Be Afraid. Be very AFRAID!

Read more from Megan over at Thoughts of an Oxymoron and be sure to come check out her column here next Tuesday!

Its 2:30 p.m. and to me that is the perfect time to polish off the rest of the pot of coffee sitting, now cold, in the pot. Mix it with a little skim milk, some ice, and soon that afternoon nap time feeling is just a little less noticeable. Plus, its delicious and its really all I drink unless you count w(h)ine time starting promptly at 4:30. Its a daily ritual for me. I love the taste, the smell, and the little spark of energy I get which, admittedly, is a lot less than it used to be due to my fierce tolerance to that black elixir from heaven. (That's right, BLACK, no cream, no sugar, unless its iced and then just skim milk.)

So, here I sit with my iced coffee checking over the news and getting ready to share my somewhat off take on things when I stumble across this article.

Murder defense: Too much caffeine.

At first I just laughed it off. Careful kids, Mommy's all jacked up again. Its the coffee baby! *Twitch* That's only a little bit funny (OK maybe a lot funny) since I twitch like a Mexican Jumping Bean anyway. Maybe its the coffee, but I doubt it. After all, coffee doesn't make you twitch, it makes you kill people. Quickly too I'll bet.  It seems that in my the state just south of my own, Woody Will Smith (Yep, WOODY WILL *eye roll*) is claiming that he had too much coffee, cola, energy drinks and pills and not enough sleep. That this combination of exhaustion and drug induced energy caused him to go cuckoo and strangle his wife with an electric cord. I'm not sure if I'm buying that defense Woody Will. I know what its like to live on the edge of exhaustion, I have four kids. I also know what its like to live all jacked up on coffee. I do it every day and I like it that way. 

Now, I'm not saying that I don't ever feel like FrEaKiNg out on someone, but strangulation by electric cord hasn't ever even come CLOSE to happening, or strangulation by any other device, poisoning, stabbing or shooting. Somewhere in that mess of murderous options, there is this little thing called self control and rational thinking. The shrink in charge of Woody's psych eval. had this to say.

"This dissociative belief and intense paranoid delusions are the direct result of the ingestion of large amounts of caffeine and diet pills." 

This is good news/bad new folks. Lets start with the bad news so I can leave you with a happy ending.  Here it is. Willy Woody or whatever this guy's real name is will probably walk away from this murder and down the block to the rehab facility for his addiction to caffeine. His dead wife will still be dead, and if he's anywhere NEAR as lucky as Lindsay Lohan, he'll be out in 23 days. He'll be back at the Waffle house with a to-go cup in hand.  Now the good news. Every time I feel like I'm ready to lose it, I'm blaming the Folgers in my cup. 

You know whats coming next? People suing Starbucks, Seattle's Best, Folgers, and Dunkin' Donuts for making them murder people. *eye roll* Nice try Woody Watson. Nice try...

The Knight by Steven James

When I agreed to review The Knight I did not realize that it was actually the third book in a series by Stephen James. I usually will not read a series out of order, but was thrilled to find that The Knight was great standing alone. I had no trouble following the plot or understanding the characters. I do plan on getting the other two books, as now I am intrigued as to what transpired in them to help shape the characters in this one.

Special Agent Patrick Bowers is our hero. He is a thirty-something widower, raising a very intelligent and head strong teenage stepdaughter. Special Agent Bowers trackers serial killers using a method some critics find quite unorthodox. He tracks the geospatial intersection of killer and victims, believing that when you figure out the area a killer hunts in you will find the killer. He is very determined and good at what he does. His life is somewhat complicated, but he tries to keep home at home and work at work. I really liked that about his character.

The Knight finds Bowers testifying at the trial of a serial killer he apprehended and being questioned about that arrest. I warn you, the description of what this killer did to his victims is quite graphic and very unsettling. There are twist and turns here I cannot divulge, but something as mundane as going to court can turn into a big event.

He is also being stalked by a man who calls himself Shade. The authorities know who he is, know where he is mailing his threatening letters from, but just cannot find him. As a threat to his life and that of his stepdaughter Tessa's, Shade weighs heavy on Bowers mind.

As if all that wasn't enough, there is a new killer for Bowers to track down. Giovanni is reenacting an ancient manuscript, carrying out a series of grisly, tortuous murders. At each scene he leaves little things to taunt Bowers, trying to pull him into the sick game. The hunt for Giovanni takes Bowers and the reader on a wild ride, through unbelievable, unexpected twists and turns leading to the big finale.

I really enjoyed this book. It can be quite graphic; at some points I had to stop reading because the descriptions of the torture some of the victims went through was just so vivid. That said, I love an author who can pull you into his story. The kind who writes so you can see it all in your head like a movie. Stephen James does this beautifully. I really enjoyed going along for the ride with Bowers and company while he tracked Giovanni. The characters are well written, the plot keeps you on the edge of your seat, and you end up wanting to read more from the author and these characters. There is so much I haven't written that adds to the story, but I do not want to spoil it for anyone. I just highly recommend you go get a copy of The Knight and read it for yourself. If you like mystery, action, or thrillers then this will be a hit!

Available August 2009 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.