Gathering Prey. Finished 12-8-15, rating 4/5, thriller, pub. 2015

Unabridged audio read by Richard Ferrone. 11 hours.

Lucas Davenport series #25

They call them Travelers. They move from city to city, panhandling, committing no crimes—they just like to stay on the move. And now somebody is killing them.

Lucas Davenport’s adopted daughter, Letty, is home from college when she gets a phone call from a woman Traveler she’d befriended in San Francisco. The woman thinks somebody’s killing her friends, she’s afraid she knows who it is, and now her male companion has gone missing. She’s hiding out in North Dakota, and she doesn’t know what to do.

Letty tells Lucas she’s going to get her, and, though he suspects Letty’s getting played, he volunteers to go with her. When he hears the woman’s story, though, he begins to think there’s something in it. Little does he know. In the days to come, he will embark upon an odyssey through a subculture unlike any he has ever seen, a trip that will not only put the two of them in danger—but just may change the course of his life.   from Goodreads

Lucas is tracking some Charles Manson-like group around the Midwest as they torture and kill homeless for no reason but pleasure.  When it gets personal Lucas is willing to leave his Minnesota jurisdiction and track crazies.  It was fun to see him leave the state and spend some time in the Michigan Upper Peninsula

In this 25th book of the series, there is a shift of sorts that signals changes are afoot and it’s been this progression of Lucas that has made this a standout, must read series for me.  As he turns 50 and the winds of local politics change direction it’s clear that Lucas has some decisions to make.  This case involves his adopted daughter, Letty, and I love that she has had larger roles in the last few books.

I continue to love this series!

Goodnight June. Finished audio 11-20-15, rating 4.25/5, fiction, pub. 2014

Unabridged audio read by Katherine Kellgren. 8.5 hours.

Goodnight Moon is an adored childhood classic, but its real origins are lost to history. In Goodnight June, Sarah Jio offers a suspenseful and heartfelt take on how the “great green room” might have come to be.

June Andersen is professionally successful, but her personal life is marred by unhappiness. Unexpectedly, she is called to settle her great-aunt Ruby’s estate and determine the fate of Bluebird Books, the children’s bookstore Ruby founded in the 1940s. Amidst the store’s papers, June stumbles upon letters between her great-aunt and the late Margaret Wise Brown—and steps into the pages of American literature.

This was a sweet, charming story of second chances. Jane, a NYC banker, has all of the professional success she could ever want and yet when her aunt’s bookstore comes into her possession she realizes that so much has been missing.  She goes home to Seattle to confront the life she ran away from and little by little her resistance fades.

Most of us love bookstores (why would you be reading this otherwise?) so this story is one easy to fall in love with since it full of books, dreams and history.  I would love to inherit a children’s bookstore like Bluebird Books!  And this isn’t just any bookstore, it has hosted many an author and wealthy patron.  Jane finds that her Aunt Ruby has left her a scavenger hunt to find the answers to things that she hadn’t even thought to ask.  How did her Aunt Ruby know Margaret Wise Brown and did her aunt really contribute to Goodnight Moon?

There was so much to like about this book, even if you aren’t a fan of the children’s classic Goodnight Moon (one of the beloved classics I’ve never cared for (gasp!!)).  There were so many strong, flawed, independent women and I was rooting for them all.

I did feel that it was too simplistic in a few places, but I still really liked it.

The Splendour Falls. Finished 11-24-15, rating 4.25/5. 380 pages, pub. 1995

Chinon-chateau of legend, steeped in the history of France and England. It is to Chinon that Emily goes on a long-awaited holiday, to meet her charming but unreliable cousin, Harry. Harry wanted to explore the old town and the castle, where Queen Isabelle, child bride of King John, had withstood the siege of Chinon many centuries ago, and where, according to legend, she hid her casket of jewels. But when Emily arrives at her hotel she finds that Harry has disappeared, and as she tries to find him she becomes involved with some of the other guests and learns of a mystery dating from the German occupation during the Second World War. Another Isabelle, a chambermaid at the hotel, fell in love with a German soldier, with tragic results.

Emily becomes increasingly aware of strange tensions, old enmities and new loves; as she explores the city, with its labyrinthine dungeons and tunnels and its ancient secrets, she comes ever closer to the mystery of what happened to both the Isabelles of Chinon’s history. from Goodreads

Kearsley has officially become a comfort read for me.  This was my third read from her and each of them has left me satisfied and happy.  There is always a back story that takes place in another time that connects with the current story in some way.  This book had less of the back story, which I think it suffered for, but the mystery, romance, and yes, evil all combined to make this a fun read.  I didn’t think it was as good as the other two, but this is an earlier work of hers and it’s still good.

The essence of the setting is always so easily felt and her writing is so accessible that once I get started I find it hard to put down.  There were so many potential bad guys in this one that I didn’t really have and handle on it until late in the game, but those smarter than I probably figured it out much sooner.

If you love historical intrigue with a dash of modern day romance I highly recommend Kearsley.

Shatter. Finished 11-10-15, rating 4.25/5, thriller, 433 pages, pub. 2008

Book 3 of the Jospeh O’Laughlin series

Joe O’Loughlin is in familiar territory–standing on a bridge high above a flooded gorge, trying to stop a distraught woman from jumping. “You don’t understand,” she whispers, and lets go. Joe is haunted by his failure to save the woman, until her teenage daughter finds him and reveals that her mother would never have committed suicide–not like that. She was terrified of heights.

What could have driven her to commit such a desperate act? Whose voice? What evil?

Having devoted his career to repairing damaged minds, Joe must now confront an adversary who tears them apart. With pitch-perfect dialogue, believable characters, and astonishingly unpredictable plot twists, Shatter is guaranteed to keep even the most avid thriller readers riveted long into the night.

I haven’t read the first 2 books of this series, but I had no problem jumping in and not only liking the action but also the layered family history.  I liked it enough to add the next in the series to my reading list.

What set this apart from other series, especially thrillers, is that the hero is struggling with a debilitating disease, Parkinson’s.  Because of that and stress from earlier cases he and his family are living in Somerset, outside of London, and he is teaching part-time at a nearby university.  As a clinical psychologist, when the police come to the school looking for someone to talk down a potential jumper on a bridge, he is the obvious choice. Joe is devastated when he can’t save the troubled woman and decides to look into it a little more after talking to the woman’s daughter. What he finds has him leaning on the police to find the boogeyman who is making women kill themselves without even lifting a finger.

This was good, with lots of twists and plenty of family drama. The fact that these women were killing themselves just by listening to someone on a phone was something new and because of it, it felt fresh and different.  The way the daughters acted afterward felt off to me, but that was my only complaint.  I’m looking forward to seeing what happens to Joe next!

Holy Cow. Finished 11-11-15, rating 4/5, fiction, pub. 2015

Unabridged audio read by the author, 3.5 hours.

Elsie Bovary is a cow, and a pretty happy one at that—her long, lazy days are spent eating, napping, and chatting with her best friend, Mallory. One night, Elsie and Mallory sneak out of their pasture; but while Mallory is interested in flirting with the neighboring bulls, Elsie finds herself drawn to the farmhouse. Through the window, she sees the farmer’s family gathered around a bright Box God—and what the Box God reveals about something called an “industrial meat farm” shakes Elsie’s understanding of her world to its core.

There’s only one solution: escape to a better, safer world. And so a motley crew is formed: Elsie; Jerry—excuse me, Shalom—a cranky, Torah-reading pig who’s recently converted to Judaism; and Tom, a suave (in his own mind, at least) turkey who can’t fly, but who can work an iPhone with his beak. Toting stolen passports and slapdash human disguises, they head for the airport.    from Goodreads

David Duchovny, who I haven’t really seen much of since the X-Files even though I know he has a new series, always won me over with his wry humor and the twinkle in his eye.  So, I am so glad that I listened to him read his first novel.  The book has illustrations that I might have to check out someday but listening to Duchovny voicing Elsie, the brave cow with a mission, was a perfect way to experience this short, zany book.

A cow, a pig, and a turkey walk off the upstate New York farm and head to the airport, what could possible go wrong?  Quite a bit as you might imagine.  I really hate to spoil much of the story past that point, because the insanity really should be enjoyed the first time when reading the book.  Told from Elsie’s point of view this is the story of a cow finding out her fate in life and deciding not to accept it. She’s silly, witty and very up-to-date on pop culture so she’s a hoot to listen to.  This book was fun, but you must start with the expectation of a madcap tale told by a playful talking cow.  If you want something more refined then this probably isn’t for you. I’ll include the first paragraph and you can decide for yourself.

Most people think cows can’t think. Hello. Let me rephrase that, most people think cows can’t think, and have no feelings. Hello, again. I’m a cow, my name is Elsie, yes, I know. And that’s no bull. See? We can think, feel, and joke, most of us anyway. My great- aunt Elsie, whom I’m named after, has no sense of humor. At all. I mean zero. She doesn’t even like jokes with humans in them doing stupid things. Like that one that goes— two humans walk into a barn . . . Wait, I may not have much time here, I can’t mess around.

