#bookseries – Page 6 – Rosepoint Publishing

The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb:

The first installment in Jeffery Deaver’s Colter Shaw series. The son of a survivalist family, Colter Shaw is an expert tracker. Now he makes a living as a “reward seeker,” traveling the country to help police solve crimes and locate missing persons for private citizens. “You’ve been abandoned. Escape if you can. Or die with dignity.” Hired by the father of a young woman who has gone missing in Silicon Valley, Shaw’s search takes him into the dark heart of America’s cutthroat billion-dollar video-game industry. When another person goes missing, Shaw must Is a madman bringing a twisted video game to life? Encountering eccentric designers, trigger-happy gamers, and ruthless tech titans, Shaw soon learns that he isn’t the only one on the someone is on his trail and closing fast….Named a Crime Novel of the Year by The New York Times Book Review, The Never Game proves once more why “Deaver is a genius when it comes to manipulation and deception” (Associated Press). [Goodreads blurb]

My Review:

OMG! Are you an older person with no concept of those crazy games the kids play on their devices with all kinds of paraphernalia so they are capable of speaking to other players on the other side of the world as they wipe out all the baddies with blasters?

I joined that club some years ago and have never caught up, at one point even trying to look into a “mature” game I could likewise play.

Not going to happen.

The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver — The Never Game – US cover

The Never Game featuring Colter Shaw plunks you square into that scene and explains it in a suspenseful mystery. Mercy! Shaw is not your average game player. He was raised off-grid with his brother and sister with their survivalist parents but with keen knowledge of his environment. Now he uses his skills as a gifted forensic tracker.

Shaw is making a living “finding” people and largely taps into an apparently lucrative rewards market. He lives in a Winnebago and has a small but effective support group. It’s fun the way he works “the percentages” whether or not the mission or question is viable. In this, the first in a new series, he is drawn into the gaming world.

Okay, I loved all the insights he discovers and explains, most of which blew me away. Did I retain any of it? You know I didn’t, but it was sure fun to read. There are theories and premises that, unfortunately in the six years it’s been since this was published, are eerily becoming the world in which we now live. AI scares the devil out of me, while fascinating me as well.

Is there any romance? Just a touch for those who need that in their novels. Have you heard of The Whisper Man? (The Whispering Man?) I have. There was a 2019 movie, right? And I believe another is coming to your screens soon. Well, there is an interesting and popular game with the same basic idea…and it’s incorporated into the narrative.

Don’t take my word for it. This is a book you might have missed but shouldn’t have. Check it out.

The CE read a Deaver novella in January of this year, Downstate, and greatly enjoy it. I’m gonna have to start paying more attention. Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Crime Thrillers, Mysteries, Suspense
Publisher: Penguin Audio
ASIN: B07N317FK9
Listening Length: 11 hrs 20 mins
Narrator: Kaleo Griffith
Publication Date: May 14, 2019
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)

Title Links: Amazon-US

Amazon-UK

The Author: Jeffery Deaver is an international number-one bestselling author. His novels have appeared on bestseller lists around the world. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into over twenty-five languages. He has served two terms as president of Mystery Writers of America, and was recently named a Grand Master of MWA, whose ranks include Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, Mary Higgins Clark and Walter Mosely.

The author of over forty novels, three collections of short stories and a nonfiction law book, and a lyricist of a country-western album, he’s received or been shortlisted for dozens of awards. His “The Bodies Left Behind” was named Novel of the Year by the International Thriller Writers association, and his Lincoln Rhyme thriller “The Broken Window” and a stand-alone, “Edge,” were also nominated for that prize. “The Garden of Beasts” won the Steel Dagger from the Crime Writers Association in England. He’s also been nominated for eight Edgar Awards by the MWA.

Deaver has been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, the Strand Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Raymond Chandler Lifetime Achievement Award in Italy.

