Hunting Hour by Margaret Mizushima

Started: 6/6/2024

Finished: 6/10/2024

Year: 2017

Pages: 316

Genre: mystery

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: fan of the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Deputy Mattie Cobb is in a dark place and has withdrawn from Cole Walker and his family to work on issues from her past. When she and her K-9 partner, Robo, get called to track a missing junior high student, they find the girl dead on Smoker’s Hill behind the high school, and Mattie must head to the Walker home to break the bad news. But that’s only the start of trouble in Timber Creek, because soon another girl goes missing—and this time it’s one of Cole’s daughters.

"Knowing that each hour a child remains missing lessens the probability of finding her alive, Mattie and Robo lead the hunt while Cole and community volunteers join in to search everything—to no avail. It seems that someone has snatched all trace of the Walker girl from their midst, including her scent. Grasping at straws, Mattie and Robo follow a phoned-in tip into the dense forest, where they hope to find a trace of the girl and rescue her alive. But when Robo does catch her scent, it leads them to information that challenges everything they thought they knew about the case."

Opinion: I'm not reading this series in order and probably should since future books have hinted at what happened in this one but even though I knew the ultimate outcome, this was still a fun and entertaining read. Robo and Mattie's relationship is truly remarkable.

Death in the Dark Woods by Annelise Ryan

Started: 6/5/2024

Finished: 6/6/2024

Year: 2023

Pages: 319

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Business has been booming since Morgan Carter solved the case of the monster living in Lake Michigan. The Odds and Ends bookstore is thriving, of course, but Morgan is most excited by the doors that were opened for her as a cryptid hunter. 

"Recently, there have been numerous sightings of a Bigfoot-type creature in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest area of Bayfield County, Wisconsin. After a man is found dead from a vicious throat injury in the forest, the conservation warden asks Morgan to investigate. 

"When Morgan and her dog, Newt, go there to investigate, they uncover a trail of lies, deception, and murder. It seems a mysterious creature is indeed living in the forest, and Morgan might be its next target."

Opinion: First it was a Loch Ness type of monster and now it's Bigfoot. Decent mystery.

Hunting the Truth by Kathleen Donnelly

Started: 6/3/2024

Finished: 6/5/2024

Year: 2023

Pages: 348

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "'ide, Maya. Don’t let the bad people find you.'

"Those are the last words Forest Service law enforcement officer and K-9 handler Maya Thompson ever heard her mother say.

Returning to the Colorado mountains, ex-soldier Maya is no longer a scared little girl. She’s here to investigate her mother’s cold case, but fear creeps in when it comes to her personal life—things are getting serious with sheriff deputy Josh Colten.

"After new DNA evidence surfaces, both her beloved grandfather and Josh warn her away from the case, suspecting that she could be the next victim. But Maya doesn’t listen.

"Instead, Maya and her K-9 partner, Juniper, track a suspect deep into the forest and directly into grave danger…"

Blurb: A good continuation of the series and the ending leaves just enough for possibly the next book in the series without leaving the reader feel like something hasn't been concluded.

Three Girls from Bronzeville by Dawn Turner

Started: 5/30/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 2021

Pages: 317

Genre: biography/memoir

Grade: D

Reason for reading: goodreads.com giveaway

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "They were three Black girls. Dawn, tall and studious; her sister, Kim, younger by three years and headstrong as they come; and her best friend, Debra, already prom-queen pretty by third grade. They bonded—fervently and intensely in that unique way of little girls—as they roamed the concrete landscape of Bronzeville, a historic neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, the destination of hundreds of thousands of Black folks who fled the ravages of the Jim Crow South.

"These third-generation daughters of the Great Migration come of age in the 1970s, in the warm glow of the recent civil rights movement. It has offered them a promise, albeit nascent and fragile, that they will have more opportunities, rights, and freedoms than any generation of Black Americans in history. Their working-class, striving parents are eager for them to realize this hard-fought potential. But the girls have much more immediate concerns: hiding under the dining room table and eavesdropping on grown folks’ business; collecting secret treasures; and daydreaming about their futures—Dawn and Debra, doctors, Kim a teacher. For a brief, wondrous moment the girls are all giggles and dreams and promises of “friends forever.” And then fate intervenes, first slowly and then dramatically, sending them careening in wildly different directions. There’s heartbreak, loss, displacement, and even murder. Dawn struggles to make sense of the shocking turns that consume her sister and her best friend, all the while asking herself a simple but profound question: Why?"

Opinion: The book is well written but not something that I could relate to

Ward D by Freida McFadden

Started: 5/28/2024

Finished: 5/30/2024

Year: 2023

Pages: 333

Genre: suspense

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Medical student Amy Brenner is spending the night on a locked psychiatric ward.

"Amy has been dreading her evening working on Ward D, the hospital’s inpatient mental health unit. There are very specific reasons why she never wanted to do this required overnight rotation. Reasons nobody can ever find out.

"And as the hours tick by, Amy grows increasingly convinced something terrible is happening within these tightly secured walls. When patients and staff start to vanish without a trace, it becomes clear that everyone on the unit is in grave danger.

"Amy’s worst nightmare was spending the night on Ward D.

"And now she might never escape."

Opinion: Talk about a nightmare-past meeting present.

A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni

Started: 5/25/2024

Finished: 5/28/2024

Year: 2020

Pages: 339

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "The last time homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite was in Cedar Grove, it was to see her sister’s killer put behind bars. Now she’s returned for a respite and the chance to put her life back in order for herself, her attorney husband, Dan, and their new daughter. But tragic memories soon prove impossible to escape.

"Dan is drawn into representing a local merchant whose business is jeopardized by the town’s revitalization. And Tracy is urged by the local PD to put her own skills to work on a new case: the brutal murder of a police officer’s wife and local reporter who was investigating a cold-case slaying of a young woman. As Tracy’s and Dan’s cases crisscross, Tracy’s trail becomes dangerous. It’s stirring up her own haunted past and a decades-old conspiracy in Cedar Grove that has erupted in murder. Getting to the truth is all that matters. But what’s Tracy willing to risk as a killer gets closer to her and threatens everyone she loves?"

Opinion: A slow paced beginning. Wasn't surprised by the ending.

R is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton

Started: 5/21/2024

Finished: 5/24/2024

Year: 2004

Pages: 415

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com book, continuing the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Reba Lafferty was a daughter of privilege, the only child of an adoring father. Nord Lafferty was already in his fifties when Reba was born, and he could deny her nothing. Over the years, he quietly settled her many scrapes with the law, but wasn't there for her when she was convicted of embezzlement and sent to the California Institution for Women. Now, at thirty-two, she's about to be paroled, having served twenty-two months of a four-year sentence. Her father wants to be sure Reba stays straight, stays home and away from the drugs, the booze, and the gamblers...

"It seems a straightforward assignment for Kinsey: babysit Reba until she settles in, make sure she follows all the niceties of her parole. Maybe a week’s work. Nothing untoward—the woman seems remorseful and friendly. And the money is good.

"But life is never that simple, and Reba is out of prison less than twenty-four hours when one of her old crowd comes circling round..."

Opinion: A slightly different type of case for Kinsey-not sure why she even ended up starting the madness.

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Started: 5/20/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 2015

Pages: 438

Genre: WWII Literature

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book, Reese book club

Type: Hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "France, 1939 - In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn't believe that the Nazis will invade France … but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne's home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

"Vianne's sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can … completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others."

Opinion: This was not horribly written as other mass loved books that I've attempted to read have been but I just could not get into it. 

Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs

Started: 5/20/2024

Finished: 5/20/2024

Year: 2004

Pages: 300

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing the series, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist for both North Carolina and Quebec, has come from Charlotte to Montreal during the bleak days of December to testify as an expert witness at a murder trial.

"She should be going over her notes, but instead she's digging in the basement of a pizza parlor. Not fun. Freezing cold. Crawling rats. And now, the skeletonized remains of three young women. How did they get there? When did they die?

"Homicide detective Luc Claudel, never Tempe's greatest fan, believes the bones are historic. Not his case, not his concern. The pizza parlor owner found nineteenth-century buttons in the cellar with the skeletons. Claudel takes them as an indicator of the bones' antiquity.

"But something doesn't make sense. Tempe examines the bones in her lab and establishes approximate age with Carbon 14. Further study of tooth enamel tells her where the women were born. If she's right, Claudel has three recent murders on his hands. Definitely his case.

"Detective Andrew Ryan, meanwhile, is acting mysteriously. What are those private phone calls he takes in the other room, and why does he suddenly disappear just when Tempe is beginning to hope he might be a permanent part of her life? Looks like more lonely nights for Tempe and Birdie, her cat.

"As Tempe searches for answers in both her personal and professional lives, she finds herself drawn deep into a web of evil from which there may be no escape. Women have disappeared, never to return....Tempe may be next."

