Category: Books-Fiction

Dark Intelligence – Neal Asher

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Dark Intelligence – Transformation Book One – Neal Asher

Rating *****

Dark Intelligence - Neal Asher

 

Several weeks ago I picked up Neal Asher’s latest book Dark Intelligence in the library and read these quotes, first on the back cover.

“What has six arms, a large beak, looks lie a pyramid, has more eyes than you’d expect, and talks nonsense? If you don’t know then 1) you should 2) you haven’t been reading Neal Ashers (see point 1)” – Jon Courtenoy Grimwood, author of The Fallen Blade.

and from David Brin on the front cover

“Asher rocks with XXX adrenaline while delivering a vivid future….”

Well, I couldn’t answer the first question and I haven’t read Neal Asher, so I thought I maybe I should and now I’m glad I did. Dark Intelligence is set in Asher’s Polity Universe. Asher has written 14 books other books set in the same universe. So while the book is Transformation Book One, it could be labeled Polity #15.

The Story

Dark Intelligence begins one hundred years after the war between humans and pradors has ended. Theovold Spear died in that war, he was killed along with his fellow soldiers who had been awaiting rescued by the AI Penny Royal. But when Penny Royal arrived she has gone rogue and slaughtered the soldiers instead of saving them. One hundred years later, Theovold Spear has been resurrected and he wants revenge for that massacre! His plan is to commandeer Penny Royal’s abandoned destroyer and use it to destroy the dark intelligence that is Penny Royal.

Meanwhile, Isobel Santomi runs a successful crime syndicate. Like many she wants it all and to get it she goes to Penny Royal for help! She asked Penny for upgrades to her being, only Penny went far beyond what Isobel wanted and now she is slowly transforming into something the is very powerful, very non-human and well flat-out hideous! Something that only wants to rip and kill!!

When Theovold Spear uses Isobel’s hatred of Penny Royal to help him gain control of the destroyer, and then leaves Isobel and her crew stranded in space., well he really pisses off Isobel. Now out Isobel sets out to hunt down both Spear and Penny Royal!! So off they go Spear chasing Penny Royal, and the ever-transforming Isobel chasing Spear and Penny Royal!!! Can Spear  find and destroy Penny Royal before being caught and destroyed by Isobel!!

My Thoughts About – Dark Intelligence

I marvel at authors who can create different universes, populated by strange aliens and Neal Asher does that with the best of them!! This was the first book by Asher that I have read, and while it was confusing at times, mostly because I am unfamiliar with the Polity Universe, I was totally engrossed by the story. I found the transformation of Isobel to be most fascinating and beautifully described! I have already returned to the Polity Universe, as I started to read Prador Moon a few days ago and I already understand some things, like the augs better!!

Bottom Line: If you enjoy worlds were strange aliens like the crab-like Prador battle humans then you will like Dark Intelligence  and the Polity Universe found in  the works of Neal Asher!! One final quote about the work of Neal Asher…..

“Asher has lit up the sky of science fiction like a new sun” – Tanith Lee

I know that he has re-ignited a passion for science fiction in this old guy……so check him out!!…

Book 29 for 2015 – Book 4 of 12 in my Science Fiction Reading Challenge!

 

Lawrence Block “A Walk Among the Tombstones” Plus…

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Lawrence Block – Mystery Writer’s Grand Master – Born June 24, 1938

 

Lawrence BlockA few weeks ago when we were visiting with Peter, Missy and Zoe, Missy’s mom was looking for a movie to watch. She said to Peter we don’t want A Walk Among the Tombstones because it wasn’t very good. I commented that the books was really good! She looked at me quizzically and said “there’s book” Yeah, I said by the great Lawrence Block. I bring this up today because today is Lawrence Block’s birthday. Block was born in Buffalo, New York on June 24th in 1938.

