Book Review - The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family and Defiance During the Blitz

I like Erik Larson's books. He deviates from his usual true crime story with this biography of Churchill. Many books have been written about Churchill but this one draws upon the personal diaries of staff and family from the time that Churchill came to power until the US entered the war. It gives a unique insight into what was happening, both in the war but within his family as well.

 If you are a WW II history buff, this is a good addition to your library.

Another WW II history book by Erik Larson is "In the Garden Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin". This is the story of the American ambassador to the Third Reich in the early days.

Book Review - The Night Fire

"The Night Fire" is Michael Connelly's latest Bosch and Ballard mystery. Bosch's mentor from his early days has passed away and his widow gives Bosch a murder book that her husband had kept in his office. It was a cold case and it captures Bosch's imagination. While it appeared to be a drug deal gone bad, Bosch thought it look suspicious. Meanwhile Rene Ballard is called to a what appears to be an accidental death where a homeless man is killed when his portable heater causes a fire. Bosch enlists Ballard to use her LAPD connections to help with the cold case and he tries to discover the answer to why his mentor kept the murder book and Ballard defies LAPD protocol in her search for the truth about the night fire.

This story has a lot of twists and turns and will keep you engaged until the surprising finish.

Book Review - Bloody Genius

"Bloody Genius" is the latest Virgil Flowers mystery by John Sandford.  A well known professor and medical researcher is murdered in the library and the local police are stuck so the governor calls in Virgil to help out. A reluctant Virgil wades into the investigation but keeps hitting dead ends. The read is slow for the first 150 pages but the last 130 pages will keep you fully engaged.

Book Review - A Dangerous Man

Robert Crais has done it again! Joe Pike is having a peaceful day and running errands at the bank when he observes a kidnapping in broad daylight. He puts down the perps and saves the lady and he thought that was it. A few days later he gats a message from the girl that the perps had made bail and she was concerned. Then she disappeared. This led Joe and Elvis on a fast paced search for the missing that will keep you glued to the chair. Very hard to put down, the story switches between the points of view of Joe, Elvis and the bad guys. Another good story for long flights and insomniacs.

Book Review - Midnight in Chernobyl

Watching the HBO series made me want to know more and this seemed to be one of the more recent summaries of the disaster. The author goes into tremendous detail about the accident and the response by the government. However, that detail does not result in a boring read. Indeed, you get an insight into the design and operation of nuclear reactors as well as a peek at the Soviet system prior to collapse. Highly recommended reading for those with a scientific bent and interest in the accident.

Book Review - First Wave: The D Day Warriors Who Led the Way to Victory in World War 2

This is the latest book by Alex Kershaw. I usually like this author as he focuses his book on either a single individual or military engagement and he covers it in detail. However, in this book he has opted to try to cover a wide range of actions and participants. The result is that you have a series of short anecdotes with very little information about how they fit into the bigger picture. At times, it reads like the script from "The Longest Day".

I suspect that he wanted to cash in on the 75th anniversary of D Day and the result is not up to is usual product.

Book Review - Neon Prey

Lucas Davenport is back with fellow US Marshals Bob and Rae tracking down a serial killer hit man and cannibal from Louisiana to Las Vegas. As with most of John Sandford's novels, this one pulls you in and keeps you intrigued. The action flips between Lucas and his crew and the cannibal, who has hooked up with a gang of home invasion robbers in Las Angeles. Reading about both groups almost simultaneously hooks you to see what happens next and the banter between the marshals adds humor.

If you start this book, be prepared to binge it.

Book Review - Past Tense

I was born and raised in New Hampshire and was delighted to see that Lee Childs latest book takes place in Laconia, NH. I have often thought that the forests of NH could hide some eerie or terrible secrets and Childs obviously feels the same way. Reacher is in Maine and heads to NH on a whim to look at the family homestead. (His father was from NH) When there he finds a mystery in his family history and works at finding the answer. Meanwhile, a young couple has broken down on the road and end up being kidnapped by an unscrupulous gang in the NH woods.

This is another hard to put down read.

Book Review - Dark Sacred Night

Connelly has brought in a character from a previous book and she works well with Bosch. We first met Rene Ballard in The Late Show. She is now teamed up, by happenstance, with Bosch as he pursues a cold case stemming from helping the woman he rescued in Two Kinds of Truth. They work the cold case in their spare time and their other cases provide interesting side stories.

This is a pair that could provide another string of stories and I look forward to the next one.

Book Review - Holy Ghost

What's not to like: Virgil Flowers, quirky Minnesota characters and a holy apparition all rolled in to a captivating whodunit.

Virgil is called to a small town to look into some recent shootings. The town has recently undergone a resurgence of  sorts with the sighting of the ghostly apparition of the Virgin Mary. The shootings are puzzling as Virgil cannot find a motive or even the snipers hide. Then things turn deadly with the long range shooting murder of a local woman.

This is not really suspenseful but the colorful characters and the mystery of the shootings will keep you reading.

Book Review - The Wanted

Robert Crais seems to be on a 2 to 3 year schedule between new releases but when he does release one it is worth the wait.

