100 Book Challenge - Book 32 - Fuzzy Navel

Book 32 / 100
Book: Fuzzy Navel (Jack Daniels Mystery #5)
Author: J.A. Konrath
ASIN: B00BB2E9E4 / ISBN: 9781401302801
Pages: 300

Hard boiled Chicago police Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels has been through a lot in the past few years, but nothing prepares her for this thrilling adventure.

Her day starts out with three identical sniping murders at the same time at different locations, then the news that the crazed killer Alex Kork (from Rusty Nail) killed herself while in jail. But things go downhill from there.

Unable to get in touch with her mom or her fiancé, Jack rushes to their home, only to find out that some killers are hard to kill. As if being trapped in her house with the craziest killer she knows and all the people she loves most wasn’t bad enough, it seems her work followed her home as the three snipers surround her home and begin taking their shots.

Rating: 10 out of 5 Stiff Drinks. Seriously, John McClane has easier days than this one. Konrath’s tale takes place over an 8 hour period, which is fun as that’s roughly how long it takes to read. I was seriously breathless at points, and don’t forget to be careful of the twist at the end! That said, from a technical point of view, there are a few spelling and grammar mistakes that stand out, but the story is catchy enough to overlook them.

100 Book Challenge - Book 31 - Dirty Martini

Book 31 / 100
Book: Dirty Martini (Jack Daniels Mystery #4)
Author: J.A. Konrath
ASIN: B00BB2ECFK / ISBN: 978-1401302795
Pages: 316

Chicago police Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels is back, and this time she's up against her toughest, and possibly scariest, adversary yet!

A sicko calling themselves "The Chemist" is spreading poison into the city's food supplies at random. But that's just the start of what they have planned. With her trusty partner, Herb, switching departments to end his career in the relative safety of the robbery division, and saddled with a new, and inexperienced, partner, Jack must find and stop The Chemist before he kills fifty thousand people in the single biggest act of terrorism the US has ever seen.

Throw in a curve ball of a proposal from her boyfriend Latham, a new Police Superintendent and a PR guy who's only goal is to save the tourism reputation of the city, and it all adds up to make this the greatest case to date!

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stiff Drinks. Oh goodness! With the exception of some typos (missing letters and incorrect capitalization) this is an amazing thrill ride, and one dandy of a mystery. J.A. Konrath has a way or weaving the tale in such a way that the true motives aren't revealed until the end

100 Book Challenge - Book 30 - Rusty Nail

Book 30 / 100

Book: Rusty Nail (Jack Daniels Mystery #3)

Author: J.A. Konrath

ASIN: B00BBE4E5Q / ISBN: 978-1482374278

Pages: 270

Jack’s Back. And again she’s neck deep in murder and death.

Someone’s sending her snuff videos, worse than that, the victims are people she has encountered before, with one connecting feature, Jack, the people were involved in her previous two major cases (Whiskey Sour and Bloody Mary).

With her partner Herb having his own health issues and after he’s targeted and hospitalized Jack has to go out on a limb and begins to follow the clues that will lead her to face her most deadly foe yet.

To solve this case she’ll have to put her career, her love life, her friends and her life all on the line. As she does, she realizes that even serial killers have families, and that blood runs thick.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stiff Drinks. Oh. My. God. This was a thrill ride, the ups and downs as Jack follows the clues and the hits on the hunt for the killer. I even liked the FBI guys in this book. The only negative point I have about this book is that I picked out the killer as soon as she entered the scene, but to have their past revealed was an interesting journey. And let me tell you, there are some real sick… Folks out there.

100 Book Challenge - Book 24 - Beautiful Darkness

Book 24 / 100
Book: Beautiful Darkness (Caster Chronicles #2)
Author: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
ASIN: B00457X7IQ
Pages: 513

Beautiful Darkness picks up where Beautiful Creatures left off with Lena unclaimed by light or dark and the future of both sides of her family hanging in the balance... But not deciding and saving Ethan has had a bad effect on Lena... Especially with the consequence of taking Macon's life!

Lena begins to descend into darkness, egged on by her cousin Ridley and the mysterious John Breed and in doing so she pulls away from the one person who can help her out... John convinces her that The Great Barrier is the place to go to find the answers to all her questions.

With Ethan, Link and a Keeper-in-Training, Liv, following closely they head into the Caster tunnels heading for the place where the mortal and Caster worlds meet. Meanwhile Lena's mother and the evil Abraham begin to turn the tide of things in the natural order, swaying Lena to the dark side.

With help from the light casters and from beyond the grave can Ethan reach Lena in time to save her from herself and her mother and ancestor?

Rating... 4 out of 5 spells. If you enjoyed the first book then this will be a must read. If you haven't read the first book then I recommend reading that first then picking this one up.

100 Book Challenge - Book 8 - Good Christian Bitches

Book 8 / 100
Book: Good Christian Bitches
Author: Kim Gatlin
ISBN: 978-1-4013-1070-7

Okay, two points, one, this is quite a departure from my normal fare, and two, I love the TV show GCB and got the book just because the show was inspired by it. With that said, the book is quite different to the TV show.

The story follows Amanda Vaughn as, after tiring of her husband’s cheating ways, she divorces him and moves her two children back to Hillside Park, the place she grew up in. However there are those that are threatened by a wealthy, pretty, single woman, and they conspire to throw Amanda in the deep end by getting her to chair the Longhorn Ball, a charity event that was run into the ground by the previous chair. Run down so much there’s no money, bills to pay, no members willing to help and all the sponsors ostracized.

Coping with a surly son who would rather be back in California, a daughter who can’t see how to cope without organic foods and soy products in cattle country and a mystery suitor who sends fast cars, fancy outfits and charity cheques, Amanda must pull together an event that can get the Longhorn Ball back on track and take care of the Good Christian Bitches who conspire to take her down.

Rating… 3 out of 5 stars. The story, as I had said was a departure from my normal tastes, yet I enjoyed the story, I found I couldn’t wait to see how Amanda dealt with her rivals. I know there will be some that see the title and imagine that it’s disparaging of women and of Christian women in particular, but once you read it you begin to see that’s now what the story is about, the Good Christian Bitches in question are, in point of fact, not good at all, they’re gossips and in many ways vindictive, there are good reasons behind them of course, but one who believes in Him should be able to rise above and be kind and generous in the face of that.