True Blue by David Baldacci

 

Synopsis :

Mason "Mace" Perry was a firebrand cop on the D.C. police force until she was kidnapped and framed for a crime. She lost everything: her badge, her career, her freedom--and spent two years in prison. Now she's back on the outside and focused on one mission: to be a cop once more. Her only shot to be a true blue again is to solve a major case on her own, and prove she has the right to wear the uniform. Even with her police chief sister on her side, she has to work in the shadows: a vindictive U.S. attorney is looking for any reason to send Mace back behind bars. Then Roy Kingman enters her life.

Roy is a young lawyer who aided the poor until he took a high-paying job at a law firm in Washington. Mace and Roy meet after he discovers the dead body of a female partner at the firm. As they investigate the death, they start uncovering surprising secrets.

Soon, what began as a fairly routine homicide takes a terrifying and unexpected turn . . . into something complex, diabolical, and possibly lethal.

This is what I say :

I just finished reading True Blue. It's one of the few copies of David Baldacci titles that's been on my shelf for years.  

While I really like The Camel Club Series by David Baldacci, I quite like his other stand alone titles or other titles that features other characters too.  

True Blue isn't too bad.  The characters were not too likable but then they are not too unlikable as well.  The plot and storyline wasn't that original and unique but they are not too bad either.  Compared to some of the author's title, this rank quite in the middle of likability factor.  

Basically it's just a so- so title and I am glad it's not off my TBR shelf.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 

Synopsis :

Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?

A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time.

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place

This is what I say :

I have started to pick up reading again.  I have not entirely stopped but I have slowed down considerably.  However, towards mid of last month, my reading pattern evolved again and here I am trying to catch up on my reading.

I got to know of The Midnight Library from someone's inta-story.  I searched for it and managed to get a pdf copy and here I am, completing it just a week into reading.  It's quite a short book with less than 300 pages long but the content is rather captivating.

Nora Seed had the opportunity to try out her many lives.  This brings much interesting thoughts as in would I want to try out my many other lives that I might have lived based on the decisions I made throughout my life time.  Small decisions big decisions are all decisions that can just affect the road of life that we are on. 

 The Midnight Library is not a self help book.  I am not sure what genre would I call it but I certainly enjoyed it.  As such, I do recommend it.

Would you want to have your own Midnight Library?

The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw

 

Synopsis :

The Harmony Silk Factory traces the story of textile merchant Johnny Lim, a Chinese peasant living in British Malaya in the first half of the twentieth century. Johnny's factory is the most impressive structure in the region, and to the inhabitants of the Kinta Valley Johnny is a hero—a Communist who fought the Japanese when they invaded, ready to sacrifice his life for the welfare of his people. But to his son, Jasper, Johnny is a crook and a collaborator who betrayed the very people he pretended to serve, and the Harmony Silk Factory is merely a front for his father's illegal businesses. This debut novel from Tash Aw gives us an exquisitely written look into another culture at a moment of crisis.

The Harmony Silk Factory won the 2005 Whitbread First Novel Award and also made it to the 2005 Man Booker longlist

This is what I say :

The Harmony Silk Factory has been sitting on my shelf for years.  I always wanted to save such titles for when I am really, really free to read but then it's been saved for far too long.  Having heard a lot about this title and this author, I always have been rather intrigued by how the story would be like.

Finally, a few months ago, I decided to pay The Harmony Silk Factory a visit.  That visit took over a few months.  

"How was it?" you might ask.

Honestly, I left The Harmony Silk Factory as perplexed as when I first visited it.  The story was narrated from three perspectives.  Each perspective left me as confused as the next one. I wasn't really sure what to make out of it.

I am sure it's well written.  Perhaps I am too impatient to wanting to complete it rather quickly and thus wasn't able to fully appreciate what it has to offer.

At the end of the day, there's no different if I visited or not, The  Harmony Silk Factory at all.  

Work Travel #1 May 2022

 

A hangout place called Pokok

I just want to have it on record that I traveled for work for the first time in years recently.  It was a 5 days trip that brought me to new places in Klang Valley.  At the same time, I was able to visit my old hunting ground in PJ so it was a good trip.

