First Chapter ~ First Paragraph

It's Tuesday . . . time for . . . 

                                                      

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, now hosted by Vicki at I'd Rather Be At The Beach, where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.  

Today I'm featuring a current read, That Darkness by Lisa Black, which is the first book in the Gardiner and Renner series.  I'm reading an eBook version borrowed from the library.

 

Chapter 1

Monday, 8:10 p.m.

The room wan't much, just a steel table and chairs, old paint on the walls with the occasional rust stain, two windows frosted by contact paper and a battered desk in the corner, well out of splattering range.  A siren sounded in the distance but traffic on the street outside stayed minimal at this past-dinnertime hour.  A typical county services budget leftover, a hand-me-down formerly used as a storage room, standard government issue all the way.  Jack Renner's clients would have seen many such rooms in their time and it would fit their expectations.  Opulence would make them nervous, and he didn't want them nervous.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

Lisa Black has been on my authors to try list for quite a while.  I thought I'd sample her writing by reading That Darkness, the first in a series introducing forensic investigator Maggie Gardiner and detective Jack Renner from the Cleveland Police Department.  Each works toward seeing that justice is served, but Jack's methods are highly unorthodox.

This First Chapter ~ First Paragraph post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring an upcoming read, The Late Show by Michael Connelly.  The excerpts shared are from the hardcover (borrowed from the library).

 

Beginning:  

Ballard and Jenkins rolled up on the house on El Centro shortly before midnight.  It was the first call of the shift.

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Page 56: "'This is all because of that bastard boyfriend of hers,' the father said."

 

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My thoughts:  Hard to believe, but I've never read a Michael Connelly novel.  Connelly is famous for his Harry Bosch series, started in 1992 and now over 20 installments strong.  Because it felt too daunting at this point to begin that series, I was delighted to learn that Connelly recently started a new series introducing a female investigator.  I'm excited to get in on the ground floor, so to speak.

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From Goodreads:  From #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly, a new thriller introducing a driven young detective trying to prove herself in the LAPD

Renée Ballard works the night shift in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing none as each morning she turns her cases over to day shift detectives. A once up-and-coming detective, she's been given this beat as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor.

But one night she catches two cases she doesn't want to part with: the brutal beating of a prostitute left for dead in a parking lot and the killing of a young woman in a nightclub shooting. Ballard is determined not to give up at dawn. Against orders and her own partner's wishes, she works both cases by day while maintaining her shift by night. As the cases entwine they pull her closer to her own demons and the reason she won't give up her job no matter what the department throws at her.

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This Friday Focus post was originally composed and/or compiled and published for the blog, bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.  

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph

It's Tuesday . . . time for . . .

                                                      

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea, where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.   

Today I'm featuring my current read, The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens (borrowed from a book club member).  This novel is the selection of one of my book clubs.  

 

CHAPTER 1

 

I remember being pestered by a sense of dread as I walked to my car that day, pressed down by a wave of foreboding that swirled around my head and broke against the evening in small ripples.  There are people in this world who would call that kind of feeling a premonition, a warning from some internal third eye that can see around the curve of time.  I've never been one to buy into such things.  But I will confess that there have been times when I think back to that day and wonder: if the fates had truly whispered in my ear--if I had known how that drive would change so many things--would I have taken a safer path?  Would I turn left where before I had turned right?  Or would I still travel the path that led me to Carl Iverson?

 

 

 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

This first paragraph gives me a sense of dread, a feeling that something big--sinister even-- is on the horizon and there will be no turning back.  The author conveys an ominous foreboding, one which has compelled me to continue reading.

This First Chapter ~ First Paragraph post was originally written and published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph

It's Tuesday . . . time for . . .

                                                      

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea, is where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

It's been a while since I added a post because I had house guests and a week's vacation around Thanksgiving time.  I'm trying to get back in the blog groove now, but I suspect I won't have too many posts the rest of the year with Christmas and New Year's Eve/Day on the horizon.  

In any event . . . today I'm featuring City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong.  It's an upcoming read borrowed from the library.

  

ONE

"I killed a man," I say to my new therapist.  

