Pop Goes The Weasel

Pop Goes The Weasel
M.J. Arlidge













This book has your eyes popping from the very first pages! Really enjoyed this thriller!

Helen Grace is a detective with baggage. She has a dark side and some secrets. Now she has some grisly killings to figure out. Men are turning up murdered and gruesomely mutilated after meeting with a prostitute on a viscous killing streak. Tensions are running high in the quest to catch this killer before more men turn up dead.

Her relationship with her superior Cheri Harwood and her fellow detective Charlie Brooks is strained to say the least. Harwood is looking to add a star to her name with the solving of this case and she allows scrubby reporter Emilia Garanita access to the case that sets Helen off. Charlie's return after a long absence due to injuries brought about in the previous book has both she and Helen walking a tight rope.

The twists and turns lend a great suspenseful tempo to the book. I enjoyed the writing and the mystery was aces. Great read, I highly recommend!

3 1/2 Cannolis

The Murderer's Daughter

The Murderer's Daughter
by Jonathan Kellerman
netgalley review














Grace pulled me into her gripping story from the very start!

Grace Blades has been dealt a very raw deal from the beginning of her life. Born to the ultimate in stereotypical parents, trailer trash addicts, she has no real joy to speak of. Her time is passed trying to absorb as much knowledge as possible. You see, Grace is not just a little smart, this girl is HIGHLY intelligent. Sadly at the tender age of five she witnesses her mother kill her father then herself and becomes part of the system.

She manages to land in a foster home of a well off widower whose brother in law is a psychologist. He feeds Grace's hunger for knowledge and she continues to grow intelligence wise in leaps and bounds. When a tragedy takes place in the home after three odd children come into it, she is adopted by him and his wife.

Grace is nurtured and goes to all the best schools and colleges. She becomes a very successful psychologist herself. There's one thing, Grace has a penchant for sex with strangers and the adrenaline rush she gets from it. What ensues brings her past speeding to the present and puts her in grave danger.

I highly recommend this book. It's the first time I have read Kellerman and I absolutely enjoyed his writing style and the story itself!

4 cannolis

Name Of The Devil

Name Of The Devil
Andrew Mayne
Edelweiss review













This book had me sitting up straight within the first two pages! That is one awesome way to start a book!

Jessica Blackwood must find a killer who has left a trail of bodies from West Virginia clear across to Mexico. A church along with several of it's parishioners has exploded into nothingness, the town's sheriff acting as if possessed by some evil force seems to be the culprit. She has to employ some of her magician background to get to the bottom of this carnage that has ties all the way to the Vatican.

Along the way she has some unwanted (maybe) help from her obsessive stalker former boyfriend Damien who seemingly is in the right place at the right time to quietly and unseen save her hide.

A fast paced thriller with some really great characters. I like Jessica, she's a strong smart protagonist. I like how Mayne writes, my only complaint was the fizzle of bickering between Jessica and Vonda Mitchum, the lead investigator on the case. I'd have like to see that come to a conclusion. Not a bad thriller and if you didn't read the first in the series, it doesn't hurt in any way.

3 1/2 cannolis

Route 66 To The Milky Way

Route 66 To The Milky Way
by Janet Rendall
book received in exchange for fair review











What a good read this was. Science fiction isn't my usual genre and I found this interesting and a breeze to read. What a pleasant surprise.

Frank Ryder is an FBI agent who is on the case of alien tracking. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, two people's bodies have gone missing, a nurse named Polly Johnson, and an older gentleman with a fatal brain injury. The plant like aliens, May and Homer crashed during the bombing and have a small window of time to inhabit a body after it dies, before they die themselves. The only clue May has to return home is is the number 66.

The couple spend years on the mother road learning as much as they can about humans, trying to assimilate all the while desperate to go home. May reads Alice In Wonderland and takes literally the idea of falling down the rabbit hole to another dimension and thinks eating her way through will get them there. Homer on the other hand buys a Oldsmobile Rocket 88 to get them back.

As they continue on this journey Homer is becoming sicker and sicker. Frank is hot on their trail and after the Roswell disaster, he is not going to let them get away. Frank finds himself attracted to May/Polly and is having a tough time keeping the two separated. The story is circulated by the FBI that she's a Russian spy and the brand new CIA is buying it so she is in danger. The question is can Frank save her before either agency gets their hands on her?

