Thumbs up for Spy x Family Volumes 1-6 by Tatsuya Endo.
The setup: He’s a spy who needs a fake family to get close to his target, a recluse who appears in public only at his son’s school functions. She’s an assassin-for-hire who needs a husband to avoid attracting attention. Neither of them knows the other’s secret…nor do they know that their fake daughter is a psychic.… >> Read more
Thumbs up for Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q Sutanto. Crime.
Meddelin Chan accidentally kills a guy on a blind date; her aunties leap into action with a plan to dispose of the body, while simultaneously managing a two-thousand-guest resort wedding for their family business. Insanity ensues. I was a little mislead by the fact that after “humor” this book was categorized as “romantic comedy”; it is in fact a crime farce, and while the heroine’s attempt to get back with her ex is important to her, it’s a fairly minor point in a wildly complicated plot.… >> Read more
Thumbs up for Maestra by L. S. Hilton. Suspense.
This book gets some terrible reviews and I can see why. There is something in here for almost everyone to hate. Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: yes, there are sex scenes, and they’re cringeworthy. (Is that what bad girls are calling their genitalia these days? Pass.) But they are short, so let’s move on.… >> Read more
Thumbs up for The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain. Suspense.
The sort of book that couldn’t be written now that divorce is easily available. If you like noir, though (which I do sometimes), this is a requisite read; it has a dark sparkle like nothing else.
… >> Read moreThey threw me off the hay truck about noon. I had swung on the night before, down at the border, and as soon as I got up there under the canvas, I went to sleep.
Thumbs up for The Greek Interpreter by Max Davidson. Comic thriller.
Oh look! A novel about an interpreter! And he actually interprets stuff! At least, when he’s not trying to get with his never-quite-within-grasp girlfriend, or escape the baddies into whose plot he has inadvertently stumbled while working at the 57th Conference of the World League of Parliaments in Bangkok. A delightfully funny little book that is worth searching out if you think you might like British humor poking fun at international political conferences, linguists, and crime dramas.… >> Read more
Thumbs up for The Zaanics Deceit by Nina Post with David J. Peterson. Suspense.
I was asked by the co-author (assisting linguist?) if I’d be willing to review this; because I am a picky reader and didn’t want to get in trouble, I read the blurb and first page on Amazon before agreeing. Hmm, I said to myself. It takes place in Istanbul and San Francisco (among others), concerns a manuscript in an invented language, makes direct nods to King Lear, and begins with a heroine with an anxiety disorder remotely managing a diamond heist from her home?… >> Read more
Thumbs up for One Shot by Lee Child. Suspense.
Do you like suspense? Even just an eensy weensy bit? Then go freaking read a Lee Child book. He’s the best in the world.
… >> Read moreThere were five guys. Any five guys will have one ringleader, two enthusiastic followers, and two reluctant followers. Put the ringleader down, and both of the keen sidekicks, and it’s over.
Thumbs up for Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart. Suspense.
After reading Nancy Pearl’s glowing recommendation of Mary Stewart in More Book Lust, I had to try one. Airs Above the Ground caught my eye as it had to do with the Lipizzaner horses, of whom I read much as a young gal. (Your bonus book recommendation of the day: The White Stallion of Lipizza by Marguerite Henry, for kids and adults.)… >> Read more