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The First 90 Days...

Nearing the end of the first quarter of 2021 somehow. I have taken an advantage of a mostly clear shelf to read 'other things' to start the year. Most of which I have found to be very enjoyable. I love the authors I read on a regular bases, but it is always nice to discover new...or new to me... authors to fill up my brain.

I'll be sliding back to the shelf after the current read. The S.A. Cosby is next (Yay!) and I'll follow that with the latest Koryta and Mosely.

CASE HISTORIES - Kate Atkinson

Nobody needs me to write that CASE HISTORIES is extraordinary.  Melancholy books about the soul crashing weight of our past history are 100% my jam. On to ONE GOOD TURN soon.

Mick Herron Slough House #1-4

I found these books to be a fair amount peppier than I anticipated. My expectation was that these would be stories of morose failed spies looking for redemption. And I guess the Slough House books are that, just less morose and a bit funnier than anticipated.

Power ranking of the Slow Horses: 5. Roderick Ho. 4. River Cartwright. 3. Lady Di 2. David Cartwright 1. Catherine Standish. 

Which is to say that the least interesting character in these books is the gortesque Jackson Lamb. Occasionally he busts out a 'not one of my Joe's' to get the blood pumping. But I am uninterested in assholes in real life, much less reading about them, no matter how clever. My only point of interest here is how close will Gary Oldman adhere to what is on paper in the forthcoming AppleTV series?

HI FIVE - Joe Ide 

4th of the Joe Ide books and easily the least successful of the series. While Mr. Ide's book's feature IQ as his protagonist the books have always moved around to the various characters in IQ's orbit. At times this is frustrating as it can steal narrative inertia and undercut tension.  With HIGH FIVE in addition to a lackluster IQ story, we get an under-cooked Dodson narrative, a weak Grace plot, and worthless TK romance that verges on filler. I think if Mr. Ide kept the focus on IQ and Dodson I would enjoy these books more even if I find their antagonism toward one another tiresome after 4 books. Mr. Ide's 5th, SMOKE, is out now. This was a series I was happy to buy, but after HI FIVE, his next will have to be a library read. This was a disappointment.

Current Read: THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS - Elly Griffith

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