I really enjoyed this story. What a nice writing style Janet has. Smooth and easy, you just turn the pages effortlessly. A wonderful surprise was finding my hometown of Redlands featured in it! If you find Route 66 intriguing, well this is just a great plus. Pick this book up and get ready for a ride!

4 cannolis

Broken Promise

Broken Promise
Linwood Barclay
Netgally review














This is a pretty good thriller. Fast paced, nice balance of likable to hated characters. Starts one two three and gets you.

David Harwood is a widower with a young son. He works at the Boston Globe, but finds his time is not being spent with his son so he decides to pack it in and go back home. Literally home, to his mother and father's house. He takes a job with the local paper only to have it fold the exact day he starts.Talk about bad luck.

His mother asks him to bring his cousin Marla some food she prepared. He gets quite the surprise when he finds his cousin caring for a baby that isn't hers. What a can of worms he just stumbled upon. Marla tells him an angel has given him to her, and when he calls his mother he finds out this isn't the first time she's gotten hold of a baby.

Other things are happening around town too. Squirrels are being strung up and hung on a fence, the college campus is trying to deal with a so far unsuccessful rapist, and the local amusement park has a cryptic message left on its ferris wheel.

The baby's mother has been brutally murdered and David is going to use his skills as a reporter to try and get to the bottom of it. Will it lead back to his cousin? Has something more sinister gone down here? Only time will tell if any of the strange goings on are connected and if David will survive it himself.

The only complaint I have was how many stories were going on. I don't want to give too much away, but we are obviously going to get another book. Still worth the read, I like Mr. Barclay's writing style.

3 1/2 cannolis

Crazy Mountain Kiss

Crazy Mountain Kiss
Keith McCafferty
received by publisher in exchange for fair review













This is a great read for those who love thrillers. I've not read this series before, and you don't need to for following. I find that a great plus when a series can function as stand alones as well.

When a cabin renter climbs to the roof to unclog a chimney, he finds a Santa's hat blocking it, thinking just removing it and some sticks stuffed in by a crow will solve the blockage issue. Never did he expect to find the body of missing teen rodeo star Cinderella Huntington's eyeless face staring up at him.

Sheriff Martha Ettinger and her crew arrive to remove the body and start an investigation into what happened to this much loved local celebrity. P.I. Sean Stranahan is hired by Cindy's mother Etta, who is quite the celebrity herself. Her husband and Cindy's step father, Jasper Fey is the epitome of cowboy, serving as a consultant to movies is hotheaded and a tough cookie. Cindy went missing along with sometime ranch hand and teen friend Landon Anker. Is he a suspect or victim of foul play? What starts to be uncovered is quite the crazy web of coincidence and town connections.

Was Cindy murdered? Was this just a horrid accident? Martha and Sean plow through leads that take them on an expedition of quirky characters. Not always a gasp filled adventure, there were times that I held my breath. My only gag issue was with Martha and the ME. Since she seems to enjoy romantic endeavors with co-workers, the ME seemed to think she might be up to a romp. That's all I'll say about it other than not necessary. The lead characters don't stir downright love, but it isn't a deterrent. I like Mr. McCafferty's writing style and recommend this book.

3 1/2 cannolis

Somebody I Used To Know

Somebody I used To Know
by, David Bell
received by publisher in exchange for review















This was a decent thriller for me. Right out of the gate it grabs you, which is a major plus. I love when the game is on right from the get go!

Nick Hansen lives a quiet life. He's a social worker, a rescuer of an aged dog, divorced, and trying to be a good step-dad to his ex's son Andrew. While at the grocery store,  he's knocked for a major loop when he sees a young girl who is the spitting image of his college girlfriend who died in a campus fire that claimed her and three other young lives.

When he attempts to speak to her and ask if she is related to the family in any way, she bolts like he's some crazed killer. Well, the next morning the police show up at his door thinking he may just be that! It seems this young girl was murdered in her motel room and of all the wacky coincidences, his name and number was in her possession.

What ensues is a  major hunt by Nick with the help of his friend Laurel. He starts digging into the past, what took place the night of that horrid fire and the days before it. Sometimes the truth is more bizarre then lies and for Nick, it might have been better to just leave well enough alone.

I enjoyed reading this book. It got a little slow at times, but not enough for me to give up on it. The ties throughout and the mystery right through to the end make for great thriller ingredients. Easy reading thanks to smooth writing, great character description, always a plus for me.

3 1/2 cannolis