Red Leaves (Isis Mystery) (ISBN 0753178079)

Cooking With Suspense:
Thomas H. Cook in unquestionably my favorite writer and Red Leaves may be my favorite of his books. He is the undeniable master of character development, forcing the reader to draw from his own bank of life's characters. Reading his books is more than reading a novel, it is taking an adventure. It takes a little while to shake off the reality woven into the pages. Very well done.

A Great Look At Family During Crisis:
I really enjoyed this book. It does a terrific job of showing the full range of emotions that a family goes through when faced with an unimaginable crisis. The book is well written, and I plan to look at the other books by this author. Money well spent!

This could be me (or you):
What I liked most about this book is that it is about a situation that is almost normal - well, not normal exactly, but it's something that could happen to most anyone. The protaganist is a regular guy who could be me...or you. The central situation that develops is common enough. As a result, as things are happening I found myself asking 'what would i do in that situation or with such and such information?' Is the lead character (and the other characters, to some extent) behaving 'right'? Are they doing what a reasonable person would do? It is kind of interesting because you participate in the story in perhaps a more active way than a normal book where the situations are pretty far out there and characters are nothing like you. At the same time, despite being sort of 'normal', the story isn't at all boring. Instead, Cook is able to keep the suspense and intrigue high throughout. The whole effect is quite engaging and kept me flipping pages pretty quickly. Of course like most of his books, the story is reasonably bleak and sort of depressing. His characters tortured and pained in various ways. And there's ample tragedy. Not a lot of happy talk. Still I highly recommend and it keeps me solidly on the Thomas Cook train.

He's so good...:
Thomas H. Cook is always so interesting. I've never been disappointed in any book of his. This one is no exception, and I was thrilled by it. In a way, it reminded me of "We Need To Talk About Kevin." The voice in that book belonged to the teenage boy's mother - ironic and precise as the father's in this one. Each of these novels is crisp, succinct, and pounds, like a beating heart, to the finish. There were some implausible things about "Leaves." But the writing was so honest, I could easily overlook them. Reviewers here have mentioned the fact that the family never looked in on their sleeping daughter. I was surprised that they waited until the next morning to call the police and Keith's parents, which originally made me suspect the girl's own parents. A few other minor glitches made me wonder, but still - a book is a success for me when A. I can't put it down and I'm happy not to (sometimes I can't put a book down and I hate myself - it's so poorly written); B. The writing is passionate and outstanding. Bravo, Mr. Cook!

Not the Worst Book I've Ever Read...:
...but certainly not one I'd recommend. Just trudged along with not much to offer. Didn't find too many sympathetic characters, and the end was predictable. The only redeeming factor was that it wasn't a long book. Wish I would've enjoyed it, but simply finished it to satisfy my book club requirement!