Month: October 2012

Kiss the Girls by James Patterson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the second book and the intense psychological distress that Alex was in by the end of the novel. His pain and anguish were so intense. I actually almost through my ipad on the floor at one point because i got so mad.

Overall, a great second offering and a “can’t put down” read. If you like crime and mystery, the Alex Cross series is for you. Very well written, interesting twists, and you can’t help but love Alex and crew.

So why wasn’t this a five? (and these are small complaints, they just added up to cause me to remove a star).
1.) From the very start there were hints that the FBI lead Kyle may have been the killer. But the leads were so many and so blatant I wasn’t going to be happy either way. If he was Casanova, then it was just too damn obvious. If he wasn’t, then it was just to obvious those things were thrown in to mislead. Either way, just to obvious. Don’t hit me over the head with it.

2.) I absolutely fell in love with Kate. She’s a survivor, she’s tough, and I identified with her difficult past that made her into a stronger, if somewhat different, adult. The part where I almost through my ipad *spoiler alert* was when she was beat almost to death near the end. I hated that part of the book.

3.) Kate and Alex not getting together. Come on, they had this intense relationship, and killed a serial killer together, you bond over that. I just can’t see them not hooking up. Sorry.

4.) Who Casanova ended up being. It just annoyed me. It seemed like too many false leads and then it was “that guy”. Without any real hints along the way. This prob relates to issue 1. Instead of several small hints across multiple people, we got beat up with one or two, and then it was someone completely different.

So anyway, I can’t wait to start book 3…

As I said in the original running out ammo post – you have used up all your shotgun slugs, and all you have left is birdshot.  But…let’s say you don’t have the ability to melt and make slugs as proposed in the first post.

You still might be able to survive (for at least a little while longer).

Take your birdshot slug and carefully cut the shell in a circular pattern, but leave an overlapping section to hold it together.

It might just let you take down a few more walkers and survive just a bit longer.

Along Came a Spider by James Patterson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was looking for something a bit different to read and my brother lent me the Alex Cross series.

I couldn’t put book 1 down, and have already dug into book 2, breaking one of my own rules about not starting the next novel until I write the review of the one I just finished. But life has been hectic. Oh, well.

On to the story.

Alex Cross is an African-American detective who also has a degree in psychology. He works on the tough streets of D.C. where violent crime is an everyday occurrence.
James Patterson does such an awesome job of making Alex both tough and heroic, while at the same time showing his soft underbelly. The relationship between Alex and his partner Sampson is a perfect example. They are both very large, intimidating men, but they finish each other’s thoughts and the way they care about each other comes through in the book.

And of course there is Nana Mama and Alex’s two kids. I guess the bottom line is that Alex is a very well rounded character who comes off as very human. You can’t help but cheer him on and hope he comes out on top.

Which is the exact reason this book got a four instead of a five – I really liked the book and the story, but after getting emotionally invested in Alex and the connection between him and Jezzie the ending felt like a betrayal
.

What do you do when you are almost out of ammunition and all you have is some birdshot left? There are still zombies walking around, and you are almost out of food and water, you are going to have to go out.

But birdshot isn’t going to break through a skull. It’s pretty much useless against the undead. So what do you do?

You carefully open the shotgun shell and put all the lead shot into a shallow tin pan, pie tin, anything made of decent gauge metal.

Put a hole through one end of the pan with a nail or your multitool.

Use that same multitool to bore some holes in a piece of wood (if you have a drill, go for it) just make sure you make the bore holes just a little smaller than the width of the shell.

You then melt the shot and tilt your pan to let the molten lead run into your bore holes.

If some of them are a bit too small, wrap a bit of class around their outside as you wedge them back into the shotgun shells.

You just might have enough rounds to get out and get enough food to last another day.

Conrad’s Quest for Rubber by Leo A. Frankowski

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was the worst book of the series for me.

Leo takes the last couple of books and retells basically the same story from the view of a peasant who was at Okoitz and then joins the army, re-hashing the highlights of the other books.

Unfortunately for me, the magic was gone. I remember readign this book years ago and thinking it was just okay – but on reading it again I wasn’t even able to finish it. It just got to be too boring.

I will miss you Leo Frankowski. I really liked the Conrad series, and was sad to see you passed away. I would have loved to read a conquest of Europe set of Conrad books.

Dany Ban gets attacked by pre-zombie?

While at a radio event Danny Bonaduce agreed to let a woman give him a kiss. She thenwrapped both arms around his head and sunk her teeth into his check.

“They were tiny little Chucky teeth. Man, they just gnawed like piranhas,” Bonaduce said. “People are trying to pull her off me … I’m screaming like a baby.”

Personally, I’d be worried if I were him, and if I were his wife, I’d sleep with an axe next to my bed.  It looks like he might turn at any moment. That bite looks nasty…

Lord Conrad’s Lady by Leo A. Frankowski

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have to say that this is my favorite time travelling series, but this one was the weakest one, it really trailed off.

I felt like after the war with the mongols was won, Leo had a panic moment and realized he wanted to have a few more fight scenes and finally kill the Tuetonic knights.

All well and good if that was the focus, but it trails off into long segments about law, and guilt, and even though some of Conrad’s musings are interesting, overall it takes away from the direction of the book.

When I read these the first time I don’t think the age differences between Conrad and his ladies bothered me (but I was like 16). Now as an adult with kids I do find it to be a bit creepy.

If you haven’t read the series yet, just stop at book 5 unless you really love Conrad, its kinder that way.