The Praying Mantis Bride (Nameless #3) by Dean Koontz

Synopsis

A deadly black widow has eliminated three husbands and counting. But Nameless knows her one weakness. To bring truth and its consequences to her crimes, the vigilante must spin a web of his own in part three of the Nameless series.

Lucia—current last name, Rickenbah—has made a fortune by marrying rich men who tend to drop dead. But the superstitious blonde believes in more than money and murder. Nameless’s job is to scare a confession out of Lucia, and as the psychological warfare escalates, even he may be in for a shock.

The third book in the Nameless series sees the first female antagonist. She sure is something. She will take down anyone in search of endless wealth. But, it catches up to her. 

Nameless and the crew use their most creative method yet for torturing their bad guy. I can’t even begin to spoil it. It’s as crazy as the lady, herself, is. You just have to give it a read. 

5/5 stars if for nothing more than the insanity that ensued. 

Memorable Quote: “However, he is a tool of the program, a status for which he is sure that he volunteered before amnesia was imposed on him. A hammer should not argue with the carpenter who wields it.”

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Photographing the Dead (Nameless #2) by Dean Koontz

Synopsis

A self-styled artist is getting away with murder in Death Valley. If all goes well, so will Nameless. In part two of the Nameless series, the relentless avenger is haunted by nightmares of the past and visions of what’s to come.

Palmer Oxenwald’s hunting ground is the Mojave wasteland. His victims are random tourists and hikers. His trophies are cherished photographs of the damage he’s done. His greatest threat is Nameless. Two men with one thing in common: memories of the dead. For a psychopath like Palmer, they’re a clear rush in black and white. For Nameless, they’re visions of violence buried and erased. But for how long?

Nameless is back in this second installment to carry out another mission for the mysterious Ace. This time, they are going after a truly evil photographer. 

Just like the first novella, some of the details about the bad guy were truly horrific and just made me feel sick. That seems to be a theme with the kinds of people Nameless is sent to go after. 

The series is a fun, short read about vigilantism by a man who has no idea who he is. It may be non-believable at times, but I don’t think it’s supposed to be super realistic. If you go into it ready for an interesting journey, you’ll enjoy it. 

Plus, they have creative ways of taking care of the person they’re after. 

4/5 stars. Not perfect, but an enjoyable sequel

Memorable Quotes: “Death cannot die. Death and Death alone is immortal.”

“He is not fearful. He is never fearful. He is an avatar of Death, Death incarnate, and Death fears nothing.”

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The Killing Game (Eve Duncan #2) by Iris Johansen

 Synopsis

A MERCILESS KILLER ON THE HUNT ... AN INNOCENT CHILD IN HIS SIGHTS ... A WOMAN DRIVEN TO THE EDGE TO STOP HIM

The killer knows Eve Duncan all too well. He knows the pain she feels for her murdered daughter, Bonnie, whose body has never been found. He knows that as one of the nation's top forensic sculptors she'll insist on identifying the nine skeletons unearthed on a bluff near Georgia's Talladega Falls. He knows she won't be able to resist the temptation of believing that one of those skeletons might be her daughter's. But that is only the beginning of the killer's sadistic game. He wants Eve one on one, and he'll use his ace in the hole to make sure she complies. And he won't stop playing until he claims the prize he wants most: Eve's life.

The Eve Duncan series is one that I am recently a fan of. I’m only on book 2, but I want to see where the series takes her character. 

In The Killing Game, Eve comes into contact with a man who claims to have actually been the one to murder her daughter. This throws Eve into an emotional rollercoaster because as far as she, and everyone else, knows – the man who killed her daughter was executed. Could he have been lying?

This new man taunting Eve goes by the name Dom and he decides to put a new weight on Eve’s shoulders. She must keep another little girl safe while trying to deal with the supposed news about her daughter’s killer. 

It’s a wild ride. I thought I had it all figured out, but I definitely didn’t. I playing right into Johansen’s trap and assumed Dom was who she wanted us to believe it was. 

