read: The Haunting of Emily Grace by Elena Taylor ★★★★

The Haunting of Emily Grace by Elena Taylor
My rating: ★★★★

Entertaining locked-room mystery with some supernatural overtones. A bit repetitive (the story is confined to just a few locations on an island) and the ending is rushed. But a cozy read for Halloween without any actual horror.

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read: Chain Reaction by Lee Child ★★

Chain Reaction by Lee Child
My rating: ★★

I have a problem reviewing this book. I've read a few Reacher stories. But this one felt different. On the one hand, Reacher is Reacher: aloof, smart, honorable, dependable (in his own way), and nigh invincible. In this story he is also a bit vulnerable. I didn't have a problem with all that. It's what I expected. He finds or is given a problem and he works his way through it to expose or eliminate the bad guys and then he moves on. The mystery and bad guys here are very contemporary and fairly well presented. This is all 4 or 5 star Reacher.
My problem with this story, though, is all the bloodshed, bordering on flat-out cold-blooded murder. In other books, I got the impression that Reacher's violent tendencies emerge when he is forced to defend himself or someone else. This meant that he's beat up, maimed, crippled and killed plenty of folks that apparently deserved it. But here, once he's sussed out who's on what side everyone is on, he (and his companions) becomes judge, jury and executioner for a couple of armies worth of apparent mercenaries. I finished the book. But I found it all too much. I would not recommend this book.

Disclosure: Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for allowing me to preview this book.

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read: A Dead Draw by Robert Dugoni ★★★★★

A Dead Draw by Robert Dugoni
My rating: ★★★★★

This story is a bit of a departure from the usual police procedural plots of previous books in the series. In this one, Tracy Crosswhite is literally and figuratively haunted by demons of her past. A murderer, out for revenge and free on a legal technicality, has disappeared. But his very absence provides tension for most of the book.
In the meantime, Tracy is still dealing with guilt and doubt about her future as a cop and a recent incident during a police training exercise. She returns to her hometown to recharge and turns to an old mentor to retrain her mind and reflexes. I missed her detective work and colleagues. But I liked the return to her sharpshooting roots and the introduction of some new characters.

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read: Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI by Karen Hao ★★★★

Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI by Karen Hao
My rating: ★★★★

Lots of interesting information regarding a wide swath of topics related to AI and Open AI in particular. Could have used a bit more editing for length and clarity. But the message is clear: elitism and colonialism are alive and well in the culture of AI development.

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read: Dream Chasing: My Four Decades of Success and Failure with Walt Disney Imagineering by Bob Weis ★★★★

Dream Chasing: My Four Decades of Success and Failure with Walt Disney Imagineering by Bob Weis
My rating: ★★★★

There are moments in Bob's memoire that deserve 5-stars: seeing what does and not work to keep visitors engaged and enjoying a theme park, land or ride; understanding the storytelling involved in a Disney experience; collaborating with another culture to create something that's still Disney within the other culture; meeting and working with Disney heroes and even moving beyond them.
But much of the book is also sort of meh, 3-stars: learning about food and transit systems in other countries; not learning about any really interesting Imagineering technology; learning about food and transit systems in different states.
The big surprise was discovering that Bob and I worked at Disneyland in the same department at almost exactly the same time during college. Either we did not actually overlap, or we were on different shifts most of the time. I have no recollection of anyone with his name. Another surprise was that our recollections of the department are so different. I loved it and stayed on for more than a year. He struggled with some aspects and left after only a few months.
If you're a big Disney nerd, you might enjoy this. I didn't feel like there were any big revelations. But there were enough enticing tidbits to keep me skimming along for the next treasure.

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read: Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky ★★★★

Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My rating: ★★★★

Thought-provoking follow-up to Children of Time. Examines the consequences of bad decisions colliding with the random outcomes of time and nature.

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read: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt ★★★★★

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
★★★★★

A book about a talking octopus? No. This is not that. It is, however, about an octopus living in an aquarium in the Pacific Northwest and several of the remarkably bright creatures (humans) in his orbit.
Much of the story is told from the viewpoint of Marcellus (the giant Pacific octopus), who considers himself more intelligent that the humans holding him in 'captivity' (which he regularly escapes whenever he's bored).
The rest of the story focuses on the humans and their relationships. We learn of their past, their grief, and their foibles. We also see them discover themselves and each other and their future.

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