Category: Books-Fiction

The Lazarus War::Artefact by Jamie Sawyer-A Fantastic Ride!

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The Lazarus War Artefact - Jamie Sawyer

Originally posted on January 18, 2017. Updated October 2025 with new links, images, and reflections.

The Background

Reading the Lazarus War :Atefact was a return to the years when I read a lot of Science Fiction. Here’s how I tried to get back……

Back in the 70s and early 80s I read a fair amount of science fiction. I read several books by Robert Heinlein, some Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert, James P Hogan, Orson Scott Card and others.

Since then I’ve read the odd science fiction book here and there.  Among my favorites were the books of John Scalzi,, particularly the Old Man’s War series! In 2015  I added a Science Fiction Challenge to my other Reading Challenges. My goal was to read 12 science fiction books. I made it 3/4 of the way there, reading 9 books. Last year I reduced the number of sci-fi books to 6 i guess I figured I could make that goal easily! Wrong! I only read 1 book!

Anyway, this year I raised the goal back to 12 books. I know I already have several sci-fi books on the Kindle that I want to read! The whole point of the opening is that I have already matched last years total of sci-fi books read! The fourth book read for 2017 is The Lazarus War: Artefact  by Jamie Sawyer. And I know I  will surpass my 2017 sci-fi reads because I can’t wait to read The Lazarus War:Legion book two in the series!!

The Lazarus War: Artefact

The Lazarus War:Artefact  is just what  Jack Campbell, author of the Lost Fleet novels calls it

“a gripping read that moves at warp speed.”  

The lead character in the story is Captain Conrad Harris who leads a four-person team of simulants into battle against The Krell a fearsome and deadly alien race.

After returning from another mission where their simulant bodies die, Harris and his crew are sent on a deadly mission into the maelstrom, home of the Krell. Their mission is to find and rescue a research team that the Alliance has not had contact with for over a year! The research team was sent to the planet Helios to study a strange Artefact. The Artefact is huge monolithic structure on the planet’s surface that seems to have a strange effect on the Krell. It draws them to it like a month to a flame. But yet seems to drive them crazy!

The mission turns deadly when the Krell destroy the ship transporting Harris’ and his crew. Harris and his crew  survive, making it to the planet.Now they face the long odds of saving the research team and getting off of the planet without being killed by the Krell! In addition, the Artefact may provide Harris a key to finding the love of his life, who was lost in the Maelstrom!!

Bottom-Line 

The Lazarus War: Artefact was a five-star book for me!! It has everything I love in a science fiction book. Artefact is fast-paced action-packed story, with deadly aliens and lots of questions to be answered.  What is the purpose of the Artefact?  Why did the research center lose touch with the Alliance? And most importantly how the hell will they get off of Helios alive?

I also enjoyed the simulant technology. Captain Harris and his crew transfer from their real bodies to their enhanced bigger and more powerful simulant bodies to fight the Krell. Their real bodies remain suspended in a liquid on their ship.The squad members feel themselves die when their simulants are killed. But they are then extracted back into their real bodies and live to fight again.Because he has died and been resurrected so many times, Conrad Harris has earned the nickname Lazarus .

In an interview included in the back of the novel Sawyer describes the simulants as an extension of our current drone warfare.  Sawyer is intrigues by the fact that by day pilots located in Colorado are fighting wars in countries that they may have never set foot in. Then they return to their home at night  and lead a normal life.

So summarizing I enjoyed everything about Artefact. The fast paced action packed story, the main characters and the interplay between Harris and his squad. Additionally, the story left you wanting more!

I’ll leave you with the words of Neil Asher another Sci-Fi writer whose work I have enjoyed over the last couple of years….

“Alien biomechs… terrorism, subterfuge and traitors…starshipssporting particle beam weapons,  railguns the size of skyscapers. laser batteries, missles. This dear readers is good stuff!

Update: I confess The Lazarus War Book : Two:Legion has been on my TBR shelves since around the time I wrote this post. Maybe it’s time to read it and other books by Jamie Sawyer Ya’Think!

 

Links
Hachette Book Group
Goodreads
Amazon

Fantastic Fiction

About – Jamie Sawyer

Jamie Sawyer was born in 1979 in Newbury, Berkshire. He studied law at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, acquiring a master’s degree in human rights and surveillance law. Jamie is a full-time barrister, practising in criminal law. When he isn’t working in law or writing, Jamie enjoys spending time with his family in Essex. He is an enthusiastic reader of all types of SF, especially classic authors such as Heinlein and Haldeman.More

 

 

The Killing Kind – Chris Holm – 2016 Anthony Winner!

