Stone Cold by David Baldacci

 

Synopsis :

The #1 bestselling author of "The Collectors" and "The Camel Club" returns with STONE COLD, number 3 in the series. It's an unforgettable novel of revenge, conspiracy, and murder that brings the band of unlikely heroes face-to-face with their greatest threat.

Oliver Stone, the leader of the mysterious group that calls itself the Camel Club, is both feared and respected by those who've crossed his path. Keeping a vigilant watch over our leaders in Washington D.C., the club has won some allies, but it has also earned formidable enemies-including those in power who will do anything to prevent Stone and his friends from uncovering some of the hidden, secret work of the government.

Annabelle Conroy, an honorary member of the Camel Club, is also the greatest con artist of her generation. She has swindled more than forty million dollars from casino king Jerry Bagger, the man who murdered her mother. Now he's hot on her trail with only one goal in mind: Annabelle's death. But as Stone and the Camel Club circle the wagons to protect Annabelle, a new opponent, who makes Bagger's menace pale by comparison, suddenly arises.

One by one, men from Stone's shadowy past are turning up dead. Behind this slaughter stands one man: Harry Finn. To almost all who know him, Finn is a doting father and loving husband who uses his skills behind the scenes to keep our nation safe. But the other face of Harry Finn is that of an unstoppable killer who inevitably sets his lethal bull's-eye on Oliver Stone. And with Finn, Stone may well have met his match.

As Annabelle and the Camel Club fight for their lives, the twists and turns whipsaw. It leads to a finale that is as explosive as it is shattering. When buried secrets are at last violently resurrected, the members of the Camel Club left standing will be changed forever. With unrelenting pacing, stunning reversals, and two of the most compelling characters in modern fiction, STONE COLD is Baldacci at his breathtaking best.

This is what I say :

Stone Cold is the third book in the series of titles that features the same group of characters.  The stories are all stand alone but they are all very good.

Like the previous two titles, I enjoyed Stone Cold tremendously.  The characters are enchanting and the plot and story line and flow are just right.  There are actually two unrelated plot in the book but I think the plot fits each other quite well.  The story with Annabelle ended quite suddenly and rather abruptly and she is kinda lost in the Oliver Stone story and became rather insignificant at the end.  

Anyway, all in all Stone Cold is a great read.  I am looking forward to the forth title Divine Justice which I have in my collection and which I shall be reading super soon.

Happy Tiger New Year 2022

 

To those celebrating, I wish you

HAPPY TIGER NEW YEAR

May your roar be greeted with success, prosperity and good health this year

新年快乐

First Travel for 2022

 

Early next month, I will be going for my first travel for the year. 

Like many others, travel was grounded for  more than two years and the last time I flew anywhere was in Dec 2019 and it wasn't even for a holiday.  I actually did a day trip to submit my research report in the capital city. After that, as you know it, the whole world went on lockdown.

I wont say much about next week's travel other than it's another important delivery but will take me a few days to get it done.

What I want to share is what I will bring along with me for this trip.  As always, I must bring along something to read. Whether I really read it or not,  that's another story.

As in my previous posting, I re-organise my bookshelf and have put together all the books that I wanted to read. As such, it was rather easy to walk up to the shelf and select a copy.  This is what I selected.  I hope I get to read it the few days I am there.

Don't know why I decided on this title. I just did.  

In the meantime, today is a rather special day....be happy. 

Both images (above and below) taken from web. Credit to the creator

Showcasing my bookshelves

 

I thought I show you guys my newly arranged bookshelves.  They might not look the same a few weeks or months down the road as I put in new books and take out old ones to read.

I am actually trying to downsize my collection so while re-organising them, at the same time, I tried to only keep what I really want to keep.

I do not acutally arrange them in any order but I try to keep those in series together.  for the odd ones what are not a series of a few titles, I try to keep those in similar sizes together.

I actually have a few shelves but let's just focus on one for now as like I say I am trying to downsize so the aim is to just end up with one shelf.  It seems like it's a rather difficult thing to do but I think I can do it.

And yes, the books are all in doubles. This is a very good wooden shelf so the wood do not sag and are able to take the weight of the books.

This is one of the 'inside' layer and these are my favourite chic lite collection.  Really love all these titles.

And these are my Chicken Soup collection.  I actually wanted to add on to these  but I kinda force myself to stop.

So, that's it. Part of my shelves. You can see some of what I collected but not all. Nothing fantastic actually. Perhaps I will do a more thorough sharing next round.

The Burden by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie)

 

Synopsis :

Laura Franklin bitterly resented the arrival of her younger sister Shirley, an enchanting baby loved by all the family. But Laura's emotions towards her sister changed dramatically one night, when she vowed to protect her with all her strength and love. 

While young Shirley longs for freedom and romance, Laura has to learn that loving can never be a one-sided affair, and the burden of her love for her sister has a dramatic effect on both their lives. For too long she had stayed quietly in the background of her stunning sister. 

Now there was a man that knew that Laura could love as passionately as her beutiful sister - if only she were given the chance. A story of consequences when love turns to obsession….

This is what I say :

This would be the first title that I read in year 2022.  I read it in a sudden act impulsiveness when I saw a copy of this title for sales in a second hand book site and immediately began searching for an online copy and found it almost immediately too.

I was a fan of what Agatha Christie wrote since I was much younger but I never came across this title. Subsequently I realised that it's a title she wrote under a pen name.

Anyway, I read The Burden over the new year weekend.  It was a rather strange and bizarre tale and I can't say I like but but yet at the same time I was rather drawn to it.  There wasn't any twist in the storyline.  There wasn't any crime to investigate although there can be an almost crime.  It's not what I would expect from an Agatha Christie's tale.

Happy New Year 2022

 

Reflections of 2021

 

A chandelier of pens taken in a Muji store 2 years ago

How have your year been?

I can't really use one word to summarise my experience for year 2021. On one hand, I didn't experience much but on the other hand, I felt a lot has happened.

Purple Queen Fairy will end the year with 35 posts. Never before in the history of this blog that I only did 35 posts for the year. It's an all time low as I normally average around 50 to 55 posts for one year.  I guess it can't be help as I read much less this year too.

Let's see, I only read about 24 books this year. Out of these 16 are physical books and 8 books were electronic books.  This gives it an average of 2 books a month.  Much less isn't it?  If it's not because I kinda motivated myself to read more towards the final quarter of the year, it would have been much less.

I only bought 3 books this year. Here, here and here.

Favorite book of the year?  I think it would be the three Camilia Lackberg titles.  You can find them here, here and here.  

On another note, I am also glad that I finally completed The Throne of Glass Series.  It was a few years in completing it from book 1 to book 7.  3 years to be exact.

While certain parts of the country is currently suffering from the aftermath of natural disaster, I am thankful to the almighty that those close to me are well and safe.  We are still experiencing a bad news received a few months ago but we at only at this point we trust God for His peace, grace and mercy.

Covid is still very much with the world and has evolved itself so it might be here to stay.  Last year, it was everyone's hope that this year things will be better so it's this year's wish that next year would be better but I think we just need to make it better the best we can as 'better' might not mean things will be like pre-covid time.

Anyways, thank you for journeying with me this year.  I hope you have been well.  God bless and have a good new year. Stay safe everyone.

image from internet. credit to the original creator.