Category: Books-Fiction

The Disappearing – Lori Roy – Edgar Worthy!

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The Disappearing – Lori Roy

Lori Roy’s first novel Bent Road was published in 2011. In 2012 it won an Edgar Award for best first novel. Lori’s third book Let Me Die in His Footsteps was published in 2015. It won an Edgar for Best Novel in 2016. That win made Lori thee first woman to win An Edgar Allen Poe Award for both  Best First Novel and Best Novel. She’s only the third person to do it overall!

Her latest release The Disappearing was released last year to rave reviews. After finishing the book the other day I’m ready to join that group who have  raved about the book. While it’s not the type of book I usually read I truly enjoyed the book.

About The Disappearing

The Disappearing tells the story of Lane Fielding ,who after twenty years away, has returned to her hometown in Florida. Lane had fled her hometown partially to escape from her father’s sins as the former director of an infamous boys school. The sins included.severely beating and maybe killing boys who were sent there. Lane also fled to escape her own past!

The story opens with the disappearance of a Florida State  coed who had been working at the Fielding Plantation. This disappearance is eerily similar to Lane’s own disappearance. And when Lane’s daughter Annalee disappears the Fielding family’s lives are turned upside down. Could it be revenge for all their pasts sins?

Praise for The Disappearing 

Ok so I can tell you how much I liked the book, but authors Lisa Unger and Michael Koryta. can tell you better than I can.

As dark  and as atmospheric as a northern Florida summer night The Disappearing is Lori Roy at the top of her game. Her shimmering tale is at the heart a compelling mystery. But it is also a deep meditation on family and the secrets and lies that can twist through our lives like a strangler fig. The powerful sense of place and a haunting cast of characters linger long after the book is closed. If you haven’t read Lori Roy,  now is the time – Lisa Unger

From:Michael Koryta

Lori Roy has been on my must-read list since her debut. There’s a reason she’s already won two Edgar awards-exemplary plotting, clever twist, and compelling characters-but for me it is her voice that holds the most power she writes with an ingenius whispering menace and a masterful understanding of the way the past works on the present, and on the human heart. The Disappearing is her finest work to date.

The bottom line is The Disappearing is a great read . So Check It Out! As for me I can’t wait until June when Lori’s new book Gone Too Long will be released!

Links for Further Exploration of the Books of Lori Roy

Author’s Website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

Amazon

 

Eighteen Below – Stefan Ahnhem – A Cut Above!

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Well I didn’t do badly in writing in January,  it over the last week I have been slipping behind. Here’s a short post to try to catch up a little.

Eighteen Below – Stefan Ahnhem (Fabian Risk #3)

Yesterday, I finished my second read for February. It was Eighteen Below by Stefan Ahnhem. It is the third book in the Fabian Risk series. I read books one and two Victim without a Face and The Ninth Grave In 2018. The series has quickly become one of my favorites.

In this install Fabian a member of the Helsingborg crime squad……..

A Pause for some Geography – Where is Helsingborg?

Time out. It, time to learn a little geography’

In the first map I can see Helsingborg in relationship to Denmark. So Helsingborg is at the southern tip of Sweden and is just a bit northwest of Copenhagen. In the second map I see that Helsingor Denmark is just a little southeast of Helsingborg. You’ll see in a minute how that is important.

Back to Eighteen Below

But back to the plot of Eighteen Below. Fabian and his squad mates are chasing a diabolical criminal who has assumed the identity of a Swedish billionaire and liquidated all his wealth. And may be moving on to new victims!

While in the aforementioned Danish city of Helsingor, Dunja Hougaard now a street police officer is in the midst of her own investigation. Dunja is now a street cop because of what happened in a previous book in the series.

Dunja has uncovered  a series of murders which have been committed and filmed by a group of people, filmed and put online.  As the story develops the murders get more heinous, and the story lines start to intertwine.And the nearness of the two cities make that possible.

Eighteen  Below has two great main storylines but it also has a nimber of wonderful subplots. As Fabian and his wife Sonja deal with marital problems. Fabian’s boss deals with her problem with alcohol. While Dunja struggles with her problems with her bosses.

Final Thoughts About Eighteen Below

All in all I think Eighteen Below is a terrific book. It has two great storylines developing at the same time. And it has some twists that kept me guessing. Best of all it has a cast of great characters headed by Fabian and Dunja. Characters who not only have to deal with diabolical murderers, but also the reality of everyday life – a wife, kids and sometimes a boss that’s a real jerk!

