The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is one of Christie's more well-known books, and I think if you're already a fan of the book, you'll enjoy this.
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I'vThe Murder of Roger Ackroyd is one of Christie's more well-known books, and I think if you're already a fan of the book, you'll enjoy this.
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I've already reviewed the book itself, so this is just for the BBC full-cast production. The voice actors bring this story to life in a well-done radio play that includes sound effects and music. Everything remains faithful to the original, but it's all condensed, so you don't really get the buildup to the big reveal that you normally would. In other words, this isn't a substitute for the book, but more like a companion piece for those who have already read it.
Ok, for those of you who (like me) had a hard time getting into the first book in the Kate Daniels series? This is the way to go.Solution Found!
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Ok, for those of you who (like me) had a hard time getting into the first book in the Kate Daniels series? This is the way to go. I've had quite a few people comment on my review of that book saying they had exactly the same problems with it that I did, so I feel like this will be a bit more of a PSA than an actual review.
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This is my first real graphic audio book. I have listened to BBC Radio productions of Agatha Christie, but those are far shorter than the actual books. And I've been listening to Shakespeare's plays done by a full cast for years and years. <--highly recommend! But a full book done by a cast of characters with sound effects thrown in? Nope. Well, now that my cherry has been popped, I can see what I've been missing.
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The embarrassing truth is that I thought these were going to be like that descriptive audio setting on my tv that they have for movies. A lion roars on a logo... I don't know why I thought that in the first place. The obvious answer is that I'm just a ridiculous person. And that's a fair assessment. At any rate, I'm planning on listening to every one of these that I can get my hands on because it made all the difference in the world with Magic Bites. Highly Recommended....more
Isaiah learns quite a few lessons in this one. Poor guy. The hardest of these lessons is never to put the people you love on a pedestal. Because the fallIsaiah learns quite a few lessons in this one. Poor guy. The hardest of these lessons is never to put the people you love on a pedestal. Because the fall is always a killer.
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He's found the owner of the car that killed his brother, but things just aren't adding up. And then in walks the woman he's been in love with forever...his brother's girlfriend. She's a successful lawyer now, and she's asking him to save her little sister - whose gambling problem has landed her in horrible trouble with a loan shark. But that's only the tip of the iceberg. As it turns out, she and her idiot boyfriend broke into her father's home and stole his passwords in the hopes of blackmailing some of his big-money clients. But what they found on that computer was not what they expected.
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Dodson is back and he is just my FAVORITE. He plays the smart-ass Watson to Isaiah's straight-man Holmes, and his character absolutely makes these books 100% better. He's going to be a daddy. And honestly, I felt bad for him at first, but midway through the book you find out his girlfriend's backstory and it. is. worth. it! She's perfect for him. Good luck, sir.
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There is a lot of growth happening in Righteous and some new characters that I'm hoping will be in the stories for the long haul. I can't wait for the next book. Highly Recommended....more
If you don’t talk about your problems, they will eat you alive. Perhaps literally if you live in a Joe Hill novel.
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Willy and Marianne sold their If you don’t talk about your problems, they will eat you alive. Perhaps literally if you live in a Joe Hill novel.
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Willy and Marianne sold their apartment in the city and moved to a farmhouse in Maine after Marianne suffered a miscarriage earlier in the year. Marriane needed to heal. But Will suffered too. He wanted that baby so much. He wanted to be a father so badly. And maybe if he’d had someone to talk to, the wound wouldn’t have festered. And if he hadn’t let it fester, then he might not have let that guy at the country store talk him into taking that creepy old pram home with him. And then he wouldn’t have heard that baby crying…
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But let's face it, their biggest mistake was moving to Maine. Maine is where you go if you want to live in a haunted house with sewers full of clowns, rabid dogs roaming the streets unchecked, and knickknack shops run by the Devil. They should have moved to Florida. At least the alligators aren’t demon-possessed. Then again, no place is perfect.
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Highly Recommended.
