Tag / Karin Slaughter

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Midseason Review – Tuesdays

Continuing our look back at my thoughts on the new fall season, with the offerings that I found myself interested in for Tuesdays.

Now, let’s see what interesting tidbits are coming this spring:

Night Court – Melissa Rauch joins the returning John Larroquette in this update of the 80s hit.

Will Trent – Based on Karin Slaughter’s series of novels, early indications say this will turn into a procedural, which does not fill me with joy.

Superman & Lois – Returning for its third season while I still have yet to watch any of it.  At what point do I admit that I don’t watch this show?

Gotham Knights – Following the death of Bruce Wayne, his adopted son forges alliances with the children of his father’s enemies.

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2022: The Year In Television

With less and less good productions airing on network and cable and moving to the various streaming platforms, that seems to have taken over as my main form of television watching.  Now that I work from home full time, I have plenty of time to take in whatever they have to offer.  Since we cover the network and cable shows that I watch elsewhere, let’s take a look at the 32 seasons of shows I streamed on nine different platforms this year.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 7 (Netflix)
The end of the road for the first series set in, but not completely part of, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Archive 81 Season 1 (Netflix)
A video archivist is hired to transfer video tapes rescued from a building fire, but they contain much, much more.

Barry Season 3 (HBOMax)
With the acting class disbanded, Barry falls back to his old job while trying to make amends.

The Blacklist Season 9 (Netflix)
Years after Elizabeth’s death, Red returns and the task force re-forms to track down her killer.

The Bear Season 1 (Hulu)
A world class chef inherits the family beef joint after his brother dies.

DMZ (HBOMax)
An adaptation of Brian Wood’s comic series about Manhattan becoming a DMZ following a second civil war.

The Flash Season 8 (Netflix)
Catching up in preparation for the upcoming final season.

High School Season 1 (Freevee)
An adaptation of the memoir from Tegan and Sara shows the twin girls growing up in Canada and discovering their musical talent.

How I Met Your Father Season 1 (Hulu)
Missing all the charm and humor of its predecessor but might have all been worth it for the surprise appearance in the last episode.

Inside Man (Netflix)
A misunderstanding leads to a math tutor being held hostage and a vicar doing anything he can to save his family.

Lost in Space Season 2 (Netflix)
The Robinsons manage to get to another planet, but run into more adventures. Continue reading →

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2022: The Year In Books

As we wrap up 2022, my second full year of remote working, I managed to surpass my previous records by completing a whopping 55 books, an increase of one book over last year and my second consecutive year completing the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.  I surpassed last year’s total with a mere three days remaining in 2022.  I read (or listened) to 19,328 pages, by far my highest total of all time and only the third time I’ve passed 10,000.

Of those books, fifteen were non-fiction and, of the remaining 40 novels, only two were tied to a TV show, either as the source material or as a tie-in.  None of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer, with 44 e-books and three audiobooks.  I continued to take advantage of my library card, which helped me procure 37 of the books I consumed throughout the year.

A little more than half of the books I read this year were by authors I had read before. The 31 authors that I read for the first this year were:

Adam Nedeff Kelsey McKinney Simone St. James Laura Dave
Jeff Warren Carlye Adler Matt Paxton Jordan Michael Smith
Alyssa Milano Alex Finlay Taylor Jenkins Reid Emily Ratajkowski
Samantha Downing Dave Grohl Mary Lynn Rajskub Stephanie Perkins
Michael Schur Joseph Henrich V.E. Schwab Brianna Madia
Jimmy Piersall Richard Whittingham Richard Osman Colleen Hoover
Jenette McCurdy Sally Rooney Josh Malerman Alice Sebold
Katie Mack Penn Jillette Elin Hilderbrand Nita Prose

Alex Finlay, Simone St. James, Karin Slaughter, Megan Goldin, Jeffery Deaver, and Richard Osman were the only authors that I read multiple titles from during 2022.

16 of the books I read were released this year, while only two of them were released last century, with the oldest first published in 1953.

Continue reading →

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Book 51 (of 52) – The Last Widow

The Last Widow – Karin Slaughter

The Last Widow, the ninth entry in Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent series, an explosion at Emory College leads to Sara Linton taken hostage by a white nationalist group.  While Will goes undercover trying to infiltrate the group to find her, Faith works with the FBI to try and figure out what the group’s endgame is before it is too late.

For the first time since I started this series back in 2019, I’m reading the books in the order they were released.  In this outing, Slaughter introduces a group of white nationalists threatening domestic terrorism, which probably seemed like a natural progression back in 2019 when it was released and seems even more imminent here in 2022.  I’ve got one more entry to go before finishing the series, at least what has been released to date, and I’m sure that’ll happen sometime next year.

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Book 33 (of 52) – Unseen

Unseen – Karin Slaughter

When Agent Will Trent goes undercover in Macon, his future with Sara Linton intersects with her past as a raid by Lena Adams goes bad, resulting in her husband, Sara’s stepson, being shot.  Agent Trent tries to investigate the crime, and find out the identity of the new big bad in town, while keeping his cover.  Once Sara learns the truth, can he keep his relationship intact while finding the truth?

