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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2165 KP) rated Fatal First Edition in Books

Feb 15, 2024

Murder Aboard a Moving Train

This book starts out in Chicago, where Lindsey Norris and her husband, Sully, are attending the annual archivist convention. Lindsey is having a fantastic time, and that includes the train trip back home to Connecticut. Quite a few of the attendees are also on the train. However, when Lindsey wakes up the next morning, someone is dead in the compartment next to her and Sully. Does it have anything to do with the valuable first edition that Lindsey stumbled upon during the keynote address?

One thing I love about cozy mysteries are the familiar locations and characters, so I was happy to see this book found an excuse to spend a lot of time at home while continuing the plot. The series regulars gave us some great laughs. Meanwhile, the plot zigs in a different direction part way through, and I was hooked as a result. Unfortunately, it did make the climax a bit rushed, although it was still logical. Fans will be pleased with this entry in the series. If you haven’t started these books yet, you’ll be happy you changed that.

Kudos

Billie Wichkan (118 KP) rated Black Wolf (Natalya Ivanova Thriller #2) in Books

May 22, 2019

A young woman is found dead on the outskirts of St Petersburg on a freezing January morning. There are no signs of injury, and heavy snowfall has buried all trace of an attacker.
Captain Natalya Ivanova's investigation quickly links the victim to the Decembrists, an anti-Putin dissident group whose acts of civil disobedience have caught the eye of the authorities. And Natalya soon realises she is not the only one interested in the case, as government security services wade in and shut down her investigation almost before it has begun.
Before long, state media are spreading smear stories about the dead woman, and Natalya suspects the authorities have something to hide. When a second rebel activist goes missing, she is forced to go undercover to expose the truth. But the stakes are higher than ever before. Not only could her pursuit of the murderer destroy her career, but her family ties to one of the victims threaten to tear her personal life apart.
A captivating, pacy thriller that plunges right into the beating heart of Putin's Russia.

Black Wolf is the second thriller in the Captain Natalya Ivanova series based in St Petersburg, Russia.
This sequel to Abson's debut thriller, Motherland, again features Captain Natalya Ivanova of St Petersburg's Serious Crimes Unit.
This is police procedural novel that is filled with drama, suspense, police and political corruption and lots of drinking.
The story has lots of twists and turns to keep you gripped.
The characters are well established and strong lead female also.
Well written story which I enjoyed.
Recommend reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers' for the ARC. This is my honest voluntary review.

Kudos

Waiting for the Punch: Words to Live by from the WTF Podcast

Marc Maron

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Book

"I'm British, so I'm medically dead inside, but even I can't help but open up whenever I talk to...

Comedy Essays

Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Day of the Dead (1985) in Movies

Apr 1, 2020

Bub The Zombie (1 more)

Capt. Rhodes

Night, Dawn and Day: The Perfect Trilogy

Day of the Dead- is the final movie in George's trilogy. It started with Night, than Dawn and now Day. The perfect trilogy about surival, surviving, surival of the finest and the livng dead. With great charcters, excellent villians and of course the zombies. In this one you have, Bub the zombie and the evil Capt. Rhodies. So thats a plus.

The plot: Trapped in a missile silo, a small team of scientists, civilians and trigger-happy soldiers battle desperately to ensure the survival of the human race, but tension inside the base is reaching breaking-point, and the zombies are gathering outside.

Romero originally intended the film to be "the Gone with the Wind of zombie films. This forced Romero to scale back his story, rewriting the script and adjusting his original vision to fit the smaller budget.

A total of five scripts were written as Romero wrestled with the film's concepts and the budgetary constraints. The first draft was over 200 pages, which he later condensed to 122 pages. This is the true original script, and to date no copies of it have come to light. This version was likely rejected because UFDC felt it was too expensive for them to produce even with an R rating. Romero subsequently scaled down the scope of this script into a 165-page draft (often erroneously referred to as the original version), then condensed it again to a 104-page draft labeled the 'second version, second draft' in an unsuccessful final attempt to get the story within budget parameters. When this failed, he drastically altered the original story concept and ultimately produced a shooting draft that numbered only 88 pages.

Its a perfect ending for a excellent and phenomenal trilogy.

Kudos

Death Race ® - Drive and Shoot

Games and Entertainment

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App

Do you have what it takes to compete in this mix of driving and shooting? The only rule is to get to...

Whispers Under Ground: The Third PC Grant Mystery

Stephen Walter and Ben Aaronovitch

9.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Doctor Who Screenwriter Ben Aaronovitch's superbly entertaining supernatural crime series has, with...

Elizabeth: A Novel of the Unnatural

Jessica Hamilton

6.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

“If you were to go into your bedroom tonight – perhaps by candlelight – and sit quietly before...

Witch Horror Gothic

Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Prey in Video Games

Jul 25, 2017

Prey

2017 | Action/Adventure

7.9

(9 Ratings)

Video Game Rating Watch

Enemy design (0 more)

Like if Ken Levine made a Dishonored game

I’m still surprised this game actually made it to release. Developed by Arkane, (the same studio behind the Dishonored games,) and published by Bethesda, this game finally made it onto store shelves after around a decade spent in development hell and while it may not have been worth that 10 year wait, there is a decent game here. The trailers made this out to be a horror game along the lines of Dead Space, but really it’s closer to Bioshock or System Shock 2. If you liked Ken Levine’s games, there is a clear inspiration from them seen here. The game was created using the same engine and art style to Dishonored, so while it’s not the best looking game to come out this year, the art style is still kind of cool. The monster design could have been more varied, but this is still a fun, sci-fi adventure and definitely worth playing through.