Jason

3.25 stars.

I first came across this series after seeing ads for it on a webcomic back in the mid-00s. Unfortunately, I could never recall the name, so it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I finally stumbled across it while looking up space opera books on Amazon. Needless to say, I decided to finally read it.

It was good. The writing isn't great, but seeing as how this was self-published and one of the author's earliest ones, I'm not going to criticize it. I still plan on reading the next book in the series.

Pretty, pretty, pretty good. Hopefully there'll be sequels, as the ending certainly sets the stage for it.

Pretty good. Nick Heller is different enough from Jack Reacher not to be a clone, which is nice. Lots of twists. Only complaint is that the voice the narrator did for Gabriel was kind of annoying and not great.

I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did, but I was pleasantly surprised. The Recovery Agent manages to balance itself between being a action thriller and a lighthearted romp without veering too far in either direction. One of the few books I've come across that has made me actually laugh out loud.

Having said that, it didn't stick the landing and the ending left much to be desired. But hey, the journey is just as important as the destination, so I'm not going to let the ending nullify my enjoyment of the rest of the book.

This was fun. The ending took me by surprise. Still not trusting any old ladies anymore.

I'll never trust little old ladies again.

It was good, but it mainly serves to set the groundwork for the next book.

Five stars, six stars, all the stars! Loved this book and the characters. I almost cried twice in a span of 30 minutes at one point. If you've read this book, you can probably guess which parts and why.

Loved, loved, loved this. Reminds me of the Thursday Murder Club series. I wish there were more stories with Harbinder, Edwin, Benny, and Natalka.

This is the first book of poetry I've ever read and all in all, it was a good starting point. Not being a poetry reader before this, I don't have anything to measure the Collins' poems against, but I liked them. The man knows how to use words, that's for sure.

3.75 stars. It was fine. Not bad, but didn't blow my socks off and into the next room. The last bit is meandering and the constant twists get tiring.

Goddamn, James Lee Burke is good with words.

Two stars and that's only because I'm feeling generous. What a stinker. The plot had potential, but unfortunately, the writing did not help at all. Holy crap, it was bad.

Just some nitpicks:

1. There's one character in the book who is always referred to as either Commander Will Matthews or Will Matthews, but never just Will or Matthews. I have no idea why. None of the other characters are given similar treatment. It actually gets ridiculous because there are several points in the book where his full name is given in the same paragraph. In one instant, it was in adjoining sentences.

2. After taking over the cathedral, the hostage-takers claim that they've planted explosives that they'll detonate if the police try and storm the cathedral.They didn't, but the cops didn't know because they didn't bother asking any of the thousands of hostages the bad guys released early on if they had seen them wiring up explosives.

3. Overall, the cops all act like absolute morons and it's obvious no research was actually done into how they would handle the situation.

4. Michael Bennett just exists for most of the book and does little during the main plot until the very last part. Otherwise, he just cycles between the crime scene, going home to his kids, and visiting his dying wife in hospice. His contributions to the hostage situation is largely relegated to talking to the leader of the hostage-takers on the phone in brief calls.

5. When the go to arrested the hostage-takers at the end, they do so while they're at work (in a prison) instead of showing up at their homes and arresting them quickly and quietly.
6. The reveal of the mastermind was disappointing because it felt like it was just pulled out of someone's butt.

Having said all that, I do plan on reading the other books in the series because I want to see if there's any improvement in the writing or not.

When I pulled it off the shelf at my local library, I did not expect this book to be as wild of a ride as it turned out to be. Holy smokes, this woman survived a plane crash on top of the mountain, didn't freeze to death, then climbed down the dang mountain to safety. Near the end of the book, she says that in total, she walked like twenty miles.

And she did it while wearing a skit, leather boots with heels, a WWI era flying cap, and as she notes several times, no underwear.

Lauren Elder makes Rambo look like a wuss.

An delightful novel that easily lives up to the hype.

There's got to be more Monk and Robot, right? RIGHT????!!!

Absolutely loved it. I had read the short story a couple of years ago, but I had to read this when I saw it at the library. An amazing adaption with stunningly beautiful artwork. As for the story itself, it's one of my favorites and just shows that Neil Gaiman is one of the best storytellers out there.

(Note: There's two different versions of this book on GR: this one and another with the publisher listed as the author. No idea why. This review was originally posted on the page for the latter)

A solid 3 stars. I would have gone a little higher, but the text errors brought it down more than the lack of depth. I was fine with the latter for the most part because the book is more of a general overview of various cults and that's what I was looking for.

Great book. I liked how it's split into three sections: the first is basically a history of the Osage and the many trials and hardships wrongly imposed upon them. The second focuses on the FBI's investigation into the murders, which would put just about any mystery novelist to shame with all the ups and downs and twists and turns. Lastly, the third section is about David Grann's visit to Osage land and how his own investigations unexpectedly turns up evidence that the crimes against the Osage were much, much worse than what the FBI unearthed.

Another banger of an entry in the series.

So I knew that Hank Peterwald dies at some point in the series, but I didn't expect him to die in this book. Good riddance, tbh.

That was fun. The plot twist was unexpected, which is always nice. The dialogue was witty, the writing fine, which coming from the pen of Lawrence Block is to be expected.

Interesting and engaging. I have to wonder what the final product would have been like had Michelle McNamara lived. I equally wonder what her reaction would have been if she had been alive when the Golden State Killer was finally arrested.

As this was just a way to bridge [b: Kris Longknife: Defiant 129581 Defiant (Kris Longknife, #3) Mike Shepherd https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1410565714l/129581.SY75.jpg 124803] and [b: Kris Longknife: Resolute 129580 Resolute (Kris Longknife, #4) Mike Shepherd https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388777220l/129580.SY75.jpg 124802], there's not much to comment on or to review. I did laugh at Trouble playing Kris, though. And the whole bit with Jack getting drafted got a sensible chuckle out of me.

4.5 stars. Jal is one of my favorite characters in fantasy because he's just different. It's refreshing having a main character who's a coward, rather than the de facto courageous hero.

Certainly lived up to the hype.