Book-Review_Dont-Wake-Up

Don’t Wake Up

by

Liz Lawler

Don’t Wake Up was my first Liz Lawler book and won’t be my last.  Set in and around a hospital and its staff, Don’t Wake Up is about an attack Dr Alex Taylor claims happened to her in her hospital’s car park.

Alex is a well-respected doctor who works in the emergency department.  However, her recount of what happened has her colleagues shaking their heads in disbelief.  The police, called in to investigate, generally feel the same.

The words ‘chilling’, ‘psychological’ and ‘thriller’ are used to describe Don’t Wake Up.  Chilling and psychological it is.  A thriller it is not; at least not by my (and Google’s) definition of the genre.  During the past twelve months I have reads quite a few books which proclaim thriller status, however, only one or two have been, by definition thrillers.  I believe Don’t Wake Up to be a very good mystery.

A thriller is one where the reader knows who the villain is very early on in the story.  The thrill of the story is generated by the main ‘good guys’ interaction with the villain while not knowing he/she is a villain.  Whereas a mystery is the opposite with the villain being revealed when caught at the conclusion of the book.  Quite often there will have been some bread crumbs, so small that they went unnoticed, regarding the villain’s identity.

I enjoyed Don’t Wake Up and look forward to listening to I’ll Find You, also by Liz Lawler.

Don’t Wake Up is narrated by Zara Ramm.  This was the first time I have heard Ms Ramm narrate a novel and she is definitely on my list of enjoyable narrators.

I will rate Don’t Wake Up as a four star novel which does include half a star for a debut novel.

 

I think

Don’t Wake Up

is a solid

read.

At the time of writing my review,

May 13, 2019, other

Goodreads readers have rated

Don’t Wake Up

an average of 4.05 stars

from 12,055 ratings and 760 reviews

Don’t Wake Up

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Book Review-Run-Away

Run Away 

by

Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben’s latest novel, Run Away, is one of those books which you hope stays on the pages of the novel.  It is also a novel which kept this reader up until the early hours of the morning, reading that next chapter.

Most parents will remember the day their eldest child set forth into the world we know, either for work or for tertiary study, and commenced their life living away from home.  Such was the case with the Greene family.  Their eldest left home for University/College studies and disappeared.  All the best intentions in the world could not have predicted what would happen to Paige or Simon and Ingrid (her parents) in their hunt to retrieve their daughter from the clutches of a drug dealer.  Nor could they have imagined how they could have become the target of a ‘hit man’.  Yet they did.

Although some scenarios may be stretching the realm of possibility, which I think makes for a good story, in the context of this story, were acceptable.  I thoroughly enjoyed Run Away and will not add any more spoilers into my review.

I think Run Away is a novel which could easily be made into a movie for either the big or little screen.

I think

Run Away

is a solid

read.

Run Away was released in early April, 2019.

At the time of writing my review,

May 05, 2019, other

Goodreads readers have rated

Run Away

an average of 4.14 stars

from 9,237 ratings and 1,231 reviews

Run Away

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon

 

Book Review-No-Middle-Name

No Middle Name

(Jack Reacher #21.5)

by

Lee Child

 

No Middle Name is another book which has been sitting on my iPod for some time.  So long in fact that if I knew it was a series of short stories I had forgotten.

I am not a fan of short stories and this was not an exception.  The only good thing about it was the first few stories focussed on the Reacher boys and provided me with, again perhaps forgotten background information, regarding their army careers.

In my biased opinion, No Middle Name commences well with one or two good stories.  However, from there on each story seemed to become shorter and less interesting until a twenty-minute track contained a beginning, middle and ending…of sorts.  In fact the second last story lasted a whisker over six minutes and thirty seconds.

Three stars is my best rating for short stories.

 

I rated

No Middle Name

as a

read.

Goodreads readers have rated

No Middle Name

an average of 3.94 stars

from 11,069 ratings

and 1,074 reviews

No Middle Name

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia and Amazon

 

Book-Review-Kiss-Me-Kill-Me

Kiss Me, Kill Me

by

J. S. Carol

 

Kiss Me, Kill Me by J. S. Carol, had me hooked from the first few sentences and my wife ready to inflict serious damage on the male mentioned in those same few sentences.  Those infuriating sentences told of a husband telling his wife what to wear and eat among other things.

At this stage Kiss Me, Kill Me, had potential.  However, as the story progressed we soon were asking where is this story going?  On and on readers heard of Zoe’s life with Daniel and how she escaped.  But had she?  Escaped, that is?

Bodies mounted up left, right and centre and finally Zoe escaped.  But did she live happily ever after?  That’s for you to find out.

If we had split this story into first half, second half and to use the term loosely, epilogue, then cut the second half and tossed it away, it may have made a good short story.  As it was the ‘second half’ was a repeat of the first half in a different setting.   Out of the frying pan and into the fire, if you will.

