Excellent.
The Bomb Maker (2018) by Thomas Perry has a really good BAD GUY.
How can he be stopped?
The opening sentence of chapter one draws you straight into the action with its vividly detailed, almost fetishist description of a bomb’s construction.
So enticingly described are the levels of concentration needed not to blow one’s self up, and the obsessive degree of planning needed to cause the maximum amount of damage, that by the end of the chapter, we almost want to see …
Fullness of Time is an interesting sci-fi novella.
Mixed reviews — but the plot kept me going.
One family has some kind of genetic / medical disorder allowing them to see briefly into the future.
Hiram Granville, a modern Leonardo, secured more than a thousand patents during his lifetime, often just ahead of others who had already been working on the same ideas.
His son, John, an economics genius, never lost a cent in the stock market—or any other financial deal—and was investigated for insider trading on more than one occasion.
Now Cat, a documentarian; her researcher, Mercy; and Cracker Jack, an electronics whiz, are doing a film about the Granville clan.
What they find as they research the family is madness, suicide, a seemingly total seclusion, and a frightening glimpse about what it means to peer into the future.
Laurence Hayward has a $612 million lottery win in Sex, Lies & Serious Money (2016).
After signing on with lawyer Stone Barrington, he spend several million dollars on three cars, two apartments in the same Park Avenue building, and an extensive selection of clothing.
Good fun.
A couple of ex-cons move in trying to grab some of that new found money.
Reads like a remake of Family Jewels (2016) with nary a homicide until very close to the end. Not much sex, no more lies than usual, but some very serious money does indeed get spent on every possible status symbol you can imagine.
Closer Than You Know (2018) is a skillfully crafted novel.
What do you do when the worst happens?
Disaster, Melanie Barrick was once told, is always closer than you know.
It was a lesson she learned the hard way growing up in the constant upheaval of foster care. But now that she’s survived into adulthood—with a loving husband, a steady job, and a beautiful baby boy named Alex—she thought that turmoil was behind her.
Until one Monday evening when she goes to pick up Alex from childcare only to discover he’s been removed by Social Services. And no one will say why.
It’s a terrifying scenario for any parent, but doubly so for Melanie, who knows the unintended horrors of what everyone coldly calls “the system.”
Her nightmare mushrooms when she arrives home to learn her house has been raided by sheriff’s deputies, who have found enough cocaine to send Melanie to prison for years. …
Breaking Silence (2011) is another in the Kate Burkholder murder mystery series.
Mixed feelings.
The writing is average, at best.
BUT troubled Kate, as a former Amish teen turned police chief, faces interesting scenarios.
The Slabaugh family are model Amish farmers, prosperous and hardworking, with four children and a happy extended family.
When the parents and an uncle are found dead in their barn, it appears to be a gruesome accident: methane gas asphyxiation caused by a poorly ventilated cesspit.
But in the course of a routine autopsy, the coroner discovers that one of the victims suffered a head wound before death–clearly, foul play was involved.
But who would want to make orphans of the Slabaughs’ children?
And is this murder somehow related to a recent string of shocking hate crimes against the Amish?
I finally got around to reading (listening to) King’s 1992 hit novel.
A very unusual format.
Dolores Claiborne is a psychological thriller by Stephen King. …
The novel led to a 1995 movie adaptation starring Kathy Bates …
Dolores Claiborne, an opinionated 65-year-old widow living in the tiny Maine community of Little Tall Island, is suspected of murdering her wealthy, elderly employer, Vera Donovan.
The novel is presented as a transcript of her statement, told to the local constable and a stenographer.
Dolores wants to make clear to the police that she did not kill Vera, whom she had looked after for years, but does confess to orchestrating the death of her husband, Joe St. George, almost thirty years previously. Dolores’s confession develops into the story of her life, her troubled marriage, and her relationship with her employer. …
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Not bad. Interesting twists and turns.
The Storm (2026) is a slow-burn mystery by American author Rachel Hawkins.
Set in the fictional coastal town of St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama, the novel follows a dual-timeline narrative.
This is something of a sequel to The Kind Worth Killing — but I found it much better.
The Kind Worth Saving (2023) is a psychological thriller by Peter Swanson …
The story follows Henry Kimball, a former English teacher and police officer who is now working as a private investigator in Massachusetts.
Moon Over Soho (2011) by Ben Aaronovitch is weakest of the series I’ve read, so far.
I was reminded why I don’t much like fantasy fiction. Plot too far removed from reality.
The dialogue is still funny, but less so.
I do enjoy the police procedural details.
In this one Police constable and apprentice wizard Peter Grant investigates a series of bizarre, magically-linked deaths in the jazz scene of London’s Soho district.
It’s personal to Peter, as his father is a jazz musician.
The Threat: Vicious creatures are stalking Soho, feeding on the innate creative talents and beauty of musicians, leaving ruin behind.
Key Characters: Peter is assisted by his wizard mentor, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, and Simone Fitzwilliam, a beautiful jazz journalist and ex-lover of the first victim
Plenty of action. In fact, I found the pacing too frantic.
I normally don’t like fantasy, but this book had enough dry British humour to keep me going.
Rivers of London (2011) is the first novel in the popular urban fantasy series by Ben Aaronovitch. In the United States and some other regions, it is titled Midnight Riot.
The story follows Peter Grant, a probationary constable in the Metropolitan Police who discovers he has the ability to speak to ghosts.
This talent leads him to become the first apprentice in 50 years under the tutelage of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the last official wizard in Britain.
Together, they investigate supernatural crimes across London, blending police procedural elements with historical lore and magic
The author also wrote two Doctor Who serials in the late 1980s and spin-off novels from Doctor Who and Blake’s 7.
The book inspired an independent music video by Lyrics and Music by Ben “Doc Brown” Smith and Mikis Michaelides.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