A Walk Among the Tombstones features one of the mystery genres best characters, Matt Scudder. From Wikipedia

….Block’s most famous creation, the ever-evolving Matthew Scudder, was introduced in 1976’s The Sins of the Fathers as an alcoholic ex-cop working as an unlicensed private investigator in Hell’s Kitchen. Originally published as paperbacks, the early novels are interchangeable; the second and third entries—In the Midst of Death (1976) and Time to Murder and Create (1977)—were written in the opposite order. 1982’s 8 Million Ways to Die (filmed in 1986 by Hal Ashby, with unpopular results) breaks from that trend, concluding with Scudder introducing himself at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

During the 80s and the early 90s I read many of the Matt Scudder books. Looking at the list of Matt Scudder books I think that A Walk Among the Tombstones was the last one I read!! Hope to Die the 15th Matt Scudder book released in 2001 is on my TBR shelf. Maybe it’s time to get back into the series!! Oh, by the way A Walk among the Tombstones was book 10 in the series.

In addition to the Matt Scudder novels, Lawrence Block wrote several other series. My favorite was The Burglar series that feature the lovable Bernie Rhodenbarr There are eleven books in that series and I have again read many of them. The first book Burglars Can’t Be Choosers is also on my TBR pile! Maybe I’ll flip a coin??

His other series feature Evan Tanner, Chip Harrson and Keller. I think one of the Keller books is buried somewhere among my books! LOL!! Block has also written books using nine different pen names!!

Here is a list of the Edgar Awards that Lawrence Block has won.in addition, Block was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 1994.

Edgar Awards
1978, Best Paperback Original, Time to Murder and Create[5]
1983, Best Novel, Eight Million Ways to Die
1985, Best Short Story, “By Dawn’s Early Light”
1991, Best Short Story, “Answers to Soldier”
1992, Best Novel, A Dance at the Slaughterhouse
Best Short Story, “A Blow For Freedom”
1994, Grand Master Award
Best Short Story, “Keller’s Therapy”
1995, Best Novel, A Long Line of Dead Men
1998, Best Short Story, “Keller On the Spot”
1999, Best Short Story, “Looking for David”[6][7][8]
Shamus Awards[edit]
1982, Best Novel, A Stab in the Dark
1983, Best Novel, Eight Million Ways to Die
1985, Best Short Story, “By the Dawn’s Early Light”
1987, Best Novel, When the Sacred Ginmill Closes
1990, Best Novel, Out on the Cutting Edge
1991, Best Novel, A Ticket to the Boneyard
1992, Best Novel, Dance at the Slaughterhouse
1994, Best Novel, The Devil Knows You’re Dead
Best Short Story, “The Merciful Angel of Death”
1995, Best Novel, A Long Line of Dead Men
2002, Lifetime Achievement Award (“The Eye”)
2009, Best Character Award (“The Hammer”) for Matt Scudder

So if you’ve never read any Lawrence Block you should. Here are some……

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Lawrence Block

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Wikipedia
Amazon
Goodreads

The Stranger- Harlan Coben Thrills Us Again!!

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The Stranger – Harlan Coben Book 27 of 2015

 

In 2001, Harlan Coben‘s first stand alone thriller Tell No One was released. I read the paperback version in November of 2002, it was terrific and since then I haven’t missed one of his thrillers! There are few authors, who can take an ordinary person, and turn their world upside-down like Harlan Coben. He does just that in his latest thriller The Stranger.

Adam Price is living the American dream in his wife’s hometown of Cedarfield, NJ (While locales in Coben’s books are typically real, Cedarfield is a fictional town!). . He is a successful attorney with a beautiful wife,Corrine a school teacher. They have two great boys, Ryan and Thomas, who both play lacrosse, while mom serves as the treasurer of the local lacrosse organization. But on the night of the draft and the selection of the traveling team, Adam’s life starts to spiral out of control, when a Stranger approaches him and reveals a startling secret. Two years earlier Corrine had faked a pregnancy! The Stranger tells him “You know you didn’t have to stay with her” Adam eventually confronts Corrine who suddenly leaves her husband and kids telling Adam not to search for her, she needs time to sort everything out! Yeah, like that’s going to happen!! Soon Adam is on a quest to find his wife and put the pieces of his shattered life back together again!!

