Jefferz

Two good signs that you’ve read a great mystery novel; the full reveal is a “wow” instead of a “well that just happened” and you feel the need to instantly re-read it with a notepad to jot down clues missed on a first read. I found Riley Sager’s The Only One Left to be a solid murder mystery novel that’s well-rounded and smartly constructed. As per my read of Home Before Dark, The Only One Left was a slow burn with an explosive yet still comprehensible whodunnit reveal. This is a book that rewards slow and attentive readers that enjoy piecing clues and evidence together. If you speed through mindlessly the reveal and ending may feel random with its endless plot twists (they’re not random if you pay attention). What I particularly liked about The Only One Left is the use of common mystery plot devices implemented in creative ways. Although the story is primarily told from home caregiver Kit McDeere’s perspective in the present real-time (that is, in 1983 when this story takes place), Sager also somewhat incorporates a 2nd split (abeit limited) perspective of Lenora Hope. Literally written in the past tense (via a typewriter as Lenora is…

It took me longer than it should’ve to learn that Rivers of London was released in the US as “Midnight Riot” hence why it took me so long to read this despite it being high on my to-read list. In hindsight the rename makes perfect sense as Midnight Riot is a much more appropriate title for the better of two core plot/cases covered in book (not to mention that the series this book ended up starting is also called Rivers of London). Confusion on its dual-title release aside, I wanted to like Midnight Riot a lot more than I did as it has such an exciting premise. Peter Grant is a probationary constable/loose police officer who is assigned as an apprentice to Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale after having a run-in with a ghost while on surveillance duty following a grisly beheading murder at Covent Garden (as in the actual real Covent Garden, all locations are either real-life places or are heavily inspired fictional interpretations on boroughs of London). In training as both a supernatural investigative officer and a magic user, Peter Grant and Thomas Nightingale team-up to unravel the truth behind a series of seemingly random murders who’s only…

I was very close to dropping this in the first part but stuck with it as I heard the story picks up quickly. Furthermore many fans often consider Red Rising to be one of the weaker books in the series and thematically different due to its culling game-focus. I’m glad I stuck with it though as I thought Red Rising was ultimately great (with a few reservations), a 3 that progressed to a 4.5 rounded up. A mesh of different genres and styles, Pierce Brown is a certified fantasy sci-fi action nerd irl and it shows in his work. The writing style is no-nonsense laced with some advance vocabulary while the plot is fast-paced and furious. The book often takes pleasure in going where the reader wants/or doesn’t want it to go. Case and point if someone commits a terrible act, the book will gleefully and gruesomely execute some sort of twisted judgement on them. But if there’s a character who you are getting attached to and seems to be thriving, you know they’re going to meet an unfortunate end. There are elements in the narrative that are familiar and comfortable to fans of the genre such as the focal…

With only a few days left before the end of the year, I can confidently say I found my top book of 2023. I don’t even know where to start with this one, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a love letter novel to every gamer out there who once had a dream about creating their own game but that’s only half of the novel’s contents. The other half is a perfectly pitched, nuanced story of two 10 yr old kids (eventually three friends) who meet playing Super Mario and the way their friendship, work partnership, and lives intertwine up to their late 30’s. Admittedly I generally have a hard time reading novels that span a wide range of a character’s life mainly due to the difficulty of writing and portraying the maturity and emotions. However, Gabrielle Zevin has made me a believer by the sheer consistency and quality throughout this 400 page story. Starting with the two main leads Sam Masur and Sadie Green, both are incredibly well-developed characters who both compliment and clash with each other a variety of different areas. Character backstories are well-developed and incredibly varied heavily addressing the identify crisis that often comes with being…

Remarkably Bright Creatures is a rather remarkable novel that was unfortunately not for me, my rating does not represent the quality of this book. Very similar in concept Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen which I had recently read last month, Remarkably Bright Creatures is a shifting perspective narrative focusing on several characters whose only connection at first is living/arriving in Sowell Bay. A quiet, small town nestled on the Puget sound, the most notable attraction in the area is the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Tova Sullivan is a 70-something year old senior who works part time at the aquarium in the evenings as a cleaning lady busying herself with moping floors, wiping fingerprints off aquarium glass, and keeping herself busy. She has a group of fellow senior ladies affectionately called the “knit-wits” (I found this hilarious) she often has lunch with, her evening job making sure the aquarium is clean and orderly, and frankly not much else. After losing her husband to cancer a few years ago and her only son Erik when he was 18 (a mysterious disappearance and suspected drowning in the bay), her life has little meaning or direction apart from an unexpected friendship with Mercellus, a senior giant…