One By One by Chris Carter

One By One by Chris Carter

Year Published: 2014

500 pages
My Rating: 5 stars

OMG this book was intense.
Amazing writing that had me turning pages and not feel whatever is around me. I was so consumed in this captivating thriller till the last page. Twists and turns all the way.
This is the first book I read by this author. I discovered its the fifth book in the series so I will go ahead and get the previous four books!! I need more of his writing!!

Detective Robert Hunter gets a phone call to open an Internet website only to witness a gruesome torture/murder. He even makes viewers choose between 2 types of torture, and the viewers choose!!! It's horrifying!!

Trying to catch the killer is extremely hard because he is always a step ahead and knows exactly what their moves will be. He is so clever that they can't even track him.
Every time the tortures are worse, creatively wicked. But why is this psycho doing this? Is he choosing the victims randomly or does he have an agenda?

This is not for the faint at heart. The details of the tortures and horrifying murders will haunt you for all time. I know it will haunt me!!

Booking Through Thursday: Springing

Spring is coming unusually fast this year (at least here in the Northeast). Do your reading habits change as we get into the warmer months?

My reading habits don't seem to change lately. I haven't been reading too much and going real slow. Life is pulling me back from reading with all things going on in my life but I do try my best to read whenever I can.
So I don't think the weather or the season have anything to do with it. Usually I read when commuting to and from work if I don't get distracted by my phone or Ipad.

Furious by T.R. Ragan

Furious by T.R. Ragan

Rating: 4 stars

318 pages

Expected Publication: 22 March 2016

I got this book as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book in the Faith McMann series and a new to me author.

Faith McMann came home with her kids to find her husband tied and gagged. Some men ransacked her house looking for 'it'. When they didn't find what they were looking for, they killed her husband in front of her, slashed her -but she miraculously survived- and took her daughter and son who were 11 and 9.
Trying to put her trauma and grief for her husband on hold until she finds her kids she embarked on a dangerous journey.
The police were looking but not fast enough for her. When she was forced to attend an anger management group, she met the wonderful Rage and Beast who with the help of her close family helped her solve the mystery of her missing kids. Since there was no ransom asked the only obvious reason for there abduction was child trafficking. That was a hard conclusion for her to reach but the most logical. So she did all she can and then some to try to reunite with her kids, despite the dangers of interfering with ruthless trafficking mobs.

The idea of the book is very interesting and new to me. I can't say it was easy reading about children abducted, abused and raped, but it felt so real. It made me wonder what really is happening to kids thrown into this kind of dangerous ring. It was so sad and heartbreaking, as a mom with young children it was so hard to read and imagine what these children went through. It broke my heart and made me cry.

The flow of the story was so good with the shifting between the chapters although some lines seemed a bit cliché.
The ending was not what I expected but I enjoyed it none the less, I do want to know what happens next so I will wait for book 2 in the series.
I gave it 4 stars although I was debating between 4 and 5. I really liked the story and will check other books by the author but the cliché lines bothered me a bit. That is my personal opinion. There was also the idea that the traffickers didn't just go ahead and kill Faith or even try was quite weird. Just calling her at the end to warn her to back off is not too believable for me.

In the end, I would highly recommend it to anyone who would be interested in reading realistic life tragedies.

Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter

Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter

My Rating: 5 stars

Date Published: 2001

393 pages

This is the first book in the series and the debut novel for this author although it is my second read for her.

Dr. Sara Linton is a pediatrician and coroner in Grant County. One day she goes to the local diner to have lunch with her sister only to find Sybil Adams dying in the bathroom stall. Thinking it a one time thing or a hate crime that is until another girl is crucified and left for dead near the hospital that Sara was in at the moment.
Things get complicated and the killer/rapist seems unreachable.

It's a fast paced thriller that gripped me from chapter 1 and the tension between Sara and her ex husband Chief of Police Jeffrey Tolliver is just refreshing.
The action builds up till the killer is revealed although I had an idea who it was before it was known.

I enjoyed this book tremendously and would highly recommend it to thriller/suspense readers.

Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns by John Green

My Rating: 3 stars

Year Published: 2009

305 pages

This book is done in three parts.

The first part is The Strings where Quentin and Margo go on a car ride to seek revenge on some of her friends. This part was action packed and fun to read. It's like all the years they were apart just melted and they were besties again. I loved it.

The second part was The Grass which was so hard to read since it was so boring. Margo disappeared and left some clues for Quentin to find and he was determined to find her no matter what the cost.
I felt his crush on her was just too much and she was just so self centered and annoying that I really did not care if she was dead or alive. Harsh but true. His search went on and on and he kept reading this boring poem over and over, I was considering leaving the book unread but since i had only 100 pages to read and I already read most of it I tried to push. I considered skimming the pages it was that boring and repeated but I went through with it.

The third part was The Vessel which was the road trip that Quentin and his friends made to go look for the infamous Margo. The trip was fun since most of it was Quentin and his friends goofing around. They were a cool bunch.

I gave this book 3 stars because of parts one and three, it lost the 2 stars because of part two. If I had not pushed myself to finish the book I would have given it 1 star.

One of the things I did like was the concept of "Paper Towns" and that they are town names added to some maps for copyright infringement. It makes me wonder how many paper towns there are worldwide.

This was my first to read for this author, I picked it up because I saw the movie The Fault in our Stars and thought it was great, but I would say I was disappointed in this book in general and would not recommend it to anyone.