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Thursday, March 14, 2024

THE RULE OF THREES

4 stars out of 5

Given an ending that left me bewildered, a rather unrelatable main character and a plot I'd describe as disjointed, I'm almost surprised that overall I enjoyed reading this so-called novella - the latter a description I also don't understand since it's only a few pages shorter than many of the books I read these days. But aside from all that, while it's far from my favorite book by one of my favorite authors, the "stuff" in between the covers was enticing enough to keep me flipping through the pages almost nonstop. And yep, he's still a favorite author.

Special Agent Constant Marlowe - yes, you read that first name right - comes to Illinois small-town Clark Valley to commandeer an investigation into the brutal murders of a couple of local women. Not surprisingly, I spent a quite a bit of reading time wondering who on earth would give a name like that to a child, but I never found out (apparently, there are a few earlier books that include her in which it may have been explained, but I've not read them). Also not surprisingly, the local tobacco-chewing Sheriff resents her presence - don't they always? There's a contingent of Native Americans living in the area, one of whom, Zo Eventide, works with the sheriff and, partly because she's a female with a fierce sense of justice and fairness, forms an immediate bond with Constant.

Also in the mix is a group of neo-Nazis, who mostly keep to themselves; but at the moment, they're at a standoff with the aforesaid Native Americans over ownership of a plot of land. For whatever reason, Constant finds herself in the middle of that brouhaha as well - as if she doesn't have enough to do trying to track down a killer who leaves precious few clues. At least she can hold her own physically; she's been a professional boxer, and I have to say some of the scenes in which that comes into play are satisfying.

One local family (a husband, wife, daughter and son plus an older son who mysteriously went missing) become the focus because they were in the same area of the park as one of the murders at the same time and thus may have seen things they shouldn't have (even though they say they didn't). The hope is the killer will return to eliminate the potential witnesses and the cops will nab him (or her) before that happens.

There are several surprises along the way, keeping the story moving along - right up to that ending that I still don't "get." But I do know I'll be keeping a constant lookout for the next Constant - I can't say she'd ever be my BFF, but she sure is an interesting character. Many thanks to NetGalley, via the publisher, for the opportunity to get to know her by way of a for-review copy.

The Rule of Threes by Jeffery Deaver (Amazon Original Stories, March 2024); 261 pp.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

GRANITE HARBOR

5 stars out of 5

I've not read other books by this author, but if this one's any example, I'd enjoy them thoroughly. Despite my intense dislike of reading when I go to bed at night, I was so engrossed and close to the exciting end that I just couldn't wait till morning to finish it.

The coastal Maine small town of Granite Harbor isn't large, but one of its attractions is The Settlement, an archaeological historic site that employs docent-reenactors to guide visitors. But one not-so-fine day, they get an unexpected, and certainly unwelcome, visitor: a dead body hanging in one of the structures - clearly a murder - complete with a clue that suggests this death may not be a one-off. To the scene comes relatively newbie Detective Alex Brangwen, a British transplant and sometime novelist whose writing hasn't been sufficient to pay the bills.

Alex has troubles of his own, including dealing with a rebellious teenage daughter, Sophie, who mostly lives with his ex-wife Morgana. Sophie is friends with Ethan, the son of Isabel Dorr, one of the Settlement reenactors, and two other local teens, Jared and Shane. Understandably, everyone is particularly devastated when the murder victim turns out to be one of the teens. Needless to say, the parents of the other teens - including Alex and Morgana - are on pins and needles wondering which child might be next.

And then their worst fears become real.

Chapters follow the progress of the investigation, with flashbacks to show prior events leading up to the murders (but leaving readers, of course, clueless as to who did the dirty deeds until the very end). All told, it's an exciting adventure complete with some rather gory details and hints of the occult - certainly well worth reading. Many thanks to the publisher, via a Bookish First raffle win, for a free copy of this book to read and review.

Granite Harbor by Peter Nichols (Celedon Books, April 2024); 320 pp.

