Night Work

By Laurie R. King

Night Work is a very average detective story without any big surprises. I had most of the answers half way through the book. In the end it was just a question of finishing the story to get them all confirmed.

This was also my first encounter with American author Laurie R. King, and I was not tempted to read any more of her books.

The story is set around a women's shelter. Two men involved in domestic violence and the abuse of women are found brutally murdered. Detective Kate Martinelli and her partner Al Hawkin are put on the case. It soon leads them to a local vigilante group named Ladies of Perpetual Disgruntlement, known for their series of retaliations against men who abuse women.

Kate also becomes mixed up in the cultural implications involved with the age-old Indian custom of wife-burning when she is asked to investigate the death of a young Indian woman, whose arranged marriage brought her to America. Her death appears to have been an accident but an autopsy soon shows otherwise.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

By J.K. Rowling

After a long and horrible summer with the Dursleys, Harry is glad to be back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he arrives in style in a flying car!, to start his second year.

Before leaving the Dursleys Harry is visited by Dobby, an elf-like creature, who warns him that he must not return to school, for great danger awaits him there. Of course, knowing Harry, he only wants to get away from his bedroom prison so he returns to Hogwarts only to stumble right into the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets.

Harry, and his friends Ron and Hermione, soon discover that the Chamber of Secrets contains a deadly monster. The Chamber has not been opened for 50 years and that the last time it was opened, someone died. However, there are signs at school that the Chamber will again be opened and the evil contained therein set loose once more, as children are frozen and very nearly killed by something unseen crawling the halls of the school. It is up to Harry and his friends to discover what it is and to stop it.

This story is funny, imaginative and intense as well as full of fantasy and mystery. It is a wonderful sequel to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and has lots of promise for more exceptional books in this series.