The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Hello everyone. I hope your day is going well.

Would you ever cheat on your spouse?  I wouldn't.  Let's face it, I'm too lazy.  First, there is all the prep, the scrubbing and shaving, the makeup and clothes.  Then the actual act, the "ow, not there" or "get off my hair."  Then there is the hiding it and the eventual guilt.  I'm a huge feeler of guilt, half the time for stuff I didn't even do.  Yep, an affair just seems exhausting.  When my husband makes a totally male comment about some girl, I tell him "ahhh go ahead but make sure she cooks dinner before she leaves, and a load of laundry wouldn't hurt."  Honestly, I'm starting to think my attitude toward affairs should be on stage in the Catskills.  (look up Concord hotel)

I recently read The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen.  This is maybe my fourth book by the dynamic duo and it fits right in with their twisty thriller resume.  This is the story of a wealthy couple, Marissa and Matthew.  At first you believe they have the perfect, fairytale life.  As so often is the case with psychological thrillers, things are not what they seem. Marissa has had an affair and wants to inform her husband of her infidelity.  Marissa wants to do this in the presence of another, specifically a counselor.  Hmmm.  Why must another person be a witness to such a sensitive issue?  The therapist, Avery, has some rather unconventional methods and has, in fact, recently lost her license.  As the trio work through the issues of being unfaithful more secrets are brought to the surface, some that should have stayed hidden.

This book is exactly what you expect from Hendricks and Pekkanen, twisty, shocking, intense, and a page turner.  What else is there to say?  As usual, a great read.

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

Hello everyone. I hope you're having a great day.

Do you have a hobby?  Reading, I suppose.  My husband has the worst hobby, model *!@#$ trains!  Oh yes, you heard me correctly, you read the implied curse word.  I meant every upper number key stroke too! First of all, let's face it....they are trains, that is strike one.  Two, they are super expensive, his train money I could use for my cool hobbies, like reading or paper crafting.  Third strike, they take an enormous amount of room.  Again, room I could be using for some other purpose.  In addition, those rail riders have dictated every house we can buy as we must have a large third floor or room over garage. So young parents, when your child wants a Thomas the Tank toy, I beg of you....run.

I recently read The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James.  I've read two other books by her, The Broken Girls, which I loved, and The Sun Down Motel, which I didn't.  My issue with The Sun Down Motel is that as with both earlier books and the current offering, there is a mystery to be solved and something spooky. In The Sun Down Motel, there was just too little of each for me and I guessed the ending during the first ten minutes.  So, I was apprehensive but hopeful going into The Book of Cold Cases.  My faith has been restored as I liked this book very much, it might even be my favorite of St. James', which is saying something since I really enjoyed Broken Girls.  

The Book of Cold Cases basically revolves around two people, Shea and Beth.  Shea is a blogger whose hobby is running a true crime website called The Book of Cold Cases.  Beth is a rich socialite, who lives in the same town. Beth had once been on trial for three murders, one of which was her own father.  After a chance meeting Beth decides it is finally time to tell the truth and get everything out in the open and decides Shea is just the person to help her. The story is told from both characters' perspectives, with Beth's being both current day and from her childhood.  While Shea is at Beth's elaborate mansion on several occasions for interviews, she begins to notice all is not right with the house.  Beth hides nothing and invites Shea to explore the building that seems every bit as alive as they are.  

This story is a breeze to read, the writing solid and plot clear.  This time St. James has a mystery you won't figure out and a house that will truly have you listening for noises at night.  If you are new to this author but liked the style of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and enjoy haunted house author Darcy Coates, this book will be one of your new favs.

I wonder how many model trains Beth's house would hold?

The Lightning Rod by Brad Meltzer

Hello everyone.  I hope you're having a good day.

