Yay for finding the book and for going back home to Victoria!!!! That's really wonderful. Maybe I'll get up and that way on a visit to Seattle to see
the kids. It would be so fun to connect with you.
0 Kudo
Julia Spencer-Flemming's "Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne" crime series
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 booksalot |
#41 | |||
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Posts: 1385 06/12/09 02:11 PM |
Anne in Austin
"Let us dare to read, think, speak and write."--John Adams |
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jnol74 |
#42 | |||
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Posts: 655 06/14/09 02:41 PM |
Glad you found the book under your bed, Lee! ha ha I finished the third one night before last. Even
after my comment about it being more depressing to me than the others, it was still another winner, IMO!
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LeeLee333 |
#43 | |||
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Posts: 1316 06/14/09 08:04 PM |
Oh good! I'm glad it stays good despite the sad bits. I'm 3/4 through...it's been such a busy month so far!
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LeeLee333 |
#44 | |||
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Posts: 1316 06/22/09 03:30 PM |
I'm pretty much done the third one and I'll be bringing the fourth one on holiday to B.C and Manitoba with me!
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jnol74 |
#45 | |||
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Posts: 655 06/22/09 09:10 PM |
We can just wait till you get back to chat about the first 3 if you want. I only hope
I'm not too rusty! |
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LeeLee333 |
#46 | |||
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Posts: 1316 06/23/09 08:16 AM |
No, it's all good. Let's get started!
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jnol74 |
#47 | |||
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Posts: 655 06/23/09 12:14 PM |
I remember enough about the two main characters, but it's the names of the other characters I'm
rusty on, but that doesn't mean we have to wait forever for me to skim the books again! I'll just not
call them by name till I look them up again. And maybe if you start posting about the plots and the characters, I won't have to do as much
skimming...hopefully!
Here are some questions and opinions I've been thinking about: 1. After reading the ending of book 3, what do you think is going to become of Russ's marriage to Linda? Yowza! The chemistry between Clare and Russ is too good to be ignored, but then it also sounds like Russ and Linda have a pretty good marriage. 2. I wonder how the small town will react if Clare and Russ do wind up together! They're already gossiping about the Wednesday luncheons the two of them have on a regular basis. I wonder if Linda has a clue about how Russ and Clare are getting
along? She seems kind of "remote". If Russ and Clare do wind up a couple, how do you
think Linda's character will be dealt with?
3. Have you noticed in all 3 books, there's always an extremely suspensful, scary, test of endurance involving either Clare alone, or the two of them together? I like the variety of the dangerous situations. They aren't as formulaic as I've found in some of the other crime novels I've read. Especially those that have been written by men and involve a main character with some sort of military background. With Clare's military background, the situations still don't seem "same old same old" to me at all in the JSF books. 4. Which of the 3 book's suspensful moments did you find most exciting and "edge of your seat" worthy? I thought the one in the first book with Clare trying to talk down the guy (need a name refresher here! ha ha) on the bridge holding the baby was even more suspensful than the helicopter escape in the 3rd one, and that one was a doozy, IMO! 5. Have you noticed Russ's habit of continuously cleaning his glasses in all 3 of the books? He must have the cleanest lenses on the planet! LOL! I also think it's funny when he starts to use a swear word in front of Clare and then catches himself before the whole thing comes out. But...Clare has also had a few "moments" herself! Too funny. It just makes her character more likeable to me somehow, though.
More human and down to earth, I guess, her being a priest and all.
6. Which of the three books did you like the best? I wound up liking the complexity of the 3rd one the most. Even with all the sad parts about those poor little children and the crushing grief of the parents over their decision not to have their kids vaccinated against diptheria. The writing in all 3 of the books manages to address current issues and weave them seamlessly into the exciting plots, IMO. 1st was the teen pregnancy issue, then the environmental and gay issues in the 2nd book, and then the whole controversy about childhood immunizations in the 3rd. I wonder what she'll come up with in the other 4 books? 7. Did you ever suspect Dr. Rouse was still alive at the end of book 3? I had a tiny inkling something other than him being killed had happened (like maybe he'd just disappeared), but I didn't think he'd actually show up like he did. I myself thought it was a great way to end the whole mess. Ok...your turn!
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booksalot |
#48 | |||
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Posts: 1385 06/23/09 01:23 PM |
I don't know how many of these I can answer but I'll give it a try.
