Vanishing Acts by: Jodi Picoult

Book: Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult

Genre                                                                                          YA, Crime and Realistic Fiction

                                                                                                          Mug Shot                                                                                     The cover of Vanishing Acts implies the love between a mother and a daughter, and how this bond is extremely hard to break. However, the cover is slightly misleading. While the bond between mother and daughter and the power of love are components, the true plot of the book is not revealed through the cover. The bright colors of ocean blue, banana yellow, and violet are attractive to the eye and grab the reader’s attention. The part of the little girl’s face that we can see gives us insight into what the main character, Delia, may have looked like at that age or how her daughter, Sophie, might look throughout the book.

Does it go to Court?                                              

The main plot of this book takes place in New Hampshire and Arizona around the year 2005. Delia Hopkins is a happy thirty-one year-old woman who has a good life in the state of New Hampshire. She has a wonderful five year-old daughter named Sophie, a fiancée named Eric, and a great father named Andrew who she has a tight bond with. But, one night the police show up with a warrant for her father’s arrest, and she finds out the truth. Her father, who was previously named Charles Matthews, had abducted her from her mother in Arizona when she was just four years old.  Her previous name was Bethany Matthews. He told her that her mother was dead, and moved them all over until they finally settled down in rural New Hampshire. There, she had a happy childhood with her two best friends, Fitz and her future fiancee, Eric .                                            When she finds this out and sees her father being dragged out the door into a police car, she is confused. That all clears up when she later finds out that her mother was an alcoholic and her step-father abused her. She wonders if this is why she was attracted to Eric because he is a recovering alcoholic. She understands, after thousands of questions that her father had actually saved her from a bad childhood. Because the crime took place in Arizona, her father’s trial is held there. Delia, Eric, Sophie, and Fitz all travel there to witness his trial where they meet a ton of interesting people, including Delia’s mother, Elise, and step-father, Victor. Throughout the book, perspectives change from Delia to Eric to Andrew to Fitz to Elise as they all tell their stories, including what Andrew’s life is like in prison, and Eric’s experience as his lawyer.                                                                                    It also displays the strong bond between parents and their kids, and how love and hate are more powerful than anything. These are common themes in this book. Others include how people will do almost anything to survive, and how large of an influence people’s religious and moral beliefs have on their every action.

Who Would Commit This?                                                                                                                                This book is very interesting and was hard to put down. Anyone would enjoy this book, but especially people who watch crime television shows or movies, or read other crime novels. The characters in this book are also easy to relate to, as their thoughts and feelings are common among everyone. This book is suspenseful and interesting throughout. This is the kind of book that I didn’t flip to the last page to see what the end result is. I was too interested in the story and wanted to follow the characters on their journey instead of find out how it ended. This book will grab the reader’s attention, and he or she will most definitely love it.

Word Count: 611 words

Book: Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

Genre: YA Crime Fiction

Mug Shot: The cover of the book gives insight o the gruesome story between the pages of Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes.  The blood raining from the sky down on represents the horrible crimes committed throughout the book.  The blue umbrella represents a sole form of communication between Retired Detective, Bill Hodges and his “perp”. The small smiley face represents the Mercedes Killer and how he is so confident in his work and not getting caught by anyone that he brags about it by leaving small clues for the police and writing letters to the Ret. Det. about his crimes. The cover holds a lot of symbolism that the reader will understand as they dive deep into the pages of Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King.

Does It Go To Court? Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King focuses mainly on Bill Hodges, a retired police detective whose life can only be described as “even less than boring”. Before Hodges retired he worked a case about a man who stole a Mercedes Benz from a richer part of town and drove over numerous people standing outside of a job fair very early in the morning. Hodges, who was credited with solving every case brought to his attention, never solved the case for his retirement came too soon, but remembers it all too well. Brady Hartsfield has been keeping an eye on Hodges since the day he plowed down the ambitious people at the job fair so early in the morning a couple years before. Hartsfield is waiting for the inevitable day where Hodges meets his undeniable fate, as most retired cops do. When Hartsfield begins to send Hodges letters telling him how he felt while running over innocent people and taking their lives on that horrible day, Hodges beings to reopen the case on his own despite the legal trouble he could get into. Hodges, now on the hunt for Brady Hartsfield, gains help for his yard boy, Jerome, conspiracy theorist neighbors, and from others whom he never thought he would come in contact with. In this story full of affairs, innocent lives being taken, explosions and inappropriate sexual humor, King makes it clear that “The Mercedes Killer” in Mr. Mercedes definitely takes this book to court.