I told you that my dad worked at a facility that took government contracts for various things, and that my dad had a high security clearance.  Actually, I worked there too.  No, nothing as exciting as my dad but I had a job there as an intern one summer.  I was shocked by the security I saw, which was obviously only a tiny portion.  I remember them insisting that typewriter ribbons be locked up at night, fearing someone could read them.  Yes, I said typewriter...look junior there was a world before you and your fancy laptop...youngster.  Phew, okay, feeling a bit better about having to admit I used the infamous Selectric.  Also surprising, was that every bit of trash was shredded, unless it was your sandwich wrapper from lunch it was cut into unreadable bits.  I thought I was the new female James Bond, all that typing and mail (yes, real mail) delivering I did. It's so funny, I had no idea what I was right in the middle of, I suspect secret stuff is often like that

I recently read The Lightning Rod by Brad Meltzer.  This is the second in a series.  Honestly, it's going to be better if you read the first book, The Escape Artist, but if you are stubborn and have an odd aversion to great books then skip it, The Lightning Rod will still be enjoyable.  Basically, the whole series revolves around Zig who is a mortician at Dover Air Force base and Nola who is a young military artist. Sounds not so great, I mean a mortician, ick.  Wait, don't go by your first instincts.  This series is fantastic.  Both books are thrillers, not like "gosh, my neighbor looks shady" thriller, I mean like looking around each corner, on the run, heart pounding, page flipping so fast you create a breeze thriller.  I could go on and on about the plots of both books, but honestly, they are so involved and constantly changing. There are government and personal secrets that the reader discovers, each feeding on the other.  Trust me, just get them...both.  AND, if you have a man in your life that won't read, these are male chest pounding enough to really hold his interest.  However, they aren't so shoot'em up-ish that women won't like them.  Yep, boys and girls, these books are for thriller lovers everywhere.

I have to go put chicken wings in the oven, I'm sure James Bond does that all the time!

Quicksilver by Dean Koontz

Hello everyone.  I hope you are having a great day.

Usually, I ramble on about my sisters or housework.  Today I want to address my husband.  Yes, I've told you about him before, how he is such a prince.  Ahhh, now let me tell you about the other side.  If we go to a restaurant, he barely says a word.  We sit eating it utter silence like two people on a terribly awkward first date.  However, if you have something you want to watch on tv, perhaps a long movie you have hours invested in, you can count on my husband to come parading in during the last ten minutes.  It's right when the guy is about to tell the girl he loves her and there is the big kiss.  Or you've watched 85 people killed Agatha Christie style on the remote island and you're about to learn who the killer is, THAT boys and girls is when my husband wants to chat.  Not only chat, he wants to stand squarely in front of the screen so I am denied the flowery wedding proposal or the bad guy falling off a cliff.  AND, if he turns around and sees some part of the movie, he instantly has to know who each person is and what has happened.  Honey, I've been watching this complicated who done-it, turned Radio City Rockettes show that has blossomed into a Brady Bunch reunion for hours... please don't ask me to explain.  Just thinking about it is making me roll my eyes like a teenager with an attitude. I'm convinced he is a Marvel superhero, Chatty Carl, ready to leave you sitting silently in a restaurant or voice bombing your movie ending in a single bound.  Yup, that's my punkin.

I recently read Quicksilver by Dean Koontz.  This is the story of a baby left abandoned on the middle of a highway.  He's taken to an orphanage but sadly never adopted.  We are following him now that he is out of high school and has a job as a writer, telling people about the state of Arizona.  For some reason I put this book to the back of my "read stack."  Something about it just didn't appeal to me.  Feeling obligated since I spent good money on it, I started to read.  Oh my gosh, this young man discovers he possesses some sort of magnetism.  Not like spoons go flying, sticking to his forehead.  He can be out driving and will be pulled to something for an unknown reason.  In the beginning he is pulled to an old building where he discovers a valuable gold coin.  The story really takes off.  It holds your interest the whole way through.  If you're thinking Arizona, dessert, dry, maybe dry story, then stop, because you are wrong. This story is surprising and went to places I had no idea were coming.

The reading is easy with short chapters often ending with a revelation.  This book is fun, and Koontz has some cute little sarcastic zingers added for good measure. 

Don't be like me, pull it to the front of the class, I promise it isn't the dunce.

ps.  hubby is now pouting

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

Hello everyone.  I hope you are having a good day.

