Martin's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 25 Apr 2025 11:18:39 -0700 60 Martin's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Wedding People 222348800 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN 9781250899576 can be found here

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 367 Alison Espach 1250899575 Martin 0 to-read 4.15 2024 The Wedding People
author: Alison Espach
name: Martin
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Return of Little Big Man 976050 -- Tremendously well reviewed, this sequel is a hit with critics and readers alike.
-- The perfect book for any lover of Westerns, Mark Twain, and Berger himself.
-- With a lovable hero, an action-packed story, a true Wild West setting, and scrupulous historical detail, The Return of Little BigMan has crossover appeal for readers of both history and fiction.]]> 432 Thomas Berger 0316091170 Martin 0 to-read 3.84 1999 The Return of Little Big Man
author: Thomas Berger
name: Martin
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Moscow X 124940299 Moscow X is both a gripping thriller of modern espionage and a raw, unsparing commentary on the nature of truth, loyalty, and vengeance amid the shadow war between the United States and Russia.]]> 432 David McCloskey Martin 0 currently-reading 4.44 2023 Moscow X
author: David McCloskey
name: Martin
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Perfect Couple (Nantucket, #3)]]> 34840184
But it's going to be memorable for all the wrong reasons after tragedy strikes: a body is discovered in Nantucket Harbor just hours before the ceremony-and everyone in the wedding party is suddenly a suspect. As Chief of Police Ed Kapenash interviews the bride, the groom, the groom's famous mystery-novelist mother, and even a member of his own family, he discovers that every wedding is a minefield-and no couple is perfect. Featuring beloved characters from The Castaways, Beautiful Day, and A Summer Affair, The Perfect Couple proves once again that Elin Hilderbrand is the queen of the summer beach read.]]> 480 Elin Hilderbrand 0316375241 Martin 4 crime, fiction, mystery 3.93 2018 The Perfect Couple (Nantucket, #3)
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: Martin
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves: crime, fiction, mystery
review:
This is my third book by Elin Hilderbrand (although one was really short, not quite novel length.) All three were entertaining, with enjoyable settings and unusual characters. This is billed as Nantucket #3, but I think only because it's set on the island and maybe has a repeat character or two, although I couldn't tell you who they were. So no reason not to choose this as a stand alone. The mystery surrounds the apparent drowning death of the Maid of Honor at a posh island wedding. And there are suspects aplenty. None of them very likable, so I'm not certain I had a favorite for murderer, but at least it kept me guessing. I will confess that the ending disappointed me a tad. I had hoped for a more dramatic or surprising conclusion. But still I enjoyed the read and would follow more by this author. (It also made me want to return to Nantucket where I spent a whole summer as a child, so beware, you may be in for a future vacation after reading The Perfect Couple.)
]]> <![CDATA[One False Move (Myron Bolitar, #5)]]> 382680
Brenda Slaughter is no damsel in distress. Myron Bolitar is no bodyguard. But Myron has agreed to protect the bright, strong, beautiful basketball star. And he's about to find out if he's man enough to unravel the tragic riddle of her life.

Twenty years before, Brenda's mother deserted her. And just as Brenda is making it to the top of the women's pro basketball world, her father disappears too. A big-time New York sports agent with a foundering love life, Myron has a professional interest in Brenda. Then a personal one. But between them isn't just the difference in their backgrounds or the color of their skin. Between them is a chasm of corruption and lies, a vicious young mafioso on the make, and one secret that some people are dying to keep -- and others are killing to protect....]]> 383 Harlan Coben 0440225442 Martin 0 4.06 1998 One False Move (Myron Bolitar, #5)
author: Harlan Coben
name: Martin
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1998
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/18
shelves:
review:

]]> A Curse for the Homesick 213861224 skeld season: one day, any woman on the islandĚýcan wake with three black lines on her forehead, the mark of a skeld. Skeld season comes around without warning, and while each window of time lasts only three months, anyone a skeld turns to stoneĚýis very much dead.

That's how Tess’s mother killed Soren’s parents. Maybe for this reason alone, Tess and Soren should not have fallen in love. Since the time her mother was a skeld, Tess has wanted to leave Stenland, to run from the windswept island, from her family and friends. She is unwilling to bear the responsibility of one day killing anyone, let alone someone she loves. Soren has been determined to stay, to live out his life in the place he knows as home, even if that life could be cut short during the latest skeld season. They cannot see eye to eye—and yet, they cannot stay apart. She tries to come back for him. He tries to leave for her. But can your love for one person outweigh everything else combined? And how do you decide how much you’re willing to risk, if it might mean destroying someone else in the process?

Laura RobsonĚýhas crafted aĚýfascinating story about the choices we make, the responsibilities we carry and the ambiguities of regret.]]> 352 Laura Brooke Robson 0778368475 Martin 0 to-read 4.24 2025 A Curse for the Homesick
author: Laura Brooke Robson
name: Martin
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dead in Their Tracks (Mitch Kearns Combat Tracker #1)]]> 28783037
About the Author: JT Sawyer is the pen name for Tony Nester who makes his living teaching survival courses for the military special operations community, Department of Homeland Security, US Marshals, FAA, and other federal agencies throughout the US. He has over 25 years of experience testing long-term survival skills in the desert, mountains, and forest. JT also served as a consultant for the film Into the Wild. For more information, visit jtsawyer.com.]]> 222 J.T. Sawyer Martin 2 crime, mystery, thriller 4.35 2016 Dead in Their Tracks (Mitch Kearns Combat Tracker #1)
author: J.T. Sawyer
name: Martin
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/16
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: crime, mystery, thriller
review:
I’m on vacation, and this is a decent vacation read. OK, I’ve found something positive to say about this Amazon First Reads (at least I think that’s how it ended up in my Kindle Library.) Some reasons I don’t recommend it: the characters are pretty one dimensional imitations of hundreds of characters you’ve met before in other novels. The macho renegade super hero FBI agent ( he’s a bit worse than the normal stereotype, he does more mansplaining in the first few chapters than most of his type do in a complete novel.) PS: to show how macho he is, he actually says � a man ought to smell like a man.� Whatever that means. Enter Dev, the sultry Israeli agent skilled at all forms of combat, cyber intelligence, etc etc, but still her Daddy’s girl. The villains are clones of multiple others of this genre. The first 60% of the book focuses on an interminable manhunt through the unforgiving Southwestern terrain. This is to demonstrate the author’s credentials, he knows of which he writes. But at 40% I was rooting for the
]]> The Paris Apartment 58468990 From the New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List comes a new locked room mystery, set in a Paris apartment building in which every resident has something to hide�

Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up � to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? � he’s not there.

The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.

The socialite � The nice guy � The alcoholic � The girl on the verge � The concierge

Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.]]> 360 Lucy Foley 0063003058 Martin 3 3.62 2022 The Paris Apartment
author: Lucy Foley
name: Martin
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/07
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: crime, fiction, mystery, thriller
review:
This is my third Lucy foley book (The Hunting Party and The Guest List are the others) and I'm seeing a pattern (I rated those others 2.5* rounded up, Paris Apartment gets the same.) All have almost entirely unlikable characters. In this outing Jess is the protagonist, and while she's not totally unlikable, she certainly is irritating. As we are introduced to the Parisian building, where her missing brother rents an apartment, I thought "Great, Paris will be the one likable character in the story." First, you're going to wonder how her less-than-successful brother managed to rent an apartment in a chic, if a bit run down, palatial building. That's somewhat explained later on, but it does make you wonder. When Jess leaves the apartment in search of her missing brother, she might as well be in Sheboygan. (No offense to Sheboygan, I've never been there and don't really know where it is, but if the book had been entitled "The Sheboygan Apartment" I doubt I'd have picked it up! Thus my disappointment in Paris not playing a leading role. I'll avoid spoilers so you'll know there is some connection between the other tenants, it just takes forever to reveal it. I do like Ms Foley's writing, but that's really the only saving grace (thus the .5* round up.) As Rick said to Ilsa in Casablanca "We'll always have Paris". Sadly, you don't really get Paris in "The Paris Apartment"
]]> <![CDATA[The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War]]> 195608683 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War—a slow-burning crisis that finally tore a deeply divided nation in two.

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston: Fort Sumter.
Ěý
Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.�
Ěý
At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between both. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous Secretary of State, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans.
Ěý
Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late.]]> 565 Erik Larson 0385348746 Martin 4 history, non-fiction 4.13 2024 The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
author: Erik Larson
name: Martin
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/02
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: history, non-fiction
review:
Erik Larson is a master at detailed research and bringing historical events to life. He succeeds again with "Demon" the back story of people, places and events leading up to the attack on Fort Sumter and the start of the Civil War. Once again, as with his previous works, you'll learn much about a subject in which you might already think you are well-versed. He discovers and shares characters both major and supporting who truly transport you to the era and the atmosphere of the day. My only critique, minor though it may be, is that he will introduce a character and spend a good deal of time giving background or history that made me want to skim and move forward. But it does help the entire narrative, so stick with it. Larson is a great writer and brings us new insight into every historical event he addresses.
]]> <![CDATA[A Talent for Murder (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #3)]]> 199116296
Martha Ratliff conceded long ago that she’d likely spend her life alone. She was fine with it, happy with her solo existence, stimulated by her job as an archival librarian, constantly surrounded by thought-provoking ideas and the books she loved. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured divorcee with a job that took him on the road for half the year. When he asked her to marry him, she said yes, even though he still felt a little bit like a stranger.

A year in and the marriage was good, except for that strange blood streak on the back of one of his shirts he’d worn to a conference in Denver. Her curiosity turning to suspicion, Martha investigates the cities Alan visited over the past year and uncovers a disturbing pattern—five unsolved cases of murdered women.

Is she married to a serial killer? Or could it merely be a coincidence? Unsure what to think, Martha contacts an old friend from graduate school for advice. Lily Kintner once helped Martha out of a jam with an abusive boyfriend and may have some insight. Intrigued, Lily offers to meet Alan to find out what kind of man he really is . . . but what Lily uncovers is more perplexing and wicked than they ever could have expected.]]> 320 Peter Swanson 006320505X Martin 4 3.82 2024 A Talent for Murder (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #3)
author: Peter Swanson
name: Martin
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: crime, detective, fiction, mystery, thriller
review:
May I start with a pet peeve? Authors, please stop with the "she suddenly remembered she forgot her cell phone" or "she didn't have a chance to recharge her cell phone." Don't you realize we all hear the "Dun Da Dun Dun" music? Swanson uses it again in this fun and fast read. It doesn't ruin anything, just telegraphs what's about to happen (and often makes the character look foolish, after all, you're in the middle of a cat and mouse game with a possible killer yet you forget your phone? OK, enough venting (and Swanson isn't the only guilty party. ) What I liked about this outing is that there's a unique crime story which I fret some copycat murderer who reads Swanson (or even this review, yikes!) will someday imitate. But it is clever and, while you might think you see the twist coming, you're still not going to be certain who the sociopath is. I didn't realize that this was the third in a series. However, I looked back at my review of the first (which I loved) and I truly don't remember either character. Thus, I didn't know what Henry's relationship to Lily is, or what he does etc. That won't spoil the book as a standalone. Just could have used a bit more of an explanation. I would have enjoyed longer dialogue/time between two characters (Lily & Ethan) but I won't comment further to avoid spoilers (I just wanted Ethan to know more than was revealed to him.) I've enjoyed all of the Peter Swansons I've read. This was no exception. Just keep your cell phone nearby.
]]> <![CDATA[France on Trial: The Case of Marshal PĂ©tain]]> 62217089 432 Julian T. Jackson 024145025X Martin 0 to-read 4.09 2023 France on Trial: The Case of Marshal PĂ©tain
author: Julian T. Jackson
name: Martin
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Long Lost (Myron Bolitar #9) 35696807 * This is an updated cover of this Kindle edition.*

Master of suspense Harlan Coben ratchets up the tension as sports agent Myron Bolitar gets mixed up in some international intrigue in this #1 New York Times bestseller.

With an early morning phone call, an old flame wakes Myron Bolitar from sleep. Terese Collins is in Paris, and she needs his help. In her debt, Myron makes the trip, and learns of a decade-long secret: Terese once had a daughter who died in a car accident. Now it seems as though that daughter may be alive—and tied to a sinister plot with shocking global implications...]]> 396 Harlan Coben Martin 3 4.36 2009 Long Lost (Myron Bolitar #9)
author: Harlan Coben
name: Martin
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: crime, detective, fiction, mystery, thriller
review:
Admittedly I'm a total fanboy of Harlan Coben's work and his Myron Bolitar series in particular. But even a fanatic will recognize when the plot goes a bit overboard and believability gets tested. The relationship between Myron and Win still shines in this outing. Some old characters (like former love interest Therese) reappear. But I struggled with the concept of a non French speaking former sports agent with limited knowledge of Paris doing much to assist the local Gendarmes, but, hey, it's Myron. I'll still keep reading and hope for a better story next time.
]]> <![CDATA[The Murder of Mr. Ma (A Dee and Lao Mystery Book 1)]]> 182775425 Two unlikely allies race through the cobbled streets of 1920s London in search of a killer targeting Chinese immigrants.

London, 1924. When shy academic Lao She meets larger-than-life Judge Dee Ren Jie, his quiet life abruptly turns from books and lectures to daring chases and narrow escapes. Dee has come to London to investigate the murder of a man he’d known during World War I when serving with the Chinese Labour Corps. No sooner has Dee interviewed the grieving widow than another dead body turns up. Then another. All stabbed to death with a butterfly sword. Will Dee and Lao be able to connect the threads of the murders—or are they next in line as victims?

Blending traditional gong’an crime fiction with the most iconic aspects of the Sherlock Holmes canon, Dee and Lao’s first adventure is as thrilling and visual as an action film, as imaginative and transportive as a timeless classic.]]> 272 John Shen Yen Nee 1641295503 Martin 4 crime, detective, fiction 3.94 2024 The Murder of Mr. Ma (A Dee and Lao Mystery Book 1)
author: John Shen Yen Nee
name: Martin
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: crime, detective, fiction
review:
This was a fun vacation read set in old London featuring two Asian characters based upon Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. I was a big fan of all the Arthur Conan Doyle books as a kid (still am, I guess) so this twist upon those adventures was thoroughly enjoyable. It's a bit of a rollicking tale as well since our hero is something of a "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" type fighter. Some interesting supporting characters and great atmosphere made it a pleasurable reading experience.
]]> <![CDATA[The Last Kilo: Willy Falcon and the Cocaine Empire That Seduced America]]> 204982950
Despite what Scarface might lead one to believe, violence was not the dominant characteristic of the cocaine business. It was the dirty cops, agents, lawyers, judges, and politicians who made the drug world go round. And no one managed that carousel of dangerous players better than Willy Falcon.

A Cuban exile whose family escaped Fidel Castro’s Cuba when he was eleven years old, Falcon, as a teenager, became active in the anti-Castro movement. He began smuggling cocaine into the U.S. as a way to raise money to buy arms for the Contras in Central America. This counter-revolutionary activity led directly to Willy’s genesis as a narco. He and his partners built an extraordinary international organization from the ground up. Los Muchachos, the syndicate founded by Falcon, thrived as a major cocaine distribution network in the U.S. from the late 1970’s into the early 1990’s. At their height, Los Muchachos made more than a hundred million dollars a year. At the same time, Willy, his brother Tavy Falcon, and partner Sal Magluta became famous as championship powerboat racers.

Cocaine, used by everyone from A-list celebrities to lawyers and people in law enforcement, came to define an era, and for a time, Willy Falcon and those like him—major suppliers, of whom there were only a few—became stars in their own right. They were the deliverers of good times, at least until the downside of persistent cocaine use became delusions of grandeur, psychological addiction, financial ruin. Thus, the War on Drugs was born, and federal authorities came after Falcon and his crew with a vengeance. Willy found himself on the run, his marriage and family life in shambles, the halcyon days of boat races and lavish trips to Vegas and parties at the Mutiny night club seemingly a distant memory.

