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Summit’s Edge by Sara Driscoll #BookReview #cozyanimalmystery

An FBI K-9 Novel #9

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

FBI handler Meg Jennings and her K-9 partner, Hawk, vie to rescue plane crash survivors from a Colorado mountain—and contend with a hijacker determined to escape justice.

As long as there’s hope of finding life, no mission is too dangerous for Meg Jennings and her colleagues in the FBI K-9 unit. But locating the wreckage of a hijacked private plane high in the Elk Mountains of Colorado is treacherous in a multitude of ways—some of them impossible for even a seasoned team to predict.

The plane, carrying the board of directors of Barron Pharmaceuticals, crashed on a rocky peak and was cleaved in two. Perilous weather means the rescuers have to ascend on foot, with their dogs unleashed in case of falls. It takes hours to locate the wreckage, but miraculously, Meg and Hawk find a number of passengers and crew still alive. The hijacker also survived, and has fled into the wilderness with the CEO’s son in pursuit.

As soon as day breaks, the K-9 teams set out to find both men, and the dogs quickly pick up a scent trail. Meg has used her connections with an investigative reporter to learn as much as she can about the hijacker, hoping to use it when they apprehend him. But first, they must contend with the mountain’s savage fury and an adversary who will destroy as many lives as possible rather than face justice . . .

My Review:

I really don’t remember if I discovered this series with book one or came in somewhere and decided I needed to read the rest, but I have read all in the series and never get tired of the relationship between Meg and Hawk and the other handlers and their K-9s as well.

Each could be read as a standalone and each is unique in location and mission, sometimes including support characters within the K9 community or that of her fiancé Todd Wells. He is a firefighter/emt and is experienced in rescue.

In this episode, she is joined by fellow K9 handler Brian with his dog Lacey. They are sent to the Colorado mountains to search and hopefully recover survivors of a downed corporate aircraft carrying members of Barron Pharmaceuticals. It had been hijacked and it is unknown whether or not any survived, including the hijacker.

The first problem of course is the altitude, being known as the thirteen or fourteeners, those mountains exceeding 14,000 feet. (Hubby and I climbed Mt Fuji while in Japan and at almost 12,390 feet, as tall as I’d want to go. I can tell you, it’s cold up there. We hiked it by moonlight, all night, reaching the summit at daybreak.)

“A wise man climbs Mt Fuji once, only a fool climbs it twice.” (Japanese proverb)

Besides the inclusion of those beautiful service animals, the author always includes lots of info about the locations and specific missions. This one includes mountain climbing, of course, as well as weapons, high altitude illness, and preparedness.

The episode hooks you immediately with the hijacking of the plane and continues with a fast-pace through their climb, search, perilous conditions, definitions of the skill and associated equipment. Also, strategies and care of the animals in extreme conditions.

First, it’s a nail-biter finding the crash site which then extends into the search for the hijacker and the son of the CEO who’s followed the hijacker into treacherous upper wilderness. The suspense ramps up in intensity as the team begins feeling the pace, altitude, cold, and desperate conditions.

Hard put to name my favorite book of the series, not sure I could, but this one would definitely be in an upper position and heartily recommended.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through @NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Cozy Animal Mystery, Cozy Animal Mysteries, Police Procedurals
Publisher: Kensington Books
ASIN: B0CWB7VWSS
Print Length: 302 pages
Publication Date: November 26, 2024
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

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

The Author: Sara Driscoll is the pen name of Jen J. Danna, coauthor of the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries and author of the FBI K-9s and the NYPD Negotiators. After over thirty years in infectious diseases research, Jen hung up her lab coat to concentrate on her real love—writing “exceptional” thrillers (Publishers Weekly). She is a member of the Crime Writers of Canada and lives with her husband and four rescued cats outside of Toronto, Ontario. You can follow the latest news on her books, including the FBI K-9s, at http://www.saradriscollauthor.com.

Have a good week!

Death Comes in Threes by Michael Jecks #BookReview #RenaissanceHistoricalFiction

A Bloody Mary Tudor Mystery Book

Book Blurb:

Princess Elizabeth’s unlikely assassin finds himself on the hook for two murders in this light-hearted Tudor mystery series!

August, 1558. As London is bustling with growing trade from foreign lands, and Queen Mary’s health is once again a hot topic, Jack Blackjack has much to keep him busy. And that’s before his new tenant – a Dutch merchant – disappears under a cloud of suspicion, quickly presumed murdered, and Jack’s latest female companion’s body is found mere streets from her dwelling place.