The one thing I did know – I absolutely HATED Dom. This book was way too long in my opinion, but only because I absolutely could not stand this evil, evil man. I needed to see him taken down a lot quicker. Every time he popped up, I just wanted to whip my book at the wall. But, I continued on. 

I’m glad I did. Because we meet a dog and he becomes a crucial piece of the story. Good boy, Monty. 

There was one other thing that bothered me and that was the personality change in Joe. He became so…. Entitled to Eve’s affection and it all just felt so gross and manipulative. I just felt grimy reading it. I hope it was a one off and he’s better in the next one because I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to last in this series if he remains manipulative. I’d hate to stop, because Eve is intriguing. 

4/5 stars. Be better, Joe. 

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Hush (Harriet Blue #4) by James Patterson and Candice Fox

 Synopsis

Top cop, devoted sister, and now Inmate 3329: even prison bars won't stop Harriet Blue from seeking justice for the murder of her brother.

Prison is a dangerous place for a former cop -- as Harriet Blue is learning on a daily basis.

So, following a fight for her life and a prison-wide lockdown, the last person she wants to see is Deputy Police Commissioner Joe Woods. The man who put her inside.

But Woods is not there to gloat. His daughter Tonya and her two-year-old child have gone missing.

He's ready to offer Harriet a deal: find his family to buy her freedom . . .

This book was intense. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the Harriet Blue series, but ‘Hush’ absolutely sucked me right in. 

There were so many different things going on. It all started out with Harry being in jail. We get an insight into how her stay has been so far – violent and less than ideal. When Deputy Police Commissioner Joe Woods’s daughter and granddaughter go missing, he’s desperate and knows he needs the unconventional style of Harriet and her crew to find them – hopefully alive. 

Then, there's a murder in the prison. The doctor that Harry has become friends with is murdered and her cellmate is blamed. Harry knows in her gut that the case isn't that cut and dry. She takes the deal from Joe Woods to investigate his family's disappearance as long as she can also try to solve the murder of Doctor Goldman from the outside. 

Hush endears the readers even more to the dynamic trio that is Harriet Blue, Ed Whittaker, and Tox Barnes. They make a great team and they’re fun to read about. 

This whole series takes you on an emotional journey, but it’s also just plain fun to read. The characters you’re supposed to like are very likable and you root for them the whole time. 

If you want some books that are quick reads, pick up this series!

5/5 Stars

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Liar Liar (Detective Harriet Blue #3) by James Patterson & Candice Fox

Synopsis

Detective Harriet Blue is clear about two things. Regan Banks deserves to die. And she’ll be the one to pull the trigger.

But Regan – the vicious serial killer responsible for destroying her brother’s life – has gone to ground.

Suddenly, her phone rings. It’s him. Regan.

‘Catch me if you can,’ he tells her.

Harriet needs to find this killing machine fast, even if the cost is her own life. So she follows him down the Australian south coast with only one thing on her mind.

Revenge is coming – and its name is Harriet Blue

When we tear everything down, what are we left with? Who are we as people? Are we good? Are we bad?

Those are the thoughts that the viciously evil Regan Banks puts in Harriet Blue’s mind. No matter how strong willed you are, when your heart and soul are put into question, it’s only a matter of time before you spin out of control. 

Is Harriet doing the right thing being on the run from her friends and comrades in law enforcement? Maybe we still don’t know, but it sure was an interesting journey to tag along on. 

I love this series. We’re used to these types of storylines and characters from Patterson’s other law enforcement series – The Women’s Murder Club, Alex Cross, etc. What differentiates them are the main protagonist, their supporting characters, and location. Well, and Patterson’s co-authors!

There’s something about them that make for cozy books to get sucked in to at any time. It must be a formula that just works well. They may not be the deepest books or the best written books, but they’re fun and they give you characters to connect with and get to know. 

I always love jumping back into one of these series, so I was very happy that this book gripped me from the very beginning. It was a great edition to the series especially after the heartbreaking loss of Harry’s brother. 

If you haven’t read any of the Harriet Blue series, start from the beginning. Rest assured that all of the books have been fun reads thus far!

