Off the Bookshelf: JUNKYARD CATS, by Faith Hunter

 

Audiobook, Audible exclusive

Narrated by Khristine Hvam

Shining Smith series, Book 1

Gritty futuristic tale of survival, with a slow drip of one chilling revelation after another, coalescing in a picture of a gut-churning near-future. And doubts about whether our heroine is still human.

Shining is living in hiding, presumed dead, running a junkyard and protecting a man she rescued from slavery. The United States is a shattered mess, just like the environment, where West Virginia has been turned into a desert, and motorcycle gangs are mobile armed forces, or terrorists, feeding off the mangled carcass of the country. No indication which side won in the war, which hovers on the verge of re-igniting.

An enforcer for her father's former motorcycle warrior group shows up, following a signal triggered by an invasion of the junkyard. Shining plays a dangerous game trying to convince him she isn't herself, she's just a clueless receptionist, tending the junkyard while her boss is away. Little by little, looking through Shining's eyes, listeners learn about the danger she has faced, the threats to her life she has overcome, the alien technology that has merged with and taken over both machines and people's bodies, and just how un-helpless and un-defenseless she really is. When agents of an enemy gang approach the junkyard, she is forced to work with the enforcer to stay alive. And the junkyard cats of the title are revealed as far more than cats, and far more capable of fighting to defend their territory than they should be.

Scary, but I couldn't stop listening.

Off the Bookshelf: LEVERAGE IN DEATH, J.D. Robb

Is there anything better than getting a new book in a favorite series the DAY it officially releases?
How about not having to pay the hardback price? Thank you, Cuyahoga County Public Library system, and being able to order books online!
I ordered the physical book this time, instead of reserving an ebook of the latest In Death book -- the adventures of futuristic homicide cop Eve Dallas.

Is there anything more despicable than an emotionally stunted jerk who's out to punish the world because he decided he was cheated in childhood, and happy little families don't deserve to be happy? And if he can make a profit out of it while he's getting some payback, he should? How about two of these selfish bozos? How about, after threatening people with the torture and death of their loved ones, to make them commit horrible crimes, they turn around and say they were only bluffing, that their victims chose to do what they did, that they're to blame because they didn't call the bluff?

Go get 'em, Dallas, and lock the scumbuzzards up for a couple dozen consecutive life sentences.

As always, the tightly knit plot and search for creepazoid killers takes a close second place to the interaction of the characters and their personal lives, their affection for each other, their teamwork -- and of course, Dallas' continuing bafflement when it comes to things like fashion and pop culture and idiomatic phrases. *sigh* I was in agony whenever I had to put the book down to work and earn a living.

So, when does the next book come out?

Off the Bookshelf: CALCULATED IN DEATH by JD Robb

What can I say? I am addicted to the adventures of Dallas and Roarke -- as in Eve Dallas, homicide detective in a near-future New York, and her Irish-born gazillionaire (her words!) husband.

It just goes to show how busy I've been for the last year, that I didn't get this book in hardcover when it first came out, but waited for paper. Of course, then I devoured it in three days -- after I got my day's writing and earning-a-living work done, of course.

Thank goodness the baseball season is over (for me, anyway) so my evenings are a little freer ....

CALCULATED IN DEATH starts with finding a murdered woman in a doorway on a frigid November evening. She's a wife, mother, accountant/auditor, and the murderer tries to make it look like a mugging. But of course, Dallas senses something is wrong. And as she follows the trail and uncovers the lies being told by multiple people, she gets the true criminals upset, then panicked, so they make big mistakes.

More important than the mystery and bringing justice for the victim, though, is the interplay of characters, the growth of the relationship between Eve and Roarke, the visits from people we've come to know and love, and chuckle quietly as Eve struggles with the trials and tribulations of being famous, despite her best efforts to just do her job. Her utter terror of the beautician, Trina. Her frustration with Roarke, who delights in showering her with gifts -- but the man knows how to make them useful, as in a thigh holster to go under her designer gown, or a leather coat with a stunner-proof lining. And then there's Peabody, her partner, and McNab, e-detective, and their relationship, the pop singer Mavis and her fashion designer husband, Leonardo, Dr. Mira and her husband and other members of the NYPSD.

I finished a big writing project, met a deadline, and despite my resolve not to buy new books until I cleared at least one shelf of my to-be-read bookrack ... well, I deserve the treat, the indulgence. Love the books!