111. The Dark Hours - Michael Connelly

#4 Renee Ballard/#23 Harry Bosch

listened on Audible

2021
400 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 12/10/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.51
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary LA

My comments: Two mysteries keep Renee Ballard busy with the help of Harry Bosch.  Both are super intuitive and puzzle solvers.  One of the cases is about a bad cop, now retired, who is a hitman of sorts; and the other is about two guys who are serial rapists.  Renee even gets a teeny tiny bit of a love interest in this one, and an apartment!  It was so excellent!

Goodreads synopsis:   Has a killer lain dormant for years only to strike again on New Year’s Eve? LAPD Detective Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch team up to find justice for an innocent victim in the new thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly

There's chaos in Hollywood on New Year's Eve. Working her graveyard shift, LAPD Detective Renée Ballard seeks shelter at the end of the countdown to wait out the traditional rain of lead as hundreds of revelers shoot their guns into the air. As reports start to roll in of shattered windshields and other damage, Ballard is called to a scene where a hardworking auto shop owner has been fatally hit by a bullet in the middle of a crowded street party.

It doesn't take long for Ballard to determine that the deadly bullet could not have fallen from the sky. Ballard’s investigation leads her to look into another unsolved murder—a case at one time worked by Detective Harry Bosch.

Ballard and Bosch team up once again to find out where the old and new cases intersect. All the while they must look over their shoulders. The killer who has stayed undetected for so long knows they are coming after him

82. Blonde Hair Blue Eyes by Karin Slaughter

listened on Audible, through Chirp
read by Kathleen Early
Unabridged audio (2:23)
2015 Cornerstone Digital
67 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 8/29/19
Goodreads rating: 3.44 - 8282 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: 1991 Athens, Georgia

First line/s:   "The morning mist laced through the downtown streets, spiderwebbing tiny intricate patterns onto the sleeping bags lining the sidewalk outside the Georgia Theater."

My comments:  Oh my, this novella certainly packs a punch.  A pretty 19-year-old college freshman in Athens, Georgia, ponders the mysterious disappearances of other pretty young women.  I'm pretty sure this takes place in 1991, so the plight of women and rape and abduction is still either mostly ignored or spoken in hush-hush tones.  At least a lot more than currently.  I was pretty sure of the ending for quite while, but it still got to me. 

Goodreads synopsis:  A missing girl in the news reminds Julia Carroll of herself: nineteen, beautiful, blonde hair, blue eyes.
          Julia begins to dig deeper and plans an article for her college paper. She becomes gradually more obsessed with the case, never imagining how close she herself is to danger. 
from a reader: Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes is a short-story prequel to Karin Slaughter's September 2015 novel Pretty Girls. It is a brief look at Julia's life before she went missing. In my opinion, I don't feel that it is necessary for readers of  Pretty Girls to read this but it provided interesting insight into local crime at the time, Julia's character, some family dynamics, and of course her abduction. 

33. Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

listened on Audible
read by the author in her wonderful, lilting southern style
Unabridged audio (12:03)
2013 William Morrow
320 pgs.
CRF
Finished 3/28/2019
Goodreads rating:  3.66 - 12,164 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting:  Contemporary Atlanta

First line/s:  "I fell in love with William Ashe at gunpoint, in a Circle K."

My comments:  I could listen to Joshilyn Jackson read forever.  The story seemed particularly long and drawn out, but I didn't care because of that.  It's an intricate story that winds in and out and around itself, with its own little histories and pleasures and treasures peeking out every so often.  Many love stories are touched upon in this novel - right down, in a way, to the robber's as well.  told from two points of view, one even allows us a chance to climb inside the brain of someone with Asbergers.  Jackson has written tighter novels, but this is good nonetheless.

