meg reads and reads

Title: Inside Out Author: Barry Eisler Eisler knows how to write a good story, and he didn't disappoint with the second Ben Treven book, Inside Out. It was good to see the potential tie-in to the John Rain novels (which I will be able to go back to now), and I have missed John dearly. To be completely honest, this book felt hurried. It's not really any shorter than any of his other books, but there are lots of distracting and careless punctuation errors that normally aren't such a huge presence in his work. Despite that, this was an enjoyable read. I really liked Paula's character, and I was super disappointed that she turned out to be the way she was. I guess the clues were there all along, though. There is also a really interesting (and not altogether inaccurate, I'd say) take on the state of the American government, and it's fascinating, because it feels particularly accurate now, and this book was published in the pre-Trump presidency world. Hort h...

Title: Bad Traffick Author: D.V. Berkom I said a while back I would eventually come back to Leine and see where her story led, and I did. Book Two of the Leine Basso series was better than the first. There were some minor editing issues (you'll notice this is a pet peeve of mine) and a couple of minor consistency issues as well, but nothing major. The character development was decent, and the writing was overall really good. There was the predictability factor, but Berkom did have a couple twists at the end that I didn't completely foresee. This book was definitely a vast improvement over the first. There was even a loose end that I hope is returned to at some point. I'm going to switch gears for my next read, but I will definitely return to Leine in the future. Four out of five stars. ---------- READING PROGRESS: An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon: 43% The Dark Half by Stephen King: 5% Inside Out by Barry Eisler: 31% Let's Dance, Snoopy: 65 Years o...

Title: Who Laid the Egg? Author: Audrey Sauble This is the first children's book I have reviewed for this blog. It isn't something I would normally do, but I really needed something much, much lighter after that last terrible book I read. There's no plot to this book, so if your kid needs an actual story, this is not the book to read. However, for kids like my three-year-old who are obsessed with animals and dinosaurs and eggs, this is perfect. It's informative and cute and short, which makes it a good bedtime read after a long day. I'll definitely show it to my son. Four out of five stars. ---------- READING PROGRESS: An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon: 43% The Dark Half by Stephen King: 4% Inside Out by Barry Eisler: 31% Bad Traffick by D.V. Berkom: NOW STARTING

Title: Silent Crime Author: W.L. Knightly I've been on kind of a thriller kick lately, so I decided to give this one a shot. Cool cover, right? The description seemed positive, too. That is literally the end of anything nice I have to say about this book. Character development? Terrible. Plot? Awful. Full of every thriller cliche you can imagine with random bits of explicit information that were completely unnecessary (unless it comes up again in the later books of the series). Regardless, I was not impressed, and it is extremely doubtful that I will ever read book two. Two out of five stars. ------------ READING PROGRESS: An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon: 43% The Dark Half by Stephen King: 4% Inside Out by Barry Eisler: 31% Who Laid the Egg? by Audrey Sauble: NOW STARTING

Title : Fault Line Author: Barry Eisler Book Seven in the John Rain Series also says "Ben Treven Book 3," so I figured I should read the first two Ben Treven books before I moved on to the seventh John Rain. The first two thirds of this book was absolutely miserable for me. I didn't like Ben. I didn't like Alex. And I really didn't like Sarah. Also, the plot was extremely predictable up to the end. No surprise twists. I think maybe it was supposed to be a surprise, but it wasn't. I think this book was also a huge letdown, because when you read the John Rain books, John has such a strong voice and such a strong presence that you really feel like you're there in the story. This book was severely lacking in that regard. This was really almost a two-star review, but Ben became more likable by the end of the book, and that's the only thing that saved it. Hopefully, Book Two will be better. Three out of five stars. ----------- READING PROGR...

Title: The Killer Ascendant Author: Barry Eisler I was really excited about this book, and it was a bit of a letdown. Dox was the the main thing that saved this book for me. His sense of humor, the way he handled himself under unimaginable pressure...it was perfect for his character. Mopey John was no fun to read. He made his choices but couldn't seem to deal with the repercussions of them, and that was disappointing. And I personally thought the stunt Delilah pulled in the last book was unforgivable, so why is he still hanging around with her? Sigh. I guess we'll see what happens in Book Seven. Three out of five stars. ----------------------------- READING PROGRESS: An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon: 16% Silent Crime by W.L. Knightly: 86% The Dark Half by Stephen King: 4% Fault Line  by Barry Eisler: JUST STARTING

Title: The Tommyknockers Author: Stephen King This is something I probably have not discussed in this blog before, but I am a huge science-fiction fan. It's by far my favorite genre. So here we are with Stephen King's first real jump into the realm of science-fiction. King is indisputably a fantastic author, one of the all-time greats, even. All of that said, I did not enjoy reading this book. The biggest issue I had was that there were too many characters who were unnecessary to the plot. It was a lot to remember for no reason. That begs the question...who were the important characters? Gard was the most important, obviously. Bobbi was a close second. The only other storylines we really needed were the David/Hilly storyline and Ruth's storyline (and the aftermath). There were so many side characters that it was overwhelming, and it took me way too long to read this book. I will say that what King did very, very well was create an absolutely terrifying atmospher...