Chick Lit Thrillers

seem to be a dime a dozen as they say...and this one isn't bad but it just seems more "chick lit" to me than for my taste.  Stranger in the Lake was not a memorable read for me.  Wasn't offensive though, either. 

Years and Years and Years Ago

I listened to Wild Fire.  On a CD!  At the drive-in!  This was a LONG time ago!  And I LOVED it!  I just finished Plum Island, which is the first in the John Corey series and I loved it, too.  Because John Corey is hilarious. 

Here is just one of my favorite quotes:
She has clear, grey eyes, grey hair and a sort of interesting face with translucent skin.  A face that reminded me of an old painting.  Not any particular painting.
Or artist.
Or style.
Just an old painting.

I LOVED THAT!

Anyway...fantastic cop.  Fantastic book. 

Some People

I am not sure if more people are like Maggie or not like Maggie.  I think if we have the answer to that life would be a lot easier.  This book just completely messed with my understanding of morality and how I think (or thought) people see right and wrong.  This is How I Lied was pretty terrible regardless. 

Mike Lupica

I have said this before but I really can't say it enough, Mike Lupica does an excellent job of challenging Robert B. Parker and yet making Sunny Randall new and fresh and Lupica-ish!  Grudge Match is Sunny Randall #8 and I hope there are many more.  I love the connections with the whole Parker universe!  

Ah Lucas

Thirty books and Lucas Davenport still is a charmer. Masked Prey is set in DC but there is just something very Minnesotan about Lucas that makes me love him.  He is now a U.S. Marshall.  Great story line, great Sandford.  Thank you and now I can't wait until October for hopefully a new Virgil Flowers!

Good Old Stone!

Hit List is the FIFTY THIRD installment in the Stone Barrington series and man, I hope Mr. Woods is planning to or has already written many more.  This one was really good and the ending means WOW (not that it was a shock but I am so looking forward to see how this all develops)!  I hope too that Peter and Ben come back into the stories soon!  Great stuff!  And no Felicity, which always makes a better Stone book for me!

It Just Reminded Me... (SPOILERS)

Of the time I read some place, and I can't find it now, that Sharon Gless refused to allow her character on Cagney and Lacey to be raped for a third time.  I saw the twist coming in A Killer's Wife, but I hoped it wasn't really coming.  Jessica Yardleys falls in love with TWO twisted serial killers?  I just was a disappointment.  Which is a shame because I enjoyed a lot of this book.  It is the first in a new series and while I was so disappointed about the end, I am going to read the next one.  Part of it took place in St. George, Utah which is a lovely little town.  We stayed here a few years ago.  A lovely young couple owned and ran it.  I wonder if they still do. 

A Lot of Evil

Men (and women and trans and fluid gender) people can do a lot of evil deeds.  We have seen it through history, we see it today.  Are there people who ARE evil?  I don't think so.  I mean, I would certainly say that someone like Adolph Hitler makes me think there are, but I wonder...and I am reminded that Hitler, too was made in God's image, but did NOT grow in God's likeness.  Did he not grow in God's likeness and, quite the opposite, was responsible for the death and torture of millions because he was missing something, as sociopaths are said to be missing the ability to experience empathy?  Did he do these things because somehow evil got inside him?  And does that make HIM evil or was it his ACTIONS that were evil?  Does it matter?

That has nothing to do with anything right now except that the second book in the Detective P.T. Marsh series is called The Evil Men Do.  And there is a lot of sorrowful evil in this one.  For some reason I wasn't as caught up in it as the first, hence four stars.  But I will try the next one. 

The Last One

Keep in mind, I don't like romance mixed with murder.  This is just me...but The Last Sister will be the last book I will read in the new Columbia River series.  WAY too much love WAY WAY WAY too much love.  But if you like thriller chick-lit, it might be for you!

A GREAT BOOK from MR. Kellerman!

As you know I love Faye Kellerman but I am kinda hit or miss with Jonathan Kellerman.  But Museum of Desire (Alex Delaware #35) was just fantastic.  VERY creative, I think.  Super creepy premise and didn't let up on the tension until the end.  Great stuff.

SPOILERS

Here is just one thing that I loved about Perfect Little Children by Sophie Hannah: there was no obvious plot twist at the end.  I was so worried that we would find out that the whole thing was just a figment of Beth's imagination.  Which totally works in some books!  But I personally would have felt seriously ripped off if it had happened in this book.  The thing is, this book is SO well done and the whole thing is SO good that it would have been the easy way out to make Beth into someone who was having a logic break.  Excellent thriller.  Just excellent!  And no off-putting Briticisms! 

What Can Be Said about Brian Freeman

I mean the guy writes about the best state in the 50.  The state that gave us not only Judy (which would have been enough) and Prince, William Worrall Mayo, Jessica Lange also claimed Eddie Albert from age 1, John Sandford, Matt Goldman and Gary Paulsen have all written books set in Minnesota and I love them (the authors and their books). But there is just something...something that makes Brian Freeman's Johnathan Stride that just makes him my favorite Minnesotan (well...next to Judy, of course).   Thief River Falls was so excellent.  It is a stand-alone and just so well done.  Thanks, Mr. Freeman--- PLEASE PLEASE keep writing!  Thief River Falls is a real place! 

Just a wee bit long

I liked Stolen Things.  It sucked me in right away.  But the thing was, I really didn't like the characters.  I liked JoJo okay....but the mom?  Na...and Harper?  I tried to feel for her, I really did.  I don't know...this was just kinda died for me.  Good premise.  But maybe needed a little editing? 

Quite Good and No Off-Putting Briticisms

or Missing Molly was just that good that they didn't bother me.  Natalie Barelli wrote The Housekeeper which I read earlier this year.  I am SO looking forward to reading more from her.  It was one of those books that I had skip to the end and read backwards at one point.  I got so involved with molly, really cared about her, that I had to see how it ended!

52

Stone Barrington in Treason is still Stone.  No surprise in the series.  And that is why I love Stone.  This one I didn't enjoy as much, but still, worth the read for what we get from Stone the Stud!

And AGAIN!

After a book drought, this year has been great so far!  The Last Lie was another one I couldn't warm up to right away...I think it was the worry of the off-putting Briticisms, but if there were any, I didn't even notice them.  Alex Lake did an excellent job of keeping the suspense up an even though I figured out what was going, I didn't see it all clearly and it didn't make it any less enjoyable.  Really worth reading! 

Whoa!

So at first I started The Housekeeper and couldn't get into it,  but man...then I tried a day later and I was HOOKED!  I just thought the twists were great, I loved the ending.  I just really liked this so much!  I was surprised the whole way!  But again, I get surprised easily!  But still, this was great!

I Just Can't....

continue reading the Kate Burkholder series.  I know it is very popular.  I know.  It is just too much introspection, too much romance, too too too much.
Oh man...just too much.  Pray for Silence was very hard for me to finish, but I did.  And since I listened to it, I was, indeed, praying for silence as well.

Well...

I do feel guilty every time I say that I enjoy male writers more than female writers when it comes to adult fiction.  My only exception are the Kellermans.  But The Undertaker's Daughter series looked like it was going to be a great new series for me, but alas way too much romance and unlike Texas Rangers, the rest of it didn't outweigh the romance.  Still, if you like romance and mystery, you might enjoy The Secrets We Bury.  It was just a little too Hallmark Movie for me.

Minnesota Setting!

As soon as I see Minnesota, I am IN, you betcha!  I randomly came across Nils Shaprio and read the first three.  I hope there are more to come!  Matt Goldman is quite the writer!