Opinion: Back in Canada. More scientific information. More mystery. More twists to the romantic side of Tempe's life.

The Coming of Winter by David Adams Richards

Started: 5/20/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 1974

Pages: 318

Genre: literature

Grade: F

Reason for reading: bookcrossing.com book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "The frustrations of the community are brought into focus in the plights of 20-year-old Kevin Dulse, his family, and especially his wild young friends. An intensely realistic story, it stands firm upon its engaging, unaffected characters and the raw talent of its then 22-year-old author."

Opinion: Just could not get into this. The main character was blah. 

Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda

Started: 5/18/2024

Finished: 5/20/2024

Year: 2024

Pages: 354

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "When Hazel Sharp, daughter of Mirror Lake’s longtime local detective, unexpectedly inherits her childhood home, she’s warily drawn back to the town—and people—she left behind almost a decade earlier. But Hazel’s not the only relic of the past to return: a drought has descended on the region, and as the water level in the lake drops, long-hidden secrets begin to emerge…including evidence that may help finally explain the mystery of her mother’s disappearance."

Opinion: Lots of suspense and everyone is suspect until they aren't.

Chasing Justice by Kathleen Donnelly

Started: 5/15/2024

Finished: 5/18/2024

Year: 2022

Pages: 372

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: beginning of series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "After losing her military K-9, former marine Maya Thompson swears she’ll never work with dogs again. But when she returns home to Colorado and accepts a job with US Forest Service law enforcement, fate brings K-9 Juniper into her life just as another tragedy unfolds.

"Juniper, a beautiful two-year-old Malinois, isn’t the only new addition to Maya’s life. Josh Colten, the local deputy sheriff, insists on helping with her new case. Handsome and mysterious, he’s all anyone in town can talk about, but Maya can’t let herself like him, let alone trust him.

"When Maya’s grandfather goes missing amid a growing drug war, Maya must put her faith in Josh, and her own battered instincts, to find him. But there's a web of secrets tying her grandfather to the tragedy that brought Juniper into her life—secrets someone would kill to keep hidden"

Opinion: Not a bad start of a series...plus there's a K-9.

The Bone Tree by Greg Iles

Started: 9/5/2023

Finished: 5/15/2024

Year: 2015

Pages: 860

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continue with the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Former prosecutor Penn Cage and his fiancée, reporter and publisher Caitlin Masters, have barely escaped with their lives after being attacked by wealthy businessman Brody Royal and his Double Eagles, a KKK sect with ties to some of Mississippi’s most powerful men. But the real danger has only begun as FBI Special Agent John Kaiser warns Penn that Brody wasn’t the true leader of the Double Eagles. The puppeteer who actually controls the terrorist group is a man far more fearsome: the chief of the state police’s Criminal Investigations Bureau, Forrest Knox.

"The only way Penn can save his father, Dr. Tom Cage—who is fleeing a murder charge as well as corrupt cops bent on killing him—is either to make a devil’s bargain with Knox or destroy him. While Penn desperately pursues both options, Caitlin uncovers the real story behind a series of unsolved civil rights murders that may hold the key to the Double Eagles’ downfall. The trail leads her deep into the past, into the black backwaters of the Mississippi River, to a secret killing ground used by slave owners and the Klan for over two hundred years . . . a place of terrifying evil known only as “the bone tree.”

Opinion: racism, JFK murder, slavery. Very indepth

Murder of a Bookstore Babe by Denise Swanson

Started: 5/1/2024

Finished: 5/5/2024

Year: 2011

Pages: 243

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "When school psychologist Skye Denison discovers a body crushed by a toppled bookcase in Scumble River's new bookstore, she has to read the clues before she becomes the killer's next work-in-progress..."

Opinion: This was more enjoyable than the last one. Delusions are a thing.

Eyes of Prey by John Sandford

Started: 4/26/2024

Finished: 5/1/2024

Year: 1991

Pages: 454

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Lieutenant Davenport’s sanity was nearly shattered by two murder investigations. Now he faces something worse…Two killers. One hideously scarred. The other strikingly handsome, a master manipulator fascinated with all aspects of death. The dark mirror of Davenport’s soul…This is the case that will bring Davenport back to life. Or push him over the edge."

Opinion: Started off annoying with Lucas's behavior but the mystery/suspense made up for it.

Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez

Started: 4/25/2024

Finished: 4/26/2024

Year: 2024

Pages: 337

Genre: fiction

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "1985. Anita de Monte, a rising star in the art world, is found dead in New York City; her tragic death is the talk of the town. Until it isn’t. By 1998 Anita’s name has been all but forgotten―certainly by the time Raquel, a third-year art history student is preparing her final thesis. On College Hill, surrounded by privileged students whose futures are already paved out for them, Raquel feels like an outsider. Students of color, like her, are the minority there, and the pressure to work twice as hard for the same opportunities is no secret.

"But when Raquel becomes romantically involved with a well-connected older art student, she finds herself unexpectedly rising up the social ranks. As she attempts to straddle both worlds, she stumbles upon Anita’s story, raising questions about the dynamics of her own relationship, which eerily mirrors that of the forgotten artist."

Opinion: Didn't care about the characters or the torturous situations that they put themselves in.

A Steep Price by Robert Dugoni

Started: 4/23/2024

Finished: 4/25/2024

Year: 2018

Pages: 361

Genre: mystery

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Called in to consult after a young woman disappears, Tracy Crosswhite has the uneasy feeling that this is no ordinary missing-persons case. When the body turns up in an abandoned well, Tracy’s suspicions are confirmed. Estranged from her family, the victim had balked at an arranged marriage and had planned to attend graduate school. But someone cut her dreams short.

"Solving the mystery behind the murder isn’t Tracy’s only challenge. The detective is keeping a secret of her own: she’s pregnant. And now her biggest fear seems to be coming true when a new detective arrives to replace her. Meanwhile, Tracy’s colleague Vic Fazzio is about to take a fall after his investigation into the murder of a local community activist turns violent and leaves an invaluable witness dead.

"Two careers are on the line. And when more deadly secrets emerge, jobs might not be the only things at risk."

Opinion: Wish that it only focused on one mystery or had the two mysteries be tied in somehow. A good continuation of Tracy's story.

Her Every Move by Kelly Irvin

Started: 4/18/2024

Finished: 4/23/2024

Year: 2021

Pages: 343

Genre: mystery/romance

Grade; B-

Reason for reading: Goodreads.com giveaway

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "When a deadly bomb goes off during a climate change debate, librarian and event coordinator Jackie Santoro becomes the prime suspect. Her motive, according to Detective Avery Wick: to avenge the suicide of her prominent father, who was accused of crimes by a city councilman attending the event.

"Though Avery has doubts about Jackie’s guilt, he can’t exonerate her even after an extremist group takes responsibility for the bombing and continues to attack San Antonio’s treasured public spaces.

"As Jackie tries to hold her shattered family together, she has no choice but to proceed with plans for the Caterina Ball, the library system’s biggest annual fundraiser. But she also fears the event provides the perfect opportunity for the bomber to strike again.

"Despite their mistrust, Jackie and Avery join forces to unmask the truth—before the death toll mounts even higher."

Opinion: A decent mystery mixed with a predictable romance. Downfall was the God talk.

Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs

Started: 4/17/2024

Finished: 4/18/2024

Year: 2003

Pages: 304

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "It's a summer of sizzling heat in Charlotte where Dr. Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist for the North Carolina medical examiner, looks forward to her first vacation in years. A romantic vacation. She's almost out the door when the bones start appearing.

"A newborn's charred remains turn up in a woodstove. The mother, Tamela Banks, hardly more than a child herself, has disappeared. Did she kill her infant, or is an innocent teenager also about to become a victim?

"A small plane crashes in a North Carolina cornfield on a sunny afternoon. Both pilot and passenger are burned beyond recognition. Was it pilot error? Something more sinister? And what is the mysterious black substance covering the bodies?

"Most puzzling of all are the bones discovered at a remote farm outside Charlotte. What has Tempe's dog, Boyd, unearthed? The remains seem to be of animal origin, but Tempe is shocked when she gets them to her lab.

"With help from a special detective friend, Tempe must investigate a poignant and terrifying case that comes at the worst possible moment. Daughter Katy has a new boyfriend who Tempe fears may have something to hide. And important personal decisions face Tempe. Is it time for emotional commitment? Will she have the chance to find out?

"Everything must wait on the bones. What story do they tell? Why are the X rays and DNA so perplexing? Who is trying to keep Tempe from the answers? Someone is following her. Someone is following Katy. That someone must be stopped before it's too late."

