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Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King: Book Beginning

Friday 56 Rules:

 *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader  *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. *Post it. *Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice Also Book Beginnings by Rose City Reader.

Mr. Mercedes

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
Published June 3, 2014; Simon and Schuster
Genre: thriller

page 56:

"I hope there are plenty of people with me when we catch him. If I nail him alone, I'm apt to kill him just for putting me on the outs with my daughter."

"Then why hope for plenty of people?"

Book beginning:

Augie Odenkirk had a 1997 Datsun that an well in spite of high mileage, but gas was expensive, especially for a man with no job, and City Center was on the far side of town , so he decided to take the last bus of the night. He got off at twenty past eleven with his pack on his back and his rolled-up sleeping bag under one arm. He thought he would be glad of the down-filled bag by three A.M. The night was musty and chill.  

"Good luck man," the driver said as he stepped down. "You ought to get something for just being the first one there."

Book description: "In a mega-stakes, high-suspense race against time, three of the most unlikely and winning heroes Stephen King has ever created try to stop a lone killer from blowing up thousands.... In the gloomy pre-dawn hours of a distressed Midwestern city, hundreds of unemployed hopefuls are lined up for a job fair. Without warning, a merciless driver plows through the crowd in a roaring Mercedes. Eight people are killed; 15 are wounded. The killer escapes into the early-spring fog never to be seen from again. Until now..."

My comments: I am willing to try this new Stephen King novel as it seems to be a thriller, not pure horror as his early books are. A detective is determined to hunt down the Mercedes killer before he can wreck more havoc. The plot does sound like a roller coaster ride and I'm willing to go on this one. 

How about you? Would you read Mr. Mercedes? 

Uncaged: The Singular Menace by John Sanford and Michele Cook

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Uncaged: The Singular Menace

You don't have to wait for this one. It was actually released July 8, 2014 by Knopf Books for Young Readers. What I found interesting is that this new thriller series is aimed at the huge market of young adult readers. I always think of thrillers as adult material that YA readers generally stay away from

This book features two young protagonists, Shay Remby and her brilliant hacker brother, Odin. I can see the potential in this combination, and also because it's written by an established thriller writer John Sanford and his co-writer, Michelle Cook.

Here is what the publisher has to say about Uncaged:

Shay Remby arrives in Hollywood with $58 and a handmade knife, searching for her brother, Odin.
Odin’s a brilliant hacker but a bit of a loose cannon. He and a group of radical animal-rights activists hit a Singular Corp. research lab in Eugene, Oregon. The raid was a disaster, but Odin escaped with a set of highly encrypted flash drives and a post-surgical dog.
When Shay gets a frantic 3 a.m. phone call from Odin—talking about evidence of unspeakable experiments, and a ruthless corporation, and how he must hide—she’s concerned. When she gets a menacing visit from Singular’s security team, she knows: her brother’s a dead man walking.
What Singular doesn’t know—yet—is that 16-year-old Shay is every bit as ruthless as their security force, and she will burn Singular to the ground, if that’s what it takes to save her brother.

I know a few YA readers and adult readers who might be interested. How about you?  

The House on Mermaid Point by Wendy Wax

First Chapter, First Paragraph is a weekly meme hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea.
Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B; choose two teaser sentences from your current read.

The House on Mermaid Point

The House on Mermaid Point by Wendy Wax
Published July 1, 2014; Berkley Trade
Genre: contemporary fiction

First chapter, first paragraph:

Although she hadn't exactly planned it, Madeline Singer had recently achieved two things that surprised her: a senior citizen discount; and the legal right to date.

Teaser sentences:

Yelling at Madeline Singer was even worse than kicking a puppy, and Will regretted it almost as soon as possibly even before, he'd started doing it. (ch. 25)

"Is so bea-u-ti-ful out here."  Avery's head had dropped back and she was peering up into the sky.
"It is," Maddie nodded her agreement. (ch. 29)

My comments:  Wendy Wax has written a love story/stories set in the Florida Keys and on a fictional private island, Mermaid Point. The novel seems to be a paean to the sea, the land, the skies, the place. I've been to the Keys and loved it. Wax revels in it! I haven't read her two earlier Florida books but am curious about the previous adventures of the trio in these beach novels - Madeline, Avery, and Nicole.

Book description from goodreads:
"In this new novel from the author of Ten Beach Road and Ocean Beach, three unlikely friends who were thrown together by disaster get a do-over on life, love, and happiness . . . Maddie, Avery, and Nikki first got to know one another while  restoring a beachfront mansion to its former grandeur. But their latest project has presented some challenges they couldn’t have dreamed up in their wildest fantasies—although the house does belong to a man who actually was Maddie’s wildest fantasy once . . ."

A good beach read, in all ways, especially if you can't make it down to the Keys!  
Thanks to the publisher for a review copy 

Other reviews of the book:
Pudgy Penguin Perusals
Always with a Book

It's Monday: What Are You Reading?

Visit It's Monday: What Are You Reading hosted by Book Journey, and Mailbox Monday each week to see what's new on readers' bookshelves.

My mailbox has been full these past two weeks, with books for tours and books and ARCs that I want to get to this summer!

Gutenberg's Apprentice

An enthralling literary debut that evokes one of the most momentous events in history, the birth of printing in medieval Germany—a story of invention, intrigue, and betrayal, rich in atmosphere and historical detail, told through the lives of the three men who made it possible. To be published September 23, 2014 by Harper.

