Review: Beautiful Lies

Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger My rating: 0 of 5 stars This ebook sucked me in, pulled me along until suddenly the romance that was going to be mysterious and slow bounced out cliches, fired off ripped abs and hot sex. Then I solved the “mystery.” Not good because since my brain injury I suck…

Review: Angels

Angels by Billy Graham My rating: 2 of 5 stars This book was recommended to me as a good start for reading up about angels, as it may have been the first to be written on the subject (in the modern era anyway). It starts out well, and it does cover many aspects of angels…

Review: Claws

Claws by Stephen Booth My rating: 3 of 5 stars Only Ben Cooper appears in this nicely short story. I like the interplay befween Cooper and Uddal; the mystery itself is Intriguing; and the ending satisfies. But this is a mystery with a message. And that message is hammered home in Cooper’s thoughts, a policeman’s…

Review: Ill Wind

Ill Wind by Nevada Barr My rating: 4 of 5 stars Another good read by Nevada Barr. What made me admire her more as a writer is that she had a scene where a lesser author, going for the easy titillation, would’ve thrown sex in. Instead Barr adds credibility and excitement and interest by not…

Review: The Dead of Winter

The Dead of Winter by Rennie Airth My rating: 1 of 5 stars OK, it’s rare for me not to finish a book. I’m endemically inclined to finish any book I pick up, even if it takes me years. But this writer has a really annoying habit of jumping around in time. At first, I…

Review: A Superior Death

A Superior Death by Nevada Barr My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book won’t leave my head. I keep feeling the coldness of a Lake Superior summer, the lushness of a temperate climate, the aliveness of the protagonist Anna Pigeon. I’m sure I’ve read Nevada Barr before — I have memories of reading a…

Review: Prisoner of Tehran

Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat My rating: 4 of 5 stars I had heard great reviews of this book, but I found it a difficult read — not style-wise but content-wise. And so at first I read it on and off. “People just don’t talk about it,” [the Iranian woman] said. That’s true for…