The Art of Secrets

Art of Secrets is well-written, smart, witty and unpredictable. It uses the scrapbook/case file approach, where each chapter is a documentation of a character’s point of view. The format of the POV clippings change with each chapter and can take the form of either a news article, a journal entry, an interview transcript, an email, a conversation or a train of thoughts. So while the story starts out with a big trigger event, and the initial chapters lean towards an investigation taking place, at the end of the book, a bigger story emerges – an insight on the fascinating tendency that we all have to mask the true nature of ourselves.

Secrecy is an art, not a science. People are walking marketers. The only things we know about each other are what we choose to divulge. We can be as fascinating, charming, disarming, or as hateful as we want others to perceive us. Real motives only surface through time.

It brings to mind, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is.” (Jer. 17:9).

This book is highly recommended for leisure and/or assigned reading as well as book clubs! I recommend the printed version over the Kindle edition – the FORMATTING is superb and adds to the entire scrapbook/case file experience! I am looking forward to more creative fiction from this author.

Liars, Inc.

The characters are in their late teens, and their lifestyle reflects current trends - a bit disturbing and disheartening, but we cannot turn a blind eye to the lives of current-day teens. So, while strategic thinking, self-positioning and self-marketing (all requiring lies in one form or another) may be the way to go nowadays, esp. among the young people still braving the waters of peer pressure, underneath the facade lies the normal, beating heart. A heart that desires to be honest, to care deeply, and to love truly. A heart that's vulnerable to abuse and hurt.

This is a good book that is sobering, but at the same time, hopeful. I would recommend it for a book club or even a small group discussion among young adults (aged between 20's and 30's).

The Best Mistake Mystery

Written in typical middle-grade omniscient and sarcastic language, this story revolves around character Stephen Nobel, who is an uber inquisitive, awkward and analytical boy with an extreme glass-is-half-empty and if-there-is-smoke-then-there-must-be-fire mentality. Stephen gets involved with a series of misadventures and because of his personality, inadvertently solves mysteries along the way in a dry humorous manner. It is an entertaining story that grown-ups will probably enjoy even more than kids, because of the humor in between the lines. My ten-year old daughter’s opinion of the story is that has a staccato bounce to it and the transitions are almost too abrupt. She liked the story, but is having a hard time identifying who to recommend it to, since she says this book will be better appreciated by someone who loves reading, and unfortunately most of her 5th grade friends do not enjoy reading as much as she does. If they do, it will be the usual straightforward mystery stories. On the other hand, I will be glad to recommend it to all word nerds out there, because the play of words and quality of writing is just geeky fun. We received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.