The World's Common Tater

I bounced back from a dismal three books in May and finsihed five books in June. Tme in airports and on airplanes at the beginning of the month helped as did my desire to finish a book yesterday before a trip to the library so I could return it. Here’s what I read.

1, City of the Dead by Jonathan Kellerman

The latest in the Alex Delaware series. Milo and Alex respond to a scene where a naked man was hit by a truck and then a woman is found dead in a nearby house.

It was your typical Delaware novel. They delve into their personal lives to find out who might have killed them. I like a good mystery and Alex and Milo are a good team. It’s always good to have familiar territory when you are in a reading slump.

2. Stalker by Lars Kepler

I picked this book up when we won a round of pub quiz at the Maryland/Delaware Library Conference. I like to take the freebies like this when I travel so I can leave it behind for someone if I finish and I don’t have to worry about it getting lost or damaged. I didn’t realize it was part of a series until I had been reading for a while and decided to add it to Goodreads. Luckily, I didn’t feel like I was missing much without reading the others.

It is a Swedish novel and revolves around the Swedish police tracking a serial killer who sends videos of the women to the police when he is about to kill them. They enlist a psychologist to help with interviewing one of the victim’s husbands. The main character of the series appears later in the book when someone goes to find him where he has been living with his family after the events of a previous book. Not knowing he was the main character, I was confused about that part of the story.

I did enjoy the book. I had a suspect in mind as the possible killer and I was wrong. I was not expecting the reveal. I’m always happy when a book surprises me. I did like the main character and will probably go back and read the previous books.

3. Razzmatazz by Christopher Moore

In this sequel to Noir, Sammy “Two Toes” Kiffin is back on the case in 1947 San Francisco. This time he is tracking the killer of two drag kings while also helping his friend Eddie “ Moo Shoes” Shu retrieve a dragon statue his uncle stole from the tongs years ago. Sammy’s girlfriend “The Cheese” is busy on a secret task involving welding.

Noir was my least favorite book by one of my favorite authors. I like Razzmatazz more, but it was still not as good as the rest of his work. If you haven’t read Moore, I recommend going back and reading Lamb, Practical Demonkeeping, or Bloodsucking Fiends.

4. Nomadland by Jessica Bruder

Bruder goes on the road to live amongst and interview the nomads who live in vans and RVs. She writes about how they got there, the temporary jobs they take to survive, and the community they built.

The idea of living as a nomad is interesting and something I would even consider, but the book bored me. Chapter after chapter of “here are the RV people in a new place” Maybe I should have watched the movie instead.

5. The Investigator by John Sandford

John Sandford has written 30 books about Lucas Davenport. In this one, he shifts the story to Lucas’ adopted daughter Letty. Letty is on 24 years old and working in the office of a US Senator. She is restless, bored, and ready to quit until the Senator offers her a new position working as an investigator alongside the Dpeartment of Homeland Security. She is teamed with DHS investigator John Kaiser to look into the theft of oil to determine who is stealing it and where the money is going.

As with most books these days, I felt this one was a little too long. It took a bit to get to the exciting part of the book. Once Letty and Kaiser find the militia that is stealing the oil and discovers their plans the action picks up and the book gets better. Sandford didn’t need almost 400 pages to tell this story. Letty and Kaiser make a good team, though Letty is a little too perfect. He needs to ease up on that in future books. I did like the open ending with the possibility of a continuing nemesis for her. I will read the next one because I love Sandford’s work.