I listened to Kiss Me, Kill Me and enjoyed Laurence Bouvard’s narration, but the storyline fell off a cliff.

 

I think

Kiss Me, Kill Me

is barely aread.

At the time of writing my review

Goodreads readers have rated

Kiss Me, Kill Me

an average of 3.68 stars,

from 364 ratings and 97 reviews.

Kiss Me, Kill Me

can be purchased online at

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

Book Review-Fifty-Fifty

Fifty-Fifty

by

James Patterson

&

Candice Fox

 

I listened to the audio version of Fifty-Fifty and was not overly impressed with the narration by Federay Holmes.  Fifty percent of the story was an all-male cast and the other fifty percent contained only two female voices.  Harriet Blue was one of them.  I felt there was little modulation in her voice at times whereas my wife thought her voice was a good Australian voice which suited those characters.

Again I question how much James Patterson and Candice Fox wrote.  One half of the story sounded ‘heavy’ while the other half was ‘lighter, faster’….a different pace altogether.  Was the ‘heavy’ section trying to reflect the perceived voices of country Australians?  Who knows?

Moving on…..

Harriet Blue is a short-tempered city detective who is moved temporarily to a country posting because she punched a lawyer defending her brother, outside a courthouse.  At her country posting she befriends the local female police officer and together they solve a case while Harriet’s friends try to help her brother back in the city.  Therefore, a city and a country story to be solved.

Brother Sam has been accused of abducting and murdering several (university age) girls although he and Harriet both maintain his innocence.  More will trigger the spoiler alerts so I will desist from any further story line comments.

I enjoyed the Fifty-Fifty storyline.  However, I do think a male and female narrator would have added interest to the audio experience.

I have rated

Fifty-Fifty

 as aread.

Fifty-Fifty

can be purchased on-line at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

At the time of writing my review,

April 17, 2019, other Goodreads readers

had awarded

Fifty-Fifty

an average of 3.86 stars from 7,657 ratings and 657 reviews.

Book Review-The-Ghost-Pattern

The Ghost Pattern

by

Leslie Wolfe

(Alex Hoffmann #4)

Book number four, The Ghost Pattern, is the best of the Alex Hoffman series to date.  Alex is still battling her Russian nemesis and the ‘war’ will rage on, no doubt, in book number five.

The Ghost Pattern sees an American airliner hi-jacked of with over four hundred and forty passengers and crew on board, many of whom are doctors returning from a conference in Japan.  And no prizes for guessing who the hijackers are.

Again The Ghost Pattern contained detailed descriptions of the Russian nemesis’ health and eating habits.  However, these passages did decrease as the story unfolded and made reading much easier and enjoyable.

 

There was also an incident early in the story which was mentioned only once thereafter, and that was by the villain when recalling his failures.  I was sure one of The Agency team would pick up on this and link it to their predicament.

 

The Ghost Pattern was the first Alex Hoffman book which kept me awake into the wee hours of the morning, reading ‘one more chapter’.     I think The Ghost Pattern could be made into and excellent movie for television or the big screen.  Some of the good guys were wealthy beyond belief and it was this wealth which funded everything at the drop of a hat.  Sounds a bit farfetched, however, isn’t that what makes a good story.

At the time of writing,

Goodreads readers have rated

The Ghost Pattern

an average of 

4.33 stars

from 720 ratings and 50 reviews 

 I have rated 

The Ghost Pattern

a solidread.

The Ghost Pattern 

can be purchased online at 

Not-Available-Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

 

Book Review-The-Watson-Girl

The Watson Girl

(Tess Winnett  #2)

by

Leslie Wolfe

 

The Watson Girl sees Tess has returning to work early, from leave, and immediately asked to interview a death row inmate, due for execution, for killing 34 families.

Does she become seduced by the killer’s demeanour and believe his claim?  During the interview she is told a few truths which make her question some findings of cold cases.

The Watson Girl was a slow starter and seemed to just get going when the villain of the story was given time to introduce himself.   The first villain chapter seemed to almost bring the flow of the story to a halt.  Through regular interludes with the villain readers are given a real insight into his depraved mind.  As the villain chapters progressed so too did my enjoyment of The Watson Girl.

As with all good thrillers the villain was not revealed until well into the book.  While busy wondering how the villain would be caught, slip up there was another unseen twist brewing in left field.

The Watson girl sees a subdued Tess Winnett back on the job.  She tries extremely hard to keep her tongue in check, but still has her moments.

I enjoyed The Watson Girl and rate it as a solid four star read.

Of the 3,660 Goodreads readers who rated The Watson Girl over 3,000 of those ratings have been 4 or 5 stars.  There has also been 42 one star ratings.

Goodreads readers have rated

The Watson Girl

an average of 

4.22 stars

from 3,962 ratings and 283 reviews 

 I have rated 

The Watson Girl

a solidread.

The Watson Girl 

can be purchased online at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon