Review: Bitter Medicine

Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

About three years ago or so, I mentioned this book in an article I'd written about Sarah J. Maas's books being re-labeled for the adult sections of the bookstore and the library, and gave this book as an example of fantasy written by women being mistakenly labeled as YA. Somehow, the book slid under the radar for me after that, but when I found it again by chance on a library tabletop in Hillsboro, I found the time ripe to finally give this book a read. And it's really, really not YA. Not even close. And like Sarah J. Maas's books, I definitely shouldn't have been reading this one at work, but hey, that's a damn fine love story between Elle and Luc there. Far and away their chemistry is the book's best highlight.

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Review: The Devil's Bible

The Devil's Bible by Steve Berry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Steve Berry returns with the 20th novel in the Cotton Malone series, in which he and his cohorts get involved with a missing medieval codex, and also a missing Swedish princess, which may have possible connections to the fictional Konstantin Franko regime in Russia that stands in for Putin's imperialism in this universe. It also connects to the still-unsolved assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, with Berry going with the theory that it was a Soviet hit job. Ultimately, Berry goes somewhere he very rarely goes - killing off a major character who has been involved in the series since the very beginning, which explains why it begins with a prologue where Cotton reflects back on where this mission went so badly wrong and wonders if it was worth it.

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Review: The List

The List by Steve Berry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Steve Berry said he trunked this early manuscript in the 90s after he began working on it in an attempt to meet the John Grisham moment of the time. Now that he’s far more seasoned a writer, and with historical as well as legal research aplenty under his belt, he brings this story of a secretly sinister Southern company town and paper mill to life with the sort of knowledge only an insider could. The plot takes its time to get going, but when it does…hoo boy, that letter to Brent alone is what bumps this up from 3 or 3.5 to 4 stars for me.

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Review: The Curse of Penryth Hall

The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this one, with its gothic atmosphere at a stormy Cornish manse and our protagonist working in a bookstore with an old man proprietor and a lovely black cat. But the book very quickly managed to lose my interest despite the murder and mayhem that happens. I think I’m either in a reading slump, or I just couldn’t keep my mind on this one. Either way, it’s sadly an official DNF for me.

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Review: Maieman: Revelations

Maieman: Revelations by D.L. Hannah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

D.L. Hannah's tenth book overall in her great royal interplanetary saga reaches a natural stopping point with a grand finale - for now, although whenever the story is ready to continue, I'll be ready to order those new books too. With so many interwoven story threads, Hannah ties them together as excellently and dramatically as she's always done, and in particular, she confirms that my theory about what exactly was happening to King Jonah was correct. I'd say the best highlights are the lovely artwork of Queen Revari that King Jonah is painting in one key scene, and the eagle in the final paragraph, which - should this book ever get a film or TV adaptation someday - would make an evocative final shot.

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Review: Pendergast: The Beginning

Pendergast: The Beginning by Douglas Preston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hark! A (near) modern Prometheus! Preston and Child take a break from the present day and the wild time travel shenanigans of the Leng arc to give us a great new starting point for potential new Pendergast fans, with the 1994 case that got him kicked out of New Orleans before the events of Relic - and in fact, a chapter from that 1995 novel is the epilogue of this book, in which Pendergast meets D’Agosta for the first time. Here, however, Pendergast is partnered with a recently widowed New Orleans FBI agent, Dwight Chambers, tracking a particularly warped new serial killer that fits very well into the horror genre once again. And while it’s an early case for Pendergast, it’s also the origin story of Proctor, before he became Pendergast’s chauffeur and majordomo of many special skills. It’s a treat for us longtime fans, and a great place to start for new readers who can then jump back to Relic and continue the series from there.

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Review: Dead Lions

Dead Lions by Mick Herron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Once again, Herron presents a fast paced, (almost) single sitting read in the world of the Slow Horses, with the story that was later covered in great detail in the second season of the Apple TV series adaptation. I will say for sure, though - one big detail that doesn’t translate into the TC series as much is Jackson Lamb’s persistent flatulence, which somehow manages to be even more in your face in this non visual medium. Though I did like the series adaptation better on this one, it’s still a damn good action thriller of a book, and I’ve already got Book 3 waiting in the wings…

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