As I have recently finished reading all the Cole and Pike books by Robert Crais, as well as Demolition Angel by Crais, it was time to tackle his stand-a-lone books. This one is about a former hostage negotiator in L.A who is now the Chief of Police in a small town. A hostage situation comes…
Thanks to Netgalley for providing me this book to read and review before it’s officially published. I knew his voice primarily from the show, Futurerama, so, yeah, when I saw this book, I was intrigued. Billy’s childhood was very rough as he was physically and sexually abused. His dad was a drunk, and the primary…
As I have just finished with this one, I am a bit sad it was the last book, But, I am very hopeful that more Cole and Pike books will be available soon (or even Carol Starkey, John Chen, or Jon Stone stand-a-lone books). I really enjoyed all of them, even though, I knew that…
Last Tuesday, Niko’s school had a late start in the morning due to ice on the road, and about an hour or so after we got that notification through a text message and an email, they canceled school that day and told us it would be an “E-Learning Day”. I am very glad that here…
Being a fan of Gunnar and Matthew Nelson’s dad, Ricky Nelson (whose parents were Ozzie and Harriet Nelson), I was really intrigued and wanted to learn more about them. I only knew of one song by Nelson and Nelson, (Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection. The book is co-authored by both of them and…
After three weeks off from school (one of which he was sick), Niko goes back to school tomorrow. So, what did he do? Well, me and him went to the indoor pool at the Community Center twice. The second, it was snowing lightly and I was extremely reluctant to go, but Niko told me I…
I notice when I am out in the world, most people tend to be doing something on their phones. Me, on the other hand, can be perfectly happy with my phone in my pocket and my Kindle in my hand reading a book. I can easily be distracted by the words on the screen and…
Normally, I reminisce about all the great things that happened during the year from the perspective of being a dad, being a husband, being a full-time employee, being a reader, and being a writer. But, this year, I won’t go on and on and on about it. I will just say, it was a very…
Without a doubt, for me, it’s got to be John Sandford. Of the 151 books I read in 2025, 50 were by John Sandford. He was actually recommended in a Facebook book group I belong to, and when I did my research on him, I learned that his Prey series of book all take place…
This year, I read a lot of Fiction thrillers; James Patterson’s Michael Bennett and Women’s Murder Club books and John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers books. It’s not that I didn’t like them, I did and that is why I devoured them. I just couldn’t come to grips and mark any of them as…
Normally, I don’t review books from a series (only, the first and the last). But, these Cole and Pike books are getting better. Yeah, they are predictable as we know Cole and Pike will figure out who did what to who. But, how they get from point A to point B is very different. I…
I stopped reading this a few chapters in as I wanted to read Demolition Angel first as that is about Carol Starkey. In this book, she is helping Cole with a kidnapping as she works at the juvenile desk (prior, she was a bomb squad technician – hence, the title of Demolition Angel). In the…
I was reading The Last Detective (Elvis Cole, #9) and one of the characters that is helping to investigate a kidnapping is Carol Starkey. I don’t remember how I realized that this book, Demolition Angel, is about her and happens prior to The Last Detective. Carol is a former bomb squad technician, and after a…
I really enjoyed this one, primarily because it revolved around Joe Pike and something that happened while he was a police officer. It also provided a lot of great insight to Pike. There is a lot of collaboration amongst LAPD and Cole and Pike. Eventually, Cole and Pike get in trouble with the law. The…
Well, I am off from work all next and the following week, as I go back Friday, January 2nd. Last year at this same time, I was off, but it was because we moved. And, totally unexpected, I also had emergency surgery for a heart attack a few weeks before that move. Yeah, shit happened. …
Since the day before Thanksgiving, snow has been on the ground where we live. Wait, where else would it be? In the air? I have already used the snow shovel and snow blower multiple times to clear the driveway. Our snow blower is a Toro, and it worked very well and quick. Don’t tell anybody…
I finished all the Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers books by John Sandford and just read the most recent Spenser book by Mike Lupica. I had the Harry Bosch and Lincoln Rhymes first books in my want to read list, and tried them, but just couldn’t get into them. So, I googled similar books to…
Normally, this wouldn’t be a book I would read, but a few days ago I saw that Bill Gates recommended some books and this was one of them. The description intrigued me, so I decided to check it out. As I was reading it, it reminded me a little bit of the book called, A…
One year ago today, I was discharged from Methodist Hospital Texsan, one of the top heart hospitals in Texas, after an experience that changed everything. On December 5, 2024, I woke at 3 a.m. with chest pain, sweating, and a pounding headache. They were classic heart attack symptoms, but instead of calling an ambulance like…
If you don’t know me, my name is Mark, and I like to eat. Not Sushi, though. It doesn’t appeal to me to eat raw food! I have never actually eaten Sushi, but that changed when Niko saw a video on it, and was intrigued to try it. But, Nina and I had no clue…