Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

All That Razz

Night of the Toads by Michael Collins/Dennis Lynds

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Trying to pour through as much of the Dan Fortune series as I can before my Kindle Unlimited subscription finally expires (for real this time). I really enjoy these books. I’m a Ross Macdonald devotee and “Michael Collins” (Dennis Lynds) is one of the closest writers I’ve read who’s capable of aping Macdonald’s style. He is empathetic yet engaging. He also uses just enough of New York City without getting lost in it. This one is another good entry in the series, though the seams […]

Ya Drink Too Much

When the Sacred Ginmill Closes by Lawrence Block

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My tour through Matthew Scudder’s New York continues. This is another solid entry in the series. I was a little concerned when I saw Matthew drinking at Armstrong’s and other places on the west side. It seemed to negate the ending of Eight Million Ways to Die. Was Block going to retcon everything or just pretend it didn’t happen? However, the reader soon realizes the whole time this is a flashback novel of something Matthew did in 1975, while he was still binge drinking. And while there’s […]

Stars Hollow meets the detective novel

Still Life by Louise Penny

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Still Life is the first Inspector Gamache novel in Louise Penny’s series, and for me it’s a backtrack- I started with the second novel, Dead Cold (alternate title: A Fatal Grace), back in February.  Still Life introduces us to all the main characters that show up in the later books, including the town of Three Pines and its close-knit community members.  (For such a quaint and friendly town, I get the feeling there are a lot murderers in Three Pines’ midst, if the length of […]

Short Stories Featuring Miss Marple Overall Delight

The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie

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I bought this book in paperback a while ago and though I had started some of the stories, I never got around to finishing it in one good. Not because I didn’t love it or anything, I just got busy with other books. I thought this was an overall great short story collection featuring Miss Marple and some familiar characters like her nephew Raymond West and her close friend Mrs. Dolly Bantry. The overall book is about how a group of people who get together […]

We Are Watchers, All of Us

Watchers by Dean Koontz

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Well damn, a Dean Koontz book made me cry. The last one that made me cry was “Odd Thomas.” This book hits me everywhere. Though I could have done without the whole ssnap guy (Vince) the rest of the book just works perfectly. I loved the characters (Travis and Nora) I fell in love with Einstein and also with everyone along the way who wanted to keep Einstein free. This book hits all the feels and I can see now why after the success of […]

Wow! What A Fantastic Thriller

Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh

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Since I had to get this back to the library this week, I moved this up and am wrapping up my “Watchers” read as well. I have to say that I could not put this book down last night! It was insanely good and the twists I didn’t see coming well expertly done. I also like how Mackintosh plays with POVs via some of the narrative choices she chose. I thought this worked from beginning to end and I have to go back and read […]



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