#MiniReviews Subterranean, Two Girls Down, Bad Little Falls, Wilde Lake and Owl and the Tiger Thieves!

First I want to say that I have spent most of the time lately listening to books, well working and listening to books so most of these books either plain audiobooks reviews or a combination of listening and reading if I have both the audiobook and text copy. Second, the reason for these mini-reviews is that I'm behind when it comes to reviewing and I thought instead of writing a lot of posts would it be easier to write just one!

Subterranean by James Rollins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Travel to the bottom of the earth to a place you never dreamed existed. Beneath the ice a hand-picked team of specialist makes its way toward the center of the world. They are not the first to venture into this magnificent subterranean labyrinth. Those they follow did not return.

Over the rocks...Across the yawning caverns...beyond the black river...You are not alone. Into the darkness where breathtaking wonders await you-and terrors beyond imagining...Revelations that could change the world-things that should never be disturbed...At the bottom of the earth is the beginning. Keep moving toward a miracle that cannot be, toward a mystery older than time.

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I love James Rollins books, however, Subterranean is not one of my favorites. It's not bad, I love the whole world below the surface with strange creatures, and of course, the fact that this team that is sent to explore is not the first team sent down, not that they know that.

Alas, there is a kid in the story since the mom most definitely didn't want to leave him back with her ex, but he will be safe as the base. Yes, I saw right from the start that that wouldn't end well. Unfortunately, I could also see that the kid would be one of those "save the day" kids who just HAPPENS to overhear or find something that will save the day. Then, we have the romance story in the book....sigh. Will not even approach that storyline. All and all, not a bad book, but not I would recommend among Rollins books. Still, if you like stories with dangerous creatures, then you might want to check this book out.

Two Girls Down by Louisa Luna

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When two young sisters disappear from a strip mall parking lot in a small Pennsylvania town, their devastated mother hires an enigmatic bounty hunter, Alice Vega, to help find the girls. Immediately shut out by a local police department already stretched thin by budget cuts and the growing OxyContin and meth epidemic, Vega enlists the help of a disgraced former cop, Max Caplan. Cap is a man trying to put the scandal of his past behind him and move on, but Vega needs his help to find the girls, and she will not be denied.

With little to go on, Vega and Cap will go to extraordinary lengths to untangle a dangerous web of lies, false leads, and complex relationships to find the girls before time runs out, and they are gone forever.

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Two Girls Down is a book I've been looking forward to reading and I'm glad to say that this one hit the right notes right from the start. Two girls disappeared and the cops are not finding and leads to whom took them. So, the family contacts Alice Vega to find them. Vega is very good at finding missing people and with the help of a local formal cop are they starting to dig deeper into the people around the two girls.

This book is a chilling tale, the last part when the truth is revealed is really dark and disturbing. I count myself to be quite tough when it comes to the evil thing people do, but even I found myself disturbed by the truth. Alice Vega and Mac Caplan is a great team and I hope that there will be more books with them. 

Bad Little Falls by Paul Doiron
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Maine game warden Mike Bowditch has been sent into exile, transferred by his superiors to a remote outpost on the Canadian border. When a blizzard descends on the coast, Bowditch is called to the rustic cabin of a terrified couple. A raving and half-frozen man has appeared at their door, claiming his friend is lost in the storm. 

But what starts as a rescue mission in the wilderness soon becomes a baffling murder investigation. The dead man is a notorious drug dealer, and state police detectives suspect it was his own friend who killed him. Bowditch isn’t so sure, but his vow not to interfere in the case is tested when he finds himself powerfully attracted to a beautiful woman with a dark past and a troubled young son. The boy seems to know something about what really happened in the blizzard, but he is keeping his secrets locked in a cryptic notebook, and Mike fears for the safety of the strange child.

Meanwhile, an anonymous tormentor has decided to make the new warden’s life a living hell. Alone and outgunned, Bowditch turns for assistance to his old friend, the legendary bush pilot Charley Stevens. But in this snowbound landscape -— where smugglers wage blood feuds by night -— help seems very far away indeed. If Bowditch is going to catch a killer, he must survive on his own wits and discover strength he never knew he possessed.

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Bad Little Falls is the third book I have read in the Mike Bowditch series, and this is the one book so far that I felt didn't really rock my boat. It was great to go back and read an early book in the series and the story was not that bad. I just found it not very memorable and I kept forgetting who was who. Personally, I found the best part was that this was the first time Mike met Stacey. However, the case was not that riveting although I did find the ending was good and I was even a bit surprised when the full truth was revealed. 

