Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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About Valyruh

CBR 4
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64-year-old book lover and mother of an English/lit teacher and a would-be film/tv screenwriter. Need more be said?

Valyruh's Reviews:

Another Baldacci popcorn thriller we could probably do without

August 24, 2014 by Valyruh Leave a Comment

The Target is yet another Baldacci political thriller starring two government assassins with consciences, lots of colorful bad guys, and a totally improbable ending. This latest book offers multiple plots that don’t really intersect but which run parallel, a different approach to writing this genre which sort of works but which doesn’t save The Target from being more than just another in a long line of these kinds of popcorn thrillers. The U.S. government is planning to back a coup against the North Korean government. […]

Filed Under: Suspense Tagged With: North Korea. Nazi militia. Government assassins.

Valyruh's CBR6 Review No:62 · Genres: Suspense · Tags: North Korea. Nazi militia. Government assassins. ·
Rating:
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A Serial Killer Haunts Post-WWII Italy

August 18, 2014 by Valyruh Leave a Comment

Bojhalian takes us on a visit to Italy’s beautiful Tuscany during one of the most horrifying periods in that country’s history, when the German occupation had splintered the nation between the resistance, the collaborators, and the majority caught in between who mostly struggled to survive without selling their souls to the devil. But beyond a thought-provoking examination of choices and consequences under wartime conditions, Bojhalian also throws us into the middle of a hunt for a serial killer 10 years after the war’s end, a […]

Filed Under: Fiction, History, Mystery, Suspense Tagged With: art, Nazis, serial killer, Tuscany, WWII

Valyruh's CBR6 Review No:61 · Genres: Fiction, History, Mystery, Suspense · Tags: art, Nazis, serial killer, Tuscany, WWII ·
Rating:
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A Haunting Tale about the Human/Animal Equation

August 17, 2014 by Valyruh 3 Comments

A laugh-out-loud/cry-out-loud tale designed to illuminate our lives and prick our conscience. It is the story of Rosemary, who begins her story “in the middle,” saving the big reveal for later. Rosemary is at college when the novel begins, suffering from a lack of friends, a lack of self-esteem and from a huge gaping hole inside her dating back to when she lost her twin sister Fern at age five, her beloved older brother Lowell not too long afterwards, and watched her father descend into […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: animal behavior, Psychology

Valyruh's CBR6 Review No:60 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: animal behavior, Psychology ·
Rating:
· 3 Comments

An unhappy Danish murder mystery with a science twist

August 15, 2014 by Valyruh Leave a Comment

Perhaps because of all the praise heaped on this book, I found The Dinosaur Feather to be one of the more disappointing murder mysteries I’ve read in a while. In a nutshell, the plot is centered on a furious and long-running cross-Atlantic brawl between two respected paleontologists over whether birds evolved from dinosaurs or are their own separate species (something which has been definitively resolved since, which in my view takes the wind a little bit out of the author’s sails). The strange and very […]

Filed Under: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense Tagged With: dysfunction, Goth, murder, paleontology, S&M

Valyruh's CBR6 Review No:59 · Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense · Tags: dysfunction, Goth, murder, paleontology, S&M ·
Rating:
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Wizard Harry Dresden in fine form in Death Masks

August 10, 2014 by Valyruh Leave a Comment

Harry Dresden is a highly respected (if impoverished) wizard among the supernatural scene, and when a Vatican priest calls on him to help find the stolen Shroud of Turin, he is thrilled to take the job and the fee that goes with it. He is less thrilled to learn that horribly mutilated bodies and hit men are turning up in the investigation, and that Chicago crime-boss Marcone seems to be in the thick of it. At the same time, a top noble of the Red […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction, Suspense Tagged With: Chicago, demons, Dresden Files, vampires, wizards

Valyruh's CBR6 Review No:58 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction, Suspense · Tags: Chicago, demons, Dresden Files, vampires, wizards ·
Rating:
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Another unbelievable conspiracy thriller

August 10, 2014 by Valyruh Leave a Comment

This is the first in a new series about FBI special agent and forensic artist Sydney Fitzpatrick, written by Burcell, herself an FBI-trained forensic artist. A somewhat better tale than Burcell’s The Dark Hour which I recently reviewed, this novel focuses on Fitzpatrick’s personal crisis over whether to follow up on brand-new clues about her father’s murder 20 years earlier, or to leave it alone.  Of course, had she left it alone, we would have no story, so…. There is a race against time, as […]

Filed Under: Health, Mystery Tagged With: CIA, conspiracy, FBI, forensic science, murder

Valyruh's CBR6 Review No:57 · Genres: Health, Mystery · Tags: CIA, conspiracy, FBI, forensic science, murder ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
  • Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
  • Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
  • Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
  • Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.
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