The Space Between

The Space Between by Diana Gabaldon

Gabaldon is appeasing her many Outlander fans with this short novella. This is about neither Claire nor Jamie. It is, instead about Laoghaire's daughter Joan, Jaime's other step daughter and Jaime's nephew Michael and their trip to Paris.

Michael has been working for his great uncle's wine distribution company, Fraser et Cie, in Paris. Shortly after the death of his wife, he returned to Scotland for his father's death and funeral. When he returns to Paris, he is asked to escort Joan to a convent in Paris where Joan is hoping to take her orders after being a novice for at least a year.

The whispers of Joan's father Jaime, cause a case of mistaken identity and intrigue since Joan's lack of French keeps her from clarifying that he was her step-father.

This was a fun, quick read and it keeps up the anticipation of the next novel due out soon as well as the Stars series Outlander that airs in August, I believe.

Dragon's Triangle

Dragon's Triangle by Christine Kling

This book brought me back the The Garden of Evening Mists. The plot centers around the legend of the Golden Lily. This being that Japan had plundered the riches of every country it had invaded over the years.  During WWII, it became physically prohibitive for the Japanese ships to carry all the riches back to Japan so they decided to hide the booty in caves all around the Philippines and only the members of the royal family would know where the caves were. Of course they were killed and/or their maps were lost and the treasure has never been found.

In the Dragon's Triangle, our heroine happily sails wherever she wants and pays the bills by designing home security systems. She is a former member of the military with family secrets that trickle out as the story goes on. Some of these secrets were easy to deduce but a few others were a bit obscure.

This may be the first in a series and I'd be willing to read the next installment or another book by Kling.  It was a fun, quick read that was entertaining and exotic thanks to the locations covered.

The One You Love

The One You Love by Paul Pilkington

This was a pretty good thriller.  The protagonist, Emma Holden, has a tendency to make stupid decisions which are really annoying but it seems that this is a requirement for most thrillers.

It was a super bargain at $1 on the Kindle so I figured I'd give it a try.  There are more books by this author and I would be willing to read them.  Not a rousing thumbs up but not a thumbs down either.

Already Gone

Already Gone by John Rector

This is a crime thriller.  On page two our protagonist gets his finger cut off with bolt cutters.  If you can't handle that, don't read this book.

This isn't a crime thriller from the perspective of the police or even the criminal.  This is told from the voice of the guy who now only has 9 fingers.  He can't figure out what's going on and who he needs to be looking over his shoulder for.  He's a newly appointed University professor but he didn't start out all normal and straight laced and therein lies his dilemna.

This was a pretty good book and the first big twist I saw coming probably just because all other avenues had been exhausted and  I've read tons of these types of books.  The ending annoyed me big time though.  If you like crime drama, check it out and then let me know if you liked the ending or if you agree that it should have ended differently.  I mean, that one guy shouldn't have died, you know???

I, Alex Cross

I, Alex Cross by James Patterson

The Alex Cross series of books is really popular but I'm pretty sure this was my first one.  The first book in the series is Along Came a Spider.  This particular book is number 16 and I think he's up to 20 now.  James Patterson is an extremely prolific writer but most of his books are co-written.  The Alex Cross series is one of the few that seems to be coming from him directly.

This was a good police thriller mystery book.  It's clear why Patterson is a bestselling author.  He can definitely write a good thriller.  I have read a fair amount of mystery/thrillers in my time and I'm usually pretty good at guessing about mid-way through the book.  It was pretty late in the book before I had an inkling of who it could be.

If you want a fast thriller for summer vacation, this is a good one.

Angelology

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni

This book supposes that Genesis 6:5 is a record of how angels of heaven mated with human women and children were born.  These children were Nephilim and they walk the earth still.  God tried to cleanse the earth of the Nephilim during the Deluge.  One of the Nephilim killed Noah's son Napheth and used magic to appear to be Napheth.  After the flood, the sons of Noah spread across the land to repopulate.  Napheth and his family went to Europe.  All children of Napheth after this time were actually Nephilim.  These children were more ruthless than the human children that had been born to the real Napheth.  The Nephilim were more war-like and devious and had a tendency to be more financially and politically benefited in their lives.

Throughout time a group of humans called angelologist have been at war with the Nephilim.  They spend their time scouring ancient texts for clues of the family lines of Nephilim.  They are determined to stop at nothing until they can destroy all Nephilim on the planet and keep them from ruling over and manipulating the humans.

This books weaves Mythology, Legend and Biblical tales to create a thriller in modern day New York.

I found the basis interesting although it was really hard to get into the book at first.  I didn't really like the ending although I understand Trussoni is probably going to write more books in this series so it did set up for another.  If you want a thriller that is different from most, this is definitely it.  This is historical fiction in that it recounts some pretty ancient scenarios of biblical scholars alleged to be angelologist in the book.