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    Mama's Boy by LANY

    Mama's Boy by LANY

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    Album

    Third album from Los Angeles-based trio LANY is an intentional return to the band's Great Plain...

In Harm's Way
In Harm's Way
Owen Mullen | 2018 | Crime, Thriller
10
9.8 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Three siblings, all with troubled marriages. Adele and Blair appear to be the perfect couple, but he has started claiming to have to work late. Adele suspects he is having an affair. Gavin and Monica have a new baby and that is putting a strain on their relationship. Mackenzie and Derek.... well Mackenzie is an alcoholic and Derek has seen her getting into a strange car.

She also claims to have a stalker, although in a drunken outburst at a party she claims he's her lover. When she leaves Derek and disappears, nobody seems to be bothered other than Gavin, who gets DS Andrew Geddes involved. But how far can the investigation get when nobody thinks she's actually missing? Meanwhile Mackenzie finds herself chained in a cellar at the mercy of her abductor...

All this might sound like its giving away important plot points but it really isn't; all of this is obvious from the first few pages. What follows is the story of the three relationships, the six people involved key to the story. The abduction itself is just part of the much bigger story, a story about relationships both between married couples and within families.

Added to this is Andrew Geddes, the world weary but sharp police detective previously seen in the Charlie Cameron novels. It is so good to see him with a case of his own to solve, especially as this is one that may be impossible to prove is actually a case at all.

As with his other books, Mullen carefully misdirects the reader all the way through providing twists and turns both small and large. He skillfully hides clues in plain sight then removes the blindfold from the reader's eyes with one deft phrase or scene.

This is a masterful piece of work from one of the best thriller writers out there.
  
My Trip to Adele
My Trip to Adele
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
My Trip To Adele is a book unlike any other. We are introduced to three different life stories, all of them connected to Adele in a wonderful way, and every one of them will teach us many lessons, bring tears or laughs on our faces and remind us who we are and why we exist in this world. This is a book of how a singer or a song can connect so many people and touch so many hearts in a way no one else could. A book about keeping traditions and breaking them, a book about love, bravery and most of all - HOPE.

Let’s meet Elias. A Moroccan man that has lived in Rome long enough to believe he is Italian, with a Moroccan dust left in his soul. Through Elias, we will find out about how many years ago, he paid a prostitute for her services and fell in love. His love for Malika is undescribable. While other men would pay hundreds to only have her body, he would pay thousands more to have her soul, even for just one night. He would never touch her body, but they would spend hours and hours talking about meaningful and meaningless things, about what it is like outside this city, outside this country, what can the world offer…

Malika has so many wishes and hopes, she sells her body so one day she would be able to leave this town, leave her family, and explore the world. Get married and have children, and be successful, and learn the English language. When life parts them from each other for eight years, Elias goes back to the same old city to look for her, and Malika has already left town. Sharing one special singer, there is only one place where he can find her - an Adele concert in Rome.

In Las Vegas, we have Yaser and Mariam, a married couple that lost its sparkle many years ago. Both are surgeons and spend a lot of time at work. And when they come home to the kids - everything is a routine. Yaser pretends to enjoy his TV Show evenings and the Prayers that Mariam wants to attend. He pretends to believe in God just to please his wife. They are not a happy family inside the house, but Mariam makes it sound perfect on the outside - they have the perfect social media photos, and they go to the most expensive places on a holiday, what could be so bad? He feels trapped inside a routine and wants to escape, but he also believes in saving his marriage, and following his marriage counselor, they are trying to revive their happiest memories, and that is when they decide to go to an Adele concert in Rome.

On the other side of the world we will meet Nadia and her son Waleed. Nadia is a strong woman that has been coping with her now ex-husband’s betrayals. She raised her son oh her own, and the love she feels for him is indescribable. Only a mother knows how much she adores her son. When her son gets hurt on her ex husband’s third wedding - Nadia decides that she would fight for her and her son, she will no longer be trapped, and she will finally enjoy a lovely holiday with her son - going to Adele’s concert in Rome.

This book is written in an amazing, fast pace, and you will never notice how you have scrolled through the pages and hours have passed. There were times where the character's description was basic, and sometimes Adele’s presence would be too exposed, but all the characters are different in their own way, and every story has its purpose and its lesson.