Thorsday Book Review

Today's book is a Kindle selection. I got this for free, but if it's the first in a series of books, I'd surely enjoy reading others!

BECOMING QUINN
Brett Battles

Jake Oliver is a 22 year old rookie cop in Phoenix, on patrol with his partner one night, when they answered a call to a barn fire.

Durrie is a "cleaner" on a team of 6 men sent to terminate someone, set up around the barn. An extra person turned up with the target, and also needed to be terminated. The extra body was covered up by the barn fire, and everything was removed from the scene as the team left.

Senior detectives at the scene of the fire were fairly well convinced that the fire was simply an accidental blaze started by kids, but Oliver noted marks in the dirt, which could have been made by a cable. The next day, he found a matchbook left behind by the killer. These two things caused Jake Oliver to start a hunt to find the killer or killers, causing his suspension from the Phoenix PD, and a change in his life which would have been unimaginable when he left his home in Minnesota just a year earlier.

This book was well written, engaging and exciting. I'm looking forward to finding more books written by Brett Battles.

I should, however, mention another book I started, if only to warn you that you should NOT even bother with this book. One Hundred Open Houses by Consuelo Saah Baehr was so boring that I quit after 11% of the book. I just couldn't bring myself to care. It was about a woman who lives in one of the outer boroughs of New York City, or maybe on Long Island, who starts going to open houses in the city, and musing about the houses she sees, and connections she has or might have to them. Let me give you an example.

The dark brick Tudor style house sat on the Main Line's main thoroughfare, perched atop a grassy lawn, and shaded by magnificent trees. The overall impression outside was that the house was dark, very dark. Inside, the halls were nice, but the floors squeaked mercilessly. After walking around for a couple of minutes, my husband said to Jack, the realtor, "We're not interested. This house has termites." When Jack questioned this statement, my beloved bounced on the floor in several locations in the kitchen and hallway, pointed out a couple of obvious (to him) signs, and said, "This is termite damage. I can't fix this house."

That's the true story of what we came to call The Termite Tudor, and a damn sight more interesting than any anecdote in this book, since the protagonist is walking alone into open houses and conversing with no one. I never quit less than 1/4 of the way through any book, because I don't feel I gave it a fair shake if I do, but I made an exception for this one. Seriously, even if you find it for free on your Kindle, as I did, don't bother. You'll be mad at yourself for wasting your time.

Happy Thorsday, everyone!