I've barely settled onto the couch . . . which isn't a couch at all, but a chaise lounge that looked inviting and proved horribly uncomfortable.  Like therapy itself. 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

These are really great opening lines to the first book in the Casey Duncan crime series.  The narrator has made a serious statement and sought counseling before, so there's a lot for readers to learn about her.  Apparently, Detective Duncan has a secret from her past that she fears will catch up with her, which should make for an interesting plot.

For readers who get hooked by the fist book, the next in the series, A Darkness Absolute, will be published on February 7, 2017.  


This First Chapter ~ First Paragraph post was originally written and published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated. 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #81

It's Friday . . . time to share excerpts book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring:

 

Beginning:  Mathilde took out her diary and wrote: 'The man sitting next to me has got one hell of a nerve.'

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Page 56:  "She's got plenty of love to give, she falls for every lonely-heart announcement in the paper."

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From Goodreads:  Fred Vargas 's Commissaire Adamsberg mysteries are a sensation in France, consistently praised for their intelligence, wit, and macabre imagination. This first novel in the series introduces the unorthodox detective Commissaire Adamsberg-one of the most engaging characters in contemporary crime fiction.

When blue chalk circles begin to appear on the pavement in neighborhoods around Paris, Adamsberg is alone in thinking that they are far from amusing. As he studies each new circle and the increasingly bizarre objects they contain-empty beer cans, four trombones, a pigeon's foot, a doll's head-he senses the cruelty that lies within whoever is responsible. And when a circle is discovered with decidedly less banal contents-a woman with her throat slashed-Adamsberg knows that this is just the beginning.

 

 

Which book are you reading now or about to start?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #81 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged and appreciated.
 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #78

It's Friday . . . time to share excerpts book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring: 

 

Beginning:  Duncan Kincaid's holiday began well.  As he turned the car into the lane, a shaft of sun broke through the clouds and lit a patch of rolling Yorkshire moor as if someone had thrown the switch on a celestial spotlight.                                                                                                                                                              

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Page 56:  "The house seemed hushed and shuttered.  Not until he had parked the car and started toward the front door did he notice the small figure huddled at the side of the front step."

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From Goodreads:  A week's holiday in a luxurious Yorkshire time-share is just what Scotland Yard's Superintendent Duncan Kincaid needs. But the discovery of a body floating in the whirlpool bath ends Kincaid's vacation before it's begun. One of his new acquaintances at Followdale House is dead; another is a killer. Despite a distinct lack of cooperation from the local constabulary, Kincaid's keen sense of duty won't allow him to ignore the heinous crime, impelling him to send for his enthusiastic young assistant, Sergeant Gemma James. But the stakes are raised dramatically when a second murder occurs, and Kincaid and James find themselves in a determined hunt for a fiendish felon who enjoys homicide a bit too much.
 

Which book are you reading now or about to start?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #78 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged and appreciated.

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #25

It's Friday . . . time to share excerpts from one of my current reads with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

This week's selection:

   

Beginning:  CHAPTER ONE

"Got a light?"  I asked the bulky man silhouetted against the gray night sky and the faint glimmer of the Serpentine.  His hand in his pocket, scritch of a match, then blue light fractured and illuminated blunt features, small dark eyes, a heavy brow ridge, and a certain brutality of expression that sent my heart pumping with the frisson of danger: better than I hoped.  "Thanks."  Darkness again.  I took a quick drag of the cigarette, risking my asthmatic lungs for courtesy.  "Nice night."

 

This book combines many of my favorite elements--historical fiction, mystery, imagined scenarios featuring a real, larger-than-life character, and London during World War II.  All of these factors make this an appealing story. 

 

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Page 56:  "Though a hopeful gambler, Arnold was old enough to know the odds--in wagers and in life."

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From barnesandnoble.com:  A killer takes refuge in the blacked-out streets of wartime London, upending the world of one of Britain’s greatest painters in this chilling and captivating reimagining of the life of Francis Bacon.

 

Francis Bacon walks the streets of World War II London, employed as a warden for the ARP to keep watch for activities that might tip off the Axis powers. Before the war, Bacon had traveled to Berlin and Paris picking up snatches of culture from a succession of middle-aged men charmed by his young face. Known for his flamboyant personal life and expensive taste, Bacon has returned home to live with his former nanny—who’s also his biggest collector—in a cramped bohemian apartment.

