Advantages: Good pace and twists
Disadvantages: Previous book means not all characters explored fully

...I hadn't read any of Lisa Gardner's books before but had heard of her so when I saw she had a few in the library I picked up one that sounded good and wasn't too big to fit in my bag. The story is about a woman called Annabelle Granger who had spent most of her life on the run, as her father made the family move from place to place changing aliases throughout her childhood until eventually they ended up back in their hometown of Boston and her father died. One morning Annabelle opens the paper and discovers that she has been declared dead, her body found in an underground chamber along with five other young girls. Annabelle goes to the police where she meets Detective Bobby Dodge and Sergeant DD Warren. Bobby is new to working with the Boston police as he used to be a police sniper but due to events in the past he has changed... Read review

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Advantages: A bargain. Easy to install and used. Good entry level SCSI controller.
Disadvantages: No support for higher data rates.

...If you plug an SCSI card into your pc, don’t hold your breath because nothing exciting is going to happen. (Unless of course you have made a very bad job of installing the card. Then you might see smoke and flames coming from your cherished/reviled PC or even, in extreme cases, find yourself moving down a tunnel towards a bright light.) However, once you have installed you SCSI card you will be able to attach any number of exciting devices to your pc. Although this is an opinion of Adaptecs AVA-2900 series of SCSI card, it is also a general review of SCSI. I have done this because as far as I can tell this is the first review at Ciao of a SCSI controller card. This seems to be a bit of an over sight to me as any number of SCSI devices have been reviewed, (such as the excellent Plextor external SCSI cd writer which... Read review

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Advantages: A Compelling Read - Makes you think about your own actions/reactions - Challenges your survival skills.
Disadvantages: Some images not for the squeamish; demonstrates Nature's harshness; keeps you awake reading.

...I'd never read any of Lisa Gardner's books before reading a review of this book here on Ciao! I cannot even remember having heard of Lisa Gardner before, although I expect I've probably skimmed past her hardback and paperback books on supermarket and bookshop shelves without even noticing them. So many books are published every week these days that one feels no need to even consider the books whose covers don't catch your eye. But a phrase in the review written by Louizalass sparked my curiosity - I am an intensely analytical person - and she said, speaking of hydrology, "I now know what secrets a tiny sample of water can reveal - not only what it's made up of but where it came from, where it's been and where it was probably going - before the killer re-routed it via his victim." Now THAT sounded promising... ₪₪... Read review

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Advantages: a factual and balanced look at freemasonary
Disadvantages: a fairly dry subject

...Long before Dan Brown's religious history makeover brought Christian mysteries back to the public attention, albeit for really all the wrong reasons, the was one area that had long drawn much attention from the conspiracy theorists. Unlike similar seemingly philanthropic organisation, Freemasonry has been a subject that has always attracted more than its fair share of strange theories. Due to its antiquity and the relative secrecy many authors over hundreds of years have speculated on the inner workings and core directive of this fraternal organisation. In the past theories have linked the Freemasons to the Knights Templars, the Mafia, the Illuminati and even space-lizards and aliens, such is the scope for anyone wishing to cash in on the subject and sell a few books. The subtitle of Gardner's book "The lost secret of the freemasons... Read review

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Advantages: a factual analysis of theDa Vinci codes "secrets"
Disadvantages: will open up many more questions

...It may seem as if a book such as the Magdalene Legacy is just an attempt to jump on the bandwagon of the success of Dan Browns work and the Da Vinci Code in particular. To a lesser degree and in terms of timing that may be true, but its author, Laurence Gardner, has been publishing books around such subjects for years. Its very probable that Brown is a fan of his work as he is an obvious source of information, along side the much more controversial and widely reported "Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" by Michael Baigent and co. So whilst the timing of the books release may seem to be a corporate strategy, it only seems that way because this book is the natural response to the hype of Browns work. Before the Da Vinci Code there was less of a need to set the record straight in the sensitive yet less than popular subject matter... Read review

