Series
Darkness, Take My Hand - Dennis Lehane ($7.99/$7.99, copyright 1996, 355 pages, Paperback)
This is the second in Lehane's Patrick Kenzie/Angie Gennaro series and - like it's title indicates - it's a lot darker then it's predecessor. They're hired through an acquaintance by a Professor who's received a threat towards her son. It looks to have come from the local mob so they get their friend Bubba to arrange a meeting. All that comes out of it is that Kenzie pisses off one of the bodyguards - a squirrelly, violent guy named Kevin who grew up in them in Dorchester. They keep at the case, following the Professor's son around without any results. In the meantime, Angie is enjoying the single life while her ex tries to prove he's gotten better and Patrick is enjoying a relationship with a single mother nurse. Then things go bad. Another old acquaintance is found murdered in a way that points to a series of killings from 25 years ago. The Boston police and the FBI get involved and Kenzie finds himself at the mercy of a couple of serial killers. Like I said it gets dark. Lehane writes well and his characters are nicely defined, quirks and all. I do think it was too long, maybe a bit too gory for some, and I have to take issue with the beginning. Lehane starts the book with Kenzie reflecting on what took place as he recovers from his injuries. That caused me to anticipate something happening at every turn and slowed down the natural flow of the story. It was OK.
This next book first came to my attention on the 3rd when it popped up on Facebook as a suggestion from Amazon. On a whim, I checked out a Discount Sites and it was already there. I ordered it and it arrived in less then a week. Needless to say, I put down what I was reading to check it out.
Hope Never Dies - Andrew Shaffer ($14.99/$4.48, copyright 2018, 301 pages, Trade Paperback)
Now that their 8 years in charge of the country were over, what were Obama and Biden going to do? Obama traveled around hobnobbing with celebrities, giving speeches, and generally enjoying himself. Biden returned to Wilmington where he did very little except resent Obama for not including him. At least that's the impression I got from Shaffer's book. That all changes when Obama shows up late at Biden's home to let him know that a friend of his has died. Finn Donnelly was a conductor on the Amtrak Acela that Biden used to take to Washington on his daily commute when he was in the Senate. Now Finn was dead, crushed under the wheels of that same train. In his possession were a map to Biden's house and some drugs. Biden, of course, can't believe that his friend was into drugs and sets out to prove it, dragging along Obama and his Secret Service Agent Steve with him. Along the way, they run into the police, DEA agents, a Motorcycle Gang, and - almost - a cow. All of this culminates with a fight on a train. Shaffer has created an interesting story with several plot twists and the supporting characters are well written but stereotypical. I think that this is the first book I've ever read where the central characters were real which made this a fun read. There's already a sequel out and maybe I'll check into it. I enjoyed it.
So much for this month. Back to what I was in the middle of and then .... who knows?
I pulled out a few "first in a series" books from the shelves and came across a couple of older Adventure Novels that I might revisit. Plus, there are all of those books that I bought cheaply over the last couple of months.
Tune in next time to find out what happens. Until then, stay cool and ....
Keep Reading.
