Category: Suspense

TITLE: Who Killed The Fonz?
CHARACTERS: Richie, Ralph, Potsie and all of the Gang
AUTHOR: James Boice
PUBLICATION DATE: 02/19/19
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
The legendary 1950s-era TV show Happy Days gets reinvented as a gritty 1980s noir.

Late October, 1984. Prince and Bruce are dominating FM radio. Ron and Nancy are headed back to the White House. Crockett and Tubbs are leading men everywhere to embrace pastels. And Richard Cunningham? Well, Richard Cunningham is having a really bad Sunday.

First, there’s the meeting with his agent. A decade ago, the forty-something Cunningham was one of Hollywood’s hottest screenwriters. But Tinseltown is no longer interested in his artsy, introspective scripts. They want Terminator cyborgs and exploding Stay Puft Marshmallow men. If he isn’t interested in that sort of thing, his agent tells him, he’s gonna have to find new representation.

Then later that same day he gets a phone call with even worse news. His best friend from childhood back in Milwaukee, back when everyone called him Richie, is dead. Arthur Fonzarelli. The Fonz. Lost control of his motorcycle while crossing a bridge and plummeted into the water below. Two days of searching and still no body, no trace of his trademark leather jacket.

Richard flies back for the memorial service, only to discover that Fonzie’s death was no accident—it was murder. With the help of his old pals Ralph Malph and Potsie Weber, he sets out to catch the killer. Who it turns out to be is shocking. So is the story’s final twist.

Who Killed The Fonz? imagines what happened to the characters of the legendary TV series Happy Days twenty years after the show left off. And while much has changed in the interim—goodbye drive-in movie theaters, hello VCRs—the story centers around the same timeless themes as the show: the meaning of family. The significance of friendship. The importance of community.

Fast-paced and full of nostalgia, Who Killed the Fonz? is an ingenious twist on a beloved classic that proves sometimes you can go home again.

REVIEW:
When I saw this book I requested it figuring as a fan of the show I would find this book really cheesy… And I was not disappointed. But as a fan of the show (it was my favorite in the heyday of the show) I knew I wanted to read it. I gave it a shot figuring the author was just as much of a fan as I since he dreamt up this story.

But the story drug on way too long. There was so many mentions of episodes that I am pretty sure he didn’t miss one. All of the characters were there making cameo’s. But it was so slow I had to drag my way through the muck to get to the heart of the story.

Really what it comes down to is if you want a cheesy look back at old friends then this story is for you. But don’t expect a masterpiece. You won’t get it.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

TITLE: Cut And Run
CHARACTERS: Faith & Mitchell
AUTHOR: Mary Burton
PUBLICATION DATE: 10/09/18
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Twin sisters separated by the past are reunited by unspeakable crimes in New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton’s throat-clutching novel of suspense…

Trauma victims are not new to medical examiner Faith McIntyre, but this one is different. The unconscious woman clinging to life after a hit and run is FBI agent Macy Crow. What the woman from Quantico was doing in a dark alley after midnight is just one mystery. The other is more unsettling: Macy is Faith’s mirror image—the twin sister she never knew she had.

Faith knew that she was adopted, but now she’s finding that her childhood concealed other secrets. Following the trail of clues Macy left behind, Faith and Texas Ranger Mitchell Hayden make a shocking discovery on an isolated country ranch—a burial ground for three women who disappeared thirty years before.

They weren’t the only victims in a killer’s twisted plot. And they won’t be the last.

As the missing pieces of Faith’s and Macy’s dark lives snap into place, Faith is becoming more terrified by what she sees—and by what she must do to save her sister and herself from the past.

REVIEW:
Mary Burton has done it again. I have really enjoyed Burton’s books and this was no exception.

This story is a romantic suspense and a stand alone. I enjoyed that there was a bit of romance in this one. But the suspense is what keeps the book going. The characters are interesting and the background characters are really a major part of the story.

Faith and Macy have so much going on and keep the pages turning. I love any book by Burton and this is another one high on my list.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

TITLE: Holy Ghost
SERIES #: Virgil Flowers #11
CHARACTERS: Virgil Flowers
AUTHOR: John Sandford
PUBLICATION DATE: 10/09/18
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Pinion, Minnesota: a metropolis of all of seven hundred souls for which the word “moribund” might have been invented. Nothing ever happened there and nothing ever would—until the mayor of sorts (campaign slogan: “I’ll Do What I Can”) and a buddy come up with a scheme to put Pinion on the map. They’d heard of a place where a floating image of the Virgin Mary had turned the whole town into a shrine, attracting thousands of pilgrims. And all those pilgrims needed food, shelter, all kinds of crazy things, right? They’d all get rich! What could go wrong?

When the dead body shows up, they find out, and that’s only the beginning of their troubles—and Virgil Flowers’—as they are all about to discover all too soon.

