Book 11 (of 52) – Gone Tonight

Gone Tonight – Sarah Pekkanen

Ruth Sterling has always kept the details of her past from her daughter Catherine.  When Catherine starts digging into that past in light of her mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, what she finds stuns her: her mother has been lying about everything, including her disease.  The more Catherine digs, the closer she comes to the painful truth, one Ruth has been hiding from and preparing for, for the past two decades.

Gone Tonight is my first solo experience with Sarah Pekkanen, who I have previously only read in her team-ups with Greer Hendricks.  In this outing, she switches chapters back and forth between Ruth and Catherine’s point of view, giving the reader insights from each character that the other doesn’t share.  It is an interesting set-up for what, ultimately, is a familiar tale, of a woman and her child hiding from a mysterious past.  I shall be looking out for more of Pekkanen’s work, either on her own or in collaboration with others.

Prolific Authors – 4 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. Since I’ve far surpassed my “normal” reading output the last three years, I thought it would be nice to once again take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through the start of October. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 118 books, so there could be some movement over the past two years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  We continue today with the ten authors I’ve read four times, an increase of four over the past two years.

Scott Adams

The now-cancelled creator of Dilbert, who can’t seem to help himself from spouting racist takes on Twitter, Adams used his famous character to write a number of humorous business books, the most recent of which I read in 2012.

The Big Nowhere – James Ellroy

James Ellroy

The author of the L.A. Quartet, which I finished off with The Big Nowhere in 2014.

Gillian Flynn

The former Entertainment Weekly writer turned in to one of my favorite authors, though she hasn’t written a new full length work since 2012’s Gone Girl.

Rebecca Forster

One of my first Kindle finds, I’ve read the first four entries in her Witness series.

Diana G. Gallagher

The author, who passed away in 2021, can credit the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for all four of her entries, the most recent of which I read in 2011.

You Are Not Alone – Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

Greer Hendricks

After spending two decades as an editor at Simon & Schuster, she has teamed up with Sarah Pekkanen for four novels, which I’ve read one annually starting in 2020.

Grady Hendrix

Winner of a 2018 Bram Stoker Award, the horror novelist debuts thanks to the four novels I’ve read over the past three years, starting with The Final Girl Support Group in 2021.

Kimberly McCreight – Reconstructing Amelia

Kimberly McCreight

A New York Times bestselling author thanks to her debut novel, Reconstructing Amelia, she has been a steady presence since 2013.

Sarah Pekkanen

She has teamed up with Greer Hendricks for four novels, one of which I’ve read one annually since 2020.

John Vornholt

Three fourths of his works that I’ve read come from the world of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Book 26 (of 52) – The Golden Couple

The Golden Couple – Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

When a therapist takes on a new couple, dealing with infidelity, as clients, she ends up finding them more than she initially expected.  As she digs deeper into their relationship, she finds that not all is as it appears, with secrets upon secrets.  Can she save their marriage?  Or is that what is putting them in danger?

The Golden Couple, the fourth collaboration between Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, switches narrators between Avery, the former therapist with a new approach to treating patients, and Marissa, a woman who cheated on her husband and is trying to put her marriage back together.  Things move at a good pace from the start, and the tension rises to a satisfying, if somewhat obvious, climax.  I’ll certainly be on the lookout for whatever comes next from this pair.

Book 31 (of 52) – You Are Not Alone

You Are Not Alone – Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

After a 30-something data researcher living in New York City witnesses a suicide, she is inexplicably drawn to the friends of the dead woman.  While she sees a lifeline from her life of loneliness, she instead is being played for a patsy by the group of friends, who have banded together to get revenge over people who have wronged someone and deserves a comeuppance.  Can she stay a step ahead of them and the police while trying to figure out what’s been going on?

You Are Not Alone, the third collaboration between Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, continues the positive trend of improvement from their first work, which had pacing problems.  Things move at a good pace from the start, and the tension rises to a satisfying climax.  This author team has a fourth offering out, which I’m sure to be on the lookout for at the local public library.

