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Bone Canyon
Bone Canyon
Lee Goldberg | 2021 | Mystery
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Burning Need to Solve a Cold Case
A recent wildfire in the Santa Monica mountains has had a surprising side effect. The bodies of several people dead for many years have started to be found since the brush that’s been hiding them is no longer around. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Detective Eve Ronin and her partner, Duncan Pavone, have landed the most recent one of these cold cases. Their case proves to be complicated when they identify the body as that of a twenty-something who vanished several years before. As they begin to investigate, they make several startling discoveries. What exactly lead to her murder?

I enjoyed the first book in this series, and I wasn’t disappointed with this one in the slightest. Part of the fun is learning the twists of the case as they unfold, and then watching Eve try to make sense of it all. There is plenty of action on the way to a wonderful climax. Eve is a strong main character, and I enjoyed getting to know her better here. I did feel like a few of the supporting players could be stronger, but maybe that was my reaction to their poor attitudes which aren’t fully explained. While the overall tone of the book is serious, as it should be given the case, there are some very fun moments, most of them coming at the expense of Hollywood. This isn’t one of my typical cozies, so there is language, sex, and violence; be prepared before you pick up the book. I’m glad I picked up this fast paced, twisty mystery.
  
Saw VI (2009)
Saw VI (2009)
2009 | Horror, Mystery
9
6.2 (15 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
With Saw VI we get more of the same, more traps, more gore and more story which is exactly what you'd expect. Saw VI seems to fit into the overall story better than the previous film, the game fits into the over all story better, with the victims actually being connected to what is happening and the back story doesn't interfere with what has happened before, instead it adds to the overall mythos.
Where the last three films focused on the back story of three of the main characters; Amanda the Pig, John Kramer aka Jigsaw and Detective Hoffman, Saw VI focus on their relationship and the power struggle between Hoffman and Amanda and explains a bit more of Amanda's actions at the end of Saw III.
We get to find out what was in the box Johns wife received as part of her inheritance and we get the feeling that the franchise is beginning to come to it's conclusion .
There's not much more that can be said that hasn't already been said about the previous films, there's gore and violence which interweave the main story which follows on from the the previous film.
I do think Saw VI is one of the better films, the games are imaginative and linked to the main story, there is gore but not enough as to overwhelm the viewer and the story/timeline makes sense.
So, if you're a fan of the franchise then watch it. However if you're new to the whole thing then best start with an earlier film as we are quite far into the story.
  
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Jun 10, 2021  
Today's special guest on my blog is James Wade, Writer sharing his top 5 novels set in East Texas. There's also a spotlight on his new crime fiction novel RIVER, SING OUT. Check it out, and enter the giveaway to win an autographed first-edition hardcover the book plus an autographed paperback of his multiple award-winning coming of age novel All Things Left Wild - two winners!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/06/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-river-sing.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
“And through these ages untold, the river did act as the lifeblood of all those things alongside it.”

Jonah Hargrove is celebrating his thirteenth birthday by avoiding his abusive father, when a girl named River stumbles into his yard, injured and alone. The teenager has stolen thousands of dollars’ worth of meth from her murderous, drug-dealing boyfriend, but lost it somewhere in the Neches River bottoms during her escape. Jonah agrees to help her find and sell the drugs so she can flee East Texas.

Chasing after them is John Curtis, a local drug kingpin and dog fighter, as well as River’s boyfriend, the dangerous Dakota Cade.

Each person is keeping secrets from the others—deadly secrets that will be exposed in violent fashion as all are forced to come to terms with their choices, their circumstances, and their own definition of God.

With a colorful cast of supporting characters and an unflinching violence juxtaposed against lyrical prose, River, Sing Out dives deep into the sinister world of the East Texas river bottoms, where oppressive poverty is pitted against the need to believe in something greater than the self.
     
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Lorene Scafaria recommended GoodFellas (1990) in Movies (curated)

 
GoodFellas (1990)
GoodFellas (1990)
1990 | Crime, Drama, Thriller

"For me, it is the most alive and electric filmmaking. [Martin Scorsese is] obviously one of the greats, but he brought that ’70s filmmaking to 1990, which… I can’t believe it’s a 1990 film. I love gangster films and I love The Godfather, but I am a Goodfellas girl. I thought there was just so much captured in the masculinity of it and the relationships between men, the family dynamic, the structure of it, the mafia, that sort of hierarchy and camaraderie. I just think it’s one of the most exciting films ever made, of course. The writing is extraordinary, as is the improvisation of it. And seeing what he puts in a frame during a scene, like Joe Pesci telling the story, and you think it’s a funny scene when you realize it’s really just like these two setups over and over and that these… You sort of see the layout of the guys in the background who’s listening and the tension that he’s able to create by just hanging on something. That was something that I was trying to bring into [Hustlers]: in terms of how he treated violence, that was something that I felt about how to treat the nudity, in a way. So it was a touchstone for me in how to, not just approach anti-heroes or an underworld, but also just… What’s the difference between the gun and a body as being used, being weaponized? And an outfit, a bandage dress, being weaponized, you know? And the role that each of them play in that hustle and in the group."

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