T. J. English has been granted unprecedented access to the inner workings of Los Muchachos, sitting down with Willy Falcon and his associates for many lengthy interviews, and revealing never-before-understood details about drug trafficking. A classic of true-crime writing from a master of the genre,ĚýThe Last KiloĚýtraces the rise and fall of a true cocaine empire—and the lives left in its wake.]]> 740 T.J. English Martin 5 crime, non-fiction 4.24 The Last Kilo: Willy Falcon and the Cocaine Empire That Seduced America
author: T.J. English
name: Martin
average rating: 4.24
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: crime, non-fiction
review:
This book reads like an unbelievable thriller. If it hadn't been such a well researched work of non fiction, I might have chalked it up to an author's overstimulated imagination. I particularly enjoyed this story since most of it takes place in Miami (where I live) and many of the settings were familiar to me plus the story helps explain some of the corruption so rampant here. No, these aren't likable people, but their rags to riches tale is thoroughly engrossing. Great read.
]]> Not a Happy Family 56366617
Or are they? They each stand to inherit millions. They were never a happy family, thanks to their capricious father and neglectful mother, but perhaps one of them is more disturbed than anyone knew. Did one of them snap after that dreadful evening? Or was it someone else that night who crept in with the worst of intentions? It must be. After all, if one of your siblings was a psychopath, you'd know.

Wouldn't you?]]> 349 Shari Lapena 1984880551 Martin 0 to-read 3.74 2021 Not a Happy Family
author: Shari Lapena
name: Martin
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Joyride 218523974 In this poignantly quirky ride through Brooklyn, an idealistic young woman shares her earnest joy with her Uber clients, her cranky father, and the Wall Street hotshot who started it all.

Joybird Martin—an Uber driver with cheerfulness to spare—desperately wants to be a life coach.

She’s so sunny about her chances that even her snarky father—a has-been TV writer with a failed third marriage—can’t dim her light. So when he shows up broke on her doorstep, Joybird takes him in with no questions asked, trying to find a balance between her bright optimism and his sarcastic pessimism.

It works, and she continues sharing her earnest wisdom with her Uber riders. After she helps handsome Wall Street exec Devon Cato, he convinces her to become a life coach from the front seat of her Honda.

As Joybird’s dreams take the wheel, she finds direction for her clients…and herself. She’s not sure what to do about her attraction to Devon, but she soon learns exactly what she can do for her father. And a journey into his past might just pave the way for her own bright future.]]> 317 Ellen Meister 1662529090 Martin 0 to-read 3.84 Joyride
author: Ellen Meister
name: Martin
average rating: 3.84
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Death of the Author 214329001 The future of storytelling is here.

Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she's suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister's wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she's not sure what comes next.

In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life - she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes.

What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu's life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.

Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.]]> 448 Nnedi Okorafor 0063391155 Martin 0 to-read 4.04 2025 Death of the Author
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Martin
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Final Detail (Myron Bolitar, #6)]]> 372384
Myron Bolitar’s colleague at MB SportsReps, Esperanza, has been arrested for the murder of a client, a fallen baseball star attempting a comeback. Myron is determined to prove Esperanza’s innocence—even if she won’t speak to him on the advice of her lawyer, who warns Myron to keep away from both the case and his client. But Myron is already too close, too involved, and has too much at stake. And the closer Myron gets to the truth, the more the evidence points to the only viable suspect besides Esperanza: Myron himself.]]> 384 Harlan Coben 0440225450 Martin 0 4.00 1999 The Final Detail (Myron Bolitar, #6)
author: Harlan Coben
name: Martin
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Too Old for This 221115923 A retired serial killer’s quiet life is upended by an unexpected visitor. To protect her secret, there’s only one option left—what’s another murder? From bestselling author Samantha Downing.

Lottie Jones thought her crimes were behind her.

Decades earlier, she changed her identity and tucked herself away in a small town. Her most exciting nights are the weekly bingo games at the local church and gossiping with her friends.Ěý

When investigative journalist Plum Dixon shows up on her doorstep asking questions about Lottie’s past and specifically her involvement with numerous unsolved cases, well, Lottie just can’t have that.

But getting away with murder is hard enough when you’re young. And when Lottie receives another annoying knock on the door, she realizes this crime might just be the death of her…]]> 400 Samantha Downing 0593101030 Martin 0 to-read 4.45 2025 Too Old for This
author: Samantha Downing
name: Martin
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Honjin Murders (Detective Kosuke Kindaichi, #1)]]> 52706058 One of Japan's greatest classic murder mysteries, introducing their best loved detective, translated into English for the first time.

In the winter of 1937, the village of Okamura is abuzz with excitement over the forthcoming wedding of a son of the grand Ichiyanagi family. But amid the gossip over the approaching festivities, there is also a worrying rumour - it seems a sinister masked man has been asking questions around the village.

Then, on the night of the wedding, the Ichiyanagi household are woken by a terrible scream, followed by the sound of eerie music. Death has come to Okamura, leaving no trace but a bloody samurai sword, thrust into the pristine snow outside the house. Soon, amateur detective Kosuke Kindaichi is on the scene to investigate what will become a legendary murder case, but can this scruffy sleuth solve a seemingly impossible crime?]]> 189 Seishi Yokomizo 1782275002 Martin 0 3.63 1946 The Honjin Murders (Detective Kosuke Kindaichi, #1)
author: Seishi Yokomizo
name: Martin
average rating: 3.63
book published: 1946
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves:
review:

]]> The Time Traveler's Wife 18619684 537 Audrey Niffenegger 1939126010 Martin 0 to-read 4.07 2003 The Time Traveler's Wife
author: Audrey Niffenegger
name: Martin
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood]]> 29780253
Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents� indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.

Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.]]> 289 Trevor Noah 0385689225 Martin 0 to-read 4.48 2016 Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
author: Trevor Noah
name: Martin
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Back Spin (Myron Bolitar, #4) 372385 In novels that crackle with wit and suspense, Edgar Award winner Harlan Coben has created one of the most fascinating and complex heroes in suspense fiction--Myron Bolitar--a hotheaded, tenderhearted sports agent who grows more and more engaging and unpredictable with each page-turning appearance. "From the Paperback edition."]]> 358 Harlan Coben 0440222702 Martin 0 3.95 1997 Back Spin (Myron Bolitar, #4)
author: Harlan Coben
name: Martin
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Fade Away (Myron Bolitar, #3) 272607
The home is top-notch New Jersey suburban. The living room is Martha Stewart. The basement is Legos—and blood. The signs of a violent struggle. For Myron Bolitar, the disappearance of a man he once competed against is bringing back memories—of the sport he and Greg Downing had both played and the woman they both loved. Now, among the stars, the wannabes, the gamblers, and the groupies, Myron is embarking upon the strange ride of a sports hero gone wrong that just may lead to certain death. Namely, his own.]]> 368 Harlan Coben 0440222680 Martin 0 3.98 1996 Fade Away (Myron Bolitar, #3)
author: Harlan Coben
name: Martin
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves:
review:

]]> Drop Shot (Myron Bolitar, #2) 43932
Once, Valerie Simpson’s tennis career skyrocketed; now, the headlines belong to a player from the wrong side of the tracks. But when Valerie is shot dead in cold blood and dropped outside the stadium at the U.S. Open, sports agent Myron Bolitar investigates the killing and uncovers a connection between the two players and a six-year-old murder at an exclusive mainline club. As Myron is drawn into the case—along with a dirty U.S. senator, a jealous mother, and the mob—he finds himself caught between a killer and the truth.]]> 341 Harlan Coben 0440220459 Martin 0 3.92 1996 Drop Shot (Myron Bolitar, #2)
author: Harlan Coben
name: Martin
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves:
review:

]]> The Given Day (Coughlin #1) 2830067 New York Times best-selling author Dennis Lehane's long-awaited eighth novel unflinchingly captures the political and social unrest of a nation caught at the crossroads between past and future.

The Given Day tells the story of two families—one black, one white—swept up in a maelstrom of revolutionaries and anarchists, immigrants and ward bosses, Brahmins and ordinary citizens, all engaged in a battle for survival and power.

Beat cop Danny Coughlin, the son of one of the city's most beloved and powerful police captains, joins a burgeoning union movement and the hunt for violent radicals.

Luther Laurence, on the run after a deadly confrontation with a crime boss in Tulsa, works for the Coughlin family and tries desperately to find his way home to his pregnant wife.

Here, too, are some of the most influential figures of the era—Babe Ruth; Eugene O'Neill; leftist activist Jack Reed; NAACP founder W. E. B. DuBois; Mitchell Palmer, Woodrow Wilson's ruthless Red-chasing attorney general; cunning Massachusetts governor Calvin Coolidge; and an ambitious young Department of Justice lawyer named John Hoover.

Coursing through some of the pivotal events of the time—including the Spanish Influenza pandemic—and culminating in the Boston Police Strike of 1919, The Given Day explores the crippling violence and irrepressible exuberance of a country at war with, and in the thrall of, itself. As Danny, Luther, and those around them struggle to define themselves in increasingly turbulent times, they gradually find family in one another and, together, ride a rising storm of hardship, deprivation, and hope that will change all their lives.]]> 704 Dennis Lehane 0688163181 Martin 0 to-read 4.04 2008 The Given Day (Coughlin #1)
author: Dennis Lehane
name: Martin
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Big Empty (Elvis Cole and Joe Pike #20)]]> 201750163 Private investigator Elvis Cole and his enigmatic partner, Joe Pike, face a cryptic case and a terrifying, unpredictable killer in this twisty, satisfying thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Robert Crais.

Traci Beller was thirteen when her father disappeared in the sleepy town of Rancha, not far from Los Angeles. The evidence says Tommy Beller abandoned his family, but Traci never believed it. The police couldn't find her dad and neither could the detectives her mother hired, but now, ten years later, Traci is a super-popular influencer with millions of followers and the money to hire a new detective: Elvis Cole.

Taking on a ten-years-cold missing person case is almost always a loser, but Elvis heads to Rancha where he learns an ex-con named Sadie Givens and her daughter, Anya, might have a line on the missing man. But when Elvis finds himself shadowed by a deadly gang of vicious criminals, the simple missing persons case becomes far more sinister and dangerous. Elvis calls in his ex-Marine friend, Joe Pike, to help, but even Pike might not be able to help.

As Elvis Cole and Joe Pike follow Tommy Beller's trail into the twisted, nightmare depths of a monstrous evil, the case flips on its head. Victims become predators, predators become prey, and when everyone is a victim, can Elvis Cole save them all?

In a case that tests Elvis Cole's loyalty to his clients and himself, the truth must come out no matter the cost. Elvis must face The Big Empty and see justice done.]]> 373 Robert Crais 0525535799 Martin 0 to-read 4.55 2025 The Big Empty (Elvis Cole and Joe Pike #20)
author: Robert Crais
name: Martin
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Then & Now: A Memoir 28512336 256 Barbara Cook 0062090461 Martin 0 to-read 4.05 2015 Then & Now: A Memoir
author: Barbara Cook
name: Martin
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Time and Again (Time, #1) 40526
Science fiction, mystery, a passionate love story, and a detailed history of Old New York blend together in Jack Finney's spellbinding story of a young man enlisted in a secret government experiment.

Transported from the mid-twentieth century to New York City in the year 1882, Si Morley walks the fashionable "Ladies' Mile" of Broadway, is enchanted by the jingling sleigh bells in Central Park, and solves a 20th-century mystery by discovering its 19th-century roots. Falling in love with a beautiful young woman, he ultimately finds himself forced to choose between his lives in the present and the past.

A story that will remain in the listener's memory, Time and Again is a remarkable blending of the troubled present and a nostalgic past, made vivid and extraordinarily moving by the images of a time that was ... and perhaps still is.]]> 400 Jack Finney 0575073608 Martin 4 3.94 1970 Time and Again (Time, #1)
author: Jack Finney
name: Martin
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1970
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/23
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: crime, fantasy, fiction, historical-fiction, science-fiction
review:
I love time travel books. Not sure why, but I've always been drawn to books and films with this theme. What I liked about this novel: the leading characters were unique and well developed (and mostly quite likable.) I loved the detailed descriptions of old Manhattan (disclosure: I grew up there and knew every street and landmark that still exists today so it was of particular interest to me. If you never lived or visited there, it might not hold the same appeal.) What the novel lacked was a believable time travel explanation (I know that sounds like an oxymoron - it's sci fi after all) but I like time travel books to have an element of believability (HG Wells in a machine, for example.) In this case a secret government agency is spending millions to develop a method to travel back in time, yet two untrained characters are able to do so without any training whatsoever. But I was able to suspend rational thought in order to enjoy a very well crafted story with some exciting moments and a lot of fun. I do have a slight peeve with the ending. Without giving anything away, I was totally confused at what happened because it referenced a conversation from an early chapter of the book which I had totally forgotten, it was just a paragraph or so in length. Fortunately some fellow GR members' reviews helped enlighten me and I skimmed backwards to see what I missed. Overall a 3.5 rounded up, negative for believability, but positive for a great plot and wonderfully descriptive settings.
]]> <![CDATA[How Sondheim Can Change Your Life]]> 207294315 Discover the powerful and universal lessons from the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim, the genius behind such musical theater masterworks as Company, West Side Story, and Into the Woods. Stephen Sondheim died on November 26, 2021, but for countless fans around the world, he is “still here� to quote one of his lyrics. With acclaimed revivals of several of his landmark shows occurring around the world and introducing new generations to the man who transformed American musical theater, Sondheim’s legacy has only grown. What is it about such classic showtunes as “Rose’s Turn� from Gypsy, “Send in the Clowns� from A Little Night Music, and “Children Will Listen� from Into the Woods, and more that speak to us so effortlessly? With in-depth and accessible insight, How Sondheim Can Change Your Life makes the case that the greatness of Sondheim’s brilliance—beyond the clever lyrics and adventurous music—rests in his ability to tell universal stories that relate to us all. From Louise’s desire for freedom as Gypsy Rose Lee to Sweeney Todd’s thirst for revenge, and beyond, we as an audience can easily relate to Sondheim’s characters. His works understand us as much as we understand them. Following the arc of Sondheim’s remarkable career, How Sondheim Can Change Your Life is rich with stories about various productions and iconic performers, deep readings of his music and lyrics, and insights into his creative process. But more than that, it reveals the ways that Sondheim’s works can enrich the lives of all of us on the other side of the footlights.]]> 304 Richard Schoch 1668030594 Martin 2 dnf, put-on-hold 4.01 How Sondheim Can Change Your Life
author: Richard Schoch
name: Martin
average rating: 4.01
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: dnf, put-on-hold
review:
I generally don't review books I haven't finished, but the initial chapters of How Sondheim Can Change Your Life were a disappointment to me. First of all his musical genius already changed the lives of all Broadway fans, including me. From favorites of mine such as Sweeney Todd to A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to The Forum to Pacific Overtures and Merrily We Roll Along, his talents were unmatched. Then why did I chose not to continue reading? Well, I didn't find the book all that much about Sondheim. After a lengthy intro we started with Gypsy (for which Sondheim wrote the lyrics only to Jule Styne's music.) The chapter was really just a synopsis of the plot with a few references here and there to a lyric or two. I truly didn't learn anything new except for the fact that Styne vociferously defended the "Little Lamb" number from being cut (the weakest in the show imho) which surprised me. So honestly, I thought if there weren't going to be new revelations, why continue. I'm thrilled that others enjoyed it and maybe one day I'll pick it up again. In the meanwhile I'll enjoy his genius in the theater or on recordings.
]]> Pictures of You 197156017 If you knew then what you know now, would you make the same choices? Imagine having a second chance with the one you never forgot.