People around Jack keep inconveniently getting murdered, and he seems to be the most likely culprit! With both the authorities and the unsavoury echelons of London on his tail, nowhere is safe for Jack to hide. He must go about proving his innocence – and uncovering the mirky truth – while ensuring he doesn’t find himself dancing the Tyburn jig!

The question is – can he rely on friends in high – and very low – places to get him out of this ever-increasing mess?

For readers who like their historical mysteries with a dash of farce and frolicking fun!

His Review:

Britain in the late 1500’s was not a pleasant place to live. Serfdom was just coming to an end and wages were pitifully low. Anyone with property was a target to all of the oppressed population. One needed bodyguards to go to the pubs or houses of ill repute and were always a target of the poor. Jack Blackjack was one of those targets.

Jack maintained a number of houses and had many enemies. He was a dandy who enjoyed the favors of many of the young ladies in the village. He was known and often chased by those who hated him. He had worked with both Lady Elisabeth and Queen Mary and had received a Royal pardon for his crimes. This did not sit well with his enemies.

This tome reveals a time in history when individual life was not worth much. Being well armed with swords and knives as well as cudgels was essential. Jack continues to live by the craftiness of his upbringing and his attention to detail. Living in this part of the past would not be a welcoming environment. Enjoy Jack’s escapades. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. These opinions are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Renaissance Historical Fiction, Historical Mysteries
Publisher: Severn House
ISBN:1448313805
ASIN: B0D9M8KVDG
Print Length: 258 pages
Publication Date: January 7, 2025
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

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

The Author: Who is this guy Jecks?

Michael was a moderate student and early on, being a callow youth, decided on a career as an actuary. This decision was based solely on the fact that he heard it was the highest paid profession. Well, he had a father who was one, and a brother, too, but the money certainly helped.

Not realizing that a standard definition of an actuary is “someone who finds accountancy too exciting”, he achieved the relevant grades at A level and wandered off to City University, London. There, he excelled – as bar chairman – but not at actuarial studies. Firmly convinced that his course was incomprehensible (Life & Other Contingencies? Advanced Statistics? Programming in Pascal?) and other parts were designed by knaves, cretins and the criminally insane (Economics), he left the course after failing every exam for two years.

With the glittering example of a second, unqualified, brother who earned very good money, had a bonus scheme, free car, free petrol, expense account and free holiday each year, Michael decided to follow this brother into computer sales.

Moving to safer shores with software sales, Michael joined IBM’s largest software supplier, Bluebird. They went bust a year later (owing him a lot).

Out of Computing, Into Writing

In three months, Michael worked seven days a week, fourteen hours a day. In that time he wrote a modern day thriller, a management book on how to get work when made redundant (he had experience of that) and a historical crime novel that was to become The Last Templar.

Since 1995 and the launch of The Last Templar, Michael has been a persistent and prolific author. City of Fiends was the 31st story in the series that follows the lives of Sir Baldwin de Furnshill, a renegade Templar, and his friend Bailiff Simon Puttock through the miserable period of famine, war and disease that was the first half of the fourteenth century.

The series is the first to tell the tale of that time.

Michael is a regular speaker about the Knights Templar, the end of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, about writing and publishing, and about finding work. He is also keen to help those who are now going through the latest recession. He endured enough hardship, and lost all his savings, during the last recession, and understands what it means to risk losing everything.

An enthusiastic photographer and watercolourist, Michael can often be seen walking across Dartmoor where he lives, gaining inspiration into the lives of our ancestors for his stories. When relaxing he can usually be found clad in white in a pub near you before dancing mad stick Morris.

Of course, if you want to contact him or link on social media, you can find him at writerlywitterings.com, he’s on YouTube as writerlywitterer, on LinkedIn, he is at Facebook.com/Michael.Jecks.author, at Flickr.com/photos/Michael_Jecks, on Instagram, Pinterest and everywhere else too! He appreciates hearing from readers, so do please contact him.

[Note: My apologies to the author but parts of this bio were truncated. Please see the author page for his complete story.]

Happy Thursday!

