Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2225 KP) rated Three Shots to the Wind in Books

Apr 1, 2022 (Updated Apr 1, 2022)  
Three Shots to the Wind
Three Shots to the Wind
Sherry Harris | 2022 | Mystery
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Cozy Trope Twisted by Murder
Chloe thinks she is settling into her new life in Emerald Cove, Florida, when she starts to receive a series of mysterious gifts. While she knows they aren’t from her new boyfriend, she isn’t prepared to learn they are from her ex-fiance, Perry Franklin, who is in town for an accounting conference. Unfortunately, she learns this when she stumbles on his dead body at a crime scene. When they were together, Chloe thought Perry was boring. Had she misjudged him? What could have led to his murder?

I love how this book put a twist on the familiar cozy trope of the main character’s ex coming to town to try to win her back. Of course, Perry also wasn’t who Chloe thought he was, and exploring that gives us suspects and motives. I enjoyed following Chloe as she solved the case, and the climax wraps things up nicely. This story also gives Chloe a real chance for growth, which I enjoyed seeing. Additionally, a sub-plot gives some of the supporting characters a chance to grow as well. Sherry Harris is one of my favorite authors, and this book once again shows why.
  
J&
Judge & Jury
James Patterson | 2006 | Crime, Mystery
6
7.4 (7 Ratings)
Book Rating
When Andie gets called up for jury duty, she is dreading it. She doesn't want to be a part of this trial at all. During jury selection, she tries her best to not get called, but unfortunately for her, she gets a seat in the jury box. The trial is for a mob boss who has killed numerous people and gotten away with it every time. Nick Pellisante is the FBI agent who has been hunting down Dominic Covello for years now. Finally he has him in jail and awaiting trial and he can't wait to see him put away for life. When the jury gets sequestered, it doesn't stop Covello from having his people get to them. Will he get away with murder again or will he finally face his fate?

I have enjoyed James Patterson books for a long time. His books aren't always the best, but they are great for a quick read and lots of entertainment. Having Joe Mantegna read this story made it even better. Criminal Minds is one of my favorite shows so I could relate to the reader on this book. I plan on catching up on all of my James Patterson reading in the new year. I'm already caught up on the Women's Murder Club series.

In this book, I like the way that Andie handles the situations that are put to her. She is a mother and very strong willed. The relationship she develops with Pellisante along the way helps them both in their lives. A quick book to enjoy on my way to and from work.
  
I have found the series to be lots of fun. It features a spunky heroine who is at home in all the great cities in Europe, is great at her job, and takes the more than occasional murder in stride.

The thing I find most intriguing and also most inviting about this series is the fact that the murder takes place so late in the story that you almost forget that this is supposed to be a murder mystery. Instead, you get to meet all the characters, learn their secrets and affiliations, begin to develop feelings for them. It is very Agatha Christie like and very cool. The great characters added to the brilliant descriptions of European cities, tour stops, and culture makes the reader feel like they are taking part in the tour and gives them a personal stake in discovering whodunnit.

Death of Leprechaun is no exception. Lana has secured a spot on her current tour for dear friends of hers and she is really looking forward to touring Dublin. Unbeknownst to her, almost every member of the tour has a connection to a corrupt reporter who ends up dead. Everyone he has written about or even for has a motive to want him dead, but only Lana’s tour group had access to the murder weapon.

Beyond the search for the murderer, I have to admit my favorite part of this book is when Dottie and later Lana hang a lantern on the fact that guests in Lana’s tours always seem to turn up dead. Though I will give kudos for the switch up here in that the tour group is still suspect, but the victim, is an outsider.

Readers who enjoy travel fiction, epic character development, and clever mysteries will enjoy this series.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
I received an advance review copy for free through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours, and I am leaving this review voluntarily
  
They'll Never Catch Us
They'll Never Catch Us
Jessica Goodman | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was very creeped out by the background of the town from the very beginning. I don't know how the girls were able to be brave enough to run around town by themselves ever again but I agree that they should be able to instead of being too afraid to train for their dreams.

Stella and Mila were my favorite characters and I could not stand how people were not really looking for Mila just as they hadn't after the first murder. The cops were trying to say girls just do these things when clearly it was a generalization. The teenage boys also treated the girls unfairly. Nick clearly was abusive and controlling and I automatically suspected him of killing Mila just because Ellie had told her what had happened between her and Nick. I don't want to give away any spoilers to this thriller but I def recommend because it grabs your attention from the very beginning.
  
The Guest (2014)
The Guest (2014)
2014 | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Solid script (2 more)
Some sweet sweet murder
The best twist fuck ending in a long time
What in the mind fucking hell went on here
Simon Barrett and Adam Wingard are a pair of my favorite writer director teams in the history of mumblecore movies... theu have an I don' give a shit attitude that oozes through each kill in every movie they make. From the demented serial killings in A Horrible Way to Die to the revenge filled destruction of mercenaries and spiteful children in You're Next. And this movie is no different....
I wouldn't exactly call it a horror film by label, but the killing is so over the top bloody and disturbing that I suppose it is horrific.
Dan Stevens portrayal of Army boy David is spot on... emotionless and cold to the view. He renders each murder with a purpose... even those final few near the end. Even though they were brutal and harsh. They explained how sick and twisted he truly is.
Maika Monroe is solid as well. Anna makes you feel pity for all the things sshe is going through. Her personal life is a mess and her family life is no better...
This movie is not what I thought it was going to be. It was better than I expected and I will be watching it again. 9 enthusiastic severed heads out of 10
  
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot #4)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot #4)
Agatha Christie | 2006 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry
4
7.6 (11 Ratings)
Book Rating
Not my favorite novel
You can also find this review on my blog at bookingwayreads.wordpress.com
TRIGGER WARNINGS: death, murder, talk of suicide

Review:
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd follows detective Hercule Poirot as he investigates the murder of Roger Ackroyd. Ackroyd was murdered in his study that was locked, but not before he received a letter from the person that was blackmailing the widow he was having an affair with. This same widow was being blackmailed and rumors spread about her murdering her own husband. She ends up committing suicide because of these rumors and blackmailing.

