Thicker Than Water

Rating:
Summary: Could have been a GREAT read if only...
Review: ....more attention had been paid to the details. I can't believe the other two reviewers missed it! But then again both reviews appear to have been written by people more inclined to promote the book or themselves rather than inform other readers.

I've read every last one of Shayne's "Wings in the Night" series, loved them all. "The Gingerbread Man" was another at the top of my list and what had me convinced I should grab "Thicker than Water". I truly thought I had a winner in my hands until #1 Dawn's description for the Amber Alert of having BLACK hair. She was a blond. #2 After being with Ms. Marcum, when Sean called Jax about Dawn's kidnapping; Jax and Ms. Marcum meet again during the rescue. Only THIS time Jax asks, "And who are you?" Duh! #3 Lack of believability. No FBI agent is going to allow a small town cop and a journalist to participate in a raid for a wanted man the equivelent of Jim Jones or David Koresh.

What started out as a terrific read gets only 2 stars. Maggie you fell asleep at the wheel of your Porsche this time. Try some Red Bull for the next one, okay?

Rating:
Summary: Could have been a GREAT read if only...
Review: ....more attention had been paid to the details. I can't believe the other two reviewers missed it! But then again both reviews appear to have been written by people more inclined to promote the book or themselves rather than inform other readers.

I've read every last one of Shayne's "Wings in the Night" series, loved them all. "The Gingerbread Man" was another at the top of my list and what had me convinced I should grab "Thicker than Water". I truly thought I had a winner in my hands until #1 Dawn's description for the Amber Alert of having BLACK hair. She was a blond. #2 After being with Ms. Marcum, when Sean called Jax about Dawn's kidnapping; Jax and Ms. Marcum meet again during the rescue. Only THIS time Jax asks, "And who are you?" Duh! #3 Lack of believability. No FBI agent is going to allow a small town cop and a journalist to participate in a raid for a wanted man the equivelent of Jim Jones or David Koresh.

What started out as a terrific read gets only 2 stars. Maggie you fell asleep at the wheel of your Porsche this time. Try some Red Bull for the next one, okay?

Rating:
Summary: Thicker Than Water...
Review: For thousands of years, wise men have warned about men like Mordeccai Young, men who set themselves up as pseudo Messiahs. With promises of peace, Young led a group of runaway girls into a life of slavery until the government stormed his hideaway. Unfortunately, the Feds could not rescue the girls who were Young's victims. In the siege, a killing fire killed them all, or so it was believed.

One girl escaped, taking with her the child her best friend bore Young. Sixteen years later, that girl, Jewel, now Julie, faces losing the daughter who became her own. A man threatens to expose her secrets, that she has Dawn illegally. Julie's nightmare only grows worse when she finds her blackmailer stabbed to death. The noose around her neck tightens when the murder weapon vanishes and a strange car begins following Dawn. Then, a faith healer comes to town, and Julie quickly realizes that Dawn's father lived through the fire. Only one other person knows the truth, the thorn in her side, her co anchor, Sean MacKenzie. Unknown to Julie, Sean has been haunted by the siege that changed her life for as long as she has. He was there, and could have stopped it, or at least saved a few of the girls. Helping Julie deal with her past will let him exorcise his own demons. Then, Julie and Dawn both vanish, and it is up to Sean to find them.

**** What does family really mean? Maggie Shayne answers that question in Thicker than Water. Love and devotion blend with suspense and secrets in this fast paced story. The reparte between Sean and Julie lightens an other wise deep read. Though Ms Shayne is noted for her paranormal fantasy, she is also capable of creating a world realistically believeable. ****

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

Rating:
Summary: Critique
Review: Maggie Shayne's Thicker Than Water has a great plot, that not only fits to each of the character's roles but to their backgrounds. For example all six major characters have a link that connects them to one another, making the story more devious. Especially between the antagonist and the portagonist where the links are the author's way of forshadowing what will happen next. Shayne's interactions between the minor characters and the major characters were well played out.
The setting is an important factor. Placing the story in New York made it more realistic, since two of the characters are news reporters. I especially enjoyed the inside detail on journalism and what it takes to tell people news.
Although the story's major characters interacted well, the role of the police woman was a little overdone. I didn't think it was a good idea to use her as a minor character, and Shayne writes the character to have feelings for one of the other characers when in the end it didn't even fit in with the whole story plot.
In conclusion, I think Shayne wrote well and the characters' interactions with one another are well written. I would recommend this book to all those with taste for suspense.

