Author: ekkarn

This Man Read’s 2017 Reading Challenges…

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This Man Reads 2017 Reading Challenges…..

Two  years ago I signed up for several Reading Challenges on various websites. The result was that the challenges helped me remain more focused with my reading. So last year I created my own Reading Challenges. They were meant to keep me focused and reading a variety of books. So here is my 2017 version.

I probably should have created these reading challenges back  in December, but I was too busy trying to get past 51 books to do it!   But you know that they always say,”Better Late than Never”. So here are my 2017 Reading Challenges. My overall reading challenge is to read 60 books. I didn’t reach that goal in 2016, but I did read more books in 2016 that 2015 so maybe I can reach the goal this year!!

I have divided my 2017 Reading Challenge into four sub-reading challenges. The first one is the 2017 Literature Reading Challenge. This challenge is meant  to take me out of my reading comfort zone. My comfort zone is composed of mysteries and thrillers. I have set the goal for this Challenge pretty low only 6 books. The books are to be divided as follows.

2017 Literature Reading Challenge

  • Two general fiction books, i.e, books where no one is killed or things are blown up!
  • Two classics that I was supposed to have read in College or High School.
  • Two books that have one an award, like the Pulitzer Prize, the Faulkner award or Man Booker award. Total 6 books

2017 Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge

The second is my Mystery/Thriller reading challenge. Instead of just saying I am going to read 36 mysteries or thrillers, I have divided this challenge up a  little too….

  • Six books from a series that I have always wanted to read, but have somehow always put off reading.  An example is the Enzo Files series from Peter May. Another example are the Charlie Parker books by John Connolly.
  • Six books from series  that  I need to catch up on for example: Alex Berenson’s John Wells series, Robert Crais’s Elvis Cole series or Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series!!
  •  Twelve books from authors and series that I currently read, i.e Joe Pickett from C.J. Box,
  • Twelve  books from mystery authors that are new to me! One of the ways that I plan to discover new authors is through Mystery Scene magazine.  Andrew and Meaghan gave me a subscription for Christmas and just browsing through the first issue. I found several new authors! Thanks!!

2017 Science Fiction and Nonfiction Reading Challenges

These challenges are both pretty straight forward….

  •  Six Science Fiction books  I plan to divide these books any way I want. The books can be written by either familiar or new to me authors/
  • Twelve  nonfiction books. Basically, they can be anything that catches my fancy!!

Oh, I’ have also created a Kindle/Bookshelf /TBR Pile Challenge!  I want 40 of the books to come from books that are either on my bookshelves or on my Kindle! I spent a lot of time collecting books on my Kindle and then never getting around to reading them! Anyone else have that problem!!

Here is my spreadsheet table that I use to keep track of how I’m doing on my various challenges!

2017 Reading Challenge Kindle Bookshelves Library Total Goal % of Goal
           
2017 Literature Reading Challenge  
   
General Fiction 0 0 0 2 0.00%
Classics (Books I should have read but didn’t) 0 0 0 2 0.00%
Award-Winners 0 0 0 2 0.00%
Sub-total
2017 Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge  
New Series that I have meant to read 0 1 1 6 16.67%
Series that I am behind on (i.e. Gabriel Allon) 0 0 0 6 0.00%
Current Mystery Authors (series or non-series) 0 0 0 12
New Mystery Authors 0 0 0 12
Sub-total
2017 Science Fiction /Fantasy Challenge   0 0 0 6 0.00%
   
2017 Nonfiction Reading Challenge   0 0 0 12 0.00%
   
0 0 0
Totals 1 60 1.67%
2016 Kindle/Bookshelf Challenge 20 20 20 60

 

In my next post I’ll outline the books that I plan to read in January of 2017!! Wish Me Luck!!

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A 2016 Reading Challenges Wrap-Up

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So since Christmas I have been very bad about writing anything. Sometimes I find myself in a writing funk and well this is one of those times!  We had a great Christmas and like everyone it went by to quickly. Our whole family spent the morning at.Andrew and Meaghan’s . It’s the one house that has enough room for all of us and all the presents for everyone, particularly the two little ones!

Anyway everyone had a good time and I think all of the kids big and little liked their presents. I know I liked mine! I’ll write more about mine over the weekend.