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Advantages: Intriguing ways of looking at how we learn and function
Disadvantages: Can lead to compartmentalisation of education if used incorrectly

...Howard Gardner's 'Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences' is a fascinating book that helps to explain how and why different people seem to learn in different ways and possess different skills and talents. Gardner's main thesis throughout the text is that there is not one thing called intelligence, but rather several different types of intelligence that work together (or, sometimes, play together) inside each person's overall intellectual development and structure. Gardner begins his discussion with an overview of the idea of multiple intelligences. The idea of different kinds of intelligence is hardly new, as Gardner concedes, but that idea having been formed, it is rarely carried forward save by the most innovative of teachers and thinkers. Why does a person, for instance, remember particular teachers from elementary... Read review

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Advantages: A tense, gripping, unputdownable read!
Disadvantages: It ended!

.... Have you ever read a book and thought “This would make a great film!”? Fans of the female tough-cookie heroine with attitude will love this book. You like suspense and tension? Action packed storyline? It’s all in here as in Gardner’s previous books: The Survivor’s Club, The Next Accident, The Third Victim, The Other Daughter and The Perfect Husband. ---------------------------------------------------- The action takes place in rural Virginia at the FBI Academy where our heroine, Kimberly Quincy has just been accepted as an FBI recruit. A prickly heroine. Bolshie. Doesn’t have great people skills but, as her character unfolds, you can appreciate why and we sympathise with her. Important to have a heroine we can like, love or root for, don’t you think? We met Kimberley briefly in The Next Accident where, as the daughter of Pierce... Read review

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Advantages: Very gripping and chilling!
Disadvantages: Some scenes abit too graphic

...In case of you who've never heard of Lisa Gardner, She has written many Thriller's including ' The Survivors club' and ' The Next Accident'! 'Gone' by Lisa Gardner was released in February 2006 and can be found on Amazon for £5. Plot This story follows the chilling case of the aptly named 'Eco killer' because of the riddling message he keeps sending out to the police, "Clock ticking ... planet dying.... animals weeping... rivers screaming... can't you hear it? Heat kills ...." The eco killer started off his killings back in the blazing Georgian summer of 2000. In each case two young women are taken, one of the bodies is left by the roadside with clues to help find the other victim, who he gives a sporting chance to survive by giving her a jug of water. Each time the police are too late and the other victim dies. When one victim... Read review

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Advantages: You find out what happened next (after "The Killing Hour"); The story is well crafted, with characteristic twists and turns; good characterisation; keeps you reading!
Disadvantages: The world is not a nice place to live . . .

.... . . ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ Although, initially there is no definite evidence of a kidnap, the kidnap notes start arriving, in Rainie's handwriting, "signed" by famous past kidnappers who failed. This has been carefully planned, and apart from proving Rainie is still alive, is giving no clues. The kidnapper wants "money, power, and celebrity" ~ will he get away with what he wants? And who will die along the way? ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ ~()~ MY OPINION: This novel again shows Lisa Gardner's skill in carrying you along the direction she leads you. Her descriptions and well-rounded development of even the minor characters makes you root for them, yearning for the correct outcome, dreading the complications you know will develop along the way. Once again there is an unexpected death, named after someone nominated... Read review

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Advantages: Interesting story, good acting
Disadvantages: Too darn long

...as a playboy film maker. He had a series of affairs, two of which with well-known actresses, Katherine Hepburn and Ava Gardner. At the same time, Hughes was battling with mental illness - obsessive compulsive disorder (at least, I presume that's what it was), which filled him with a sense of horror of anything unclean. The illness began to take over his life, until one point, when his only way of coping was to lock himself away from the public. The only thing that eventually brought him out of seclusion was a lawsuit brought against him, which he eventually won. But was this enough to help him begin his life again? The actors/characters I have always liked Leonardo di Caprio as an actor, ever since I first saw him in Romeo and Juliet. I have always felt though that his role as Romeo was the best of his career. Somehow, he didn't strike me... Read review

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