October

Die Again: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel by Tess Gerritsen #BookReview #MedicalThriller

Editors’ pick Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Rizzoli & Isles #11

Goodreads Choice Award-Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Mystery & Thriller (2015)

Book Blurb:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are back—and they’re going into the wild to find a killer. Die Again is the latest heart-pounding thriller in Tess Gerritsen’s bestselling series, the inspiration behind TNT’s hit show Rizzoli & Isles.

When Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are summoned to a crime scene, they find a killing worthy of the most ferocious beast—right down to the claw marks on the corpse. But only the most sinister human hands could have left renowned big-game hunter and taxidermist Leon Gott gruesomely displayed like the once-proud animals whose heads adorn his walls. Did Gott unwittingly awaken a predator more dangerous than any he’s ever hunted?

Maura fears that this isn’t the killer’s first slaughter, and that it won’t be the last. After linking the crime to a series of unsolved homicides in wilderness areas across the country, she wonders if the answers might actually be found in a remote corner of Africa.

Six years earlier, a group of tourists on safari fell prey to a killer in their midst. Marooned deep in the bush of Botswana, with no means of communication and nothing but a rifle-toting guide for protection, the terrified tourists desperately hoped for rescue before their worst instincts—or the wild animals prowling in the shadows—could tear them apart. But the deadliest predator was already among them, and within a week, he walked away with the blood of all but one of them on his hands.

Now this killer has chosen Boston as his new hunting ground, and Rizzoli and Isles must find a way to lure him out of the shadows and into a cage. Even if it means dangling the bait no hunter can resist: the one victim who got away.

My Review:

Detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are back in the eleventh installment of the series, and Jane again pursues with the heart of a pit bull. I always enjoy the female buddy leads who often bring an emotional quality to the novel not found in male-dominated crime fiction.

The first part of the book is first person by the lone survivor of a mass killing in Botswana. A tourist safari gone way, way wrong. The suspense starts the novel on a high note and seldom falls as the intermittent voice of the African survivor is plunked into the narrative of the gruesome murder in Boston, revealing details about the unique death.

“A woman in love is a poor judge of character.”

The account of the survivor and how she manages to live is gripping. Unfortunately, the killer also begins his unique MO in Boston and guess who discovers it? The settings are descriptive down to the buzzing of the insects and calls of the wild. Jane, herself, becomes a tiger, sure she’s caught her man until an operation proves otherwise. Still, she perseveres.

There are a few twists; it wasn’t easy to catch this guy but it’s always the ride, not the destination, right?

I enjoy how the two, Rizzoli and Maura work together, although opposites in manner and procedure. (Also a popular series on TNT). They are not so fleshed at this point in the series; assumed by now you know their intimate details. (I could do without the Jane mom thing though.) I think you’d still be able to pick up Book 11 of the series and enjoy independently.

Loved The Spy Coast back in November 2023, the first in a new series. A proven author you can really look forward to reading. Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Medical Fiction, Medical Thrillers
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 978-0345543868
ASIN: B00JI4ZSDI
Print Length: 353 pages
Publication Date: December 30, 2014
Source: Local Library

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Internationally bestselling author Tess Gerritsen took an unusual route to a writing career. A graduate of Stanford University, Tess went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, where she was awarded her M.D.

While on maternity leave from her work as a physician, she began to write fiction and in 1987, her first novel, Call After Midnight, was published. It was just the first of 32 suspense novels that she’s written over a 36-year writing career. She also wrote a screenplay, “Adrift,” which aired as a 1993 CBS Movie of the Week starring Kate Jackson.

Tess’s 1996 medical thriller, Harvest, marked her debut on the New York Times bestseller list and her novels have hit bestseller lists around the world ever since. Among her titles are Gravity, The Surgeon, Vanish, Listen to Me, and her upcoming spy thriller, The Spy Coast, which has just been optioned by Amazon Studios for a television series. Her books have been translated into 40 languages, and more than 40 million copies have been sold around the world.

Her series of novels featuring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the hit TNT television series “Rizzoli & Isles,” starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander.

She lives in Maine.

For more information on Tess Gerritsen and her novels, visit her website: http://www.tessgerritsen.com or
http://www.tessgerritsen.co.uk.

