This review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley. Brian Keene returns to his world of The Rising with more short stories seThis review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley. Brian Keene returns to his world of The Rising with more short stories set in that universe of demonically controlled zombies. The stories are all very short quick reads. One or two mentioned characters from the other novels which I recognized, though I haven't read them all and it's been ages since I read what I have of them. The book is kinda depressing, as there's not a lot of hope found in most of the tales.....more
This review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley. Just days before Christmas, 80-year old Carla, a newspaper crossword puzzThis review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley. Just days before Christmas, 80-year old Carla, a newspaper crossword puzzle setter and jigsaw puzzle enthusiast , receives a package on her doorstep containing a few jigsaw puzzle pieces and a dire warning that she must solve the puzzle before people die. Forced to work with her police detective nephew/son as well as around him, it's up to her to dig into decades-old secrets to try to prevent murder. This was another captivating mystery with the bonus of intriguing puzzles for the reader to look for scattered throughout the text. Though it took a little bit to get into and used to Carla, a most unusual character for a sleuth, after the first few chapters the story just built and chugged forward, becoming more interesting the further and deeper the mystery went. I thought I had figured out the killer early, but the clues I thought I had picked up on had me completely guessing in the wrong the direction. The only thing that held me back from rating this 5 stars is the fact that, while it was possible to guess the killer, their connections to the victims and the motive for the crime weren't revealed at all until near the end of the book. Considering the type of mystery novel and the fun type of additions for readers to seek out while reading, there should have been some findable hints earlier in the story....more
This review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley. Another exciting and well written novel in the Scarpetta series. Full of This review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley. Another exciting and well written novel in the Scarpetta series. Full of action, interesting science and looks into sophisticated modern technology as Cornwell is always keeping the reader up on. Writing- and pacing-wise as good as most of her books. I do have two gripes however. First, while the series has evolved over the years from forensic mystery to thriller to political/techno-thriller, these past couple of books have devolved into sensationalist stories. The last book included Bigfoot, this one heavily talks UFOs. Second, I'm tired of the series having Carie Gretchen as the psychopathic villain still hell bent on getting revenge on Scarpetta and, Lucy and the lot, and being nigh unstoppable. In dozens of Sherlock Holmes stories Moriarity only actually appeared in two while being mentioned in three others. It's time to get on with original stories and nemeses. I'm at a point where I'm not sure how much interest I have in reading more of this series despite how much I generally enjoy Cornwell's writing....more
This review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley. Reacher wakes up handcuffed to a table with a fractured wrist and no memoThis review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley. Reacher wakes up handcuffed to a table with a fractured wrist and no memory of how he got there. When he eventually gets free he finds himself in the middle of a complex scheme of black market dealers. With the help of a suspended police detective and the FBI Reacher finds himself trying to stop one of the most nefarious plots he's ever run into. Another pretty fast-paced an exciting Reacher thriller from the Childs. The story seemed to reach a satisfying conclusion around the 60% mark when an uncharacteristic mistake from Reacher kept the story going. I wasn't sure it really needed to, yet the plot got even more intense the further it went along. Though the ending was a bit unrealistic even in the world of Jack Reacher, it was still another great entry in the series. 4.5/5*...more
This review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley. Mothman is back for another holiday adventure! It's Halloween time, and MThis review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley. Mothman is back for another holiday adventure! It's Halloween time, and Mothman is excited for all the children to come to his pumpkin patch to get their own pumpkins for carving. But when disaster strikes, he'll have to wrangle up his cryptid friends to save Halloween. Andrew Shaffer has depicted the most adorable Mothman, my personal favorite cryptid. Though not quite a hilarious as Mothman's previous Christmas excursion, the drawings and happenings of the little red-eyed guy were still fun and enjoyable for "kids" of all ages....more
The Briardark adventures continue. In the Deadswitch Wilderness, which has an alternate dimension/universe/reality known as Briardark, the remaining mThe Briardark adventures continue. In the Deadswitch Wilderness, which has an alternate dimension/universe/reality known as Briardark, the remaining members of the research team that went investigating it have gone on their own paths trying to both understand the mysteries behind whatever they're experiencing and to find a way back home. They discover there are more people hidden throughout, mysteries surrounding the flora and fauna, and ominous figures known as The Shadow and The Mother who may be the keys to their respective fates. Meanwhile, Holden Sharpe, the IT student who uncovered the mystery of the team's disappearance, has joined the rescue efforts, even though he soon discovers he's physically not up to the task, and can only hope the information he provided will help the rescuers locate the missing scientists. The Briardark world continues to play out in a fashion like the novel/movie Annhilation and TV shows like Lost and From. In a way, the books almost feel like they're the story lines from a season of one of those shows, some mysteries eventually getting answered while still others crop up to keep you guessing where the plot is going next....more
