Book Recommendation – Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride

Today’s recommendation is one I picked up because (1) I have read this author before and (2) I was intrigued by the title. The book is a couple years old from what I can tell and the internet says that there is a movie in the works based on the book. Let’s look at Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride.

“Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride broke my heart. And then it somehow mended that shattered heart, made it beat more buoyantly than before. We need books like this and writers like Will Leitch now more than ever.”—Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls and the North Bath Trilogy of “Fool” novels.

As a parent, I think you would do just about anything for your kids. Lloyd McNeil is in a situation that any parent would hate to be in. In the book, you find out how he handles the situation and will leave you pondering what you might do in the same scenario. He is the Amazon synopsis:

From the Alex Award-winning and Edgar-nominated author of How Lucky, this twisty, funny, and ultimately uplifting novel follows a father in a race against time to provide for his child.

Lloyd McNeil has just learned he has months to live. He also learns that his twenty years as a beat cop in Atlanta haven’t earned him enough money to take care of his teenage son, Bishop, after he’s gone. But when Lloyd discovers his police benefits will increase exponentially if he dies in the line of duty, he comes up with a plan.

Lloyd begins to throw himself into one life-threatening situation after another to try to get himself killed and to provide for his son . . . but he keeps failing—and surviving. To his shock, his accidental heroics make him an inspirational icon in the community. But time is still running out for Lloyd to get his affairs in order, to teach Bishop the lessons he needs to be a good person, and to say goodbye.

Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride is a surprising, unforgettable blend of suspense, humor, and compassion. It is a novel about what we leave behind and what we learn along the way, a bighearted and stirring story about the depths of a father’s love for his son.

This was such a great story. The love that Lloyd has for his son is apparent throughout the story. With his plan in place, he still wrestles with whether or not he is doing the right thing. The story played out very much like a movie, so I was glad to see that one was in development.

As the synopsis said, there are plenty of emotions that you’ll feel as you read the story. There are some very funny moments and moments where you are on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. It was a book that moved at the perfect pace and left me wanting more.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Book Recommendation – Sweet Sweet Revenge LTD

This is not the first Jonas Jonasson book that I have read. I have found his books to be entertaining and often make me laugh out loud. This time around, it is the book Sweet Sweet Revenge LTD.

One of the things that Jonas seems to do very well is to introduce you to a character and give you a bit of their story. Then he introduces you to a different character who seems to have nothing to do with the first one and gives you their story. Sometimes there are 3-4 characters who are all presented to you before you begin to see how they will all come together and how their stories intersect with the others.

Before going on, here is the Goodreads synopsis:

Victor Alderheim has a lot to answer for. Not only has he heartlessly tricked his young ex-wife, Jenny, out of her art gallery inheritance, but he has also abandoned his son, Kevin, to die in the middle of the Kenyan savanna.

It doesn’t occur to Victor that Kevin might be rescued and adopted by a Maasai medicine man, or that he might be expected to undergo the rituals expected of all new Maasai warriors – which have him running back to Stockholm as fast as you can say circumcision without anaesthetic.

Back in Stockholm, Kevin’s path crosses with Jenny’s – and they have an awful lot to talk about, not least a shared desire to get even with Victor. So it’s convenient when they run into a man selling revenge services, who has an ingenious idea involving Victor’s cellar, a goat, some forged paintings, four large boxes of sex toys, and a kilo of flour…

Right from the start, we are introduced to a very unlikeable guy – Victor. The more he does, the more you can hardly believe it. You won’t have any trouble disliking him. If you think of the literary descriptions of The Grinch, or maybe Ebenezer Scrooge – they’d fit him.

What follows is the intersecting of four lives, their encounters with the police, the search for the true owner of a couple of paintings and confusion brought about by cultural ignorance. All of that leads to some funny and laugh out loud moments.

While this is not the best book I have read by Jonasson, it wasn’t a bad read.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Book Recommendation – Cassandra in Reverse

Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale poses a unique question … If you had the power to change the past…where would you start? The next question might be, if you could keep going back, how man times would you “go back?”

Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

“A Time-Twisting Delight” —Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club June ’23 Pick)

Cassandra Penelope Dankworth is a creature of habit. She likes what she likes (museums, jumpsuits, her boyfriend, Will) and strongly dislikes what she doesn’t (mess, change, her boss drinking out of her mug). Her life runs in a pleasing, predictable order…until now.
• She’s just been dumped.
• She’s just been fired.
• Her local café has run out of banana muffins.

Then, something truly unexpected happens: Cassie discovers she can go back and change the past. One small rewind at a time, Cassie attempts to fix the life she accidentally obliterated, but soon she’ll discover she’s trying to fix all the wrong things.

