Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Saturday, April 06, 2024

Friday, April 05, 2024

Currently Reading: Dr Syn

Currently reading Dr Syn by Russell Thorndike. Pirates and smugglers! And a 12 year old boy who drinks rum and wants to be a hangman and swing his schoolteacher from the gallows.

Come on, is that just pure awesomesauce or what?

Thursday, April 04, 2024

Hidden Death (The Shadow #14) 3.5Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPresss & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Hidden Death
Series: The Shadow #14
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 138
Words: 42K

Good enjoyable pulp. The Shadow has to take on the machinations of a dead genius who is apparently killing people from beyond the grave. At the same time, the police bring on an eminent psychologist because facts just aren’t enough apparently. And no surprise to anyone, said psychologist turns out to be a bad apple. Throw in a massive attack on the Shadow by the combined might of the lowlifes of the city and you have yourself a pretty good story.

I did notice how amateur everything is (except the Shadow and his procedures). The cops are like the Keystone Cops and I have to assume that is deliberate on the part of the author and not an actual reality of the times. Individually, some of the cops are pretty good, but overall, yeah, they are a mockery of law and order.

For a much more indepth and excited review, please visit Riders of Skaith’s “Review from 2020”.

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher

Murder of a Genius
When a mechanical genius is murdered at the moment of his greatest invention, THE SHADOW decodes a plan of linked deaths and traps a master killer in a bizarre and brilliant intrigue…

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Wednesday, April 03, 2024

Killer’s Wedge (87th Precinct) 3.5Stars

Title: Killer’s Wedge
Series: 87^th Precinct
Author: Ed McBain
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 100
Words: 45K

Wow, talk about a taut police procedural. The whole book takes place almost in one office and yet the tension never let up. A crazy lady comes into the police station to kill one of the officers and ends up taking a whole bunch of officers hostage as well as a prisoner and a pregnant lady.

Oh man. So, there was a perfect example of a character being totally stupid and ruining things for everyone. The prisoner is a hispanic lady who was picked up for knifing a gang leader. She’s fiery and angry and doesn’t let anyone tell her anything. She ends up hating on the crazy lady and you’d think they would be bitter enemies. BUT. Just as one of the police officers is about to make a successful move against the crazy lady, the prisoner interferes and has a chance to escape. However, she believes the crazy lady over the police officers, with predictable results of everyone still being held as hostages. I was so outraged that I just dropped my kindle on the bed spread and starting hollering out loud. Poor Mrs B had to listen to me for a solid 5minutes. The things wives have to put up with, hahahahahaa.

Cotton Hawes played a large part in the story, but thankfully, there was no sleeping around. I kept waiting for him to hit on the crazy lady though, just because.

Everything gets resolved in the end and we find out the nitroglycerin was real, not water like the police officers eventually gambled on it being. It made me laugh. KABOOM!!!

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher

Her name is death – and her name is Virginia Dodge. Virginia Dodge is determined to put a bullet through Steve Carella’s brain, and she doesn’t care if she has to kill all the boys in the 87th Precinct in the process. Armed with a gun and a bottle of nitro-glycerine she spends an afternoon terrorising Lieutenant Byrnes and his men with her clever little home-made bomb. Is there anything the boys at the 87th can do to save Carella or will this crazy broad achieve her goal ¿? In one of the most dazzling novellas of the Precinct, Ed McBain exposes the dangerous loyalties that keep the boys of the 87th together, and threaten to tear them apart at the same time.

All My “87^th Precinct” Reviews

Tuesday, April 02, 2024

Drop Shot (Myron Bolitar #2) 1Star

Title: Drop Shot
Series: Myron Bolitar #2
Author: Harlan Coben
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 252
Words: 77K

Sigh, not the way I wanted to start the month’s reading. First, I won’t be continuing this series or reading any more by this author. For the usual immoral reasons, sigh. It was so flipping checkmark too. Then you had an almost rape scene. While I acknowledge that bad men do very bad things, bringing it into fiction as “entertainment” isn’t right. Finally, Myron lets a murderer kill herself to cover up what she did because she’s the mother of his big client and it would destroy his client and he (Bolitar) would lose all the money from being his agent. There are times I can see letting someone get away with murder, I really can. But not for a base motive like money. So all those things coming together made this a very unpleasant read.

