This was an entertaining book that was a good selection for running. It was easy to listen to and follow. It was funny and engaging. I think I'll be listening to more of these as I go forward into my latest half-marathon training. I had already read #8.5 and I think #15 in this series. So I'm familiar with the setup but it was nice to see where it began. The whole series follows Stephanie Plum, a bounty hunter in Trenton, NJ. (Everything is legal in NJ). She was a discount lingerie buyer but was laid off and the only job she could find was working as a "recovery agent" for her sleazy cousin, a bondsman. So Stephanie decides for her first gig, she'll go after a big score. A bond worth $10,000. It just happens to be a high school love interest, Joseph Morelli. Morelli has been accused of murder after responding to a distress call from an informant. Morelli claims he shot in self defense, but as no gun was found on the dead man, Morelli is kind of out of luck.As Stephanie fumbles her way along to capturing Morelli, she begins to believe in his innocence. Even if she does still want to collect her bounty. In her search for Morelli, she encounters some unsavory characters, including the psychopath boxer, Benito Ramirez. Ramirez ends up being sexually sadistic and develops a grudge against Stephanie when she turns him down. He is actually pretty terrifying, for what is for the most part, a light hearted romp through the bounty hunter world. Even when someone gets blown up in this book, it's done slightly tongue in cheek. The character proclaims, "Fuck God" right before he's blown up. Whoops.People who are fans of the alphabet series will like this one as well even if Kinsey Millhone (catch my Q is for Quarry review here) and Stephanie Plum don't have much in common.
I'd probably want to give this one 4 stars since I was so entertained, but it was kind of consumable literature and I don't want to feel bad. So, 3.5/5 stars?
"Wait, wait," you say. "You NEVER give Millhone books 4 stars."
I know, I know. But this one. This one was different. This one was BETTER. This one earned it. (Plus is probably doesn't hurt that it comes after the extremely weak and confusing P is for Peril - see my review of that one here).
When I got to the author's note at the end, it all made sense. Grafton was inspired by a real case for this one. And for some reason, life really can be stranger than fiction, or at least more interesting. Sometimes real life offers us just the perfect mix of mystery, suspense, and horror. Whereas fiction can sometimes reach too far and somehow miss the mark.
Q is the story of an old unsolved murder with an unidentified victim. Lt. Dolan is trying to cheer up a friend of his by enlisting Kinsey's help in re-investigating a cold case of a woman who was dumped in a quarry in 1969. The victim is a Jane Doe - not much to go on. A small detail leads Kinsey and Dolan down state where they start to unravel not only the identity of the victim, but also the identity of the killer. The story unraveled well. Kinsey was helpful and even though the story involved some more background on her family, she didn't come across as a sulky teenager in this one when interacting with her family. So all in all, this is probably the best book in the alphabet series I have read. Is 2016 the year I finish the alphabet series? Probably not, but I'm going to keep reading them and hopefully some of the future installments measure up to this one.
4/5 Stars.
Talk about putting someone through the mommy guilt wringer. While reading listening to this book, I vacillated between chastising myself for essentially ruining my children's lives and patting myself on the back for maybe not doing such a bad job afterall. The final outcome is that yeah, I could probably do better as a parent. And lucky for my kids, I'd like to try to do better. I won't always get there, but I will try. So they've basically won the parenting lottery right?Essentially, if I had to condense this book's advice into a single sentence, it would be, "Don't be an asshole." And really that's kind of it. But it's more nuanced of course, as all things parenting are. In effect, we must realize that "do as I say, and not as I do" is not an effective parenting technique. Children learn by watching adults, and for the large portion of their early lives those role models are their parents. When we yell and overcome them with physical force to prove a point or to punish, we are modeling to them the way we believe they should handle their own conflicts. NO WONDER WE HAVEN'T ACHIEVED WORLD PEACE YET! It also touches on a lot of the evidence from studies that suggest that children cognitively cannot pull their behavior into line with our expectations with the kind of regularity we would expect from adults. So give the kids a break, show them some love, understanding, and compassion, and move on from a punishment mindset. All in all some good reminders for busy parents. If you don't want to read the entire book, just check out the website where a lot of these topics are discussed. You can find it here.
4/5 Stars.
I was totally blown away with the quality of writing and the stories in the Solos Omnibus Volume 3. What a great collection. I'm not sure where to really begin, but I guess I'll just discuss a couple of my favorites and reiterate that Ploughshares is probably the best single subscription I have ever invested in - check out their site here. And if you are not a subscriber you should seriously consider it.
Villa Boheme by Kevin Gonzalez follows a 15 year old boy and he navigates that narrow ledge of adolescence between childhood and adulthood. On one hand he yearns to feel older and life with his father in a run down hotel gives him that chance - an opportunity to be away from his mother who is distracted by a new romance. However, as time wears on, he begins to see that the freedom he craves has not come quite the way he desired. It's a pretty heartbreaking reminder that teenagers are full of contrast and conflict even in their own desires. The Brooks Brother Guru by Alix Ohlin involves Amanda whose cousin has recently declared via facebook that he is going to live in a group home and unplugging from the world. His concerned friends convince Amanda to track him down, which she does. She explores the new commune in which he lives and wonders if she can convince herself to give up certain things in her life in order to embrace the simplicity in which her cousin now lives. It's an interesting look on how much we are willing to adapt ourselves to a certain lifestyle in order to gain the things we think are important. The Beginning of the End of the Beginning by Anne Elliott was also a favorite. It involves Clay, a down and out performance artist who has kind of lost his way in the life of art. He stoops to getting a day job in order to pay some bills and in doing so, alienates his girlfriend and best friend. Their vicious revenge on him makes him contemplate what he is really doing with his life. Other honorable mentions are Cafe Deux Mondes is timely with Syrian immigrants opening a restaurant with their African American neighbors. It's well written and the friendship between the two women protagonists feels real and not at all contrived for the plot. Pie, about a former mennonite girl who is convinced to move west with a man who buys pie in her diner only to find out he's been keeping some secrets was also well done. The girl, Kathryn, must find her own way in a post-war era. Such a great collection and I'm so glad to have a subscription with access to the Omnibus, because the individual stories are usually around 2.99 a piece on the website, but for some really high quality short fiction, it's worth it.
5/5 Stars.
