71. Generation Loss - Elizabeth Hand

#1 Cassandra Neary series

Read on my iPhone through Kindle

2007 Small Beer Press

265 pgs.

Adult .... Mystery/CRF

Finished Thanksgiving, 2014

Goodreads rating: 3.79

My rating:    3 (Liked It)

Setting:  Fictional Burnt Harbor, Maine (Downeast) and its outer islands

1st sentence/s:  "There's always a moment where everything changes.  A great photographer -- someone like Diane Arbus, or me during that fraction of a second when I was great -- she sees that moment coming, and presses the shutter release an instant before the change hits. If you don't see it coming, if you blink or you're drunk or just looking the other way -- well, everything changes anyway, it's not like things would have been different."

My comments:  There were parts of this book that were hard from me to imagine....because there are a lot of references to photography and processing film, that sort of thing. The setting, in downeast Maine in winter, I can imagine.  It's dreary, poor, bleak.  The protagonist, Cassandra Neary, is one of the most unlikable characters I've come across.  But that makes her incredibly interesting, actually.  I'm guessing she's around 40, friendless, a kleptomaniac, hardly eats, survives on Jim Beam and speed. A real downer.  This was quite a story, somewhat of a mystery, but more of a contemporary realistic fiction that skirts the edge of a really dark, somewhat bizarre (though real, unfortunately) world. (And I will go on to read another, because I liked it more than I didn't....)

Goodreads book summary:  Cass Neary made her name in the 1970s as a photographer embedded in the burgeoning punk movement in New York City. Her pictures of the musicians and hangers on, the infamous, the damned, and the dead, got her into art galleries and a book deal. But thirty years later she is adrift, on her way down, and almost out. Then an old acquaintance sends her on a mercy gig to interview a famously reclusive photographer who lives on an island in Maine. When she arrives Downeast, Cass stumbles across a decades-old mystery that is still claiming victims, and into one final shot at redemption.

PICTURE BOOK - Here Comes Santa Cat by Deborah Underwood

Illustrated by Claudia Rueda

2014 Dial Books for Young Readers

HC $16.99

88 pgs. - but minimal words and lots of priceless pictures to peruse - similar in text length )or shorter) than a 32-page picture book

Goodreads rating: 4.34

My rating: 4

Endpapers: red

My comments: Very, very cute!  Cat, being a cat, can't talk ... so he draws picture messages back and forth to the invisible, omnipotent speaker/owner/friend.  He'd like a Christmas gift from Santa - but has been naughty most of the year.  "Speaker" suggests that he do something nice, even if it's last minute - it's better than never.  The outcome is gently funny and fun.  I'd love to read this to my grandkids.

Goodreads:  Cat took on a bunny in Here Comes the Easter Cat, but now Christmas is coming, and Cat has a hunch he's not on Santa's "nice" list. Which means? No presents for Cat. So he tries to be good, but children, it seems, aren't wild for his brand of gift-giving. Still, Cat might surprise himself, and best of all, he may just get to meet the man in the red suit himself—and receive a holiday surprise of his own. Fans of Pete the Cat, Splat the Cat, and Bad Kitty will delight in this holiday treat.

PICTURE BOOK - Desmond and the Very Mean Word by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams

Illustrated by A. G Ford

2013, Candlewick Press

HC $15.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.13

My rating: 4.5

Endpapers:  Musty peach

Illustrations: Gorgeous, full-paged; big and real.  Love 'em.

1^st line/s:  "Desmond was very proud of his new bicycle.  He was the only child in the whole township who had one, and he couldn't wait to show it to Father Trevor."

My comments: This is a visually inspriring story of an incident in Desmond Tutu's youth.  It is a story of forgiveness - how very difficult it is to do, but how rewqrding it can also be.

Goodreads:  Based on a true story from Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s childhood in South Africa, Desmond and the Very Mean Word reveals the power of words and the secret of forgiveness.    
     When Desmond takes his new bicycle out for a ride through his neighborhood, his pride and joy turn to hurt and anger when a group of boys shout a very mean word at him. He first responds by shouting an insult, but soon discovers that fighting back with mean words doesn’t make him feel any better. With the help of kindly Father Trevor, Desmond comes to understand his conflicted feelings and see that all people deserve compassion, whether or not they say they are sorry. Brought to vivid life in A. G. Ford’s energetic illustrations, this heartfelt, relatable story conveys timeless wisdom about how to handle bullying and angry feelings, while seeing the good in everyone.