This (along with the other stories in the series) is free to Amazon Prime members through Prime Reading....more
I kept seeing that this was Watson and Holmes but fantasy. And maybe it is? But only if Watson is aware that Holmes is a complete crazy person and is a I kept seeing that this was Watson and Holmes but fantasy. And maybe it is? But only if Watson is aware that Holmes is a complete crazy person and is a bit terrified of him (actually, her) as well.
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Ana Dolabra is a wildly eccentric genius who is seemingly on the outs with the governmental police force that she works for, and Dinios Kol is the young man who has been recently assigned to work as her engraver. <-- that's a person who has been genetically modified to remember everything, in case you don't know. There's something sketchy about Din's record at the academy - he sucks for years and then suddenly aces his tests? But as long as Dolabra doesn't ask too many questions, it should be ok.
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Of course there's a murder. A governmental muckety-muck has been murdered by some kind of curse that caused a tree to explode from within him. Not cool. So, Ana is tasked with finding the killer. Soon, Din finds himself pulled into a conspiracy that goes deeper than a simple magical killing and higher into the upper echelons of the government than he would have ever imagined. But nothing is what it seems - not even Ana.
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Ok, fine. It really is Watson and Holmes in a fantasy setting. And it had a nice dose of humor. Basically, just a win-win if you like fantasy & mystery. Recommended....more
The mystery was quite good but I am just not a fan of James Lacey. He seems to only become aware of Agatha in a pThat ending. What. the. hell?
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The mystery was quite good but I am just not a fan of James Lacey. He seems to only become aware of Agatha in a positive way when she is depressed and quiet. Then I looked it up... First published April 1, 1995 <--ok, yeah. loud women were still considered an ick by a lot of the population. I don't know. I'm having a hard time getting behind this James & Agatha thing when he doesn't seem to like Agatha in all her glory. And I also don't like that she has to be somewhat depressed and quiet before he shows any interest. Then again, nobody likes it when someone who smells of desperation keeps knocking on their door. I'm torn. But a big part of me hopes that this next book finds Lacey gone from her life by the end of it.
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The gist of this one is that a group of "ramblers" get together to...ramble about the countryside. And apparently, there are specific spots on English landowners' property that they are legally required to let these folks walk on through. You learn something new every day. Anyway, there's a nasty, aggressive woman who likes to be as obnoxious and confrontational as she can when dealing with the people whose land she's tromping over. But as you might have guessed, this isn't the only area in her life where she likes to cause trouble. She has insulted, threatened, and humiliated almost everyone in her inner circle of Dembley Walkers' group. So. It's not shocking when she ends up coshed over the head with a shovel.
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Whodunnit? Well, read it and find out. But the big twist at the end has nothing to do with who killed a bitchy walker. (view spoiler)[James and Agatha get drunk and have sex. <--finally! And then he asks her to marry him. Just...he decides that he likes having her around and since she's a very generous lover he proposes within a day or so. I'm floored. Pick me up off the floor. He's been running in the opposite direction and actively avoiding her for quite some time now, but all of a sudden he just pops the question! But wait. Agatha is STILL married to Mr. Raisin. Wherever the hell he is now. I'm guessing Agatha will be trying to pull off some bigamy scheme in the next one. lol (hide spoiler)] Not my favorite but here's hoping the rest are better....more
Murderbot, calling himself Rin this time around, decides to help his human friend, Mensah, come up with the evidence she needs to prove a bad corporatMurderbot, calling himself Rin this time around, decides to help his human friend, Mensah, come up with the evidence she needs to prove a bad corporation is bad.
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After being discovered sneaking around on a terraforming facility that had been abandoned by the GrayCris company (<--above mentioned bad corporation), he comes up with a cover story. MB poses as a SecUnit that has been sent in by a human security agent, supposedly to help the group of humans who are checking things out for a new company to take over. And now Rin can move freely through the facility. But someone or something else is already there. And now it looks like Murderbot will have to protect these people for real.
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To make matters worse, and very much against his will (because feelings suck), Murderbot finds himself slowly becoming the unwilling friend of a droid named Miki. Miki's trusting nature is due to the humans around him who care about him and treat him as an equal. This, of course, blows our neurotic sec bot's mind.
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I was surprised at the emotional punch Rogue Protocol packed, and I may or may not have shed a few tears at the end of this one. Highly Recommended.