While I was there, I visited a place called Mahsa Avenue for the well-known hangout Pokok but at the same time, I found a little bookshop selling pre-loved books that totally does not have any one manning the shop.

Located on level 2 of Urban Living in Mahsa Avenue, the shop is operated by PJ Preloved House, they termed it a self-service preloved bookshop and it opens from 10 am to 9 pm.

Each book is only RM5.00. What you do, is you go in, browse through their collection of novels, etc, choose the books that you want, and payment is cashless, either via e-wallet or bank transfer.  The instructions are very clear.  

I went in, browsed through but I couldn't find any titles to bring home with me.  I would want to go again in future.

Self Incrimination by Randy Singer

 

Synopsis :

When Murder Is the Only Option…

Tara Bannister's abusive stepfather finally pushed her too far. To save herself she had to kill him. Or did she? As Tara's self-defense claim crumbles, attorney Leslie Conners must overcome more than first trial jitters to mount a credible defense. Leslie must save Tara’s life...against her client’s will.

Can a Lawyer Save a Client from Herself?

Defense attorneys expect to catch their clients lying. It’s part of the game. But nothing in law school prepared Leslie for this. Tara’s confession doesn’t add up, and the reason may be more shocking than the crime itself.

In the midst of this taxing case, Leslie’s wedding plans to law partner Brad Carson are interrupted by devastating news: she suffers from a dangerous rare heart condition. Does she dare tell Brad? Before the final gavel falls, Leslie must confront the truth about herself and her mysterious client, or the darkness of the past will swallow them both.

This is what I say :

This title took me two months to complete.  I really hope I would be much quicker in my reading in weeks and months to come.  Two months is just too long.

Self Incrimination is not too bad a title.  It wasn't really that fantastic but was ok.  There's a Christian message in the book which would be it's saving grace.

I have another title by Randy Singer so I will be checking it out soon. I just hope it won't take me two months to read that title.

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

 

Synopsis :

THEN
She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

NOW
It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter.

And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.

Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.

Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's breath away.

Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age. And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What happened to Ellie? Where did she go?

Who still has secrets to hide?

This is What I say :

I thought I have read this title before but it turns out I have not.  For me, whatever it may be, titles on children who went missing are very difficult to read.  This was no different.

Then She Was Gone was very sad in its on way.  There were a couple of twist as well.  At the end, there were loopholes in the plot but having said all that, it was a readable title.

I guess one of the factor is the interest to know what happened to Ellie and what happened to her was very unfortunate and very sad.  

Divine Justice by David Baldacci

 

Synopsis :

Oliver Stone is the most wanted man in America.

No, not the maverick filmmaker Oliver Stone but the covert agent whose real name is John Carr. Men in the highest circles of power want him dead, and quickly, because he knows too many of their deepest secrets.

On the other hand, the members of the secretive Camel Club not only want Stone alive, but they are willing to risk their own lives to save their leader and friend. Get ready for a David Baldacci thriller with relentless intensity, a perfect follow-up to his acclaimed "Stone Cold" - Camel Club #3.

We begin with Oliver Stone taking drastic action to deal with individuals who have imposed injustices on him in his past life. He soon resorts to necessary flight and lands accidently in Divine, Virginia with a new young friend, Danny Riker. It's a strange place, fraught with secrets, criminal activities, and so much danger for Stone.

This is what I say :

I only read two books last month.  Both books are by David Baldacci. I have just started on the following title in the universe of Oliver Stone aka John Carr.

I still have a title by another author that I am half way through.  I am very slow in my reading nowadays. Better slow than totally not reading at all I guess.

Divine Justice is the forth title in the universe of stories that features characters from what is know as the Camel Club.  One of the characters died in the previous titles. The author kept certain characters from previous titles in this one and that makes it more interesting. 

I read this immediately after reading Stone Cold and yes, Divine Justice is a very captivating thriller.  Perhaps the coincidence is a bit too unrealistic but this is fiction anyway.

The next title which I think is the final title in this universe is entitled Hell's Corner and I can't wait to read it.