All the Old Knives by Olen Steinhauer

by Carol1 Comment
I listened to the audio version of All the Old Knives, which I think may have been a mistake. The plot is interesting: former lovers, Celia a former spy, Henry still in the game, meet for dinner. Henry's goal is to put to rest once and for all a case from years ago that involved a plane hijacking, or at least that's what he tells us his goal is- he doesn't tell Celia that when she agrees to meet him. Of course, she has her own reasons for coming to the restaurant. The story takes place during this one meal, but we go back and forth in time to the hijacking. the book alternates between Henry and Celia's viewpoints, with a different narrator for each. Most of the time, switches in viewpoint and time period don't bother me, but I think the two narrators made this one tough. Celia's "voice" threw me out of the story every time. She just didn't sound like...
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Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

by Carol12 Comments
Gone Girl was all the rage a couple of years ago, but I didn't get around to listening to it until now. I shouldn't have put it off. It was unique, well-done, definitely attention-grabbing, maybe not quite unputdownable, but close. Nick and Amy are not nice people. Neither is really the good guy, although you do sympathize with Nick. The audio had two narrators, one for Nick and one for Amy, which I thought was a great choice. It always takes me a while to get used to anything different than one narrator of the same gender as the main character, but this format worked so well with the story it was the perfect choice. Both narrators did a great job capturing the points of view, the dark humor, the nuances in the phrasing. I think that listening to it probably made it even better than reading it in print would have. I can't say much about the plot without ruining it,...
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Natchez Burning by Greg Iles

by Carol3 Comments
I really expected to like Natchez Burning. I've read Iles' books before and found the gripping and thought-provoking. This one just didn't work for me. The plot itself is good, I liked, or hated, the characters, and the setting was well-done. I enjoyed seeing the story from different characters points of view and it was easy to follow whose side of the story we were hearing. I did listen to the whole 35+ hours, but in the end I wished I hadn't bothered. First, there is a lot of repetition. Cut some of it out and it would be a tighter, more enjoyable book. I hate it when authors seem to think I'm going to forget things two chapters after they told me the first time. Second, it was overwrought. I don't know whether to blame the writing or the reader, but it was all overdone, just too much. Maybe the goal was to maintain tension and be descriptive, but it came...
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Spotlight: Rise of the Iron Eagle by Roy A. Teel, Jr.

by Carol1 Comment
Excerpt from the opening of Chapter 8: John walked into Starbucks at the corner of Topanga and Lassen just before six thirty a.m. He got a coffee and a copy of the Daily News, and the headline said it all, “‘Billy the Kid,’ Crips Gang Member and Serial Rapist, Body Found in Legion Park: Iron Eagle Said to Be Killer.” He shook his head, “I should really start looking for the people who leak this stuff.” He walked to a flower shop a few doors down to purchase a dozen long-stemmed red roses. His truck was parked in front of Country Deli, a local landmark for nearly fifty years. He knew the area very, very well, but he knew it for all the wrong reasons. He pulled out of the lot and headed west through the neighborhoods of oak and eucalyptus trees, following Lassen as it turned from a busy thoroughfare into a quiet neighborhood of post-World War II homes and...
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The Dead Key by D. M. Pulley

by Carol1 Comment
I liked the sound of this one and it's set in Cleveland, which is kinda cool. I just couldn't get into and finally set it aside. I doubt I'll pick it up again. I just didn't care about any of the characters, in '98 or the '70s. Maybe it was the back and forth between times periods and points of view that kept me disconnected or maybe I just picked it up at the wrong time. Maybe I just couldn't relate to either of the main female characters. They just seemed so young, especially Iris, who should have been an adult with a career but was more intent on drinking than working at least in the section I read. The writing wasn't bad, and the characters could have been interesting, but for me it was blah. I had to give up and move on to something I'd enjoy more. I think this is my first DNF of the year....
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The Genesis of Roger Legion: Guest post by Vince Aiello, author of Legion’s Lawyers

by CarolNo Comments
Today I'm happy to welcome Vince Aiello, author of Legion's Lawyers, to my notebook today. He's discussing on of his main characters. The Genesis of Roger Legion By Vince Aiello When I first set out to create a character that would be the leader of a pre-eminent insurance defense law firm, I looked to my experience. There were great lawyers, there were fools, and there were incompetent lawyers that do a disservice to the profession. One thing that all the great lawyers possessed was that they were sociopaths. In the courtroom, they had flair and panache, but when they dealt with others, they were simply terrible people. They would yell and scream, make misogynistic jokes, and let you know that your life doesn’t matter. What matters is billing the client and winning; either in the courtroom or through settlement. What I wanted next was a man with a warrior mentality. Someone who had no problem with throwing a punch, no fear, and would be...
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