I didn’t fall in love…I drowned in it~

Still not feeling 100%, I’ve been run down, pukey and with no appetite, taking drugs on an empty stomach is not good. I can’t seem to keep track of those mental notes I leave myself where I swear I won’t do it again. Just as I was hitting the snooze slide this morning the boys came knocking on my door to let me know the power was out, I got up with them, found a lighter and some candles and they got ready in the dark and left for school, it took at least another 2 hours before power was restored.

I was watching a bit of TV when I heard about the earthquake on the east coast. Having friends and family out there and not knowing if they were safe was disconcerting, the phone lines were down but eventually I heard everyone I cared about was safe. Whew….

Had more paperwork to complete for boy # 3….felt bad that I wasn’t feeling any better and I fixed them burgers, which they were happy with but I had wanted to prepare something else. maybe tomorrow. Well I’m off….I’ve got a good book going and need to lay down.

You should know I get a tad bitchy from time to time.

Things don’t change, they haven’t and they won’t. What things…hmmm…the desire to disembowel a tyrannical fuck.

Life’s too short to be miserable.

Life’s the longest damn thing you’ll ever do and to have an abusive, tyrannical fuck just prolonging your misery…well…

 

What would you do? Leave? What if leaving is not an option? Killing the asshole? Well of course that is always an option…but murder is quite a messy affair….there’s all that blood, not to mention the possibility of ending locked up in a cell. Sheesh…sometimes life is too complicated, but only because we make it so.

I want out off the merry-go-round, rollercoaster, seesaw, heck just get me away from the kids playground and drop me off where the grown ups go. Not sure where that is, but I aim to get there, I may drive around to see if I can find it, or maybe see if my GPS has a clue…or if anyone out there in the internets know give me a clue.

I was totally weirded out this past weekend, entering an establishment and having hands go up and out to reach out for my arm…I called it groping, but everyone else seems to disagree and tell me that that is not considered groping. Sure the word is most often associated with hands going all willy nilly into the nether regions, but I was not impressed with the attempts at getting my attention, if that is what it was. I just soldiered on and followed along all the while ignoring and slapping hands away. I do wonder if this is an activity exclusive to the taco hat wearing variety of the male species.

Laughter is good. HAHA!

Twisted~ Jonathon Kellerman

Alex Delaware does not appear in this novel; he is only mentioned briefly due to the fact that he has worked with one of the detectives previously.

There are some truly horrific murders described in gruesome and prolonged detail in this story…which makes me quite happy.

This is a police procedural that has it all: murderers to apprehend, character relationships to explore, and the tension of a race against time.

Hollywood homicide detective Petra Conner hopes to take it easy after just solving two murders; however, she is awakened by a 1:15 AM call that four teenagers have just been gunned down in the parking lot of the Paradiso Club on Sunset Boulevard. Disappointingly, the eighteen “know-nothing” witnesses provide minimal information, no leads and no motive. In fact, the mystery is compounded by the fact that one of the young victims has no identification. Thus, the department quickly reduces the manpower assigned to the case and it appears that it may end up in the cold case file.

While Petra doggedly continues to search for leads in that case, she is approached by Isaac Gomez, a twenty-one year old genius who is writing his Ph.D. thesis in epidemiology and biostatistics. While Isaac researches his topic, which involves patterns of LA homicides, he is working as a LAPD intern assigned to Petra by a captain who dislikes her intensely. Isaac’s statistical analysis has uncovered a seeming repetitive pattern linking several unsolved murders which previously seemed totally random and unrelated. Worse yet, if Isaac’s seemingly bizarre analysis is correct, the serial killer will violently kill another victim in a few short weeks. After some initial skepticism, Petra decides she needs to privately investigate Isaac’s thesis even as she hopes that he is wrong.

Juxtaposed against these investigations but extremely central to the plot are the frustrations of Petra’s and Isaac’s private lives. Due to his Special Forces military background, Eric Stahl, Petra’s former partner and current lover, has been sent on a secret mission abroad as part of the new Homeland Security Squad. Meanwhile, Isaac has to handle the dichotomy between his evenings with his poor family in the marginal neighborhood in which they live and the elite world to which his intellect has gained him access.

This plot definitely has more than enough misdirection and action to keep it interesting. Meanwhile, the tight timeline adds considerable suspense as the countdown toward the apparent date of the next murder rapidly proceeds.  I especially liked Isaac, a precocious young man whose intellectual development had far outpaced his social skills, a fact which leads to many anxious moments and difficult situations.

Kill the Messenger ~ Tami Hoag

If you like fast paced police thrillers, you will enjoy this book. Told from different character perspectives, you are drawn into each character and will find it hard to put down.

Jace a 19-year-old bike messenger becomes entangled in a murder and blackmail scheme. Distrustful of the police he runs, taking with him the package he was to deliver. Soon he finds himself way in over his head, running for his life and putting his life and those around him in danger.

At one point when the narrative of another character took off I almost was afraid the author would forget Jace, the ending did not disappoint.

Ruby….A mystery that will never be solved~

So it’s Friday night, I am in great company, for now, it’s just me….and the boys, except they are not in here with me. Boy # 2 is on the computer, boy # 3 is watching TV and will have to call it an early night. He has an early morning coming up as he has to go out of town for a meet. I would love to go but it’s a bit over an hour away and too early for me, I’ll either be going to sleep when he is getting up or I’ll still be up. Poor baby is recovering from a bad cold, but I think he’ll be just fine, note to self, remind him to take his inhaler.

Boy # 2 brought his report home today, he had good grades, it’s always good to see that.

Started another book, but I’ve been too exhausted to really get into it. I tried reading but was dozing off.

