This book #11 in the Jesse Stone Series by Robert B. Parker, and so far my favorite. Unfortunately Robert B. Parker passed away in 2010 and this book was written by a ghost writer, Michael Brandman. I think he does a great job keeping the essence of Parker's writing in this continued series.
SynopsisAutumn in Paradise, Massachusetts, is usually an idyllic season?—but not this time. A Hollywood movie company has come to town, and brought with it a huge cast, crew, and a troubled star. Marisol Hinton is very beautiful, reasonably talented, and scared out of her wits that her estranged husband's jealousy might take a dangerous turn. When she becomes the subject of a death threat, Jesse and the rest of the Paradise police department go on high alert.
And when Jesse witnesses a horrifying collision caused by a distracted teenage driver, the political repercussions of her arrest bring him into conflict with the local selectment, the DA, and some people with very deep pockets. There's murder in the air, and it's Jesse's reputation as an uncompromising defender of the law—and his life—on the line.
I have to say that I was concerned about continuing this series once I found out that Parker passed away 6 years ago, and that he had a ghost writer for the last 4 books of the Jesse Stone series, but so far they have been great. They are still very fluid and quick, easy reads. I love how we have a small town setting with big city problems. I love all the different cases going on in the book at the same time, keeps readers entertained and keeps the story from becoming boring. I find the whole series to be very engaging from first page to last.
The main characters continue to grow and develop very well and I love witnessing that with each new book I pick up. I love Jesse's character the most. He has many different issues, but with that, he also has plenty of wit and sarcasm that keeps him quite realistic and very likable. There are always plenty of new characters introduced in each book of the series. plenty to like and plenty to dislike as well.
I look forward to continuing this series and finishing it. I can't recommend this series enough to anyone who is a mystery buff, or a Parker fan.
This is book 10 in the Jesse Stone series. I was a little apprehensive about reading this one since Parker passed in 2010 and the last book Parker wrote was book 9 Split Image. I found this one to stay pretty true to Parker's writing style. Well Done Michael Brandman.
SynopsisThe Jesse Stone stories continue even after Robert B. Parker’s passing with Killing the Blues. In this novel, Jesse Stone is faced with what begins as a rash of stolen cars and escalates into arson and murder as Stone uncovers how deep this crime wave really goes. All the while, Paradise, Massachusetts is preparing for summer tourism with the help of event planner Alexis Richardson, and she and Stone become involved in a steamy affair.
I did not bother even reading the synopsis to this book since I love the Jesse Stone series so much. I was happy to see that Brandman kept very close to Parker's writing style. I did find though that he made Jesse Stone a bit more aggressive in his work and I really quite liked that side of Jesse. There was a lot of stuff going on in this book. Jesse was more active and out in the field along with the crew. I think that was a good change to his character. He still has his issues, he is still sarcastic and witty, but now he goes out and gets his hands dirty a lot more than in previous books. Keep them coming like that.
Y'all know how I feel about the characters in this book. I love them. There is Jesse, Molly, and Suitcase. Those 3 are my favorites. I feel like I could be friends with them, like they really do exist in real life. They are all very relatable, and very believable. One of the reasons I like them as much as I do is because they all stand pretty firm on their beliefs of the way things should be. No one get to have the better of any of them, they are smart and witty and just very likable characters.
Again I recommend this complete series to anyone who loves mystery. And there really is no reason to worry about the later books that were written by ghost writers, those books too, are written in true Parker style.
This is book #4 in the Series of Unfortunate Events. I have been enjoying this story quite a lot. They are quick fast paced reads.
SynopsisDear Reader,
I hope, for your sake, that you have not chosen to read this book because you are in the mood for a pleasant experience. If this is the case, I advise you to put this book down instantaneously, because of all the books describing the unhappy lives of the Baudelaire orphans, The Miserable Mill might be the unhappiest yet. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are sent to Paltryville to work in a lumber mill, and they find disaster and misfortune lurking behind every log.
The pages of this book, I'm sorry to inform you, contain such unpleasantries as a giant pincher machine, a bad casserole, a man with a cloud of smoke where his head should be, a hypnotist, a terrible accident resulting in injury, and coupons.
I have promised to write down the entire history of these three poor children, but you haven't, so if you prefer stories that are more heartwarming, please feel free to make another selection.
With all due respect,
Lemony Snicket
These books are quite fun to read and they go very quickly. I am always completely engaged with the story from start to finish and these are easily one day reads. As I have said before though, some of these are a little dark for middle grade readers I think. They are quite interesting, but sometimes they can get a little annoying due to all the misfortune that is involved in the story. But you do get that little snippet of relief at the end of each story simply because the orphans are still alive.
