When the Music's Over by Peter Robinson - newly promoted Detective Superintendent Alan Banks is given a decades old case when a woman claims she was assaulted by a man considered a national treasure. While Banks tries to uncover old facts, DI Annie Cabot is trying to find the people responsible for beating a young woman to death on a lonely road. Historical sexual abuse, grooming of young women, and racial tension made this a gloomy read. Certainly not one of my favorites in this 23 book series.
3 stars
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Kill the Next One by Federico Axat - Ted McKay has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Just when he is about to commit suicide, a stranger knocks on his door and knows what he's about to do. He has a proposition: if Ted kills a "bad guy" and another man also wanting to commit suicide, then someone will murder him, which will supposedly be easier for his children. Ted agrees and then things start to fall apart. He has strange memories and his targets seem to know him. And then the book goes in a completely different direction. Not everyone will like this book but I read it straight through. It would have received 5 stars but at the very end I was subjected to a yucky scene with an animal that my shocked eyes didn't jump over fast enough.
4.75 stars
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The Tempest by James Lilliefors - Pastor Luke Bowers and homicide detective Amy Hunter team up to investigate the death of a summer visitor to their town. Only the day before she had visited Luke to say she was afraid of her husband and something he was entangled in. So-so mystery that includes stolen art, the FBI, jealous and chauvinistic police officers, bungling reporters, baby making (wink wink), and many other cliches. Second in a series and I haven't read the first. Could have used some editing, rather long for an ebook, over 400 pages. A low
3 stars
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Jan 15 - 21, 2017
The Lost Boy by Camilla Lackberg - a well-liked man has been found murdered and no one has any idea why anyone would want to kill him. Patrik Hedstrom and his team slowly try to come up with a motive and a suspect. This is seventh in a series set in Fjallbacka, Sweden, and we're just thrown into the story supposing that we've read the previous books. Many characters with just snippets of their stories told at a time. The biggest mystery for me was trying to connect all the dots of the storyline. There's also a bit of supernatural element to this and the Scandinavian matter of factness about sex. I've read two others in this series and don't remember either. I'm ambivalent about this one.
3 stars
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Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson - the child actress from Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street, and Matilda writes a not quite memoir. Mostly she talks about how anxious she was from a really young age and her eventual diagnosis of OCD. Not a good thing to have if you want to be an actress. Eventually she decided she'd rather be a writer. The book was all over the place time wise and there was much talking about yearning for boyfriends. I wanted to like this a lot more.
2 stars
3 stars
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Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson - the child actress from Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street, and Matilda writes a not quite memoir. Mostly she talks about how anxious she was from a really young age and her eventual diagnosis of OCD. Not a good thing to have if you want to be an actress. Eventually she decided she'd rather be a writer. The book was all over the place time wise and there was much talking about yearning for boyfriends. I wanted to like this a lot more.
2 stars
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Jan 8 - 14, 2017
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell - how Lafayette and the French won the Revolutionary War. Well, they were quite helpful. It took me awhile to get used to the author's style - the book isn't divided into chapters and I though it meandered some. But I found her asides humorous and a bit acidic.
3.5 stars
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Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan - part fable/fantasy and historical, this is a story of how music can lift us out of our circumstances. The story moves from Germany to Philadelphia and California, connecting the lives of four children, all through a harmonica. My dad had a harmonica from the factory in the book so I thought of him often when I read this. Written for 5-9th grades.
4.5 stars
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Call the Nurse: True Stories of a Country Nurse on a Scottish Isle by Mary J. McLleod - in 1970, Mary and her husband decided to leave London to lead a simpler life. They settled on an island in the Hebrides off the coast of Scotland where Mary would be the district nurse. The book is really a collection of stories about the locals and their way of life at a time when electricity had just come into common usage. There's lots of talk about the weather and the scenery. This was written when Mary was 80 so I suppose a little disjointedness can be overlooked.
2 stars
3.5 stars
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Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan - part fable/fantasy and historical, this is a story of how music can lift us out of our circumstances. The story moves from Germany to Philadelphia and California, connecting the lives of four children, all through a harmonica. My dad had a harmonica from the factory in the book so I thought of him often when I read this. Written for 5-9th grades.
