27. We Hope for Better Things by Erin Bartels

listened to eAudio - RBDigital/TPPL
narrated by Stina Nielsen
Unabridged audio (12:03)
2019, Fleming H. Revell Co.
393 pgs.
Adult Hidtorical Fiction told in 3 time periods
Finished 2/10/2020
Goodreads rating:  4.22 - 2440 ratings
My rating:  5
Setting:Detroit and rural Michigan:  1861-1871, 1963-1967, and present time

First line/s:  Detroit: July  "The Lafayette Coney Island was not a comfortable place to be early."

My comments:  This was one of those books I didn't want to put don't and I couldn't wait to get back to.  I love historical fiction that goes back and forth between points-of-view, and this one didn't disappoint. Told from the viewpoints of three strong women, all related, and dealing with the racism of the Civil War, 1960's Detroit, and present day, and how history can follow a family - and just how important a family's history can be.  Beautifully read, great characters, and a setting that is a hugely strong part of the story, a great story.

Goodreads synopsis:  When Detroit Free Press reporter Elizabeth Balsam meets James Rich, his strange request--that she look up a relative she didn't know she had in order to deliver an old camera and a box of photos--seems like it isn't worth her time. But when she loses her job after a botched investigation, she suddenly finds herself with nothing but time.
          At her great-aunt's 150-year-old farmhouse, Elizabeth uncovers a series of mysterious items, locked doors, and hidden graves. As she searches for answers to the riddles around her, the remarkable stories of two women who lived in this very house emerge as testaments to love, resilience, and courage in the face of war, racism, and misunderstanding. And as Elizabeth soon discovers, the past is never as past as we might like to think.
          Debut novelist Erin Bartels takes readers on an emotional journey through time--from the volatile streets of 1960s Detroit to the Underground Railroad during the Civil War--to uncover the past, confront the seeds of hatred, and discover where love goes to hide.

93. Machine City by Scott J. Holliday

#2 Det. John Barnes, Detroit Police Detective
Listened on Audible - my purchase
read by J. D. Jackson
Unabridged audio (9:21)
2018 Thomas & Mercer
300pgs.
Adult Dystopian Mystery
Finished 10/1/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.08 - 317 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting: Contemporary Detroit

First line/s: "Former Detroit homicide detective John Barnes sat on the wooden steps that led up to his porch, his leather tool belt unbuckled and set at his side."

My comments:  I was totally boggled by this book, really didn't have much of a clue about what was going on for most of the first 7/8 of the book.  If I hadn't read the first in the series I would really have been stumped.  Then the enlightening chapter and everything (more or less) came together I would not recommend this book to anyone who has not read the first one, and not to anyone who's only going to peripherally listen or read with just half a mind to it!  Difficult to rate....

Goodreads synopsis:  In this unputdownable thriller set in the new future, a detective enters the mind of a killer to find a missing child.          
          To ex-detective John Barnes, the machine is a dangerous and abhorrent addiction. The criminal thoughts it embedded in his brain helped him stop a serial killer, but they left him dazed—with pounding, murderous impulses. Having turned in his badge to salvage what’s left of his psyche, Barnes must return to the darkness at the request of his former partner. A little girl has gone missing. So has Adrian Flaherty, the detective in the kidnapper’s shadow.         
          And only Barnes can hear the clues.
          But the trail is more dizzying and more personal than he feared. The voices are revealing a secret only Flaherty could have known. They’re also telling Barnes that he doesn’t have long to live. To find the girl, he must listen closely. Because the clock is ticking…and Barnes’s mind is going fast.

7. Punishment by Scott Holliday

Det. John Barnes #1
read on my iPhone
2018, Thomas & Mercer
240 pgs.
Adult SciFi Mystery - Police Procedural
Finished 1-12-18
Goodreads rating:  3.85 - 1101 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Detroit in the future

First line/s:  "Detroit homicide detective John Barnes sat in an unmarked sedan, squeezing a fifth of bourbon by the neck."

