Brimstone (Pendergast, Book 5)

Book Description

A body is found in the attic of a fabulous Long Island estate.There is a hoofprint scorched into the floor, and the stench of sulfur chokes the air.When FBI Special Agent Pendergast investigates the gruesome crime, he discovers that thirty years ago four men conjured something unspeakable.Has the devil come to claim his due?

Customer Reviews:

For Pendergast fans.......2007-09-24

Our inscrutable FBI agent takes on a worthy adversary in this mind bending whodunit wrought with occult images and religious uncertainties. Hateable bad guys, exotic locales, and believable supporting characters are crafted into a chilling and irresistable murder mystery.

Another Preston & Child MUST READ!

How to read Preston/Child.......2007-09-15

Preston/Child are such marvelous writers, it's important to do them justice. You want to make sure you get the full effect of Diogenes' (dare I say it) diabolical plot.

Here's how it should go. Get "Brimstone", "Dance of Death", and "Book of the Dead". Put them by your reading chair, but do not open them.

Clear your calendar--call in sick, take vacation days, whatever you need to do. Check for sufficient provisions for several days--whatever your reading food of choice is. Make peace with your family, insure they have enough food and clean laundry to tide them over, (does not work with young children) and explain that you will be incommunicado for a while. If necessary, go shopping. Have a talk with your pets (does not work with cats) and make arrangements to have them fed and watered.

Now, with a clear conscience, open "Brimstone". Enjoy

Good But Tangled.......2007-09-06

This book had alot of promise with a great story line but it just did not flow from begining to end. Too many lose ends and not clear on how the main detectives came to their conclusions.

Another Triumph for Preston and Child.......2007-08-08

I have read following novels by Preston and Child. They include: RELIC, MOUNT DRAGON, RELIQUARY, THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, STILL LIFE WITH CROWS and THE BOOK OF THE DEAD. BRIMSTONE is the first in the series of a trilogy ending with BOOK OF THE DEAD. I, of course, read BOOK OF THE DEAD first. Big mistake! I knew who wasn't going to die - which spoiled BRIMSTONE. Publishers need to include warning labels on trilogies.

There is an advantage to reading the last book first. Normally, I would have quickly read through chapter 43. It is slow moving. However, since I read the last book first, I immediately was alerted to the fact that chapter 43 lays the foundation for an important dimension of the storyline in the second and third novel.

Like Detective D'Agosta, I am a first generation American whose parents came from Italy prior to World War II. In chapter 50 (hilarious), D'Agosta speaks Italian that no Italian can understand. He, as I have learned, is speaking a dialect that no longer exists. The authors explain the death of Italian dialects by the influence of Italian TV. That is, Italians slowly evolved into speaking a unified language as a consequence of needing to follow TV programs. However, I understand the Mussolini was responsible. On many occasions, I have been told that Mussolini's contribution to Italy was twofold. First, he made the trains run on time (however, they didn't when I was in Italy); and second, he demanded a unified Italian language. Perhaps, TV had an influence, but clearly Mussolini was the catalyst. TV sustained a unified Italian language, but nothing was able to nurture the trains to continue to be on time.

Preston and Child write GREAT stories. They are vivid and force me to lose track of time. When I finish writing review, I will begin to read the second novel in this trilogy -- THE DANCE OF THE DEAD. There is no greater compliment to an author.

Excellent.......2007-06-20

The character of Pendergast is a calm, collected, masterful character such as is rarely seen in literature or movies these days. He is the sort of hero that it is a delight to identify with. Make no mistake- he struggles with the adversities he faces, but no matter how insurmountable the obstacles he keeps a "cool head." He is reminisent of the classic James Bond, Superman, or Phileas Fogg.
The story is intruiging and the characters are extremely well done. Preston and Child blend mystery/supernatural with modern concepts and technology brilliantly.The same holds true for all of their works that I have had the pleasure to read. Bravo, gentlemen!

Ultimate X-Men Vol. 4: Hellfire & Brimstone

Average customer rating:

My thoughts
Excellent Work
The hideous art really is a problem
Excrement
Compiles issues #21-#24 and double-sized #25

Ultimate X-Men Vol. 4: Hellfire & Brimstone
Mark Millar
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

X-Men | Characters | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

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Superheroes | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0785110895

Book Description

Collects Ultimate X-Men #21-25.

Customer Reviews:

My thoughts.......2007-08-06

I'm a old shcool X-men fan , the ultimate X-men Comics are cool . don't get me wrong , but I grew up watching the Fox Kids cartoons and reading the Comics in witch Wolverine , Cyclops , Jean Gray , Storm and Beast were cool , These new comics kinda tone down the characters and give them more of a helpless high school kids theme . I still enjoy reading this collection of books , but not as much as the original , Overall , I say buy it .

Excellent Work.......2007-06-20

This is a really good continuation of the series and has a lot of foreshadowing into later X-Men events. Definitely worth a read. Beautiful artwork as well.

The hideous art really is a problem.......2006-04-22

Unlike many others, I prefer the Ultimate X-men to the previous versions, so I don't have much nostalgia for older versions of these characters.

The main problem with this volume is the same one that afflicted volume 3: a sudden switch from good to appalling artwork for a few issues really derails the whole thing. The art in 23-25 is just horrible, and I was hard pressed to keep reading through it. Kitty, in particular, is just grotesque.

Get the book if you want to fill out your collection. Otherwise, skip it.

Excrement.......2006-01-18

This is a positively terrible book. The artwork is by no means up to the standards of the first three books. I would not waste my money!

Compiles issues #21-#24 and double-sized #25.......2005-12-17

Issue 21 begins the "Hellfire and Brimstone' story and introduces Kitty Pryde to the Ultimate Universe. #22 explores the Brotherhood of Mutants before degenerating into an uncomfortable fight between Cyclops and Wolverine. The Disneyish artwork and a tired chatroom gag spoil some interesting subplots through #23-#25. Millar's versions of these characters are unlikable compared to those of other Marvel titles.

Average customer rating:

Marvellous title, marvellous book!
amazing
Fascinating!

Brimstone Wedding, the
Barbara Vine
Manufacturer: Penguin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0140252800

Customer Reviews:

Marvellous title, marvellous book!.......2005-10-26

Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine is truly amazing and this book is one of the best of a series of very good books. It is a gut-wrenching tale of love and betrayal told by a dying woman in a nursing home. Her story and the story of her young caregiver Genevieve run along simultaneously in the book, but as I read I realized that Stella's story was going to end much differently and much more tragically than Genevieve's. The plot is set around a house that has been empty for twenty-five years and it is the cleaning up and use of this house that brings this terrible tale to light. Stella knows she wants to tell her story before she dies. Someone needs to know what actually happened to Gilda Brent. Ms. Vine weaves the past and the present together inextricably in this book, and it's magic will draw you in. There is no one quite like her in this genre.

amazing.......2003-11-04

Genevieve Warner, a young woman trapped in a hopeless affair and a loveless marriage, works at Middleton Hall, a home for the elderly. Most of the residents are pleasant enough, contentedly reminiscing about their lives to their carers, but Stella is different. Stella and Genevieve immediately form a bond, taking to one another, seeing little bits of their own personality and situation within the other. Unlike other residents, though, Stella is sharp, smart, and in control, and she does not share the memories of her past, so retains a definite air of mystery. But Stella is dying of lung-cancer, and now she feels a desperate need to tell someone the story of her eventful life, so that her secrets do not die with her, following her into the grave, unknown forever. Thus, she decides to tell her story to Genevieve, slowly unfolding a tale that is moving, powerful, and, ultimately, subtly horrific.