★☆☆☆☆

From Wikipedia

A young woman is shot in cold blood, her lifeless body dumped outside the stadium at the height of the US Open. At one point, her tennis career had skyrocketed. Now headlines were being made by a different young player from the wrong side of the tracks.

When Myron Bolitar investigates the killing, he uncovers a connection between the two players and a six-year-old murder at an exclusive club. Suddenly, Myron is in over his head. And with a dirty senator, a jealous mother, and the mob all drawn into the case, he finds himself playing the most dangerous game of all.

All My “Harlan Coben” Reviews

Monday, April 01, 2024

March '24 Roundup & Ramblings

Raw Data:

Novels – 12 ↓

Short Stories – 0 –

Manga/Graphic Novels – 0 –

Comics – 1 –

Average Rating – 3.50 ↑

Pages – 3259 ↓

Words – 1145K ↓

The Bad:

Notes from Underground – 1Star DNF@10% nonsense

The Good:

The Lives of Christopher Chant – 5Stars of how Middlegrade should be written!

Movie:

Martian Successor Nadesico was an overload of angsty emotions and activity.

Miscellaneous Posts:

Personal:

Great book month! Yes, I read less but boy, did I read some great books. I was looking at my ratings calendar and I kept seeing 4star here, 4star there, it was just wonderful. And did you see that monthly average? 3.50!!!! I nearly blew a happy gasket when I calculated that particular statistic 🙂

Had a stomach bug near the beginning of the month. I also had to get some injections in my eyes because of my diabetes. Couple both of those things with the shenanigans that WordPress.com started pulling and it was no wonder I took a week off from socializing online. I was pretty stressed out. Once I got back things were a bit better. I’m thinking about permanently uninstalling the jetpack app on my phone so that I can only go on wordpress when I have access to my laptop.

At the same time, I wrote more non-review posts and overall really enjoyed it. You can’t see it, but I also journaled a LOT more this month. Almost every single day. So in terms of getting the words out of my system, this was an amazing month. Words, words, words! Plus, the week where I took off from WordPress and didn’t get words out in people’s comment sections, I ended up texting a lot of people who I don’t normally communicate with regularly, so that was good to reconnect with old acquaintances again. Or get more acquainted with the regulars. It is surprising how many people I know that are not texter’s. For some of those people, if I got a response at all, I counted that as a victory 😀

Paid my bleeding, fething, fracking, bleepity bleeping taxes. Second year in a row that we have ended up owing money instead of getting a refund. Huh, almost like our current administration is a spendthrift with other peoples’ money (ie, MINE). I’m going to leave it at that before I say something I shouldn’t, like “I wish all IRS agents would just suddenly drop dead”. That’s the kind of thing you can’t say in the United Soviet States of America any more.

Sadly, real life also sandbagged me right near the end of the month. Something I never saw coming in a million years. Thankfully, it WAS just a sandbag and not a baseball bat, but it did leave me reeling for a couple of days. Got my bearings back but man, realizing the emotions and their fallout, amazing how something little can have a big affect.

Plans for Next Month:

The Usual. I feel like I’ve gotten into a blogging rut and right now, I’m ok with staying right there. I don’t have the “oomph” to try something new, so I won’t.

Sunday, March 31, 2024

Happy Resurrection Day! 2024 Edition

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1st Corinthians 1: 18

Despite a world experiencing increasing lawlessness and chaos, despite whatever issues I am experiencing, the truth is that God is in control. He had a plan for the salvation of mankind before He even created the cosmos. He knew me by name. When I stand before the throne of Judgement on the last day, all of my sins, all of my faults, all of the evil within me, will have been paid for by Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross. The proof is His resurrection. And I celebrate that today. And you can too.

You are not perfect. You know this. And God demands perfection. Not because He is a hateful tyrant but because He is perfect and can accept nothing less. He is Perfect Justice. He is also Perfect Mercy. He has shown you that mercy by giving you the chance to accept His Son Jesus as your Savior and your Lord. Jesus was perfect and He will take your sins and imperfection if you give them to Him. For the love of God people, don’t turn away and reject that!!! Ask Him to reveal Himself to you. The least you can do is ASK! It costs you nothing. A mere five seconds of your time.

