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Hadley (567 KP) rated Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town in Books
Jul 17, 2019
Jim Hopper (1 more)
Serial killers and cults, oh my!
Too much attention to detail (1 more)
Using the same body language for every character
In 1977, New York City was a disaster; men were trying to return to a normal life after Vietnam ended, gangs were on every street corner, and a serial killer, by the name 'Son of Sam,' was on the loose. But for Detective Jim Hopper, New York was housing another serial killer just for him- - - a killer who is killing Vietnam war veterans, and leaving behind a psychic calling card, known as the Zener cards.
Adam Christopher is the chosen author to tell Stranger Things' fans about the most important homicide case that Jim Hopper ever worked on in the novel 'Darkness on the Edge of Town.' Fans may recall from season 2, when Eleven found a secret hatch in Hopper's cabin, it revealed boxes under the floor - one which was labeled 'New York.' This is that story.
The entire book is Hopper telling Eleven about his greatest homicide story from New York City. Readers get to meet new characters from Hopper's past, but the most memorable may be his partner in the Homicide Unit, Rosario Delgado (1977 was a time where Homicide Units didn't allow female detectives, and Delgado is one of the first of few that is allowed into the unit). Delgado, who is Cuban, but was raised in Queens, New York, has all the right attitude that wins over her partner, Hopper. The reader will realize that they are two-peas-in-a-pod.
Quickly, the story gets into the first case the two have together: the Zener card serial killer; here, we learn that there were two previous victims, both murdered the same way: stabbed five times with the wounds joining together to form a five-pointed star. Throughout the book, the story goes back and forth between 1977 and the present, where Eleven asks questions about the story, and also, Hopper questioning himself as to whether he should continue to tell Eleven the story.
But soon, we meet a very important man named Leroy Washington - a gang member who wants protection in exchange for the information that he holds- this leads Hopper to our villain: a cult leader who goes by the name Saint John. This villain believes that Satan is going to rise and destroy New York City.
Backtracking a little before, Hopper and Delgado are taken off the case of the Zener card murders, introducing readers to Special Agent Gallup. Gallup states that the third victim, Jacob Hoeler, was also a Special Agent, so the case is turned over to Federal Agents. "What you don't know, Detective, is that Jacob Hoeler is one of ours- - - Special Agent Jacob Hoeler. He was working on assignment, and the fact that he was killed in the course of his duties is of primary concern to my department. Therefore, we need to be sure that a most thorough investigation is carried out. In order to ensure that happens, we will be taking the case in-house. " Hopper, along with Delgado, refuse to let the case go, and secretly continue to work on it. But, as they dig deeper into the evidence and crime scenes, the two realize the murder case is a part of something much bigger - - - a cult that is armed with vehicles and weapons, ready to take over New York City for their leader, Saint John.
Readers get to see the story from both Hopper's and Delgado's point of view, which readers may question how Hopper knows Delgado's side of the story, but quickly to react, Eleven asks this very question for us: " 'Fair point,' said Hopper. 'But we - - - I mean, Delgado and me- - - we pieced it all together afterward. We had to interview everyone we could, and we put it all into a big official report. Actually, it took way longer to write that thing up than we spent on the investigation itself. We were even flown down to D.C. to present it to a bunch of anonymous suits in some federal building. They grilled us pretty well, too, although I ever found out who they all were. ' He grinned. ' Kinda sums the whole thing up, really.' " Even so, without Delgado's point of view, the story wouldn't have turned out as well as it did.
Hopper's obsession with cracking this case lands him in the center of it- - - he is recruited, not by choice, to the task force that is trying to top Saint John's big plan to destroy New York City. Leroy Washington, the informant from before, is Hopper's wing man for the mission, because Washington turns out to be a recruiting officer for the cult. Hopper is to pretend that he is a new recruit, and that he is an ex-cop, who just happened to 'murder' two people the night before. Hopper infiltrating the cult is one of the most exciting parts of the book, but the sequence of these scenes are much too short, leaving this reader disappointed.
Unfortunately, by this time, Delgado has become somewhat of a secondary character. She still works the case, being in the-know of Hopper going undercover, but we see little else of Delgado's character being developed. This is a missed opportunity indeed.
Although I enjoyed Christopher bringing Hopper's backstory to light, the writer is so detail oriented in his writing, that it bogged down much of the flow in the story. The reader is told things in almost every scene that come to nothing, and just seem to waste the reader's time. You may also find that the author uses the same words or physical actions to describe emotions for every single character (such as neck rolling to show stress), which gets old very quickly.