Kevin R. Free narrates the audiobooks and he is phenomenal. <--if you like that sort of thing...more
Agatha cheats again. You'd think after the quiche debacle she'd have learned her lesson. But no. This time, she's determined to win the Horticultural SoAgatha cheats again. You'd think after the quiche debacle she'd have learned her lesson. But no. This time, she's determined to win the Horticultural Society's best garden contest in Carsely. And if you think she's going to do it with hard work and honesty, you're fooling yourself.
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In an embarrassing turn of events, Agatha books a holiday to (somewhere warm?) because she hears James Lacey is going to be there. He then cancels. Pretty sure he got wind of her plan to stalk him, and who can blame the fellow for that, really? So, when Agatha turns back up at her home, she discovers that a lovely newcomer, Mary Fortune, has snatched up her love interest and is deeply embedded in Cotswold life. Her life. To make matters worse, Mary is a snarky bitch that likes to poke Agatha in her sore spots, and it seems as though she's the only one who notices her obnoxious behavior.
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However, after several of the village's gardens are defaced, followed by a shocking murder, Agatha gets her chance to shine and team up with Lacey again to find the killer.
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This is another fun cozy mystery in the series, but I seriously hope that James Lacey takes a beating to the face in the next book. God, he works my nerves. Recommended....more
I've never seen the movie, but I knewish the plot. Even so, I thought this was very cool. Kind of slTwo US Marshals walk into a looney bin...
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I've never seen the movie, but I knewish the plot. Even so, I thought this was very cool. Kind of slow when it starts out but the pace picks up midway through and the ending is...oh, yeah.
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If you somehow don't know, Shutter Island is about a man who is inwardly dealing with the death of his wife, while on assignment as a US Marshal to find out what happened to a patient who has gone missing from an asylum for the criminally insane. At first, it looks like a locked room mystery, but you're soon aware that our narrator might not be on the island for the reasons he's claiming. Or not just for the reasons he's claiming. Because something about Shutter Island is not right.
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Ok, truthfully? This kind of book isn't my jam. It moved too slowly for me and a lot of the inner monologue about his wife and his time in the army just bored me to tears. I was also bored by all the conversations he had with his partner. Again, this isn't to say the book isn't well-written, just a fair warning to readers who are like me and prefer a bit more action. Now, towards the very end of the book, you get all the thrills you could want out of a psychological thriller. But up till then? Eh.
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Still, this did exactly what it was supposed to and hits you upside the head..hard. Recommended....more
Back again in the head of our anxiety-riddled android.
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This time Murderbot is on a journey to find out what exactly happened in the past, as thBack again in the head of our anxiety-riddled android.
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This time Murderbot is on a journey to find out what exactly happened in the past, as the memory wipe won't let him access why he went crazy and killed all of his clients in the mining camp. What caused the malfunction?
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Along the way, he makes tentative friends with a powerful cargo ship he dubs ART (Asshole Research Transport). After binge-watching several seasons of the soapy Sanctuary Moon together while on the way to the scene of the massacre, ART decides he wants to be part of his new friend's adventure and decides to help in some very unique ways. Murderbot also gets his first clients as a free agent, and they bring their own set of interesting problems, not the least of which are their needs for all of these awkward emotional...interactions.
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I'm hooked! The Murderbot Diaries is quickly turning into a comfort read, and that's not something I thought I'd never say about a sci-fi series. But these are way more fun than they have any right to be. Highly Recommended....more
Just when I thought she was perfect, Agatha levels up to crazy cat lady.
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In my head, all cozy mystery lovers are owned by at least one cat. PreJust when I thought she was perfect, Agatha levels up to crazy cat lady.
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In my head, all cozy mystery lovers are owned by at least one cat. Preferably more. And Agatha's prickly demeanor, but secret desire to be liked (perhaps loved?), is the epitome of what makes cats the perfect mirror, and the perfect pets, for a lot of people.
