Carl Deuker -- Books, Movies, TV

Oddly, for a detective/thriller, the first half was better than the second.  Chase scene through SF held up very well.  Plot.  Robert Vaughn is bringing some guy from Chicago to testify against the mob.  The guy is supposed to be protected by Bullitt, but gets killed. Turns out it wasn't the right guy--the "right" guy is trying to beat it out of the country with millions.  Robert Vaughn is evil because . . . not quite sure. Maybe because he doesn't care about justice but only about how justice improves his career. Anyway, B. kills the mob guys after the mob thief, then kills the mob thief, then returns to J. Bisset who implied she might leave him Steve McQueen was a non-actor.  "Cool" is the positive description. Terrible might be the more accurate word.

Escobar becomes more wealthy, more ruthless.  Columbia at a breaking point--will Narcos take over the country?  It's close to happening.  Serial has hit its stride.

Pablo forced into Panama.  Assassinations allow him to return. Columbia as a Narco state.  One honest cop is after Escobar.  The power sure seems to be on Escobar's side.  Exciting episode.

Pablo, chased out of politics and humiliated, is now a target of the DEA.  He has money, so he buys the communist revolutionaries loyalty for a job--they attack the Columbian Supreme Court and (among other things) burn all of the evidence against Pablo.  Pablo pays them millions before executing them. Agents are constantly undercut by informers, but they are funded by the USA and so make life miserable for Escobar, chasing him from home to home, destroying labs.

She gets a late-night gig in the Catskills--the midnight hour when guests are expecting raunchy humor.  She starts to discuss her sex life in comic detail when she sees her father (who has left his camp because he's sick of his in-laws) in the audience at this camp. She panics, but plunges forward, giving a good performance. Dad is furious and drives her home. Suzie wandering through the camp pretending to be a plumber.

Father is mysterious, powerful force.  Grandmother dies.  The two kids meet their aunt . . . not sure what role she will play.  Cathy is convinced that two drowning deaths on the river were murders. Father patrols the river. Christmas Eve and father doesn't appear at lunch. Very unusual.

Uneven, but even when it's bad, entertaining. Miriam "helps" with a friends wedding. All goes well until, at the reception, she climbs on a chair and proceeds to insult--with her stand-up act--the priest, the bridegroom, the bride, the father of the bride.  Not good. Next episode, the Maisels, go to the Catskills for their annual vacation. Miriam is pushed into the arms of a doctor who is uninterested in her. Hubby Joel is about. The whole "Catskills" environment is the real subject matter.

Pablo Escobar taking over the drug trade and running for office.  DEA agents fighting against him, and losing any illusions that they can win the war and keep their honor.  Highlights (?) Cat hung . . . Escobar humiliated in Congress . . . Escobar ordering the execution of the Minister of Justice

Mainly background. How cocaine came to Miami. How Pablo Escobar became a kingpin.  A little boring, but necessary background.

Excellent. Burt Lancaster becomes the gang guy he always pretended to be. He shoots and kills two thugs after Susan Sarandon.  He then runs off with her, but that's hopeless. He's too old and he belongs in Atlantic City.  She sneaks off in the morning (he knows exactly what's happening) and he returns to Atlantic City.  Really held up well.

Holds up well. Lancaster plays a fake "mobster" who, at an advanced age, gets involved in a real cocaine deal.  Sarandon is trying to start a new life, but her ex-husband (drug dealer) and her pregnant sister show up to ruin that for her.  Hubby is stabbed to death by drug dealers angry with him for his theft of their drugs.  Lancaster has the stash--so now what!

Dark ending.  Our corrupt mayoral candidate (Marisol) and her sadistic "surgeon" brother (Gabriel) both succeed.  Tom is mutilated by Gabriel. Danny, who brought Keith Roman to his death, is chased down and jumps off a roof to his death. Billie lives; he confronts Marisol who tells him she never loved him; he is reunited with his daughter.  Brittany also lives.  Patty loses her FBI boyfriend by stealing evidence from him. All in all, not a very satisfying ending to what was a good series.

Billy held hostage in Mexico by Gabriel? Marisol?  He escapes by wiles and violence.  Back in L.A., his partner sleeps with FBI guy and then steals evidence (Roman's burner phone) as she lives. Brittany is with crazy Tom in his recreated bedroom.  Danny gets chased by hook-man to the top floor of a skyscraper . . . and then jumps (after losing his ear.)  Marisol's campaign director is on to her double-life. She's fired, and then hook man breaks her nose in the parking lot.  Denise still believes in Marisol. Billy makes it back to LA by hiding in the trunk of an SUV driven by a stranger. Ends tonight!

Corrupt cop who flipped (Keith Roman?) sets it up so his buddy Danny can kill him and put him out of his misery. Danny can't pull the trigger. Roman returns to where his family is being hidden where he is promptly murdered.  His family is also killed as is the cop guarding them. Billy is taken by Marisol to her brother Gabriel's hacienda.  Hints of incest. Marisol is actually Claudia.  She is running for mayor at corrupt Gabriel (drug dealer/cartel honcho) request/behalf.  while Billy is in the hacienda, Julio is killed in prison just before his release.  Marisol knows this is going to happen.  When Billy finds out, he takes off into the countryside and the show ends.

Julio, friend of mayoral candidate, is now liability for her.  She is having an affair with Billy, but Billy is on to her reluctance to help him help Julio. He smells a rat. He also gets the head of the "real" murderer delivered to him in a box. Corrupt cop has to decide whether to do time or risk being killed by cartel. LA developer and pervert (likes to masturbate watching people with missing limbs .  . . YIKES!) is also in the crosshairs of the cartel. However, the cop's buddy who seems so under control . . . he might be the one to get it. Billy's daughter lives alone in a huge house through all this.  Hello, Billy--the cartel might just go after her! Brittany, the para-pro ex-prostitute is being played by the real estate developer. She betrayed Billy in the last season, she just might do it again. Like it

Drugs, gang killings, mayoral candidate (good liberal) involved.  Billy sleeping with her, not suspecting she might be on the dark side.  She's trying not to be.  Cello playing younger brother is headed to jail for murder he didn't commit if Billy can't save him.

