Nick's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 29 May 2025 10:59:21 -0700 60 Nick's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Contortionist's Handbook 211808073 With a new foreward from bestselling and Edgar award-winning author Jordan Harper, this reissue of the cult classic The Contortionist's Handbook follows a talented forger who continually reinvents himself to escape the authorities.A great read for fans of ChuckPalahniuk and Irvine Welsh.

Following a near fatal overdose of painkillers, Daniel Fletcher is resuscitated in a Los Angeles emergency room and detained for psychiatric evaluation. Through a series of questions and tests, the psychiatrist must ascertain whether the patient intended to kill himself, or whether he can walk free. What the psychiatrist doesn't know is that 'Daniel Fletcher' is actually John � Johnny � Dolan Vincent, a brilliant young forger who continually changes his identity to save himself from a lifetime of incarceration. Johnny has done such assessments before � many, many times.

As he creates an elaborate bluff for the evaluator, Johnny reveals the true story of his traumatic past � a broken family, descent into the sinister world of forgers and criminals, and his one chance of salvation in the beautiful and elusive Molly. But time is running out; as his underworld clients lose patience and the psychiatrist's net closes around him, Johnny has to negotiate the escape act of his life.

Evoking the boulevards and strip bars of 1980s LA with cinematic intensity, The Contortionist's Handbook is a darkly hypnotic and stunningly original debut.]]> 252 Craig Clevenger 1915523370 Nick 5 4.25 2002 The Contortionist's Handbook
author: Craig Clevenger
name: Nick
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/29
date added: 2025/05/29
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]]> <![CDATA[Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House]]> 216907407 INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

USA TODAY BESTSELLER

"Brutal" �Huffington Post

"Scathing" �New York Post

“So many revelations.� —Joe Scarborough, co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe

"Bombshell." —Jesse Watters, host of FOX’s Jesse Watters Primetime

The authors of the #1 New York Times bestseller Shattered provide a revelatory, inside look at the Biden, Harris, and Trump camps during the 2024 battle for the White House, arguably the most consequential contest in American history.

The ride was so wild that it forced a sitting president to drop his re-election bid, a once and future president to survive felony convictions and a would-be assassin’s bullet, and a vice president, unexpectedly thrust into the arena, to mount an unprecedented 107-day campaign to lead the free world.

Fight is the backstage story of bloodsport politics in its rawest form—the clawing, backstabbing, and rabble-rousing that drove Donald Trump into the White House and Democrats into the wilderness. At every turn, the combatants went for the jugular, whether they were facing down rivals in the other party or their own.

Bestselling authors Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes give readers their first graphic view of the characters, their motivations, and their innermost thoughts as they battled to claim the ultimate prize and define a political era. Based on real-time interviews with more than 150 insiders—from the Trump, Harris, and Biden inner circles, as well as party leaders and operatives�Fight delivers the vivid and stunning tale of an election unlike any other.

In the end, Trump overcame voters� concerns about his personal flaws by tapping into a deep vein of dissatisfaction with the direction of the country. At the same time, Democrats struggled to connect with an electorate that felt gaslit by Biden’s insistence that he had delivered economic prosperity—and his pledge to be a “bridge� president. He tore his party asunder, leaving destroyed personal relationships in his wake, as he clung to power. And when he gave it up, he kneecapped Harris by demanding unprecedented loyalty from her.

As Allen and Parnes have done in the #1 New York Times bestseller Shattered and Lucky, they provide readers with a skeleton key to the rooms where it all happened, revealing a story more shocking than previously reported.]]> 326 Jonathan Allen 0063438666 Nick 5 4.20 Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House
author: Jonathan Allen
name: Nick
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/23
date added: 2025/04/23
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]]> <![CDATA[Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism]]> 228578720 #1 New York Times Bestseller

A 2025 best book of the year so far by The New York Times, The Economist, and more

�Careless People is darkly funny and genuinely shocking...Not only does [Sarah Wynn-Williams] have the storytelling chops to unspool a gripping narrative; she also delivers the goods." -Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times

“When one of the world’s most powerful media companies tries to snuff out a book � amid other alarming attacks on free speech in America like this � it’s time to pull out all the stops.� –Ron Charles, The Washington Post

An explosive memoir charting one woman’s career at the heart of one of the most influential companies on the planet, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them.

From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.

Sarah Wynn-Williams tells the wrenching but fun story of Facebook, mapping its rise from stumbling encounters with juntas to Mark Zuckerberg’s reaction when he learned of Facebook’s role in Trump’s election. She experiences the challenges and humiliations of working motherhood within a pressure cooker of a workplace, all while Sheryl Sandberg urges her and others to “lean in.�

Careless People is a deeply personal account of why and how things have gone so horribly wrong in the past decade—told in a sharp, candid, and utterly disarming voice. A deep, unflinching look at the role that social media has assumed in our lives, Careless People reveals the truth about the leaders of how the more power they grasp, the less responsible they become and the consequences this has for all of us.]]> 385 Sarah Wynn-Williams 1250391245 Nick 5 4.41 2025 Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
author: Sarah Wynn-Williams
name: Nick
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/09
date added: 2025/04/09
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]]> King of Ashes 219833252 Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author S. A. Cosby returns with King of Ashes, a Godfather-inspired Southern crime epic and dazzling family drama.

When eldest son Roman Carruthers is summoned home after his father’s car accident, he finds his younger brother, Dante, in debt to dangerous criminals and his sister, Neveah, exhausted from holding the family—and the family business—together. Neveah and their father, who run the Carruthers Crematorium in the run-down central Virginia town of Jefferson Run, see death up close every day. But mortality draws even closer when it becomes clear that the crash that landed their father in a coma was no accident and Dante’s recklessness has placed them all in real danger.

Roman, a financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, has some money to help buy his brother out of trouble. But in his work with wannabe tough guys, he’s forgotten that there are real gangsters out there. As his bargaining chips go up in smoke, Roman realizes that he has only one thing left to offer to save his himself, and his own particular set of skills.

Roman begins his work for the criminals while Neveah tries to uncover the long-ago mystery of what happened to their mother, who disappeared when they were teenagers. But Roman is far less of a pushover than the gangsters realize. He is willing to do anything to save his family. Anything.

Because everything burns.]]> 352 S.A. Cosby 1250832063 Nick 0 to-read 4.31 2025 King of Ashes
author: S.A. Cosby
name: Nick
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/06
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]]> Kubrick: An Odyssey 179929579 The definitive biography of the creator of 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, and A Clockwork Orange, presenting the most in-depth portrait yet of the groundbreaking film-maker.The enigmatic and elusive filmmaker Stanley Kubrick has not been treated to a full-length biography in over twenty years. Stanley An Odysseyfills that gap. This definitive book is based on access to the latest research, especially Kubrick's archive at the University of the Arts, London, as well as other private papers plus new interviews with family members and those who worked with him. It offers comprehensive and in-depth coverage of Kubrick’s personal, private, public, and working life.Stanley An Odysseyinvestigates not only the making of Kubrick's films, but also about those he wanted (but failed) to make likeBurning Secret,Napoleon,Aryan Papers, andA.I. Revealingly, this immersive biography will puncture the controversial myths about the reclusive filmmaker who created some of the most important works of art of the twentieth century]]> 653 Robert P. Kolker 1639366253 Nick 5 4.55 2023 Kubrick: An Odyssey
author: Robert P. Kolker
name: Nick
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/07
date added: 2025/01/10
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]]> Dark Waters vol 2 222671967
The stream running down Main St is bringing more than water...

A college student's mind may be breaking like guitar strings...

The team behind the Dark Waters Podcast brings you the next collection of noir, horror, and thrilling tales that remind readers to always look beneath the surface.

With stories by

R.D. Sullivan, Mary Thorson, Roaa Eid, Victor De Anda, Joel Nedecky, John Bukowski, Ken Sparrow, Brian Silverman, Gabriela Stiteler, Stanton McCaffery, Libby Cudmore, Dannye Chase, and Jacqueline Freimor]]> Kirstyn Petras Nick 0 to-read 4.67 Dark Waters vol 2
author: Kirstyn Petras
name: Nick
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/16
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]]> Negative Girl 203613917 For fans of Cottonmouths by Kelly J. Ford comes Negative an evocative, moody, neo-noir thriller that explores obsession and people dying across America's forgotten spaces.Martin Wade lived hard in his youth, but unlike many of his former bandmates and roadie friends, he didn’t die young. Instead he hit the recovery path, cleaned up his life, and became a private investigator in a dying city in upstate New York.When his heavily tattooed and scarred assistant Valerie sets up an appointment with a young woman who needs help keeping her biological father away from her, none of the three realize that the father is Martin’s old bandmate, still using, and on a destructive path that will soon be headed straight for Martin’s clean life. As Martin struggles, Valerie becomes increasingly obsessed with their new client’s life.Then the client is found dead in a riverbank, and duty, nostalgia, and lifetimes of regret find Martin and Valerie on the case for the young woman’s killer. As Martin struggles to hold onto his sobriety, Valerie becomes increasingly obsessed with their dead client.]]> 256 Libby Cudmore 1915523311 Nick 5 3.79 Negative Girl
author: Libby Cudmore
name: Nick
average rating: 3.79
book published:
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/10/30
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"Negative Girl" is a great mystery story, but it's more than just a mystery story: it's an incredibly heartbreaking tale of loss, regret, and nostalgia. Detective Martin Wade's past as a 90s rocker who fell from grace (as I read, I was picturing Mark Sandman if he'd lived) makes him vulnerable in fascinating ways; and Valerie, his assistant (and in many ways a better detective), is also wrestling with her own demons. There's an emotional core here that you don't find in many mystery thrillers, rendered with masterful delicacy, realism, and tact. This book will stick with you.
]]> The Crack Cocaine Diet 6423355 New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman has been hailed as one of the best crime fiction writers in America today, winning virtually every major award in the genre. The author of the enormously popular series featuring Baltimore P.I. Tess Monaghan as well as three critically lauded stand-alone novels, Lippman now turns her attention to short stories—and reveals another level of mastery.

Lippman sets many of the stories in this sterling anthology, Hardly Knew Her, in familiar territory: her beloved Baltimore, from downtown to its affluent suburbs, where successful businessmen go to shocking lengths to protect what they have or ruthlessly expand their holdings, while dissatisfied wives find murderous ways to escape their lives. But Lippman is also unafraid to travel—to New Orleans, to an unnamed southwestern city, and even to Dublin, the backdrop for the lethal clash of two not-so-innocents abroad. Tess Monaghan is here, in two stories and a profile, aligning herself with various underdogs. And in her extraordinary, never-before-published novella, Scratch a Woman, Lippman takes us deep into the private world of a high-priced call girl/madam and devoted soccer mom, exploring the mystery of what may, in fact, be written in the blood.

Each of these ingenious tales is a gem—sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous, always filled with delightfully unanticipated twists and reversals. For people who have yet to read Lippman, get ready to experience the spellbinding power of "one of today's most pleasing storytellers, hailed for her keen psychological insights and her compelling characterizations," (San Diego Union-Tribune), who has "invigorated the crime fiction arena with smart, innovative, and exciting work" (George Pelecanos). As for longtime devotees of her multiple award-winning novels, you'll discover that you hardly know her.

]]> 23 Laura Lippman Nick 5 3.74 2008 The Crack Cocaine Diet
author: Laura Lippman
name: Nick
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/02
date added: 2024/10/02
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]]> <![CDATA[Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction]]> 35958896 “[Astounding]is a major work of popular culture scholarship that science fiction fans will devour.”—�Publishers Weekly

"Alec Nevala-Lee has brilliantly recreated the era. . . . A remarkable work of literary history." � Robert Silverberg

"Science fiction has been awaiting this history/biography for more than half a century. . . . Here it is. This is the most important historical and critical work my field has ever seen. Alec Nevala-Lee’s superb scholarship and insight have made the seemingly impossible a radiant and irreplaceable gift."—Barry N. Malzberg, author of Beyond Apollo

Astounding is the landmark account of the extraordinary partnership between four controversial writers—John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and L. Ron Hubbard—who set off a revolution in science fiction and forever changed our world.

This remarkable cultural narrative centers on the figure of John W. Campbell, Jr., whom Asimov called “the most powerful force in science fiction ever.� Campbell, who has never been the subject of a biography until now, was both a visionary author—he wrote the story that was later filmed as The Thing—and the editor of the groundbreaking magazine best known as Astounding Science Fiction, in which he discovered countless legendary writers and published classic works ranging from the I, Robot series to Dune. Over a period of more than thirty years, from the rise of the pulps to the debut of Star Trek, he dominated the genre, and his three closest collaborators reached unimaginable heights. Asimov became the most prolific author in American history; Heinlein emerged as the leading science fiction writer of his generation with the novels Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land; and Hubbard achieved lasting fame—and infamy—as the founder of the Church of Scientology.