Rating:
Summary: Thicker Than Water
Review: Running from her past that she thought she had left behind in the rubble of Mordecai Young's religious compound for runaways, Julie Jones has a secret she won't let get out. At 16 years old Julie ran away from an abusive father that killed her mother to live on the streets. While living on the streets she meets a girl named Lizzie that is also a run away. They become best friends and learn to live together. One day a teen comes up and tells them about this so called haven for run away teens, well it turns out to be more like a nightmare rather than a haven. Mordecai Young turns out to be this religious freak and to top it of also a murderer.
Julie Figures out the truth about this teen haven and about the drugs that are being put in their food, so her and Lizzie come up with this plan to become his favorites so that they could get away. Well Lizzie gets pregnant by Mordecai and falls in love with him so Julie convinces her to runaway with her. On the day they were supposed to runaway the FBI raided the place. While attempting to get out Lizzie got shot and Told Julie to take Sunny (her baby) and raise her. So she got out, got a new identity and made a good life for her and Dawn (her babies new name). Many years later she becomes a successful anchor woman with a loving daughter. But then a man named Harry blackmails her because of her dirty secret, when he turns up dead the same night she decides to tell him off things become complicated. Then the murder weapon turns up in her house and she starts getting anonymous phone calls etc. Her rival anchor man becomes her only allie as they twirl into a world of love and deceit.
This romantic story with a suspenseful twist is the best book I have read all year. Although i have read many novels of this sort, Thicker Than Water is set apart from the rest because of the chilling ability the author has to make it seem so real. There were times in this book when I was laughing and times when I was on the edge of my seat wondering what twist was going to be next.
All in all this entire book was just an incredible read!! I couldn't have put it down once I started even if I had wanted to. It definitely was an attention grabber that I would recommend to anyone.
I think that the point the author was trying to get across was learning the ability to stick together in trying times even when you feel like falling apart. This is clear by how much importance the author tells about family matters.
In conclusion it is probably tell that I liked this book a lot and enjoyed reading it. If you think that you liked what you have heard so far about this book, read it to find out the twisted ending it has.

Rating:
Summary: solid journalist romance
Review: Seventeen year old runaway Julie believes that her mentor, cult prophet Mordecai Young is insane and dangerous. She worries that he will choose martyrdom for him and his followers in their upcoming confrontation with the law. Julie fears for his infant daughter and the mother of the child Lizzie. The assault occurs, but Julie rescues the child. Lizzie and Mordecai apparently died in the fiery inferno.

Sixteen years later, Julie is a successful Syracuse news broadcaster though raising Dawn on her own. Harry Blackwood, brother to a state senator, has blackmailed Julie threatening Dawn with information he obtained on their days in the cult. Julie confronts Harry, but finds him dead. Julie knows that the killer has the damaging information that Harry used on her. Though she feels he is an uncouth boar, Julie turns to her co-anchor Sean MacKenzie who observed her pull a crime scene stunt and a break and entering so he helps her while they fall in love.

Though there has been a bundle of news romance tales especially in the movies, readers will appreciate THICKER THAN WATER. The story line is fast-paced as the seemingly prim and proper Julie tampers with a crime scene and breaks the law in an attempt to protect Dawn. Sean is an intriguing hero who cannot believe what Julie has been doing since the discovery of a dead Harry. Though the final twist or two seem odd, fans of exhilarating romantic suspense thrillers will want to read Maggie Shayne's fine tale.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: solid journalist romance
Review: Seventeen year old runaway Julie believes that her mentor, cult prophet Mordecai Young is insane and dangerous. She worries that he will choose martyrdom for him and his followers in their upcoming confrontation with the law. Julie fears for his infant daughter and the mother of the child Lizzie. The assault occurs, but Julie rescues the child. Lizzie and Mordecai apparently died in the fiery inferno.

