The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

 The end approaches.  The final battle is in sight and Rand is changing to prepare himself.  He gets harder inside, willing to do whatever it takes to defeat his enemies and giving up the boy and man he has been.  He attempts an alliance with the Seanchan but the Empress refuses. Those around him see the change and mourn it.  As he gets harder, he trusts fewer and fewer people and is ready to sacrifice anyone to achieve the defeat of evil.

Egwene is facing her own battle.  She has been captured by the White Tower and although she is has been raised Amerylin by the Aes Sedai who fled the Tower, she knows the two factions must come together.  She starts working from within as a prisoner, pointing out to her captors the divisions within the White Tower and how weak it makes the sisterhood.  When the Seanchans attack, killing some Aes Sedai and capturing others for slavery and to make into weapons, Egwene sees her chance.  Can she unite the Aes Sedai and lead them to their appointed role in the Last Battle?

Mat and Perrin are both slowly working their way towards Rand.  Mat has been told that Moraine, the Aes Sedai that visited their village so long ago and started the boys and two women on their path, has not been killed but is captured.  He and his Band are headed to try to rescue her.  Perrin is also on the move.  

This is the twelfth book in the Wheel Of Time.  It is also the first book that Brandon Sanderson wrote after Jordan's death, using his notes for how the series should end.  Sanderson brings a breath of fresh air to the series.  His pacing is a bit more brisk and the characters accomplish huge feats in this book.  There are two more books in the series and I'm looking forward to reading them.  This book is recommended for epic fantasy readers.

The Long Walk by Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman

 

They call it the Long Walk.  Every year one hundred men, many young boys not out of their teens, start the walk.  The winner gets to ask and get for anything they desire.  The catch?  There are strict rules, the main one being that the walkers cannot stop for anything.  Those who stop or slow down past the minimum speed are warned.  A warning can be walked off if the walker gets up to speed and stays there for an hour.  Three warnings and another offense means that the soldiers who accompany the walkers shot and kill the offender.  At the end, there will be only one walker.

Ray Garraty is the local favorite.  The walk starts and is mostly in Maine and he is a Maine son.  Ray is sixteen and he entered the contest on a whim.  When he was chosen, he had thirty days to decide if he would take up the challenge or take his name out of the competition.  Both his widowed mother and his girlfriend begged him to drop out but something made him continue.  Now he is in it to the end.

The walkers start out full of vim and vigor  But as the hours roll on, they get quieter.  They must eat while moving, drink, if they need to relieve themselves they have to do it in full view of others and as time goes on, even sleep as they walk.  Some make friends and some form enemies.  The first deaths start to occur and the mood changes as it sinks in that this is real and only one of them will survive.  Will it be Ray?

This is an early novel of King's, written under his alter name, Richard Bachman.  King writes an introduction talking about why he used the Bachman name.  Bachman had a darker vision of the future and of humanity than King.  This book is a good illustration.  The reader slowly realizes that yes, all the characters they start to recognize and empathize with, will be killed, one by one.  Hopes and dreams don't matter, whether you are a good person or bad doesn't matter.  All that matters is whether you can outwalk the others.  This book is recommended for suspense and horror fans.

Hounded by Kevin Hearne

 

Atticus O'Sullivan appears to be a twenty-one year old man who owns and runs a New Age bookshop in Tempe, Arizona.  But looks can often be deceiving.  Atticus is actually over two thousand years old and he is the last Iron Druid.  He was involved in the battles of yore and has been on the run for centuries from his enemies.  Tempe has been a refuge but there are signs that his enemies have finally tracked him down.

This time Atticus decides to stay and fight rather than run.  He has some help.  He has an Irish wolfhound who is his closest companion.  He has the help, usually, of The Morrigan, a crow in form who is the Irish Chooser Of The Slain although her support is always questionable as she can change in the blink of an eye.  The first of the Fae is on Atticus' side but only because they share a common enemy.  He has a tentative relationship with a local coven of witches but Atticus doesn't trust them at all.  He does trust his lawyers, a werewolf who does the day work and a vampire who takes the night shift.