Adam has all sorts of questions to answer. How did the Stranger know about the pregnancy and why did he tell Adam? And why did Corrine fake the pregnancy in the first place?? And most of all where the hell did she go?? Why did she leave  him, but most importantly how could she leave her boys!!

Harlan Coben’s descriptions of life in the burbs, especially how it is among those whose children compete on traveling soccer or lacrosse teams is spot on. And while there is a certain sameness to his books, a fairly simple incident thrust someone into a life changing situation, he still makes each book exciting and interesting, No one twists and turns his way through a book like Harlan Coben and in The Stranger he certainly does that! Here’s what some others have to say about The Stranger.

 ‘With clever use of technology, convincing characters and a strong emotional heart, you’re effortlessly swept along to a tense and dramatic conclusion. Smart stuff from a classy operator.’ — Deirdre O’Brien SUNDAY MIRROR

‘The master of the twisty psychological thriller is back with another awesomely gripping mystery.’ — Boyd Tonkin HEAT

‘The twists come satisfyingly thick and fast as the plots merge before the tangled web of evens unravels into an enjoyable and somewhat surprising conclusion.’ SUNDAY EXPRESS

So check out The Stranger or any other book by Harlan Coben! You won’t be disappointed!!

Links for Further Explorations of the Works of Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben’s Website
Wikipedia:Harlan Coben
Goodreads
Amazon
Review at NJ.com

P.S. I particularly enjoyed the cameo appearance of an unnamed participant in Adam’s basketball game!!

Mid – June Reading Challenges Update!

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Well we’ve just past the middle of June, so it’s time to check how I’m doing on my Reading Challenges.So far this month I have finished three books. I was only planning on reading one of them this month!

June 2015 Reads
28 Dark Intelligence – Neal Asher Science Fiction Library
27 The Stranger – Harlan Coben Cloak & Dagger Library
26 The Martian – Andy Weir Science Fiction Ebook

 

The books that I was reading at the end of May and planning to finish in June are listed on the table below. As you can see only Dark Intelligence is the only one that I was reading!!  I found Harlan Coben’s latest The Stranger  at the library when I was picking up a book for my daughter and couldn’t pass it up, I figured correctly that it would be a fast read!. The Martian is an ebook that I had requested from the library a long time ago, that became unexpectedly available!! So after finishing the above books, I have to get back into the other four books that I am still reading and see if I can finish them before the end of the month!! I will be posting my reviews of Dark Intelligence and The Stranger shortly! They were both great reads!

Currently Reading at the End of May Challenge From
Dark Intelligence – Neal Asher Science Fiction Library
Wages of Rebellion –Chris Hedges Nonfiction Library
 How to Read the Solar System Nonfiction Library
Who Buries the Dead – C.S. Harris Cloak & Dagger Library
The Matarese Countdown – Robert Ludlum Cloak & Dagger TBR Pile

 

The table below shows where I stand on my reading challenges. Ideally, at the end of this month I would be above 50% on all my challenges and I’m pretty close to that. Right now I am above 50% on two of the challenges and the overall total of books I planned to read! Considering that I am at 29 books at the middle of June and only read 34 all of 2014, I guess I’m not doing too badly!! I am really enjoying the Science Fiction Challenge and will be reading more books in that genre as 2015 continues!! Neal Asher and James C Corey here I come!! Oh my, I just bought Prador Moon the first of the Neal Asher Polity Books!! That does not bode well for completion of maybe one of the books I am currently reading!! Oh well! Too many books, too little time!!

