The Day I Died by Lori Rader-Day - Anna Winger is a handwriting expert, often called on by the FBI to delve into a person's mind. She reluctantly agrees to help the local sheriff in a kidnapping case even though she doesn't like to draw attention to herself. Because Anna has secrets too. And they're starting to affect her son. I just didn't like the main character in this slow moving book. And then there are many impossible coincidences at the end to wrap everything up.
2 stars
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The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff - WWII, Germany and Noa is on the run after snatching a baby from a trainload car full of infants. She's already been forced to give up her own baby, the child of a Nazi soldier. She finds safety at the winter camp of a circus but in order to earn her keep is asked to train as a trapeze artist with Astrid. Astrid has her own secrets and resents having to teach someone an impossible task. Not based on but inspired by a circus owner who hid Jews in his circus. Told in the very annoying first person present, and even worse, alternating between the two women. Also, too much trapeze talking and not enough about the circus.
2 stars
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Man Overboard by J.A.Jance - an investigation into a suspicious death leads to a serial killer using the internet to encourage people to commit suicide. Hasn't this been done before? Too much time is spent with the killer and his AI who has become annoyingly self aware. This is the 12th Ali Reynolds book and she still has no personality to me. And as a subplot, the author has decided to get rid of the long time butler, almost as if the character is getting too old for the role.
2 stars
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Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry - Nora arrives at her sister's cottage and finds her brutally murdered. Because of a crime several years earlier, she doesn't trust the police to find the killer. In her haze of grief she is determined to find him herself. Told in first person, it's rather a disjointed read because Nora is not always sure what she's doing or why. A couple of good twists at the end.
3 stars
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Not Tonight, Josephine: A Road Trip Through Small-Town America by George Mahood - Josephine is the name of an untrustworthy car the author and a friend buy to tour America. I enjoy this author and it was fun to see the country through a foreigner's eyes. Especially since he (mostly) enjoyed his trip. And a nice, light read to end my rather dismal reading week.
3 stars
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Sunday, May 21, 2017
May 14 - 20, 2017
Every Day Is a Holiday by George Mahood - George begins to feel his life has become mundane and as a way to make things more interesting decides to celebrate the odd holidays on the calendar. He decides to devote six months to celebrating such days as Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day, Inane Answering Machine Message Day, and National Curmudgeon Day. He's fortunate his wife mostly tolerates his experiment. Just the thing when you want a quick, humorous read.
3 stars
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Life's a Beach by George Mahood - George continues celebrating odd holidays the last six months of the year. But his family also moves to Devon and this book is much more about his family life and how much he enjoys them.
3 stars
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Harry Benson's America by Harry Benson - I watched a documentary about the photographer and wanted to see some of his pictures better. A large book with lots of photos. In the back is a thumbnail of each picture and the story of its being taken.
3 stars
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Fallout by Sara Paretsky - the 18th V.I.Warshawski book finds Vic out of Chicago for the first in Lawrence, Kansas. She's gone there to find an aging actress and the filmmaker who have gone there to make a movie. What she keeps finding instead are dead people and women in danger. Government secrets and race relations figure largely in a story that seems to go on just a little bit too long.
3 stars
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Operation Ironman: One Man's Four Month Journey from Hospital Bed to Ironman Triathalon by George Mahood - shortly after Life's a Beach, George began experiencing debilitating back pain. While recovering from surgery to remove a tumor from his spinal cord, he decided he would begin training for a triathalon to prove to himself he would get better. So he entered one that was only four months away, a detail that is mentioned many times. This book is all about his training. I will admit I got teary eyed when he crossed the finish line.
3 stars
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Golden Prey by John Sandford - in the 27th Lucas Davenport book, Davenport is now working for the U.S.Marshall's office as a sort of special agent able to pick his own cases. Someone has robbed a drug runner's money handling operations, killing five people in the process and he decides to go after them. Unfortunately, the drug runner is after them too, using two people with no qualms about killing and torture to get information. Now it's going to be who can find the robbers first. Typical Prey book, lots of shooting and swearing.
3 stars
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Harry Benson: The Beatles by Harry Benson - photographs from 1964-1966 by the author of the group as they began their world tour. Lots of casual photos he was able to get because he traveled with them. (Boy, did this make me feel old.)
3 stars
3 stars
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Life's a Beach by George Mahood - George continues celebrating odd holidays the last six months of the year. But his family also moves to Devon and this book is much more about his family life and how much he enjoys them.
3 stars
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Harry Benson's America by Harry Benson - I watched a documentary about the photographer and wanted to see some of his pictures better. A large book with lots of photos. In the back is a thumbnail of each picture and the story of its being taken.
3 stars
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Fallout by Sara Paretsky - the 18th V.I.Warshawski book finds Vic out of Chicago for the first in Lawrence, Kansas. She's gone there to find an aging actress and the filmmaker who have gone there to make a movie. What she keeps finding instead are dead people and women in danger. Government secrets and race relations figure largely in a story that seems to go on just a little bit too long.