But his enemies are powerful.  The Irish God of Love has hated Atticus for centuries and has chased him across the world.  He wants to become the ruler of the Faes and knows he will have a better chance of that if he can eliminate Atticus first.  He also has entry to the demons of hell and can call on them in a fight as well as his own witches.  Can Atticus survive this latest challenge?

Kevin Hearne has created a memorable character in Atticus.  He is a native of Arizona so he gets the locale perfectly.  His writing style is light and humorous and the reader will fall in love with Atticus and his wolfhound.  This is the perfect first novel in a series; it can be read as a stand-alone tale without cliffhangers but it's so delightful that the reader will be interested in reading more of Atticus' adventures.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.

Playing For The Ashes by Elizabeth George

 

When Inspector Thomas Lynley and his DS Barbara Havers are called out, they know it will be murder.  What they don't know is that this is a celebrity death with all the extra attention and scrutiny that entails.  Kenneth Fleming was a national hero, playing on England's cricket team.  He was the people's hero, having made the team not after attending fancy schools and colleges but as a grown man plucked from the factory floor after being spotted in an industrial league.

There are plenty of suspects to consider.  Fleming was found in the cottage of his mistress, Gabriella.  Her husband claims to know of the affair and care less.  There is Fleming's wife, who has been separated from him for four years but hopes always for a reconciliation.  His teenage son is full of rage at his father's absence and betrayal.  Kenneth has another strange relationship.  He lives with his mentor, the woman who used to be his teacher and who became his boss at the factory.  No one understands this relationship although there is plenty of gossip about it.  Had Fleming's affair with Gabriella crushed Mrs. Whitelaw's unspoken hopes?  Then there is Olivia Whitelaw.  She left her home and family as a rebellious twenty year old and hasn't spoken with her mother in years.  Mrs. Whitelaw has left her considerable fortune to Fleming, not Olivia.  Is there jealousy there?

Lynley and Havers work the investigation with plenty of pressure from above at the Yard and plenty of lies from every suspect.  Can they see through the lies to the truth of who killed Kenneth Fleming?

This is Elizabeth's George's seventh novel.  Her forte is the characters she creates and the web of lies they tangle around themselves.  Readers welcome another chapter in the story of Lynley and Havers and are familiar with their private lives.  The mystery is intricate and the unraveling is taut and satisfying.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

 

It is the 1950's and Lakshmi has finally made a life to sustain herself.  She was forced into marriage at fifteen to an abusive man who beat her every month when she wasn't pregnant.  At seventeen, she ran away from her village and family to try to make a new life for herself.  She became a henna artist and soon discovered that she had a real talent for it.  A rich man she met encouraged her and helped her move to Jaipur where he lived.  Introduced to some of the upper class including his wife, she eventually found herself the most prized henna artist in the city.  

Lakshmi has even found the money to build a house for herself.  She is about to move in when her world changes forever.  Her husband appears in Jaipur after all these years, demanding money from her.  He has brought someone else.  After Lakshmi ran away, her mother had another daughter that Lakshmi never knew about.  Both their parents are now dead and the sister, Radha, has come to live with Lakshmi.

Lakshmi is determined that Radha will have everything she never did.  She is only thirteen so there is time for her to get an education.  When Lakshmi pleases one of the ruling class, the woman offers to pay for Radha to attend the most prestigious school for girls in the city.  

Lakshmi should be happy but there are cracks in her life.  She has a second stream of income, giving women who are pregnant and don't want to be herbs and drugs to make them miscarry.  This darker money is made in partnership with the man who brought her to the city.  His wife is influential and Lakshmi is attempting to add more income by arranging a marriage for their son.  But when Lakshmi offends this woman, in a mere manner of weeks her entire world collapses as the woman abruptly takes away her support.  

This is a debut novel and was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club choice.  The author was born in India but immigrated to the United States as a teenager.  Her background is in advertising and marketing.  The novel introduces the reader to the culture and fashions of India and the caste system and lack of opportunities for women that was common in the 1950's.  Lakshmi is a strong woman but her strength make her blind at times to the strength of others as she is determined that she knows what is best for everyone.  Her constant maneuvering and willingness to do anything for money is her eventual downfall.  This book is recommended for readers of women's and historical fiction.