From TBR Pile Buy/Library Total Goal %complete
2015 Nonfiction Reading Challenge 0 4 4 11 36%
2015 Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge 6 10 16 23 70%
2015 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 1 1 2 5 40%
2015 Science Fiction/Fantasy Challenge 2 4 6 12 50%
No Reading Challenge 0 1 1 0 100%
Totals 9 19 29 51 57%
2015 TBR Pile reading challenge 9 25 36%

The Martian – Andy Weir

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The Martian – Andy Weir – Book 27 of 2015 No 4 of Science Fiction Reading Challenge

 

One of my resolutions for 2015 was to read more science fiction. It is a genre that I have read and loved in the past  I have read the classics by authors like Frank Herbert, Arthur C Clarke and Robert Heinlein along with authors like David Brin and Orson Scott Card, but  through the years that amount of SciFi that I read dwindles down to almost nothing. I say almost because I have read several boos by John Scalzi. Anyway, back at the beginning of the year I went looking for new science fiction to read and one book that kept appearing on several of the list of the Best Science Fiction was The Martian Andy Weir’s. The Martian became the 27th book I’ve read in 2015, and the fourth in the science fiction genre. Now I know what everyone has been raving about! The Martian is a terrific read!. It is by far my favorite SciFi read of the year and up there among my favorite overall reads!  My current SciFi read Dark Intelligence by Neal Asher is a close second!

For those of you who like me know little about The Martian, it is a Robinson Crusoe, Tom Hawks Cast Way type tale set on Mars. The Cast Away is Engineer Botanist Mark Watney  who is part of the third manned mission to Mars. After touchdown and setting up their base a violent sandstorm hits the base. The mission is canceled and the astronauts are ordered to leave the planet. As they are making their way to the shuttle craft, Mark is swept away by a 170 km/hr gust of wind and lost. The crew is unable to find him and he is assumed to be dead and buried. The crew reluctantly leave Mars. Only Mark IS alive and here’s what he thinks about his chances of surviving. From the opening paragraphs of The Martian.…..

chapter 1 - The Martian

When I started the book I didn’t;t think that Weir could make Watney’s tale of survival on Mars as compelling and interesting as he did. Watney would have to survive almost 4 years until the return of another manned Mars mission! He faced challenges like getting food to grow on a barren planet and making water without blowing himself up!  He battled everything the planet could trow at him with humor, ingenuity, duct tape, 70s disco music and TV shows!!

Some of my favorite lines from the book include……

“Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped.”

“Actually, I was the very lowest ranked member of the crew. I would only be “in command” if I were the only remaining person.”
What do you know? I’m in command”

And as a Granddad I love this one…

“I can’t wait till I have grandchildren. When I was younger, I had to walk to the rim of a crater. Uphill! In an EVA suit! On Mars, ya little shit! Ya hear me? Mars!”

Bottom Line Rating ***** The Martian is everything that everyone says that it is, a compelling and suspenseful story of survival against incredible odds! One of the themes of the book is the question of whether it wise to save one person at an astronomical cost or to put more lives at risk for one man!

A movie based on the book is set for release in November with Matt Damon starring as Mark Watney, so hurry and go out and read the book. So that, when you see the movie you can say that the movie was good, but the book was better!! You can check out information about the movie here

Links for Further Exploration of The Martian and Andy Weir

Author”s Website
Goodreads: The Martian
Goodreads: Andy Weir

Reading Challenges End of May Update

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Six Books Finished for My Reading Challenges 

So as we come to the end of May it’s time to check in and see how I’m doing on my various Reading Challenges. May was another great reading month. I finished six books that go towards my Reading Challenges and one that doesn’t. The one that doesn’t fall into any of the Reading Challenges is a free Kindle ebook that I read Payback and a Bottle of Merlot – Bria Marche. Hey it was free and worth every penny of it! Cough! Cough! So here are the books and the Reading Challenges that the book falls into…..

May 2015 Reads
26 Bowl of Heaven – Benford & Niven Science Fiction Library
25 Payback and a Bottle of Merlot None Ebook
24 Watching You – Michael Robotham Cloak & Dagger Library
23 Brimstone _Preston & Child Cloak & Dagger TBR Pile
22 Inspector of the Dead – David Morrell Cloak & Dagger Library
21 Dance of Death – Preston & Child Cloak & Dagger TBR Pile
20 What Then Must We Do-Gar Alperowitz Nonfiction Library

 

So after five months I am at almost 50% of the total books that I plan to read for the year! Go Me!  It seems that I need to read more Nonfiction, Science Fiction books to try to catch up with my Cloak & Dagger reads! And maybe I need to read more from my TBR pile!