So Check Out al three of the Fabian Risk Books by Stefan Ahnhem. As for me the last few pages of Eighteen Below left me wishing I could move right into book four!

Six Great Books Start 2019 with a Bang!!

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Here are the book I read in January of 2019. They certainly have gotten my reading year off to a great start!

 

  1. 1. She Rides Shotgun – Jordan Harper

The she that is riding shotgun is young Polly McCluskey .And she’s riding shotgun with her father Nate McCluskey. Nate is just getting out of prison when he runs afoul of the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood. The leader put out a green light on his murder . That puts everyone he cares for including his ex-wife and daughter Polly in danger.

Soon Nate and Polly are riding for their lives and freedom. This is a great book with great characters. It’s one of those books that works on multiple levels to teach us about love, life and family. So Check It Out! Here’s a great review

Read LJ’s 5-star review of She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper

 

 

2. Beyond the Messy Truth – Van Jones

Van Jones discusses the political divide in the United States. In letters to both sides he provides areas of common ground we can all can meet. You can read more about Beyond the Messy Truth at Goodreads

3. The Other Wife – Michael Robotham

Michael Robotham series featuring Joe O’Loughlin is one of my favorites.. In this installment of the series Joe gets a call from a distraught woman who tells him he must come to London. His father has been attacked and is fighting for his life. She claims to be his father’s “other wife” and has been that for the last twenty years! Talk about your life being turned upside down!

Anyway, Joe is left to discover the truth about the attack and “the other wife”. Once again Joe and his friend former Police inspector Vincent Cruz set out to discover what’s going on!!

Read LJ’s 5-star review of The Other Wife by Michael Robotham

Been So Long
4. Been So Long – Jorma Kaukonen


Been So Long is, as the subtitle says, the tale of the Life and Music of Jorma Kaukonen. For those of you who weren’t around for the birth of psychedelic rock, Jorma was the lead guitarist for Jefferson Airplane.

Jorma’s career from those early days in San Francisco. Although, I admit I really didn’t follow the music of Hot Tuna beyond the first two albums That is until Jorma and Jack Casady went back in the studio and recorded Steady As She Goes. At the time of the album’s release it was the first Hot Tuna album in  35 years!

I did though follow Jorma’s solo career that started with his dream bluegrass album Blue Country Heart

I learned a lot about the life of Jorma from Been So Long. Jorma does not tell his story by looking through 60s rose colored glass. He tells it like it is and at times it wasn’t pretty.  Several times while reading the section of the book covering Hot Tuna I went to Spotify and listened and enjoyed albums I never listened to before! Anyway, it’s a great read for any music fan! So Check It Out!

5. Valhalla Rising – Clive Cussler

Ok so looking at my Goodreads I see that the last Dirk Pitt novel I read was Treasure. It’s book 10 in the series. I finished Treasure on June  24, 1990!! Yikes!! That’s five months before my daughter Elizabeth was born.

Anyway, the next book in the series is Sahara which along with several other novels is on my bookshelf. But for some reason Valhalla Rising (#16) caught my eye. I thought I haven’t read a book in this series for a while! Not remembering the true length of time it’s been!

Valhalla Rising is another action packed Dirk Pitt adventure. As Dirk battles a ruthless corporate executive  who will stop at nothing and that includes killing innocent people to get what he wants!

I always enjoy books where I learn something along the way. Valhalla Rising I learned something’s about Norse settlements in the Hudson River Valley as well as the model for Jules Vernes’ Captain Nemo of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea fame. So Check It Out! As for me the next book I the series Trojan Odyssey is on my book shelf????

Noise 

 

6. A Noise Downstairs – Linwood Barclay

Over the last few years, Linwood  Barclay has been one of my favorite authors. His Promise Falls books have solidified him as one of the best. At least in my humble opinion.

Characters often appear in more than one of his standalone books. In A Noise Downstairs the setting of Mitford, Connecticut is a familiar locale.

The story begins when College Professor Paul Davis spots a colleagues car traveling with a broken taillight. Paul follows his friend. When the friend stops, so does Paul. When Paul gets near the car he sees that his friend is holding a shovel and there are two dead women are in the back seat of the car.

By the time Paul realizes what’s happening the shovel is flying towards Paul’s head.

