The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Hey look, the character that I was most intrigued by was from Missouri. Ha. Yes. It's Henry. 
Alexa play All Too Well...simply for the line "you keep my old scarf.. and it smells like me" nothing else. just that. 
I think I'm going to have to like...go sit in a chair and stare out of a window and think about this book because like.... I just want to sit and think about the characters because like...You only get Richard's perspective and his views of the people around him.
Everyone is awful. I love it, give me more. 
When you see a glimpse into Henry's motivation, and you're afraid...because you literally just wrote about having a similar feeling....
576 Pages

Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12)

Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12) by Charlaine Harris

Pages: 327

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Dating a vampire has always been complicated, but now that Eric's King, Felipe de Castro, is in town, life has gotten even more complicated for Sookie. There are things going on that she'd rather not know about, but other things she needs explained, just to understand what is going on. Ignorance is bliss, may be true for some people, but for a human, caught up in the politics of the vampire world, it can be deadly. 

Some January Reads

Go Team Venture! The Art and Making of The Venture Bros.

I have loved The Venture Bros. for years and I finally got this companion book for Christmas. It's awesome, has great pictures from the show and insights on each episode.

Pages: 376

 The Sun Down Motel

Ghosts, murder, mystery??!! Everything I love in one book!

Pages: 327

The Kind Worth Killing

Holy crap, twists and turns everywhere!!! I don't even want to reveal too much here since it would take away from all the surprises. Let's just say it's an awesome retelling of Strangers on a Train. 

Pages: 311

The Usual Santas: A Soho Crime Holiday Anthology

I wanted to get into the Christmas spirit with some Christmas stories. These are a little different than the general Christmas cheer type of stories but it was very entertaining nonetheless!

Nine mall Santas must find the imposter among them. An elderly lady seeks peace from her murderously loud neighbors at Christmastime. A young woman receives a mysterious invitation to Christmas dinner with a stranger. Niccolò Machiavelli sets out to save an Italian city. Sherlock Holmes’s one-time nemesis Irene Adler finds herself in an unexpected tangle in Paris while on a routine espionage assignment. Jane Austen searches for the Dowager Duchess of Wilborough’s stolen diamonds. And other adventures that will whisk readers away to Christmases around the globe, from a Korean War POW camp to a Copenhagen refugee squat to the streets of Thailand.

Pages: 352

 

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

This is one that my mom gave me to read, and I actually read it in one sitting. Do I think this one will stand the test of time? No, but it was a good read and I highly recommend it as a pandemic binge read!

Pages: 384

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten

A collection of short stories about Maud, an 88 year old woman who lives in an awesome apartment for free (thanks dad!). She uses her age to her advantage to fool everyone around her, and if someone gets in her way? Maybe they end up dead. Maybe she's the one that kills them. Maybe this book was freaking hilarious and wonderful. :)

Pages: 173

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

At an early morning job fair, a stolen Mercedes rips through the crowd, killing several. The driver is never found, much to Detective Bill Hodges' chagrin. Several months after the attack, the now-retired detective receives a letter from someone identifying themselves as the "perk" and threatening another massacre. Unhappy in retirement, Hodges is instantly alert and ready to put his considerable sleuthing skills back to use. 

Book #1 in the Bill Hodges Trilogy. 437 pages.

The Love Pirate and the Bandit's Son: Murder, Sin, and Scandal in the Shadow of Jesse James by Laura James

The Love Pirate and the Bandit's Son: Murder, Sin, and Scandal in the Shadow of Jesse James by Laura James

When Zeo Zoe Wilkins was murdered, it was the talk of Kansas City. She certainly wouldn't be missed, but that didn't mean people weren't curious about her fate. Especially since the son of Jesse James, Jesse E. James, could somehow be involved.
Zeo came to Jesse seeking a lawyer and he agreed to take on her case. Six weeks after Zeo's murder, Jesse suffered a mental breakdown. Author Laura James seeks to prove that was no coincidence.

320 pages.

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book definitely held my attention. It discusses the serial rapist turned murderer called the Golden State Killer, a term coined by the author of this book. Sometimes I struggled with the rough transitions, but those are allowable and understandable, considering the author died before she finished researching and writing this novel, which meant the job of pulling it together and publishing it fell to others.

Once you settled into a section, the writing evened out. It was just the switch between chapters that sometimes threw me for a loop, like I had to resettled back into the story, or like I was suddenly being presented with a new story. In some cases, I was, since different chapters discuss about different events and victims.

Some part of me both hates and loves reading about a true crime unsolved mystery. It’s frequently uncomfortable, but piecing together clues and considering new angles is always engaging.

The crimes themselves are graphic, but the presentation of the stories and evidence is never gratuitous or over-dramatized. It’s presented as simply and almost clinically as possible, so as not to become anymore upsetting than necessary, while still remaining true and accurate.

Pages: 328

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have put off reading this for years, because I don't tend to enjoy ghost stories. However, this really isn't a ghost story in any typical or traditional kind of format. It lives in it's own unique space, and I was okay with that.

I confess there are some things that happen, particularly at the end, that I wasn't really okay with and didn't feel was necessary. That resulted in the loss of one star, but overall, this was a well-written story with an interesting concept.

Book 280 read in 2018

Pages: 328

River's End by Nora Roberts

River's End By Nora Roberts

Sam Tanner and Julie MacBride had been one of Hollywood's golden couples, but all that is destroyed in a haze of cocaine and murder. With Tanner behind bars and their daughter, Olivia, the one witness to the events of that evening, Olivia is swept away to her grandparents' home in Washington state, where the MacBride family runs a lodge and campground known as River's End. At River's End, Olivia thrives. But then Noah Brady, the son of the cop who had worked the scene that night, arrives with the intention of writing a book about the life and eventual demise of Julie MacBride. With the memories lurking just below the surface, the MacBrides find themselves facing, as Olivia called him all those years ago, "the monster" once again.

