Woodstock's Blog
Books and other stuff I feel like discussing

By education and experience - Accountant with a specialty in taxation. Formerly a CPA (license has lapsed). Masters degree in law of taxation from University of Denver. Now retired. Part time work during baseball season as receptionist & switchboard operator for the Colorado Rockies. This gig feeds my soul in ways I have trouble articulating. One daughter, and four grandchildren. I share the house with two cats; a big goof of a cat called Grinch (named as a joke for his easy going "whatever" disposition); and Lady, a shelter adoptee with a regal bearing and sweet little soprano voice. I would be very bereft if it ever becomes necessary to keep house without a cat.
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Books Update - part the second

AFTER I'M GONE - by Laura Lippmann

The author bases her stand along novels on actual incidents, although she relies on her rich ability for story telling to flesh out answers to questions raised by newspaper articles. A prominent politician disappears, leaving his wife and daughters with no clue as to his whereabouts. The story moves ten years forward in time, when the mistress of the man who disappeared also disappears. Several years later, a retired cop working on cold cases on a private basis to earn a little extra money begins to unravel the events.

THE EXPATS by Chris Pavone

A young American, with a wife and two children, accepts a position for a European financial conglomerate to upgrade and monitor their computer security system. The family moves to Luxembourg, and quickly becomes a part of the English speaking community there. The husband's job keeps him away from home much of the time and the wife finds it hard to fill her days in a meaningful way.

Little by little, the reader learns the truth - the wife had been a CIA agent before her family moved overseas. Those connections have not been entirely severed, and eventually the reader is trying to sort out what may be double cross relationships, or perhaps even triple cross situations. She finds that she trusts no one, not even her husband.

Very suspenseful reading!

MISSING YOU by Harlan Coben

An unscrupulous and cruel man uses an online dating service to lure unsuspecting people into an extortion scheme and eventually to their deaths. A teenager becomes concerned for his mother's safety and persuades a police officer to investigate. There's a lot more to the story - what Coben does best - write about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances.

In a very enjoyable twist, the police officer realizes that she herself is being contacted via the same online dating service. The person on the other end of the communication might be a long lost lover, or perhaps the baddie who has contacted the teenager's mother.

BONE FIRE by Mark Spragg

Spragg is the author of AN UNFINISHED LIFE, which I really enjoyed about ten years ago. He returns to the same characters who live and manage a ranch in Wyoming. The ranch owner is nearing the end of his life and is torn between needing the help of his granddaughter and wishing she would return to her college studies.

All the tensions and joys of life on the high plains are beautifully presented by Spragg. It was a long wait for his second book, but worth it.



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