Over the last week or so I did manage to finish two more books. That brings my total books read in 2016 to 53! Two more than last year, and only 7 from my goal! The two books I finished were: Runaway by Peter May and Reckless Creed  from Alex Kava. Both were really good reads. Runaway is the third book written by Peter May that I read this year. That’s the most by any one author. I guess he is my new favorite.  I will write more about each of these books separately shortly.

Here is the final tabulation of the books that I read for my various Reading Challenges!

Final Tabulation of My Reading Challenges

 

2016 Reading Challenges TBR Library Total Goal % of Goal
         
2016 Literature Reading Challenge
General Fiction 1 3 3 6 50.00%
Classics 0 0 0 6 0.00%
NY Times Bestseller List 0 0 0 6 0.00%
Award-Winners 1 2 3 6 50.00%
2015 Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge
Rgrandad’s Mysteries 4 26 30 10 300.00%
Women Mystery Book Authors 1 0 5 10 50.00%
2016 Science Fiction /Fantasy Challenge 0 0 1 6 16.67%
2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge 4 7 11 10 110.00%
 
Totals 0 0 0
53 60 88.33%
2016 TBR Pile Challenge 11 25 44.00%

 

From the table we can see that I did well on both my Mysteries and Nonfiction challenges. That may be just a slight understatement as the books read for those two challenges accounted for  77% of the books I read in 2016! (41 out of 53)  On three of the other challenges I read 50% of my projected total number of books.On the Science Fiction challenge I only read 1 out of 6. I didn’t read any classics!! Now it also says that I didn’t read any books from the New York Times Bestseller Lists. I believe that some of my mystery and thriller reads like books from Harlan Coben, Linwood Barclay, Jefferson Bass and Karin Slaughter probably spent some time on the bestseller lists!

Top Seven New Mysteries Read

I know that over the last few months when I went into Barnes & Noble I would see that I had read seven books that they had in their new release displays. They were:

  1. Without Mercy – Jefferson Bass,
  2. The Kept Woman – Karin Slaughter,
  3. The Twenty Three – Linwood Barclay,
  4. Home – Harlan Coben,
  5. The Second Life of Nick Mason – Steve Hamilton
  6. Blind Sight Carol O’Connor and
  7. Manitou Canyon – William  Kent Krueger

Oh and one I just finished in the last few days Reckless Creed from Alex Kava  Hmm, looking at the above list, I may just put together my top 15 list of 2016!

They were all terrific reads!! Check Them Out!!

So overall it was a great year of reading!! I am still in the process of developing my 2017 Reading Challenges and will possibly reveal them tomorrow! I think some of the Challenges will include reading more books from my own bookshelves and from e-books that are on my Kindle! So I will be back soon with my 2017 Reading Challenges and my proposed January reads!!

 

 

 

DEC 24, 2016 – From Earlier in the Week- Jimmy Smith and More..

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DEC 24, 2016 – What You Missed Earlier in the Week (Thanks to Me not Writing About It!)

So Wednesday my  granddaughter Zoe and I ran some errands. The trip included: Walmart, the library and Lowe’s. For the trip to the library was an album that ‘i picked up at the Princeton Record Exchange a while back. It is a compilation album of tracks from albums that Jimmy Smith recorded on the Milestone label, during his brief tenure with the label. The album is titled Milestone Profiles: Jimmy Smith.

Milestone Profiles: Jimmy Smith.

Jimmy Smith has always been a jazz favorite of mine. My first exposure to jimmy Smith’s dynamic organ playing was the album The Dynamic Duo, he recorded with Wes Montgomery. Eventually Jimmy Smith’s Greatest  Hits album  became a favorite in my music rotation. That album introduced me to Jimmy’s  hits like “The Champ” and “The Sermon” Through the years many Smith albums have been added to my music library!!

Here’s some information about the album from AllMusic…..