All and all, this was an OK book, although it did feel like a let down when compared to Knife Creek and Stay Hidden.

Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The bestselling author of the acclaimed standalones After I’m Gone, I’d Know You Anywhere, and What the Dead Know, challenges our notions of memory, loyalty, responsibility, and justice in this evocative and psychologically complex story about a long-ago death that still haunts a family.

Luisa “Lu” Brant is the newly elected—and first female—state’s attorney of Howard County, Maryland, a job in which her widower father famously served. Fiercely intelligent and ambitious, she sees an opportunity to make her name by trying a mentally disturbed drifter accused of beating a woman to death in her home. It’s not the kind of case that makes headlines, but peaceful Howard county doesn’t see many homicides.

As Lu prepares for the trial, the case dredges up painful memories, reminding her small but tight-knit family of the night when her brother, AJ, saved his best friend at the cost of another man’s life. Only eighteen, AJ was cleared by a grand jury. Now, Lu wonders if the events of 1980 happened as she remembers them. What details might have been withheld from her when she was a child?

The more she learns about the case, the more questions arise. What does it mean to be a man or woman of one’s times? Why do we ask our heroes of the past to conform to the present’s standards? Is that fair? Is it right? Propelled into the past, she discovers that the legal system, the bedrock of her entire life, does not have all the answers. Lu realizes that even if she could learn the whole truth, she probably wouldn’t want to.

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Wilde Lake not only was an engrossing book it also gave me a new favorite author that I really need to read more books by. Why haven't I read anything by Laura Lippman before? Wilde Lake jumps between the present story with Luisa "Lu" Brant investigating as an attorney a murder and through flashbacks to the 80s do we get to know more about Lu's childhood, her growing up with her father and brother and a murder case that made her father, who was an attorney too, famous. We also learn about the night Lu's brother saved his best friends life at the cost of another man's life.

Boy, there are secrets in this book. A busload of them. And, I really loved getting to the bottom of the story because nothing is at it seems. Flawed characters, terrible secrets, and really flesh out characters and all starts with the murder that Lu is investigating. Fabulous book!

Owl and the Tiger Thieves by Kristi Charish

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In this fourth Owl novel, Kristi Charish (The Voodoo Killings) melds sparkling fantasy with the grit of urban underbelly—with a detour through the world’s most spectacular cities. This is perfect for fans of Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher, Jennifer Estep, Jenn Bennett, and fantasy lovers everywhere.

Through no fault of her own, Alix has found herself essential to the fate of the world as we know it. She didn’t mean for this to happen—she was quite happy being merely the notorious antiquities thief, and ex-archeologist, known as Owl.

However, years ago, Owl reluctantly entered the secret world of the supernatural. Her goals: complete one job, escape one bounty on her head, continue her thieving in peace.

Fast forward to today. Now, she has become a key player in a brutal paranormal civil war that is rapidly getting out of hand. The leader of one of these factions—a lethal opponent called the Electric Samurai—grows more powerful by the second. To stop him, Owl sets out to find the long-lost, legendary group known as the Tiger Thieves.

But will it be too little too late? One thing Owl misses about “normal” archaeology: there are few emergencies with thousand-year-old relics

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Owl and the Tiger Thieves is just as good as the previous books in this series. I have come to really love reading about Alix, the notorious antiquities thief, and ex-archeologist, known as Owl. In this book is she trying to find a way to stop Electric Samurai, also known as Ryan, her boyfriend. Well, he was that before he becomes the Electric Samurai in the last book. Now, he's just trying to kill her and take over the world. Thankfully Owl has a plan, to find the Tiger Thieves. She just has to survive the prison she's in where a clue is said to lead to the Tiger Thieves.

Fabulous book. I do miss Carpe, but I have a feeling he will show up in the future. I loved the fact that Owl teamed up with Artemis and that they, despite some minor problems, well some pretty big problems between them, did it work out. Too bad that Artemis is Ryan's cousin otherwise I would have totally have loved to see some more sparks between them in the future. Hell, when I think about it wouldn't I mind that a bit and I like Ryan...

Anyhow, haven't read this series? Do so! 

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That's it for now. Love to read some comments, especially about this way of reviewing books. Is it good or bad? Do you prefer books to be reviewed separately?