5/5 Stars

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In the Heart of the Fire (Nameless #1) by Dean Koontz

Synopsis

A bloodthirsty sheriff is terrorizing a small Texas town where justice has been buried with his victims. Until Nameless arrives—a vigilante whose past is a mystery and whose future is written in blood.

Anyone who crosses Sheriff Russell Soakes is dead, missing, or warned. One of them is a single mother trying to protect her children but bracing herself for the worst. Nameless fears the outcome. He’s seen it in his visions. Now it’s time to teach the depraved Soakes a lesson in fear. But in turning predators into prey, will Nameless unearth a few secrets of his own?

This read sure was . . . something. 

‘In the Heart of Fire’ is the first in a series of short stories about a character who is nameless and is sent on jobs to act as a vigilante of sorts. I am all about this. 

But . . .

The plot in this first story just made me feel ill. It’s about pedophilia, and some of the things the horrible people say made me want to throw up. 

Nameless is an intriguing character, and it was easy to read. I was certainly happy when I was done with this one though. I look forward to reading the rest of them and hope they are less vomit-inducing. 

4/5 Stars

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My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman

Synopsis

Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy, standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-men-who-want-to-talk-about-Jesus-crazy. She is also Elsa's best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother's stories, in the Land of Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal.

When Elsa's grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa's greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother's letters lead her to an apartment building full of drunks, monsters, attack dogs, and totally ordinary old crones, but also to the truth about fairytales and kingdoms and a grandmother like no other.

Are you ready to get lost in your feelings? You better be if you’re picking up this book. I cried within the first 30 pages. 

This is the second Fredrik Backman book that I’ve read. My first one was “A Man Called Ove” which made me cry at the end. I’m starting to think I should just be ready to cry whenever I crack open one of his novels. 

I’m cool with that. His writing is beautiful and his characters are quirky. 

That’s basically what this whole novel is about. It’s about being different, embracing those differences, and accepting the differences in others. 

Being different is great. What even is “normal” anyway?

On the surface, ‘My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry’ is a fun and cute novel about a smartass almost-eight-year-old girl whose best, and only, friend is her granny. She loves books and fairy tales and going on journeys with her granny to the Land of Almost-Awake. 

What she doesn’t realize is that The Land of Almost-Awake is a lot closer to home than it may seem. 

When her granny dies, Elsa is thrust into an adventure of delivering letters to all of the people her grandmother wants to apologize to. She learns a lot of life, love, loss, and grief along the way. 

This novel cuts deep. The characters are complex. It will make you feel every emotion while acting as an escape to a far away land. 

‘My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry’ is an absolutely incredible read. 

5/5 Stars

Memorable Quotes: “Not all monsters were monsters in the beginning. Some are monsters born of sorrow.” 

“Not all monsters look like monsters. There are some that carry their monstrosity inside.” 

“It’s strange how quickly the significance of a certain smell can change, depending on what path it decides to take through the brain. It’s strange how close love and fear live to each other.”

“Death’s greatest power is not that it can make people die, but that it can make people want to stop living.”

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Revenge by James Patterson and Andrew Holmes

Synopsis

From the World's #1 Bestselling Author, comes a story of revenge as a former SAS soldier is ready to settle into civilian life when he's hired to solve the mysterious death of a daughter, diving into a seedy world that a parent never expects to see their child in.

Former SAS soldier David Shelley was part of the most covert operations team in the special forces. Now settling down to civilian life in London, he has plans for a safer and more stable existence. But the shocking death of a young woman Shelley once helped protect puts those plans on hold.

The police rule the death a suicide but the grieving parents can't accept their beloved Emma would take her own life. They need to find out what really happened, and they turn to their former bodyguard, Shelley, for help.

When they discover that Emma had fallen into a dark and seedy world of drugs and online pornography, the father demands retribution. But his desire for revenge will make enemies of people that even Shelley may not be able to protect them from, and take them into a war from which there may be no escape.

This is one of the best Patterson books I’ve read in awhile. If you’ve been reading my reviews for a good amount of time, you’ll know that I read a lot of them. 