REVIEW:
3.75 Hearts This is the 11th in the Virgil Flowers series and somehow it really isn’t getting old. Flowers is such an interesting character. In this story there is a bit of a church feel to it that I found very interesting. We have all heard about sightings of Jesus/Virgin Mary and this town is actually devote to the belief.

This is a really interesting suspenseful story. Worth the read.

It can be read as a stand alone.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

TITLE: Twisted Prey
SERIES #: Lucas Davenport #28
CHARACTERS: Lucas & Taryn
AUTHOR: John Sandford
PUBLICATION DATE: 04/24/18
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Lucas Davenport confronts an old nemesis, now more powerful than ever as a U.S. senator, in the thrilling new novel in the #1 New York Times-bestselling Prey series

Lucas Davenport had crossed paths with her before.

A rich psychopath, Taryn Grant had run successfully for the U.S. Senate, where Lucas had predicted she’d fit right in. He was also convinced that she’d been responsible for three murders, though he’d never been able to prove it. Once a psychopath had gotten that kind of rush, though, he or she often needed another fix, so he figured he might be seeing her again.

He was right. A federal marshal now, with a very wide scope of investigation, he’s heard rumors that Grant has found her seat on the Senate intelligence committee, and the contacts she’s made from it, to be very…useful. Pinning those rumors down was likely to be just as difficult as before, and considerably more dangerous.

But they had unfinished business, he and Grant. One way or the other, he was going to see it through to the end.

REVIEW:
Let me be clear… I think this story is well written and I have been a fan of the Prey series for a while but maybe it is because of the storyline I found myself zoning out more often than not.

The story is set in DC and there is just too much politics already that I just kept having to force myself to read the story. Maybe it would have been better at another time but I was just so over politics right now that reading about it left me empty.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

TITLE: Heads You Win
CHARACTERS: Alexander Karpenko
AUTHOR: Jeffrey Archer
PUBLICATION DATE: 11/06/18
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
With a final twist that will shock even his most ardent listeners, Heads You Win is #1 New York Times bestseller Jeffrey Archer’s most ambitious and creative work since Kane and Abel.

Leningrad, Russia, 1968. Alexander Karpenko is no ordinary child, and from an early age, it is clear he is destined to lead his countrymen. But when his father is assassinated by the KGB for defying the state, he and his mother will have to escape from Russia if they hope to survive. At the docks, they are confronted with an irreversible choice: should they board a container ship bound for America, or Great Britain? Alexander leaves that choice to the toss of a coin . . .

In a single moment, a double twist decides Alexander’s future. During an epic tale of fate and fortune, spanning two continents and thirty years, we follow his triumphs and defeats as he struggles as an immigrant to conquer his new world. As this unique story unfolds, Alexander comes to realize where his destiny lies, and accepts that he must face the past he left behind in Russia.

REVIEW:
3.5 Hearts It is a simple game a lot of us play to make a decision… Heads you Win – Tails you Lose… But do you ever wonder if the decision was the right one after all? Well in this story we find out….

This story walks you through what could happen with either side of the coin.

I found this story interesting but a bit confusing at time. I kept wanting to read it and every time I think I have the end figured out I come across another turn in the road.

I would have given it the other ½ star except I kept having to re-read lines to understand what was going on and like I said parts were a bit confusing. But certainly worth the read.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

TITLE: Past Tense
SERIES #: Jack Reacher #23
CHARACTERS: Jack Reacher
AUTHOR: Lee Child
PUBLICATION DATE: 11/05/18
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Jack Reacher hits the pavement and sticks out his thumb. He plans to follow the sun on an epic trip across America, from Maine to California. He doesn’t get far. On a country road deep in the New England woods, he sees a sign to a place he has never been: the town where his father was born. He thinks, What’s one extra day? He takes the detour.
At the same moment, in the same isolated area, a car breaks down. Two young Canadians had been on their way to New York City to sell a treasure. Now they’re stranded at a lonely motel in the middle of nowhere. The owners seem almost too friendly. It’s a strange place, but it’s all there is.

The next morning, in the city clerk’s office, Reacher asks about the old family home. He’s told no one named Reacher ever lived in town. He’s always known his father left and never returned, but now Reacher wonders, Was he ever there in the first place?

As Reacher explores his father’s life, and as the Canadians face lethal dangers, strands of different stories begin to merge. Then Reacher makes a shocking discovery: The present can be tough, but the past can be tense . . . and deadly.

REVIEW:
Jack Reacher is back! I really enjoy this series… but please do not base the series off the movie with Tom Cruise because he is nothing like Jack Reacher.

The intensity of these books will keep you on the edge of your seat. You do not need to have read the others to read this one. But the series is worth the read.

In this one we watch Reacher look into his father’s life so we get a bit of his history. Reacher is a character that you will never know everything about but it is great to get a bit of insight.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.