Billy McBride presents an extremely weak case, but wins anyway. William Hurt (Cooperman) has a stroke as he's testifying.  Government involved in some bad doings--acting made this terrific, though the ending wasn't satisfying.

Trial starts even though neither side is ready--Billie forces it. Lucy (stutterer) goes from wunderkind to fired after she stutters in practice session. Show ends with Billie calling to the witness stand his archenemy and former partner, Cooperman, played by William Hurt.

Explosion on boat.  Ruled suicide, but drunken ex-hotshot lawyer takes the case. Cover-up of military testing? Contest between two lawyers, one highly successful (Hurt) and a pervert. The other a drunkard who quit the firm after a client he got off later committed murder.  Very good so far.  Episode 5 tonight.

Held up very well. Painterly style, to put it mildly. Ryan O'Neal excellent in some scenes, good in others, but really a director's film if there ever was one.

Headed to Morocco soon, but this might not be the book to read. Main character, Port, has his passport stolen, his wife cheats on him, he contracts typhoid, and he dies.  Yikes. Wife (Kit) is wandering in desert or is dead.  Friend (Tunner) seduced the wife and is now semi-stuck in the desert, trying to find out for sure if she is alive or dead. “When I was young” … “Before I was twenty, I mean, I used to think that life was a thing that kept gaining impetus, it would get richer and deeper each year. You kept learning more, getting wiser, having more insight, going further into the truth” – she hesitated. Port laughed abruptly. – “And now you know it’s not like that. Right? It’s more like smoking a cigarette. The first few puffs it tasted wonderful, and you don’t even think of its ever being used up. Then you begin taking it for granted. Suddenly you realize it’s nearly burned down to the end. And then’s when you’re conscious of the bitter taste.”  ―  Paul Bowles,  The Sheltering

Curtis Sittenfeld First story:  Woman has conversation with shuttle driver. He's a Trump guy; she's a professor.  Unlikely couple.  But, she loses her driver's license.  Calls him. Is it in your van?  He calls back and arranges to meet her.  She assumes he has her license.  She's drunk from a meeting; they drink more.  Sex in her room. She finds out he doesn't have her license and kicks him out.  Finds wallet.Regret? She's not sure.

Book students read often but that I never got around too. Can see why it was a great favorite with boys.  Lots of good action sequences; believable cruelty scenes among the boys; strained, closed relationship with adults. All those with "the end of the world" and an impending war lurking in the background.

Paul Muni . . . held up really well. Not easy being an ex-con. Expose also of chain gang method of punishment, a method used recently by "Sheriff Joe" down in Maricopa, AZ.  Sheriff Joe is the sadistic sheriff pardoned by Trump.

Enjoyable if not memorable.  Poor American-Chinese girl goes to Singapore to meet family of beau . .  . she doesn't know he is from a billionaire family.  His mother rejects her.  Tears, drama, our American girl's mother has a disreputable past.  American girl (who is a professor of economics) gets courage, stands up to the Singapore dragon potential mother in law.  Walks out.  Happy ending as beau gets on plane and proposes again, apparently with mom's blessing

Terrific ending. Tully (older boxer) headed nowhere. Ernie (younger version of Tully) fights alone in Utah then hitchhikes back to Stockton. Gets a ride from two women, one of whom says: "Why would anyone want to go to Stockton."  Captures the mood of small dreams of Tully and Ernie. They don't dream of being world champions, just of fighting enough and winning enough to get some money in their pocket and maybe in the bank, to be able to see out past a few days. Not likely to happen. Trainer is the same way. He wants some boxers who will pay his bills and give him a little breathing room.  I'll look for other books by Gardner.

Nearing the end.  Dugoni's political theme is that US corporations and government were complicit in the Saddam regime.  I'm not generally fond of thrillers that take liberties with history, but it's pretty hard to disagree with that premise.  Very exciting stuff.  Cover-up to protect guilty corporation includes murdering US soldiers and (perhaps . . . nah, not really) our hero Sloane.

Iraq war.  Soldier dies in Iraq--widow believes it is due to negligence of US in not providing the best body armor.  Dugoni--a lawyer--describes how difficult it is to sue the government in such cases.  Asking for benefits is the accepted procedure.  Book also cuts back to the actual battle in Iraq where the man died.  Other wrench in the story--the "suicide" of a soldier who fought with the man. 

Tracy gets the murderer--not the Home Depot employee who was stalking her and who was killed by the police.  He was just a weirdo.  Instead, the killer is the manager of the dance club, spiky haired guy whose mother was a prostitute and who had an itch for acting.  Tracy catches him as he's about to kill again. She talks to him.  The "acting" part of his nature is flattered by the SWAT team outside, the cameras, etc.  Tracy talks him into giving himself up.  (There is a bit too much exposition in the final chapters for my taste.) Tracy decides to continue as a cop. This one wasn't as good as the other Dugoni mystery/thrillers I have read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. He mentioned Hooverville, a tavern I've gone to in SODO, so that was flattering (I'm in there with the cool people!).

Wonderful to read a book set in your home town, even if it's a serial murder story.  Prostitutes who work for strip club are being killed by rope-expert torturer on Aurora Avenue. (Could any street be more inappropriately named?  It sounds so nice and   . . .  it isn't.  Tracy Crosswhite is investigating.  We have strip club owner, special ed teacher, and Texan stepfather as possible suspects so far. Tracy is back in Seattle after exonerating her sister's convicted murderer only to then figure out that he WAS guilty, though he was also framed. Now she feels responsible for these murders because she'd left Seattle to work on her sister's case.  Tracy is also clearly in danger.  Mad killer will have her in his clutches in the end, I'm sure.