Who Would Commit This? This book is perfect for anyone looking to say up all night nose deep in an action packed mystery. The gripping story will hold you captive until you reach the very last period. Stephen King does an excellent job of incorporating different views on such things as modern technology, police work, criminal minds, and love affairs. King uses a wide variety of diction and word choices to explain the story thoroughly while expending the reader’s vocabulary all at the same time. In Mr. Mercedes, King writes in both the view point of the protagonist, Retired Detective Bill Hodges, and the antagonist also known as “The Mercedes Killer”, Brady Hartsfield. This insight on both character’s lives keeps the reader on the edge of their seat while reading because they know the inner working of each one’s mind and what the next step will be to stay one step ahead of the other character. Anyone who loves action and mystery while staying one step ahead of the characters in the book will want to go to their nearest book store and get their hands on a copy of Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes.

Word Count: 581 words

The Client by Josh Grisham

Book: The Client by John Grisham

Genre: Crime Fiction

Mug Shot: This cover leaves most of the story completely to the imagination. But the gold symbol shows the symbol of Lady Justice which hints at the use of the legal system and the many lawyers that appear throughout the story.

Does it go to Court? This book would definitely go to court. This book dives into one of the areas of murder trials and the mob that is not commonly touched. Instead of trying to figure out who killed U.S. Senator Boyd Boyette, you know from the very beginning that it was Barry ‘the Blade’ Muldanno. The book centers on Mark Sway, who is one of the two people who witnessed the suicide of Jerome Clifford. Jerome had been Barry Muldanno’s lawyer but he believed the mob would come to kill him since it appeared he would lose the trial. He preferred to die on his own terms so he drove to his home town to kill himself. Mark and his brother, Ricky, where in the woods where Jerome Clifford went to kill himself and they had tried to stop him from committing suicide. Jerome caught Mark and attempted to kill him as well. After talking for a few minutes, Jerome tells Mark where the body of Boyd Boyette is. The only reason the FBI couldn’t arrest Barry Muldanno was because they couldn’t find the body, so now he FBI are after Mark to make them tell him where he body is. Mark panicked and hired the lawyer Reggie Love to help him after the FBI and the press refused to leave him alone. More pressure is put on Mark when the mob starts threatening him and even burns down his mobile home, and if he tells anyone where the body is they will kill him and his family. What comes next is an intense three way battle between the mob, the FBI, and Mark Sway. The ending is unexpected and sudden, yet perfectly wraps up everything. So yes, this book goes to court because it tells a thrilling crime story that I bet most people have never seen before. The Client is an exciting alternative to Crime Fiction.

Who would commit this? Any lover of Mystery or Crime Fiction novels would love this book; it’s exciting and an interesting take on murder trials. It’s exciting and fast paced, with a writing style that brings a lot of dry humor to such a serious topic. The characters are all interesting and of a variety of personalities which makes reading this book interesting.

Book v.s. Movie: The movie adaptation of The Client did the book a lot of justice, but they did change a few aspects. For instance, everyone in the movie version was more disrespectful and sassy, while in the book they were more polite. Mark Sway in the book was very respectful to his lawyer and the people accusing him of knowing where the body is buried. They also changed who the mob sent to kill Mark, Ricky, and their mother. In the book, they hired two professionals to first threaten then kill Mark and his family, but in the movie it was just another member of the mob and they never specified who exactly he was. However, the movie was as enjoyable as the book and I believe they did a good job at adapting this book.

Word Count: 574