Drawing on unexplored archives, thousands of unpublished letters, and dozens of interviews, Alec Nevala-Lee offers a riveting portrait of this circle of authors, their work, and their tumultuous private lives. With unprecedented scope, drama, and detail, Astounding describes how fan culture was born in the depths of the Great Depression; follows these four friends and rivals through World War II and the dawn of the atomic era; and honors such exceptional women as Doña Campbell and Leslyn Heinlein, whose pivotal roles in the history of the genre have gone largely unacknowledged. For the first time, it reveals the startling extent of Campbell’s influence on the ideas that evolved into Scientology, which prompted Asimov to observe: “I knew Campbell and I knew Hubbard, and no movement can have two Messiahs.� It looks unsparingly at the tragic final act that estranged the others from Campbell, bringing the golden age of science fiction to a close, and it illuminates how their complicated legacy continues to shape the imaginations of millions and our vision of the future itself.]]> 544 Alec Nevala-Lee 0062571966 Nick 4 4.20 2018 Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction
author: Alec Nevala-Lee
name: Nick
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2018/11/07
date added: 2024/09/28
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]]> Where the Bones Lie 214537235 � Meg Gardiner, #1 New York Times bestselling author

�Where the Bones Lie isn’t just Nick Kolakowski’s strongest novel yet, it’s a helluva page-turner, loaded with sinister humor, a twisty plot, and the kind of complicated characters readers deserve. Don’t miss this one.�
� Alex Segura, author of Secret Identity and Alter Ego

“Nick Kolakowski is a noir voice for the 21st century.�
� Steven Powell, Edgar-winning author of Love Me Fierce in The Life of James Ellroy

“Starts off in fifth gear and never slows down. This is the best detective novel I’ve read in years.�
� Steve Weddle, author of The County Line


For Dash Fuller, Hollywood’s underbelly is home. He’s spent years making the film industry’s worst secrets disappear, and it’s left him a cynical burnout with a taste for bourbon and self-loathing.

But when a young woman comes to him with a peculiar quest, Dash sees a chance at redemption. Madeline Ironwood is the daughter of Ken Ironwood, a notorious smuggler and murderer who disappeared 20 years ago. Ken’s skeleton has just been discovered in a barrel at the bottom of a dried-up lake, and Madeline wants to know who killed him.

Dash agrees to help, and as this desperate daughter and jaded cynic claw their way through a world of sun-bleached secrets, crooked cops, and Hollywood thugs, they soon uncover a conspiracy involving some of LA’s most powerful people.

Get ready for a fast-paced, darkly funny thriller with a twist you won’t see coming.]]> 280 Nick Kolakowski 1915523508 Nick 0 4.11 Where the Bones Lie
author: Nick Kolakowski
name: Nick
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/21
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]]> Broiler 199549704
Gabriela Menchaca and Edwin Saucedo are hardworking, undocumented employees at the Detmer Foods chicken plant in Springdale, Arkansas, just a stone’s throw from the trailer park where they’ve lived together for seven years. While dealing with personal tragedies of their own, the young couple endures the brutal, dehumanizing conditions at the plant in exchange for barebones pay.

When the plant manager, Luke Jackson, fires Edwin to set an example for the rest of the workers—and to show the higherups that he’s ready for a major promotion—Edwin is determined to get revenge on Luke and his wife, Mimi, a new mother who stays at home with her six-month-old son. Edwin’s impulsive action sets in motion a devastating chain of events that illuminates the deeply entrenched power dynamics between those who revel at the top and those who toil at the bottom.

From the nationally bestselling and Edgar Award–winning author of 'Don’t Know Tough' and 'Ozark Dogs' comes another edge-of-your-seat noir thriller that exposes the dark, bloody heart of life on the margins in the American South and the bleak underside of a bygone American Dream.]]> 336 Eli Cranor 1641295910 Nick 5 4.12 2024 Broiler
author: Eli Cranor
name: Nick
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/07
date added: 2024/07/07
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]]> Assassins Anonymous 199096481 In this clever, surprising, page-turner, the world’s most lethal assassin gives up the violent life only to find himself under siege by mysterious assailants. It’s a kill-or-be-killed situation, but the first option is off the table. What’s a reformed hit man to do?

Mark was the most dangerous killer-for-hire in the world. But after learning the hard way that his life’s work made him more monster than man, he left all of that behind, and joined a twelve-step group for reformed killers.

When Mark is viciously attacked by an unknown assailant, he is forced on the run. From New York to Singapore to London, he chases after clues while dodging attacks and trying to solve the puzzle of who’s after him. All without killing anyone. Or getting killed himself. For an assassin, Mark learns, nonviolence is a real hassle.]]> 320 Rob Hart 0593717406 Nick 5 4.10 2024 Assassins Anonymous
author: Rob Hart
name: Nick
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/15
date added: 2024/06/15
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]]> <![CDATA[The Heart That Fed: A Father, a Son, and the Long Shadow of War]]> 199797785 A brilliant graphic memoir debut, this is a loving son’s exploration of his tumultuous relationship with his father, told through the lens of the Vietnam War and its lasting effects long after returning home.

As a college dropout amidst the tumult of the 1960s and the Vietnam War, David Sciacchitano enlisted in the Air Force and volunteered to be sent overseas. An aircraft mechanic away from the front lines, David nevertheless experienced the chaos of war during the Tet Offensive and the 1975 evacuation. But although David returned home from the war with no physical injuries, it would be as if a part of him was forever left behind.

Set against one of the most tumultuous events of the 20th century, The Heart That Fed is a beautifully illustrated and moving story of trauma and love—told by a son seeking to understand a father forever changed by PTSD and the horrors of war.]]> 288 Carl Sciacchitano 1982102934 Nick 5 4.14 2024 The Heart That Fed: A Father, a Son, and the Long Shadow of War
author: Carl Sciacchitano
name: Nick
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/06/06
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A brilliant book about Vietnam and its spiritual aftermath, coupled with starkly beautiful black-and-white art and a timeline structure unafraid to take risks.
]]> <![CDATA[Bishop Rider Lives: An Anthology of Retribution]]> 213696541
But life, it sometimes finds a way.

The fifteen stories in this anthology both brand new tales and written by some of the biggest names working in crime fiction and horror today. Each tale pulled from between the pages of A Better Kind of Hate, The Big Machine Eats, All of Them To Burn, Brand New Dark, and Old Man Rider.

Come for the rage, stay for the dismemberment. See how a dead man makes them burn.]]> 194 Beau Johnson 164396366X Nick 0 currently-reading 5.00 Bishop Rider Lives: An Anthology of Retribution
author: Beau Johnson
name: Nick
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/05/23
shelves: currently-reading
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]]> <![CDATA[The Dead Shall Rise: Zombie Zombie Zombie (Dark Tide Mysteries and Thrillers #10)]]> 194940502
“Prepare Because Death is Coming� by Jay "Take this and bear the warning." When a messenger arrives at Dry Stretch, warning that a horde of zombies is heading their way forty years after the fall, Bay scoffs at the news. But a 'full body' meeting is called. Ethic is sent north to scout, but in Dry Stretch, no one is preparing. No one is repairing the walls. A William Faulkneresque story of the dead set in a dystopic dust-bowl town.

“Zombie Diner� by Armand A family finds themselves on the wrong side of the zombie apocalypse while on vacation in Florida�

“Dance with the Dead� by Erin Tiffney is expecting just another night at the strip club. But when a customer goes berserk in the VIP room, things take an unexpectedly bloody turn. Stuck with a cocaine raddled manager and a shady club owner. Tiffney faces the unimaginable and is forced to turn her coworkers into allies to fight the evil that has taken over the club. Together they have to fight to stay alive.

This Zombie horror anthology is perfect for fans of post apocalyptic survival, The Walking Dead series, zombie apocalypse, and World War Z.

Crystal Lake’s Dark Tide series will continue soon with more tales of Mystery Thrillers and Horror Books, including themes of Weird Western, Sherlock Holmes, Grief Horror, Body Horror, Mystery fiction, Travel Horror, Deadly Duos, and Psychological Thriller books.

Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths.]]> 180 Armand Rosamilia Nick 4 4.10 The Dead Shall Rise: Zombie Zombie Zombie (Dark Tide Mysteries and Thrillers #10)
author: Armand Rosamilia
name: Nick
average rating: 4.10
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/20
date added: 2024/03/20
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]]> Small Town Sins 60731151 EDGAR AWARD FINALIST

Ken Jaworowski’s Small Town Sins is a gripping Rust Belt thriller that captures the characters of a down-and-out Pennsylvania town, revealing their troubled pasts and the crimes that could cost them their lives.

In Locksburg, Pennsylvania, a former coal and steel town whose best days seem long past, five thousand residents have toughed it out, and have reasons for both worry and hope as this neglected place teeters between decay and renewal. For some of them, their biggest troubles have just arrived.

After years of just scraping by, three restless souls have their lives upended: Nathan, a volunteer fireman who uncovers a secret stash of money in a burning building and takes it; Callie, a nurse whose tender patient may not have long to live, despite the girl’s fundamentalist parents� ardent beliefs; and Andy, a recovering heroin addict who undertakes a nightmare mission to hunt down and stop a serial predator.

Before long, Nathan’s stolen riches threaten to destroy everyone around him as he tries to cover his haphazard trail of lies. Callie risks her career to grant her young patient a final, and likely illegal, wish. And Andy’s hunger for vigilante justice becomes a fierce obsession that may end in violence.

As their stories barrel toward unexpected ends, Nathan, Callie, and Andy struggle to endure—or escape. They each face their pasts and gamble on their futures, and confront the underside of their rough Rust Belt town. Riveting, evocative, and unforgettable, Small Town Sins is a debut novel that marks the arrival of a major new talent.]]> 264 Ken Jaworowski 1250881684 Nick 3 4.04 2023 Small Town Sins
author: Ken Jaworowski
name: Nick
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/03/18
date added: 2024/03/18
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]]> <![CDATA[Battle for the Bird: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter's Soul]]> 177059710 An Atria Book. Atria Books has a great book for every reader. ]]> 366 Kurt Wagner Nick 5 4.16 Battle for the Bird: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter's Soul
author: Kurt Wagner
name: Nick
average rating: 4.16
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/29
date added: 2024/02/29
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]]> Smoke Kings 150244720
In the vein of Get Out and Razorblade Tears , a feast of noir fiction and probing social commentary that asks us to consider what would happen if reparations were finally charged and exacted.

Nate Evers, a young black political activist, struggles with rage as his people are still being killed in the streets 62 years after Emmett Till. When his little cousin is murdered, Nate shuns the graffiti murals, candlelight vigils, and Twitter hashtags that are commonplace after these senseless deaths. Instead, he leads 3 grief-stricken friends on a mission of retribution, kidnapping the descendants of long-ago perpetrators of hate crimes, confronting the targets with their racist lineages, and forcing them to pay reparations to a community fund. For 3 of the group members, the results mean justice; for Nate � pure revenge.

Not all targets go quietly into the night, though, and Nate and his friends' world spirals out of control when they confront the wrong man. Now the leader of a white supremacist group is hot on their tail as is a jaded lawman with some disturbingly racist views of his own.

As the 4 vigilantes fight to thwart their ruthless pursuers, they’re forced to accept an age-old "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."

Smoke Kings is a powerful and propulsive novel with a diverse and unforgettable cast of characters. Like Steph Cha’s Your House Will Pay it explores decades of racial tensions through a fictional landscape where the goal of the oppressed is no longer equality but rather vengeance.]]> 400 Jahmal Mayfield 1685891128 Nick 4 3.94 2024 Smoke Kings
author: Jahmal Mayfield
name: Nick
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/26
date added: 2024/02/26
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]]> The Paradox Hotel 200201420 An impossible crime. A detective on the edge of madness. The future of time travel at stake.

January Cole’s job just got a whole lot harder.

Not that running security at the Paradox was ever really easy. Nothing’s simple at a hotel where the ultra-wealthy tourists arrive costumed for a dozen different time periods, all eagerly waiting to catch their “flights� to the past.

Or where proximity to the timeport makes the clocks run backward on occasion—and, rumor has it, allows ghosts to stroll the halls.

None of that compares to the corpse in room 526. The one that seems to be both there and not there. The one that somehow only January can see.

On top of that, some very important new guests have just checked in. Because the U.S. government is about to privatize time-travel technology—and the world’s most powerful people are on hand to stake their claims.

January is sure the timing isn’t a coincidence. Neither are those “accidents� that start stalking their bidders.

There’s a reason January can glimpse what others can’t. A reason why she’s the only one who can catch a killer who’s operating invisibly and in plain sight, all at once.

But her ability is also destroying her grip on reality—and as her past, present, and future collide, she finds herself confronting not just the hotel’s dark secrets but her own.

At once a dazzlingly time-twisting murder mystery and a story about grief, memory, and what it means to—literally—come face-to-face with our ghosts, The Paradox Hotel is another unforgettable speculative thrill ride from acclaimed author Rob Hart.]]> 12 Rob Hart Nick 5 3.51 2022 The Paradox Hotel
author: Rob Hart
name: Nick
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/02/19
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]]> The Trial of Henry Kissinger 19064589 283 Christopher Hitchens Nick 5 4.24 2001 The Trial of Henry Kissinger
author: Christopher Hitchens
name: Nick
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2024/01/21
date added: 2024/01/21
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]]> <![CDATA[The One Percent: Tales of the Super Wealthy and Depraved]]> 203443033 The One Percent is a dose of truth - the super-rich are both a symptom of a country gone off the rails, and, in many cases, the cause. Greedy and vampiric, they have polluted our waters, raped our land, and profited from untold amounts of spilled blood. And that’s before we examine their shitty behavior as individuals. —You can afford an African safari, but you can’t pay a craftswoman what her work is worth?—Who cares if you made your money selling weapons of mass slaughter? Somebody does. —If you’re not using that kidney, or even if you are� —The good part about crypto is no rules. Funny, that’s the bad part too. 16 stories detailing the most vile of the most privileged wait inside, and, maybe, a little bit of payback, too.

