Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

We’ve had some great discussions on Group Read Books the last few years; many books selected have been by favorite authors or nominations of books that several of us are planning to read, especially when a series we started continues, so why not start a discussion, but we are always open to new authors and books we might not otherwise read. 😀😀

Please feel free to use this thread to nominate books you think would be interesting for Group Read conversations in 2018.

The easiest way to see all of the group read books and link directly to the discussions is from the Bookshelf link on the Group home page.

Here are a couple of books we might consider for additional Group reads in 2018
Tangerine by Christine Mangan release date March 27 2018
Sunburn by Laura Lippman release date Feb 20 2018 so both are candidates for late spring early summer.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/006268...#

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/006238...#

Our first three Group Reads in 2018 are new Books by previous Group Read authors. They currently span February with Jane Harper’s followup to The Dry, a 2017 Group Read; then Trudy Nan Boyce’s third Sara Alt book covers March; and All the Beautiful Lies by by Group favorite Peter Swanson for April.

Thanks Ann for coordinating the group reads. I always enjoy reading everyone's opinions and have been exposed to many new authors and books I never would have picked up on my own.

I definitely would be up for the new Laura Lippman book and Tangerine looks good too.

A few books I saw on the NYT best of 2017 list that interested me were:

Lightning Men by Thomas Mullen which is the follow-up to Darktown.

The Driver by Hart Hanson
A debut that is supposed to have lots of action and humor.

Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
This book was on a bunch of best of 2017 lists though I will admit that I read her first book Black Water Rising and was a bit underwhelmed.

Sandi: thank you! I didn't realize there was a follow-up to Darktown, which was our first group read of 2017. I would love to read that new one! It seems fitting to sneak in Lightning Men first for 2018. I'm excited!

Another one that looked interesting is Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. It might be a nice change of pace to do another non-fiction book and this seems to get great reviews from everyone.

Sandi: That book has been on my tbr list for a while. I listened to a podcast about it last year and it is a chilling story. I like the idea of another non-fiction book.
Sandi wrote: "Another one that looked interesting is Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. It might be a nice change of pace to do another non-fiction book and t..."

Sandi wrote: "Another one that looked interesting is Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. It might be a nice change of pace to do another non-fiction book and t..."

I'd be in for that one!

Gilly MacMillan's The Perfect Girl is an interesting read. I read her first two books this year, and they were decent. She has a new one I haven't read, which could be good I guess. Just an idea. http://www.gillymacmillan.com/

Ann wrote: "Sandi: That book has been on my tbr list for a while. I listened to a podcast about it last year and it is a chilling story. I like the idea of another non-fiction book.
Sandi wrote: "Another one ..."

I listened to a podcast on it also, and it has been on my mind since then. I've put off requesting it because it makes me so sad/angry to read about how Native Americans have been victimized. But I'd be up for a group read of it.

Ann wrote: "Sandi: thank you! I didn't realize there was a follow-up to Darktown, which was our first group read of 2017. I would love to read that new one! It seems fitting to sneak in...

I would definitely read the sequel to Darktown!

Ann wrote: "Our first three Group Reads in 2018 are new Books by previous Group Read authors. They currently span February with Jane Harper’s followup to The Dry, a 2017 Group Read; then [autho..."

I'm exited that we'll read Harper's Force of Nature! Glad you added it, Ann.

Christopher Reich has a new book out this year, The Take. It looks like he's returning to his roots blending financial mischief with international thrills. I'd love it to be a group read, but I see we've already got lots of good books lined up.

Russ: Thanks for suggesting The Take the blurb with "...an international spy thriller featuring Simon Riske: one part James Bond, one part Jack Reacher" sounds intriguing! Perhaps we can fit it in in a few months! I am excited to see my library has it.

Russ wrote: "Ann wrote: "Our first three Group Reads in 2018 are new Books by previous Group Read authors. They currently span February with Jane Harper’s followup to The Dry, a 2017 Group Read;..."

Russ wrote: "Christopher Reich has a new book out this year, The Take. It looks like he's returning to his roots blending financial mischief with international thrills. I'd love it to be a group read, but I see we've already got lots of good books lined up."

