Book Review

Book Review: The Mystery of the Blue Train

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The Mystery of the Blue Train
Hercule Poirot #6
 by Agatha Christie
read by Hugh Fraser

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

I know I haven’t been the biggest fan of this series so far, but this one felt even messier and a bit more convoluted to me. Lots of red herrings and potential suspects are trotted out, there are conversations that amount to nothing, and in the end, the solution is a lot simpler than all of that set-up made it seem like it would be. I actually found the story interesting when the different characters are being introduced and I’m trying to guess who is going to be found dead and who would be the culprit. But the second half or so seemed to slow way down, and that’s where the filler came in. 

What’s funny to me is that while I was listening to this audiobook (narrated very well by Hugh Fraser), I decided that here is where I would end my attempts to go through this series. But afterward, I decided to keep going for now. I think I’m still hoping something will suddenly click and I’ll see what everyone else sees in these books. We’ll see.

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Book Review: Nightfall

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Nightfall
by Jake Halpern & Peter Kujawinski

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: YA fantasy thriller

When the sun sets on the island of Bliss, it won’t return for 14 years. At the same time, the tide also rolls out for miles, making it impossible to leave the island, which will turn into a cold, icy, inhospitable place. So the people living on the island have a small window of time to leave, sailing south, where they’ll live in the Desert Lands during the 14 years of night and return at dawn. During that small window, Marin and her twin brother Kana try to track down their friend who has gone missing and make it back before the ships leave the island.

The synopsis of this book intrigued me so much that I bought it despite the fairly low rating it has online. And for at least 2/3 of the book, my intrigue level remained high. The set-up and foreshadowing kept me hooked, even on the edge of my seat at times. The authors did a great job with the setting—the darkness building as the sun makes its final descent into the horizon, foreign noises in the forest, bizarre rituals that the islanders must attend to before they leave the island. I admit it—I was a little creeped out. I had some predictions about what was going on, and therein lies the downturn for me.

Not only were my predictions true, there was very little variation from it in the last third or so of the book. Once it’s revealed to us what is going on, there’s not really anymore suspense or intrigue. I wish the authors had held a little bit back somehow, saved a little bit of suspense for those last chapters. There were a couple of minor things that happened that may have been meant as twists or at least that I didn’t predict, but none of them were terribly exciting. And while I don’t fault the authors for ending the book where they did, I think there were definitely some things about the situation on the island that should have been explained, because otherwise, they just leave one scratching their head (not saying more due to spoilers).

Overall, I’m really glad I read this book. It’s a great example of an atmospheric read; it just falls short in the climax and conclusion. But I enjoyed it enough to be excited to see the the authors wrote a 2nd novel in the same world, which I have now added to my TBR. My 14-year-old daughter also enjoyed this book, which I think is just as important, since she’s actually the target audience for the book (and I am definitely not). I do recommend it to anyone of any age who enjoys darker fantasies written for teens.

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September in Review

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I read 12 books last month, for the 3rd month in a row, with lower-than-average page count. It was a pretty good month of books, too, with mostly 4- and 5- star reviews and just a few 3s.

Here are the books I read in September:

WoW2
Waves 1
Anne 4
Alcatraz 2
Carlton
Carpenter 6
39-3
BSC1
Cahills vs 1
ND5
Wimpy

World of Warcraft, v. 2 by Walter Simonson (4 / 5)
Through Waters Deep by Sarah Sundin (3 / 5)
Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery (3 / 5)
Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko (4 / 5)
A Thieving at Carlton House by Erica Vetsch (5 / 5)
Play Dead by David Rosenfelt (5 / 5)
The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis (4 / 5)
Kristy’s Great Idea by Ann M. Martin (5 / 5)
The Medusa Plot by Gordon Korman (4 / 5)
The More the Terrier by David Rosenfelt (4 / 5)
The Secret of Shadow Ranch by Carolyn Keene (3 / 5)
Wimpy, Weak, & Woke by John L. Cooper (4 / 5)

This list includes 1 ARC and 3 re-reads. My favorite book from September was A Thieving at Carlton House. I started 4 series, continued 6 series, and finished 0 series. My ever-changing short list of to-be-reads, as well as a flag for the book I’m currently reading and an ongoing list of those I’ve read and posted about can be found here.

*This includes 1 series I didn’t reach the end of, but decided not to continue reading, after being at least 2 books into the series.

I’m also keeping my Goodreads page updated with a more extensive list of to-be-reads. Despite my almost too-long TBR list, I’m always looking for more to add. Feel free to offer suggestions of your favorites or just recent reads you enjoyed.

Book Review: Wimpy, Weak, & Woke

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Wimpy, Weak, & Woke
by John L. Cooper

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Christian nonfiction

In this book, Skillet lead singer John Cooper dives into philosophies of the past that have led to the various mindsets of today, in which Christianity is reviled and immorality is revered. The amount of research and work put into this book is impressive, and I wish I could understand it better. As he says himself in the book, it’s deep stuff, but I was able to glean enough to follow his connections between ideas put forward by people like Hegel, Marx, and Freud and ideas that pervade society today. I wonder if some of what is in the book could have been summarized more, but Cooper does follow almost every direct quote with a more plain-speak paraphrase of what is being stated.