The More the Terrier: Andy Carpenter Book 30 by David Rosenfelt #AudiobookReview #AnimalCozyMysteries

in Animal Cozy Mysteries

Book Blurb:

The next installment in David Rosenfelt’s bestselling Andy Carpenter series brings a lone pup to his doorstep, but when it comes to dogs, The More the Terrier.

Reluctant lawyer Andy Carpenter is relieved to be headed back to Paterson, New Jersey, after a week-long family vacation in the Adirondacks. He’s ready to put the holly jolly season way behind him and settle in at home with his three dogs. But when they finally arrive, there is an extra dog eagerly awaiting them, as well as one anxious dog sitter.

When the dog showed up on the doorstep a few days ago, the sitter knew Andy would know what to do. Indeed, Andy recognizes Murphy, who the Carpenters fostered before the dog went home with BJ Bremer and his mother. BJ wanted to learn all he could about caring for Murphy, which made Andy like him immediately.

When Andy goes to take Murphy back to the Bremers, though, instead of the happy reunion he expects, he finds BJ’s mother in tears. It turns out Murphy ran off…after BJ was arrested for murder. Andy had hoped for a quiet Christmas vacation, but he likes Murphy’s family and his golden retriever, Tara, likes Murphy, so he can’t resist getting involved. The case isn’t as simple as Andy thought it would be, though, with BJ suspected of murdering one of his professors. With nothing to go on but Andy’s own conviction in BJ’s dog-loving character, proving his innocence would be a Christmas miracle.

With equal doses of doggy humor and courtroom drama, as well as Andy Carpenter’s traditional humbug Christmas spirit, David Rosenfelt delivers another winner.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

My Review:

Another doggy series and one I adore from David Rosenfelt and Grover Gardner. No, Gardner didn’t help write it, but his familiar voice and the way he narrates Andy Carpenter keep you coming back for more. This is number thirty? No problem—I’m already looking forward to number thirty-one (except I hope we don’t have more of the Jersey mob in the next one),

Yes, it’s a popular and successful formula, but these characters all come together in each of their roles perfectly drawn and work beautifully. Even better, you could come in on number thirty as easily as number five as the author supplies the reader with enough background info to show you how they relate to the overall main character, Andy Carpenter.

Still, those of us who know and love Andy at this point remember that Laurie (his wife and ex-cop) still starts Christmas before Halloween, he’s still paying for (and threatening to cut them off) his buddies at their favorite haunt, and he still walks and talks to his dogs while pondering his cases. All except for Sebastian who he has finally acquiesced to allowing him to do his business without the long walks. Tara hasn’t rescued Andy lately, could still do so, but patiently listens to his arguments without comment.

In this episode, Murphy, a terrier, shows up at Andy’s door step one evening, a past rescue, Andy’s main passion. He remembers her of course and tracks down the mother and son who adopted the dog. Unfortunately, the son has been arrested for murder. Of course, Andy will take the case even as he vows to stop being a criminal attorney. These cases just keep popping up keeping him from fully retiring.

While you might think this formula could get old, it doesn’t for several reasons. I love the sarcastic sense of humor, the quick wit that keeps him on his feet both with dealing with law enforcement, other lawyers, and in the courtroom. That sharp mind almost misses nothing and when it does, niggles at him until he susses it out.

These stories are deemed cozy mysteries, but they far exceed the cozy concept with deeply complex and layered storylines and always keep you second guessing. Love the courtroom “dance” and I usually learn something new. In this case, the metaverse. Metaverse!!—really?

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Animal Cozy Mysteries, Animal Fiction, Holiday Fiction
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B0CWB2412M
Listening Length: 6 hrs 34 mins
Narrator: Grover Gardner
Publication Date: October 15, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The More the Terrier – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: David Rosenfelt, a native of Paterson, New Jersey, is a graduate of NYU. He was the former marketing president for Tri-Star Pictures before becoming a writer of novels and screenplays. “Open And Shut” was his first novel; “First Degree,” his second novel, was named a best book of 2003 by Publishers Weekly. He currently lives in Southern California with his wife and 35 dogs.

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The Narrator:

Grover Gardner’s narration career spans twenty-five years and over 550 audiobook titles. AudioFile Magazine has called him one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and features him in their annual “Golden Voices” update. Publishers Weekly named him Audiobook Narrator of the Year for 2005. His recordings have garnered 18 “Golden Earphones” awards from AudioFile and an Audie Award from the Audio Publishers’ Association.
http://grovergardner.blogspot.com/

Happy Autumn Weekend to you from Rosepoint Publishing

Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe – #AudiobookReview #HumorousFiction&Satire

Best Books of the Year So Far 2024

Book Blurb:

Audiobook Narrated by Elle Fanning!

