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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2464 KP) rated Hurricane Heist in Books

Oct 1, 2025 (Updated Oct 1, 2025)  
Hurricane Heist
Hurricane Heist
James Ponti | 2025 | Children
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Hurricane Uncovers a Heist from History
This book finds the Sherlock Society about to head back to school after a fantastic summer. But their return to school gets delayed by a few days when a hurricane hits the city. In the aftermath, a body is found at a nearby hotel. When it is identified as a man who disappeared in another hurricane 60 years before, Alex and Zoe’s grandpa is intrigued. He knew the man back then, and he never bought the story from the time that the man was involved in a jewelry heist. Can the Sherlock Society figure out what happened all those years ago?

After an exciting opening chapter from the climax, this book flashes back, a technique I don’t like. In this case, it was worse since the book took longer than it should have to set up the main mystery. Once it did, I was hooked on the story. The ending was a bit rushed, but that was a minor complaint. I loved the characters and the character moments felt like they grew out of what we learned about them in the first book. Plus, we met some new characters I hope pop up again. Despite the slow start, I enjoyed this book overall.
  
Red Eye (2005)
Red Eye (2005)
2005 | Action, Mystery
6
5.8 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
For some people, being on an airplane is one of the most terrifying and traumatic experiences they will have to endure. For Lisa Reisert, (Rachel Mc Adams), her trauma is about to extend far beyond her dislike of flying.

Rachel works at a fancy Miami hotel where here main focus is taking care of all manner of high end clients such as the Secretary of Homeland Security. Lisa is forced to take the Red-Eye flight from Dallas to Miami to return to work on time following the funeral of her Grandmother, and as it tends to go with travels, there are all manner of delays that keep her from departing at the scheduled time.

It is during one such delay that Rachel meets the charismatic Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy), and as fate has it, they end up sitting next to one another after spending some time in a restaurant bar waiting for their flight to board.

As their plane ascends into the dark and stormy weather, a change occurs in Jackson, and he reveals that he is on the plane to ensure that Lisa follows his instructions, as failure to do so will result in the death of her beloved father.

Jackson reveals to Lisa that he works for interests who want to send a message so as the person in charge at the hotel, and then she must reassign the visiting Secretary of Homeland Security and his family to a room other than his usual one.

Trapped at 30,000 FT, with a psychotic Killer, Lisa must face her fears and find a way to outwit the killer in order to save her father the Secretary and perhaps herself from a situation borne of insanity and desperation.

Director Wes Craven is best known as the man behind the “Scream” and “Nightmare on Elm Street” series as well as countless other horror and suspense films has crafted a mix bag with “Red-Eye”, as the first half of the film is hampered by the uninspired final segments of the film.

What starts out as an interesting premise with many opportunities for suspense and tension are lost as the film unwinds. Early to middle segments of the film do have moments of suspense and some great exchanges between the two leads which makes the saggy and uninspired finale all the more disappointing.

Mc. Adams and Murphy are very good in their parts as is Jayma Mays in a supporting role as all three are talents to keep an eye on for the future.

That being said, the early moments of the film do deliver the goods and if you can get around the by the numbers finale, then you might find yourself enjoying the film.
  
    Pegasus Airlines

    Pegasus Airlines

    Travel and Business

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

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I was really excited when I saw this book. I love romantic comedies and I had high hopes for this book. I was a bit disappointed.

Jason is a batchelor and has been for a while. He is a duty manager at the local hotel and is currently living with his two closest friends, Sean and Jim. When Jason receives a wedding invitation in the mail from his ex-girlfriend, Lila Holmes, his world goes into a tailspin thinking about the one that got away. His friends are on a quest to find him a plus one, while Jason is wallowing in the sorrow of knowing he would not be the one to marry Lila.

This book did not have very much romance in it and to me it wasn't really that funny. I didn't find myself laughing out loud or really connecting with the characters at all. On the positive side though, I didn't stop reading the book. I did want to know what was going to happen next and how Jason was going to actually face his ex when the time came. There were a ton of movie references in this book which really didn't add to the story. I will read another book by this author, though.


**I was given a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.**
  
A Ladder To The Sky
A Ladder To The Sky
John Boyne | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A fascinatingly awful main character!
Maurice Swift wants to be a writer. It doesn't matter that he isn't particularly gifted, because he has access to a great story. Erich Ackerman meets Maurice in a hotel in West Berlin in 1988 - and so begins Erich's fall from grace and Maurice's meteoric rise.
Maurice works his way through writers at an astonishing rate. He's a narcissist, I think. He needs the admiration of others and doesn't care how he gets it, and this manifests itself;f in the need to write books, be recognised as a respected award winning writer and make lots of money.
Not wanting to give anything away, but he does some really immoral, terrible things, and doesn't to have any guilt at all. He's an awful person. I don't know why a character like this can make such a good book. I can, actually. This book is so well written. I felt empathy for those he swindles out of their stories, and Maurice is a fascinating character. The reader is drawn to him, just as those poor writers are. I wanted to hate him, but just couldn't.
I loved this book and I've already started recommending it to everyone I know!
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this wonderful book.
  
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Vegas (725 KP) rated Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) in Movies

Jan 8, 2019 (Updated Jan 8, 2019)  
Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)
Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)
2018 | Thriller
All of the cast (2 more)
The Direction
Beautifully Filmed
Nothing (0 more)
An instant classic...
There are very few films that grab my interest as much as this one did. I knew nothing about it at all when I sat down to watch it, I was just intrigued by the title...

A fantastic opening scene is one of the best I’ve seen for a long time and sets up the movie a treat.

The cast of characters are played perfectly, are very well cast and compliment each other as if they have all worked together before.

A special mention should go to Cynthia Erivo for her vocal performance that was stunning and captivating.

The film takes place at the El Royale a hotel/motel straddling the border over two states, that has seen its busy days fade away to the point of only having one member of staff working, and tends to attract the more seedy members of society.

The flash backs, and back tracks in the narrative which explain the story, work in a non complicated way and are interspaced at just the right times.

On top of this, the soundtrack should be one on anybody’s playlist...

I actually can't say too many good thing about this film, it is one of the best new films I have seen for many years...