1. After reading the ending of book 3, what do you think is going to become of Russ's marriage to Linda? Yowza! The chemistry between Clare and Russ is too good to be ignored, but then it also sounds like Russ and Linda have a pretty good marriage. I think the tension building between Clare and Russ is part of what makes the books so good and enticing. I seem to recall a mention in book 3 of Clare leaving the area in order to not get in herself in too deep emotionally. Obviously, if that happened the series would end. I think we will continue to learn of their care and concern for one another but I don't see them acting on it. Something could happen to Linda that would free Russ from that relationship but again I think a good part of the fun is the look-but-don't-touch aspect of the relationship. 2. I wonder how the small town will react if Clare and Russ do wind up together! They're already gossiping about the Wednesday luncheons the two of them have on a regular basis. image I wonder if Linda has a clue about how Russ and Clare are getting along? She seems kind of "remote". If Russ and Clare do wind up a couple, how do you think Linda's character will be dealt with? Linda has obviously been kept very much in the background and as readers we know very little about her other than the fact that she is Russ's wife and has family in Florida. I'm thinking there may come a time when the church family has to defend Clare's actions. 3. Have you noticed in all 3 books, there's always an extremely suspensful, scary, test of endurance involving either Clare alone, or the two of them together? I like the variety of the dangerous situations. They aren't as formulaic as I've found in some of the other crime novels I've read. Especially those that have been written by men and involve a main character with some sort of military background. With Clare's military background, the situations still don't seem "same old same old" to me at all in the JSF books. Yes, I too like the 'tests' that arise in each book. But each time I find myself wondering when Clare does her own job. She always seems to have time to run off and save someone and there doesn't seem to be much problem from her church family from that with the exception of one or two nay-sayers. 4. Which of the 3 book's suspensful moments did you find most exciting and "edge of your seat" worthy? I thought the one in the first book with Clare trying to talk down the guy (need a name refresher here! ha ha) on the bridge holding the baby was even more suspensful than the helicopter escape in the 3rd one, and that one was a doozy, IMO! The helicopter escape is the one I remember the most. 5. Have you noticed Russ's habit of continuously cleaning his glasses in all 3 of the books? He must have the cleanest lenses on the planet! LOL! I also think it's funny when he starts to use a swear word in front of Clare and then catches himself before the whole thing comes out. But...Clare has also had a few "moments" herself! image Too funny. It just makes her character more likeable to me somehow, though. More human and down to earth, I guess, her being a priest and all. 6. Which of the three books did you like the best? I wound up liking the complexity of the 3rd one the most. Even with all the sad parts about those poor little children and the crushing grief of the parents over their decision not to have their kids vaccinated against diptheria. The writing in all 3 of the books manages to address current issues and weave them seamlessly into the exciting plots, IMO. 1st was the teen pregnancy issue, then the environmental and gay issues in the 2nd book, and then the whole controversy about childhood immunizations in the 3rd. I wonder what she'll come up with in the other 4 books? I think the first is still my favorite with #2 being my least fave. I read #3 so fast that I'm having difficulty recalling much about it. I'll have to read some reviews to refresh myself on that storyline. 7. Did you ever suspect Dr. Rouse was still alive at the end of book 3? I had a tiny inkling something other than him being killed had happened (like maybe he'd just disappeared), but I didn't think he'd actually show up like he did. I myself thought it was a great way to end the whole mess.
Anne in Austin
"Let us dare to read, think, speak and write."--John Adams |
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LeeLee333 |
#49 | |||
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Posts: 1316 06/23/09 07:44 PM |
1. After reading the ending of book 3, what do you think is going to become of Russ's marriage to Linda? Yowza! The chemistry between Clare and Russ is too
good to be ignored, but then it also sounds like Russ and Linda have a pretty good marriage.
You know, at first I thought it was cute that they were attracted to each other and no big deal. By the end of the third book, however, I'm a bit annoyed with Clare as she is really pushing it with Russ imo. She KNOWS he's married AND she's a priest. It would be easy to resist if she was smart. Anyway, she's not real so I won't be too hard on her. lol. I think it's a fairly believable situation too (except for the priest as sidekick to county sherrif bit, lol). I won't comment on what is going to happen because i think I already know as I've read the back covers of all of the future books! More later...
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LeeLee333 |
#50 | |||
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Posts: 1316 06/24/09 02:06 PM |
I don't know how many of these I can answer but I'll give it a try.
