The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco
Despite being about two serial killers’ exploits, The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco is actually a very pleasant cozy mystery. Its setting in San Francisco is used almost like another main character so it is part travelogue too. Capri owns a small business running tours featuring famous movie sitesContinue Reading
Where I End
Where I End is scarily not politically correct. The bedridden mother is called a bed-thing and treated as a soulless burden. The protagonist is called a soul-stench but casually mentions her many rapes as a child by the repulsed but sexually aroused island men. The book’s entire mood is distasteful.Continue Reading
Atlas Obscura: Wild Life
Nature has created some wild things and Atlas Obscura: Wild Life describes them all! From heavy metal vultures called lammergeiers to the Himalayas’ Noble Rhubarbs, these living beings are fascinating to read about. The lammergeier wears “KISS-worthy eye masks”, eats skeletons and loves to dye themselves blood red. The NobelContinue Reading
The Gangs of Zion
Hmmm, well there wasn’t much in this book about The Gangs of Zion, other than that they exist. Instead this is a rather pompous autobiography about a black cop in a gang unit in Salt Lake City, Utah in the 1990s. In Utah, being black was unusual and being aContinue Reading
The Work of Art
Have you ever wondered how artists, writers or other creative types begin their creative journey? How do they continue from the bare idea to the final product? Most importantly, how do they know they are done? The Work of Art lets forty-three creatives speak in their own words about theirContinue Reading
Here One Moment
Here One Moment begins with a great setup. An elderly woman arises from her seat in a plane and calmly tells everyone in her section their age and manner of death. Who is the woman and why did she do such an extraordinary thing? How will the predictions impact theContinue Reading
Supremacy
Everything you want to know about the new AI chatbots and the creators behind them are detailed in Supremacy. The book begins with the biographies of OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, and DeepMind CEO, Demis Hassabis. Both begin with altruistic views of saving, or at least, helping, mankind. But the massiveContinue Reading
Death at the Sanatorium
It’s 1983 in a small town in Northern Iceland. A nurse arrives early to her job and finds her boss dead and seemingly tortured on a desk. The police arrest the sanatorium’s caretaker but don’t have enough evidence to hold him. The case is never solved but the subsequent suicideContinue Reading
Nexus
Sometimes you want to read a light humorous cozy mystery or romance. Other times, you want to read a book that makes you think deeply and ponder the future. Nexus fills the second need. This book is intense and thought provoking. We have all heard the arguments both pro andContinue Reading
Capital & Ideology
Capital & Ideology is a graphic novel adaption of the famous non-fiction book of the same name. This version uses a fictional family across centuries to teach basic economics history and theories. It works well for high schoolers and up. However, younger children will be quickly bored by all theContinue Reading
(Untitled)
Sleep Tight is labeled as a horror thriller. However, it reads more like a psychological thriller featuring a serial killer with a bit of police procedural thrown in for spice. I liked it but was expecting a more supernatural vibe that just wasn’t there. The renowned serial killer nicknamed FatherContinue Reading
The Accomplice
A small town Texas bank is robbed. It had to be an inside job. The Accomplice is easily identified by Texas Ranger Nia. But who is the robber and what is his underlying plan? Who is the mysterious stranger who appears in town to investigate the crime? And who isContinue Reading
What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust
Flavia de Luce is back at work! In What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust, Major Greyleigh dies from poison. Unfortunately, Mrs. Mullet, Flavia’s longtime cook and housekeeper, both picked and prepared the mushrooms for the Major. Flavia feels obligated to investigate even though she now a large estate toContinue Reading
Horror for Weenies
Are you too scared to watch iconic horror movies? Do you wish you knew why Rosemary’s Baby and Psycho are so famous? But not enough for you to actually sit through the movies? If so, Horror for Weenies is for you. The book contains chapters about 25 legendary movies fromContinue Reading
This Book Kills
This Book Kills is a young adult mystery that tries to cram a few too many subplots into one book. Jess is one of only two scholarship students at the prestigious British prep school Heybucket. She is constantly worried about losing her scholarship and embarrassing her ethnic Indian parents. Meanwhile,Continue Reading
Mythos: The Illustrated Edition
I love the idea of myths. Greek and Roman gods! They’re just like us! After reading (for pleasure, really) Robert Graves’ The Greek Myths in elementary school and taking an equally dry college mythology course, I’m ready to have some fun with mythical tales. Mythos: The Illustrated Edition fulfills thatContinue Reading