This is the time of year that I start fretting that I haven't seen enough of the films that will be up for Best Picture (etc.....)  So I've checked out the sites that give predictions, and I'm going to try to track any down that I've missed.   However, most of these have not even arrived in Tucson or not yet been released!

Best Picture
*Birdman
*Boyhood
Foxcatcher (11/14 Limited)
Fury
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gone Girl
The Homesman (11/14 Limited)
*The Imitation Game (11/28)
*Interstellar
*Into the Woods (12/25)
Life Itself (July limited doc. on Roger Ebert)
*A Most Violent Year (12/21 Limited)
Mr. Turner (12/19)
*Selma (12/25 Limited)
Still Alice (12/5 Limited)
*The Theory of Everything
*Unbroken (12/25)
*Whiplash
Wild (12/5)

Best Director

Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel

J.C. Chandor – A Most Violent Year

Damien Chazelle – Whiplash

Ava DuVernay – Selma

David Fincher – Gone Girl

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – Birdman

Mike Leigh – Mr. Turner

Richard Linklater – Boyhood

James Marsh – The Theory of Everything

Rob Marshall – Into the Woods

Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher

Christopher Nolan – Interstellar

Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game

Best Actor

Ben Affleck – Gone Girl 
Gael Garcia Bernal – Rosewater
Chadwick Boseman – Get on Up 
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Ellar Coltrane – Boyhood

Bradley Cooper - American Sniper

James Corden – Into the Woods 

Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game 
Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Brendan Gleeson – Calvary

Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
Tom Hardy – Locke

Philip Seymour Hoffman – A Most Wanted Man

Oscar Isaac – A Most Violent Year

Tommy Lee Jones – The Homesman

Michael Keaton – Birdman 
John Lithgow – Love is Strange

James McAvoy – The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them

Matthew McConaughey – Interstellar

Alfred Molina – Love is Strange

Bill Murray - St. Vincent
David Oyelowo – Selma 
Brad Pitt – Fury 
Joaquin Phoenix – Inherent Vice
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Timothy Spall – Mr. Turner

Channing Tatum – FoxcatcherMiles Teller – Whiplash 

Best Actress

*NEW* Jennifer Aniston – Cake

Jessica Chastain – The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby

Marion Cotillard – The Immigrant

Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night

Scarlett Johansson – Under the Skin

Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything

Gugu Mbatha-Raw – Belle

Julianne Moore – Still Alice

Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl

Jenny Slate – Obvious Child

Maggie Smith – My Old Lady

Hilary Swank – The Homesman

Reese Witherspoon – Wild

Shailene Woodley – The Fault in Our Stars

Best Foreign Language Film
1001 Grams – Norway
Beloved Sisters – GERMANY 
Concrete Night – Finland
Cowboys – CROATIA 
The Dark Valley – Austria
Force Majeure – Sweden
Ida – POLAND 
The Japanese Dog – ROMANIA 
Jhola – Nepal
The Liberator – Venezuela 
The Light Shines Only There – Japan
Mommy – CANADA 
Never Die Young – Luxembourg
See You in Montevideo – Serbia
Tangerines – Estonia
Two Days, One Night – BELGIUM 
White God – HUNGARY 
Winter Sleep – TURKEY 

MOVIE - Guardians of the Galaxy

PG-13 (2:01)

5/1/14 Wide release

Viewed at ElCon with Sheila

RT Critic:  90  Audience:   94

Cag: 3/Liked it

Directed by James Gunn

Walt Disney Pictures

Chris Pratt, Zoe Zaldana, 

My comments:  I only went because everyone said this was a surprisingly good movie.  It was.

RT Summary:  An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits-Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand-with the galaxy's fate in the balance. 

MOVIE - Laggies

R (1:40)

Limited release 10/24/14

Viewed at ElCon 11/2014

RT Critic: 69   Audience:  58

Cag:  4 = liked it a lot

Directed by Lynn Shelton

A24 Films

Keira Knightley, Sam Rockwell

My comments: There's something about Keira Knightley that's endearing and real...and she just made this movie.  She's a grown-up that's not quite ready to be grown up, and she makes it believable. As much as the storyline seems implausible, somehow I was totally into it.  Sam Rockwell was terrific, too.  I really enjoyed this movie!