3 stars
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Operation Ironman: One Man's Four Month Journey from Hospital Bed to Ironman Triathalon by George Mahood - shortly after Life's a Beach, George began experiencing debilitating back pain. While recovering from surgery to remove a tumor from his spinal cord, he decided he would begin training for a triathalon to prove to himself he would get better. So he entered one that was only four months away, a detail that is mentioned many times. This book is all about his training. I will admit I got teary eyed when he crossed the finish line.
3 stars
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Golden Prey by John Sandford - in the 27th Lucas Davenport book, Davenport is now working for the U.S.Marshall's office as a sort of special agent able to pick his own cases. Someone has robbed a drug runner's money handling operations, killing five people in the process and he decides to go after them. Unfortunately, the drug runner is after them too, using two people with no qualms about killing and torture to get information. Now it's going to be who can find the robbers first. Typical Prey book, lots of shooting and swearing.
3 stars
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Harry Benson: The Beatles by Harry Benson - photographs from 1964-1966 by the author of the group as they began their world tour. Lots of casual photos he was able to get because he traveled with them. (Boy, did this make me feel old.)
3 stars
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
May 7 - 13, 2017
Into the Water by Paula Hawkins - two women die just a few months apart in a river that has claimed several lives over the decades. This revives mysteries, old and current. I found the writing style irritating, the story is told from every character's viewpoint, I suppose in an effort to build suspense. . I think the author is trying too hard to be different.
3 stars
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Death Comes for the Deconstructionist by Daniel Taylor - Joe Mote is struggling mentally and sinking fast when he's hired to look into the death of his former professor. He's aided in his investigation by his developmentally disabled sister who in some ways is the smarter of the two. This is not a typical mystery. It has lots to say about academic culture, Christianity, race relations, and who defines truth.
3.5 stars
3 stars
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Death Comes for the Deconstructionist by Daniel Taylor - Joe Mote is struggling mentally and sinking fast when he's hired to look into the death of his former professor. He's aided in his investigation by his developmentally disabled sister who in some ways is the smarter of the two. This is not a typical mystery. It has lots to say about academic culture, Christianity, race relations, and who defines truth.
3.5 stars
Sunday, May 7, 2017
April 30 - May 6, 2017
Garden of Lamentations by Deborah Crombie - a nanny is found dead inside a private garden and somehow Gemma James is sucked into the investigation. Meanwhile, Duncan Kincaid is greatly distracted by meeting his former boss secretly. When the man is attacked and left for dead on his way home, it starts to look like something is very wrong on the police force. The author has an unfortunate habit of trying to weave everyone the main characters have ever met into subsequent stories so there were a lot of people to remember before finally getting down to the story. The plots don't intertwine at all except to keep Duncan and Gemma at cross purposes while they try to manage family and cases. And for some reason she even throws a heart attack in for Duncan's father that serves no purpose I can see but to set up a plot line for the next book.
3 stars
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Himself by Jess Kidd - Mahoney has always believed his mother abandoned him as a baby but when he is 26 he receives information telling him his real name and where he was born. So he returns to the town of Mulderrig to find out the truth. He causes quite a stir with his good looks and charm. But some people hate him because of his mother. She was so disliked she may have been murdered. Set in 1976 and the late '40s, this is an odd combination of ghost story/murder mystery/charming Irish tale. Lots of swearing, although for some reason I don't find Irish swearing as offensive. It gets very repetitious.
3 stars
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Earthly Remains by Donna Leon - the 26th Commissario Brunetti book finds him very much in need of a break from the bleakness of his job. His wife suggests he go to her aunt's villa on one of the islands near Venice. There he meets David Casati, the caretaker of the villa. They spend many hours rowing together while Casati travels to care for his bees. Then Casati goes missing and Brunetti once again steps into his professional role. Lots of nothing happened in this book and while the mystery is solved, there is not really a conclusion. One of the enjoyable things about Brunetti books is the home life and there's not enough of that in this book. This one was pretty blah.
2 stars
3 stars
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Himself by Jess Kidd - Mahoney has always believed his mother abandoned him as a baby but when he is 26 he receives information telling him his real name and where he was born. So he returns to the town of Mulderrig to find out the truth. He causes quite a stir with his good looks and charm. But some people hate him because of his mother. She was so disliked she may have been murdered. Set in 1976 and the late '40s, this is an odd combination of ghost story/murder mystery/charming Irish tale. Lots of swearing, although for some reason I don't find Irish swearing as offensive. It gets very repetitious.
3 stars
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Earthly Remains by Donna Leon - the 26th Commissario Brunetti book finds him very much in need of a break from the bleakness of his job. His wife suggests he go to her aunt's villa on one of the islands near Venice. There he meets David Casati, the caretaker of the villa. They spend many hours rowing together while Casati travels to care for his bees. Then Casati goes missing and Brunetti once again steps into his professional role. Lots of nothing happened in this book and while the mystery is solved, there is not really a conclusion. One of the enjoyable things about Brunetti books is the home life and there's not enough of that in this book. This one was pretty blah.
2 stars
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