Outsider

Title: Outsider
Author: Linda Castillo
Published: July 7th 2020 by Minotaur Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 320 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Kate Burkholder #12

The whole time I was reading this book, I kept wondering where Kate’s focus should be. With an old friend - she does not trust - or as the Chief of Police of Painters Mill. A town amid a blizzard with only two of her officers able to answer calls, or snowed in on a farm trying to keep an eye on an old friend with a strange story to tell.

Gina Colorosa, an officer who came out of the academy with Kate, has made bad choices in her life, and right now, she needs Kate’s help. Gina is trying to get to Kate before she is murdered by the men who have a habit of removing problems from their lives. Adam Lengacher, an Amish widower, while out with his children, finds Gina huddled nearly frozen to death by the side of the road. He is a good man, and with his upbringing and faith, he must help Gina, an outsider. By doing this, he is putting his and the lives of his children in danger, but for him, she is worth it.

As Gina tells her story, the reader bounces back and forth in this loosely wound thriller. Kate knows Gina’s seedy history, but can she get past it and read between the lines to find the truth. Can Kate’s boyfriend, John Tomasetti, use his Bureau of Criminal Investigation ties to find out if what Gina is saying is truthful about the corruption and cover-ups within the vice squad? As the story unwinds, it is a race against man and the elements to save all the lives on an Amish farm and to expose the truth behind Gina’s farfetched story.

I Was Told It Would Get Easier

Title: I Was Told It Would Get Easier
Author: Abbi Waxman
Published: June 16th 2020 by Berkley Books
Format: eBook, Paperback, 352 pages
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

I love the humor, sentimentality, and relationships that come from the storytelling of Abbi Waxman. She pulls no punches and takes the reader into the heady world of parenting, friendships, communities, and the cruelties of hormones. When it comes to raising daughters, there are the golden years and the tumultuous ages where neither parent nor child will think they will get through it. As you begin to wonder if all hope is lost, there are those few sparks that help you to see through the dark and hope reins again; this is where Abbi Waxman is taking the reader, one minefield at a time.

We find Jessica and her sixteen-year-old daughter Emily as they embark on a college tour of East Coast Universities surrounded by overachieving students and dominating parents. Emily isn’t sure that college is for her, there are too many stumbling blocks and realities that lawyer mom Jessica never had to encounter. Times have changed, but still, a mother wants the full spectrum of choices for her child. As mom and daughter enter this new battleground, they learn about each other in ways they never thought possible. All the while, each must tread lightly before they destroy what is most important to them both.

A laugh out loud grab a tissue type of book for those who have survived this battle. A book that reminds us of those years and only now realizes that it never gets easier. There is always something around the bend. Next up for those still in the trenches and keeping track, being a parent to an adult child. Those years of watching them journey into adulthood and knowing when, as a parent, to speak up and when to shut up.

Last to Die

Title: Last to Die
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Published: August 28th 2012 by Ballantine Books
Format: Hardcover, 338 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Rizzoli & Isles #10

This tenth installment of Rizzoli and Isles was just twisty enough to keep my attention. Sure, from time to time, I had wondered where it was going, but with the mention of one little piece of the puzzle, my brain was tickled to the end.

Maura Isles is planning on a two-week vacation with her charge Julian Perkins, but first, she must stop off at a crime scene. The story is horrifying - parents and foster children murdered execution-style and one lone survivor, Teddy, able to get away. There isn’t much Maura can do that is until she reaches Evensong, the boarding school where Julian is enrolled, a school designed to help gifted children who have been traumatized by violence. Once there, she learns about two children that have suffered the same fate as Teddy. They also were lone survivors of brutal murders, and since Maura does not believe in coincidences, she begins to compare their stories to Teddy’s. Connecting the dots, along with the help of Jane Rizzoli, they uncover a story rooted in Italy involving the CIA, Icarus, and the damage left in the wake.

While parts of the novel are tied up, there is more to be answered. With what Maura finds out about the school and Anthony Sansone, the more she questions Julian’s safety and if The Mephisto Club is something that she may want to be part of or if there are ulterior motives for keeping her close.

John Doe

Title: John Doe
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Published: July 23rd 2012 by Ballantine Books
Format: eBook, 51 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Rizzoli & Isles #9.5

I love a good short story. Just the facts and no need to describe the underside of a rock, as a friend would say. Tess Gerritsen gets to the point quickly without dragging the reader through the mundane while deftly bringing the reader to the crux without having to talk down to them or overtly pointing them in the wrong direction only to reel it all back in with a sudden ending and an overly explained conclusion.

With a final twist, Maura Isles learns what happened to her, and her would-be assailant on a night that started at a gala and ended with Maura sprawled on her couch with no memory of how she had gotten there. As Jane pounds on her door and tells of a body, Maura knows that her nightmare is just beginning.

There might have been a memory – a voice – but everything is vague. A terrifying thought and with precision, Tess Gerritsen narrates a story that will stay with the reader.