Revenge grabs you from the very first page and it doesn’t let go until you close the book for the last time. 

From a tragic death to mafia activity to a race against time, you don’t have a whole lot of time to breathe. It kept me on the edge of my seat. I also loved these new characters that we met in David and Lucy Shelley. David was great, and Lucy is a total badass. I love a good, badass female protagonist. 

The book takes a few twists and turns. It’s mostly straight forward and you know who you like and who you don’t. 

Revenge is intense. There are some great characters. It’s a fun read. 

I recommend it. 

5/5 Stars

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The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

 Synopsis:

It all started at a dinner party. . .

A domestic suspense debut about a young couple and their apparently friendly neighbors--a twisty, rollercoaster ride of lies, betrayal, and the secrets between husbands and wives. . .

Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all--a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately focuses on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story.

Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. Both Anne and Marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they've kept for years.

What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family--a chilling tale of deception, duplicity, and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist.

I started this book and ended this book not really knowing if I enjoyed it or not. I don’t quite know how that could be, but let’s take a look and try to sort this out. 

Characters

I think this is where the book lost me from the beginning. Nothing made me care about the characters. Everyone seemed overly suspicious just for the sake of being suspicious. The detective assigned to the case seemed unnecessarily cocky and all-knowing. I hated his character. The rest of them, I just felt no connection to. 

They all ended up with pretty solid character arcs and a surprising amount of depth. But there wasn’t enough to make me feel connected to them or find myself rooting for them. I wanted the baby to be alive and found well, but that’s about it. I think I had to keep reading just to see how that would end. 

Plot Line

The plot was fine. There was nothing really wrong with it. The book was pretty short and it packed a punch. It was GO GO GO right from the beginning. 

I did find myself interested in the story and wanting to find out what actually happened. 

Twists

It felt like every chapter added a new twist to the story. Financial troubles, mental illness, infidelity . . . you name it. There was a lot to unpack here. But, I cannot do much unpacking without spoilers. Just know that if you read this book, it’s a rollercoaster. 

Writing

There was something about this book being completely written in third person that didn’t sit well with me. If I had to choose, I’d say that the chapters centering Anne or the detective should have been written in first person. Other than that, I felt that the writing style was easy to read and flowed nicely. 

After breaking that down, it seems that I just didn’t connect with this book and the characters didn’t matter to me. I could see it getting great reviews from some and terrible reviews from others. That said, it’s pretty short so it makes for a quick read. You can decide for yourself without wasting too much time. It’ll definitely take you for a ride. 

2/5 Stars

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The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

 Synopsis:

When a young woman clears out her deceased grandmother’s home in rural North Carolina, she finds long-hidden secrets about a strange colony of beings in the woods.

When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead grandmother's house, she says yes. After all, how bad could it be?

Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more—Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself.

Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors—because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you. And if she doesn’t face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale.

I picked up this book after reading a comment in a Facebook reading group about it being an actually scary horror/thriller. It takes a lot for books to freak me out or scare me, but I decided to give it a go. 

My first impression was that the protagonist is very likable and adds some comedy to the density of the book with her personality. 

There is also a dog as one of the main characters. So, A+. 

Then, once I got to the first mention of the twisted ones saying, I had to close the book for the night. I’m not even sure why, but it creeped me out so much. 

I was creeped out, but I was super intrigued. So, I picked it back up in the daylight and, after reading more, I didn’t have to put it back down in order to sleep. It definitely had a huge creep factor to it. But, I’d say it was more mysterious. I don’t know if I psyched myself out when I first started it or what, but the rest of the book didn’t scare me. 

That said, I loved the journey that The Twisted Ones took me on. It was a fun read filled with mysterious and eccentric characters. It’ll make you laugh while simultaneously keeping you on the edge of your seat. 

For that, I definitely have it on my recommended list. 

I don’t know that we got a full explanation of what the large stones were all about, but it was enough of an explanation to not have me feeling like I needed more. I think it’s meant to be mysterious and weird, and it shall remain that way. 

5/5 Stars. This is a fun one. 

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