I participated for a while in the Dewey’s 24 hour readathon this weekend. I haven’t done that in quite a while and it was nice to have such a break from everything to just read. From these, three of them are actually new to me authors, so I was happy that it worked out that I enjoyed them. I discovered them on the site https://app.thestorygraph.com/ . I recently joined over there to check it out as a supplement to Goodreads. I’ve been on Goodreads for a long time, but I think this serves a different niche. It is definitely not as social or event focused as Goodreads, but the recommendations based on your already read (which you can import from Goodreads) are far superior. AND….it allows you to permanently remove books from your recommendations. Hallelujah!
I just found Goodreads recommended the same books over and over again. And it kept recommending me some that I would never read in a million years and there was no way of saying “don’t ever recommend this to me again”. Anyway if you are interested, it is definitely work checking out.
Hanging Hill was like all of Mo Hayder’s books a great read. The troubled protagonists, a pair of sisters each troubled in their own unique way, reunite in this fast paced crime book. The novel starts with the horrible murder of a teenager and doesn’t really let up all the way through. The last ten pages or so are fantastic.
The 7th Woman is a very dark French police procedural. The crimes against a series of women being carried out by a serial killer are brutal and the reader is not spared the details. The writing is excellent as is the translation. This first in a series focused on the Paris Homicide squad and Nico Sirsky is in turns suspenseful and horrifying. I did suspect the killer a bit before the reveal but not because I had figured out any clues really, it was just a feeling on my part. Nico is engaging protagonist and pulls the reader into rooting for him throughout the story. The pacing here was spot on, the story moved along at a fast clip pulling you through the pages. Very good read.
The Disappearance of Adele Bedeau is less a mystery and more of a psychological study. The reader here sits back and watches as socially awkward, regimented Manfred, who probably today would have received some kind of diagnosis, ever so slowly begins to fall apart. The event that triggers Manfred’s downward spiral is the titular “disappearance”. As luck would have it, this causes Manfred to cross paths with a figure from his past. As much as this is a character study of Manfred, the reader also delves into the detective, Georges Gorski’s, psyche. Manfred and Georges are both men who have events in their past that have impacted them greatly and that will become important throughout the course of the book. This is a dark and twisted read, but be prepared for a slow moving story. This is not a thriller read.
Welcome to Spicetown is a cozy mystery that starts off with the theft of a bunch of fireworks intended for a county New Year’s Eve display. This is the first in a new series and as such it spends time setting the scene and introducing many of the town characters. There is a romantic subplot, some fledgling businesses, and the stable, reliable Mayor and Police Chief. This was an okay cozy mystery.
Sun on Fire was a good Police Procedural read. It crossed into Germany and back to Iceland again. The Police characters were fantastic and I would love to read more of them. The character writing and dialog was really what drew me in to this story along with the well developed sense of place. The story starts with an Icelandic citizen being murdered in the Icelandic Embassy in Germany. The investigation leads the murder squad on a merry chase and uncovers secrets and lies and hidden connections from years past. Discussion of past severe child sexual abuse. Fans of the Department Q series would probably enjoy this.
The Angry Grey Cat Reads 