……the music on this volume in the Milestone Profiles series is compiled from albums Smith recorded between 1989 and 1993. Apparently Smith’s contract wasn’t exclusive, since there are many other titles of new music issued in Europe or Japan. There is one exception, though, and a fine one. Included in this nine-cut set is a version of “The Sermon” with Eddie Harris from 1981, taken from an album called All the Way Live. Apparently — and astonishingly — this was the only time the two ever played together, and it’s the best thing here despite some flaws in the actual recording. The rest is a collection of mild swingers, blues, and standards like “Midnight Special” with Stanley Turrentine from the Fourmost album in 1989 — Kenny Burrell and Grady Tate were the other players on the session. And there are three other cuts taken from either this date or the Fourmost Return disc that was also issued in 1990, recorded a day after the first. “C Jam Blues,” with Terry Evans playing guitar, is another high point here, from 1989’s Prime Time. The music throughout is certainly of high quality and would give a novice Smith listener a fine portrait of his mastery as an organist. Read More

I agree that the version of “C Jam Blues” that opens the album is great! I missed “The Sermon” on the CD   because the CD was skipping on that track! i guess I’ll have to clean the CD and hope that it works!!

A Side Trip to the Library

When we got to the library, my plan was to go in , drop off the two books that I finished and leave. Not! I came out with three books. They will all be due back to the library near the middle of January. So maybe they will give me a good start on my reading for 2017.

Two of the books are not like books I typically  read. The first book is Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave….From Goodreads

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Little Bee, a spellbinding novel about three unforgettable individuals thrown together by war, love, and their search for belonging in the ever-changing landscape of WWII London…..

Reading the praise on the back of the book I was intrigued…..

“Cleave has the extremely rare power of making you smile with lively language and clever observations while thoroughly, irreparably breaking your heart  – New York Newsday

“Cleave kick-starts his stories from the first breath and never takes his feet off the pedals” – Washington Post

“Inspirational and moving… Cleave is acutely intelligent wordsmith. Some of the sentences cut so deep you want to scream out in pain and recognition – The Time (UK)

Sounds good to me. Last year one of my Reading Challenges was to read more general fiction and/or literature. In addition I wanted to read award-winning books. Maybe a Pulitzer Prize or a Man Booker Prize. Both the above book and the following book fit in that Challenge,. The next book was All That Man Is by David Szalay  All That Man Is was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize.

Again from the back cover of the book…

“Each story (there are nine in the book) is a beautifully crystallized vision  of what it is for a man to be a particular age: insecurities about body and money, the wait for life to feel like it’s really got going; the sudden realization that this is all there is…. It’s hard to imagine reading a better book this year” – The Times

Overall both of these books seem like winners. I hope they live up to their billing!

The final book is a mystery,  Stone Coffin by Swedish author Kjell Eriksson. I enjoyed reading one of Eriksson’s previous books The Princess of Burundi. So I am looking forward to this one.

Ok so it’s almost 11:30 on Christmas Eve and my day began at 4:45 this morning so my brain is fried…..See you tomorrow hope you have a Merry Christmas!

 

 

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New Morning Exercises & Hank Crawford’s Bday!

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Edward aka (Renaissance Granddad) – Day 23823 (Dec 21, 2016)

Woo! Hoo! Today is the Winter Solstice!! That of course means, today is either the shortest day of the year or the longest night! I prefer to look at it as the shortest day and from here until the Summer Solstice the days keep getting longer!! I used to hate it when it was dark when I went to work in the morning and again when I came home in the evening.

For years i ran at 5:30 after work. I always hated it when daylight savings time ended and it would get dark before 5! I particularly hated it the night I sprained an ankle coming off of a sidewalk and not seeing the two by fours that someone had put along the curb so they could jump the curb! From that night on I have been leary of running at night!

Now that I work in the mornings and could run in the afternoon before it gets dark, I am not running at all! That has got to change soon!! The only  thing I due hate now with these short days is getting up and ready for work in the dark! Come On Spring!!

Morning Exercises and Meditation

For the last week or so I have changed up my morning exercises. For most of 2016 I have done various yoga routines in the morning. On the days that I don’t work I had been sporadically doing a routine that includes: Kundalini yoga, weights and bands. I used to do that set of exercises each morning when I worked at Lippincott. When I did it on those mornings. I did 5 minutes Kundalini meditation called “Long Ek Ong Kars” followed by 5 minutes of various Kundalini exercises and a few typical exercises – leg raises, bicycle, etc. The last five minutes was composed of weights and bands exercises.

