Barry's 25-30 Book Challenge

[Barry]

I look to improve on 2015's total number of books read, but it may be a bit of a stretch. I have read 25 books thus far, but I do look to read the "Game of Thrones" series in 2016. This may put a serious damper on total number of books read, but if I find a few short reads to throw in, I can make it.

30 books in a years time would be a record for me.

[Cassandra]

Good luck with your challenge, Barry!

I moved this to the 2016 folder for you.

[Barry]

Book #1:



4 Stars

Book #2:



3 Stars

I must admit, that through the first part of this book I was both interested and frustrated. Interested in the story line and trying to piece together the facts of the lead characters past and how they impacted the present kept me reading. The frustration came from what I would call an incessant repetition of flashbacks. There was so much of it, that I feel is detracted from the main story line.

Our main character has had a love of fire from an early age. His mother and older brothers died in a house fire when he was young and his love/hate relationship with fire was born. After a stint in a mental hospital as a child, Reece Johnston grew up, became a writer, and got married. During the time of his marriage, Reece suffered a major case of writers block and was unable to write. This frustration led to his separation from his wife and subsequent spiral out of control that led to his second trip to the ward.

Reece is cured, or so he hopes, and has a best selling novel on the market. Not only that, but his wife takes him back. What could be better? Suddenly strange events start taking place around Reece and his family. The events come at a pace that keeps Reece guessing as to who the culprit could be. The signs all point to Reece, but he is sure he has not gone off path.

Someone is trying to get to Reece and his family. While the suspect list seems short, the reasoning behind it puzzles him even more. Can Reece stop the madness before his family is destroyed and can Reece convince the local PD that he has nothing to do with?

[Megan]

Congrats on finishing your first two books in 2016!

[Therese]

I found Game of Thrones so exciting, that it didn't slow me down. I just went to bed earlier, so I had more time to read:)

[Barry]

First post since January -- WOW!

The Game of Thrones book along with a heavy work load slowed me down to a snail's pace. I still haven't finished the book, but felt I needed to avert over to something different to get revved back up. So, I found a book at a local store for $3 and it was a book by an author I have read before. I grabbed it and took it home and read it fairly quickly.

by John Lutz

While it was not my favorite book by him, it was still a quick paced read that did not disappoint with a surprise at the end.

While reading it, I saw a series of books by James Hayman, whom I have never read, on Book Gorilla. The claim was that he was a must read for fans of John Sandford and CJ Box. Well, John Sandford is one of my, if not my, favorite authors. I decided to give it a shot and it was cheap.

Needless to say, by James Hayman was an excellent read. I devoured this book in less than a week and have the other 3 in the series on my Kindle ready to be read. I have a new team of detectives, McCade and Savage, to get to learn now and I look forward to handing the month of June over to them.

As far as The Game of Thrones goes, I have not given up on it, I hope to finish it in the next couple of weeks. While I love fantasy style novels, this one seems to drag to me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I suspect it is the jumping around between characters and the time lapses in between that are affecting my pace. I don't know for sure, but I will finish it!!!

[Barry]

I am on a bit of a roll now. Added 3 more books to the completed list.

Book 5:

Book 6:

Book 7:

It took less than a month to devour the 4 book series. I got the book recommendation from Book Gorilla. McCabe and Savage are now a duo I will be anxiously looking forward to keeping up with.

James Hayman was compared to John Sandford and CJ Box. John Sandford is one of my favorite authors so I decided to give Hayman a try. He has not disappointed. I highly recommend this series.

[Barry]

Book 8:

Took a while, but I finally finished it. It may be a while before I start the second book, but one is complete.

[Barry]

Book 9:

Second book by Andrew Gross - Andrew keeps the pace rolling in his books. I enjoyed the premise and storyline. I actually had to ask myself, "What would I do in this situation" a few times.

From the back cover:

While driving along a suburban back road, Hilary Blum, who's just lost her job and whose deadbeat husband has left her alone to care for her son with Asperger's, witnesses a freakish accident. A car ahead of her careens down a hill and slams into a tree. Stopping to help, she discovers the driver dead--and a satchel stuffed with a half a million dollars.

That money could prevent her family's ruin and keep her special needs son in school. In an instant, this honest, achieving woman who has always done the responsible thing makes a decision that puts her in the center of maelstrom of dark consequences and life-threatening recriminations--a terrifying scheme involving a twenty-year-old murder, an old woman who's life has been washed out to sea, and a powerful figure bent to keep the secret that can destroy him hidden.