King's Abbot is full of suspects but it's up to Hercule Poirot to figure out who is guilty of murdering Roger Ackroyd. He is aided by the village doctor and narrator of the story, James Sheppard and his sister, Caroline Sheppard.

I really wanted to love this novel, as it seemed really interesting. It didn't get interesting until the very ending and I wouldn't recommend reading this book first if you've never read an Agatha Christie novel. This was the first ever novel I've read by Agatha Christie and I'm just not really bothered to read any more novels by Agatha Christie.

The story was somewhat interesting, but the execution wasn't there. I wasn't able to guess the killer, so that was a fun little plot twist. But the ending came abruptly and the overall story lacked. It lacked that punch that most mysteries have. There was hardly any development and background for both the story and the characters.

I listened to the audiobook version of this so I wasn't sure if there wasn't any grammatical and/or spelling errors. The narrator was a bit monotone but was otherwise a decent speaker. I forced myself through this, when all I wanted to do was DNF it. It lacked, was confusing, and was rather boring. I did not enjoy this and was disappointed with the overall story.

"The things young women read nowadays and profess to enjoy positively frighten me."
  
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
1959 | Classics, Drama, Mystery
6.3 (3 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"My number two movie is Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of Murder starring Jimmy Stewart — one of my favorite James Stewart performances. He’s the country lawyer, so all those folksy tricks that Jimmy Stewart uses just really come into play here– ’cause he’s also so bright, you know? He’s the brilliant, folksy country lawyer. And Lee Remick is in it, in the flower of her youth. Bra-less and in Ray-Bans — you know, who doesn’t want [to see] that? And gosh, Ben Gazzara in a really neurotic, strange performance. I think it’s the screen debut of George C. Scott as the young lawyer from Lansing, MI, who takes on this case; and he’s — it’s just brilliant courtroom stuff. Murray Hamilton — who plays the mayor in Steven Spielberg’s Jaws — he’s the bartender, and he’s wonderful; it’s a great turn. And the music: Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, so it’s a great jazz score. The Jimmy Stewart character tinkles on the ivories and he plays a little bit of jazz sometimes as a kind of hobby, so that justifies the score. But that’s a great film — black and white, beautifully shot, underrated. Almost a perfect film."

Source
  
Blast of Silence (1961)
Blast of Silence (1961)
1961 | Crime, Drama, Thriller
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"One of my favorite mini-genres is the B crime movie from the late fifties and early sixties. It was a unique period in American cinema that gave birth to these half-cocked, no-budget movies that were made by some visionary filmmakers. They’re all super raw and gritty, very existential, and absolutely innovative in technique. It’s no wonder that the French New Wave filmmakers all discovered them and ripped them off (I’m looking at you, Jean-Pierre Melville). Movies like Don Siegel’s The Lineup and Irving Lerner’s Murder by Contract (both of which have popped up on the new Criterion Channel recently!) embody this subgenre, but the high point for me is Allen Baron’s Blast of Silence, which seems to grow in stature every year. It’s hard to describe it. Imagine if Orson Welles was a crazed junkie on the Bowery in the late 1950s and somehow conned someone out of $20k to make a bleak movie about a hit man. It’s sorta part Point Blank, part Taxi Driver, part Shadows, and it’s as hardboiled as they come. It’s also one of the great New York City movies, with amazing time-capsule photography in all the boroughs and near pristine documentary coverage of streets. The Criterion disc also unearthed another absolute gem: a 1990 documentary in which Baron visits all the locations from the film. Oh, and the Criterion cover art, by comic artist Sean Phillips, is maybe my favorite cover! And the edition also includes a graphic novel based on the film! (Damn, should I have put this first?)"

Source
  
40x40

Alex Wolff recommended Taxi Driver (1976) in Movies (curated)

 
Taxi Driver (1976)
Taxi Driver (1976)
1976 | Thriller

"What don’t I love about Taxi Driver? Taxi Driver is my favorite performance, and it’s my favorite score — Bernard Hermann, man. I was talking to someone today about why it’s the greatest film of all time. It turns this kind of sadistic ticking time bomb of a man who’s falling apart at the seams into this dreamy, seductive, gorgeous portrait of a vulnerable person. It turns all this sadism and all that deep hatred for the world into this empathetic, Holden Caulfield-type, just deeply pained truth. Not even to mention how it ties into today’s isolation. It’s a movie made in the ’70s that’s more relevant now than ever. It’s needed to show how this sort of isolation, this sort of alienation, can lead to rage and vengeance, but can also be used for good. It’s this crazy luck of the draw — Travis Bickle could have gone in either direction. He could have become this horrible man who murders a bunch of innocent people, but then he latches onto the idea that he has to murder all the bad people. I find that to be such a beautiful concept. Not to mention that it’s shot with these gorgeous reds and greens that are so lush. To watch, it’s like chewing a chocolate bar. It just melts in your mouth, that film. It’s everything I love about movies. It’s the smoothest, most velvet, but also the roughest and the deepest pit of despair you could go into. It’s everything. It’s everything in one film."

Source