Most of what I took away from this is that people who hate God will try to justify their sinful lives by making up outlandish, unfounded ideas about reality, nature, and the very existence of man. And other people who also feel that God or “religion” is too restrictive are all too happy to follow along with these ideas that to a rational thinker make absolutely no sense.

The truth is that there is no “good” without God. There will be no perfect happiness on this earth, and denying that absolute truth exists that that the Bible provides that for us doesn’t make it not true. Trying to establish a life or civilization on shifting truth is lunacy, and it will not last long before everything crumbles. That’s what we’re dealing with in America now (probably other places too, but I’m not qualified to speak on that), and it can be a little scary if we don’t remember that God is in control, is never taken by surprise, and will absolutely win in the end.

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Book Review: The Secret of Shadow Ranch

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The Secret of Shadow Ranch
Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #5
by Carolyn Keene
read by Laura Linney

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic mystery

This book was the first in the series to bring up major ND video game memories for me. The game takes different turns, but the legend of the outlaw whose phantom horse is showing up and wreaking havoc are in the game. There’s a sub-plot in the book regarding a kidnapped man that I didn’t see a reason for—supposedly his kidnappers let him drawing pictures and then sold them in town. It ended up being a way to help Nancy and her friends begin to find answers to the main mystery, but it seemed pretty sloppy to me.

This series has already showcased Nancy as great at everything she does, but this book takes it a step further, when Nancy and her friends win every activity during a town festival. I suppose that during this time period, it seemed best to show the good guys as the best at everything, but it would certainly have been more realistic and taught kids more about real life if Nancy was 2nd-best now and then.

For a second time, a bloated plot was my biggest issue with the book. Linney still does a great job bringing Nancy to life, but I hope to enjoy the next one more.

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Book Review: The Medusa Plot

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The Medusa Plot
The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers #1
by Gordon Korman

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Middle grade mystery, adventure

Spoiler notice: The following review may contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, starting with The Maze of Bones.

Two years after the events at the end of the main series, we pick up with Amy and Dan, trying to live a “normal” life. For Amy, this means dating a guy at school while secretly training in various disciplines at home. For Dan, this means the drudgery of normal school, but he’s also dealing with some internal distractions. When the Vespers make a move after 2 years of silence, it’s a big one. Now Dan and Amy are in a race against the clock to save some of their closest loved ones and some of their once-worst enemies.

This follow-up series to The 39 Clues starts off with a bang. Despite the hatred that these family members had for each other in the past, I think the ending of the main series was sufficient to pave the way for these young people working together now. And the fact that their parents aren’t necessarily on board with inner-Cahill-family friendship seems quite realistic as well. I particularly like that Sinead lives with Dan and Amy now and has established a com-center at their house. The way this generation of Clue hunters works together is nice to see.

Dan seems to have a sort of PTSD, where he’ll pull away from Amy and kind of recede into himself. She doesn’t know that he’s mentally working out how he can complete and use the serum that was destroyed (everywhere but in his memory) 2 years ago, so he can stop the Vespers. I really appreciate this aspect of the story and feel for these siblings who have already been through so much tragedy and just want to keep their loved ones safe.

I feel like, in some ways, the story has aged and matured past where it started. The original series could be read by as young as 10-11-year-old kids, but this series, so far, seems a bit darker and more mature than that. If kids sort of “grow up” with the series, though, and start this series after reading the first, at around 12-13, I could see it working. For my part as an adult reader, I enjoy the new, deeper elements to the plot and look forward to seeing where the story goes from here.

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Book Review: Kristy’s Great Idea

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Kristy’s Great Idea
The Baby-Sitters Club #1
by Ann M. Martin

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

For complete transparency, I’ll say up front that I read a lot of this series when I was a kid/pre-teen. And at the time, my name was the same as the founder of the BSC (with the first name spelled slightly different). Nostalgia will hugely affect my reviews for this series, and I have no plans to try to be objective.

I enjoyed diving into the first book in the series and witnessing the birth of the Baby-Sitters Club anew. I struggle to actually envision these pre-teens as 12-year-olds though. My daughter is 14, and I can’t imagine her talking and acting like these characters do 2 years ago. Maybe that’s a difference in time periods, or maybe it was Martin’s attempt to make the plot plausible. On the other hand, Kristy acts very immature with her mom and mom’s boyfriend/fiancé, while most of the maturity is related to the girls’ babysitting abilities and experience, a nuance that might actually make sense after all. I look forward to the evolution of the club, which starts in this book and I know will continue in future books as the girls add more protocols and members.

