Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom

Winter in Madrid
by C.J. Sansom

Published: 2006
Publisher: Pan Books
Genre: Historical, Mystery, Spain
Paperback: 549
Rating: 4
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Website

First sentence(s):
Bernie had lain at the foot of the knoll for hours, half conscious.

Into this uncertain world comes Harry Brett, a privileged young man who was recently traumatized by his experience in Dunkirk and is now a reluctant spy for the British Secret Service. Sent to gain the confidence of Sandy Forsyth, an old school friend turned shadowy Madrid businessman, Brett finds himself involved in a dangerous game and surrounded by memories. Meanwhile, Sandy’s girlfriend, ex-Red Cross nurse Barbara Clare, is engaged in a secret mission of her own—to find her former lover Bernie Piper, whose passion for the Communist cause led him into the International Brigades and who vanished on the bloody battlefields of the Jarama.

My two-bits:
Not so much a murder mystery, but more a historical of post the Spanish Civil War period in Madrid.

The state of the people, politics and espionage are covered.

A romance and an unexpected end kept me reading through this chunkster.

~*~
* part of Books, Inc. Foreign Intrigue Book Club (here)

Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama

Six Four
by Hideo Yokoyama
translated by Jonathan Lloyd-Davies

Find out more about this book and author:
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Published: 2017
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime, Japan
Hardback: 576
Rating: 4

First sentence(s):
Snowflakes danced through the evening light.

Six Four. The nightmare no parent could endure. The case no detective could solve. The twist no listener could predict.

For five days in January 1989, the parents of a seven-year-old Tokyo schoolgirl sat and listened to the demands of their daughter's kidnapper. They would never learn his identity. They would never see their daughter again.

For the 14 years that followed, the Japanese public listened to the police's apologies. They would never forget the botched investigation that became known as Six Four. They would never forgive the authorities their failure. For one week in late 2002, the press officer attached to the police department in question confronted an anomaly in the case.

He could never imagine what he would uncover. He would never have looked if he'd known what he would find.

My two-bits:

Mystery was more on the inner workings and politics of the police station in which the main character works.

It was interesting to see how the Six Four case tied in and the connections of all the people involved.

~*~
* part of Books, Inc. Foreign Intrigue Book Club (here)

* part of Backlist Reader Challenge (here)

It by Stephen King

Stephen King IT Parade
hosted by Daniel Kraus (details)
July 10 - September 4, 2017
Author/editor Daniel Kraus posts a 10-week journal of re-reading King’s classic. He is inviting folks to join in this venture and then watch the movie version which will be released September 8.

I will be posting my read-along tidbits here each week throughout.

B E W A R E: could be spoilery

It
by Stephen King

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Published: 2016
Publisher: Scribner; Reissue edition
Genre: Horror
Paperback: 1156
Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
The terror, which would not end for another twenty-eight years—if it ever did end—began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain.

Soon to be a major motion picture—Stephen King’s terrifying, classic #1 New York Times bestseller, “a landmark in American literature” (Chicago Sun-Times)—about seven adults who return to their hometown to confront a nightmare they had first stumbled on as teenagers…an evil without a name: It.

Welcome to Derry, Maine. It’s a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real.

They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But the promise they made twenty-eight years ago calls them reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city’s children. Now, children are being murdered again and their repressed memories of that terrifying summer return as they prepare to once again battle the monster lurking in Derry’s sewers.

First off, I was not expecting that the book was a chunkster! The other Stephen King novel I read that was similar in size was The Stand which was an awesome read indeed. So based on that and the hype for this book, I am excited to put in the time for this horror-ific experience.

My two-bits:

CHAPTERS 1-3: (Daniel's post)

This section covered the introduction to the main six (maybe seven) characters. Each individual is presented with their quirks and ugly sides. However, what is interesting to note is the common loyalty they share to fulfill a promise they made in their childhood past. This is the mystery. What is the pact they made?

Already, I can tell that I am in for a wild ride.


THE FIRST INTERLUDE & CHAPTERS 4-7: (Daniel's take)

Zombie sighting:
George's eyes would be blank and terrible, the eyes of a zombie in a horror movie.
-page 248, chapter 5

New friendships and boy bonding begin amongst the main characters.

IT experiences are shared.

CHAPTERS 8-9 & THE SECOND INTERLUDE: (Daniel's take)

More IT experiences shared. And, we get a girl's perspective. With the formation of friendships, the courage and self esteem of the kids start to build. The time period details and descriptions are captured so well.