I know most of the time I deliberately try to be positive and upbeat about what the Resurrection of Jesus means to me personally. But I have that hope and I don’t know that you do. I want you to have that hope and eternal assurance. So please, I beg you, ask Jesus to reveal Himself to you.

Saturday, March 30, 2024

Red War (Mitch Rapp #17) 3Stars

Title: Red War
Series: Mitch Rapp #17
Author: Vince Flynn & Kyle Mills
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 316
Words: 96K

On his author page for the book, Kyle Mills shows how his speculation about powerful world leaders and specifically Putin, formed the basis for this book. Published in 2018, it was very prescient of how Russia would act in the coming years. Thankfully for us, Russia chose to invade Ukraine instead of starting World War III by invading some NATO countries. So I consider this book alternate future history.

At the same time, it was very uncomfortable as we know how the conflict actually has turned out and there is no super action hero to save the day. Men like Mitch Rapp are purely fictional, unfortunately. I’d have much preferred a truly fictional story for a truly fictional character. War is only enjoyable to read about if you know what is happening isn’t real, can’t be real and never will be real. Once it takes a turn into the possible, then you are forced to deal with the horrors of real war.

It was a great action story. With the retired assassin Azarov being forced out of retirement and working alongside Rapp, the dynamics were great. I was able to put aside my dislike of Mills’ handling of Rapp as a purely action hero’y kind of guy and just let the story carry me along, like I had just jumped out of an airplane for a HALO insertion.

And I just landed in your back yard. And killed you. With my nuclear bazooka. So I win! Just like I did when I read this book.

★★★☆☆

From Kylemills.com

Synopsis – Click to Open

When Russian president Maxim Krupin discovers that he has inoperable brain cancer, he’s determined to cling to power. His first task is to kill or imprison any of his countrymen who can threaten him. Soon, though, his illness becomes serious enough to require a more dramatic diversion—war with the West.

Upon learning of Krupin’s condition, CIA director Irene Kennedy understands that the US is facing an opponent who has nothing to lose. The only way to avoid a confrontation that could leave millions dead is to send Mitch Rapp to Russia under impossibly dangerous orders. With the Kremlin’s entire security apparatus hunting him, he must find and kill a man many have deemed the most powerful in the world.

Success means averting a war that could consume all of Europe. But if his mission is discovered, Rapp will plunge Russia and America into a conflict that neither will survive.

All My “Mitch Rapp” Reviews

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Spies! (Groo the Wanderer #27) 3.5Stars

Title: Spies!
Series: Groo the Wanderer #27
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 23
Words: 2K

I don’t know why I keep “reviewing” these. Mainly to keep track I guess. I mean, these are regularly funny. Every time I read one I enjoy myself. How many ways can I say “I enjoyed this funny comic because Groo is an idiot”. So far, I’ve said it 27 times. I guess that’s enough. I think after this I’ll just start using this “review” place to talk about whatever is on my mind at the time. So be prepared to be wowed and amazed as I pontificate on matters most important.

★★★✬☆

From Bookstooge.blog

The Minstrel and the Sage are captured as spies and they tell a couple of stories about Groo as a spy to fend off their deaths. Groo is in the camp and when everyone starts making fun of him he attacks them. Minstrel and Sage use the chaos to escape and the issue ends with Groo furiously attacking everyone.

All of My “Groo the Wanderer” Reviews

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Marvel Champions: The Acquisitioning

So, somebody had a birthday this month. And somebody requested the First Cycle of Marvel Champions. And what is more, somebody got the cycle too. Somebody is a lucky rat barstard. And he’s obviously devilishly handsome to boot!

I made out like a bandit this year. At this time in my life, gifts are becoming harder and harder as I have most of what I already want. But introducing a new hobby has introduced new things to acquisition (hence the title) and this make it easier to send out lists for the family. I got the Base Game for Christmas and finally got it Sleeved Up earlier this month.

The Green Goblin scenario pack
Wrecking Crew scenario pack
Thor hero pack
Captain America hero pack
Ms Marvel hero pack
Hulk hero pack
Dr Strange hero pack
Black Widow hero pack

Now that I am the proud owner of the first cycle, Let the Playening Begin! Well, maybe next month. Wouldn’t want to rush into anything now, you know? 😉