RT Summary:  Overeducated and underemployed, 28 year old Megan (Keira Knightley) is in the throes of a quarterlife crisis. Squarely into adulthood with no career prospects, no particular motivation to think about her future and no one to relate to, Megan is comfortable lagging a few steps behind - while her friends check off milestones and celebrate their new grown-up status. When her high-school sweetheart (Mark Webber) proposes, Megan panics and- given an unexpected opportunity to escape for a week - hides out in the home of her new friend, 16-year old Annika (Chloë Grace Moretz) and Annika's world-weary single dad Craig (Sam Rockwell). Lynn Shelton, whose unique directorial voice created such astutely observed comedies as YOUR SISTER'S SISTER and HUMPDAY, crafts a sweet, romantic coming-of-age comedy about three people who find their lives intertwined in the most unconventional way as they make through the imperfect realities of modern day life. Keira Knightley shines as Megan, a rare female slacker hero who shows us that while you never stop growing up, you can choose stop lagging, and start living on your terms.

MOVIE - Saint Vincent

PG-13(1:43)

Wide release 10/24/2014

Viewed 10/31/14 with Cyra Sadowl at ElCon

RT Critic: 74   Audience:   83

Cag:  4.5 Liked it a lot

Directed by Theodore Melfi

The Weinstein Company

Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, Naomi Watts

My comments: This is dubbed a COMEDY, but I think that is entirely wrong.  Even black comedy doesn't do it.  There is absolutely some humor in it, but for the most part it's the story of how people cope with sadness and grief in their lives.All four of the major actors were terrific.  Melissa McCarthy is NOT playing this for laughs, she's a mom with stress and problems and an injured past.  I had gone to this thinking it was a comedy, and as the credits rolled I realized it was so much more than that.  Good movie.

RT Summary:  Maggie (McCarthy), a single mother, moves into a new home in Brooklyn with her 12-year old son, Oliver (Lieberher). Forced to work long hours, she has no choice but to leave Oliver in the care of their new neighbor, Vincent (Murray), a retired curmudgeon with a penchant for alcohol and gambling. An odd friendship soon blossoms between the improbable pair. Together with a pregnant stripper named Daka (Watts), Vincent brings Oliver along on all the stops that make up his daily routine - the race track, a strip club, and the local dive bar. Vincent helps Oliver grow to become a man, while Oliver begins to see in Vincent something that no one else is able to: a misunderstood man with a good heart.

70. U is for Undertow - Sue Grafton

#21 Kinsey Milhone, Santa Teresa, CA

Audio read by Judy Kaye

11 unabridged cds  (14;00)

2009 Random House

403 pgs.

Genre/Audience

Finished 11/16/2014

Goodreads rating: 3.88

My rating:    4 - It was very good

Acquired PBS

1988 Southern California with flashbacks in the story to 1967

1st sentence/s:  April 6, 1988:  "When the past rises up and declares itself.  Afterward, a sequence of events seems inevitable, but only because cause and effect have been aligned in advance.  It's like a pattern of dominoes arranged upright on a tabletop."

My comments:  I got a good start on this about a year ago and for some reason never finished it. Listened to much of it on my trip back and forth to San Diego this weekend and it certainly helped wile away the hours-on-the-road.  Much like Eric Conger becoming the voice of Virgil Flowers, Judy Kaye has definitely become the voice of Kinsey Milhone for me - almost like having company as I drove.  Good story, very Kinsey Milhone.

Goodreads book summary:       It's April 1988, a month before Kinsey Millhone's thirty-eighth birthday, and she's alone in her office catching up on paperwork when a young man arrives unannounced. He has a preppy air about him and looks as if he'd be carded if he tried to buy a beer, but Michael Sutton is twenty-seven, an unemployed college dropout. More than two decades ago, a four-year-old girl disappeared, and a recent newspaper story about her kidnapping has triggered a flood of memories. Sutton now believes he stumbled on her lonely burial and could identify the killers if he saw them again. He wants Kinsey's help in locating the grave and finding the men. It's way more than a long shot, but he's persistent and willing to pay cash up front. Reluctantly, Kinsey agrees to give him one day of her time.
          But it isn't long before she discovers Sutton has an uneasy relationship with the truth. In essence, he's the boy who cried wolf. Is his story true, or simply one more in a long line of fabrications?
          Moving effortlessly between the 1980s and the 1960s, and changing points of view as Kinsey pursues witnesses whose accounts often clash, Grafton builds multiple subplots and memorable characters. Gradually we see how everything connects in this twisting, complex, surprise-filled thriller. And as always, at the beating heart of her fiction is Kinsey Millhone, a sharp-tongued, observant loner who never forgets that under the thin veneer of civility is a roiling dark side to the soul.

