Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Jake

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I love reading! (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Jake's Quick Questions interview.)

Jake's Reviews:

Memory Whole

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

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Stacy Willingham doesn’t imbue a Louisiana-based novel with enough Louisiana-ness but that’s about the only real complaint I have of her stellar debut effort here. As a frequent mystery/thriller/crime reader, I know all the tricks and tells. I know when I’m about to be duped. I generally know who the killer is early on. There’s just only so many ways a writer can retell the same story. This is why I find myself more often interested in the whydunnit than the who- or howdunnit. What […]

Let Down…But Not Disappointed?

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

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Have you ever read a book that was super hyped and thought it was…good but not as good as advertised? And you weren’t disappointed you read it but it still didn’t match the exaltations from others? Cloud Atlas is such a book for me. I appreciated what it was trying to do; I definitely got the 2666 vibes and 2666 is one of my favorite books of all-time so that’s a good thing. I like how it looked at the scope of history and the human experience. I like the […]

Father of Mine

Fresh Kills by Bill Loehfelm

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Read as part of cbr14 bingo: birds. There are birds on the cover of the book. Bill Loehfelm is a writer that deserves to be celebrated more than he is. I remember picking up The Devil She Knows more out of curiosity than excitement. I wanted to see how Loehfelm would bring Staten Island to life. What I got instead was one of the best crime novels I’ve read the last few years. I got caught up in Maureen’s story. I followed her to New Orleans and while […]

You Will Feel Better If You Just Read the Darn Thing

Reckless by Ed Brubaker

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Sometimes, I just wait too long, sleeping on books, making excuse after excuse about why I won’t finally pick up something I’ve wanted to read for years. Who knows why I (and apparently other readers are) this way? There’s probably some psychological reason. Ed Brubaker’s Reckless series is right up my alley: a disaffected 70s domestic Cold Warrior doing odd crime jobs in the 80s? Yessir. I should’ve read this at my earliest possible convenience. But I prefer prose to graphics, liking to sink into […]

October 2022 Leftovers

Batman: The Impostor by Mattson Tomlin

The Son by Jo Nesbø

Killer Come Back to Me: The Crime Stories of Ray Bradbury by Ray Bradbury

The Devil's Wedding Ring by Vidar Sundstøl

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Happy belated Halloween to all who observe! Again, I don’t have as many leftovers as I did in recent months since I’m logging so many full reviews for the Book Bingo. But here’s what I got, all of them quality 4-star reads…   Batman: The Impostor Really enjoyed this one. A fresh take, helped by the fact that Batman is surrounded by characters with no history. Jim Gordon is off the force. Alfred has forsaken him (or vice versa). No Joker, no Riddler, Penguin functions […]

Greatest Debilitating Body

Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy by Adam Jentleson

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Read as part of CBR14 Bingo: elephant. The title has an elephant in the logo mold of the symbol of the Republican Party, which is an elephant. Also, the filibuster is the elephant in the room on why our congressional body is in stasis.  Like other history/political books I read, I often judge them based on how angry they made me on each page. This one is definitely up there. Adam Jentleson, a former staffer for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, has written a quality look on […]



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