CHAPTERS 10-12 & THE THIRD INTERLUDE: (Daniel's take)

A reunion of the kids as grown-ups takes place. But also, each experience a brief reunion with their personal It. Horror images and all-around creepiness begins for them again. More dark Derry history is revealed as well.

CHAPTERS 13-16: (Daniel's take)

This section takes us back to the past with the kids and Mike's entry into the group along with his experience with It. So yeah, more history. And the kids are coming to terms with the need to do something about It.

Also, there is an interesting bit where Eddie talks about grownups and monsters.

CHAPTERS 17-18 & THE FOURTH INTERLUDE: (Daniel's take)

Major bullying and retaliation. The Loser's Club solidifies as a group.

CHAPTERS 19-20: (Daniel's take)

Zombie sighting:
Although still afraid, Mike had gotten over the debilitating idea that it might be Stan Uris, returned from the grave, called back by the scars on his palms, some eldritch magnetism which had brought him back like a zombie in a Hammer horror film.
-chapter 19, page 933

Quick flip flopping between terrors of the past with terrors in the present with the Losers club. King does so well with the transitions.

CHAPTERS 21-22: (Daniel's take)

The showdown and reveal of what truly is IT.

CHAPTER 23-EPILOGUE: (Daniel's take)

The town of Derry reverts back to a sleepy town. Great to get a wrap-up with the aftermath and battle scars.

MOVIE:

It (2017)
Director: Andy Muschietti
Screenplay: Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, Gary Dauberman
Based on book by: Stephen King
Starring: Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis,
Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer,
Wyatt Oleff, Bill Skarsgård
-Adventure, Drama, Horror | imdb | my rating: 4
A group of bullied kids band together when a shapeshifting demon, taking the appearance of clown, begins hunting children.

For Fall Film challenge: about fortitude

Gotta hand it to the kids for figuring out things. This version did not get too much into the paranormal bits found in the book. Clown creepiness cringe moments, indeed.

TO add to the creepy, we spotted this in the theatre lobby after the show. Ahhhh.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara

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Twitter @alittlelifebook

Release date: March 10, 2015
Publisher: Doubleday
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Literary
Hardback: 736 pages
Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
The Eleventh Apartment had only one closet, but it did have a sliding glass door that opened onto a small balcony, from which he could see a man sitting across the way, outdoors in only a T-shirt and shorts even though it was October, smoking.

Brace yourself for the most astonishing, challenging, upsetting, and profoundly moving book in many a season. An epic about love and friendship in the twenty-first century that goes into some of the darkest places fiction has ever traveled and yet somehow improbably breaks through into the light. Truly an amazement—and a great gift for its publisher.

When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their center of gravity. Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.

In rich and resplendent prose, Yanagihara has fashioned a tragic and transcendent hymn to brotherly love, a masterful depiction of heartbreak, and a dark examination of the tyranny of memory and the limits of human endurance.

My two-bits:

The cover says it all. It was a pleasure and pain to read this chunkster of a book. And, it lasted about 3 months long for me. I read it off and on. Small doses worked for me as some scenes were intense and others required pondering and still others I wanted to just hold on to the happiness state before the next drama. My attention was captured each time and there was no doubt that I would finish this book.

I love how the author breathes life into her characters by getting into the fine details and aspects of her character's lives. There is a touch of fantasy with the characters in that you have them so perfect one way and so flawed in others. However, this just makes her messages hit home with emotional punches.

From this I roller coaster ride of emotions in this book, I was left with thoughts evoked by the themes of loneliness and friendship.

~*~

Tournament of Books short list nominee (details)

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Illuminae
by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon | Goodreads | BookExcerpt
AMIE: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest
Tumblr | Twitter @AmieKaufman
JAY: Website | Facebook | Twitter @misterkristoff

Release date: October 20, 2015
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Genre: SciFic, YA
Hardback: 608 pages
Rating: 5

The Illuminae Files trilogy:
Illuminae
book 2 - tba

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do.

This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto one of the evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

My two-bits:

Although a chunkster of a book, it reads fast as the story is told via chat sessions, emails and reports. Illustrations and schematics are included to compliment the feel of the book.

Loved the presentation of this book (although I read an ARC). I am tempted to get a final copy for the full effect.

Loved the characters and how they interact via mostly online.

Got me thinking of AI's and robots.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of publisher

* see if the authors will be in your town in November (here)

* read this during Dewey's 24 hour Read-a-thon (here)