#TuesdayBookblog banner

Solid Gold Murder by Ellen Byron #AudiobookReview #cozymystery

Golden Motel Mystery #2

Book Blurb:

Dee Stern’s Golden Motel-of-the-Mountains promises a tranquil getaway for outdoor lovers in the scenic Californian village of Foundgold. But when Dee accidentally triggers a modern gold rush, she suddenly turns her peaceful retreat into a hotspot for mayhem and murder . . .

With the summer season looming, former Hollywood sitcom writer Dee Stern has one small goal—scrubbing her motel’s unflattering moniker as the “Murder Motel.” Dee and ex-husband-turned-business-partner Jeff Cornetta are excited to introduce a family-friendly panning activity complete with fool’s gold just in time for the peak tourist months. Except neither could have anticipated the discovery of a real gold nugget or the ensuing social media frenzy. In a flash, the viral sensation draws grizzled prospectors, wide-eyed adventurers, and trend-chasing thrill seekers to the abandoned mines scattered around the woods . . .

The instant popularity proves great for business, but it also attracts a group of out-of-touch Silicon Valley techies with dreams of striking it rich—again. Dee finds herself particularly annoyed by the insufferably smug Sylvan Burr, a retired CEO who sold his startup before age 30 and won’t let anyone forget it. But things take a sinister turn when Sylvan meets a grim fate at the bottom of a mineshaft, leaving Dee at the center of a deadly mystery that could end her days as a motelier. And while Sylvan had plenty of enemies, Dee suddenly faces adversaries rooting against her own success. Now, with her life and the future of the Golden Motel hanging by a thread, Dee must unearth a minefield of suspects and outwit a greedy killer before she finally digs herself too deep . . .

My Review:

Another new series in which I managed to pick up in Book 2, but read it like a standalone. In this installment, Dee and ex-husband Jeff motel partner have successfully concluded their brainstorming session with the idea of having a gold panning experience.

Touted as a family-friendly experience and expecting to salt the sluice with some fool’s gold for fun, their brilliant idea turns viral when a real gold nugget is discovered.

Hoping the whole panning idea would smother the nickname of “Murder Motel,” the place suddenly swarmed with paying motel guests also attracting the wrong kind of tourists. When one is found dead, it definitely doesn’t help their rep. Especially when the death is obviously not a natural one.

Some of her guests are serious gold hunters, while others just want to soak up the tree-dotted mountainscape, the clear pine air, the quaint tiny town of Foundgold and Goldgone. Goodness, a lovely cross-section of characters, including Bud the bear, and an old hound dog named Nugget, left behind by the late owner.

It’s an easy, laid back mystery, as much character driven as mystery plot, the characters and setting accounting for much of the charm of the book, particularly the conversations, dialogue between the exes. There are bits of humor interwoven through the plot. Of course, the deceased was a nasty guy with lots of people who’d want to see him at the bottom of an abandoned mine and not moving.

There are twists and turns and lots of theories bantered around, all designed to throw you off the trail. Enjoyable little cozy escape from the everyday, and includes the requisite denouement you may not have seen coming.

Many thanks to the publisher and my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Amateur Sleuth Mysteries, Cozy Mysteries
Publisher: Tantor Media
ASIN: B0DVMHQQ3L
Listening Length: 7 hrs 23 mins
Narrator: Amy Melissa Bentley
Publication Date: August 5, 2025
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

Ellen Byron - author — Ellen Byron – author

The Author: Ellen is the USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of the Vintage Cookbook Mysteries, Cajun Country Mysteries, and Catering Hall Mysteries (under the pen name Maria DiRico). Her mysteries have won multiple Agatha Awards for Best Contemporary Novel and Lefty Awards for Best Humorous Mystery Lefty awards from the Left Coast Crime conference. Bayou Book Thief, her first Vintage Cookbook Mystery, was also nominated for an Anthony award. A Very Woodsy Murder, debuting in July 2024, will be the first book in her new Golden Motel Mystery series, which is inspired by her former career as a sitcom writer.

