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Straight River (Matt Lanier, #1)
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Award-winning author Chris Norbury's latest novel, STRAIGHT RIVER, is a fast-paced, tension-building story set during the emotional and financial aftermath of the Great Recession.
Two mysterious deaths compel Matt Lanier, a professional musician by trade, into a search for the killer. With no superhero skills other than his brilliant musical mind and razor-sharp hearing, La ...more
Two mysterious deaths compel Matt Lanier, a professional musician by trade, into a search for the killer. With no superhero skills other than his brilliant musical mind and razor-sharp hearing, La ...more
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Start your review of Straight River (Matt Lanier, #1)
This introduction to professional musician Matt Lanier is a wild ride of a thrilling mystery! The story starts with Matt returning to his hometown after years away to settle his estranged father's estate. Reunions with childhood friends and neighbors turn into suspicious happenings. Matt starts digging into the mysterious circumstances of not only his father's death, but the death of a well-known neighbor. What starts as a favor to save a farm turns into an intricate web of deception and land-gr
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I bought this book from the author at a book fair in Minnesota. Loved recognizing all the local area references. Norbury uses lots of musical examples for voices and sounds, a different approach.
Matt has to return to his hometown when his father is found dead in the silo. He reconnects with his childhood friends and commences searching for answers to his father's and a neighbors deaths.
The story bogs down some in the middle but picks us with some fast and violent action.
At first I didn't like t ...more
Matt has to return to his hometown when his father is found dead in the silo. He reconnects with his childhood friends and commences searching for answers to his father's and a neighbors deaths.
The story bogs down some in the middle but picks us with some fast and violent action.
At first I didn't like t ...more
A solid crime novel about a good guy that keeps getting a raw deal, but that doesn't stop him from righting a wrong that is seeping into his county and affecting him and his neighbors. I want to tell you more about the story, but I don't want to spoil it. Let's just say, for the local Minnesotans, you will recognize lots of locations in the book. For the rest, this story had a couple of unique hooks. **** 3/19/2020
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I was gripped by STRAIGHT RIVER: a Matt Lanier Novel by Chris Norbury. This well-told story has a compelling and brilliant plot line. Engaging and twisty (there were several places where "I didn't see that coming!") — this book is a page-turner that kept me up well into the night. I highly recommend this book!
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I'm not the best judge of the mystery genre but I did like Straight River. Credit the author with writing about a land acquisition scheme that is way out there but he makes it work. I could just picture the farm sites near I35W south of the Twin Cities in what I believe is meant to be my hometown of Owatonna, Minnesota. It's fun to recognize other familiar landmarks. Lanier is a musician and not skilled at investigation; in his own words, he "improvises." The book is fast paced with a lot of act
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Feb 23, 2019
Chris Norbury
added it
· (Review from the author)
Shelves:
books-with-a-minnesota-connection
*I won't give a star rating or comment on the quality because I can't possibly give an unbiased review, be it positive or negative.*
It's really hard to review my own book because I can't read it with a fresh perspective and can't be surprised by the plot twists and turns. Nor can I become enamored by, or charmed by, or disgusted with, a character because I spent so many hours and words developing that plot point or those character traits.
The only positive comment I will make is that reading Stra ...more
It's really hard to review my own book because I can't read it with a fresh perspective and can't be surprised by the plot twists and turns. Nor can I become enamored by, or charmed by, or disgusted with, a character because I spent so many hours and words developing that plot point or those character traits.
The only positive comment I will make is that reading Stra ...more
This is a well-written action/suspense story with outstandingly crafted characters. The heart of the story is the relationships between Matt Lanier – a professional bass player and reluctant hero – and his boyhood friends from a small Minnesota town (Straight River). His ex-wife is also drawn into the mystery and his aching desire to reunite with her gives the narrative extra emotional weight. The plot includes several unexpected and poignant twists and is not at all conventional or predictable.
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An exciting and surprising page turner. I found the setting and central characters so refreshing and unexpected. I was hooked from the very first page. Matt Lanier grew up the son of a Minnesota farmer, but left the farm, moved to Minneapolis, and became a musician. You don’t often find a musician at the center of a mystery and the way he relates to the world has huge impact on how he navigates the danger he finds himself in. I thought all the characters were very well drawn and I was with Matt
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Matt Lanier, musician-turned-crime cover, sparks the action in this suspenseful thriller set Up North in Minnesota. I can't wait to read the next one.
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Straight River, MN (600 acres). Jack (old black Lab) was barking to high heaven.
Ray Lanier (70, widower/father, retired USMC) went down stairs armed & someone had thrown a rock through the window again.