As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millet’s always known she’d have to make it on her own. So she enrolls at her local junior college, even though she can’t imagine how she’ll ever make a living. She’s still figuring things out and never planned to have an affair with her English professor—and while the affair is brief, it isn’t brief enough to keep her from getting pregnant. Despite everyone’s advice, she decides to keep the baby, mostly out of naiveté and a yearning for something bigger.

Now, at twenty, Margo is alone with an infant, unemployed, and on the verge of eviction. She needs a cash infusion—fast. When her estranged father, Jinx, shows up on her doorstep and asks to move in with her, she agrees in exchange for help with childcare. Then Margo begins to form a plan: she’ll start an OnlyFans as an experiment, and soon finds herself adapting some of Jinx’s advice from the world of wrestling. Like how to craft a compelling character and make your audience fall in love with you. Before she knows it, she’s turned it into a runaway success. Could this be the answer to all of Margo’s problems, or does internet fame come with too high a price?

Blisteringly funny and filled with sharp insight, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a tender tale starring an endearing young heroine who’s struggling to wrest money and power from a world that has little interest in giving it to her. It’s a playful and honest examination of the art of storytelling and controlling your own narrative, and an empowering portrait of coming into your own, both online and off.

My Review:

Okay…SORRY! I’m too old to know about OnlyFans…there IS such a thing? Not that I was ever in the loop, but at my age, I don’t even remember what the loop was. Obviously, it’s changed, and this narrative will pull the uninitiated oldsters into a whole new world of hip. (Or maybe hip is an old word too.)

I’m still debating about whether or not that’s a good thing.

I suppose I’m guilty of relating to the title and that cover? Oh yeah…that’s a gotcha.

I should have read the blurb, but even so having done that would not have prepared me for the smart and modern reality the reader is thrown into. (Sex and the City? Gasp.) But, as the blurb would tell it, when she keeps the baby from a brief affair with her English professor, her world will definitely do a 180. Not the baby fantasy she had in mind? Unemployment won’t stave off eviction? What to do if you need money…quick!

Jinx, her estranged father shows up needing a place to live. How timely. He’ll provide some childcare about the time she’s introduced to the idea of an OnlyFans website.

Innocent fun—you know? And as an ex pro-wrestler, Jinx has lots of advice on getting her site out there. He’s ready to help her promote.

Margo is no bimbo and she learns quickly. Her mother is totally disgusted with her but she has support from friends. After a learning curve, she’s astonished to discover it’s taking off and lucrative. Now she’s sparking off ideas, increasing her research, trying new staging techniques, getting braver in her presentations.

No, it’s not like I could identify with Margo, except for the money part, but the characters are all unique and very modern and forthright in blazingly raw and frank conversations.

There are several themes here, and pretty much all of them are taking me out of any comfort zone I have. While it’s a world alien to me, knowing it exists, and getting to know those who inhabit that world is a revelation.

The more determined Margo is to be successful, the deeper she sinks into moral undergrounds. Until, finally, she is questioning herself and looking for a reckoning. The author mixes in humor (laughter a great tension releaser), as she hones a perceptive and entertaining storyline that appears to go places I’d never have considered. It’s alternately heartwarming and shocking. And the baby in all of this? At times barely an afterthought.

The book is currently being adapted for television by A24 and AppleTV.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Humorous Fiction & Satire, Coming of Age Fiction, Humorous Fiction
Publisher: HarperAudio
ASIN: B0CJ5WLM5M
Listening Length: 10 hrs 21 mins
Narrator: Elle Fanning
Publication Date: June 11, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Margo’s Got Money Troubles – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Rufi Thorpe received her MFA from the University of Virginia in 2009. She is the author of four novels, The Girls from Corona Del Mar, Dear Fang, With Love, and her most recent, The Knockout Queen, which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner award. Her newest book, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, is due out June of 2024. She lives in California with her husband and two sons, and teaches at The Book Incubator.

Happy Thursday!

An Insignificant Case: A Thriller by Phillip Margolin #BookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

Book Blurb:

A new standalone legal thriller from the international bestselling author of GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.

