Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

My first Lisa Jewell, and it will not be my last!

The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell

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This was really good! Part of me wanted to give it my first five star rating of 2022, but I’m holding out for true love on that one. This was very close, though. I think the only thing stopping me is that I was missing some of that elation that comes from being truly surprised by a book, because I did figure out several key elements/twists on my own before the book revealed them to me. What remains, though, is a very solid, extremely engaging […]

Too much plot makes not a good thriller

Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea

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“I’m sorry, Avery. I love you, and we’ve been on some wild rides together. But this one might be too crazy for me to jump aboard.” Victoria Ford, the chief suspect in a murder investigation, died when the Twin Towers fell on 9/11. Now, twenty years later, her remains have been identified, and Avery Mason, the journalist reporting on the story, realizes there is more to the case than anyone realized. Guys, I really wanted to like this book. Though I felt iffy about 9/11 […]

Fanning Out

Fan Club by Erin Mayer

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This is a book that I enjoyed in stretches but mostly left me frustrated. I think I have a thing for millennial women writing social/patriarchal mystery/thrillers set in New York City. Tara Isabelle Burton. Andrea Baartz. I tend to like these books more than others do. It’s not my favorite genre but it’s one I apparently enjoy. This book can be slotted into it. It works as a deconstruction and examination of the cultish nature of fandom. The nameless protagonist* gets drawn into this clique […]

Don’t mess with Louise Lloyd

Dead Dead Girls (Harlem Renaissance Mystery #1) by Nekesa Afia

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Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia has a beautifully illustrated cover that caught my eye. I (wrongly) assumed this was a cozy mystery set in the Harlem Renaissance. But it’s a historical mystery about a serial killer murdering Black girls who work or visit speakeasies. The book follows Harlem resident Louise Lloyd who is unintentionally famous for surviving a kidnapping as a teenager. Known as Harlem’s Hero, she rescued her fellow captives. In the present time of the book, she wants to move past all […]

Merry Christmas!

The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem

The Girl With the Long Green Heart by Lawrence Block

Cold Shot to the Heart by Wallace Stroby

Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women's Football League by Britni de la Cretaz and Lyndsey D'Arcangelo

All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris

Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortune and Misfortune of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty by Jonathan Pearson

The Blonde on the Street Corner by David Goodis

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Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! Having been busy with Christmas prep, avoiding Delta and Omicron, and other various things, I haven’t had the time to write long, 250+ reviews for these books. I figured I’d just cram them all here since I know I won’t finish Robert Caro’s Master of the Senate before New Year’s Eve. The Fortress of Solitude *** This clears the 3-star threshold but just barely. I appreciate what Lethem is trying to do here and I usually enjoy his work. But this was a […]

Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

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I read this book earlier this year as I sat by a lake in northern North Dakota. Now it is gray and chilly here in Memphis, but I still have the flavor of reading Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman, in my mind – sun setting late, a few leisurely boats motoring by, and a hummingbird hitting the nectar for the last time. Seraphina is a ungainly young woman living in the kingdom of Goredd. She has a knack for music and mathematics and lurking at the […]



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