Fast Fiction
...the category of books that you can finish in a "shift" (of eight
hours–twelve on the weekends). Engrossing enough to keep you occupied
during the long quiet periods when no experimenter wanted anything and all
the equipment was working but not requiring so much concentration that one
couldn't pay attention to the beam.
The books which follow are in that category. We provide a capsule summary,
our opinion -- pro's, con's and, of course, the book title
is linked to the Amazon.com catalog entry from which you may order the
book!
|
|
|
| This is a murder mystery about a serial killer who leaves a single black
rose and the note gone but not forgotten at the scene. It turns out that
the killer is a psychopath. |
| The book moved along with enough new information on each chapter to keep
you reading. Some of the jumping from place to place I found hard to follow.
This detracted from the read but I caught up quickly enough. |
| I would recommend this book. |
|
|
|
|
| This book is about a small town lawyer who takes on two cases. It takes
place in Virginia. In one case, a lady shoots her ex and his wife because
it is "doing a service for pest control". She is not remorseful that she
did it.
In the other case, Chevy Morgan (who claims to be a "born again") starts
his own church. The "voice of the Lord" tells him to take up with Tanya Faith.
He dies fixing up the house that he and Tanya are going to move into. His
wife Donna Jean is implicated. |
| The author does a good job. The book moves quickly. It doesn't get caught
up in the physical description of the place but goes on to other things.
It doesn't jump around. It is straight-forward. It was satisfying when the
book was done as it didn't leave anything hanging. It did refer to other
stories by Sharyn McCrumb but that was fairly easy to figure out. |
| I would recommend this book. |
|
|
|
|
| This book is about a US-wide lottery (as opposed to a state lottery)
and a man who corrupts it. The pattern had been that nine out of every twelve
lottery winners declared bankruptcy within a year. Then, twelve months went
by when nobody did. The book is the story of one of the people from that
year who did not go bankrupt. The person started from a poor hopeless destitute
situation, then won, and then had to stay abroad for forever as part of the
corruption deal. It is the story of her fight to come back. |
| I liked it because it moved quickly. It gave enough details to understand
the situation but didn't dwell on the gruesome parts too long. It didn't
leave any loose ends. By the end of the book, all of the participants were
pulled together. |
| I would recommend it to someone who likes fast fiction and a good story--some
of the murders were slightly gruesome but not overly dragged out. It was
light on the sex. It's at least a 7 or 8 on a scale of 1 to 10.
(I read it in hardcover but it is about to come out in
paperback.) |
|
To: Our Favorites
and Not So Favorites List
To: The Web Site of David J. Ritchie