I love the characters in the story, well the orphans anyway. I don't like Mr. Poe all that much because sometimes he seems to be a bit too disagreeable for my tastes. The author makes him appear to be a little on the dim witted side and that is somewhat bothersome as well. It seems the orphans have to work extra hard to convey their feelings about things or convince Poe that something is wrong.
If you like to have fun quick reads than I recommend this series. There is always something happening to keep you and the orphans on their toes. They are really very worth the read!
This is book #9 in the Jesse Stone series. I have just really enjoyed this series a lot and I knew this one would be just as good. I look forward to the rest of the books in this series as well. I am saddened to learn of Parker's death in 2010, and this book was the last one written solely by him.
SynopsisThe body in the trunk was just the beginning.
Turns out the stiff was a foot soldier for local tough guy Reggie Galen, now enjoying a comfortable "retirement" with his beautiful wife, Rebecca, in the nicest part of Paradise. Living next door are Knocko Moynihan and his wife, Robbie, who also happens to be Rebecca's twin. But what initially appears to be a low-level mob hit takes on new meaning when a high-ranking crime figure is found dead on Paradise Beach.
Stressed by the case, his failed relationship with his ex-wife, and his ongoing battle with the bottle, Jesse needs something to keep him from spinning out of control. When private investigator Sunny Randall comes into town on a case, she asks for Jesse's help. As their professional and personal relationships become intertwined, both Jesse and Sunny realize that they have much in common with both their victims and their suspects-and with each other.
This plot was not one of my favorites because it was along the lines of 'mobbish', and those really are not my style of books, but Jesse Stone is Jesse Stone and that always makes the books very worthwhile to read. Even though I do not care for this type of story it still flowed very well due to the author's amazing skill when it comes to dialogue. No matter what type of plot I am reading, he always gets me to try and solve the mystery right down to the last bit of the story.
The characters are so well developed that I feel as though I know them all personally. Among my favorites for this series is of course Jesse Stone, but also Molly, Sunny and Suitcase. All very fun characters. I even enjoyed some of the outside characters that were brought into the story, characters like Nicholas Ognowski, one of our mobsters. The author made him very realistic, believable, and yes even likable.
I recommend this series to everyone who likes crime/mystery stories. Parker was a very talented writer. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.
I chose this book for my letter 'J' for the A-Z challenge. I was pretty excited to have a J since this is the last one to complete the challenge. I don't normally read a lot of short stories, but this being King I figured why not?
So this is a book of 14 short stories, and I have to say that this was some of the most disappointing writing I have ever read by King. I only really enjoyed 5 of the stories, The Gingerbread Girl, N, The Cat From Hell, The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates, & Mute Then there were 2 that were pretty choppy in the beginning but then smoothed out and were enjoyable, Anyana & A very Tight Place. The rest of them did not make much sense to me at all. One of them I just could not finish due to boredom, and that was The Things they Left Behind.
I really do not recommend this book to anyone. I did not find that it was really worth the read at all. I did not really find any of the stories to be horrifying or scary. So it was a BIG disappointment to me. Most of the stories were just boring and not exciting. This is hard for me to say about my favorite author. I am sure there are some people that enjoyed the stories, I am not one of them. But because of the few I did like this gets a 2 star rating rather than 1 star.
I like to read a Christmas book every year so I wanted to be able to read one this year as well. I had this book for awhile and finally decided to get to it. This a first time read for me with this author, so I was not sure what to expect, but it turned out to be pretty good.
SynopsisTo reconcile with her folks back East and give her kids grandparents for Christmas, truck stop waitress Lacey Bryant arranged transportation with her steadiest customer. Little did she know she'd hitched a ride with Scrooge! Eighteen hundred miles confined with scowling Barry Cooper would feel endless ... unless Lacey miraculously changed his "Bah Humbug" to "Barry Christmas!
I loved the plot of the story which is actually what drew me into this story in the first place. It is a very quick read with great pacing. I did expect more to happen on tis long journey across the country so that was a little disappointing. It was still a fun read though.
I think with the characters, they were all developed pretty well, but I enjoyed the children the most in this one. The were fun and well rounded, I could almost imagine my own children being this same way when they were little.
A great Christmas story to read for anyone. Merry Christmas everyone!
Did a reread of this book this year, and my thoughts are pretty much the same from the first time that I read this back in 2014.
Another profound read from Ellen Hopkins. Whether she is telling a true to life story or a fiction each of them always touch me in a very emotional way. She writes with such realism that you have no choice but to feel what our characters are feeling, and to experience what they are going through. So much emotion comes to the forefront when I read one of her books.
In this story we journey with 5 teenagers, Eden, Seth, Whitney, Ginger, and Cody. They have experienced horrendous people, acts, and situations in their lives that I could never even imagine being witness to. They each have to struggle through situations and figure out how to climb back out of the abyss where their lives had pushed them. So many bad elements surround each of them pushing them to limits unknown.
