She has been obsessed with a large number of fires in which a single person always died, including one involving her sister.
Local authorities, finding no foul play, ruled all these fires were accidental. …
… a preliminary investigation is launched by the FBI …
The New York Journal of Books provided a positive review, saying, “Invisible is a difficult book to read because of the sheer horror and mayhem, but it’s even tougher to put down.”
Connolly is Irish, but these books are set in the USA.
In Maine, Colleen Clark stands accused of the worst crime a mother can commit: the abduction and possible murder of her child.
Everyone—ambitious politicians in an election season, hardened police, ordinary folk—has an opinion on the case, and most believe she is guilty.
But most is not all. Defending Colleen is the lawyer Moxie Castin, and working alongside him is the private investigator Charlie Parker, who senses the tale has another twist, one involving a husband too eager to accept his wife’s guilt, a group of fascists arming for war, a disgraced psychic seeking redemption, and an old, twisted house deep in the Maine woods, a house that should never have been built.
Reviews said the first third of the book was confusing — but finally started to make sense towards the end.
True. But — for me — this stand alone book was a big letdown after Osman’s excellent Thursday Murder Club series.
It’s somewhat amusing. Slightly entertaining as an absurd cozy mystery.
BUT I never did start to care much about any of the characters.
AmyWheeler is a private security officer for Maximum Impact Solutions, a private security company, currently protecting Rosie D’Antonio, “the world’s bestselling novelist, ‘if you don’t count Lee Child’”.
Her husband, Adam Wheeler—Steve’s son—works in finance and also spends most of his time traveling; they view their relationship as a long-term bet and don’t mind not seeing much of each other for now.
Amy’s father-in-law, SteveWheeler, is a widower and retired police officer who loves to stay at home. Talks to Amy by phone every day.
The plot’s confusing. Somebody seems to want to kill Amy. She’s under suspicion in the deaths of others who have been killed in 3 separate incidents, each murder occurring when Amy was nearby.
Amy’s suave boss, Jeff, seems to have disappeared. His former partner and best friend, Henk, might be responsible.
The foibles and eccentricities of the characters are interesting. But ultimately I can’t recommend this book.
31st in the John Sandford Prey Series featuring Lucas Davenport.
Ocean Prey (2021) is interesting in that the author brought in his other book series character — Virgil Flowers — to investigate the murder of three members of the Coast Guard in Florida.
Personally, I like Virgil much better than Lucas Davenport.
I found the book too slow. But it was interesting to see how the murdering drug smugglers operated in moving their dope from South America into the USA.
The novel reached number one an Amazon’s Most sold list April 24, 2021
Virgil’s love interest Rae is the most interesting character of all.
Click PLAY or learn about Sandford on YouTube. He didn’t publish his first book until age-47.
Grisham and Jim McCloskey tell 10 gripping and galling tales of the wrongly convicted.
One of the worst cops wrongfully putting people in jail was Norfolk, Virginia Police Detective Robert Glenn Ford. In February 2011, Mr. Ford was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison for other crimes. Ford served his sentence and been released — though some are calling for further investigation into his past extorting confessions from innocent people.
I should say the sequel is not as good. It should have been much shorter.
John Connolly has the skill to write multiple story lines from multiple characters — and still keep the story easy to follow.
Respect.
Some might compare his books to Stephen King. Set in Maine. Often a supernatural element.
But John Connolly is more murder mystery. King more horror.
Connolly is more literary. King a pure story teller with simpler dialogue.
John Connolly is a BIG FAN of King. And might well have been influenced.
… A Book of Bones draws to a close the most recent mini-arc within the Parker series, one that involves a shadowy lawyer named Quayle, his murderous accomplice Mors, and their efforts to reassemble – and awaken – a book known as the Fractured Atlas, which might be able to plunge the Earth into a nightmare world populated by entities only known as the “Not-Gods”.
As ever with Connolly, it hardly matters whether these events are truly happening or only a matter of zealotry within the minds of those committing horrific acts; either way, people are dying, and tensions are rising. …
… a relentless crime thriller in which women are being killed at ancient sites of worship and being staged to look like hate crimes to inflame anti-Muslim hysteria.
Meanwhile, Parker and his comrades are trying to understand what role the Atlas plays in all of this, track down Quayle, and deal with the re-emergence of a religious sect which nearly cost them their lives once.
In other words, there’s a lot going on here, but Connolly weaves all of his threads seamlessly, building the pace and tension constantly until a finale which teeters on what might be the literal apocalypse with genuine suspense and dread. …
Westerbeke is a full-time librarian who wrote this debut novel in his spare time.
Paris, 1885: Aubry Tourvel, a spoiled and stubborn nine-year-old girl, comes across a wooden puzzle ball on her walk home from school. She tosses it over the fence, only to find it in her backpack that evening. Days later, at the family dinner table, she starts to bleed to death.
When medical treatment only makes her worse, she flees to the outskirts of the city, where she realizes that it is this very act of movement that keeps her alive. So begins her lifelong journey on the run from her condition, which won’t allow her to stay anywhere for longer than a few days—nor return to a place where she’s already been.
From the scorched dunes of the Calashino Sand Sea to the snow-packed peaks of the Himalayas; from a bottomless well in a Parisian courtyard, to the shelves of an infinite underground library, we follow Aubry as she learns what it takes to survive and ultimately, to truly live.
But the longer Aubry wanders and the more desperate she is to share her life with others, the clearer it becomes that the world she travels through may not be quite the same as everyone else’s…
A big fan, I downloaded the newest Reacher the day of publication.
29th in the series, it is very similar to the previous 28. 😀
A proven formula.
The same odd, somewhat stilted dialogue.
Plenty of Jack Reacher man handling the bad guys without knife or (aside from one case) gun.
The authors are still Lee Child & Andrew Child, though I assume Andrew is doing most of the writing now.
The recent books have been improved by making fun of Reacher being a luddite. He has no phone, so must keep borrowing phones. He barely knows how Uber works.
On the downside, the PLOT of this book might have looked good in outline. But — ultimately — it was way too complicated. Too many characters.
I lost interest.
I predict many fans will start the book excited, and finish underwhelmed.
That said, the worst Reacher book in the series is still better than almost anything else being published this year. If you don’t know these books, start back at beginning.
Rick McCharles 