Oh Joe

I do like the Joe Gunther series.  I do.  I just don't like KGB stuff and international spy jazz and that was ALL Disposable Man was! 

Bellows Fall is Falling Down

But it is also building up.  Bellows Falls is number 8 in the series and yes, yes, another great one!  I don't know what it was about those few that didn't 5 star for me, but these last few really have! 

The Ragman

The Ragman's Memory was an excellent book, the seventh in the Joe Gunther series.  The title got me thinking about this poem.  I read it when I was working as a pastor and on a mission trip to DC with the kids and it stuck with me all of these years.
The poem has nothing to do with the book.
Anyway....this book was really, really good!  And so I am on to the 8th!

And Again!

The Dark Root, the sixth installment of the Joe Gunther series was VERY good and another 5 star.  This book dealt with the rise of Asian American gangs and addressed the racial discrimination that went along with it.  Again, I feel like Archer was writing ahead of his time when he addresses issues back in the 90s that, sadly are still issues today (see #5) but are now, at least getting better, more appropriate attention. 

This is how it happened

How It Happened  was one of those books that, when it came in through a library hold, I couldn't remember why I had wanted to read it, but then once I started to I didn't care, I was just thankful that I got it!  Michael Koryta did a great job weaving a really interesting mystery that kept me guessing right until the end.  I loved it!

Always

been a fan of Bill Pronzini's Nameless series, so it was a no brainer to download The Violated.  As much as I enjoy the Nameless books, I never expected to enjoy this stand-alone book SO much.  It was just an excellent, excellent mystery.  Great characters and a mystery that kept me guessing.  Dude I did NOT like the mayor!  But of course, we weren't supposed to like him!  What a weenie!  And what an apt title. 

Nightmare

As I have said, I would rather have a nightmare and wake up and realize it was just a dream than have a good dream and wake up and realize it was all imaginary.  That is especially the case with Dream Land:  The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic.  Don't we all wish that this was just a nightmare. Last year I officiated at the Homecoming service of a young man who was my brother's friend growing up.  He had a long battle with heroin.  

What frustrates me a great deal about this whole horrible nightmare of the proliferation of heroin use and deaths is that now it is happening to white, middle class people, there is media attention.  That is truly upsetting.  All lives matter, they do.  

The other thing that really frustrates me is the fact that it really is all about money.  Big pharmaceutical companies and their greed.  This book is excellent and a must-read.