Friday, November 13, 2009

Dust by Susan Berliner

Title: Dust
Author: Susan Berliner
ISBN: 9781440126598
Publisher: IUniverse/2009
Pages: 216

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Book Blurb:

While unloading groceries in her Rock Haven condo, Karen McKay notices a strange swirl of red, green, and blue dust. The swirl follows her inside, lifts a porcelain ballerina from her wall unit, twirls it in the air, and throws it to the floor, shattering it into pieces. The following evening, Karen hears her neighbor's dog barking loudly. Upon investigation, she finds her neighbor, Marion, at the bottom of the stairs?dead. At the top of the stairs, a colorful whirlpool of dust circles ominously. Now the feisty librarian must consider the unthinkable: Could the dust be responsible for her neighbor's death and, if so, would it kill again? Karen turns to her ex-husband, Jerry, for help and together they bravely confront the mysterious dust. But will their daring actions cost them their lives?

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With a very familiar setting, and people one can connect with, Dust makes a very comfortable read. Set in a modern Condo, the multi-hued dust is what sets the pace of the book. THe dust gets mayhem in its wake and disappears just as easily. And it all happens to people in the Condo or those who come to visit the Condo on pretext of work or social visits.

Karen can see the dust very clearly but somehow it doesn't harm her. She along with her ex-husband Jerry, set themselves the task of eliminating the dust. They have no one but themselves as no one is prepared to believe that Dust can creat havoc by destroying things and killing people. All the deaths seem like accidents. No one is any wiser.

Fast paced, with simple dialogues and great rappot between Karen and Jerry, Dust is a fast read and entirely delightful. THey might be divorced but they doo seem to understand each other.

I really liked the way they try to kill the live Dust by eliminatiing it through the elements. With an unpredictable ending, it manages to hold our interest. I read it at one go. During the Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-thon.

Thanks to Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tour for the review copy.

5 comments:

serendipity_viv said...

Different style of story. I like the sound of the dust.

Anna said...

Great review! I wasn't sure about this book, but you've made me interested in reading it.

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

Anonymous said...

This sounds much better than the title and cover led me to believe.

Stacy said...

If dust can kill you I'm in trouble.

bermudaonion said...

Hm, sounds interesting, but not sure if it's for me. It sounds kind of sci-fi.