By doing that routine regularly, I always was able to maintain my weight at the same level even through periods when I didn’t run. Then came retirement and babysitting. Over the last two years, I have run less, but thanks to Oliver I had long walks two or three days a week. Well, back in June that ended, when Oliver went into full time day care. The result, I gained weight not a massive amount but enough to bother me.

While I have not gone on a strict diet I have cut down and have not really lost any weight. So the other day I thought maybe I will try to do the old routine on a daily basis again. I modified the routine so that it looks like this now 3:00 minutes “Long Ek Ong Kars”, 7 minutes Kundalini  and other exercises, and finally and 9 minutes of Weights and Bands. The whole routine ends with a 10 minute meditation.

Like I said earlier I started this about a week ago and since then I have felt a lot better, more energetic, etc. I actually feel like I could start running again!! Damn you cold weather! Anyway I think may have lost a little weight (my scales gave me two different weights this morning) but I do feel like I may have lost some inches! Overall, we’ll see where it takes me! Wish Me Luck!

The Soundtrack: Joseph L Young – Ethereum

Joseph L Young is a world-flute master and keyboardist. Ethereum is his fourth album. His music brings together global music traditions that mix primal earthiness with modern synthesized sounds. His primary instruments are a wide variety of ethnic flutes from around the world. I will write more about the album soon!!

 Jazz Birthday of Interest (at least to me): Hank Crawford

You can check out a complete list of Jazz Birthday on this day here

Hank Crawford – (December 21, 1934 – January 29, 2009) From the Artist Biography by Thom Jurek at AllMusic…..

Hank Crawford

With an unmistakable blues wail, full of emotion and poignancy, altoist Hank Crawford bridges the gap between that tradition and that of jazz more completely than any other living horn player. Born in Memphis, Crawford was steeped in the blues tradition from an early age. He began playing piano but switched to alto when his father brought one home from the army. He claims his early influences as Louis Jordan, Earl Bostic, and Johnny Hodges Read More

Wildflower is the only Hank Crawford album in my music library and it’s a good one! Again from AllMusic

….This record is so hot the only soul-jazz it can be compared to in both its contemporary form and funky feel are Grover Washington’s Feels So Good and Mister Magic issues. In other words, Crawford’s Wildflower is indispensable as a shining example of ’70s groove jazz at its best. Read the Full Review

after-dark-hank-crawford

Today when I was reading about Hank Crawford I also checked out his vast discography! I decided that I would listen to his 1987 release After Dark. After Dark is an editor’s pick at AllMusic. You can check it out here at Spotify

 

 

 

Hank Crawford – AllMusic – All About Jazz – Wikipedia – Spotify

About This Post

This is the first of a new kind of post.  I hope to continue the idea is to give you a glimpse of my ADD Days on one or two pages! The page may cover my exercise for the day, the music I’m listening to and the book I am reading. Maybe I should say plan to read! Sometimes I plan to read more than I can get through!!

Oh ED K Day at the top of the post is the number of days I have been alive!!

 

Update: With December Reads, I Tie 2015 Total!

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With Four Books Read in December I Tie My 2015 Total Books Read

 

So I haven’t posted anything for a week, but that doesn’t mean that things haven’t been happening. Hey, it’s Christmas time there’s always lots to do! Most of it has been things around the house, but there’s also work at Target and babysitting Zoe. Then again maybe it’s just that I have been lazy about writing! The one thing that I have done is reading.   These are the four books that I have finished so far this month

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December Reads

 

Book 48 – Flip – Kevin Cook – I really enjoyed this book about one of the top black comedians of the 60s and 70s. The book opened my eyes to many aspects of Wilson’s life. The of the aspects of his life that I knew little about was his early life and his drug use before and during his famous TV show. The book did bring back a lot of memories and smiles though. It has been many years since I.thought about :”Chris gonna’ find Ray Charles! and The Devil Made Me Do it!

Book 49 – The Nordic Theory of Everything – Anu Partanen – Another enjoyable an informative book. I thought that this was an honest analysis of what the Finnish and Nordic political system does right and sometimes wrong. At a time when it looks like our government is hellbent on destroying our healthcare system and our safety nets, it was nice to dream about what it must be like to have health care you don’t have to worry about bankrupting you , free daycare and one of the top educational systems in the world.One of the most interesting things to me was that Nordics don’t mind paying taxes because they know what they are getting back for their money!!

