Tag / Jeffery Deaver

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2017: The Year In Books

With another year coming to an end, it is time to take a look back at the 28 books I read over the past year, 3 less than last year.  Of those 28, 7 were non-fiction and, of the 21 novels, only 4 were TV show tie-ins.  For the first time, none of the books came out of my “to-read” drawer, and a record 16 were e-books.  I read over 80,000 pages, my lowest total since at least 2013.

Once again, a majority of the books I read this year were by authors I’ve never read before. The 15 authors that I read for the first this year were:
Amy Schumer
Jessie Humphries
Gene Kim
Tod Goldberg
Matt Zoller Seitz
Philip K. Dick
Harland Sanders
Paul Levine
William J. Mann
Matthew V. Clemmons
Chris Smith
Riley Sager
Whitney Cummings
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Tom Perrotta

There were 4 authors I read multiple titles from during 2016, the ghost writer for Richard Castle, Jeffery Deaver, David Mack, and Erle Stanley Gardner.

7 of the books I read were released this year, while 3 of them were released last century.

Finally, the breakdown by month.  Vacation in December certainly helped pad its totals a tad bit.

Continue reading →

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Book 27 (of 52) – The Empty Chair

The Empty Chair – Jeffery Deaver

In this third entry of the Lincoln Rhyme saga, the criminologist and his girlfriend/side kick head down to North Carolina, where Rhyme is scheduled to undergo an experimental surgery.  While waiting, they get dragged in to help the local police locate a kidnapped girl before she starves to death.  When Amelia breaks the suspected kidnapper out of the jail, she tries to stay a step ahead of the locals and her mentor.

While this was the third book of the series, it is at least the sixth that I’ve read.  Deaver knows how to keep things interesting enough to keep you coming back for more.  There are a few more of his works waiting on my Kindle, so I’m sure to add to this total as the years go on.

 

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Prolific Authors 2017

Way back in December of 2011 (and again in the Decembers of 2013 and 2015), we took a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 60 books from 47 different authors. There shouldn’t be much movement over the past 2 years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span. Once again, we will be limiting ourselves to the now 54 authors from whom I have read more than one book.

Author Name Current Total 2015 Total Difference
Nancy Holder 15 13 2

A new leader in the clubhouse, as Nancy Holder adds 2 new additions over the past 2 years to put her out front.

Richard Castle 14 9 5

The second largest increase (or largest for someone I had read before) goes to the writer (or writers) using the nom de plume of the main character from the television show Castle.  I’m guessing this total will stay pretty static, with the show off the air for over a year now.

Greg Rucka 13 13 0
Christopher Golden 12 12 0
Stephen King 12 12 0

These three round out the top 5 with absolutely no movement over the past 2 years.

Brad Meltzer 11 9 2
Jeffery Deaver 8 5 3

Slight increases for both of these authors, with more to come.  Meltzer’s next book is already pre-ordered, while there are a few unread Deaver works on my Kindle. Continue reading →

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Book 14 (of 52) – The Steel Kiss

The Steel Kiss – Jeffery Deaver

The Steel Kiss, the 12th Lincoln Rhyme novel from Jeffery Deaver and the 7th that I’ve read, has the paralyzed criminologist and his trusty sidekick, Detective Amelia Sachs, going up against a killer using technology to take out his victims. The duo work on bringing down the culprit while, at the same time, dealing with personal issues.

Jeffery Deaver’s work shows up rather frequently on sale in the Kindle store, allowing me to stock up and keep up to date on the goings on in Lincoln Rhyme’s life, with this being my fourth digital entry since mid-December 2015. As usual, it provided a good bang for the buck, entertaining me far beyond the small price I paid to acquire it. I’ve got three more Deaver works waiting in the Kindle app, so hopefully more turn up soon.

by jim

2016: The Year In Books

With another year coming to an end, it is time to take a look back at the 31 books I read over the past year, even with last year and tied for my highest total ever, surpassing the 27 books I read back in 1992.  Of those 31, 9 were non-fiction and, of the 22 novels, only 5 were TV show tie-ins.  Only 4 of the books came from the “to-read” drawer, and 8 were e-books.  I read over 11,000 pages, the most in 1 year since 1992 and my second straight year reaching the 9000 mark.

Once again, a majority of the books I read this year were by authors I’ve never read before. The 12 authors that I read for the first this year were:
Doug Wilson
Jennie Garth
Emily Heckman
J.K. Rowling
Jen Kirkman
Jack Ketchum
John Dean
Judy Greer
Jenny Lawson
Gary Dell’Abate
Anna Kendrick
Emily V. Gordon

There were 3 authors I read multiple titles from during 2016, the ghost writer for Richard Castle, Jeffery Deaver, and J.K. Rowling.

Only 2 of the books I read were released this year, while 5 of them were released last century.

