The Last One by Alexandra Oliva - a survival reality game crossed with a worldwide pandemic. The story is told in first person by Zoo and then flashes back to the other 11 contestants. People and situations are manipulated by the producers and when real disaster strikes no one realizes it. Some reviews complain the other characters aren't fleshed out but my take was that the author wanted them to be the caricatures that the producers in the book chose for them. This was an odd one, I really enjoyed it and yet felt it was dragging in some places.
4 stars
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Nothing Short of Dying by Erik Storey - Clive Barr is on his way to the Yukon to live his life alone and in peace when he gets a call from his sister saying she needs to be rescued. From there it's a fast paced adventure with hardly a breather. Small pieces of Clive's previous life are released in the rare quiet moment - he's a man who can handle himself very well in violent situations. His main fault is that he can't stop himself from helping those in need. PG13 verging on R for violence. The beginning of a series.
3.5 stars
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Friday, September 16, 2016
Sept 11 - 17, 2016
The Last Time She Saw Him by Jane Haseldine - Reporter Julia Gooden's brother disappeared 30 years ago when she was 7 years old and she still blames herself for not remembering anything about it. Now she's zealously protective of her own children. But that doesn't keep her own son from being abducted. Soon, it looks like the two cases are related and there are many suspects from the past and present. The end was exciting but rather unbelievable. I didn't find any of the adults likeable. It looks like this is the beginning of a series.
3 stars
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City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong - Police detective Casey Duncan was eighteen when she killed a man and got away with it. When the past threatens to catch up with her, she flees with her best friend, a victim of domestic abuse, to a secret town where everyone is hiding from something. That might not have been such a good idea. It seems there have been several suspicious deaths in a town with a very small population. And since Casey has been "allowed" into the town only because she's a detective, she has to hit the ground running. I really enjoyed this one. Also the beginning of a new series.
4.5 stars
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An Obvious Fact by Craig Johnson - the 12th Longmire books finds the sheriff and Henry Standing Bear in a small town near Sturgis, ND, during the annual motorcycle rally. They've been asked to look into the motorcycle accident of a young man. Was he run off the road for what he was carrying or what he knew? I have to say I found this one confusing and had trouble keeping track of people. Too many interruptions at the beginning of the book or old age? Some good one-liners from Henry but this was disappointing for me.
3 stars
* I'm anxiously waiting for the next season of Longmire starting on Netflix Friday, the 23rd. I keep both series completely separate in my head and enjoy them both.
3 stars
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City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong - Police detective Casey Duncan was eighteen when she killed a man and got away with it. When the past threatens to catch up with her, she flees with her best friend, a victim of domestic abuse, to a secret town where everyone is hiding from something. That might not have been such a good idea. It seems there have been several suspicious deaths in a town with a very small population. And since Casey has been "allowed" into the town only because she's a detective, she has to hit the ground running. I really enjoyed this one. Also the beginning of a new series.
4.5 stars
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An Obvious Fact by Craig Johnson - the 12th Longmire books finds the sheriff and Henry Standing Bear in a small town near Sturgis, ND, during the annual motorcycle rally. They've been asked to look into the motorcycle accident of a young man. Was he run off the road for what he was carrying or what he knew? I have to say I found this one confusing and had trouble keeping track of people. Too many interruptions at the beginning of the book or old age? Some good one-liners from Henry but this was disappointing for me.
3 stars
* I'm anxiously waiting for the next season of Longmire starting on Netflix Friday, the 23rd. I keep both series completely separate in my head and enjoy them both.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Sep 4 - 10, 2016
The Black Widow by Daniel Silva - just before Gabriel Allon is about to become the director of Israel's secret service, there is an attack on a Jewish center in Paris. (The author wrote this before recent events in France.) It seems a new leader has risen, calling himself Saladin, and dedicated to cause catastrophe in the west. Gabriel recruits a female doctor to infiltrate the caliphate to find out when and where the next attack will be. Starts pretty slow and ends with a literal bang.There's not enough Gabriel in this book, he seems to have been reduced to mostly a watcher.
3 stars
3 stars
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Aug 28 - Sep 3, 2016
A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love and Faith in Stages by Kristen Chenowith, Joni Rodgers - Kristen's story of her journey to Broadway. A little too chirpy and not enough details for me.
2 stars
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Someone Always Knows by Marcia Muller - the 31st Sharon McCone mystery. Sharon and her husband have just combined their agencies and moved into a new building when a man they thought dead reappears. He's out for revenge, but why? And what will he do? A rather thin plot but I'm grateful the author didn't stretch it another 100 pages as seems to be the norm these days. I've been reading this author since 1977, so for loyalty's sake (and because she has a lovely name)
3 stars
2 stars
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Someone Always Knows by Marcia Muller - the 31st Sharon McCone mystery. Sharon and her husband have just combined their agencies and moved into a new building when a man they thought dead reappears. He's out for revenge, but why? And what will he do? A rather thin plot but I'm grateful the author didn't stretch it another 100 pages as seems to be the norm these days. I've been reading this author since 1977, so for loyalty's sake (and because she has a lovely name)
3 stars
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Aug 21 - 27, 2016
The Gentleman by Forrest Leo - set in Victorian times and written in that style with illustrations. Lionel Savage, a 22 yo poet, discovers he's broke and marries a beautiful woman for her wealth. He finds he can no longer write and comes to loathe his wife. One night at a party he meets the devil, the gentleman of the title, and comes to believe he has sold his wife to him. He then sets out to rescue her, accompanied by his butler, sister, and brother-in-law. This is a comedy/fantasy that I quite enjoyed.