With stories

C. W. Blackwell, Scott Von Doviak, Esther Mubawa, James D. F. Hannah, AD Schweiss, Thomas Trang, Meirav Devash, Eddie McNamarra, Andrew Rucker Jones, Sam Wiebe, Curtis Ippolito, Tim P. Walker, Jesse Lee, Sean Logan, Tom Andes, Steven-Elliot Altman, and Lin Morris.]]> 233 Roger Nokes Nick 0 to-read 4.30 The One Percent: Tales of the Super Wealthy and Depraved
author: Roger Nokes
name: Nick
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/12/11
shelves: to-read
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]]> Sing Her Down 63277362 “I read everything Ivy Pochoda writes. Her capture of the complexities, diversities, and insanities of today’s life and culture is next to none. I loved Sing Her Down. The world will too.� ―Michael Connelly, author of Desert Star

No Country for Old Men meets Killing Eve in this gritty, feminist Western thriller from the award-winning author of These Women.

Florence "Florida" Baum is not the hapless innocent she claims to be when she arrives at the Arizona women's prison―or so her ex-cellmate, Diosmary Sandoval, keeps insinuating.

Dios knows the truth about Florida's crimes, understands the truth that Florence hides even from herself: that she wasn't a victim of circumstance, an unlucky bystander misled by a bad man. Dios knows that darkness lives in women too, despite the world's refusal to see it. And she is determined to open Florida's eyes and unleash her true self.

When an unexpected reprieve gives both women their freedom, Dios's fixation on Florida turns into a dangerous obsession, and a deadly cat-and-mouse chase ensues from Arizona to the desolate streets of Los Angeles.

With blistering, incisive prose, the award-winning author Ivy Pochoda delivers a razor-sharp Western. Gripping and immersive, Sing Her Down is a spellbinding thriller setting two indelible women on a path to certain destruction and an epic, stunning showdown.]]> 290 Ivy Pochoda 0374608490 Nick 5 3.25 2023 Sing Her Down
author: Ivy Pochoda
name: Nick
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/12
date added: 2023/11/12
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]]> <![CDATA[Into the Dying Sun (A Grifter's Song Book 35)]]> 198808233
If they can get out alive, that is.
]]> 109 Frank Zafiro Nick 5 5.00 Into the Dying Sun (A Grifter's Song Book 35)
author: Frank Zafiro
name: Nick
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/07
date added: 2023/10/07
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1)]]> 58111608
Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death.]]> 614 Hilary Mantel Nick 5 4.11 2009 Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1)
author: Hilary Mantel
name: Nick
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2009
rating: 5
read at: 2023/09/23
date added: 2023/09/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit]]> 60127146 “As gritty and hard-driving a thriller as you’ll find�.The action never stops, the language sings and stings.�
�Washington Post

The City Primeval in Elmore Leonard’s relentlessly gripping classic noir is Detroit, the author’s much-maligned hometown and the setting for many of the Grand Master’s acclaimed crime novels. The “Alexander the Great of crime fiction� (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) shines in these urban mean streets, setting up a downtown showdown between the psychopathic, thrill-killing “Oklahoma Wildman� and the dedicated city copy who’s determined to take him down. The creator of U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens of TV’s Justified fame, Elmore Leonard is the equal of any writer who has ever captivated readers with dark tales of heists, hijacks, double-crosses, and murder—John D. MacDonald, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Robert Parker included—and nobody then or now is better.

]]> 275 Elmore Leonard Nick 4 4.28 1980 City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit
author: Elmore Leonard
name: Nick
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1980
rating: 4
read at: 2023/09/09
date added: 2023/09/09
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]]> Dragon Teeth 34810395 Michael Crichton, the #1 New York Times bestselling author ofJurassic Park,returns to the world of paleontology in this recently discovered novel—a thrilling adventure set in the Wild West during the golden age of fossil hunting.

The year is 1876. Warring Indian tribes still populate America’s western territories even as lawless gold-rush towns begin to mark the landscape. In much of the country it is still illegal to espouse evolution. Against this backdrop two monomaniacal paleontologists pillage the Wild West, hunting for dinosaur fossils, while surveilling, deceiving and sabotaging each other in a rivalry that will come to be known as the Bone Wars.

Into this treacherous territory plunges the arrogant and entitled William Johnson, a Yale student with more privilege than sense. Determined to survive a summer in the west to win a bet against his arch-rival, William has joined world-renowned paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh on his latest expedition. But when the paranoid and secretive Marsh becomes convinced that William is spying for his nemesis, Edwin Drinker Cope, he abandons him in Cheyenne, Wyoming, a locus of crime and vice. William is forced to join forces with Cope and soon stumbles upon a discovery of historic proportions. With this extraordinary treasure, however, comes exceptional danger, and William’s newfound resilience will be tested in his struggle to protect his cache, which pits him against some of the West’s most notorious characters.

A page-turner that draws on both meticulously researched history and an exuberant imagination, Dragon Teeth is based on the rivalry between real-life paleontologists Cope and Marsh; in William Johnson readers will find an inspiring hero only Michael Crichton could have imagined. Perfectly paced and brilliantly plotted, this enormously winning adventure is destined to become another Crichton classic.

]]> 387 Michael Crichton 0062473379 Nick 0 currently-reading 4.15 2017 Dragon Teeth
author: Michael Crichton
name: Nick
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/20
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Whalefall 71684393 A USA TODAY BESTSELLER
Named a Best Book of 2023 by Book Riot, Shelf Awareness, and NPR

The Martian meets 127 Hours in this “astoundingly great� (Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author) and scientifically accurate thriller about a scuba diver who’s been swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.

Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool’s errand—to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. He knows it’s a long shot, but Jay feels it’s the only way for him to lift the weight of guilt he has carried since his dad’s death by suicide the previous year.

The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid’s tentacles and drawn into the whale’s mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out—one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale.

Suspenseful and cinematic, Whalefall is an “powerfully humane� (Owen King, New York Times bestselling author) thriller about a young man who has given up on life…only to find a reason to live in the most dangerous and unlikely of places.]]> 332 Daniel Kraus Nick 4 3.87 2023 Whalefall
author: Daniel Kraus
name: Nick
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/08/12
date added: 2023/08/12
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]]> American Prometheus 8131063
THE INSPIRATION FOR THE UPCOMING MAJOR MOTION PICTURE OPPENHEIMER

In this magisterial, acclaimed biography twenty-five years in the making, Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin capture Oppenheimer’s life and times, from his early career to his central role in the Cold War. This is biography and history at its finest, riveting and deeply informative.

“A masterful account of Oppenheimer’s rise and fall, set in the context of the turbulent decades of America’s own transformation. It is a tour de force.� � Los Angeles Times Book Review

“A work of voluminous scholarship and lucid insight, unifying its multifaceted portrait with a keen grasp of Oppenheimer’s essential nature.... It succeeds in deeply fathoming his most damaging, self-contradictory behavior.� � The New York Times]]> 754 Kai Bird Nick 5 4.58 2005 American Prometheus
author: Kai Bird
name: Nick
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2023/08/10
date added: 2023/08/10
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]]> Infested 62919225 The Taking of Jake Livingston meets Cemetery Boys in this YA ghost story about a Puerto Rican teen’s battle with a malevolent spirit targeting his apartment building and the all-too-real horrors of gentrification.

It’s the summer before senior year, and Manny has just moved from Texas to the Bronx in New York. So, instead of hanging with his friends and making some spending money, Manny is forced to do menial tasks in his new home, a luxury condo his stepdad is managing, while stressing about starting over.

Thankfully, he meets Sasha, who is protesting the building but turns out to be really cool. And he strikes up an unlikely friendship with Mr. Mueller, the building’s exterminator. Maybe life in the Bronx won’t be so bad.

Then the nightmares begin. And Manny swears he has roaches crawling under his skin. When building contractors start to go missing, Manny and Sasha come to the terrifying realization that Mr. Mueller is not who he says he is. Or rather, he is, but he died decades ago in a fire exactly where Manny’s new building is located. A fire that Mueller set.

Now, in a race against time, Manny must rescue his family from a deranged specter determined to set the Bronx ablaze once again.]]> 304 Angel Luis Colón 1665928417 Nick 5 to-read 3.58 2023 Infested
author: Angel Luis Colón
name: Nick
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/07/28
shelves: to-read
review:
A fantastic, shivery masterpiece of a book, perfect for all ages -- it works for my 13-year-old niece, and it works for me (a longtime horror fan). And while it's freaking you out, it also makes you think!
]]> <![CDATA[Obsolescence: A Dark Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Anthology]]> 64351504
All leaps in technology are scary. Mysterious. Misunderstood. Until they slowly creep into our daily lives and become impossible to get rid of. Like an evolving parasite.

The broken cell phone that can only text with your dead husband. The backyard tire swing that becomes a portal to another world. The Radio Shack Walkie-Talkies that pick up an alien GPS�

In OBSOLESCENCE, technology gets repurposed, subverted, and redefined.]]> 408 Alan Lastufka 1959565028 Nick 5 4.28 2023 Obsolescence: A Dark Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Anthology
author: Alan Lastufka
name: Nick
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2023
rating: 5
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date added: 2023/07/25
shelves:
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]]> The Stolen Coast 63249845 Adrift in a sleepy coastal Massachusetts town, a man who ferries fugitives by day gets twisted up in a plot to pilfer diamonds in this Casablanca-infused heist novel.

Jack might be a polished, Harvard-educated lawyer on paper, but everyone in the down-at-the-heels, if picturesque, village of Onset, Massachusetts, knows his real job: moving people on the run from powerful enemies. The family business--co-managed with his father, a retired spy--is smooth sailing, as they fill up Onset's holiday homes during the town's long, drowsy off-season and help clients shed their identities in preparation for fresh starts.

But when Elena, Jack's former flame--a dedicated hustler who's no stranger to the fugitive life--makes an unexpected return to town, her arrival upends Jack's routine existence. Elena, after all, doesn't go anywhere without a scheme in mind, and it isn't long before Jack finds himself enmeshed in her latest project: intercepting millions of dollars' worth of raw diamonds before they're shipped overseas.

Infusing a fast-paced plot with sharp wit and stylish prose, CrimeReads editor-in-chief Dwyer Murphy serves up an irresistible page-turner as full of heart as it is of drama.]]> 288 Dwyer Murphy 059365367X Nick 5 2.92 2023 The Stolen Coast
author: Dwyer Murphy
name: Nick
average rating: 2.92
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/07/24
shelves:
review:
An elegant, utterly charming thriller that's extraordinarily well-written and provides some nice tweaks on the heist genre.
]]> Lowdown Road 62066640
It’s the summer of �74…Richard Nixon has resigned from office, CB radios are the hot new thing, and in the great state of Texas two cousins hatch a plan to drive $1 million worth of stolen weed to Idaho, where some lunatic is gearing up to jump Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered motorcycle. But with a vengeful sheriff on their tail and the revered and feared marijuana kingpin of Central Texas out to get his stash back, Chuck and Dean are in for the ride of their lives � if they can make it out alive…]]> 352 Scott Von Doviak 1803361425 Nick 5 4.06 2023 Lowdown Road
author: Scott Von Doviak
name: Nick
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/07/24
shelves:
review:
A rip-roaring, endlessly exciting throwback to the best of 1970s pulp. It's a fast read (I finished it during a long day at the beach) that plays like a hardcore R-rated version of your favorite Dukes of Hazzard episode. Fun characters, blisteringly funny jokes, and some cool action setpieces seal this deal.
]]> The Scourge Between Stars 61441582
Faced with constant threats of starvation and destruction in the treacherous minefield of interstellar space, Jacklyn's crew has reached their breaking point. As unrest begins to spread throughout the ship’s Wards, a new threat emerges, picking off crew members in grim, bloody fashion.

Jacklyn and her team must hunt down the ship’s unknown intruder if they have any hope of making it back to their solar system alive.]]> 176 Ness Brown Nick 3 3.64 2023 The Scourge Between Stars
author: Ness Brown
name: Nick
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/11
date added: 2023/06/11
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]]> <![CDATA[Dead in the Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy]]> 60065285 "A triumph of investigative journalism." --Tom Wright, New York Times bestselling coauthor of Billion Dollar Whale

Truly one of the most nail-biting, page-turning, terrifying true-crime books I've ever read. --Nick Bilton, New York Times bestselling author of American Kingpin

From award-winning journalists Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel, the gripping, true-crime story of a notorious maritime hijacking at the heart of a massive conspiracy--and the unsolved murder that threatened to unravel it all.

In July 2011, the oil tanker Brillante Virtuoso was drifting through the treacherous Gulf of Aden when a crew of Somali pirates attacked and set her ablaze in a devastating explosion. But when David Mockett, a maritime surveyor working for Lloyd's of London, inspected the damaged vessel, he was left with more questions than answers. How had the pirates gotten aboard so easily? And if they wanted to steal the ship and bargain for its return, then why did they destroy it? The questions didn't add up--and Mockett would never answer them. Soon after his inspection, David Mockett was murdered.

Dead in the Water is a shocking expose of the criminal inner-workings of international shipping, told through the lens of the Brillante hijacking and its aftermath. Through first-hand accounts of those who lived it--from members of the ship's crew and witnesses to the attacks, to the ex-London detectives turned private investigators seeking to solve Mockett's murder and bring justice to his family--award-winning Bloomberg reporters Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel piece together the astounding truth behind one of the most brazen financial frauds in history.