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LeeLee333 |
#51 | |||
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Posts: 1316 06/24/09 08:12 PM |
booksalot wrote:
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booksalot |
#52 | |||
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Posts: 1385 06/25/09 10:23 AM |
I wonder if Russ's mom will somehow intervene and set things back on a even keel.
Same. I liked the first one much better than the second. The third was pretty good but I skimmed a lot at the end as I didn't want to know all of the sad details regarding the children. I found that storyline a bit too much for my weak mind!! I don't typically enjoy series so I'm not surprised that I'm cooling off a bit regarding these books. I like getting to know characters and that sort of thing but I hate the repetition that always seems to come with series. As you said Jackie, it gets formulaic. So far I'm still hooked but I can't imagine reading 2 or 3 more books about Russ and Clare without getting bored! Lee, this answer explains pretty well why I don't generally like to read books in a series back-to-back. Sometimes it works out ok but most any storyline, characters, place, etc will get boring and repetitive after a while. I think usually it takes about a year for publication and that's about the right amount of time so as a reader we soften the edges in our memories and are ready to go back and revisit those favorite characters. I'm not planning to read book #4 right away. And sadly I have several other series that I have delayed for more than a year that I'd like to move forward with.
Anne in Austin
"Let us dare to read, think, speak and write."--John Adams |
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jnol74 |
#53 | |||
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Posts: 655 06/25/09 02:36 PM |
I found it strange that Jane killed her husband after we saw how tender they once were to each other. The
scene where Jane's husband, Jonathon, admits he wants to die and take his wife and daughter with him seemed unrealistic to me. Sort of out of nowhere (I
just didn't feel like I was that invested in their story to find it believable). I thought Renee showing up with a gun was unrealistic. I didn't like
the character of Debba Clow whatsoever. Annoying!!
The books are starting to remind me of the Stephanie Plum series! Having seen first hand how the death of one child can crush people, I felt their relationship just deteriorated completely after the death of their 3 children, and my thought is that Jane's husband had the twisted idea he'd somehow be "saving" them by killing them. I once read somewhere about a mother who got this notion into her head about "saving them from the world's problems" and killed her kids. Of course it's mental illness or some form of staggering depression that causes it usually, but that part came out of the blue for me, too. I have to agree about the whole "Renee with a gun" scene being unnecessary and odd. But since Debba Clow (Debba COW???) was definitely a completely annoying, ignorant, and "off the wall" woman, who knows what someone might do to get her out of the picture! ha ha I myself am not having any real surprising "issues" with Clare's attraction to Russ, even with her being a priest, since she's not a Catholic priest where the "rules" might be more strict. However, priest or no priest, she should know better than to react the way she has to the very-married (at this point), Russ. It didn't take them very long to get into "lip lock mode" by only the 3rd book in the series!
I still like the combo of the two and the fact that Clare has such a diverse "resume" and plan on reading the rest of the series, but I have to admit, even though I'd originally thought I'd read them all back-to-back, I've decided to take a short break, and am reading "Privileged Information", a psychological "thriller" (sort of) written by psychologist Stephen White (whom I'm finding totally annoying as a writer in this first book in his Alan Gregory series). He's a friend of Jonathan Kellerman and seems to copy his writing style quite a bit, but with a huge dollop of name-brand-dropping, a character who is just too full of himself, and a tad too pompous for my liking. I'm anxious to finish this one and will either go back to the Flemming series, or read "Swan Song", by Robert McCammon...a reread for me which I first read a long, long time ago but have thought about on more than one occasion. I'm curious to see what has made me want to read it again and why I've thought about it so much after all these years.
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jnol74 |
#54 | |||
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Posts: 655 06/25/09 03:01 PM |
If I don't participate more than I have today, I'm pooped from sitting in a chair here trying
to doze a bit last night after my daughter called from the hospital early in the evening telling us Olivia was taken to the emergency room yesterday afternoon
after she'd fallen down the stairs at their house. They did a CT scan and thought they saw a small brain bleed, but also thought it might be artifact from
the scan since poor little Olivia was very afraid and wouldn't hold still. My daughter found out later that artifact and brain bleeding has the exact same
appearance on CT scans with children of this young age! They transferred her to another hospital equipped with a neuro trauma center and kept her overnight
for observation. That hospital is strictly a children's hospital, while this first hospital she was taken to doesn't even have a pediatric ward
for anything! So far, she's definitely not shown any signs of brain bleeding, thank God, but after what happened to Natasha
Richardson, my daughter was taking no chances. They've released Olivia, and didn't do another CT scan since she seems to be functioning normally,
but my daughter will be following up in a week with her pediatrician, and a week later, with the neurologist who saw her at the hospital to be sure nothing
permanent has been done. This is where parenting and grandparenting gets ugly!
