Savage Garden

The book seems new, but the pages are not completely flat. They are rather wavy, perhaps from exposure to moisture.

The Eve Diamond series is as much about Eve's personal connections as it is her professional pursuits as a journalist. Maybe 50/50 professional/personal. Plenty of love life angst and co-worker relationships in this one. Hamilton does very well to keep it all moving along. I can't decide if her look inside Eve's head and relationship dilemmas add realism or distraction, however. I keep coming back to her series, so I guess it's not a complete distraction for me. By delving into relationships and people Hamilton doesn't just leave it at the stereotype -- gangster, liar, crack-addled project dweller, rising star. She develops each character more fully than the stereotype. In this book, there are a few "oh, come on" moments regarding Eve and her boyfriend and co-worker, and she may go to the well on the method in which the day is saved once too often. But there are good plot twists and, as seemingly with all books in Los Angles, the details of how you travel around the city and the descriptions of and expositions on the LA landscape are numerous. LA itself is a character. In the final analsys, I like Eve's plucky veteran journalism rough edge. I just wish she would bring at about 10% of that professional toughness to her 100%-vulnerability in her relationships.