Sixteen years later, Julie is a successful Syracuse news broadcaster though raising Dawn on her own. Harry Blackwood, brother to a state senator, has blackmailed Julie threatening Dawn with information he obtained on their days in the cult. Julie confronts Harry, but finds him dead. Julie knows that the killer has the damaging information that Harry used on her. Though she feels he is an uncouth boar, Julie turns to her co-anchor Sean MacKenzie who observed her pull a crime scene stunt and a break and entering so he helps her while they fall in love.

Though there has been a bundle of news romance tales especially in the movies, readers will appreciate THICKER THAN WATER. The story line is fast-paced as the seemingly prim and proper Julie tampers with a crime scene and breaks the law in an attempt to protect Dawn. Sean is an intriguing hero who cannot believe what Julie has been doing since the discovery of a dead Harry. Though the final twist or two seem odd, fans of exhilarating romantic suspense thrillers will want to read Maggie Shayne's fine tale.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Two Thumbs Up!
Review: Sixteen years ago, sixteen-year-old Jewel's abusive father killed her mother. If this isn't a good enough reason for a girl to runaway from home and live on the streets, then there isn't one. While living rough, Jewel meets Lizzie, another runaway and they become close. The girls learn about a haven for runaways and decided to go there, however unknown to them their haven is more like a prison and it's messianic like cult leader, Mordecai Young, has a lot in common with David Koresh. The girls realize their mistake, but by the time they get around to planning an escape, Lizzie has delivered a baby girl, Sunny, fathered by Mordecai. The girls decided to get on out of there and to raise the baby themselves, but just as they're about to escape, the FBI raids the cult, Lizzie is killed, but not before making Jewel promise to raise Sunny, and the cult and its followers go up in a Waco like conflagration.

Flash forward sixteen years. Sunny, now named Dawn, has grown into a nice girl raised by Jewel, who now calls herself, Julie Jones. Julie is a respected on-air newscaster for a Syracuse, New York television station. The station has just hired sleazy, radio shock-jock Sean MacKenzie as her co-anchor and she's not happy about it as there is apparently nothing Sean won't do for a story, no depth he won't slink to.

Then somehow a slimeball named Harry Blackwood, brother of a state senator, finds out about her past and attempts to blackmail her. Julie goes to confront him only to find the senator's brother dead and now she's in trouble, because who do you think the number one suspect is? And who do you think Julie's number one ally is going to be? Yep, you guessed it, our estwhile, scumbag, shock-jock who gets more respectable as we turn the pages, until he winds up with almost hero like status in this book that had me fooled by several red herrings. Ms. Shayne is one heck of a writer as far as I'm concerned. She writes about believable characters that grow and change. She does her homework and gives us believable background and she gives us a believable story that seems like it's straight from today's headlines. This one gets a big two thumbs up from me, I can't wait for the movie.

Reviewed by Lenore Douglass

Rating:
Summary: Note on the final twist
Review: The final twist leaves this story incomplete- we will have to wait for part two- Lizzie's story to complete this one and the story of the survivors of Mordecai's cult.

Overall I enjoyed this romance-lighting fast pacing and the befuddled hero were enjoyable-this was the first time I read a Maggie Shayne novel that felt more like a Sandra Brown novel.For journalistic romantic suspense try Exclusive or Standoff by Sandra Brown.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and creepy...
Review: There seem to be quite a few books out there with cults in them recently. I, personally, find the whole subject very creepy, which is why it is perfect in a mystery/romance. When Julie escapes from a cult with the baby of a best friend she has to reinvent her life. She becomes a famous newscaster and 16 years later finds herself involved in a murder with ties to her past. She immediately is confronted by her nemisis (and new partner) who ends up helping her (because he is, of course, the love interest). All in all, a delightful read, if a little predicatable. In any case, I am looking forward to the sequel and recommend it.