Live at 10:00, Dead at 10:15 : A Sonya Iverson Novel

Rating:
Summary: good style doesn't make for good reading
Review: 1st and beginning chapters - interesting premise, good setup to plot, and introduction to quite intriguing characters. not bad, Elsa.

middle of book - without much suspense or "dawning moment", you will already have figured out "whodunit".
Why, it's so obvious--as in any formulaic murder mystery or soap opera, it's the person you LEAST EXPECT. *fake gasp* Surely Elsa, you must think less of your readers--give us a real mystery to solve--this was so disappointingly easy.

middle to the end - weak attempts and hapless dialogue trying to push evidence towards the other suspects. very weak. At least 4-5 chapters could have been cut from this novel in order to make for a tighter story without excess dragging and PLODDING that this book exhibited. It took frustratingly long to keep reading in order to get to the already-known ending.

Elsa is actually not a bad writer--she just can't carry a plot or flesh it out with drama. In short, it's a suspense story WITHOUT any suspense. There is no physical suspense (i.e. alone in a room, someone behind her back, hairs prickling up), as the suspense is to come from the dialogue. Frankly, it reads like 2 ladies lunching and telling a story. Yawn.

Fashionistas looking for insider gossip and juicy behind-the-scenes info will be disappointed--it gives you more peeks about the journalism industry than anything else.

Sorry to be so harsh. It had potential in the beginning. But at the end i just wanted it to be over.


Rating:
Summary: Glitz and glamour, not much else
Review: Sonya Iverson is a successful news producer being pushed by her younger boss to get exclusive stories on New York's fashion crowd. Several times throughout the story, she mentions how she is recovering from a recent facelift, giving in to the demands of the media and her boss, to look more fashionable. We meet up with her at the New York Public Library at a Fashion awards dinner. Kim Kelly a famous supermodel and recovering drug addict is scheduled to attend. Isaac and Harriett Franklin are hosts of the event. Harriett has many enemies stemming from her selfish, supercilious attitude towards her work and social life. During the course of the awards dinner, she is found by Sonya murdered in the Ladies restroom with Kim Kelly pulling out the murder weapon. People seem to be either overjoyed or devastated by the murder. Kim Kelly cannot take the pressure and meets an untimely end. Sonya reluctantly figures out who is the murderer by realizing who is connected to all those involved. The action moves quickly, though in some instances not well thought out. The reader is kept on edge by several characters having motives. The editing is lacking in this book, and even has one glaring error near the end. A superficial, whodunit mystery when you want something light to read.

Rating:
Summary: Mystery Fun
Review: This book is first and foremost -- fun. The characters and the plot keep you moving through it. You get to see the worlds of television and fashion through the eyes of a real insider, Elsa Klensch. Fortunately, she doesn't take it so seriously. She just enjoys it! You will be kept guessing about the murderer, but even if you figure who it is... the real fun is staying wth the characters. Sonya Iverson, the television producer and detective, takes you on a romp. I read this over a weekend. It's fast and funny and fascinating.

Rating:
Summary: Zero stars wouldn't be good enough
Review: This is one of the worst books ever written. There wasn't one contraction, making it stiff, unpleasant reading. I can't believe her editor(s) let this get published as is. Also, the clues were positively transparent (no,no,no and Jeff smelling Mari's perfume were so obvious as to make me groan). And a few other inconsistencies: Sonya only had a nose bleed and strained muscles from her attack, yet she was "...wheeled back of the operating room." She wasn't operated on, so why was she in the operating room? Secondly, Sonya's body guard is supposed to be a big, burly guy. So all he had to do was pick Mari up off of Sonya OR hit her on the head w/ something (like his fists or his gun), but no no no, he had to put three bullets in her and kill her (NO police department would let him get away w/ that; had he really had to fire his gun, he could have put ONE bullet in her leg, her butt, her shoulder - any of those would have stopped Mari from strangling Sonya). All in all, this was just one horrid, horrid read. Save yourself the money. Oh, and I really didn't appreciate Novelli opting to shoot his dog...as if there isn't enough animal cruelty, Ms. Klensch has to suggest it in her book?