No surprises. Dental insurance is common in middle and upper middle class  families. Fewer Black and Hispanic dentists, etc. One detail.  Native Alaskans chew their food for their very young children--a sign of love.  Now, with untreated dental decay rampant, this spreads disease to toddlers.

Continuing saga . . . poor people need dental care. (This time she discusses Native Americans). Hygienists coulddo more Dental therapists could fill the gap. Dentists object citing the danger that non-dentists could make irreversible mistakes.  Is the dentists' argument self-serving or valid . . . or a bit of both?  New to me:  I hadn't thought that rural people drink well water that is not fluoridated.

Excellent.  Reminds me of All the President's Men and Spotlight.  Elizabeth Holmes, he suggests at the end, might have psychopathic personality.  Before reading the book, from news account, that would have seemed a stretch.  Now .  . . plausible. Her success. Ambition, charisma, brains, talent abetted by a desire on the part of Silicon Valley and politicians to have a "female Steve Jobs" to champion. The list of pols clamoring to be associated include:  Obama, Clinton, Biden. Kissinger, Schultz, Mattis joined her Board of Directors for reasons which are less understandable.  Could it be as simple as that they were flattered by her attention.  (Tyler Schultz, George Schultz's grandson, emerges as one of the true heroes of the story.) Downfall. Lying.  About the Theranos machine, about the results, about the money, about the lab, about absolutely everything. Intimidation:  Culture kept workers from discussing projects with one another. Employee churn. Non-dis

It's starting to unravel. Carreyou gets a tip from Alan B. (ethical lab director who quits) that things aren't right. Alan is afraid to take on E.H.  He doesn't have the money and he's turned over all his files the Theranos.  But he talks.  Carreyou is intrigued. He goes to Phoenix to talk to doctors. The more he digs, the more he discovers that the wonder invention isn't so wonderful after all.  Feels a little like All the President's Men or Spotlight now.  Very exciting.

Elizabeth Holmes is faking it.  She and Sonny are using their force of personality (aka bullying) to keep employees in line. Employees who leave (Tyler Schultz, grandson on George Schultz, for example) are bullied into signing non-disclosure documents and into turning over all emails, documents etc. under threat of lawsuit. How they expected to keep doing this, with the continued inadequacy of their devices, is mysterious.

Story of Theranos, the "blood test miracle" and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes. Great idea, but Holmes consistently and continually oversells, misleads, and outright lies to make the company seem as if it is on the verge of a major medical and amazingly lucrative breakthrough. She presents herself as the next Steve Jobs and convinces an array of intelligent people. Author attributes her early success to FOMO--fear of missing out.  Probably very accurate in that assessment. It's the early, heady days.  Those who object to her methods or question her results are steam rolled.

MC wrote some westerns early in his career. The end of this has a Western shoot-out feeling.  All the violence turns on Russian sables.  Nice touch with that at the very end.  Arkady returns to Russia (he is Russian with a capital R) while his girlfriend stays in America.  I read/listend to this over three weeks on airplanes and in two different cities.  It's obviously well-written.  Maybe it's a great spy book--I just struggled to follow the plot for the first 250 pages, probably my fault. Note:  in the interview that accompanies the book, MC describes writing for FOR MEN ONLY, an early men's magazine that was less racy than Playboy (skimpy bikinis, no nudity.)  He was one of two people who put the magazine out every month, writing numerous articles under numerous pseudonyms.  Early on, he sold Gorky Park. When he wanted to switch the detective from an American visiting Russia to a Russian, his publisher was tepid.  He eventually bought back the rights from the first p

I started this in Seattle on tape; read some on the plane; some in SF on vacation; more airplane; tape again . . . Tough, particularly because the plot is complicated (other than Arkady, no one is who they seem).  What I'll remember most are the descriptions of the Alice-in-Wonderland nature of daily life in Soviet-era Russia.

Confusion of 20's. Main character is confused about his sexuality, his nationality, his future, his past. Great scene where he meets, girlfriend Hella in tow, Giovanni.  Giovanni has been distraught because David simply disappeared. He was worried that David was dead.  David, though, plays the role of the "straight" male.  Giovanni, he pretends to Hella, is just a roommate. No idea why he's so upset.  Hella sort of believes it.  Love, deception, heartbreak, betrayal.  Great writing.

Cozy mystery with a "women are superior creatures" underpinning. The four women have all had their struggles, which we will learn about one-by-one, but they all remain/emerge wiser, kinder, smarter, etc. than the men in the novel, most of whom are corrupt, narrow-minded, unfeeling and potentially violent. (Nora's encounter with the paramedic-hunk is the exception, though it occurs to me that he may be the murderer.) Even Estelle, who uses sex to get what she wants, is portrayed positively.  The men are comically manipulated by her curves.  In one scene, she goes skinny-dipping with a married man but is rescued by her buddies before she actually has sex with the guy. Nora, our main character, is told by her female friends that she is beautiful despite her scars. No male says this to Nora because males are just too crass to see beyond surface beauty.  I hope I'm wrong and the book is more nuanced. If not, then this author is a one-and-done writer for me.

Cozy mystery.  Main character is former librarian who was in a terrible accident and suffered burns that disfigure her. She owns a bookstore and gives "book counseling. She meets an interesting man, sends him to a nearby scone shop for a comfort scone, and awaits his arrival at her bookstore.  Only he dies . . . did he jump in front of a train or was he pushed? Four women become detectives.  Nora, Bookseller and Estella, local tramp are two most compelling so far.