This, "The Brimstone Wedding", is yet another masterpiece of atmospheric fiction from Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell). Yet again she synthesises her twin storylines one in the past, one in the present brilliantly, and they eerily mirror each other down the generations. She builds the atmosphere brilliantly in both the time periods, and the suspense is continually ratcheted up, helped along by subtle and tantalising hints as to what exactly Stella's shocking secret could possibly be.

This time around, the characters are also more likeable than is the norm for a Vine novel, so it has a warmer, deceptively (and dangerously) cosy feel, which is juxtaposed with the usual chilly atmosphere and down-to-the-bones and wonderfully detached writing style. They're characters you are motivated to care deeply about, which serves to make this not only a powerful in places but also very moving. Certainly, there was one point when I even shed a few tears.

The story is told brilliantly, giving readers enough information to satisfy, but yet as little as possible, to ensure that they need continually to turn the page to find out more. It all culminates excellently with a shocking revelation about the true nature of Stella's secret. This revelation is not overblown and exaggerated, as some authors might make it, instead Vine underplays it, clearing it entirely of melodrama and simply telling things exactly as they were, which forces the reader to actually think about it, thus bringing huge power to the climax.

This, a masterpiece that is the sum of many excellent parts, is a complete triumph for Vine, matching up very equally with my previous favourite of hers, the erotic and chilling genius that is "No Night Is Too Long". Neither of these books should be passed over by any reader worth their salt.

Fascinating!.......2003-09-19

This is one of the very best thrillers that I have read. An elderly resident of a nursing home, Stella, is befriended by Genevieve,her special carer. Gradually Stella unfolds her story which in parts is sad, ordinary, suspenseful and terrible. At the same time as Genevieve is hearing Stella's story, she is, in part, re-enacting the same story with her secret lover, Ned.
Stella's lover, Alan, is married to a b-grade movie actress from the 40's whose role playing and drama queen dramatics alienate both her husband and her friends. Stella and Alan continue their love affair for 10 years until circumstances force their hands and their affair takes a new direction. As usual, Barbara Vine inserts the stinger in the tail of the story--a really good read.

FIRE AND BRIMSTONE: THE NORTH BUTTE MINING DISASTER OF 1917

Average customer rating:

Compelling Read
Quite the page turner
Recommended
Compelling read of an amazing place....
Excellent Book

FIRE AND BRIMSTONE: THE NORTH BUTTE MINING DISASTER OF 1917
Michael Punke
Manufacturer: Hyperion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Prospecting & Mining | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 140130155X

Book Description

The worst hard-rock mining disaster in American history began a half hour before midnight on June 8, 1917, when fire broke out in the North Butte Mining Companys Granite Mountain shaft. Sparked more than two thousand feet below ground, the fire spewed flames, smoke, and poisonous gas through a labyrinth of underground tunnels. Within an hour, more than four hundred men would be locked in a battle to survive. Within three days, one hundred and sixty-four of them would be dead. Fire and Brimstone recounts the remarkable stories of both the men below ground and their families above, focusing on two groups of miners who made the incredible decision to entomb themselves to escape the gas. While the disaster is compelling in its own right, Fire and Brimstone also tells a far broader storystriking in its contemporary relevance. Butte, Montana, on the eve of the North Butte disaster, was a volatile jumble of antiwar protest, an abusive corporate master, seething labor unrest, divisive ethnic tension, and radicalism both left and right. It was a powder keg lacking only a spark, and the mine fire would ignite strikes, murder, ethnic and political witch hunts, occupation by federal troops, and ultimately a battle over presidential power.

Customer Reviews:

Compelling Read.......2007-03-12

Michael Punke has an incredible ability to make the story jump off the page. Too many non-fiction writers are turgid; Punke is anything but. I highly recommend it.

Quite the page turner.......2007-02-28

I agree with what the other reviewers have said. I'd like to add that I picked this book up on a whim from the library and could not put it down. While it is a heartbreaking page turner, it is also reads like a love letter to a hardscrabble city. The book jacket says that Punke currently lives in Montana. I am not sure if he is a Butte native, but he has served the city well within the pages of this enthralling read.