 

From TBR Pile Buy/Library Total Goal %complete
2015 Nonfiction Reading Challenge 0 4 4 11 36%
2015 Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge 6 9 15 23 65%
2015 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 1 1 2 5 40%
2015 Science Fiction/Fantasy Challenge 2 2 4 12 33%
Totals 9 16 25 51 49%
2015 TBR Pile Challlenge 9 25 36%

 

Actually it looks like I’m doing that with the books that I am currently reading! There’s one science fiction book, two nonfiction books and a Historical Fiction book,but only one is from my TBR pile!. So far I am enjoying all the books that I’m reading this month!

I am enjoying the Neal Asher book Dark Intelligence a lot more than Bowl of Heaven and I don’t know how long it’s been since I read a Robert Ludlum book. Like David Morrell, Ludlum was a staple of my reading in the 80s. The Matarese Countdown is a sequel to The Matarese Circle, which I read way back in the 80s and I certainly only have vague memories of it. So far it’s vintage Ludlum and really good!  Who Buries The Dead is book #10 in the Sebastian St. Cyr series and was released in 2015. And even though, the only other book in the series that I’ve read is book 2, I am still enjoying this one. But I certainly want to go back and see what happened prior to this book! I have many questions like how did Sebastian meet Hero his wife and what happened to the love of his life from When Gods Die??

As for the two nonfiction books I plan to read. I am still moving slowly along with How to Read the Solar System and have just begun the Chris Hedges book, I am not sure how much  am going to like it, because it’s not really what I expected!

Anyone have any comments on any of the books I’m reading or have finished?? I’d be glad to hear what you think!!

Currently Reading Challenge From Page Total %complete
Dark Intelligence – Neal Asher Science Fiction Library 94 402 23%
Wages of Rebellion -Chris Hedges Nonfiction Library 26 226 12%
How to Read the Solar System-Nortth&Abel Nonfiction Library 132 304 43%
Who Buries the Dead – C.S. Harris Historical Fiction Library 70 334 21%
The Matarese Countdown – Robert Ludlum Cloak & Dagger TBR Pile 152 566 27%

Bowl of Heaven-Gregory Benford & Larry Niven

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Bowl of Heaven – Gregory Benford and Larry Niven – (Book 25 of 2015)

 

It took me almost two months to finish Bowl of Heaven the collaborative effort from two of Science Fiction’s best authors Gregory Benford and Larry Niven. The reason is that while I was reading Bowl of Heaven I started several really good books, those boos caught and kept my attention, causing Bowl of Heaven to be continually put aside. The book never really hooked me, I didn’t really care about the main characters and it seemed that most of the story was just,, well quite simply, boring. But by the time I got to page 300 I thought I might as well finish the damn thing.The book is the first of two books the second is titled Shipstar and the question I face now is do I want to go on and read the second book in hopes that it is better than the first one??

Bowl of Heaven

From:gregorybenford.com

The story follows the flight from Earth of the Sunseeker which is on a mission to a planetary system named Glory that is potentially an earth like system. On their way, they encounter a Big Damn Object (BDO)a bowl like structure that has captured a sun and uses that sun to power the bowl. Around the rim of the bowl there are lands that are earth like, with oceans, and continents but on the size of planets. The crew of the Sunseeker decide to investigate the world and sends a shuttle down to the surface. First they have to cut their way into the world, only the wall of the bowl, self repairs leaving part of the landing crew trapped inside the bowl. The remaining members of the crew are then captured by the Bird-like Astronomer Folk. Over the remainder of the book the first crew is on the run trying to avoid being captured or killed. They are led by the crew’s biologist Cliff Kammash. The second crew is led by the love of Cliff’s life Beth Marble also a biologist. Her crew is kept for a while by the Astronomers and analyzed by Memer and Attendant Astute Astronomer. Eventually they too escape and are on the run from the Astronomers!