With that said, and only a few inconsistencies here and there, the book was very good. The story takes off pretty quickly and doesn't seem to slow down. The scenery descriptions put the reader right there with our favorite Hawkins Police Chief, Jim Hopper, but the best part about this book is that you don't have to be a Stranger Things' fan to enjoy it; anyone who enjoys Crime Fiction would love this story. Highly recommend!
Adam Christopher is the chosen author to tell Stranger Things' fans about the most important homicide case that Jim Hopper ever worked on in the novel 'Darkness on the Edge of Town.' Fans may recall from season 2, when Eleven found a secret hatch in Hopper's cabin, it revealed boxes under the floor - one which was labeled 'New York.' This is that story.
The entire book is Hopper telling Eleven about his greatest homicide story from New York City. Readers get to meet new characters from Hopper's past, but the most memorable may be his partner in the Homicide Unit, Rosario Delgado (1977 was a time where Homicide Units didn't allow female detectives, and Delgado is one of the first of few that is allowed into the unit). Delgado, who is Cuban, but was raised in Queens, New York, has all the right attitude that wins over her partner, Hopper. The reader will realize that they are two-peas-in-a-pod.
Quickly, the story gets into the first case the two have together: the Zener card serial killer; here, we learn that there were two previous victims, both murdered the same way: stabbed five times with the wounds joining together to form a five-pointed star. Throughout the book, the story goes back and forth between 1977 and the present, where Eleven asks questions about the story, and also, Hopper questioning himself as to whether he should continue to tell Eleven the story.
But soon, we meet a very important man named Leroy Washington - a gang member who wants protection in exchange for the information that he holds- this leads Hopper to our villain: a cult leader who goes by the name Saint John. This villain believes that Satan is going to rise and destroy New York City.
Backtracking a little before, Hopper and Delgado are taken off the case of the Zener card murders, introducing readers to Special Agent Gallup. Gallup states that the third victim, Jacob Hoeler, was also a Special Agent, so the case is turned over to Federal Agents. "What you don't know, Detective, is that Jacob Hoeler is one of ours- - - Special Agent Jacob Hoeler. He was working on assignment, and the fact that he was killed in the course of his duties is of primary concern to my department. Therefore, we need to be sure that a most thorough investigation is carried out. In order to ensure that happens, we will be taking the case in-house. " Hopper, along with Delgado, refuse to let the case go, and secretly continue to work on it. But, as they dig deeper into the evidence and crime scenes, the two realize the murder case is a part of something much bigger - - - a cult that is armed with vehicles and weapons, ready to take over New York City for their leader, Saint John.
Readers get to see the story from both Hopper's and Delgado's point of view, which readers may question how Hopper knows Delgado's side of the story, but quickly to react, Eleven asks this very question for us: " 'Fair point,' said Hopper. 'But we - - - I mean, Delgado and me- - - we pieced it all together afterward. We had to interview everyone we could, and we put it all into a big official report. Actually, it took way longer to write that thing up than we spent on the investigation itself. We were even flown down to D.C. to present it to a bunch of anonymous suits in some federal building. They grilled us pretty well, too, although I ever found out who they all were. ' He grinned. ' Kinda sums the whole thing up, really.' " Even so, without Delgado's point of view, the story wouldn't have turned out as well as it did.
Hopper's obsession with cracking this case lands him in the center of it- - - he is recruited, not by choice, to the task force that is trying to top Saint John's big plan to destroy New York City. Leroy Washington, the informant from before, is Hopper's wing man for the mission, because Washington turns out to be a recruiting officer for the cult. Hopper is to pretend that he is a new recruit, and that he is an ex-cop, who just happened to 'murder' two people the night before. Hopper infiltrating the cult is one of the most exciting parts of the book, but the sequence of these scenes are much too short, leaving this reader disappointed.
Unfortunately, by this time, Delgado has become somewhat of a secondary character. She still works the case, being in the-know of Hopper going undercover, but we see little else of Delgado's character being developed. This is a missed opportunity indeed.
Although I enjoyed Christopher bringing Hopper's backstory to light, the writer is so detail oriented in his writing, that it bogged down much of the flow in the story. The reader is told things in almost every scene that come to nothing, and just seem to waste the reader's time. You may also find that the author uses the same words or physical actions to describe emotions for every single character (such as neck rolling to show stress), which gets old very quickly.