From the author of the global breakout bestseller The Last Love Note comes the story of a young woman struggling to piece her life back together in the wake of a tragic accident, and the man who gives up everything to help her.

When Evie Hudson wakes in an unfamiliar hospital room, she thinks she’s fresh out of a teenage party with her best friend, Bree. Except, Bree isn’t around anymore and high school was years ago. Evie had just survived the crash that killed her husband, Oliver—whom she can't remember either. After suffering a traumatic loss of memory, she’s left to connect the dots. But how?

Drew, a promising photographer whose chance encounter with Evie unravels the elusive details of her marriage and her husband’s death. As Drew watches Evie stitch the story of her life together, secrets emerge that might shatter both of their worlds.

This tangled second-chance romance leads Evie to question every decision she ever made. This time around, she’s seeing all the things she missed–and the life she gets to choose...again.]]> 416 Emma Grey 195850646X Martin 0 to-read 4.00 2024 Pictures of You
author: Emma Grey
name: Martin
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Wedding People 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach Martin 0 to-read 4.11 2024 The Wedding People
author: Alison Espach
name: Martin
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Agent Zo: The Untold Story of Fearless WW2 Resistance Fighter Elzbieta Zawacka]]> 200837962
After the war she was demobbed as one of the most highly decorated women in Polish history. Yet the Soviet-backed post-war Communist regime not only imprisoned her, but also ensured that her remarkable story remained hidden for over forty years. Now, through new archival research and exclusive interviews with people who knew and fought alongside Zo, Clare Mulley brings this forgotten heroine back to life, and also transforms how we see the history of women's agency in the Second World War.]]> 224 Clare Mulley 1399601067 Martin 0 to-read 4.18 2024 Agent Zo: The Untold Story of Fearless WW2 Resistance Fighter Elzbieta Zawacka
author: Clare Mulley
name: Martin
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Terror 3974 Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, though, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations, 126 men fight to survive with poisonous food, a dwindling supply of coal, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is far more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror constantly clawing to get in.

When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. With them travels an Inuit woman who cannot speak and who may be the key to survival, or the harbinger of their deaths. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear that there is no escape.]]> 769 Dan Simmons 0316017442 Martin 0 to-read 4.06 2007 The Terror
author: Dan Simmons
name: Martin
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Stillwater Girls 40258215 The Thinnest Air.

Ignorant of civilization and cautioned against its evils, nineteen-year-old Wren and her two sisters, Sage and Evie, were raised in off-the-grid isolation in a primitive cabin in upstate New York. When the youngest grows gravely ill, their mother leaves with the child to get help from a nearby town. And they never return.

As months pass, hope vanishes. Supplies are low. Livestock are dying. A brutal winter is bearing down. Then comes the stranger. He claims to be looking for the girls� mother, and he’s not leaving without them.

To escape, Wren and her sister must break the rule they’ve grown up with: never go beyond the forest.

Past the thicket of dread, they come upon a house on the other side of the pines. This is where Wren and Sage must confront something more chilling than the unknowable. They’ll discover what’s been hidden from them, what they’re running from, and the secrets that have left them in the dark their entire lives.]]> 273 Minka Kent 1542090105 Martin 0 to-read 4.14 2019 The Stillwater Girls
author: Minka Kent
name: Martin
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Divorce Towers 202451074 Welcome to Divorce Towers, the Beverly Hills condo where there’s more money than sense…more drama than money…and more heat than one high-rise can hold.

Addison Torres has nothing left to lose in New York - no job, no fiancé, no parents to lean on. So when Uncle Arnie offers her a concierge gig in sunny California, she hops on a plane without looking back.

Before it all came crashing down, Addison had a matchmaking career and handsome partner—then she got a little too cozy with a client. Digging her way out of the wreckage, she’s taken a strict vow of celibacy.

Unfortunately, Addison’s new home is where such promises go to die. As concierge at the luxurious Beekman Towers—nicknamed “Divorce Towers� due to the constant influx of the newly single—she’s in constant demand by Beverly Hills� most eligible and entitled bachelors. Like Dante, a cocksure talent agent. And Zach, an adorable tech wizard.

Addison Torres thinks she’s ready for anything except love. But in Divorce Towers, the world’s toughest concierge may have finally met her match.]]> 346 Ellen Meister 1662520905 Martin 4 fiction, mystery, romcom 3.58 2024 Divorce Towers
author: Ellen Meister
name: Martin
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/11
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves: fiction, mystery, romcom
review:
A totally fun read. Our heroine, Addison, leaves her Matchmaking job in NYC to relocate the luxury Beekman Towers in LA where she gets a concierge job through her favorite Uncle whose also quite a favorite of many of the newly single women who live in the appropriately nicknamed "Divorce Towers." (I live in Florida, this kind of reminded me of The Villages near Orlando, known for oilder romantic shenanigans.) The characters are all fun and varied. There's some romance, mystery and intrigue that made this such an enjoyable ride. I know some folks didn't care for Addison's choices (she makes several bad ones) but I found that part of the charm of the book. Take it to the Beach and enjoy.
]]> <![CDATA[A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland]]> 59208163 “A thoroughly engaging and enjoyable� (National Review) biography of Grover Cleveland—the honest, principled, and plain-spoken president whose country has largely overlooked him.“Entertaining and astute� (Booklist), A Man of Iron explores the remarkable life and extraordinary career of Grover Cleveland—one of America’s most unusual presidents and the only one to serve two non-consecutive terms. Grover Cleveland’s political career—a dizzying journey that saw him rise from obscure lawyer to president of the United States in just three years—was marked by contradictions. A politician of uncharacteristic honesty and principle, he was nevertheless dogged by secrets from his personal life. A believer in limited government, he pushed presidential power to its limits to combat a crippling depression, suppress labor unrest, and resist the forces of American imperialism. A headstrong executive who alienated Congress, political bosses, and even his own party, his stubbornness nevertheless became the key to his political appeal. The most successful Democratic politician of his era, he came to be remembered most fondly by Republicans. “With prodigious research, rich detail…and lively prose� (The Free Lance-Star, Virginia), A Man of Iron is a compelling and vivid biography joining the ranks of presidential classics such as David McCullough’s John Adams, Ron Chernow’s Grant, and Amity Shlaes’s Coolidge.]]> 383 Troy Senik 198214078X Martin 0 to-read 4.16 A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland
author: Troy Senik
name: Martin
average rating: 4.16
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Secret Life: The Lies and Scandals of President Grover Cleveland]]> 13072510 6684 Charles Lachman Martin 0 to-read 3.67 2011 A Secret Life: The Lies and Scandals of President Grover Cleveland
author: Charles Lachman
name: Martin
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder on Brittany Shores (Commissaire Dupin #2)]]> 32191769 Ten miles off the coast of Brittany lie the fabled Glénan Islands. Boasting sparkling white sands and crystal-clear waters, they seem perfectly idyllic, until one day in May, three bodies wash up on shore. At first glance the deaths appear accidental, but as the identities of the victims come to light, Commissaire Dupin is pulled back into action for a case of what seems to be cold-blooded murder.

Ever viewed as an outsider in a region full of myths and traditions, Dupin finds himself drawn deep into the history of the land. To get to the bottom of the case, he must tangle with treasure hunters, militant marine biologists, and dangerous divers. The investigation leads him further into the perilous, beautiful world of Glénan, as he discovers that there's more to the picturesque islands than meets the eye.

Steeped in the enchanting atmosphere of Brittany and peppered with wry humor, Murder on Brittany Shores is a superbly plotted mystery that marks the return of Jean-Luc Bannalec's international bestselling series starring the cantankerous, coffee-swigging Commissaire Dupin.

]]> 361 Jean-Luc Bannalec Martin 2 3.92 2013 Murder on Brittany Shores (Commissaire Dupin #2)
author: Jean-Luc Bannalec
name: Martin
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2013
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/04
date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: crime, detective, fiction, mystery
review:
I'm not entirely sure why this didn't end up on my DNF shelf, but a friend recommended the first in the series which wasn't in my library so I chose the 2nd outing. Although it's obviously intentional on the author's part, our main character, Dupin, is not at all likable. I'm not even sure he is a very good detective. First of all, he whines a lot. He's got a case of three bodies turning up on a remote island in Brittany, France. Whenever things get complicated (& they mostly do because he doesn't appear to be following any standard police procedures, it's all guesswork) he whines about how much there is to do and find out and takes his frustration out on his subordinates (who appear to be doing a fairly good investigation on their own.) At one point, he's stranded due to a severe storm, has no cell service and throws a childish fit.) Moving on, the plot, such as it is, moves at an escargot's pace (look how long it took me to read! NB: there are only 3 chapters so you have to find your own choices to stop and restart reading) There are so many characters (and of course all have French names - some difficult to remember) that I didn't even try to guess who the culprit was, I stopped caring that much (& once I found out, it made zero sense.) The more I type this review the more I want to reduce my rating to a 1. But the saving grace was the description of the food, which did have me salivating. So we'll call it a 2 and I'd recommend a good French cook book instead of this unsatisfying mystery.
]]> <![CDATA[We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)]]> 203956647 A brand new series. An iconic new detective duo. And a puzzling new murder to solve...

Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.

Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn’t stay still long enough for habits or routines. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job...

Then a dead body, a bag of money, and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy?

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 059365322X.]]> 400 Richard Osman Martin 0 to-read 4.06 2024 We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: Martin
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Gone for Good 59119540
Now eleven years have passed. Will has found proof that Ken is alive. And this is just the first in a series of stunning revelations as Will is forced to confront startling truths about his brother—and himself. As a violent mystery unwinds around him, Will knows that he must press his search all the way to the end. Because the most powerful surprises are yet to come.]]> 432 Harlan Coben Martin 4 crime, fiction, thriller 4.42 2002 Gone for Good
author: Harlan Coben
name: Martin
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/15
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: crime, fiction, thriller
review:
As my friends know, I'm a huge Harlan Coben fan, so when I started "Gone For Good" I found it confusing to follow and uncertain if it would live up to everything else this prolific author has written that I've so enjoyed. At some point in the first third of the book it dawned on me: the confusion is totally intentional. Our hero, Will Klein, has discovered from his dying mother (no spoiler here, happens close to page 1) that his missing and adored big brother, Ken, may actually be alive. Will launches into his search for surprising answer after surprising answer and we, the readers, share his total confusion as he seeks the truth (with the help of his friend, Squares.) We're along for the ride, so once I accepted that I'm in it with Will, I was totally on board for every twist and turn (of which there are many - right up to and including the ending) There's typical great dialogue that you've come to enjoy from Coben. In fact, Will's repartee with Squares on occasion mimics the Myron/Win exchanges from the wonderful Bolitar series. The characters, like the aforementioned Squares, are highly original, and the villain, Ghost, is as scary as any you've ever encountered. (On a scale of 1 to Hannibal Lecter, he might be an 8!) Be aware there is violence. It's a wild ride, but one I'm very glad I took.
]]> <![CDATA[At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House]]> 201896702 A revealing account of National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster’s turbulent and consequential thirteen months in the Trump White House.

At War with Ourselves is the story of helping a disruptive President drive necessary shifts in U.S. foreign policy at a critical moment in history. McMaster entered an administration beset by conflict and the hyper partisanship of American politics. With the candor of a soldier and the perspective of a historian, McMaster rises above the fray to lay bare the good, the bad, and the ugly of Trump’s presidency and give readers insight into what a second Trump term would look like.

While all administrations are subject to backstabbing and infighting, some of Trump’s more unscrupulous political advisors were determined to undermine McMaster and others to advance their narrow agendas. McMaster writes candidly about Cabinet officials who, deeply disturbed by Trump’s language and behavior, prioritized controlling the President over collaborating to provide the President with options.

McMaster offers a frank and fresh assessment of the achievements and failures of his tenure as National Security Advisor and the challenging task of maintaining one’s bearings and focus on the mission in a hectic and malicious environment.

Determined to transcend the war within the administration and focus on national security priorities, McMaster forged coalitions in Washington and internationally to help Trump advance U.S. interests. Trump’s character and personality helped him make tough decisions, but sometimes prevented him from sticking to them. McMaster adroitly assesses the record of Trump’s presidency in comparison to the Obama and Biden administrations.

With the 2024 election on the horizon, At War with Ourselves highlights the crucial importance of competence in foreign policy, and makes plain the need for leaders who possess the character and intellect to guide the United States in a tumultuous world.]]> 576 H.R. McMaster 0063386283 Martin 3 3.83 2024 At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House
author: H.R. McMaster
name: Martin
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/11/12
shelves:
review:
As a rule I don't believe I should write reviews of books I did not finish. But last week's unbelievable re-election of a convicted felon/sexual abuser/grifter/conman forced me to reconsider reading the remainder of this memoir about Trump's first term when I'm going to have to live through the next four years (or perhaps fewer if his cognitive decline increases.) Forgive me for getting political, but, emotionally, I could not entertain continuing to read this. That being said, let me share my initial impressions (I completed I think at least 50-60% of the book.) While McMaster's writing is easy and conversational, it always appeared to me to be self-serving (I guess many memoirs are) and he often likes to take credit for what I perceived of as highly questionable "wins" (When Trump emerges from a meeting with a foreign leader, say, and refrains from outright insults or implementing WWIII McMaster chalks that up to a success.) He portrays himself as guided by principle and his colleagues in the Cabinet, particularly Tillerson (at State) and Mattis (Defense) as obstructionists pursuing their own agendas. He shares a few interesting insights, but nothing all that new to anyone who has observed Trump's childish demeanor, short attention span or lack of intellectual curiosity. Protect your emotional well-being and skip this memoir until Trump is a distant historical memory (if that ever happens.) For now, we have to protect our nation and our neighbors. I'm going back to Fiction. It's less scary.
]]> <![CDATA[Nobody’s Fool (Detective Sami Kierce #2)]]> 217394492 In this stunningly twisty thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben, a secret from former Detective Sami Kierce’s college days comes back to haunt him. His memory is clear, but all these years later, the facts don’t add up…which is something he cannot ignore.

Sami Kierce, a young college grad backpacking in Spain with friends, wakes up one morning, covered in blood. There’s a knife in his hand. Beside him, the body of his girlfriend. Anna. Dead. He doesn’t know what happened. His screams drown out his thoughts—and then he runs.

Twenty-two years later, Kierce, now a private investigator, is a new father who’s working off his debts by doing low level surveillance jobs and teaching wannabe sleuths at a night school in New York City. One evening, he recognizes a familiar face at the back of the classroom. Anna. It’s unmistakably her. As soon as Kierce makes eye contact with her, she bolts. For Kierce there is no choice. He knows he must find this woman and solve the impossible mystery that has haunted his every waking moment since that terrible day.

His investigation will bring him face-to-face with his past—and prove, after all this time, he’s nobody’s fool.]]> 352 Harlan Coben 1538756358 Martin 0 to-read 4.11 2025 Nobody’s Fool (Detective Sami Kierce #2)
author: Harlan Coben
name: Martin
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I]]> 83814822 384 Steven Ujifusa 0062971875 Martin 4 history, non-fiction 4.09 The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I
author: Steven Ujifusa
name: Martin
average rating: 4.09
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/21
date added: 2024/11/07
shelves: history, non-fiction
review:
While a lot has been written about the plight and escape of Jews prior to and during World War II, little has been devoted to WWI as this book has. Actually, there are so many focal points of the book from the business world of the shipping industry in both Germany and Britain (and, yes, the Titanic plays a role in the story) to the plight of immigrants, especially the Russian Jews to the individual stories of tycoons (Jewish and Anti-Semites alike) that there is sometimes a lot to take in. But the author humanizes the history for us and it is often compelling reading.
]]> <![CDATA[Death in Brittany (Commissaire Dupin #1)]]> 23014714
A summer hit in its original German, Death in Pont-Aven introduces readers to the enigmatic Commissaire Dupin, an idiosyncratic penguin lover and Parisian-born caffeine junkie whose unique methods of detection raise more than a few eyebrows. It is a book so atmospheric readers will immediately want to wander through the village’s narrow alleyways, breathe in the Atlantic air and savour Brittany’s seaside specialty dishes. Death in Pont-Aven is a spellbinding, subtle and smart crime novel, peppered with cryptic humour and surprising twists.]]> 320 Jean-Luc Bannalec 1250061741 Martin 0 to-read 3.54 2012 Death in Brittany (Commissaire Dupin #1)
author: Jean-Luc Bannalec
name: Martin
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Never Saw Me Coming: How I Outsmarted the FBI and the Entire Banking System—and Pocketed $40 Million]]> 74837105 The true story of how a middle-class Black girl from Minneapolis became one of the single biggest threats to the United States banking system.

