Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

Hi everyone. Had a good month of reading. Here are my June reads:

Top Reads

Why We Die
Mick Herron
This is the third book which features Oxford PI Zoe Boehm and was just as good as the others. I really like the author's style, find it very readable, and Zoe is the kind of smart, capable, and pragmatic character that I enjoy.

End of Watch
Stephen King
I thought this was an excellent conclusion to the trilogy. The plot was suspenseful, tense, and a bit scary. I also really enjoy how Bill, Holly, and Jerome interact and work together. Like the previous two books I listened to the audio which was masterfully narrated by Will Patton.

Good Reads

The Fireman
Joe Hill
I thought this book had a great premise and liked the two main characters but got bogged down during the middle of the book and found the message a bit heavy handed. The last quarter of the book picked up though and I did enjoy the audio especially since I found the narration by Kate Mulgrew to be top notch.

A Rare Benedictine: The Advent of Brother Cadfael
Ellis Peters
Collection of three short tales featuring Brother Cadfael. All were quite good and the first one explains how Cadfael made his way to the Abbey.

Wicked Prey
John Sandford
Lucas and his crew keep busy when the Republican National Convention comes to town. An enjoyable audio though the secondary plotline featuring Letty was a bit overdone. The narration by Richard Ferrone was excellent as usual.

Guilt: Stories
Ferdinand von Schirach
Collection of short stories set in Germany featuring a defense attorney who records his observations of his clients and their crimes and motivations. The writing was rather spare though very realistic. Not quite as good as the previous collection Crime but still well worth reading.

Boys Among Men: How the Prep-to-Pro Generation Redefined the NBA and Sparked a Basketball Revolution
Jonathan Abrams
A well researched and written look at the group of young men who went directly to the NBA after high school and how they impacted the league. As someone who has always felt that the minimum age rule that the NBA now has is wrong, this book did reinforce my views but also presented the association's side.

The Tightrope Men
Desmond Bagley
Though some of the plot points were quite ludicrous, this was a fun and entertaining Cold War adventure thriller. The action started in Norway and soon moved to both Finland and the Soviet Union and, like all the author's works, it was well written and researched.

Morgue Drawer: Do Not Enter!
Jutta Profijt
Another fun outing for Germany's oddest crime solving duo. The plot in this book was a bit heavier dealing with drugs and the Turkish immigrant experience but there was still plenty of humor mainly provided by Pascha's first person narration and his interactions with Martin. Listened to the audio which was narrated by MacLeod Andrews.

Mourning the Little Dead
Jane A. Adams
This was one of those reads that was decent enough while reading but not really overly compelling. The plot was OK and the characters were, for the most part pretty interesting, but the writing style was a bit stilted and was not helped by numerous editing errors in the Kindle edition.

The Secret Place
Tana French
Not quite up to the standards of the author's previous works but still worth reading. I started with the audio but after about an hour I had to go to the kindle version because I could not hear the sections read by the young woman well enough. A bit too long and frankly teenage girls are not my favorite subject matter but after I switched versions I had no problems with the writing or pace.

Lock 14
Georges Simenon
Early book in the Inspector Maigret series first published in 1931. The Inspector is out of his element investigating a murder at a Lock on the French canal system. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the river and locks a bit more than the actual plot but overall liked this short mystery.

Cadillac Jukebox
James Lee Burke
I like this series on audio because of the language, atmosphere, and characters but find that the plotting can be hit or miss and this book was a bit of a miss. Nevertheless, any time spent with Dave and Clete, especially when Mark Hammer does the narration, is enjoyable.

Very good month Sandi

I'd say 13 was your lucky number for the month! Looks like all pretty good reads!

Speed reading again, Sandi?

Good looking month Sandi!
I recall the voices on the narration that pushed you to Kindle over audio for The Secret Place. It is so true that even the most compelling books can be hard to listen to while very good narration sometimes elevates the experience. I'm looking forward to the next Tana French book.

A good month for you as usual. I agree on The Secret Place -- I found the consistent voice of teenage girls tiresome after awhile. It affected my decision to read a book that was a group read -- the one about the girl who fell or was pushed off a building. I did read it eventually but I think I'm done with teenage girls.

Tana French has a new book coming out in the fall; I've already put a request for it in to the library.