This review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley. In what bills itself as Sherlock Holmes's final, final adventure, the yeaThis review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley. In what bills itself as Sherlock Holmes's final, final adventure, the year is 1916, the world is ensconced in The Great War and Holmes shows up at Watson's home for the first time in ages, beaten and frail from a stint undercover in prison. He tells Watson that the British government has tasked him with getting information vital to the war effort. Soon, the duo are engaged by the Secret Intelligent Service to head to Mexico to unearth the truth about Germany's secret plans. Along the way, Holmes and Watson encounter or at least brush by numerous political, intelligence and military persons who were part of the various activities of the day, as it will be up to them to find crucial information to help stop Germany from keeping America out of the war. For a Holmes adventure it was enthralling and kept you wanting to see what would happen on the next page. The fact that it was Holmes knee deep in historical fiction, meeting or passing by numerous historical figures sometimes had to be taken with a grain of salt. Especially towards the end there were times where it felt like the book went on longer than necessary to explain factual details o the times, but overall it was a fun, exciting, satisfying Holmes and Watson story....more
The third chapter in the Dead-Eye saga, featuring the best cowboy and bowler-wearing companion chasing weird and Lovecraftian entities since Brisco CoThe third chapter in the Dead-Eye saga, featuring the best cowboy and bowler-wearing companion chasing weird and Lovecraftian entities since Brisco County, Jr. and Lord Bowler. This entry has the title zombie gunslinger and his mojo man partner Job still on the trail of the vampire Jules Holland and Job's evil sorceress daughter Evangeline. While they try to catch up with the renegades, they meet an little girl orphaned by an outlaw gang, a priest from Spain on a secret mission and a legendary gunfighter. Their encounters include otherwordly beasts, mummified Conquistadors and a town full of miscreants, including two separate devils from Dead-Eye's past. The storytelling in this series just gets better with each new addition, the books reading like the serials of old. I can't wait to see where Dead-Eye's travels take him next....more
This review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley. The body of a young man who was the boyfriend of a woman named Sonoka ShiThis review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley. The body of a young man who was the boyfriend of a woman named Sonoka Shimauchi is discovered floating in the bay. Though she filed missing persons reports with the police, when they late look to question he she's disappeared along with an older woman who writes children's books and is a family friend. On top of that, the investigation brings out another potential suspect in the form of someone Detectives Kusanagi knows personally. And even further complicating things, "Detective Galileo" acts a bit at odds with helping the investigation, especially when it comes up that he may have a connection to one of the people of interest. Another engrossing, enjoyable mystery from Higashino. As has happened before, the killer is revealed way before the end of the book, yet the true motivations and mechanics of what led to and how the murder was committed isn't fully fleshed out until the latter chapters of the novel. Early on I correctly who the killer would be, though it took awhile to figure out who that actually was. And there certainly were a couple of extra twists towards the end, one of which I definitely didn't see coming....more
In the near future, Hawaii's Mauna Loa is close to erupting, and this time it may be the biggest eruption of the volcano in history, enough to wreck mIn the near future, Hawaii's Mauna Loa is close to erupting, and this time it may be the biggest eruption of the volcano in history, enough to wreck most of the island. Even worse, a long-buried military secret is buried in the path of the impending eruption, and if it's hit, will cause the extinction of all life on the planet. It's up to a one volcano expert, a special demolition team and the US Army to disrupt the lava flow and save the world. I was a bit skeptical at first, as James Patterson doesn't normally write what I would think could mesh well with the carefully researched and plotted science of Michael Crichton's thrillers. Plus, this wasn't exactly the usual kind of plot of Crichton's novels. And yet, after careful consultation and selection by Crichton's wife, this book really came to life. While the book style, mostly short chapters that nonetheless contain a lot happening in exciting fashion, is very much Patterson's, the carefully laid out and plotted science and how everything goes wrong no matter how carefully it's planned, was very much Crichton's style. This novel was a non-stop thrill ride reminiscent of the "classic" disaster films of the 1970s along with the harrowing action of those of the 21st century. I've seen a lot of subpar reviews complaining about the writing, but while it didn't feel wholly Patterson or Crichton, it still read like a souped-up Crichton novel and was more than entertaining to read....more
This anthology features novellas by Ronald Kelly, Laurel Hightower and Red Lagoe, all centering around a stretch of the Appalachians known colloquiallThis anthology features novellas by Ronald Kelly, Laurel Hightower and Red Lagoe, all centering around a stretch of the Appalachians known colloquially as The Devil's Backbone, rumored for centuries to be the heart of evil within the region. Kelly's story takes place in 1880 in Tennessee. When two small children go missing at the hands of their dead but returned mother, their father must enlist the aid of a seventh son who knows the ways of mountain magic and such things. It featured the nuanced western-influenced writing I've come to expect from him. Hightower's tale takes place in 1925 in Kentucky and centers around a "coven" of sorts, namely a handful of women who produce "cures" for the townfolk in the form of alcohol while Prohibition is on. Though they have a reputation as being benign healers, some still think of them as evil witches. When the rains won't stop, the creek starts to overflow and people start dying, some in the town start to turn against the women. But they don't know that the coven is responsible to keeping the balance between the town and the mountain from which they have mined too much. Full of rich emotion normally found in her writing. Lagoe's entry jumps ahead to 1971 in rural Virginia where rumors of an insidious pool called The Devil's Bathtub leads to damnation for any foolish enough to enter it. When his neighbors begin doing just that, young Marting must try to save them and himself, but things only get more complicated when his brother unexpectedly returns from war. While the three tales take place in different regions along the the Devil's Backbone, and in different time periods, they nonetheless flow together well in the book and feel like they are different chronicles of the same central idea....more
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