The Outsider by Stephen King

I was so prepared to be disappointed. I mean, King did write himself into the Dark Tower series. (not a spoiler, it's been out for YEARS). But I was very pleasantly surprised and even, dare I say, excited about this jacked up trip King took me on.

This starts out depressing and grisly when a little boy's mutilated corpse is found. It seems like a slam-dunk case, with eye witnesses stepping forward and letting Ralph Anderson, Flint City PD, know that Coach T, Terry Maitland, was with the victim right before the victim disappeared. It seems like everyone in town saw Terry, either with the kid or covered in blood. At this point, I already start saying to myself that this is TOO slam dunk. How could the guy be this dumb?

Ralph and co arrest Terry in the most spectacular way, causing the whole town to come down on Coach T (what happened to innocent until proven guilty??). Things turn mobbishly ugly and lives are lost. Problem? There's proof Terry was in Cap City with other teachers. Actual proof of Terry both on the corpse and in an entirely other city.

How can someone be in two places at the same time?

The answer to that is: Sister, you are in King's world now. The answer is horribly disturbing and crazy. There is an appearance by someone I know and love and, since I was so surprised by it, I won't tell you :)  But truly, the appearance made this book for me.

The ending was strangely satisfying. I'm very happy to say this is a great King book that is really worth reading.

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

For some reason I had Matthew "Alright-alright-alright" McConaughey in mind while I read this book. Turns out, I somehow knew this was a movie with the man himself. How did I know that?

Regardless of the movie that I have never seen, this was a fantastic book! I carried the book everywhere and read as often as I could, and it's been a bit since I've done that with a book. I knew all the pieces to the story and the twist - I think we all did - but I was still unprepared for how Mick Haller played the game. And equally unprepared for how the game ended.


Louis Roulet calls in defense attorney Haller when he's arrested for assault and attempted rape of a prostitute. Roulet is from big, big money and could afford to have any lawyer he could buy, but he chooses Haller. All Haller sees are dollar signs from a possible franchise client. Defense attorneys are usually dealing with the worst and Haller is no exception. His entire job is to get his client off with as little punishment as possible, and Haller states outright that he doesn't want to know if they are innocent or not.

Things start turning in a bad way with the Roulet case, which makes Haller bring up Jesus Menendez's case and the fact that man went away for 40 years while proclaiming his innocence. Are these 2 cases tied together somehow?

This ended up as a fast-paced read and I loved every turn in the road. And it's a series! And the first in the series!

Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs

I love the Brennan series so much more in book form than in TV form. Book Brennan is human and intelligent. TV Brennan just always seemed so robotic.

Book Brennan finds herself called into a plane crash site where she uses her expertise to sort body parts and help ID victims. Montreal Detective Andrew Ryan also appears in the US to help at the crash site, which seems odd, but his former partner was on board, escorting a criminal.

You'd think this would be the actual plot of the book.

You'd be wrong.

Brennan comes across a dismembered foot being chewed on by coyotes. Thinking it's part of the crash and thinking the coyotes might run off with it if she doesn't take it, she grabs the foot and takes it to the makeshift morgue. From there, everything just goes to hell. Because of a foot.

The crash ends up very secondary to every thing else that rains down on Brennan's head.

Excellent mystery! Even read out of order!