Genre might be dystopian fairy tale. "Daddy" is beast-like in many ways. Kids groom his beard and hair, bear witness to his super-human strength. He is connected to the land in an animalistic way, not a legal way.  He makes his living fighting other men . . . and always winning.  In these fights, he's manipulated, but he is not part of the underbelly.  He fights fair and clean. Spoilers next Ending.  Cathy is attacked.  She manages to kill her attacker (Price's son) even though he is much bigger. Price assumes that "Daddy" has killed his son and so comes after "Daddy" with a crew of men.  Daddy as Christ--pinned to his table. Cathy as Avenging Angel who kills them all. Daniel (who runs away during the attack) goes in search of her (is she alive?) after the horror ends. Ending reminded me a lot of the ending in Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. " Regular" people revealing their regular cruelty. I will definite

"Daddy" as mythic figure.  Strong, quiet, powerful--I work for no man Book seems to be heading to a confrontation between Daddy and Price, a rich landowner who mistreats the common man.

Daniel narrator. Young boy with no mother and street boxer for a father. Yorkshire. Sister Cathy is attacked on beach by classmates.  Cathy fights them off.  Unclear exactly how far it went, but it was sexual assault.  The novel moves in time.  The assault took place when D & C were young teens.  The "present" tense of the story involves Daniel's search for Cathy, who has run away for reasons which are not yet clear

Pino is forced to bring Leyers to freedom in Austria. Leyers has managed to cover up his past and serves but one year for his war crimes. After that, he lives the good life.

Facebook Twitter Email Print Save Bozeman author Mark Sullivan had reached the lowest point in his life the night he first heard the story of a 17-year-old Italian boy in World War II, who risked his life to save Jews by leading them over the Alps and then spied on the Nazis as a powerful German general’s driver. It was an amazing, heroic story, but Sullivan was skeptical. Why hadn’t anyone heard of this guy before? That was the start of a decade-long journey that led Sullivan to meet Pino Lella, to uncover the often forgotten story of World War II in Italy, and to write a novel based on Lella’s life. “Beneath a Scarlet Sky,” released as a Kindle First book by Amazon’s publishing arm, Lake Union, has been downloaded by a quarter-million readers, who have described it as thrilling and given it a five-star rating. It comes out in paperback May 1. “I think people long for something genuine and inspirational,” Sullivan said. “This story is both.” T

Strongest part of the book. Chaos, violence of Milan after the end of the war. Pina's Anna is a victim. Pina (having played a double-role) is under suspicion as a traitor and is nearly killed. General Leyers (Nazi) is destroying incriminating records and carefully constructing a narrative that makes him a "hero" of sorts so that he can resume civilian life . . . and be rich.

Italy at the end of WWII--an area I wasn't familiar with. Shortages, Jews transported, slave labor, cold winter. Nothing good. The love story between Pina and Anna is hokey. The rest is pretty good.

Progress I'm on page 260 of 526 of Beneath a Scarlet Sky: Pina is now a spy placed well as the driver for Leyers, a chief Nazi war planner. He has met up again with Anna, his first love. Descriptions of Nazi reprisals, partisan attacks, slave labor.

Pino is in the Alps, away from the bombing of Milan.  The priest with whom he stays sends him on rigorous climbing excursion. Pino is not sure why, but learns that the priest is saving Jews by guiding them to Switzerland. Pino becomes the number one guide.  Adventures on the trips:  avalanches, out of shape hikers, etc. keep the action going in some ways but also seem a bit like padding.  Nazis are now suspicious of the priest. Pino is called by his family back to Italy.  Why?

spoiler alert ** An odd little mystery that serves as an excuse to introduce readers to even odder bits of Icelandic lore. It took me a while to get in the spirit of the book, but I'm glad I stuck with it. A real spoiler is coming.  The idea of a "murderer" living on this tiny Icelandic island where everyone knows everyone else seemed impossible. I was curious how Ingolfsson would pull it off. Ingenious. The victim was murdered by being left to starve on a deserted island in the winter. Who left him? Our victim cajoled an old fisherman to take him to the island. He didn't know the fisherman suffered from dementia. Our fisherman dropped him off, waited a while, forgot all about the victim, and sailed back home, sealing the visitor's fate. Very clever and satisfying. The Flatey book does exist and was returned by the Danes to Iceland.

Italy, WWII.  Nazis coming to the "rescue" of Mussolini.  Milan family home bombed. Palo, main character, nearly 18, goes into the mountains to be safe.  He had a crush on Anna, an older girl, before he left. He is now learning to drive (fast) and is also doing some serious climbing.  So far, so good.  Historical fiction isn't my favorite, so . . .

This was one terrific book. I've always thought Chris Bohjalian transcends his genre, and The Guest Room is my favorite so far.  How often do you read a thriller that is also heartbreaking? It's not a pleasant read, but I'm one of those who believes that a book done well, not matter how depressing the topic, is always an uplifting experience. Young girls, tricked/forced/kidnapped into prostitution in Russian, perform at a bachelor party hosted by an investment banker who is hosting the party as a favor to a younger/wilder brother.  All hell breaks loose, and there's no putting the house back together again. Characters, plot, setting, theme -- ALL SUPERB.  I did the Kindle/Audible Whispersync read/listen method and was glad I had the book both on audio and in print because I was constantly looking for a chance to read or listen to a few more pages.  *****

45% Terrific. Two dead Russians in the house after the Bachelor party goes south. Richard trying to save his marriage. Richard trying to figure out himself. Alexandra (one of the prostitutes) gives her harrowing tale. An attendee at the party threatens to blackmail Richard. And . . . a wonderful scene at a high school where Richard's wife attempts to teach AP American history but breaks down in front of her students. Plot is heading in two directions:  Richard blackmailed; Richard seeking out Alexandra to rescue her. Confrontation with more Russians? Richard is on leave from his job . . . probably fired Richard's wife may or may not take him back. He didn't have sex with Alexandra but his wife doesn't entirely believe his improbably story of conscience taking him back from the brink at the last moment. Female lawyer Premise:  good guy makes one huge mistake . . . 