But one night, death intrudes on his after-hours paradise. When a young man is found dead in the park, his head smashed in, Bacon and the rest of London’s demimonde realize that they have much more to fear than the faraway scream of war.

Enjoy life with books . . .

 

Catherine

 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #25 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.   

 

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #23

It's Friday . . . time to share excerpts from one of my current reads with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

This week's selection:

   

Beginning:  Chapter 1 Material Witness

 

It started at one thirty on a cold Tuesday morning in January when Martin Turner, street performer and, in his own words, apprentice gigolo, tripped over a body in front of the West Portico of St. Paul's at Covent Garden.

 

There are quite a few curiosities in this first sentence:  Who is Martin Turner?  How does one sign on to become an apprentice gigolo?  Does Martin Turner think of this as a career advancement?  Whose body is in front of St. Paul's?

 

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Page 56:  "I took a pull from my pint and waited.  Nightingale smiled again and sipped his own drink.  'Once you cross this particular Rubicon there will be no going back,' he said."

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From barnesandnoble.com:  Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic. 

 

Enjoy life with books . . .

 

Catherine
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Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #23 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #34

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros is a weekly meme hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea. It's an opportunity to share the first paragraph(s) of a book I am currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

This week I'm featuring the opening paragraph from Cutting Right to the Chase by Stefania Mattana, which I recently purchased in electronic format from amazon.com.

 

 Place your bets

Inspector Alunni couldn't have thanked Chase Williams in a better way for his help.  Chase was with the Police on the eastern outskirts of Tursenia, a Medieval city in the heart of Italy, where he recently moved from the UK.  They were somewhere along a small road close to a compound of high buildings, probably housing projects.  Chase was the only one with no gun.  The last time he'd held one of those was in London, ages ago.  

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?  I'm featuring something a bit different today.  My selection is part of a series of six unusual crime short stories, which intrigued me when I saw this one recently on another blogger's site.  I like its European setting and am curious to find out more about Chase and the circumstances that bring him to Italy.

Catherine  

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Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader
 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #34 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.

Thursday Thoughts: New Thrillers and Crime Fiction

Grove Atlantic is one of the independent publishers that presented many exciting new books in the thriller, crime, historical fiction, and non-fiction categories during last week's AAP Indie Buzz Books 2013.

Here are the forthcoming thrillers and crime fiction titles from Grove Atlantic highlighted at AAP Indie Book Buzz 2013, including new books from Joyce Carol Oates and Val McDermid:

   The Shanghai Factor by Charles McCarry (June 2013)  From one of the grandmasters of the spy novel comes a serpentine story about a young American operative caught in a web between the United States and Chinese governments, where nothing is as it seems, and nobody can be trusted.
  The Rules of Wolfe by James Carlos Blake (July 2013)  LA Times Book Prize-winning author James Carlos Blake delivers a relentless thriller about a young man from a family of Texas outlaws who falls for the wrong woman, and ends up on the run from a ruthless drug cartel and a deadly bounty hunter.
  The Dying Hours by Mark Billingham (August 2013)  A dark and gripping new installment in the Detective Inspector Thorne series from world-class crime writer Mark Billingham.


   Evil Eye by Joyce Carol Oates (September 2013)  In Evil Eye, Oates offers four chilling tales of love gone wrong, showing the lengths to which people will go to find love, keep it, and sometimes end it.

  Then We Take Berlin by John Lawton (September 2013)  In this gripping, meticulously researched and richly detailed historical thriller a World War II orphan becomes a spy and is soon unwittingly involved in the secret machinations between intelligence agents at the start of the Cold War.
  Cross and Burn by Val McDermid (October 2013)  The follow-up to The Retribution, a new, heart-pounding thriller from world-class crime writer Val McDermid pits her immensely popular series characters--Dr. Tony Hill and Carol Jordan--against a terrifying serial killer of women.

   The Star of Istanbul by Robert Olen Butler (October 2013)  Christopher Marlowe Cobb crosses paths with a sultry and mysterious actress hiding a secret agenda that may be the key to saving--or toppling--two empires during World War I in the second installment in the series.

Enjoy life with books...

Catherine

Follow me on Twitter: @bookclubreader

Thursday Thoughts: New Thriller and Crime Fiction was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.