I admit that the book poses some good questions. While a bit “hard to believe” at times, the main character (Cassie) will use this power as an advantage. However, how does what she doing going to affect her life and her timeline? That’s what you find out when you read the book. I’m glad I stuck with it. It wound up having a unique ending and I didn’t expect it to end there.

Check it out for yourself.

3.5 stars out of 5

Book Recommendation – Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead

Here is another book that I read simply because the title intrigued me. Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead is a considered a psychological thriller that had been praised for its twisty plot, unreliable narrator, and exploration of memory, guilt, and trauma, drawing comparisons to Luckiest Girl Alive and The Lost Night.

I was not really sure what to expect from this book, but it was actually one that keep me interested. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

What if everything you know about the worst night of your life turns out not to be true?

Nine years ago, with the world’s eyes on her, Charlie Colbert fled. The press and the police called Charlie a “witness” to the nightmarish events at her elite graduate school on Christmas Eve—events known to the public as “Scarlet Christmas”—though Charlie knows she was much more than that.

Now, Charlie has meticulously rebuilt her life: She’s the editor-in-chief of a major magazine, engaged to the golden child of the publishing industry, and hell-bent on never, ever letting her guard down again. But when a buzzy film made by one of Charlie’s former classmates threatens to shatter everything she’s worked for, Charlie realizes how much she’s changed in nine years. Now, she’s not going to let anything—not even the people she once loved most—get in her way.

Charlie made for an interesting character. She seems to be a pillar at this magazine, however, as the plot gets going toy see how frail she is. There is anxiousness, nervousness and overall fear that she deals with. She is obviously dealing with some PTSD. That paranoia is what really drives the story and peaks your interest as to what happened that night.

Not the best I have read this year, but a good one none the less.

3 out of 5 stars

Book Recommendation – John Candy: A Life in Comedy

In a town like Hollywood, celebrities deal with criticism constantly. There always seems to be people who have negative things to say about the rich and famous. That is, of course, unless you are John Candy. You will be hard pressed to find someone who knew him that has a negative thing to attribute to him. After reading John Candy – A Life in Comedy, I walked away loving him a lot more.

This was such a wonderful read about a wonderful actor. Here is the Amazon synopsis:

From his humble beginnings in sketch comedy with the Toronto branch of Second City, to his rise to fame in SCTV and Hollywood film classics like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, The Great Outdoors, and Uncle Buck, John Candy captivated audiences with his self-deprecating humour, emotional warmth, and gift for improvisation. Now, for the first time since Candy’s tragic death, bestselling biographer Paul Myers tells the full story of the man behind the laughs.

Drawing on extensive research and exclusive interviews with many of Candy’s closest friends and colleagues, including Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, Steve Martin, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, and many more, John Candy: A Life in Comedy celebrates the comedian’s unparalleled talent, infectious charm, and generosity of spirit. Through ups and downs, successes and failures, and struggles with anxiety and self-doubt, Candy faced the world with a big smile and a warm demeanour that earned him the love and adoration of fans around the world.

This book truly is a love letter. Yes, it talks about the ups in John’s life, but it doesn’t ignore the downs. There were many things that I had never heard about Candy’s life. Despite those tough times, John always seemed to be happy in interviews and at appearances. He was complex, but at the same time simple.

I loved the way the book was laid out. It was done in chronological order, as most biographies are. I loved the fact that the chapters focused on the film he was working on and what was going on in his life while shooting the film. Some of my favorite films were actually some of his first movie appearances. You’d never know it, though, because he is just so good.

The book sheds light on many scenes that were improvised, and others that required him to stick directly to the script. We learn of his close friendships with other comedians and actors. We hear of his generosity and kindness. We hear of his last days and the legacy that continues long after he left us.

This book made me laugh and cry. That makes total sense. The book gave me a deeper appreciation of a man who in his short life on earth made millions of people laugh (and cry). It is a fantastic read about one of the most beloved men in Hollywood.

5 out of 5 stars.

Book Recommendation – Ghosts of Hiroshima

There are some events in history that, despite the horrible nature, need to be discussed. It is important for people to remember those tragedies so that moving forward, they do not happen again.

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened over 80 years ago. I that time the impact of what happened has diminished. When I hear about countries testing nuclear weapons and threatening war, I can’t help but wonder if people forgot about how terrible the aftermath of the atom bombs were.

Ghosts of Hiroshima by Charles Pellegrino is a book that will be made into a movie by James Cameron.

Before I go on, here is the Goodreads synopsis:

For all humanity, it was, literally and figuratively, childhood’s end.