Ellen’s TV credits include Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly Odd Parents; she’s written over 200 magazine articles; her published plays include the award-winning Graceland and Asleep on the Wind. She is a native New Yorker who lives in Los Angeles and attributes her fascination with Louisiana to her college years at New Orleans’ Tulane University. She also worked as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart, a credit she never tires of sharing. Have an early copy of Martha’s first book, ENTERTAINING? Ellen’s standing right next to her in the group shot.

Happy Thursday

Rosepoint Reviews – August Recap – #Audiobooks #LiteraryFiction #LegalThriller #HistoricalFiction

Rosepoint Reviews-August Recap

Well, we certainly started out like it was August, but August petered out and started acting like Fall halfway into the month. Cool enough temps to warrant a sweater—it’s a cool wind that blows off those Great Lakes.

Still, some warm days and cool nights along with a couple gully washers produced an abundance of cucumbers and cantalopes, followed immediately by a surplus crop of cherry tomatoes. (I started adding cantaloupes to the cucumber juice—pretty good!) Not sure what happened to the Early Girl tomatoes, but hopefully we can dry enough cherry tomatoes to make several days of candy—so sweet and good. Also, in the crop this year, purple bell peppers and Japanese eggplant. I’ve started a second crop of peas and beans in the hope they’ll be ready to harvest prior to the end of the season—but realize I’m pushing my luck.

The August book pick at the Y Book Club was The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. I’d read it years ago for a library book club in 2020 and opted to listen to the audiobook this time. I enjoyed both but this application was to refresh my memory for the Y book club.

Book Club at the Y - August

Once again, I love the insight brought to the novels by the participants. Most of us had never been aware of the “blue” people prior to reading the novel. While I voted 4.5 stars this time, I was surprised to see the average at four stars. Looking back at the vote for the same book by the earlier book club, was further surprised to see the average was the same. Four stars.

We reviewed thirteen books in August—half of those in audiobook form. The source of our books is our library, NetGalley, author and publisher requests. As always, the links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase information.

Rosepoint Reviews - August Recap

Wild Instinct by T Jefferson Parker (CE review)
False Witness by Phillip Margolin
The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbison (5 stars-audiobook)
Lowdown Road by Scott Von Doviak (CE review)
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
The Arrangement by Kiersten Modglin (audiobook)
Her Cold Justice by Robert Dugoni
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (5 stars-audiobook)
The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly (5 stars)
Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping by Jesse Q Sutanto (audiobook)
The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb (audiobook)
Two Audiobooks Mini-Reviews by Freida McFadden
The Housemaid’s Secret
The Boyfriend

Favorite Book of the Month

This is a tough one as I believe I set a record at three books with five stars in August, only one of those by a favorite author, the other two being new to me. I love Michael Connelly’s books, but really, have to give the nod this month to Alfred Lansing and his book Endurance. I’ve set the CE to reading Mark Twain by Ron Chernow. If you know anything about that masterful historical writer, you know his books are seldom under 700 pages. The CE will be reading it for awhile. (evil grin)

Favorite for August – Endurance by Alfred Lansing

My Reading Challenges page…I’m behind again and doubt I’ll catch up in September as we will be taking a short vacation.

The Goodreads landing page shows 132 of a goal of 150 or 88%. I suspect I’m doing well in the audiobook challenge as well, but can’t vouch for the NetGalley goal. May have to reassess those goals.

As always, it’s your visits and comments that keep me going and I appreciate them all. Kids are back in school (they don’t wait for Labor Day around here) and now’s the time we enjoy a short trip.

