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Dead on Demand – and on we go……

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We catch up with Edwin on a flight to Vancouver, where his job prospect in Human Resources is located.

It hops right back to Vanhi, in the middle of a nightmare, seeing nothing but a pockmarked-faced man who has her bound and gagged. Waking up, and finding no cocaine to ease her nerves, she decides to get on her darknet account and find an anonymous dealer. Of course, she finds Edwin’s posting about needing a problem taken care of. Vanhi decides she has a problem that needs to be taken care of as well; Mr. Pockmarked-face. She quickly replies with her own message.

And we are back again to Edwin, who nails his interview for the HR position, and returns home to see his computer flashing with a received message.

OK, now here is something that really bugs me when I am reading. When something seems to just fall out of the sky and right into the story. Like facts, or information. Here is the next part I read, word-for-word.

‘Seems like a fair swap. What is your problem?’ he read.

Did she understand what she was proposing? Was she an undercover cop? Did it make a difference even if she was? He was, after all, anonymous (Campbell & Campbell, page 30).

How does he know that the person replying is a woman? (I re-read this section several times thinking I had to have missed something where she identified herself to him as a woman. Nope). Did she sign her name? Attach a picture of herself? This is the kind of thing that bugs me. I am used to the grammatical errors that seem to be in every single book I pick up lately (Do we not hire editors anymore people?) but random stuff like this is just ridiculous.

…….OK. Putting my soap box away…….

Back and forth Edwin and Vanhi continue to message. It seems like they can both close on this deal. Vanhi has a picture of Eleanor and her morning jogging schedule. Edwin decides to hang out in Vancouver for a while longer; not only for an alibi, but also because he needs to start getting used to his future home.

Vanhi preps a hypodermic with cocaine and ethanol, enough to get the job done. She starts staking out Eleanor’s morning jogging path, vowing to herself to take care of the problem the first clear chance she gets. She has a week to get it done and over with.

Dead on Demand..I continue on

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The beginning of Chapter 2 introduced Yosef, and his first born son. We learn that as time passes, at a very young age, his son is diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease. It is incurable, and his son will slowly lose his sight, hearing, and the ability to move and breathe on his own. He will die very young. They will make him as comfortable as possible, but he vows to himself he will not let his son suffer in agony. (We all see where this is going, right?)

Back to Edwin, who decides to not off his wife, because of course he is going to get caught. Yet as the debt piles up, he again revisits the idea, and posts a straight-to-the-point post looking for someone to do the deed for him. He gets a reply rather quickly, and starts figuring out how he would pay for this service. In between all of this, he is job-searching, and has a great prospect lined up.

Realizing he cannot pay cash or touch any money in his bank, he decides the best option is to trade one favor for another. He now has to post a new advert on the internet.

At the beginning of chapter 4 we are introduced to Vanhi, a prostitute in central London. (Did I forget to tell you that this story takes place across the “big pond”? Sorry about that.) After she takes care of a client, she cleans herself and her apartment up before Jaison, her boyfriend?, gets back from work. He is a cleaner.

I am sensing an Alfred Hitchcock story going on here. Strangers on a Train, anyone? I love that movie 🙂

So I will keep plodding along on this story. Apparently it was written in less than 90 days (intentionally) and has seriously mixed reviews online. Apparently numerous spelling and punctuation errors as well, which I haven’t seen yet.

Dead On Demand-Daniel Campbell & Sean Campbell

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I hope the inside lives up to the cover!
I hope the inside lives up to the cover!

I am really hoping that the best thing about this story is not the title. I have to say I have only read the first chapter, but all through that first chapter I kept asking myself “Do I really want to keep reading this?”

Why was I thinking this? Mainly because this story does one thing I do not like in the books I read: it introduces a whole town’s worth of characters and all the twisted ways they may or may not be linked together. Most books take a while to do this, but I think this book did it all in the first chapter. At least I hope they did it all in the first chapter, because if the next one or two chapters do this, it will be the second book in my lifetime that I could not finish. It reminds me of reading “The Casual Vacancy” by J.K. Rowling. The only book I read from front to back and had no idea what I had just read when I finished it. (Honestly, I would sell that book at a yard sale or donate it to my local library but I would not want to be responsible for someone else reading that book).

So in chapter one, we meet Edwin, over-worker to avoid his wife, Eleanor. Drew, their son that died, and Chelsea, their daughter that lived. Betty, who is Edwin’s secretary. Derek Wood, the owner of the newspaper that Edwin works for. Wood’s personal assistant, so-far unnamed. Palmer, advertising employee for the paper. Mark, Edwin’s brother-in-law. Caroline Flack, Edwin’s just obtained divorce attorney. Jeremy Kyle, news reporter and likely Eleanor’s new boyfriend.

Now, they did not give a huge backstory for all of the characters I just mentioned (just most), but they were all mentioned; in the first chapter. 16 pages.

Now the first sentence of chapter two, and when I stopped reading this morning? “When his first son was born, Yosef Gershwin had paced back and forth frantically.” (page 17).

Having a sneaking suspicion I was about to learn all about Yosef, his son, and his extended family, I had to stop reading. I will pick it back up; but if too many more characters get added to this story, it is going back on the bookshelf, gathering dust, never to be looked at again.

The meaning of this story? Edwin is online, looking for someone to take care of a problem he has. Yep; that problem.

 

 

 

Friday Fun Facts!

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Author: Jules Verne

Born: February 8, 1828 

Died: March 24, 1905

 

Jules Verne

Wrote: A Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in Eighty Days, The Mysterious Island, From the Earth to the Moon, and numerous others (over 70)

Journey to the Center of the Earth book

 

Interesting facts: Jules earned a law degree and set up a practice in France in 1850. He is the 2nd most translated author, behind Agatha Christie. His nephew, Gaston, tried to murder Jules. He shot at him twice, hitting him once in the knee, for which he had a limp the remainder of his life. He is referred to as “The Father of Science Fiction”.

 

Quote: Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.

 

 

Friday Fun Facts!

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Washington Irving

America's 1st International bestselling author
America’s 1st International bestselling author

Born: April 3, 1783

Died: November 28, 1859

Wrote: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, assorted biographies

Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle Cover

Quote: There is a legend that on the night of his death, Wahington Irving said “Well, I must arrange my pillows for another night. When will this end?”

Some Facts: Died in Tarrytown, NY, which is right next to Sleepy Hollow. As America’s first genuine internationally best-selling author.

Irving and his grave were commemorated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his 1876 poem, “In The Churchyard at Tarrytown”, which concludes with:

How sweet a life was his; how sweet a death!

Living, to wing with mirth the weary hours, Or with romantic tales the heart to cheer; Dying, to leave a memory like the breath Of summers full of sunshine and of showers,

A grief and gladness in the atmosphere

The Ever-Increasing Body Count

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As I continue into Real Murders, by Charlaine Harris, Aurora Teagarden seems to be the unluckiest person in the world. The dead bodies are piling up, and the members of the Real Murders Club are getting more and more worried about their own safety; but more-so for the safety of their friends and relatives.

Body #2 – Morrison Pettigrue; running for Mayor, his campaign manager is in the club. The death imitates the Murat case from long ago.

Bodies # 3 & 4 – Mr. and Mrs. Buckley, Parents of Lizzane Buckley, friend of Roe’s and member of the club. Actually, it was her step-mother and her father, and her real name is Elizabeth. Any guesses what famous murder of old this is staged after? Oh. Yeah. They were hacked to death. That should help you figure it out.

I am getting close to the end of this book, and to likely stumbling upon body #5.  It isn’t going to end this quietly, and I know something much, much worse is in store for Aurora, and the town of Lawrenceton, Georgia.

Do you have an answer about the staged murder?

Puzzle Me This!

Angela2 Comments

Maybe you remember my post of my “Bizzare Bookshop” puzzle earlier? Here’s a picture of it; it is now hanging on my bedroom wall.

This bookstore really is bizarre, lots of weird things lying on the shelves, and all the titles are puns on classic stories!
This bookstore really is bizarre, lots of weird things lying on the shelves, and all the titles are puns on classic stories!

I also had two more puzzles to complete. I love puzzles almost as much as I love books, so to be able to do puzzles of books is a-m-a-z-i-n-g for me! Ravensburger makes the best puzzles, ever. And believe you me, I have done my fair share of puzzles.

The next one is finished, and hanging on my bedroom wall. This one is “World of Words”. This took less than a week.

World of Words, 1000 pieces
World of Words, 1000 pieces

The one in progress is “Sanctuary of Knowledge”, which is taking me already two weeks….I did this one last year and one of my girls took it and put it in their room. Fair enough. I have just really been struggling to sit down and work on this: holidays, back to work, MBA classes started……

Sanctuary of Knowledge, 1000 pieces
Sanctuary of Knowledge, 1000 pieces

And the toughest, but my favorite Ravensburger puzzle? “The Last Supper”. A very close friend of mine from church bought this for me and my girls. 3000 pieces. Took us all 6 weeks to complete it but it has been hanging on my kitchen wall for over two years and I love looking at this. Every. Single. Day.

The Last Supper, 3000 pieces
The Last Supper, 3000 pieces

What do you think? Are you a puzzle solver?