Lena Scott's half-sister, former reality tv star Desiree Pierce, is dead. At first glance, it looks like an accidental overdose, but Lena is not convinced. You have to root for Lena. The book is told from her first-person point of view and she's smart, tenacious, funny, and sassy. The other characters are well-done too, from Desiree's best friend to Mel, the hip-hop producer father. And they each of secrets they're not telling Lena. There's a lot about Desiree's life that Lena doesn't understand and she doesn't know who she can trust.
It's a very contemporary mystery. A lot of the clues are on Desiree's phone, contacts, messages, photos, her Instagram account. It had twists and turns and I was nowhere close to guessing the killer. It all made sense in the end though. The story kept me riveted to the page. I was invited into a world that I don't usually visit even in books, with rappers and "influencers" and...
Bluebird, Bluebird is not an easy read. It's packed with emotions, thick racial tensions, and family dramas. In Lark, Texas, the racial divisions go back decades, but so do the relationships and the secrets. There have been two recent murders: a black lawyer from Chicago who was found floating in a bayou after being beaten to death, and days later, a twenty-year-old married white woman who worked as a waitress at a roadhouse.
Enter Darren Matthews, a black Texas Ranger, whose life is a bit of a mess. His suspension from the Rangers has been lifted, but only temporarily, pending a grand jury investigation for an unrelated, but not unconnected, event. His marriage is on the rocks and he's drinking too much. And of course, there's the independent streaks that so many fictional detectives have. The sheriff is not happy to have him around, does not want the Rangers or the Feds in his county.
The characters on both sides of...
Codename Villanelle stars two women, a top-level assassin and the former MI6 operative whose job it is to find and eliminate her. Both women are strong and well-drawn. Villanelle is a psychopath, but one who knows she's different and uses the knowledge as a strength. Eve is a tough, but has more connections. she has a husband and subordinates; her choices effect not only her life, but theirs too.
This is an action story, full of violence and sex, but happily it never quite tips over into graphic or gratuitous. It's a quick read and I enjoyed it, right up until the end. I guess this a collection of 4 novellas. It felt seamless to me, but then it ended with more or less "to be continued," which always just annoys me. If your series is good enough, I will continue to read it without a middle school book trick. Give me a semi-conclusion and leave it there. I'll know the...
The novel revolves around a group of friends in a small, rural town. The town is known for its fresh and clean air, which results in a company which makes precision instruments moving there. The workforce is not thrilled with the move, most come from Tokyo and don't fit in well with the locals. One of the newcomers' children, Emily, makes friends with a group of local girls – Sae, Maki, Akiko and Yuko. As the blurb states, one holiday the five schoolgirls, who were 10 at the time, are playing when they are approached by a man who chooses Emily to help him with a task. An hour or more later, Emily is found violated and murdered.
At the time of this book, there was a statute of limitations during which criminals could be charged and so there is fifteen years to find the murderer. When the girls are thirteen, Emily’s mother invites them to her house and informs them that...
Isaiah Quintabe - IQ - is Sherlock, if Sherlock was a young black man (at least I think he's black) in modern-day LA who actually cares about the people in his community. He's brilliant, uncorruptible, and determined. He understands people and their feelings and motives. He does his research and plans ahead as well as he can. He finds people and things, deals with cases the police can't or won't. Problem is, he will only take what people can afford in payment, so sometimes it's money, but more often it's muffins or a chicken. Isaiah's side-kick, Dodson, is an interesting guy. He's cocky and more likely to play the angles than Isaiah. Not exactly a Watson, but help nonetheless.He's take the case of a rapper in order to make some money. I though the mystery was well-done. There were several suspects and the hit man was a nasty piece of work. I didn't guess who the would-be killer was, but the...
