XOX

This is the story about Harry finding the love of his life.

Also, struggling with a loss of a loved one. 

And the suspicion of an assassination plan with the sale of a powerful rifle with 100% kill rate.

Interesting story. He has a female partner Ellen that he like, but doesn't like him that way. He is a way to deal with loss, he is lost into the bottle.

Not really a model of a man. But he is still trying to do good work.

The boss think he might be on to something and let him pursue the rifle angle.

Also, he is going to lose something. He met a very bad guy, that he would not get until a few books later. There is some loose end that need to be deal with later.

In the meantime, he need to find out who and where the assassination plan is going to happen, so he could stop it.

Nice read. The jumping into the past bit is a bit long.  But that is trying to explain why the rational behind the bad guy. 

Nice read. 

Started on 15 April already. So I am a few days late. 

See details here. 

http://blog.booklikes.com/post/1552561/wanna-plan-a-game-it-s-booklikes-opoly-created-by-moonlight-reader-obsidian-blue  

Rolled dice 1st on 17 April and got 8 .  Landed at Question 8 on the board. 

So a mystery novel. Started with Jo Nesbo "The Devil's Stars" 

Collected $20 at Start. 

See how it goes. 

Update: 24 April.  Finished reading The Devil's Star. 522 pages. Collected $5.

New Total = $25

2nd roll dice of 7.

Get me to Main Street 14. Read a book that involves oversea travel or has a suitcase on the cover. 

Hector and the Search for Happiness 192 pages. 

30 April 2017. Read the book. Collected $2. 

New Total = $27. 

3rd roll of dice. A 10. 

Landed me at Water Works. "Read a book with water on the cover, or where someone turns on the waterworks (i.e., cries) because of an emotional event." 

Rain is water. Picked "The Leopard" by Jo Nesbo. 740 pages. 

Finished the book on 4 May. Collected $5. 

4th Roll the dice on 4 May.: 8

Landed in Paradise 30 Suspense book over 555 pages.  

Picked NOS4R2 by Joe Hill. Supernatural suspense story 692 pages. 

New total: $32

Read the book on 9 May. Collected $5.

New total: $37

5th roll on 10 May: 6 

Get me to Tomorrow land 36 

Read a book with space in the cover. 

Picked How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers. 32 pages. 

Read this book. Collected $1. Roll again. 

New Total: $38. 

6th roll 12: Landed Main street 10. Collect $20 at Start. 

Select Die Trying by Lee Child happened in small town USA. 557 pages. 

New Total: $58

15 May. Finished Die Trying. Collect $5.

New total:$63. 

7th roll: 6

Land at Cars Land 16 

Picked Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly, story happened in LA California. 400 pages. 

2 June: Finished the book. Add $3. 

New total: $66

8th roll: 4

Landed in New Orleans 19 

Pick a children book as I don't usually read horror. The Dark by Lemony Snicker. 40 pages. 

New total: $67

3 June 

9th roll :8

Landed Adventureland 27

Picked Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman 308 pages

13 June 

Read Trigger Warning and collect $3 

10th roll:11

Landed Monorail 29

Have difficulty picking a book. Do not want to read Girl on a Train. Interpret that a book with car on the cover also fit. Pick "Nemesis" by Jo Nesbo 706 pages 

New total: $70

22 June 

Read "Nemesis". Collect $5.

11th roll:10

Passed start: Collect $20. 

Landed Frontierland 2

Pick "Redbreast" by Jo Nesbo 636 pages. 

New total: $95

25 June 

Read "Redbreast" collect $5

12th roll 7

Landed in Fantasyland 9 
Picked The Unadultered Cat by Terry Pratchett 160 pages

New total:$100 

 ******************************************

Summary

************************************

Started with $20

1st roll 17 April -8
Landed at ?8
Read "The Devil's Stars" by Jo Nesbo 522 pages.
Finished on 24 April and collected $5.
New total $25

2nd roll 24 April - 7
Landed on Main street 14.
Read "Hector and the Search for Happiness" 192 pages.
Finished 30 April. Collected $2.
New total $27

3rd roll 30 April - 10
Landed at Water Work.
Read "The Leopard" by Jo Nesbo 740 pages.
Finshed on 4 May. Collected $5.
New total $32

4th roll 4 May -8
Landed at Paradise 30.
Read "NOS4R2" by Jo Hill 692 pages.
Finished 9 May. Collected $5.
New Total $37

5th roll 10 May -6
Landed at Tomorrow Land 36.
Read "How to Catch a Star" by Oliver Jeffers. 32 pages.
Read it and collected "$1".
New total $38

6th roll 11 May - 12
Landed Main street 10.

Collect $20 at Start. 
Read "Die Trying" by Lee Child 557 pages.
Read on 14 May. Collected $5.