Goodreads synopsis:  At twenty-one, Shandi Pierce is juggling finishing college, raising her delightful three-year-old genius son Natty, and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced Catholic mother and Jewish father. She’s got enough complications without getting caught in the middle of a stick-up in a gas station mini-mart and falling in love with a great wall of a man named William Ashe, who willingly steps between the armed robber and her son.
          Shandi doesn’t know that her blond god Thor has his own complications. When he looked down the barrel of that gun he believed it was destiny: It’s been one year to the day since a tragic act of physics shattered his universe. But William doesn’t define destiny the way other people do. A brilliant geneticist who believes in science and numbers, destiny to him is about choice.
           Now, he and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head on, in a funny, charming, and poignant novel about science and miracles, secrets and truths, faith and forgiveness,; about a virgin birth, a sacrifice, and a resurrection; about falling in love, and learning that things aren’t always what they seem—or what we hope they will be. It’s a novel about discovering what we want and ultimately finding what we need. 

90. Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason

#3 Inspector Erlundur, 1st one published in English from Icelandic)
read on my iPhone, listened on Audio, AND watched the movie on Amazon Prime!
translated from Icelandic
2005 Minotaur - originally in 2000 in Iceland
275 pgs.
Adult Police Procedural/Murder Mystery
Finished 9/6/18
Goodreads rating:  3.8 - 19,061 ratings
My rating:  3.5
Setting: contemporary Reykjavik, Iceland

First line/s:  "The words were written in pencil on a piece of paper placed on top of the body."

My comments: I've had this book on my Kindle for years, and then got a cheap deal on audio, so had them both and finally decided to go for it.  Then I discovered it was hard listening to it because so many of the places and names in Iceland are almost incomprehensible for my weary brain.  But flipping back-and-forth between the text itself and the audio was really quite interesting.  And then I rented and watched the movie, made in Iceland with subtitles, an hour after I finished the book!
     Not only was this story/mystery itself incredibly dark, the setting was almost darker.  Although it was autumn, it was a dreary, constantly rainy autumn.  Erlunder, the detective protagonist, is a 50-ish, scruffy smoker, long divorced, with a daughter who is an addict.  She begins living off and on with him, and their relationship is ingrained into the story.  I'm not really sure how or why his investigation moves in the direction it does, but we immediately discover the dead man is a rapist, his few friends are criminal and crazy, and everything hinges around the death of a four-year-old boy 25 years previously.  The movie pretty much followed the book, though in a bit different order, but adding situations with the dead man's two accomplices that did change the story a bit.  Not sure how to rate this - I liked the setting and the characters, but the direction in which the plot moved so so improbable....

Goodreads synopsis:  When a lonely old man is found murdered in his Reykjavík flat, the only clues are a cryptic note left by the killer and a photograph of a young girl’s grave. Inspector Erlendur, who heads the investigation team, discovers that many years ago the victim was accused, though not convicted, of an unsolved crime. Did the old man’s past come back to haunt him?
          As the team of detectives reopen this very cold case, Inspector Erlendur uncovers secrets that are much larger than the murder of one old man--secrets that have been carefully guarded by many people for many years. As he follows a fascinating trail of unusual forensic evidence, Erlendur also confronts stubborn personal conflicts that reveal his own depth and complexity of character.

20. Mourning Gloria by Andrew Downs

A Leah Hudson Thriller
read on my iPhone
2015, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
308 pgs.
Adult Mystery/FBI
Finished 4-6-17
Goodreads rating: 4.21 - 382 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: Late 1980s California

First line/s:  "The Good Samaritan was famished...practically starving.  His hunger had been building for weeks, fueled by an insatiable desire, which could only be fulfilled by one thing...the kill."

My comments:       Something was just a little bit of with this book, but I guess I'm going to have to mull a bit to come up with what it might be.  I think it had to do with the characters.  The mystery was pretty decent, the setting - California from LA to San Francisco and in between - is a bit known to me and it worked.
     I used to tell my students when they were learning to write to "show me, don't tell me."  Well, I feel like the characters in Mourning Gloria were told about, not shown.  Either that or the parts about them that were showing didn't totally agree with what the author was telling.  Or something.  Can't quite put my finger on it. Definitely something to do with characterization.  As usual, I hate to say anything negative about an author's hard work, but I'll add more if I figure it out.

