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Showing posts with label Infamous. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Infamous. Show all posts

Suzanne Brockmann - Infamous

Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN:  978 - 0 - 345 - 52120 - 0
 
My rating:  3 /5



When history professor Alison Carter became a consultant to the film version of the Wild West legend she’d dedicated her career to researching, she couldn’t possibly know that she would not only get a front row seat to a full-blown Hollywood circus, but that she would innocently witness something that would put her life in danger. Nor did she expect that a tall stranger in a cowboy hat would turn the movie -- and her world -- completely upside down…

A.J. Gallagher didn’t crash the set in dusty Arizona to rub elbows with Hollywood’s elite. Unable to ignore ghosts from the past that refuse to stay buried, A.J. came to put an end to the false legend that has tarnished the reputation of his family. But when he confronts Alison, sparks fly. And when she becomes targeted by ruthless criminals, suddenly she and A.J. must face the intense attraction that threatens to consume them, in order to survive the danger that threatens their very lives.
(www.suzannebrockmann.com)


My thoughts
Do I have to rate this book?  Honestly, this book was boring, but I want everyone to read it, because it was just a "cute" book. So what's cute? I don't know how to explain it, but it was just the idea of "Gramps" coming back as a ghost, though initially to have his great-grandson A.J. to put an end to the false legend and negative reputation "Gramps" aka Jamie Gallagher has in current history books. But it's more than that. It's the caring attitude and the talks between both men, both with their share of history, that makes this book "nice". I loved A.J.'s character and all he had become after what had happened to him in life. I loved the "Diaries" and most of all Melody's promise to Jamie, the same promise Alison later on gave to A.J.

Apart from that - it's some damn 400-odd pages to read for just some "cuteness". The story was somewhat "far fetched" with the ghost, but there was nothing else that I would call a page turner. I had to force myself to pick up the book to read and even then only because I needed some "gramps" time. It's only in the last 30 pages that the real interesting stuff starts, but WAY too late in my opinion and even then too fast needed to re-read passages to understand the who's who of the crime.

Another thing that was a bit overbearing for me personal is all the stuff SB added into the book - there was obviously a murder, but SB was really pushing the alcohol and war issue a bit too much for me, we never found out why the father killed his own son (somewhat annoying) and I would have loved to have Tom's character developed just that touch more - especially so as he was the one "seeing" Jamie as well.

As I said it's a long 400-pages long story, but just to get to know Jamie Gallagher I very carefully say - give it a try when you have nothing else to do!



Sigrid's Writing Tips

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Oftentimes as an editor, I see people confuse the word infamous with famous, but they mean entirely different things.

Fame brings celebrity. It means that someone is well-known, and the connotation is generally, although not always, positive. Natalie Portman is a famous actress.

Infamous means that someone is well-known for an unsavory, contentious or salacious reason. It's synonymous with notorious -- no one has solved the mystery of the murder of the infamous Biggie Smalls.

Some people are famous and infamous -- Madonna, Alec Baldwin, Eminem, Mel Gibson… There is a long list of people who are easily recognizable, but also push other people's buttons because they’ve said or done something controversial. So, it's possible to be both famous and infamous, or just famous, or just infamous. (The Arizona shooter and the Unlimber are simply infamous. Not many people admire them, and they gained fame by doing something heinous.)

Learn more about word usage in my third book, Be Your Own Editor, a manual for students and writers of all ages and stages. Available on Amazon in print and in the Amazon Kindle store [http://tinyurl.com/4v249th].