Tanya Smith fancied herself a folk hero, a kind of Robin Hood, using her powers of persuasion to buck the system and help the poor and needy.

It started innocently enough, with calls to celebrities' houses with her teenage twin sister. Soon, Tanya realised she could convince utility companies to amend the balances of her friends, relatives and neighbours, clearing their overdue electricity bills with a single phone call. Eventually, as she tested the limits and realized she could get past any gatekeeper, she started to want the actual money herself.

By the time she was 18, Tanya had 'confiscated' some $40 million in cash and commodities from US banks, using hacked wire transfers. It didn't take long before the FBI was on her tail. But when interviewing her, they made clear that they were using her to get to the person actually running things - clearly, she wasn't smart enough to do this on her own (Black people she was told, rob people, they don't hack computers).

Thus began a cat and mouse game with the authorities that would drive her to unthinkable limits, breaking the hearts of her parents, putting Tanya's life in jeopardy, and costing her custody of two children before finally sending her to Federal prison (where she escaped twice) with the longest sentence ever given for a white-collar crime.

In the spirit of true crime narratives like Catch Me If You Can, Molly's Game, and Ben Mezrich's Bringing Down the House, Never Saw Me Coming is a gripping caper, but it's also the deeply personal journey of a young Black woman finding her way in a world that underestimated her brilliance. For fans of movies like Hustlers and The Bling Ring, Never Saw Me Coming is a high-stakes, gritty tale of wild financial misdeeds.]]> 433 Tanya Smith 1529429889 Martin 3 crime, memoir, non-fiction 3.69 2024 Never Saw Me Coming: How I Outsmarted the FBI and the Entire Banking System—and Pocketed $40 Million
author: Tanya Smith
name: Martin
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/30
date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: crime, memoir, non-fiction
review:
I was very intrigued by the subtitle and I like a good scam story, so I gave this a try. First of all, I have to say that I stopped reading early on because what Tanya was accomplishing as a teenager was so unbelievable, I actually thought I had picked up a work of fiction and went on line to double check. It's a true story, maybe a bit embellished, I wouldn't know for sure. What was most troubling for me was how smart a person the author is (not that I'm condoning what she did, but it took incredible smarts to accomplish what she achieved) but how incredibly "un-smart" she was about the multiple men in her life. I enjoyed learning about her heists, the description of life in prison was fascinating (believe it or not Squeaky Fromme from the Manson Family plays a minor role in the tale.) Ms Smith spends a little too much time trying to impress the reader with how beautiful she was and how many expensive things (cars, watches, clothing) she was able to purchase with her ill-gotten gains. I disagree that this is a Robin Hood story, yes there was a gesture she made towards the beginning to help her grandmother out financially and some neighbors, but it was really mostly about enriching herself or her boyfriends. She has every right to idolize her parents and they are made out as saints throughout the book. But these saints, as dedicated as they were to rising children with their values, actually raised a drug addict and a con woman (two different people.) But I get Smith is guilty for what she put them through so she gets a pass on this. The story is a 4* read, the writing more of a 2* (language and some intimate scenes may be off-putting to some readers.) But it is an interesting story which wasn't highly publicized so I'm glad I had a chance to catch up on this tale.
]]> Th1rt3en (Eddie Flynn, #4) 36217425 The serial killer isn't on trial.

He's on the jury...

They were Hollywood's hottest power couple. They had the world at their feet. Now one of them is dead and Hollywood star Robert Solomon is charged with the brutal murder of his beautiful wife.

This is the celebrity murder trial of the century and the defence want one man on their team: con artist turned lawyer Eddie Flynn.

All the evidence points to Robert's guilt, but as the trial begins a series of sinister incidents in the court room start to raise doubts in Eddie's mind.

What if there's more than one actor in the courtroom?

What if the killer isn't on trial? What if the killer is on the jury?]]> 356 Steve Cavanagh 1409170667 Martin 4 4.19 2018 Th1rt3en (Eddie Flynn, #4)
author: Steve Cavanagh
name: Martin
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/23
date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: crime, detective, legal, thriller
review:
OK, how could you resist a book whose cover teases the following "A serial killer isn't on trial. He's on the jury" ? Yikes! That's not your typical legal drama, so I had to download the ebook from my library without delay. It was highly entertaining. You've got our hero, Eddie, who is described as a con man turned attorney. This is the 4th book in the series so I didn't have any of the backstory and it worked as a stand alone, but I liked it so much I will start with Book 1. The con man background didn't play much of a role in the story, it just enables Eddie to think things from differing angles sometimes. The bad guy, Kane, is pure evil. When I first read the premise I said "come on, how could he get on the jury?" Well, the author makes it pretty believable. The fun is that the reader doesn't know which juror he is. Later in the book you do have to suspend believability a bit, Kane is a bit of a super hero villain wise, I won't go into specifics. I did find it a bit confusing as to how Eddie discovers who Kane's accomplice is, but that's a minor quibble. There was also an issue I had with the jury consultant but I can't share it without spoilers (one day I'll figure out how to include one.) Overall its very entertaining and I like a plot that's fast paced and an author who thinks outside the box. Just enjoy the ride.
]]> <![CDATA[Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain]]> 1422466 Sixty years ago, Europe lay at the feet of Adolf Hitler. Standing between Hitler and world domination was the just-appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill...and a few hundred pilots in the Royal Air Force's Fighter Command. Defeat seemed inevitable. Instead, a legend was born.
Taking its readers on a breathtaking journey from open lifeboats in North Atlantic gales to the cockpits of burning fighter planes, Finest Hour re-creates the tensions and uncertainties of the events of 1940 -- months when the fate of the world truly hung in the balance. It is a powerful account, told through the voices, diaries, letters, and memoirs of the men and women who lived and loved, fought and died, during that terrible yet ultimately triumphant year. The personal stories of these soldiers and airmen, diplomats and politicians, journalists and spies, are combined with a fresh and often controversial account of the swirling political intrigues and betrayals of the period.
A testament to a year when a nation's darkest hour became its finest, Finest Hour is a singular achievement and an indispensable contribution to the literature of World War II.]]> 352 Tim Clayton 0684869314 Martin 5 history, non-fiction, wwii 4.20 1999 Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain
author: Tim Clayton
name: Martin
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/23
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: history, non-fiction, wwii
review:
Thanks to GR friend, Jill, for recommending this exceptional account not only of the Battle of Britain but the events leading up to the blitz. My father was a bombardier based in England whose B17 was shot down towards the very end of the war (co-pilot killed) so I have always been fascinated especially stories about the air war over Europe (My Dad didn't talk about his experiences until late in his life when he drove my Mom crazy touring every B17 exhibit he could find!) This book does feature many detailed first hand accounts of the air war, but it is really so much more. You'll gain insight into the political behind-the scenes maneuvering with some fun anecdotes about Churchill, but also the stories of soldiers, sailors, the women supporting them, reporters and the day to day Londoners and what they experienced. You'll laugh or at least smile at some of the tales, get teary-eyed (or, at least, I did) at others. If you like history (especially about this era) but you prefer that it read like the human drama it was, this is a great choice for you.
]]> <![CDATA[Lethal White (Cormoran Strike, #4)]]> 40775744 “I seen a kid killed…He strangled it, up by the horse.�

When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike’s office to ask for his help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed, and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. But before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from his office in a panic.

Trying to get to the bottom of Billy’s story, Strike and Robin Ellacott—once his assistant, now a partner in the agency—set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament, and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside.

And during this labyrinthine investigation, Strike’s own life is far from straightforward: his newfound fame as a private eye means he can no longer operate behind the scenes as he once did. Plus, his relationship with his former assistant is more fraught than it ever has been—Robin is now invaluable to Strike in the business, but their personal relationship is much, much trickier than that.]]> 657 Robert Galbraith 0751572845 Martin 3 detective, mystery 4.47 2018 Lethal White (Cormoran Strike, #4)
author: Robert Galbraith
name: Martin
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2021/07/06
date added: 2024/09/20
shelves: detective, mystery
review:
This is the fourth in the Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) series involving Cormoran Strike and his Detective Agency Partner Robin Ellacort. I'd say I liked this novel the best of the series thus far (& I might not continue as the books keep getting longer and longer!) It is one of the more complex plots with a large cast of characters so much so that "complex" sometimes turned into "confusing" and even "convoluting" for me. Cormoran is one of the most unusual protagonists in detective fiction. In this outing, I found myself liking him a bit more as he displayed real empathy and compassion for a mentally disturbed young man who brings a part of his current case to him. But then Strike loses points by his treatment of his current love interest and at times his manner with Robin (yes, the "will they or won't they" continues as a theme in this novel as well.) Robin's husband, Matthew, continues to be a total "arse" (it's a British book, let's use their term.) The book is mostly fast paced for 750 pages on my e-reader. There's politics, violence, undercover activities, scheming a-plenty and far too much of Strike complaining about his prosthesis and painful stump (he's an amputee.) I have no clue what the Ibsen quotes at the beginning of each chapter are about, I had planned to google the play but never did, I just skimmed over them. My only real critique is the way the author ties everything up in the epilogue. Reminded me of the old Perry Mason TV series where Perry, Paul and Della sit around for coffee and Perry tells us how he figured it all out - almost always with information you weren't privy to! Overall a good read with interesting and fairly unique characters and a different, sometimes challenging, plot.
]]> <![CDATA[A Clean Kill (Garrett Mann, #1)]]> 193772001 An FBI agent hunting a serial killer has to up his game when a trail of murders is not what it seems in a riveting thriller by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Steven Konkoly.

Five dismembered bodies are found along the roadside, dumped in the middle of nowhere. This isn’t new to Special Agent Garrett Mann. Head of ARTEMIS, a specialized FBI task force hell-bent on hunting down cartel-related killings in the Southwest, Mann has seen this before.

He and his team have been tracking similar kills along thousands of miles of rural roads running north, south, and back again. When the latest slaughter yields a key piece of evidence, Mann thinks he’s found the killer and solved the case. That’s when the nightmare begins.

From a lakeside Minnesota mansion to an abandoned CIA black site in New Mexico, the hunt is on. But the closer Mann gets to his prey, the deadlier the stakes become. This is no ordinary serial killer. He’s not working alone—and the stakes go far beyond just preventing the serial killer’s next massacre. What Mann unravels is a powerful and far-reaching conspiracy beyond his wildest imagination.]]> 384 Steven Konkoly 1662509251 Martin 2 Once the book went beyond belief and fairly overboard in violence I was tempted to give up but I stuck with it and it did not improve. May I share a pet peeve (somewhat petty and silly, I realize) that this author, and many others, tend to engage in when writing about Hispanic characters? Why do they feel they need to make them include a few Spanish words in their sentences when they are clearly fluent in English? Do the authors think we'll forget they are Latin even though their names obviously are? Let me share some examples from this book. Here's a sentence uttered by a character named Javier: "Situation awareness es muy importante underground. It's not easy. I've lost a lot of officers because nobody could talk to anybody." Javier is fluent in English yet he doesn't know how to say the phrase "is very important"? I don't speak Spanish but even I can translate es muy importante! OK, here's another from Sofia: "We brought some dinero with us" Really? She doesn't know the English word money? Finally, here's our friend Javier again: "Si. That's bad news for us. Every doorway. Every hallway corner. Every stack of crates..." For gosh sakes, Javier, just say "yes." OK, thus endeth the diatribe. Does this bother anyone else? Either way, skip this book. ]]> 4.09 2024 A Clean Kill (Garrett Mann, #1)
author: Steven Konkoly
name: Martin
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/08/21
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves: crime, detective, fiction, mystery, thriller
review:
This started out well with an accidental police encounter with a serial killer which was fairly exciting, but it soon morphed into a very convoluted plot involving evil government contractors being chased by another elite government agency. This is the first in a series about Garrett Mann. After meeting this protagonist with sub-zero personality, I doubt you'll look for #2. Actually only one character has any depth to her, a chain smoking Mexican woman who is an illegal member of the aforementioned elite team.
Once the book went beyond belief and fairly overboard in violence I was tempted to give up but I stuck with it and it did not improve. May I share a pet peeve (somewhat petty and silly, I realize) that this author, and many others, tend to engage in when writing about Hispanic characters? Why do they feel they need to make them include a few Spanish words in their sentences when they are clearly fluent in English? Do the authors think we'll forget they are Latin even though their names obviously are? Let me share some examples from this book. Here's a sentence uttered by a character named Javier: "Situation awareness es muy importante underground. It's not easy. I've lost a lot of officers because nobody could talk to anybody." Javier is fluent in English yet he doesn't know how to say the phrase "is very important"? I don't speak Spanish but even I can translate es muy importante! OK, here's another from Sofia: "We brought some dinero with us" Really? She doesn't know the English word money? Finally, here's our friend Javier again: "Si. That's bad news for us. Every doorway. Every hallway corner. Every stack of crates..." For gosh sakes, Javier, just say "yes." OK, thus endeth the diatribe. Does this bother anyone else? Either way, skip this book.
]]> The Seven Year Slip 62926938 An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.]]> 336 Ashley Poston Martin 0 to-read 4.17 2023 The Seven Year Slip
author: Ashley Poston
name: Martin
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)]]> 68428 What if the whole world were a dead, blasted wasteland?

Mistborn
For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison. Kelsier "snapped" and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.

Kelsier recruited the underworld's elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Then Kelsier reveals his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot.

But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel's plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan, but she's lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets. She will have to learn trust if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.

Brandon Sanderson, fantasy's newest master tale-spinner and author of the acclaimed debut Elantris, dares to turn a genre on its head by asking a simple question: What if the prophesied hero failed to defeat the Dark Lord? The answer will be found in the Mistborn Trilogy, a saga of surprises that begins with the book in your hands. Fantasy will never be the same again.]]> 541 Brandon Sanderson Martin 0 to-read 4.48 2006 Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: Martin
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Here One Moment 208516656 If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate?

Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.

Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.

How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.�

Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.

A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.

If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?

Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintain certainty and control in an uncertain world. A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel.]]> 512 Liane Moriarty 0593798600 Martin 0 to-read 3.98 2024 Here One Moment
author: Liane Moriarty
name: Martin
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Swan Song (Nantucket, #4) 200484931 In the grand finale of "queen of the beach read" Elin Hilderbrand's beloved Nantucket novels, there's a new couple in town... and they instantly shake things up. Amid the extravagant parties on land and sea, there's trouble on the island, forcing Chief of Police Ed Kapanesh to postpone his retirement and changing the fabric of life on the picturesque island forever...

After thirty-five years serving as the Chief of Police on the island of Nantucket, Ed Kapenash's heart can no longer take the stress. But his plans to retire are thwarted when, with only three days left to serve, he receives a phone call. A 22-million-dollar summer home, recently purchased by the flashy new couple in town, the Richardsons, has burned to the ground. The Richardsons are far from hurt—in fact, they're out on the water, throwing a lavish party on their yacht—but when news of the fire reaches them, they discover that their personal assistant has vanished. The Chief is well-acquainted with the Richardsons, and his daughter is best friends with the now-missing girl, leaving him no choice but to postpone his retirement and take on the double case.