Charlie Webb is a third rate lawyer who graduated from a third rate law-school and, because he couldn’t get hired by any of the major law firms, has opened his own law firm, where he gets by handling cases for dubious associates from his youth and some court appointed cases. Described as “a leaky boat floating down the stream of life,” Charlie has led unremarkable life, personally and professionally. Until he’s appointed to be the attorney for a decidedly crackpot artist who calls himself Guido Sabatini (born Lawrence Weiss). Sabatini has been arrested – again – for breaking into a restaurant and stealing back a painting he sold them because he was insulted by where it was displayed. But as Lawrence Weiss, he’s also an accomplished card shark and burglar and while he was there, he stole a thumb drive from the owner’s safe.

Not knowing what else Sabatani has stolen, Webb negotiates the return of the painting and “other items’ for the owner dropping charges against Sabatini. But the contents of the flash drive threatens very powerful figures who are determined to retrieve it, the restaurant owner (Gretchen Hall) and her driver (Yuri Makarov) are being investigated for the sex trafficking of minors, and there are others who have a violent grudge against Sabatini. When a minor theft case becomes a double homicide, and even more, Charlie Webb, an insignificant lawyer assigned to an insignificant case, is faced with the most important, and deadliest, case of his life. Going back to his long-time bestselling roots, Phillip Margolin returns with a brilliant standalone legal thriller in the tradition of John Grisham.

My Review:

I have read and enjoyed a number of Margolin’s books but usually in the Robin Lockwood series. This one, as a standalone, creates what could be the start of another great series.

The reader is introduced to Charlie Webb, definitely not caliber class attorney material who barely scraped by from a third-rate school to become a third-rate lawyer. No problem, he opens his own office and, again, barely scrapes by with what business he can glean, most often lately from a motorcycle gang often finding its members in a hassle with law enforcement.

Gees, I loved him already!

So when he gets a file for Guido Sabatini, local artist and nut case, he takes it on thinking it’s a simple B and E. Well, then, of course, there is the small matter of his also lifting something from the safe he got into while on a mission to steal back his painting that found him insulted by its placement. He felt it should have been hung where the public would have full view—not in someone’s back office. Oops.

It’s not the painting so much as the little device he stole and that sets up a whole different breed of case and one not in Charlie’s bailiwick. He is badly in over his head, knows it, tries to refuse the case. Guido insists it must be he. I guess you have to start somewhere, but Charlie has to find some help—quick.

As you might suspect, it’s a fast read, engaging with unusual characters, and entertaining. Yes, there are some twists and it’s possible that a reader who enjoys not only a legal thriller, but mysteries, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas would enjoy this one. If you like Grisham, you’d surely like this as well.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through @NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Legal Thrillers, Murder Thrillers, Murder
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ISBN-10: ‎1250885825
ISBN-13: ‎978-125088582
ASIN: B0CQHMJKWN
Print Length: 304 pages
Publication Date: November 5, 2024
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

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

The Author: PHILLIP MARGOLIN has written over twenty novels, most of them New York Times bestsellers, including Gone But Not Forgotten, Lost Lake, and Violent Crimes. In addition to being a novelist, he was a long time criminal defense attorney with decades of trial experience, including a large number of capital cases. Margolin lives in Portland, Oregon.

#TuesdayBookBlog

What Have You Done?: A Novel by Shari Lapena #AudiobookReview #psychologicalthriller

As any parent with a teenager knows, they can sometimes become people you realize you don’t even know. When did that happen?

Book Blurb:

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

Dark · Addictive · Twisty · Chilling · Domestic Suspense

Nothing ever happens in sleepy little Fairhill, Vermont. But this morning that will change. And one innocent question could be deadly. What have you done?

The teenagers get their kicks telling ghost stories in the old graveyard. The parents trust their kids will arrive home safe from school. Everyone knows everyone. Curtains rarely twitch. Front doors are left unlocked.

But Diana Brewer isn’t lying safely in her bed where she belongs. Instead she lies in a hayfield, circled by vultures, discovered by a local farmer.

How quickly a girl becomes a ghost. How quickly a town of friendly, familiar faces becomes a town of suspects, a place of fear and paranoia.

Someone in Fairhill did this. Everyone wants answers.

My Review:

The author uses the discovery of the horrific death of a young female teenager to set up a plot filled with multiple POVs, including the paranormal POV of the victim, to complete the picture of the small Vermont town shaken to its core. Diana Brewer was well known and loved by classmates and adults alike. She was sweet, generous, and kind. Who could do this to her?

