Fade Away by Harlan Coben

1995Deal Breaker and Drop Shot
1996Fade Away

Fade Away is the third novel in his series of a crime solver and sports agent named Myron Bolitar.

Best so far, I’d say.

Myron Bolitar is called by Clip Arnstein, the owner of NBA New Jersey Dragons.

Clip’s star player is missing and he wants Myron to find him.

Clip wants Myron to take Greg’s place on the team, feeling that the other players would be more open with him rather than an investigator. Myron is reluctant yet excited at the same time. Having never had the opportunity to play pro-ball, he is anxious to know if he can make it with the Dragons.

Myron had been injured out of the NBA before his career started. Can he make it this time?

These are light weight easy books to read. But I like the humour. The banter.
Don’t spends too much time analyzing the plot.

Myron’s parter Windsor Horne Lockwood III is always entertaining.

Esperanza Diaz, his assistant at MB SportsReps, is a brilliant character, as well.

How It Happened by Michael Koryta

Michael Koryta keeps getting better.

How It Happened is his 2018 release.

Kimberly Crepeaux is no good, a notorious jailhouse snitch, teen mother, and heroin addict whose petty crimes are well-known to the rural Maine community where she lives.

So when she confesses to her role in the brutal murders of Jackie Pelletier and Ian Kelly, the daughter of a well-known local family and her sweetheart, the locals have little reason to believe her story. …

Yet Rob Barrett, the FBI investigator and interrogator specializing in telling a true confession from a falsehood believes her story. He just can’t prove it.

As always Koryta is superb in putting together a plot. And excellent writing the bad guys.

I highly recommend this book.

Electric Dreams (2017 TV series)

Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, or simply Electric Dreams, is a science fiction television anthology series based on the works of Philip K. Dick.

The series consists of ten standalone 50-minute episodes based on Dick’s work …

Rotten Tomatoes has an approval rating of 73% — but I’d still recommend it. Especially if you like the similar, but superior, Black Mirror episodes.

Good actors. Good acting. Some interesting dystopian stories.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler

I’ve not previously read Anne Tyler, though she’s published 23 super popular novels.  Three times nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Her 2020 book is Redhead by the Side of the Road.

A slow paced, entertaining slice of life.

Micah … runs Tech Hermit and runs around the neighbourhood fixing computer problems for old ladies who – and you’d be right to bet Tyler mines this for full comic potential – don’t know what a modem is or does. …

He lives rent-free, alone, keeps to himself and sticks to a routine “etched in stone”: Friday is vacuuming day, Monday floor-mopping, and so on. Even his relationship with his “restful to look at” teacher girlfriend has, by his own admission, “solidified”. …

Micah’s peaceful life gets blown up.

Guardian Review

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

Larson’s true-crime historical non-fiction 2006 book is excellent.

I loved learning about technology of the day. This time the early 1900s.

Guglielmo Marconi, the young Italian entrepreneur. Often credited as the inventor of radio. He shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics. He had no training in physics. And was a jerk.

Hawley Harvey Crippen, who murdered his overbearing wife and fled Britain with his mistress, unaware that Scotland Yard was hot on his heels. Nice guy — aside from the murder

The two men never met, yet their interacting stories make up this tale.

The climax occurs during a trans-Atlantic chase which, thanks to the miracle of Marconi’s invention, was followed by millions of people around the world—with Crippen and his mistress completely unaware.

Jeff Thomson – Gymnastics Canada Chair

(*Denotes newly elected)

  • *Jeff Thomson (Chair) – North Vancouver, BC (Term ends 2024)
  • Barb Bergeron (Vice-Chair) – Kanata, ON (Term ends 2022)
  • *Bonnie DeGroot (Secretary) – Calgary, AB (Term ends 2024)
  • Rosie MacLennan (Athlete Rep) – Toronto, ON (Term ends 2020)
  • Nathalie Bastien (Director) – Montreal, QC (Term ends 2022)
  • Nick Lenehan (Director) – Halifax, NS (Term ends 2022)
  • *Bernard Petiot (Director) – Montreal, QC (Term ends 2024)
  • Kim Shore (Director) – Calgary, AB (Term ends 2022)

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Gymnastics Canada membership, and the GymCan Board, for the honour of being elected and then selected as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors,” said Thomson who has 40 years of experience in the sport of gymnastics and is currently a member of the FIG Technical Committee for Men’s Artistic Gymnastics. …

GymCan.org

Jeff Thomson

Jerry Seinfeld – Is This Anything?

Like everyone, I loved the TV series.

Since then I’ve not had much time for Jerry Seinfeld. He’s just not as funny.

During the Pandemic Jerry dug into his box of one liners and threw them together into a short book.

Amazon

He’s careful to say very little about the sitcom. Seems a sore point for him.

I did chuckle throughout. But it’s not essential reading.

Jerry’s thing is to see the funny side of everyday things. But I’d say George Carlin did it better.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.