On a small island like Nantucket, the Richardsons shook things up from the second they stepped on to the scene, throwing luxurious parties and doing whatever they could to gain admittance to the coveted lunches at the Field & Oar Club (with increasing desperation). They instantly captured the attention of local real estate agent Fast Eddie, and the town gossip Blond Sharon, both dealing with their own personal dramas. Blond Sharon is going through a divorce, and in order to avoid becoming a cliché, she's enrolled in a creative writing class, putting her natural affinity for scandal towards a more noble purpose. To solve the case of the fire and track down his daughter's best friend, the Chief will have to string together the pieces of the lives of all of these characters and more, rallying his strength for his final act of service to the tight-knit community he knows and loves.

The last of Elin Hilderbrand's bestselling Nantucket novels, Swan Song is a propulsive medley of glittering gatherings, sun-soaked drama, wisdom and heart, featuring the return of some of her most beloved characters, including, most importantly, the beautiful and timeless island of Nantucket itself.]]> 384 Elin Hilderbrand 0316258873 Martin 0 to-read 3.98 2024 Swan Song (Nantucket, #4)
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: Martin
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Natural Selection 215950185
After a string of bad dates and no prospects, Sophia Othonos has finally hit the jackpot: an actual nice guy. When he suggests a romantic getaway, she’s sure they’re about to take the next step toward their future. A rustic cruise to the Galápagos Islands isn’t exactly her idea of a vacation, but Sophia is ready for anything…until her boyfriend has to cancel.

Now she’s all alone on a trip that was meant for two. Sophia finds herself at a crossroads about who she is, what she wants, and whether her relationship is really everything she thought. But if she’s going to suffer an identity crisis, at least she gets to do it amid the unexpected majesty of nature.

Eight days of wild, unobstructed beauty are enough to make anyone reevaluate their life. These islands are all about adapting to your surroundings—and change just might be what Sophia needs most of all.]]> 54 Elin Hilderbrand 1662521472 Martin 3 fiction, novella 3.63 2024 Natural Selection
author: Elin Hilderbrand
name: Martin
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/11
date added: 2024/08/12
shelves: fiction, novella
review:
Not sure if I should have shelved it as a "novella" - it's really a very short story, easily read in one or two sittings. It was very predictable to all but the protagonist and because it's a short story there is not a lot of room for character development. In fact, although I read it just a day or two ago, I'm not sure I can even remember most of the character names let alone much about them. That being said, it's very readable and the Galapagos Islands are on my bucket list so it was enjoyable enough. I much preferred the author's full length novel "Hotel Nantucket"
]]> Coming Home 206571264 From the nine-time women’s basketball icon and two-time Olympic gold medalist—a raw, revelatory account of her unfathomable detainment in Russia and her journey home.

On February 17, 2022, Brittney Griner arrived in Moscow ready to spend the WNBA offseason playing for the Russian women’s basketball team where she had been the centerpiece of previous championship seasons. Instead, a security checkpoint became her gateway to hell when she was arrested for mistakenly carrying under one gram of medically prescribed hash oil. Brittney’s world was violently upended in a crisis she has never spoken in detail about publicly—until now.

In Coming Home, Brittney finally shares the harrowing details of her sudden arrest days before Russia invaded Ukraine; her bewilderment and isolation while navigating a foreign legal system amid her trial and sentencing; her emotional and physical anguish as the first American woman ever to endure a Russian penal colony while the #WeAreBG movement rallied for her release; the chilling prisoner swap with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout; and her remarkable rise from hostage to global spokesperson on behalf of America’s forgotten. In haunting and vivid detail, Brittney takes listeners inside the horrors of a geopolitical nightmare spanning ten months.

And yet Coming Home is more than Brittney’s journey from captivity to freedom. In an account as gripping as it is poignant, she shares how her deep love for Cherelle, her college sweetheart and wife of six years, anchored her during their greatest storm; how her family’s support pulled her back from the brink; and how hundreds of letters from friends and neighbors lent her resolve to keep fighting. Coming Home is both a story of survival and a testament to love—the bonds that brought Brittney home to her family, and at last, to herself.]]> 320 Brittney Griner 0593801342 Martin 3 4.36 2024 Coming Home
author: Brittney Griner
name: Martin
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/09
date added: 2024/08/09
shelves: biography, memoir, politics, non-fiction
review:
It was totally coincidental that I was reading Brittney Griner's memoir at the time President Biden negotiated the successful release of multiple Americans (& others) who were also unlawfully detained in Russian prisons (including Paul Whelan who is mentioned often in this book.) So I felt very much in the moment as I read this. I'm not a follower of WNBA and had never heard of Griner until she was arrested, "tried" and incarcerated. What I liked about the book is that she stuck pretty much to the horrific ordeal she suffered without a lot of back story about her growing up, her career etc which would not have interested me. The description about her awful treatment in a rigged and racist system is pretty much what you'd expect, but the details here make it even more real. The support she received from her wife, teammates, friends was heartwarming, and she explains how much her imprisonment affected those she left at home. Contrary to one reviewer (who only read 30 pages and still felt comfortable posting a rambling diatribe) Griner does take full responsibility not only for her carelessness in leaving the contraband in her suitcase, but she explains clearly how much she craved forgiveness of her family and eventually of herself. It's not great writing and gets repetitious at times. (thus my 3*) But, hey, she's locked up in prison and a labor camp - that's a pretty boring existence which can make for a tedious read, at times. But it is a powerful behind the scenes look at Russia that only someone who experienced such traumatic events could share.
]]> <![CDATA[In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom]]> 24611623 273 Yeonmi Park 1594206791 Martin 4 asia, memoir, non-fiction 4.45 2015 In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom
author: Yeonmi Park
name: Martin
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/29
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: asia, memoir, non-fiction
review:
I think many of us have just a cursory understanding of North Korea, after all it is often called the "Hermit Kingdom." How awful life is in this dystopian country has just been multiplied ten-fold in my mind after reading this incredible memoir by someone who lived it and escaped (no spoiler there, the title tells us it's her "journey to freedom.") What the author went through as a young girl is horrifying and her bravery and determination to find a better life for her family is nothing short of heroic. The story itself is a 5* read - you'll have to remind yourself you're reading non-fiction, the prose is more of a 3*, but don't let that stop you from reading this excellent memoir.
]]> <![CDATA[Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism]]> 168677579 Ěý
Inspired by her research for the hit podcast Ultra, Rachel Maddow charts the rise of a wild American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge of our politics for the better part of a century. Before and even after our troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded the country with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis, not against it. It was a sophisticated and shockingly well-funded campaign to undermine democratic institutions, promote antisemitism, and destroy citizens� confidence in their elected leaders, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the U.S. government and installing authoritarian rule.
Ěý
That effort worked—tongue and groove—alongside an ultra-right paramilitary movement that stockpiled bombs and weapons and trained for mass murder and violent insurrection.
Ěý
At the same time, a handful of extraordinary activists and journalists were tracking the scheme, exposing it even as it was unfolding. In 1941 the U.S. Department of Justice finally made a frontal attack, identifying the key plotters, finding their backers, and prosecuting dozens in federal court.
Ěý
None of it went as planned.
Ěý
While the scheme has been remembered in history—if at all—as the work of fringe players, in reality, it involved aĚýlarge number of some of the country’s most influential elected officials. Their interference in law enforcement efforts against the plot is a dark story of the rule of law bending and then breaking under the weight of political intimidation.
Ěý
That failure of the legal system had consequences. The tentacles of that unslain beast have reached forward into our history for decades. But the heroic efforts of the activists, journalists, prosecutors, and regular citizens who sought to expose the insurrectionists also make for a deeply resonant, deeply relevant tale in our own disquieting times.]]> 416 Rachel Maddow 0593444515 Martin 4 4.35 2023 Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism
author: Rachel Maddow
name: Martin
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/24
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: history, non-fiction, politics
review:
4.5 * This was a fascinating (if sometimes chilling) account of the rise of pro Nazi fascism in America pre WWII. If any of you are familiar with Rachel Maddow's excellent podcast called "Ultra" you'll know some of the story and cast of characters. But there is so much more to learn about how effective some of the efforts to push an America First agenda and prevent the US from entering the war, much orchestrated in Nazi Germany itself. Whether you believe, as Rachel does (I feel comfortable calling her by her first name, I've watched her so long on TV) that this could happen again today, I think you will agree that there are parallels to what's happening with the MAGA takeover of the GOP and the pressure to withdraw from our traditional international alliances (i.e.NATO) Either way, it is a meticulously researched and well written book on past events we never learned in history class.
]]> The Dry (Aaron Falk, #1) 27824826 A small town hides big secrets in this atmospheric, page-turning debut mystery by award-winning author Jane Harper.

In the grip of the worst drought in a century, the farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily when three members of a local family are found brutally slain.

Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk reluctantly returns to his hometown for the funeral of his childhood friend, loath to face the townsfolk who turned their backs on him twenty years earlier.

But as questions mount, Falk is forced to probe deeper into the deaths of the Hadler family. Because Falk and Luke Hadler shared a secret. A secret Falk thought was long buried. A secret Luke's death now threatens to bring to the surface in this small Australian town, as old wounds bleed into new ones.

]]> 336 Jane Harper Martin 0 to-read 4.04 2016 The Dry (Aaron Falk, #1)
author: Jane Harper
name: Martin
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Confessions 19161835 Her pupils killed her daughter.
Now, she will have her revenge.

After calling off her engagement in wake of a tragic revelation, Yuko Moriguchi had nothing to live for except her only child, four-year-old Manami. Now, following an accident on the grounds of the middle school where she teaches, Yuko has given up and tendered her resignation.

But first she has one last lecture to deliver. She tells a story that upends everything her students ever thought they knew about two of their peers, and sets in motion a maniacal plot for revenge.

Narrated in alternating voices, with twists you'll never see coming, Confessions explores the limits of punishment, despair, and tragic love, culminating in a harrowing confrontation between teacher and student that will place the occupants of an entire school in danger. You'll never look at a classroom the same way again.]]> 240 Kanae Minato 0316200921 Martin 0 to-read 3.91 2008 Confessions
author: Kanae Minato
name: Martin
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Twisted Love Story 210534844 From the bestselling author of My Lovely Wife comes a reckless, delicious thriller about a young couple that gives a whole new meaning to the dangers of modern dating.

Wes and Ivy are madly in love. They've never felt anything like it. It's the kind of romance people write stories about.

But what kind of story?

Because when it's good, it's great. Flowers. Grand gestures. Deep meaningful conversations where the whole world disappears.

When it's bad, it's really bad. Vengeful fights. Damaged property. Arrest warrants.

But their vicious cycle of catastrophic breakups and head-over-heels reconnections needs to end fast. Because suddenly, Wes and Ivy have a common enemy--and she's a detective.

There's something Wes and Ivy never talk about--in good times or bad. The night of their worst breakup, when one of them took things too far, and someone ended up dead.

If they can stick together, they can survive anything--even the tightening net of a police investigation.

Because one more breakup might just be their last…]]> 416 Samantha Downing 0593101014 Martin 3 3.34 2023 A Twisted Love Story
author: Samantha Downing
name: Martin
average rating: 3.34
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/27
date added: 2024/07/08
shelves: crime, detective, fiction, mystery, thriller
review:
If you are a reader who has to like the main characters, A Twisted Love Story, as fun a read as it is, is not for you. Wes and Ivy are in an on again off again toxic relationship and while Wes is no saint, Ivy is often pure evil. Come to think of it I 'm not sure I liked any of the other characters either. There's an Admin in Wes's office, Bianca, who seems to be involved in all her co-workers' affairs (as in "matters" not "romantic entanglements") There's a police detective who draws her own conclusions and tries to make the facts support her theory. But did I still have fun reading it? Yup. Which may make my taste in novels a bit "twisted" itself. Short chapters help make up for an occasionally slow moving tale. Some good surprises especially towards the end. I don't think this is as strong as the other Downing novels I've read, especially "My Lovely Wife", but still a fun ride.
]]> The Things They Carried 133518
The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O’Brien, who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three.

Taught everywhere—from high school classrooms to graduate seminars in creative writing—it has become required reading for any American and continues to challenge readers in their perceptions of fact and fiction, war and peace, courage and fear and longing. The Things They Carried won France's prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize; it was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.]]> 246 Tim O'Brien 0767902890 Martin 0 to-read 4.14 1990 The Things They Carried
author: Tim O'Brien
name: Martin
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sandwich 200028726 From the beloved author of We All Want Impossible Things, a moving, hilarious story of a family summer vacation full of secrets, lunch, and learning to let go.

For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod. Their humble beach-town rental has been the site of sweet memories, sunny days, great meals, and messes of all kinds: emotional, marital, and—thanks to the cottage’s ancient plumbing—septic too.

This year’s vacation, with Rocky sandwiched between her half-grown kids and fully aging parents, promises to be just as delightful as summers past—except, perhaps, for Rocky’s hormonal bouts of rage and melancholy. (Hello, menopause!) Her body is changing—her life is, too. And then a chain of events sends Rocky into the past, reliving both the tenderness and sorrow of a handful of long-ago summers.

It's one precious week: everything is in balance; everything is in flux. And when Rocky comes face to face with her family’s history and future, she is forced to accept that she can no longer hide her secrets from the people she loves.]]> 240 Catherine Newman 0063345161 Martin 0 to-read 3.55 2024 Sandwich
author: Catherine Newman
name: Martin
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Clean Kill in Tokyo (John Rain, #1)]]> 925
Name: John Rain.
Vocation: Assassin.
Specialty: Natural Causes.
Base of operations: Tokyo.
Availability: Worldwide.

Half American, half Japanese, expert in both worlds but at home in neither, John Rain is the best killer money can buy. You tell him who. You tell him where. He doesn't care about why...

Until he gets involved with Midori Kawamura, a beautiful jazz pianist--and the daughter of his latest kill.]]> 363 Barry Eisler Martin 4 crime, fiction, thriller 3.96 2003 A Clean Kill in Tokyo (John Rain, #1)
author: Barry Eisler
name: Martin
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/27
date added: 2024/06/27
shelves: crime, fiction, thriller
review:
I've read and enjoyed a few other books by Barry Eisler, so I decided I needed to start with the first he wrote about John Rain (who is our protagonist and also a paid assassin by trade.) I'm glad I went back to the origin story because it helped me understand a very complex character better. I really enjoyed the descriptions of scenes in Tokyo (the Library copy I read was entitled "Rain Fall" - the updated title is actually more descriptive.) There is a lot of Japanese language in the book and I was pleased that I understood most of it (I lived there in High School and majored in East Asian Studies in College) but fret not, the author translates for you whenever necessary. The John Rain character is half Japanese and half American and belongs nowhere. I could identify with him (no, not the assassin part) because I stood out physically as a caucasian attending a Japanese High School/living near Kobe and never quite fitting in entirely, a feeling similar to what Rain describes (although he physically looked Japanese.) The story is interesting - it takes a while to unfold after Rain's first killing leads him to meeting the victim's daughter. I found that there was more description of fighting techniques than I cared for (which I kind of glossed over) though they are important to impart the enormous discipline involved in martial arts. Overall, a good plot, interesting and well-developed characters and a fascinating setting. If you like this type of thriller, I recommend starting with the first in the series.
]]> <![CDATA[The Kind Worth Saving (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #2)]]> 60916172 In this spectacularly devious novel by New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson—featuring the smart and complex Lily Kintner from his acclaimed novel, The Kind Worth Killing—a private eye starts to follow a possibly adulterous husband, but little does he know that the twisted trail will lead back to the woman who hired him.