My comments:  Awesome cover.  Couldn't put it down.  It's dark and gruesome and fascinating.  The protagonist, John Barnes, doesn't care about his own existence because of the guild he feels about his brother's death , many years before.  So he puts himself through all sorts of excruciating physical and mental pain - no, anguish - in his job as a police officer in this futuristic US.  This is the second SYfyI have read in the last week and I've never really been into sci-fi.  This one was good.  I loved and hated the way it was all wrapped up...

GoodReads synopsis: Detroit-based homicide detective John Barnes has seen it all—literally. Thanks to a technologically advanced machine, detectives have access to the memories of the living, the dying, and the recently dead. But extracting victims’ experiences firsthand and personally reliving everything up to the final, brutal moments of their lives—the sights, the sounds, the scents, the pain—is also the punishment reserved for the criminals themselves.
          Barnes has had enough. Enough of the memories that aren’t his. Enough of the horror. Enough of the voices inside his head that were never meant to take root…until a masked serial killer known as Calavera strikes a little too close to home.
          Now, with Calavera on the loose, Barnes is ready to reconnect, risking his life—and his sanity. Because in the mind of this serial killer, there is one secret even Barnes has yet to see…

18. American Street by Ibi Zoboi

read on my iPhone
20117, Balzer & Bray
336 pgs.
YA CRF
Finished 3/25/17
Goodreads rating: 4.14 (601 ratings)
My rating: 2 and 4
Setting: Contemporary inner city Detroit

First line/s: "If only I could break the glass between me and Manman with my thoughts alone."

My comments: I have no clue how or what to rate this book.  It took me to a place that I don't know.  At all.  What happens when a smart immigrant girl from Haiti is thrust directly into the midst of the toughest streets of contemporary Detroit without the mother who has always nurtured and guided her and with only her voodoo spirit guides and street-savvy cousins?  Will that girl do anything - anything - to get her imprisoned mother back?  I don't know what it's like to be a black American or a black immigrant, I don't know what it's like to live in the inner-city with its full share of violence and drugs.  I don't know anything about Haiti, or voodoo.  And a much as I try to empathize, all I know is what I hear on the news.  This book takes you much closer than the news.  Much.  Closer.  And it's heartbreaking.

Goodreads synopsis:  The rock in the water does not know the pain of the rock in the sun.
          On the corner of American Street and Joy Road, Fabiola Toussaint thought she would finally find une belle vie—a good life.
          But after they leave Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Fabiola’s mother is detained by U.S. immigration, leaving Fabiola to navigate her loud American cousins, Chantal, Donna, and Princess; the grittiness of Detroit’s west side; a new school; and a surprising romance, all on her own.
          Just as she finds her footing in this strange new world, a dangerous proposition presents itself, and Fabiola soon realizes that freedom comes at a cost. Trapped at the crossroads of an impossible choice, will she pay the price for the American dream?

MOVIE - Searching for Sugarman

PG-13 (1:26)

Limited release 7/27/12

Viewed t Crossroads

RT Critic: No reviews  Audience: 92

Cag: Excellent film

Directed by Malik Bendjelloull

Actors: none-this is a documentary (other than its "star," Sixto Rodriguez

A synopsis from Fandango: In the late ‘60s, a musician was discovered in a Detroit bar by two celebrated Motown producers who were struck by his soulful melodies and prophetic lyrics. They recorded an album that they believed was going to secure his reputation as one of the greatest recording artists of his generation. In fact, the album bombed and the singer disappeared into obscurity amid rumors of a gruesome on-stage suicide. But a bootleg recording found its way into apartheid South Africa and, over the next two decades, it became a phenomenon (as big as The Beatles). Two South African fans then set out to find out what really happened to their hero. Their investigation led them to a story more extraordinary than any of the existing myths about the artist known as Rodriguez. This is a film about hope, inspiration and the resonating power of music.

My comments:  I loved going into this with no knowledge or expectations other than hearing people say they really enjoyed it.  It slowly works its way to a few surprises and is really well done; an interesting and satisfying documentary.