Goodreads synopsis:  From The Author Of The Alex Hollick Series Comes A Dark Heart-Pounding Thriller With Brilliant Plotting, Continuous Suspense and a Jaw Dropping Finale! 
          When a murder suspect escapes indictment on a technicality, Agent Leah Hudson is forced to shift her focus to a new task, a cold case. Five years after Gloria Stone disappears, Hudson must piece together the final days of her life, but Gloria was no ordinary girl. Shortly after surviving a brutal gang rape on her twenty-first birthday, the affluent wine heiress vanished, her car abandoned in a supermarket parking lot. 
With the help of her onetime mentor, Hudson retraces the steps of an old investigation, determined to succeed where all others have failed. Making her way through a slew of once discounted suspects, she edges closer to a horrifying truth - Gloria wasn’t alone…there are other victims and a misogynistic serial killer continues to lurk in the shadows of the Central Valley, threatening the lives of young women who fit his sick and twisted M.O. 
          Mourning Gloria brings together the elements of a thriller and a murder-mystery into one bone-chilling tale that examines the darkest depths of human nature. 

59. The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis

listened to on Audible
2016, Katherine Tegen Books
344 pgs.
YA CRF (older YA)
Finished 11/1/16
Goodreads rating:  4/27 - 1470 ratings
My rating:  4 (As brilliant as it is, somehow I can't quite give it a 5. Not sure why...)

My comments:  To be quite truthful, I'm not exactly sure what to think of this book or how to rate it.  I knew from the beginning it would not have a "good" ending.  It's a book about rape and abuse and discusses sex and sexuality unsparingly.  The story is told in three very distinct, reliable voices.  It's a heartbreaking book.
         These are the words of Emily May, a Goodreads reviewer who I really enjoy (although we don't always agree).  This is exactly what I was thinking, so why put it in my own words?

     BRUTAL. That's how I would describe this book. It sits there all unassuming with its cute yellow cover and pictures of animals, but underneath it has some serious fangs. Rather like the female of the species, I suppose.
     Quick warning: this book may not be suitable to those sensitive to rape and/or animal cruelty. Make no mistake, it's a nasty book. At times it's absolutely disgustingly awful. But it's a very sharp and effective look at sexual assault and rape culture too. And somehow so fucking funny. Well, maybe if you have a sadistic sense of humour, which it turns out I do.
     I don't even know how to adequately explain it. The Female of the Species is told from the perspective of three different characters - Alex, whose sister was raped and murdered; Jack, the popular guy who desperately wants to get to know Alex; and Peekay, the preacher's kid whose ex-boyfriend ditched her for the beautiful Branley, and who now works at the animal shelter with Alex.

Goodreads synopsis:  Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it. When her older sister, Anna, was murdered three years ago and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best. The language of violence.
          While her crime goes unpunished, Alex knows she can’t be trusted among other people, even in her small hometown. She relegates herself to the shadows, a girl who goes unseen in plain sight, unremarkable in the high school hallways.
         But Jack Fisher sees her. He’s the guy all other guys want to be: the star athlete gunning for valedictorian with the prom queen on his arm. Guilt over the role he played the night Anna’s body was discovered hasn’t let him forget Alex over the years, and now her green eyes amid a constellation of freckles have his attention. He doesn’t want to only see Alex Craft; he wants to know her.
         So does Peekay, the preacher’s kid, a girl whose identity is entangled with her dad’s job, though that does not stop her from knowing the taste of beer or missing the touch of her ex-boyfriend. When Peekay and Alex start working together at the animal shelter, a friendship forms and Alex’s protective nature extends to more than just the dogs and cats they care for.
         Circumstances bring Alex, Jack, and Peekay together as their senior year unfolds. While partying one night, Alex’s darker nature breaks out, setting the teens on a collision course that will change their lives forever.