Opinion: A good continuation of the series. Shows that Brennan is human and some of her cases can actually get to her.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Started: 4/10/2024

Finished: 4/17/2024

Year: 2014

Pages: 530

Genre: Literature

Grade: B-

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris, and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

"In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the Resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge."

Opinion: This was a long book but didn't feel like it was 530 pages-thanks to the short chapters. Could a lot of this been edited out-yes but I didn't feel the need to chop as I have with other books.

I Disappeared Them by Preston L. Allen

Started: 4/9/2024

Finished: 4/10/2024

Year: 2024

Pages: 305

Genre: thriller

Grade: C

Reason for reading: Early Reviewers giveaway on Library Thing

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "BULLIED AS CHILD FOR BEING OVERWEIGHT and an orphan, the serial killer in I Disappeared Them hides in plain sight. By day, he is an affable family man with a disarming smile, surrounded by his children and loving wife. At night he punches the clock as a hard-working pizza man. After work, he roams Miami's nighttime streets as the Periwinkle Killer, the sociopath passing judgment on the wicked according to a twisted moral code. He believes himself to be a defender of women and children. The Everglades is filling up with the corpses of his victims. He must be stopped, but there are no clues except the periwinkles he leaves at every crime scene."

Opinion: A thoroughly review is posted on Librarything.com

Murder of a Wedding Belle by Denise Swanson

Started: 4/7/2024

Finished: 4/9/2024

Year: 2010

Pages: 246

Genre: Mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "School psychologist Skye Denison reluctantly agrees to act as maid of honor in her California cousin's over-the-top platinum-style wedding- and is also expected to assist the control-freak wedding planner. But when Skye discovers the planner dead, just one week before the big event, Skye is suddenly working double-duty.

"While overseeing every nuptial detail, she's also helping the police find out who hated the bridal consultant enough to kill her. Can Skye get her cousin to the church on time-and save herself from a killer who may actually be on the guest list?"

Opinion: A decent continuation of Skye's life...this time out of school and more family involvement.

A Haunting in the Arctic by C. J. Cooke

Started: 4/3/2024

Finished: 4/6/2024

Year: 2024

Pages: 334

Genre: paranormal fiction

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "The year is 1901, and Nicky is attacked, then wakes on board the Ormen, a whaling ship embarked on what could be its last voyage. With land still weeks away, it’s just her, the freezing ocean, and the crew – and they’re all owed something only she can give them...

"Now, over one hundred years later, the wreck of the Ormen has washed up on the forbidding, remote coast of Iceland. It’s scheduled to be destroyed, but explorer Dominique feels an inexplicable pull to document its last days, even though those who have ventured onto the wreck before her have met uncanny ends.

"Onboard the boat, Dominique will uncover a dark past riddled with lies, cruelty, and murder—and her discovery will change everything. Because she’ll soon realize she’s not alone. Something has walked the floors of the Ormen for almost a century. Something that craves revenge."

Opinion: An interesting look at a former whaling then research ship in the Arctic. Told in two different time frames and a slight unexpected twist at the end.

Shadow Prey by John Sandford

Started: 3/27/2024

Finished: 4/2/2024

Year: 1990

Pages: 342

Genre: mystery/thriller

Grade: B-

Reason for reading, TBR pile, continuing with series

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "A slumlord butchered in Minneapolis...A rising political star executed in Manhattan...A judge slashed to death in Oklahoma City...

"Each victim has a history of bad behavior, but the only thing the killings have in common is the murder weapon—a Native American ceremonial knife—and a trail of blood that leads to an embodiment of evil known only as Shadow Love. Recruited to be the lethal hand of a terrorist campaign, Shadow Love has his own bloody agenda, one he will do anything to achieve.

"Enlisted to find him are Minneapolis police lieutenant Lucas Davenport and New York City police officer Lily Rothenburg. But despite the countrywide carnage they needn’t look far. Because Shadow Love is right behind them."

Opinion: The mystery and suspense was great...there was a lot of extra stuff that just wasn't necessary.

Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs

Started: 3/25/2024

Finished: 3/27/2024

Year: 2002

Pages: 315

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: library book, continuing with the series

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "They are “the disappeared,” twenty-three massacre victims buried in a well in the Guatemalan village of Chupan Ya two decades ago. Leading a team of experts on a meticulous, heartbreaking dig, Tempe Brennan pieces together the violence of the past. But a fresh wave of terror begins when the horrific sounds of a fatal attack on two colleagues come in on a blood-chilling satellite call. Teaming up with Special Crimes Investigator Bartolome Galiano and Montreal detective Andrew Ryan, Tempe quickly becomes enmeshed in the cases of four privileged young women who have vanished from Guatemala City—and finds herself caught in deadly territory where power, money, greed, and science converge."

