as it possibly could when she finds out that her father's a serial killer and her mother's the only victim who ever escaped form him. Sounds good, and here and there the book did become interesting. But mostly there was a lot not to like. It dragged. The main character whined constantly. Actually, there wasn't a single likable character in the book other than the dog. The serial killer was in fact more likable than the protagonist's six-year-old daughter. The story is told to a therapist in a series of sessions, a dramatic device that doesn't seem to have much point to it. And the twist, when it comes, isn't terribly surprising. So.... But I did like the author's first novel, Still Missing, which I read back in 2010. |
Julie Kenner, The Givenchy Code |
Amazon This book is sort of an odd mixture of chick lit and smart thriller, and protagonist Melanie Prescott is herself an odd mixture: part shoe-obsessed shopaholic, part whip-smart code-breaker. I'm not convinced the blend is totally believable, and certainly the "I live to shop!" mentality was a little hard for me to swallow, but still, I enjoyed the book well enough. The deal is that Melanie gets caught up in a deadly game when a madman takes an international online assassin game offline. Suddenly Melanie's got a target on her back, she's paired with a hunky bodyguard, and she's got to run around New York collecting clues and solving puzzles or die. Totally not believable, of course, but kind of fun. I can see it making a halfway decent lighthearted movie. The Givenchy Code is the first installment in a footwear-themed trilogy: The next two books in the series are The Manolo Matrix and The Prada Paradox. I'd read them if they fell in my lap, but I probably won't seek them out. |
Comments