Book Review-Nothing-to-Lose

Nothing to Lose

by

Lee Child

 

Nothing to lose, by Lee Child, sees Jack Reacher walking across America almost following a pioneer trail.  All goes well until he comes to the town of Hope and then Despair.  Hope is a clean, friendly town.  Despair the complete opposite.  Like many before him the first time Jack sets foot in Despair he is literally run out of town…and it appears he is not the only one to suffer that fate.

Despair is a company town run and owned by a religious fanatic who owns and employees most of the townsfolk at his metal recycling plant.  Vaughan the female cop in Hope is one of Jack’s staunchest allies and helps him solve the mysteries of Despair.  Her story is tied closely to the only industry in Despair.

• Why does the boss fly out in his light plane every night the factory operates?

• Why is there a Military Police post outside Despair?

• Who was the body Jack found in the dark?

• And why had it disappeared by daylight?

• Why are there young women waiting for their boyfriends or husbands in Hope?

• Why are these girls alone, broke and so anti-authority?

• What is happening in the recycling plant that is so secretive?

• Finally, why could the whole operation be so dangerous?

These are some of the questions to which Reacher and Vaughan need to answer.

Nothing to Lose is an enjoyable read and fans of Lee Child or crime fiction will enjoy it.

I think

Nothing to Lose

 

is a

read.

Goodreads readers have rated

Nothing to Lose

an average of 3.9 stars from 37,351 ratings and 1,953 reviews

Nothing to Lose

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia and Amazon

 

Book Review-Run-You-Down

Run You Down

(Rebekah Roberts #2)

by

Julia Dahl

 

In the beginning I found Run You Down a bit slow.  However, it soon developed into an interesting story.

Reporter Rebekah Roberts is still searching for her mother, when her job takes into the lives of people who eventually commit some horrific acts of violence.  No spoiler.

There passages of Run You Down which I think could have been left on the editor’s floor.  However, all in all Run You Down is another look into the lives of people of Jewish faith in contemporary America.

Young Rebekah is again the central figure along with several other characters from Invisible City, the first book in the series.  While Run You Down works quite well as a standalone novel my recommendation would be to read Invisible City first as characters mentioned in Invisible City are expanded upon in Run You Down.

My initial evaluation of Run You Down was that it would struggle to gain a three star rating.  As I said it seemed a bit slow early on.  By the time I finished reading Run You Down, I was happy with my four star rating.

I think

Run You Down

 

is definitely a

read.

Goodreads readers have rated

Run you Down

an average of 3.78 stars from 1,005 ratings and 174 reviews

Run you Down

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon

 

Book Review-The-Arraignment

The Arraignment

(Paul Madriani #7)

by

Steve Martini

 

The Arraignment is the seventh in the Paul Madriani series written by Steve Martini and is another fast paced story revolving around a lawyer friend of Paul Madriani.

A drive by shooting is central to the plot and most of the story is spent contacting dubious characters who may be held responsible for the shooting. As with all good books even some of the apparently ‘good guys’ have a shady side to them.

A wife, an ex-wife and a child neither of the aforementioned know of all adds to the The Arraignment’s plot.

To say much more will give away too much of the plot. The Arraignment is as good as any other Steve Martini book I have read. If you have not read a Steve Martini book previously, and enjoy the crime genre, I would recommend you try some of Steve Martini’s books.

In my opinion the Paul Madriani series does not need to be read in sequence. Others may disagree. I have read number 14 and now number 7 in the series. I have also read The List which is not part of this series and all have scored four stars from me.

I think

The Arraignment

 

is definitely a

read.

Goodreads readers have rated

The Arraignment

an average of 3.83 stars from 2,426 ratings and 114 reviews

The Arraignment

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon

 

Book Review-Dark-Heart

Dark Heart

by

Tony Park

2014

Dark Heart was my first Tony Park book…but not my last.  I love the plot and central characters.

Made also more enjoyable as I was able recognise many of the South African towns mentioned in the story. My mental picture, of towns and national parks, made the book come alive.

Written in 2012 it is probably the most recent of his books and I have some others on my listening list.

2017
Must confess to re-listening to Dark Heart only because it was still on my iPod and for the first third of the story there were only snippets which triggered déjà vu thoughts in my memory. As the story progressed I began to remember more of it and enjoyed as much the second time around as I did the first.

I still rated Dark Heart as a four star experience and recommend it to anyone who has been in and around Kruger National Park. Whilst not all the story is located in that area there are many mentions which had me thinking ‘I have been there.’