The Tenth Justice. Finished 7-15-15, 4/5,  thriller, 389 pages, pub. 1997

Unabridged audio read by Scott Brick.  14 hours.

Fresh from Yale Law, Ben Addison is a new clerk for one of the Supreme Court’s most respected justices. Along with his co-clerk, Lisa, Ben represents the best of the fledgling legal community: sharp, perfectionistic, and painstakingly conscientious – but just as green. So when he inadvertently reveals the confidential outcome of an upcoming Court decision, and one of the parties to the case makes millions, Ben starts to sweat. Big time. Ben confides in Lisa and turns to his D.C. housemates for help. They offer their coveted insiders’ access – Nathan works at the State Department, Eric reports for a Washington daily, and Ober is an assistant to a leading senator – to help outsnake the blackmailer who holds Ben’s once-golden future hostage. But it’s not long before these inseparable pals discover how dangerous their misuse of power can be, even when accompanied by the very best of intentions.

from Goodreads

For much of this book I didn’t understand how Ben, a supposedly brilliant Yale grad and newly touted Supreme Court clerk, could do and say so many dumb things.  He was likeable enough, but not the brightest star in the sky (a star’s a star though, I guess) and he frustrated me.  He and his three best friends had a lot of confidence in his brilliance but I wasn’t convinced.

Aside with how doltish Ben seemed for much of the book, I really liked it. The Supreme Court is always a draw for me, as is the Washington DC setting, although there was little political intrigue for a DC thriller.  What there was though were enough secrets and behind the scenes negotiations, crosses and double-crosses to keep me riveted.

I liked the relationship Ben and his three best friends from high school shared and was sad when one of their fates was less than happy.  It added a little bit of reality to an otherwise outlandish story.

This is my second Meltzer book but the first one he wrote and I was impressed with his debut into the novel publishing business.  Have any of you read any of his newer books that you’d recommend?

The Mask. Finished 7-2-15, 4/5stars, thriller, 352 pages, pub. 2015

Book 5 of the Vanessa Michael Munroe series  (1-Informationist) (2- The Innocent) (3- The Doll) (3.5- TheVessel) (4-The Catch)

Vanessa Michael Munroe, chameleon and information hunter, has a reputation for getting things done: dangerous and not quite legal things that have taken her undercover into some of the world’s deadliest places. Still healing from a Somali hijacking gone wrong and a brutal attack that left her near death, Munroe joins her lover, Miles Bradford, in Japan where he’s working as a security consultant protecting high-value technology from industrial espionage. In the domesticity of their routine she finds long sought-after peace—until Bradford is arrested for murder, and the same interests who targeted him come after her, too.
    Searching for answers and fighting to stay alive, Munroe will soon discover how far she’ll go to save Bradford from spending the next twenty years in locked-up isolation; how many laws she’ll break when the truth seems worse than his lies; and who to trust and who she must kill. Because she’s a strategist and hunter with a predator’s instincts, and the man she loves has just stabbed her in the back.  

from Goodreads

I have been a fan of Michael’s since her first book and suggest that you start there or maybe the second if you are a newbie to the series.  I know these books can be read as standalones but I really don’t think you’d get Michael without the other books.  This latest entry to the series was a lot different from the others, in a way that I can appreciate as a fan, but if I had only read this one I’m not sure if I would have been as invested.

Michael is still recovering emotionally from her last job in Africa and she takes the peace that living with Miles, a man who loves her and her complicated ways, offers her.  She relocates to Japan and sits idle while he works.  This is a recipe for unhappiness for the fiery and capable Michael, normally the one who gets paid handsomely to acquire information.  She is in the passenger seat and only when the wheels come off and land Miles in a Japanese prison is she able to get back to what makes her tick, her work.

I loved learning about the Japanese culture, the work culture especially since the corporate world is where most of the story took place.  For me, this was the best part of the book.  Actually, it’s always one of my favorite parts of each of the books in the series.  Stevens, who grew up travelling around the world in a cult, knows how to really immerse the reader in a foreign place.  I loved learning more about what life looks like in Japan.

Michael was healing  and there was enough kick-assery to show her core strength but not as much as we’ve seen in previous novels. I liked this as a part of the series, almost like Michael’s pause for healing, and am looking forward to more of her story and Miles too since he is one awesome dude to love a woman as tough as Michael.

This book was sent to me by the publisher.