I had the world's best dad.  He adored his family despite wanting a boy and getting four girls instead. He would come home from work to find us kids in the pool, while my mom made dinner.  Yes, we had an inground heated pool...I know it was a luxury but now I practically spend its cost on a week's groceries but I'm getting off topic.  My dad would come home from work, put on his swim trunks and come out to the pool carrying a tray of soda.  He worked, then came home and served us drinks! He was in his happy place, with his family.  He also loved vacations and history.  I think he might have broken the world record for most historical markers read while in motion and having four kids yelling about who is on their side of the car and wondering where their shoes went. I got lucky in the parent department, some kids don't.  

I recently read A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham.  This is Stacy's first book, but I highly doubt it will be her last.  In this story Chloe is a child psychologist in Baton Rouge.  She's been emotionally on the edge since she was a kid.  Her father was a serial killer, murdering young girls, Chloe was the person to discover his crimes and turned her dad into the police.  Now her dad sits still in jail and the twentieth anniversary of the first killing approaches.  When girls start going missing again, Chloe doesn't know what to think, especially as these disappearances get closer to her with one being her patient and Chloe the last to see her.

This book is thriller-ific.  It will have your head spinning round like you ate bad pea soup for dinner (Exorcist).  The author has you believing one thing, examining one person then the next.  As so often happens, I pronounced myself Queen of the thrillers telling all who would listen, my husband only, that I had determined the ending.  I might have been the teensiest bit wrong.

This quick read will have you doubting everyone and trusting no one.

Ukraine

I try to be silly here, tell you a goofy story that somehow relates to the topic of the book I've read.  I can't be a goofball today.  I'm sad.  I never thought lots of people would read this, I just used it as a reason to buy more books. Surprisingly many people do read this and to my amazement they are from all over, not just the United States.  A large number of people that put up with me here are from Ukraine.  I try to never be political; you get enough of that everywhere else.  Everyone has an opinion, most are different from the next, making the world an interesting place.  However, I can't help but be terrified for the world about what is going on.  I can't imagine you have the time to read this, while literally running for your life, but if someone from Ukraine does please know that your area is being shown on media here constantly.  My heart breaks for you. Fleeing from your home, trying to pick which precious photo to take with you or taking your child and pet into a subway station to not be bombed is just....unbelievable...horrifying.  I'm sorry to get so sappy, it's overwhelming watching it here, living it is unthinkable.

Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano

Hello everyone.  I hope you are having a nice day.

You know how when you were a kid your mother told you not to touch anything when you went into a store with lots of breakable items?  Well, she did that because of people like me.  Some people are born to move like a tiger.  Some are born to walk like a ballerina, floating on a sea of cotton.  Let's face it, some people are just born with a natural grace.  Me?  I was born as clumsy as can be.  Seriously, I can touch a tomato and it will squirt juice all over me, if I reach across the table, I'm certain to hit my sleeve on the freshly poured cup of scalding hot tea sending it everywhere.  I am the person who special ordered a convection oven, then roasted an upright chicken.  A word of advice, don't!  The fan splatters grease everywhere, you have to give the oven the full Silkwood scrub down.  That wasn't even the time I set the oven on fire.  Yes, my fate in life is to be a klutz.

I recently read Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano.  This is the sequel to Finlay Donovan is Killing It.  This book takes up where the first left off, will all the same characters and goings on.  No, you don't have to read the first but why wouldn't you...it was a blast.  These books are kind of mysteries...I say kind of because Finlay Donovan is the hit woman.  She is an author and is explaining her book plot to her agent in a restaurant when she is overheard by someone who thinks her story outline is real...that she is a killer for hire and tries to hire Finlay.  That is the very beginning of the first book.  Now we resume with Finlay, her family and Vero, the crazy nanny.  Something has gone very wrong as Finlay discovers someone has put a "hit" out on her so to be ex-husband Steven.  While Vero wants to jump for joy that cheating scoundrel could soon be out of the picture permanently, Finlay decides she needs to find out who wants him dead and why.  

This book is different from the first, it's not quite so bumbling.  Oh, there is plenty that goes awry and loads to laugh at but this time much of it comes from Vero's "told you so" sense of humor. It's fast, easy reading that will have you laughing out loud and craving more...just like the first book.  The only bad thing about this is that it came to an end.  More laughs I can always use!