winter reading list

Only 7 books this quarter. I guess that's because we've been watching more TV in the evenings and some afternoons now that we have streaming services and evenings is when I get most my reading done.

Velvet Was The Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – I really liked the first two books of hers that I read so I didn't hesitate to check this one out but I was disappointed. Set in the 1970s Mexico City during the political demonstrations against government corruption, Maite, a legal secretary who considers herself unlovely and probably unmarriageable, creates fantasies of her life for her co-workers based on the Secret Romance comics she lives for. She unwillingly gets drawn into danger when her art student neighbor Leonora asks her to care for her cat for a few days and then disappears. Her activist group draws Maite into a search for Leonora and the compromising photos of a politician she allegedly took, which also can't be found, when all Maite wants is for Leonora to pay her so she can get her car back from the mechanic. Also looking for Leonora is a cell of Hawks, government thugs who beat up journalists and protesters to discourage their activities. Elvis, the leader of one small group develops an interest in Maite when he is tasked with following her in hopes of her leading him to Leonora. The ending is quick and has more action in it than the whole rest of the book but it takes far too long to get there.

Dark Sky by C. J. Box – I didn't realize when I checked this book out that it was just the latest in a long list of other books about this character, 20 previous ones to be exact. The series is about Joe Pickett, game warden in Wyoming. In this story, Joe is appointed by the governor to take a big tech mogul who runs a social media site that rivals FB, and who plans to build the biggest 'server' farm in North America, on an elk hunt and convince him to build it in Wyoming because the governor needs a big win to get reelected. Joe enlists the aid of an area rancher to help him outfit and care for the horses on the hunt. What should have been an easy assignment turns into a fight for Joe's and Steve2's lives as a local outfitter, Earl Thomas, blames Steve2 and ConFab for the suicide of his daughter and he wants revenge. When Joe and Steve2 are ambushed they manage to escape with no weapons, no food, no extra clothing into the wilds of the Big Horn mountains during a winter storm and Joe must try to protect his client and evade capture by Earl and his sons who have confiscated all the gear, weapons, and horses. Eventually, Joe's wife, Mary Ann, and oldest daughter, Sheridan, and best friend, Nate, understand that Joe is in trouble from his failure to check in as he usually does and they set out to find him. It's a good story, well written, moves along, an easy read. I'll probably read more in this series.

Recursion by Blake Crouch – A new mental illness appearing in NYC and labeled False Memory Syndrome, which causes people to remember an entirely different life that now no longer exists, is causing a wave of suicides and NYPD detective Barry Sutton takes it on himself to investigate the story a woman told him before she leaps off a building to her death. Barry is led to the Memory Hotel where he is knocked unconscious, strapped to a chair, and told to remember the night his teenage daughter died in as much detail as he can remember. He is put in an isolation chamber, floating in the warm salt water when they stop his heart and then suddenly he is back 11 years earlier on the night of his memory with the knowledge of what is about to happen and he prevents his daughter's death. A decade before Barry is forced into the isolation chamber and his heart is stopped, Helena Smith, a brilliant scientist, is working on a device to map memories to help Alzheimer's patients remember their lives when billionaire Marcus Slade funds her research with an ulterior motive of his own, the ability to return to your past to change your life. Unfortunately, every past changed makes waves that extend to the lives of others and reality constantly shifts. Eventually Helena and Barry meet and it is up to them to prevent the human race from descending into madness and annihilation. It's a pretty good science fiction thriller, the story moves along.

City Of Dark Corners by Jon Talton – murder/detective story set in 1933 Phoenix during the Depression at the end of prohibition when everyone is on the take. Gene Hammons, detective turned private investigator after he was fired from the police force for refusing to go along with railroading a woman for a murder, famous for catching a serial killer, is brought to the scene of a dismembered female body by his brother who is also a police detective. Since the body with parts artfully arranged is found beside railroad tracks, the mayor and chamber of commerce wants it to go away, claiming she fell from a train but Gene can tell that the amputations are too clean and not enough blood. The woman was killed, dismembered, elsewhere. Gene is warned by the police to not get involved but he can't let it go and sets out to identify the victim and find out who murdered her. His investigation keeps getting stalled when the people he talks to end up dead and documents go missing but he prevails, piecing it all together until the killer finally confronts him. It was a good story, moved along.