The reader is introduced to her mother, her friends, and the teachers with whom she’s thought close. Additionally, Diana works at a Home Depot where she is creeped out by a customer paying unusual and unsolicited attention. As the narrative progresses, it becomes apparent there might be several persons of interest.

Riley and Evan were close and Riley appears most distraught, finally revealing a scene Evan was not aware of.

Gradually, the reader is additional info on a lecherous teacher and the itinerant worker who frequented her station at her job. Yes, it does ramp up the tension, creates further suspense, and awaits the next revelation. It is her boyfriend who appears most needy, clingy, controlling. But it’s also readily apparent he didn’t do it. The author manages to string out bits of his last night with her revealing just enough to keep you hanging in there with him. But if not him. Who?

I enjoyed the narrators doing a great job and the dialogue, even providing little gems of prose gleaned occasionally. I particularly liked the reference to some parents regarding their teenagers with “willful ignorance” and wondered if I was, occasionally, guilty of the same thing.

It is well-plotted, a bit slow paced, but overall entertaining and kept me listening, not just from morbid curiosity but also to confirm I was on the right track with guessing the culprit, and whoa! That shocker in the conclusion did, but once again got the same twist into psychotic as the last Lapena I listened to, Everyone Here is Lying.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Thrillers, Suspense
Publisher: Penguin Audio
ASIN: B0CNF9S93X
Listening Length: 8 hrs 49 mins
Narrators: January LaVoy, Jorjeana Marie, Barrett Leddy
Publication Date: July 30, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: What Have You Done? Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

Add to Goodreads

The Author: Shari Lapena is the internationally bestselling author of the thrillers The Couple Next Door, A Stranger in the House, An Unwanted Guest, Someone We Know, The End of Her, Not a Happy Family and Everyone Here is Lying which have all been Sunday Times and New York Times bestsellers. Her books have been sold in forty territories around the world. She lives in Toronto.

Have a good one

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty #AudiobookReview #FamilyLifeFiction

Amazon Charts #1 this week

Book Blurb:

Life is full of twists and turns you never see coming. But what if you did?

The plane is jam-packed. Every seat is taken. So of course the flight is delayed! Flight attendant Allegra Patel likes her job—she’s generally happy with her life, even if she can’t figure out why she hooks up with a man she barely speaks to—but today is her twenty-eighth birthday. She can think of plenty of things she’d rather be doing than placating a bunch of grumpy passengers.

There’s the well-dressed man in seat 4C who is compulsively checking his watch, desperate not to miss his eleven-year-old daughter’s musical. Further back, a mother of two is frantically trying to keep her toddler entertained and her infant son quiet. How did she ever think being a stay-at-home mom would be easier than being a lawyer? Ethan is lost in thought; he’s flying back from his first funeral. A young couple has just gotten married; she’s still wearing her wedding dress. An emergency room nurse is looking forward to traveling the world once she retires in a few years, it’s going to be so much fun! If they ever get off the tarmac. . . .

Suddenly a woman none of them know stands up. She makes predictions about how and when everyone on board will die. Some dismiss her. Others will do everything they can to make sure her prophecies do not come to pass. All of them will be forever changed.

How would you live your life if you thought you knew how it would end? Would you love who you love or try to love someone else? Would you stay married? Would you stop drinking? Would you call up your ex-best friend you haven’t spoken to in years? Would you quit your job?

Intricately plotted, with the wonderful wit Liane Moriarty has become famous for, Here One Moment brilliantly looks at friends, lovers, and family and how we manage to hold onto them in our harried modern lives.

My Review:

Cherry is a fascinating character, no denying that. She has a history that is woven in and out of the story as we begin to know those deeply affected by her predictions on the plane and how they confront the information.

The rich character development engrains an investment in them and morbid curiosity in how they will confront and possibly work the knowledge advantageously. Can you change fate? Or is this fate written in stone by an old woman who then has no memory of her delivery of the edicts?

It comes down to: How seriously would you, in that situation, take the prediction? What if other predictions began manifesting true?

Well, you can’t say it isn’t thought-provoking, a psychological challenge to delve into that reverberates after the novel is finished—quite handily—I might add. It’s an oddly satisfying conclusion, albeit leaving a few unanswered questions, challenges.

