Picture Book - River by Elisha Cooper

Illustrated by the author

2019, Orchard Books

HC $18.99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.97 - 173 ratiugs

My rating:  Hmmmm.....4?
Endpapers:Map of the northeast, largely including the Hudson River

1^st line/s:  "Morning, a mountain lake.  A traveler, a canoe.  As she paddles out into the bluster middle of the lake, she turns for a last wave to the shore behind her.  Her journey begins.

My comments: A woman, alone paddles a canoe the entire 315-mile length of the Hudson River in New York, detailing many of her adventures, sightings, and trials.  It's a very interesting read for this adult, but I'm not sure how much it will hold a child's attention.  Definitely suited for a third or fourth (or even higher) geography/river study.

Goodreads: Caldecott Honor winner Elisha Cooper invites readers to grab their oars and board a canoe down a river exploration filled with adventure and beauty.

In Cooper's flowing prose and stunning watercolor scenes, readers can follow a traveler's trek down the Hudson River as she and her canoe explore the wildlife, flora and fauna, and urban landscape at the river's edge. Through perilous weather and river rushes, the canoe and her captain survive and maneuver their way down the river back home.
          River is an outstanding introduction to seeing the world through the eyes of a young explorer and a great picture book for the STEAM curriculum.
          Maps and information about the Hudson River and famous landmarks are included in the back of the book. 

52. Among the Wicked by Linda Castillo

Kate Burkholder #8
listened to on Audible
publishing info
306 pgs.
adult murder mystery
Finished 9/30/2016
Goodreads rating:  4.21 - 3496 ratings
My rating:  2.5
Setting: Contemporary winter in rural upstate New York

First line/s:  "Dusk arrives early and without fanfare in northeastern Ohio in late January."

My comments:  To tell the truth, I was a little disappointed with this one....first reaction is that it was short and simplistic.  I didn't end up with the same feeling I usually have when I finish one of Linda Castillo's novels.  It was very predictable, the surprises weren't really surprises.  I'm left with the same feeling that I have when I finish one of her short stories about Kate - this felt more like a short story, it left me wanting more.  However, this doesn't mean I won't be holding my breath for number nine!

Goodreads synopsis:  Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is called upon by the sheriff's department in rural, upstate New York to assist on a developing situation that involves a reclusive Amish settlement and the death of a young girl. Unable to penetrate the wall of silence between the Amish and "English" communities, the sheriff asks Kate to travel to New York, pose as an Amish woman, and infiltrate the community.
     Kate's long time love interest, State Agent John Tomasetti, is dead set against her taking on such an unorthodox assignment, knowing she'll have limited communication - and even less in the way of backup. But Kate can't turn her back, especially when the rumor mill boils with disturbing accounts of children in danger. She travels to New York where she's briefed and assumes her new identity as a lone widow seeking a new life.
     Kate infiltrates the community and goes deep under cover. In the coming days, she unearths a world built on secrets, a series of shocking crimes, and herself, alone... trapped in a fight for her life.

45. Wolf Lake: a novel by John Verdon

#5 Dave Gurney, upstate New York detective
listened on Audible
2016, Counterpoint
375 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished 8/22/16
Goodreads rating:  3.92 - 562 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting: Contemporary Adirondacks resort during a blizzard

First line/s:  "The porcupine's behavior was making no sense.  There was something deeply disturbing about its lack of logical purpose - disturbing at last to Dave Guerney."

My comments:  Number five in the Dave Guerney series did not disappoint, but I don't think any will affect me like the first, which I thought was absolutely brilliant. Intricate mystery solver, decorated ex-NY state police detective now-retired, takes on the mystery of why four people could commit suicide in the exact same manner after having the exact same frightening dream.  The cast of characters is not really large, so solving the mystery isn't hugely difficult if the reader's paying close attention.  Good story, I gobbled it up in two long sittings.  The reader (I listened to this one) was excellent. The setting is during a blizzard in the Adirondacks, which I'm happy to read about as long as I'm not enduring the actuality. A great part of this particular novel is about Gurney's wife, Madeline, who I've never really felt drawn to (I don't really understand their relationship at all, or her weird, silent attitude towards her husband and anything he does that she doesn't agree with).  However, she's drawn me in - a tiny bit more - in this story.  Now I have to wait another year for then next sequel!

Goodreads synopsis:  Could a nightmare be used as a murder weapon? That’s the provocative question confronting Gurney in the thrilling new installment in this series of international bestsellers. The former NYPD star homicide detective is called upon to solve a baffling puzzle: Four people who live in different parts of the country and who seem to have little in common, report having had the same dream—a terrifying nightmare involving a bloody dagger with a carved wolf’s head on the handle. All four are subsequently found with their wrists cut — apparent suicides — and the weapon used in each case was a wolf’s head dagger.
       Police zero in quickly on Richard Hammond, a controversial psychologist who conducts hypnotherapy sessions at a spooky old Adirondack inn called Wolf Lake Lodge. It seems that each of the victims had gone there to meet with Hammond shortly before turning up dead. 
       Troubled by odd holes in the official approach to the case, Gurney begins his own investigation — an action that puts him in the crosshairs of not only an icy murderer and the local police but the darkest corner of the federal government. As ruthless as the blizzard trapping him in the sinister eeriness of Wolf Lake, Gurney’s enemies set out to keep him from the truth at any cost — including an all-out assault on the sanity of his beloved wife Madeleine.
       With his emotional resources strained to the breaking point, Gurney must throw himself into a deadly battle of wits with the most frightening opponent he has ever faced.
       Wolf Lake is the page-turning new work by a writer hailed by the New York Times as “masterly” — and it furthers the adventures of Dave Gurney, a detective reviewers have compared to Sherlock Holmes.