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Category: Books By Year

Village in the Dark – Iris Yamashita (Cara Kennedy Book#2)

Village in the Dark by Iris Yamashita is book number 2 in her Cara Kennedy series. It is a mystery thriller set in Alaska. Book 1 in the series is City Under One Roof. Cara Kennedy is an Anchorage Police Department Detective. She is on administrative leave after her husband and son disappear while on vacation in Point Mettier. Point Mettier is an isolated town where its residents all live in one high-rise. In book one Cara finds some of the answers to her husband and son’s disappearance and they weren’t pleasant. (I’m not spoiling things by telling you what she discovered). Anyway at the end of the book she makes another discovery that leads her back to Point Mettier to see if she can find the final answers! read more

Scott Carson – Lost Man’s Lane. His Best yet? Yes!

I have been a fan of author Michael Koryta ever since way back in 2003? And after two terrific books I am now a fan of his alter-ego Scott Carson. And I think Scott Carson’s latest release  Lost Man’s Lane just may be Scott’s best novel. As such it also makes it Michael’s best! 

The story grabbed me from the beginning, when Marshall Miller was pulled over by a policeman on the first time he took the car out after getting his license. The police man was very surly and while Marshall was receiving his ticket he noticed in his rear view mirror a young girl is sitting in the backseat of the police car looking terrified and crying. She was wearing a t-shirt of a restaurant that had closed years ago!  read more

The Last Ranger – Peter Heller (Book 9 of 2024)

The Last Ranger is the second book I’ve written by Peter Heller. The River was the first of Heller’s books I read back in 2020. In a year where I read 56 books (thanks to the pandemic,) it was one of the best books I read. So I was looking forward to reading The Last Ranger. I must admit that I found it a little slow going in the beginning and and actually set it aside and started reading James Grippando’s latest Goodbye Girl. However, I went back to it as the library due date for the book approached, uh it’s today! Anyway, I’m glad I returned. read more

Update: January-February 2024 Reads

Update: January-February 2024 Reads

Midnight Creed - Alex Kava
Midnight Creed (Ryder Creed #8) –

Midnight Creed  is the 8th book in Alex Kava’s Ryder Creed series  The series was a spin-off of Kava’s Maggie O’Dell series. Since Maggie and her FBI colleagues are an intricate part of the Ryder Creed series, I’m going to call this book book 19 in the Maggie O’Dell has targeted homeless people up and down the east coast. While Ryder  and his dogs are searching for a missing boy. Additionally, Ryder and his staff are awaiting a shipment of K9s that were left behind when our troops left Afghanistan. Read More read more

Starter Villain – John Scalzi – AnotherWinner for Scalzi

 

So on Friday January 12 I finished reading my second book for 2024, John Scalzi’s Starter Villain. It is the ninth book by Scalzi on my Goodreads shelves. I began reading Scalzi’s books in 2008. The first book I read was Old Man’s War.  that book among the others in the Old Man’s War series may still be my favorites written by Scalzi.

The hero of the book, well maybe not a hero, let’s just say main character of the book is Charlie Fister. Charlie is  a divorced ex-newspaper  journalist. Who is now a substitute teacher living with his cat. A house his siblings want to sell.  All Charlie wants is to buy and run  a pub downtown. But the cost is astronomical  and his only collateral for a bank loan is the house he lives in, which his estranged siblings want to sell!

Then his estranged Uncle Jake dies and leaves Charlie his business. Charlie realizes he may be in trouble, when he’s asked to represent the family at his uncle’s memorial service. At the service, first it was the message sent on a vase of flowers. The message See You in Hell” During the visitation, one guest checks Jake’s pulse another tries to stab him! It seems his uncle was not too popular. “

When Charlie is whisked away to his uncle’s island (I won’t  tell you why) he learns Uncle is a “villain”. Additionally, the people who were out to get Jake are out to get his heir, i.e. Charlie. Can Charlie survive??

Thoughts on Starter Villain

Starter Villain is the ninth book written by John Scalzi I have read. While I enjoy his hard science a little more I also enjoy his other books.I thought The Kaiju Preservation Society was a great read.  The book was nominated for a Goodreads Award as Best Science Fiction book of the year so others liked it, too. It finished as the 8th most popular book.

Starter Villain reminds me a lot of The Kaiju Preservation, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food delivery apps until she becomes involved with the Society.  Cuarlie on the other hand is an ex-journalist stuck working as a substitute teacher. Both are characters that you can root for as they both face formidable opponents.

John Scalzi’s sense of humor always comes out in his characters and it certainly does in Charlie Fister. It certainly is one of the aspects of Scalzi’s books I love.

Even though I keep waiting for something big to happen in Starter Villain, overall i was satisfied with the surprising final twist at the end. Actually, the more I think about the book the more I realize that I really liked the book.

