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Confessions of the World's Best Father
Book
Dave Engledow's Confessions of the World's Best Father is one ordinary dad's attempt to capture his...
ClareR (5571 KP) rated How to Kill Your Family in Books
May 19, 2022
Imagine the injustice of being sentenced to life imprisonment for a murder you didn’t commit. Not that Grace Bernard is actually innocent. I mean, she HAS murdered six (or is it five? I lose count) members of her own estranged family. Not that they didn’t deserve it.
This was a dark, funny book, and I found myself laughing at the most inappropriate moments. Grace plans her murders meticulously: she finds out what each family member likes to do, where they live and who their contacts are. She’s calm, collected and seriously scary. Grace is a prime example of a psychopath. She has no real attachments, she’s calm and collected during her murders, and her life otherwise appears to be normal.
But if anyone had found the memoir she starts to write whilst jailed for the murder she didn’t commit, she would have had a much longer sentence.
As you probably know by now, I always seem to end up with a soft spot for the more unpleasant, dare I say, naughty, characters. If you count six murders as a bit naughty, then yes, Grace has been added to my list of favourite characters. She really is something special!
Thanks to The Borough Press for my copy of this book to read through NetGalley.
This was a dark, funny book, and I found myself laughing at the most inappropriate moments. Grace plans her murders meticulously: she finds out what each family member likes to do, where they live and who their contacts are. She’s calm, collected and seriously scary. Grace is a prime example of a psychopath. She has no real attachments, she’s calm and collected during her murders, and her life otherwise appears to be normal.
But if anyone had found the memoir she starts to write whilst jailed for the murder she didn’t commit, she would have had a much longer sentence.
As you probably know by now, I always seem to end up with a soft spot for the more unpleasant, dare I say, naughty, characters. If you count six murders as a bit naughty, then yes, Grace has been added to my list of favourite characters. She really is something special!
Thanks to The Borough Press for my copy of this book to read through NetGalley.
Kristina (502 KP) rated Behind Her Eyes in Books
Dec 7, 2020
Like, wow. Seriously, WTF! *mind blown*
Okay, come on, there's absolutely no way anyone actually guessed how this one was going to end - impossible! My eyes, during that final chapter, were as big as an owl's; I didn't, for a single second, see that ending coming. The whole time I kept asking myself: What's Adele up to? There were even moments when I thought, it'd be a cool (but not necessarily surprising) twist if David was the real psycho, which would leave Adele to be innocent and taken advantage of. Either way, I was constantly second-guessing myself, completely oblivious to what the end result could possibly be. The only thing keeping me from rating Behind Her Eyes with 5 stars was that I found myself a bit put off by the writing itself, not the story in general. Even still, I loved the roller coaster and shocking end!
Okay, come on, there's absolutely no way anyone actually guessed how this one was going to end - impossible! My eyes, during that final chapter, were as big as an owl's; I didn't, for a single second, see that ending coming. The whole time I kept asking myself: What's Adele up to? There were even moments when I thought, it'd be a cool (but not necessarily surprising) twist if David was the real psycho, which would leave Adele to be innocent and taken advantage of. Either way, I was constantly second-guessing myself, completely oblivious to what the end result could possibly be. The only thing keeping me from rating Behind Her Eyes with 5 stars was that I found myself a bit put off by the writing itself, not the story in general. Even still, I loved the roller coaster and shocking end!
Silent Scream (D.I. Kim Stone, #1)
9.5
Rate It
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Even the darkest secrets can’t stay buried forever… Five figures gather round a shallow grave....
Gareth von Kallenbach (965 KP) rated Broken City (2013) in Movies
Aug 7, 2019
In Broken City, Russell Crowe and Mark Wahlberg wade into the streets of a
fictional New York, portraying its mayor and a tormented cop, respectively. This film is very political, and it drives to the heart of an issue found all around our country: corruption at every level, especially the highest.
The story starts with a shooting. As one might imagine, officers are easily found innocent in shootings because of the nature of their job, and thus Billy Taggart(Wahlberg) is found innocent after facing accusations of murder. Unfortunately, Mayor Nicholas Hostetler (Crowe) has damning evidence that would cause considerable harm to the officer — who’s earned a reputation as a hero — as well
as the city leaders, if it were brought to light. He decides to let Taggart go, and allow everyone to save face, with a handshake and a promise of future remembrance.
Seven years later the tides turn, as Private Eye Taggart is asked by Mayor
Hostetler to investigate his wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) for a hefty sum of money.
The cash-strapped Taggart takes the job, but finds himself diving headfirst into a political feeding frenzy two weeks prior to the election. Naturally, drama ensues.
Broken City is not a bad film. The problem is: it’s also not a great film. It has many of the elements of a good movie, but something is missing. It’s hard to blame the writing, as there was well-balanced humor and drama. It’s hard to blame
the cinematography, because the key shots are there. (But some awkward shots are there, too. For example, there’s an odd, segmented spinning shot of Crowe and Wahlberg in the mayor’s office.) It’s hard to blame the acting; everyone does a great job in that regard. But there was just something missing. I wasn’t drawn in.