I enjoy financial thrillers so I would be up for this. I have always meant to read this author but have just not been able to squeeze him in yet.

Russ and Sandi: Great! I am intrigued and will look forward to discussing The Take perhaps mid March or April?
The book release is mid-January.
Sandi wrote: "I enjoy financial thrillers so I would be up for this. I have always meant to read this author but have just not been able to squeeze him in yet. "

Russ wrote: "Christopher Reich has a new book out this year, The Take. It looks like he's returning to his roots blending financial mischief with international thrills. I'd love it to be a group read.."

Ann wrote: "Russ and Sandi: Great! I am intrigued and will look forward to discussing The Take perhaps mid March or April?
The book release is mid-January.
Sandi wrote: "I enjoy financial thri..."

Sounds super--thank you!

Russ,Sandi and group read fans:
My usual juggling of library books to read our group read books on time has an opportunity and a snag.
I am way down on the list for Jane Harper's Force of Nature and already got my turn for The Take. I thought I would only sample The Take, let it go back unread and coordinate it for later this spring as originally planned ... but the sample has hooked me in. So I am going to try to summarize notes for The Take now...
With that being the plan, I will start posts for summarizing our February book, but won't get my turn for a while to read it.

Ann wrote: "Russ and Sandi: Great! I am intrigued and will look forward to discussing The Take perhaps mid March or April?
The book release is mid-January.."

I hope to get back to reading my arc of sunburn before it releases in the beginning of February. Enjoying is so far. But at the moment I have been mainly trying to read my arc ebooks.

Ann wrote: "Russ,Sandi and group read fans:
My usual juggling of library books to read our group read books on time has an opportunity and a snag.
I am way down on the list for Jane Harper's [book:Force of Nat..."

No worries Ann. I went ahead and requested The Take so I can try and read it as soon as possible. So if Russ and others could get a copies of the book we could just flip the timing. I too have Force of Nature on hold but have requested the e-version for purchase by the library and, if they do that (which I assume they will), should be close to the top of the line.

I’m up for the switch! I should be able to get a copy soon.

Russ (and Sandi)
Thank you both very much. I hated to ask, but my sampling of The Take grabbed me right in - a very good sign for discussions I hope. 😀😊
Russ wrote: "I’m up for the switch! I should be able to get a copy soon."

I will see if I can get The Take from the library.. although I am so behind in group reads it hardly matters!

Carol: An Uooor would say reading the next group read before prior ones out of order is more fun! Wink 😊
Hope you can get a copy!
Carol/Bonadie wrote: "I will see if I can get The Take from the library.. although I am so behind in group reads it hardly matters!"

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "I will see if I can get The Take from the library.. although I am so behind in group reads it hardly matters!"

lol. carol. same for me. it seems that the group reads keep multiplying and i can't keep up with them!

Sherry and Carol
It’s quite easy to have unread group read books; I imagine I am unusual in having read all of them. 😀 📚 I am not bragging!!! I just love discussing books with the members of this group! We’ve read a lot of them. Fifty-five over the last four years with five lined up so far for 2018.
2014 - 13
2015 - 13
2016 - 15
2017 - 14

I just read Crimson Lake and loved it. Even better than the Aaron Falk series, in my opinion! So I nominate the book for a group read. Will Sunburn be a group read? I have the book, but haven’t read it yet. I’ll definitely be joining the All the Beautiful Lies discussion.

Geri: I’ve had my eye on Crimson Lake and am reading Sunburn now. It would be a good group read in my opinion and I am open to Crimson Lake too.
Anyone else interested?

Geri wrote: "I just read Crimson Lake and loved it. Even better than the Aaron Falk series, in my opinion! So I nominate the book for a group read. Will Sunburn be a group read? ..."

Ann wrote: "Geri: I’ve had my eye on Crimson Lake and am reading Sunburn now. It would be a good group read in my opinion and I am open to Crimson Lake too.
Anyone else interes..."

Yes, I think both look like they would be interesting group reads.

Ann wrote: "Sherry and Carol
It’s quite easy to have unread group read books; I imagine I am unusual in having read all of them. 😀 📚 I am not bragging!!! I just love discussing books with the members of this g..."