The ambitious culmination of more than four years of reporting, Dead in the Water uncovers an intricate web of conspiracy amidst the lawless, old-world industry at the backbone of our new global economy.]]> 288 Matthew Campbell Nick 5 4.29 2022 Dead in the Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy
author: Matthew Campbell
name: Nick
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/24
date added: 2023/04/24
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]]> Facebook: The Inside Story 48495926 From renowned tech writer Steven Levy, the definitive history of one of America's most powerful and controversial companies: Facebook

In his sophomore year of college, Mark Zuckerberg created a simple website to serve as a campus social network. The site caught on like wildfire, and soon students nationwide were on Facebook.

Today, Facebook is nearly unrecognizable from Zuckerberg's first, modest iteration. It has grown into a tech giant, the largest social media platform and one of the most gargantuan companies in the world, with a valuation of more than $576 billion and almost 3 billion users. There is no denying the power and omnipresence of Facebook in American daily life. And in light of recent controversies surrounding election-influencing "fake news" accounts, the handling of its users' personal data, and growing discontent with the actions of its founder and CEO, never has the company been more central to the national conversation.

Based on years of exclusive reporting and interviews with Facebook's key executives and employees, including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Steven Levy's sweeping narrative digs deep into the whole story of the company that has changed the world and reaped the consequences.]]> 592 Steven Levy 073521316X Nick 5 4.16 2020 Facebook: The Inside Story
author: Steven Levy
name: Nick
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/25
date added: 2023/03/25
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]]> <![CDATA[Accidental Czar: The Life and Lies of Vladimir Putin]]> 63268302 This riveting graphic novel biography chronicles Vladimir Putin's rise from a mid-level KGB officer to the autocratic leader of Russia and reveals the truth behind the strongman persona he has spent his career cultivating.

In the West’s collective imagination, Vladimir Putin is a devious cartoon villain, constantly plotting and scheming to destroy his enemies around the globe. But how did an undistinguished mid-level KGB officer become one of the most powerful leaders in Russian history? And how much of Putin’s tough-guy persona is a calculated performance?

In Accidental Czar, Andrew S. Weiss, a former White House Russia expert, and Brian “Box� Brown show how Putin has successfully cast himself as a cunning, larger-than-life political mastermind—and how the rest of the world has played into the Kremlin’s hands by treating him as one. They shatter all of these myths and expose the man behind the façade.]]> 272 Andrew S. Weiss 1250906075 Nick 5 4.13 2022 Accidental Czar: The Life and Lies of Vladimir Putin
author: Andrew S. Weiss
name: Nick
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2023/03/02
date added: 2023/03/02
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]]> All the Sinners Bleed 61884832 A Black sheriff. A serial killer. A small town ready to combust.

Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia. In recent decades, Charon has had only two murders. After years of working as an FBI agent, Titus knows better than anyone that while his hometown might seem like a land of moonshine, cornbread, and honeysuckle, secrets always fester under the surface.

Then a year to the day after Titus’s election, a school teacher is killed by a former student and the student is fatally shot by Titus’s deputies. Those festering secrets are now out in the open and ready to tear the town apart.

As Titus investigates the shootings, he unearths terrible crimes and a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight, haunting the dirt lanes and woodland clearings of Charon. With the killer’s possible connections to a local church and the town’s harrowing history weighing on him, Titus projects confidence about closing the case while concealing a painful secret from his own past. At the same time, he also has to contend with a far-right group that wants to hold a parade in celebration of the town’s Confederate history.

Powerful and unforgettable, All the Sinners Bleed confirms S. A. Cosby as “one of the most muscular, distinctive, grab-you-by-both-ears voices in American crime fiction� (The Washington Post).]]> 338 S.A. Cosby 1250831911 Nick 0 to-read 4.18 2023 All the Sinners Bleed
author: S.A. Cosby
name: Nick
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Fever House (Fever House, #1) 60653378 A small-time criminal. A has-been rock star. A shadowy government agency. And a severed hand whose dark powers threaten to destroy them all.

When leg-breaker Hutch Holtz rolls up to a rundown apartment complex in Portland, Oregon, to collect overdue drug money, a severed hand is the last thing he expects to find stashed in the client’s refrigerator. Hutch quickly realizes that the hand induces uncontrollable madness: Anyone in its proximity is overcome with a boundless compulsion for violence. Within hours, catastrophic forces are set into motion: Dark-op government agents who have been desperately hunting for the hand are on Hutch’s tail, more of the city’s residents fall under its brutal influence, and suddenly all of Portland stands at the precipice of disaster. . . .

But it’s all the same for Katherine Moriarty, a singer whose sudden fame and precipitous downfall were followed by the mysterious death of her estranged husband—suicide, allegedly. Her trauma has made her agoraphobic, shackled within the confines of her apartment. Her son, Nick, has moved home to care for her, quietly making his living working for Hutch’s boss.

When Hutch calls Nick in distress, looking for someone else to take the hand, Katherine and Nick are plunged into a global struggle that will decimate the walls of the carefully arranged life they’ve built. Mother and son must evade both crazed, bloodthirsty masses and deceitful government agents while exorcising family secrets that have risen from the dead—secrets, they soon discover, that might hold the very key to humanity’s survival.

Can you resist the hand? Find an excerpt from the next Fever House novel at the end of the book.]]> 432 Keith Rosson 0593595769 Nick 0 to-read 4.14 2023 Fever House (Fever House, #1)
author: Keith Rosson
name: Nick
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[And Finally: Matters of Life and Death]]> 62636588 From the bestselling neurosurgeon and author of Do No Harm, comes Henry Marsh's And Finally, an unflinching and deeply personal exploration of death, life and neuroscience�]]> 242 Henry Marsh 1250286093 Nick 5 3.97 2023 And Finally: Matters of Life and Death
author: Henry Marsh
name: Nick
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/02/08
date added: 2023/02/08
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]]> Everybody Knows 59107997 In Hollywood, nobody talks. But everybody whispers.

Welcome to Mae Pruett's LA. A 'black-bag' publicist at one of Hollywood's most powerful crisis PR firms, Mae's job isn't to get good news out, it's to keep the bad news in and contain the scandals. But just as she starts to question her job and life choices, her boss is gunned down in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel, and everything changes.

Investigating with the help of an ex-boyfriend, Mae dives headlong into a neon joyride through the jungle of contemporary Hollywood. Pitted against the twisted system she's worked so hard to perpetuate, she's desperately fighting for redemption, and her life.]]> 352 Jordan Harper Nick 5 3.94 2023 Everybody Knows
author: Jordan Harper
name: Nick
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2023/01/22
date added: 2023/01/22
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]]> Aliens: Vasquez 60884993 A groundbreaking Latinx Aliens novel by a rising star Latina author, featuring the fan-favorite character PFC Jenette Vasquez from the hit movie Aliens and the family she is forced to leave behind.

For the very first time, the canonical background of the breakout Aliens hero Jenette Vasquez, as well as the story of the children she was forced to leave behind as written by the rising Latina horror star V. Castro (Queen of the Cicadas).

Even before the doomed mission to Hadley’s Hope on LV-426, Jenette Vasquez had to fight to survive. Born to an immigrant family with a long military tradition, she looked up to the stars, but life pulled her back down to Earth—first into a street gang, then prison. The Colonial Marines proved to be Vasquez’s way out—a way that forced her to give up her twin children. Raised by Jenette’s sister, those children, Leticia and Ramon, had to discover their own ways to survive. Leticia by following her mother’s path into the military, Ramon into the corporate hierarchy of Weyland-Yutani. Their paths would converge on an unnamed planet which some see as a potential utopia, while others would use it for highly secretive research. Regardless of whatever humans might have planned for it, however, Xenomorphs will turn it into a living hell.]]> 352 V. Castro Nick 4 3.64 2022 Aliens: Vasquez
author: V. Castro
name: Nick
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/08
date added: 2022/12/08
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Madam Tomahawk (A Grifter's Song, #29)]]> 63899605
Can Sam and Rachel match wits with these hidden movers and shakers? Or will they find themselves crushed underfoot?]]> 0 Nick Kolakowski Nick 5 5.00 Madam Tomahawk (A Grifter's Song, #29)
author: Nick Kolakowski
name: Nick
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/12/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age]]> 50641100

In Four Lost Cities, Newitz blends an engaging account of their travels to all four sites with an exploration of cutting-edge research in archaeology—including new discoveries about who lived in these cities and the tools they used to create monuments that lasted millennia. The result is a thrilling journey into the urban past that reveals the mix of environmental changes, social transformation, and political turmoil that doomed ancient cities—and could be a sign of things to come.]]> 309 Annalee Newitz 039365267X Nick 4 3.93 2021 Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age
author: Annalee Newitz
name: Nick
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/07
date added: 2022/10/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Found: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories]]> 61313693
Reader caution is advised. Advance readers of this anthology have reported nausea, feelings of anxiety, paranoia and hallucinations after reading the texts included.

Stories by: Holly Rae Garcia, Jeremy Hepler, Bev Vincent, Ally Wilkes, Clay McLoed Chapman, Nick Kolakowski, Tim McGregor, Alan Baxter, Angela Sylvaine, Josh Rountree, Georgia Cook, Ali Seay, Donna Lynch, Kurt Fawver, Robert Levy, Joe Butler, Fred Fischer IV, Aristo Couvaras.]]> 274 Andrew Cull Nick 0 to-read 3.92 2022 Found: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories
author: Andrew Cull
name: Nick
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/30
shelves: to-read
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]]> When the Cicadas Stop Singing 58991244
When the lizard-men followed, swarming the land, slaughtering indiscriminately, those who survived scattered to the hills and the forests. Most did not last long. But Cora, who found refuge and made a home in the mountains where she lives with the memory of her dead son, still fights. Tenacious, she lives wild and protects that home from the lizards who seek to kill her.

Until now.

Because man has arrived, and he is not friendly.

In this terrifying fight for survival, Zachary Ashford blends the thrills of the creature feature genre with the claustrophobic atmosphere of a home invasion.]]> 122 Zachary Ashford Nick 5 4.25 2021 When the Cicadas Stop Singing
author: Zachary Ashford
name: Nick
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/25
date added: 2022/09/25
shelves:
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]]> Sea Change 62648859 Man, F*ck This House comes a weird tale of the golden age of piracy.

When a mysterious brigantine anchors in the lawless Caribbean outpost of Port Joy, two young orphans sneak aboard in search of riches. What they find is far stranger—and far more deadly.]]> 0 Brian Asman Nick 5 4.00 Sea Change
author: Brian Asman
name: Nick
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/23
date added: 2022/09/23
shelves:
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]]> Sacred (Kenzie & Gennaro #3) 59122202 A beautiful, grief-stricken woman has vanished without a trace. So has the detective hired to find her. And a lot of money�

Enter tough-nosed private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. Rooted in the streets of blue-collar Dorchester, they've seen it all � and survived. But this case leads them into unexpected territory: a place of lies and corruption, where trusting anyone could get them killed, and where nothing is sacred.

Another superior thriller from Dennis Lehane, the bestselling and acclaimed author of Mystic River, Shutter Island, and Gone, Baby, Gone.

]]> 435 Dennis Lehane Nick 5 4.25 1997 Sacred (Kenzie & Gennaro #3)
author: Dennis Lehane
name: Nick
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/19
date added: 2022/09/19
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]]> <![CDATA[Blood Oath (Comixology Originals) #1]]> 62202572
The peak of Prohibition.

Hazel Crenshaw just wants to be left alone, to tend to her farm, to care for her younger sister, and to run her business. But her business is inescapably tangled up with the New York gangs that will eventually coalesce into the mafia, and a new, unknown partner.

When the Crenshaw farm is attacked, Hazel must not only defend her home, she must cope with the realization that her flirtation with the other side of the law might also put her in the crosshairs of something else -- something much more sinister...

Part of the Comixology Originals line of exclusive digital content only available on Comixology and Kindle. Read for free as part of your subscription to Comixology Unlimited, Kindle Unlimited or Amazon Prime. Also available for purchase via Comixology, Kindle and in print via Dark Horse Books.]]> 26 Rob Hart Nick 5 3.88 Blood Oath (Comixology Originals) #1
author: Rob Hart
name: Nick
average rating: 3.88
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/05
date added: 2022/09/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Blood in the Soil, Terror on the Wind]]> 62104352
Maybe it’s a well-known creature popping in for a visit, or some new creepy crawly monster sucking out your soul, we’re going to turn the Old West inside-out and explore its guts to the fullest. There are new adventures to be had, monsters both familiar and unfamiliar to be thwarted� And we’re not always going to be the victors. Life in the Old West is hard, trying at its best, and it can wear you down quick.

So, prepare yourself to be transported back in time. Get yourself up on that rickety stagecoach, draw your guns, and let’s get going. There’s vast territory to cover here, and your journey begins now.]]> 293 Kenneth W. Cain 1957537329 Nick 0 to-read 4.27 Blood in the Soil, Terror on the Wind
author: Kenneth W. Cain
name: Nick
average rating: 4.27
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/31
shelves: to-read
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]]> Putin 61389512 The first comprehensive, fully up-to-date biography of Vladimir Putin, woven into the tumultuous saga of Russia over the last sixty years

Vladimir Putin is the world’s most dangerous man. Alone among world leaders, he has the power to reduce the United States and Europe to ashes in a nuclear firestorm and has threatened to do so. He invades his neighbors, most recently Ukraine, meddles in western elections, and orders assassinations inside and outside Russia. His regime is autocratic and deeply corrupt. But that is only half the story.

Unflinching, hard-hitting, and objective, Philip Short’s biography gives us the whole tale, up to the present day. To the fullest extent anyone has yet been able, Short cracks open the strongman’s thick carapace to reveal the man underneath those bare-chested horseback rides. In this deeply researched account, readers meet the Putin who slept in the same room as his parents until he was twenty-five years old, who backed out of his wedding right beforehand, and who learned English in order to be able to talk to George W. Bush.

