The Dry (Aaron Falk #1) by Jane Harper

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Book Description:

Published: May 31, 2016

Format: Audio/OverDrive

Luke Hadler turns a gun on his wife and child, then himself. The farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily. If one of their own broke under the strain, well…

When Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk returns to Kiewarra for the funerals, he is loath to confront the people who rejected him twenty years earlier. But when his investigative skills are called on, the facts of the Hadler case start to make him doubt this murder-suicide charge.

And as Falk probes deeper into the killings, old wounds start bleeding into fresh ones. For Falk and his childhood friend Luke shared a secret… A secret Falk thought long-buried… A secret which Luke’s death starts to bring to the surface…

Review –

Fantastic book! Once I started it-didn’t want to stop.

Twenty years ago a young teenaged girl is found dead in the river with her pockets full of stones so the story of suicide isn’t hard to believe, but when Aaron Falk’s name in found written on a piece of paper in her bedroom the people of the town think he had something to do with death. He didn’t and neither did his best friend, Luke, and they  agreed to alibi each other, but it still didn’t  stop the hateful people of the small remote Australian town to think Aaron guilty. Aaron knew they he and Luke both lied about their alibis  but Luke had told him to go along so he did. The harassment got so bad he and his Dad were forced to pack up and move away and he hadn’t been back since. Not until he heard about the death of Luke, his wife and son. He came back for the funerals and Luke’s parents asks him to look into the deaths because they don’t believe it to be a murder suicide.

Aaron is a Federal Police investigator but deals with crimes involving money but he agrees to look into the matter with a local police detective, Raco,  in a sort of rogue investigation.  The author creates a character out of the parched farming community  within a day’s drive from Melbourne. It is suffering from a severe  drought going on two years and everyone’s tempers are near the breaking point.

I won’t give away the ending but  several secrets from the past are uncovered and leads to the truth behind the deaths of the Luke Hadler family and it’s not what anyone expects. The death of the young girl is also solved, but only we as readers know the true identity of the killer. 

I hated for this book to end but learned that a second in the series will come out next February so I have already listed it on my TBR list.

Fantastic read.

Five stars!!!!!

 

 

 

 

Home (Myron Bolitar #11) by Harlan Coben

Book Description:

Published: September 20, 2016

Format: Audio/Audible

Ten years after the high-profile kidnapping of two young boys, only one returns home.

A decade ago, kidnappers grabbed two boys from wealthy families and demanded ransom, then went silent. No trace of the boys ever surfaced. For ten years their families have been left with nothing but painful memories and a quiet desperation for the day that has finally, miraculously arrived: Myron Bolitar and his friend Win believe they have located one of the boys, now a teenager. Where has he been for ten years, and what does he know about the day, more than half a life ago, when he was taken? And most critically: What can he tell Myron and Win about the fate of his missing friend?

Harlan Coben delivers a thriller about friendship, family, and the meaning of home.

Review –

There is something very special about reuniting with a cast of characters you haven’t read about for some time. Myron Bolitar and Windsor Horne Lockwood III, (Win) are two of my favourite characters in all of fiction,(next to Harry Bosch) and we haven’t seen them (besides brief appearances in Coben’s YA Mickey Bolitar trilogy) since 2011’s Live Wire. That is a very long time to wait.

Home brings these characters back, alongside the classic cast: Esperanza; Big Cyndi, Myron’s parents. Heck, even the kids wh0 starred in Coben’s YA series play a vital role in proceedings, and it’s great to be reunited with Mickey, Ema and Spoon. Their presence adds a cool continuity to things. So, sure; this book is for the fans. The readers, like me, who clamour each and every year for a new Myron novel. But there’s plenty here for “non-Myron” fans to enjoy. If indeed there even are such people out there.

There’s a big mystery here, and there are surprising twists (unleashed rather late in proceedings, admittedly, but no less effectively than in other novels) but it’s the emotion of the characters that really lifts Home above the rank and file. The heart and soul of this novel are the twin families coping with the loss of a child, and the extremes parents go to in order to protect them.

Ultimately, it’s just great to be back with Myron and the gang. The novel’s ending is possibly conclusive – – with a real lump-in-the-throat moment –(with 28 minutes left tears formed in my eyes and at 19 minutes left they started to fall) – so who knows when we’ll see these characters again? In many respects, I wish I’d taken my time with the novel and truly savoured it. Instead, I smashed through it in almost one sitting. That’s the true evidence of Coben’s class: his books are so gripping, you can’t put them down or turn them off.

Five stars *****

 

Playing Dead by Julia Heaberlin

Book Description:

Published: May 29, 2012

“Dear Tommie: Have you ever wondered about who you are?”

The letter that turns Tommie McCloud’s world upside down arrives from a stranger only days after her father’s death. The woman who wrote it claims that Tommie is her daughter—and that she was kidnapped as a baby thirty-one years ago.

Tommie wants to believe it’s all a hoax, but suddenly a girl who grew up on a Texas ranch finds herself linked to a horrific past: the slaughter of a family in Chicago, the murder of an Oklahoma beauty queen, and the kidnapping of a little girl named Adriana. Tommie races along a twisting, nightmarish path while an unseen stalker is determined to keep old secrets locked inside the dementia-battered brain of the woman who Tommie always thought was her real mother. With everything she has ever believed in question, and no one she can trust, Tommie must discover the truth about the girl who vanished—and the very real threats that still remain.

“[Julia Heaberlin’s] voice is pitch perfect, and her story of one woman’s fierce struggle to reconcile her past with her present is gripping and powerful. An outstanding debut.”—Carla Buckley, author of Invisible.

Review –

This debut novel is set mainly in the wilds of Texas and the narrator is Tommie, in her early 30’s and an equine psychologist by profession – she rehabilitates children whose lives have been shattered in some way by encouraging them to ride and train horses. Tommie was set to be either a great pianist or a rodeo star, but her hopes for both potential professions were dashed in one fell swoop when, as a young girl, someone ensured she rode a “banned” steer, so she fell and broke her hand when it trampled her.

Tommie is one of those well-educated  protagonists, who is paranoid about her safety yet is always getting herself into avoidable, dangerous situations. She has a few useful men to protect her – an Afghanistan vet boyfriend, her parents’ ranch hand, an old Southern lawyer, a crack journalist and a taxi driver. Tommie is scared because she has received a shocking letter just after her “Daddy” has died. The letter says that Tommie’s mother is in fact a woman married to an infamous, jailed mobster. The woman who Tommie has always thought of as her mother is in a care-hospital suffering from Alzheimer’s, so cannot communicate with her daughter. Tommie’s sister Sadie and her cute niece Maddie provide useful support and a sounding board for her concerns.

At the bottom of this novel is a good mystery story, actually quite simple but the author  complicates things and prolongs the solution of the mystery much longer than need be. A clue is given near the end that could have been given around page ten and could have tied up all the loose ends. Because of this I created the book four and a half stars.

Also, the outcome was predictable, or at  least is was to me but  I was happy with the ending.

I enjoyed it very much and the narrator, Madeleine Lambert, did a fantastic job on the voices and Texas  twangs of all the characters and made it a very pleasant listen.

I highly recommend this book if you like mysteries.

The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer

Book Description:

Published: February 26, 2015

She is the missing girl. But she doesn’t know she’s lost.

Carmel Wakeford becomes separated from her mother at a local children’s festival, and is found by a man who claims to be her estranged grandfather. He tells her that her mother has had an accident and that she is to live with him for now. As days become weeks with her new family, 8-year-old Carmel realises that this man believes she has a special gift…

While her mother desperately tries to find her, Carmel embarks on an extraordinary journey, one that will make her question who she is – and who she might become.

Review –

When I started this book I had high expectations but at the end I felt let down.

Sensitive eight-year-old Carmel  is spirited away by a man who claims to be her estranged grandfather. As Beth, her mother, desperately searches for her, Carmel realises that her kidnapper has not taken her at random: he believes she has a special gift. Told in the alternating points of view of the grieving mother and the missing daughter, it keeps the reader turning pages.

Carmel’s sections hold most of the action of the story: we watch her slowly understand her captor’s bizarre plans and struggle to retain her identity as months, then years, pass. As she loses track of time, so does the reader: her captivity takes on an aimless, dreamlike quality. Characters drift in and out of the narrative like ghosts. and  the author does this to help  convey Carmel’s mental state.

For a thriller, I didn’t really see anything that traumatizing, except the initial kidnapping and some readers may question the story’s sudden and tidy ending, which feels less the result of the characters’ actions and more the workings of chance. But Hamer’s novel aims to be more than a thriller, and the real heart of the book is not its suspense, but its explorations of grief and how we live through it.