Recommended.......2007-01-03

If you have any ties to Montana, or like history. This is a great telling of the events that happened at this time.
An enjoyable book.

Compelling read of an amazing place...........2006-12-07

Michael Punke does an excellent job of weaving the history of the time with the story of the North Butte mining disaster. I don't read alot of history, but found this one of the most interesting, hard-to-put-down books I've read of any non-fiction genre. You can smell the smoke, feel the panic and appreciate the courage of the men and women of Butte. To get a real sense of this history, visit Butte, Montana. It's one of the most fascinating and strong communities on the planet.

Excellent Book.......2006-11-10

This book was based on the history of the incident and politics of the day. The author did an excellent job bringing it all together for a look back at that era.

Average customer rating:

Beautiful prose but Private Idaho
Brilliant and Beautiful
Fantastic!
The World from the Edge of Her Vision
"The Lost Domain"

Saffron And Brimstone: Strange Stories
Elizabeth Hand
Manufacturer: M Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1595820965

Book Description

Widely praised and widely read, Elizabeth Hand is regarded as one of America's leading literary fantasists. This new collection (an expansion of the limited-release Bibliomancy, which won the World Fantasy Award in 2005) showcases a wildly inventive author at the height of her powers. Included in this collection are "The Least Trumps," in which a lonely women reaches out to the world through symbols, tattooing, and the Tarot, and "Pavane for a Prince of the Air," where neo-pagan rituals bring a recently departed soul to something very different than eternal rest. Written in the author's characteristic poetic prose and rich with the details of traumatic lives that are luminously transformed, Saffron and Brimstone is a worthy addition to an outstanding career.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful prose but Private Idaho.......2007-04-29

Hand's often lucid, simple prose will stay with you as well as the intricately symbolic plotting. Some stories (Cleopatra Brimstone, a tightly woven morality tale) are much more satisfying than others (Wonderwall, a drug-drenched memoir of youth well lost).
But there is a self-referencing in all this that is disturbing. There is scant regard for others, indeed almost everyone except the narrator is 'the Other" in these tales. The repetitive taking of human life or consciousness seems as easy and frequent as in a gallery video game. One sure sign of growing up is recognizing the universality of our supposed uniqueness. Hand has real talent, but to write at a more meaningful level will require that her characters start loving someone other than themselves.

Brilliant and Beautiful.......2007-04-17

Elizabeth Hand's intoxicating story collection "Saffron and Brimstone" has the subtitle of "strange stories." Exactly so. The opening tale, "Cleopatra Brimstone," features a plain American Jane with an interest in entomology, who morphs into a London-dwelling goth chick who renames herself Cleopatra Brimstone and develops a unique method of collecting butterflies.

The next tale, "Pavane for a Prince of the Air," is an elegy for a dying hippie and an elegy for the era in which the author came of age.

Then comes the delightful (and sunnier) "The Least Trumps," in which a tattoo artist finds a deck of tarot cards at a rummage sale and discovers they have the ability to change the past.

"Wonderwall" (the reason for story's title will soon become apparent) returns us to the scene of the author's masterful novel "Waking the Moon"--"The University of Archangels and Saint John the Divine" (actually Catholic University) in Washington D.C. It's another ode to the author's past, or so I would suppose.

The last four stories come under the rubric of "The Lost Domain: Four Story Variations," a series of understated, impressionist, prose poems that will probably leave you giddy. "Kronia" deals with memory; "Calypso in Berlin" is about the creation of art (and love); "Echo" is narrated by a woman who might be the last person on earth (or not), while it riffs on the Greek myth of Echo and Narkissos (as Ms. Hand spells it); "The Saffron Gatherers" is about art collecting and real estate, and . . . and then something happens.

Exhilarating, uplifting, wondrous, and certainly strange.

Fantastic!.......2007-04-10

I have been a fan of Elizabeth Hand since high school and haven't read anything of hers for a couple of years. When I found this book I was capitivated. Her words and worlds suck you in and don't let you go until they are over. She always leaves you wanting more!

