Cover Characteristic: Red Covers

Hosted by Sugar & Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite cover’s with that characteristic. 

Cover Characteristic: Houses

Hosted by Sugar & Snark

Each week we will post a characteristic and choose 5 of our favorite cover’s with that characteristic. 

Book Beginnings & The Friday 56: Brilliance by Marcus Sakey

Hosted By Rose City Reader & Freda's Voice

"Book Beginnings" is a weekly event that shares the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. "The Friday 56" is also a weekly event, sharing a sentence from page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.)


My Pick This Week:  Brilliance by Marcus Sakey  

““The radio host had said there was a war coming, said it like he was looking forward to it, and Cooper, coatless and chilly in the desert evening, was thinking that the radio man was an asshole.

He’d chased Vasquez for nine days now. Someone had warned the programmer just before Cooper got to the Boston walk-up, a brick rectangle where the only light had been a window onto an airshaft and the glowing red eyes of power indicators on computers and routers and surge protectors. The desk chair had been against the far wall as if someone had leaped out of it, and steam still rose from an abandoned bowl of ramen.

Vasquez had run, and Cooper had followed.”

~ p. 1 

“The heavy door of interview room four muffled the shouting within, rendering the words indistinct. But through the window Cooper could see Dickinson leaning over the table, one hand planted knuckles down, the other up and pointing, inches from the face of a man with the same cheekbones and brow line as Alex Vasquez. Dickinson was stabbing the air with his finger, jamming it back and forth as if he were pushing a button.

Using the shouting as cover, Cooper gently opened the door and slipped inside, catching it with one hand as it closed and easing it shut.

“—had better come clean with me, do you hear? Because this isn’t some speeding ticket. It’s not an eight ball of blow. You’re looking at terrorism charges, my friend. I will vanish you. Just,” Dickinson straightened, held his hands out in front of him and stared at them in mock bewilderment, “where’d he go? Wasn’t there a guy here a minute ago? Some twist lover? Poof, he’s gone, no one knows where, never seen again.” He leaned forward again. “Do you hear me?”

“I hear you,” Cooper said.

The agent whirled, one hand blurring to his empty holster. Man, he’s fast. When he saw Cooper, he looked briefly sheepish, but that faded quickly, buried by naked dislike. “I’m in the middle of something.”

“Yeah? What?” Cooper spared a glance at Bryan Vasquez, saw no sign he’d try something stupid, so turned his attention back to Dickinson. “What exactly are you in the middle of? Which case? Who’s the target?”

Dickinson gave a wolfish smile. “Just following a lead. Never know where it’s going to go.” The other agent squared up to him. “Until I get there. ”

~ p. 56 

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Blackbird (Blackbird Duology #1) by Anna Carey

Hosted By Breaking the Spine

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event that spotlights eagerly-anticipated upcoming releases.

Title:  Blackbird

Book Series: Blackbird Duology, Book #1

Author: Anna Carey

Genres: YA, Mystery Thriller, Suspense

Release Date: September 16, 2014

This twisty, breathless cat-and-mouse thrill ride, told in the second person, follows a girl with amnesia in present-day Los Angeles who is being pursued by mysterious and terrifying assailants.

A girl wakes up on the train tracks, a subway car barreling down on her. With only minutes to react, she hunches down and the train speeds over her. She doesn’t remember her name, where she is, or how she got there. She has a tattoo on the inside of her right wrist of a blackbird inside a box, letters and numbers printed just below: FNV02198. There is only one thing she knows for sure: people are trying to kill her.

On the run for her life, she tries to untangle who she is and what happened to the girl she used to be. Nothing and no one are what they appear to be. But the truth is more disturbing than she ever imagined.

The Maze Runner series meets Code Name Verity, Blackbird is relentless and action-packed, filled with surprising twists.

What a great synopsis. I already feel the tension and am ready to dive into this girl's world. I'm wondering who she is and what's her story. Hooked!

Also, how gorgeous is this cover.

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"Waiting On" Wednesday: Six of Hearts by L.H. Cosway

Hosted By Breaking the Spine

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event that spotlights eagerly-anticipated upcoming releases.

Title:  Six of Hearts

Author: L.H. Cosway (Facebook | Twitter)

Genres: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense

Release Date: July 28, 2014

Step right up and meet Jay Fields: Illusionist. Mentalist. Trickster.

I think in triangles. You think in straight lines.

I show you a table and make you believe it’s a chair.

Smoke and mirrors, sleight of hand, misdirection. I trick and deceive.

But most of all, I put on a good show.

The world thinks I killed a man, but I didn’t. Bear with me. It’s all a part of the plan.

Revenge is what I want. I want it for me and I want it for her. I want it for all six of us.

She doesn’t remember me, but she’s the reason for everything. She’ll be my prize at the end of all this – if I can hold onto my willpower, that is. Maybe I’ll slip up a little, have a taste, just a small one.

So go ahead and pick a card. Come inside and see the show. Look at my hands, look so closely that you can’t see what’s happening while you’re so focused on looking. I’ll be destroying your world from right here in the spotlight.