An odd ending . . . how many books about Nazi Germany in 1936 end on an upbeat note. Paul survives. He rescues the Fisher boys and Katya and gets them out of Nazi Germany. His German buddy Weber is shot in the stomach, floats off to die, but is rescued and lives. Paul himself escapes to continue on, correcting God's mistakes. The German detective that we admire does an admirable switch of passports to allow Paul to escape. Even Ernst, who was going to gas a dozen young men as part of an experiment, has a soul-searching moment of illumination. Excellent writing . . . but the happy ending seemed forced to me. (The spelling of the various character's names is quite likely incorrect. I listened to this book on Audible.)

1-35 Great start. Bachelor party given by middle-class 40 year old for his younger brother at older brother's house.  Strippers invited. Wife goes away for the night.  Strippers turn out to be Russian prostitute strippers managed by Russian thugs.  Do things get out of hand?  How about one of the strippers stabbing a handler repeatedly in the neck.  Middle-class husband's world is upside down! 

Anna the Imposter! Noah convicted! Now, Maggie sort of knows the truth. So who is behind the plot? Anna's $ is the motive. James, the lawyer? I can't think of anyone else. So . . . why does James kill her? Is there some way he can get at her inheritance? Lots of questions . . . I'll be interested if the answers work out. Catholic phrase: avoid the near occasion of sin. L.S. has Noah, after a huge fight with his wife and with his marriage in tatters, go upstairs to a hotel room where he meets a gorgeous ex-lover wearing only a robe.  She lets the robe fall, kisses him . . . and he leaves.    Catholic girl like Lisa Scotaline knows better.  Avoid the near occasion of sin, because if you get that close, you're going to sin!

Good court scenes.  Noah is accused of the murder of Anna.  Readers, I think, are being pushed to suspect Anna's mother and Noah's wife, Maggie. Anna is femme fatale according to Noah, showing some skin, trying to seduce him, calculating in her every move. The quick harmony of mom/daughter/stepdad/stepbrother is a little hard to believe. The court scenes--prosecutor grilling Noah about a phone message he says Anna sent to herself--are quite good. Noah accused of sexual misconduct by Anna.  Noah seems to be our moral compass in the story, so my guess is Anna made it all up.  But why? Enjoyable.

Jumps around in time. Anna has been murdered. Noah--doctor, and mother's second husband--has been accused of the crime and awaits the jury's decision.  Then back.  Maggie (mom) lost custody because of postpartum psychosis. Anna raised, sort of, by father with tons of $. Father  dies in plane crash. Anna decides she wants to return to her mother. Anna wealthy heiress.  So who kills her? Noah? Maggie? Someone else?

Struck at the end by the incredible power being raised in this sealed world had over Tara. I kept thinking, as her friends did, "You can't possibly go back there." "You can't possibly care what your father or mother think." etc. But she did care. Great book, rings true precisely because -- particularly toward the end -- so much about her behavior is frustrating to the reader. In some ways it reminded of the cliche of the horror film. You want to shout at her, "Don't open that door!" but she keeps opening it anyway.

Have gone from likely this moderately to liking it greatly.   Events:  Sibling (Sean) abuse.  This is a topic that is not discussed much, but is a big deal. I remember having a student (Ryan) who had a mean older brother who made his life hell.  A parent would have been arrested; an older sibling--nothing . . . yet.    BYU   Lack of knowledge of basics:  Napoleon, the holocaust, hygiene, blue books, study .  .  . a tough start.   Trips back to Idaho  . . . the junkyard, more brutality at the hands of Sean . . . self-loathing (a boy touches her hand, and she thinks she's a whore)   Back to BYU Father burnt badly in accident at junkyard   more success . . . new boyfriend, but she can't bring herself to tell him (Nick) anything of her family.   Academic success . . . summer in Cambridge . . . encouragement to go to grad school . . . world expanding . . . doesn't want to be just a Mormon mom choir director . . . Rebellion from the church . . . polygamy, specifically . .

Tara's break with domineering, loony father.  Brother Sean nearly as bad, though at times he speaks up for her.  Insane machines and danger in the scrapping yard where Tara works. Sean injured badly. Tara works a scissors machine that could kill her. Dad oblivious? Sean car accident.  Tara comes upon it.  Calls home--bring him to mother is the direction from dad.  She starts back to the house, but then goes to a hospital instead.  Major, irrevocable split from family.  She realizes that she is a terrible daughter because she'd do it again. Studies for BYU.  Manages, somehow, to get a 28 on her ACT and is admitted. Father thinks BYU is full of fake Mormons who are really gentiles and evil.  Mother wants her to go though she won't admit it to father. She goes, and is shocked at the worldliness of her Mormon roommates. She is completely unprepared for college.  She pretended to have home schooling from her mother, but nothing much past reading and basic arithmetic was ev

Mormon author describing her childhood in Idaho with an "end of the world is coming" father.  No schooling. The Feds are satanic. Guns and stored food. Notable scenes:  Father has daughter help him with his junkyard work and nearly kills her.  Piece of metal goes through her leg.  She's supposed to hop out of her father's dump truck just before he dumps it and help "settle" the iron into the larger container.  She is pinned by the metal in her leg and just manages to jump out at the last second. 17 foot fall, serious bruises, but she feels she's let him down--and he does, too.  "How did you manage that?" he asks. Older brother and narrator listening to classical music together--a shared bond outside the narrow scope of the family.  He leaves the house later, pointing the way for her. Another brother, helping the father, junk cars, is badly burned by car gasoline. Our narrator, at 10, manages to get the brother's leg into a black plast

Enjoyable . . . I suspect the "book" was created after the radio show.  Book ends at the beginning of WWII.  Irish Free State (sort of a commonwealth state) is trying to establish itself.  More radical Catholics and Northern Ireland want to see it fail.  Poverty related to world-wide depression is rampant in all of Ireland.  I will find another book to bring me from 1939 to the present day.