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The Killing Kind – Michael Hendricks #1 – Chris Holm (Book 3 0f 2016)

 

One of the sub-challenges of my 2017 Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge is to read  twelve books written by authors whose work I have never read.The first of those books and the third overall book read in 2017 is The Killing Kind by Chris Holm.

The Killing Kind is the first novel in Holm’s Michael Hendricks series. Hendricks is a hitman with a twist. He hits hitmen before they can complete their hit. Michael contacts the target of the hit and offers to save the target for a fee. Usually around ten times what the cost of the hit. This action helps ease Hendricks’ mind, because even though he kills for a living he is only killing killers!!

The only problem is that the people who are hiring the hitmen are losing not only hitmen, but the target is still alive and knows there is a price on his head!! So they take action and hire a hitman to take care of Hendricks! And he is one mean son of a bitch!! But he is not the only one out to get Hendricks.

Special Agent Charlotte Thompson of the FBI is also on his trail. Because Hendricks is so good at not leaving any clues at the scene of his hits, as to his identity, Charlotte has labeled him the “Ghost”  With both these people on his tail, Hendricks’ job just got a whole lot deadlier!!

Hendricks does what he does well because, he was once a covert operative for a false-flag unit of the US military, .But he left his old life behind when a mission in Afghanistan went south. There was only one known survivor and it wasn’t Michael.  Since the mission was off the books, Michael just let the world think he was dead., including his beloved fiancée

The only person who knows Micheal is alive is the sole survivor of the mission Lester. Myles. Lester now runs The Bait Shop a bar in Portland, Maine. In the failed mission, Lester lost his legs and now is confined to a wheelchair. .But he is a computer wiz and Michael’s right-hand man. They work well together to make Michael the success he is.

Praise for The Killing Kind

 

THE KILLING KIND, has garnered a lot of praise. It was named a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a Boston Globe Best Book of 2015, and Strand Magazine’s #1 Book of 2015.  In addition it  was also nominated for a Barry, a Lefty, and a Macavity. Finally, I decided to read it because I saw in Mystery Scene Magazine that it won the 2016 Anthony Award for Best Novel!!

Final Thoughts……

Overall, The Killing Kind was a four-star out of five book for me. With every thing that he has gone through Hendricks is a character you can root for. I thought that the story line was engaging and keep the pages flying by. There really wasn’t any mystery in the story, but Holm built the suspense and tension throughout the book. Then it all exploded in the last few pages!!

I for one will be checking out Red Right Hand book two in the series! I just placed a request for the book at my library!! So Check out both of the books!!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Chris Holm

Authors’ Website
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon
Goodreads

In the Midst of Death – Matthew Scudder #3 – Lawrence Block

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Book 2  of 2017 – A Return to the World of Matthew Scudder….thanks to Lawrence Block

 

One of my Reading Challenges for 2017 is to catch up on a few of the mystery and thriller series that I am behind on. The series that I had in mind include: Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series, Steve Berry’s Cotton Malone  or maybe Alex Berenson’s John Wells series. What I didn’t envision was going back to a series whose last book I read in, oh, 1994!  Anyway, that’s what I did this week when I read In the Midst of Death – book number 3 in Lawrence Block’s Matt Scudder series. I really didn’t set out to read the book. It just happened to be sitting out on a pile of books in the basement, when I was looking for something. Anyway, I picked it up, and didn’t put it down until I finished it!  Lucky for me it was only 246 pages long!!!

Now when I stopped reading the Matt Scudder books, I didn’t stop reading books by Lawrence Block. What I did was switch series and read his Bernie Rhodenbarr series, The Burglar who….. These books had a lot lighter reading than the Matt Scudder books. They were fun! Anyway I read seven of those books up until book 9 The Burglar in the Rye published in 1998.checking with Goodreads I see  that there are three more books in the series. Hmm, maybe I wll come back to that series!!

Matthew Scudder Books I’ve Read

Anyway back to Matthew Scudder. I started to read that series in 1988. Good God! almost 30 years ago!  The first book I read was When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes, book number six in the series.Somehow then  I missed book  7 Out on the Cutting Edge and next read books 8 and 9  A Ticket to the Boneyard and A Dance at the Slaughterhouse, respectively. Cheery titles, eh?  I guess after those I went for the lighter  stuff!!