Paul survives, his friend goes to jail. Eight months later Paul is still battling demons and wondering why his friend did what he did. He decides to write about it. His wife is supportive and one day brings home an old typewriter fo him to use. Soon Paul hears the typewriter clicking in the middle of the night! Notes appear a seemingly written by the dead women. What’s going on? Can he discover the truth before he goes mad??

Once again Barclay creates an ordinary man caught in an extraordinary situation. A situation that will take survival skills to the limit!

A.J. Finn writes….

“Linwood Barclay’s novels -as intelligent as Michael Connelly’s, as compelling as Harlan Coben’s – never fail to astonish. A Noise Downstairs, his best work yet, is a cobra of a story. Smooth,slippery , unnerving …. and likely to strike when you least expect it. I devoured this book”

Me, too. You should, too!

 

 

The Other Wife – Michael Robotham

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3. The Other Wife – Michael Robotham

Michael Robotham series featuring Joe O’Loughlin is one of my favorites.. In this installment of the series Joe gets a call from a distraught woman who tells him he must come to London. His father has been attacked and is fighting for his life. She claims to be his father’s “other wife” and has been that for the last twenty years! Talk about your life being turned upside down!

Anyway, Joe is left to discover the truth about the attack and “the other wife”. Once again Joe and his friend former Police inspector Vincent Cruz set out to discover what’s going on!!

Van Jones’ Beyond the Messy Truth Kick Starts My 2019 Reading!

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Van Jones’ Beyond the Messy Truth – How We Came Apart-How We Come Together Kicks Starts 2019

So last year I reached what I thought was an unreachable Reading Challenge goal of reading 65 books. At some point in the next week or two I will recap what I read and how those books fit into my various sub-Reading Challenges! Additionally, I will be creating and writing about my 2019 Reading Challenges.

However, let’s get started by writing about what I have already read in 2019. As well as,  the books that I plan to read in January.

Beyond the Messy Truth – How we Came Apart – How We Come Together

First the first book I finished, actually on the first day of January, was Van Jones’ Beyond the Messy Truth – How we Came Apart – How We Come Together

I think Van Jones gets it and presents some really good ideas in this book. His overriding thought is that our divided country needs to take a step back and start to find common ground.

In Beyond the Messy Truth Jones presents open letters to both Liberals and Conservatives outlining many things that they get right and those they get wrong. I will say many of his points made me stop and think about my actions toward some conservatives.

He presents examples of policy areas where liberals and conservatives can come together for the common good. In these chapters he discusses the policy initiatives led by the unlikely duo of conservative Orrin Hatch and Liberal Ted Kennedy!

The Duality of The Founding of America

A highlight for me  were his statements about the duality found in the founding of our country

FROM THE VERY BEGINNING OF this country, America has been two things, not one. We have our founding reality and our founding dream. And the two are not the same.

The founding reality is that there were around when our country was founded. Those realities included slavery and the fact that it was founded by rich white males. But there was also a founding dream. The Declaration of Independence best says that dream, when it states that “all men are created equal’

At our best, our mission is simple. For more than two centuries, we have been working to close the gap between the ugliness of our founding reality and the beauty of our founding dream. Each generation tries to narrow that gap a little bit more than the last one did.

We need to be guided by both our conservative values coupled with our progressive principles to close that gap.

 The Bottom Line

I believe that his book should be passed out to everyone working in Congress and the White House. It should also be read by anyone who is concerned about shrinking the divide between conservatives and liberals   . Uh, which should be basically everybody!!

Two Opposites Have Praise for Beyond the Messy Truth!

Here’s what two people with divergent opinions on just about everything have to say about Beyond the Messy Truth….

 

“Van Jones is a light in the darkness when we need it most. Beyond the Messy Truth breaks with the tribalism of today’s politics and offers us a way forward. In the tradition of the great bridge builders of our past, Van’s love for this country and all its people shines through.” —CORY BOOKER, U.S. senator, New Jersey

“If I say I’m actually friends with Van Jones, will that cause conservatives to read the book or just cause progressives not to? I hope they all read it—I disagree with Van on just about everything, but I respect him for being authentic in his convictions and for having the ability to articulate them forcefully but fairly.” —MIKE HUCKABEE, former governor of Arkansas and Republican presidential candidate.

Find It Read It, Think about It and Act!