All The Little Hopes by Leah Weiss

 

They are best friends but it's a miracle they ever even met.  Lucy Brown is from the eastern part of North Carolina, growing up on a farm with tobacco and bees with her large family.  Now that the War is on, one of her brothers and her brother-in-law are gone overseas.  Her dad is sought out by the government for his bees.  The Army doesn't want the honey so much but needs all the beeswax he can provide for waterproofing tents.

Allie Burt Tucker is from the mountains of North Carolina.  After her mother's death, her father sends her East to help out his sister who is pregnant and needs help.  But when Burt arrives, her aunt doesn't know who she is or why she's there. The aunt hasn't seen her husband in weeks and thinks Burt is after him. She seems on the verge of a breakdown and one night she throws Burt out in a storm and tells her never to return.  Burt makes her way to Lucy's house and eventually moves in with Lucy's family.

With the war on, Lucy's dad has trouble keeping up the work of the farm plus over a hundred hives.  He trains Burt to work with the bees and also uses the help of the town's gentle giant who is a bit slow but a good worker.  Later he even uses German prisoners of war.  There is some talk about them but the men soon show that they are just like most men, some good, some bad.

Burt and Lucy do all the things thirteen year old girls do.  They tell stories, pretend to be detectives and talk about boys.  They do each other's hair.  Over the next couple of years they grow ever closer as they start to become more adult.  Burt has a close call with an older boy who pretends to like her but has other things in mind.  The girls learn about Ouija boards and use one to solve their most puzzling questions although the answers seem strange and hard to interpret.  But most of all they learn to be a family and form a friendship that will never be broken.

Leah Weiss is a bestselling author who never published until after she retired from her career as an executive assistant at a school.  Her first novel, If The Creek Don't Rise, has sold over a 100,000 copies and is also a novel of the rural South.  Weiss was born in Eastern North Carolina.  I was lucky enough to meet her at an author event when her first novel was published and she is a warm and witty woman.  The characters in this book will bring wry smiles of recognition to women as they look back on their own teenage years and the friends they shared their lives with.  This book is recommended for women's fiction readers.

The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter

 

Will Trent and his partner Faith are called out at night to a horrific scene.  A former policeman has been found dead in a abandoned nightclub and there are women's bodies as well.  Worse for Will, it appears that one of the women is his sometime wife, Angie.

Thus starts another case that is tied to Angie and Will's background.  Along with the abuses they suffered as children, there is a woman married to a basketball player who has connections to Angie and possibly Will.  Angie is back to her old tricks, teasing Will with her presence and then disappearing, refusing to concede him to Sarah, who Will is in love with.  Will wants to be with Sarah but childhood bonds keep him tied to Angie as well.  Before the case is done, there will be revelations of domestic abuse, corrupt policemen, rape and drugs.  

This is the ninth Will Trent novel.  Although I've loved him as a character I'm ready for him to either be with Sarah and drop Angie completely or the reverse.  There was not much about Faith and Amanda, their boss, in this novel, but prior novels have given their backstories.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

All Things That Deserve To Perish by Dana Mack

 

Elisabeth von Schwabacher has just returned to her family home in Berlin from three years of music study in Vienna.  She is an accomplished pianist and along with the fact that her father is extremely wealthy will be considered one of the catches of this year's matrimonial events.  But in 1896, there are several things against her as well.  Elisabeth's family is Jewish and there is open discrimination against them in society.  She is also quite outspoken and has returned home with ideas of what women should be able to have outside of a marriage.

Two nobles court her.  One is an old friend but she isn't interested in him romantically.  The other is from an impoverished family although their standing  in society remains high.  Elisabeth is immediately attracted to him but isn't sure she wants to marry anyone.  She decides that this close to the nineteenth century she should be able to do as she pleases and determines that she will take him as a lover.  The noble is more than willing and she does so.  Her family discovers this and are appalled.  They send her away to relatives.

But love will out and the noble and Elisabeth eventually marry.  She goes to his estate only to be shocked at how different it is from the heights of Berlin society.  His family is open with their distaste for her Jewishness as are the other families in the area.  

