4. No One Knew by Kendra Elliott

#2 Noelle Marshall

listened on Audible

314 pgs.

2026
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 1/18/2026
Goodreads rating: 4.40
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Contemporary Oregon

My comments: I've been reading too many books with similar settings lately as well as similar characters, and that's probably not a good idea.  This takes place in central Oregon where the lead detective and the FBI agent involved in the case are lovers.....and is about nasty redneck good-ole-boys in a militia.  So much rubbed me the wrong way.  Still decent writing from Elliot, but it's time for me to move on from these for awhile.

Goodreads synopsis:  For a detective and an FBI agent, two seemingly disparate murder investigations collide with a twist in an explosive novel of suspense by a Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

In the crisp mountain air of central Oregon, a teenage girl’s search for discarded cans leads to a horrifying a body, brutally murdered and abandoned in the woods. The case falls to Deschutes County Detective Noelle Marshall, who finds herself navigating a community steeped in secrets, suspicion, and distrust of outsiders—especially law enforcement.

Miles away, FBI Special Agent Max Rhodes investigates a different kind of darkness—chatter about a violent uprising from a shadowy militia group preparing for war. The two cases seem worlds apart. But as Noelle digs into the murdered man’s past and Max closes in on the source of the terror plot, their paths begin to converge in a terrifying way. This was no random killing. It was a message. A merciless killer and a hidden army are operating in the same shadows, and finding the link between them is the only thing standing between a single murder and a full-blown massacre.

73. Die Trying by Lee Child

#2 Jack Reacher
listened to in the car - end of trip to PA and up to Maine, all in December, 2016
originally published in 1998
552 pgs. in Mass Market paperback
12 unabridged cds
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 12/26/16
Goodreads rating: - 4.0 - 67,368
My rating: 3
Setting: Chicago, then the wilds of northwestern Montana

First line/s: "Nathan Rubin died because he got brave."

My comments: I'm reading this series out of order, which works fine for me.  This is the second book in the series, and what I'm finding is that I like the more recent books better than the beginning titles.  This one was TOO detailed, too much information and explanation about guns, bullets, velocity, too much of the nitty gritty.  (If it were about cutting fabric for a quilt I'd probably feel differently).  It also seemed to go on forever and ever and ever...but no matter how impatient I get, these are great for listening to on a 8 hour plus drive!

Goodreads synopsis:  In a Chicago suburb, a dentist is met in his office parking lot by three men and ordered into the trunk of his Lexus. On a downtown sidewalk, Jack Reacher and an unknown woman are abducted in broad daylight by two men - practiced and confident - who stop them at gunpoint and hustle them into the same sedan. Then Reacher and the woman are switched into a second vehicle and hauled away, leaving the dentist bound and gagged inside his car with the woman's abandoned possessions, two gallons of gasoline. . . and a burning match. The FBI is desperate to rescue the woman, a Special Agent from the Chicago office, because the FBI always - always - takes care of its own, and because this woman is not just another agent. Reacher and the woman join forces, against seemingly hopeless odds, to outwit their captors and escape. But the FBI thinks Jack is one of the kidnappers - and when they close in, the Bureau snipers will be shooting to kill.