Elvis has been hired by a single mother to check into her sons activities. He's been flashing a lot of cash and she is concerned that he is dealing drugs. Elvis finds that he is part of a home robbery crew that targets rich peoples homes and that the police are looking for them. Elvis is trying to arrange his surrender when he discovers that the crew has stolen a laptop that someone wants back and they are willing to kill for it. His job then shifts to protection and trying to find the killers before they strike.

As with most of his books this one is hard to put down.

Book Review - Origin

This is Dan Brown's 5th book in the Robert Langdon series that started with The DaVinci Code. Each book has gotten progressively more boring and this last one is the worst. He spends most of his time doing a travelogue on religious sites in Spain. There is little suspense or character development. I started reading this and then dropped when the latest John Sandford book was released. I picked it up again but found myself literally skimming it because it was so uninteresting. Now I've gone looking for another book to read. Do not waste your time or money on this one.

Book Review - The Midnight Line

Jack Reacher is back in Lee Child's latest story. Reacher happened to find a West Point class ring in a pawn shop and typically he sets off on a mission to find the owner and story of why the ring was in the pawn shop. Along the way he triggers some thugs who try to take him out. This only encourages him more. When he finds the answers to his questions, he realizes he needs to do whatever is necessary to help a fellow alumnus. This is one of the better Jack Reacher tales.

Book Review - Two Kinds of Truth

Harry Bosch is back and working as a consultant to the San Fernando police department. When a family run pharmacy is robbed and the owner and son murdered, he gets sucked into a case with twists and turns and learns firsthand what drives the opioid epidemic and why it is so hard to stop. At the same time, he is being accused of framing the perp on an old case and must defend his honor with the help of his brother, the Lincoln Lawyer.

There are lots of action in this novel and will keep your interest.

Book Review - Deep Freeze

John Sandford has published the next novel featuring Virgil Flowers. It's the middle of winter and Virgil is called back to the same town that he was in when he busted the dog napping ring and put away the school board for murder. Now a woman's body has popped up in the river at the power plant's warm water discharge. While the reader knows from the beginning who committed the murder, the fact that she was in the river is a mystery. While he is there, he is asked by the governor to look into a patent infringement case where someone is modifying Barbi and Ken dolls. It turns out that this case gives him bigger problems than the murder.

This is classic Virgil Flowers and is difficult to put down. This is one of the best of this series.

Book Review - The Cuban Affair

Nelson DeMille is back. He has a new Travis McGee like character who runs a fishing charter boat out of Key West. He is approached by a group of Cuban refugees who want his help in recovering millions of dollars that were hidden during the revolution. With the thaw in relations, they now have the opportunity to go back to Cuba and get the money. The plan is to visit Cuba as part of an educational tour, sneak away, get the money and escape on his boat. Typical of DeMille, the story has twists and turns and the real reason for going to Cuba is not revealed until the end when you may see shades of his book Charm School in this story.

It's a good read.

Book Review - Western Star

This is Craig Johnson's latest episode of the Longmire saga. The plot flips back and forth between present day and the early days back when Walt was a new deputy.

The Western Star was the name of a steam engine that was the vehicle for a sheriffs junket where new hire  Longmire was the junior attendee. There is a murder during the train ride and Walt works at solving it. The other side of the plot in present day is Walt worrying about the parole hearing of a murderer that he put away years ago. Of course, the two stories are connected.

I won't give away the ending but I will say that it is a monster cliff hanger and I hope that Mr. Johnson doesn't get hit by a bus so he can resolve it in the next book.

Book Review - Two Nights

Kathy Reichs has introduced a new character. It is a damaged female ex-Marine, ex-cop living in seclusion on an island who has the odd name of Sunday Night. She is hired to find the granddaughter of an elderly rich woman. The rest of the granddaughter's family was killed in a terrorist bombing and the woman is offering a bounty on the four terrorists responsible, dead or alive. This leads Sunday on a cross country chase ending at the Kentucky Derby.

The book is fast paced with short dialog sections. The writing style reminds me of Robert Parker and I see Sunday Night as a dark version of Sunny Randall. This is well worth the time and a little different from Reichs' normal genre.

Book Review - The Late Show

Michael Connelly has developed a new character and she is awesome. Renee Ballard is a surfer/detective who is assigned to the night shift as the result of a harassment claim. She works by night and then paddle boards and sleeps in a tent on the beach during the day. She is following two cases. One was the beating of a transgendered man and the other is a mass shooting at a night club. She has a prickly personality and most other cops don't want to work with her as she tests the edge of the envelope of the police department regulations. Think of her as Bosch with a tan and surf board.

This book reads like an instruction manual for navigating the police system in LA and it will hold you attention. Another excellent read by Michael Connelly.

Book Review - The Fallen

Ace Atkins is back with his latest Quinn Colson novel. Quinn is back as sheriff. He has to deal with a band of bank robbers in Trump masks hitting the local banks with military precision and his sister is stirring up the local underground by trying to find 2 young girls who may be victims of human trafficking.

As you may know, Ace ghost writes the Spenser series since Robert Parker died. He was a journalist in Tampa before he started writing books in 1998.

This book is not very suspenseful but the story will keep you interested. It's worth a read.