PICTURE BOOK - The Noisy Paint Box by Barb Rosenstock

The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky's Abstract Art
Illustrated by Mary Grandpre (of the Harry Potter series!)

2014, Alfred A. Knopf
HC  $17.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.29

My rating: 5-stars

Endpapers: Yellowed-out foggy impressions of a Kandinsky painting with colorful (what looks like) dabs of paint
Can I tell you how much I love the double-page-spread title page?  (big sigh)...gorgeous!

Author's Note at end of book

"I could hear this hiss of colors as they mingled." - VK

My comments:  Ever since I started looking at paintings and appreciating art, Vasily Kandinsky - and his gorgeously colorful abstract art - have been my very favorites.  I'll never forget standing in the Guggenheim Museum with the "real thing" in front of me.  This story was an eye-opening mini-biography that drew me into Kandinsky's world.  It also introduced me to the idea of synesthesia. Cool book.

Goodreads:  In this exuberant celebration of creativity, Barb Rosenstock and Mary Grandpre tell the fascinating story of Vasily Kandinsky, one of the very first painters of abstract art. Throughout his life, Kandinsky experienced colors as sounds, and sounds as colors--and bold, groundbreaking works burst forth from his noisy paint box.

PICTURE BOOK - The Shortest Day by Wendy Pfeffer

Celebrating the Winter Solstice
Illustrated by Jesse Reisch

2003 Dutton Children's Books
HC $16.99 when first published....  **must add this to my collection, love it

40 pgs.
TPPL 394.261P

Goodreads rating: 3.78

My rating: 5 - gorgeous - words and illustrations

Endpapers: purple

Title Page: Dark aqua with winter illustrations in an oval mid-page

1^st line/s: 
"In late autumn
in the northern part of the world
squirrels hide nuts,
foxes grow thick fur coats,
and flocks of birds fly to warmer places."

My comments:  Use in class....last day of school before winter break this year is 12/19/14.
          This is a wonderful book on many levels. The illustrations are delicious, full of rich purples, golds, blues.  The kind of loveliness I'd like to frame and put on my walls.  The book explains the "shortest day" - the winter solstice - clearly and simply.  It tells of several ancient cultures' discoveries about the solstices. The book ends with two pages of facts and six wonderful activities:  Making a sunrise/sunset chart, measuring shadows, using a compass, creating a sun and earth demo and having a winter solstice party - for kids AND for the birds!  There's a short list of resources at the very end.  I bet there are some cool books written in the ten years since this list that could be added to it (research time!)

Goodreads:  The beginning of winter is marked by the solstice, the shortest day of the year. Long ago, people grew afraid when each day had fewer hours of sunshine than the day before. Over time, they realized that one day each year the sun started moving toward them again. In lyrical prose and cozy illustrations, this book explains what the winter solstice is and how it has been observed by various cultures throughout history. Many contemporary holiday traditions were borrowed from ancient solstice celebrations. Simple science activities, ideas for celebrating the day in school and at home, and a further-reading list are included.

PICTURE BOOK - The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant

Illustrated by Melissa Sweet

2014, Eerdmans

HC $17.50

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.53

My rating: 5 FOR SURE! My 2nd favorite book of 2014!

Title Page:  double-page spread, blocks of wood with alphabet prints

Endpapers:: vertical strips of vintage papers collaged in thin stripes

At the end of the book there's a two-page detailed, really interesting timeline, a page-long author's note and a page-long illustrator's note, followed by a page of resources and other sorts of information.

1^st line/s:  (the book begins with this glorious quote) "The man is not wholly evil - he has a thesaurus in his cabin." (J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan; about Captain Hook....)

