read: The Inexplicables (3.5 stars)

The Inexplicables by Cherie Priest
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I really, really wanted to like this book. I've been waiting for Cherie Priest to set another story in the messed up version of Seattle she created in Boneshaker, but she's only teased with dribs and drabs in other books. Finally, she's back in the Emerald City (now a putrid shade of yellow in the Boneshaker universe). But I was a bit disappointed. I'm giving this one three and half stars (but Goodreads won't let me add fractions).

Four stars once again for setting and characters and imagination. Also four stars for readability. But I'm marking this down a bit for the story itself. It just never quite clicked for me. Ms. Priest warned her followers that we might not like Rector "Wreck-em" Sherman, but that isn't really the problem for me. My issue is with his story. I never quite felt like he really had anything on the line. Sure, he had no skills and nowhere to go when he gets kicked out of the orphanage. And he's a bit mentally unstable. But once he's inside the walls of the ruined city and nursed back to health, things seemed to bog down. I felt like the only point of the story was to give him/us a tour of the city and bide time until something interesting happens. The stakes aren't really raised until Act 3 and then everything is quickly resolved. I expected more story, maybe some deeper foreshadowing. And why was such a big deal made of Rector's nickname, when nobody calls him "Wreck-em"?

All-in-all, I did enjoy reading the book and look forward to the next one in the series.

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read: One Shot (4 stars)

One Shot by Lee Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very solid action thriller with some good mystery elements. I'm glad I read this before the film came out. I'm not sure why everyone is getting so hung up on Jack Reacher's size in contrast to Tom Cruise. Most of what makes Reacher unique is his attitude and skill set, not his size. He's a cop, almost a cop-machine. And he's nigh unstoppable, when he's motivated.

In this book, he's definitely motivated. And as usual, he's motivated by his sense of justice. What also stands out for me is the author's style. Direct. Precise. Efficient. Sort of like Reacher. I actually saw the ultimate destination of the story from the very beginning. It is a story afterall. I didn't have all the details, but I had the gist. But the unfolding of the story and the skill in telling it still made it a very enjoyable read. Recommended.

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