4 stars
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Survivors Will Be Shot Again by Bill Crider - the 23rd Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery. There's been a rash of thievery in part of the county and when a man is found dead in a barn the sheriff doesn't know if he's one of the thieves or a victim of them. Soon, another body is found. There are also small marijuana fields popping up guarded by alligators and snapping turtles. A light hearted mystery with quirky characters and the sheriff is always smarter than he seems.
3.5 stars
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Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman - Luisa has just been elected as the county prosecutor when she receives what looks like a slam dunk case. A homeless man is accused of killing a woman in her apartment. But something about the case has Lu thinking about the past and her brother's justifiable homicide in defense of a friend. Told in a style I usually dislike - third person present, first person past - but the story really kept me turning the pages. This also tells the story of real town Columbia, Maryland, a planned community of 10 villages.
4 stars
4 stars
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Survivors Will Be Shot Again by Bill Crider - the 23rd Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery. There's been a rash of thievery in part of the county and when a man is found dead in a barn the sheriff doesn't know if he's one of the thieves or a victim of them. Soon, another body is found. There are also small marijuana fields popping up guarded by alligators and snapping turtles. A light hearted mystery with quirky characters and the sheriff is always smarter than he seems.
3.5 stars
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Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman - Luisa has just been elected as the county prosecutor when she receives what looks like a slam dunk case. A homeless man is accused of killing a woman in her apartment. But something about the case has Lu thinking about the past and her brother's justifiable homicide in defense of a friend. Told in a style I usually dislike - third person present, first person past - but the story really kept me turning the pages. This also tells the story of real town Columbia, Maryland, a planned community of 10 villages.
4 stars
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Aug 14 - 20, 2016
Fed, White, and Blue: Finding America with My Fork by Simon Majumdar - the author is probably best known for his appearances on The Food Network as a judge. The author of previous books combining travel and eating, he decided to explore becoming a US citizen by traveling the country eating and also discovering all the different cultures making up the country. Each chapter is a different area and has some history or cultural facts woven in. Finally, I know what keeping kosher is, I only had a vague idea before. A few PG-13 words and a couple of adult references.
4 stars
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See How They Run by Tom Bale - New parents Alice and Harry wake in the middle of the night to find three masked men in their bedroom asking questions they can't answer and threatening their baby. And then it's quite a thrill ride to the end. The only thing I didn't like was that the viewpoint changed abruptly sometimes. Some violence and child endangerment.
4 stars
4 stars
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See How They Run by Tom Bale - New parents Alice and Harry wake in the middle of the night to find three masked men in their bedroom asking questions they can't answer and threatening their baby. And then it's quite a thrill ride to the end. The only thing I didn't like was that the viewpoint changed abruptly sometimes. Some violence and child endangerment.
4 stars
Sunday, August 14, 2016
August 7 13, 2016
The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - the author brings back his detective after killing him off in his previous collection. Thirteen short stories, including The Adventure of the Empty House in which Holmes returns. Watson is the real mystery, sometimes he's married, sometimes he's making a living as a doctor, sometimes he's not.
3 stars
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His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - eight short stories, as always selected by Watson to show the brilliance of Holmes. Ending with a rather odd story not told by Watson right before the advent of WWI.
3 stars
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The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - the last 12 short stories published. Some told by Holmes himself. The Adventures of the Lion's Mane was my favorite. What struck me in re-reading all these stories is how much we think we know of Holmes is from how he's been portrayed in movies and shows. Many of his mannerisms and catch phrases are not that evident in the actual stories.
3 stars
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Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger - imo, this did not live up to the hype. Billed as a cross between horror and thriller, I found it rather bland. A young woman with a psychic gift gets involved in the search for a missing child. But part of the book read as almost a romance novel. I don't believe in psychic stuff so that wasn't scary to me. Almost too much character development and yet so much left unexplained. Very unsatisfying. I'm in the minority on Goodreads.
2 stars
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A Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George - I had to give up on this book by one of my favorite authors. 540 pages is too long for a mystery. And a fourth of the way in the murder had still not been committed. By then I didn't care who got knocked off.
3 stars
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His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - eight short stories, as always selected by Watson to show the brilliance of Holmes. Ending with a rather odd story not told by Watson right before the advent of WWI.
3 stars
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - the last 12 short stories published. Some told by Holmes himself. The Adventures of the Lion's Mane was my favorite. What struck me in re-reading all these stories is how much we think we know of Holmes is from how he's been portrayed in movies and shows. Many of his mannerisms and catch phrases are not that evident in the actual stories.
3 stars
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Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger - imo, this did not live up to the hype. Billed as a cross between horror and thriller, I found it rather bland. A young woman with a psychic gift gets involved in the search for a missing child. But part of the book read as almost a romance novel. I don't believe in psychic stuff so that wasn't scary to me. Almost too much character development and yet so much left unexplained. Very unsatisfying. I'm in the minority on Goodreads.
2 stars
**********************************************************************
A Banquet of Consequences by Elizabeth George - I had to give up on this book by one of my favorite authors. 540 pages is too long for a mystery. And a fourth of the way in the murder had still not been committed. By then I didn't care who got knocked off.
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