Another thought is that we don’t need a bigger government but a smarter government!

Book 50 – The Revenge of Geography – Robert D, Kaplan –  I must confess that I read the majority of this book a while ago.The book does provide a good analysis of the impact of geography on the world’s geopolitics From Goodreads:

In The Revenge of Geography, Kaplan builds on the insights, discoveries, and theories of great geographers and geopolitical thinkers of the near and distant past to look back at critical pivots in history and then to look forward at the evolving global scene. Kaplan traces the history of the world’s hot spots by examining their climates, topographies, and proximities to other embattled lands. The Russian steppe’s pitiless climate and limited vegetation bred hard and cruel men bent on destruction, for example, while Nazi geopoliticians distorted geopolitics entirely, calculating that space on the globe used by the British Empire and the Soviet Union could be swallowed by a greater German homeland. Read More

Book 51 – Blind Sight – Carol O’Connell – This is book 12 in the Kathleen Mallory series from Carol O’Connell. Several years ago I
stopped this series after book 6  Crime School. for whatever reason I couldn’t get into Book 7 Dead Famous. After a few years I decided to jump back into the series at book number 10 – The Chalk Girl. Since then I have kept up with the series. I have read both  the following books It Happens in the Dark and the current release Blind Sight

My rather unrealistic goal was to read 60 books this year. Last year my goal was 50 books and  I surpassed that goal and read 51 books. So I have already matched total number of books I read last year with almost two weeks left in the year! I know I am not going to get to 60 books. But every book I do finish beats a pretty good 2015!!

Oh and I am still working on my Reading Challenges for next year, I will write about them soon!

Home – Harlan Coben – (Myron Bolitar # 11)

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Home is book 11 in the Myron Bolitar series from Harlan Coben. Once again Harlan both fictionally and writingwise brings it Home!

The Story

Home revolves around the ten year-old kidnapping of two boys Patrick and Rhys. The boys were captured, while they were playing at Patrick’s home. The kidnappers demanded ransom but nothing more was heard  about the boys.

Until Rhys’ mother Brooke receives an anonymous tip that Patrick was spotted in London. Quickly, she calls her brother Win Lockwood to check it out. Win tracks down Patrick in London. He kills three men hassling Patrick, but Patrick flees the site. So Win calls his best friend Myron Bolitar for help!! They find Patrick and bring him Home but questions remain unanswered….

Where has Patrick been for ten years? What does he remember about the day of the kidnapping? And most importantly, where is Rhys, Win’s Nephew?

Soon Win and Myron are on a quest to discover the answers to these questions. Along the way, Myron’s former partner Esperanza Spaulding and receptionist Bi Cyndi help Myron and Win discover the truth!

Thoughts about Home and the books of Harlan Coben

It’s been five years and five standalone thrillers between Myron Bolitar books and it;s great to have Myron and the gang back!

I love Harlan’s stand-alone books, but I always enjoy the Bolitar books a little more. I think it’s simply the character development over the course of a series. In a stand alone book, the reader just gets to know the characters and the book is over!

As is usually the case with Harlan Coben’s novels there is always a psychological message and in this book the message deals with friendship, family, and the meaning of home.

Here’s what some others have to say about Home

“Edgar-winner Coben’s action-packed 11th thriller featuring sports agent Myron Bolitar (after 2011’s Live Wire) blends family drama with a twisty plot… This page-turner is sure to please Coben’s many fans.” —Publishers Weekly on Home

“Series fans will be happy to see Myron, Win, Esperanza, and other recurring characters… given the size of Coben’s audience, this one is sure to be popular. With five years since the last Bolitar novel, expect holds.” —Booklist on Home

Bottom Line

Home is another winner from Harlan Coben. And I still love Myron as much as the standalones!

Rating:

thumbs-up-2-3
thumbs-up-2-3
thumbs-up-2-3
thumbs-up-2-3

 

Author’s Website
Wikipedia
Goodreads
Amazon

Harlan Coben

About Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben (born 1962) is a renowned #1 New York Times bestselling American author known for fast-paced thrillers and mysteries characterized by multiple twists, domestic secrets, and long-buried past events resurfacing

Peter May Returns to the Outer Hebrides in Coffin Road

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Yesterday I finished Home by Harlan Coben, the 47th book I have read in 2016. It is also the fifth book that I have finished in November. My goal for the year was to read 60 books. To meet that goal I needed to read five books per month.