Dana Mack is a historian, musician and journalist.   This is her debut novel but her articles on various subjects have appeared in publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Christian Science Monitor and the Washington Post.  Her background has made her the perfect author to write this novel about women's changing roles in society and the fact that the Jewish population were being ostracized long before Hitler came to power.  This book is recommended for historical fiction readers.

Midstream by Lynn Sloan

 

Polly Wainwright has drifted through her twenties and early thirties.  She once dreamed of making movies but has settled for a job as a picture editor. She moved from her life in New York back to Chicago when her mother was injured in a car crash and just stayed there.  Polly has a partner but he is a war correspondent and has been overseas covering the end of the Vietnam War and his letters are becoming more and more impersonal.  She has an apartment she likes and a routine that just a bit too comfortable.

Then Polly's world falls apart.  Her steady job is suddenly in jeopardy.  Her best friend is facing a serious illness.  She realizes that her boyfriend may not come home and resume their relationship.  What will she do with the rest of her life which is, she realizes, her responsibility to carve into what she wants?

This is a lovely book.  I felt like Polly was one of my best friends as I could relate so totally with her dreams and struggles.  When I was her age, I knew women who just drifted into a life that fit other people's expectations of what women should do and I knew women who took charge and made their lives what they had always wanted it to be.  The book was set in 1974 and this was the time when the feminist movement was strong and women thought about whether the way things had always been for women was going to be enough for them.  Polly is a character that will remain with readers long after the last page is read.  This book is recommended for readers of women's fiction.

The Prince Of Mournful Thoughts by Caroline Kim

 

These twelve stories by Caroline Kim explore the Korean culture and their immigrant experience through time.  The first story, Mr. Oh, is about a middle-aged man who has come to America.  He has a wife who he loves more than she loves him and two successful grown children.  He has a laundromat and he has unexplained pains and depression that he wants explanations for.  His life hasn't turned out as he imagined and he isn't sure what's next.

My favorite story was Magdelena.  A sixteen year old girl tells about going on a picnic with immigrant families on her birthday and then about going with her mother to check on an older woman from their church.  They find the woman near death, dehydrated and almost starving.  She is obviously on the brink of a psychotic breakdown and the girl's mother calls an ambulance and then accompanies the woman leaving her daughter behind to work out what all of this means.  

Readers who are interested in other cultures will enjoy these stories as will anthology readers.  Kim attempts to convey the entirety of the Korean experience, especially that of those who have been forced to move elsewhere in order to survive.  This book is recommended for anthology readers and those interested in the Asian culture.

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

 

Marion Graves and her twin brother Jamie were only six weeks old when their first brush with notoriety occurred.  They were passengers on the cruise ship their father captained when it ran into trouble and capsized.  Many died including their mother and their father was shamed since he chose to save the babies rather than be the last man on board.  He was imprisoned and the twins were sent to Montana to be raised by his brother.

The uncle had no idea how to raise children and was an alcoholic.  He basically let the children run free and raise themselves.  Marian fell in love with flying when some barnstormers came through town.  She was determined to do whatever it took to learn how to fly, dropping out of school at fourteen so she could earn money.  Marian married young to a bootlegger who wanted to control her.  Marian flew the liquor into the States for him but eventually left him to be free.  She ran to Alaska and took another name, living under the radar and flying visitors and supplies into small Alaskan towns.  

Later she was a pilot in World War II, one of the women who flew transport craft from the factory to where they were needed.  She met Ruth and Eddie, a couple she grew close to.  Ruth was also a pilot and Eddie was a navigator.  After the war, she was at loose ends until she met with a woman of great fortune who offered to sponsor Marian's dream.  That dream was to fly around the world, flying over the North and South poles, a flight that had never been made.  Marian could not be dissuaded and took off with Eddie as her navigator.  They never made it and their bodies were never found although the last sighting of them had been in Antarctica.  