When the Catholics aren't killing the Church of Englanders, the C of E are killing the Catholics.  The Scot Presbyterians get involved as well. French Revolution (and French ships) add more fuel to the fire. Industrialization undercuts wool spinning and weaving by Irish women. Irish were just barely making it with farms and some wool weaving/spinning. With just farms, poverty and political 2nd class status. An island that was top to bottom forested is, by the early 19th century, bereft of trees

Lots of blood on both sides . . . Potatoes planted partly because other crops were trampled so frequently in war . . . Famine/suffering among the poor. . . Political oppression is overwhelmingly of English origin. . . Church of Ireland (a branch of C of England) brings with it many privileges. Scots-Irish, presbyterians, are second on the list.  Irish Catholics a distant last.  Scots-Irish immigrate to American after Revolutionary War.  Crisis for England--Catholics becoming overwhelming majority.  England has lost in America; Irish are restless; concessions made at end of 18th Century.

"Audiobook. Short segments by various readers. Ice Age bridge introduces humans to Ireland just 10,000 years ago. Recent--British Isles inhabited for 100,000 years. Forests from North to South. Interesting archaeological ruins showing engineering ability and astronomy--not unlike Stonehenge. Celts as more a culture than a people.  Entertaining"

Audible and Kindle A good book to read now and again to remind oneself that change is the essence of everything and that all roads lead to dusky death, so be kind and just along the way and don't grip life too tightly.

Capote writes incredibly. I just never quite got the appeal of Holly Golightly. Plot:  Her visits to Sing-Sing to see Sallie Tomato, the Mafia guy, get her in trouble with the cops.  She has to flee NYC for Brazil.  A last time with our narrator.  The cat dropped off in the street, then regret, then unable to find him. Our narrator returns again and again to look for the cat. Finally finds it (Holly) comfortable in a new home with a new name. So, is Holly tragic? Probably not--more like the cat that always lands on its feet. Also like the cat in that she doesn't and hasn't and won't have an easy time of it, despite her looks, charm, and wit. I will definitely read more Capote. 

Holly's past revealed. Orphaned, taken in by Doc Golightly in Tulip, marries him at 14. Grows up a little and runs away. Journey: Just a small town girl Livin' in a lonely world She took the midnight train goin' anywhere Came to mind.  Her "husband" shows up to try to take her back.  She's kind to him as he was kind to her, but of course she doesn't go back. Tragedy: her brother Fred dies in the war. More fast living. Her roommate Margaret Thatcher(!) marries the man who seemed to be Holly's beau, Rusty.  Don't much care for Holly, but Capote's writing is fantastic.  I don't usually like metaphors and similes all that much--too showy--but his are perfect so they seem natural.  What a gift.

Feels a little like an F. Scott Fitzgerald story. Also feels dated. Holly is presented as a distinctly American type.  Free spirit, open to any and all experience, young, brash, beautiful, intriguing.  But . . . time has a way of changing how we see things.  Or maybe Capote always wanted us to see her as shallow, mindless, racist, and gruesomely materialistic. 100 pages to figure it out.

Always good to branch out--an Icelandic thriller has an ending that no American writer would ever use. Situation:   Our main cop is personally in danger and the girl is trapped in a gondola in danger of freezing to death. American ending:  Cop kills bad guy and rescues girl.  Icelandic ending:  Cop escapes from bad guy by running (!) away.  He goes to where the girl is trapped but he can't figure out how to work the gondola so he gets help from others.  Dirty Harry he is not!

Almost finished.  The killer has been revealed--the one-eyed boyfriend.  He and his friend were both in love with Hjorides (sp? Yikes! Audible).  They decided to have a "kill" contest to see which one would win her.  One-eyed loses his eye, but wins the contest.  He makes it seem as if his friend has committed suicide, then buries him. Now he's in a "game" shootout with Birrack. The other murder of the retired father-in-law was a copycat.  Son-in-law, resentful that his father-in-law was going to spend all his money, kills him, hoping that the blame would fall on the other murderer. Son-in-law as quirky character. Obese wife; love of gardening; all he wants to know about prison is:  Can I garden there?  Wife is taken out by four men. Good question:  how does arresting her husband and sending him to jail help anyone?

Two murderers . . . one a copycat who kills his father-in-law because the f-i-l was going to spend all his savings and not give any to his (obese) daughter and the son-in-law.  But that leaves the first murderer loose. He is threatening to kill a policeman.  Can Bikkar and Gunnar figure out who he is and stop him? There was an odd serious of Trivial Pursuit literary questions posed by the murderer.  " Answer this or I'll kill!"  Answers were from Houseman, Poe, Ian Fleming . . . Fun . . . but highly unlikely!

Murderer is nicknamed the Gander because he (so far) has killed only geese hunters. However, a twist.  The body of a "suicide" from a year earlier is discovered--did the Gander commit this crime too.  And another twist. The Gander challenges the police with riddles.  "Solve it by X or someone else will die."  He informs them that he hunts men for the pleasure of killing. Good cop pairing.  Vietnamese boat person, not thoroughly Icelandic except for his looks, paired with Gunnar.  Brains and brawn; dapper and dowdy; healthy and heavy drinker .  . . but they make a good team.  Pretty good so far.

Lawyer murdered while goose hunting on land that he had recently taken possession of.  Old landowner in financial trouble, unsophisticated--told to leave the land.  Lawyer killed by shotgun.  Killer circles in on him but is never seen.  Two murderers? The old man?  Good start--set in Iceland, so it's a pleasure to hear the Icelandic names of people and places.  Not crazy about the audible reader so far.

