?Have You Heard??Audiobooks For Your Listening Pleasure ?The Best of October?

Posted October 31, 2020 by RobbieLea in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

#thickastheives #sandrabrown #kyfbrewer #shawdowsindeath #jdrobb #susanericksen #troublesinparadise #elinhilderbrand #erinbennett #thesentinel #leechild #andrewchild #scottbrick

If you are thinking the common thread for October’s listens is something to do with horror in honor of Halloween, you would be wrong. I love my psychopaths, but I can only deal with so much horror and the last time I tried a month of horror,  I heard things go bump in the night well past Christmas!!! I’m sure each of you has authors whose new releases you look forward to and whose work you grab up as soon as it’s published. Despite the Curse of 2020, the stars managed to align for four of my favorites to publish in the same month! The first is an author whose work I’ve followed for over 30 years, Sandra Brown. The second is J.D. Robb who feeds my Eve and Roarke addiction. The third is Elin Hilderbrand who chose this month to end her Paradise trilogy. The fourth and last to publish is Lee Child along with Andrew Child whose creation Jack Reacher will never take a back seat to anybody!

Once upon a time four foolish men. spurred on by the one in the group who is truly evil, hatch a scheme to steal money from a local business. Each of them has his reason for being involved in this fateful plot and each of them gets away with the crime even though no one has the money. It has disappeared, along with one of the four, leaving behind one dead, one in jail for another crime, and  Mr. Truly Evil scrambling for an alibi. Time passes. Two of the men are grown-ups, the one who is missing is still missing and, of course, the one who is dead is still dead. Now inquiring minds want answers. Where is the missing man and where is the money? And what will be the price of finding out? Sandra Brown has been one of my go-to authors for years. Her books rarely disappoint and so it’s 4 stars to Thick as Thieves and to Kyf Brewer who gives Ledge Burnet a perfect voice!

When you have a couple of characters who are not only married to each other but who have backstories that run the gamut from traumatic childhoods to challenging professions and unimaginable wealth, any author worth his or her salt is going to let characters from that back story pop up from time to time. That’s exactly what J. D. Robb does in Shadows in Death, her latest chapter in the Eve and Roarke story. Imagine Roarke’s shock when he looks into the face of an old nemesis at a murder scene. There’s no question as to who ended the life of a prominent wife and mother . . . there isn’t even much question as to the motivation. The question that runs throughout the storyline is to what extreme the killer, who claims to be the son of Roarke’s father Patrick Roarke, will go to to get revenge on the man whom he perceives as having stolen his birthright. Will he risk a very profitable life as a paid killer? Will he go after Roarke’s cop? Will he place the family with whom Roark has found love and acceptance in jeopardy? We know that Roarke will fiercely protect everything he sees as his so no real surprises in this one. It does reinforce one thing – don’t mess with Roarke!  4 Stars to the author and 5 Stars to Susan Ericksen for consistently performing this series.

The only problem I have with trilogies is – they’re trilogies which means Troubles in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand is the last installment of her Winter in Paradise series. What a conclusion! Since we just survived Hurricane Sally and Tropical Storm Zeta ourselves, it was fitting that I should listen to a book where the characters also survive a hurricane. A baby is born,  romances are rekindled, and a mysterious stalker connects the dots for the Steele family as they struggle to move past the ultimate betrayal of husband and father. We have a satisfying ending and even though the future is uncertain, the author leaves it filled with promise for the characters. Just a side note: there is a reason why those of us who love the coastal areas stay despite nature’s inevitable tricks and the author makes the perfect case for it. Erin Bennett gives a 5 Star performance of characters whose ages run from old to young to “not from around here.”

The book of Proverbs states that rushing into another person’s quarrel is like grabbing a stray dog by the ears. No one communicated this wise saying to our man Jack Reacher since we find him doing that very thing in The Sentinel by authors Lee Child and Andrew Child. This is a somewhat different Reacher than we’re used to, but he is still the same guy who can clear a room with or without a weapon. Just my opinion . . . there’s no such thing as a bad Reacher book even though this one holds no surprises. If you’re a Reacher fan, just sit back and enjoy a visit with the man who would grab a stray dog by the ears to help a stranger. I’m still trying to get used to Scott Brick as the voice of Reacher. Although he is an excellent performer, I still hear Dick Hill in my head.

Thank You For Following Us at Literati Literature Lovers and Happy Listening in November!

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