The movie felt rushed in certain areas, and too long in others. It had major plot holes, like when (spoiler alert) Taggart’s girlfriend disappears, but never resurfaces. The main character never gets a true, deep, passionate call-to-action, which all heroes are supposed to have.
I enjoyed the role of Taggart’s assistant. Even the ending was a fresh take (though somewhat expected, because the main character wasn’t conflicted and chaotic enough to merit an unknown response).
All in all, Broken City is a good movie, but not a great one. You would be well-served to rent or stream it, and save your theater dollars.
fictional New York, portraying its mayor and a tormented cop, respectively. This film is very political, and it drives to the heart of an issue found all around our country: corruption at every level, especially the highest.
The story starts with a shooting. As one might imagine, officers are easily found innocent in shootings because of the nature of their job, and thus Billy Taggart(Wahlberg) is found innocent after facing accusations of murder. Unfortunately, Mayor Nicholas Hostetler (Crowe) has damning evidence that would cause considerable harm to the officer — who’s earned a reputation as a hero — as well
as the city leaders, if it were brought to light. He decides to let Taggart go, and allow everyone to save face, with a handshake and a promise of future remembrance.
Seven years later the tides turn, as Private Eye Taggart is asked by Mayor
Hostetler to investigate his wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) for a hefty sum of money.
The cash-strapped Taggart takes the job, but finds himself diving headfirst into a political feeding frenzy two weeks prior to the election. Naturally, drama ensues.
Broken City is not a bad film. The problem is: it’s also not a great film. It has many of the elements of a good movie, but something is missing. It’s hard to blame the writing, as there was well-balanced humor and drama. It’s hard to blame
the cinematography, because the key shots are there. (But some awkward shots are there, too. For example, there’s an odd, segmented spinning shot of Crowe and Wahlberg in the mayor’s office.) It’s hard to blame the acting; everyone does a great job in that regard. But there was just something missing. I wasn’t drawn in.
The movie felt rushed in certain areas, and too long in others. It had major plot holes, like when (spoiler alert) Taggart’s girlfriend disappears, but never resurfaces. The main character never gets a true, deep, passionate call-to-action, which all heroes are supposed to have.
I enjoyed the role of Taggart’s assistant. Even the ending was a fresh take (though somewhat expected, because the main character wasn’t conflicted and chaotic enough to merit an unknown response).
All in all, Broken City is a good movie, but not a great one. You would be well-served to rent or stream it, and save your theater dollars.
Erika Kehlet (21 KP) rated War and Peach (Georgia Peach Mystery, #3) in Books
Feb 21, 2018
I really enjoyed the last book in this series, Rest in Peach, but I think War and Peach is even better. When local farmer and mayoral candidate Clem Rogers is found in the debris of his burned-down barn, everyone suspects his political rival Margie of having done away with her competition. Nola Mae is sure that the woman isnt capable of murder, but the rest of her small town dont seem to agree. Sure that an innocent woman is being railroaded, Nola steps in to investigate.
I love the small town feel of this series, and the realistic, down-to-earth people. They could be your neighbors rather than characters in a story, and that might be what keeps drawing me back to Cays Mill. You can jump right in with this book even if you havent read the first 2 in the series, but youll probably want to go back and catch up if you do!
I love the small town feel of this series, and the realistic, down-to-earth people. They could be your neighbors rather than characters in a story, and that might be what keeps drawing me back to Cays Mill. You can jump right in with this book even if you havent read the first 2 in the series, but youll probably want to go back and catch up if you do!
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2071 KP) rated E is for Evidence (Kinsey Millhone, #5) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
A couple of days before Christmas, Kinsey is asked to investigate a fire for the insurance company she sometimes works for. Everything looks routine until she is called in to defend her findings and sees pages that were not part of her original file. Afraid she might find herself accused of insurance fraud, she starts investigating the situation. But is she the target or an innocent bystander?
I truly enjoyed this book since it starts out with a great mystery that doesn’t involved a murder. Of course, when murder does enter the picture, it only gets more compelling from there. What few supporting characters there are in the series are mostly missing thanks to the Christmas time frame, but I found it a great way to develop Kinsey more, and the new characters were fabulous, doing their job as suspects perfectly.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/11/book-review-e-is-for-evidence-by-sue.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
I truly enjoyed this book since it starts out with a great mystery that doesn’t involved a murder. Of course, when murder does enter the picture, it only gets more compelling from there. What few supporting characters there are in the series are mostly missing thanks to the Christmas time frame, but I found it a great way to develop Kinsey more, and the new characters were fabulous, doing their job as suspects perfectly.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/11/book-review-e-is-for-evidence-by-sue.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
The Boy in the River: A Shocking True Story of Ritual Murder and Sacrifice in the Heart of London
Book
On 21st September 2001 the mutilated torso of a small child was found floating beside London's Tower...
A Courageous Fool: Marie Deans and Her Struggle Against the Death Penalty
Todd C. Peppers, Margaret A. Anderson and Joseph M. Giarratano
Book
There have been many heroes and victims in the battle to abolish the death penalty, and Marie Deans...