All in all, I’m glad I read it, but once was enough.

 

21)Not In The Flesh (Inspector Wexford #21) by Ruth Rendell

Book Description:

Published: June 10, 2008

When the truffle-hunting dog starts to dig furiously, his master’s first reaction is delight at the size of the clump the dog has unearthed: at the going rate, this one truffle might be worth several hundred pounds. Then the dirt falls away to reveal not a precious mushroom but the bones and tendons of what is clearly a human hand.

In Not in the Flesh, Chief Inspector Wexford tries to piece together events that took place eleven years earlier, a time when someone was secretly interred in a secluded patch of English countryside. Now Wexford and his team will need to interrogate everyone who lives nearby to see if they can turn up a match for the dead man among the eighty-five people in this part of England who have disappeared over the past decade. Then, when a second body is discovered nearby, Wexford experiences a feeling that’s become a rarity for the veteran policeman: surprise.

Review –

This was the first time I’ve read or listened to a book by this author and I found it a little slow but pleasant.  Not great, but an okay way to pass the day. A lot of the incidents in the book were just too implausible to happen, but that’s why it’s called fiction!

If you like a good “who-dun-it” give this one a try.

 

The Bees by Laline Paull

Book Description:

Published: May 6, 2014

The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Hunger Games in this brilliantly imagined debut.

Born into the lowest class of her society, Flora 717 is a sanitation bee, only fit to clean her orchard hive. Living to accept, obey and serve, she is prepared to sacrifice everything for her beloved holy mother, the Queen. Yet Flora has talents that are not typical of her kin. And while mutant bees are usually instantly destroyed, Flora is reassigned to feed the newborns, before becoming a forager, collecting pollen on the wing. Then she finds her way into the Queen’s inner sanctum, where she discovers secrets both sublime and ominous. Enemies roam everywhere, from the fearsome fertility police to the high priestesses who jealously guard the Hive Mind. But Flora cannot help but break the most sacred law of all, and her instinct to serve is overshadowed by a desire, as overwhelming as it is forbidden…

Laline Paull’s chilling yet ultimately triumphant novel creates a luminous world both alien and uncannily familiar. Thrilling and imaginative, The Bees is the story of a heroine who changes her destiny and her world.

Review –

This wonderfully dramatic story is told from various bees points of view and it was such fun to read (or listen to, in my case)

The reader quickly becomes invested in the lives of the bees and their various “jobs” and learn that Flora 717, who was  born a sanitation bee, wants a better life for herself. She goes so far as to break the most sacred law of the Hive, but don’t ask me exactly how she did it, because I’m unclear and it will take some research on my part.

She changes the lives of the bees around her and changes her entire world but she doesn’t get to enjoy it. Yes, I cried for a bee!!!

Fantastic book!!!!!

Bound by Lies (Bound #1) by Hanna Peach

Book Description:

Published: January 21, 2014

Our love is on his terms. He contacts me only through notes − unpredictable and untraceable. When we meet, he can touch me, but I’m not allowed to touch him. When we make love, it’s only after I have been bound and blindfolded. It’s the only time I truly feel alive. Which is why I play along with it. For now.

Caden Thaine is the most sinfully beautiful man I have ever seen. But more than that, his touch sets me on fire. And dear God, do I ache for him. I don’t know where he lives or even what he does. But this doesn’t scare me. My only fear is that one day his messages will stop.

I know he’s hiding something. But that’s okay. I am hiding things too. Like my real name and… who I really am. But the deeper I fall for him, the stronger my curiosity becomes.

I could never have imagined just how much our lives are bound. And that pulling at his tangled web of secrets would cause my own dark past to come back to try and reclaim me. Will we survive? Will our love?

Review –

While I rated this book four stars ***** on GoodReads I have many problems with it.

The main characters, “Kitten”(we don’t know her real name) and Caden are both so damaged and deceitful that I don’t think they would be able to have a relationship much less true feelings for one another. He won’t allow her to touch him during sex or see him naked plus Caden is not his real name and he has a haunted past that he could easily tell her about but he doesn’t, instead he turns away from her and leaves her wanting.  “Kitten” is running from a ex-boyfriend/crime boss who was abusive-physically,mentally and verbally and is afraid to get t0o close to anyone in fear she will have to pick up and re-locate at any time.