There is a complex storyline, lots of characters. Moments of humor, emotions first jerked one way and then the other. The narrators were super.

This is one I’d recommend purely for the unique premise in a psychological thriller, one that grips quickly and doesn’t sag midway through. It is well-plotted and paced throughout to denouement. I read this author the first time in 2021 with Apples Never Fall, slow burn and thoughtful. Thinking I’ll watch for this author again.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Family Life Fiction, Women’s Domestic Life Fiction
Publisher: Random House Audio
ASIN: B0CVSJJLW4
Listening Length: 15 hrs 53 mins
Narrator: Caroline Lee, Geraldine Hakewill
Publication Date: September 10, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Here One Moment – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of nine internationally best-selling novels: Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary, What Alice Forgot, The Hypnotist’s Love Story, Nine Perfect Strangers and the number one New York Times bestsellers: The Husband’s Secret, Big Little Lies, Truly Madly Guilty and Apples Never Fall. Her books have been translated into over forty languages and sold more than 20 million copies.

Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers and Apples Never Fall were adapted into popular television series with the star-studded casts including Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Melissa McCarthy and Annette Bening.

Her new novel, Here One Moment will be released in 2024.

Liane lives in Sydney, Australia, together with her husband, son and daughter.

Happy Autumn Sunday!

The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough #AudiobookReview #throwbackthursday

in Groundwater & Flood Control

Tycoons of the time, among them, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon, rebuilt an old earthen dam in the mountains above Johnstown and created what they called the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. It would lead to a disaster of massive proportions and the death of over 2,000 persons.

Book Blurb:

The stunning story of one of America’s great disasters, a preventable tragedy of Gilded Age America, brilliantly told by master historian David McCullough.

At the end of the last century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hardworking families striving for a piece of the nation’s burgeoning industrial prosperity. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity, among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon. Despite repeated warnings of possible danger, nothing was done about the dam. Then came May 31, 1889, when the dam burst, sending a wall of water thundering down the mountain, smashing through Johnstown, and killing more than 2,000 people. It was a tragedy that became a national scandal.

Graced by David McCullough’s remarkable gift for writing richly textured, sympathetic social history, The Johnstown Flood is an absorbing portrait of life in 19th-century America, of overweening confidence, of energy, and of tragedy. This is a powerful historical lesson for our century and all times: the danger of assuming that because people are in positions of responsibility they are behaving responsibly.

My Review:

It’s not as if the dam hadn’t been inspected. It’s not as if those who should have acted didn’t have the warning. Was it complacency then? How many people had heard that warning before? Nothing happened that time. Why would it this time?

But it did.

And when it did, a wall of water gathered trees, buildings, people, and everything else in its path in a rush down the valley towards Johnstown where witnesses estimated the brown wall of debris and death at approximately 35 to 40 feet in height.

The chronicle the author writes of this man-made and natural disaster is gripping, terrifying, and infuriating when you think it could have been prevented. Who, in the end, was to blame? The survivors worked it out but even then it lingered in the courts until nothing and no one felt the anvil.

The author describes the iconic valley with both the Conemaugh and Stony Creek Rivers providing the life-giving watershed from the mountains and allowing the burgeoning iron commerce to thrive. He brings the Gilded Age time and the people’s lives to life and plants investment in them—knowing what is to come. Where will they be?

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The details of the failure of the dam and the research of the people are extensive and fill the book with the incredible statistics of the flood. It’s fascinating and devastating at the same time. There are a few periods of info dump that slow the narrative just slightly changing the narrative from a storyteller to a text reader. These are then interwoven with the situation or coming events which explains the how and why.

I’ve read this author before. He never fails to deliver a mind-blowing account of a historic event or person and his books are heartily recommended. I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Groundwater & Flood Control, Disaster Relief Studies, Disaster Relief
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
ASIN: B0009YT418
Listening Length: 9 hrs 3 mins
Narrator: Edward Herrmann
Publication Date: June 17, 2005
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Johnstown Flood [Amazon]
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The Author: David McCullough has twice received the Pulitzer Prize, for Truman and John Adams, and twice received the National Book Award, for The Path Between the Seas and Mornings on Horseback; His other widely praised books are 1776, Brave Companions, The Great Bridge, and The Johnstown Flood. He has been honored with the National Book Foundation Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award, the National Humanities Medal, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.