With everything to lose, everything she loves, Hilary connects to a determined cop from Staten Island, reeling from the disaster of Sandy, to bring down an enemy who will stop at nothing to keep what that money was meant to silence, still buried.

[Barry]

Book 10: by Lisa Gardner

This is my first book by Lisa Gardner. I really enjoyed the book, but I found out it was like book 6 of a series -- ughh.

Charlene Grant had a very difficult childhood and she has worked hard to blank out most of it. But suddenly, within the past 2 years, her dearest friends in high school have been murdered. Not only is the way they killed strange, but the fact they were killed on the exact same day one year apart is also disconcerting.

So Charlene takes it upon herself to be ready if her time is next. She moved away from her aunt and into a small community on the outskirts of Boston, shes taken self defense classes, learned to shoot a gun and decided to persuade the top detective of the Boston PD, Detective D.D. Warren to try and solve her murder after it occurs.

Detective Warren, however, has a case load of her own and finds it completely weird that she has been asked to solve something that has not yet happened and she is not real sure will. On top of that, someone is going around Boston and killing sex offenders and Charlene is looking like a prime suspect.

The date is closing in and the suspect list is small, but the past always has a way of coming back to haunt you. Can anyone figure out what is going on, before Charlene becomes the 3rd victim to die without a trace of evidence?

[Barry]

Book 11: by Dean Koontz

Another good read from Mr. Koontz. I was saddened to know after I started this book, that I had actually missed 2 books in the series. I must go catch myself up.

Odd Thomas finds himself, once again, dealing with a mystery that confounds even him. There are things happening around him that he has not faced before and he is not sure how to proceed. Luckily for him, however, he is picked up on the side of the road by a wealthy, elderly woman in a limousine that is looking for some adventure.

The whole world of the undead or better known as those who have yet to cross over has suddenly brought along with it a parallel universe that also has an Odd Thomas, but Odd cannot believe everything he is seeing or feeling.

A tractor trailer catches Odd's attention while on the road and his psychic magnetism starts telling him something about the truck is not right. Odd decides to check out the truck and runs into it's driver. A argument ensues and Odd and the trucker touch one another's arms. It is at this point that Odd is suddenly aware that something is not right with the driver or his intentions.

It quickly becomes a race and the lives of several children are at stake. An unlikely cast of characters are met along the way, thanks to Ms. Edie, and Odd begins to learn more and more about himself and his purpose. But, can he find the "Rhinestone" cowboy trucker and figure out the secret to his strange disappearances in time and if he does, at what cost?

[Barry]

Book 12: by William Kent Krueger

I began this series several years ago, but got away from them for awhile. I was in the library last week and ran across the series and began looking to see where I had left off. I grab the next 2 books, but unfortunately, I read the wrong one first. But, here goes.

Corcoran (Cork) O'Conner is a retired sheriff of Tamarack County in Aurora, Minnesota. Cork has recently suffered the unimaginable loss of his wife Jo and his children are away doing their own thing. Cork finds his days filled with walking his dog, Trixie, taking on some small PI jobs and closing up the small diner he owns. He needs something to do. Anything to take his mind off his own misery. Not only that, but Cork has recently began to dream about his father's death and is questioning what his role was in all of that.

Cork is approached by Max Cavanaugh, owner of the local iron mines. It appears Max's sister Lauren is missing and Max hires Cork to find her. Max has his hands full at the moment as the Government is looking into using one of his old mines as a nuclear waste dump and the local Ojibwe Indian Tribe and other local citizens are protesting the effort.

What Cork uncovers, however, throws him into a decades long cold case. One, to his understanding, his father was never able to solve. Many coincidences and similarities begin to show up between this new case and what happened when Cork was a teenager. Cork is asked, by current sheriff Marsha Dross, to help in the investigation.

As the investigation heats up, it appears to Cork that everyone seems to be withholding information or some type of secret. Cork's own questions about his and his father's past threaten to eat away at his judgement and ability to focus on the task at hand.

What really went on during the "Vanishings" of 1964? How was his father involved? How are these 2 cases related and why does Cork continue to dream about himself killing his father?

The answers are out there, but is Cork strong enough to face them?