The characters are all so very real in this story that it is hard to choose any favorites. All of them had very bad outside forces which led them to the positions they found themselves in. I would love a book just on those people and make them pay for the harm that they exposed these kids too. Or make them live the same type of lives.
The story itself is so profound yet so heartbreaking because we know these things are happening in our world today. And maybe if there were better parents, and less judgement of others we could live in a different kind of world, but then again that would be a perfect world and that could never happen anyway. If you have never read a Hopkins book, pick one up, you wont be sorry. Please be warned though, this book has many triggers that could affect some people, so read at your own risk.
This is the 6th and final book in the Grant County series. Although it reads like it could have another to the series and somehow I wished that there was another. I tired to prepare myself for this one since I was spoiled by reading the Will Trent series first, but I never quite got prepared enough.Synopsis
Sara Linton--resident medical examiner/pediatrician in Grant County, Georgia, --has plenty of hardship to deal with, including defending herself in a heartbreaking malpractice suit. So when her husband, Police chief Jeffery Tolliver, learns that his friend and coworker detective Lena Adams has been arrested for murder and needs Sara's help, she is not sure she can handle the pressure of it all.
But soon Sara and Jeffery are sitting through evidence, peeling back the layers of a mystery that grows darker by the day--until an intricate web of betrayal and vengeance begins to unravel. And suddenly the lives of Sara, Lena, and Jeffery are hanging by the slenderest of threads.
Wow this was a great ending to this series, although I felt like, after finishing, that something was missing, (oh yes that would be my heart once it was wrenched from my body.) it felt like there should be something more. This could actually be because I can't seem to get enough of Karin Slaughter's writing. This is the favorite of the series for me, there is so much action and excitement that it kept me on the edge of my seat, turning page after page till well past my bedtime. It was just so engaging, there is so much mystery to solve in this one. However I did figure out one of the bad guys. There are some really good twists in this one that I did not expect at all.
The characters, again, are amazing. They continue to grow right into the Will Trent series. They are flawed and gritty, which makes them very realistic and believable and they are probably the biggest reason why I love the series so much. In my opinion, Jeffrey has to grow on the reader. When you learn who is he then he is more likable. Lena, even through all of her mistakes, is one of my favorite characters, she is very strong presence in this series and also very relatable for me. Sara is another favorite for me, she is a strong female protagonist who has a big heart, but don't let her fool you.
I recommend this series, and this author to anyone who loves mystery/thrillers. This is one of my top rated series. It is so worth the read. Karin Slaughter is very gifted and one of the things I like the most about her, is her growth as a writer, it is so obvious. I will read everything she writes now and in the future.
This is book #8 in the Jesse Stone series. Looking forward to all the other books that remain. I plan on purchasing all the hard backs for this series since I enjoy it so much.
SynopsisThings are getting strange in Paradise, Massachusetts. Police Chief Jesse Stone is called to the junior high school when reports of lewd conduct by the school’s principal, Betsy Ingersoll, filter into the station. Ingersoll claims she was protecting the propriety of her students when she inspected each girl’s undergarments in the locker room. Jesse would like nothing more than to see Ingersoll punished, but her high-powered attorney husband stands in the way. At the same time, the women of Paradise are faced with a threat to their sense of security with the emergence of a tormented voyeur, dubbed “The Night Hawk.” Initially, he’s content to peer through windows, but as times goes on, he becomes more reckless, forcing his victims to strip at gunpoint, then photographing them at their most vulnerable. And according to the notes he’s sending to Jesse, he’s not satisfied to stop there. It’s up to Jesse to catch the Night Hawk, before it’s too late.
Two different stories run parallel with one another. The plotline was pretty in intriguing to me and in my mind I had a perfect scenario picked out for how this one would proceed and end, but unfortunately it did not go the way I planned. LOL I think it would have been to obvious of an outcome. The story once again is pretty fast paced and such an easy read because of Parker's use of dialogue. I much prefer to read people that are speaking to one another consistently, rather than reading what is on someone's mind and the author gives me that.
The characters, what can I say, I love Jesse Stone more and more with each book. He is someone who I could imagine telling my deepest darkest secrets to and know they would be safe with him. I also love Molly and Suit, his side kicks in this series. All 3 of them are well developed, likeable, relatable and totally believable. All great qualities for protagonists. They are flawed and gritty and make mistakes. Give me those characters over 'perfect' characters any day.
I recommend this to anyone who likes mystery. If you want a quick fluid and fast paced read, then Parker's books are great for you. If you like a lot of dialogue, as I do, then Parker is definitely a must read. I look forward to more from this author and this series.