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) by Jesse Q Sutanto #AudiobookReview #cozymysteries

A Vera Wong Novel, Book 2

Editors’ pick Best Books of the Year So Far 2025

Book Blurb:

Vera Wong is back and as meddling as ever in this follow-up to the hit Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers.…

Ever since a man was found dead in Vera’s teahouse, life has been good. For Vera that is. She’s surrounded by loved ones, her shop is bustling, and best of all, her son, Tilly, has a girlfriend! All thanks to Vera, because Tilly’s girlfriend is none other than Officer Selena Gray. The very same Officer Gray that she had harassed while investigating the teahouse murder. Still, Vera wishes more dead bodies would pop up in her shop, but one mustn’t be ungrateful, even if one is slightly…bored.

Then Vera comes across a distressed young woman who is obviously in need of her kindly guidance. The young woman is looking for a missing friend. Fortunately, while cat-sitting at Tilly and Selena’s, Vera finds a treasure trove: Selena’s briefcase. Inside is a file about the death of an enigmatic influencer—who also happens to be the friend that the young woman was looking for.

Online, Xander had it all: a parade of private jets, fabulous parties with socialites, and a burgeoning career as a social media influencer. The only problem is, after his body is fished out of Mission Bay, the police can’t seem to actually identify him. Who is Xander Lin? Nobody knows. Every contact is a dead end. Everybody claims not to know him, not even his parents.

Vera is determined to solve Xander’s murder. After all, doing so would surely be a big favor to Selena, and there is nothing she wouldn’t do for her future daughter-in-law.

My Review:

I love that we are beginning to see more and more mature protagonists in mysteries as capable and intelligent. Add to the cozy equation, an MC of a minority.

Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping by Jesse Q Sutanto — Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping cover – US

So much to learn in the culture and that’s one of the things I enjoyed in this novel. While tiring of culinary cozies, I both enjoyed the names and descriptions of the foods offered continually in the narrative, but also remembered there were a number of spices and ingredients I would not have been so crazy about. Not everyone is going to go bonkers for everything she cooks.

Not having read Book 1, I wasn’t sure what I was in for, but quickly came to appreciate the energetic and curious sixty-one-year-old. Yeah, I got a bit weary of Vera calling herself an old lady when I didn’t think of myself as that until the last couple of years. Of course, some of that helpless old woman act was a ploy for distraction so she could penetrate new layers of information.

Apparently the experience from Book 1 of the successful solving a murder committed in her tea house endowed Vera with a new prospective. For one, that encounter introduced her to a new world, some of which will remain in the form of a possible wife for her son and the hope for grandchildren.

The characters include a diverse cross-section of the area and neatly captured themes of family (not by blood), relationships, food, culture, and tea—some formulas ancient but effective. I enjoyed the character of Millie.

Vera goes about investigating the death of a participant in the dark world of human trafficking—but not for what you might have imagined—and something certainly I never thought of. There are twists and turns and the storyline is well paced.

Okay, thinking maybe I missed something by starting with Book 2, I’m going back to Book 1 and check it out. Not the first time I’ve done it backwards. The narrator bothered me a bit, but I’m opting for another in audiobook form so I can multi-task as usual. Plus, I like the covers.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Asian American & Pacific Islander Literature, Women Sleuth Mysteries
Publisher: Penguin Audio
ASIN: B0DCGR3CN9
Listening Length: 10 hrs 35 mins
Narrator: Eunice Wong
Publication Date: April 01, 2025
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Jesse Q. Sutanto is the author of adult, YA, and children’s middle grade books. She has an MSt in Creative Writing from Oxford University and a BA in English Lit from Berkeley, though she hasn’t found a way of saying that without sounding obnoxious. The film rights to her women’s fiction, Dial A for Aunties, was bought by Netflix in a competitive bidding war. Her adult books include Dial A for Aunties, its sequel, Four Aunties and a Wedding, and Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. Her YA books include The Obsession, The New Girl, and Well, That Was Unexpected. Her MG books include Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit and its sequel, Theo Tan and the Iron Fan. Find her on Twitter @thewritinghippo and on Instagram @jesseqsutanto.

Woman cooking dinner while listening to an audiobook. — AI photo generated by Gemini.Google.com

The Proving Ground: A Lincoln Lawyer Novel by Michael Connelly #BookReview #LegalThrillers

Lincoln Lawyer Book 8

Rosepoint Rating: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly, the Lincoln Lawyer is back with a case against an AI company whose product may have been responsible for the murder of a young girl.

