Lightning Strike is a prequel to Kruger’s Cork O’Connor series.

It follows Cork in his adolescence, shortly before he turns thirteen, the year before his father is killed in the line of duty.

There are mysterious deaths at the heart of the story, of course, but it also explores the relationship Cork had with his father, which shaped him significantly in becoming the man who occupies center stage in the series. …

I’m sure I read this when I was a teenager. I read a lot of Heinlein at the time.

It’s a young adult classic.

Have Space Suit—Will Travel … was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1959 and won the Sequoyah Children’s Book Award for 1961. …

High school senior Clifford “Kip” Russell is determined to get to the Moon, but the price of a ticket is far beyond his reach. His father suggests he enter an advertising jingle-writing contest; first prize is an all-expenses-paid trip there. Instead, he wins a used space suit. 

… He is shocked when a flying saucer lands practically on top of him. An 11-year-old girl (Peewee) and an alien being (the “Mother Thing”) flee from it, but all three are quickly captured and taken to the Moon. …

Book 6 of the police procedural series featuring DC Smith, the aging cop who refuses to retire. After his wife died, he wants to keep busy and relevant.

After a few weeks off for minor knee surgery, the old man returns — grumpy.

He is feeling his age, both physically and mentally and that he no longer really fits in, even his sense of humour is subdued …

Goodreads

I read these books for Smith’s humour.

Therefore this was the least satisfying of the series, so far. Smith was too grumpy to be amusing.

A producer at the BBC and mother to a new baby, Tessa is at work in Belfast one day when the news of another raid comes on the air.

The IRA may have gone underground in the two decades since the Good Friday Agreement, but they never really went away, and lately bomb threats, security checkpoints, and helicopters floating ominously over the city have become features of everyday life.

As the news reporter requests the public’s help in locating those responsible for the robbery, security footage reveals Tessa’s sister, Marian, pulling a black ski mask over her face.

The police believe Marian has joined the IRA, but Tessa is convinced she must have been abducted or coerced …

Amazon

I was impressed at how skillfully this book is constructed.

Well done, Flynn Berry.

I’m still captivated by the unique Japanese murder mystery books of Higashino.

Surprising. And fascinating.

This is his 4th book featuring ‘Detective Galileo‘, actually Dr. Manabu Yukawa — a physicist and college professor, who is known for his intelligence. He collaborates with the police when they can’t solve a crime.

The accused in a case of murder is found not guilty. Lack of enough evidence.

He returns to mock the family knowing he cannot be charged again.

In fact, this is the 2nd time in 20 years he was accused of murder and found innocent.

DCI Kusanagi worked both cases and is frustrated that the assumed killer is free. He asks Detective Galileo for help.

Book #2 in the The Giver Quartet. This was the follow-up to her acclaimed The Giver (1993).

In fact, I’d say Blue is equally good.

I enjoyed the characters more.

And the ending was not what I had guessed.

The central character, Kira, who has a deformed leg, is orphaned and must learn to survive in a society that normally leaves the weak or disabled exposed to die in the fields.

In the course of the book, she begins to learn the art of dyeing thread to different colors except for blue, which nobody in her community knows how to make.

She also learns more about the truth of her village and the terrible secrets that they hold.