Between these two there is enough baggage to sink an ocean liner. I wish the author would had given each of them more backbone. I’m reading the sequel now and will report on it soon.

I hate this cover-it in no way relates to the story line. A better one would just show a blindfold and a silk tie laying across a bed.

 

 

 

Night After Night (Seductive Nights #1) by Lauren Blakely

Book Description:

Published: April 16, 2014

Their world was sex, love, and lies.

He intoxicated her. Commanded. Consumed.

With a dirty mind and a mouth to match, Clay Nichols is everything Julia never knew she wanted and exactly what she cannot have. He walked into her life one night and unlocked pleasure in her that she never knew was possible. Possessing her body, captivating her every thought. Which makes him way too dangerous for Julia to risk her heart, given that she has a price tag on her head. She ran after one mind-blowing week with him, but now he’s back, and determined to make her his own.
No matter the cost.
She was a sexy drug to him. Fiery, unforgettable, and never enough, Julia is an enigma, and Clay isn’t willing to let her go without a fight. But she’s got dark secrets of her own that threaten to destroy any chance of happiness. She’s a wanted woman—the stakes are high, her every move is watched, and yet the lure between them can’t be denied. Can two people burned by love trust again when desire and passion are met by danger at every turn?

Review –

This book contains the prequel, First Night, which revolves around Clay and  Julia meet and have crazy, hot, one night stand kind of sex. Night After Night  begins when Clay asks Julia to fly to New York for the week-end.

While this is an erotic romance it also is a life drama.

It was supposed to only be one night but Clay is developing feeling for Julia, but she’s not being truthful with him and he HATES liars. He’s been burned before so he walks away. Julie is having  to repay a debt to a very dangerous man by playing poker with whales and doesn’t want to involve Clay into her problems and if keeping him safe means lying to him, so be it.

Great story line. Looking forward to the next book in this series.

 

 

Reasonable Doubt (Vols. 1,2, and 3) by Whitney Gracia Williams

Book Description

Publication Date: September 16, 2014

The complete New York Times Bestselling serial, now available in one book!

My cock has an appetite.

A huge and very particular appetite: Blonde, curvy, and preferably not a fucking liar…(Although, that’s a story for another day.) As a high profile lawyer, I don’t have time to waste on relationships, so I fulfill my needs by anonymously chatting and sleeping with women I meet online.

My rules are simple: One dinner. One night. No repeats.

This is only casual sex. Nothing more. Nothing less.

At least it was, until “Alyssa”…She was supposed to be a 27 year old lawyer, a book hoarder, and completely unattractive. She was supposed to be someone I shared law advice with late at night, someone I could trust with details of my weekly escapades.

But then she came into my firm for an interview–a college-intern interview, and everything ****ing changed…

Review –

Andrew hates liars. He always has and always will. He is conceited and thinks himself Gods gift to women but only has one night stands to avoid any attachment.

Aubrey (Alyssa) is young and lies about herself identity online when she befriends Andrew (Thoreau) on a site for lawyers to confers with other lawyers about law stuff.  She won’t meet him face to face and it drives him crazy. There is online sex, phone sex and WHEN he finally does find out who she  is,real sex and lots of it.

This is a great series with a real plot and twist and turns.

Very Adult with explicit and graphic sex.

Younger by Suzanne Munshower

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2015

When PR pro Anna Wallingham gets dumped by her last client, she finds herself running out of options in LA, where looks trump experience. Desperate to prove she is still relevant, the fiftysomething accepts a shady job offer from Pierre Barton, secretive billionaire owner of Barton Pharmaceuticals. Isolated in a facility outside London, she agrees to test a new top-secret product guaranteed to make her look thirty years younger. Anna is starting to look on the outside the way she feels on the inside: ageless. But she soon discovers that her predecessor died under mysterious circumstances, leading her to research just who stands to gain—and lose—with this miraculous product. When Pierre drops dead in front of her, she takes off on a dangerous journey across Europe hoping to stay alive long enough to uncover the truth.

With the hard-won knowledge that younger isn’t always better, Anna is determined to escape and reclaim her life before it’s too late.

Review –

Fantastic book and a very fast read.  It’s like James Bond meets Max Factor times ten.

A television series based loosely on this story line starts March 31, 2015 on the TV Land channel.   I plan to watch the first episode to see how bad they stray from the book and depending on how that goes I’ll decide whether or not to watch it weekly.

Should be interesting.