During a major groundbreaking for the New York-Shanghai Bank in Shanghai, the struts on a projecting platform give way to plunge an American CEO into a pit full of corpses. This is a great opening not only because it is a well written, tense beginning, but also because it gives the reader the same warm visceral feeling that we got when the dinosaur ate the lawyer in Jurassic Park. For China, however, it’s a PR nightmare, and for Deputy Section Chief Li Yan, it’s the proverbial redball that he catches in Beijing. Sent to work with his Shanghai counter-part, Deputy Section Chief Nien Mei-Ling, Li is instructed to establish whether the Shanghai killings were in relation to similar murder in Beijing. With the bodies in such a state of decomposition, Li wants the American pathologist, Margaret Campbell, to work with the Chinese pathologists in determining the time and cause of death. Based on the pathology reports, it appears that the corpses were subjected to live autopsies. It would be easy enough to leave the dead women anonymous and have his detectives stalk the killer, but May does a beautiful job of humanizing the victims through Li and Mei-Ling’s investigation.
I can’t tell more without giving away a rather intriguing ending, but I will say that as a thriller, this book works beautifully; the pacing is good and the story moves along at an interesting clip. I loved the modern depictions of China; May’s writing style brings the cities of Shanghai and Beijing to life with all their beauty and grit. Li and Mei-Ling are believable characters, and the sexual tension between these two vibrates all the way through the novel, but I wasn’t as enamored with love triangle sub-plot between Li, Mei-Ling, and Margaret. Margaret comes across as a petty, childish, alcoholic, who disdains everything Chinese (except Li, of course). Where Li and Mei-Ling are multidimensional characters, Margaret is the quintessential arrogant American, and I never quite felt the same tension or even affection between Li and Margaret that I felt between Li and Mei-Ling. May ties everything together neatly in the end, and while I can’t call it the most captivating thriller I’ve ever read, The Killing Room was still a good read.
in a holding pattern where your daily routines are so meticulously planned there is no room for spontaneity or change. Well, North Carolina author Corrie Woods has produced a refreshing little tome for women that extols them to move beyond ordinary living into extraordinary living, simply by changing ingrained habits and repetitive thinking patterns. Her guidelines for becoming a BOLD (Brilliant, Outrageous, Luminary Diva) woman are simple yet provide a subtle wake up call for women who are either disillusioned or simply bored with their lives.
Studies at the University of San Francisco, and he has presented a very concise and informative volume of Latin phrases utilized in Church liturgy and practice. This slim volume covers many phrases familiar to Roman Catholics and Protestants in addition to some classical Latin aphorisms.
On a dark night in long-ago 17th century Persia, a comet streaks across the sky. This event foretells bad luck for a young girl in a small village. When her father passes away unexpectedly, she and her mother must move to the city of 
I’m late to the party with this series. I had not heard of the Southern Vampire Series until recently, and decided to give the first book, originally published in 2001, a try (I believe there are 8 Sookie Stackhouse books). I was about a third of the way through it when I found out that the series is now also a show on HBO called 
I first read this book when I was in college in the ’80s (showing my age here). I remember my three roomates and myself passing it around and how excited we all were to find such a great book. Over the years since then, once in awhile something would remind me of it, and I would think about finding a copy and re-reading it. Well, I have finally done that. 
Belle de Jour (Beauty of the Day) was published in French in 1928, but was not released in English until decades later due to its sadomasochistic theme. Severine is a beautiful young housewife, married to the handsome young surgeon, Pierre, and seemingly living a dream life amongst the wealthy citizens of Paris. The problem is that although she loves Pierre, she feels no real passion for him and his gentle lovemaking. Something inside her drives her to search out a brothel in a seedy side of town and become “Belle de Jour” by day, submitting to the rough and dangerous men who frequent the establishment, then returning home to her loving but oblivious husband in the evening. Her double life leads to a tragedy along the lines of that in Ethan Fromme. A bit slow in the beginning, Belle de Jour builds to an inevitable climax (no pun intended …. well maybe just a little!). Recommended.
This book grabbed me from the very first page with the description of the protagonist. “Nineteen years old and already a widow. Mary Boulton. Widowed by her own hand.” What drove Mary, or “the widow” as Adamson refers to her throughout the book, to murder her husband and flee West? We find out in brief flashbacks and dark descriptions of her depression, loss of an infant, and unhappy marriage. On her trail are the twin brothers of her husband, bent on revenge. Mary retreats into the wilderness, meeting a few eccentrics along the way such as William Moreland, mostly referred to as “the ridgerunner” who is the outlander of the title. Mary and William spend a few passionate days together, but William just isn’t cut out for even the small amount of civilization that Mary brings into his life and he vanishes. Mary finds her way to a small mining town where the relentless twins eventually catch up with her. A beautifully written first novel whose style is reminiscent of Cold Mountain. Recommended.
Sarah Addison Allen takes chick lit and mixes it with a pinch of magic and a good dollop of whimsy to give us her second novel, The Sugar Queen. Josey Cirrini is 27 years old, unmarried, living with her mother, and she has a secret. Hidden in her bedroom is a closet filled with all the sweets the sugar queen can’t live without. Mallomars, Little Debbies, candy corn, cookies. She secretly munches on these delights as she waits for the highlight of her day — the arrival of Adam, the hot ex-ski bum who now delivers mail.