I remember doing a small-scale version of this with my friend (we lived in the country, so it definitely didn’t work quite as well, but I did get one summer-long job out of it). I don’t remember if it was inspired by the series, though I can’t imagine it wouldn’t have influenced us to some degree, but I can say that I was not nearly as professional as these girls. I checked out the e-book on a whim while waiting until I had time to pick up a book I had on hold at the library, and I was sad that the e-book doesn’t have the distinct handwriting of the club members. I’ll definitely get physical copies as much as possible as I continue through the series. I don’t know how far I’ll get before stopping—maybe once I am past the books that I would have read due to outgrowing the books, or maybe further. Whether or not this book will translate well to kids and pre-teens now, I couldn’t say. My guess is no, but maybe if your kids are interested in reading about a somewhat simpler time (it’s so weird to say that about my own childhood period, but it really is true—and I have now realized that this book came out 40 years ago, and now I feel really old) they’ll enjoy this book.

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Book Review: The More the Terrier

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The More the Terrier
Andy Carpenter #30
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Mystery

When reluctant defense attorney Andy Carpenter is presented with a stray dog, he (or, more accurately, his son) recognizes it as a terrier his family once fostered. Upon returning the dog to his home, Andy discovers that its owner has been arrested for murder. The young man’s attorney doesn’t inspire confidence in Andy, so he decides to take over the case.

This installment in the series (which, like others with a Christmas-related name or cover, takes place near Christmastime, but isn’t really Christmas-y in nature) has all of the intrigue, drama, and wit that I’ve come to love from these books. The pressure that Andy feels when someone’s life is in his hands is high in this book, and I appreciate his sense of justice. His defense case felt a lot weaker and more muddled than normal, though it’s understandable, given what he had to work with. In the end, I was a little surprised by the way the case and investigations went, based on what I’m used to from this series, which tends to be formulaic (in a good way). Rosenfelt has a way of changing up the formula enough to keep the books from becoming mundane, but this was a little less clean in the end. I might even say that it’s been my least favorite in the series so far, but I still enjoyed it and am rating it 4 stars, so that should tell you how much I’ve loved the rest of the series (I’ve only read 1/3 of the series so far).

This series has become something of a comfort read for me. Or more accurately, a comfort listen, since, though I’ve enjoyed the books from the first one I read, once I started at the beginning with the audiobooks, it amplified my enjoyment a lot. Therefore, receiving an ARC of the audiobook was a real honor. I highly recommend this book (especially the audio) for fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas, and though there are some over-arcing storylines throughout the series, you don’t really need to start at the beginning (though I’d still recommend it).

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me a copy of this book to review.
Publication date: October 15, 2024

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Book Review: Play Dead

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Play Dead
Andy Carpenter #6
by David Rosenfelt
read by Grover Gardner

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Mystery

After getting Yogi, a golden retriever, off death row, defense attorney Andy Carpenter sets out to prove the innocence of Yogi’s owner, Richard Evans, who has been convicted of murder. Since Richard supposedly killed Yogi at the same time as the human victim, Yogi’s very existence puts casts uncertainty on Richard’s guilt, and Andy is just the person to pursue that thread.

At one point, I thought the titles of these books were just random references to murder and/or dogs, and maybe some of them are. I’m starting to see connections between the title and the story in some of the books, though, which in this case led me to make some assumptions that the characters had less reason to make. Fortunately, it doesn’t bother me to correctly guess what’s going on in a book in this series, because the journey is still enjoyable, largely due to Andy’s interactions with both friend and foe alike. The series may be a bit formulaic, but this series is one of those cases when it’s done right. That’s partly due to Rosenfelt’s writing and partly due to the way he often circumvents the formula in some way, big or small. This time, it’s big.

I highly recommend this book for fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas, and though there are some over-arcing storylines throughout the series, you don’t really need to start at the beginning (though I’d still recommend it). Grover Gardner is the definitive voice of Andy Carpenter, bringing Andy’s wit and sarcasm to life, so if you’re an audiobook listener, I’d suggest trying that out for this series. 

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Book Review: Rest in Pieces (DNF)

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Did Not Finish: Rest in Pieces
Mrs. Murphy #2
by Rita Mae Brown

My rating: DNF, no rating
Genre: Cozy mystery

I’ve heard about this series for a while, seeing books at thrift stores often and knowing that my mom seemed to enjoy the series. I also watched a movie based on one of the books once, though I don’t remember much about it, other than that Ricki Lake plays the MC and the animals talk to each other. Still, I’ve enjoyed another series of cozy mysteries with animals (particularly a cat) in prominent roles, so I had good reason to think I might like this series.

The fault here may have been with those preconceptions, but I just don’t think I’m a good fit for the style of this book. It’s weird enough to me that the animals talk to each other (especially considering that the cat hunts mice…which it can talk to), but the animals cussing at each other, sometimes harshly, really threw me off. The inclusion of some very harsh language overall and talk of who likes to sleep around led me to start thinking I might not have it in me to keep going. Still, I plugged ahead, because I already owned 5-6 books in the series (picked up over the years from thrift stores, thankfully), and my mom did like the books, after all…for goodness sake, my parents’ dog is named Mrs. Murphy after the main cat in the series. But then when we’re introduced to Mrs. Murphy’s ex-husband (a cat, don’t forget), and we’re told about how he tends to sleep around…with other cats…I decided it was just too ridiculous for me to invest any more time into it. Maybe the series smooths out later, but I don’t care enough to find out.

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