Dark Heart has all the necessary features to make it a good read and maybe even a good movie.  Wildlife poaching, civil war, romance, some really bad dudes and a good guy who just happens to be an Aussie, are all integrated into a fast paced story.

I read several of Tony Park’s novels after my initial reading of

Dark Heart and enjoyed each one.

I think

Dark-Heart

 

is definitely a

read.

Goodreads readers have rated

Dark-Heart

an average of 3.94 stars from 232 ratings and 27 reviews

Dark-Heart

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon

 

Book Review-Matter-of-Trust

Matter of Trust

(David Cavanaugh #5)

by

Sydney Bauer

Four school friends leave school and are now, a wealthy US Senator (Chris), a lawyer (David), a Priest (Mike) and the fourth (Marilyn) remains Chris’ lover throughout her adult years.

When Chris is accused of Marilyn’s murder old friendships are rekindled as David endeavours to defend his friend. However, their partnership is severed when the David discovers the litany of lies being told by David and his family.

An unlikely discovery of evidence proving Chris’ innocence brings David back to defend Chris only two weeks before the trial is to begin.

A suspended career cop, who was working for the prosecution, is David’s closest ally.  Together they work tirelessly to find the real killer while an arrogant prosecutor is doing his best to obstruct any further investigation into the case believing that he has the real killer on trial.

Can the real killer be exposed before the end of the trial?

And can you pick the end of this story?

I think

Matter of Trust

 

is definitely a

read.

Goodreads readers have rated

Matter of Trust

an average of 4.02 stars from 61 ratings and 7 reviews

Matter of Trust

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon

 

Book Review-Fool-Me-Once

 Fool Me Once 

by

Harlan Coben

Fool Me Once written by Harlan Coben tells a story of a young ex military Mum who has married into a wealthy, powerful family. Unfortunately that family seems to attract death, with two immediate members being murdered and several friends also suffering the same fate.

Fool Me Once solves those murders as well as post-traumatic stress disorder.  PTSD becomes a major part of the story after a murder victim is seen on a nanny cam…several days after he is buried. From that point on ex-Military mum, Maya, struggles, against the odds, to discover the truth behind this series of deaths. In doing so she unravels more and more dark secrets of the family in to which she married.

Fool Me Once has a ending which I did not suspect leaving the possibility for a tissue box to be nearby for both sad and happy tears.

As usual I have to have my say about the narrator. For Fool Me Once this is January LaVoy.  January was/is an excellent narrator in my opinion.  Each character was distinguishable when she read their lines which mage Fool Me Once an easy book to listen to.

I thoroughly enjoyed Fool Me Once and would recommend it to any other fans of the murder/mystery/thriller genre.

I think

Fool Me Once

 

is definitely a

read.

Goodreads readers have rated

Fool Me Once

an average of 3.9 stars from 39,625 ratings and 3,802 reviews

Fool Me Once

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon

 

Book Review-Invisible-City

Invisible City

by

Julia Dahl

 

Invisible City, by Julia Dahl is the second book read from my gift compilation of four books.  I might also add that because there were four books in one I assumed, incorrectly, that these would be ‘old’ novels, published perhaps thirty to forty years ago.  However, Invisible City was published on May 6, 2014.

Set among Brooklyn’s Hasidic community this crime story was intriguing especially for this reader whose knowledge of the Hasidic community and most other religions and their practices is very limited.

Invisible City traces the efforts of an aspiring young female stringer (Rebekah Roberts) who is working for the (NY) Tribune.  As with The Dead Beat (by Doug Johnstone) this journalist finds herself in the middle of several murders which take some time to unravel, early in her career.  To my mind I find that point alone is the hardest concept to grasp.

However, I enjoyed Invisible City and for me that is the main criteria when reading.  Did I enjoy it?  True, I don’t know if some of the Jewish cultural practices alluded to were/are fact or fiction.  Does it really matter?  I enjoyed the story.

Most authors take some license when writing to keep their story interesting.  And if reality and this story do not match, is it due to pressure from an editor or publisher to keep the story flowing?  After all there is nothing worse than a story with pages and pages of detail about a character’s dress, hair, appetite and likes or dislikes.

Invisible City is Book 1 of a Rebekah Roberts series and if I can find book two I will read it and then decide on Book 3.  I daresay that it is the latter books which unravel some of Rebekah’s personal issues which were bubbling along in Invisible City.

However, as far as Invisible City is concerned I think it is definitely worth a read…as long as you do not have any religious prejudices as it does focus entirely on the Hasidic community in Brooklyn.

 

 

Definitely a

read.

Invisible City

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon