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All Our Darkest Secrets by Martyn Ford

I started this book on 9/15/2021. It’s now 9/28 and I’m about 50% done. So far I like it. The characters are easy to identify with and they don’t seem to get muddied up. I have a mental picture of all the characters in the book. There’s not to many to lose track of who is who. The writing style is a little different than what I’m used to. This is the first book I’ve read by Martyn Ford.

10/4/21 finished the book. Ending was a bit harsh. Didn’t really care for the book. The writing style IMO was just not there for me. I give this book a 6/10

Nicole Perlroth – This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends

This is a book I heard about on Darknet Diaries. The last book I read from hearing him talk about was amazing! I’m hoping this one will be too.
I started this book on 8/24/2021.

Soooo….There’s like 65 chapters in this book. Each chapter seems to tell the same story from a different perspective. This ISN’T a how to hack book but goes deep into political state hacking and the NSO group. I only made it through like 30 chapters and kind of got tired of the book. I rate this about a 6/10. I may come back and finish it in the future. It also seemed to take me forever to get through what I did read. I’m going back to reading the suspense stuff.

Chasing the Lion

Chasing the Lion by A.J. Tata

Glenn Beck recommended this book one day on the radio. I found it. Started on 08/08/2021. I finished on 08/23/2021. 16 days. I liked the book. It was a great story. The writing style was a little rough. There was a LOT of name dropping that seemed to “muddy up” the actual characters of the story. There was a lot of action in the book. Sometimes it was beyond believable though. Kind of like Mission Impossible movies. The main character got shot (twice I think) and still managed to beat an Olympic boxer in a final showdown punch out match at the end. Come on man….. The story line was good at keeping my attention. The author has several more books. I might check out one of those in the future. I give the book an 8/10.

A Familiar Sight

A Familiar Sight by Brianna Labuskes. Another Amazon Free book.

I started this book on the first night of our vacation on 7/26/2021. It took me a couple of chapters (it’s a person/chapter book) to get into the characters but once I was in OH BOY!!!!

Reed and Claire Kent are in the upper 1% of wealth in Boston. They have three children. Viola (a phcopath) and the 2 boys. Claire is found murdered and the bloody knife in Viola’s dresser. Lena Ford (a lawyer) takes the case but then OD’s on drugs before finishing the case.

Gretchen (a sociopath) is a police consultant who knows Lena. She’s on the case with another detective called Marconni. They have to solve the case of who killed Claire Kent.

The last 10 chapters are very very gripping.

Enjoyment level 9/10

Finished 08/03/2021

The Chain – by Adrian McKinty

The Chain

Started on 7/16/2021. Don’t break the chain. Your child gets kidnapped and you must pay a ransom AND kidnap someone else’s child to NOT break the chain.

7/22/2021
So she did the deeds and she got her daughter back. That’s the first 50% of the book. I just finished that chapter last night. So what’s the rest of the book about?

7/26/2021
That ending though…She got her daughter back, got the bad guys and lived. Great book I would highly recommend.

The Best of Friends

Lucinda Berry – The Best of Friends.

Kendra, Dani and Lindsey have been friends for a very long time (like since grade school) All three with 2 kids, all three with “perfect” husbands. The boys play soccer together and 2 of them are stars of the team. One night while together one of the boys tries to kill the other 2 (I think….) and somehow make it look like a suicide attempt. I’m sure there will be lots of twists in this story. I love Lucinda Berry’s style. She is gritty and doesn’t hold anything back. So I started this book on 7/9/2021 and finished it on 7/16/2021. It was a good read. Like I said before I really like Lucinda Berry’s style.

For me (and some of the other reviews I read (before finishing the book(which I shouldn’t have done))) the characters seem to meld together to much. It was hard keeping track of who was who and who’s son was who’s. The twist at the very end though……..the very end.

I give this book a 8/10. The characters weren’t really well rounded and kind of all on the surface. There were to many times during a chapter that they (the chapter character) would have a flash back and I was like WHAT????

In the Darkness- Mike Omer

This is the second book in the Zoey Bentley series. I’ve already read the first book called “A Killer’s Mind”. I read that one last year so there won’t be a review on it. I started this book on 6/18/2021. I finished this book on 7/7/2021. OMG!!! This book was exciting but just due to life it took me longer that usual. I really (REALLY) like Mike Omer’s writing style. This book is very suspenseful. It didn’t take long to get interested in the story because this is book 2 of Zoey Bentley and she is a bad ass! I’m not going to give to much away but I wouldn’t have wanted to be her in this book. She becomes the victim and her sister is victimized at the same time. Different people but MAN……

Her partner really came through for her and dug up (pun intended) some very helpful intel to get her safe.

A Killer’s Mind – Mike Omer

Started this book on 6/16/2021. I like Mike Omer’s writing style. I think I may have read this book before though. This is the first book in the Zoey Bently series. I’m only a few chapters in and so far I like it. There are a lot of themes in the first few chapters of very similar books that I’ve read.

So….I actually have already read this book. It was really good. I’m going to NOT count this as a book read this year. I will start book 2 in the series today. 6/18/2021.

Choose Me by Gary Braver

This is another Amazon first read book. So it was free. Starting it on 6/7/2021. Looks like another Character Chapter style book. I tend to like those style of books. Lets you have a different perspective throughout the read. 290 pages long. Kindle says it is a 4:50 minute read.

I’m just a little over half way done with this one. Writing style is just OK. I’m sure the twist is coming but it’s really not a page turner. Taryn committed suicide….or did she… The more we learn the more it seems it may be a murder. A “whodunit”. There’s only a couple of characters so Scoob finds some clues. She was pregnant, probably by her professor who is married and had a one night stand with her. She is clearly a little Koo Koo though too. Jack her prof is a straight shooter, until he cheats on his wife with Taryn at a literature conference. Taryn is still crazy about her ex-boyfriend Liam. Liam has moved on but Taryn doesn’t accept that….yadda yadda. Cody, Taryn’s friend, wants to be more than friends by Taryn isn’t into him. I suppose it could be Jack’s wife who pushed her off the building though. We’ll see “whodunit”.

6/15/2021 I just finished the book. Never saw the ending coming. This was a really good ending.

The Next Wife by Kaira Rouda

Started on May 28th, 2021. An Amazon first read. Never read the author before. Looks like short “person” chapters.

So far I’m about 15 chapters into the book. I don’t really like it and I’m sure there is a twist in the book. The writing is good, I just don’t like the content. Man cheats on his wife with a girl half his age (actually just a few years older than his daughter). The man and his ex (and actually his new wife) all work together that he and the ex built and own. After the company goes public the new wife takes him to Telluride and he dies. Funeral goes on in home town (after cremation in Telluride) and ex wife and new wife are fighting over the company. I’ll let you know how it finished.

Finished on June 7th, 2021. Didn’t really care for it.