This evening brought to you by....

I’m now listening to my playlist online and having a couple of cold ones (Miller Lite)….a rather enjoyable evening for me….the company is great. As of late I have been very much pleased with how well I have been getting along with myself.

Indelible~

Medical examiner Sara Linton and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver make their fourth appearance in this riveting new back-and-forth thriller that grounds a brutal attack by two young men on the Grant County, Georgia police department in a twelve-year-old Alabama murder case that occurred while Sara and Jeffrey were just beginning their tumultuous romance. En route to a beach vacation shortly after they meet, the couple takes a detour to the small town where Jeffrey grew up and began his law enforcement career. But their carefree holiday is interrupted when his best friend from childhood, a fellow cop, is charged with murder after killing a man who broke into his house. Despite his subsequent confession, Jeffrey believes there’s more to the story than Robert is telling him, and when the skeleton of a young woman with whom both Robert and Tolliver were once involved is discovered in a secret cave only they knew about, and Robert admits to her murder too, Tolliver must again confront a past he thought he had long since put behind him. Detective Lena Adams is also back and plays a major part in the hostage situation, finally being able to show she is worthy of the many chances given her by Tolliver.

The book keeps going back and forth between Sara and Jeffrey’s current situation as hostages and their beginnings as lovers. It’s Jeffrey’s past that is the root of the current situation they find themselves in. A great read, just took me longer to get through. Enjoy!

Stillwater Trilogy or duology~

Just finished 2 more Brenda Novak books from the Stillwater Trilogy, missing the first, but here is a review of the two I read. Will have to find the first one….sigh.

Dead Giveaway~

After a painful divorce, detective Allie McCormick comes back to her childhood town of Stillwater to start a new life with her six-year old daughter. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that her father happens to be the chief of police and offers her a job. Immediately, Allie begins to work on a cold case–the strange disappearance of Reverend Lee Barker nineteen years ago. But the time factor is not the problem. The main problem is the chief suspect, handsome and brooding Clay Montgomery, who everybody in the town hates and believes to have murdered the Reverend.

As the investigation unfolds, and Allie falls deeper into her relationship with Clay, she realizes the man she has fallen in love with could not be capable of murder. She decides to help him to the end, even if that means putting herself in danger and fighting the whole town and its most important family. Will she succeed? And what if the famous Reverend, who everyone respected to much, turns out to be the most despicable of criminals?

Surprising twists and turns and a couple of interesting sub-plots keep the story moving at a fast pace until the very startling ending. Novak has a keen gift for combining suspense and romance, as well as for creating real, sympathetic heroines and darkly mysterious heroes that beautifully stand out from the typical stereotypes of the genre. The way Allie `solves’ the case at the end is smart and unexpected.

Dead Right~

Novak’s last Stillwater novel revisits the small Mississippi town, where journalist/newspaper owner Madeline Barker is still seeking closure two decades after the disappearance of her father, a town minister. When police find her missing father’s Cadillac submerged in a quarry outside of town, Maddy is determined to discover, finally, what really happened. Maddy hires L.A. private eye Hunter Solozano to solve the case, but neither expects to find romance: Hunter is an embittered divorcé, and Maddy recently broke up with a domineering boyfriend. While their relationship simmers, Hunter discovers some disturbing truths about Maddy’s father and his domestic life; before long, a series of sinister phone calls and a botched robbery raise the stakes.

Dark Daze~

My first taste of the sweetness that came with the thought of ending her life was also the first time I experienced a great sense of calm.

The first image came in a quick flash, but the rest of my day was filled with bloody images. A knife plunged into her chest.

I would have stood a tantalizing few minutes in front of her to allow her time to goad me. She wouldn’t make me wait long. It would have been one to two minutes max before she’d have screeched out her favorite “You stupid bitch!”. I would have  smiled and then I’d have brought the knife out, I’d have aimed for that place where most human bodies house a heart.  In my mind I could see me thrusting that long serrated edged knife deep, twisting it, all the while looking at her and finally telling her “I love you mommy” of course I’d be smiling and then I’d ask her “Is that what you mean by sarcasm?”.

Watch Me~

I just finished the last of the “Last Stand” series…and started on the Stillwater Trilogy…except I’m short one of the Stillwater books, meaning I may have to go to the library and get the one I don’t have….

Watch Me~

Sheridan Kohl was just a teenager parked at the lake in Whiterock, Tennessee with a boy named Jason when a stranger wearing a ski mask shot them both.  Sheridan lived but Jason died–and the stranger was never caught.  Twelve years later, by working at The Last Stand, Sheridan has learned a thing or two about investigating crime.  She returns to Whiterock, intent on achieving answers at last.

But someone doesn’t want the truth to come out.  Someone unexpected.  Someone who is willing to resort to murder.  Again. Unexpected is about right, but I was able to figure it out midway…or had a strong hunch…

Stop Me~

Who was the real killer?

Romain Fornier lost his reason for living when his daughter was kidnapped and murdered. He used a cop’s gun to mete out his own justice and spent the next few years in prison. Once he was freed, he returned to his Cajun roots in small-town Louisiana. But now he learns that he might have killed the wrong man.

Jasmine Stratford, a psychological profiler, is convinced his daughter’s killer is still alive—and that she and Romain have something in common. She believes the same man kidnapped her sister, Kimberly, sixteen years ago.

What happens next?

Jasmine is determined to track him down when she receives an anonymous package, postmarked New Orleans—the bracelet she gave Kimberly for her eighth birthday. She approaches Romain because she knows he can help her… if he chooses.

But searching for the man who irrevocably changed both their lives means they have to rise to a killer’s challenge:

stop me.