Now, one hundred years later, an actress is hired to portray Marian in a film about her life.  The actress, Haley Baxter, has a fellow feeling for Marian.  Haley's parents had been killed in a plane crash when she was a small child and she was also raised by an uncle.  Haley became a child star in Hollywood and then when a scandal broke, she was hounded off her movie and television career.  She needs a comeback badly and the film about Marian might just provide it.  But as she reads the script, starts to make the film and researches Marian's life, she thinks she has found out some of Marian's biggest secrets.  What should she do with this new information?

Maggie Shipstead has written a novel that is fascinating about a woman who won't be boxed into anyone else's thoughts about what she should do.  The novel has been nominated for both the Man Booker Prize and the Women's Prize For Fiction.  Marion is a mysterious woman, determined to do whatever she chooses rather than following society's strictures.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.

Long Gone by Alafair Burke

 

It seems too good to be true.  Alice Montgomery is attending an art exhibit when she is approached by another patron--an attractive, charming man.  They talk and Alice is amazed when the man says that he is helping a friend open an art galley and he is looking for someone to run it.  Alice's last job was in an art galley but since being laid off, she hasn't worked for a year.  She jumps at the chance and agrees to meet the man in the next few days once he has picked out a location.

In New Jersey, a teenage girl runs away.  Was it typical teenage angst or had she run away to escape the bullying she is encountering in high school?  Her mother had never told her about her father but had she run off to try to find him?  The police investigate but don't find much in the way of answers except that her fingerprints are inside the galley that Alice has just opened.

Hank is an FBI agent.  He is obsessed with a man who is a Dirty John figure--he charms women, gets all of their assets in his name then disappears.  The last woman who fell for his schemes is Hank's sister.  The man escaped all charges after her death but Hank is determined to bring him to justice.  He surveils him in his spare time even though he has been warned at work to stop and that unapproved suveillance could cost him his job.

Everything is brought to a head and the disparate threads merge when Alice opens the galley one morning to find it completely stripped of everything; pictures, desks, telephones, office supplies.  The only thing left is a body and it's the body of the man who is Alice's galley contact.  The police question her and her answers don't satisfy them.  It becomes apparent that Alice is the chief suspect and there are questions that the police aren't even investigating.  Can Alice solve the murder?

This is Alafaire Burke's first stand alone novel.  It is fascinating to watch the plot unfold and the various threads weave together into a story that makes sense.  There are hints of relationships that will continue after the case and it is always interesting to think about what happens to people swept up in a police investigation afterwards.  Alice is the archtype of a young woman trying to make it on her own in New York although she has a family that can rescue her when needed.  This book is recommended for mystery fans.

Void Moon by Michael Connelly

 

To the average person, Cassie Black seems like the typical L.A. woman, all business and a bit remote.  She is selling luxury cars but doesn't date the customers who ask her out.  Her boss knows what almost no one else does.  Cassie has just gotten out of prison for manslaughter and is on parole.  Her boss had a similar story at one time and tries to help those in her situation.  The only other person who knows is her parole officer.

Cassie is trying her best to just live her life and get off parole but her itch is back.  She was one of the best cat burglars around and the manslaughter was from a job where things went south and her partner died.  That partner was also the love of Cassie's life and she hasn't been back to Los Vegas since.  But she contacts someone in the business and asks for a job.  She was given the job of stealing from a high roller. He was on a big roll and winning big.  He had a case he kept handcuffed to him whenever he left the tables and Cassie was to steal that case and whatever was in the safe in his room.  The catch: it would have to be done while he was in the room sleeping.

Cassie doesn't like the job.  It's in the same city and even the same casino where her lover was killed.  But she does want the money and agrees to the job.  Things seem to go well and she gets the case but that's the last thing that goes right.  Now she has the owners of the money and the police and a private eye all on her trail.  Can she get away?

This is a standalone novel by Michael Connelly and not one in the Harry Bosch series.  The author obviously researched techniques for safe cracking and installing surveillance cameras as well as picking door locks.  Cassie is a remote figure throughout most of the book as she has learned to be but by the end the reader will be pulling for her to succeed.  This book is recommended for mystery readers. 