Unfortunately there have been more than a few months where I came up short of that goal. So right now I would need to read 13 books over the next 4 plus weeks to get to 60! So

It looks like that I will not reach my goal of 60 books. However, I will surpass 50 books and if I read five more books I will beat last years total of 51 books. Wish me luck!

Now the last book I have written about was book 44   The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter. So here is book 45 Coffin Road by Peter May

Coffin Road – Peter May

Thanks to the talents of my favorite authors, I visit many places around the globe. I think that currently my favorite place to visit is the Isle of Harris in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. I first visited this rugged wind-swept Isle in May’s The Black House and returned via the other two books in his Lewis Trilogy The Lewis Man and The Chessmen. All three visits were terrific, so you should certainly make the trip! My most recent visit via May’s novel Coffin Road was just as wonderful.

I love reading the works of author’s who can create a sense of place in their work. So that after you read the book you feel like you have been to the locale. May certainly does that as well as any writer I know.

The Story

From the Book Jacket…

On the remote Isle of Harris in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, a man washes up on a deserted beach, hypothermic, and completely disoriented. He has no idea who he is or how he got there. The only clue to his condition is a map of the island showing a desolate  ancient path called the Coffin Road. With a sense of dread and no clear idea what lies at the other end, he knows he must follow the trail if he has any hopes of discovering his identity…..

The man soon discovers that his name is Neal Maclean and he has lived on the  Isle of Harris for eighteen months. He is there writing a book about the disappearance of the three keepers of the lighthouse on the island of Eilean Mor in the Flannan Isles.

The keepers disappeared during a storm in December of 1900. The man remembers nothing about writing the book, but does fear that he may have done something dreadful on the island, prior to his being washed into the sea.

Meanwhile, a teenage girl living in Edinburgh is desperate to discover the truth about her father’s death. Two year’s after his suicide she sets out to discover the truth. After she reads his suicide note, which her mother gives to her to shut her up. she believes he may not be dead! The more she digs the more she is convinced she is right!

Bottom Line……

Coffin Road is another amazing read from Peter May. Everything clicks for me in this book. May paints both the setting and the characters well. While the storyline twists and turns and keeps the reader guessing. What did happen on Eilean Mor?  And who is Neal Maclean?

I always like to read the quotes on the back of books and see which ones sum up how I feel about the book. Here are two quotes that fit the bill!

” An eminently satisfying , multilayered mystery populated with sharply drawn characters…The many threads of the story play out against a landscape that May, a native Scot, renders vividly. His images capture the capricious play of light and weather across the sea and the moors, matching the surprises in this tale” – Kirkus Reviews

“An extremely chilling tale. From a man with a memory loss, to a young girl dealing with the loss of her father, to a policeman unmasking the past, readers will have to pay close attention so they don’t lose track of the amazing web May has created” – Suspense Magazine

Rating – Four and a half Thumbs Up out of five!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Novels of Peter May

Author’s Website
Goodreads
Amazon

 

 

The Kept Woman Another Winner From Karin Slaughter

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So I have not been able to write anything much since November 8th. Election Day the day America, as I know it, may have died! Anyway even through I haven’t been writing, I have been reading. As such, I have finish four books this month. The first one was Redemption Road by John Hart. I wrote about Redemption Road earlier in the month. The second was the latest Will Trent novel from Karin Slaughter The Kept Woman.

The Kept Woman – Karin Slaughter (Will Trent #7 )

Karin Slaughter has been one of my favorite authors since I read KissCut the second book in her Grant County series. Since then I have read all of her books.

It took me a while before I read the first Will Trent book, but once I read the first book that series has been a favorite, too. For several years now Sara Linton a character from the Grant County series has been a central figure in the Will Trent series. Sara was a pediatrician and part-time medical examiner in the Grant County series..After leaving Grant County Sara became staff member at an Atlanta Hospital., In The Kept Woman, she has left the hospital and joined Will Trent and Faith Mitchell as a member of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI)

The Story

A grizzly murder,at an unfinished nightclub of a major basketball player kicks off the book.  The GBI is called to help with the investigation. At the crime scene, tons of blood covers the walls of the room. The only victim found  is a former dirty cop. He is found with a door knob in his neck. Only the stabbing did not kill him or was it the source of all the blood! Evidence suggested that a mortally wounded woman fled the scene. Angie Polaski, Will Trent’s estranged wife appears to be that woman!