In 2023 Starter Villain was also nominated for the best science fiction book at Goodreads. This time Scalzi’s book finished fourth in the voting. So check it out.

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of John Scalzi

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Creating My Proposed June Reading List – Part 1

  Sculpting My Proposed June Reading List – Part 1 From  My Mountain of “To Be Read” library books.

 

Books for My Proposed June Reading List
Yesterday I mentioned my Mountain of “To Be Read” library books. The above photograph shows nine of the books I have checked out. The first  thing you must understand is that all of the books were not checked out on the same day. Now I don’t know if any of you have this problem.

I have a tendency to take two books back and bring home three! Take back three bring home four and before long you have a stack like the one you see at the top of this post!

Only two of the books were checked out on a whim!  Here are the first five books atop the mountain! Let’s  create My Proposed June Reading List – Part 1.


Winterkill

Winterkill – (Dark Iceland #6) Ragnar Jonnason

I’ve read three Ragnar Jonnason books so far this year and one in December of 2020. The book I read in December of 2020 was =&2=&. It’s Book #4 in the series. Wait, What! No way yes way…=&3=&. Damm  the first book on the list and I screwed up. I will move it to the bottom off the pile. Then I’ll check the library for White Out and read that  first!

Anyway I’ve been reading a lot of Jonasson’s books are they’re great!

book on My Proposed June Reading List

Whispers of the Dead – (Special Tracking Unit #2) – Spencer Kope  Currently Reading

Magnus “Steps” Craig is the prime member of the three team FBI Special Tracking Unit. He is in fact the reason for the Special Tracking Unit. The reason is that after being in an accident and dead for many minutes, he was revived, and now he sees people’s shine. Each person has a color and textural shine that is as individual as a fingerprint. Match the shine to a suspect and you can solve a murder case!

In March I read =&6=& book 3 in the currently,  three book series. The fourth book =&7=& is scheduled to be released in September of this year. That means =&8=& book 1 in the series needs to be read before that  release date.

All in all , a very enjoyable series so far.

A book on My Proposed June Reading List P
These Women – Ivy Pochoda

Not the type of book I’d typically read, but I thoroughly enjoyed Visitation Street, so I thought I’d give it a try. From Goodreads:

So Ivy Pochoda creates a kaleidoscope of loss, power, and hope featuring five very different women whose lives are steeped in danger and anguish. They’re connected by one man and his deadly obsession, though not all of them know that yet. There’s Dorian, still adrift after her daughter’s murder remains unsolved; Julianna, a young dancer nicknamed Jujubee, who lives hard and fast, resisting anyone trying to slow her down; Essie, a brilliant vice cop who sees a crime pattern emerging where no one else does; Marella, a daring performance artist whose work has long pushed boundaries but now puts her in peril; and Anneke, a quiet woman who has turned a willfully blind eye to those around her for far too long. The careful existence they have built for themselves starts to crumble when two murders rock their neighborhood. Read More

Cold Windd
Cold Wind – Paige Shelton  read more

Crooked River – Preston & Child – Pendergast is Gold Again!

If you’ve read some of my past blog posts you probably know that I am a fan of mystery and thriller series. Some of those series I have been reading religiously for 20 or more years. Others I have read several books, stopped a lost track of the series. The Agent Pendergast series from Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child is one of the later.

I read the first two books in the series Relic and Reliquary, which were terrific. Then I read several more books in the series. I also enjoyed those books. However, through the years other books always were read instead of Pendergast novels. read more

Dark Sky -C.J. Box (Joe Pickett #21)

I have been reading c.J. Box‘s  Joe Pickett books for a long time and Dark Sky the 21st book in the series is in my opinion one of his best!

About Dark Sky

In =&1=&  Joe must lead an elk hunting trip for a famous tech mogul. Steve Price, better known as Steve-2, the founder of Aloft and the social media platform  ConFab. Steve-2 wants to track, kill and dress an elk. Needless to say things don’t go well almost from the beginning. As the hunting party begins the hunting party are being watched by the Thomas  family. Seems the father Earl has a score to settle with Steve-2 and he’s brought along his to sons Kirby and Brad to help him settle it!

Meanwhile Nate Romanowski and Sheridan Pickett Joe’s daughter who is also Nate’s falconry apprentice have their own problems. Seems someone is stealing from their falconry nests. And Nate is none to happy with that situation!

Thoughts about the Joe Pickett Series

I have enjoyed this series since I read my first Joe Pickett book back in 2004. I started with Savage Run the second book in the series and I quickly went back and read book one =&3=&! And I’ve read every book with the exception of =&4=& (Book # 11). I started reading =&5=&when it came out. However, I ended up returning Cold Wind to the library unread. The most likely reason was being distracted by another book.

