
Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated The Underwriting in Books
Apr 9, 2019
Jost Hart, Hook's creator, believes it's time to follow in the steps of Facebook and other apps and take his public. He enlist Todd Kent with L.Cecil to help with the IPO. Todd barely knows Josh, having just met him briefly at a strip club months before, but is grateful for the opportunity seeing the potential in the app since he is one of it's users.
Kelly Jacobsen is also a Hook user, one of about 500 million. She has just accepted a position at L.Cecil after interning there over the summer. Now, back at Stanford, she reaches out to Tara Taylor, her mentor during the internship, letting her know of the decision. Tara is very excited for Kelly, this along with being named as part of the IPO team for Hook is really making her week. But after making this decision and spending a night out with friends, the next day, Kelly is found dead, with a drug overdose as the explanation. Her friends and family are baffled by this as this is something she would never do.
The death of a young co-ed and the introduction of a new company going public. Could these events be related in any way? Could Hook somehow be involved with Kelly's untimely demise? As the buzz for the IPO grows so does the speculation of the security of the app and it's users.
With so many changes happening so quickly, what will be the outcome? This book is filled with sex, lies, and billions of dollars, never a great combination when dealing with murder!
When first reading this book I was shocked at the number of different characters introduced so quickly. The book was fast paced from the start. ou meet the team of L.Cecil bankers in charge of the underwriting. From the guy at the top, to the little-a analyst who is crunching all of the numbers. You meet the guys in Silicon Valley from the creator of the app, to the engineers, that help to keep it running.
Everyone has their own agenda in this deal. To be bigger, better, and more powerful than before. And with billions of dollars on the table, the deal would do just that. This was an intriguing book, that thoroughly kept my attention. After reading one night I had very vivid dream about the book. I was sitting at the table with everyone, trying to make the deal work. It was a bit crazy for me. There are parts of this book that leave you with your mouth hanging open as you can't believe what you just read.

Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated Close to Home in Books
Oct 2, 2020
Close To Home is the first book in a series called DI Adam Fawley. The books are not related to themselves and can be read as standalones. They all feature the detective Fawley, therefore the series solution. Something similar to Dan Brown's series. I listened to the audio book, and I think that the format might have a little blame on my rating.
In this book, the 8-year-old girl Daisy Mason disappears from her parents's summer party. No one in the neighbourhood saw anything, not even the parents, and the detective is trying to keep an open mind in this whole situation, as someone is clearly lying.
The story begins with an interesting premise, and I loved the initial interviews that are happening, right after the disappearance. And after this initial moment, everything goes downhill.
There are many twists in this book, and they all are happening based on dumn luck or weird circumstances.
I would understand if this happened once or twice, but they have solved the whole mystery with coincidences happening one after another as well as random plot lines being added in the middle of nowhere, just to keep the story going.
Oh - we're running out of clues. Let's add a secret random second family the dad has. Oh - we're running out of clues again. Let's add a suspicious background for the mother. And now, let's make both these events come up at them at the same time, right when we're trying to solve an investigation. And now, let's add a mental issue with the brother. (Despite receiving all doctor's reports at the beginning)...
Too many events that came up afterwards and that I still have trouble to believe could make sense.
And on top of all this, I need to mention that the book doesn't have chapters as such. The parts are split with excerpts from social media. Something which I truly believe I would have enjoyed if I read the book. But instead, I was listening to it. And it is so annoying.
The below excerpt is not a quote, as I don't have the paperback copy. However, it does represent the true format of how this sounded in the audiobook:
Twenty-ninth of October, nine twenty five.
Angela G Bettaton at angela dot g bettaton. I hope they find the person that took Daisy. Hashtag Daisy Mason. Hashtag Find Daisy.
Mike eighty seven at mike dot eight seven The person that did this should take responsibility. Hashtag Find Daisy. Hashtag Missing Girl.
The ending - it just wasn't worth the wait, and it was the most unsatisfying ending I have ever encountered in mystery novels.
I regret picking this book up and I regret reading it. I really wish I love it, as I was looking forward to Cara Hunter's new novel, but now, I am not so sure anymore.
If you think you might enjoy it, please pick it up! Perhaps you might love it, who knows!

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Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Killing Eve in TV
Oct 22, 2018 (Updated Oct 22, 2018)
There are a few twists and turns that keep you guessing, but there are also a lot of spy story clichés present in the series. These aren't too offensive though, as I don't think that the show's main focus is to break the mould when it comes to spy thrillers, but instead to take its audience in an exciting espionage story while giving us some laughs along the way.
Speaking of which, the humour in this show doesn't take away from the gripping narrative, but instead adds to the show's charm. I will admit that it took me a while to get fully on-board with the show's off-kilter tone and quirky humour, but thankfully more of it lands than misses.
I am not familiar with the source material, so I am not sure how accurately it has been adapted. I don't even know if the novel contains the same odd tone or humour. It has intrigued me enough to go and read the book though, which is always a good sign.
Overall, this is a fun spy thriller. It is not going to break the rules of the genre, but it will keep you engaged throughout and give you a couple of laughs for good measure.

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