Finally, the breakdown by month.  Vacations in March, November, and December certainly helped pad their totals a tad bit.

Continue reading →

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Book 15 (of 52) – The Kill Room

The Kill Room - Jeffery Deaver

The Kill Room – Jeffery Deaver

The Kill Room, the 10th Lincoln Rhyme novel from Jeffery Deaver and the 6th that I’ve read, has the paralyzed criminologist and his trusty sidekick, Detective Amelia Sachs, going up against a black ops organization within the US government.  When the evidence starts to point in a different direction, the duo bring down the true culprit and manage to stop a terrorist attack.

Jeffery Deaver’s work shows up rather frequently on sale in the Kindle store, allowing me to stock up and keep up to date on the goings on in Lincoln Rhyme’s life, with this being my third digital entry since mid-December 2015.  As usual, it provided a good bang for the buck, entertaining me far beyond the small price I paid to acquire it.  I’ve got one more Deaver work waiting in the Kindle app, so hopefully more turn up soon.

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Book 4 (of 52) – The Devil’s Teardrop

The Devil's Teardrop - Jeffery Deaver

The Devil’s Teardrop – Jeffery Deaver

The Devil’s Teardrop, my 6th outing with the work of Jeffery Deaver and the 1st outside of the Lincoln Rhyme series, focuses of former FBI agent Parker Kincaid, a forensic document examiner, who is called back in to duty when a gunman is let loose on Washington DC on New Year’s Eve.  Kincaid teams with the enigmatic Agent Margaret Lukas to track down the gunman and figure out who is behind his attacks before the clock strikes midnight.

This is Deaver’s lone outing about Parker Kincaid, though he has shown up in bit parts in some of the Lincoln Rhyme books.  I wouldn’t mind seeing more of him and Agent Lukas in the future if Deaver ever wishes to revisit the characters.  In the meantime, this was a good adventure, a nice change of pace from wizards and the like.

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Prolific Authors 2015

bookshelfWay back in December of 2011 and again in December of 2013, we took a look back at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 51 books from 42 different authors.  There shouldn’t be much movement over the past 2 years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  Once again, we will be limiting ourselves to the now 54 authors from whom I have read more than one book.

Author Name Current Total 2013 Total Difference
Nancy Holder 13 13 0
Greg Rucka 13 12 1

Greg Rucka moves into a tie for my most-prolific author, thanks to his latest which I read last year.  Assuming he stays on the same schedule, he should take the lead by himself sometime next year.

Christopher Golden 12 12 0
Stephen King 12 10 2

After years of being ignored, Stephen King adds 2 new titles to his total over the past 2 years.

Richard Castle 9 5 4
Brad Meltzer 9 8 1

The top 5 rounds out with Brad Meltzer and Richard Castle, who put up the largest increase in the last 2 years. Continue reading →

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Book 27 (of 52) – The Vanished Man

The Vanished Man - Jeffery Deaver

The Vanished Man – Jeffery Deaver

For the first time in 7 years, I returned to the universe of Lincoln Rhyme, the quadriplegic forensic consultant introduced by Jeffery Deaver in 1997’s The Bone Collector.  The Vanished Man is both the fifth in the series and the fifth entry I’ve read.  In it, Rhyme and his crew deal with an illusionist using magic to kill while leading the police on a wild goose chase in regards to his ultimate endgame.

I’ve always enjoyed Deaver’s work, but never quite enough to pay full price for it.  Other than The Bone Collector, which I read in paperback around the time the movie was released, his other works were either remaindered hard covers, which were bought for about 1/4 the original price, or, in the case of this book, an ebook had as part of Amazon’s daily deal.

Due to the nature of the protagonist, there are many twists and turns in this novel.  One could almost say too many, as they kept coming even after the mystery was wrapped up.  That said, it was entertaining and has got me interested enough to think about picking up more of the series.

by admin

Prolific Authors 2013

bookshelfWay back in December of 2011, I took our first look back at the authors I have read the most dating back to high school.  Since that time, I’ve read 34 books from 31 different authors.  I don’t think there is going to be much movement since then, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time.  Once again, we will be limiting ourselves to the now 47 authors from whom I have read more than one book.

Author Name Current Total 2011 Total Difference
Nancy Holder 13 13 0
Christopher Golden 12 12 0

No change to these two, who owe their totals mostly to Buffy and Angel tie-in novels.

Greg Rucka 12 11 1
Stephen King 10 9 1

Both of these long time favorites increased their total by one book.  Rucka’s newest is due out next summer and is already pre-ordered.

Michael Jan Friedman 8 8 0
Brad Meltzer 8 7 1

Brad Meltzer pulls into a tie for the top 5 with another author of tie-in novels, mostly Star Trek: TNG and Lois & Clark. Continue reading →