Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Jackknife by Joe Hill

Jackknife by Joe Hill

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Trigger warning: Gruesome animal death. Honestly, I don’t know what to say about this one except the main character, Dennis Lange, was a dreadful man. I didn’t feel sad about anything that happened, but think that Hill left too many plot threads I wish he had explored more. This one cried out for more pages IMHO since it just kind of hinted at things that didn’t make a lot of sense. I also think Hill wanted to talk about “canceling” and “MeToo” but this was […]

This is why you shouldn’t touch chain emails with a ten-foot pole.

The Devil's Advisor by Brad Abdul

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This book bills itself as “Horror Fiction” and “for fans of Good Omens“; and I think they were incredibly far off the mark on both counts. Other than it being set mostly in Hell I have no idea how it could be considered “Horror”, and the writing is in no way anywhere close to being even one-tenth as funny or well-written as Good Omens. Brian (the main character) is unlikable, or as unlikable as someone who has all the personality and character development cardboard can […]

Nat Cassidy is one of the best horror writers working today.

When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy

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Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. It hasn’t affected the contents of my review. In an attempt to catch up on my life—which was laughably behind even before I had surgery to get my gallbladder out two weeks ago—I am now reviewing one of my favorite books of the year so far. Reviewing favorite books is something I hate doing, but I foolishly accepted an ARC so now I have to anyway. I should have known this would happen, because I have […]

All Cops Are… Bad at Telling a Story

From a Buick 8 by Stephen King

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Ned Wilcox is struggling to deal with the death of his father, a state trooper killed by a drunk driver, when he starts showing up to his father’s old barracks to hang around and do odd jobs while hearing stories about his dad from the other troopers. Eventually, and more than a little reluctantly, they get around to telling the big story, the one about the car shut up out back in Shed B. The “car” resembles an old Buick Roadmaster, but nothing about it […]

Sinners

The White Road by John Connolly

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This is a tough one. I’ve been waiting for four rather long books (by mystery standards) for John Connolly to deliver the goods. I’ve received glimpses into what makes him a good writer and what makes these stories work: some well done mystery scenes and a dash of the supernatural. But I’ve been patiently waiting for him to take the next step. Does he do it here? Yes. But! Sigh… Ok, I’ll go with what works first and what I’m having a hard time with. […]

“Captain Kirk would have thought of something by now, I’m sure, but I have no red-shirted confederates to feed to it.”

Walking to Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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Being an astronaut – it isn’t all tiny balls of ice cream and zero gravity bouncing. Plot: Gary has wanted to be an astronaut all his life. And not only did he become an astronaut, his first trip was to be part of a team investigating potential evidence of alien life. This is the stuff dreams are made of. Only that dream turned into a nightmare as they arrived and disaster starts taking them out. Gary is now alone, with no provision, and no sense […]



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