Vladimir Putin is wreaking havoc in Europe, threatening global peace and stability and exposing his fellow citizens to devastating economic countermeasures. Yet puzzlingly many Russians continue to support him. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the many facets of the man behind the mask that Putin wears on the world stage.

Drawing on almost two hundred interviews conducted over eight years in Russia, the United States, and Europe and on source material in more than a dozen languages, Putin will be the last word for years to come.]]> 856 Philip Short 1627793674 Nick 5 4.31 2022 Putin
author: Philip Short
name: Nick
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/08/28
date added: 2022/08/28
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]]> Old Man Rider 62093214
From an unimaginable start within the pages of A Better Kind of Hate to a bitter, bloody end throughout All of Them To Burn, Bishop Rider remains what he’s always been. What a certain type of predator forced him to become. His life and struggle not only a journey of choice driven by necessity, but one decades in the making.

There will be carnage. There will be blood. But through it all, a sliver of hope. And perhaps, if he’s lucky, a chance at brighter days.

Time to go to work.]]> 170 Beau Johnson Nick 0 to-read 4.83 Old Man Rider
author: Beau Johnson
name: Nick
average rating: 4.83
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/08/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> An Honest Living 60149570 "Like the best noir practitioners, Murphy uses the mystery as scaffolding to assemble a world of fallen dreams and doom-bitten characters . . . Murphy's hard-boiled rendering of the city is nothing short of exquisite . . . For anyone who wants a portrait of this New York, few recent books have conjured it so vividly." --The New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice

A sharp and stylish debut from the editor-in-chief of CrimeReads in which an unwitting private eye gets caught up in a crime of obsession between a reclusive literary superstar and her bookseller husband, paying homage to the noir genre just as smartly as it reinvents it

After leaving behind the comforts and the shackles of a prestigious law firm, a restless attorney makes ends meet in mid-2000s Brooklyn by picking up odd jobs from a colorful assortment of clients. When a mysterious woman named Anna Reddick turns up at his apartment with ten thousand dollars in cash and asks him to track down her missing husband Newton, an antiquarian bookseller who she believes has been pilfering rare true crime volumes from her collection, he trusts it will be a quick and easy case. But when the real Anna Reddick--a magnetic but unpredictable literary prodigy--lands on his doorstep with a few bones to pick, he finds himself out of his depth, drawn into a series of deceptions involving Joseph Conrad novels, unscrupulous booksellers, aspiring fl�neurs, and seedy real estate developers.

Set against the backdrop of New York at the tail end of the analog era and immersed in the worlds of literature and bookselling, An Honest Living is a gripping story of artistic ambition, obsession, and the small crimes we commit against one another every day.]]> 288 Dwyer Murphy 0593489241 Nick 5
If anything, this is a "hangout" detective novel. You take it to the beach, or on your commute. You're highly entertained. You admire how finely nuanced the characters are. You learn a little bit more about used books and auctions and NYC's ghastly real estate wars. It's not a pulse-pounding, ripped-from-the-headlines, soon-to-be-a-motion-picture read, and that's a very good thing: It's good to have books like this around to show you what a genre, and literature, can do.



]]> 3.10 2022 An Honest Living
author: Dwyer Murphy
name: Nick
average rating: 3.10
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/08/19
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Dwyer Murphy's "An Honest Living" is a special kind of detective novel. There's a lot of Paul Auster DNA in here, along with a dash of Chandler at his most pleasingly melancholy, and even a tad of Zafon... but Murphy has a style and a tone all his own. This isn't a detective or mystery novel where things are blowing up left and right and the characters are finding bodies every other chapter; it's introspective, funny, moody, and strides at its own pace. (If you lived in New York City during the period it describes -- especially if you worked in law or publishing, or knew people who did -- you'll know it's also very good at capturing the feel of that era.)

If anything, this is a "hangout" detective novel. You take it to the beach, or on your commute. You're highly entertained. You admire how finely nuanced the characters are. You learn a little bit more about used books and auctions and NYC's ghastly real estate wars. It's not a pulse-pounding, ripped-from-the-headlines, soon-to-be-a-motion-picture read, and that's a very good thing: It's good to have books like this around to show you what a genre, and literature, can do.




]]> Heat 2 60162230 Michael Mann, four-time-Oscar-nominated writer-director of The Last of the Mohicans, The Insider, Ali, Miami Vice, Collateral, and Heat teams up with Edgar Award–winning author Meg Gardiner to deliver Mann’s first novel, an explosive return to the universe and characters of his classic crime film—with an all-new story unfolding in the years before and after the iconic movie

One day after the end of Heat, Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) is holed up in Koreatown, wounded, half delirious, and desperately trying to escape LA. Hunting him is LAPD detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino). Hours earlier, Hanna killed Shiherlis’s brother in arms Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) in a gunfight under the strobe lights at the foot of an LAX runway. Now Hanna’s determined to capture or kill Shiherlis, the last survivor of McCauley’s crew, before he ghosts out of the city.

In 1988, seven years earlier, McCauley, Shiherlis, and their highline crew are taking scores on the West Coast, the US-Mexican border, and now in Chicago. Driven, daring, they’re pulling in money and living vivid lives. And Chicago homicide detective Vincent Hanna—a man unreconciled with his history—is following his calling, the pursuit of armed and dangerous men into the dark and wild places, hunting an ultraviolent gang of home invaders.

Meanwhile, the fallout from McCauley’s scores and Hanna’s pursuit cause unexpected repercussions in a parallel narrative, driving through the years following Heat.

Heat 2projects its dimensional and richly drawn men and women into whole new worlds—from the inner sanctums of rival crime syndicates in a South American free-trade zone to transnational criminal enterprises in Southeast Asia. The novel brings you intimately into these lives. In Michael Mann’s Heat universe, they will confront new adversaries in lethal circumstances beyond all boundaries.

Heat 2 is engrossing, moving, and tragic—a masterpiece of crime fiction with the same extraordinary ambitions, scope, and rich characterizations as the epic film.]]> 470 Michael Mann 0062653318 Nick 5 4.19 2022 Heat 2
author: Michael Mann
name: Nick
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 5
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date added: 2022/08/11
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]]> Just Like Mother 58754542 "I tore through this urgent, timely, and deeply disturbing tale.�—Andrea Bartz, New York Times bestselling author of We Were Never Here

Spine-chilling and sharp, Anne Heltzel's Just Like Mother is a modern gothic from a fresh new voice in horror, and “will disturb readers to their core.� (Library Journal) A GoodReads Choice Award Finalist for Best Horror, and named one of the Best Books of 2022 by LitReactor!

The last time Maeve saw her cousin was the night she escaped the cult they were raised in. For the past two decades, Maeve has worked hard to build a normal life in New York City, where she keeps everything—and everyone—at a safe distance.

When Andrea suddenly reappears, Maeve regains the only true friend she’s ever had. Soon she’s spending more time at Andrea’s remote Catskills estate than in her own cramped apartment. Maeve doesn’t even mind that her cousin’s wealthy work friends clearly disapprove of her single lifestyle. After all, Andrea has made her fortune in the fertility industry—baby fever comes with the territory.

The more Maeve immerses herself in Andrea’s world, the more disconnected she feels from her life back in the city; and the cousins� increasing attachment triggers memories Maeve has fought hard to bury. But confronting the terrors of her childhood may be the only way for Maeve to transcend the nightmare still to come�

"A fierce, frightening novel."—Rachel Harrison, author of Cackle

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 313 Anne Heltzel 125078753X Nick 5 to-read 3.80 2022 Just Like Mother
author: Anne Heltzel
name: Nick
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2022
rating: 5
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date added: 2022/08/11
shelves: to-read
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]]> Blood Father: A Novel 19912782 From the highly praised author of Hot Plastic, a gripping, suspenseful novel about a young woman being chased by her violent past, and the flawed father forced to come to the rescue. It's been three years since Lydia Carson ran away from her privileged home in West Los Angeles. Just 17 years old, she's gotten involved with an older man who supplements his income with shady, mysterious activities. One afternoon Lydia finds herself guarding the back door of a house in Topanga Canyon during a shakedown. As murderous violence erupts, Lydia herself becomes a target. She escapes down a creek and through the hillsides to the shore--alone, destitute, and frightened. Her last option is John Link, her blood father, who has just come off a long prison sentence for violent crimes of his own. Link jumps at the chance to rescue his daughter, but after several days he realizes that her situation is far more dangerous and complicated than he thought. Link is forced to return to his former wild lifestyle in order to protect his daughter, revisiting dangerous former allies and hideouts. In the process, a father and daughter begin to find each other--and the danger that might consume them.]]> 320 Peter Craig 1401382169 Nick 5 4.21 2005 Blood Father: A Novel
author: Peter Craig
name: Nick
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2005
rating: 5
read at: 2022/07/16
date added: 2022/07/16
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]]> Bullet Train (Assassins #2) 57753332
Nanao, nicknamed Lady Bird—the self-proclaimed “unluckiest assassin in the world”—boards a bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka with one simple task: grab a suitcase and get off at the next stop. Unbeknownst to him, the deadly duo Tangerine and Lemon are also after the very same suitcase—and they are not the only dangerous passengers onboard. Satoshi, “the Prince,� with the looks of an innocent schoolboy and the mind of a viciously cunning psychopath, is also in the mix and has history with some of the others. Risk fuels him as does a good philosophical debate . . . like, is killing really wrong? Chasing the Prince is another assassin with a score to settle for the time the Prince casually pushed a young boy off of a roof, leaving him comatose.

When the five assassins discover they are all on the same train, they realize their missions are not as unrelated as they first appear.
A massive bestseller in Japan, Bullet Train is an original and propulsive thriller that fizzes with an incredible energy and surprising humor as its complex net of double-crosses and twists unwind. Award-winning author Kotaro Isaka takes readers on a tension packed journey as the bullet train hurtles toward its final destination. Who will make it off the train alive—and what awaits them at the last stop?]]> 352 Kōtarō Isaka 1647003849 Nick 5 3.97 2010 Bullet Train (Assassins #2)
author: Kōtarō Isaka
name: Nick
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at: 2022/07/09
date added: 2022/07/09
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]]> Living the Gimmick 61135404
Battling his aging, failing body, Donovan feels honor-bound to avenge Ray’s death when no one else seems to care. His guilt over escaping the wrestling business to build a new life when Ray couldn’t � or wouldn’t � drives him to find the killer, no matter if it’s friend or foe.

LIVING THE GIMMICK uses the backdrop of pro wrestling in the 1980s and its current climate to examine the strained bonds of a lifelong friendship and how an all-too-real abuser can exist without scrutiny in a showbiz world full of fake tough guys and choreographed fighting.
Early Praise for LIVING THE GIMMICK
“At times a wild and surreal trip through the subculture of old school pro wrestling and at other times a deft love letter to the passions that drive us all, LIVING THE GIMMICK is a rollicking good time. Bobby Mathews obviously loves three things: The South, pro wrestling, and a good mystery.�
—S.A. Cosby, bestselling author of RAZORBLADE TEARS

“Living the Gimmick is a bruising romp about pro wrestling, friendship, betrayal, and the lies we let ourselves believe. Bobby Mathews� career as a journalist serves him well in his debut novel; the prose is punchy, the atmosphere pungent. Mathews depicts a world of scripted violence, of showmanship and pain, where the truth is hidden behind the glam and glitter.�
—Chris Swann, USA Today Bestseller, winner of Southern Living's Best Southern Books of 2017 Award

“Mathews has written a glorious, noir-steeped homage to pro wrestling, all the more remarkable in its ardent fidelity. LIVING THE GIMMICK rocks hard.�
——Laird Barron, author of Blood Standard

“Mathews� impressive debut murder mystery is as much a gritty homage to the excessive, violent, glam rock world of professional wrestling as it is a testimony of how it’s evolved from its oftentimes ruthless heyday to the glitzy entertainment machine it is now. LIVING THE GIMMICK is a headlock wrapped in noir sensibilities as it slams down a universal question: how much do we really know the ones we love and trust?�
—Heather Levy, author WALKING THROUGH NEEDLES

"Bobby Mathews understands wrestling and writing. LIVING THE GIMMICK is a tale which deftly weaves a gripping murder mystery full of references and nods to the days of the wrestling territories and all its greats. Fans of wrestling, crime stories, and damn good writing will all enjoy this novel."
—Hector Acosta, Edgar nominee and Best American Mystery Stories honoree, author of HARDWAY

“High-class writing about hard-luck people. Timely, bold and brutal. Bobby is a writer to watch.�
—Libby Cudmore, author of THE BIG REWIND

"With over twenty years in the vibrant and often insane world of professional wrestling, I can say that Bobby Mathews nails the details and treats wrestling respectfully while tantalizing you with a hell of a murder mystery in his kickass book, LIVING THE GIMMICK."
—April Hunter, pro wrestler, model, actress and writer

“Mathews writes in smooth, almost transparent strokes that propel the narrative along with such force, you’ll read the entire novel in one sitting. The seedy world of wrestling and the badasses who populate it come alive on the page. Kayfabe? Hardly. This is as real and gritty as noir gets.�
—Hank Early, author of HEAVEN'S CROOKED FINGER]]> 196 Bobby Mathews 1956957073 Nick 5 to-read 4.44 2022 Living the Gimmick
author: Bobby Mathews
name: Nick
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/06/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Low White Plain (A Grifter's Song, #27)]]> 61205222 119 Paul J. Garth Nick 5 4.56 The Low White Plain (A Grifter's Song, #27)
author: Paul J. Garth
name: Nick
average rating: 4.56
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/06/06
shelves:
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'Low White Plain' is the perfect summer beach reading -- lightning-fast, propulsive, twisty, and filled with characters you'll love to love and love to hate.
]]> Child Zero 57695166
It began four years ago with a worldwide uptick of bacterial infections: meningitis in Frankfurt, cholera in Johannesburg, tuberculosis in New Delhi. Although the outbreaks spread aggressively and proved impervious to our drugs of last resort, public health officials initially dismissed them as unrelated.

They were wrong. Antibiotic resistance soon roiled across the globe. Diseases long thought beaten came surging back. The death toll skyrocketed. Then New York City was ravaged by the most heinous act of bioterror the world had ever seen, perpetrated by a new brand of extremist bent on pushing humanity to extinction.

Detective Jacob Gibson, who lost his wife in the 8/17 attack, is home caring for his sick daughter when his partner summons him to a sprawling shantytown in Central Park, the apparent site of a mass murder. Jake is startled to discover that, despite a life of abject squalor, the victims died in perfect health—and his only hope of finding answers is an eleven-year-old boy on the run from some very dangerous men.]]> 320 Chris Holm 031629554X Nick 5 3.83 2022 Child Zero
author: Chris Holm
name: Nick
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/05/14
date added: 2022/05/14
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]]> <![CDATA[After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company and Lost Its Soul]]> 60318596
Steve Jobs called Jony Ive his “spiritual partner at Apple.� The London-born genius was the second-most powerful person at Apple and the creative force who most embodies Jobs’s spirit, the man who designed the products adopted by hundreds of millions the world over: the iPod, iPad, MacBook Air, the iMac G3, and the iPhone. In the wake of his close collaborator’s death, the chief designer wrestled with grief and initially threw himself into his work designing the new Apple headquarters and the Watch before losing his motivation in a company increasingly devoted more to margins than to inspiration.

In many ways, Cook was Ive’s opposite. The product of a small Alabama town, he had risen through the ranks from the supply side of the company. His gift was not the creation of new products. Instead, he had invented countless ways to maximize a margin, squeezing some suppliers, persuading others to build factories the size of cities to churn out more units. He considered inventory evil. He knew how to make subordinates sweat with withering questions.

Jobs selected Cook as his successor, and Cook oversaw a period of tremendous revenue growth that has lifted Apple’s valuation to $2 trillion. He built a commanding business in China and rapidly distinguished himself as a master politician who could forge global alliances and send the world’s stock market into freefall with a single sentence.

Author Tripp Mickle spoke with more than 200 current and former Apple executives, as well as figures key to this period of Apple’s history, including Trump administration officials and fashion luminaries such as Anna Wintour while writing After Steve. His research shows the company’s success came at a cost. Apple lost its innovative spirit and has not designed a new category of device in years. Ive’s departure in 2019 marked a culmination in Apple’s shift from a company of innovation to one of operational excellence, and the price is a company that has lost its soul.]]> 511 Tripp Mickle 0063009838 Nick 4 4.27 2022 After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company and Lost Its Soul
author: Tripp Mickle
name: Nick
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2022/05/07
date added: 2022/05/07
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]]> <![CDATA[Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic]]> 6668924 464 Tom Holland Nick 5 4.36 2003 Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic
author: Tom Holland
name: Nick
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2022/04/19
date added: 2022/04/19
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]]> Shoot the Moonlight Out 57603922 317 William Boyle 164313826X Nick 5 4.14 2021 Shoot the Moonlight Out
author: William Boyle
name: Nick
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/04/09
date added: 2022/04/09
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]]> The Ministry for the Future 51342031 The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, postapocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us. Chosen by Barack Obama as one of his favorite books of the year, this extraordinary novel from visionary science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson will change the way you think about the climate crisis.]]> 577 Kim Stanley Robinson Nick 4 4.03 2020 The Ministry for the Future
author: Kim Stanley Robinson
name: Nick
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2022/04/09
date added: 2022/04/09
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]]> Payback is Forever 60605734
But Miller’s refuge might prove even more dangerous. Approached by an old friend about a shady protection job, Miller finds himself thrown into a bizarre world of pint-sized gangsters, aging war criminals, and shady government agents� all of whom are pursuing a prize beyond imagination.]]> 172 Nick Kolakowski Nick 0 3.98 Payback is Forever
author: Nick Kolakowski
name: Nick
average rating: 3.98
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2022/03/22
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]]> Dead Silence 58368819 Titanic meets Event Horizon in this SF horror novel in which a woman and her crew board a decades-lost luxury cruiser and find the wreckage of a nightmare that hasn't yet ended.

Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed—made obsolete—when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate.

What they find is shocking: the Aurora, a famous luxury spaceliner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick search of the ship reveals something isn’t right.

Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Messages scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold on to her sanity and find out what really happened on the Aurora before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate.]]> 343 S.A. Barnes Nick 5 3.99 2022 Dead Silence
author: S.A. Barnes
name: Nick
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/02/25
date added: 2022/02/25
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]]> <![CDATA[Slice of Paradise: A Beach Vacation Horror Anthology]]> 60193776
Beach vacations are meant for relaxing and unwinding away from the drudgery of normal life. The sparkling sun, shimmering on cresting waves. A light breeze as you sit with toes in the sand, a cold drink in one hand. Utopia on an island. But what happens when that paradise suddenly becomes a purgatory of pain?

What will you do when the beaches fill with bodies and the waters run red with blood? When creatures crawl the coastline and the jungle teems with terror. How will you survive when a tropical respite becomes an arena of peril?
Slice of Paradise is an all-original anthology featuring fifteen shocking stories of beach vacation horror. For even more scares, check out the companion anthology Beach Bodies out now from DarkLit Press.

This anthology includes stories by Craig Wallwork, Philip Fracassi, Scott J Moses, Mark Towse, Spencer Hamilton, Aiden Merchant, Drew Starling, Ashlei Johnson, Rowan Hill, Simon J. Plant, Alyson Hasson, Sheri White, Denver Grenell, Kay Hanifen, and Nick Kolakowski.]]> 336 Ben Long Nick 5 4.19 2022 Slice of Paradise: A Beach Vacation Horror Anthology
author: Ben Long
name: Nick
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/02/17
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]]> Five Decembers 57650856

"Read this book for its palpitating story, its perfect emotional and physical detailing and, most of all, for its unforgettable conjuring of a steamy quicksilver world that will be new to almost every reader."
Pico Iyer

December 1941. America teeters on the brink of war, and in Honolulu, Hawaii, police detective Joe McGrady is assigned to investigate a homicide that will change his life forever. Because the trail of murder he uncovers will lead him across the Pacific, far from home and the woman he loves; and though the U.S. doesn't know it yet, a Japanese fleet is already steaming toward Pearl Harbor.

This extraordinary novel is so much more than just a gripping crime story—it's a story of survival against all odds, of love and loss and the human cost of war. Spanning the entirety of World War II, FIVE DECEMBERS is a beautiful, masterful, powerful novel that will live in your memory forever.]]> 432 James Kestrel 178909612X Nick 5 4.55 2021 Five Decembers
author: James Kestrel
name: Nick
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/02/14
date added: 2022/02/14
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]]> The All-Consuming World 55452704
The highly evolved AI of the galaxy have their own agenda and will do whatever it takes to keep humanity from ever regaining control. As Maya and her comrades spiral closer to uncovering the AIs� vast conspiracy, this band of violent women—half-clone and half-machine—must battle their own traumas and a universe of sapient ageships who want them dead, in order to settle their affairs once and for all.

Welcome to The All-Consuming World, the debut novel of acclaimed writer Cassandra Khaw. With this explosive and introspective exploration of humans and machines, life and death, Khaw takes their rightful place next to such science fiction luminaries as Ann Leckie, Ursula Le Guin, and Kameron Hurley.]]> 288 Cassandra Khaw 1645660249 Nick 5 3.56 2021 The All-Consuming World
author: Cassandra Khaw
name: Nick
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/02/03
date added: 2022/02/03
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Survival of the City: Living and Thriving in an Age of Isolation]]> 58519778 One of our great urbanists and one of our great public health experts join forces to reckon with how cities are changing in the face of existential threats the pandemic has only accelerated

Cities can make us sick. They always have—diseases spread more easily when more people are close to one another. And disease is hardly the only ill that accompanies urban density. Cities have been demonized as breeding grounds for vice and crime from Sodom and Gomorrah on. But cities have flourished nonetheless because they are humanity’s greatest invention, indispensable engines for creativity, innovation, wealth, and connection, the loom on which the fabric of civilization is woven.

But cities now stand at a crossroads. During the global COVID crisis, cities grew silent as people worked from home—if they could work at all. The normal forms of socializing ground to a halt. How permanent are these changes? Advances in digital technology mean that many people can opt out of city life as never before. Will they? Are we on the brink of a post-urban world?

City life will survive but individual cities face terrible risks, argue Edward Glaeser and David Cutler, and a wave of urban failure would be absolutely disastrous. In terms of intimacy and inspiration, nothing can replace what cities offer. Great cities have always demanded great management, and our current crisis has exposed fearful gaps in our capacity for good governance. It is possible to drive a city into the ground, pandemic or not. Glaeser and Cutler examine the evolution that is already happening, and describe the possible futures that lie before What will distinguish the cities that will flourish from the ones that won’t? In America, they argue, deep inequities in health care and education are a particular blight on the future of our cities; solving them will be the difference between our collective good health and a downward spiral to a much darker place.]]> 480 Edward L. Glaeser 0593297695 Nick 5 3.12 Survival of the City: Living and Thriving in an Age of Isolation
author: Edward L. Glaeser
name: Nick
average rating: 3.12
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2022/01/30
date added: 2022/01/30
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]]> Fuckin' Lie Down Already 9380249 73 Tom Piccirilli Nick 3 4.06 2003 Fuckin' Lie Down Already
author: Tom Piccirilli
name: Nick
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at: 2022/01/22
date added: 2022/01/22
shelves:
review:

]]> Hitler: Downfall: 1939-1945 49929415 A riveting account of the dictator’s final years, when he got the war he wanted but led his nation, the world, and himself to catastrophe—from the author of Ascent“Skillfully conceived and utterly engrossing.� —The New York Times Book ReviewIn the summer of 1939, Hitler was at the zenith of his power. Having consolidated political control in Germany, he was at the helm of a newly restored major world power, and now perfectly positioned to realize his lifelong to help the German people flourish and to exterminate those who stood in the way. Beginning a war allowed Hitler to take his ideological obsessions to unthinkable extremes, including the mass genocide of millions, which was conducted not only with the aid of the SS, but with the full knowledge of German leadership. Yet despite a series of stunning initial triumphs, Hitler’s fateful decision to invade the Soviet Union in 1941 turned the tide of the war in favor of the Allies. Now, Volker Ullrich, author of Ascent 1889�1939, offers fascinating new insight into Hitler’s character and personality. He vividly portrays the insecurity, obsession with minutiae, and narcissistic penchant for gambling that led Hitler to overrule his subordinates and then blame them for his failures. When he ultimately realized the war was not winnable, Hitler embarked on the annihilation of Germany itself in order to punish the people who he believed had failed to hand him victory. A masterful and riveting account of a spectacular downfall, Ullrich’s rendering of Hitler’s final years is an essential addition to our understanding of the dictator and the course of the Second World War.]]> 809 Volker Ullrich 1101874015 Nick 5 4.65 2018 Hitler: Downfall: 1939-1945
author: Volker Ullrich
name: Nick
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2021/12/27
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> <![CDATA[Love & Bullets: Megabomb Edition]]> 59649000
Bill’s girlfriend Fiona doesn’t have a problem with violence, though. She’ll crush anyone who stands in her way—and some days, it seems like the whole world wants a piece of her. She loves Bill, but she’s tired of cleaning up after him.

When Bill decides to “borrow� a couple million from one of New York City’s most vicious gangs and flee for the tropics, it puts their relationship to the test—and while they’re working out their issues, they’ll also need to fend off crooked cops, dimwitted bouncers, and an irate assassin in the midst of the world’s weirdest midlife crisis.

“Love & Bullets� is the story of a 21st century Bonnie & Clyde, a wisecracking duo who’ll blast their way from Brooklyn to Cuba and back in order to stay alive. It’s a wild ride.]]> 300 Nick Kolakowski Nick 0 to-read 4.53 Love & Bullets: Megabomb Edition
author: Nick Kolakowski
name: Nick
average rating: 4.53
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2021/11/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens]]> 12618752 816 Christopher Hitchens Nick 5 4.20 2011 Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens
author: Christopher Hitchens
name: Nick
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2021/11/08
date added: 2021/11/08
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]]> <![CDATA[She Was Found in a Guitar Case]]> 57659192 450 David James Keaton 1943720525 Nick 5 currently-reading
"She Was Found in a Guitar Case" riffs (hard!) on the road trip and amateur detective genres, filtering them through a gonzo lens. If you're attuned to wordplay and inventive, off-kilter humor, every page will make you smile or laugh or chuckle or wince. I mean, how can you *not* fall in love with paragraphs like this?

"His face sort of looked like a lesser, knock-off brand Baldwin brother, like Stephen or Daniel, or like maybe the Alec Baldwin cloning machine had run out of toner. I imagined him as a former doctor who’d botched a surgery due to being drunk or high, and now he lived out his days in disgrace, toiling in the purgatory of animal care."