The Book Of Accidents by Chuck Wendig – Decades earlier a serial killer who carved numbers in the faces of his young victims and killed them on the 'altar' rock at Ramble Rocks park disappears in a flash of light as he is being executed for the murders. Now fifteen year old super empath Oliver from a loving family starts a new school when his family moves into his father Nate's family home after the death of Nate's physically and emotionally abusive father after Oliver has a mortifying day during an active shooter drill at his old school. Oliver quickly runs afoul of the BMOC bullies and is saved from an encounter with them by a stranger named Jake who soon reveals he has real magic. Strange sightings start to happen to Nate and even stranger things to Olly's mother artist/maker Maddie, who has magic of her own which she has buried in her subconscious, when her creations come to life. So begins the descent into dark magic. Jake removes Nate, sending him to the 'in between', in an attempt to weaken Oliver, to get Oliver's acquiescence and participation in Jake's attempt to destroy the 99^th world by the death on the altar at Ramble Rocks of the 99^th Oliver as he has done to the preceding 98 Olivers and their worlds bringing the current Age to an end. This Oliver is different though, and with his gift he's intent on preserving his world and the lives of his family and friends. I had a hard time with the synopsis of this book as there is just so much story here and other characters I didn't even mention, it would have been really long to include it all. It was a good book and in the afterward the author recounts that it took him three tries to write it.

Plying Nice by J. P. Delaney – Pete and Maddie's baby is born way too early and sent to the NICU just as another baby born just as early arrives at the same time. While Maddie recovers from the emergency C-section Pete assumes the care of their baby who he is told may have suffered some brain damage from oxygen deprivation. But Theo grows into a healthy boy and when he is two, Pete answers the door to Miles who tells him that Theo is, in fact, his and his wife Lucy's son, that their babies were switched at birth and he has DNA evidence to prove it, while their son David, who does have developmental issues belongs to Pete and Maddie. The two couples initially seem to agree that the boys should stay where they are but that the true parents should have some say in how they are raised. But when Pete tries to put the brakes on Miles showing up every day disrupting their lives they get served with a lawsuit for parental rights to both boys. Pete and Maddie had been 'playing nice' while Miles had been playing them all along. Now Pete and Maddie have to fight for Theo and for David after realizing Miles is a psychopath.

An Unwanted Guest by Shari LaPena – Murder mystery at a small private hotel with no cell service in the NY mountains in winter that friends Gwen and Riley; couples Lauren and Ian, Dana and Matthew, and Beverly and Henry; and singles criminal lawyer David and writer Candice all arrive on a Friday evening for a quiet weekend getaway or romantic interlude when a blizzard blows in that night knocking out the electricity and closing the roads. Saturday morning they rise to discover Dana dead at the bottom of the grand staircase, the victim of an apparent fall. Or is it? With no generator and the one land line out as well, the guests are stranded with only fireplaces for heat and two small oil lamps and fading batteries on phones for light, the owner, James, and his son, Bradley, do their best to care for their guests. Lawyer David advises against moving the body until the police can arrive. Then later that day, Candice is discovered dead, an obvious murder, in her room. Tensions rise as the guests start to suspect each other as their particular stories start to come out. Riley who suffers from PTSD runs out in the frigid night and freezes to death. While the others are searching for her, Bradley is discovered dead in the snow with his head bashed in. Sunday morning, Henry is discovered dead in his chair by the main lobby fireplace. The police finally arrive Sunday and we do find out who the murderer is and the motives. Told in third person omniscient through the viewpoint of each of the guests but the author is a bit repetitive with each character. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't great either.