#The6:20Man – Rosepoint Publishing

The rabbits and deer have won the fairy garden. It’s official. I’ve given up on live plants and planted plastic instead. Animals 1 – farmer 0. It’s a tie on the veggie bed with chicken wire and mesh around my tender plants. They did manage to penetrate to a vigorous bean plant and that plant won’t be going anywhere now. Love the animals, but…

Punkin the Pom is carefully beginning to enjoy her walks.* The CE, having a closer bond, is trusting her more and she’s taking advantage. Otherwise, still accepting few treats, no toys, no offers of companionship, and housetraining is a throw of the dice.

June was a struggle, once again, with the CE’s attention divided and my spending more time in the kitchen. It didn’t help that I decided my next personal challenge was to make a sourdough starter and produce a loaf of sourdough bread. I’m currently on the third try which is not looking good right now at Day 4 of a 6-7 day cycle of starter. Of course, it’s also that time of the year when the gardens and outdoor activities take precedence.

I’m thinking, if not a sabbatical, then a greatly reduced schedule through July and probably August. Most of my reading now includes audiobooks as time for reading has been greatly reduced. Of the twelve books, half were audiobooks!

As always, links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase or source information.

The Curse of King Midas by Colleen M Story (CE review)
Lockdown by Sara Driscoll
The Cyanide Canary by Robert Dugoni and Joseph Hilldorfer (audiobook)
The Wild Road Home by Melissa Payne
If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay (audiobook)
The 6:20 Man by David Baldacci (audiobook)
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears (audiobook)
Best House on the Block by T R Ragan
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio (audiobook)
Prevailing Wind by Thomas Dolby (CE review)
Breach by Holly S Roberts (blog tour)
Beach Town by Mary Kay Andrews (audiobook)

Favorite Book of the Month

I really loved The Wild Road Home—it was addictive, kept me reading, and I was thoroughly invested in the well-developed characters. It fell just one-half star short of five, however, and the CE easily gave his book, Prevailing Wind, five stars even with a rather slow start. It’s a toss up, but I’ll have to give the nod to his book.

Favorite for June – Prevailing Wind by Thomas Dolby

My Reading Challenges page…Reading Challenges page—well, you know the score. Life is scattered and chaotic right now. The Goodreads Challenge is now six books behind schedule at 68 of 150. I make no promises.

Welcome as always to my new subscribers! My blog hopping time has seriously suffered having apparently landed somewhere underneath getting a review out. I apologize for the slow response to your great posts, but I’m trying. Honest.

Loggin' off

*Apologize for the poor GIF, apparently I’m not allowed to upload an MP4 even when I get it down to 11 MGs.

#1 Best Seller in Crime Action Fiction

Book Blurb:

A cryptic murder pulls a former soldier turned financial analyst deep into the corruption and menace that prowl beneath the opulent world of finance, in #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci’s new thriller.

Every day without fail, Travis Devine puts on a cheap suit, grabs his faux-leather briefcase, and boards the 6:20 commuter train to Manhattan, where he works as an entry-level analyst at the city’s most prestigious investment firm. In the mornings, he gazes out the train window at the lavish homes of the uberwealthy, dreaming about joining their ranks. In the evenings, he listens to the fiscal news on his phone, already preparing for the next grueling day in the cutthroat realm of finance. Then one morning Devine’s tedious routine is shattered by an anonymous email: She is dead.

Sara Ewes, Devine’s coworker and former girlfriend, has been found hanging in a storage room of his office building—presumably a suicide, at least for now—prompting the NYPD to come calling on him. If that wasn’t enough, before the day is out, Devine receives another ominous visit, a confrontation that threatens to dredge up grim secrets from his past in the army unless he participates in a clandestine investigation into his firm. This treacherous role will take him from the impossibly glittering lives he once saw only through a train window, to the darkest corners of the country’s economic halls of power . . . where something rotten lurks. And apart from this high-stakes conspiracy, there’s a killer out there with their own agenda, and Devine is the bull’s-eye.

My Review:

Thoroughly bored and exhausted with his monotonous commute to the entry-level job as a financial analyst in an investment firm, the decorated ex-Army Ranger finds the life difficult after his military career came to an abrupt, somewhat ignominious end.

There is something he routinely checks out, however, the vision of a sweet young thing scantily clad or less lounging or swimming by the pool of an exclusive residential apartment. He’s not the only man on the train who awaits the scene with drooling interest every morning.

Then he is told a former girlfriend was found hanging in his office building and, yes, the authorities come looking for him. In a squeeze play with the feds, he is compelled to investigate her death but as his investigation progresses discovers there are matters that run much deeper than previously thought.

I rather enjoyed Travis Devine; down to earth, smart, and trying to squirm out of the fix he’s in while using those sources he’s cultivated from his past. Another interesting character is a Russian hacker who is Travis’ go-to source for all things black hat as well as one of his housemates.

These action thriller plots are never simple and the more complex, the convoluted—with twists and turns. Once again, we’ll expect to suspend some disbelief, but, hey, the characters are fun even if the storyline tends to meander. Not always fast-paced but entertaining and for the most part engaging, but for me—just a little long in the tooth.

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: Crime Action Fiction, Action Thriller & Suspense Fiction, Mystery Action & Adventure
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ASIN: B09VR4LQNY
Listening Length: 11 hrs 48 mins.
Narrators: Zachary Webber, Christine Lakin, Mela Lee
Publication Date: July 12, 2022
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The 6:20 Man [Amazon]

The Author: David Baldacci has been writing since childhood, when his mother gave him a lined notebook in which to write down his stories. (Much later, when David thanked her for being the spark that ignited his writing career, she revealed that she’d given him the notebook to keep him quiet, “because every mom needs a break now and then.”)

David published his first novel, ABSOLUTE POWER, in 1996. The feature film adaptation followed, with Clint Eastwood as its director and star. In total, David has published 48 novels for adults; all have been national and international bestsellers and several have been adapted for film and television. His novels have been translated into over 45 languages and sold in more than 80 countries, with 150 million copies sold worldwide. David has also published seven novels for younger readers.

David is also the cofounder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy programs across the United States.

#throwbackthursday