Anyway, read it, love it, because in 10 years this is going to become a cult classic, and you'll want to be able to tell everyone you read it first.

]]> 4.32 2021 She Was Found in a Guitar Case
author: David James Keaton
name: Nick
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/11/08
shelves: currently-reading
review:
David James Keaton is one of those authors who can pull off the rarest of tricks: His prose speeds along like greased lightning, but it's also dense with in-jokes, nifty details, inventive turns of phrase, and raw chunks of pure emotion. In other words, he's the best of literary and pulp, and if you catch hints of Pynchon in his work... well, it's not just you.

"She Was Found in a Guitar Case" riffs (hard!) on the road trip and amateur detective genres, filtering them through a gonzo lens. If you're attuned to wordplay and inventive, off-kilter humor, every page will make you smile or laugh or chuckle or wince. I mean, how can you *not* fall in love with paragraphs like this?

"His face sort of looked like a lesser, knock-off brand Baldwin brother, like Stephen or Daniel, or like maybe the Alec Baldwin cloning machine had run out of toner. I imagined him as a former doctor who’d botched a surgery due to being drunk or high, and now he lived out his days in disgrace, toiling in the purgatory of animal care."

Anyway, read it, love it, because in 10 years this is going to become a cult classic, and you'll want to be able to tell everyone you read it first.


]]> Moonraker 42275114 314 Ian Fleming Nick 4 4.29 1955 Moonraker
author: Ian Fleming
name: Nick
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1955
rating: 4
read at: 2021/10/28
date added: 2021/10/28
shelves:
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]]> In That Endlessness, Our End 55835771



COME CLOSER, FRIEND. LET ME TELL YOU A STORY.




Heard the one about the Airbnb that eats your dreams or the iron-crowned king who preys on his own bloodline from the air, still smoldering centuries after being burnt alive? How about the cloudy antique bottle you can wish your excess rage inside, or that crooked alley down which something waits to replace your disappointing child with a far more pleasant facsimile? We all know the truth, especially in times like these-in an anxiety-ridden, sleepless world such as ours, it's only ever our very worst dreams that come true. Here streets empty out and people pull themselves apart like amoebas, breeding murderous doppelgangers from their own flesh; houses haunt, ideas possess and a cold and alien moon stares down, whispering that it's time to spawn. New myths rise and ancient evils descend. From the seemingly mundane terrors of a city just like yours to all the most dark and distant places of a truly terrible universe, nothing is as it seems...not even that dimly-recalled cinematic memory you've been chasing all these years, the one you think might be just something you stumbled upon while flipping through channels after midnight. The one that still disturbs you enough to raise a cold sweat all over your body, whenever you try to will its details clear.




Hot on the heels of her 2018 This Is Horror Award-winning short story collection Spectral Evidence, critically horror author Gemma Files compiles fifteen more of her most startling recent nightmares-a creepily seductive downward spiral of dark poetry and existential dread, entirely suitable to the slow apocalypse going on all around us. So take your mind off your troubles and send it somewhere the rules still operate, if only to punish those who violate them.]]> 344 Gemma Files 0578759764 Nick 0 to-read 4.00 2021 In That Endlessness, Our End
author: Gemma Files
name: Nick
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> Man, Fuck This House 59224051
At first glance, the house is perfect. But things aren't what they seem.

Sabrina's hearing odd noises, seeing strange visions. Their neighbors are odd or absent. And Sabrina's already-fraught relationship with her son is about to be tested in a way no parent could ever imagine.

Because while the Haskins family might be the newest owners of 4596 James Circle, they're far from its only residents...]]> 158 Brian Asman Nick 5
On top of that, you'll find a lot of neat riffs and callbacks to some of the 20th century's biggest horror classics, including 'The Omen' and 'Poltergeist,' so that's pretty great for horror fans.

In other words, if you're looking for a good Halloween read (or a good anytime read), pick this up: It's scary, it's funny, it's quick. Then go buy Asman's other books, which also max out the funny/quick side of things. ]]> 3.33 2021 Man, Fuck This House
author: Brian Asman
name: Nick
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/10/19
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"Man, Fuck This House" is more than just a great title... it represents a fantastic evolution in Brian Asman's writing. Much of the book recaptures the frenetic pacing, hilarious comedy, and inventive dialogue of his previous novels... but at the same time, he also unleashes some suspense-building tricks worthy of King or Barker. I read a lot of horror novels, and think of myself as a somewhat jaded reader, but "Man, Fuck This House" still has sequences I found damn unsettling.

On top of that, you'll find a lot of neat riffs and callbacks to some of the 20th century's biggest horror classics, including 'The Omen' and 'Poltergeist,' so that's pretty great for horror fans.

In other words, if you're looking for a good Halloween read (or a good anytime read), pick this up: It's scary, it's funny, it's quick. Then go buy Asman's other books, which also max out the funny/quick side of things.
]]> Line of Sight 52660257
All favors come with a cost, and after using what little favors he has in the Newark PD to get his private investigators license, former crime reporter Russell Avery finds himself paying.

He spends his days reluctantly keeping sideways cops out of the crosshairs of the Internal Affairs department. Until Keyonna Jackson, a social justice activist, presents him with a troubling video: a made-for-Youtube cell phone snippet chronicling the same kind of questionable use-of-force that had set New York City, Ferguson, and Cleveland on fire in recent years. The same use-of-force that he’s been covering up for Newark PD.

Now, the young black man who filmed this video is dead and the more questions Russell asks, the less his cop buddies like him. For the first time in his life, Russell finds himself on the wrong side of the guys with the badges and guns. When details of the shooting become public―and a city with race riots in its DNA flirts with the idea of letting history repeat itself―Russell finds himself allying with street activists and gang members as he races to put together the biggest story of his life� before the city he needs to tell it to burns down around him.]]> 285 James Queally 1947993895 Nick 5 3.70 2020 Line of Sight
author: James Queally
name: Nick
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/10/08
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'Line of Sight' accomplishes a real feat. It has a ripped-from-the-headlines quality, but it never feels pedantic or exploitive; at the same time, it also synthesizes the best of a ripping old-school detective yarn and weaves it into a broader exploration of the forces that can potentially tear a city apart. The dialogue is snappy (and often quite funny) and all the characters are finely realized; you might not agree with the protagonist's choices in life, but you understand why he makes them, and you can't ask for better when it comes to crime/neo-noir. Heartily recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography]]> 57926350 An unprecedented behind-the-scenes view into the life of Anthony Bourdain from the people who knew him best

When Anthony Bourdain died in June 2018, fans around the globe came together to celebrate the life of an inimitable man who had dedicated his life to traveling nearly everywhere (and eating nearly everything), shedding light on the lives and stories of others. His impact was outsized and his legacy has only grown since his death.

Now, for the first time, we have been granted a look into Bourdain’s life through the stories and recollections of his closest friends and colleagues. Laurie Woolever, Bourdain’s longtime assistant and confidante, interviewed nearly a hundred of the people who shared Tony’s orbit—from members of his kitchen crews to his writing, publishing, and television partners, to his daughter and his closest friends—in order to piece together a remarkably full, vivid, and nuanced vision of Tony’s life and work.

From his childhood and teenage days, to his early years in New York, through the genesis of his game-changing memoirKitchen Confidentialto his emergence as a writing and television personality, and in the words of friends and colleagues including Eric Ripert,José Andrés, Nigella Lawson, and W. Kamau Bell, as well as family members including his brother and his late mother, we see the many sides of Tony—his motivations, his ambivalence, his vulnerability, his blind spots, and his brilliance.

Unparalleled in scope and deeply intimate in its execution, with a treasure trove of photos from Tony's life, The Definitive Oral Biographyis a testament to the life of a remarkable man in the words of the people who shared his world.]]> 442 Laurie Woolever 0062909126 Nick 4 4.40 2021 Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography
author: Laurie Woolever
name: Nick
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/10/04
date added: 2021/10/04
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]]> Peril 58546518
The transition from President Donald J. Trump to President Joseph R. Biden Jr. stands as one of the most dangerous periods in American history.

But as # 1 internationally bestselling author Bob Woodward and acclaimed reporter Robert Costa reveal for the first time, it was far more than just a domestic political crisis.

Woodward and Costa interviewed more than 200 people at the center of the turmoil, resulting in more than 6,000 pages of transcripts—and a spellbinding and definitive portrait of a nation on the brink.

This classic study of Washington takes readers deep inside the Trump White House, the Biden White House, the 2020 campaign, and the Pentagon and Congress, with vivid, eyewitness accounts of what really happened.

Peril is supplemented throughout with never-before-seen material from secret orders, transcripts of confidential calls, diaries, emails, meeting notes and other personal and government records, making for an unparalleled history.

It is also the first inside look at Biden’s presidency as he faces the challenges of a lifetime: the continuing deadly pandemic and millions of Americans facing soul-crushing economic pain, all the while navigating a bitter and disabling partisan divide, a world rife with threats, and the hovering, dark shadow of the former president.

“We have much to do in this winter of peril,� Biden declared at his inauguration, an event marked by a nerve-wracking security alert and the threat of domestic terrorism.

Peril is the extraordinary story of the end of one presidency and the beginning of another, and represents the culmination of Bob Woodward’s news-making trilogy on the Trump presidency, along with Fear and Rage. And it is the beginning of a collaboration with fellow Washington Post reporter Robert Costa that will remind readers of Woodward’s coverage, with Carl Bernstein, of President Richard M. Nixon’s final days.]]> 512 Bob Woodward 1982182938 Nick 4 4.10 2021 Peril
author: Bob Woodward
name: Nick
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/09/26
date added: 2021/09/26
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]]> <![CDATA[Alpha: Eddie Gallagher and the War for the Soul of the Navy SEALs]]> 58269115 436 David Philipps 0593238397 Nick 5 4.55 2021 Alpha: Eddie Gallagher and the War for the Soul of the Navy SEALs
author: David Philipps
name: Nick
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/09/11
date added: 2021/09/11
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]]> <![CDATA[Secret Identity (Secret Identity #1)]]> 57693604 Secret Identity, a rollicking literary mystery set in the world of comic books.

It’s 1975 and the comic book industry is struggling, but Carmen Valdez doesn’t care. She’s an assistant at Triumph Comics, which doesn’t have the creative zeal of Marvel nor the buttoned-up efficiency of DC, but it doesn’t matter. Carmen is tantalizingly close to fulfilling her dream of writing a superhero book.

That dream is nearly a reality when one of the Triumph writers enlists her help to create a new character, which they call “The Lethal Lynx,� Triumph's first female hero. But her colleague is acting strangely and asking to keep her involvement a secret. And then he’s found dead, with all of their scripts turned into the publisher without her name. Carmen is desperate to piece together what happened to him, to hang on to her piece of the Lynx, which turns out to be a runaway hit. But that’s complicated by a surprise visitor from her home in Miami, a tenacious cop who is piecing everything together too quickly for Carmen, and the tangled web of secrets and resentments among the passionate eccentrics who write comics for a living.

Alex Segura uses his expertise as a comics creator as well as his unabashed love of noir fiction to create a truly one-of-a-kind novel--hard-edged and bright-eyed, gritty and dangerous, and utterly absorbing.]]> 358 Alex Segura 1250801745 Nick 0 to-read 3.63 2022 Secret Identity (Secret Identity #1)
author: Alex Segura
name: Nick
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> Human-Shaped Fiends 58476597
LOS ANGELES, 2021. Self-obsessed, pretentious, womanizing novelist Chandler Morrison has been contracted to write a Western. He knows what kind of book his fans want, but he's torn between his commitment to the craft and the "brand" to which he believes he is expected to adhere. As he sinks deeper into deluded self-importance while juggling a number of surface-level relationships, the line separating fiction from reality becomes increasingly blurred.]]> 97 Chandler Morrison Nick 4 3.70 2021 Human-Shaped Fiends
author: Chandler Morrison
name: Nick
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2021/09/03
date added: 2021/09/03
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]]> Rovers 57807975
This hard-boiled supernatural hell ride kicks off when the brothers encounter a young woman who disrupts their grim routine, forcing Jesse to confront his past and plunging his present into deadly chaos as he finds himself scrambling to save her life. The story plays out through the eyes of the brothers, a grieving father searching for his son’s murderer, and a violent gang of rover bikers, coming to a shattering conclusion in Las Vegas on the eve of America’s Bicentennial.

Gripping, relentless, and ferocious, Rovers demonstrates once again why Richard Lange has been hailed as an “expert writer, his prose exact, his narrative tightly controlled� (Steph Cha, Los Angeles Times ). Finalist for the 2022 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award]]> 304 Richard Lange 0316541974 Nick 5 4.14 2021 Rovers
author: Richard Lange
name: Nick
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/09/02
date added: 2021/09/02
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]]> <![CDATA[The Perfect Kill: 21 Laws for Assassins]]> 22603311
Over several decades, Baer served as an operative, from Iraq to New Delhi and beyond; notably, his career was the model for the acclaimed movie Syriana. In The Perfect Kill, he takes us on a serpentine adventure through the history of political murder; its connections to, and differences from, the ubiquitous use of drones in state-sponsored killing; his firsthand experience with political executions; and his decades-long cat-and-mouse hunt, across the Middle East and Europe, for the most effective and deadliest assassin of the modern age. A true maverick with an undeniably captivating personal story, Baer pulls back the curtain on the underbelly of world politics and the quiet murderers who operate on the fringe of our society.]]> 331 Robert B. Baer 069815178X Nick 5 3.68 2013 The Perfect Kill: 21 Laws for Assassins
author: Robert B. Baer
name: Nick
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/27
date added: 2021/08/27
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]]> Standalone 55324688 143 Paul Michael Anderson Nick 5 3.86 Standalone
author: Paul Michael Anderson
name: Nick
average rating: 3.86
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/16
date added: 2021/08/16
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]]> Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 55922484
RICK DALTON � Once he had his own TV series, but now Rick’s a washed-up villain-of-the week drowning his sorrows in whiskey sours. Will a phone call from Rome save his fate or seal it?