The plot twist and turns revealing the true nature of the crime. The progressing investigation  reveals truths, that threaten to destroy Sara and Will’s relationship.  In addition, the reader learns more about Will and Angie’s convoluted relationship. A relationship, which started, when they were in an orphanage together.

Final Thoughts

Once again Slaughter has created a psychological thriller with characters that her readers have come to know and love. The Kept Woman delves deep into the  wounded psyches of Will, Sara and Angie. As such, they are always struggling to find happiness. Sara and Will had thought they had found it together, but now Angie threatens to tear their relationship apart.

The story, I believe can be enjoyed even if you have never read any of the previous book, However, to fully appreciate Slaughter’s work you should read the earlier books in both the Grant County books and the Will Trent books! That should keep you busy for a while!!

Redemption Road by John Hart Another Edgar Worthy Novel from Mr. Hart

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Redemption Road - John Hart

Redemption Road – John Hart 

There is a simple reason that John Hart is the only author to win back-to-back Edgars for best novel and I’ll let author David Baldacci tell you what it is…….

“People in publishing have always known that John Hart can flat-out write. His prose conjures comparisons with James Lee Burke in its sultry, melodious alchemy. With Redemption Road Hart has taken it to another level. THE PROLOGUE IS HEART-WRENCHING and the chapters thereafter pull you in like matter to a black hole. Read this novel. And then go back and read all of his others. He’s that good.” – David Baldacci

I’ve been waiting for five years for a new John Hart book and, well, Redemption Road, his latest, was worth the wait!! It may well win Hart his third Edgar for best novel. Again, I’ll let some of his fellow authors tell you about Redemption Road…..

“Big, bold, impossible to put down, Redemption Road had me from page one. John Hart is a master storyteller” – Harlan Coben

Every new John Hart is a credit to the written word. Over the course of five books, he has raised the bar for commercial fiction, deftly blending  the tension, pace and suspense of the classic thriller with characters so richly drawn characters so richly drawn and prose so elegant that his stories are worthy of being called literature…..” – Corban Addison – Author of A Walk Across the Sun

It usually takes me about a week or so to read  a typical novel. I read Redemption Road in two days and I literally could not put the book down on the second day!

The Story

Redemption Road has two main twisting turning story lines The first one opens the book when 13 year-old Gideon Strange leaves his home and drunken father in the middle of the night, He intends to kill the man who murdered his mother  – Adrian Wall. Adrian is an ex-policeman who is scheduled to be released from prison the following morning.

At the same time, Elizabeth Black is recovering from her daringly rescue of eighteen year-old Channing  Shore.  Channing was found by Elizabeth in the basement of a house.chained to a mattress, She  had been brutally raped by two brothers for two days.. After the rescue, Channing’s two unarmed attackers lay dead, both shot eighteen times! Elizabeth was soon after, the focus of a police investigation to determine whether or not she should be prosecuted for murder!

The two stories intersect because Elizabeth has a connection to the Julia Strange murder. She believes that Adrian  was  not the killer. And as one of the few woman involved in the murder investigation she ended up caring for baby Gideon. She has continued to be a surrogate mother to Gideon for the last thirteen years.

Then a day after Adrian’s release from prison, a strangled woman’s body is found draped over the alter of an abandoned church. Everything about her murder matches the murder of Julia Strange. Questions arise! Did Adrian kill again? Did he kill the first time?

Other questions abound! What about Liz? Can she avoid prosecution? What really happened in that basement? Why did she snap and murder those men?

As the story develops so do the characters as the reader learns more about; Adrian’s life both in and out of prison, as well as,  the demons that haunt Liz’s past and leave her hating her father – the Reverend Black. The supporting characters in Redemption Road are as equally well-drawn by Mr.Hart. They include:Liz’s partner on the police force Charlie Beckett, Adrian’s lawyer Crybaby Jones and the  Warden of the prison where Adrian served his time.

