Books By Joyce

John…1010…What does it mean?

Numbers…Johns…Paranoia! Who, or what is after Kitty Polowski? Are her fears real? Or is it just her mind playing tricks? After a barrage of frightening e-mails, she is certain someone is stalking her. People she knows are dying. Is it merely coincidence? Everyone is suspect. Especially John. Can she run from her past? Can she hide? And...who in the heck is John?

Cover Photo Courtesy of Pink Whitt

Reviewed By Giles Conway - U.K. Book Reviewer

This is unusual for the books I usually read because it was written by an online friend, Joyce Marie Taylor. My opinion of it has probably been colored by my knowledge of Joyce Marie's online persona.

This is a combination romance and murder mystery. It's heroine, Kitty, lives in Hollywood, Florida and works for an advertising industry. She's a thoroughly modern, middle-aged woman, divorced, independent, hard-working and…er...mouthy. Actually I think she's mainly mouthy in her mind, because you're inside Kitty's brain most of the time, listening to her unrepressed expletives and opinions of life. In real life and at work she's a pro.

The book's character reminds me eerily of Joyce Marie herself. Having read her Multiply blogs I can see many similarities in how they think and respond. I suspect that a lot of Kitty's experiences are Joyce Marie's, and a lot of the details of daily life are real. Poetic license notwithstanding, I've learned a lot about the humdrum life of a busy woman living in Florida.

The book will be of most interest to people who spend time online blogging and meeting people. Kitty is out to find love and thinks she's found it online. All of the hopes, fears and cynical thoughts we have online when meeting people are explored here. Most interesting was the exploration of the way virtuality can become real and influence your day-to-day thinking when you're logged off. It can be a frighteningly damaging experience.

The book cracks on at quite a pace, with the sort of attention to detail, which makes you feel as if you're actually in Kitty's home or on a boat with her. This is an especially good book to take away on holiday with you. I've given it four stars because I think it may only be fully appreciated by people who socialize a lot online and understand the nuances of virtual interactions. Anyone else will realize we're all crackers.