No one recognized the flashes of bright light that filled the sky. Survivors described colors they couldn’t name. The blast wave that followed seemed to strike with no sound. In that silence came the dawn of atomic death for two hundred thousand souls.

On August 6, 1945, twenty-nine-year-old naval engineer Tsutomu Yamaguchi was on the last day of a business trip, looking forward to returning home to his wife and infant son, when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. He survived the atomic blast and got on a train to Nagasaki, only to be bombed again.

Jacob Beser, a Manhattan Project engineer, looked down on Hiroshima and saw the ground boiling. He refused to look at Nagasaki at all. Years afterward, he referred to what he witnessed as “the most bizarre and spectacular two events in the history of man’s inhumanity to man.”

From that first millionth of a second, people began to die in previously unimaginable ways. Near Hiroshima’s hypocenter, teeth were scattered on the ground, speckles of incandescent blood were converted to carbon steel, a child’s marbles melted to blobs of molten glass.

From the bombs were born radioactive substances that mimicked calcium in growing bones and which, ten years after, filled entire hospitals with a shocking nuclear weapons, more than anything else, were child-killers.

Based on years of forensic archaeology combined with interviews of more than two hundred survivors and their families, Ghosts of Hiroshima is a you-are-there account of ordinary human beings thrust into extraordinary events, during which our modern civilization entered its most challenging phase—a nuclear adolescence that, unless we are very wise and learn from our past, we may not.

I have read a few books on Hiroshima, including John Hersey’s classic. That book opened my eyes to the horrors of nuclear bombs and what they could do. This book takes it a few steps further by examining the effects of the bombs long after they happened.

One daughter of a Hiroshima survivor spoke out in 2024 when Russia and Iran threatened nuclear war. She said, “My family, the sad thing is, they were a so, so very happy family. Wars take everything away from people. Safety. Peace. Sanity. Family.” Tsutomu Yamaguchi (who survived both bombings) spoke to a large group at the United Nations around 2006. The group included high school students. He said to the group:

“Each of you, though you may only be a single human being – each of you can, on your own, help us to start understanding each other. That’s all it takes: small steps. That’s all you have to remember. Send simple acts of kindness outward, from person to person. Send forth kindness like a contagious disease.”

As I read that, I remind myself that if we all would show a little kindness to each other, the world would be a better place. God forbid we ever have to witness the devastation and horrors of what happened so many years ago.

5 out of 5 stars.

Book Recommendation – The Perfect Divorce

Yesterday I posted about Jeneva Rose’s The Perfect Marriage. Today, I want to post about the sequel The Perfect Divorce. The book was actually written five years after The Perfect Marriage. The sequel takes place eleven years after the first book.

SPOILER ALERT: I will tell you that if you do not want to know what happens after the first book (before you read it), you may want to revisit this blog when you finish it. The synopsis alone give a little bit of information as to what happens with the first book.

If you really don’t care about possible spoilers – read on.

I listened to the audio book for this one. I enjoyed it because each character was performed by a different narrator. It played out like a radio play, which made it easy to distinguish between characters.

Let’s look at the Goodreads synopsis (unless you don’t want spoilers to the first book):

The shocking sequel to Jeneva Rose’s multimillion-copy bestselling thriller, The Perfect Marriage.

Till death do us part. Yours. Not Mine.

It’s been eleven years since high-powered attorney Sarah Morgan defended her husband, Adam, against the charge of murdering his mistress. Sarah has long since moved on, starting a family with her new husband, Bob Miller, and changing careers. Her life is back to being exactly how she always wanted … or is it?

After discovering Bob engaged in a one-night stand, Sarah wastes no time filing for divorce. However, amid their ugly separation, new DNA evidence is uncovered in the case against Adam, forcing the police to reopen the investigation and putting Sarah right back in the spotlight. Everyone wants to know what really happened, most of all former Deputy Hudson, who is hell-bent on finding the truth.

But when the woman Bob slept with is reported missing, he and Sarah start to fight dirty, and a high-stakes game of cat and mouse ensues. Filled with page-turning suspense and Jeneva Rose’s signature twists and turns, this sequel will have readers wondering, Can Bob and Sarah achieve the perfect divorce? Or will it be “’til death do us part”?

The sequel is filled with quite a few twists and many of the same characters. In eleven years, things are different for many of them. There are also callbacks to the first book and as you read it, they both come together and shed light on both the past and the present.

Along with the first book, these two are easily two of the best books I have read this year.

5 out of 5 stars.

