Heaven’s Prisoners by James Lee Burke is the second novel in his Dave Robicheaux series. I read the first book, The Neon Rain, back at the beginning of the summer. Robicheaux is cut from the same mold as Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch. I like the character, but he definitely has his flaws.
Just finished up The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly. This is the fourth book in the Renée Ballard series. Harry Bosch plays a "supporting" role. Pace is classic Connelly, but it is just not in the same class as his earlier books.
Death in the Sunshine by Steph Broadribb was an Amazon First Reads pick back in February. It was a light summer read. It's a riff on the Thursday Murder Club trope, but doesn't pull it off nearly as well.
Finally came back to the Expeditionary Force series by Craig Alanson which I started last summer. SpecOps is the second book in the series. Alanson leverages all of the tools that made the first book a fun read. All in all, a great "filler" between more "serious" reads.
My latest read was No Mercy by John Gilstrap. It is the first book in his Jonathan Graves series. Jonathan Grave is a wealthy ex-Delta Force soldier who owns a private security company. Overall, I give it a 4/5 rating and expect I will try a couple more books in the series.
Finished The Night Fire by Michael Connelly in June. This 2019 release features Harry Bosch and Renée Ballard as they work three seemingly unrelated murders that occured over a thirty year period.
Finished Constance by Matthew Fitzsimmons in the middle of June. It had an interesting premise about a human clone trying to find out what happened to her "original." It is almost more murder mystery than sci-fi.
I finished Andy Weir's latest novel, Project Hail Mary, in the first part of June. The story explores a lot of topics, but the focus is always on how someone can use their knowledge, skills and, most of all, perseverance, to overcome the seemingly impossible when the stakes are astronomically high. Recommended read.
I am working on a couple of fairly complex projects right now. There is a fair amount of debate about not only how to solve the problem, but on what problem we are actually trying to solve. Hopefully, we will be able to come together to design and build something like the Apollo team did. One small step...
Still behind writing about what I have been reading. I have been looking for a mystery series to replace Harry Bosch. The Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke was recommended. I started with the first book, The Neon Rain.
Finished the Numina trilogy by Charlie Holmberg in early May. This urban fantasy series is set in a dark city and leverages a number of standard world-building elements including magic, multiple dimensions of existence, and social issue tropes. Not the strongest work, but enjoyable enough that I expect to read another series by Holmberg later this year.
I finished up the newest book in the DCI Ryan series by LJ Ross in late April. Bamburgh is the nineteenth book in the series and follows the formula that has made Ross one of the most successful authors on the Kindle platform.