My daughter is having a serious case of the guilts for letting Olivia go down the stairs by herself, but, IMO, mothers can't win. They're either victims of people thinking they're too "hovering", or of being neglectful if they let their kids spread their wings a bit and then the child winds up getting hurt! I've been there and done that when my daughter was little, so I can fully sympathize with her and am trying to reassure her that accidents will happen to kids, no matter how perfect a mother you are! It's extremely upsetting, but we're sooo very glad Olivia seems to be mending normally so far! I talked to her from the hospital this morning, and she was tickled pink they had the movie "Bolt" on for her! A good sign, for sure! I'm just not in a very "book chatting" mood today.
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booksalot |
#55 | |||
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Posts: 1385 06/25/09 03:28 PM |
Oh Jackie, what a terribly scary story. I pray that Olivia continue to be fine and a bit more careful around those stairs. It can certainly be a frightening
thing when grandchildren (and children) wind up in the hospital. We've been through so much of that this year with Stanton being in and out constantly.
He's doing really well now and is looking forward to a summer of fewer Dr visits and no more hospital stays.
Warm thoughts your way.
Anne in Austin
"Let us dare to read, think, speak and write."--John Adams |
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jnol74 |
#56 | |||
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Posts: 655 06/25/09 07:38 PM |
booksalot wrote:Thank you, Anne! I've been meaning to ask you how Stanton has been doing. I'm delighted for all of you, and especially Stanton, that he's doing so well and can look forward to
having a great summer!
And yes, it's awful when your children or grandchildren are hurt or sick...no doubt about it. Falls can happen out of the blue and wind up doing a great deal of damage sometimes. I haven't talked to my daughter today, other than the late morning call this morning, because she asked us not to call today since they'll all be resting up, and that she'd call us to let us know how things are going. I'm sure Olivia will be ok, but it still has us worried about her. She's going to have to get it through her sweet little head those stairs are off limits from now on, that's for sure! Even with a door that shuts to them, she can open it easily, so I'm
guessing my daughter will be putting some sort of locking device on it now...not that that will probably stop Olivia! Maybe after what happened Olivia
won't be quite so daring around them!
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LeeLee333 |
#57 | |||
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Posts: 1316 06/25/09 07:50 PM |
Sheesh. I don't know what to say Jackie. That's not true. I ALWAYS have something to say! lol.
I'm a very cautious mother to the point of smothering and it drives my husband nuts. Some friends of ours tease me all the time for being so "paranoid" etc... However, I've noticed that a lot of my other mother friends are equally protective. You said it so perfectly. It's such a hard balance between letting your children learn how to do things on their own and wanting to do everything for them. I still tell Sebastian to go down the stairs on his bum even though he's the height of a 5 year old and weighs 45 pounds. He usually listens but doesn't see the stairs as a place to be careful whatsoever. In fact, I often catch him playing on the stairs with toys and whatnot. Argh!! It's soooo hard to love someone so much and KNOW that they don't know the consequences of things. You want to just wrap them up in a blanket and carry them through their childhood. Your daughter couldn't have prevented Olivia from falling as these things happen all the time. Some kids are lucky (like Olivia) and some aren't. It's such a scary part of raising children. Accidents happen so often to children. In our next house one of my stipulations is that there aren't big staircases as it's such a soft spot with me. I have this horrible feeling that Seb is going to be playing with his dad in the bathroom (that is directly at the top of the stairs) and back up really quickly and fall BACKWARDS down the stairs. I worry and worry and worry about it to the point where I make myself sick sometimes. I worry about everything though. It's an illness in me I think. Thank God that she is okay. Btw, I thought what you said about depression and how it can make people do crazy things was very true. I feel differently about that situation now and don't find it so unbelievable. I just felt it was a bit out of the blue but I wonder if the author just assumed we'd understand. I can't even imagine how people go on after losing 4 children. I read a story once about a woman who lost 5 of her 6 children and her ex husband in a small plane crash. She now works as a grief counselor I believe. Can you believe it? She says she has to go on and be strong for the child who lived. Amazing woman. I'm reading the fourth book right now because I have it from the library but I'll wait to comment on it until you've read it too!