There was always something slightly dangerous about Joan. So, when she turns up at private investigator Henry Kimball’s office asking him to investigate her husband, he can’t help feeling ill at ease. Just the sight of her stirs up a chilling memory: he knew Joan in his previous life as a high school English teacher, when he was at the center of a tragedy.

Now Joan needs his help in proving that her husband is cheating. But what should be a simple case of infidelity becomes much more complicated when Kimball finds two bodies in an uninhabited suburban home with a “for sale� sign out front. Suddenly it feels like the past is repeating itself, and Henry must go back to one of the worst days of his life to uncover the truth.

Is it possible that Joan knows something about that day, something she’s hidden all these years? Could there still be a killer out there, someone who believes they have gotten away with murder? Henry is determined to find out, but as he steps closer to the truth, a murderer is getting closer to him, and in this hair-raising game of cat and mouse only one of them will survive.]]> 303 Peter Swanson 0063204983 Martin 0 to-read 3.65 2023 The Kind Worth Saving (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #2)
author: Peter Swanson
name: Martin
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Daughters of Shandong 195888874
A propulsive, extraordinary novel about a mother and her daughters� harrowing escape to Taiwan as the Communist revolution sweeps through China, by debut author Eve J. Chung, based on her family story

Daughters are the Ang family’s curse.

In 1948, civil war ravages the Chinese countryside, but in rural Shandong, the wealthy, landowning Angs are more concerned with their lack of an heir. Hai is the eldest of four girls and spends her days looking after her sisters. Headstrong Di, who is just a year younger, learns to hide in plain sight, and their mother—abused by the family for failing to birth a boy—finds her own small acts of rebellion in the kitchen. As the Communist army closes in on their town, the rest of the prosperous household flees, leaving behind the girls and their mother because they view them as useless mouths to feed.

Without an Ang male to punish, the land-seizing cadres choose Hai, as the eldest child, to stand trial for her family’s crimes. She barely survives their brutality. Realizing the worst is yet to come, the women plan their escape. Starving and penniless but resourceful, they forge travel permits and embark on a thousand-mile journey to confront the family that abandoned them.

From the countryside to the bustling city of Qingdao, and onward to British Hong Kong and eventually Taiwan, they witness the changing tide of a nation and the plight of multitudes caught in the wake of revolution. But with the loss of their home and the life they’ve known also comes new freedom—to take hold of their fate, to shake free of the bonds of their gender, and to claim their own story.

Told in assured, evocative prose, with impeccably drawn characters, Daughters of Shandong is a hopeful, powerful story about the resilience of women in war; the enduring love between mothers, daughters, and sisters; and the sacrifices made to lift up future generations.]]> 400 Eve J. Chung 0593640535 Martin 0 to-read 4.45 2024 Daughters of Shandong
author: Eve J. Chung
name: Martin
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Think Twice (Myron Bolitar, #12)]]> 198494009
Myron Bolitar and Windsor Horne Lockwood III� reunite to find a dead man come back to life in this gripping thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of I Will Find You.

Former basketball star Myron Bolitar has barely restarted his agency for sports stars and celebrities when two federal agents walk into his office, asking for answers. Assuming they want to talk about the highly publicized Callister murders—of which he and Win know nothing, other than what's been saturating the news lately—he's stunned when, instead, they demand to know where Greg Downing is.

Greg, a former NBA player-turned-beloved-coach, was an old client of Myron’s, one of his very first. The reason for Myron's surprise is simple: Greg Downing died three years ago.

But according to these federal agents, Greg is still alive—and somehow involved in the Callister case.

Before his death, Greg made some strange money moves, but nothing about his reappearance makes any sense. As Myron and Win investigate, they're also surprised to uncover a seemingly related case where someone was murdered. Then another. And another. Is Greg alive? And if he is, where is he? And ultimately, are they looking for Greg? Or are they looking for a dangerously clever serial killer?]]> 368 Harlan Coben 1538756315 Martin 4 4.07 2024 Think Twice (Myron Bolitar, #12)
author: Harlan Coben
name: Martin
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/05
date added: 2024/06/07
shelves: crime, detective, fiction, mystery, thriller
review:
The day the library sent me notice that this book was in, I stopped not only what I was reading, but everything I was doing to run and pick it up. Not only am I a huge Cobenista, but the Myron Bolitar series is my absolute fav and it's been a loooong wait for his return. The story is pretty unique (synopses can be found elsewhere) but suffice it to say, many of our favorite characters are back. Of course there's our hero and his best friend Win, whose banter continues although it seemed as if its wearing on the both of them. But we see a new dimension to their friendship (which is unusual in and of itself) and you might be touched when you learn the depth of feelings on someone's part. Big Cindi, Esperenza, and Myron's parents all return - his folks play a major role in the story even if they are not ever present in the action (Plus they've discovered gummies!) I was surprised when Hester Crimstein didn't take a legal case, but her decision will make sense in the long run. I will admit to being confused at times between characters - there were a lot of them. But what I love about the series is how the main characters are actually aging (as are Coben's readers!) and we get to watch the changes in all of them. Bottom line, if you love this series, you don't need my review to tell you to read this, I know you will. But if you are one of the underprivileged few who hasn't yet discovered Harlan Coben or Myron Bolitar, do yourself a favor and start the series at the beginning. This can stand alone, but you'll enjoy it so much more if you return to the characters as old friends rather than new acquaintances.
]]> Tiger Chair 209608728 When China invades America, guerrilla warfare explodes on the streets of Los Angeles in this provocative short story about the future of war from Max Brooks, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of World War Z.

China thought it would be a quick war, an easy war. But now, years later, as the insurgency on the streets of Los Angeles escalates but the propaganda never changes, a Chinese officer can’t keep silent any longer. Torn between loyalty to his country and loyalty to his troops, he writes a brutally honest—and possibly suicidal—letter home to unmask the truth.

Brooks combines his signature meticulous research with unforgettable characters in this landmark work of speculative fiction.]]> 50 Max Brooks 1662524161 Martin 3 fiction, short-stories 3.56 2024 Tiger Chair
author: Max Brooks
name: Martin
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/06
date added: 2024/06/07
shelves: fiction, short-stories
review:
This was an Amazon First Reads freebie which I would not have read otherwise. I like Max Brooks, mostly from his appearances on "Real Time with Bill Maher" where he displays real intelligence and insight each time he's on the show. I haven't read his books, but might try one based upon his excellent writing style in this very short story (you'll read it in one or two sittings.) It's not a subject matter I'm drawn to (future WWIII world takeover by China versus guerrilla opposition in the US) but Brooks writes it as a letter from a Chinese officer to his friend as he becomes increasingly disillusioned. That kind of drew me in pretty quickly, making me want to know what had happened and what was to come. I almost gave it a higher rating because I adore Max's father, perhaps the greatest comic genius of our time (he's also mentioned as an aside in this story.) But since Max is no nepo baby (having achieved his success in a field as far away from "The Producers" and "Blazing Saddles" as possible) I gave it a good 3.5.
]]> <![CDATA[The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World]]> 203767605 A thrilling tick-tock recounting one of the most harrowing hostage situations and daring rescue attempts of our time—from true-life espionage master and New York Times bestselling author of Operation Mincemeat and The Spy and the Traitor Ben Macintyre.

As the American hostage crisis in Iran boiled into its seventh month in the spring of 1980, six heavily armed gunman barged into the Iranian embassy in London, taking twenty-six hostages. What followed over the next six days was an increasingly tense standoff, one that threatened at any moment to spill into a bloodbath.

Policeman Trevor Lock was supposed to have gone to the theater that night. Instead, he found himself overpowered and whisked into the embassy. The terrorists never noticed the gun hidden in his jacket. The drama that ensued would force him to find reserves of courage he didn’t know he had. The gunmen themselves were hardly one-dimensional—all Arabs, some highly educated, who hoped to force Britain to take their side in their independence battle against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Behind the scenes lurked the brutal Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who had bankrolled the whole affair as a salvo against Iran.

As police negotiators pressed the gunmen, rival protestors clashed violently outside the embassy, and as MI6 and the CIA scrambled for intelligence, Britain’s special forces strike team, the SAS, laid plans for a dangerous rescue mission. Inside, Lock and his fellow hostages used all the cunning they possessed to outwit and outflank their captors. Finally, on the sixth day, after the terrorists executed the embassy press attaché and dumped his body on the front doorstep, the SAS raid began, sparking a deadly high-stakes climax.

A story of ordinary men and women under immense pressure, The Siege takes readers minute-by-thrilling-minute through an event that would echo across the next two decades and provide a direct historical link to the tragedy on 9/11. Drawing on exclusive interviews and a wealth of never-before-seen files, Macintyre brilliantly reconstructs a week in which every day minted a new hero and every second spelled the potential for doom.]]> 400 Ben Macintyre 0593728092 Martin 0 to-read 4.36 2024 The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World
author: Ben Macintyre
name: Martin
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less]]> 59891634 Ěý
InĚý SMART The Power of Saying More with Less , Ěý Axios co-founders Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz teach readers how to say more with less in virtually any format. They also share communications lessons learned from their decades of experience in media, business and communications.
Ěý]]> 224 Jim Vandehei 1523516976 Martin 4 non-fiction 3.91 2022 Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less
author: Jim Vandehei
name: Martin
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/30
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves: non-fiction
review:
This short book gives some good tips on how to write more crisply and succinctly (a talent I clearly haven't mastered or else this review would now be over!) Some are common sense, others are practices that I hope I can master. I'm a big fan of Axios and their short news pieces - this is written by it's founders - it's an easy read. We'll see how easy it will be to employ the techniques recommended.
]]> Meet Me on the Bridge 201760211 Can true love ever survive across time?

Everyone says falling in love is supposed to be easy. But what happens when you meet the perfect man…in your dreams?

Especially when you find out he was real and died one year ago � on the bridge you had agreed to meet on for your first date. Wouldn’t you try to go back in time and change the course of destiny to create your very own happy-ever-after?

But the path to true love is never without complications, and meddling with the past can have unexpected consequences�

The must-read time travel romance for fans of Maybe in Another Life, Sliding Doors and About Time.]]> 377 Sarah J. Harris 1662518838 Martin 3 fiction, mystery 4.01 2024 Meet Me on the Bridge
author: Sarah J. Harris
name: Martin
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/05/26
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves: fiction, mystery
review:
I love time travel books and films (I've recommended it before, but if you haven't seen "Time After Time" the 1979 film with Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen, do treat your self.) Unfortunately this book didn't work for me. I found it confusing and there's a large cast of characters I had to keep refreshing my memory who each was. The characters were either good or bad, no real shades of grey. The writing was good and the story does pick up towards the end (where, I admit, I needed a few tissues. I'm a wuss.) But combining time travel with narcolepsy and a serial killer plus love at first sight romance, a missing Mom, grandma with dementia - no wonder I was confused! Now for my pet peeve (not just limited to this author.) When you create an Hispanic character, you don't need to keep reminding us she/he is Hispanic by sprinkling a few Spanish words into the dialogue. In this case, the caretaker, Rebecca (I think that was her name) who is clearly fluent in English says things like "I will be back in cinco minutes" or "Si, she is very confused today." Really? You don't think Rebecca ever learned the word "yes" or "five" in English when the rest of her sentences are totally fluent? I know it's a minor quibble, so I shall end my rant! Looking at other reviews, I'm clearly in the minority. Perhaps if you're a bigger fan of the Romance genre, you'll enjoy this more.
]]> <![CDATA[The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder]]> 61714633 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on the Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.

On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as "the prize of all the oceans," it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

But then . . . six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes - they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death--for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann's recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O'Brian, his portrayal of the castaways' desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann's work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound.]]> 331 David Grann 0385534264 Martin 5 history, non-fiction 4.14 2023 The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
author: David Grann
name: Martin
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/18
date added: 2024/05/31
shelves: history, non-fiction
review:
I almost added "Thriller" to my bookshelves/tags, the story was that fascinating and compelling. Written by the author of "Killers of the Flower Moon" (sadly I didn't read that book, but loved the movie!) this tale, as the subtitle says, is of a shipwreck, mutiny and murder. Once the ship sets sail (around 1740) you're in for a rollicking ride (literally, for the sailors.) You'll be amazed at the conditions these men endured both on board and on the island where they were shipwrecked. I found myself devouring every page to learn the fate of the mutineers and the Captain left behind. The book is meticulously researched which was no small feat since so little information is available. When I was a boy, I read all the Horatio Hornblower books which made sea life in those days seem dashing and gallant. The true story, not so much. Highly recommend to anyone interested in maritime history, or history in general, for that matter. It's a real-life version of "Mutiny on the Bounty" (only in one volume rather than three.)
]]> After Dark 62929637
Afton Teachout has been an outcast in her small town for twenty years—ever since she was accused of murdering her mother’s lover in a blackout fit of rage. That is, if one believes the malicious lies.

Living with her grandmother, working a hotel night shift, and relying on pills to get a day’s sleep, Afton is due a little luck. It comes in the form of an unexpected financial windfall. With her newfound wealth, Afton sets a secret plan in motion to help her only friend, Sydney, flee a toxic husband. But the best intentions soon spin out of control.

Afton is getting unsettling calls from a restricted number, and someone has been lingering outside her home. As Sydney’s troubled marriage comes into focus, so does Afton’s past. Her second chance—for herself and for Sydney—isn’t what she dreamed of at all. In fact, it’s becoming a nightmare.]]> 284 Minka Kent 1662511418 Martin 0 to-read 3.94 2023 After Dark
author: Minka Kent
name: Martin
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated, #1)]]> 165940202
Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.

Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.

Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland as king, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders Bjorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.]]> 419 Danielle L. Jensen 0593599837 Martin 2 3.91 2024 A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated, #1)
author: Danielle L. Jensen
name: Martin
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/07
date added: 2024/05/08
shelves: fantasy, fiction, supernatural
review:
It might be a bit unfair of me to even rate a book in a genre that I'm not particularly familiar with (and now I know I'm not fond of.) Although I found portions of this book and story interesting, I thought the characters, some descended from Norse gods with magical powers, would be fascinating. Instead I found them one dimensional and, at times, plain boring. Let's take our heroine, Freya, who desperately wishes to become a warrior and has a history which would make her most formidable. The only thing I found formidable in her persona was her whining ability to complain, her first class cursing, and a pretty insatiable lust after one other character. And that leaves me to the romance side of this story. I just didn't get it. There was no explanation about why the two characters were even attracted to each other. There were some pretty steamy scenes that were borderline smutty, but even the language describing these encounters was repetitious and I didn't find them too scintillating (but I must confess, I didn't skip them either! :) The dialogue is often stilted, ostensibly because that's how they would have spoken in those days of yore. Then they switched it up and spoke (& cursed) as if they lived in the 21st Century. I'm steering clear of spoilers here, but I will tell you the novel ends abruptly because it's the first in a series. I came close to making this a DNF entry in My Books, but I stuck it out till the end, and for me that was a mistake.
]]> <![CDATA[The Escape Artists: A Band of Daredevil Pilots and the Greatest Prison Break of the Great War]]> 37569337 Neal Bascomb, New York Times best-selling author, delivers the spellbinding story of the downed Allied airmen who masterminded the remarkably courageous--and ingenious--breakout from Germany's most devilish POW camp

In the winter trenches and flak-filled skies of World War I, soldiers and pilots alike might avoid death, only to find themselves imprisoned in Germany's archipelago of POW camps, often in abominable conditions. The most infamous was Holzminden, a land-locked Alcatraz of sorts that housed the most troublesome, escape-prone prisoners. Its commandant was a boorish, hate-filled tyrant named Karl Niemeyer who swore that none should ever leave.

