Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

Night shift reading at its best.

The Grey and Guilty Sea: Scott William Carter
The best of the Amazon cheapos I got on their last deal, Gage Garrison, a crioppled and retired PI finds himself coming back to life and out of retirement when he finds a dead woman washed up on the beach. (B+)

The Sentinel: Lee Child
First book with Lee’s brother writing, and, I presume, help from Lee to keep it real. Reacher comes to a town under ransomware attack, but suspects something deeper so stays to investigate in his own unique way. Once again, the puzzle is an onion that must be peeled, and requires some violence. This seemed a bit less clever to me than some of the past efforts. (B)

Charletons: Robin Cook
Some deaths in a hospital, some frayed relationships, hospital politics. But then, when some assassins get involved, maybe things are a bit more sinister. I had the feeling that the author shifted gears several times during the narrative. There were sets of clues foreshadowing that ultimately went nowhere.(B)

Shameless: Ace Atkins
A Colson Quinn novel. This has turned into quite the repertory show, with good guys we know are good, villains, thieves and scoundrels, and a number of characters that lie somewhere between. I have grown to like the interplay between the factions, and the occasional head that rolls when they are in conflict. (B)

The Cipher:Isabella Moldonado
An Amazon First Read. FBI agent with damaged past is drawn in to the investigation of the sadist that had tormented her as a teenager with a partner involved in that past. (B)

Interference: Brad Parks
Just as I was reading some journals on quantum interference, what falls into my hands, but a mystery involving a scientist who makes a breakthrough in quantum physics, and then is kidnapped. It made me think a few times about was real and what was fiction in my reading. (B)

Lone Wolf: Linwood Barclay
A Zack Walker mystery. I guess this is a close to farce as Barclay gets, Zack, an inept reporter goes to the country to help his injured father and finds all kinds of adventure. (B)

Perfectly Impossible: Elizabeth Topp
Not my usual, but free from Amazon, the travails of a lady Friday to New York’s rich. (B)

01:00 Hustle: JoAnn Pence
If Amazon is teaching me anything,m it is that a $1.99 book deal might just be worth what I paid. Not that this was awful, just that I did not expect a murder-romance. (B)

The Second Hostage:Jeffery Deaver
Novella. Colter Shaw discovers some slight of hand in a hostage situation. (B)

The Night Bird: Brian Freeman
A Frost Easton novel, Frost being a homicide inspector in San Francisco, renting a fancy house from his cat. His novels are of the school of extremely intelligent villains, in this case, one who programs the minds of those he wishes to destroy. (B)

The Voice Inside: Brain Freeman
Freeman loves his brilliant, but flawed serial killers. In this case, Frost works the case of the killer who murdered his sister. (B)

Jackpot: James Swain
Tony Valentine, and figuring out how scammers are hitting the casinos. (B)

Wild Card: James Swain
Tony Valentine prequel, as a cop in Atlantic CIty learning the ropes. (B)

The Program” James Swain
Part of a series, but the series character does not appear until maybe the last 30 pages. FBI vs Serial killers. (B)

Dying to get PUblished: Judy Fitzwater
Another chickish book, but I paid for it, I’m gonna read it. Aspiring writer is accused of murder (writers like to write about writers, mystery writers like to write about falsely accused writers) and must find the real killer to clear her name. A bit of a farce. (B)

Sad Animal Facts” Brooke Barker
Humor, fact (B)

I'm impressed, you added a lot of longer more serious thrillers along with the cheapo kindles

Nice night shift list Barry. I wondered about the continuity of the co-written handoff of Reacher. I'll get to it sooner or later. I've been meaning to read a Colson Quinn book, your descriptions of the interplay between factions, sounds like something I would like.

Agreed, you do sometimes get what you pay for with some freebies. I need to free up my Kindle reading to squeeze in a few of said freebies, but recently have been lining up too many library books. Looks like we chose the same Amazon first read book last month. I hope to get to The Cipher soon too.

Nice list!

Barry I'm always amazed at how you stick to reading a book even though it might not be something you're drawn to. I'm almost the opposite--I don't read anything I don't have a high expectation of liking. I'm not always satisfied with the result, but it's what I do.

I figure it broadens my worldview.