CLIFF BOOTH � Rick’s stunt double, and the most infamous man on any movie set because he’s the only one there who might have gotten away with murder. . . .

SHARON TATE � She left Texas to chase a movie-star dream, and found it. Sharon’s salad days are now spent on Cielo Drive, high in the Hollywood Hills.

CHARLES MANSON � The ex-con’s got a bunch of zonked-out hippies thinking he’s their spiritual leader, but he’d trade it all to be a rock ‘n� roll star.

HOLLYWOOD 1969 � YOU SHOULDA BEEN THERE]]> 400 Quentin Tarantino 0063112523 Nick 5 3.86 2021 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
author: Quentin Tarantino
name: Nick
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/07/12
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]]> Voodoo River 52776392
It seems all too clear cut. But when he gets to Louisiana and begins his search, he finds that there's something much darker going on. Other people are also looking for Taylor's parents, and some are ending up dead.

And when Cole realizes that his employer knew more than she was telling, Voodoo River becomes a twisting tale of identity, secrets, and murder.]]> 304 Robert Crais Nick 5 4.42 1995 Voodoo River
author: Robert Crais
name: Nick
average rating: 4.42
book published: 1995
rating: 5
read at: 2021/07/11
date added: 2021/07/11
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]]> Brand New Dark 58360909
Come, see what happened in-between.

Come, see how he made them burn.]]> 141 Beau Johnson Nick 5 4.56 2021 Brand New Dark
author: Beau Johnson
name: Nick
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/07/11
shelves:
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Nobody writes violence (and the consequences of it) better than Beau Johnson. This latest book delivers all the bone-crunching, inventive carnage you could ever want or need. He has a voice and an economy of language that's utterly distinctive.
]]> Razorblade Tears 54860585 A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance.

Ike Randolph has been out of jail for fifteen years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid.

The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss.

Derek’s father Buddy Lee was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed his father was a criminal. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy.

Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250252708]]> 336 S.A. Cosby Nick 5 4.08 2021 Razorblade Tears
author: S.A. Cosby
name: Nick
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/07/09
shelves:
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A rocketing rampage of righteous revenge. It's been a few years since I stayed up late to finish a book, but "Razorblade Tears" had me hooked from first page to last. I loved Cosby's last book, "Blacktop Wasteland," but this one is more propulsive, and the interplay between its two main characters inserts some deep soul amidst all the blood and gunplay.
]]> <![CDATA[The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu]]> 57573606
Orphaned young, Ming Tsu, the son of Chinese immigrants, is raised by the notorious leader of a California crime syndicate, who trains him to be his deadly enforcer. But when Ming falls in love with Ada, the daughter of a powerful railroad magnate, and the two elope, he seizes the opportunity to escape to a different life. Soon after, in a violent raid, the tycoon’s henchmen kidnap Ada and conscript Ming into service for the Central Pacific Railroad.

Battered, heartbroken, and yet defiant, Ming partners with a blind clairvoyant known only as the prophet. Together the two set out to rescue his wife and to exact revenge on the men who destroyed Ming, aided by a troupe of magic-show performers, some with supernatural powers, whom they meet on the journey. Ming blazes his way across the West, settling old scores with a single-minded devotion that culminates in an explosive and unexpected finale.

Written with the violent ardor of Cormac McCarthy and the otherworldly inventiveness of Ted Chiang, The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu is at once a thriller, a romance, and a story of one man’s quest for redemption in the face of a distinctly American brutality.]]> 289 Tom Lin 0316542172 Nick 5 3.99 2021 The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu
author: Tom Lin
name: Nick
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/06/28
date added: 2021/06/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Life and Fate (Stalingrad, #2)]]> 18930219 906 Vasily Grossman Nick 0 currently-reading 4.51 1960 Life and Fate (Stalingrad, #2)
author: Vasily Grossman
name: Nick
average rating: 4.51
book published: 1960
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/06/21
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> We Need to Do Something 53412346
A family on the verge of self-destruction finds themselves isolated in their bathroom during a tornado warning.

Includes an introduction from Sean King O'Grady (director of the film adaptation) and a brand-new afterword from Max Booth III.

“Don't look now but Max Booth III is one of the best in horror, and he's only getting started.�
—Josh Malerman, author of BIRD BOX and MALORIE

“A confident and singular descent into domestic nihilism that’s as wildly fun as it is deeply disturbing.�
—Matt Barone, Tribeca Film Festival

“Works like a Pandora’s box of horror.�
—Meagan Navarro, Bloody Disgusting

“Unhinged, chaotic, and abounding with occult chills.�
—Chad Collins, Dread Central]]> 123 Max Booth III Nick 5 3.52 2020 We Need to Do Something
author: Max Booth III
name: Nick
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2021/06/15
date added: 2021/06/15
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]]> Absolute Unit 58294807
That’s because Bill and Trent harbor a sentient parasite with a sarcastic sense of humor and a ravenous appetite. As the parasite figures out how to control its new human hosts, the focus of its desires grows from delicious cheeseburgers and beer to something much darker and more dangerous.

Absolute Unit is a dark carnival ride through the underside of the American Dream, where hustlers and parasites fight to survive against gun-toting furries, sarcastic drug kingpins, old ladies who are startlingly good with knives, and angry ex-girlfriends. It’s a hardboiled slice of modern American horror that asks the deepest question of all: Is the human race worth saving?]]> Nick Kolakowski Nick 5 4.03 Absolute Unit
author: Nick Kolakowski
name: Nick
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/06/08
shelves:
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]]> Cathedral 25596583 Raymond Carver’s third collection of stories, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, including the canonical titular story about blindness and learning to enter the very different world of another. These twelve stories mark a turning point in Carver’s work and “overflow with the danger, excitement, mystery and possibility of life. . . . Carver is a writer of astonishing compassion and honesty. . . . his eye set only on describing and revealing the world as he sees it. His eye is so clear, it almost breaks your heart� (Jonathan Yardley,Washington Post Book World).

]]> 226 Raymond Carver 1101970553 Nick 5 4.30 1983 Cathedral
author: Raymond Carver
name: Nick
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1983
rating: 5
read at: 2021/06/05
date added: 2021/06/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service]]> 56918982 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � “This is one of those books that will go down as the seminal work—the determinative work—in this field. . . . Terrifying.”—Rachel MaddowThe first definitive account of the rise and fall of the Secret Service, from the Kennedy assassination to the alarming mismanagement of the Obama and Trump years, right up to the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6—by the Pulitzer Prize winner and #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of A Very Stable Genius and I Alone Can Fix ItNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POSTCarol Leonnig has been reporting on the Secret Service for The Washington Post for most of the last decade, bringing to light the secrets, scandals, and shortcomings that plague the agency today—from a toxic work culture to dangerously outdated equipment to the deep resentment within the ranks at key agency leaders, who put protecting the agency’s once-hallowed image before fixing its flaws. But the Secret Service wasn’t always so troubled.The Secret Service was born in 1865, in the wake of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, but its story begins in earnest in 1963, with the death of John F. Kennedy. Shocked into reform by its failure to protect the president on that fateful day in Dallas, this once-sleepy agency was radically transformed into an elite, highly trained unit that would redeem itself several times, most famously in 1981 by thwarting an assassination attempt against Ronald Reagan. But this reputation for courage and excellence would not last forever. By Barack Obama’s presidency, the once-proud Secret Service was running on fumes and beset by mistakes and alarming lapses in break-ins at the White House, an armed gunman firing into the windows of the residence while confused agents stood by, and a massive prostitution scandal among agents in Cartagena, to name just a few. With Donald Trump’s arrival, a series of promised reforms were cast aside, as a president disdainful of public service instead abused the Secret Service to rack up political and personal gains.To explore these problems in the ranks, Leonnig interviewed dozens of current and former agents, government officials, and whistleblowers who put their jobs on the line to speak out about a hobbled agency that’s in desperate need of reform. “I will be forever grateful to them for risking their careers,� she writes, “not because they wanted to share tantalizing gossip about presidents and their families, but because they know that the Service is broken and needs fixing. By telling their story, they hope to revive the Service they love.”]]> 526 Carol Leonnig 0399589023 Nick 5 4.37 2021 Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service
author: Carol Leonnig
name: Nick
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/05/26
date added: 2021/05/26
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]]> Razorblade Tears 56087866 A black father and a white father join forces on a crusade for revenge against the people who murdered their gay sons, by S.A. Crosby, the award-winning author of Blacktop Wasteland.

Ike Randolph has been out of jail for 15 years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid.

The last thing he expects to hear is that his son, Isiah, has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Isiah was a gay black man in the American South; Ike couldn’t bring himself to attend his son’s wedding. Isiah was a man Ike never understood. A boy he was never there for the way he should have been.

Derek’s father, Buddy Lee, is also suffering. He’d barely spoken to his son in five years; he was as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed his father was a criminal. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy.

Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, alpha-males Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices, about each other and their sons, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys.

Provocative and fast-paced, Razorblade Tears is a story of bloody retribution, heartfelt change - and maybe even redemption.]]> 352 S.A. Cosby Nick 0 to-read 4.32 2021 Razorblade Tears
author: S.A. Cosby
name: Nick
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire]]> 56993075 This New York Times bestseller is a “masterful� (The Washington Post), “juicy tour of the company [Jeff] Bezos built� (The New York Times Book Review), revealing the most important business story of our time by the bestselling author of The Everything Store.Almost ten years ago, Bloomberg journalist Brad Stone captured the rise of Amazon in his bestseller The Everything Store. Since then, Amazon has expanded exponentially, inventing novel products like Alexa and disrupting countless industries, while its workforce has quintupled in size and its valuation has soared to nearly two trillion dollars. It’s almost impossible to go a day without encountering the impact of Jeff Bezos’s Amazon, between services like Whole Foods, Prime Video, and Amazon’s cloud computing unit, AWS, plus Bezos’s ownership of The Washington Post. We live in a world run, supplied, and controlled by Amazon and its iconoclast founder. In Amazon Unbound, Brad Stone presents an “excellent� (The New York Times), deeply reported, vividly drawn portrait of how a retail upstart became of the most powerful and feared entities in the global economy. Stone also probes the evolution of Bezos himself—who started as a geeky technologist totally devoted to building Amazon, but who transformed to become a fit, disciplined billionaire with global ambitions, who ruled Amazon with an iron fist, even as he found his personal life splashed over the tabloids. Definitive, timely, and “engaging� (Jon Meacham, author of The Soul of America), Stone has provided an unvarnished portrait of a man and company that we couldn’t imagine modern life without.]]> 488 Brad Stone 1982132639 Nick 5 4.29 2021 Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire
author: Brad Stone
name: Nick
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/05/15
date added: 2021/05/15
shelves:
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]]> Nunchuck City 57537289
Disgraced ex-ninja Nunchuck “Nick� Nikolopoulis just wants to open a drive-thru fondue restaurant with his best friend Rondell. But when an old enemy kidnaps the mayor, and a former flame arrives in hot pursuit, Nick’s going to have to dust off his fighting skills and face his past. Plus an army of heavily-armed ninjas, a very well-dressed street gang, an Australian sumo wrestler with a gnarly skin condition, giant robots, municipal paperwork, and much, much more! From the rooftops to the sewers, Nick and his ex-girlfriend Kanna Kikuchi are in for the fight of their lives!

Also featuring the backup story “Curse of the Ninja� by Lucas Mangum!]]> 153 Brian Asman Nick 5 4.16 Nunchuck City
author: Brian Asman
name: Nick
average rating: 4.16
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/05/01
date added: 2021/05/01
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]]> A Promised Land 55361205
In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency—a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil.

Obama takes readers on a compelling journey from his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory that demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to the watershed night of November 4, 2008, when he was elected 44th president of the United States, becoming the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office.

Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the awesome reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of U.S. partisan politics and international diplomacy. Obama brings readers inside the Oval Office and the White House Situation Room, and to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and points beyond. We are privy to his thoughts as he assembles his cabinet, wrestles with a global financial crisis, takes the measure of Vladimir Putin, overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act, clashes with generals about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, tackles Wall Street reform, responds to the devastating Deepwater Horizon blowout, and authorizes Operation Neptune’s Spear, which leads to the death of Osama bin Laden.

A Promised Land is extraordinarily intimate and introspective—the story of one man’s bet with history, the faith of a community organizer tested on the world stage. Obama is candid about the balancing act of running for office as a Black American, bearing the expectations of a generation buoyed by messages of “hope and change,� and meeting the moral challenges of high-stakes decision-making. He is frank about the forces that opposed him at home and abroad, open about how living in the White House affected his wife and daughters, and unafraid to reveal self-doubt and disappointment. Yet he never wavers from his belief that inside the great, ongoing American experiment, progress is always possible.

This beautifully written and powerful book captures Barack Obama’s conviction that democracy is not a gift from on high but something founded on empathy and common understanding and built together, day by day.]]> 768 Barack Obama 1524763187 Nick 5 4.31 2020 A Promised Land
author: Barack Obama
name: Nick
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2021/04/24
date added: 2021/04/24
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