81. A Perfect Evil by Alex Kava

#1 Maggie O'Dell
listened on Audible
narrated by Richard Rowan
Unabridged audio (10:42)
originally 2000
480 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 5/20/2020
Goodreads rating:  4.03 - 16,982 ratings
My rating: 2
Setting: contemporary Nebraska

First line/s:  "Nick Morelli wished the woman beneath him wore less makeup."

My comments: I'm going to start with a spoiler:  the murderer gets away with it.  We know who he is and they know who he is, but he is slick and good at his evil.  The book also ends with Albert Stuckey, the horrible, grizzly murderer who had captured Maggie previously, escaping from prison.  Book two will continue with this part of the storyline.  I have no interest in it at all and will not be reading it.  I don't think there is a single character in this book that I liked, other than a little kid who gets kidnapped and whose thoughts we are able to access.  Definitely not a favorite, nor an author I will return to.

Goodreads synopsis:  A killer is watching . . .
          The brutal murders of three young boys paralyze the citizens of Platte City, Nebraska. What's worse is the grim realization that the man recently executed for the crimes was a copycat. When Sheriff Nick Morrelli is called to the scene of another grisly murder, it becomes clear that the real predator is still at large, waiting to kill again.
          Morreli understands the urgency of the case terrorizing his community, but it's the experienced eye of FBI criminal profiler Maggie O'Dell that pinpoints the true nature of the evil behind the killings -- a revelation made all the more horrific when Morrelli's own nephew goes missing.
          Maggie understands something else: the killer is enjoying himself, relishing his ability to stay one step ahead of her, making this case more personal by the hour. Because out there, watching, is a killer with a heart of pure and perfect evil.

18. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Listened to on Audible
2013, St. Martin's Griffin
438 pgs.
YA CRF
Finished  2/16/18
Goodreads rating:  4.11 - 416,019 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting:  Contemporary Nebraska (if I remember right)

First line/s:  "There was a boy in her room. Cath looked up at the number painted on her door, then down at the room assignment in her hand."

My comments:  Yup, I really enjoyed listening to this book.  100% enjoyment, totally and completely into the story.  Cath's story is just delightful.  However, by the end I'd had enough of Simon's story.  Don't think I'll be reading Carry On.

Goodreads synopsis: From the author of the New York Times bestseller Eleanor & Park. A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love. 
          Cath is a Simon Snow fan.
          Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan...
          But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
          Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
          Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.
          For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?
          And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

29. Worth Dying For - Lee Child

Jack Reacher #15
Listened to audio cd in the car
2010 Delacorte
400 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 5/19/16
Goodreads rating: 4.20
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary rural Nebraska

First line/s:  "Eldridge Tyler was driving a long, straight two-lane road in Nebraska when his cell phone rang."

My comments:  Jack Reacher was a little disconcerting in this entry, at least until the very end.  He seemed particularly ruthless and ...blood-thirsty... in this one, much more than usual.  But a tiny bit more is revealed just before the very end of the book that made my "thumbs up, Reacher" attitude return.  Reacher is his usual foot-loose and fancy-free self in this one, making quick friends and enemies in an isolated small town in Nebraska where one family rules without question.  And they aren't a nice family.  Of course Reacher discovers what everyone is hiding, how to outsmart one heck-of-a-lot of hoodlums, and end up on the winning side...something you never doubt for a moment.  As always, an enjoyable audible treat on my drive back and forth from work.

Goodreads synopsis:  There’s deadly trouble in the corn county of Nebraska . . . and Jack Reacher walks right into it. First he falls foul of the Duncans, a local clan that has terrified an entire county into submission. But it’s the unsolved, decades-old case of a missing child that Reacher can’t let go.
 
The Duncans want Reacher gone—and it’s not just past secrets they’re trying to hide. For as dangerous as the Duncans are, they’re just the bottom of a criminal food chain stretching halfway around the world. For Reacher, it would have made much more sense to put some distance between himself and the hard-core trouble that’s bearing down on him. For Reacher, that was also impossible.

MOVIE - Nebraska

R (1:50)

Limited release 11-15-2013

Viewed Friday, 1-10-14 at ElCon

RT Critic:  92  Audience: 88

Cag: Hard to say right now, but I think this one will stay with me for a long time.  At first I watched it as a drama and I was just depressed (although marveled at Bruce Dern's acting), but then, about halfway through, I started considering it a comedy (a dramatic one, to be sure) and wished I watched it from the beginning thinking about it as a comedy.  Perhaps it just turned into one along the way?  But then I loved it!  And that's how I'm going to rate it - I loved it! The second half was awesome!

Directed by Alexander Payne

Paramount Pictures

Black & White

Actors:  Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Stacey Keach

Reviews:  Director Alexander Payne (Sideways, The Descendants) takes the helm for this black and white road trip drama starring Bruce Dern as a tempestuous Montana father who's convinced he's won a million dollar magazine sweepstakes, and Will Forte as the son who grudgingly agrees to drive him to Nebraska to claim his winnings.

My comments:  I've already mentioned my feelings about this as a drama.  Since I'm dealing with the aging process myself right now, I found Bruce Dern's condition, life, AND surroundings incredibly depressing.  I guess the black and whiteness of the film added to that feeling - which, I imaagine, it was meant to.  I was enthralled by Will Forte's character right from the beginning.  He was mesmerizing to me - I think he is incredibly good looking and I wanted to know more about his life.  One review I read says that his character is estranged from the father...I did not get that at all.  He was certainly empathetic.  And then when the mother, played so incredibly brilliantly by June Squibb arrived in Henderson, I sat back and just started to enjoy the film.  I found myself laughing over and over, more and more.  Those brothers!  Those cousins!  Those residents of Henderson!  Bruce Dern was amazing and almost a little too believable, Will Forte was glorious, but June Squibb was the cherry on top!