My comments: This is much more than a biography of Peter Roget.  As an altered book artist and journaler I find the illustrations just magnificent.  They include words as part of the illustrations.  Lists of words; wallpaper of words; thinking boxes and journal pages - different fonts, paining and collage - wonderful, whimsical words, delicious words....it's almost overwhelming.  I've poured over each page, finding all sorts of inspiration for my own journal-making, writing and art.                   WONDERFUL BOOK!  Roget is my new hero (Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet are already on that list)!
     I want a literature circle set of this book for my classroom!

69. Storm Front - John Sandford

#7 Virgil Flowers

Audio read by Eric Conger

8 unabridged discs (9.5 hrs)

2013 Penguin audio

384 pgs. (HC edition)

Adult mystery

Finished 11/4/2014

Goodreads rating:  3.81

My rating:   3-I liked it

TPPL

Mostly in and around Mankato, MN...but the beginning and ending took place in Israel

1st sentence/s: "His bags were packed and sitting by the door.  Nobody thought that was strange because four diggers were jammed into each small living suite.  With two tiny bedrooms feeding into a tiny kitchen area and even tinier bathroom there was hardly any place to keep clothing, so they kept it in their bags."

My comments:  This installment DID seem different. I listen to these read so well by Eric Conger, who has become the "voice" of Virgil for me, but the story seemed disjointed and even appeared to have some small parts missing. I liked the mystery - a lot - but the plot jumped so quickly from character to character and locale to location that at times I didn't even try to follow it, just went with the flow. Virgil's quick humor was present and very much appreciated. His lust for "Ma" was SO Virgil, but it never quite fully went into why he was so taken with her, other than she was ... built ... and perhaps because she had an IQ of 151? Of course, that was just slipped in, and I'm thinking this would matter to our Mr. Flowers. Okay, so maybe not on par with other Virgil Flowers books, but since I want them to keep on comin', I won't complain too loudly..... (And 3-stars means I DID like it.)

Goodreads book summary:  In Israel, a man clutching a backpack searches desperately for a boat. In Minnesota, Virgil Flowers gets a message from Lucas Davenport: You’re about to get a visitor. It’s an Israeli cop, and she’s tailing a man who’s smuggled out an extraordinary relic—an inscribed stone revealing startling details about the man known as King Solomon.
          Wait a minute, laughs Virgil. Is this one of those Da Vinci Code deals? The secret scroll, the blockbuster revelation, the teams of murderous bad guys? Should I be boning up on my Bible verses?
          He looks at the cop. She’s not laughing. As it turns out, there are very bad men chasing the relic, and they don’t care who’s in the way or what they have to do to get it. Maybe Virgil should start praying.

68. The Lost Sisterhood - Anne Fortier

2014, Ballantine books

585 pgs.

Adult CRF/HistFict/Mystery

Finished 11/2/2014

Goodreads rating: 3.80

My rating:  (5) Awesome 

TPPL

Setting: Contemporary Oxford University, Algeria, Turkey, Germany, and Finland, Ancient Algeria, Turkey, Troy

1st sentence/s: "In her own obscure fashion, my grandmother did what she could to arm me for the carnage of life.  Stamping hooves, rushing chariots, rapacious males . . . thanks to Granny, I had it more or less cased by the age of then."

My comments:  For me, this was in incredible piece of storytelling.   Yes, it was a little long, especially through the middle, but the first third and the last third made up for the middle third.  Told in alternating voices in two very different time periods - Myrina of the Amazons and Diana of contemporary scholarship - exploring the world of 3,000 years ago and today; it included strong females, a great grandmother-granddaughter relationship, a bit of sexual tension, and loads of mystery.  I've never been an Odyssey fan, and I still loved the story. The ending went in a direction and to a locale that I never expected.  This was a great read for me.  It even tapped into my Nordic genes!

Goodreads book summary: The Lost Sisterhood tells the story of Diana, a young and aspiring--but somewhat aimless--professor at Oxford. Her fascination with the history of the Amazons, the legendary warrior women of ancient Greece, is deeply connected with her own family's history; her grandmother in particular. When Diana is invited to consult on an archeological excavation, she quickly realizes that here, finally, may be the proof that the Amazons were real.
          The Amazons' "true" story--and Diana's history--is threaded along with this modern day hunt. This historical back-story focuses on a group of women, and more specifically on two sisters, whose fight to survive takes us through ancient Athens and to Troy, where the novel reinvents our perspective on the famous Trojan War.
          The Lost Sisterhood features another group of iconic, legendary characters, another grand adventure--you'll see in these pages that Fortier understands the kind of audience she has built with Juliet, but also she's delivering a fresh new story to keep that audience coming back for more.