The one aspect of the series that has made it most enjoyable is that Joe and his family along with Nate Romanowski have aged! Joe is now 51 and he’s not moving real well. And while age may be a part of his problem the main reason he has a limp is he was shot a while back. And now Joe is going to use all his wiles to keep both himself and his clients safe.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is =&1=& is a fast-paced exciting novel with well developed characters. And while it may be more enjoyable if you know the characters, I think Box provides enough info for the reader to recognize and like Joe Pickett’s character. Box does a good job of developing the other characters i.e. Steve-2 and Earl Thomas and his sons are well.

So go find it read it and then you only have 20 more books featuring Joe and his family to enjoy! As for me, I need to go back and read =&8=&

Links for the Further Explorations of the Books of C.J.Box

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Goodreads:Joe Pickett Series

The Residence -Andrew Pyper – A Haunted White House!

So this morning I didn’t do my typical workout first thing. Instead I finished reading The Residence by Andrew Pyper. It’s the first book I’ve read by Pyper and the 27th book I’ve read in 2021.

About Andrew Pyper

Andrew Pyper is a Canadian author hailing from Stratford, Ontario. He has a B.A. and M.A. in English Literature from McGill University, He also has a law degree from the University of Toronto. However , he has never practiced law.

His novel, =&0=& won the 2014 International Thriller Writers Award for Best Hardcover Novel, and was a #1 bestseller in Canada.

=&1=& is his 11th novel and the 5th published  by Simon & Shuster.

About The Residence

=&3=&is a ghost story set in the White House during the administration of Franklin Pierce. While I never really found the book overly scary, I did find the overall story intriguing.

Franklin Pierce is one of the Presidents that you don’t really learn a lot about in school. I had read previously about the Pierce’s losing their son Benjamin (Bennie) in a train accident  It’s Bennie’s death and Jean Pierce’s attempts to contact him in  the afterlife that is central to the story.

While I didn’t love the book I did find it an interesting read. When I was in the middle of the book I decided I wanted to know more about Franklin and his wife and family. So I googled “best books about Franklin Pierce”. There are only a couple of biographies the most recent was written by Michael Holt and is part of The American President Series. So I checked at my library for the book and it’s on its way to me!

Summarizing, The Residence was for me an ok read (3/5 stars). It kept me interested to the end but didn’t provide a lot of scary moments. However, there were a few thought provoking moments about slavery and the creation of our nation. So check it out! As for me, I’ll be checking out some of Pyper’s other books.

Finally,  I was going to write about the rest of my morning in this post. However,  since I went on and on about The Residence I think I’ll post this and tell you about my morning in my next post!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Andrew Pyper.

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Finally a Post! Romeo’s Way Book 22 for 2021!

Ok so it may or may not be obvious but I am not having an easy time restarting posting to this blog. I have started countless posts only to not finish them. Frankly, I really don’t know why. Part of the reason may be that I am being overly self-critical. I keep telling myself no one cares or even likes what you write! Additionally, I think of  the vast quantity of blogs and say to myself, “why do you think anyone is going to visit your blog?”My answer is always the same – I don’t know”. Then I decide to go and find something else to do!

Lately something else has been reading. So far this year I have read 22 books which is FIVE books ahead of the pace I need to reach my goal of 60 books for 2021. While that’s a good thing, the bad thing I have written about very few of them!

Therefore, I am in a quandary. As to the best way to go about catching up writing about some many books. Maybe I’ll start with my most recent reads and work my way back….. so here goes…..

Romeo’s Way -James Scott BellBook 22 – Romeo’s Way (Mike Romeo #2) – James Scott Bell

Through the years I have had many of my favorite mystery and thriller characters whom I liked because of their wise-cracking and  often times self-deprecating nature. Mike Romeo has joined that group. In fact, he may be the current leader of the group! And with his espousing of philosophical quotes, he may be in a group all by himself. For me he may be the most interesting character in the mystery genre.

In =&0=&, Mike is hired by a political candidate, who is being accused by his opponent, of having an affair. Mike is tasked with going undercover and joining the opposition’s campaign team to discover what’s happening. And the path leading to the final solution is a wild twisting one!

=&1=& was a quick read. It was a well interesting throughout the book so the pages just flew by.

When I went to store the book on my Goodreads shelf I saw that =&0=& was the winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for beat e-book original. In my opinion it is a well-deserved award.

Additionally, while I have several books on my “to be read” library shelf, I wouldn’t be surprised if I snuck =&3=&  book #3 in the series into the mix!! So Check it out!

Finally, rather than write about book 21 =&4=& by Mindy Mejia in this post, I think I’ll stop here and post this!  Maybe I’ll even go for a quick run now!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Writing of James Scott Bell

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