Links for Further Exploration of Van Jones

Van Jones

The Dream Corp

Rebuild the American Dream 

So how good would a post be about coming together without “Get Together by The Youngbloods

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spDh6EY761U

Where My November Reads Took Me -Part 2

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After Dial D for Deadman, I reluctantly left the world of Dan Deadman and returned to Earth. I landed in Siglufjörðurhe a quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland. Here I met Ari Thor Arason In Ragnar Jonasson’s Nightblind.

Nightblind – Rgnar Jonasson

Siglufjörðurhe is an isolated village only accessible via a small mountain tunnel. The small close-knit town is one where no one locks their doors. In Nightblind their world is rocked when a policeman is killed at a quiet house with a disturbing past.

The murdered officer was Ari Thór’s partner. Thor would have been on-duty the night of the murder but he had called out sick. Thor and the town’s former police chief are tasked with the job of unraveling the mystery. It’s complex mystery involving the compromised new mayor. Along the way the reader is also given glimpses of a psychiatric ward in Reykjavik where a patient writes about his confinement and the reason for it!

All in all, it was a good visit. I enjoyed both the plot and the characters. Nightblind is the second book in Jonasson’s  Dark Iceland series.and you can bet I’ll be visiting Iceland again. First, to find out what happened prior to Nightblind in Snowblind and then after in Blackout! I can’t wait.

Noumenon – Marina J. Losteller

Following Nightblind,  I traveled back to space with Marina J Lostetter’s Noumenon.  More precisely I traveled wit a convoy to the anomalous star LQ Pyxidis and back. A book Kirkus reviews calls “A striking adventure story that could hold a galaxy in its scope’

Noumenon chronicles humanity’s first adventures beyond the solar system,  The story is chronicles the aforementioned mission to visit LQ Pyxidis. The mission was the brainchild of Astrophysicist Reggie Straifer. Starifer thousands of others join a convoy of nine ships on a mission to reveal the origins of this anomalous star.

Since the mission would take centuries, it was decided that the travelers would not be frozen. Rather the mission would be composed of clones of Earth’s best scientists.

The story is told through a series of vignettes each featuring a different set of lead characters at various points along the journey. The only consistent character, and maybe the most interesting, is the ship’s A1 or ICC, short for Inter Convoy Computing.

I didn’t like these vignettes t first. It seemed, I would just be getting to know and like a character and boom they were gone! However, as the book progressed and I became aware of the length of the journey I saw the need for different characters.

The bottom line is that I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I am looking forward to reading the next book Noumenon Infinity. Here is a great review of Noumenon from  BarnesandNoble.com.

Finally, I have caught you up on the six books that I read in  November. In addition, I’ve told you about all the great places I have visited without leaving the comfort of my home!

Next up my first two December reads!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where My November Reads Took Me – Part 1

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So as I finished Still Waters book number 61 for 2018, I  thought of a way to recap my November reads. The setting for Still Waters is the Swedish island of Sandhamn. Which made me thinks of all the other places I visited in November via the books I read. So here are the first three books I read…….

No Defense - Kate WilhelmKate Wilhelm  – No Defense

Kate Whilhelm’s No Defense (54) was the first book I read in November.The book is the fifth book in  Wilhelelm’s Barbara Holloway a lawyer working out of Eugene, Oregon. Most of the action in No Defense takes place in the high desert region of southeastern Oregon. In the book Barbara must defend a woman accused of killing her husband and making it look like an accident. Of course the woman has “no defense”. The characters were good and the story interesting with a twisting ending!

 Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke – Girl’s Night Out

After visiting Oregon, I traveled 3,700 miles in a southeasterly direction and visited Tulum in the Yucatán Penisula if Mexico. Book 55 was Girls Night Out  by the writing duo of    And Liz Fenton. In Girls Night Out  three long-time friends Ashley, Lauren, and Natalie who have been estranged for the last year are going on vacation to hopefully set aside hurt differences and become friends again. But when  Natalie wakes up alone on the beach after a night out and Ashley is missing their lives are turned upside down.

Flashbacks tell the story from the perspective of each of the main characters.I didn’t like this over the first few chapters, However, as the story progressed I thought it was a great way to present the tale. The chapters deal not it only  with Ashley’s disappearance but also the  issues that have driven them apart. This is not a book that I would typically read but I found it interesting and enjoyed it.

