Review of My Sister Life (Paperback)

I am ambivalent about this book. It is a page-turner; it is easy to read, and it is salacious. But it is also cold, distant, and doesn't offer anything particularly insightful about motivation or causes of the familial dysfunction, other than the mother's remoteness from her children and the father's diffidence.

I wondered at several times whether this was indeed biography, or just an elaborate fiction, along the lines of an earlier generation's "Go Ask Alice". A bit of Internet research suggests that it is indeed real, and that the author set out with a forensic-like dispassionate intent.

I suppose I had expected something a little bit more personal. I am pleased it does not have the schmaltzy tones of a bad telemovie. It certainly desrcibes in exquisite and distressingdetail the processes of mental and physical abuse, but it is all conveyed as a description of a specimen on a glass slide.

Read it, and don't weep - for there is no emotional connection made with this reader, at least!



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Review of Forcing Amaryllis (Hardcover)

The last time I was so excited about a first-time mystery writer, I was reading Jonathon King's The Blue Edge of Midnight, which went on to win the Edgar Award for best first novel.Forcing Amaryllis by Louise Ure is a powerful novel, with a fascinating protagonist.

Calla Gentry is a trail consultant in Tucson, a woman who only served as a consultant on civil cases because she was afraid to deal with criminal cases.Seven years earlier, Gentry had been a strong woman who worked in advertising.But, that was before her sister's brutal rape at knife point.Calla lost her sister, Amaryllis, when her failed suicide attempt put her in a coma.Calla also lost her own confidence and sense of security.Amaryllis' rape incapacitated Calla so much that their aunt told Calla she needed to take her life back.She told her, "Just like Amy.It's a life of suspended animation."

When Calla's boss forces her to take on a rape/murder case, she is struck by the similarities between that case and her own sister's.Together with two friends and a private investigator, Calla attempts to link other rapes with Amaryllis'.The descriptions of the rapes, although not graphic, are not easy to read.The jury selection process in the book, and the trial itself are fascinating.But, it is the change in Calla's character, as she forces herself to move out of her safe surroundings, that is the most fascinating.

Give Calla a chance.In my opinion, Forcing Amaryllis by Louise Ure deserves to be nominated for this year's Edgar for best first mystery.



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