Wow! Wonder how many of those I've read.. diminishing numbers over the years. I have about five stacked up on my TBR, and will have to return some unread I'm sure.

Carol/Bonadie wrote: Wow! Wonder how many of those I've read.. diminishing numbers over the years. I have about five stacked up on my TBR, and will have to return some unread I'm sure.
/i>

lol, same here, carol.
that said, i'm interested in reading Sunburn

Ann wrote: "Geri: I’ve had my eye on Crimson Lake and am reading Sunburn now. It would be a good group read in my opinion and I am open to Crimson Lake too.
Anyone else interes..."

Great! I’ll read Sunburn with the group.

Wiley just gave me the heads up for an upcoming release that he's asked me to review that I think the group might want to read. It's Bum Deal by Paul Levine. I know that a number of people read this author and this book sounds like it has an interesting premise. It will be out in June.

Shomeret: Great, thanks! I haven't read his Jake Lassiter series yet, but that could change. 😊. Interestingly Amazon has Bum Deal as book 13, but Goodreads has it as number 12. Fict Fact has it as book 13 but doesn't list a number 12. The others in the series are free for Kindle Unlimited and this is likely to be too (nice!) Or 3.99 Kindle.
Perhaps for July for a group read if others are interested!

Shomeret wrote: "Wiley just gave me the heads up for an upcoming release that he's asked me to review that I think the group might want to read. It's Bum Deal by Paul Levine. I know that a number of..."

Sandi, Sherry, Geri: I've got two group reads to read first, but am good for both suggestions.
I finished Sunburn this morning and can set up chapter threads for it listing maybe mid-April start through May (or anytime) I didn't take notes so we may have to get those summaries by someone else or later.
Perhaps Crimson Lake could be a June Group Read. The shelf for group reads is filling out nicely. 😊

Sandi wrote: "Yes, I think both look like they would be interesting group reads."

Sherry wrote: "that said, i'm interested in reading Sunburn."

Geri wrote: "Great! I’ll read Sunburn with the group"

I am all for the Levine. No question that I will read it as soon as it is in my hot little hands.

Ann wrote: "I finished Sunburn this morning and can set up chapter threads for it listing maybe mid-April start through May (or anytime) I didn't take notes so we may have to get those summaries by someone else or later.
Perhaps Crimson Lake could be a June Group Read. The shelf for group reads is filling out nicely. "

Mid April for Sunburn is fine with me! I can write a summary for the chapters. Not a problem.

Just a heads up. I listened to Crimson Lake on audio. The book isn’t separated by chapters. Might make it more difficult to create a breakdown for the book.

Geri: Thanks for the Sunburn summary offer!! I will start the threads for those this weekend so you can jump in whenever you are ready!
I understand why some authors write without chapters - well not really, but trying to be open minded; because it really does make it hard to know where to break up comments. Good to know we have that situation with Crimson Lake... . Perhaps that book will be best with just a couple of summary threads splitting it into halves. :)
Geri wrote: "Mid April for Sunburn is fine with me! I can write a summary for the chapters. Not a problem.

Just a heads up. I listened to Crimson Lake on audio. The book isn’t separated by chapters. Might make it more difficult to create a breakdown for the book. .."

Barry: Of course!
Barry wrote: "I am all for the Levine. No question that I will read it as soon as it is in my hot little hands."

Ann wrote: "I will start the threads for those this weekend so you can jump in whenever you are ready!"
OK Thanks!

Hello all,

You don't know me, yet. I've been lurking around this thriller/mystery friends site for a few months now, but haven't chimed in. I'm a bit too shy usually to do much chatting online. But I feel almost compelled to now suggest a book to you for your group read. The book is titled, "Finding Max," and it is a thriller, so I think it would certainly fit. But I must admit upfront that I wrote Finding Max, and this is not meant as flagrant promotion (please don't accuse me of that because I sincerely am not trying that).

In Finding Max, five-year old Maximilian and his eight-year old brother, Gary, are playing in a playground one hot summer day. Gary has been tasked by their drunken mother to watch over Maximilian, but while he is preoccupied with the monkey bars, Maximilian is abducted by a man in a car driving past. 17 years later, the two brothers meet again quite by chance. Gary now works as a professional in a New York City homeless shelter when Max comes in one day, seeking services. Now the two men must learn to love and trust one another, along with Gary's new girlfriend, Jean, all the while outwitting and outrunning the evil Quinn who seeks to re-abduct Max for his own nefarious purposes. Finding Max is the first in a trilogy, though the other two books have not yet been published.

Okay, I did it. I've been wanting to suggest you all read this for a while, now. Not because I am trying to get readers (my publisher and I are using other strategies to gather readers, rather than trying to just grab 3 or 4 at a time on the goodreads thriller/mystery board).

Please understand that Im not trying to do anything underhanded. If you re-read the description of Finding Max I'm sure you will see why I thought it would be a good fit for your group reads. The novel deals with issues that most other thrillers just don't touch, such as urban hunger, urban homelessness and human trafficking, making it an ideal read for discussing afterwards. I'm only trying to suggest a good book for you to read and discuss and think about. And please, moderators, if it really sounds like I'm doing something underhanded here, then please just remove this post to prevent any kinds of misunderstandings. The last thing I want to do here is make enemies or to have anyone misunderstand me. I'm only trying to be a good citizen by sharing the one thing I actually have to talk about right now (because I'm so busy with the marketing and such of the book I have no time to really chat about much here -- no time!)

Okay, so I hope you believe me and are not angered by this suggestion. If you are, again, please just delete this posting.

All my best,
darren

Ann wrote: "Good to know we have that situation with Crimson Lake... . Perhaps that book will be best with just a couple of summary threads splitting it into halves. :)n..."

I was thinking by page numbers, perhaps, but also indicating halves, thirds, quarters, whatever will help those of use who may be listening to the audio.

This RIO (read in order) is of course wondering if I should read the others first. I've read at least one I'm sure but probably won't have time to read 11 or 12 before July, LOL.

Carol: good point; quarters or thirds will be decent guides for audio listeners and the corresponding page numbers can be listed. (For books without clear chapter breaks)

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "Ann wrote: "Good to know we have that situation with Crimson Lake... . Perhaps that book will be best with just a couple of summary threads splitting it into halves. :)n..."

I was thinking by page numbers, perhaps, but also indicating halves, thirds, quarters, whatever will help those of use who may be listening to the audio
..."

Geri: Wow this book is good, great nomination!
I just got the threads up for Crimson Lake so discussions can commence. I started it a couple of days ago and am deeply entrenched and entranced!

Geri wrote: "I just read Crimson Lake and loved it. Even better than the Aaron Falk series, in my opinion! So I nominate the book for a group read.."

Barry recently read and commented on one of our 2017 Group Read books (Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn) and so I checked on book two. I was excited to see that The Wild Dead is a July 2018 release so suggest we might read it this summer too in keeping with our group tradition of continuing our group read series books. Any takers?
To tempt your interest, book 0.5 is available now Where Would You Be Now?, free ebook through a link on the Goodreads book page.

Ann wrote: "Barry recently read and commented on one of our 2017 Group Read books (Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn) and so I checked on book two. I was excited to see that [book:The W..."

I am definitely interested in reading and discussing book 2. I’ll add it to my list!

Geri: great!! Maybe we can tempt a few to go back and read Bannerless too.
Geri wrote: "I am definitely interested in reading and discussing book 2. I’ll add it to my list!
.."

We don’t have to decide now, but I just saw John Grisham has a new book to be released in October. The Reckoning. We’ve had a few mixed reactions to the latest, but maybe another good group read option.

Ann wrote: "We don’t have to decide now, but I just saw John Grisham has a new book to be released in October. The Reckoning. We’ve had a few mixed reactions to the latest, but maybe another good group read op..."

I have that one order and the premise of the story is finally available, along with the cover picture. Sounds good!

Melodie: I thought the premise sounds good too.
The Reckoning
Melodie wrote: "I have that one order and the premise of the story is finally available, along with the cover picture. Sounds good! .."

I just finished a book we have considered for one of our group reads and since we have a gap between books in June I thought we could insert in Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.
I'll put up some discussion threads. I actually started reading the book in March and had to put it down for a while. The crimes are hard to read about but it is a very well written book.