Mic Breaks Only discussion

I finished The Boy on the Bridge and it was fantastic. This is a prequel to The Girl With All the Gifts and it added both depth and delightful detail to the original story. I am a huge fan of how M.R. Carey compresses and expands time in this book. He is adept at writing action scenes that is reminiscent of how the slow motion battle scenes were filmed in 300. This allows you to relish the extra drama, but still keeps the plot moving forward at a brisk pace.

I enjoyed the new characters and particularly liked the escalating tension between scientific and military personnel as they spent more time together in too close of quarters on their shared exploratory mission. The awkward hero of the book is teenager Stephen Greaves who is a science whiz but struggles with social interactions. He is much like a locked treasure box who has a trove of important scientific discovery inside but is closed off and often uncommunicative with most of the other characters in the story.

I would recommend reading the original story first and the prequel second as the big reveal of the first book and then the layers of detail unfold in a more natural order. If the author chooses to make this a trilogy, count me in.

I listened to just over half of the audio version of The Bat. This was not my first Harry Hole encounter as I had already listened to The Snowman. Because of my nonconformist approach to the serial, I started with insider intel about the killer, but that didn't detract me from wanting to try out another gritty detective book by Jo Nesbø.

This book takes place in Sydney, Australia where Harry is sent to investigate the murder of a Norwegian citizen. Hole is partnered with Aboriginal Detective Andrew Kensington. It is soon discovered that the murder is not a singular crime and that the victims are all attractive blonde women who have also been sexually assaulted.

The author pens quite a varied cast of characters that includes: prostitutes, drug dealers, boxers, cross-dressers, circus performers, and bar staff. This not only keeps the story entertaining, but also keeps the reader distracted as to a clear suspect.

Harry meets a lovely Swedish barmaid and pursues her as a love interest. We learn more about his past, including his struggles with alcoholism and several losses in his life. While searching the home of a cross-dressing circus performer who has been gruesomely murdered, Detective Hole finds his partner deceased in what appears to be a successful suicide.

I finished Camino Island and I was a bit confused by it. The book had several Grisham modus operandi: a kick ass intricate heist, a large shadowy entity that has an unlimited budget and is intent on finding the stolen goods, an unsuspecting naive recruit who is asked to gather intelligence about the theft, a suspect who is easy and breezy on the outside but may be hiding deep dark secrets, and a huge payoff if the sale of the stolen items is successful.

There were other parts of the story that didn't quite match and they read more like a steamy young adult romance. Why does the recruit also have to be a honey trap? Can't she use her wits instead of her body to gather information? Why are there ridiculous parameters that allow the suspect to have the best of every imaginable world: a successful quaint independent book store, a restored historical mansion that is perfectly appointed with French antiques, quirky amazing literary friends, a beautiful wealthy wife that is "totally cool with an open relationship", plenty of sexual conquests that include visiting authors and the young sweet recruit (of course), a lucrative secretive second business in the form of rare stolen books, and he also gets to be a nice likable guy? Does this guy even have a bad hair day? Something about how great this guy's life is made it seem like he was written by a 13 year old with a crush. It all seems too good to be true or like I've been roofied and I can't quite tell what is real and what is not.

Even though I had criticism about some of the details, I didn't hate the story. As always with John Grisham it was a quick easy read and was entertaining throughout. It is the equivalent of cocktails and nibbles with good friends, it doesn't take much effort and is usually a pretty good time. Some parts were ultimately a bit too disparate for me and I yearned for a more complete complex grown up version of a villain - give me the dark inner tormented stuff along with all of the shiny polished exterior.

I started the January book club selection In the Dark a week early and got through about 20% of it. I am super excited about the plot and love a good "diabolical game" as described in the Goodreads summary. The secluded setting is superb and the escalating tension, panic and confusion in the characters is delicious thus far.