Library Loot - August 19

Here is what I recently got from the library. The last bunch of books I got I didn't even put on my library loot because I flipped through all of them and I just wasn't in the right mood to read them or something I guess.

Harvest

by Tess Gerritsen

From Goodreads:
When Robin Cook wrote Coma in 1977, the idea of hospital patients being incubated for their vital organs sounded like science fiction. Twenty years l ...more When Robin Cook wrote Coma in 1977, the idea of hospital patients being incubated for their vital organs sounded like science fiction. Twenty years later, this gripping thriller about a thriving international black market in human hearts, livers and kidneys could come from tomorrow's "Nightline." Author Gerritsen was an internist before she switched her energies to writing, and her experience shows in every scene. When young surgical resident Dr. Abby DiMatteo assists at her first "harvest" (the removal of living organs from a patient declared legally brain dead) at Boston's posh Bayside Hospital, "she felt vaguely nauseated by the whine of the blade, the smell of bone dust," neither of which seem to bother the veterans. It's obviously a personal memory being mined for good fictional purposes. (Gerritsen wrote paperback romance novels before Harvest: Check out her Keeper of the Bride and Thief of Hearts.)

(I just picked this one up while browsing in the library)
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Godchild

by Vincent Zandri

From Goodreads:

He wanted justice, truth, revenge...whichever came first.Prison-warden-turned-P.I. Jack "Keeper" Marconi understands the criminal mind. And he knows what it takes to break a man. His own life came apart the day a black Buick broadsided his car--and his wife died horrifically in the seat beside him.Years later, on the eve of his second marriage, Marconi catches a split-second glimpse of the driver who killed his wife. Suddenly hurtled back into the past, he is determined to take one last shot at hunting him down. That is, until he is offered a job he can't refuse: to bust a beautiful woman out of a hellish Mexican prison. Now Keeper's chase through Mexico follows a trail of bodies and lies back home: to the truth about a woman on the run, to a man sitting behind the wheel of a black Buick, and to a story that someone will kill to bury....

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As Catch Can

by Vincent Zandri

From Goodreads:

Freelance journalist Vincent Zandri was collaborating on the memoirs of a Sing Sing prison guard when he got the idea for a thriller about a warden who has to solve a crime to keep his job and his self-respect. This solid base of reality plus Zandri's lively writing give As Catch Can a definite edge.

Jack "Keeper" Marconi knows he's in trouble when a cop killer named Eduard Vasquez escapes from his Green Haven Maximum Security Prison in upstate New York after a trip to an outside dentist which he had approved. Keeper is clearly being fitted for a frame by his superiors in the state's penal system--men with whom he shar

ed a baptism of fire as young guards during the bloody riots at Attica 26 years before.
Haunted by these ghosts of his former self and a time when justice seemed more clear-cut, Keeper goes off on his own to see who really helped Vasquez escape. Recently widowed and fogged by too much booze, Keeper could easily have become a rerun of an all-too-familiar genre icon. But Zandri makes both the man and job i

nteresting and original by paying attention to details--from the way the weather affects the prisoners' behavior to the delicate balancing act that governs the relations between guards and prisoners. And there's more than enough creativity and research left over for a promised sequel. --Dick Adler

(Vincent Zandri is a friend on Goodreads and I wanted to actually read some of his books!)

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Livin Ain't Easy (Urban Renaissance)

by Peron Long

From Goodreads:

Livin Ain't Easy is a story of self-evaluation, heartache, and renewal-all wrapped up in suspense and murder. The story chronicles approximately seven months of the lives of Devlin Carter and Simone Jackson.
Devlin is a 32-year-old former schoolteacher whose development of a line of educational tools has made him a very wealthy man. His dreams in life had basically been to teach and to help students achieve their maximum potential. He also wanted to be able to provide the finer things in life for his grandmother, who raised hi m, and for Leslie, the love of his life. Sadly, his grandmother died five years before his financial achievements, and Leslie couldn't wait around for him to become successful. She married another man for his money. In spite of her marriage, though, Leslie has heard of Devlin's new wealth and she's trying to keep their on-again, off-again affair alive.
Simone Jackson is a 31-year-old local television talk show host whose show is in the verge of going national. She is happy about the success she has accomplished in broadcasting, but her dreams of love of and for a man have been nonexistent, due to her sexual orientation. Since her first experience in college ten years earlier, s he has lived the life of a lesbian. She is now at a crossroads in her life. She is no longer happy with her personal choices, and when she meets a future guest on her show, Devlin Carter, her interest in him creates feelings she had only dreamed of in the past. At the same time, she's looking to end the relationship with her lover, Trinity.
When Devlin and Simone meet the day his best friend dies, she immediately becomes the friend that he needs, and he becomes the dream she'swished to have for years. As they begin to form a bond, they are both confronted with issues of o verbearing, vindictive ex-lovers, as well as the surprising emergence of Devlin's long-absent father. When an attempt is made on Devlin's life and then one of their ex-lovers ends up dead, will it rip them apart, or bring them closer together?

(I found out about this author through Facebook and author Dwayne S. Joseph)
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Eight Days to Live: An Eve Duncan Forensics Thriller

by Iris Johansen

From Goodreads:
Eve Duncan and her adopted daughter, Jane Macguire, are pitted against the members of a secretive cult who have targeted Jane and have decided that she will he their ultimate sacrifice. In eight days they will come for her. In eight days, what Jane fears the most will become a reality. In eight days, she will die. It all begins with a painting that Jane, an artist, displays in her Parisian gallery. The painting is called "Guilt" and Jane has no idea how or why she painted the portrait of the chilling face. But the members of a cult that dates back to the time of Christ believe that Jane's blasphemy means she must die. But first. she will lead them to an ancient treasure whose value is beyond price. This elusive treasure, and Jane's death, are all that they need for their power to come co ultimate fruition. With Eve's help, can Jane escape before the clock stops ricking?

(I found out about this book from Booklist Magazine)