Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Spoiler: This book was written by a man

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

by 2 Comments

It’s been a year since I’ve completed a book (not including ones I’ve read with my 7-year old). An embarassingly adult book-free year. I’ve started a few, but either wasn’t interested enough to finish them (I’m looking at you Crazy Rich Asians), or, really, just not interested enough to start any new ones either. But I’m happy to announce my dry spell is over and Lock Every Door is the book to quench my thirst. This is the third book by Author Riley Sager, which […]

Come for the Historical Lady Police Offer, Stay for the Cozy Mystery

An Orphan of Hell's Kitchen by Liz Freeland

by Leave a Comment

Full disclosure, I requested this book based on its description and did not realize it was the third book in a series! It’s a testament to the author that I didn’t feel out of sorts reading this novel out of order as she did a good job ensuring any plot points from the first books were subtly explained or inconsequential. Louise, our main character, is a policewoman in New York City right before the United States enters World War I. Louise has German immigrant parents […]

Got The Power

The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch

by 1 Comment

Breathe. I’m amused that Blake Crouch blurbed this book. I’ve read a few of his and I always like the concept more than the execution. This is the book he has always wanted to write. This is a legitimately great book. I usually don’t do genre mashups. Give me mystery (my favorite genre) or science fiction (an occasional dabble) but don’t give me both. The Inception-meets-True Detective tagline didn’t inspire me as much as it probably did others who tried this (and for what it’s worth, this […]

The Silent Patient is a good book but I didn’t like it

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

by 1 Comment

This is a hard book for me to rate because it was fascinating and compelling but I didn’t like it.  Alicia Berenson hasn’t spoken since she murdered her husband six years earlier. To outsiders, they seemed to have a perfect marriage. She was a beautiful, successful painter, and he was a handsome, famous photographer. They were madly in love. So why did she shoot him in the face 5 times?  Theo Faber has recently joined the Grove as its new psychotherapist. Part of why he […]

A New Start

The Slasher by Michael Collins

by Leave a Comment

Because he toiled in relative obscurity compared to his contemporaries, I don’t know much about Dennis Lynds’ (“Michael Collins”) evolution as a writer. Part of my disillusionment with the last few Dan Fortune novels, which sag in talent after an awesome start, is how Collins seemed to regress. Obviously, when you do a series for a long time, a rhythm develops and plots become familiar but my biggest issue was how Lynds reverted to lazy, familiar PI tropes that weren’t there in his earlier work. […]

Telephone!

A Walk Among the Tombstones by Lawrence Block

by Leave a Comment

One thing I’ve come to appreciate about Lawrence Block’s Matthew Scudder series the further I get into it is how unique each book feels. Sure, as with any writer one reads a lot of, I’m used to Block’s rhythms and characters but every plot and finale feels fresh. I’m ten books into this series and it’s remarkable that he can keep such a streak going. There are other series I like more than this one but I can’t say the same about them. Block is […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo