Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

Camino Ghosts: John Grisham
Big company wants to build a casino on a slave burial ground. A group of people try to stop them. (A)

Clete: James Lee Burke
Clete and Robicheaux, but told from the standpoint of Clete. As lyrical as any of this series, and maybe even a bit less violent, and more open to explaining why the violence was there. There is a terrorist background, with a nasty biological weapon, but this is almost secondary to the relationships of the various characters, both good and bad. (A)

Act of Defiance: Clancy
One might almost call this the sequel to Hunt for Red October. Jack Ryan is much older, and president, but his kids are all “in the business” now, and must save the world from a madman. (B+)

Dog eat Dog: David Rosenfelt
An Andy Carpenter novel, defending a man who looks guilty in every way, but loves dogs, so must be innocent. Some very good humor accompanies the story. (B+)

The Wager: David Grann
Non fiction, the account of His Majesty's ship Wager, wrecked attempting to cross the Straits of Magellan, and the trials and tribulations of the crew to survive. (B+)

Lake Country: Lori Roy
Thriller novel about Marilyn Monroe’s Florida family,l with her as a character and plenty of unsavory characters to go around. (B)

Hummer, Jennifer Gootch: Veridian Sterling Fakes It
AN AMazon 1st. Struggling artist tries to find a way to live as an artist while retiring the mountain of debt incurred by herself and her mother. (pretty much chick lit) (B)

Sunset and Sawdust: Joe Lansdale
Lansdale puts you in a scene like few others. This book takes place during the dustbowl, and you can feel and smell the scene, Texas, hordes of grasshoppers, and many people who are not very nice. (B)

One Deadly Eye: Randy Wayne White
The latest incarnation of Doc Ford battles Russian criminals as a hurricane roars over Florida. (B)

Devil’s Fortress: Dale Brown
Sort of like Mission Impossible , but much more blood. (B)

The Devil’s Weapons: WEB Griffin
Not really Griffin, he passed away, and the recent discussion on ghosted books really applies to this one. Having read Griffin for years, the thing that made his books notable was that the plot was fairly minimal, the accomplishment of a goal that could have been done in 100 pages but took 500. So what made these series attractive? It was his delving into the personalities of the regular Joes that made up the armed forces at every level, and how they lived their lives and related to each other. This book is more of a straight adventure without that human element that Griffin was so good at. As the author aged, he tried to transfer some of his series to his son, who had the same problem, not being able to express that human element. The story itself involves a polish scientist around the time of the breakdown of the german-Soviet pact who is being hunter by the US. Britain, Russia and germany. (B)

Blizzard: Vingtras
Translated from French, but the location is in Alaska, not surprisingly, during a blizzard. Chapters are from the viewpoint of the many characters, at least until they die or are murdered. (B)

Dead Reckoning: Kate Bold
Female FBI agent, and a little bit of simmering with the local deputy as they chase down the latest serial killer. (B)

Dead to Me: Kate Bold
Small town gets a serial killer expert from the FBI and guess what? Suddenly there are serial killers all over the place. Good thing she was sent there. (B)

another nice month, barry

Will be interesting to see Cleve as the MC

entertaining as ever

Barry: nice list. I look forward to reading Clete and The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder. Good insights on the ghost-writing topic with your example this month. Writing involves more than just putting scenes together.
I will get back to Camino Ghosts. Good to see you enjoyed it. My library loan expired on the Libby audio, and I may pick it back up next time in print. I like Whoopi Goldberg, but her narration wasn't resonating with me on the dialog segments, good on the narrative sections. The inconsistency led me to put it aside mid-stream.

BarryP wrote: "Camino Ghosts: John Grisham
Big company wants to build a casino on a slave burial ground. A group of people try to stop them. (A)

Clete: James Lee Burke
Clete and Robicheaux, but told from the sta..."