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jnol74 |
#58 | |||
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Posts: 655 06/26/09 02:43 PM |
LeeLee333 wrote:Thanks, Lee. It was somehow comforting to me reading another young mother's concerns about the balancing act of being protective and still letting their kids learn to deal with life. Especially what you said about my daughter not being able to prevent it as these things happening all the time to kids. The bumps along the way are part of the whole process, but it doesn't make it any easier, does it! And no, you're not "sick" because you worry about your kids. That just means you love them like crazy! And unfortunately, the only way they learn is usually by getting into troublesome situations.  GAH! I don't know how
my daughter is going to handle Olivia going to pre school this fall! She'll be a basket case and was already worrying about it even before this spill down
the stairs! I see possible "sedation" being required!!!! ha ha ha ha
I haven't talked to my daughter yet today, because she said she'd call us to let us know how Olivia's doing, and I don't want her to think we're overly worried about the situation, or we might make her worry more than she already has been. So, we're just going to let her call us, but if I don't hear from her by tonight or tomorrow early in the day, I will call to see how things are going. We're taking the "no news is good news" path at the moment. We've put the little crib we have over here for her away today, though, and will be using a twin size pull-out sofa we have here with baby gates sealing off the room and, for awhile, one of us sleeping on the other couch, especially till she understands she's not to go on any "midnight wanderings" when she's spending the night here. The baby gates will be up for much longer. I'm hoping they'll be getting her into a toddler or twin bed with a railing over there soon. She's just getting too tall for our smaller, portable one, and I think she must be getting too tall for hers at home, too, because ours compares very closely in height to the one they have since ours has a thinner mattress. Plus, she likes to have so many stuffed animals in bed with her over there, including a gigantic "Bolt" one, that I'm afraid she could use it to stand on and take a plunge over the side. My daughter did that when she was 18 months old and never spent another night in the crib! We went out and bought a regular twin bed with a railing by that very night! Regarding "Out of the Deep I Cry", I'd remembered 3 children and forgot it was 4 they'd lost. I don't know how people in real life deal with tragedies like the real one you described. It just boggles the mind. And then some of them manage to turn their grief into something helpful for others. What brave, sturdy souls. Maybe I will go on and read the 4th book afterall now that I know you're going to be reading it. My memory will definitely be more refreshed about that one than it is about the other 3 since it will be a more recent read for me! ha ha But "Swan Song" is seriously calling to me, so I don't know. The Flemming books are pretty fast reading, and I know "Swan Song" will take awhile since it's so long, but I'll keep you posted on what I finally decide and we can still talk about these other 3 as we think of things to say about them if you want.
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booksalot |
#59 | |||
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Posts: 1385 06/26/09 03:41 PM |
Jackie, I'm sure everything with Olivia is fine and as you say, no news is good news. It's sad kids don't think about things from our perspective
and keep us as informed about the Grands as we might like them to. I'm happy to hear you have to sit on your hands sometimes too.
I've never read Swan Song and I would be willing to buddy read that one with you. I can't get to it in the immediate future but if you think you might like to have someone along for the ride I'd be happy to tempt you.
Anne in Austin
"Let us dare to read, think, speak and write."--John Adams |
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jnol74 |
#60 | |||
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Posts: 655 06/26/09 07:43 PM |
booksalot wrote:The "sitting on our hands" thing is more common here than we'd like, that's for sure. Sometimes when I call my daughter, we don't hear back from her for a couple of days or even more sometimes, and it just aggravates the heck out of me and my husband (keeping our aggravation to ourselves, of course!  ). Anyway, I finally
wound up just emailing her asking about Olivia since I have no clue when anyone might be sleeping, busy, eating, or whatever at any given time. And we also
don't want to seem "overly concerned" (heaven forbid! ). Anyway, she'll
probably call us tomorrow after my emailing her...maybe? You are so right about our kids not seeing things from our perspective, especially when
something's gone wrong and we're concerned about it!
I'm still not sure which book to start! I'm leaning towards "Swan Song", though. But no matter which one I choose, it sounds like either
the 4th Flemming book, or "Swan Song" could wind up being more buddy discussions now that Lee said she has the 4th Flemming from the library, and
you've said you'd like to be along for a "Swan Song" ride eventually. It's a very long book, so it won't be a quick read for me in
any case. I think Candy or Trudy said they'd also read that one, too, but I don't know how long ago and if they'd want to join in, too. Either way,
I'm going to read one or the other after I finish this one I'm not liking much at all ("Privileged Information"). I'm almost finished
with it! Yay!
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