Customer Reviews

The Mind Box

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In a town where rumors spread faster than wildfires, Hollywood is abuzz with speculation about Eddie Ealing's mysterious email from "Mike's Gifts", a shadowy business that specializes in the most calculated kind of revenge. With no clear motive and a very long list of suspects, Hollywood homicide detective Lane Daily is called back from vacation to lead the investigation. Never one to do things by the book, she has a hard-earned reputation for cracking some of the L.A.P.D.'s toughest cases.

Daily's investigation soon uncovers a trail of lies, betrayals, and vicious mind games that prove someone is going to great lengths to hide the facts about a promising new wonder drug. When she becomes a target herself, Daily learns that behind the lies is a secret so powerful it can destroy the mind of anyone who gets too close to the truth.

Mind Box is a solid debut mystery by A.J. Diehl. The cliched tough-girl cop (who picks losers for men) got just a tad old, but the characterization was convincing. I was interested in the female psychologist/journalist, too, and would have loved to have gotten a better feel for her character.

I received an uncorrected proof months ago, and I assume the inconsistencies have been corrected (let's hope!). For example, a man supposedly impregnates a girl in 1972 and strangles her when she threatens to tell his wealthy wife of 40 years. Do the math: this guy would have had to been at least 60 or so years of age in 1972 (assuming he married at age 20). He attends a party in present day (let's assume 2005) which would make him about 93 years old. Yet, he's not characterized in this story as an old man!

The story itself is why I gave this book 4 stars. I'd really like to see more from this author. However, the characters seemed a bit tired/cliched, especially as one that has read quite a few detective novels. If this author continues with solid storytelling--and perhaps imbues more nuance, descriptive details, and original "voices" for her characters--she'll be a force to be reckon with in the police procedural genre. (Look out J.D.Robb/Nora Roberts!)

Blame the dark circles under my eyes on The Mind Box! Diehl created a world I couldn't get away from. This book keeps you hooked page after page, after page. I stayed up reading all night the day my copy of the Mind Box arrived. What a gripping, enthralling story. You will love the dynamic characters as well as Diehl's attention to the details. She makes this book worth reading twice!

This book is a page turner. Read it on a cross country flight. Could not put it down. The characters really reflect some of the colorful people I have met in the media business. Fantastic plot line--an engaging read.

I took this book on a trip to visit the family and kept wanting to get away from them and back to the book. (Don't tell.) The murder is pretty strange and the investigator screwed up in even more interesting ways. There's some fun stuff about Hollywood that rings true, and the bad guy caught me by surprise. Good stuff. More please.

The publisher has a free preview on their website. What a riveting story! I couldn't stop reading the free preview until I finished, then I was compelled to read it all again. I became obsessed with the story, and managed to obtain an advance copy of the book. I could not put it down! It was so gripping I read it all in one weekend. I heard the same editor that found and published 'Silence of the Lambs' is the one that brought out 'The Mind Box.' I can't wait for the sequel, and the movie!

The Mind Box is a good novel--it starts out slow with a few too many POVs for my taste--but just before the halfway mark, it all starts to come together--Very Nicely. All that front material probably isn't needed--but the author does make it a point to tie it in so it isn't wasted. The main character, Lane, starts out a little cliche-feeling--tired cop, personal problems...but the situation is more unique than one expects. The entire second half it's hard to put the book down--definitely worth a read and an author to keep an eye on.

What a terrific thriller, and a smart one too -- gripping plot and gorgeous writing that powerfully evokes scenes and people. Dense with layers and levels, and not a boring page from beginning to end.

The book is a great read. The technical aspects, like CSI, make the story even more exciting. I hope there will be a follow up. Set among Hollywood background gives the novel an extra intrigue.

Though the email from a source called "Mike's Gifts" reminded him of Poe and to a large degree his own gruesome gory movies, Oscar winning Hollywood producer Eddie Ealing thought he was safe because of the deal he negotiated. Two days later, Eddie is found dead in his mansion. Police Detective J.D. Nestor informs his partner Detective Lane Daily that this homicide is even gorier than the Tate/LaBianca case as the torture and mutilation was obviously personal. The crime scene and deceased look like part of a theatrical production.

Lane is informed she is teamed up with Taryn Pierce on leading the investigation and quickly learns many people had a motive to kill the affluent filmmaker as Eddie stomped on anyone to make it including members of the victim's influential family who run a memory research business. As the detectives dig for clues in which each one adds more questions than answers, Lane begins receiving Email messages from Mike's Gifts discussing in detail her darkest secret that she thought only she knew.

This is a terrific serial killer tale that hooks the audience from the first email and never slows down during a macabre fascinating cat and mouse skirmish until the final confrontation. Lane and Taryn are complex characters whose professional relationship is kindly put as rocky while the killer comes across mostly indirectly through the viewpoints of the cops or the emails as a brilliant lunatic. Fans will enjoy accompanying the sleuths as they follow up on clues in which the perpetrator seems always to be ahead of them.

Harriet Klausner