Opinion: Fits with the rest of the series despite it taking place in Guatemala.

Doppelganger by Naomi Klein

Started: 3/24/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 2023

Pages: 348

Genre: biography/social science

Grade: F

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "What if you woke up one morning and found you’d acquired another self―a double who was almost you and yet not you at all? What if that double shared many of your preoccupations but, in a twisted, upside-down way, furthered the very causes you’d devoted your life to fighting against?

"Not long ago, the celebrated activist and public intellectual Naomi Klein had just such an experience―she was confronted with a doppelganger whose views she found abhorrent but whose name and public persona were sufficiently similar to her own that many people got confused about who was who. Destabilized, she lost her bearings, until she began to understand the experience as one manifestation of a strangeness many of us have come to know but struggle to define: AI-generated text is blurring the line between genuine and spurious communication; New Age wellness entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers are scrambling familiar political allegiances of left and right; and liberal democracies are teetering on the edge of absurdist authoritarianism, even as the oceans rise. Under such conditions, reality itself seems to have become unmoored. Is there a cure for our moment of collective vertigo?

"Naomi Klein is one of our most trenchant and influential social critics, an essential analyst of what branding, austerity, and climate profiteering have done to our societies and souls. Here she turns her gaze inward to our psychic landscapes, and outward to the possibilities for building hope amid intersecting economic, medical, and political crises. With the assistance of Sigmund Freud, Jordan Peele, Alfred Hitchcock, and bell hooks, among other accomplices, Klein uses wry humor and a keen sense of the ridiculous to face the strange doubles that haunt us―and that have come to feel as intimate and proximate as a warped reflection in the mirror.

"Combining comic memoir with chilling reportage and cobweb-clearing analysis, Klein seeks to smash that mirror and chart a path beyond despair. Doppelganger asks: What do we neglect as we polish and perfect our digital reflections? Is it possible to dispose of our doubles and overcome the pathologies of a culture of multiplication? Can we create a politics of collective care and undertake a true reckoning with historical crimes? The result is a revelatory treatment of the way many of us think and feel now―and an intellectual adventure story for our times."

Opinion: What am I missing? This books has been extremely popular and all I feel is that it is the author trying to make sure that she is more popular than her doppelganger and this person isn't even a true doppelganger. I get wanting and having to clear your name if someone whose morals and values are completely opposite from yours and people are dumb enough to confuse the two of you. 

Creature by David M. Carner

Started: 3/21/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 2024

Pages: 431

Genre: horror/suspense

Grade: D

Reason for reading: friend of author

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "In the remote town of Consequence, nestled deep in the southeast side of Washington State, an ominous presence has cast its shadow over the community. Residents whisper of mysterious disappearances, strange sightings, and unexplained terror lurking within the dense woods surrounding the town.

"Chief of Police Darin Lane, a seasoned and peaceful law enforcement officer, is determined to uncover the truth behind the mounting fear that is gripping his town. As the town’s Chief of Police, he finds himself thrust into a chilling investigation that defies rational explanation. With each passing day, the unknown creature’s malevolence intensifies, threatening the very fabric of the close-knit community he has tried to protect.

"Unbeknownst to Chief Lane, his thirteen-year-old son, Daniel, faces his own challenge on a camping trip with his friends deep within the enigmatic forest. As the mysterious events escalate, the destinies of father and son become entwined in a battle against a terrifying creature that has somehow awakened and seeks to reclaim its dominion over the land.

"Creature is a riveting tale of suspense and supernatural intrigue, where a father’s duty and his son’s courage converge to confront a mysterious evil. Will Chief Lane unravel the secrets hidden within the dark woods, or will the creature’s presence consume Consequence and its unsuspecting inhabitants? As the suspense builds, the bond between father and son is put to the ultimate test in a race against time to save their town from the shadows that threaten to engulf them all."

Opinion: The font for this paperback version is extremely small and makes it almost impossible to read. Carner is a fantastic story teller but he provides a lot of story that is not necessary to make a good book.

