Reviews by Lauren C. (Los Angeles, CA)

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Jane and Dan at the End of the World
Jane and Dan at the End of the World
by Colleen Oakley
Ho hum hostage situation (12/12/2024)
While this was billed as a hilariously bad dinner date in which the entire restaurant ends up being taken hostage, I never found it particularly hilarious or engaging. I did not find the main characters to be original or interesting and the twists were too coincidental to …more
Beast of the North Woods
Beast of the North Woods: Monster Hunter Mysteries #3
by Annelise Ryan
Entertaining mystery - Light but not overly so (12/4/2024)
This book starts off with a bang -- a murder that appears to be by a mythological creature, as if a Bigfoot had turned violent. Morgan Carter, a "cryptozoologist" is brought in to solve the mystery because of her knowledge of creatures like this one and apparently she has …more
The Quick
The Quick
by Lauren Owen
Couldn't finish it (4/21/2014)
I got 200 pages into the 500 page book and found it to be uninteresting throughout my read. For the first hundred pages or so it kept jumping genres so I couldn't tell where it was going. Mystical British children's world like "Peter Pan" or "Harry Potter"? Victorian …more
The Cairo Affair
The Cairo Affair
by Olen Steinhauer
Really excellent spy mystery novel (12/21/2013)
A Libyan-American desk agent with the CIA realizes that someone has been implementing a plan to topple the Libyan government that he developed several years earlier. He starts to investigate. This leads to a string of murders and disappearances.

If you like spy novels, you' …more
The Shock of The Fall
The Shock of The Fall: (originally published in hardcover in USA as Where the Moon Isn't)
by Nathan Filer
An interesting journey (10/1/2013)
This is a book where the less you know about it the better it is. I knew nothing when I started, and won't put spoilers in this review.

All the reader knows at the beginning of the book is that Matt's brother dies. The book is told from Matt's point of view, and jumps around …more
Bitter River
Bitter River: A Bell Elkins Novel
by Julia Keller
Enjoyed this more at the start than by the time I finished it (7/23/2013)
I very much enjoyed "Bitter River" when I started reading it. The mystery started immediately, with a dead girl pulled from a car found in the river. The main character, prosecutor Bell Elkins was also interesting, living in the small town of Ackers Gap where she grew up. …more
Live by Night
Live by Night
by Dennis Lehane
All Historical Fiction, Not a Thriller (8/22/2012)
I have read other books by Dennis Lehane and have enjoyed them very much, but those have been his modern day detective stories. I knew that this book was going to take place during Prohibition, and assumed that Lehane would find a way to do the same sort of thriller in a …more
The Age of Miracles
The Age of Miracles: A Novel
by Karen Thompson Walker
An Easy Read but Wish It Had More Depth (5/13/2012)
3.5 stars would be more accurate for me. I enjoy these types of dystopian novels, perhaps too much, since I read a nearly identical book about six months ago, "Life As We Knew It." in "The Age of Miracles" the earth's rotation slows down and causes all sorts of problems …more
Afterwards
Afterwards: A Novel
by Rosamund Lupton
Like "The Lovely Bones" but in a good way (4/22/2012)
It is hard to read this book without thinking of "The Lovely Bones", but I thought that this book worked very well even though some elements are similar.

In this book a mother and her daughter are hurt in a fire at a school, and while their bodies are in the hospital the …more
The Starboard Sea
The Starboard Sea: A Novel
by Amber Dermont
Nice character study (3/13/2012)
I thought the author did a good job of getting inside the thoughts of her main character. I was particularly impressed that unlike most books about teens that either have them talk and act like adults or like children, this one seems to really have captured that age (17) of …more
The Face Thief
The Face Thief: A Novel
by Eli Gottlieb
Unthrilling thriller (1/12/2012)
A good thriller moves quickly, taking its characters through lots of twists and turns and keeping the reader second guessing. The author gives enough backstory to each character to make them interesting. Unfortunately, this book has none of these elements.

Almost nothing …more
Trespasser
Trespasser: A Novel
by Paul Doiron
Great mix of Plot, Character Development, and Atmosphere (10/4/2011)
Most mysteries seem to either have a great story with stereotypical characters or good characters but a weak plot. This book reads like a novel, not like most mysteries. I haven't read Paul Doiron's first book, "The Poacher's Son", but I ordered it as soon as I finished …more
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