Books 32-38
Aug. 3rd, 2021 10:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lavendersparkI swear one of these days I'll get back to posting regularly...
I went on a bit of a Mary Higgins Clark spree. They were quick and easy reads that took my mind off of other things.
From the reigning “Queen of Suspense” and No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark, comes a gripping new mystery that begins when a handsome Manhattan ER doctor is brazenly murdered in front of his young son in a city playground. Only three-year-old Timmy saw the face of his father’s killer, and five years later his piercing blue eyes still haunt Timmy’s dreams. His heartbreaking shriek, ‘Blue Eyes killed my Daddy’ and the killer’s shouted warning, ‘Tell your mother she’s next, then it’s your turn’, is overheard by an elderly woman, the only witness to the crime.
Now, five years later, Laurie, Timmy’s mother is dealing with murder again, this time as the producer of a true-crime, cold-case television show. The series will launch with the twenty-year-old unsolved murder of Betsy Powell. Betsy, a socialite, was found suffocated in her bed after a gala celebrating the graduation of her daughter and three friends. The sensational murder was news nationwide. Reopening the case in its lavish setting and with the cooperation of the surviving guests that night, Laurie is sure to have a hit on her hands. But when the estranged friends begin filming, it becomes clear each is hiding secrets . . . small and large.
And a pair of blue eyes is watching events unfold, too . . . This was ok, I don't know if I'd call it gripping. The plot wanders a bit and the motive for the killer is very weak. Honestly I liked the plot within the plot better.
Henry Parker Britland IV—wealthy, worldly, and popular—is enjoying an early retirement. His new wife, Sunday—as clever as she is lovely—has just been elected to Congress in a stunning upset victory that has made her a media darling. Henry and Sunday make a formidable team...and never more so than when they set out to solve baffling high-society crimes. From a long-unsolved case they reconstruct aboard the presidential yacht to a kidnapping that brings Henry frantically back to the White House, the former president and his bride engage in some of the most audacious and original sleuthing ever imagined. This was just a collection of short stories about a former president and his new wife. She gets kidnapped/in trouble in various ways and he saves her.
A serial killer leaves one dancing shoe on a foot of the victims who answer his personal ads. When Erin dies, her best friend places ads to entice the villain already targeting her next. New York police detective Vince D'Ambrosio takes a personal interest. New boyfriend Dr Michael Nash is supportive. A stalker may surprise everyone. This one was actually pretty good. MHC is formulaic enough that I figured out the killer pretty early, but it was still an enjoyable read.
Then I read Christmas. St. Patrick's Day. Easter. As the calendar's days stack up, so do the bodies littered in the streets of Gotham City. A murderer is loose, killing only on holidays. The only man that can stop this fiend? The Dark Knight. In a mystery taking place during Batman's early days of crime fighting, Batman: The Long Halloween is one of the greatest Dark Knight stories ever told.
Working with District Attorney Harvey Dent and Lieutenant James Gordon, Batman races against the calendar as he tries to discover who Holiday is before he claims his next victim each month. A mystery that has the reader continually guessing the identity of the killer, this story also ties into the events that transform Harvey Dent into Batman's deadly enemy, Two-Face. Going in I didn't know it was the origin story of Two-Face, so it was a happy surprise to discover as Two-Face is my favorite Batman villain. The story is well done and I enjoyed the art. I may check out the movie when it's out.
After discussing with my friend, she is no longer interested in the series we were reading (she didn't like the ending of the last book), so I found books four and five at the library and am currently waiting for book six to arrive.
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price–and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…
A convict with a thirst for revenge.
A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.
A runaway with a privileged past.
A spy known as the Wraith.
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.
Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first. I struggled a bit with this one. I was comparing it with the first three and was disappointed that there wasn't more magic and it was a completely new cast of characters and it took place in a different country. It also broke the flow of the story a bit that the author kept focusing on the ages of the characters. I'm not sure why, but it was distracting. I probably wouldn't have continued the series if this hadn't ended on a cliff hanger with the one character I really liked in danger.
Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and left crippled by the kidnapping of a valuable team member, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world. I am glad I decided to continue to this book. I enjoyed this one much more than the one before it. The story flows much better, the characters are more fully developed and we got a few characters from the first three books with a little more magic thrown in.
While I wait for the next book to arrive from the library, I've been reading Midsummer, and in an unassuming house on a quiet residential street on the edge of Brockwell Park in south London, a husband and wife are discovered. Badly dehydrated, they've been bound and beaten, the husband is close to death. But worse is to come: their young son is missing.
When DI Jack Caffery of the Met's AMIT squad is called in to investigate, the similarities to events in his own past make it impossible for him to view this new crime with the necessary detachment. And as Jack digs deeper, as he attempts to hold his own life together in the face of ever more disturbing revelations about both the past and the present, the real nightmare begins... All the acronyms are tricky and sometimes unnecessary, but the overall story is engaging. For some reason I picture the main character as John Constantine (as played by Matt Ryan) there's no magic or occult, but something about the heart of the character is very similar to me.