443 pages.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

Hannah Swensen is quite busy running her bakery, The Cookie Jar---busy enough she deftly dodges her mother's attempts to marry her off to every eligible bachelor in Lake Eden, Minnesota. But when Ron LaSalle, a much loved delivery man with the Cozy Cow Dairy and by all accounts an all around good guy, is found murdered, Hannah can't resist getting her hands dirty.

Book 1 in the Hannah Swensen series. 431 pages.

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

Very interesting! I had never heard of these events and the conspiracy just got bigger and bigger. Definitely recommend if you are into true crime or history.

Rating: 4/5

Pages: 359

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

Oregon City, 1851. The Commodore has ordered that Hermann Kermit Warm must die and if the Commodore has ordered it, it must be so. And the Commodore has the perfect men in mind for the job---brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters, two assassins known to never miss the mark. Though Eli doesn't share Charlie's love of whiskey and killing, he can't conceive of a life without it. However, Warm and his comrade Morris aren't about to make things easy on the Sisters brothers, and the journey from Oregon City to Sacramento leaves Eli questioning not just his way of living, but his association with the Commodore. 

328 pages.

Deaths on Pleasant Street: The Ghastly Enigma of Colonel Swope and Doctor Hyde by Giles Fowler

Deaths on Pleasant Street: The Ghastly Enigma of Colonel Swope and Doctor Hyde by Giles Fowler

No one in Independence, Missouri found the circumstances to be overly suspicious when the wealthy Swope family, benefactors of Swope Park in Kansas City, fell ill with typhoid in 1909. People began to whisper, however, when three members of the Swope family died. When news broke the matriarch of the family had accused her son-in-law, Dr. Bennett Clark Hyde, of triple homicide, as well as introducing typhoid to the Swope mansion, society and the media couldn't get enough of the juicy story that would become the "trial of the century."

251 pages.

The Villa by Nora Roberts

The Villa by Nora Roberts

Sophia is a proud member of the Giambelli clan and a vital member of the family business---wine. When family matriarch Tereza announces a merger with her husband's winery, MacMillan, Sophia knows she has to keep on her toes. The one thing she didn't count on, however, is Tyler MacMillan, whom she must work closely with to ensure a smooth takeover. Sophia finds herself pleasantly surprised by Tyler, and she finds herself leaning on him more and more as acts of sabotage threaten not just the family business, but the family itself.

486 pages.

The Black Hand: The Epic War Between a Brilliant Detective and the Deadliest Secret Society in American History by Stephan Talty

The Black Hand: The Epic War Between a Brilliant Detective and the Deadliest Secret Society in American History by Stephan Talty

When the children of Italian immigrants were mysteriously kidnapped in the summer of 1903, no one knew quite what to make of it. But as the crime wave grew to include bombings that ripped tenements apart and innocent bystanders gunned down, it was determined no one was safe, even the highest members of New York society, such as the Rockefellers. The perpetrators, it seemed, were everywhere, lurking in the shadows and ready to take action at the slightest provocation. All anyone knew was that those who were responsible left a calling card: the symbol of a black hand. Joseph Petrosino, a dogged detective known as the Italian Sherlock Holmes, was determined to use his all-Italian police squad to root out the problem. Petrosino would devote his life to the cause, even going so far as to follow known members of the Black Hand back to Sicily, in order to avoid an all-out race war that he feared was inevitable.

298 pages.

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book has gorgeous verse, a fast pace, and an interesting premise.

15-year-old Will decides to follow the code that has been passed down in his family for generations, and murder the boy whom he believes shot his older brother. Will tucks a gun into his waistband and gets on the elevator to take the journey towards this choice. But at every floor, someone gets on the elevator who sheds a new light on the choice that he plans to make.

The value of this story is in the journey, so I won't say more, other than that I enjoyed the journey, as much as you enjoy anything that is intense and emotional.

Book 88 read in 2018

Pages: 320

Prayers the Devil Answers by Sharyn McCrumb

Prayers the Devil Answers by Sharyn McCrumb
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Prayers the Devil Answers is inspired by the true story of a female sheriff and the role she played in the last public hanging in Kentucky history. The book is well-researched and includes storylines centering on the Great Depression, Appalachian folklore, and the WPA. I would like to read another book by this author.

353 pages

"If the Seas Catch Fire" by L.A. Witt

This excellent book about two hit men in the Mafia controlled town of Cape Swan, CA, is one of the best I have ever read.  Domenico “Dom” Maisano is the nephew of Corrado Maisano, the head of one of the Mafia families.  He's a "made man" and has few choices in his life as his uncle's hit man, which he has always hated.  When Sergei Andronikov saves him during a beating, Dom pursues a temporary, no-strings relationship with the man before Dom is forced to marry a woman to keep up appearances and appease his uncle.  He thinks Sergei is a stripper but he's actually a contract killer whose goal in life is to wipe out the Mafia families who destroyed his own family when he was a boy.

I cannot praise the writing, story line, and character development enough.  Dom and Sergei have tragic and emotional back stories which allow the reader to understand their motivations for doing what they do.  Full of action, tenderness, suspense, despair, eroticism, fear, thrills, and more, this story will stick with me for a long, long time.  Highly recommended.  451 pages (Kindle edition).