Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Sister Act(s Bad)

Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh

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Read as part of cbr17 bingo: family. The plot of the book is two sisters on trial for murder, both accused of killing their father, both of them blaming the other. I think what I liked about the earlier Eddie Flynn books is slowly petering out. A shame. I liked that the books were about a smooth operator who hustled in the courtroom. I have a thing for watching and/or reading competent hucksters do their thing. There’s just something fun about a person who navigates […]

Revenge on a Train

With A Vengeance by Riley Sager

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Before embarking on a journey of revenge, dig a lot of graves. More graves than you expect to need and then maybe one more for good luck. You just never know how many you might need to achieve it. Stay flexible. Anna Matheson lost her entire family due to the actions of six people. She’s spent the last twelve years plotting their downfall, culminating in a twelve hour train ride from Philadelphia to Chicago. She’ll confront them with their crimes and then hand them to […]

Wherever You Go, There You Are

The Killer Question by Janice Hallett

Kiss Her Goodbye by Lisa Gardner

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CBR17 Bingo: Migrant – Both books involve characters who move to places they expect no one knows them and try, with varying success, to rebuild themselves into new shapes. The Killer Question by Janice Hallett – 5 stars Sue and Mal run a perfectly average British pub with an above average weekly quiz night, but the arrival of a mysterious new team that dominates the competition and the discovery of a body in the nearby river sends their lives into a tailspin. This is my […]

They Call It University

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

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Read as part of CBR17 Bingo: starts with I It’s really tough to go long on The It Girl because there are dozens of these types of what’s billed as “dark academia” thrillers and while this is better than most, it’s not really inspired. Y’know this genre by now: they usually involve a secret society, a group of friends, a dead body, and time jumps. Most are indistinguishable from one another. They’re fine if that’s your thing, not trying to yuck anyone’s yum. But you know what’s […]

Going to San Francisco

The White Van by Patrick Hoffman

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Read as part of CBR17 Bingo: red cover And so I now come full circle to Patrick Hoffman’s catalog. Hoffman is a quality over quantity writer. Every 3-4 years, we are gifted with a new book of his that functions as a soup-to-nuts examination of how criminal justice works in America. A massive drug shipment in Every Man a Menace. Corporate espionage in Clean Hands. The war against white supremacists in Friends Helping Friends, which came out this year and is one of the best things I’ve read in 2025. […]

Can You Ever Go Home Again? (And Should You?)

You Belong Here by Megan Miranda

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Beckett Bowery thought she’d never return to Wyatt Valley. The college town nestled in the Appalachians was her home. It was where she grew up, her parents taught, and she went to school – until a tragedy her senior year resulted in the deaths of two men and her roommate on the run as the prime suspect in their murder. Faced with the scrutiny and suspicion of town and college, Beckett moved away from Wyatt Valley and planned on never going back. But her daughter […]



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