The author, Michelle McNamara, died before this book was completed. It's great that editors and friends put this together--this murder/rapist should not be forgotten. However, the "pieced together" aspect of the book keeps it from being a top-notch book. Interesting questions: Should police have access to DNA held by Ancestry.com and the like? They could match DNA and find criminals, or at least close relatives of criminals and from there . . . ACLU issues, that's for sure, in allowing govt to comb through DNA files. Was the murderer a pilot? A Sacramento State student? A realtor? Builder? One thing seems semi-certain: he had some sort of job. It's possible that the book will lead to more clues and he'll be found. It's also possible, though not mentioned, that he's dead. Recommended by Marian and of interest because of California.  Author died of fentanyl and other drugs in her system.  Sounds like another story in itself right there.  Also inter

"More following of clues; more frustration. One possibility is that the murderer/rapist has an airplane. Footprints lead to airstrip. One pair of crimes were hundreds of miles but only 22 hours apart. Possible the m/r is involved in housing developments, perhaps educated at Sacramento State, perhaps unlike other serial killers. McNamara follows two great suspects who don't pan out. DNA exonerates."  Shows, unwittingly, how easily the wrong man can be arrested and convicted. One guy parallels the killer/rapist in his movements. He looks like a sure thing . . . only he isn't. Without DNA, likely he would be arrested and convicted." x

Criminal moving about.  San Ramon as likely home spot because it's central to the crimes but doesn't have (with one exception) any victims.  San Jose, Contra Costa, Sacramento.  thrill perhaps from attacking couples. men, after an attack, have great trouble coping with their failure to protect. Marriages/relationships commonly destroyed.

Rapist has now become rapist/murderer. Sacramento on complete alert, but he still escapes.  Attacks couples, has sandwich afterwards. Violence shifts to Contra Costa County, about an hour from Sacramento, then to Irvine and Santa Barbara.  Clues, but no arrests.  (DNA methods applied years later prove it is the same criminal.)

It's amazing that this murderer/rapist was able to escape capture across all of California for so many years.  Amazing and depressing.  The book is full of details but not of life.  Zodiac , which had a similar problem of an unsolved string of murders, was much more interesting. McNamara doesn't humanize the victims.

More about the crimes.  McNamara first became interested in crime after the murder of a jogger (unsolved) in her own neighborhood near Chicago. She talked with the boys who found the victim and discovered things that didn't fit the official account. She also picked up (!) the victim's broken Walkman.     Crimes in Sacramento and nearby.  Rapist wearing ski mask and gloves.  Oddly unhurried. Smart, seems to stalk his victims, figure out their schedule, then strike.  Starts as just a rapist.  Not discouraged by children in house.  Eventually strikes couples.

not a good title, because I can't remember it.  Listening on audible McNamara died at 46 before completing the book.  Drugs and a heart condition. She ran a blog on unsolved crimes, and this string of crimes was her main focus. So far, the book is as much a memoir of her upbringing as an investigation into the crimes.  Irish, Catholic schools, strained relationship with her mother, youngest of six, fascinated by crime beginning at age 14 when there is a murder (unsolved) near her home. Quirky personality. I wonder if this would have ever found a publisher had she not died.

Nice twist--I didn't have the right murderer, but I did get him with about 25% left.  Very exciting for a time as Megan unravels what she has suppressed from her captivity and Donlea feeds us (carefully) the missing pieces of the narrative.  Now that the murderer/rapist has been uncovered, the final confrontations await.  I thought Nicole might be alive . . . doesn't look like it. Livia and Megan in the cellar; Megan's father one of the police notified of the 911 call.  He doesn't exactly fit the profile of the loner without love, but Donlea did a nice job of presenting him as being just a little too unhappy that his daughter is going to Duke and not staying at home and going to Elizabeth State. What father doesn't want his daughter to go to a great school?  Only one who is a bit suspect.

The murderer still seems is obvious. Cribbage-playing "rescuer" whom Megan visits--but I'm enjoying the medical examiner/pathologist investigation.  Nice turn in the Megan-Livia (victim/pathologist sister) relationship.  Livia meets Megan and realizes that the obnoxious saved "Megan" of TV and book tours isn't real.  Hypnotism scenes with Megan and her doctor are also very good. I'm hoping I'm off base concerning the cribbage-playing murderer, because a satisfying twist is always nice.  I think we're done with the teen stuff, too, which is great. That was the weakest part of the novel by far for me.

Livia learns more about her sister's dark side, and I'm learning more about medical examiners/pathologists.  No teenage stuff--better 10%

Plot:  Nicole's sister Livia investigates Nicole's last boyfriend, a drifter whose brother disappeared when he was young. Nicole's cousin disappeared when she was young. (Lots of disappearing.) Livia's life as a pathologist trainee is described.  The pathologist information is the strongest. Nicole's teenage rivalries with Megan are yawners for me.  So, up and down.

Starts with girl escaping her captor.  Then a pathologist examines a mysterious body found floating in the bay--drowned or murdered.  "Saved" girl appears on TV show.  Happy ending, but . . . the abductor took another girl as well, and that girl was never found.  Flashback to high school. Nicole--the girl not found--is on the wild side.  The "found" girl is more conventional.  Twists. 1) the pathologist, Olivia, is the sister of the girl (Nicole) not found.  2) the dead "floater" is a drifter who had been dating Nicole.  Pretty good so far, though there's a Chick Lit side that I could do without.

I admire writers who are ambitious, and this is very much an ambitious novel.  McKinty doesn't quite pull it off, but  . . . Killian decides that to save Rachel, he has to kill the lawyer and the airline CEO. The lawyer OD's, the CEO is shot in the head.  Killian escapes.  He returns to his "Tinker" roots but is found by the man who hired him to find Rachel in the first place.  "I can't let you get away with failing to do the job." Is our "hero" going to get killed?  Book ends with Killian trying to talk his killer out of killing him. Along the way there are interesting musings on life, art, Tinkers, architecture, relationships, butterflies, migratory birds.  As I said, ambitious . . .