I went on a bit of a Mary Higgins Clark spree. They were quick and easy reads that took my mind off of other things.
From the reigning “Queen of Suspense” and No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark, comes a gripping new mystery that begins when a handsome Manhattan ER doctor is brazenly murdered in front of his young son in a city playground. Only three-year-old Timmy saw the face of his father’s killer, and five years later his piercing blue eyes still haunt Timmy’s dreams. His heartbreaking shriek, ‘Blue Eyes killed my Daddy’ and the killer’s shouted warning, ‘Tell your mother she’s next, then it’s your turn’, is overheard by an elderly woman, the only witness to the crime.
Now, five years later, Laurie, Timmy’s mother is dealing with murder again, this time as the producer of a true-crime, cold-case television show. The series will launch with the twenty-year-old unsolved murder of Betsy Powell. Betsy, a socialite, was found suffocated in her bed after a gala celebrating the graduation of her daughter and three friends. The sensational murder was news nationwide. Reopening the case in its lavish setting and with the cooperation of the surviving guests that night, Laurie is sure to have a hit on her hands. But when the estranged friends begin filming, it becomes clear each is hiding secrets . . . small and large.
And a pair of blue eyes is watching events unfold, too . . . This was ok, I don't know if I'd call it gripping. The plot wanders a bit and the motive for the killer is very weak. Honestly I liked the plot within the plot better.
Henry Parker Britland IV—wealthy, worldly, and popular—is enjoying an early retirement. His new wife, Sunday—as clever as she is lovely—has just been elected to Congress in a stunning upset victory that has made her a media darling. Henry and Sunday make a formidable team...and never more so than when they set out to solve baffling high-society crimes. From a long-unsolved case they reconstruct aboard the presidential yacht to a kidnapping that brings Henry frantically back to the White House, the former president and his bride engage in some of the most audacious and original sleuthing ever imagined. This was just a collection of short stories about a former president and his new wife. She gets kidnapped/in trouble in various ways and he saves her.
A serial killer leaves one dancing shoe on a foot of the victims who answer his personal ads. When Erin dies, her best friend places ads to entice the villain already targeting her next. New York police detective Vince D'Ambrosio takes a personal interest. New boyfriend Dr Michael Nash is supportive. A stalker may surprise everyone. This one was actually pretty good. MHC is formulaic enough that I figured out the killer pretty early, but it was still an enjoyable read.
Then I read Christmas. St. Patrick's Day. Easter. As the calendar's days stack up, so do the bodies littered in the streets of Gotham City. A murderer is loose, killing only on holidays. The only man that can stop this fiend? The Dark Knight. In a mystery taking place during Batman's early days of crime fighting, Batman: The Long Halloween is one of the greatest Dark Knight stories ever told.
Working with District Attorney Harvey Dent and Lieutenant James Gordon, Batman races against the calendar as he tries to discover who Holiday is before he claims his next victim each month. A mystery that has the reader continually guessing the identity of the killer, this story also ties into the events that transform Harvey Dent into Batman's deadly enemy, Two-Face. Going in I didn't know it was the origin story of Two-Face, so it was a happy surprise to discover as Two-Face is my favorite Batman villain. The story is well done and I enjoyed the art. I may check out the movie when it's out.
After discussing with my friend, she is no longer interested in the series we were reading (she didn't like the ending of the last book), so I found books four and five at the library and am currently waiting for book six to arrive.
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price–and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…
A convict with a thirst for revenge.
A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.
A runaway with a privileged past.
A spy known as the Wraith.
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.
Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first. I struggled a bit with this one. I was comparing it with the first three and was disappointed that there wasn't more magic and it was a completely new cast of characters and it took place in a different country. It also broke the flow of the story a bit that the author kept focusing on the ages of the characters. I'm not sure why, but it was distracting. I probably wouldn't have continued the series if this hadn't ended on a cliff hanger with the one character I really liked in danger.
Kaz Brekker and his crew have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn’t think they’d survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they’re right back to fighting for their lives. Double-crossed and left crippled by the kidnapping of a valuable team member, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz’s cunning and test the team’s fragile loyalties. A war will be waged on the city’s dark and twisting streets―a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world. I am glad I decided to continue to this book. I enjoyed this one much more than the one before it. The story flows much better, the characters are more fully developed and we got a few characters from the first three books with a little more magic thrown in.
While I wait for the next book to arrive from the library, I've been reading Midsummer, and in an unassuming house on a quiet residential street on the edge of Brockwell Park in south London, a husband and wife are discovered. Badly dehydrated, they've been bound and beaten, the husband is close to death. But worse is to come: their young son is missing.
When DI Jack Caffery of the Met's AMIT squad is called in to investigate, the similarities to events in his own past make it impossible for him to view this new crime with the necessary detachment. And as Jack digs deeper, as he attempts to hold his own life together in the face of ever more disturbing revelations about both the past and the present, the real nightmare begins... All the acronyms are tricky and sometimes unnecessary, but the overall story is engaging. For some reason I picture the main character as John Constantine (as played by Matt Ryan) there's no magic or occult, but something about the heart of the character is very similar to me.