The first problem that I had with the book was believing that the two crews could survive,outwit and outrun the makers and pilots of this BDO! The second was that I really didn’t care whether the crews got away or not because I didn’t like any of the characters! Throughout most of the book the crew members are either running, eating, sleeping or thinking about sex! It was either boring or annoying, particularly when Cliff slept with a team member Irma, so much for worrying or being faithful to the love of his life, Beth!

I also had a problem wrapping my head around the Astronomer Folk – birdlike creatures who both talk and express themselves through their plummage! I has problems seeing them piloting spacecrafts even though they were described as having finger like claws I just couldn’t picture them, plus I didn’t feel anything for them either bad or good!

Bottomline: I give Bowl of Heaven a 2 out iof 5 rating. I did make it through the book and somehow I am actually contemplating reading the second book! I think it’s just so I can see if I really did waste my time with book one! Hopefully the second book is much better and this book was mostly setting the stage for a terrific conclusion! My worst fear though is that Shipstar is as boring and lackluster as Bowl of Heaven and I have wasted double the time!! Maybe what I do is start Shipstar and if it’s not noticeably better in the first 50 pages walk away from it!! Anybody have any thoughts on either book??

Watching You -Michael Robotham

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Watching You – Michael Robotham (Joseph O’Loughlin #7)

 The Story

As Watching You begins, Marnie Logan has problems her husband Daniel has been missing for a year and times are tough. Her missing husband  Daniel left a pile of gambling debts behind and Patrick Hennessey a mobster wants to collect. So Marnie is forced to take a job at with an escort service to help settle her debt and pay her bills. One night she meets and saves a businessman from committing suicide. She collects no money from the distressed John. Her pimp beats her! The next morning his body is fished out of the river. He has been stabbed and killed by a kitchen knife!

This isn’t the first time that something bad has happened to Marnie and revenge has been taken on the perpetrator! Is Marnie making these people pay or is it someone else? Maybe someone who has been watching over Marnie and her children. Maybe it’s the man who has recently helped her daughter Zoe or her son’s secret friend?? As Joe and Victor Ruiz try to unravel the mystery the situation only gets more cloudy, until the explosive ending!!

The Press for Watching You…

“Robotham slowly, expertly begins tightening the screws…Revelations increase rather than release tension until the last page…It will be a long time before memories of this one retreat back into the shadows.”——Booklist (starred review)

“Full of surprises. Well written and slightly creepy, it will keep readers intrigued to the final page.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“[A] commanding book with an ending that’s sure to give even the most jaded reader a shock”—Publishers Weekly

 

My Take on Watching You

Rating : 4.5 out of 5 

 

Joe O’Loughlin, for me, is one of the most interesting characters in the mystery and thriller genre.Joe’e life is anything but perfect he suffers from Parkinson’s Disease and it is a constant battle for Joe to keep his body doing what he wants. And Joe;s dedication to his patients and their troubles has torn his family apart.

In Watching You Joe is faced with a challenging client in Marnie Logan a seemingly loving mother with a missing husband trying to get her life together. Only problem is that Marnie does experience unexplained “blackouts” sometimes losing substantial periods of time! Could Marnie have anything to do with her pimp’s murder? Joe doesn’t think so but the detective assigned to the case and former detective and Joe’s friend Victor Ruiz are not so sure, and neither is the reader!!

I have read all the books in the series and they are all great especially the series opener Suspect and Book #3 Shatter.. The characters and the story lines are always well above average! So Check out Watching You which I think stands on its own and then go back and read the other books! You won’t be disappointed!!

 

 

May Reading Update…..

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May Another Good Reading Month – Five books finished with a week to go!

