Hello my darling friends!

I SOOO apologize for my not getting my Tuesday Teaser on yesterday! It was my b-day and it got really busy!

Anyway- this week I read “Missing Pieces”- by Jeni Grossman

Though not Jeni’s first book, it is the first one of hers I have read. Jeni hails from Arizona, however she did live in Turkey for two years while her husband was conducting research for work. It is clear from her detail and descriptions that she is familiar with the areas and customs.

This is a modern day fiction, murder/mystery taking place in Iraq and Turkey. Jeni tells the story of Dulcey Moore, a CNN reporter who gets herself tangled in politics, terrorists and a family mystery of both her own and of her local guide (I hope that didn’t give too much away!).

The book was in no way predictable as it involves the inner workings of a country whose traditions and customs are way outside of my little realm here in Utah. I really enjoyed how Jeni tied in interesting cultural information and traditions I wasn’t familiar with. I especially liked how she brought in the treatment of women in modern day Muslim into the picture. Very interesting and in parts, sad. The underlying theme of the book centered around honor. Dulcey, as a modern woman, has a hard time understanding how and why the people treat each other the way they do. It is not until the end that she fully understands the context of honor, when she is placed in both dangerous and difficult situations. I felt that Dulcey was a good main character. It would have been nice to see more development of back story with her and her husbands’ relationship as that never really feels resolved in the story. Dulcey says it was resolved, it’s just hard for me to feel that. I recognize part of that was because she had a hard time being ABLE to contact her husband.

Other characters in the story were well developed and likeable. I especially liked “Frank” her lovable fill-in-dad. He seemed to keep her together. She also showed the dangers of the country for Americans through other characters which really makes me want to ask Jeni about her own personal experiences in that area.

Overall, I would say that the book was/is well, written, enjoyable and a great way to get an insiders look at the mid-east area.

FYI-FTC -from publisher