Postcard Killers

By James Patterson and Liza Marklund

This story will make you think twice about meeting strangers while on vacation...
Europe is being plagued by serial killers; an unknown couple is murdering young honeymooners all over the continent. Before they do, they send a postcard to a local newspaper with a Shakespeare quote warning the world that another murder has been committed.
The killers meet unsuspecting honeymooners and persuade them to go back to their hotel, they then brutally murder the two and escape before anyone finds the bodies.

Jack Kanon is an American policeman and his daughter Kimmy was murdered in Rome with her new husband by the postcard killers. Hunting down the murdering couple becomes his obsessive goal and he follows them across Europe as they leave a trail of bodies in their wake. 

Dessie Larsson is a Swedish journalist who receives a mysterious postcard in the mail, she frantically realizes it's the calling card of the postcard killers. Jack catches up with her and together they work to find out who and where the postcard killers are and who they may be killing next...

It was a good thriller; twists and turns abound and it's exciting to delve deeper into the minds of the psycho killers, especially when it turns out that they are murdering in the name of art.

  

The Adjustment Bureau

Starring: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthonie Mackie, Terence Stamp, John Slattery

Rating: PG-13

Score: 3/4

Based on the short story Adjustment Team by Philip K. Dick, this is a story revolving around the concepts of fate, predestination, and free will.

David Norris is a popular New York politician running for the US Senate. Because of his rowdy ways, he does not win. On election night he goes to the bathroom to review his concession speech and meets Elise, a free-spirited dancer hiding from security because she crashed a wedding.
Only a few days later he meets Elise on a bus and they flirt back and forth realizing they are attracted to each other. She gives David her phone number. But David will have a hard time calling her because the adjustment team is on his tail.

The Adjustment Bureau is a secret organization that keeps everyone "on plan." The head of the bureau, the Chairman, has created a plan for every human on Earth and they have to stick to it. David's plan does not let him be together with Elise, he is meant to do great things but can't if he stays with her.  David doesn't like the idea of fate and decides to fight for free will by doing everything he can to find Elise.

There are obvious parallels between adjusters and angels, and the idea of the Chairman as God. It's a thought provoking story; are we here to fulfill a fate already planned for us or do we have the choice to do what we want with our lives?

It's not a confusing storyline to follow as some critics are saying, it's pretty straightforward and I would recommend it.

A Royal Likeness
By Christine Trent

Marguerite is a doll maker, she lives with her husband Nicholas in London and together they own a doll shop. But, this is during the Napoleonic Wars and even though Marguerite is a loyal British citizen, her name is enough to make a French-hating mob show up at her front door. They destroy the shop and kill her beloved Nicholas. Stricken with grief Marguerite retreats into seclusion at her friends' estate in the countryside.

In an effort to convince her to move on with her life, her friends apprentice her to Madame Tussaud, a French wax worker who has a traveling show. Marguerite agrees and travels to Edinburgh with Marie Toussaud and her young son. There, she meets the smarmy owner of the show traveling with Madame Tussaud's, Philip Philipsthal. Marie has some kind of mysterious obligation to Philip that she won't tell Marguerite, they stand in corners arguing in whispers and then refuse to tell Marguerite what is wrong.

In Edinburgh, Marguerite also meets the taciturn Hastings, a Navy officer under the great Nelson. He doesn't smile, doesn't laugh, barely talks, but somehow he intrigues Marguerite and in turn finds himself intrigued by her. But soon, Margueurite will find herself caught between Hastings and his friend Brax, the polar opposite of Hastings. One of them is a traitor to the Crown and a danger to her life...

The story culminates with the Battle of Trafalgar...and somehow Marguerite is on a ship right in the middle of it!

The beginning of the book can be a little too sticky sweet, it took me until about the middle of the book to actually start liking Marguerite. The Battle of Trafalgar was my favorite part because she finally started acting sensibly. We meet many real people: Admiral Nelson, William Pitt, Charles Fox, and even Madame Tussaud herself. At 384 pages it's thick, but a very easy read. By the end, I found myself rooting for Marguerite and a certain someone, however, I did think the ending was a little melodramatic.  

Unknown

Starring: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones

Rating: PG-13

Score: 2.5/4

I expected this to be similar to Taken but it wasn't; yes, Liam Neeson is running around a European city searching for something, but, this time he's looking for himself and he's not a martial arts expert or a smooth talking ex-agent.

The movie opens with Martin Harris on a plane with his wife, they're flying to Berlin for a biotech summit. Once the couple arrives at the hotel Martin realizes he accidentally left his briefcase at the airport. He hops in a cab to go back, leaving his wife to check in. However, on his way to the airport the cab crashes and goes into the river.

Martin wakes up from a coma to find himself in the hospital, his memories are muddled and he just wants to get back to his loving wife. But, when he finds her back at the hotel she doesn't know him and there is another man named Martin Harris with her. Martin enlists the help of the cabbie who was in the car with him. Her name is Gina, she's an illegal alien from Bosnia trying to make enough money to get to America. With the help of an ex-Stasi agent (Bruno Ganz) Martin investigates his past life and the mysterious man who has taken his place.

The movie is gray, we are in Berlin in November and everything is slushy and frozen. The story starts off believeable, Martin is gentle and focused only on his wife. As the plot thickens it becomes more intriguing but also less believable; who would have thought botany was such a hot topic?