Category: books

The Hit by David Baldacci

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Book 2 in the Will Robie series.

Baldacci is not nearly my favourite author. BUT this book really kept me interested from start to finish.

A highly skilled assassin, Robie is the man the U.S. government calls on to eliminate the worst of the worst–enemies of the state …

No one else can match Robie’s talents as a hitman…no one, except Jessica Reel. A fellow assassin, equally professional and dangerous, Reel is every bit as lethal as Robie. And now, she’s gone rogue, turning her gun sights on other members of their agency.

To stop one of their own, the government looks again to Will Robie. His mission: bring in Reel, dead or alive. Only a killer can catch another killer, they tell him. …

Amazon

Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

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I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book.

It’s not historical fiction, however. The olde English dialogue is anachronistic.

But for some reason, the story works.

Anticipate an adaptation for the screen.

Two time frames:

Late 1700s London. An apothecary who sells poisons only to kill misbehaving men. And her curious 12-year-old assistant.

Modern day London. An American woman who’s whose marriage is disintegrating — by chance — decides to investigate the apothecary.

Amazon

Lookout: Love, Solitude, and Searching for Wildfire by Trina Moyles  

On By Rick McIn books, climate change, hikingLeave a comment

Trina Moyles is a northern Alberta woman who decided to write a book about climate change and the resulting increase in forest fires.

Forest fires are one of the few outdoor “dangers” that truly worries me when hiking and cycling.

Over several 5-month summers alone in fire towers, it evolved into more of a life memoir.

And Trina has had a very interesting life.

While searching for smoke, Trina unravels under the pressure of a long-distance relationship–and a dawning awareness of the environmental crisis that climate change is producing in the boreal. Through megafires, lightning storms, and stunning encounters with wildlife, she learns to survive at the fire tower by forging deep connections with nature and with an extraordinary community of people dedicated to wildfire detection and combat. In isolation, she discovers a kind of self-awareness–and freedom–that only solitude can deliver.  …

Amazon

I learned a lot. And found the book very entertaining.

Canadian Geographic REVIEW.

The Guide by Peter Heller

On By Rick McIn books1 Comment

“Peter Heller is the poet laureate of the literary thriller.” —Michael Koryta

An endorsement by Koryta was good enough for me.

“The Guide is a literary work and a paean to fishing, as inspiring as A River Runs Through It… Poetic… Engaging….”
—Sandra Dallas, Denver Post

He gives us fast-paced action and intrigue, interspersed with closely observed, reflective nature writing. Speed up for the crime-solving, slow down for the Zen.”
—Julia Rubin, Associated Press

The hype sounded good. AND Heller can write. I did enjoy his description of trout fishing. The Zen.

The plot itself is dumb. WAY too over the top.

Amazon

Traveller and Other Stories by Stuart Neville

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Since his debut novel, the modern classic The Ghosts of Belfast, was published …, Stuart Neville has … achieved international recognition as one of crime fiction’s great living writers.

… Neville offers readers a collection of his short fiction—twelve chilling stories that traverse and blend the genres of noir, horror, and speculative fiction, and which bring the history and lore of Neville’s native Northern Ireland to glittering life. …

Goodreads

Amazon

Face of Deception by Iris Johansen

On By Rick McIn books1 Comment

Quite good. The first in a series of 28 Eve Duncan novels, so far.

After losing her beloved child to a serial killer, forensic sculptor Eve Duncan survives by focusing on her career.

The best in her field at rebuilding faces from bare skull bones, Eve specializes in identifying missing children.

When billionaire John Logan requests her help in identifying an adult skull, Eve–already swamped with work–tells Logan that she isn’t interested. But when he volunteers to donate a large sum of money to a charity for missing children in exchange for her time, Eve reluctantly agrees.

Logan neglects to tell her that there are powerful, desperate people who are determined to keep the skull’s true identity a secret at any cost.

irisjohansen.com

From the Corner of his Eye by Dean Koontz

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Perhaps the BEST Koontz book I’ve read so far.

And the most like Stephen King. It’s long. Sprawling. Surprising.

Supernatural horror.

MANY original and interesting characters.

One of the leads makes a pilgrimage to thank Dr. Jonas Salk for inventing the Polio vaccine.

Bartholomew Lampion is born on a day of tragedy and terror that will mark his family forever. All agree that his unusual eyes are the most beautiful they have ever seen.

On this same day, a thousand miles away, a ruthless man learns that he has a mortal enemy named Bartholomew. He embarks on a relentless search to find this enemy, a search that will consume his life.

And a girl is born from a brutal rape, her destiny mysteriously linked to Barty and the man who stalks him.

At the age of three, Barty Lampion is blinded when surgeons remove his eyes to save him from a fast-spreading cancer. As he copes with his blindness and proves to be a prodigy, his mother counsels him that all things happen for a reason and that every person’s life has an effect on every other person’s, in often unknowable ways.

At thirteen, Bartholomew regains his sight. How he regains it, why he regains it, and what happens as his amazing life unfolds and entwines with others results in a breathtaking journey of courage, heart-stopping suspense, and high adventure.

deankoontz.com

The Whispering Room by Dean Koontz

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Whispering Room is the 2nd book in his Jane Hawk series.

Jane’s husband inexplicably committed suicide. And the badass superwoman is determined to bring down the killers.

It’s an interesting plot.

Some terrific characters.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Disaster Artist by Sestero & Bissell

On By Rick McIn books, movies1 Comment

Rocco recommended this non-fiction book. It’s hilarious.

And it is excellent.

Truth stranger than fiction.

… details the troubled development and production of the 2003 cult film The Room, his own struggles as a young actor, and his relationship with The Room director Tommy Wiseau.

A film adaptation of the same name was released in 2017, directed by and starring James Franco as Wiseau and his brother Dave Franco as Sestero.

I’d recommend the audio book:

The Disaster Artist

My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

On By Rick McIn books, TV1 Comment

Of the books, TV shows and films I’ve seen about Bletchley Park, I’d say Rose Code was the most entertaining for me.

1940.

As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes.

Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets.

Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband.

Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts.

But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart. …

Kate Quinn Author