57.The Garden of Burning Sand - Corban Addison

Audio read by Robin Miles (there are lots of different accents, and she nailed every one of the, making the book even more realistic for me.)

12 unabridged cds (12.25 hrs.)

2013 Regulus Books, 2014 Recorded Books

448 pgs.

Adult Mystery

Finished 9/12/2014

Goodreads rating: 4.06

My rating:  4/I very much enjoyed this 

Setting: Contemporary Lusaka, Zambia

1st sentence/s:  "The girl walked alone on the darkened street.  Lights moved around her as cars drove by, their headlights shining on the dusty roadway.  But no one seemed to notice her or care that she was alone.  Her gait was steady but her steps were irregular since one of her legs was shorter than the other."

A good quote:  "Life is a broken thing.  It's what we do with the pieces that defines us."

My comments:  The best part about this book?  Getting to know contemporary Africa a bit.  This book is set in Lusaka, Zambia with forays to Livingtone and Victoria Falls.  The protagonist, Zoe Fleming, is an ex-pat whose father just happens to be running for president of the United States.  The story centers around an orphaned teenager with Down's Syndrome who has been raped, and Zoe's legal team gathering evidence to prosecute her rapist.  Many issues are thoroughly examined...AIDS and HIV, rape (not only in Africa, but in the US, since part of Zoe's past includes this), the culture of Zambia including the gaping socio-economic differences, medicine man/voodoo (my words) beliefs, and the realities of rich (country) vs. poor (country).  Disadvantaged vs. Advantaged.  I enjoyed listening to this book a great deal.

Goodreads book summary: Zoe Fleming is an American attorney working with an NGO devoted to combating child sexual assault in Lusaka, Zambia. When an adolescent girl is raped in the dark of night and delivered by strangers to the hospital, Zoe’s organization is called in to help.
          Working alongside Zambian police officer Joseph Kabuta, Zoe learns that the girl’s assailant was not a street kid or a pedophile but the son of a powerful industrialist with deep ties to the Zambian government. As the prosecution against him grinds forward, hampered by systemic corruption and bureaucratic inertia, Zoe and Joseph’s search for the truth takes them from Lusaka’s roughest neighborhoods to the wild waters of Victoria Falls, to the AIDS-ridden streets of Johannesburg and the splendour of Cape Town.
           As the rape trial builds to a climax and sends shockwaves through Zambian society, Zoe must radically reshape her assumptions about love, loyalty, family—and, especially, the meaning of justice.

19. Faking Normal - Courtney C. Stevens

2014 Harper Teen

321 pgs.

Written for YA

Finished 3/29/2014

CRF

Goodreads Rating: 4.10

My Rating: 4

TPPL

Setting: Contemporary Tennessee

1^st sentence/s: "Black funeral dress.  Black heels.  Black headband in my hair.  Death has a style all its own.  I'm glad I don't have to wear it very often."

My comments:  Read this all in one night.  I loved Bodee - but who wouldn't?  I loved Alexi's mom, but again, who wouldn't? I couldn't stand Alexi's sister - but you weren't supposed to. I liked the whodunnit aspect. A little-too-pat ending, but I wanted that.  So why not a five?  I needed more reason that Alexi couldn't say NO!  More than once! This is just not believable to me - her reasons (or non-reasons) just don't cut it.....

Goodreads Review:  Alexi Littrell hasn't told anyone what happened to her over the summer. Ashamed and embarrassed, she hides in her closet and compulsively scratches the back of her neck, trying to make the outside hurt more than the inside does.

When Bodee Lennox, the quiet and awkward boy next door, comes to live with the Littrells, Alexi discovers an unlikely friend in "the Kool-Aid Kid," who has secrets of his own. As they lean on each other for support, Alexi gives him the strength to deal with his past, and Bodee helps her find the courage to finally face the truth.