‘C’ Is For Corpse by Sue Grafton

Synopsis:

How do you go about solving an attempted murder when the victim has lost a good part of his memory? It's one of Kinsey's toughest cases yet, but she never backs down from a challenge. Twenty-three-year-old Bobby Callahan is lucky to be alive after a car forced his Porsche over a bridge and into a canyon. The crash left Bobby with a clouded memory. But he can't shake the feeling it was no random accident and that he's still in danger…

The only clues Kinsey has to go on are a little red address book and the name "Blackman." Bobby can't remember who he gave the address book to for safekeeping. And any chances of Bobby regaining his memory are dashed when he's killed in another automobile accident just three days after he hires Kinsey.

As Kinsey digs deeper into her investigation, she discovers Bobby had a secret worth killing for--and unearthing that secret could send Kinsey to her own early death…

This book was a bit different from the others. It had a much darker feel to it that was laced with sadness. I can only gather that it was because Kinsey knew the victim of the crime she was investigating. This being the case, I didn’t mind the tone change, but it was a bit of a change of pace.

I also figured out the twist a lot earlier in this one compared to the other two. It didn’t take away from the story as I didn’t know how it all fit together, but figuring it out leads to a less exciting reveal at the end.

There wasn’t as much action up until the end of the book either.

So, this book was very different from the past two, but I still enjoyed it and it was really hard to put it down. Kinsey’s personality did get to show through more towards the end and it was refreshing after the dark cloud that was the first half of the book.

‘C’ was a solid installment in the series.

4/5 stars

Memorable Quotes: “His death served to remind me, like a custard pie in the face, that life is sometimes one big savage joke.”

“You don’t come that close to death without paying a penalty. Violent death is like a monster. The closer you get to it, the more damage you sustain . . . if you survive at all.”

“I find it liberating when other people are rude. It makes me feel mild and lazy and mean.”

“Shit, she was quick – shaving years off her age without pausing to count on her fingers or anything. I’m not that good at subtraction so its probably fortunate that I don’t lie about how old I am.”

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One For the Money by Janet Evanovich

Synopsis:

Pestered by her close New Jersey family, Stephanie Plum offers to catch high-school crush Joe Morelli, cop turned bail jumper, for her cousin Vinnie's company. She questions "working girls" to find the missing girlfriend of vicious prizefighter Benito Ramirez while Joe secretly watches her back. Ranger mentors her and supplies vehicles when hers explode.

I will start this by saying that I read this book for the first time over ten years ago. I just had it sitting in my closet and never read past this first one, so I thought it was time I reread it and finish the series.

There are some good things and some bad things.

Stephanie Plum is a funny gal. There were some quotes that had me giggling. Her family is also hilarious especially her grandmother.

Stephanie seems determined enough. . . but she seeks out too much help and seems really helpless at times along the way. Now, this is her first stint as a bounty hunter, and like I said, I haven’t read the rest of the series. I am hoping she becomes more independent or she will be the exact opposite of the female protagonists that I love, i.e. Lindsay Boxer.

That said, this book IS entertaining. I remember liking it when I read it the first time, and I did enjoy it when I read through it again. It took me a little longer than I would have liked to get through it. But, such is life, I suppose.

There was a lot of action for the first novel in a series, so I can only imagine that each subsequent novel will bring the same punch.

We shall see.

3.5/5 stars.

Memorable Quotes: “I wondered if nine in the morning was too early to drink beer. Of course in Moscow it would be four in the afternoon. Good enough.”

“I didn’t feel like a professional. I felt like an idiot. Id criticized foreign governments for using chemical warfare, and here I was buying nerve gas from a woman who waxed off all her pubic hair.”

“I really felt like a jerk, because here was Morelli being nice to me, and what I actually wanted to do was hop on over to Bernie’s to buy a blender and get my free daiquiri mix.”

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Maximum Ride: School’s Out – Forever by James Patterson

Synopsis:

In this eagerly awaited follow-up, brave bird-kid Max and her flock are discovered by an FBI agent and forced to go to "school." There is no such thing as an ordinary day as Max deciphers how and when she's supposed to save the world, and she faces her greatest enemy--a clone of herself.

In the second installment to the Maximum Ride series, the flock is still bent on finding their birth parents. They are somewhat successful, but sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for, as it may have an unexpected result.

I was a bit sad thinking that the whole flock wouldn’t be together anymore, but thankfully the bond of the flock is stronger than blood. They all just work too well together to have one of them leave. It may still happen in later books, but I hope that it doesn’t.

Max is still trying to figure out her purpose. She knows she has to save the world, but the prospect of that makes no more sense than it did when she was first presented with that information. The voice in her head is still driving her crazy, and she has to learn how to balance her insanity with trying to manage the flock.

I didn’t know exactly how I felt about Anne while reading this book, but I knew I didn’t completely trust her. I was sort of glad that I figured that out and give in to the front that she was trying to sell. I am glad that Max saw through her as well.

Max is a very strong character, it isn’t exactly a stretch for there to be strong teenage characters in YA novels, but it still takes me by surprise how mature they are sometimes.

For being so out of my genre on many levels, I am really enjoying this series so far. Sometimes it is good to step outside of your comfort zone and read something different.

4/5 stars

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