/While reading Redemption Road  I would often pause and think that I really should stop  reading and do something else. I would set the book down, think about it, say “Nah”, pick the book up and continue reading.

Bottom Line

Redemption Road is a flat-out five thumbs up book for me! It’s one of those books that works on so many levels. First there’s just the plain fascinating story and then the psychological relationships between  just about everyone. Liz and Adrian, Liz and her father, Adrian and the Warden, Liz and Channing amd Gideon. I could go on and on, so just go read this amazing book! and then all of Hart’s other books! Yeah,they’re that good!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of John Hart

Author’s Website:
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads: John Hart
Goodreads: Redemption Road
Amazon

 

October Reads and Reading Challenges Update!

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Where DID October Go!

Ok I give up where did October go? Seems like the NFL season just began and now we’re at Week 8. The World Series is at Game 5 and both the NBA and NHL have begun their seasons. And yesterday the two colleges that I attended. As the Universities of Florida and Georgia renewed their heated rivalry.  I really don’t care which team wins most of the time. But it’s always nice when the team that needs it more gets the victory. Since the Gators stayed atop the SEC East with the victory, I was glad they won.

October Reads….

Now back to my October reads and particularly the places that I visited this month thanks to the work of some great authors. Here are the five books that I read this month.

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Where My Fiction Reads Took Me In October!

The three novels that I read took me to some familiar places with some old friends and to a new spot in Sweden with a new fried. First up was a visit with Cork O’Connor and his family in Aurora, Minnesota. As usual the visit was exciting.  First in Manitou Canyon by William Kent Krueger, I visited the North Boundary Waters of Minnesota and eventually Manitou Canyon in Canada.

In Borkmann’s Point by Hakan Nesser an author that is new to me I visited the coastal town of Kaalbringen,, Sweden.  I met Chief Inspector Van Veeteren in Kallbringen, where Veeteren was sent to help solve the brutal murders of  several seemingly unrelated victims. It was a great read and I will write more about the book soon.

The last novel that I read took me to The Body Farm in Knoxville, Tennessee. In Without Mercy by Jefferson Bass, forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton  is called to help solve the tortuous murder of a young man chained to a tree. In the book Brockton also faces a sadistic killer from his past. I will write more about the book soon.

Non-Fiction Reads….

In October, I also read two non-fiction books.Connectography – Mapping the Future of  Global Civilization by Parag Khanna. was the first book. In the book Khanna opened my eyes and mind to the new Connectivity found around the world. Ad how as Americans we are falling behind the world , rather than leading! The other non-fiction book I read was Saving Capitalism by Robert Reich. In Saving Democracy Reich explains the problems we are facing as a result of the rigging of the system by the wealthy against the common man. Reich also provides several methods that may right our Capitalistic ship!

Reading Challenges Update…..

Where do I stand on my various Reading Challenges after reading five books in October. The following table shows the results.

Ed K’s 2016 Reading Challenges TBR Library Total Goal % of Goal
         
2016 Literature Reading Challenge
General Fiction 1 3 3 6 50.00%
Classics 0 0 0 6 0.00%
NY Times Bestseller List 0 0 0 6 0.00%
Award-Winners 1 1 3 6 50.00%
2015 Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge
Rgrandad’s Mysteries 4 20 24 10 240.00%
Women Mystery Book Authors 1 0 2 10 20.00%
2016 Science Fiction /Fantasy Challenge 0 0 1 6 16.67%
2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge 3 6 9 10 90.00%
 
Totals 0 0 0
42 60 70.00%
2016 TBR Pile Challenge 10 25 40.00%

 

As you can see, I suck on most of my challenges! I am only doing well on two challenges. The first on is my  Rgrandad Mysteries challenge, where I have read fourteen books more that my challenge total. The other one is my 2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge. In that challenge I have read 9 out of 10 books.

Bottom Line:

t I will most likely not make my overall goal of 60 books for the year. However I only need to read ten books to read more books than I did in 2015 (51). Hmm, looks like I need to read three more general fiction books, I will meet that challenge. Then if I read three award-winning books I meet that challenge and one more non-fiction to achieve that challenge. By reading those books I will have met four out of eight of my challenges and have read 49 books. That means I only would need to read three more books to beat last years total! I’ll be back later to make a list of proposed reads for November!!