A Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi

An eclectic readby lamorgan

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November 06, 2009: I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It has the elements of several different styles of writing, including horror, mystery and psychological thriller. And it was also refreshing in that there was no sex or vulgar language.

However, there are vivid descriptions of murder that could potentially make some readers queasy.

I've always been a fan of this type of story. I cut my serious reader teeth on Stephen King and, at one time, that's about the only author I'd follow. It was when I ran out of books by King that I began branching out to different authors and genres.

"A Circle of Souls" was sent to me by the author and I'm glad I agreed to review his book.

There are several elements I liked about Preetham's style of writing. First, I liked his short, punchy chapters. I also enjoyed the way he wove the different stories together to come full circle to where they connected.

I also liked how he described the characters so you really felt like you knew them and understood their thought processes. You knew whether you were supposed to like a character or not because their personalities came through in the writing.

Plus, it was an interesting story line integrating several belief systems, including Hinduism and Jamaican voodoo.

As you get toward the end of the book and you think you have it figured out, Preetham throws a curve ball and provides a surprise ending that makes perfect sense.

Great read, super writer . I'm looking forward to more work by this author in the future.

Excellent Debut and suspense novelby TheCrowdedLeaf

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September 25, 2009: For starters, this book was better than I thought it was going to be. It's Preetham Grandhi's debut novel, but it doesn't feel like this is the first thing he's ever written. As suspense novels go, it was well written and executed like a pro. The plot (though predictable at times if you've read lots of these books like I have) was original and kept me interested throughout.

The story follows a murder in a sleepy town in Connecticut. Child psychiatrist Dr. Peter Gram teams up with FBI agent Leia Bines to solve the mystery; the problem is that their only clues come from the nightmares of a little girl named Naya. Gram is handsome, intelligent, and lonely (I pictured Patrick Dempsey the whole time), Bines is beautiful and damaged. Together they make a great cop/doc crime-fighting pair.

When I read these types of books I make a point of noting the dialogue between the characters and how they interact with each other. For the most part, Grandhi's dialogue was refreshingly realistic and not overly dramatic. It ran close to predictable once or twice, but I only noticed that because I was making a point to look for it. The third-person narrative was executed incredibly well, easily transitioning between the young girl Naya, and the older characters without jarring the flow. It takes a lot of talent to pull that off the way Grandhi has. The plot has a touch of the paranormal, which was unique for a suspense novel and I really enjoyed that aspect of it, especially since it wasn't campy.

Overall, this is an excellent suspense/mystery novel that made me want the train ride to go longer so I could keep reading. An excellent book to fall into when you need to escape and want a good mystery to keep you distracted. It reminded me of James Patterson, but in a good way (since I'm not really a fan of his Women's Murder Club novels) and I definitely recommend it if you're fans of suspense and mystery thrillers. I enjoyed it far more than the four novels I've read by Patterson. Well done. I am really looking forward to seeing what he does for the sequel!