Junk Food Books

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

The obvious rejoinder being that "she has good taste in books".

Yes, I have a firm grasp of the obvious...

[The Queen]

And given the topic, the obvious response to that rejoinder is that no, she eats too much junk food as it is.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

More tangled webs in New Jersey and conspiracy theory. A young girls goes missing. A social worker gets accused of sexual misconduct with minors. 4 college friends all find themselves out of work. It's all very plotty without a lot of characterization, but that's okay if that's what you expect. And Win from the Myron Bolitar series of Coben novels makes an appearance.

If you just want to read without a lot of work, so a cruise through the Caribbean, you could do worse than this book. Now, it's back to either Photoshop: Classroom in a book or The Web has no Weaver.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Joe Pike is back because Robert Crais is tired of Elvis Cole. Joe Pike interrupts a robbery in his usual cool fashion and gets himself involved in a kidnapping and gang warfare. It's the usual. It's Cole without the humor. But if you miss Elvis Cole, he does show up, just not that much. I think Crais is still trying to figure out the character of Pike which is why he keeps writing novels about him.

All told this was a good evenings worth of reading. Much better than television.

[The Queen]

Been enjoying a very steady diet of junk food books lately. I suppose it's because I'm eating so healthy; I'm getting my junk food elsewhere.

Patricia Briggs - River Marked. Worst one of the Mercy Thompson series thus far; I think this the "jump the shark" book in this series. Mercy (who shifts into coyote form at will) and Adam (a werewolf) get married and explore her native American heritage and kill a Chinese dragon-like river devil with a stone knife and a fae walking stick, all the time proving that they love each other. Gag/snore.

J. D. Robb (a.k.a. Nora Roberts) - Treachery in Death. Same-old, same-old in the In Death series. Exact same characters, developing and maturing ever-so-slightly. Mildly entertaining in the same way that all the others in this series are -- no surprises. But there's something to be said for consistency in junk food - when I'm eating an Entenmann's chocolate covered doughnut, I expect an Entenmann's chocolate covered donut - I don't want Entenmann's to mess around with it.

The library promises that Pale Demon - the next Kim Harrison - is on the way and should be available to me next Tuesday.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Vampire Earth series by EE Knight. Post-apocalypse/military stuff. Read 'em in order. Enjoy.

[The Queen]

Latest in the Rachel Morgan series. I like the way she never manages to have a happy ending and yet the endings are satisfying in a strange way. You close the book and say, "Of course no one is happy, why would they be?" But it's not depressing, somehow. So thumbs up, I guess.

Next up on my list - Sarah Vowell and "Unfamiliar Fishes." Just have to drag my lazy butt to the library.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Charles Stross' Merchant Princes series (6 books). Sort of "Amber" meets "The Economist" but with a mostly female perspective.

Or: Cross-dimensional travel, alternate history, macro-economics.

Or: Viking Drug Smugglers vs. The Bush Administration

Doesn't really start hitting on all cylinders until book 5. Could use more ass-kicking. I say read 'em if you can get 'em from the library or buy them used (like I did!).

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I read the first one and said No. I don't know if I want to wade through three more books just to get to the good one. I do like his blog, though. Very angry and intelligent.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Simon Morden, starting with Theories of Flight. If you like an anti-hero (and who doesn't?) and you like cyberpunk, pick 'em up used or from that free book-borrowing place that some neighborhoods have (socialism!). Entertaining and he improves with each book.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

A standalone. No Elvis Cole. No Joe Pike. Still the Los Angeles Police department. Maggie was a bomb detecting dog in Afghanistan who loses her Alpha to a suicide bomber and gets shot in the process. She is shipped back to the US to become a LA police dog. Her partner Scott is equally damaged. He gets shot up and his partner killed in a shoot out downtown. The case is still open nine months later with no leads. It is up to Scott and Maggie to solve the case.

This book was the sherbert that cleansed my pallet after 'Wide Open' A quick fun read. Following the current trend of books that have chapters devoted to the dogs point of view, Crais delves into the psyche of Maggie and what she is thinking. If I hadn't read the books by Hearnes and Spenser Quin, it probably would have been a lot more novel.

Now off to read about a monk and a monkey.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

SM Stirling's "Emberverse" series. He is starting to milk it a bit, but still a rollicking time in post-apocalypse America. The Gods are walking amongst men once more, and they apparently don't cotton to firearms. It's swords now, men!

[Greg]

The Promise by Robert Crais

Same old, same old. Elvis and Pike and have to find Amy before she can do something terrible. Scott and his Dog from another series join in the fun as they bump into Elvis during a threat at house full of explosives. Pike gets to be monosyllabic. Scott's dog gets his own chapters to voice his thoughts. And Elvis gets to be kind of funny. It seems he used to be a lot funnier.

Reading this book was a fine way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday. I also downloaded this as an ebook for the first time from the library and read it on my tablet.

[Greg]

Win By Harlan Coben

The Mysterious best friend of Myron Bolitar, Windsor Home Lockwood III gets his own story. It's a muder mystery into Win's past. There's a dead man with ties to a 60's era terrorist movement and there is also a multimillion dollar painting. There are all sorts of factions trying to determine where the rest of the terrorist group is and there is a mystery involving Win's cousin and it all ties together neatly in the end. I guess this is what they mean when the book is plotted tightly.

It was a really fast read. Action on every page. Lots of detail about Win's motivations and why he does certain things. Lots of great descriptions about his ultra-rich lifestyle.

I'm sure in a week I will have forgotten the plot to this book entirely.