Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A great time was had.

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

by 3 Comments

A great time was had. People were slain, revenge was had, plots were foiled, and women of a certain age came out of retirement to clear their names and kick some ass. There’s also a cat named Kevin in here, and I just think that’s important. I don’t actually think I have too much to say about this one. There wasn’t much deep about it, it’s just a good book, a thriller but more on the cozy end than not. A cozy thriller! Who knew […]

“Southern Cheap is, I’m gonna eat stale cookies while I serve you these fresh, warm buttered biscuits. Yankee Cheap is, I’ve got ten million dollars in the bank but I’m gonna cut off the thermostat during a blizzard and here’s my great-great-grandpa’s mothballed coat from the War of 1812 if you don’t have the character and fortitude to generate your own body heat.”

Girl, Forgotten (Andrea Oliver, #2) by Karin Slaughter

by Leave a Comment

I meant to read this back in August when it came out, but I couldn’t make the timing work (I even read the first book in the series in prep, though I didn’t review it). I finally got around to it, and I really liked it! I’m definitely reading more Karin Slaughter books (these two books were my first of hers). You can read this book on its own if you don’t want to bother with reading the first Andrea Oliver book, Pieces of Her. […]

Quadruple Cannonballing for the first time! I may rest now.

Shiver by Allie Reynolds

by 6 Comments

Well dang, what a wet raspberry of a book to end the year on. I have a couple more I’m trying to finish so hopefully at least one will be a banger, but this was not what I wanted it to be. Personal drama in a friend group as a basis for a thriller is just really, really not my thing. Especially when you don’t like any of the characters that make up the group, as was the case here for me. Not even the […]

“Maybe compassion and empathy are just squishy emotions. Illusions created by our mirror neurons. But does it really matter where they come from? They make us human. They might be what make us worth saving.”

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

by 2 Comments

This hit the spot. Sometimes you just need a book you can zoom through. Short chapters, intriguing and freaky plot, simple prose, high stakes. Blake Crouch always delivers. I think I like this book less than Dark Matter but more than Recursion. It helped that for once there were zero nuclear bombs present. This takes place in the near future, when genetic research and technology has been banned almost completely, excepting a few highly regulated government sponsored programs, due to a disaster caused by genetic […]

I wish this wasn’t a thriller.

Forty Acres by Dwayne Alexander Smith

by Leave a Comment

It’s been quite a while since I’ve read a Dan Brown-style thriller. Probably since the last Dan Brown book I read (so, 2011? Maybe?). But this is definitely one: Extremely short chapters (most are less than four pages, often they are only one or two); plain, workmanlike prose that cares more about getting the plot up and out there than anything else; shallow characterization; the presence of huge conspiracies involving powerful people. Anyway, that type. Except, Dan Brown does it much better, I’m sad to […]

Secret secrets are no fun, secret secrets hurt someone.

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead

by Leave a Comment

Okay, so just don’t go into this expecting a FUN thriller. It’s not fun; it deals with some serious and dark subjects in a rather dark way. But it IS a compelling read, and I read it so fast, and it’s also not a bleak read. You will have resolution and not in a way that makes you want to crawl under your covers. This is a book about a sex cult, grooming, sexual assault, misogyny, and murder. So, obviously go in knowing you should […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo