Latest book you've read

I’ve just read “The Englishman” by David Gilman. A former soldier is recruited to try to rescue a kidnap victim, and then to hunt down the kidnappers after they escape. A good book, another one that gets going a bit part-way in.

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wow that sounds really cool! also for a moment there i really thought it was about a real-life person and went “huh? a physician to monsters and the undead? i really should start checking the news more often” :grin:

I’ve just finished “Never” by Ken Follett. Several strands to the story, an undercover agent attempts to track people smugglers and drug smuggling from Africa into Europe while a Chinese agent attempts to stop nuclear war. A very good book - at the start I thought it was a bit over-verbose but it improves towards the end. Well worth a read.

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Looking through this thread made me realised I haven’t FINISHED a single book in the past few months. I’m like 20 pages away from finishing several books but none has been actually completed. All of them are so good I don’t want them to end aha.

I’ve just finished “The Kills” by Linda Fairstein. Assistant DA Alex Cooper is trying to prosecute a man for rape, but at the same time he’s accused of cruelty to his son and there’s a historical artefact in the mix. I enjoyed the book, I’m reading another by the same author with the same main characters now so I’ll see whether they’re consistently good.

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I’ve just finished * “Bad Blood” by Linda Fairstein. Assistant DA Alex Cooper is trying a man for murder when an explosion in the New York water supply system looks as if it might be a terrorist incident. Another decent book, I’m into a third one now.

( * It’s cold and been snowing here, and I didn’t feel like going out.)

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I finished a number of books over my vacation last week.

I finished “First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington” by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch. An interesting tale of the divide in the colonies at the time of the Revolutionary War. Intelligence, counter-intelligence, double agents, trust and betrayal. All the juicy things that at times were shocking to read and an interesting insight into how close the war came to being over before it even started. A bit of a slog of a read at times, and the timelines involved clashed with some of the ones I had learned as a kid, but I’m guessing research has refined the timeline over the years, so I learned something which is always good.

I also finished Hard Knocks, book three in the SC Marva Collins series by Nathan Lowell. A quick read and I’ve been a fan of Nathan Lowell since I first discovered his writing with Quarter Share, and this is the 15th book in that universe and the 12th with the Ishmael Wang character. A solid book, and it’s a little more “meta”/introspective than some of the other books in this series. The author has said he doesn’t see the Wang character being done, and I hope it’s not because this didn’t seem like a fitting end for the character. A happy ending for the character, but incomplete.

And finally, I finished “The President is Missing” by Bill Clinton and Bill Patterson. This was another quick read (< 6 hours) and while entertaining, I found some of it to be a little…ridiculous for lack of a better idea. Some of the plot twists were predictable, and some of the rest just weren’t earned. But for a quick read, it was enjoyable, and a decent example of a Patterson novel.

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Interesting, I have “The President is Missing” on my “to read” pile. It’s a while since I’ve read a James Patterson novel, this is one that I bought ages ago and then misplaced so I’ll probably have a go on that next.

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I would read books when i was really small. I loved adventure stories mostly of “ruskin bond” now i am occupied with work and college so no space for new read, but would love to read when get time.

^ I used to read when I was a kid, then as you say, work and studies took over for a bit, but I got back into it once that had settled down for a while. When I first started work I was just reading work-related stuff, but after a while that became a bit less necessary. I guess if I’d been more ambitious it might be different, who knows?

I’ve just finished “Lethal Legacy” by Linda Fairstein. While Assistant DA Alex Cooper is investigating an assault on a historic book conservator, a body is found and the conservator is nowhere to be found. An interesting tale bringing in the historic book and map world as the killer is hunted.

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I’ve just finished “The Goodbye Man” by Jeffery Deaver. Colter Shaw earns a living by tracking down missing people and then claiming the reward money, but this time he’s surprised that one of the young lads he finds for a minor offence throws himself off a cliff to avoid capture. Some digging reveals an organisation close by who have sinister motives. A decent read again, which is why I’ve got through it relatively quickly. Reminds me a little of the “David Raker” character.

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I’ve just finished “The Sinner” by Tess Gerritsen. A nun is murdered in her convent, and a second one viciously attacked, while in another part of town a body is found with some disturbing skin lesions. A decent story featuring recurring characters Rizzoli and Isles, I’ve got a few more by the same author.

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I’ve just read “The coast to coast murders” by James Patterson and JD Barker. A man is wanted for murder, and he seems to be on the run with his sister who is convinced that he’s innocent. An interesting story, perhaps a few too many twists and turns but decent enough.

Currently reading “Van Gogh. The Complete Paintings”

A very indepth review of his life and paintings. :smiley:

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I’ve just finished “The Devil’s Elixir” by Raymond Khoury. An FBI agent must protect his girlfriend and newly discovered son from a Mexico drug baron who thinks the kid holds the formula to a powerful new drug in his head. A decent enough chase tale, I enjoyed it.

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I’ve just read “Guilt” by Jonathan Kellerman. Psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis work together to find who murdered a woman and baby, with a few twists and turns. I’ve read a few of these books, but not for a long time, and I very much enjoyed this one.

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I’ve just finished “Black Bear” by Aly Monroe. A British intelligence agent is found in a doorway, and it turns out that he’s been kidnapped and drugged. The book covers his recovery in hospital, then by the seaside, and his return to work at the newly-formed United Nations in New York.

I don’t really know what to say about this book, I expect it’s a bit too “high brow” for me. We read about him recovering, staying at the seaside, going to some parties, getting better and then going to work, and we read about some obscure conversations that he has with various people. But I can’t give you any special or exciting event that happened, and unless it was too subtle for me, we don’t find out who drugged him in the first place, or why. A weird book and, unusually, I don’t think I’ll be looking out for any more by the same author.

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I’ve just finished “Paying for it” by Tony Black. A former journalist is hired by his friend to find out why his son was tortured and killed, and finds himself getting into a world of people trafficking and corruption. A decent book, quite easy to read, first in a series.

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Demon Deathchase - it’s a part of the extensive Vampire Hunter D series, by Hideyuki Kikuchi. Very futuristic, Gothic horror, sci-fi. I have read about 7 books in the series, and this one stuck out in my memory. There was also a movie made loosely around it, likely one of the best film adaptations (and drawing wise, beautiful art) I’ve ever seen - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

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