Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

Eight books this month, seven of which were audiobooks.

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes. The sole physical book. Read for the Sword & Laser book group. Funnily enough, even the guy who picked it ended up not liking it. I don't think anybody did.

And now for the audiobooks!

Hell Divers by Nicholas Sansbury Smith, narrated by R.C. Bray. A post-apocalyptic SF novel set two hundred years after WWIII has turned the surface of the Earth into a nuclear winter hellscape. What's left of the human race lives aboard airships flying above constant and brutal electrical storms. Hell Divers are elite units who venture down to the surface to try and find the supplies their ships need to survive. It's a grim job, with the average life expectancy of a Hell Diver being 15 drops.

Sideswipe by Charles Willeford, read by Stephen Bowlby. The penultimate book in the Hoke Moseley series. I'll likely read the fourth and final book next month. I'm bummed out because Willeford died before he could finish any more books. :(
In this one, Hoke suffers a mid-life crisis/burnout and decides to retreat back to the island he grew up on and abandon his old life. At the same time, a retiree gets looped into a career criminal's plans.

Zero Tolerance by James Patterson and Duane Swierczynski. What.a.stinker! This was an Audible Original with a full cast of voice actors, including actress Hilary Swank. One of the dumbest things about this was that Swank's character is a sergeant, yet the lieutenant in her sex crime unit takes orders from her.

The Burglar in the Closet by Lawrence Block, read by Richard Ferrone. Second book in Block's fun and funny Bernie Rhodenbarr series. In this one, Bernie breaks into the apartment of his dentist's ex-wife in order to pilfer, purloin, and otherwise steal her jewelry collection. Instead, he finds himself once again having to investigate a murder in order to clear his name.

Convergence by Craig Alanson, read by R.C. Bray. I started listening to this back in October, took a longer than expected break before jumping back in and finishing it this month. My main complaint is that Alanson seemed more interested in writing funny scenes with the main cast of characters than advancing the plot. This thing was almost 17 hours long and it felt like the plot moved glacially for 13 of those hours.

Linesman by S.K. Dunstall, read by Brian Hutchison. First in a trilogy of SF novels where special humans called linesmen have the ability to manipulate ten mysterious lines of energy that allow starships to function and travel the stars. The main character, Ean Lambert is a level ten linesman who has a deeper understanding and control of the lines, which he does...by singing to them. He gets recruited by the heir to a space empire to try and explore and take control of a powerful alien ship with the precarious balance of power in the galaxy at stake.

Starship's Mage: Omnibus by Glynn Stewart, read by Jeffrey Kafer. Science-fantasy novel set in a universe where ships travel space via magic and runes. Damien Montgomery is a newly minted jump mage who signs up with a freighter to replace their mage who died saving the ship from pirates. He and the crew of the Blue Jay are forced to go on the run after he's illegally modified the rune matrix that allows faster than light travel in order to say the ship from another pirate attack. Really enjoyed this one and already have the next book in the series downloaded and ready to go.

Jason, Very nice list! Most of my months are audio heavy too. :)
I listened to The Shining Girls a while back and had noted in my review that the full cast audio didn't work well for me. I only gave it 3 stars, noting the premise was more promising than the execution.

JasonReads wrote: "Eight books this month, seven of which were audiobooks.

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes. The sole physical book. Read for the Sword & Laser book group. Funnily even the guy who picked it ended up not liking it. I don't think anybody did."

Nice month Jason. I'm mostly a cozy reader, but I have read the Lawrence Block book!

I'm a mostly audio person too, so welcome to the club! Interesting list. I keep meaning to get to the Bernie Rhodenbarr series, and you've enticed me with the reminder that the fabulous and sorely missed Richard Ferrone reads the series.