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Ok, this time around she sets off to solve the "murder" of the local vet. He was a hottie who had all the middle-aged female population popping into his local surgery just to make sure their beloved animal wasn't suffering from allergies or anxiety. Turns out, he's a bit of a smarmy ladies' man and Agatha ends up on the receiving end of one of his attempts to pilfer money.
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So when he's found dead in what seems to be a freak accident, Agatha only investigates it in order to spend time with her handsome but standoffish next-door neighbor. But when a few more bodies turn up, it seems like there might be something to this case after all.
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The mystery (like all cozy mysteries) is secondary to the characters here. And I personally loved Agatha in this one. She's got a lot of vulnerability in the way she keeps getting her hopes up with neighbor-man, only to have them dashed on the rocks. And I loveloveloved the ending. (view spoiler)[ The two former rivals for James Lacey's attention, Freda & Agatha drunkenly singing and having a girl's night out. Perfection. (hide spoiler)]
Loved it. A science fiction novella about a protection robot that has managed to hack itself and escape its built-in control governor. It's basically aLoved it. A science fiction novella about a protection robot that has managed to hack itself and escape its built-in control governor. It's basically about sentient AI and what makes us human...blah, blah, blah. But instead of being your normal draggy sci-fi morality tale, this little sucker is a zippy & humorous story that leaves you wanting more. And thankfully, there are more of these!
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I was expecting a lot more killing from a book in The Murderbot Diaries but the security android in this is actually quite chill, which is a good thing for all of the humans.
Through one of those odd coincidences in life, I actually made my first quiche while I was listening to this book. It killed no one. <--very happy witThrough one of those odd coincidences in life, I actually made my first quiche while I was listening to this book. It killed no one. <--very happy with that result, tbh
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I've heard of Agatha Raisin but didn't realize she was such a phenomenon in the cozy mystery world. 30 something books, I think? This makes me almost as happy as my not-deadly quiche because a new (to me) series like this is a heady find.
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So, Agatha Raisin is a woman who pulled herself up by the bootstraps and bullied her way into becoming a successful PR agent, eventually owning a successful PR firm. But her secret desire was to live in a village in the Cotswolds - you find out why later. So her entire life has led her to this point, and now with the sale of her firm, she's headed into an early retirement in her early 50s.
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Not gonna lie, a big draw for me is seeing someone in my age group do shit other than clipping coupons or knitting - not that there's anything wrong with either of those things! It's just that it seems as though it's what we're expected to do. And that image of a frumpy middle-ager whose daily highlight is to wander through the grocery aisles and harass stockers isn't something I want to marinate in.
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The mystery is secondary but fun and introduces you to our petty, insecure, abrasive heroine. You'll love her, I swear. Or at least, I did. I recognized a lot of her inner thoughts and fears...and annoyances. Because there comes a time in all women's lives when we no longer give the same amount of fucks, no matter how much we desperately want to, and Agatha is our spirit animal. Recommended....more
A young Sherlockish genius solves the crimes in LA that fall through the cracks.
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Isaiah Quintabe makes a name for himself helping people in his A young Sherlockish genius solves the crimes in LA that fall through the cracks.
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Isaiah Quintabe makes a name for himself helping people in his neighborhood, and the subsequent word of mouth leads to a high-profile rapper calling him in to figure out who is trying to kill him. And while the crime itself is interesting, it's really Isaiah himself you end up wanting to know more about. He's an orphan who was being raised by his doting older brother until a terrible hit-and-run took his life. Still in high school, and unwilling to enter foster care, Isaiah managed to stay under the radar and out of the system. But how he did it haunts him.
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A lot of time has passed and a now-grown Isaiah is on a mission to do some good and pay back a debt he believes he owes to society in general and one person in particular. Mainly, he does what he does because he's a genuinely good person at heart. Fortunately, he has the street smarts that let him read the room to avoid getting conned and a genius-level intellect that allows him to piece things together with unnerving accuracy.
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His one-time roommate and current frenemy, Dodson, is the perfect sidekick for the straight-laced Isaiah. He's oily but loveable. Straddling the line like only a semi-criminal entrepreneur can, and somehow you still like him. A shady-as-hell Watson, if you will. There's a lot to unpack in that relationship. Now that they're both older, Dodson brings a big money case to Isaiah (for a small cut of the fee, of course) and decides that he's going to stick around and help him solve it.