The World from the Edge of Her Vision.......2007-04-10

I've only known Elizabeth Hand's work through her stunning novel, _Mortal Love_. I was most anxious to delve into this collection after reading reviews of Bibliomancy. Hand is such a good writer, she can't really disappoint, and in the first story she really put the dread in me... I had to put the book down awhile before getting up the nerve to finish that one and go on. My favorite story from the first section however, is _The Least Trumps_,I thought that was just stellar, except... it cried out, to me anyway, to be a much longer piece. There were so many layers of relational complexity between the characters that I longed to have fleshed out and maybe concluded. Perhaps her ambiguity was deliberate, but the writing was so good otherwise, one could hardly help wish for some revelation at least of how the magic worked that transmuted the Trumps to reality and the perceptions of the characters living therein.

The last section, _The Lost Domain_, was very creative, maybe not evenly so, _Calypso in Berlin_ and _The Saffron Gatherers_ being the standouts of the quartet. Overall, I just reveled in reading her once again, how she deals with ideas, themes, change, loss, connection, separation.

"The Lost Domain".......2007-03-11

This collection seems to weave in and out of autobiography--now close and real, then imagined and surreal. Even when straying from the concrete experiences of Hand's life, there remains a magnetic resonance with what I suspect is her core self, as she imagines it, as she embodies it in her private view, her "lost domain."
Hand's writing glows with color, pulses with strangeness, and weaves in a mastery of detail from entomology to Greek myth with a sureness rarely seen in current fiction. Shimmering descriptions abound, such as one about a fox: "It was grinning at me, I could see the thin rind of its gums, its yellow eyes shining as though lit from within by candles." For Hand, the world is a dazzling, complex place; each square foot of earth teems with life.
The beautifully crafted "The Least Trumps" is perhaps the most evocative piece, replete with hints and feints and magic set against human relationships that are fresh and strongly felt.
At the end, the reader may briefly feel as if he's on the cusp of understanding the author's stories, but then this belief falls away like a foggy scrim, leaving the reader tantalized by all that he hasn't grasped.
An elusive and exotic book!

Average customer rating:

Leadup to Tragedy?
Like a foul-tasting Breakfast Club
Too Many Voices
Haunting as it is illuminating.
Brimstone Journal-Will they survive?

The Brimstone Journals
Ron Koertge
Manufacturer: Candlewick
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

School & Education | Reference & Nonfiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0763617423
Release Date: 2004-01-05

Amazon.com

The Branston (a.k.a. Brimstone) High School Class of 2001 has got it all: Damon is the jock, Meredith the slut, Jennifer the good girl, David the computer game addict, Kitty the anorexic, Neesha the sistah, Rob the stud, Sheila the lesbian. And Boyd the angry and scared neo-Nazi with an arsenal in his basement and a list of "everybody who ever blew me off, flipped me off, or pissed me off."

Through a series of poetic journal entries from 15 students, author Ron Koertge chronicles the sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, and ultimately chilling lives of fictional high school students in contemporary America. With just a few words from each character in each entry, readers glean more than a glimpse into their complex and often troubled worlds. Koertge's characterizations are compelling, if clichéd, although omitting two or three of the student roles might have made keeping up with who's who a little easier. Social messages covering racism, classism, homophobia, and an entire high school melting pot of "isms," come across a little heavy-handedly, but work well as an intentionally pointed illustration of the perils young people face today. Subject matter and language make this appropriate for older readers. Koertge is the author of several acclaimed novels, including Confess-O-Rama. (Older teens) --Emilie Coulter

Book Description

In a startling, often poignant student journal, acclaimed poet and novelist Ron Koertge creates a suburban high school both familiar and terrifying.

The Branston High School Class of 2001 seems familiar enough on the surface: there’s the Smart One, the Fat Kid, Social Conscience, Bad Girl, Good Girl, Jock, Anorexic, Dyke, Rich Boy, Sistah, Stud . . . and Boyd, an Angry Young Man who has just made a dangerous new friend. Now he’s making a list.

