Review: The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life

The Answer Is…: Reflections on My Life by Alex Trebek
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Bittersweet to read Trebek's memories and philosophy written when he knew his life was coming to an end. Some of the " chapters " were a paragraph long, others extended to a page and a half. Interestingly, there were some very profound thoughts and some themes that provided food for thought for the reader. What is courage? Does divorce always have to mean anger and recriminations? Is it enough to be really talented and good at what you do to succeed? He answers the question he found himself confronted with after he revealed his diagnosis--how did he want to be remembered? I'll leave it to other readers to hear it directly from him in his own words. As for me, his wish has been fulfilled.

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Review: Strangers in Death

Strangers in Death by J.D. Robb
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hard to believe I've read 26 of these books and there are at least that many more to go. The story never disappoints--set in 2060 it is fun to imagine how the city will be long after I'm gone. Some of the things Robb sets up appeal but I'm glad I won't be around when real food and COFFEE are at a premium. The traffic and lack of parking spaces seem pretty much the same as it is now. Although the setting is drastically different the the crimes are, unfortunately, the same. Vicious murders, often committed not by strangers but by relatives or acquaintances with greed, jealousy, money etc still the motives. In this case, the solution to the crime has been used in other fictional genres, yet even though one example is a classic, the thought never crossed my mind. Didn't occur to Eve and her team either. Still, once the pieces came together, the whole thing just made perfect sense. Added to the complexity and interest of the crime at the heart of the story is the ongoing development of the characters and their relationships. This makes the series all the more addictive.

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Review: The Lightning Rod

The Lightning Rod by Brad Meltzer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The second in Meltzer's Zig and Nola series and I'm still not sure I like Nola, but will admit, she's pretty complex and seems to be getting a little less emotionally guarded. Zig is a mortician and has, for most of his career, worked at Dover Air Force base where most fallen military bodies are brought to be prepared for burial. He's considered an artist since he has performed miracles it would seem to make many of these wounded and damaged bodies whole enough to be viewed by families and friends with a minimum of despair at the trauma the fallen has suffered.
Nola--Nola is in the Army--she's an artist, too. Her job is to paint, sketch, draw military events and personnel at some of the most chaotic situations. She has suffered trauma too--primarily emotional and most in her childhood. She is self-contained, a loner with little empathy or social warmth or grace. As a young girl she save Zig's daughter from a disfiguring if not life threatening accident at Girl Scout camp. His daughter died at 12. He has a soft spot for Nola and since she always seems to get into dangerous situations, he finds himself either bailing her out or working with her.
In this story, a former colleague of Nola's has been murdered--she was in his crew during a operation called Grandma's Pantry and found him to be a good leader and mentor. She wants to know why he's dead. Zig has been appointed the one to prepare the man's body. There is a lot of mystery about why, least of which is that the guy is not full time active--he's National Guard --and is getting pretty elaborate treatment. When Nola shows up at the funeral, Zig knows there is a mystery to be solved and Nola is somehow involved. And off they go, into another convoluted case which brings some revealing facts about Nola--maybe she's not so bad--

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Review: How the Light Gets In

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Using the birth of the Dionne Quintuplets as inspiration Penny weaves a tale around the death of the last Ouellet quint. Marie-Constance had been a patient of Myrna's in Montreal. Her childhood had been traumatic and when her therapy sessions ended, she and Myrna became friends. After a short visit to Three Pines she'd returned to Montreal, intending to return for the Christmas holidays. When she failed to appear Myrna appealed to Gamache to investigate her disappearance. Although involved in the investigation, Gamache is simultaneously attempting to discover what his nemesis, Francoeur, is planning for the Surete, for Gamache whose department he has gutted, and for Jean-Guy Beauvoir whom he has all but destroyed. This is perhaps the most tension filled of the series so far as it builds to a plot that, if successful, will impact not just Montreal, not just Quebec but all of Canadian stability.

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Review: The Elias Network

The Elias Network by Simon Gervais
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Caspian and Liesl seem to be falling in love. He's pretty sure he wants to spend the rest of his life with her, but he has some pretty deep secrets about his work. He isn't just the translator at the UN he's told her he is. Liesl, on the other hand, finds Caspian physically and sexually appealing but his bland personality has her wondering if she should break it off. She is an accountant--or at least that is what she said she is. Still, he is off in Switzerland skiing so perhaps she'll run it by her real boss, who had wanted her to maintain their relationship. She needn't decide before his return. What she doesn't know is that Caspian is working black ops for a secret Federal organization and in Switzerland he's on a pretty dangerous assignment. The outcome of which causes Liesl's boss to encourage the affair until he can figure out if Caspian is the notorious Elias!

The ways of spycraft are convoluted. Just try to keep up, especially since some SDRs (Surveillance Detection Routes ) can be over 2 hours long!

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Review: The Boomerang

The Boomerang by Robert Bailey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'll never ride across the dusty plains on the road through Las Lunas from Belen to the Interstate to Gallup without imagining Nestor and his people somewhere in the area probably supervising a meeting with leaders of the Church, the cartels and the Peublo residents. Heaven only knows what new weapons he has or what new deals are going down. But in this book he is helping a former love, her husband and her daughter evade the leaders of the US government who are trying to silence them. Is there a cure for cancer out there? Does the DOD know about it? Is the Government and Big Pharm keeping it secret from the millions of people worldwide struggling with stage 4 of some incurable type? Don't know but this book will sure get you thinking! With the current upheaval in the Health and Human Services Department lately it hits close to home. Bailey's books are always good, this one is terrific and frightening.

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Review: Reasonable Fear

Reasonable Fear by Scott Pratt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Don't Forget A Man's Home Etc

The dead bodies of three young girls found floating in a Tennessee lake, two unbelievably rich and connected men seem to have entertained them the evening before on a now missing large boat. Check alibis, find witnesses, get an indictment, go to trial, case closed! Oh, wait this is Joe Dillard, district attorney. When has anything been that easy for him? Not going to start getting easy now

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