New total $63

7th roll 15 May -6
Landed at Cars Land 16.
Read "Wrong Side of Goodbye" by Michael Connelly 400 pages.

New total $66

8th roll 2 June - 4

Landed at New Orleans 19 

Read "The Dark" by Lemony Snicker 40 pages. 

New total $67

9th roll 3 June - 8

Landed Adventureland 27

Read "Trigger Warning" by Neil Gaiman 308 pages

New total:$70

10th roll 13 June: 11

Landed Monorail 29

Read "Nemesis" by Jo Nesbo 706 pages 

New total: $90

11th roll 22 June: 10

Landed Frontierland 2

Read "Redbreast" by Jo Nesbo

New total: $95

12 roll 25 June:7

Landed Fantasyland 9

Harry has a joined investigation of a woman killed during an arm robbery of a bank.

The robbery see this as group of bank robbers. Harry focus on the killing. 

In the meantime, he had a date with his old flame. He passed out and lost time. Later, she was found to have committed suicide.

But Harry didn't think it was a suicide. So he continued the investigation. A gypsy is also interested in the case as teh woman killed in te bank is the daughter of his brother.

As expected, there is twist and turn in the story.

As we got to be introduced to Tom Waaler the scumbag who like to rape women. This villain paid a bigger role in the next book "Devil's Star".

Nice. Good read. didn't really feel like 700+ pages long.

Enjoy. Good for long flight or pool side reading.

Some you like, some you go, yuck.

This is one of those eating box of chocolate case.

I like the Doctor Who story as a Whovian. The Sleeper and the Spindle is nice too.

The rest, not so much.

I adore Neil Gaiman. But then I don't really like short stories that much. 

Enjoy. 

Not even a good book for flight if you are like me. Some of the stories bored me to tears. 

Jo Nesbo deliberately leads readers to think Harry Hole is dead. Near dead anyway. 

Why oh why.

It is a bit distracting from the case at hand. 

The story started where Phantom left off, with Harry being shot. There is a man in coma with police detail. 

And there is a new case while the coma man is sleeping. 

 
A police murderer is at large. 

The bad guys are still there in power.

It is hard to write a review without spoiler. 

The good bits are good because the killer kind of lack of motive, and there are more persons involved into solving the murders.

Overall, a fast read.

And still very good story telling, especially in last 35% of the book.

Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎 駿) who brought us Totoro shared his favourite children books. 

Hayao Miyazaki’s Top 50 Children’s Books

The Borrowers -- Mary Norton
The Little Prince -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Children of Noisy Village -- Astrid Lindgren
When Marnie Was There -- Joan G. Robinson
Swallows and Amazons -- Arthur Ransome
The Flying Classroom -- Erich Kästner
There Were Five of Us -- Karel Poláček
What the Neighbours Did, and Other Stories -- Ann Philippa Pearce
Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates -- Mary Mapes Dodge
The Secret Garden -- Frances Hodgson Burnett
Eagle of The Ninth -- Rosemary Sutcliff
The Treasure of the Nibelungs -- Gustav Schalk
The Three Musketeers -- Alexandre Dumas, père
A Wizard of Earthsea -- Ursula K. Le Guin
Les Princes du Vent -- Michel-Aime Baudouy
The Flambards Series -- K. M. Peyton
Souvenirs entomologiques -- Jean Henri Fabre
The Long Winter -- Laura Ingalls Wilder
A Norwegian Farm -- Marie Hamsun
Heidi -- Johanna Spyri
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer -- Mark Twain
Little Lord Fauntleroy -- Frances Hodgson Burnett
Tistou of the Green Thumbs -- Maurice Druon
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes -- Arthur Conan Doyle
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler -- E. L. Konigsburg
The Otterbury Incident -- Cecil Day-Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland -- Lewis Carroll
The Little Bookroom -- Eleanor Farjeon
The Forest is Alive or Twelve Months -- Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak
The Restaurant of Many Orders -- Kenji Miyazawa
Winnie-the-Pooh -- A. A. Milne
Nihon Ryōiki -- Kyokai
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio -- Pu Songling
Nine Fairy Tales: And One More Thrown in For Good Measure -- Karel Čapek
The Man Who Has Planted Welsh Onions -- Kim So-un
Robinson Crusoe -- Daniel Defoe
The Hobbit -- J. R. R. Tolkien
Journey to the West -- Wu Cheng'en
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea -- Jules Verne
The Adventures of the Little Onion -- Gianni Rodari
Treasure Island -- Robert Louis Stevenson
The Ship that Flew -- Hilda Winifred Lewis
The Wind in the Willows -- Kenneth Grahame
The Little Humpbacked Horse -- Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov (Ershoff)
The Little White Horse -- Elizabeth Goudge
The Rose and the Ring -- William Makepeace Thackeray
The Radium Woman -- Eleanor Doorly
City Neighbor, The Story of Jane Addams -- Clara Ingram Judson
Ivan the Fool -- Leo Tolstoy
The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle -- Hugh Lofting

Some are good. Some are haunting.

