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The Murder of King Tut
The Murder of King Tut
James Patterson | 2009 | History & Politics
10
4.8 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
THE MURDER OF KING TUT—THE PLOT TO KILL THE CHILD KING (Audio Book) by James Patterson and Martin Dugard, read by Joe Barrett
Genre: non-fiction thriller
Rating: 4.5/5

Summary: James Patterson tells a story in three parts—one part, the mysterious death of King Tut, the second part the discovery of his tomb by Carter, and the third part his writing, own exploration, research, and discovery of the elusive history of the boy king.

Thoughts: This is one of the best James Patterson books I’ve ever read (listened too). JP has taken an age old mystery and solved it. Yes, it appears as though the mystery of Tut is mystery no more. This book is very alive, even though the plot revolves around a murder. I felt like I was standing right there, watching it all take place. At times, I felt like the characters themselves. This was an amazing escape from reality.

Characters (5/5): Characters should be relatable for a book to be enjoyable, and the characters in Tut’s world were wonderful. They were highly developed right away, and were the kind that either you routed for or hated with a passion.

Writing (4/5/5): James is an awesome writer. I always love reading his work because it’s so lyric. His words flow smoothly and he doesn’t overuse too many phrases (though several “waves” of various things did “wash over” many people).

Content (4/5): There was barely any language in this book, which was a nice change of JP’s work. It wasn’t necessary, either. It just goes to show that the point can be made—and made well—without filthy language. There was a little bit of sex but it wasn’t too graphic, nor was it frequent.

Reader (4/5): I really liked the voice of the reader for this book. I’ve heard some pretty awful ones before, I’ll say that much right now! But Joe’s voice was perfect for this book. The only thing I didn’t like were the voices he put with the characters—the accents were pretty lousy, and when he put on a “fake” voice for the child characters, it just sounded a little silly. I was glad when Tut got old enough that he didn’t have to do that anymore!

Recommendation: Ages 16+ to lovers of fiction, history, nonfiction, thrillers, mystery, or to any James-Patterson-addict.
  
Buried Secrets
Buried Secrets
Krissy Baccaro | 2020 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
An atmospheric, emotional, Rollercoaster ride that has you hooked from the start
I’m extremely excited to share my review of Buried Secrets by Krissy Baccaro, courtesy of Love Books Group Tours

What an atmospheric, emotional, Rollercoaster ride this took me on! I’m going to have to bite my tongue, so I don’t include spoilers!

After her Grandfather “Poppy” passes on, our main protagonist Ella, sets out to unravel a family mystery, when she finds “the box” that he asks her to find as it was his dying wish.

It’s not often I find a book in this genre that touches me so deeply. This literally had my eyes welling right from the start. Buried Secrets is a page turner that takes a hold on you from the start and you won’t be able to put it down.

Krissy sets the scene beautifully and you can imagine yourself right alongside the cast of characters, taking in the sights, sounds and smells of Italy that she so wonderfully depicts. I even caught myself googling the places that were visited and now want to go myself to follow in Ella’s footsteps.

The characters are so well developed, multi faceted and believable! Characters you can imagine amongst your own family and circle of friends.

Moving on to the plot, where do I start? It was full of twists, turns and surprises! Just when you thought you had solved the mystery………. nope you’re wrong! Krissy goes and throws in another treat of a twist to throw you off guard.

This seriously isn’t a book to pass up and by the end, you will be left with so many unanswered questions that you’ll be pleased to hear that this is the 1st of a series and let me tell you, I for one can’t wait for the 2nd Ella Perri instalment. So all you mystery, crime and thriller fans, why are you still reading my ramblings? Go buy the book already, so I can talk about it with you.

Krissy……You nailed it!
  
Stranger Things  - Season 1
Stranger Things - Season 1
2016 | Horror, Sci-Fi
David Harbour (4 more)
All of the kids
That theme music
The pitch-perfect retro atmosphere
Barb!
I can't rate it Eleven (0 more)
Nostalgia Perfected
Stranger Things is everything I wanted J.J. Abrams' Super 8 to be, and more. The atmosphere of the show is pitch-perfect and well established from the very first episode. The creeping tension builds until it touches the viewer's core and finally "resolves" in a full-on creature feature of a final episode. Like any good mystery/thriller TV show, it saves plenty of mysteries for future seasons. Here's to hoping the Duffer brothers don't bungle it up like Hemlock Grove after the interesting mysteries in its first season. Stranger Things is a much better show, however, and the Duffer brothers seem to have a much better idea of where this story is going. The child actors are all fantastic, and of the few notable adults/teens, David Harbour is my favorite. I cannot wait for season two in October (the kids have Ghostbusters Halloween costumes!).
  
The Resident (2012)
The Resident (2012)
2012 | Drama, Mystery
6
5.2 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Icky, undistinguished psycho-thriller finds Hammer in House of Mystery and Suspense mode. Except there's not much of either, given that no-one ever moves into a lovely new apartment and finds it's just as good as it seemed on the viewing. The usual fem jeop ensues as Hilary Swank's doctor has to fend off not just her landlord (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) but his elderly dad (his eminence Christopher Lee, in a regrettably small part).

Really has very little to differentiate or commend it beyond Lee's creepy cameo and some fun and games with the chronology at one point; you find yourself wondering just why you're watching a film with such an unpleasant vibe to it - it's kind of playing the game where it seems to be perfectly okay to dwell at great length on the most repellent behaviour, as long as there's a bit of carthartic vengeance in the end. I am seldom convinced by this, especially not when the rest of the film put together in such an average manner.
  
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Madbatdan82 (341 KP) rated Upgrade (2018) in Movies

May 5, 2019 (Updated May 5, 2019)  
Upgrade (2018)
Upgrade (2018)
2018 | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Gore and storyline (0 more)
Some of the script (0 more)
What if Robocop wasnt a cop??
Stumbled across this beaut of a film. Premise is man and wife get into a car accident and then robbed. Wife is killed and man is left paralysed below the neck. Mans friend (who is a computer designer type person) offers him the chance at a normal life with a new chip that can operate limbs for you. Man takes off and starts to investigate his wife's murder and mystery and who done it starts. This film is at its heart a thriller but is based in a sci fi futuristic world. It is also has some excellent body horror and gore in it including a 'mouth cut' which was bloody awesome! Some of the dialogue is a bit silly with the main character giving crappy 1 liners whilst fighting the people who he suspects of killing his wife but it's not that off putting and I was able to laugh these off. All in all a really good film and well worth a watch.
  
Show all 3 comments.
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Madbatdan82 (341 KP) May 6, 2019

It was really good. Wasnt expecting much - love it when I stumble onto a gem.

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Andy K (10823 KP) May 6, 2019

Yeah me too.