Writing the Breakout Novel - Donald Maass

I am a sucker for a book about writing, as it is an easy excuse for avoiding the actual turmoil of putting words down on paper. This was actually a helpful guide, as it got me thinking about ways to improve the words I've already written, and got me excited about finally finishing the novel. Although the examples are now somewhat dated (the book was written in 202 and frequently uses books that I've read but forgotten), the passages do provide good examples of what, and what not, to do. I look forward to putting these learnings into practice.

Sweetheart - Chelsea Cain

Well, it's said that the second book is the most difficult to write, even more so when the first book is a best-seller. This book brings Archie the detective and Gretchen the serial killer back from the first book, with Gretchen in jail and Archie still inexplicably in love with the woman that tortured him. I liked 2007's Heartsick, as the characters were damaged in an interesting way. In this book, they're just damaged, and the book feels shallow as a result. The ending was easily anticipated, and I found myself finishing this book 10 pages at a time - not much interest, just a place I needed to go. Wake up Archie - she's a serial killer, you're a cop - do your job!

Debt of Bones - Terry Goodkind - Sword of Truth

 Not a bad break in the the Sword of Truth series I've been plowing through this year.  This was a very quick read, very short and wastes no time in extra atmosphere building.  In some ways that hurt the book.  I would have liked to see this expanded into a full-length novel.  In fact there are many back history topics in the Sword of Truth series I would love to see expanded on, just a bit more than this one was. Though it is what it is and Terry Goodkind makes no promises that this is on the same par as the rest of the series, but just a brief interlude. It is a nice break though in a long series and now I'm re-energized to jump back in and finish out the series.  This book is best read after finishing at least half of the regular series.  If you read this too early, you may not understand what is going on completely and in fact, may take a small bit of the suspense of the first book (Wizard's First Rule) if you read Debt of Bones first.  So don't do that!  6/10

The Map Thief - Heather Terrell

 Seems like other people really liked this book. It did nothing for me. While I've read worse books, this was just an ok one for me. There was very little suspense for me. Basically I knew what was going to happen almost from the first page. The conclusion was predetermined and only the path was a mystery, but even the path didn't include much thrill or excitement. It was just a story and nothing really memorable occurred. While some seemed to think the switch between time frames to tell the whole story was a nice medium to convey the story, I found it distracting. Don't get me wrong, without those flashbacks, this book would have been awful, but the chapters were short and with the context switch just about every chapter (every 2-3 pages) it at times was confusing. With such short chapters it wouldn't have hurt if we could have thrown 2 or 3 chapters per time frame together in a group. The concept was interesting and the story has a lot of potential, but to me it was just a so-so novel. Being a fairly short novel, it didn't take much time to read so that was a plus as minimum time was invested. I may keep an eye out for future Heather Terrell novels, but I probably won't go out of my way to grab one.  Just a 5/10 for me.

Die Trying - Lee Child

First, it is true that I have little restraint with this author, as this is the sixth Jack Reacher novel I've read in four months! In this book, Jack is again drawn into a complex situation that starts with the simple kindness of helping someone pickup her dry cleaning. Moments later, Jack and Holly are handcuffed together en route to a militia compound in Montana. All is not what it seems, however, as a special dynamite-lined holding cell has been created for Holly, and Jack is suddenly thrust into a secret battle between the militia leader and the FBI. As with all of this author's novels, the story starts quickly and doesn't slow down, and as with the others, I highly recommend it!

The Black Tower - Louis Bayard

Set in the early 1800s, this novel features a once-criminal, now-detective named Vidoqc who is investigating a death in post-Napoleonic France. He pulls Hector Carpentier, a university student and almost-doctor, into the mystery because Hector's name is found in a shoe of the deceased and offers the only clue. Vidoqc shows remarkable skill of observation, and Hector is forced to dig into the life of his father, a former caretaker of Louis-Charles, the son of Marie Antoinette and Louis the Sixteenth. I enjoyed this book, as it was a bit off of the beaten path and it offered a view of France that seemed historically correct (even if it ultimately wasn't). I'll need to go back and read this authoer's prior two books!