Karin Slaughter – Pieces of Her

After Tulum, Mexico I headed  to Belle Isle, Georgia where in the seashore town I met Laura and her daughter Andrea in Karin Slaughter ‘s Pieces of Her. (Book 56). In this book Slaughter explores the possibility your mother may not be who you think she is!  When put in a life and death situation Andrea’s mother responds in ways Andrea could never imagine her professorial mother responding. Soon Andrea’s mother tells her that her life is in danger and she needs to run away to Idaho! As she runs, Andrea discovers more pieces of her mother’s life. Slaughter also enlightens the reader about pieces of  Laura’s life via alternating chapter. They revealing both the past and the present. Once again a five star read from Karin Slaughter!!

 

Barry J Hutchinson – Dial D for Deadman 

The next book took me to Outer Space and the world of Dan Deadman inn Barry J. Hutchinson’s Dial D for Deadman. Dan Deadman who has actual been dead for a while, first meets a strange girl . Dan and his leprechaun friend Artur are then tasked with finding a missing girl. Funny, fun book and Deadman and his friends are great characters! I am ready for the next book in this series.!

I came back to Earth for my next read and landed in Iceland……….. find out where in part two!!

 

 

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No Defense – Kate Wilhelm – Rescued from the Giveaway Pile!

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Let’s Start A New Series – No Defense – Kate Wilhelm (Barbara Holloway # 5)
This afternoon I finished  No Defense by Kate Wilhelm. It is the 54th book I have read in 2018. And how I came to read it is a little different. A few weeks ago I came home with nine books from the used book sale at the library. Typically, when I do this my wife says “ that’s ok but now you need to get rid of nine books”. And I usually say “ yeah right!” Which of course means no way!
This time though, I thought maybe I should whittle down my to be read shelves of books. So I went through my paperbacks and came up with nine books to donate to the library for their next book sale. No Defense was one of the books I tossed in the box.
Anyway, the other night I looked over those books and pulled out No Defense to read figuring who knows maybe I’ll enjoy it! And enjoy it I did!
No Defense is book 5 in the Barbara Holloway series by Kate Wilhelm. It is the first book I have ever read in the series. It is also the first book I ever read penned by Ms. Wilhelm. From Goodreads….
 Barbara Holloway takes on a seemingly impossible case. Vinny and Lara Jessup’s wonderful marriage comes to a tragic end and Lara becomes the prime suspect when she is accused of staging the accident that killed her husband. With only the word of an accused woman and a mysterious box of papers about the unsolved murder of Vinny’s son, Barbara takes on the widow’s case. Read More
My Thoughts On No Defense
While I enjoyed the book overall. I did think that things moved rather slowly through the first half of the book. The second half of the book was much better. Especially when the pieces of the puzzle started to come together revealing what really happened.
I enjoyed the characters and felt they were well-developed. The blurb on the front cover of the book from The Chicago Tribune indicates that character development is one of Wilhelm’s strong points.
“Wilhelm cares as much about her characters as she does about the courtroom- which is why her books are such a genuine pleasure.”
I do think that I may have enjoyed the book a little more, if I had read the preceding four books. So will picking up a book that I was ready to give away lead me to another series to read. I guess we’ll  see!!
About Kate Wilhelm
While I was reading about Kate Wilhelm before writing this post I discovered that she passed away this past March. That was two months before her 90th birthday. Mirror, Mirror the 14th book in the Barbara Holloway series was released in 2017, fifty-four years after the release of her first novel!
Here’s  little bout Ms. Wilhelm from her Goodreads page…..
Kate Wilhelm’s first short story, “The Pint-Sized Genie” was published in Fantastic Stories in 1956. Her first novel, MORE BITTER THAN DEATH, a mystery, was published in 1963. Over the span of her career, her writing has crossed over the genres of science fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy and magical realism, psychological suspense, mimetic, comic, and family sagas, a multimedia stage production, and radio plays. She returned to writing mysteries in 1990 with the acclaimed Charlie Meiklejohn and Constance Leidl Mysteries and the Barbara Holloway series of legal thrillers.
 Hmm,  the acclaimed Charlie Meiklejohn and Constance Leidl Mysteries. Maybe I need to check out those books, too! So many books, so little time!! Anyway, check out No Defense