Desperate to break out of "Hellminden" and return to the fight, a group of Allied prisoners led by ace pilot (and former Army sapper) David Gray hatch an elaborate escape plan. Their plot demands a risky feat of engineering as well as a bevy of disguises, forged documents, fake walls, and steely resolve. Once beyond the watch towers and round-the-clock patrols, Gray and almost a dozen of his half-starved fellow prisoners must then make a heroic 150 mile dash through enemy-occupied territory towards free Holland.

Drawing on never-before-seen memoirs and letters, Neal Bascomb brings this narrative to cinematic life, amid the twilight of the British Empire and the darkest, most savage hours of the fight against Germany. At turns tragic, funny, inspirational, and nail-biting suspenseful, this is the little-known story of the biggest POW breakout of the Great War.]]> 310 Neal Bascomb 0544937112 Martin 0 to-read 4.05 2018 The Escape Artists: A Band of Daredevil Pilots and the Greatest Prison Break of the Great War
author: Neal Bascomb
name: Martin
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Don't Forget to Write 75552285 335 Sara Goodman Confino 1662512228 Martin 0 to-read 4.41 2023 Don't Forget to Write
author: Sara Goodman Confino
name: Martin
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Prisoners of the Castle: An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison]]> 59883560 The definitive and surprising true story of one of history’s most notorious prisons—and the remarkable cast of POWs who tried relentlessly to escape their captors, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Spy and the Traitor

In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend.

But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape. Its population represented a society in miniature, full of heroes and traitors, class conflicts and secret alliances, and the full range of human joy and despair. In Macintyre’s telling, Colditz’s most famous names—like the indomitable Pat Reid—share glory with lesser known but equally remarkable characters like Indian doctor Birendranath Mazumdar whose ill treatment, hunger strike, and eventual escape read like fiction; Florimond Duke, America’s oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; and Christopher Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture covert escape aids for POWs.

Prisoners of the Castle traces the war’s arc from within Colditz’s stone walls, where the stakes rose as Hitler’s war machine faltered and the men feared that liberation would not come soon enough to spare them a grisly fate at the hands of the Nazis. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.]]> 368 Ben Macintyre 0593136330 Martin 5 4.20 2022 Prisoners of the Castle: An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison
author: Ben Macintyre
name: Martin
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/22
date added: 2024/04/29
shelves: history, non-fiction, wwii, thriller
review:
I previously read two other Ben Macintyre books (Agent Sonya and The Spy & The Traitor) so I know how he meticulously researches his subject matter and then crafts it into a highly engrossing fast moving thriller. That's exactly what he accomplished here with stories that will amaze you about the multiple escape schemes (some successful, others not-so-much.) The creativity and sheer bravery behind these attempts to leave the prison (a Castle called Colditz) is unbelievable. You won't think that the film "The Great Escape" is at all far fetched after you read this account. My Dad was a bombardier during WWII whose B17 was shot down towards the end of the war. His copilot was killed but the rest of the crew were saved thanks to a local farmer who hid them until they could be reunited with the advancing allied troops. So, fortunately he never served in a POW camp. Thus, I have a keen interest in the subject matter. If you do also, I highly recommend this and the other two Ben Macintyre titles listed above.
]]> Every Summer After 58014893
Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek—the man she never thought she’d have to live without.

For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family’s restaurant and curling up together with books—medical textbooks for him and work-in-progress horror short stories for her—Percy and Sam had been inseparable. Eventually that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart.

When Percy returns to the lake for Sam’s mother’s funeral, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been. But until Percy can confront the decisions she made and the years she’s spent punishing herself for them, they’ll never know whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past.

Told over the course of six years and one weekend, Every Summer After is a big, sweeping nostalgic look at love and the people and choices that mark us forever.

Six summers to fall in love. One moment to fall apart. A weekend to get it right.]]> 320 Carley Fortune 0593438531 Martin 0 to-read 4.17 2022 Every Summer After
author: Carley Fortune
name: Martin
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Firm (The Firm, #1) 452235 Ěý
For a young lawyer on the make, it was an offer Mitch McDeere couldn’t a position at a law firm where the bucks, billable hours, and benefits are over the top. It’s a dream job for an up-and-comer—if he can overlook the uneasy feeling he gets at the office. Then an FBI investigation into the firm’s connections to the Mafia plunges the straight and narrow attorney into a nightmare of terror and intrigue.ĚýWith no choice but to pit his wits, ethics, and legal skills against the firm’s deadly secrets—if he hopes to stay alive…]]> 501 John Grisham 044021145X Martin 0 4.26 1991 The Firm (The Firm, #1)
author: John Grisham
name: Martin
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1991
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/25
shelves:
review:

]]> The Trap 75634216 From award-winning, internationally bestselling crime writer Catherine Ryan Howard comes The Trap: an unsettling mystery inspired by a series of still-unsolved disappearances in Ireland in the 90s, wherein one young woman risks everything to catch a faceless killer.

One year ago, Lucy’s sister, Nicki, left to meet friends at a pub in Dublin and never came home. The third Irish woman to vanish inexplicably in as many years, the agony of not knowing what happened that night has turned Lucy’s life into a waking nightmare. So, she’s going to take matters into her own hands.

Angela works as a civilian paper-pusher in the Missing Persons Unit, but wants nothing more than to be a fully-fledged member of An Garda Síochána, the Irish police force. With the official investigation into the missing women stalled, she begins pulling on a thread that could break the case wide open—and destroy her chances of ever joining the force.

A nameless man drives through the night, his latest victim in the back seat. He’s going to tell her everything, from the beginning. And soon, she’ll realize: what you don’t know can hurt you …]]> 263 Catherine Ryan Howard 1982694718 Martin 0 to-read 3.52 2023 The Trap
author: Catherine Ryan Howard
name: Martin
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1)]]> 199719283
When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, they find something elusive―the friendship of two like-minded, pitch-black souls who just happen to enjoy killing other serial killers.

From small-town West Virginia to upscale California, and from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country.

But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love.

Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves?
Or have they finally met their match?

Tropes:
Golden retriever x black cat
He falls first
Touch him/her and die
Friends to lovers
Forced proximity
One bed]]> 351 Brynne Weaver 1638931739 Martin 0 to-read 4.15 2023 Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1)
author: Brynne Weaver
name: Martin
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Doorman Wanted 203858853
Through interactions with residents and the homeless outside his door, Henry develops from an idealistic young person avoiding the demands of his fortune, into a man who accepts the opportunity to direct that wealth toward a broader good.]]> 308 Glenn R. Miller Martin 0 to-read 4.13 2024 Doorman Wanted
author: Glenn R. Miller
name: Martin
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Mercenary (Johnny Silver #1) 55359617
Johnny Silver's brother, Carlo, the head of an investment bank, disappears along with ten million euros.

DON’T MESS WITH HIS FAMILY.

Johnny, an ex-mercenary on the run, is persuaded to come out of hiding to track him down. The trail leads Johnny into the world of gambling, prostitution, drugs, and human-trafficking to a crime that shocks the core of a man who thought he’d seen everything.

Sometimes even the most cynical man discovers something that shakes him.

Perfect for fans of Mark Dawson, Frederick Forsyth, David Baldacci, J.B. Turner, and Rob Sinclair.

WITH A PLOT THAT TWISTS AND TURNS AS IT MOVES AT A DAZZLING PACE, MERCENARY IS A STORY NOT TO BE MISSED.]]> 213 Paul Bennett 1789315468 Martin 3 crime, fiction, thriller 4.25 2010 Mercenary (Johnny Silver #1)
author: Paul Bennett
name: Martin
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/07
date added: 2024/04/10
shelves: crime, fiction, thriller
review:
2.5 rounded up. Looks like I'm in the minority of GR reviewers. Let's look at the positives: it is pretty fast paced and a good story. A few interesting characters. The writing is good even if the dialogue is occasionally trite. (OK, well I've now segued into the negatives.) After the initial intro which takes place in a diamond mine in Africa with a very stereotypical Russian baddie, we switch to an imaginary Caribbean island where our hero (a former Mercenary) has set up a beach bar with one of his buddy mercenaries operating a charter fishing boat. I thought, great, this is going to be a Travis McGee type story. Sadly it wasn't. Our opening scene has our hero, Gianni/Johnny, in a fistfight with a bunch of inebriated partygoers with the only purpose being that we learn our hero is no slouch in the macho 1 guy vs 6 bros department. (This isn't a spoiler since it has no bearing on the rest of the story whatsoever.) Well, Johnny is hired by his estranged family to look for his missing brother and he gets the old gang together (all mercenaries) to assist. Although I finished the book just a day or so ago, I couldn't tell you much about the gang other than two of them. I was particularly put off by one whose name is "Red" and he is a Native American. (Get it, "Red" wow, that's original.) Well, it gets worse. Red likes to speak in old Tonto/Lone Ranger style dialogue using "Me" instead of "I" and referring to his "Wigwam" - you get the picture. I guess this is meant to be funny or self deprecating. I found it offensive (and I'm not a native American) and distracting. The major revelation at the end is no surprise at all. There is one semi twist I didn't see coming, that was which of the female characters Johnny ends up with. I suspected a different character. Was it entertaining? Yes. But it fell short for me so I won't be looking for Johnny Silver #2.
]]> <![CDATA[The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo]]> 32620332
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the �80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.]]> 389 Taylor Jenkins Reid 1501139231 Martin 0 to-read 4.39 2017 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: Martin
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Small Acts of Courage: A Legacy of Endurance and the Fight for Democracy]]> 195790734
Small acts of courage matter. Sometimes, they change the world. Our history books are filled with the stories of those who fought for democracy and freedom―for idealism itself―against all odds, from Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela to Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. These iconic struggles for social change illustrate the importance of engagement and activism, and offer a template for the battles we are fighting today. But using the right words is often easier than taking action; action can be hard, and costly.

More than a century ago, MSNBC host Ali Velshi’s great-grandfather sent his seven-year-old son to live at Tolstoy Farm, Gandhi’s ashram in South Africa. This difficult decision would change the trajectory of his family history forever. From childhood, Velshi’s grandfather was imbued with an ethos of public service and social justice, and a belief in absolute equality among all people―ideals that his children carried forward as they escaped apartheid, emigrating to Kenya and ultimately Canada and the United States.

In Small Acts of Courage , Velshi taps into 125 years of family history to advocate for social justice as a living, breathing experience―a way of life more than an ideology. With rich detail and vivid prose, he relates the stories of regular people who made a lasting commitment to fight for change, even when success seemed impossible. This heartfelt exploration of how we can breathe new life into the principles of pluralistic democracy is an urgent call to action―for progress to be possible, we must all do whatever we can to make a difference.]]> 304 Ali Velshi 1250288851 Martin 0 to-read 4.40 Small Acts of Courage: A Legacy of Endurance and the Fight for Democracy
author: Ali Velshi
name: Martin
average rating: 4.40
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Friend in the Dark 181478452
Eden Miller’s world is crumbling. Her husband blindsided her with divorce, and her daughter barely speaks to her. In an impulsive decision to escape her present and revisit the past, she sends a friend request to her college crush, Justin Ward.

One night twenty-three years ago changed the course of her life. It closed the door on Justin and opened the door to her husband, Dave. But what if Eden could have a do-over?

Eden begins an online relationship with Justin that awakens her in ways she never thought possible, and his voice and words make her take bold risks. But something’s off. He knows too much about her and her family…he’s been following her.

Eden is forced to awaken from her fantasy and look for answers—who really is the man on the other line? The truth about Justin—and about what happened that fateful night two decades ago—puts her and her family in a fight for their lives.]]> 242 Samantha M. Bailey 1662513550 Martin 4 fiction, thriller, crime 3.65 2024 A Friend in the Dark
author: Samantha M. Bailey
name: Martin
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/30
date added: 2024/04/04
shelves: fiction, thriller, crime
review:
I love me some good twists and turns and Ms. Bailey provided some doozies in this fun read. Plot details found elsewhere, but basically recently divorced 45 year old is alone, lonely and perhaps a bit tipsy when she goes on line (never, ever do this!) and rediscovers a college flame. And, predictably, all does not go well from there, much to the reader's enjoyment. You will guess some of the turns, but I wager you'll be surprised by other twists. Bottom line, it's a great ride for those who like this genre. I don't believe I've read any other works by this author, but I enjoyed this enough to seek them out.
]]> The Havana Run: A Short Story 208195974 A secret buried in Cuba—and a pair of down-on-their-luck Florida journalists following a trail of smoke and mirrors to dig it up in a twisty short story by a New York Times bestselling author.

Who are cash-strapped George and Jay to say no to a stranger’s offer of $10,000? The fly to Havana and retrieve the old gent’s “family valuables,� hidden in Cuba since the Revolution. All expenses paid. At their disposal is a safe place to stay, a driver, a crudely drawn map, and a translator and guide. And what a guide. She’s a knockout named Carmen, lush and movie-star gorgeous. But their lady in Havana arrives with a Trust no one. To say the least. Because nothing on this scavenger hunt is what it seems. George and Jay are unearthing more than they bargained for, and something few would ever believe—if they live to tell about it.]]> 50 Ace Atkins 1662519095 Martin 3 3.40 The Havana Run: A Short Story
author: Ace Atkins
name: Martin
average rating: 3.40
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/25
date added: 2024/03/29
shelves: fiction, mystery, short-stories, thriller
review:
2.5 rounded up. It was certainly entertaining and I liked the two down on their luck journalists who take on a mysterious assignment in Cuba. (The descriptions of Cuba are great.) But I agree with others who felt that the short story format didn't do the plot or the multiple characters justice. It's a fun, easy read, but didn't quite satiate. I'm going back to long form novels.
]]> <![CDATA[The Spy Coast (The Martini Club, #1)]]> 131068071
A retired CIA operative in small-town Maine tackles the ghosts of her past in this fresh take on the spy thriller from New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen.

Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she’s living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement.

But when a body turns up in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a message from former foes who haven’t forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends—all retirees from the CIA—to help uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her, and why. This “Martini Club� of former spies may be retired, but they still have a few useful skills that they’re eager to use again, if only to spice up their rather sedate new lives.

Complicating their efforts is Purity’s acting police chief, Jo Thibodeau. More accustomed to dealing with rowdy tourists than homicide, Jo is puzzled by Maggie’s reluctance to share information—and by her odd circle of friends, who seem to be a step ahead of her at every turn.

As Jo’s investigation collides with the Martini Club’s maneuvers, Maggie’s hunt for answers will force her to revisit a clandestine career that spanned the globe, from Bangkok to Istanbul, from London to Malta. The ghosts of her past have returned, but with the help of her friends—and the reluctant Jo Thibodeau—Maggie might just be able to save the life she’s built.]]> 341 Tess Gerritsen 1662515111 Martin 4 4.34 2023 The Spy Coast (The Martini Club, #1)
author: Tess Gerritsen
name: Martin
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/23
date added: 2024/03/29
shelves: crime, detective, fiction, mystery, thriller
review:
Well, I started this fun thriller thinking it was going to be kind of formulaic (based upon the plot descriptions I read) and we start with a character living in Paris who apparently needs to consider dropping everything and running. The author then hits us with the reason (which I won't share, I want you to say "wow" out loud like I did!) We then switch back and forth in time to meet our protagonist, Maggie, and some of her friends in her small Maine village and slowly the back story develops (she's former CIA) and we learn how her past has come back to haunt her. It was really entertaining and I felt like I got to know and understand Maggie well. There was also good character development around the local small town cop, Jo Thibodeau. I didn't feel like I got to know the other members of "The Martini Club" well until towards the end. I will say I was a bit confused about the ending and hope to scour Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ for some reviews with spoilers to help me clarify. Nonetheless, it was a good read and I think the first in a series (although this is totally self contained) so maybe I'll get some clarity in Book Two.
]]> Say, Darling 22400049 308 Richard Pike Bissell Martin 3 fiction, theater 3.14 1957 Say, Darling
author: Richard Pike Bissell
name: Martin
average rating: 3.14
book published: 1957
rating: 3
read at: 2022/11/20
date added: 2024/03/20
shelves: fiction, theater
review:
Since this book is out of print, you probably won't find it (except maybe at yard sales hosted by theater aficionados) so I'll be brief. It's a fun and often funny fictionalized version of the author's own experience bringing his book to Broadway (The Pajama Game.) It's fairly dated; some of the references are far from politically correct today, but are accurate versions of how people talked in the late fifties (I heard my grandfather use similar language.) You will get a good behind the scenes look at theatrical production - although I'm not sure it's a true snapshot of today's Broadway. At times the writing reminded me of a Damon Runyon story (which is a good thing.) If you have an interest in the theater, this book will make you smile most of the way through it, and laugh out loud occasionally.
]]> Two Nights in Lisbon 58772746
You think you know a person . . .