Victus: The Fall of Barcelona

Historical epic, set in early eighteenth-century Spain, about a military mastermind whose betrayal ultimately leads to the conquest of Barcelona, from the globally popular Catalonian writer Albert Sánchez Piñol. A sweeping tale of heroism, treason, war, love, pride, and regret that culminates in the tragic fall of a legendary city, illustrated with battle diagrams, portraits of political figures, and priceless maps of the old city of Barcelona.

A Man Called Ove

A quirky debut novel from Sweden, a grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.

The House We Grew Up In

Meet the Bird family. They live in a honey-colored house in a picture-perfect Cotswolds village, with rambling, unkempt gardens stretching beyond....Then one Easter weekend, tragedy comes to call. Years pass as the children become adults, find new relationships, and develop their own separate lives. But then something happens that calls them back to the house they grew up in -- and to what really happened that Easter weekend so many years ago.

The Stone Wife

At a Bath auction house, a large slab of carved stone is up for sale, but  three masked robbers shoot and kill the highest bidder, a professor who has recognized the female figure carved in the stone as Chaucer’s Wife of Bath. The masked would-be thieves flee, leaving the stone behind.  Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond and his team are assigned to investigate, and the stone is moved into Diamond’s office so he can research its origins. The carving causes such difficulties that he starts to think it has jinxed him. 

The Butcher

Matt, a young up-and-coming chef and restaurateur in Seattle, stumbles upon a locked crate he’s never seen before. Curious, he picks the padlock and makes a discovery so gruesome it will forever haunt him… Faced with this deep dark family secret, Matt must decide whether to keep what he knows buried in the past, go to the police, or take matters into his own hands. A high-octane novel about lethal secrets that refuse to die. 

Lords of the Sky

Retired USAF F-16 legend Dan Hampton offers the first comprehensive popular history of combat aviation—an action-packed look at the aces of the air and their machines, from the Red Baron and his triplane in World War I to today’s technologically expert flying warriors in supersonic jets.

Get Carter

Set in the late 1960s amidst the smokestacks and hardcases of the industrial north of England, Get Carter redefined British crime fiction and cinema alike. Jack Carter returns home to the mill town of Scunthorpe to investigate his brother's death. Adapted into the film starring Michael Caine, Get Carter—originally published as Jack’s Return Home. Along with the other two novels in the Jack Carter Trilogy, it is one of the most important crime novels of all time. (goodreads)

Maisie Dobbs The 10th Anniversary Edition with a special Afterword by the author. Maisie Dobbs got her start as a maid when she was thirteen. Her employer, suffragette Lady Rowan Compton, took her under her wing. Maisie trained as a nurse, then left for France to serve at the Front during WWI. Ten years after the Armistice, in 1929, Maisie sets out on her own as a private investigator, one who has learned that coincidences are meaningful, and truth elusive. Her very first case involves suspected infidelity but reveals something very different.

Which of these novels - historical, contemporary, mystery, or nonfiction would you start reading first?

Hello, I Love You: Adventures in Adoptive Fatherhood by Ted Kluck

Hello, I Love You

Published May 13, 2010; Moody Publishers
Genre: memoir

Publisher description:
There's nothing like adoption to make a grown man cry. Repeatedly. 

In this humorous and honest memoir, Ted Kluck-father, writer, and sports fan-details his adoption of his two sons from Ukraine. While not always self-flattering, his complaints and struggles will provoke laughter, some fear, and self-examination. In the first part of his memoir, Ted reveals the chaos the Kluck's first international adoption, the adoption of his son Tristan.

An Excerpt from the Book's Introduction:

            This book began as a journal-some spiral-bound notebooks that came with me to Ukraine the first time, and which contained letters that I wrote to Tristan during the experience. In the first half of the book, it reads like I'm addressing Tristan directly, while the second half is a more straightforward narrative of Dima's adoption. They're both love letters to my boys, and the whole thing is a love letter to Kristin, my wife.            You'll also notice lots of frank, often sarcastic prose about cultural differences-usually with the author as the punch line, as it was my inability to deal with these differences that provided a lot of humor (in retrospect) and anger (at the time).            There's also some tough content regarding infertility. If this is something you've struggled with in your marriage, I hope this chapter encourages you, and I hope you feel less alone in your struggle. If you've been blessed with biological children, please don't feel guilty for having them, or in any way judged or made fun of by the observations in that chapter (see also: It not being you, but me).            Finally, the book contains lots of stories of God's faithfulness-stories that we thought were too meaningful not to be told.  (from g0odreads)

I met Ted Kluck and his family for the first time today, when he visited as the guest speaker at our writing group meeting. This book is his story of the adoption of his two sons from the Ukraine.

Book Review: Claws of the Cat by Susan Spann

Claws of the Cat

An unlikely pair of collaborators in 16th century Kyoto risk their lives to solve the murder of a samurai who died from claw and stab wounds in a local tea house. The fatal wounds were made by neko-te or "cat's claws," a type of weapon used mostly be female fighters. But did a female murder the samurai?

Father Mateo, a Portuguese Jesuit priest who is protected and sponsored by the shogun, and his official protector, the ninja Hiro, must prove that Mateo's convert to Christianity, the tea house entertainer Sayuri, is innocent of the crime. The son of the dead samurai threatens to kill both Mateo and Sayuri unless another person is found responsible for the murder.

An engrossing mystery in an intriguing historical setting, with likable and well developed main characters, Claws of the Cat is also an entertaining and well researched novel about the samurai, their code of conduct, and their manner of fighting. I recommend the book for those who enjoy a good mystery and are curious about the old samurai culture of Japan.

Thanks to the author for a complimentary review copy of this book. The next in the series, Blade of the Samurai, was published July 15, 2014. Here is my review.