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Index Interviews: Jeanne M. Dams Build-A-Song Part V: Melody First Time Novelists Look to the Net for Success Upcoming Events Calendar Return to This Issue's Index Return to Homepage Subscribe
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Mystery/Thriller Book ReviewsPage One of FiveBefore I Say Good-Bye by Mary Higgins ClarkSimon and Schuster, April 2000Hardcover, 320 pages. ISBN: 0684835983. Ordering information: Amazon.com. | Amazon.co.uk 
Nell McDermott has known her share of tragedy
in her life. Her parents were killed when she was a
child, and she was raised by her grandfather,
longtime congressman Cornelia McDermott
or "Mac". Nell has always had the gift of extrasensory
perception, just like her great-aunt Gert, but her
grandfather scoffed at the very idea of ESP and told
Nell that she was just imagining things.
Nell has always thought about following
her beloved grandfather into politics, but her
husband Adam, an architect, is vehemently
opposed to the idea. When Adam's new
cabin cruiser, The Cornelia II, is blown up in
a terrible explosion which kills Adam and the
business associates who were on the boat for a
meeting, Nell is devastated. What's worse,
the police think that the explosion was deliberately
set -- and may have something to do with a possibly shady
real estate project in which Adam was involved.
Determined to clear her dead husband's name, Nell sets out to find
the truth. Soon it becomes clear that Nell has stumbled into
a deadly conspiracy, as a ruthless killer will stop at nothing to
stop Nell from finding out the truth.
Mary Higgins Clark's 21st suspense novel takes readers into the world of New York real estate, where ruthless developers and speculators make their own rules without regard to the laws, and into the world of psychic communication. Nell McDermott, who has been skeptical of her own powers all of her life, is an appealing heroine who has experienced great tragedy in her life but who never quite gives up. The novel is full of suspense, action and subtle humor. Some of Nell's interactions with her grandfather Mac and with Aunt Gert are quite funny -- in fact, Mac just about steals every scene he is in. The plotting and pacing are expertly done, as always with Clark, but it is her wonderful way with characters and dialogue which make her books so compelling. Her latest novel is no exception. Highly recommended. --Claire E. White Angels and Demons by Dan BrownPocket Books, 430 pages.Hardcover, May 2000. ISBN: 0671027352. Ordering information: Amazon.com. | Amazon.co.uk 
When renowned physicist Leonardo Vetra
is found murdered and branded with an archaic
symbol, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is
summoned under conditions of great secrecy to
CERN, the world's largest
scientific research facility in Geneva, to
give his expert opinion about the symbol. Together,
Landgon and Maximillan Kohl, CERN's powerful director, make
the horrifying discovery of the theft of enough
antimatter to annihilate a small city. Langdon
determines that an ancient, secret brotherhood
called The Illuminati are responsible for the theft
and plan to use the antimatter to destroy the Vatican
on the eve on the Conclave, when a new Pope is chosen.
The Illuminati have been deadly enemies
of the Catholic Church since the 1600s when the church
executed many of their scientist members for heresy
(even Galileo was reputed to be a member of the clandestine
organization which prized truth and science above what they
saw as the repressing teachings of the church).
Langdon and another CERN
scientist, Vittoria Ventra the daughter of the slain
physicist, must go to Rome to try to stop the
horrifying disaster. But the Illuminati have agents
everywhere and the pair will face overwhelming obstacles in
their search for the missing canister, which holds the
most deadly explosive invented by mankind.
Dan Brown, author of the bestselling techno-thriller Digital Fortress, serves up another top-notch, edge of your seat thriller with Angels and Demons. The brotherhood of the Illuminati really existed -- in fact, it is possible that the pyramid and eye on the United States one dollar bills was placed there because of the Illuminati-infiltrated Freemasons, many of whom were high-ranking U. S. officials at the time of the creation of the design for the bills. Brown expertly weaves real scientific facts, such as the creation of antimatter, with ancient texts about the Illuminati and their goals to create a compelling story line. The story also provides a fascinating look at the historical enmity between science and religion, and how that conflict continues today as physicists search for the answers to the questions of why we are here, and how our universe was created. Heart-pounding suspense and an intriguing premise make Dan Brown's second novel a winner; don't miss it. --Claire E. White Mystery Reviews Page One | Page Two | Page Three | Page Four | Page Five Click Here to Return to the Book Reviews Index ** To visit the archives of mystery books reviewed in The IWJ, please click here. |