Ariel Pryce wakes up in Lisbon, alone. Her husband is gone―no warning, no note, not answering his phone. Something is wrong.

She starts with hotel security, then the police, then the American embassy, at each confronting questions she can’t fully answer: What exactly is John doing in Lisbon? Why would he drag her along on his business trip? Who would want to harm him? And why does Ariel know so little about her new―much younger―husband?

The clock is ticking. Ariel is increasingly frustrated and desperate, running out of time, and the one person in the world who can help is the one person she least wants to ask.

With sparkling prose and razor-sharp insights, bestselling author Chris Pavone delivers a stunning and sophisticated international thriller that will linger long after the surprising final page.]]> 436 Chris Pavone 0374604762 Martin 3 3.62 2022 Two Nights in Lisbon
author: Chris Pavone
name: Martin
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/13
date added: 2024/03/15
shelves: crime, fiction, mystery, thriller
review:
This is actually two completely different books. The first half (or more like 60%) may be called "Two Nights In Lisbon" but felt far more like two months! It starts out quite promisingly, beautiful woman wakes up in a Lisbon hotel room where her recently wed younger hubby is missing. Did I mention she is beautiful? You'll be reminded in the book dozens of times. OK, so now our heroine, the aforementioned beautiful Ariel, is in a dilemma. Does she go out looking for him? (Ariel wrings hands figuratively) Does she speak to the hotel management (Ariel wrings hands) How about the Lisbon Police? (Ariel wrings hands) The American embassy? (Ariel wrings hands) And what should be pretty exciting and fast paced drags on, made even longer by brief snippets of flashbacks to her back story. Why did I keep reading? (I hear you ask.) Well, I'm actually glad I did because this up-to-now 2 star novel develops into a 4 star twisty/turny fun read. You'll kind of guess some twists based upon the backstory revealed, but then a biggie shows up to outsmart us (or at least me.) So I'm averaging the two books into a solid 3. If you're able to wade through the 2 nights that feel longer, you'll be rewarded with a fairly satisfying and original thriller.
]]> <![CDATA[Sparring Partners (Jake Brigance, #4)]]> 60148895 #1 New York Times bestselling author John Grisham is the acknowledged master of the legal thriller. In his first collection of novellas, law is a common thread, but America’s favorite storyteller has several surprises in store.

“Homecoming� takes us back to Ford County, the fictional setting of many of John Grisham’s unforgettable stories. Jake Brigance is back, but he’s not in the courtroom. He’s called upon to help an old friend, Mack Stafford, a former lawyer in Clanton, who three years earlier became a local legend when he stole money from his clients, divorced his wife, filed for bankruptcy, and left his family in the middle of the night, never to be heard from again—until now. Now Mack is back, and he’s leaning on his old pals, Jake and Harry Rex, to help him return. His homecoming does not go as planned.

In “Strawberry Moon,� we meet Cody Wallace, a young death row inmate only three hours away from execution. His lawyers can’t save him, the courts slam the door, and the governor says no to a last-minute request for clemency. As the clock winds down, Cody has one final request.

The “Sparring Partners� are the Malloy brothers, Kirk and Rusty, two successful young lawyers who inherited a once prosperous firm when its founder, their father, was sent to prison. Kirk and Rusty loathe each other, and speak to each other only when necessary. As the firm disintegrates, the resulting fiasco falls into the lap of Diantha Bradshaw, the only person the partners trust. Can she save the Malloys, or does she take a stand for the first time in her career and try to save herself?

By turns suspenseful, hilarious, powerful, and moving, these are three of the greatest stories John Grisham has ever told.]]> 320 John Grisham 0385549326 Martin 4 3.62 2022 Sparring Partners (Jake Brigance, #4)
author: John Grisham
name: Martin
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/28
date added: 2024/02/29
shelves: fiction, crime, short-stories, novella
review:
I hesitate to write a review of a book I didn't finish, not because I didn't like it, I really did, but time ran out on my cruise vacation and I had to return it to the ship's library. It's a collection of three short stories (although I just read the author's description of them as "novellas" so I'll add that to my choice of shelves.) I read the last story first, Sparring Partners, because I guessed that would be good courtroom drama (there was some courtroom, but that's not the main focus.) It's a tale of a downward spiraling law firm, whose founder is in prison and his sons, who are polar opposites, can't stand each other. Well, they do have one thing in common; greed. It's a fun story with unique characters and an ending that satisfied this Libra. I then popped over to the first story, Homecoming, which I enjoyed as well. It features two characters Grisham has introduced before, attorneys Jake Brigance and Harry Rex and involves a fellow attorney who divorced his wife, absconded with some funds and disappeared from his small Southern town. The best part of this story involves his relationship with one of his daughters and I relished their interactions. I wish the story had gone on a little longer, it stopped kind of abruptly for me, although I believe we all know how it will turn out. I will definitely find this book again and finish the third and final story. But I thought I'd write my review now since the two I read were so good I can't conceive of the third being any different. Even if you don't usually enjoy short stories (sorry, novellas) give "Sparring Partners" a try. It's Grisham and it's good.
]]> <![CDATA[The Sentinel (Jack Reacher, #25)]]> 51053653
But there’s nothing pleasant about the place.

In broad daylight Reacher spots a hapless soul walking into an ambush. “It was four against one� . . . so Reacher intervenes, with his own trademark brand of conflict resolution.

The man he saves is Rusty Rutherford, an unassuming IT manager, recently fired after a cyberattack locked up the town’s data, records, information . . . and secrets. Rutherford wants to stay put, look innocent, and clear his name.

Reacher is intrigued. There’s more to the story. The bad guys who jumped Rutherford are part of something serious and deadly, involving a conspiracy, a cover-up, and murder—all centered on a mousy little guy in a coffee-stained shirt who has no idea what he’s up against.

Rule one: if you don’t know the trouble you’re in, keep Reacher by your side.]]> 386 Lee Child 1984818473 Martin 2 fiction, thriller 3.99 2020 The Sentinel (Jack Reacher, #25)
author: Lee Child
name: Martin
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2024/02/27
date added: 2024/02/29
shelves: fiction, thriller
review:
I feel like I have to defend myself for reading yet another Jack Reacher novel, especially one that really lost its way. (You see, I was on a cruise vacation and the ship's library had limited selections, but this was in Large Print which meant I could use my non prescription sunglasses on deck to read....well, you get the drift.) Maybe the fact that there is a co-author on the cover should have warned me that the Reacher of old has been replaced with a chattier but not all that much wittier protagonist. The story is a bit convoluted and I found myself not really caring which way it went. I particularly disliked the onerous descriptions of the violent fight scenes. (Usually, three or four bad guys against one Reacher, and he waxes boring about how they should attack him and how they didn't and miscalculated allowing Reacher to win the day etc etc.) If you enjoyed this Lee Child series in the past, I'd recommend skipping this outing and maybe waiting to see if the future ones live up to the originals.
]]> Nine Lives 58385688
FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out. Could there be some dark secret that binds them all together? Or is this the work of a murderous madman? As the mysterious sender stalks these nine strangers, they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering who will be crossed off next....]]> 320 Peter Swanson 0062980076 Martin 3 3.52 2022 Nine Lives
author: Peter Swanson
name: Martin
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/02/23
date added: 2024/02/29
shelves: crime, fiction, mystery, thriller
review:
While this is not Peter Swanson's best (at least of those I've read) I did enjoy this revised version of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None". There are 9 names on a list where each is targeted for killing. Ergo, there are at least 9 POV's (& if memory serves, one or two more.) While this can easily get confusing, the author does a good job of helping you to recall who is who and follow along pretty well. The fun of the book for me was trying to figure out how the names are connected. Spoiler alert: you won't. I was hoping for a few more twists along the way, but was satisfied that the final reveal had one that appealed to me since it involved a character I liked (lips now sealed for fear of spoilers.) It's not as fast paced as I might have wished for, but it moves along and the denouement makes some sense even if it's a bit disappointing. I'm keeping Mr. Swanson on my list of authors to follow nonetheless.
]]> Caper 645191 368 Lawrence Sanders 0425127222 Martin 0 to-read 3.65 1981 Caper
author: Lawrence Sanders
name: Martin
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1981
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Bad Weather Friend 135415637 Benny is so nice they feel compelled to destroy him, but he has a friend who should scare the hell out of them.

Benny Catspaw’s perpetually sunny disposition is tested when he loses his job, his reputation, his fiancée, and his favorite chair. He’s not paranoid. Someone is out to get him. He just doesn’t know who or why. Then Benny receives an inheritance from an uncle he’s never heard of: a giant crate and a video message. All will be well in time.

How strange—though it’s a blessing, his uncle promises. Stranger yet is what’s inside the crate. He’s a seven-foot-tall self-described “bad weather friend� named Spike whose mission is to help people who are just too good for this world. Spike will take care of it. He’ll find Benny’s enemies. He’ll deal with them. This might be satisfying if Spike wasn’t such a menacing presence with terrifying techniques of intimidation.

In the company of Spike and a fascinated young waitress-cum-PI-in-training named Harper, Benny plunges into a perilous high-speed adventure, the likes of which never would have crossed the mind of a decent guy like him.]]> 374 Dean Koontz 1662500483 Martin 4 3.89 2024 The Bad Weather Friend
author: Dean Koontz
name: Martin
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/12
date added: 2024/02/12
shelves: thriller, supernatural, fiction, fantasy
review:
I chose this out of the slim Amazon First Reads pickings for January. Had I realized it was fantasy/supernatural I would probably not have picked it up since I don't traditionally enjoy those genres. It turned out this was a really fun outing if you can suspend all belief and just roll with it. You'll be able to read the plot synopsis elsewhere. Suffice it to say, it's the highly unusual characters both good and pure evil that make this a fun read, as well as the author's witty commentary and dialogue. The plot didn't ever make much sense to me, having finished I am still unsure of why some felt threatened by Benny. You'll love Spike and Harper (& the names of virtually every character are fun by themselves.) The tale jumps between flashbacks mostly to Benny's boarding school days and then the present adventures by our three heroes (along with a rabbit and whippet.) I found myself a little bored with the flashbacks and wishing that they'd get back to the present. But they do help tell the story. Overall it's 3.5* with a round up for the humor.
]]> <![CDATA[The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)]]> 60556912
Every day I clean the Winchesters� beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out� and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of�

An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!]]> 329 Freida McFadden 1803144378 Martin 0 to-read 4.31 2022 The Housemaid (The Housemaid, #1)
author: Freida McFadden
name: Martin
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1)]]> 196864520

The viral TikTok friends-to-lovers dark romantic comedy full of murder, chaos, and spice—unlike anything you’ve read before—now available in all bookstores.


When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of like-minded, pitch-black souls. From small town West Virginia to upscale California, from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country.


But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love. Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves? Or have they finally met their match?

]]> 360 Brynne Weaver Martin 0 to-read 3.99 2023 Butcher & Blackbird (The Ruinous Love Trilogy, #1)
author: Brynne Weaver
name: Martin
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Child 44 (Leo Demidov, #1) 2161733 509 Tom Rob Smith 0446402397 Martin 4 4.10 2008 Child 44 (Leo Demidov, #1)
author: Tom Rob Smith
name: Martin
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/03
date added: 2024/02/06
shelves: crime, detective, fiction, historical-fiction, mystery, thriller
review:
Sometimes I take living in the US for granted. That is until I read a great book like "Child 44" and experience what life was like in the Soviet Union circa 1953 under Stalin. While the serial child murders are the main story line, I felt that Russia was also a central character. Watching our protagonist, Leo Demidov, navigate trying to solve his case despite the enormous obstacles a dictatorial and corrupt society throws in his path totally enhanced this thriller. I also liked how the characters grew and relationships evolved through the course of the story, especially between Leo and his wife Raisa. All of the characters are complex and well-developed. Be aware that the tale often gets gruesome, especially since it involves children, this may not be for everyone. But it's not gratuitous and makes sense as the story develops. I've read several Soviet era mysteries. I think this was one of the best.
]]> I Am Pilgrim 18144124 Pilgrim.']]> 612 Terry Hayes 1439177724 Martin 0 to-read 4.25 2013 I Am Pilgrim
author: Terry Hayes
name: Martin
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Her Deadly Game (Keera Duggan, #1)]]> 60593682 A defense attorney is prepared to play. But is she a pawn in a master’s deadly match? A twisting novel of suspense by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

Keera Duggan was building a solid reputation as a Seattle prosecutor, until her romantic relationship with a senior colleague ended badly. For the competitive former chess prodigy, returning to her family’s failing criminal defense law firm to work for her father is the best shot she has. With the right moves, she hopes to restore the family’s reputation, her relationship with her father, and her career.

Keera’s chance to play in the big leagues comes when she’s retained by Vince LaRussa, an investment adviser accused of murdering his wealthy wife. There’s little hard evidence against him, but considering the couple’s impending and potentially nasty divorce, LaRussa faces life in prison. The prosecutor is equally challenging: Miller Ambrose, Keera’s former lover, who’s eager to destroy her in court on her first homicide defense.

As Keera and her team follow the evidence, they uncover a complicated and deadly game that’s more than Keera bargained for. When shocking information turns the case upside down, Keera must decide between her duty to her client, her family’s legacy, and her own future.]]> 396 Robert Dugoni 1662500173 Martin 3 4.43 2023 Her Deadly Game (Keera Duggan, #1)
author: Robert Dugoni
name: Martin
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/01/23
date added: 2024/01/26
shelves: crime, detective, fiction, mystery, thriller, legal
review:
I haven't had a chance to read a good legal thriller for a while, so I welcomed the chance to sample this author's first in her series about a scrappy Irish lawyer who joins her alcoholic Dad's law firm and tries an almost impossible case against an ex lover prosecutor. That's all I can say without any spoilers. Now what should trouble you about that description is that you've read these plot lines before. Alcoholic attorney reminded me of The Verdict. Scrappy Irish lawyer, well we can probably cite a dozen plus titles. Trying a case against an ex with an ax to grind? Well, maybe not so common, but I think I've seen that before as well. So let's discuss what the author did well. The characters were interesting and three dimensional. There was a good family dynamic that developed as a background story. I enjoyed wondering whether the client was innocent or guilty, he was a strong and complicated character. Now on the down side: there was a whole lot, and I mean a lot, of chess references which flew over my head since I haven't played for ages (did I mention that there were a lot?) It does play a role in the story and how Keera's thought process works and how she approaches her case. But it didn't really add anything for me, I skimmed over them. Finally, while the case is intriguing and I was anxious to learn how the dapper British private eye solves it, but the solution is so over-the-top that I was ready to jump into the pages, join the jury, and convict. (Not saying they did or didn't.) That's when this 4 star tale dropped to a 3 for me. I had a good time reading it, reminded me I like legal dramas (my favorite TV shows included LA Law, Boston Legal, Ally McBeal and the new Perry Mason with Matthew Rhys) so I'm ready to try another legal novel soon.
]]>