Dirty Thirty by Janet Evanovich

Started: 3/18/2024

Finished: 3/21/2024

Year: 2023

Pages: 324

Genre: mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Stephanie Plum, Trenton’s hardest working, most underappreciated bounty hunter, is offered a freelance assignment that seems simple enough. Local jeweler Martin Rabner wants her to locate his former security guard, Andy Manley (a.k.a. Nutsy), who he is convinced stole a fortune in diamonds out of his safe. Stephanie is also looking for another troubled man, Duncan Dugan, a fugitive from justice arrested for robbing the same jewelry store on the same day.

"With her boyfriend Morelli away in Miami on police business, Stephanie is taking care of Bob, Morelli’s giant orange dog who will devour anything, from Stephanie’s stray donuts to the upholstery in her car. Morelli’s absence also means the inscrutable, irresistible security expert Ranger is front and center in Stephanie’s life when things inevitably go sideways. And he seems determined to stay there.

"To complicate matters, her best friend Lula is convinced she is being stalked by a mythological demon hell-bent on relieving her of her wardrobe. An overnight stakeout with Stephanie’s mother and Grandma Mazur reveals three generations of women with nerves of steel and driving skills worthy of NASCAR champions.

"As the body count rises and witnesses start to disappear, it won’t be easy for Stephanie to keep herself clean when everyone else is playing dirty. It’s a good thing Stephanie isn’t afraid of getting a little dirty, too."

Opinion: What's another damaged car? Another firebomb? More wacky criminals to catch? This time ending with an interesting twist.

I am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett

Started: 3/17/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 2009

Pages: 234

Genre: literature

Grade: F

Reason for reading: Levar Burton book, library

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "Not Sidney Poitier is an amiable young man in an absurd country. The sudden death of his mother orphans him at age eleven, leaving him with an unfortunate name, an uncanny resemblance to the famous actor, and, perhaps more fortunate, a staggering number of shares in the Turner Broadcasting Corporation. Percival Everett's hilarious new novel follows Not Sidney's tumultuous life, as the social hierarchy scrambles to balance his skin color with his fabulous wealth. Maturing under the less-than watchful eye of his adopted foster father, Ted Turner, Not gets arrested in rural Georgia for driving while black, sparks a dinner table explosion at the home of his manipulative girlfriend, and sleuths a murder case in Smut Eye, Alabama, all while navigating the recurrent communication problem: 'What's your name?'' a kid would ask. 'Not Sidney,' I would say. 'Okay, then what is it?'"

Opinion: I made it halfway through before tossing it aside. Just not a character that I cared about. The writing was fine. I have too many other books to read to keep trying to read something that isn't interesting me.

Theater of the Mind by Dave Schrader

Started: 3/16/2024

Finished: 3/17/2024

Year: 2024

Pages: 138

Genre: paranormal

Grade: B

Reason for reading: fan of author

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "The realms of the ethereal and physical appear to be weaving themselves deeper into one another with the passing of every year. People from around the world are experiencing strange phenomena and encountering creatures of unknown origins in alarming numbers. It’s time we accepted the fact that what we consider normal and supernatural are set on a collision course and will finally reveal the proof that we are not alone, and never have been. That behind every closet door, and under every bed, in the dark of the forests and the light of day, in every town and every state of every country around the world, darkness is rising, and worlds will merge. These are just some of the stories pointing to that inevitability."

Opinion: There are so many stories revolving around the paranormal. This is a good collection of the author and some of his listeners/fans' stories. Almost every aspect of the paranormal is touched-UFOs, ghosts, aliens, blacked eyed children. The stories are quick to read.

Silent Partner by Jonathan Kellerman

Started: 3/13/2024

Finished: DNF

Year: 1989

Pages: 404

Genre: mystery

Grade: F

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "At a party for a  controversial Los Angeles sex therapist, Alex  encounters a face from his own past--Sharon Ransom, an  exquisite, alluring lover who left him abruptly more  than a decade earlier. Sharon now hints that he  desperately needs help, but Alex evades her. The  next day she is dead, an apparent suicide. Driven by  guilt and sadness, Alex plunges into the maze of  Sharon's life--a journey that will take him through  the pleasure palaces of California's ultra-rich,  into the dark closets of a family's disturbing  past, and finally into the alleyways of the mind,  where childhood terrors still hold sway."

Opinion: The writing seem choppy especially for it being a continuation of a series. A lot of the explicit sexual background that Alex had with the victim was unnecessary to establish the relationship that they had. I will not be continuing on with the series.

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Started: 3/12/2024

Finished: 3/12/2024

Pages: 241

Year: 2020

Genre: fiction

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older couple—it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it’s hard to know what to believe.

"Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one other?"

Opinion: Flamingos, booms, strange occurrences. 

The Moral Police by Janelle Perez

Started: 3/11/2024

Finished: 3/11/2024

Year: 2020

Pages: 209

Genre: biography

Grade: B

Reason for reading: Goodreads.com giveaway book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "After nearly seven years as a police officer in Northern California, Janelle Perez was no stranger to a courtroom. But she never imagined that she would find herself in one as a plaintiff suing her former employer, the Roseville Police Department.

"In her lawsuit, Janelle cited gender discrimination and a right to privacy when she was fired for an off-duty relationship with a coworker while separated—an assertion denied by her employer and a loss only she endured. Despite winning a ruling in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Janelle faced defeat when the ruling was suspiciously overturned.

"In The Moral Police, Janelle shares the story of her seven-year fight for justice in the biggest betrayal of her life. Providing an insider’s look at life as a female police officer, Janelle shares what happens when you follow the rules and respect the process in a system that doesn’t respect you. No matter your gender or profession, you’ll gain valuable insight into the power of leadership and the devastation caused when it’s misused. This book will inspire you to fight for what’s right and will reveal how we can come together and do better as a society."

Opinion: Unfortunately, I'm not surprised that a situation like this happened. It is a shame that women cannot be treated as equals.

Murder of a Royal Pain by Denise Swanson

Started: 3/10/2024

Finished: 3/11/2024

Year: 2009

Pages: 248

Genre: cozy mystery

Grade: B

Reason for reading: continuing with the series, library book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "When school psychologist Skye Denison stumbles over the body of pushy “Promfest” chairperson Annette Paine during a Halloween fundraiser, it looks like a clear-cut case of promicide. Annette was not the only prom mom desperate to see her daughter crowned queen—and her skirt-chasing hubby is no prince either.

"Skye’s anxious to investigate, but she keeps getting sidetracked by the overeager new social worker at school, and her current beau’s emotional distance. Still, one question haunts her: Annette Paine was wearing a witch costume identical to Skye’s, so which witch was the intended victim? Will Skye realize too late that finding this killer is a matter of her own life or death?"

Opinion: A decent mystery and how one's lack of reality can affect others.

The Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz

Started: 3/4/2024

Finished: 3/6/2024

Year: 2024

Pages: 370

Genre: Fiction, leaning towards supernatural

Grade: C

Reason for reading: library book, fan of Koontz

Type: hardcover

Blurb (from Amazon): "Benny Catspaw’s perpetually sunny disposition is tested when he loses his job, his reputation, his fiancée, and his favorite chair. He’s not paranoid. Someone is out to get him. He just doesn’t know who or why. Then Benny receives an inheritance from an uncle he’s never heard of: a giant crate and a video message. All will be well in time.

"How strange―though it’s a blessing, his uncle promises. Stranger yet is what’s inside the crate. He’s a seven-foot-tall self-described “bad weather friend” named Spike whose mission is to help people who are just too good for this world. Spike will take care of it. He’ll find Benny’s enemies. He’ll deal with them. This might be satisfying if Spike wasn’t such a menacing presence with terrifying techniques of intimidation.

"In the company of Spike and a fascinated young waitress-cum-PI-in-training named Harper, Benny plunges into a perilous high-speed adventure, the likes of which never would have crossed the mind of a decent guy like him."

Opinion: Sometimes being too nice really is a bad thing.

Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton

Started: 2/25/2024

Finished: 3/3/2024

Year: 2002

Pages: 554

Genre: mystery

Grade: B+

Reason for reading: continuing with series, bookcrossing.com book

Type: paperback

Blurb (from Amazon): "She was a "Jane Doe," an unidentified white female whose decomposed body was discovered near a quarry off California's Highway 1. The case fell to the Santa Teresa County Sheriff's Department, but the detectives had little to go on. The woman was young, her hands were bound with a length of wire, there were multiple stab wounds, and her throat had been slashed. After months of investigation, the murder remained unsolved...

"That was eighteen years ago. Now the two men who found the body are nearing the end of their careers in law enforcement—and they want one last shot at the case. Old and ill, they need someone to help with their legwork and they turn to Kinsey Millhone.

"Kinsey is intrigued by the cold case and agrees to take the job. But revisiting the past can be a dangerous business, and what begins with the pursuit of Jane Doe's real identity ends in a high-risk hunt for her killer."

Opinion: One of the better books in the series. Some things that were put into the book were not necessary.