The Branston High School Class of 2001. You might think you know them. You might be surprised.

Narrated by fifteen teenage characters, this startling, often poignant poetic novel evokes a suburban high school both familiar and terrifying — and provides an ideal opportunity for young adults to discuss violence in schools.

Customer Reviews:

Leadup to Tragedy?.......2007-05-31

This is a book of poems written from the points of view of students at Branston High School. Their school is pretty diverse--some students are religious, some are into video games, one is a member of an immigrant family, and they are of all different races. Despite living within such a diverse community, though, the students are narrow-minded and some have some pretty serious problems.

We as readers see tension building. A few students are collecting weapons and planning an attack on some of their classmates. Many students have heard about these plans and know that there is a list of students who will be targeted, but will any of them take this plan seriously enough?

I liked the idea behind this book. I thought it was a great way to show how a school system could foster such anger in its students, and how difficult it might be to stop a terrible tragedy. However, I was upset at the thought that teachers could be as angry and willing to buy into hate as the students.

Like a foul-tasting Breakfast Club.......2007-04-20

This book is a quick-read, which is good, because it's poorly written. There are many sterotypes and it should offend many groups. Many of the entries are in poor taste and at least two of the characters' entries are filled with profanity. I don't understand why this book would be recommended by anyone; especially in light of the recent college tragedy.

Too Many Voices.......2004-08-06

I enjoyed "Stoner and Spaz" so when I saw another by the same author, I thought I'd give it a try. "The Brimstone Journals" does have a good premise-that's what made me pick it up. But I felt there were just too many voices involved. Some of the minor characters had two, maybe three poems. That didn't seem enough to fully develop the character. All it did was give you a stereo type. As I was reading, I would just think, "yeah, that's the anorexic, that's the goody-goody..." That's how I was able to keep track of who was who. I thought the "Brimstone Journals" was a good story, but just needed to be longer, the characters more developed, to be truly enjoyed.

Haunting as it is illuminating........2004-07-30

Welcome to Branston High, nicknamed Brimstone by it students. As in "fire and brimstone." As in Hell. And if they don't act fast, a demon will break loose.

Through a series of short, journal-like poems, acclaimed author Koertge catapults us into the lives of some Branston students. The cast of characters is all too familiar and almost too dysfunctional --- each with their own burdens to bear. There's the fat kid, the smart kid, the rich kid, the anorexic, the jock, and so on. Rounding out the mix is Boyd. Left to his own devices by his alcoholic father, Boyd has became a white supremacist with a major chip on his shoulder.

Tension within the school is mounting. Mercilessly, Boyd compiles a list of people he hates, his "hit list," student by student. And around him, everybody else's problems are ripping them apart. You'll have to read this inventive and engrossing poem-novel to find out what ultimately happens. THE BRIMSTONE JOURNALS explores the timely and all too real topic of teen violence in a story that is as haunting as it is illuminating.

--- Reviewed by Tammy L. Currier

Brimstone Journal-Will they survive?.......2003-03-03

Robert Koertge's book Brimstone Journal is remarkable. His choice of format (journals) was very effective. It allowed you as the reader to understand each character emotionally and personally, as well as draws you into the fictious world of Branston High School. Brimstone Journal is written as a collection of journal entries from what seems like 15 typical high school students: the cheerleader, the jock, the promiscuous girl, the rich boy, the fat kid, the smart one, the lesbian, the anorexic.... and the ANGRY Boyd who has created a list to get rid of anybody who ever blew him off or made him mad. However, as you engage yourself in each entry, you discover the hidden demons that are eating these students alive bit by bit. Boyd who has just met a new and dangerous friend Mike has developed a list of enemies and with Mike's help has devised a plan to take them all out. Many characters begin thinking of joining Boyd and his plan, and others find themselves wanting to buy weapons from him to put an end to their problems. Entry by entry you become closer and closer to the Big Day when Boyd will put his plan into action. Will someone tell? Will Boyd succeed? Will they survive? You will never know unless you read Brimstone Journal. The characters in this book would appeal to high school students. Due to some of the content and language, I feel this book would be appropriate for grades 9 and up. Through the eyes of 15 teenagers, this frightening situation becomes reality. 5 stars all the way!

