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The Damselfly
Book
An unsolved murder. A community turned against each other. A killer close to home...Katie Taylor is...
TE
The Executioner Weeps
David Coward and Frederic Dard
Book
Winner of the 1957 Grand prix de la litterature policiere It was fate that led her to step out in...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2414 KP) rated The Scarecrow (Jack McEvoy #2) in Books
Apr 18, 2021
Will Jack End His Career in a Blaze of Glory?
After a decade covering crime for The Los Angeles Times, Jack McEvoy has just gotten let go due to budget cuts. He has two weeks left to train his replacement, but he also intends to use that time to write one last major story. He thinks he’s found that story when he hears about Alonzo Winslow, a sixteen-year-old drug dealer in prison for a brutal murder he denies committing. As Jack investigates, he once again crosses paths with FBI agent Rachel Walling. Can the two of them figure out what is really going on?
I enjoyed Jack and Rachel’s first book, so I was glad to finally get to their second novel. They make a great team, and their characters are as strong as ever. The rest of the cast is just as great. The mystery is full of twists and thrills, and I always had a hard time putting the book down. The book did get a bit too far into the details a couple of times for my taste, but fortunately, those scenes didn’t last long. I do wish that author Michael Connelly would figure out a way to set up his climatic set pieces without stopping the story to give us data dumps. It’s always obvious when that happens, too. It’s a minor issue, but still something that makes me rolls my eyes. Overall, this is a strong thriller that kept me engaged until I reached the end.
I enjoyed Jack and Rachel’s first book, so I was glad to finally get to their second novel. They make a great team, and their characters are as strong as ever. The rest of the cast is just as great. The mystery is full of twists and thrills, and I always had a hard time putting the book down. The book did get a bit too far into the details a couple of times for my taste, but fortunately, those scenes didn’t last long. I do wish that author Michael Connelly would figure out a way to set up his climatic set pieces without stopping the story to give us data dumps. It’s always obvious when that happens, too. It’s a minor issue, but still something that makes me rolls my eyes. Overall, this is a strong thriller that kept me engaged until I reached the end.
Christine A. (965 KP) rated The Shadows in Books
Aug 24, 2020
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. The opinions are entirely my own, and any quotes are taken from the ARC and may be different in the final published copy.
While I have "read" audiobooks for years now, this is the first one I was given to review. Let me catch my breath before starting. Wow! OK. Wow! That needed to be said.
Alex North's "debut" novel, The Whisper Man, was a 2019 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Mystery & Thriller. When I finished reading it, I immediately added his second book, The Shadows, to my must-read list.
The narrators of The Shadows are Hannah Arterton and John Heffernan. The combination of North's writing and Arterton and Heffernan's narration provides a story that feels as if the narrators are the characters themselves, sitting by a fire, retelling North's story, and not merely reading the story. It is their narration that helps North bring the listener down the rabbit hole and ending up questioning everything they thought was true. I needed to reread sections to see how I could have gotten everything so wrong.
North is a British crime writer who has previously published under another name. According to Goodreads, this is Arterton's first narration. While Heffernan has narrated a few novels, he writes mostly for film and TV but also wrote Driver For The Dead, his first comic book series.
This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 7/14/20 and updated on 8/24/20.
While I have "read" audiobooks for years now, this is the first one I was given to review. Let me catch my breath before starting. Wow! OK. Wow! That needed to be said.
Alex North's "debut" novel, The Whisper Man, was a 2019 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Mystery & Thriller. When I finished reading it, I immediately added his second book, The Shadows, to my must-read list.
The narrators of The Shadows are Hannah Arterton and John Heffernan. The combination of North's writing and Arterton and Heffernan's narration provides a story that feels as if the narrators are the characters themselves, sitting by a fire, retelling North's story, and not merely reading the story. It is their narration that helps North bring the listener down the rabbit hole and ending up questioning everything they thought was true. I needed to reread sections to see how I could have gotten everything so wrong.
North is a British crime writer who has previously published under another name. According to Goodreads, this is Arterton's first narration. While Heffernan has narrated a few novels, he writes mostly for film and TV but also wrote Driver For The Dead, his first comic book series.
This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 7/14/20 and updated on 8/24/20.
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The Plotters in Books
Oct 16, 2023
154 of 235
Book
The Plotters
By Un-su Kim
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Behind every assassination, there is an anonymous mastermind--a plotter--working in the shadows. Plotters quietly dictate the moves of the city's most dangerous criminals, but their existence is little more than legend. Just who are the plotters? And more important, what do they want?
Reseng is an assassin. Raised by a cantankerous killer named Old Raccoon in the crime headquarters "The Library," Reseng never questioned anything: where to go, who to kill, or why his home was filled with books that no one ever read. But one day, Reseng steps out of line on a job, toppling a set of carefully calibrated plans. And when he uncovers an extraordinary scheme set into motion by an eccentric trio of young women--a convenience store clerk, her wheelchair-bound sister, and a cross-eyed librarian--Reseng will have to decide if he will remain a pawn or finally take control of the plot.
Crackling with action and filled with unforgettable characters, The Plotters is a deeply entertaining thriller that soars with the soul, wit, and lyricism of real literary craft.
I really enjoyed this book it was dark, twisty and violent. A look into the dark world of an assassin life one that doesn’t like doing what he does. Knowing he has only one way out. I wasn’t expecting to like it at all it was a mystery book I had in a subscription box. It was really well translated too.
Book
The Plotters
By Un-su Kim
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Behind every assassination, there is an anonymous mastermind--a plotter--working in the shadows. Plotters quietly dictate the moves of the city's most dangerous criminals, but their existence is little more than legend. Just who are the plotters? And more important, what do they want?
Reseng is an assassin. Raised by a cantankerous killer named Old Raccoon in the crime headquarters "The Library," Reseng never questioned anything: where to go, who to kill, or why his home was filled with books that no one ever read. But one day, Reseng steps out of line on a job, toppling a set of carefully calibrated plans. And when he uncovers an extraordinary scheme set into motion by an eccentric trio of young women--a convenience store clerk, her wheelchair-bound sister, and a cross-eyed librarian--Reseng will have to decide if he will remain a pawn or finally take control of the plot.
Crackling with action and filled with unforgettable characters, The Plotters is a deeply entertaining thriller that soars with the soul, wit, and lyricism of real literary craft.
I really enjoyed this book it was dark, twisty and violent. A look into the dark world of an assassin life one that doesn’t like doing what he does. Knowing he has only one way out. I wasn’t expecting to like it at all it was a mystery book I had in a subscription box. It was really well translated too.
David McK (3610 KP) rated The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) in Movies
Feb 20, 2022
Spider-man, Spider-man, does whatever a spider can ...
To do, there have been three actors starring as Spider-man on the big screen: Tobey Maguire (who had 3 movies), Andrew Garfield (2 movies) and Tom Holland (3 movies, not counting his various cameos or team-ups).
This is the first of the two Andrew Garfield (so pre Spider-man in the MCU) starring movies, again set during the early days of his crime-fighting career and telling how he got his powers: this time around, though, the first villain he faces is The Lizard rather than the Green Goblin. it also takes - at least in the very early parts of the movie - more of a thriller approach to his (Peter Parker's) story, laying the groundwork with an explanation of how he comes to live with his Aunt and Uncle (a groundwork which is seemingly forgotten about by the mid-way point of the movie), and with Garfields Parker coming across more as a 'cool kid' - skateboard and all! - than the nerdy Maguire version.
That's not the only differences: there's no MJ Watson (with her role replaced by Gwen Stacey), we're back to having his web-shooters being non-organic, and this Spider-man does seem quippier than Maguire's version whilst there's also several first-person POV segments throughout (the early 2010s, remember - 3d was still a thing).
Unfortunately, there's also no stand-out moments: nothing to rival the upside-down kiss (from Spider-Man), the train fight (Spider-Man 2) or even the Venom sequences from Spider-Man 3
This is the first of the two Andrew Garfield (so pre Spider-man in the MCU) starring movies, again set during the early days of his crime-fighting career and telling how he got his powers: this time around, though, the first villain he faces is The Lizard rather than the Green Goblin. it also takes - at least in the very early parts of the movie - more of a thriller approach to his (Peter Parker's) story, laying the groundwork with an explanation of how he comes to live with his Aunt and Uncle (a groundwork which is seemingly forgotten about by the mid-way point of the movie), and with Garfields Parker coming across more as a 'cool kid' - skateboard and all! - than the nerdy Maguire version.
That's not the only differences: there's no MJ Watson (with her role replaced by Gwen Stacey), we're back to having his web-shooters being non-organic, and this Spider-man does seem quippier than Maguire's version whilst there's also several first-person POV segments throughout (the early 2010s, remember - 3d was still a thing).
Unfortunately, there's also no stand-out moments: nothing to rival the upside-down kiss (from Spider-Man), the train fight (Spider-Man 2) or even the Venom sequences from Spider-Man 3
Maximum Pressure (Claudia Rose Forensic Handwriting Mysteries #9)
Book
Old friendships turn deadly and the past comes back to haunt Claudia Rose in unexpected ways. ...
Crime Thriller Psychological Suspense