With that said, and only a few inconsistencies here and there, the book was very good. The story takes off pretty quickly and doesn't seem to slow down. The scenery descriptions put the reader right there with our favorite Hawkins Police Chief, Jim Hopper, but the best part about this book is that you don't have to be a Stranger Things' fan to enjoy it; anyone who enjoys Crime Fiction would love this story. Highly recommend!
I'm Not Dying With You Tonight
Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal
Book
"An absolute page turner, I'm Not Dying with You Tonight is a compelling and powerful novel that is...
The Amazing Spider-Man
Games and Entertainment
7.0
Rate It
App
Optimized for the 4-inch Retina display on iPhone 5! THE OFFICIAL GAME FROM THE 2012 MOVIE "THE...
Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated The Avengers (2012) in Movies
Jun 10, 2019
Avengers Assembled is a film filled with amazing performances, great special effects and fantastic direction from long-time comic-book fan, Joss Whedon. He manages to craft a great film and considering the size of the cast, that’s no easy feat.
It lets itself down throughout the finale in which the audience is subjected to a Transformers-style alien invasion across New York City that could have been lifted straight out of any Michael Bay-directed flick. A great end to Phase One of the MCU, but not the classic everyone remembers it being.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2018/04/21/the-entire-marvel-cinematic-universe-ranked/
It lets itself down throughout the finale in which the audience is subjected to a Transformers-style alien invasion across New York City that could have been lifted straight out of any Michael Bay-directed flick. A great end to Phase One of the MCU, but not the classic everyone remembers it being.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2018/04/21/the-entire-marvel-cinematic-universe-ranked/
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2379 KP) rated Cover of Snow in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Nora awakes one cold January morning to discover the unthinkable - her husband has committed suicide. As she tries to figure out why, she begins to uncover things about his past she never knew. Will she figure out why? What else will she uncover?
Definitely a darker book than I normally read, but I am glad I did. The characters were real, the plot was tight, and the writing was so good I felt the cold of an upper New York State winter. Hard to believe this is a debut novel.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2014/05/book-review-cover-of-snow-by-jenny.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Definitely a darker book than I normally read, but I am glad I did. The characters were real, the plot was tight, and the writing was so good I felt the cold of an upper New York State winter. Hard to believe this is a debut novel.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2014/05/book-review-cover-of-snow-by-jenny.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Altitude Rush in Books
Nov 8, 2019
This is a short story available for free download from Matthew Reilly's website. It follows the usual Reilly formula of breathless, suspension of disbelief action, compressed into short form. Engineering a situation where our heroes must get across New York against the clock and without going below a certain altitude, Reilly uses every trick he can think of to get the reader's adrenaline pumping as they leap from rooftop to rooftop. And he knows a lot of tricks.
This is certainly not going to win any serious literary awards but that's not what this is for. For pure escapist fun to while away the time this fits the bill perfectly.
This is certainly not going to win any serious literary awards but that's not what this is for. For pure escapist fun to while away the time this fits the bill perfectly.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated The Rescuers (1977) in Movies
Jan 3, 2020
The Rescuers to the Rescue.
The Plot: Bernard (Bob Newhart) and Miss Bianca (Eva Gabor), two New York City mice, are members of the Rescue Aid Society, an international team that operates beneath the United Nations and comes to the aid of those in need. After receiving word that Penny (Michelle Stacy), a young orphan, has been abducted by Madame Medusa (Geraldine Page), an evil woman seeking a precious diamond, the two set out to bring her back home, with help from other animal friends.
It has adventure, drama, comedy, love, a percious diamond, a evil villian and more.
A classic movie from disney.
It has adventure, drama, comedy, love, a percious diamond, a evil villian and more.
A classic movie from disney.
Ross (3284 KP) rated Captain Marvel, Volume 2: Stay Fly in Books
Jul 31, 2019
Decent but not for me
I get that I am not the target market for this incarnation of Captain Marvel. This collection is split roughly in three. The story surrounding Chewie, with Rocket, was good, funny and well written. The second story, trying to save a rock star from an arranged marriage, was tedious drivel (similar to volume 1's Phantom Menace trade negotiations rubbish), and the third was slightly more what I would have expected from Marvel, a villain's attempt to take over New York.
A good collection for a character that some might really love, but definitely not my cup of tea.
A good collection for a character that some might really love, but definitely not my cup of tea.
TY
Thank You for Your Service
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Soon to be a major film, written and directed by Jason Hall of American Sniper, and starring Amy...
Dog Medicine: How My Dog Saved Me from Myself
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At twenty-two, Julie Barton collapsed on her kitchen floor in Manhattan. She was one year out of...