RebeccasReads

7th Heaven (Women's Murder Club)

James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

Little, Brown and Company (2008)

ISBN 9780316004329

Reviewed by Narayan Radhakrishnan for RebeccasReads (1/08)

My New Year’s resolution for 2008 is simple-- I am going to quit reading James Patterson works. The sleepless nights, the tension it creates and the nagging desire to get back to the book to continue reading where I left off….it’s truly getting to me. That said, this is the umpteenth time I have made this resolution, and the umpteenth time I have broken the resolution, and this time the culprit was “7th Heaven.” As a confirmed Patterson addict, there is not even one Patterson work which I have left unread. I have with me 49 of his books-- including non-fiction, romance, children’s books… you name it and I have it.

James Patterson is truly the ultimate thriller author. There is no sub-genre in the thriller genre that the author has left untouched. Be it psychological thrillers (Alex Cross series of books including “Kiss the Girls,” “Along Came the Spider” etc.), science fiction (“When the Wind Blows,” “The Lake House” etc.), children’s books (“Santa Kid”), Romance (“Sam’s Letters to Jennifer”), Historical thriller (“The Jester”), Legal Thriller (“The Beach House”); James Patterson has churned gold wherever he touched his hands.

The Women’s Murder Club Series started with “1st to Die” published seven years back, closely followed by “2nd Chance” and “3rd Degree.” This adventure series which is a fine blend of the psychological suspense and mystery genre has four dynamic, young ladies as protagonists. There are the Detective, Lindsay Boxer; the attorney, Yuki Castellano; the scribe, Cindy Thomas and the Doctor- pathologist Clair Washburn. And together the foursome has solved some neat cases. But this time around in “7th Heaven,” Lindsay Boxer is called to investigate two cases. The first one involves the kidnapping and suspected murder of a teenager, Michael Campion--the son of the Governor of California. The boy with great looks and a congenital heart disease was the golden boy of the media, and the whole state is in a frenzy looking for the missing boy.  At the same time, in the other end of the town, a series of arson cases has caught the attention of the police. The arsonist(s) specialize in torching the houses of the rich and the wealthy; they also make sure that the owners of the houses die in the fire. And the only clue the police have is the Latin phrases inscribed in books collected from the scene of the crime. The novel is all about the investigation that follows. The work is a hard and fast-paced suspense thriller, one with a twist in the tale finish.

And of course, just like with any other James Patterson work, “7^th Heaven” kept me engaged, enthralled and engrossed. A sure-fire bestseller. Highly, highly recommended.

UnBreak Your Health: The Complete Guide to Complementary & Alternative Therapies

Alan E. Smith
Loving Healing Press (2007)
ISBN 9781932690361
Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads (1/08)

“UnBreak Your Health: The Complete Guide to Complementary & Alternative Therapies” by Alan E. Smith presents a comprehensive guide useful for when you want to explore other options beyond traditional medicine.  If you are considering complementary or alternative therapies you are not alone!  According to a statistic presented in the introduction, in the year 2002 over half of all Americans turned to trying one of these therapies.  Complementary and alternative therapies are positive on many levels.  They focus on the fact that each person is a “unique individual composed of mind, body and spirit (or life-force energy)” and that each problem should be solved by tailoring the treatment to the specific person.  Instead of focusing on the specific symptoms or issues as traditional medicine oftentimes does, complementary and alternative therapies often look at the body as a whole and work to heal the entire entity to make the body function in a more efficient manner.  They go to the inner source of the problem rather than just treating the topical symptoms.

The author divides the different therapies up into three areas:  the body, the mind and the energy/spirit.  The “body” section presents an overview of such therapies from the familiar like chiropractic care and massage to the lesser known like Emei Qigong and the Nambudripdad Allergy Elimination Technique.  The “mind” chapter focuses on therapies such as Art Therapy, Guided Imagery, Hypnosis, and Traumatic Incident Reduction.  Finally, the “energy/spirit” section focuses on therapies which use human energy to heal such as Acupuncture, Crystal Bowl Therapy, Polarity Therapy and Qi Gong. 

Each therapy examined in the book has a description explaining the origins, beliefs and techniques used in the method.  After most descriptions is a favorite part of mine called “user comments” which aids in understanding how effective these therapies are.  These are comments from actual users of these particular methods.  It is very interesting to see the results that these people have had using the different techniques.  This section makes the book more personable instead of strictly a reference guide.  Websites are listed for most therapies if readers would like to seek out more information or specifics.   

I recommend this thorough guide to complementary and alternative therapies to anyone who is frustrated with conventional medicine’s approach to his health issues or to anyone who just wants to educate himself as to what is out there in terms of non-traditional care.  “UnBreak Your Health: The Complete Guide to Complementary & Alternative Therapies” presents so many different options and techniques, some of which I never knew existed, and the information is presented in a very reader friendly and easy to use way.