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I was entertained from start to finish. Zero complaints. Sullivan Jones did an amazing job as the narrator of the audiobook. Highly Recommended....more
Dear god, this seems so controversial! I had no idea this was such a love-it-or-hate-it book when I downloaded it. I had just kind of seen the cover abDear god, this seems so controversial! I had no idea this was such a love-it-or-hate-it book when I downloaded it. I had just kind of seen the cover about the place and it was one of the few audiobooks I could snag without a wait.
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So. It was cute in that Hallmark movie/Lifetime romance kind of way. You know what I mean? Like, the dialogue isn't all that good but the couple is cute and you want to see if the lady who bakes Christmas cookies for a living will be able to free the spirit of the hot ghost who's trapped in the inn she's staying in for the duration of her time in her hometown as she visits her overbearing but well-meaning mother? I KNOW I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE SITTING ON MY COUCH WITH A GLASS OF WINE AND A BAG OF FUNYUNS WATCHING THIS SHIT.
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Also, when I saw villain in the title, I just assumed it was like a superhero villain. Not so! What we have here is more of a fairytale villain. Except he's less like that Skeltor-looking guy from The Black Cauldron and more like Hiddelson's Loki. So even though he's evil, he's the hot version of evil, and I think we can all pull out our bag of Funyuns, pop the cork on that $8 bottle of Members Mark wine, and settle into our seats for that one.
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The short version? Our heroine needs a job to support her sick father and little sister, and due to plot, she runs into the terrifying villain known as THE VILLAIN whilst rambling in the woods. Naturally, he offers her a job. <--why else are we here, people? Her special brand of optimism, humor, and inability to fear him turns his crusty heart to mush, and away we go on our journey into an adorable little romance. And honestly, the plot is cute, too. There's a whole evil castle filled with interesting minions, while the good guys in this are pretty sketchy and suspect. But make no mistake, this is pretty B-movie when it comes to the writing. I just happen to like cheesy romance movies.
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As for the audiobook, the narration is terrible. It. is. bad. I will say that the narrator does the voices well, especially the male voices (not all female narrators can do that) but all the descriptive dialogue is stilted as hell. This is the second narrator that I've noticed doing this exact. same. thing. and I'm now wondering if this is something they're being told to do? It sounds like an especially bad version of AI is reading all the non-speaking parts. I DNF'd the (the other book) because it was so off-putting, so it says something about the cuteness of the story that I hung in there for this.
I didn't think I'd like this, but I did. This was a random grab I made because I was out of reading material and I needed something to tide me over. HoI didn't think I'd like this, but I did. This was a random grab I made because I was out of reading material and I needed something to tide me over. Honestly, I was inwardly cringing because I thought this had a 50% chance of being one of those YA myth romances that are chock full of squicky cliches about clumsy yet unintentionally sexy heroines, and copy and paste phrasing about dark looks, chiseled jawlines, & flutterings in random places. It didn't. And my happiness, much like the Grinch's heart, grew a bit that day.
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McNamara retold Psyche & Eros by mashing up a lot of characters and reworking the myths to fit her story. That's fine with me. If you're a stickler for retellings that stick close to the originals, you may end up pissed off. So, what I'm trying to say is that depending on how you approach this book and/or personal preferences? Your mileage may vary.
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Alright. The skinny gist is that you have this princess (Psyche) who was prophesied to slay a monster. And then you have this elemental god of Desire (Eros) who was around before the Olympians. Right away, a lot of you are seeing how this doesn't exactly track with the original. And yet... Spoilery things happen and Eros and Psyche end up "married" and living in his magical seaside house, never laying eyes on each other due to a curse. The curse goes into effect when Psyche does her curiosity killed the cat routine, flipping on the light switch to make sure she's not married to some kind of monster, and the lovers are parted forever. OR ARE THEY?