Unseen, the seventh entry in Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent series and my eighth overall, once again crosses over Slaughter’s previous Grant County series with her current work, checking back in on Lena Adams, who was last seen in Broken, book number four.  Once again, there is a preponderance of interconnectedness within the characters in the tale, but, being a pseudo-crossover, I guess that is to be expected.  The next entry in the series, The Kept Woman, was the first one I read, so from here on out I will be current with the series.  Looks like, as of today, there are only two entries left to go.

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Book 11 (of 52) – Criminal

Criminal – Karin Slaughter

Catching up on the books I read while in Hawaii on vacation.

Criminal, the sixth entry in Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent series and my seventh overall, straddles two time periods, the 1970s and the present day, to show how Amanda Wagner got her start in the male-oriented Atlanta PD and what her connection is to Will Trent. When the killer arrested by Wagner and Evelyn Mitchell in their first case together is paroled, Wagner suspects him in a similar crime today. There’s only one problem: the suspect is Will’s father. Can she keep him away from the case while trying to solve it quickly?

If i have one complaint with Slaughter’s series, it’s that all of the characters, police, perps, and everyone in between, have some connection. That trait rears its ugly head once again here, as we learn that Wagner rescued Will Trent as a baby, named him, and kept watch out for him over the years.  Aside from that, the stories are engrossing and enjoyable, but the interconnectedness just pulls you out of the story.

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2021: The Year In Books

As we wrap up 2021, my first full year remote working, I managed to read a whopping 54 books, an increase of 31 books over last year and my first year completing the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.  I surpassed last year’s total in mid-June, passed my best years, 2015 and 2016, in late August, and completed book 52 with two weeks left in the year.  I read (or listened) to 18,670 pages, by far my highest total of all time and only the second time I’ve passed 10,000.

Of those books, 16 were non-fiction and, of the 36 novels, 10 were tied to a TV show, either as the source material or as a tie-in.  None of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer, with 43 e-books and 4 audiobooks.  For the first time since I was a kid, I got myself a library card, which helped me procure 14 of the books.

Just less than half of the books I read this year were by authors I have read before. The 31 authors that I read for the first this year were:

  • Tegan Quin
  • Sara Quin
  • Lucy Foley
  • Jenna Fischer
  • Matt Haig
  • Eric Nusbaum
  • Jon Taffer
  • Charlotte Douglas
  • Susan Kearney
  • Fredrik Backman
  • Jeff Pearlman
  • Minka Kent
  • Alan Cumming
  • Megan Goldin
  • Molly Bloom
  • Barack Obama
  • Ali Wong
  • Timothy Ferriss
  • Issa Rae
  • Walter Tevis
  • Tess Gerritson
  • Gary Braver
  • Andy Weir
  • Matthew Walker
  • James Clear
  • Grady Hendrix
  • Simon Sinek
  • Jason Fung
  • Julia Spiro
  • Jon Pessah
  • Ruth Ware

Erle Stanley Gardner, Mary Kubica, Jeffery Deaver, Andy Weir and Karin Slaughter were the only authors that I read multiple titles from during 2021.

6 of the books I read were released this year, while 5 of them were released last century, with the oldest first published in 1933.

Finally, the breakdown by month, which was fairly consistent across the entire year.

Continue reading →

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Prolific Authors Wrap Up

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 60 books from 54 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.  Today, we wrap things up with a look back at the 77 authors I’ve read more than once.

Largest Increase (since 2019)

The Knife Slipped – Erle Stanley Gardner

Erle Stanley Gardner – 5
Jeffrey Deaver – 3
Karin Slaughter – 3
Tom Perrotta – 3
Riley Sager – 2
Greer Hendricks – 2
Sarah Pekkanen – 2

Largest Increase (since 2011)

Deadly Heat – Richard Castle

Richard Castle – 13
Jeffrey Deaver – 10
Erle Stanley Gardner – 9
J.K. Rowling – 7
Mary Kubica – 6
David Mack – 6
Karin Slaughter – 6

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Book 48 (of 52) – Fallen

Fallen – Karin Slaughter

In Fallen, the fifth entry in Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent series and my sixth overall, one of GBI’s own is under attack.  When Faith Mitchell arrives at her mother’s home following a morning training session, she finds intruders in the home and her mother gone.  Her partner, Will Trent, investigates the case, suspecting the disappearance is tied to his investigation of Faith’s mother’s unit years ago, which led to her retirement and the members of her squad going to jail.  Working with his boss, who is also Faith’s mother’s best friend, Will has to stitch the pieces together before the supposed gang war that has surrounded the case takes another victim.

Slaughter fully integrates her two series with this entry, as Sara Linton, from the Grant County series, becomes romantically entangled with Will.  I’ve got two more books to read before I’m back in line with the series’ chronology.  With them sitting on the Kindle, I’m sure I will get to them in due time, as this has quickly become one of my favorite series.

 

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Prolific Authors – 6 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 60 books from 54 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.  Today, we continue with the 4 authors I’ve read 6 times.

John Grisham

One of my favorites back in college, I last read one his works, The Testament, back in 2013.

Don’t You Cry – Mary Kubica

Mary Kubica

The local author has racked up all 6 of her books over the last 6 years.

David Mack

All six of his entries come from Star Trek: The Next Generation works I’ve read on my Kindle.

Pretty Girls – Karin Slaughter

Karin Slaughter

Another recent favorite, I’m working my way through her Will Trent series.