Following his “resurrection walk” and need for a new direction, Mickey Haller turns to public interest litigation, filing a civil lawsuit against an artificial intelligence company whose chatbot told a sixteen-year-old boy that it was okay for him to kill his ex-girlfriend for her disloyalty.

Representing the victim’s family, Mickey’s case explores the mostly unregulated and exploding AI business and the lack of training guardrails. Along the way he joins up with a journalist named Jack McEvoy, who wants to be a fly on the wall during the trial in order to write a book about it. But Mickey puts him to work going through the mountain of printed discovery materials in the case. McEvoy’s digging ultimate delivers the key witness, a whistleblower who has been too afraid to speak up. The case is fraught with danger because billions are at stake.

It is said that machines became smarter than humans on the day in 1997 that IBM’s Deep Blue defeated chess master Garry Kasparov with a gambit called “the knight’s sacrifice.” Haller will take a similar gambit in court to defeat the mega forces of the AI industry lined up against him and his clients.

My Review:

Does it get much better than the Lincoln Lawyer? I love these books and devour any new installment that comes up in print, digital, or Netflix.

Even better, this one tackles AI, a current hot topic, a novel that grapples with so many moral questions over the legal. Haven’t we been talking about our children watching violent cartoons? Now with computer games the kids of eight years up are playing, do we have any clue what kind of intelligence they are dealing with?

AI generated by Gemini

What about the mind of a sixteen year old? Who has written the code for the chatbot he calls Wren? And who is to blame when that sixteen year old violently acts on a suggestion from Wren?

I love the character of Haller. He has left criminal law for civil. The narrative examines in detail the question: who is ultimately responsible for games coded with possible explosive code? We’ve all heard of GIGO. Garbage in, garbage out, “bad programming, programming contradictory to the purpose of the app?”

The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly — Lincoln Lawyer cover-US

That is the supposition of this extremely complex legal thriller. The storyline boils over with tension, almost from the beginning. All your favorite Haller characters are included, though I never warmed up to a new character who provided deep intel on AI while gathering journalistic juice. A layered plot from main to sub, each adding depth, creating a fully rounded story from professional to personal, those of his family and close associates.

I love the way the writer mentions or includes characters, including Harry Bosch, from his other series in his current narrative, consolidating the Haller world. In his world, he is up against a multi-billion dollar corporation, and he’ll have his work cut out for him.

He has his flaws but he brings an intelligence to the legal science of law that is downright compelling. He has wit, energy, and charisma you can’t beat. And, by the way, I enjoyed the author’s little humorous zinger by naming the judge in the case, Judge Ruhlin. RUHLIN? Funny, Mr. Connelly.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

PS: No AI was used in writing this review. (Or perhaps that’s obvious. )

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedurals, Legal Thrillers, Murder Thrillers
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
ISBN: 978-0316563840
ASIN: B0DZ24GYPN
Print Length: 400 pages
Publication Date:
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Michael Connelly is the bestselling author of more than forty novels and one work of nonfiction. With over eighty-nine million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into forty-five foreign languages, he is one of the most successful writers working today. A former newspaper reporter who worked the crime beat at the Los Angeles Times and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Connelly has won numerous awards for his journalism and his fiction. His very first novel, The Black Echo, won the prestigious Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. In 2002, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the movie adaptation of Connelly’s 1998 novel, Blood Work. In March 2011, the movie adaptation of his #1 bestselling novel, The Lincoln Lawyer, hit theaters worldwide starring Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller. His most recent New York Times bestsellers include The Waiting (2024), Resurrection Walk (2023), Desert Star (2022), The Dark Hours (2021), The Law Of Innocence (2020), Fair Warning (2020), and The Night Fire (2019). Michael is the executive producer of Bosch and Bosch: Legacy, Amazon Studios original drama series based on his bestselling character Harry Bosch, starring Titus Welliver and streaming on Amazon Prime/Amazon Freevee. He is the executive producer of The Lincoln Lawyer, streaming on Netflix, starring Manuel Garcia-Rulfo. He is also the executive producer of the documentary films, “Sound Of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story’ and ‘Tales Of the American.’ He spends his time in California and Florida.

#TuesdayBookBlog

Two Audiobooks Mini-Reviews – The Housemaid’s Secret and The Boyfriend by Freida McFadden #psychologicalthrillers

Two Audiobooks Mini-Reviews by Freida McFadden

Well, I’m not sure how, but I seem to be caught up in Freida McFadden books, this time The Housemaid’s Secret, a Goodreads Choice Award Winner released February 20, 2023, and The Boyfriend a #1 Amazon Best Seller in Crime Thrillers released October 1, 2024. (Links on individual covers are to Amazon.)

Member of Goodreads since March 2012, McFadden is a #1 New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, and Amazon Charts bestselling author Freida McFadden is a practicing physician specializing in brain injury who has penned multiple Kindle bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. She lives with her family and possessed cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe. [Goodreads]
https://www.freidamcfadden.com/

The Housemaid’s Secret

ASIN: B0BSVFGW4M
Date Released: February 20, 2023
Narrator: Lauryn Allman
Publisher: Hachette UK – Bookouture
Three point Five Stars

My Thoughts

Okay, wait a minute. Haven’t I read this before? Or certainly something very similar. But this one is definitely written in McFadden style.

Millie has definitely come up in the housecleaning world, securing employment for an uber rich couple in a penthouse apartment in the Upper West Side of New York. It’s a good trick if you can do it as you know in your heart that Millie has some secrets that must be kept mum for now.

Douglas is not too bad for a super rich guy, but wife Wendy keeps to herself and her room is off-limits. Douglas relays anything that Wendy needs or wants and except for a few meals, the sources for which are pretty darn exclusive, and odd bits of uh ohs, it’s not a bad gig.

Needless to say, whether or not she’s been told to leave Wendy alone to rest peacefully, she just can’t seem to do it, and it gradually flips the plot to one you no doubt saw coming. I only thought I did, but remember, this is a McFadden novel.

So yes, the twists will kick in. Maybe it’s a good thing that Millie has a hot Italian groundskeeper on the side with an even more super hot boyfriend, rich lawyer type guy that’s crazy about her. I don’t know what circles she was in when their paths crossed, but he’d love to have her move into his sweet apartment by Central Park and take good care of him.

Are you following along?

It’s that final twist that finally got me and I had to throw my hands up. Talk about not seeing that coming! Well, after that, you have to try another just to see if this one was a fluke, yes? So, I did.

The Boyfriend.

The Boyfriend

ASIN: B0D3QNT4T2
Date released: October 1, 2024
Narrators: Victoria Connolly, and Robb Moreira
Publisher: Hollywood Upstairs Press
Four Stars

My Thoughts

Oh my goodness, the characters in this book! How many times did I want to slap the FMC, Sydney, up the side of her head? Is it possible to be that obtuse? Then the other POV in this one, Tom, reaches back to the birth of his problem with women. How could he be that fake with Sydney and she not see through that façade?

Tom, supreme creep that he is, really keeps the storyline moving, doesn’t he? Something fascinating about a truly sick and twisted individual that the reader has to keep reading to confirm just how nutsy he is. Not like his teen years were filled with academic accolades. He was head over heels in love with Daisy and his best friend’s name is Slug, if that gives you any clues. I must say, however, that Slug had such significant character development that little vignettes that included him were enough to turn your stomach.

Meanwhile, poor little Sydney plods along in her own little world, just adrift and off course. So frustrating to be forced along on some of her dumber decisions and then watch her crash and burn. Of course, that hasn’t taught her anything, so she gets to hit the repeat button.

Yeah, it’s twisty. And just crazy enough that it edged over The Housemaid’s Secret for me. Also, glad I listened to the audiobook and didn’t read it. Those voices gave it quite the spice.

Frieda McFadden fan? Then you may enjoy this one. I’m not sure—there appears to be quite the division of opinion, but you can’t fault it for being both engaging and entertaining.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to these audiobooks. Any opinion expressed here is my own.

Have a good one

Her Cold Justice by Robert Dugoni #BookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

Keera Duggan Book 3

Book Blurb:

To save a client accused of murder, defense attorney Keera Duggan must fight a complex web of corruption in a riveting novel of suspense by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

In a quiet South Seattle neighborhood, a suspected drug smuggler and his girlfriend are murdered in their home. When a young man named Michael Westbrook is accused of the brutal double homicide, his uncle JP Harrison turns to Keera Duggan to defend him. JP is Keera’s trusted investigator, and he desperately needs Keera to save his nephew against escalating odds.

The evidence is circumstantial—Michael worked with one of the victims, drugs were found in his possession, and he bolted from authorities. Ruthless star prosecutor Anh Tran has gotten convictions on much less. With the testimony of two prison informants, the case looks grave. But Keera never concedes defeat. To free her client, she must dig deep before Tran crushes both of them.

As the investigation gets more twisted with each new find, Keera is swept up in a mystery with far-reaching consequences. This case isn’t just murder. It’s looking like a conspiracy. And getting justice for Michael could be the most dangerous promise Keera has ever made.

My Review:

The CE doesn’t get to have all the fun! I got Book 3 of the Keera Duggan series, Her Cold Justice and Book 2, Beyond Reasonable Doubt. Between the two of us, however, we’ve read a number of Dugoni’s books, particularly Tracy Crosswhite, his last, A Dead Draw, early this year.

Keera was a chess champ as a girl, often played with her dad, who taught her the strategies of the board that could parallel her work as an attorney, facing off in high-stakes cases with equals in court room drama. She followed in her father’s legal footsteps, now often recognized as the daughter of the “Irish Brawler,” known for his unexpected and swift courtroom gotchas.

No question Michael Westbrook has all the circumstantial evidence stacked against him, made more credible by a few small omissions he failed to divulge until the twists caught up with him. Still, it appeared he was an innocent pawn in a game of power, broken justice, and weak kings.

You might guess that the plot gets complex, sussing out conspiracy, secrets, and an end game you might not have imagined. The plot is well paced.

No question I’m a fan of the author and feel all his books are great, with varying degrees of great, of course. I’ve come to love the Keera Duggan series, the characters relatable with complicated personal lives. This series hints at the possibility of a blooming relationship between Keera and Rossi, a good thing.

If this were read as a standalone, I’d wish for more character development of Keera, whereas we got a clear and definitive picture of Kim Tran, described beautifully down to the cold, impervious stare. There may have been a deeper dive into Keera and family in Book 1, but the CE caught that one, and I came into the series with Book 2.

As the book weaves its way through the twists and revelations, the storyline moves smoothly into the conclusion with, at this point, some predictability. Any reader who enjoys legal thrillers, though, will certainly appreciate the Dugoni writing style. It’s intelligently written, gripping, and entertaining.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Legal Thrillers, Murder Thrillers
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
ISBN: 978-1662524646
ASIN: B0DFZ47Z2B
Print Length: 380 pages
Publication Date: January 27, 2026
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and #1 Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, which has sold more than 10 million books worldwide. He is also the author of The Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, the Keera Duggan legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels including the literary novel, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell – One of Newsweek Magazines Best Books of All Time and Suspense Magazine’s Book of the Year. Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award. He has also written critically acclaimed historical novels based on true events: The World Played Chess a coming of age story and the Vietnam War; Hold Strong an untold story of WWII; and A Killing on the Hill, about a 1933 killing and trial in Seattle. HIs nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. His novels have been optioned for movies and television series. Dugoni is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and multiple awards for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He has also been a finalist for many other awards including the International Thriller Award, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the Silver Falchion Award for mystery, and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award.