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I liked the story McNamara told, but that may be because these myths are typically a tad rapey & misogynistic, and given a straight-up retelling, not likely to find an audience outside of dark romance fans. So, I think I tend to give authors a wide berth to change things and make them more palatable to a larger swath of modern readers. It's always fun to go back and read the original tales, though. And maybe some readers who are new to these stories will find them because of authors like this. Recommended with stipulations. <--Goodreader, know thyself...more
Wow. Ok, so I kind of waffled between being bored with all of the tedious police shit and just simply disliking Renee because she was kind of an assholWow. Ok, so I kind of waffled between being bored with all of the tedious police shit and just simply disliking Renee because she was kind of an asshole.
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I thought there was something spunky about her in the last book, but in this one, she just came off as judgy and a stickler for "rules". Bosch, who I also don't particularly like at this point, seemed more sympathetic. And that's never a good thing when you like a side character more than a main character. And even worse than that, you don't even really like that side character all that much.
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Basically, I just don't think I like Connelly's version of cops. I mean, I've never been crazy about cop stories in general, but I was hoping that Connelly would make them somehow seem more sympathetic to me, not like a bunch of robot psychos. Broken, weird, and even mean characters can be amazing, but Renee simply isn't interesting in this story. She sort of marinates in her own righteous juices, doing what she wants regardless of what is legal, but looking down on anyone else who does the same. She reminds me a lot of Mickey Haller's wife in the Lincoln Lawyer series, and it makes me wonder if Connelly just doesn't know how to write strong female characters that aren't absolutely off-putting.
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By the end of this, I was just done with her, and the last few pages just solidified it for me. (view spoiler)[So spoilery things happen and they find the serial killer. Renee leaves the scene at Bosch's urging to protect her badge, because she did some illegal stuff to find out whether or not she was on the right track. She was. And now Bosch plans to gets a confession from the guy using even more illegal means. He does. BUT. Bosch is pissed because this serial killer who is responsible for torturing, raping, and killing whoknowshowmany women that he grabbed off the streets (most of whom won't even be reported as missing persons) is sitting in a warehouse all tied up and waiting to be arrested with his flimsy tape-recorded "evidence" that any attorney could get thrown out. And so he calls one of the missing girl's fathers - a guy who has "connections" and isn't afraid to fuck this guy up and put him in an acid bath afterward. He calls that guy and lets him know who he caught. THEN. Then he grows some kind of a weird conscience and calls the police, telling them to hurry up and snag this guy. Which only denies the father his daughter's vengeance. Let me say right now that if a serial killer gets me someday, I am 100% on board with vengeance in my name, ok? Do it. Then Renee gets all mad when she finds out what Bosch almost let happen to the bad guy. What? (hide spoiler)] I don't think I like Renee anymore. And due to how bored I was for a lot of this, I just don't think I'm going to grab the next book anytime soon....more
DNF 20% The narration is terrible. Sounded like Google text to speech. I tried and had to quit. Then I tried again. Quit again. Tried a third time. But nDNF 20% The narration is terrible. Sounded like Google text to speech. I tried and had to quit. Then I tried again. Quit again. Tried a third time. But no. This was just terrible narration. TERRIBLE. I'm going to avoid this narrator (P.J. Ochlan) like the plague from here on out.
I'm going to check out the physical book and see how that goes....more
3.5 stars...inching close to 4? I wasn't even really sure I was going to finish this at first. Cop stories aren't my jam. I stopped and started a few tim3.5 stars...inching close to 4? I wasn't even really sure I was going to finish this at first. Cop stories aren't my jam. I stopped and started a few times, to be honest. But by the time we got to the halfway mark, I was all in. And when it was over, I put the next book in the series on hold.
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The skinny gist is that Renee Ballard was bumped down to the Late Show (night shift) because she reported her superior for sexual harassment, and then her partner (the only witness) refused to back her up. Still dedicated to the cause, she's found a case that she desperately wants to close - a transgender prostitute who was nearly beaten to death after what looks to be days of torture. Her new partner, whose wife is dying, wants nothing to do with any of it as he only cares about being home during the day to take care of his spouse. Fair. You certainly don't hate the guy.
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Ok. So it starts off kind of slow but then the characters and the plot begin building into something a bit more special. I ended up liking this and I'm hoping it turns into my new go-to series....more
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