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

Prolific Authors – 2 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 start things off with the 35 authors I’ve read twice.

Max Barry

An Australian author, I’ve enjoyed the two novels of his I’ve read, Jennifer Government and Company.

Laura Caldwell

I have no idea how I came across the work of this local author, but I must have enjoyed it enough to go back for seconds.  Unfortunately, she passed away last year.

The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay – Michael Chabon

Michael Chabon

Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the most recent of  the two works of his I’ve read.  I have another, Wonder Boys, waiting in the to read pile, so he rise up some day.

Matthew V. Clemens

The co-author, with Max Allan Collins, of the final two chapters of the Reeder and Rogers trilogy.

Felicia Day

The first author here that I’ve happened to meet in person.

Cameron Dokey

She makes the list based on two entries in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series.

Diane Duane

Living in Ireland, she is responsible for a Star Trek: The Next Generation book and a Spider-Man novel, of all things.

Warren Ellis

The comic writer, currently in exile after being called out for abusing women, makes the list thanks to two prose novels.

David Fisher Continue reading →

Book 20 (of 52) – An Anonymous Girl

An Anonymous Girl – Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

When a struggling makeup artist finds her way into a study on morality, she thinks she’s found an easy way to supplement her income.  Instead, she finds herself opening up in ways she never imagined, putting herself in situations meant to test the strength of the study’s leader’s marriage.  When she learns the truth, she finds herself in the middle of a marriage that is breaking apart, one which already has a death toll.  But who should she trust: the cheating husband that she has already slept with or the wife that brought her in to the “study” in the first place?

An Anonymous Girl, the second collaboration between Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, is an improvement over their first, in that it doesn’t beat around the bush for the first half of the book to get the story moving.  Things move at a good pace from the start, and the tension rises to a satisfying climax.  This author team has a third offering out and I’ll be sure to be on the lookout for it at a reasonable price on the Kindle store.

2020: The Year In Books

As we wrap up 2020, a year where I should have been setting records due to the pandemic and stay at home orders, I managed to read only 23 books, a decrease of 5 books over last year.  Of those 23, 8 were non-fiction and, of the 15 novels, only 2 were tied to a TV show.  None of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer and 15 were e-books.  I read just over 7,800 pages, my seventh highest total of all time.

For the first time in years, a majority of the books I read this year were by authors I have read before. The 11 authors that I read for the first this year were:

  • Ken Harrelson
  • Jeff Snook
  • Liz Phair
  • Megan Abbott
  • Greer Hendricks
  • Sarah Pekkanen
  • Cameron Esposito
  • Rich Lindberg
  • Sara Schaefer
  • Alex Trebek
  • Trevor Noah

Tom Perotta, Erle Stanley Gardner, and Karin Slaughter were the only authors that I read multiple titles from during 2020.

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.  My vacation to Hawaii in February and being off in December certainly helped pad its totals a tad bit. Continue reading →

Book 6 (of 52) – The Wife Between Us

The Wife Between Us – Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

In The Wife Between Us, authors Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen introduce us to two women, Vanessa and Nellie, and the man they share between them.  As Vanessa deals with the tatters of her life following the end of her relationship, Nellie prepares for her upcoming wedding.  But, twist, they are actually the same woman!  Now that their, or her, ex is moving on to a new fiancé, Vanessa decides to warn her of the dangers awaiting her, even if it means putting herself back in danger.

My feelings on the book are sort of split.  Prior to the big twist, I was quickly losing interest in where things were going.  Or not going.  After the twist, things started to pick up, but I feel like too much time was spent getting there.  Overall, I guess I would say I enjoyed the experience, but I feel like there was an opportunity to tighten things up which would have made it more enjoyable.

I see that there is another offering from this author team out in the world.  I guess I saw enough here to give it a chance, if I come across it at a reasonable price on the Kindle store.