#MARCHMYSTERYMADNESS Wrap-Up!
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| *queues Austin Power theme music* |
Made To Kill-⭐⭐⭐
Okay, so I wanted to like this, I thought the concept was right up my alley, but to be honest, it was just meh. It felt like and read like your standard old-school detective book. A woman walks into Raymond Electromatic's detective office and hires him to find a missing Hollywood actor. And what Ray stumbles up upon is something he and his partner Ada weren't expecting. Radiation, Russians, body swapping? It has some crazy additions that I wasn't ready for, but the execution of the whole things is where it fell flat for me.
Down The River Unto The Sea- ⭐⭐⭐⭐WOW! Yes for ex-Detective Joe King Oliver! At first, I wasn't sure about this story, it not being Easy at all, but it is a Walter Mosley tale. Joe is set up and in the first chapter you see Joe go from cop to PI and for the duration of this book, we follow Joe with the help of an unlikely associate work to solve a case he is working on while at the same time making strides on a more personal case.
What I loved about this book, like most of Mr. Mosely's books is the depth of his characters. They are always so much more complex than they seem. Joe is a flawed man, a good cop, a good detective, a good father, a ladies man and more. I think that if you are looking for someone who is a great mixture of both Easy and Mouse, Joe King Oliver is your guy.
The Good House-⭐⭐⭐⭐
Man, this book was lucky, lucky I tell you! For 200 pages I swear I was about to give up on this one and come back to it later, but I stuck it out and OMFG it was wild. It did take longer for this one to be something but when it finally did, it was all of those things in the past starting to make the bigger picture and wow. It still isn't better than The African Immortals series, but I'm happy that I finally got around to reading this one.
Angela has taken a week off to celebrate the fourth of July with her son, Cory, and her ex-husband Taqir at her Grandmothers house in her hometown of Sacajawea, a few miles outside of Portland. This was a slow burn of a book. An evil spirit has visited The Good House when Angela's Grandmother was living there in 1929 and on that day in 1929 Grandma Marie made a pack using Vodou to try and save herself and her future children any pain that this demon could inflict and at the same time banishing it from this world. It's not until the same fourth of July weekend seventy-two years later that all hell breaks loose changing the lives of not just the people of The Good House but all those who visit the house the day of the party.
So look, I read this first book in the Dresden Files at the end 2015 and it was just okay. It was meh. I liked Harry, I liked the magic, I liked the fact that he was a wizard all cool ass things that are pretty much right up my alley, but it was the execution of the book that didn't work for me and hence me giving the first book 2 stars. But here I am damn near 3 years later and I have read and really enjoyed this second book in the series. I think it is because of my fascination for werewolves that has always kept this book in the back of my mind. So I did it, one night, I just went and downloaded this book for the third time (cause I've actually tried reading this book two times before and I couldn't stand it) and this time I actually stuck with it. It reminded me of Made to Kill, but in comparison, this one was better.
Bodies are being found torn to shreds and partially eaten as the full moon shines above them and Murphy, from Chicago's P.D.'s Special Investigations, has brought back Harry Dresden, Wizard, to help identify and stop this crazed werewolf before more of Chicago's underbelly and more innocents are killed.
This one really won me over. And I will most likely pick up book 3 of this series later, but sooner than I think. I think I had to get back into reading from the PI perspective again and I like Harry's smart-ass ways and like I had said previously, I really like the magic system and such.
Righteous- ⭐⭐⭐
Book two in the IQ series. I read book one, IQ last October and you can check out my mini review here. It was an okay book, but this one was a little different. It felt like Joe had gotten more comfortable writing about Isaiah without having to reiterate over and over again how smart he is and how good of a problem solver he is and whatnot.
In this book, Isaiah is still on the hunt for the hit and run driver who killed his brother Marcus, but when an old flame of his brothers comes back into Isaiah's life asking for a favor he is all too willing to drop what he is doing to be there for her. Sarita's younger sister is a talented DJ on the come up, but Janine has a serious gambling problem and her and her boyfriend Benny are in it deep. It's up to Isaiah and Dodson to fly out to Vegas and help her out. But it's never as simple as one may think. Triads are now involved and the safety of the girls' father is also at stake. A secret list is out in the open, blackmail, loan sharks all of this with Vegas as the backdrop.
There is just something about these books, while it's written well, it's the execution that doesn't go all the way over, and I get slightly bored reading this. Where it can seem too info-dumpy, but in this case, EVERY PERSON gets a chapter or so to give background. It makes me frustrated. 3 stars.
Incognegro- ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is the first work of Mat Johnson's that I have ever read, and I'm sure it won't be the last. This book takes place around the early 20th Century where lynchings where almost an everyday thing in the American South and where it was so common that they stopped reporting it as news. It wasn't until Zane Pinchback a reporter from Harlem started going undercover as the famous Incognegro and started reporting the not just the black/negro lives lost, but the all the "respectable" (side eye) white people by passing as a white person. Zane has one close call and wants out of the Incognegro business, but he has one more mission to do before he can get the corner office at the newspaper. And it's this one last case that really has Zane on his toes and also some very bad people looking for him. All things seem to clash in Missippi. It's a tragic tale and Mat himself said that he wrote this story for his twin sons. I enjoyed the art style, it wasn't too dark and the whole book is done in a black and white color palette except the cover, which I think helps set the tone of the book. Book two, Incognegro: Renaissance is set to come out in October of this year.
