The First Lady

Hello everyone.

I hope you are having a good day. Not so good here. Well, kind of is, kind of isn't. Hubby is on vacation this week. He has several things he wants to do around the house and was ready for a break from work. First thing on the agenda was to get our taxes done. Ouch! Like I keep hearing on the news, we usually get a refund and this year ended up owing, big time. This is unacceptable. I need my refund for book money. How dare the government want to spend it on things like defense and crummy old roads and bridges. Ok, I'll stop.

One of hubby's "honey-do" list projects is to build a little library. We have an old house, it was actually built with a room considered a library. Unfortunately, it has no bookshelves and lots of windows, a fireplace, and pocket doors, so there is little room for shelving. Besides the ole' spouse uses it as his office. Needless to say, when he is working on a huge problem for work, I do not want to be anywhere close by. Anyway, we have a sitting room attached to our bedroom and it has an unused walk-in closet. I've asked my oh so talented (yes, I'm buttering him up) man, to line those walls with heavy duty, hand built shelves that I can pile high with books. While there really won't be room to read in there, it will be nice to organize my unread books which seem to be everywhere these days.

One book I won't need any shelving for because I've finished it is The First Lady, by James Patterson and Brendan Dubois. I've read books by James Patterson which I very much enjoyed. I have not read anything by Brendan Dubois, so was curious especially when it came up on the NY Times Bestseller Paperback list. When it arrived in the mail, I was in the middle of something else. Something I needed to read right away. Sadly or happily, depending how you look at it, I just "had" to read the first few pages of The First Lady. I should have been patient and waited. Yep, I read the whole thing. I am really a slow reader, I swear I don't know how it happened. I whipped through this book in less than two days, and I didn't really have any marathon reading sessions. The book has 338 pages, it is not like it is a novella. I guess I magically got through this story so fast because it was so good and rapidly paced. The plot was strong and always in the forefront, not wavering. While it is obviously about the President and First Lady of the United States, if you are sick and tired of politics don't worry. The story is about people, supporting characters and settings of a political nature, it really isn't about any governmental issues. It is a great ride of a thriller that races (somehow way faster than I can read) through the twists and turns to the perfect ending. Highly enjoyable.

Too bad voting for politicians is not as fun or thrilling as reading this book! If it was, everyone would vote.

The Anomaly by Michael Rutger

For Valentine's Day, my husband gave me a gift subscription to The Book of the Month. I've loved it. Every month, so far, I have picked a wonderful thriller to read. For June I received The Anomaly by Michael Rutger. It is issued early for BOTM and is due for release June 19th.

I don't generally go over the plot, assuming you just want to know if it's good or annoying since you've obviously searched out a review and have certainly read the jacket.  Since this is not released I will say this is kind of like Indiana Jones meets Robert Langdon. It's the story of a group of people that shoot a series that is broadcast on YouTube. They are searching for a cave in the Grand Canyon that was supposedly visited decades ago but now only legend. The unusual cast of characters finds a cavern and to say it is a unhospitable place is an understatement. No more, nope, not saying anything more, tick-a-lock!

I am always amazed when writers can describe action and it's easy to picture without the words getting in the way. Some thriller writers do that really well, James Rollins comes to mind, Michael Rutger is one of those writers. The Anomaly is well paced, well edited, is creepy and interesting at the same time. It has some really good dialog, especially if you like sarcasm, who doesn't? Overall, I completely enjoyed this book. If you like books that are a little rough and tumble, you'll like this, There are absolutely no make-up tips here. If you like books that make you wonder enough to turn the pages faster and that almost each chapter ends on a bit of a cliff hanger, you'll like this. If you are claustrophobic, you'll be completely freaked out by this book. Needless to say, I'm rethinking that trip to the Grand Canyon, photographs of it are so good these days!