 

At he end of April my projected reads for May were projected to be…..::

What Then Shall We Do?
Dance of Death
Bowl of Heaven
A Delicate Truth
The Technologist

As I moved into May, I finished reading What Then Shall We Do? and Dance of Death. At that point, I went to the library and then changed the books. I added: How to Read the Solar System,and The Smoke at Dawn by Jeff Sahaara from the library. Then I added Preston & Child’s Brimstone (the book prior to Dance of Death) and The Devil’s Punchbowl from Greg Isles both from my TBR pile. Additionally, I continued reading Bowl of Heaven from Gregory Benford and Larry Niven. A few days later, Inspector of the Dead by David Morrell, which I requested from the library became available. I zipped through that book and then did the same thing with Brimstone!!

Several days ago, I was looking through the books on my Kindle and I saw Watching You the latest release from Michael Robotham which I had bought a while back and then forgot about, so I started reading it at night before bed. Yesterday I really got caught up in the book and finished it!!

So in total, I have read five books so far in May. The books are shown on the following table.

May 2015 Reads
24 Watching You – Michael Robotham Cloak & Dagger Library
23 Brimstone _Preston & Child Cloak & Dagger TBR Pile
22 Inspector of the Dead Cloak & Dagger Library
21 Dance of Death – Preston & Child Cloak & Dagger TBR Pile
20 What Then Must We Do-Gar Alperowitz Nonfiction Library

 

So as we approach the end of May, I am still reading Bowl of Heaven, and How to Read the Solar System. In addition I started two other books. My current reading  list looks like this…..

Currently Reading Challenge From Page Total %complete
Bowl of Heaven – Benford and Niven Science Fiction Library 300 412 73%
How to Read the Solar System-North&Abel Nonfiction Library 130 304 43%
Who Buries the Dead – C.S. Harris Cloak & Dagger Library 52 334 16%
The Matarese Countdown – Robert Ludlum Cloak & Dagger TBR Pile 64 566 11%

 

I will update my status on the various reading challenges at the end of May and I will finalize my projected reads for June at the time, also.Oh, I will also be writing about Watching You soon!

 

Brimstone – Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

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Brimstone – Preston & Child – Pendergrast and D’Agosta chase down the Devil?

 

Preston & Child’s FBI Agent Pendergrast investigates those curious cases, so when Brimstone opens with art critic Jeremy Grove found burnt to a crisp in a locked and barricaded room in the attic of his mansion in the Hamptons, you knew Pendergrast would be there soon. Grove is found burnt to death from the inside out, amid the smell of brimstone. And next to him is the devil’s hoof print burnt into the floor! Soon the question arises: Had Grove really made a Faustian pack with the devil and he came to collect???

In the hours before his death, Grove called three names. One of those names turns up dead in the same manner as Grove, with the devil’s likeness burnt into his NYC apartment. Then the case really gets exciting!
Soon Pendergrast is out to determine the earthly cause for these murders, before the killer can collect the souls of the last two names on the list! Aiding Pendergrast in his quest, and he is going to need all the help he can get, are Vincent D’Agosta and Laura Hayward ,who have helped Pendergrast on past cases..(Relic and Reliquary) Vincent is now a Sargent in the Southampton police department, while Laura is a Captain in the NYPD.

The quest will take Pendergrast and D’Agosta from the mansions of Southampton, to the townhouses of New York and ultimately to the city of Florence, Italy and the Italian countryside,where four young men may have made that pact with the devil!! While Laura faces a preacher and a newspaper man. And they have NYC residents believing that the end of days are here!

Oh No! – I Read Books Out of Order

Brimstone book five in the Agent Pendergrast I series and the first book to feature Pendergrast’s brother Diogenes. I read this book after I reading Dance of Death, Book 6 in the series. I mistakenly thought that Dance of Death was the first book of three that featured Diogenes.
Anyway,I would recommend that Brimstone be read before reading Death of Dance and The Book of the Dead. As Brimstone does provide background for the various relationships in the books!

Bottom Line: Brimstone was another terrific read from Preston & Child. Easily four plus stars out of 5. Once again I enjoyed all of the wonderful characters especially Pendergast. I think is one of the most interesting and unique characters in the genre. The storyline kept the pages flying by, the suspense mounting, and the authors provided an ending that would have left me starting Dance of Death immediately had I not screwed up!! As it is I can’t wait to start  The Book of the Dead!!