Thursday, March 7, 2024

A CALAMITY OF SOULS

5 stars out of 5

More than anything else, this story - which the author says he started to write more than a decade ago - provides an unsettling look at a part of our history that these days, IMHO, many folks seem to want to shove under the rug where, also IMHO, it doesn't belong. And yes, it tends to get a bit "preachy" in spots, but if the message brings edification to just a few readers, that's fine by me. Set in 1968 in Virginia, where some residents are trying to live with new laws that protect the rights of some others (some accepting, others not so much), it centers on Jack Lee, a white lawyer who finds himself representing a Black man charged with the gruesome murder of a wealthy, elderly husband and wife. The second the man was found near the dead bodies, he was presumed guilty by virtually all the powers-that-be; so without hard evidence to the contrary, the man is destined for a lifetime behind bars at best.

And while Jack is a talented, experienced attorney, he's never dealt with a capital case - much less the blowback from those who believe his client has no real standing as a human being and therefore doesn't deserve someone to defend him (certainly not a white man). The situation gets what could be a bit of a break with the appearance of Desiree DuBose, a seasoned Black lawyer from Chicago who's made a name for herself with exactly this type of case. She and Jack form a somewhat uneasy alliance, both knowing that without the other, the defendant cannot possibly get a fair trial.

Quickly, though, they realize that outside of a couple of personal friends, the two of them are the only ones inside the courtroom who give a rip about fairness. To everyone else, their client is Black, guilty as charged and deserves to die - the sooner the better. As do, apparently, those who dare to try to prevent that from happening.

Of course, the backstories of the client, Jerome Washington, Jack and his family and Desiree add enlightenment to this complex story - as do the efforts of the aforesaid powers-that-be to "convince" Jack and Desiree to back off and allow the natural order of things to remain the status quo (this is the deep South, after all). More than that I can't say without giving too much away except that it's an exceptionally well-written book that's worth reading. Especially now.

A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, April, 2024); 496 pp.

Friday, March 1, 2024

STILL SEE YOU EVERYWHERE

5 stars out of 5

After I finished wonderful book, I learned that the author took a year off starting in 2021 to travel. She says she resisted any calls for writing - producing no book last year - but got many ideas for books to come. If this one is an example of what she churns out after a respite, I encourage her to get outta Dodge whenever the urge strikes.

Actually, this is the third in a series; I haven't read the others, but I had no trouble following this one and insofar as possible warming up to a the rather standoffish Frankie, who's a recovering alcoholic and ace finder of missing people. When Kaylee Pierson's attorney asks Frankie to meet with Kaylee - dubbed the Beautiful Butcher because she violently murdered 18 men - just 21 days before she's to be executed for her crimes, Frankie is skeptical. But Kaylee's pleas for Frankie to find her long-lost younger sister Leilani and the billionaire who "kidnapped" her touched a nerve, and Frankie agrees to give it a try (albeit reluctantly).

The trail leads to a remote atoll in the Hawaiian Islands owned by said billionaire, where she'll join a team of workers who are trying to make the island habitable while not disrupting the abundant flora and fauna including large killer crabs and (gulp!) arachnids with bodies bigger than a Sumo wrestler's fist. Those tasks are difficult enough, but it soon becomes clear that something else is afoot, making it hard for Frankie (and readers) to know who to trust. Communication with the outside world is quite limited in this remote place to begin with, and a violent storm that starts rolling in not long after the billionaire and his young lady friend arrive threatens to reduce it to zero and wreak havoc on everything and everyone in its path. But alas, the storm isn't the only danger threatening human life - and Frankie, assuming her decision of who to trust is spot on,  may be the only hope for survival.

All told, it's an exciting adventure with more than a few surprises along the way. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.

Still See You Everywhere by Lisa Gardner (Grand Central Publishing, March 2024); 409 pp.

Monday, February 26, 2024

BABY X

5 stars out of 5

What a treat to read! If they're done well - and this one certainly is - nothing is more entertaining to me than a tale set in the future with the requisite bells-and-whistles (and only dreamed about in my life) technology. Add in a plot stolen from the headlines - IVF facilities and the uses/misuses thereof - and I'm hooked. Suffice it to say I stayed that way from page one to the end.

An act passed by the government in the late 2030s green-lighted the right to reproductive autonomy; now, a would-be parent or parents could choose a child by desired genetic characteristics, and in vitro storage and implant labs are in high demand. They also bring the potential for crime, such as stealing DNA from selected individuals. That's a big concern for superstar singer Trace Thorne, who seems to be the target of one of the black market mills called the Vault. In fact, he's had to ante up ransom money to get his removed, and he's had it; to prevent it from happening again, he hires Ember Ryan, a self-styled bio-security guard. She seems to be doing a great job - that is, until a very pregnant woman and surrogate mother named Quinn Corrigan shows up to claim he's the father. Oops!