What I always like about these Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed books is that it doesn't always focus on the cops, it takes a look at all those who might be involved in the crime in question and then Grave Digger and Coffin Ed come in at the end arresting folks, knocking heads, getting confessions. In the wake of the newly departed Big Joe Pollen tears are shed, liquor is being poured and Rev Short has fallen out of a window and unto a dead body. But no one at the party and no one on the street saw a thing and it's up to Jones and Ed to put the pieces together and retrace the night to find out who is the culprit. I guess you can say this is done in a very classic Agatha Christie manner where Miss Marple who you haven't read about through the whole book, comes in at the last chapter to solve the unsolvable crime. What I like about these books, this being my third one is how real the characters feel, it's like reading a Blaxploitation film in print. They are quick easy, done in one day/one sitting reads.
Skies Of Ash- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
After having read Land of Shadows in February and loving it, I had to read the next one in the Detective Elouise Norton series. And word life, I really love the way Rachel H. Hall writes. Her characters are so real feeling and the banter between Lou and Colin is everything, and while I might really ship them, I know that it won't work well for the series if they get together (case in point: Castle). This, being the second book in the series starts us off with a house fire claiming the lives of a mother and her two children and the father returning home not in time to save his family. With a street full of nosy neighbors this upscale part of LA has lots to say about the family that used to reside here and how their life might not have been as perfect as some may say. For a mystery, police procedural book, I was very caught up in the story, trying to connect the pieces just as fast as Lou and Colin could collect them. I was shocked at how it ended and didn't see it coming until it was too late. I think Hall does a great job of not only making believable characters, her stories have depth. One thing that grinds my gears his her husband, oh my gracious I'm done with him.
Grave Peril-⭐⭐⭐.5
A being is terrorizing the city of Chicago and it's up to Harry and Micheal (the fist of God) to save them all. The third book in the Harry Dresden series starts off in the middle of a fight and we follow Harry and this new character Micheal as they are battling an evil spirit that has taken over a NIC Unit at the local hospital. After defeating this aggravated spirit, Harry and Micheal with some help from the other side have come to the conclusion that something is going on the spirit world and they are trying to make their way to our world with help from an unknown sorcerer. There is a lot going on in the book and what I thought was kind of off-putting was the fact that this book starts you off right in the middle of a fight with characters I have never heard of or seen in the previous two Dresden books. Right from jump felt just a step behind in the whole thing as if I missed something and everyone is in on the joke but me. Yes, we do get some more background on Micheal as the story progresses, but it can be a little jarring. Just like the previous book, I enjoy Harry more and more, his a very sarcastic wizard who seems to fly by the seat of his pants on most days. Trying not to be the cause of some kind of war between the counsels. Butcher can really set a scene and I think that is what keeps bringing me back to these books.
Is book three in the Detective Elouise Norton series and this one might be my favorite out of the three so far. It really reminded me of an episode of Law and Order SVU mixed with Saw and Silence of the Lambs. The body of a thirteen-year-old girl was found on a trail in Bonner Park. It's raining and evidence is being washed away. When it's time to inform that parents of the decease of their loss, Elouise is once again back in her old neighborhood again connecting with people she hasn't seen since she was a child. Since picking up this case, more bodies have been found and with each body, another clue to what the killers' motives are is discovered all leading to an action-packed ending that had me turning pages so fast!! Again, it's the writing that Hall gives us that you just can't help but pick up and devour.
Sleeping Giants⭐⭐⭐.5
This was a re-read for me and I still feel the same way about it. I think the whole story is fascinating and a very quick read. I really love how the story is told with interviews and journal entries and voice recordings. The audiobook really adds to this story and having a whole cast of people read it is just great. And I personally love an iron giant. The third book in the series, Only Human comes out in May so I wanted to give myself a reminder of all the build-up of the whole thing. Totally worth it. So I guess instead of just gushing about it, I should let you know what it is about. It starts off with a young girl, named Rose, on her birthday, dying to go outside and ride her new bike and when she finally does she falls into a hole and lands on what looks like a giant hand. Years later, Rose is a grown woman is in charge of this hand and is in charge of finding and reassemble what comes to be a giant metal robot. It's up to her and the people she works with to try and figure out where it came from, what can it do all the while trying to keep it hidden from the public. I loved it.
The Prince And The Dressmaker-⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
OMFG this was one of the cutest graphic novels I have read in a while that was just a one hitta-quitta (a story that I could devour in one sitting and there is no more to come, sadly) It's a story about a young girl named Frances who is slaving her life away in this Paris sewing shop until one day a young woman and her mother enter the shop and demand a dress be made, just in time for the Crown Prince of Belgium, Sebastian's Royal Ball. And just as the customer requested, Frances designs this shocking gown that turns heads and catches the attention of one very important person, the Prince. And as a result, this leads her to a new life where she gets to create all the beautiful gowns and customs that she has always dreamed of. But of course, there's a catch and in the end, this is a beautiful tale of acceptance, personal growth, being honest with yourself and one's own feelings and NEVER being afraid to live in your truth. I loved it. It was a beautiful story. I loved the artwork by Jen Wang and the color palette used.
That is that folks. Thanks for checking out my blog and checking out what I got into this month. Feel free to let me know what you read this month and what was your favorite book was down below. And stay tuned because I have a large April TBR that I have to share, that contains some new releases.
Laters.
PEACE✌
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