Average customer rating:

Chris and Gayle
Okay Read
It's Okay
Read at Your Own Risk
Don't Hate

Fire & Brimstone: A Novel
Laurinda D. Brown
Manufacturer: Strebor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1593090153

Customer Reviews:

Chris and Gayle.......2007-09-17

Chris and Gayle,

What more could be said about these two star-crossed lovers. From the beginning to the end, I couldn't wait to get to the sequel. I was amazed when I first picked it up to start reading. Wasn't sure what to expect when I saw "a lesbian with two kids" of course my mind started wondering, are they young, older, what?? Then the story gave in to parts of life that no one should ever have to deal with. Very touching, and a great read.

Okay Read.......2007-07-23

When my cousin gave me the book I read the Author name and realize I just finish reading a book named Walk Like A Man by her(Which was a better read) after reading that book I thought this book was going to be off the Chain... but it wasn't it was just OKAY. I suggest don't buy it.

It's Okay.......2007-02-13

It wasn't written as well as I feel it should've been. But once I got past the first chapter it went well. Chris and Gayle are two people with very different issues, and a very difficult relationship. After I read so far, I had to see what the outcome would be. This is not a book I will keep in my personal library....I doubt if I would ever read it again.

Read at Your Own Risk.......2006-07-31

I actually checked this out from the library to see if I wanted to buy it. I'm glad I didn't waste my money. It's very poorly written, with choppy character and plot development. I couldn't get a feel for the main characters, as their actions and thoughts just weren't congruent. The language and tone of the story don't flow well with too much cursing, even in narration. I got halfway through and decided I couldn't take anymore; I flipped to end...unsurprisingly, she found Jesus.

If you have any sort of literary or intellectual standards, then this is not the book for you. I'd recommend "Water in a Broken Glass" by Odessa Rose...beautiful metaphors with excellent characters. But if poor grammar and spotty development don't bother you, then go for it.

Don't Hate.......2005-12-06

I read reviews and wonder what you people are looking for. With this book, it's right there in your face. I think it was a great story line about self-acceptance and moving through the crap in one's life. I look forward to more from this author.

Average customer rating:

The Brimstone Wedding

Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GLZS1E

Average customer rating:

Brimstone
Lincoln Child Douglas Preston
Manufacturer: Books on Tape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 1415903727

Average customer rating:

Atmospheric mystery of infidelity
another masterpiece
Deceit Times Two
Wow!
wonderfully engrossing book

Brimstone Wedding, The
Barbara Vine
Manufacturer: Shaye Areheart Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0517703394
Release Date: 1995-12-19

Amazon.com

A wise and unsettling tale of the power and poison of love, from the acknowledged queen of the English psychological mystery.

Book Description

Both a finely crafted mystery and a disturbingly honest depiction of the kinship between love and madness, The Brimstone Wedding tells an unsettling story about the power and the poison of love. A gracious, dignified woman, who's dying in an English nursing home, reveals the secrets of her erotic past to her young caretaker.

Customer Reviews:

Atmospheric mystery of infidelity.......2004-02-04

Driven by atmosphere and character, this novel by Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine, centers around two stories of infidelity and deception.

Genevieve, 32, a working-class caretaker at a private nursing home, confides her affair to her favorite patient, Stella, who is middle-class, educated, affluent and dying. Stella responds with the keys to a house none of her family knows she owns, a house no one has visited in 30 years. She asks Genevieve to report its condition.

Shocked that something so valuable could be simply abandoned -for whatever reason - Genevieve appropriates it as a trysting place, her curiosity only slightly piqued by the abandoned, burned car in the garage, the photographs hidden away, the food and champagne left in the refrigerator.