You’ll never see me coming until it’s too late.

I’ve only got one heart, and after I’ve pulled off my grand deception I’ll hand it right to her.

So, sit back, relax, and let my girl tell you our story. You’re in for one hell of a ride.

When famed illusionist Jay Fields walks into her father’s law practice, Matilda Brandon has a hard time keeping her heart from pounding. With a non-existent love life, she wonders if she could ever have a chance with a man this sexy and charismatic. She knows she’ll never meet someone like him on her online dating site, that’s for sure.

Jay wants to sue a newspaper, however, he leaves with a new landlord and a rather smitten housemate instead. As the two form a bond, Matilda finds herself becoming a part of Jay’s crazy world of illusion and mentalism, where underground magic shows, casino gambling and secret vendettas abound.

Jay has a dark history, and Matilda isn’t sure if she should open herself up to such an enigma of a man. Is he really who he claims to be? And why does he keep so many secrets?

She doesn’t know it yet, but they share a common past. Jay has set a plan in motion and whether she likes it or not, claiming her heart has always been his ultimate goal.

This sounds intriguing as hell. I mystery within a mystery within a msytery. I think illusionists are really interesting, and Jay's dark past and dangeruouf, underground world have my fingers twitchingto get ahold of this book

And that back, sexy!

 

     

Book Review: Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

Book Series: Odd Thomas, Book #1
Author: Dean Koontz
Genres: Paranormal, Mystery, Suspense
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: David Aaron Baker
Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins

My Ranking: 

“The dead don't talk. I don't know why.” But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Odd Thomas thinks of himself as an ordinary guy, if possessed of a certain measure of talent at the Pico Mundo Grill and rapturously in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, Stormy Llewellyn. Maybe he has a gift, maybe it’s a curse, Odd has never been sure, but he tries to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out. Sometimes they want justice, and Odd’s otherworldly tips to Pico Mundo's sympathetic police chief, Wyatt Porter, can solve a crime. Occasionally they can prevent one. But this time it's different.

A mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world's worst killers, and a pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd’s deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15.

Today is August 14.

In less than twenty-four hours, Pico Mundo will awaken to a day of catastrophe. As evil coils under the searing desert sun, Odd travels through the shifting prisms of his world, struggling to avert a looming cataclysm with the aid of his soul mate and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock 'n' Roll. His account of two shattering days when past and present, fate and destiny converge is the stuff of our worst nightmares—and a testament by which to live: sanely if not safely, with courage, humor, and a full heart that even in the darkness must persevere.

So ... I finished the book. That wasn't for lack of trying to abandon it on numerous occasions. Mainly because the story had no "oomph." Protaognist Odd Thomas moved slow. The pace of the story moved slow. The killer moved slow. Meanwhile... I tried my hardest not to fall asleep. There was a whole lot of imagery, general musings into the various mysteries of life, and detailed descriptions of the city of Pico Mundo and it's inhabitants, and then, every once in a while - for color - death, destruction and serial killers. But, let's be frank - the latter is what we opened the book for (or spent a Audible credit on...). It's what the book jacket promised. Instead of being captivated, this audiobook played out a little too much like elevator music. The story it was delivered far too slowly to keep me engaged.

In example, it's hammered into your brain that Odd's entire world was to come crashing down on August 15. There even was a countdown. Then midnight rolls around and I was thinking, where's the explosion? Then I looked down at my iPod and there was still 3 hours left on my audiobook ... I was very confused. I was promised chaos. But apparently chaos wasn't scheduled until later on in the day. Shenanigans, I tell you.

Besides the pace of the book, the other issue I had was the character of Odd. I didn't find him that all odd, or all that interesting. I never got a good grasp on his role in the story. Was he supposed to be a paranormal detective? Because if that was the aim, I found that hard to believe, because he too unmotivated and unhurried.

But, these weren't my biggest gripe. I all but stopped listening when it came this doozy. A warning this is a pretty big spoiler. I mention it solely to convey the main reason why I could never love this book. I will try not to completely spoil the plot, it out here it is: if a character thinks that the police will look at them suspiciously from just being in the vicinity of a dead body, the most logical next step is to move the body. Right? And you don't stop at only not moving the body, but you move it and the murder weapon and dump it someplace where it's unlikely to ever be found. Because that's what completely innocent people do - who regularly work with law enforcement. They contaminate crime scenes, tamper with evidence and also throw said dead body out of window. Clearly, none of these actions are either suspicious or asinine ... Yes, this actually happened in the story. SMH and slap it a few times, because this makes no damn sense.

To wrap up my rant, one could ask when I finally came to the end of the book was I more satisfied? No, not really. The story kind of went off into a tangent, giving a great deal of back story on Odd and less on the killer/main plot of this story. Good idea for the series, but bad idea for the flow of the book.

Needless to say, I don't have a strong interest in continuing with this series. But, I've already purchased Book 2 on audiobook. Maybe when my to-read queue is on the downshift. No time soon. 

Not a good start for my first Dean Koontz book.

David Aaron Baker did a good job. He read in a low monotone, which matched Odd's persona.