4.5 stars
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Call the Nurse: True Stories of a Country Nurse on a Scottish Isle by Mary J. McLleod - in 1970, Mary and her husband decided to leave London to lead a simpler life. They settled on an island in the Hebrides off the coast of Scotland where Mary would be the district nurse. The book is really a collection of stories about the locals and their way of life at a time when electricity had just come into common usage. There's lots of talk about the weather and the scenery. This was written when Mary was 80 so I suppose a little disjointedness can be overlooked.
2 stars
Sunday, January 8, 2017
Jan 1 - 7, 2017
Notwithstanding by Louis de Berniers - a collection of short stories that take place in the English village of Notwithstanding, a fictional stand-in for the village of the author's youth. The village is full of eccentrics and their equally eccentric animals. I don't know if such villages ever actually existed but I like to think that they did. My favorite was the story of the ill-fated dinner party.
4 stars
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The Black Tower by P.D. James - Inspector Adam Dagliesh is recovering from a serious illness when he is asked to come visit an old friend hoping for some advice. But he arrives too late, not long after the death of the elderly chaplain. There's something not quite right at Toynton Grange, a home for the disabled. Poison pen letters, attempted murders and actual murders take place before Dagliesh discovers what's going on. Too many characters were introduced all at once and I had trouble keeping them straight. Also, I thought the conclusion was slightly unfair as it went in a completely different direction.
3 stars
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The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman - Irene is a junior librarian in a very unusual library. It exists between parallel worlds and it's sole purpose is the retrieval of books by any means necessary. Irene and her new assistant are sent to a steampunk-like London filled with vampires, werewolves and the Fae to retrieve a book that is the only one in existence. I enjoyed the story but there is a lot of information and introduction of characters to take in. I never did quite understand chaos-infestation. This is the first book in a series and I'm anxious to read the second now that I know the characters.
3 stars
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The Sugar House by Laura Lippman - the 5th Tess Monaghan book finds her doing a favor for her father. A woman thinks her brother was targeted for murder while serving a sentence for the manslaughter of a young woman. But Tess must first find out the identity of the young woman who was killed. Lots of jogs and turns in this one and the whole thing felt not very cohesive to me.
2 stars
4 stars
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The Black Tower by P.D. James - Inspector Adam Dagliesh is recovering from a serious illness when he is asked to come visit an old friend hoping for some advice. But he arrives too late, not long after the death of the elderly chaplain. There's something not quite right at Toynton Grange, a home for the disabled. Poison pen letters, attempted murders and actual murders take place before Dagliesh discovers what's going on. Too many characters were introduced all at once and I had trouble keeping them straight. Also, I thought the conclusion was slightly unfair as it went in a completely different direction.
3 stars
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The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman - Irene is a junior librarian in a very unusual library. It exists between parallel worlds and it's sole purpose is the retrieval of books by any means necessary. Irene and her new assistant are sent to a steampunk-like London filled with vampires, werewolves and the Fae to retrieve a book that is the only one in existence. I enjoyed the story but there is a lot of information and introduction of characters to take in. I never did quite understand chaos-infestation. This is the first book in a series and I'm anxious to read the second now that I know the characters.
3 stars
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The Sugar House by Laura Lippman - the 5th Tess Monaghan book finds her doing a favor for her father. A woman thinks her brother was targeted for murder while serving a sentence for the manslaughter of a young woman. But Tess must first find out the identity of the young woman who was killed. Lots of jogs and turns in this one and the whole thing felt not very cohesive to me.
2 stars
Sunday, January 1, 2017
5 star books of 2016
I was hard pressed, especially at the beginning of the year, to find books that I enjoyed. I think some of these books received 5 stars just because I was thrilled to find a book I really liked. My favorite mystery was A Great Reckoning.
A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton - a Japanese woman opens her door to a strange man claiming to be her grandson. But she knows he and her daughter were killed when the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Told using narrative, journal excerpts, and letters, the story slowly unfolds.
No Shred of Evidence by Charles Todd - 1920, four young women are accused of trying to drown a young man from their rowboat. They claim they were trying to rescue him. Inspector Rutledge is called to the case when the original inspector drops dead on his first day. There are only the conflicting stories of the one witness and the women. Thankfully, Hamish, the soldier ghost who haunts the mind of Rutledge is not heard from very much. I always like to see how Rutledge investigates his cases. I enjoyed this very much. Maybe not a total 5 but close enough.
Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon - Alex is an alcoholic leading a very carefully constructed life so she can function as a freelance journalist. While interviewing a doctor about his work with comatose patients, she learns about Amy, the victim of a vicious attack fifteen years prior. She becomes obsessed with finding out what happened. Told from various viewpoints including Amy's. I read this straight through.
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson - just what the title says, told in a very engaging style. The chapters switch between the journey of the ship and the journey of the u-boat that sank her. Even though I knew what would happen a feeling of dread built up. There are also chapters about President Wilson and a secret British intelligence group.
Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz - Bibi Blair has just been told she has incurable cancer. After a strange experience in the night, she finds she has been cured. Why? She comes to believe it is to save Ashley Bell. But who is Ashley Bell and where is she? Who are the strange people after her? And what are the memories she can't remember? I got sucked into this right away and then two thirds in there was a twist that made me wish I could read faster. I've never read Dean Koontz because I've always thought of him as an author of the supernatural and horror. Although this has a touch of that, I prefer to think of it as suspense and fantasy. This is one you'll either love or hate. 560 pages that flew by.
A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny - the 12th Armand Gamache book and the author is still going strong. The books starts with little tidbits of hints of what's to come and just keeps building. Gamache has come out of retirement to become head of the Surete police academy. The corruption he's been fighting has settled even here and he plans to dig it out. But a murder may lay those plans to rest. There's also an old found map, sullen cadets and a mysterious girl woven in.
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch - Jason Dessen lives a happy but somewhat bland life. Walking home from a bar one night he is kidnapped and knocked unconscious. When he comes to it's to a life he doesn't know. He's in a lab being congratulated for a successful experiment. But his wife is not married to him and his son doesn't exist. Which reality is real? This was a great, fast read. (You must be willing to suspend disbelief in order to really enjoy this.)
A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton - a Japanese woman opens her door to a strange man claiming to be her grandson. But she knows he and her daughter were killed when the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Told using narrative, journal excerpts, and letters, the story slowly unfolds.
No Shred of Evidence by Charles Todd - 1920, four young women are accused of trying to drown a young man from their rowboat. They claim they were trying to rescue him. Inspector Rutledge is called to the case when the original inspector drops dead on his first day. There are only the conflicting stories of the one witness and the women. Thankfully, Hamish, the soldier ghost who haunts the mind of Rutledge is not heard from very much. I always like to see how Rutledge investigates his cases. I enjoyed this very much. Maybe not a total 5 but close enough.
Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon - Alex is an alcoholic leading a very carefully constructed life so she can function as a freelance journalist. While interviewing a doctor about his work with comatose patients, she learns about Amy, the victim of a vicious attack fifteen years prior. She becomes obsessed with finding out what happened. Told from various viewpoints including Amy's. I read this straight through.
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson - just what the title says, told in a very engaging style. The chapters switch between the journey of the ship and the journey of the u-boat that sank her. Even though I knew what would happen a feeling of dread built up. There are also chapters about President Wilson and a secret British intelligence group.
Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz - Bibi Blair has just been told she has incurable cancer. After a strange experience in the night, she finds she has been cured. Why? She comes to believe it is to save Ashley Bell. But who is Ashley Bell and where is she? Who are the strange people after her? And what are the memories she can't remember? I got sucked into this right away and then two thirds in there was a twist that made me wish I could read faster. I've never read Dean Koontz because I've always thought of him as an author of the supernatural and horror. Although this has a touch of that, I prefer to think of it as suspense and fantasy. This is one you'll either love or hate. 560 pages that flew by.
A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny - the 12th Armand Gamache book and the author is still going strong. The books starts with little tidbits of hints of what's to come and just keeps building. Gamache has come out of retirement to become head of the Surete police academy. The corruption he's been fighting has settled even here and he plans to dig it out. But a murder may lay those plans to rest. There's also an old found map, sullen cadets and a mysterious girl woven in.
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch - Jason Dessen lives a happy but somewhat bland life. Walking home from a bar one night he is kidnapped and knocked unconscious. When he comes to it's to a life he doesn't know. He's in a lab being congratulated for a successful experiment. But his wife is not married to him and his son doesn't exist. Which reality is real? This was a great, fast read. (You must be willing to suspend disbelief in order to really enjoy this.)
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