Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Title is Slightly Too Accurate

Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk

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I’m in two minds about this one; on the one hand the characters and the mystery are good, but on the other the ending feels rushed and certain important parts of the world feel a little underdeveloped. That said, in general Even Though I Knew the End was a fun, fast read. In a world that resembles  Dashiell Hamnet if he wrote vaguely Christian supernatural detectives, Helen is a former rising start in the magic world, cast out when she tried to summon a demon […]

A More Interesting Way to Do Hogwarts

Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments by T. L. Huchu

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Bingo 14: Snake Quick notice: because Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments is new acquisition at my local library, it had a shorter checkout period with no renewal so I had to give it back before getting to write about it; I may not be as totally sure of certain details as a result. The snake theme actually works on more than one level here because there is indeed a hospital and mysterious affliction that is affecting school boys in the magical community, and Ropa gets […]

Sundown, you better take care if I find you been creeping ’round my back stairs

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

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While I’ve been lurking and getting book ideas, I have had a terrible time focusing enough to write up any of the (few) books I’ve actually managed to finish – I blame the pandemic. The Sun Down Motel, by Simone St. James, sat on my shelf for at least a week before I peeked at it, but once I peeked, I was hooked! The plot follows two women, one a night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in 1982 and the other the current night […]

Yes, it was quick, but no, I didn’t really enjoy it

Before I Say Good-bye by Mary Higgins Clark

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Our local used bookstore chain (Booksale) is littered with Mary Higgins Clark books.  Somehow, in the hours I spent in those stores (all branches), I never thought to pick up the works of the “Queen of Suspense”.  My sister is a very different reader than me and our bookshelves rarely intersect.  It was snobby of me but I tended to think of the books she reads as “easier” to read.  Still having the vision problems due to the autoimmune disease that I have, I have […]

The Literary Equivalent of Junk Food

Second Grave on the Left by Darynda Jones

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I’m pretty sure I’ve found the next “beach read” series I might have to work my way through before he end of the summer (or as much of it as possible). Second Grave to the Left is a fun junky supernatural mystery. Not totally original, especially the sexy stuff, but enough interestingness to keep things going. I was shelf browsing at the local library, found the final installment of the series on the “New Fiction” shelf, decided it looked interesting, so I went to find […]

You’ll Never Forget the Nubian God of Incense After This

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The premise of Not On The List is pretty straightforward: the Nubian god of incense Dedun is killed in Madison, Wisconsin and not by Death. Death wants to know what happened so 2 Unseen private investigators are hired. They are Ed and Phil. At the same time, Jules Sallie has just been let go from his low-level corporate job (not his fault this time)and after getting drunk and then hanging out with a bunch of homeless guys, he ends up as an Unseen with no […]



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