PICTURE BOOK - Vanilla Ice Cream - Bob Graham

Illustrated by the author

2014 Candlewick Press

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.54

My rating: 4

Endpapers: peach with subtle leaf repetitions

Setting:  Contemporary India; over the ocean; then a city of white people

1^st line/s:  "The young sparrow rises from the dust.  He looks down at Annisha and Suhami."

My comments:  This is one clever, adorable book.  Limited words, super illustrations.  Some pages have several boxes to closely examine - sort of a beginning graphic novel.  The whole time you're reading you're thinking ... vanilla ice cream?  This is about a sparrow's journey -- but the cute twist at the end is fun.

Goodreads:  A wild sparrow’s journey sets in motion a toddler’s new experience in Bob Graham’s tale of life’s surprising little turns — and unlikely connections.
          Following some food, a curious young sparrow stows away in the back of a truck and takes an unusual voyage south — through the lush rice paddies of India, across the rough sea, and all the way into a bright new day. As the sun rises high over the city, he finds little Edie at a café with her grandma and granddad, and for a fleeting instant, his world meets up with hers and changes her life in the most delightful way. From the masterful Bob Graham comes an invitation to notice the smallest of moments as they unfold around us, full of unexpected promise.

67. The Cutting - James Hayman

McCabe & Savage #1

Read on my iPhone/through Kindle/Audio eBooks

Audio read by Jonathan Davis

9 unabridged cds (11:00)

2009 Minotaur/McMillan

336 pgs.

Adult Murder Mystery

Finished 10/21/2014

Goodreads rating: 3.80

My rating:   (4) Loved it, despite a few "flaws"

Setting:  Contemporary Portland, ME

1st sentence/s:  from prologue:  "July, 1971.  He pressed the terrified creature firmly against his body.  He was a sturdy boy, tall for his eight years, with dark hair and a long, thin face.  After more than a month of summer sunshine, his normally fair skin had turned quite brown."
from Chapter 1:  "Portland, Maine; September 16, 2005.  Fog can be a sudden thing on the Maine coast.  Even on the clearest mornings, swirling grey mists sometimes appeared in an instant, covering the earth with an opacity that makes it hard to see even one's own feet on the ground."

My comments:  I love intense murder mysteries (does that make me ghoulish?) but this one had a few "grizzly" factors that almost took it too far for me.  This always happens when it involves any cutting of the skin with a knife or scalpel.  I have a difficult time with this.  The title should certainly tip one off......  That said, I greatly enjoyed this mystery.  I love the setting - Portland, Maine and upwards to Blue Hill (home!), and I really like the very human protagonist, Mike McCabe.  He's a police detective who has relocated from NYC with his 13-year-old daughter, Casey.  He made a few assumptions -- perhaps you could call them gut feelings - that seemed a bit over the top, but without which he could not have followed the clues to catching the bad guy. And this one one bad-ass bad guy.....

Goodreads book summary: From a formidable new voice in suspense fiction comes an edge-of-the-seat story of a homicide detective on the trail of a killer, who slays with exacting precision, and who harbors a terrifying motive
          Detective Sergeant Michael McCabe moved from New York City to Portland, Maine, to escape a dark past: both the ex-wife who’d left him for an investment banker, and the tragic death of his brother, a hero cop gone bad. He sought to raise his young daughter away from the violence of the big city . . . so he’s unprepared for the horrific killer he discovers, whose bloody trail may lead to Portland’s social elite.
          Early on a September evening, the mutilated body of a pretty teenaged girl, a high school soccer star, is found dumped in a scrap-metal yard. She had been viciously assaulted, but her heart had been cut out of her chest with surgical precision. The very same day a young businesswoman, also a blonde and an athlete, was abducted as she jogged through the streets of the city’s west end. McCabe suspects both crimes are the work of the same man---a killer who’s targeting the young---who is clearly well-versed in complex surgical procedures, and who may have struck before. Just as the investigation is beginning, McCabe’s ex-wife reemerges, suddenly determined to reclaim the daughter she heedlessly abandoned years earlier.
          With the help of his straight-talking (and, at times, alluring) partner, Maggie Savage, McCabe begins a race against time to rescue the missing woman and unmask a sadistic killer---before more lives are lost.