In The Midst of Death 

From Amazon:

Bad cop Jerry Broadfield didn’t make any friends on the force when he volunteered to squeal to an ambitious d.a. about police corruption. Now he’saccused of murdering a call girl. Matthew Scudder doesn’t think Broadfield’s a killer, but the cops aren’t about to help the unlicensed p.i. prove it — and they may do a lot worse than just get in his way. Read More

My Thoughts on In the Midst of Death

I really enjoyed this book and am now harboring thoughts of re-entering the world of Matthew Scudder. Which is the gritty side of New York City. Matthew is a an ex-cop. He seen life at it worst and for many years used alcohol to get him through it. It’s not until book #5 in the series  Eight Million Ways to Die that Matthew comes to terms with his alcoholism. Matthew is a flawed man but he sees his flaws  and tries to make amends.

Overall the pace of the book was good. The story line never dragged or gave you a reason to put it down. The plot had enough twists and turns  to keep you guessing as to who the murderer was. And as I’ve already said Matt and the other characters are terrific!

Lawrence Block Thoughts on Series Characters in Mystery Scene Magazine

In the holiday 2016 issue of Mystery Scene Magazine. Lawrence Block wrote an article titled “Some Thoughts on Series Characters”. In the article Block compares the characters of Bernie Rhodenbarr and  Matthew Scudder. Her describes the Bernie Rhodenbarr series as a static series.

“Both Bernie and the private universe he inhabits stay essentially the same forever. i’ve never been specific about his age., but he is somewhere in his mid-30s in the first book . Burglars Can’t Be Choosers, first published in 1977 – and he is the same age almost 40 years later.

Bernie doesn’t age – and neither does he change. He’s not stuck in 1977, his home town of New York is up to date in whtever book you encounter him, and he has to be concerned about security cameras and high-tech locks, but he still leads the same life, earns the same unlawful living and has the same doomed relationships with women.”

“…..Matthew Scudder, on the other hand, has aged in real time from one book to the next. . That was never my intention when I began writing about him. I really didn’t give it much thought. but I assumed he’d go on drinking at Jimmy Armstrong’s Saloon as long as his liver held out.

But I discovered he had to age and he had to change. Unlike Bernie Rhodenbarr, Matthew Scudder lived in a far more realistic universe,  and the books I was writing about him hewed to a more realistic line. How could  he fail to be affected by the  experiences he had in his previous adventure?”- From Mystery Scene Magazine Holiday 2016 p 28

Block goes on ti o discuss how in Book 4 (next up for This Man?) A Stab in the Dark. Matthew finds that his alcoholism was becoming more of a problem and  ends with Matthew walking in, and then quickly leaving an AA meeting.

So I know that most of the series I read are not static. The characters change and evolve and that’s what I love about  series. Joe Pickett and his family are not the same family that I met in Open Season  sixteen  books ago!  Nor  is Cork O-Connor and his family. Now Stephanie Plum I don’t know about!

How about anyone else? Have your favorite characters evolved or are they static?

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Lawrence Block

 

Author’s Website
Facebook
Twitter
Amazon
Goodreads

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The Critic – Enzo Files # 2 – Peter May

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The Critic – (Enzo Files #2) Another Winner from Peter May

 

So over the last few days I’ve spent a lot of time looking forward to what I want to read and back at what I’ve read. What I have actually missed though is to write about the book that I just finished. Actually, I read the majority of the book in 2016, but I didn’t finish it until New Year’s Day! So it is Book #1 of 2017!  Anyway the book was The Critic by Peter May. It is the second book in May’s Enzo Files series featuring Scottish exile and former forensic specialist Enzo Macleod.

i first became acquainted with the writing of Peter May back in 2006 when I read Firestarter the first book in May’s China Thriller series. While the book was a great read, somehow I have never read any of the other books in the series. A few years ago (wow – looking back at my Goodreads bookshelf I see it was 2012) I saw  The Black House at the library, remembering that I liked Firestarter, I
checked it out and I have been a Peter May fan ever since. The Black House Trilogy was great! In 2016 I read four Peter May books. The first three were stand alones, Entry Island, Coffin Road and Runaway. They too were all terrific reads! The fourth was my first Enzo MacLeod mystery. It is also the first book I finished in 2017. All I can say, keep’em coming Mr May!!

