meg reads and reads

Title: The Silent Patient Author: Alex Michaelides Thank goodness for a little cooling-off period, because if I had rated this book the exact second I finished it, it would have walked away with a glowing five stars. But after taking some time to actually sit back, process the whole thing, and let my mind chew on the details, the plot holes started multiplying like gremlins. The initial high definitely dropped. I know I have a few friends who are going to see this three-star rating and wonder what is wrong with me. To be fair, it is a decent thriller, and I can completely see why it's a massive hit for so many people. At the same time, it's just as easy to see why someone would totally trash it. So I am going to park myself right comfortably in the middle. The absolute best part of the book was the final resolution. The buildup to it was fine, though it never truly hit a peak level of suspense for me; a lot of the journey was heavily padded with exposition. It didn't help t...

Title: The Recovery Agent Author: Janet Evanovich This is a light-hearted. fairly mindless read. I wanted to do some light reading after a lot of heavy thematic material recently. This is exactly what I was looking for. This book follows an insurance fraud investigator, Gabriela Rose, who, through her grandmother (who heard it from a "ghost" she talks to named Annie) heard that there is possibly a treasure map buried beneath the house Gabriela inherited in St. Vincent. The problem is that Gabriela's ex-husband, Rafer, got that house in the divorce. Rafer gets pulled into this treasure hunt that ends up taking them through the Peruvian jungle and various other places in the Americas.  They encounter the main villain, El Dragon, who is also seeking the same treasure (a ring called the Seal of Solomon), and things start to get crazy. There are guns, explosives, drugs, and, yes, there are snakes. Lots of snakes. I had fun reading this book, but it is by no means fine literatu...

Title: Origin Author: Lew Gibb I got an ARC of this book, but I wasn't able to complete it before its publication date. I did enjoy reading it, though. The story is smart and well-paced, and Jessica is an interesting character. My friend Jessica passed away back in September, and I couldn't help but think of her the entire time I was reading this, which contributed to the slowness of the read. The writing style reminds me a bit of Barry Eisler, to whom the author does a shout out in the text of the book. Jessica is a bit like Livia Lone without the polish. I'm interested to see what happens in her story in later installments of this series. All of that said, the book itself needed a good edit. Since it was an ARC, I'll chalk it up to that. The errors were a little distracting and took away from my enjoyment a bit. Three out of five stars. --------------------- READING PROGRESS: The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan: 84% A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller: 41% The Regulators...

Title: The Night Trade Author: Barry Eisler After the disappointment of Livia Lone , The Night Trade really makes up for it. Reading about Dox is always a pleasure, and it was nice to see him team up with Livia. I love that they are not perfect. They are very human, making mistakes and false assumptions, jumping into situations without fully thinking about them. Livia and Dox balanced each other out well. They would certainly be dead without one another. Five out of five stars. -------- READING PROGRESS: Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon: 68% The Waste Lands by Stephen King: 51% Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn: 18% The Dark Bones by Loreth Anne White: NOW STARTING

Title: Livia Lone Author: Barry Eisler The plot of this novel is great, by turns incredibly moving, immensely devastating, and completely horrifying. Child sex trafficking is not a easy subject to tackle, but Barry Eisler does it convincingly and without holding back. At the beginning, I felt like some of the details were only gratuitous, but as the plot advanced, I realized he had a purpose. That said, there are some issues I have. First, how many times do I have to read the phrase "he panted"? Second, what 8th grader goes to recess? Third, he talks about how the moon was out in one scene, but it was also pouring snow. Which is it? These are three examples of things that really bugged me and that were ultimately distracting while reading. If I ignore those things, it was very enjoyable. I give it three out of five stars. --------- READING PROGRESS: Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon: 50% The Waste Lands by Stephen King: 47% The Warriors Ser...

Title : Zero Sum Author: Barry Eisler This book is more a sequel to Graveyard of Memories than a continuation of the John Rain series. It is another glimpse into John's past which is at points endearing, but it wasn't nearly as enjoyable as Graveyard of Memories was. It felt kind of forced, and the ending was pretty anticlimactic. We do get more of an idea where he obtained some of his methods, which was nice, but all in all, this wasn't close to being one of my favorites in this series. In spite of that, I think it's good enough for four out of five stars. -------- READING PROGRESS: An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon: 94% The Dark Half by Stephen King: 61% Let's Dance, Snoopy by Charles M. Schulz: 85% The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler: NOW STARTING

