Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

Compulsory by Martha Wells. Did I spent 99 cents on an eight page Murderbot story? Yes, I did. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. Would I read Wells' grocery list if she wrote "Murderbot Diaries" on the top? Yes, yes I would. 🤣
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, read by Ray Porter. Even though I had a physical copy, the audiobook version was constantly recommended, so I went that route and I'm glad I did. Porter narration really enhanced the experience.
The main character, Ryland Grace, wakes up on a spaceship with no memories. As the story progresses, those memories come back and we learn why he's there and the circumstances that lead to it. Not a spoiler, but basically it's discovered that this microbial lifeform is feeding on the Sun's energy and causing it to become dimmer, to the point that the Earth is in danger of another ice age and a mass extinction event.
Any further details risks spoiling the experience, but I highly recommend this one.

Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist. I could probably count the number of books I've read more than twice on one hand and still have fingers left. Magician: Apprentice would be one of them. I love this series and it would actually be my go to recommendation for anybody looking to jump into the fantasy genre.

The next two are short stories in yet another one of Amazon's Original Shorts series. This one is called "Obsession". I think a better name would have been "First World Problems". Of the stories I read, none of them were good and I ended up DNFing the rest of the series.

Murder at the Royal Ruby by Nita Prose. If I didn't know who Nita Prose was prior to reading this, then let's just say that The Maid would not be on my TBR, it's that bad.
The Mosquito by B.A. Paris. I feel like I should have been given a trip to Paris after reading this. Main character is a guy who takes a summer vacation to a friend's house in the south of France after his wife leaves him for being "too nice" and not standing up for himself. He shares the house with the owners, his sister and her husband, and this widower who is just the biggest a-hole in the world. I think that's what took me out of the story is that the latter spends over a week bullying the main character and the rest of the group takes about as long to do anything to stop it.

The title comes from the main character's constant harassment by a mosquito in his bedroom, which was obviously supposed to represent the harassment by his bully. It was subpar.

The Fix by David Baldacci. I finally finished the third book in the Amos Decker series in-between reading the above two short stories. I honestly have no idea why it took so long to finish this, but I guess it might have been how repetitive things got from time to time: Decker would revisit the same location and question the same people over and over and over. Over all, though, I enjoyed it and will continue the series.

In fact, given the number of his books I've gotten from my favorite used book store, I think I can safely say that I'm a David Baldacci fan.

Jason: Nice month! I was just thinking about Murderbot and how much I would love another novel earlier this week. For some reason news stories about AI lead me to contemplate all the science fiction I have read over the years (go figure) I also would read anything that Martha Wells wrote with 'Murderbot' anywhere in the text. LOL I've got 99 cents burning a hole in my pocket!
I read her latest non-Murderbot Witch King, and after resigning myself to the fact it wasn't a Murderbot tale settled in and started to make some sense of the world she created - it was pretty good. We do get book 8 of the Murderbot books in November!! System Collapse

As for Project Hail Mary, and Andy Weir's The Martian - either book would make my ready-and-willing-to-read-twice list.

JasonReads wrote: "Compulsory by Martha Wells. Did I spent 99 cents on an eight page Murderbot story? Yes, I did. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. Would I read Wells' grocery list if she wrote "Murderbot Diaries" on the top? Yes, yes I would. 🤣.."

Jason, thanks for the summaries. I stopped reading David Baldacci a while ago, not sure why but maybe because the type of thrillers he wrote no longer interested me. I saw him interviewed at Bouchercon last week and he is a fascinating guy. As he reviewed his writing career I was reminded why he was my go-to once upon a time. If I can figure out where to re-enter I'd like to pick up another. Maybe this group can help me figure out what title to select.

Carol: I will watch for the Baldacci entry book. My sister-in-law is a ‘buy on first release day’ reader of his books and she says to read all of them. Lol.

I never give Baldacci superior ratings for his books, but I find that they do keep me interested, so I keep getting them.

I think I liked many of his earlier books like The Camel Club. I was reading everyone that came out and then moved on but recently picked up two of his so will see.

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "Jason, thanks for the summaries. I stopped reading David Baldacci a while ago, not sure why but maybe because the type of thrillers he wrote no longer interested me. I saw him interviewed at Bouche..."

Out of the four books of his I've read, I'd recommend the Amos Decker series. I'm planning on giving his Atlee Pine, Archer, and King and Maxwell series a try. I really enjoyed Camel Club, so I'll be continuing that series in the coming months.

JasonReads wrote: "Out of the four books of his I've read, I'd recommend the Amos Decker series. I'm planning on giving his Atlee Pine, Archer, and King and Maxwell series a try. I really enjoyed Camel Club, so I'll be continuing that series in the coming months..."

Thanks!

Camel Club was my favorite but I did enjoy the others you mentioned but none of the others surpassed the Camel Club.