About
Reviews
Search
Submit
Home

Mystery Books for Sale

[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]


  

FORTUNE COOKIE
by Joanne Meyer
Kensington, February 2004
308 pages
$12.95
ISBN: 0758202628


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Natalie (Rosie) Rosenstein loves her job working in Brooklyn, New York for lawyer, Grace Osborne. She has her own apartment on Long Island that's far enough away from her parents so she feels independent, but it's still close enough to visit them every Friday evening for Shabbat.

Rosie's mother's main concern is the fact that 34-year-old Rosie isn't married yet and even refuses to go out with a nice dentist that would be perfect for her. Unless you count Arnold Feltman, the lawyer who seems to be stalking Rosie, there's no man in her life, and it doesn't look like she will have a husband anytime in the near future.

The only special talent Rosie does have is her uncanny ability to know when things in her life are not right or when something is going to go wrong. Every amateur sleuth needs a gimmick and Rosie's is her ESP. Strange feelings wake her from sleep, or she gets a vision out of nowhere, and sometimes she can even hear things.

One day when Rosie gets up to go to work, she receives one of these bad messages and knows that something very distressing is going to happen. When she unlocks the office door to discover that her boss, Grace Osborne, isn't in yet, Rosie knows that something was very wrong.

When Grace misses a very important court hearing, Rosie contacts Mike Bartel, a private investigator and ex-police detective who works for Grace. Mike agrees to help locate the boss. Eventually, the FBI is called into the search because some unexpected things are discovered about Grace and her boyfriend. But Rosie begins to get some strong ESP messages. She has dreams and visions of Grace being held in a damp basement, handcuffed to the wall.

Rosie knows that the missing Grace will not be found without her ESP but Rosie has the uphill task to convince the authorities involved that they need her help.

FORTUNE COOKIE is author Joanne Meyer's second novel and even though I found myself rolling my eyes in exasperation at parts of the book, I must admit it is entertaining. I enjoyed reading about Rosie's family, especially her mother, who has every trait that a Jewish mother is supposed to have ­- like wanting Rosie to get together with the Jewish dentist. Her father watches sports on television and grunts when he knows he has to, without really listening to the conversation around him. Rosie's sister is always looking apologetically at Rosie because their mother is pushing her to have what her sister has; a Jewish husband and children.

The reader hears a lot about Rosie's love life with her ex-boyfriend who used and abused her when they lived in France. Nowadays, Rosie is having thoughts about Mike Bartel, the private investigator her boss uses. Horrors, Mike's not a doctor and even worse, he isn't Jewish either!

Some of the dialogue seemed to be inserted just for the shock value and I could have done with less of it but on the whole, if you're in the mood for an easy 'chick' book this could be the one for you. It has a love story mixed in with a mystery of sorts. The characters are interesting and they hold your attention. But don't expect big things from FORTUNE COOKIE, it's mildly entertaining for a pleasant read.

Reviewed by Sharon Katz, January 2004

[ Top ]


QUICK SEARCH:

 

Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]