Queens

Queens

Monday, December 3, 2012

november book update

November was thriller month, with the exception of one book. I'm ending the month on a thriller, but haven't finished yet, so will let you know how Tana French's Broken Harbor goes next month.

A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow
Another free download. A relatively quick read (when my kindle wasn't acting up). I just needed to read something until my library requests came in. Apparently this is the first in a series of books about a DA investigating murders in remote Alaska. The location is cool and since I've been there it was nice to visualize. However, it wasn't summer, so the days are short and it's cold. I'm still not sure they will be able to have an entire series of murders in a small town. But it's fiction, so the author can do what they want.  Like I said, it was a quick read, but nothing too spectactular.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Like Gone Girl, this was written in a similar style, with alternating chapters of 2 different storylines. From the beginning, you find out a 31 year old woman's mom and 2 sisters were murdered when she was 7 and her her brother went to prison for it. After a difficult childhood, she hasn't been able to function properly in society. However, an odd group of people come forward to help her figure out the truth. The alternating story follows the brother and mother on the day of the murders. Eventually it everything comes together and you learn what really happened that night. Unfortunately, things don't completely get wrapped as nicely as I would have liked. I of course put Sharp Objects on request.

Defending Jacob by William Landay
This was another page turner. A boy is murdered in a town outside Boston and a classmate of his is accused. Throughout the trial, you are getting the point of view from the father, who happened to be the Assistant DA. Of course once his son is charged with the murder, he had to relinquish his duties. You see how Jacob's parents handle the stress of having their son accused of murder. They stand by him unfaltering for most of the process. The book really focuses on the trial and those surrounding it, not so much on solving the actual murder. There are a lot of unanswered questions at the end of the book. You also never really get inside Jacob's head, so it's harder to see how this 14 year old boy is internalizing everything that he's accused of.

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
I had seen this book on a few different lists and saw some polarizing views of it. I read most of it over the Thanksgiving holiday. Each chapter is from a different person's point of view, but Sasha and Bennie are the central characters with each story. Each chapter was at a different time point and didn't go in chronogical order. You read from Sasha and Bennie's point of view in the first 2 chapters, and then you learn more about them from key people in their lives. There's some overlap with characters, with a few different storylines going on. I did like how they were all intertwined and made you wonder how things could turn out much later down the road. I also liked how most of it took place in NYC, so was able to relate to that closely. I didn't like how there was really no specific storyline. It was more a topline overview of key events and people in their lives.

38/30 books in 2012.