Bob Goes To Jail by Rob Sedgwick

 

Rob Sedgwick was born into a wealthy, talented family.  They lived in houses with sixteen bedrooms in New York City, houses with art from names such as Jackson Pollock on the walls.  Rob had two siblings, Kyra Sedgwick, the actress and Nicco, who is an artist.  Rob was an actor with roles in movies and on soap operas.  But apparently that wasn't enough.  From an early age, Rob and his friends experimented with drugs and soon were heavy users.  In his twenties, Rob agreed with a friend to let his grandparent's house, where he was staying while they toured Europe, serve as a safe house for a large marijuana operation.  Rob was thrilled with the money he got and the swagger he acquired as a drug dealer.  He dated a stripper and delighted in taking his friends to watch her perform.  His fantasy world crashed when the DEA showed up at the door and arrested him and the rest of the crew.

Rob was facing jail, perhaps five years or more.  But his family jumped to his defense.  Rob immediately started cooperating with the DEA, naming his accomplices and detailing the operation.  His family obtained an expensive lawyer who gave Rob a checklist of activities to perform before the trial.  Eventually he had his day in court, where he got a four year sentence which was suspended.

Many readers will find this memoir a fun read.  I was less entranced.  The story of rich kids doing whatever they wanted, running wild in New York City and various vacation homes was not appealing.  The contempt he had towards women, ditching his long time girlfriend when she got pregnant and going to prostitutes left a bad taste for me.  While the book was paced in an entertaining fashion and has gotten good reviews from many readers, others will find themselves more appalled than entertained.  This book is recommended for those interested in the New York rich and famous.  

The Hanged Man's Song by John Sandford

 

Kidd calls Bobby his friend although they have never met in person.  They are both computer hackers and Bobby heads up the group of those who make their living this way.  When Kidd can't get in contact with Bobby, he knows its time to make the journey to Bobby's house.  When he gets there, he finds what he had half expected and dreaded--Bobby has been killed.  Worse, the laptop that may hold all the details of who is in the group and what they have been doing for years has been stolen.

With his sometime girlfriend, LuEllen, Kidd and another friend, start to unravel Bobby's life and determine who has killed Bobby and what they plan to do with the information on the laptop.  It's an involved chase and there are other deaths along the way.  Will Kidd be successful?

This is the fourth and final novel in the Kidd series.  It was published in 2004 and eighteen years is a lifetime in computer terms so the technical side is a bit antiquated.  But the story of murder and retribution is fresh and interesting and the reader will be totally involved in the chase.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

Booksie's Shelves, May 1, 2022

 

How can it be May already?  This year is flying by.  March Madness was an exciting time this year with my beloved Tarheels making it to the championship game.  I've been a Tarheel fan before Michael Jordan played for them so this was one of the few things that can tear me away from reading.  Our North Carolina spring is gorgeous with forsythia, daffodils, roses and azaleas blooming everywhere.  My birthday was in April so that means lots of new books.  Here's what's come through the door:

1. A Thousand Moons, Sebastian Barry, literary fiction, purchased
2. The Searcher, Tana French, mystery, purchased
3. A Prayer For The Crown-Shy, Becky Chambers, fantasy, won in contest
4. Sleepwalk, Dan Chaon, literary fiction, sent by publisher
5. Notes On Your Sudden Disappearance, Alison Espach, literary fiction, sent by publisher
6. Winter's Reckoning, Adele Holmes, historical fiction, sent by publisher
7. Birds Of California, Katie Cotugno, literary fiction, won in contest
8. Elsewhere, Alexis Schaitkin, literary fiction, sent by publisher
9. The Kingdoms Of Savannah, George Dawes Green, mystery, sent by publisher
10. Blurred Fates, Anastasia Zadeik, literary fiction, sent by publisher
11. Midstream, Lynn Sloan, literary fiction, sent by publisher
12. The Sharp Edge Of Mercy, Connie Hertzberg Mayo, literary fiction, sent by publisher
13. Every Man A Menace, Patrick Hoffman, mystery, purchased
14. A June Of Ordinary Murders, Conor Brady, mystery, purchased
15. Redhead By The Side Of The Road, Anne Tyler, literary fiction, purchased
16. The House At Sea's End, Elly Griffiths, mystery, purchased
17. The Birdwatcher, William Shaw, mystery, purchased
18. Perfidia, James Ellroy, literary fiction, purchased