Catching Up- What’s Been Happening – Part One

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 An Attempt at Catching Up!
Ok so the question before me today is – “How do I get back to blogging again after taking a month or more off?” I think the way I need to do it is to first try to catch up with what’s been happening on my Life’s Safari over the last two months and then create some challenges for the rest of the year.
Basically, there are maybe four aspects of my life that I blog about: the books that I read, the music that I listen to, the ways I attempt to turn back my biological clock and my family. My family blogging includes both my current family and my past family, I learn about through my genealogical research.
Now I will attempt to catch up on all that’s been going on in a number of posts. Here’s a brief summary of what I hope to be writing about in those posts.
The Books I’ve Read
My 2018 Reading Challenge goal was to read 65 books. Currently, I have read 50 of those books. That means in order to reach my goal of 65 I need to average five books per month over the last three months of 2018. Well actually I need to read six in one of those months.
The last book I have written about was book 46. Loner by Hildur Sif Thorarensen. It is the first book in her Oslo Mysteries series. You can read my review here.
Two of the other books that I have read are from two of my favorite authors. The first book 47 was Desolation Mountain  by William Kent Krueger,while book 49 was Lost Creed from Alex Kava.
The two other books I read were written by authors whose work I am reading for the first time. Book  48 was Caged by Ellison Cooper. While my most recent read, and book 50 for 2018, was Two Girls Down by Louisa Luna.
Caught Up- Needed Reviews and New Mini-Reading Challenges
Now I need to create some Mini-Reading Challenges for the coming months. Obviously the biggest reading challenge is to read 15 more books. But I have also created several challenges concerning the types of books I want to read. You can read about those challenges here. Over the next few days, what I need to do is review all the books I’ve read. Then see which Reading Challenge that book meets to ultimately see what types of books I need to include in those final fifteen books.
I have now caught you up on the books that I have read. Hopefully, I will be posting reviews of each book over the next week. Along with a couple new mini-challenges I need to create to try to meet my various 2018 Reading Challenges!! Once again wish me luck!

Loner by Hildur Sif Thorarensen. Everything You’d Want in a Nordic Mystery!

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NSo over the last several days,, after finishing Steve Hamilton’s Dead Man Running, I have finished two more books. The first was Loner by Hildur Sif Thorarensen. It is her debut novel and will be book #1 in the Oslo Mysteries series.

About Hildur Sif Thorarensen.

Hildur was born in Iceland but is currently living in Norway. Although, spending most of her adult years at the University, she’s been writing ever since she was a little girl and alongside Medical studies and a Master’s in Engineering, has also taken a year in Creative Writing.

Loner was written in Iceland and published in 2016. The English version of the book was published this year. Currently, she is writing the sequel. The sequel is to be concurrently published in both Icelandic and English. The anticipated release date is to be in early 2019. I for one can not wait.

About Loner

 

Loner, a police procedural finds  Oslo police detectives searching for a gruesome serial killer. From Amazon

Which is worse, trying to catch a cunning killer leaving decapitated women in the woods, or trying to tame an unconventional forensic psychiatrist that seems determined to go his own way?

The Oslo autumn is creeping in with its cold spells and Homicide Detective Julia Ryland is feeling pretty content with her team of three, but when the FBI behavioral analyst, Alexander Smith, is thrust upon her, the crisp autumn air doesn’t feel as refreshing anymore. A young Icelander is found dead, an arrow piercing his heart and the extensive list of his former lovers suggests that many long nights are ahead. The murdered lothario suddenly becomes the least of their problems as headless corpses start appearing in the woods, positioned in terrifying ways and on their bodies they find messages that don’t seem to have any meaning at all.

My Thoughts

 

Loner reminds me of several of the police procedural that I read. It’s like Bosch where Bosch is kind of the lone wolf and there are other detectives working on the case. In this case the odd man Alexander Smith is not a detective. He instead is a forensic psychologist. That makes him even more of an outsider, who needs to prove himself. He also has just moved to Norway. His mother is Norwegian and his father American. When his parents divorced his mom mother back to Norway.Alexander often visited but now has moved back to help her with her illness

.Alexander’s boss is Julia Ryland the head detective trying to hold the team together. Other team members are Hercules and Eric each with their own problems. Together they are an interesting cast of characters. Additionally, you can add the  serial killer to the cast of interesting characters. He was a stuttering member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Loner’s plot was consistently interesting and the pace of its unfolding kept me turning the pages rapidly. The ending of the book was satisfying and left me ready for the next installment! I think Tara Sariban of Bloody Murder Podcast sums up Loner nicely…

An atmospheric thriller with a heavy dose of humour that will have you laughing and full of suspense at the same time. The surprising plot developments made it impossible to put down!