Five Books (.com)

One of the best websites that my Twitter feed ever brought to my attention is: fivebooks.com But user beware-- as it is highly addictive and will quickly suck you into a black hole, compelling a person into creating endless -to-be-read- lists, or #TBR as they are known on literary Twitter. In 2021 I decided to read a person's entire list, however, as you will quickly note, I made two deviations. 

1) A fivebooks.com list is normally generated by an author whose most recent work is noted in the introduction. I feel it is only fair to read their book as well so my lists are at least 6 books long.

2) If my selected fivebooks.com compliation consists of titles are deep in a series of books (in other words-I am late to the party) then I substitute in an early (or beginning) book.

 

The Progeny by Tosca Lee

This is the book by the author who gathered up this list of thrillers for Five Books so I felt it was only fair to read one of her books as well. It was an okay book but I won't be reading more of her books and this is despite that this one ended on a blatent cliff hanger.

Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading his next book. I was shocked to realize that for some reason I figured out one of the culprits at the very beginning of the book.

Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby

A good well written page turner--swiftly plotted. A "good" man doing "bad" in the name of doing "right" by his family and then wondering why things don't work out as planned. I enjoyed the read just didn't have much sympathy or empathy for the man character.

These Women by Ivy Pochoda

This was a very interesting take on writing a book about a serial killer. The perspective is written from various women who surround the killer, whose voices generally go unheard. It was very interesting and well written. I enjoyed how she wove many separate threads and many separate voices.  I will definitely be reading more from this author. 

IQ by Joe Ide

The fivebooks.com list included Hi Five which is the fourth book in this series about the private investigator, Isaiah Quintabe, so I elected to start at the beginning with IQ #1. It was a fairly good read and a good start to the series and set up the main characters nicely. The plot depended on a lot of luck and circumstance but was cleverly done--I will be giving #2 (Righteous) a read soon.

Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger

For the most part I enjoyed this book. I think I may have read other books by Lisa Unger in the past but it was years ago. She is a good writer and can pen a face paced multi-faceted thriller with mostly well developed characters. It did keep me reading. However, it did feature a lot of repetitive narrative and a lot of cliche treatment of domestic abuse. The story surrounding Pearl, Selena, and Geneva was good--that was an interesting concept but the Graham story line was pretty cliche and blah blah blah- social media is fake. 

Hi! I'm Debbie. Here at Categorically Well-Read I give an extra layer to the reading life. Learn more about me, check out my current category of books, submit your own suggestion, or check out my latest post.