Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

To Hell, Not Back

The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias

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Read as part of CBR14 Bingo: snakes. This book has several references to snakes, and also I think one of the characters turned into a snake? It was a wild scene, regardless.  It took me two tries to get into this one but ultimately, I’m glad I did. It didn’t match the hype but it’s a good read on its own. Essentially, there are two books here: the first 20% that’s a compelling novel and the rest which is the magical mystery tour through the throes of […]

Do You want to Build a Snowman (I Hope Not)

The Snowman by Jo Nesbø

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I usually like to start a series from the beginning, but I had already seen the movie The Snowman with Michael Fassbender, so decided to just try the novel by Jo Nesbø and see how they compared. It probably would have been better if I had done those two things in reverse order, but that’s how it was. This is the seventh book in Nesbø’s series featuring Norwegian Detective Harry Hole. Harry, like all good, classic detectives, has his issues – he’s an introvert, but […]

“Large groups of powerful men have little reason to make change.”

Heartbreaker by Sarah Maclean

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CBR14 Bingo: Heart (it’s right there in the title, and this is a romance) Adelaide Frampton was once the unappreciated daughter of one of the East End’s most notorious criminals, which led her to acquire a number of illegal skills that now come in handy as she frequents London’s high society posing as the unassuming and plain spinster cousin of a duchess. She uses her time on the sidelines of ballrooms and society events to observe and acquire information and can also put her top-notch […]

Triple Cannonballing with one of the cleverest books I’ve ever read. #CBRBINGO – Minds

Malice (Detective Kyoichiro Kaga, #1) by Keigo Higashino

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Well, this was a ride. Malice was one of the most interesting and compelling mysteries I’ve ever read. I love it when authors play with the format of a genre, and that seems to be something Higashino does well. I really can’t say too much about this one without completely spoiling it, but this book’s plot covers the murder and murder investigation of the famous Japanese novelist, Kunihiko Hidaka. The book is told in alternating POVs from Hidaka’s childhood friend, Osamu—who is writing a chronicle of […]

The death of a reality TV star.

Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett

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I can see how this might not be for everyone, particularly people who like their thrillers to have lots of twists and over the top stuff happening, but I thought this was a solid book. While the thriller/mystery plot had some holes in it, I very much appreciated that the character arcs were fully realized, and that our main character actually had an arc. She also had one of the strangest sidekicks I’ve ever read in a novel, and I appreciate that. Our main character […]

Bodies? Bodies!

Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes

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Read this as part of CBR14 Bingo: Bodies. Because it has “bodies” in the title and involves a lot of bodies, some alive, some dead.  You was by far one of the best books I read this year. Which surprised me given that I don’t care for books about serial killers; finding them monotonous and often gratuitously violent. Everyone is trying to rip off Hannibal Lecter these days (and has been for the last thirty years). But Caroline Kepnes has crafted a you-niquely (see what I did there? […]



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