Short stories were really my cup of tea. So I'm not enjoying this as much as I like to. 

It is a just a matter of trust. I trust that some stories would be good and hit the spot. Some would be disappointing.

This is one of those book that you read while waiting for a phone call, or the next movie ot be on.

Just taking a break from doing something else. 

I need much more warm up for liking a character in a story, be it in a book, a comic or on TV. 

It is like one of those Goosebumps stories with some hits and misses.

Harry Hole is trying to get Oleg, the son of the love of his life Rakel, from jail. Oleg was accused of killing Gusto. 

The story is fast, and pretty dark. As Harry is not working in an official capacity, he didn't have the resources that he used to have as a detective. 

Why Harry Hole fallen so far from what he used to be. He is acting more like Castiel in Supernatural. Down and out and sad. Getting hurt and only care about knowing the truth of the matter. 

It is a sad story of love and loss, of fallen people that got no relief.

This seems to be part 1 of the story, Part 2 should be in another book, Police. 

Harry got off the plane and landed in Australia.

A blond Norwegian woman was killed in Australia and Harry was sent to Sydney to investigate the crime.

The local police treated Harry as person for show only. But he partner up with a Aboriginal detective.

Things go wild from there.

As it is the first novel of the series, it give a lot of background.

First, Harry was an alcoholic. He did try to stay away from the drink as a show of remorse over a car accident caused by his drunk driving.

Second, Harry seems to be able to fall in love easily. But still act completely slutty.

Being beaten up is also part of his investigation tactics. Not intentionally of course, but as a character, he is actively putting himself in that situations more often than not.

It is a fun read. As readers, we got to get to know all the key characters, with the killer among them. There is a big reveal and there is a chase.

Key ingredients in making good detective stories.

The plot of a man, wondering alone, helping people, and good at fighting. 

So that's what Jack Reacher is in the stories.

He used to have lord, the Army. Then he quit. He still have all the skills he learned while he was in Army. Now he wondering around his country, helping the less skillful to fight the good fight. 

I finally completed the series and looking forward to the new one. 

But after thinking how he behaved, and how he interact with women, he is certainly a ronin. 

Just saying. 

Only to have this access blocked by law suit.

I hope one day this would be released. It is sad to lost an online library that huge. 

So huge that the project is named Ocean. 

An ocean of books. 

He was at the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Reacher was offering a helping hand to a young woman with a knee injury. And accidentally got kidnapped along with the woman.

This woman Holly turned out to be a FBI agent, a VIP. 

The story now go through how they tried to escape, and how they tried to save each other. 

Good story. A lot of details on guns and bullets. Some details on how Reacher developed some feeling for Holly. Reacher seems to like women, any woman who got closed enough for him to smell their shampoo. 

It is fun enough read. Good book for reading in flight or a pool side read with cocktail. 

No word. Horrible book. Wasted trees. 

For more details. Read Moonlight Reader's post. 

http://moonlightreader.booklikes.com/post/1562234/who-spends-their-days-white-knighting-ivanka-trump 

Vic could create portal in her mind and travel through it. 

Cool trick. Only if she could believe it herself.

This is the story about a group of portal creators, among them a killer who preyed on children.

So Vic is trying to deal with her ability alone without much help from her parents. She was hunted by another portal creator who kidnapped children. 

40% done and it is quite a good story. Not great. But good. Not as creepy as I thought, but still a bit scary to know there are big bad guy out there with supernatural power. 

Finished. 

Once the bad guy kidnapped a child who is related Vic. Vic is on the chase. 

That moved real fast. 

I kind of like the way the chapter bleed into the next.

The thing I missed is why the bad guy is that bad. Why Christmasland is so horrible.

The second half of the book is the fight between Vic and the bad guy.

Still a pretty good read. 

The part about him living in Hong Kong is really good and his mentioned of Cantonese logic is at least correct. 

The story followed that Harry was drunk and escaped to Hong Kong. As a serial killer has killed women in a such a way that couldn't be explained by the police, they need Harry Hole to come back and find the killer for them.

Police politics involved and a jerk tried to take the credit for Harry's hard work.

The story is good and it keep the readers guessing who is the killer. 

Jo Nesbo is a good story teller. And he is not afraid to be graphic and put the main character in real danger. It is fictional danger, but it is real enough for the readers to care what would happen to Harry and hoe he would get out of danger he was in.