Meet Me in Malmo

Meet Me in Malmö by Torquil MacLeod
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Didn't See That Coming!

Ending abrupt,shocking and unexpected! Didn't see that coming;totally forgot the prologue! Don't think Anita expected it either! Guess it takes one to know one.

View all my reviews

Review: The Easy Life in Kamusari

The Easy Life in Kamusari by Shion Miura
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Young guy from Yokohama is sent by his parents to the high mountain town of Kamusari to learn a trade, grow up and become independent. They are preoccupied with a new baby and don't have time for a teen-ager with time on his hands and no direction. Yuki hates the place at first sight--he's had to take several means of transportation to even reach it, the head of the forestry training program has taken away his phone and he hasn't a clue what he's meant to be doing with a chain saw. Once his basic training is over, he is taken farther into the mountains where he joins a cedar growing outfit and one of its crews.

This town is the worst--he is placed in the home of Yoki and his wife as well as an old lady, Grannie. The young couple fight constantly, Yoki cheats on her, she doesn't like it and Grannie just takes it all in. But, Yuki decides to write about his first year in Kamusari and his tales of caring for a cedar plantation throughout the year are fascinating and awe-inspiring. The ancient traditions, the tight knit community of a small town at the end of the earth, the ways of fighting boredom in a place with no movie house, or young people, learning about cypress and cedar trees and the endless work done to maintain them as well as Yuki's eventual love of place and people are riveting.

Having finished his year long record of how the seasons change, the work changes and how he has changed , I'm now ready for Forest #2 !

View all my reviews

Review: The Associate

The Associate by John Grisham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The 17th book of Grisham's read. Gave it three stars not because it wasn't an interesting book--it was fairly engrossing. The life of an associate in a big Wall Street Law Firm would not be for me, no matter the financial future that is possible, though not guaranteed. i'd rather have a life, thank you. What caused the less than stellar rating resulted from the sense that JG had reached 400 pages and decided he was bored and he'd spent enough billable hours on this particular tale. So instead of wrapping it up, he ended it all.

Now, i realize not every crime has a solution and not every criminal is apprehended in real life--but in fiction, I look for fiction. Bennie's disappearance is bearable but it would be nice to have some clue as to who employed him and which of the partners was also subject to his pressure to reveal inside info. Perhaps, Grisham, as he has done with other characters, brings Kyle McAvoy back in a future tome--but since there is no indication of a series based on old Kyle, I'm afraid the mystery will remain as will the fate of Kyle and his, maybe, relationship with Dale. Very unsatisfying.

View all my reviews

Review: The Appeal

The Appeal by John Grisham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

We've all been bombarded by political ads on TV, radio and social media. Our mailboxes and emails have been filled with glossy pamphlets and post cards showing candidates for all sorts of offices. Almost all of them show the candidate with his/her family or glad handing constituents or roaming in some pastoral setting or urban neighborhood, usually one that is impoverished and filled with minority voters. Well, read this book if you'd like an insight into how those ads, pamphlets etc come into being--what sham groups are organized to be listed as sponsors, or where the money comes from, or if not clear how the donors are hidden from view. They all do it--no matter the party--and we are all hood-winked into giving our vote to the" best " i.e. most honest candidate. Ha

View all my reviews

Review: The Broker

The Broker by John Grisham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Surprise Joel Backman, the President on his last day in office has granted you a pardon! You've just gotten 14 years back to live your life as a free man. The CIA will give you a new name, move you to Italy, teach you the language and soon you will be on your own.

You know, if something seems to good to be true, it usually is. So, now that you are Marco, under the care of Luigi, no one is going to tell you your days are numbered. Only thing is, no one knows, including the CIA, who wants you dead! But that's the whole reason for the release--the CIA wants to know who wants you dead. It's a matter of national security. Buon Giorno!

View all my reviews

Review: The Last Juror

The Last Juror by John Grisham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ten years of change in Mississippi bracketed within the story of a horrendous rape-murder case and the murder of several of the jurors in the case. Both the history of change and the cases are gripping and fascinating. The ending is satisfying all around.

View all my reviews

Review: The Railway Murders

The Railway Murders by J.R. Ellis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There are railways in Britain that still have steam engines and many use them to re-create that time of steam and industrialization to entertain locals and tourists alike. So, too, to increase revenue some of them allow movie or TV film crews to use the stations,tracks and trains as locations. Such is the case in the Railway Murders and it is one thespian, a renowned actor who has become somewhat past his sell-by date, who is the victim. Though respected for his acting ability, he is also renowned for his womanizing, thereby creating a large pool of possible murderers -- women scorned, men cuckholded. Why even among the crew there is a feasible couple--the director, whose wife, an actress has been the victim's lover. As a matter of fact, the wife just along for the ride and not acting in the program, spent the night before the murder with the victim!

Ah, but this is not as straight forward as it would seem. The victim was murdered in a moving railway car in which he was alone. AND, when the door was opened and his corpse discovered, no one was with it, nor had anyone exited the car after he entered it. So, where is the murderer??? How did they got in and out and not be seen at either time?

View all my reviews