cjeanne99's reviews
977 reviews

I can see that this would make a great tv series. But as a book - the story dragged on and on and on and on - etc. I got to the point where I was no longer invested in their technique - and I just wanted then to find the killer. 

Written for Kindle - UR tells us the story of Wesley Smith - college professor at a mediocre school in Kentucky who buys a Kindle so he can understand this new method of reading. Except - Wesley’s Kindle is pink - and Wesley’s Kindle can take him to URs that present an alternative universe. A world where Ernest Hemingway lived longer - or - William Shakespeare wrote two additional plays - or - Kennedy was not dead - or - the Cuban Missle crisis became a true crisis - and life on earth ended. 
Wesley, his office mate and Robbie - the student who introduced him to the Kindle explore these different worlds. Including one that has the college basketball team members dying in a horrific accident due to a drunk driver. 
What would you do if you could read the future in your Kindle?

Oh Holly - first introduced in the Mr. Mercedes triolgy as an incidental character - she has grown. I didn’t really like her in Mercedes - warmed up to her in The Outsider - and now I like her - understanding that she has Asperger’s like behaviors. 
In this book - Holly is running Bill Hodges’ agency - investigating a variety of cases - annoying her mother and working with her partner Pete. It’s 2021 - the COVID-19 pandemic is still killing people - including Holly’s mother - who denies the existence of the disease to her dying day. 
Holly is hired by Penelope Dahl - whose daughter Bonnie disappeared while riding her bicycle. Her bike and helmet are found - but no sign of Bonnie. As Holly investigates - she hears about other people who disappeared without a warning. People who did not have a wealthy mother like Bonnie to hire a private investigator to search for them. 
In our sub-plot - we meet Emily and Rodney Harris - a pair of emeritus college professors who believe they have found the secret to slowing down the effects of Alzheimer’s and relieving the pain of sciatica.

Unfortunately, their cure involves eating the liver of a “purified” human - along with the brains and fat. They have been capturing and killing people for a few years - starting with a visiting college poet that Emily didn’t like.

As Holly investigates - Penelope shares a bit too much about her on social media - alerting the Harris’ that they are soon to be the focus of Holly’s investigation. In a second sub-plot, High School student Barbara Robinson is taken under the wing of Olivia, a poet who sees great potential in Barbara. Emily Harris introduces Barbara to Olivia - who is dying of old age and cancer. Through a conversation with Olivia - and comments Holly made - Barbara figures out what the Harris’ are doing - and makes it to their house in time to rescue Holly. 

Time travel classic - well done. Si Morley, an advertising executive in the early 1970’s - a man who draws the items for print ads - just a few years before computer graphics make him obsolete - is recruited into a government sponsored time travel experiment. After training, Si is able to return to the New York City of 1882. Using the Dakota as his “portal” - Si makes some tentative trips - with an eventual aim of finding out why his girlfriend Kate’s grandfather carried around a letter with a January 1882 NYC postmark until he committed suicide on a ranch in Montana early in the 20th century. 

A “documentary” about the wold after the Zombie apocalypse of the 1990s. Narrator interviews people who survived to hear their stories. Well done as an audio book with a large cast. 
Quick and fun.  Can’t imagine reading this - a great listen. 

First in the Joe Pickett series. Joe takes on some locals who place their own pocketbooks as a higher priority than the finding of Miller’s Weasels - a civet previously thought to be extinct due to the loss of their primary food source - the buffalo. 
Joe perseveres as he stands on the side of endangered species and doing the right thing. 

Lots to think about. 
Well laid out - almost formulaic following what I was taught about a research paper. Set the stage - give a brief history of Democracy - then tell the stories of five people who rose to power as tyrants in their countries. Ends with thoughts of how democracy in the United States is being threatened - and what could happen if people don't recognize the warning signs and respond to a leader who acts to undermine democracy. It can happen subtly. 

A high school girl dies after a fall at a student party held in an unfinished house in the coastal town of Nashquitten, Mass. Ten narrators tell Lucy's story through their interactions with her - and each other - before and after her death. Nashquitten appears to be a big enough town to survive in the non-summer months - but depends on the tourist trade brought in by the summer visitors. The narrators share their stories - and we learn about Lucy, and the bonds that keep some people in Nashquitten - and drive others away. 
I was surprised that Grabowski includes two sex offenders in the book - one who is a new teacher having an affair with a student who of course thinks of the teacher as her "boyfriend" - and the other a long standing member of the faculty - the athletics coach. The adults treat both of these incidents by silently acknowledging that it happened - and then asking the men to leave town - or retire. 
I wonder how often that happens around the country with high school students who have been sexually manipulated by a teacher - and the response is to "absolve" the adult and hope that the student can - what - forget about it? 
But - that's a sidebar to the storyline of - Lucy - and the effect her life and death had on the ten narrators.

Truth narrates a story of four people who were in Salonika, Greece when the Nazis occupied the town  - following their lives from the deportation of Jews to Auschwitz in 1943 until the 1990s. Nico Krispis, the 11 year old boy who always tells the truth, his older brother Sebastian, their friend Fanny, and Otto Graff. 
Truth tells us all

Police procedural tied in with historical fiction - two of my favorites. 
England, 1860's - Prince Albert intends to nominate Darwin for knighthood in recognition of the significance of the Origin of the Species. A group of learned criminals hatch a plot to assassinate Prince Albert - thereby preventing him from bestowing knighthood on Darwin.