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:

The Bodies Are Buried

Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh

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I used to see Shovel Ready at bookstores and think to myself “Oh, that seems like an interesting read.” And before I spent money on it, I would eventually remember that I already owned it on Kindle, buying it for a deal back in the days where I used to fastidiously track Kindle deals. Yet for all the time I’ve owned it, I’ve never really been interested in reading it. The premise is one up my alley: hit man operating in a dystopic New York City but I […]

The American

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

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American Spy is a difficult book to pull off. A slow burn literary spy novel in which the concept of subterfuge is used symbolically to examine race, gender, immigration and the long reach of colonialism. The book has a lot of heavy lifting to do. Fortunately, it’s in the hands of a capable writer Lauren Wilkinson knows what she’s doing. The strength of it is in its primary character. Marie Mitchell is a complex person and Wilkinson allows her to be complex while trusting the reader […]

On the Precipice

Hope to Die by Lawrence Block

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Ah yes, the year 2000. Right before The Troubles. Before 9/11, Katrina, Iraq, Recession 1, the Tea Party, melting coastlines,  Trump, and the coronavirus hailing Recession II. Matthew Scudder has emerged from the social decay of 70s and 80s Manhattan to make a decent life for itself in a city that’s enjoying its final moments of pre-9/11 glory. But who knows what trouble lurks in the hearts of men? The Scudder does! This time with (sigh) yet another serial killer. These have always been the […]

The British Countryside Mystery

A Place of Execution by Val McDermid

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For years, I held out on reading Val McDermid until I could find this book. I can’t remember where it was first recommended to me but it was often billed as the best of her illustrious career. It probably sat on my primary Amazon list for close to two years. Trips to bookstores proved fruitless. Until one day, I stumbled on it for sale at my local library’s book sale. Yay for libraries and their book sales! Even after I got it, it’s probably been […]

I Ain’t No Senator’s Son

Ah, Treachery! by Ross Thomas

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I know I say this in every Ross Thomas review but man, could we use this guy right now. Take for instance this one Ah, Treachery! which was the last book he completed while he was alive. Thomas is able to do a running commentary on Iran Contra, the boot-shaking fear the military industrial complex had at the Clinton election, and the foibles of American governance all in one nice, neatly-written crime tale with low rent heroes and patriotic villains. And he’s able to do it all […]

They Sure Do

Everybody Dies by Lawrence Block

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I usually don’t get excited about the specific plots of Lawrence Block’s Scudder novels. Just the opportunity to read a Scudder book is cause for excitement in and of itself. But I was pretty pumped for this one. I’ve always been fascinated with his Mick Ballou character, the last of the great Irish gangsters in Hell’s Kitchen according to Matt’s universe. Since this one centered around Ballou hiring Matt, I desperately wanted to get to it. I read through it’s predecessor novel Even the Wicked in anticipation […]



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