And so begins a story in tandem as Genevieve's stolen meetings alternate with Stella's story of her own doomed love. Character precipitates the events of the plot, and as we increasingly sympathize with Stella's shy dignity and Genevieve's fretful ardor, foreboding envelops the narrative like a London fog. Not to be missed.

another masterpiece.......2003-02-25

This, "The Brimstone Wedding", is yet another masterpiece of atmospheric fiction from Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell). Yet again she synthesises her twin storylines - one in the past, one in the present - brilliantly, and they eerily mirror each other down the generations. She builds the atmosphere brilliantly in both the time periods, and the suspense is continually ratcheted up, helped along by subtle and tantalising hints as to what exactly Stella's shocking secret could possibly be.

Deceit Times Two.......2002-09-20

What Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell) does best is make us uneasy. You can never settle right in and accept the persons and scenes quite the way they are presented. "What a lovely girl --- and yet?" is a typical reaction. In "The Brimstone Wedding" Ms. Vine is at her best, right up there with "Dark Adapted Eye." The novel is beautifully crafted, the prose spare and the atmosphere of the Fen Country in East Anglia is perfect. Because The Fens are a series of islands based in the boggy soil, the foundations are forever shifting. Nothing changes, but nothing stays exactly the same which is an excellent setting for this haunting tale.

Jenny/Genevieve Warner is a care assistant at a luxurious home for the elderly where she has built a friendship with terminally ill, exquisitely turned out Mrs. Stella Newland. Two women could not be more different on the surface. Jenny is a modern, practical, hard working country girl who has never traveled and is a product of village life and education. Stella comes from the gentry, married very well and seems so sheltered as to have come from a different age all together. Yet the sparkling Jenny's humdrum marriage is teetering because she has discovered passion in the form of a married lover. Stella has some dark secrets she has lived with for over twenty years and wants to share them with Jenny. Stella believes in nothing, but would like redemption. Jenny believes in everything: omens, charms, and every passing happenstance has psychic meaning for her. Jenny is willing to work her way to better things; Stella is passive. But why does Stella own a house that no one knows about? And why is she afraid to even ride in automobiles when she once was considered a dashing driver? Why does she refuse to sit outside in the sunshine?

The author keeps us asking these questions and sends us down some strange paths to get the answers. We know we are heading for a nameless horrific climactic event in Stella's past that will somehow impact on Jenny's present, but what can it be? Ms. Vine never falls into a Gothic romance-type of trap. Her people and events are sharp edged. Stella smokes irritably in spite of the fact she is dying of lung cancer. When Jenny finally works up her courage to leave her husband, he will not take her seriously; so what should be a grand melodramatic episode degenerates into farce. "I'm leaving you Mike"----"Well take the washer and leave the car, there's a good lass."

The author builds the tension until we are wrought up for at least a tornado strike, and she doesn't disappoint. Then when we think we have taken quite enough for one day, she adds another zinger. A great well-done page-turner.

Wow!.......2002-07-30

This was the best book I've read in a loooooooong time! I read alot and am quite particular that the books I read have some substance and make you think a bit. This was all that and more! The last page literally popped my jaw on the floor! What a great read.....I'm anxious to read some other books by the same author.

wonderfully engrossing book.......2002-06-16

another marvelous creation from that all time master of mystery, suspense, psychology, and the human heart, barbara vine, aka ruth rendell. this book will take you in and guide you to the strong unexpected ending and not let you leave until you get there. great characters, true to life situations, interesting subplots and all weaved around the search we all make for love and the pitfalls along the way. all sides of an adulterous relationship are explored and some people in the book find themselves in two positions, being betrayed and betraying others at the same time. great novel, very atmospheric of the country side and the seasons and the inner lives of men and woman. it may be available in the library if you cannot get it on-line or in a bookstore and i would suggest trying that, you will enjoy this book, its one of her best efforts.

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