Killian drowns Markov, the Russian, after a staged attack on the Tinkers.  Killian then goes after Tom, the lawyer of the airplane mogul, and allows him to kill himself with an overdose of H and cocaine.  K. now on the final showdown. A little soft, oddly. Killian is the reluctant murderer, which is fine, but McKinty insists on it in dialogue instead of just showing it to us.  And the Tinkers are just a bit too perfect--even their flaws are presented as endearing.  Finish tomorrow.

Killian has tracked down Rachel Anderson to an island off the coast of Ulster.  Ivan (actually Sasha) is a couple of hours behind.  K. discovers that the true reason he is after R.A. is to get a laptop back--the laptop has a file showing various high powered politicians, etc., engaging in sex with underage girls. Still top notch, though the porno movie seems a bit overused. Today at the arboretum

Killian is in pursuit of the mother of the airline executive who has "kidnapped" their two children and taken off.  Markov is also after the woman, and after Killian.  Killian thinks he has shaken Markov. Wrong. Markov beats him and then says:  Look, I could kill you, but I'm not going to. Just go away. Killian doesn't.  Both men are now at the home of the ex-wife's parents in Northern Ireland.  (Dad has been sending his daughter money.)  Markov may have killed one of Killian's partners. Dark night. Dark deeds.  Terrific.

Killian avoids killing a Boston gambler who is short on money.  Killian talks him into selling his house by making up a story about a murder he committed in Uruguay.  Killian established as a guy in the business but with a heart. Next chapter:  Killian is assigned to bring back the mother and her two daughters from Chapter 1. Mother is portrayed as drug addict/danger to kids.  Killian has been hired by a "Branson" type--multi-millionaire owner of an airline that is on hard times.  (Volcano, recession.) Killian accepts (in Macau!), glad to be on the good side for once. Killian identified as Tinker, unable to swim.

I'm starting Falling Glass: Just started. Mom flees a trailer court with her two children. Licensed bounty hunters are in pursuit. They spray mace in her face as she drives off. So . . . what's up. 

This one really sneaked up on me. I was enjoying it, but was a trifle bored. Irish boy having trouble with groping Christian Brothers. It seemed like nothing new. But . . .what an ending.  Fitzpatrick, a boy who claims to have gone to school with our main character, confronts.  "I am you," he says.  "You are me."  The story of a single groping is just that--a story. Both boys were repeatedly raped by the Christian Brother. Both are scarred for life. Main character claims to have been "married" to Rachel.  This is interesting. Perhaps this is all made up.  He admits they were never married officially. He has no pictures of his "son." Fitzpatrick "I am you" says that he is unable to get an erection--it's clear he is sexually disabled by the experience with the Christian Brother.  Is our main character any different? Has he made up Rachel and his son? I listened to this on Audible and don't have the book.  Most of the time, Au

They are at trial, and the case against the nemesis lawyer weakens by the minute.  Sister of murdered woman has no alibi; witness who "saw" lawyer return changes her testimony.  He has to get off.  So . . . a twist is coming

Cop/Lawyer intersection story. Cop is wrongly accused of planting evidence by lawyer. Cop hates lawyer, though lawyer insists he didn't know his document was a forgery. Fast forward. Cop's wife Jenny is killed in a hit and run. Lawyers wife Jennavieve is murdered. Cop thinks lawyer did it and sets out to prove his guilt. Is he blinding himself out of a desire for revenge —  1 minute ago Add a comment Twist. Our cop gets in the mail a letter stating that his wife was not killed in a hit and run, but was murdered. A key accompanies the letter--to a storage box somewhere? The lawyer claims he was at a conference in Chicago when is wife was killed. But was he? Or did he get in a car, drive to Minneapolis, kill his wife, and then return to the conference. Lawyer is hated by his dead wife's (rich) sister.

Polly emerges, a survivor, at the end.  Laura Lippmann plays it cagey regarding what "really" happened in the ultimate scene, but that also fits into the film noir feel of the book.  Well-written, good length, and again she makes Baltimore interesting.

Polly is (maybe) in love with Adam. She(maybe) thinks he is spying on her. She (maybe) killed Cath. She (maybe) set up Irving to take the fall for the fire that killed Cath. She (maybe) is just the victim of a serious of unfortunate errors and is ready to start a new life.  Adam is in love with Polly. He thinks that (maybe) she is in love with him. He thinks that (maybe) she did or didn't kill Cath.  He thinks that (maybe) she is using him. He thinks that (maybe) they can be happy together. Closing in on what looks like a great ending.  Double Indemnity has been mentioned a few times, so perhaps they will die in one another's arms.  Problem--no guns.

Okay, now Polly is getting suspicious of Bosk who is suspicious of Polly. Nice noir touches.  Polly discovers from her lawyer that Irving (the crooked insurance broker) is aware that she pocketed a bundle from the hospital's botched delivery of her child, Joy.  Polly thinks--why hasn't Irving come after me--and then realizes that maybe Bosk is Irving's agent. (She's right, of course.) Irving notices that although she said she was just going to Dover, she has put over 200 miles on his truck.  Where was she?  Is she playng him for a fool.  Nice, old-fashioned plot.

Back story of Polly.  She married her (sort of) H.S. sweetheart. (He was 5 years older than her--more of a cradle robber.  Pregnancy forced the marriage, then she lost the baby.  He is a brute, physically and emotionally abusive.  They have daughter, Joy.  She takes life insurance policy on her husband for 1 million in her daughter's name.  She kills husband with a knife to the heart.  Somehow, Irving--the man who arranged the life insurance--feels cheated out of the money.  Polly ditches her daughter, somehow is not convicted of the murder, and then does a repeat with new husband. Cath, at the diner, becomes suspicious of Polly. She has her brother-in-law check on Polly. She discovers Polly's murderous past and confronts her. Polly decides to just tell Adam Bosk about her past. He is now in love with his prey and does nothing ( he has to fake that Cath has told him, but he's been hired because of her past). Suspiciously, that night, Polly's apartme