Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion
Monthly "Reads"
>
Barry's Nov '18
date
newest »
newest »
Nice mix Barry! I am slowly waiting my turn to borrow the Reacher and Bosch books. And incredibly slowly, awaiting my turn for The Reckoning. It just hasn’t enticed me enough yet to spend a credit on the audio; very good to see you gave it an A-. It’s driving me a bit crazy to be missing the group discussion. I need to check into One Strange Date!
Scents and Sensibility sounds clever - I like the idea of the dogs POV for a detective novel. Nice list!
Good month! I liked Dark Sacred Night and Dead Man Running. Thought The Reckoning was so-so.
Love the Chet and Bernie books! Disappointed there haven't been any new ones.
Not a happy book, but the dramatization of a story Grisham heard in Mississippi of a small town where one prominent citizen murdered another for no good reason. Be prepared to go a very long time before you have a clue about what happened here. (A-)
Dark Sacred Night: Michael Connelly
Ballard and Bosch. Harry is pretty much washed up with the police department, but not with police work. Ballard is considered a rogue and a troublemaker. Seems like a natural formula to partner up. The book breaks no new ground, but was fun to read. (B+)
Shell Game: Sara Paretsky
Another author who has reverted to type, a solid mystery involving kidnapped relatives and stolen artifacts. (B+)
One Strange Date: Laurence Shames
Romantic mysteries set in Key west, the common denominator being the 90 year old retired mobster “Bert the Shirt” and his chihuahua. His characters are a wonder to behold as they fall in love while wading through the stickiest of situations. I really look forward to this series. (B+)
Squirm: Carl Hiaasen
Hard not to smile when Hiaasen writes a book. This is YA, but still a fun trip into justice and some peculiar people, who you wind up loving anyway (B+)
Squeeze Play: RJ Kaiser
More lawyers than you can shake a stick at. Good lawyers, bad lawyers, scared lawyers, and a restauranter and more than a few police trying to figure out some murders. Lots of people, but a complex story well done with likeable characters. (B+)
Dead Man Running: Steve Hamilton
AN Alex McKnight novel. Par for the course, Alex is smarter than the FBI in chasing down a serial killer who has ties to his past. (B)
SOAR: John Wiesman
I picked this up because the author was the co-author of most of the Rogue Warrior books, so I knew he had the chops to do a “Black Ops” book. This was not great literature in any sense, but did manage to create an international situation, and a solution to it, without soiling itself on the politics of the world. In a nutshell: Delta ust rescue a CIA team in the wilds of China that has run into trouble. (B)
Long Road to Mercy: David Baldacci
First he gave us a character like Reacher, but thankfully after couple books started to individualize him. In this series, he gives us the female version, an FBI agent, trying to figure out what government plot she is chasing. As a continuing story, she wants to know what happened to her twin, who was abducted at age 6 (B)
Past Tense: Lee Child
Jack Reacher is one of those series where you keep having to wonder how long it can go on. This is another book that follows the formula, but does give you enough new material to advance the series. (B)
When you can’t Stop: James Hall
Too many combative females this month. No sure I can call this a spy book. Seemed like one, but was full of industrial espionage, love, and betrayal. And women that could fight, let us not forget women that can fight. (B)
Scents and Sensibility: Spencer Quinn
Detective novel from the point of view of the dog. Not bad in small doses. Chet and Bernie find out what happened in a 15 year old kidnapping. (B)
Odessa Sea: Cussler
A Dirk Pitt book, much in formula, maybe a bit bloodier Somebody has to find those rogue atomic bombs. (B).
Ghosts of War: Brad taylor
Only one small group of spies can stop WW3. The only have 400 pages to get it done. (B)