The story shifts from the perspectives of Quinn, Ember and a young journalist named Lily; the latter is a bit different from her peers in that she's not one of the in-vogue "selected" babies; her parents had her the old-fashioned way. Now, she's trying to make a byline for herself by writing a story detailing some of the evils of the IVF process by using her own parents as examples. Problem is, they aren't cooperating, leaving Lily to wonder why - and her career hanging in the balance.

It's hard to say much more without spilling too many beans, but needless to say, the action - and twists - just keep coming until a real surprise at the end. Definitely a winner in my book, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for giving me the opportunity to get in on the action by way of a pre-release copy. Outstanding! 

Baby X by Kira Peikoff (Crooked Lane Books, March 2024); 324 pp.

Friday, February 23, 2024

MURDER ROAD

4 stars out of 5

I'm a big fan of this author, and once again, she didn't disappoint. This story is a little bit ghostly, a little bit thriller and a whole lot entertaining.

Mind you, I've got to be honest; the ghostly part was a tough sell. It's not that I don't believe in "connections" with those who've gone before us; it's that this story relied a little too much on seeing things that couldn't possibly (in my mind) have been there. Still, it was impossible not to get caught up in the goings-on - especially when there are more than a few twists to keep things interesting.

Newlyweds Eddie and April Carter are off on their honeymoon (well, she hasn't had time to officially change her name to his, but she's planning to do that when they get back home to Ann Arbor, Michigan). Eddie once served in Iraq, and he still suffers from PTSD of sorts. While driving to their rental cabin upstate, he apparently misses a turn and ends up on remote Atticus Line Road. As they drive along, they spot an odd light; soon afterward, they see a body at the side of the road. It turns out to be girl who says her name is Rhonda Jean and that "He's coming!" Oh, and one other little thing: she's covered in blood. They manage to get her to a hospital, though not before a truck nearly runs them down.

But their good Samaritan efforts go for naught when the victim dies and the local police consider them the top suspects - not only for the murder of the young woman who died, but of several other hitchhiking victims who have met with foul play along this desolate road. But as they're finally in the clear - sort of - they're accosted by another victim; this one convinces them to hang around and try to find the real killer (or killers). As the story progresses, readers learn that both Eddie and April are victims of their own pasts - pasts that hold secrets they haven't shared with anyone including each other and that might hold answers to some of the mysteries they're encountering.

As I said at the beginning, it's an entertaining adventure from start to finish, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy.

Murder Road by Simone St. James (Berkley, March 2024); 350 pp.

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

The #1 LAWYER

5 stars out of 5

Payback can be a you-know-what. Nobody knows that better than hotshot Mississippi defense attorney Stafford Lee Penney, when he finds himself on the receiving end after his latest courtroom win that means a suspected murderer walks out a free man. Shortly thereafter, he becomes the primary suspect in the murder of his estranged wife Carrie Ann and the man found beside her in her bed, and he has a new client to save - himself. But if he didn't do it, who did? 

Finding out is a monumental undertaking that's fraught with danger, but Stafford Lee has a great team to help him including his lawyer friend Mason Burnett and investigator Jenny Glaser. But first, he's got to get his own act together; devastated by Carrie Ann's death, his work ethic and personal life take a nosedive all the way to the beach, where he's forced to take a job as a lifeguard just to make ends meet. Along that path, he finds a law student named Rue, who's the sister of one of his former clients; she interns at his office and crashes at his place at night.

As the investigation progresses, several anomalies turn up as part of the police investigation of Carrie Ann's murder. Stafford Lee and his cohorts are threatened (and worse), and then another person related to Stafford Lee's original case turns up dead. Forget Carrie Ann, the police say, claiming they have an abundance of evidence to prove Stafford Lee is the culprit in the more recent murder. He's arrested, charged and hauled into court for what will be the trial of his life.

Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Stafford Lee, of course, doesn't buy his own guilt - nor do his office colleagues. So the race is on to at the very least find evidence that will give the jury reasonable doubt. Doing that means pretty much nonstop action, with at least one gobsmacking surprise along the way. Definitely a fun read, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.

The #1 Lawyer by James Patterson and Nancy Allen (Little, Brown and Co., March 2024); 432 pp.