Here are the ebooks I've bought:

1. Sixteen Ways To Defend A Walled City, K. J. Parker, historical fiction
2. The Folding Knife, K. J. Parker, fantasy
3. Orlando, Virginia Woolf, literary fiction
4. A Death Most Monumental, J.D. Kirk, mystery
5. L. A. Confidential, James Ellroy, literary fiction
6. The Big Nowhere, James Ellroy, literary fiction
7. The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson, fantasy
8. The Well Of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson, fantasy
9. The Hero Of Ages, Brandon Sanderson, fantasy
10. Hounded, Kevin Hearne, fantasy
11. A Line To Kill, Anthony Horowitz, mystery
12. Utopia Avenue, David Mitchell, literary fiction
13. Or Else, Joe Hart, mystery
14. The Book Of Accidents, Chuck Wendig, science fiction
15. L. A. Requiem, Robert Crais, mystery
16. Dream Girl, Laura Lippman, mystery
17. Engines Of Empire, R. S. Ford, science fiction
18. The Heroes, Joe Abercrombie, fantasy
19. The Harlech Beach Killings, Simon McCleave, mystery
20. True North, Jim Harrison, literary fiction
21. Strip, Thomas Perry, mystery
22. A Small Hotel, Robert Olen Butler, literary fiction
23. Broken Verses, Kamila Shamsie, literary fiction
24. Forty Thieves, Thomas Perry, mystery
25. The Fifth Heart, Dan Simmons, horror
26. The Sentence, Louise Erdrich, literary fiction
27. Indigo Slam, Robert Crais, mystery
28. Slow Horses, Mick Herron, spy fiction
29. The Vanishing Triangle, Claire McGowan, true crime
30. The Hand That First Held Mine, Maggie O'Farrell, literary fiction
31. Never See Them Again, M. William Phelps, true crime
32. Voodoo River, Robert Crais, mystery
33. Kiss Of The She-Devil, M. William Phelps, true crime
34. If Looks Could Kill, M. William Phelps, true crime
35. Dead Certain, Peter James, mystery
36. Sharp Ends, Joe Abercrombie, anthology
37. The Little Friend, Donna Tartt, literary fiction
38. The Hidden Soldier, Eoin Dempsey, historical fiction
39. December Park, Ronald Malfi, horror
40. The Bomb Maker, Thomas Perry, mystery
41. The Tiger And The Wolf, Adrian Tchaikovsky, science fiction
42. Count Zero, William Gibson, science fiction
43. Poison Flower, Thomas Perry, mystery
44. Revelator, Daryl Gregory, science fiction
45. The Tiger's Daughter, K. Arsenault Rivera, fantasy
46. The Phoenix Empress, K. Arsenault Rivera, fantasy
47. The Warrior Moon, K. Arsenault Rivera, fantasy
48. Version Zero, David Yoon, science fiction
49. The WVU Coed Murders, Geoffrey Fuller, true crime
50. The Bread The Devil Knead, Lisa Allen-Agostini, literary fiction
51. Salt Lick, Lulu Allison, literary fiction
52. The Crossing Places, Elly Griffiths, mystery
53. Guards! Guards!, Terry Prachett, fantasy
54. Sandman Slim, Richard Kadrey, fantasy
55. The Girl That Was Taken, Charlie Donlea, mystery
56. Little Eyes, Samantha Schweblin, science fiction
57. What Are You Going Through, Sigrid Nunez, literary fiction
58. The Dark Horse, Craig Johnson, mystery
59. Ship Of Magic, Robin Hobb, fantasy
60. God On The Rocks, Jane Gardam, mystery
61. The Treatment, Mo Hayder, mystery

Here's what I'm reading:

1. Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead, Kindle
2. Gathering Storm, Robert Jordan, hardback
3. Long Gone, Alafair Burke, mystery
4. The Kept Woman, Karin Slaughter, kindle
5. The Prince Of Mournful Thoughts, Carolina Kim, paperback
6. Dodge City, Tom Clavin, paperback
7. Bob Goes To Jail, Rob Sedgewick, audio

Happy Reading!