About The Critic – Enzo Files #2

 

In this episode, Enzo travels to the small little known wine-making region of Gaillic in southwestern France. His mission is to solve cold case murder. Three years earlier the world’s number one wine critic, Gil Petty, who disappeared while on a tour of the area. His body was found three years ago, strung up like a scarecrow in among the vines of the vineyard. His body has been preserved in wine before being strung up. Petty’s influence was very  powerful. And one of his reviews could make or break a winery. Do someone kill him to avoid a bad review? Or is it something far deeper?

My Thoughts About The Book

 

This book was a fast and enjoyable read for me. While I didn’t think it had the same power as any of the other May books that I’ve read, it was still good. I liked Enzo MacLeod and thought he was a lot like another forensic investigator Bill Brockton of the Body Farm series.He even had a graduate assistant, His is Nicole and Brockton’s is Miranda. Both have lost their wives and now have trouble with the ladies in their lives!  and I can see Bill enjoying the vino just about as much as Enzo .So if you like The Body Farm books check out this series!!

I also like it when come away from a book with a little more knowledge than when I started. In this book that knowledge came from the discussions of wine-making. carbonic gases play a big part in the story. Also the discussions on wine-tasting was interesting. I am not a wine drinker I didn’t know so many tastes and smells! Finally, it was interesting that wines differ because of the soils and the overall environment, (i.e what side of hillsides) where the grapes are grown. Therefore an analysis of minerals found in the soil could be used in  determining where the grapes that the wine was made from came from!!

Final Rating

All in all, this book was a solid 3.75 out of 5, not quite a 4 star book. And that may be because I am comparing it to other books by Peter May. I will certainly be checking out more of the books that chronicle the adventures of Enzo  MacLeod!

Links for the Further Exploration of the Novels of Peter May

Author’s Website
Goodreads
Amazon

Thoughts about Books Returned to the Library

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Two Books Go Back to the Library Unread, Replaced by Two of My Proposed January Reads!

 

Ok, so who amongst you has ever  encountered this problem. It is actually something that happens to me quite often. You go to the library, either to pick something up or return something. While you’re there you know you have to look through the new releases shelves. Of course , as you scan the books several look interesting and maybe even a book you had seen, say in a book store . So you end up leaving the library with not only the books you came for but a few that you really didn’t need! Yes I always think I can read just a little bit more than I can!!

Anyway that happened to me just a few weeks ago and now a couple of the books that I thought I would read and would still like to read have to go back! The main reason is that two days ago, I requested to other books from the library.And those two books are two of the five books I plan to read this month!! They are The Killing Kind by Chris Holm and Ruler of the Night by David Morrell.

I decided to return  two books of the many books that I have checked out.. But, that I will still leave four books checked out, that I don;t plan to read in January, Yikes! Anyway, rather than just taking the books back, I thought I would write a little about each one and maybe that will help keep them fresh in my mind! So that next time there is a lull in my reading, I can check them out again!!

The Returned Books…..added to my Goodreads to Read Shelf

 

Prisoners of Geography – Ten Maps that Explain Everything about the World – Tim Marshall

Seems like something our new President should read, eh?? From Goodreads…..

All leaders are constrained by geography. Their choices are limited by mountains, rivers, seas and concrete. Yes, to follow world events you need to understand people, ideas and movements – but if you don’t know geography, you’ll never have the full picture.

If you’ve ever wondered why Putin is so obsessed with Crimea, why the USA was destined to become a global superpower, or why China’s power base continues to expand ever outwards, the answers are all here. Read More

Hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t take this one back?? No you made up your mind take it back, mark it as a March read!!

Custer’s Trials – A Life on the Frontier of a New America – T.J. Stile

I grew up watching westerns on TV. I guess that’s one reason that I’ve always loved reading about the Indian Wars. And when I do read about the Indian Wars I always root for the Indians, but somehow they never win. Except for that one time against Custer!  Custer always seemed like that guy you always wanted to root against. So maybe this book will change my opinion of Custer……I doubt it!.

From the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner, a brilliant new biography of Gen. George Armstrong Custer that radically changes our view of the man and his turbulent times.

In this magisterial biography, T. J. Stiles paints a portrait of Custer both deeply personal and sweeping in scope, proving how much of Custer’s legacy has been ignored. He demolishes Custer’s historical caricature, revealing a volatile, contradictory, intense person—capable yet insecure, intelligent yet bigoted, passionate yet self-destructive, a romantic individualist at odds with the institution of the military (he was court-martialed twice in six years). Read More

Another books I should probably keep. Ok, I just put both of the books on my To Read bookshelf at Goodreads. I never do that. Maybe that’s something that I should do from now on, to keep the books fresh in my mind!

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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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

  By

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!!