Book Recommendation – The Perfect Marriage

Back in 2024, I read my first Jeneva Rose book, Home is Where The Bodies Are. I recently finished two books that kept coming up as recommendations from other bloggers, Goodreads, and from my wife. Today, I will feature the first one. The Perfect Marriage.

Let me preface this by saying that tomorrow, I will feature the follow up to this book. I highly recommend that you read one right after the other.

This was a book that I found I could not put down. I felt like when a chapter ended, I needed to know what happened next. Then, when the book was over, I immediately started the follow up. Before I go any further, here is the Goodreads synopsis:

Would you defend your husband if he was accused of killing his mistress?

Sarah Morgan is a successful and powerful defense attorney in Washington D.C. At 33 years old, she is a named partner at her firm and life is going exactly how she planned.

The same cannot be said for her husband, Adam. He is a struggling writer who has had little success in his career. He begins to tire of his and Sarah’s relationship as she is constantly working.

Out in the secluded woods, at Adam and Sarah’s second home, Adam engages in a passionate affair with Kelly Summers.

Then, one morning everything changes. Adam is arrested for Kelly’s murder. She had been found stabbed to death in Adam and Sarah’s second home.

Sarah soon finds herself playing the defender for her own husband, a man accused of murdering his mistress.

But is Adam guilty or is he innocent?

This recommendation will not have any spoilers. I will say that when tomorrow’s recommendation posts, the synopsis will allow you to gain a bit of information about this book.

First of all, the ending was completely unexpected. There were times I wondered if Adam really did it, or if he didn’t, who did? I loved this because it kept me intrigued and guessing throughout the entire read. I found myself occasionally asking my wife (who read it first) “Was so and so involved?” or “Why is so and so acting so weird about this?” She usually just chuckles and tells me to keep reading.

Like any good mystery, the book has characters that you like and characters you will despise. There are plenty of surprises as you make your way through the story, and some of those surprises become even bigger surprises when you read the follow up – The Perfect Divorce. More on that one tomorrow.

5 out of 5 stars!

Book Recommendation – The Impossible Fortune

I have said in the past that I try to steer away from book series that focus on the same character. However, The Marlow Murders, The Anthony Horowitz books, and the Thursday Murder Club books all have some great characters who I don’t mind following book to book.

I finished Richard Osman’s The Impossible Fortune recently, the latest in the Thursday Murder Club series.

Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim are back with another murder to solve. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

Who’s got time to think about murder when there’s a wedding to plan?

It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favourite criminal.

But when Elizabeth meets a wedding guest who’s in trouble, kidnapping and death are hot on their heels once more. A villain wants access to an uncrackable code, and will stop at nothing to get it. Plunged back into action once more, can the gang solve the puzzle and a murder in time?

I feel like with each book, we get a deeper look at the characters. Each seem to be dealing with their own issues, and in amongst those, there is a murder to solve. These characters all have distinct personalities and they are so real to me. They’ve become friends in a way. Not just the main characters, but their family members that are in the book as well.

Osman does such a good job in balancing all that is going on within the story. Sometimes I get caught up in a character’s story and forget there is a murder that they are working on.

Another good mystery that is worth the read.

4 out of 5 stars

Book Recommendation – The Prophet and the Idiot

It had been awhile since I had read a Jonas Jonasson book. The Prophet and the Idiot has been on my “to read” list for some time. It has probably been on my list since I read The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. As soon as I started reading it, I wondered why I had waited so long.

Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

The brand-new, hilarious, feel-good adventure from the internationally bestselling author of The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

Sweden, late summer of 2011. Self-taught astrophysicist Petra has calculated that the atmosphere will collapse on the 21st of September that year, around 21:20 to be more precise, bringing about the end of times.

Armed with this terrible knowledge, Petra, a doomsday prophet, meets Johan and Agnes, a widow of 75 who has made bank living a double life on social media as a young influencer. Together, the trio race through Europe as they plan to make the most out of the time they have left, in more ways than one.

But of course, things rarely go to plan, even the end of the world…

Jonasson once again had my laughing out loud with this book. His characters are unique and weird (in a good way). The scenarios are sometimes so ridiculous and take things to an extreme that as unbelievable as it is, it is totally believable.

Johan’s brother is not very nice to him. Instead of leaving him their 12 bedroom home that their father left to them, his brother sells it so he can go to Italy to be an Ambassador. He doesn’t leave Johan homeless, though, as he buys him a spiffy RV to live in. When Johan decides to take the RV out that he finds Petra and then Agnes.

The three go out to set things right with things from their personal lives before the world ends. This takes them on a jaunt to a few different countries and along the way experience some crazy situations. These three truly had me laughing and hoping that there is a sequel.

4.5 out of 5 stars