911.
Several yrs. ago the Great Recession wreaked havoc on everyone/everything.
Wayne Hibbert (Hibbert Realty real estate agent) was using high pressured sales pitch to by other PPL’s land/farms.
Matt Lanier (son, jazz musician, BA; music), & the group had been on tour at the Dakota Jazz Club (Min ...more
Ray Lanier (70, widower/father, retired USMC) went down stairs armed & someone had thrown a rock through the window again.
911.
Several yrs. ago the Great Recession wreaked havoc on everyone/everything.
Wayne Hibbert (Hibbert Realty real estate agent) was using high pressured sales pitch to by other PPL’s land/farms.
Matt Lanier (son, jazz musician, BA; music), & the group had been on tour at the Dakota Jazz Club (Min ...more
It was a treat to read Chris Norbury’s novel Straight River. It is a mystery that holds your attention as the plot unfolds throughout the book.
Matt Lanier comes home after his father is found dead in a farming accident. Things hadn’t been good with their relationship and Matt feels guilt that perhaps his father’s death could have prevented had he listened to the message from his father and returned his call.
It is easy as a reader to identify with Matt as he ponders the fate of his father and sor ...more
Matt Lanier comes home after his father is found dead in a farming accident. Things hadn’t been good with their relationship and Matt feels guilt that perhaps his father’s death could have prevented had he listened to the message from his father and returned his call.
It is easy as a reader to identify with Matt as he ponders the fate of his father and sor ...more
Chris Norbury has shown tremendous growth as a writer in STRAIGHT RIVER. This novel is just as much of an "adrenaline pumper" as CASTLE DANGER was but the action is faster and the plot development more polished. It was very difficult to put this book down as the sequence of events was structured in such a way that this reader wanted to continually find out what would happen next. As with CASTLE DANGER I only read it during the day because I feared that I would get too involved in the book to wan
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Norbury pens an extremely suspenseful, hard-to-put-down thriller in this prequel to “Castle Danger.” The author hooks the reader with intrigue from the early pages and never lets go. Growing up in Midwest farm country, I could see my neighbors (and relatives) in many of these characters—likable, quirky, and with their own set of faults which make them feel very real. I seriously stayed up until 2 am to finish this book. The suspense level was off the charts. Norbury handles the twists and turns
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Not a bad book although somewhat “cliche-ish” in the since of good guys and bad guys. But it’s a good enough story and it does provide the back-story behind the storyline of his first book (written), “Castle Danger.” The character development is, once again, pretty good and the action is very good. But, all in all, I just came away feeling that it wasn’t really anything special. If I could give half-star ratings I suppose that I’d give it 3 1/2 rather than 3 stars but I just didn’t think it was
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A Great prequel to Castle Danger... I was not disappointed with Straight River it was an exciting read and filled in the time period and events that led Matt Lanier to Castle Danger. This book was a page turner and the story line and characters intertwined so well! I will absolutely encourage my friends and readers to get Chris' books, they are hard to put down once started! Will be waiting for the sequel to both these books when it hits the shelves
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Nov 11, 2019
John Loch
added it
I thoroughly enjoyed Straight River. I previously had read Castle Danger and enjoyed that also. My only wish is that I would have read Straight River first because it would have greatly enhanced Castle Danger. Great plot, great writing, lots of suspense and very believable. Can't wait for the third installment.
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I love books set in my home state of MN and Straight River did not disappoint. It is a fast read - I read it in 3 days on a beach vacation because I just had to know how it ended! Normally I leave books at the resort book exchange - not this time. I brought it home to read again. Interesting and gripping! Loved it and have shared it with friends.
Jun 17, 2019
Allan Schwartz
added it
I have to say that Straight River is exciting and well-written. Having read a number of suspense novels, one tries to anticipate twists and turns with the characters and the situations that they are in. Straight River provided a lot of jaw-dropping and wows as the suspense was built. Looking forward to reading Matt Lanier #3!
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| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| Making Connections: 5453. - STRAIGHT RIVER (Matt Lanier, #1) by Chris Norbury | 10 | 27 | Jun 15, 2019 08:00AM |
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Chris Norbury is the award-winning author of the mystery-suspense-thrillers Straight River and Castle Danger, the first two novels of a planned series. The stories feature Matt Lanier, a southern Minnesota farm-kid-turned-professional-musician whose middle-class world is turned upside down by a conspiracy of powerful, ambitious, violent men.
He grew up in the Twin Cities and earned a B.S. in Music ...more
He grew up in the Twin Cities and earned a B.S. in Music ...more
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