Title: The Detachment Author: Barry Eisler I'm happy to report that, even after the disappointment of the last Eisler novel I read, this one did not fail to please. I'm glad I read the first two Ben Treven books so that I would know what was going on in that storyline, because it was very important to the continuation of John Rain's story in book 7 of this series. I have no real complaints. It was a really good book, and I'm glad John, Dox, Larison, and Ben could keep from killing each other. They were certainly an interesting combination of people, and it was very fun to read. Four out of five stars. -------- READING PROGRESS: An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon: 73% The Dark Half by Stephen King: 51% Let's Dance, Snoopy by Charles M. Schulz: 46% Graveyard of Memories by Barry Eisler: NOW STARTING

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: 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: Extremis Author: Barry Eisler Okay, so I know I was a bit disappointed in the last John Rain novel, but I did  say that I felt that it was building up to something fantastic. I am so happy  that I was right! Book Five has been by far the best in the series up to this point. At first, I thought that the pace was way too fast, but Eisler masterfully reined it back in about two-thirds of the way through, and so many open storylines closed just like that, with the reader's (my) jaw hanging open. Unbelievable! I'm very excited to move on to move on to Book 6. John's story is open to go almost anywhere. Five out of five stars. ------------------ READING PROGRESS: The Tommyknockers by Stephen King: 99% An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon: 16% The Boy Who Painted the World by Melody J. Bremen: 53% The Killer Ascendant by Barry Eisler: STARTING NOW

Title: Winner Take All Author: Barry Eisler The third installment of the John Rain series kept up the momentum from the first two. It was full of action, fast-paced, and fun to read. Getting to know Dox as a character was a blast, too. I hope to see him again. I also hope to see more of Delilah. There are so many very interesting characters being thrown into the mix. I also appreciated that this book was the first to truly acknowledge John's age. The book was published in 2004, and John fought in Vietnam. That doesn't necessarily mean that he's elderly, but he's certainly not necessarily a spring chicken either. In any event, I haven't breezed through a series of books like this in a long time, so this is a really fun change of pace for me. I can't wait to start book four. Four out of five stars. ------- READING PROGRESS The Tommyknockers by Stephen King: 82% The Berenstain Bears Chapter Book Collection by Stan & Jan Berenst...

Title: A Lonely Resurrection Author: Barry Eisler This is the second installment of the John Rain series, and I have to say it was even more enjoyable than the first. There was lots of fast-paced action, and the crime web that Yamaoto--who I am assuming is the series' ultimate villain--seems to be involved with seems to grow ever more complex. I have a notoriously short attention span when it comes to books, just because I'm moody, but I actually read this one beginning to end without pausing to read anything else. It had me that riveted. Four out of five stars. ------------ READING PROGRESS The Tommyknockers by Stephen King: 73% A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon: 80% The Berenstain Bears Chapter Book Collection: 36% Winner Take All by Barry Eisler: STARTING NOW

Title: A Clean Kill in Tokyo Author: Barry Eisler I was perusing the Amazon Best Seller list for a new book to read, and book 10 of this series was pretty high on the list. I read the description, and it seemed pretty interesting, but I knew it was going to be a huge commitment, as I would need to start from the beginning. I'm already reading the Outlander  series. Did I really want to start another series? I decided to give it a shot. Boy, was it worth it. This is a fantastic thriller with lots of twists and action. It was quite a ride, and I'm very much looking forward to book two. Four out of five stars. -------- READING PROGRESS: The Tommyknockers by Stephen King: 73% A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon: 80% The Berenstain Bears Chapter Book Collection by Stan & Jan Berenstain: 36% A Lonely Resurrection by Barry Eisler: NOW STARTING

Title: Serial Date Author: D.V. Berkom Getting 2019 off to a good start with a review on Day 1! I got one of the later books of this series for free on BookBub  a while back, so I decided to try it from the beginning and bought the first book. Aside from my grammatical issues with the book, of which there were many, this was a fun thriller with murder and mayhem without being too graphic. It was an easy, fast-paced read, if slightly unbelievable at parts (these things always are), and I'll probably continue with the series at some point, just to see where the main character, Leine, ends up. Three out of five stars. ------ READING PROGRESS: The Tommyknockers by Stephen King: 30% Hate Notes by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward: 70% A Breath of Snow and Ashes  by Diana Gabaldon: 36% Rock Needs River by Vanessa McGrady: STARTING NOW

Title: What Have You Done Author: Matthew Farrell This is not a genre I read much, but it was still extremely predictable. I had the entire plot figured out before I was halfway through with the book, and there was no surprise twist at the end. I hung in there hoping to be surprised, but nope. Never happened. This was just your typical, run-of-the-mill "thriller" "mystery," but it fell woefully short of being either thrilling or mysterious. Two out of five stars.