108. Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

Oh, how I wanted to love this book. I really, really did. I remember loving Gone Baby Gone and have even avoided watching the movie because I didn't want it to be ruined for me. However, I was let down. Maybe it was becasue my expectations were too high, but I just didn't love it. It was still good, but up to all of the hype I have been hearing. I give Moonlight Mile a B.

From Amazon:
Amanda McCready was four years old when she vanished from a Boston neighborhood twelve years ago. Desperate pleas for help from the child's aunt led investigators Kenzie and Gennaro to take on the case. the pair risked everything to find the young girl-only to orchestrate her return to a neglectful mother and a broken home.
Now Amanda is 16- and gone again. A stellar student, brilliant but aloof, she seemed destined to escape her upbringing. Yet Amanda's aunt is one more knocking on Patrick Kenzie's door, fearing the worst for the little girl who has blossomed into a striking, clever young woman- a woman who hasn't been seen in weeks.
Haunted by their conscienses, Kenzie and Gennaro revisit the case that troubled them the most. Their search leads them into a world of identity thieves, meth dealers, a mentally unstable crime boss and his equally demented wife, a priceless thousand-year-old cross, and a happily homicidal Russian gangster. It's a world in which motives and allegiances constantly shift and mistakes are fatal.
In their desperate fight to confront the past and find Amanda McCready, Kenzie and Gennaro will be forced to question in it's possible to do the wrong thign and still be right or to do the right thing and still be wrong. As they face an evil that goes beyond broken dreams, they discover that the sins of yesterday don't always stay buried and the crimes of today could end their lives.

Like I said, maybe the hype was just too much, but I didn't love the book like I thought I would. I think the ending was just a bit too unbelievable for me because in the beginning of the book I was telling anyone who would listen what a great book it was and then it just fell flat for me. If you loved Gone Baby Gone or any of Mr. Lehane's books, I would advise you to read it, but just don't hope for too much.

63. The Chill of Night by James Hayman

I read The Cutting by Mr. Hayman last year and loved it, so I was excited to see he had a new book out. I read through it in a day or so and really enjoyed it. I give it a B+.

From Amazon:
Glamorous young Portland attorney Lainie Goff thought she had it all—brains, beauty, and a fast-track to a partnership in a top-ranked firm that was going to make her rich. But then one cold winter night she pushed things too far, and her naked frozen body is found in the sub-zero temperatures at the end of the Portland Fish Pier.
The only witness to the crime: a mentally disturbed young woman named Abby Quinn who mysteriously disappears the very same night.
With the discovery of Lainie Goff ’s body and the disappearance of Abby Quinn, Portland homicide detective Michael McCabe finds himself on the trail of a relentless and clever killer. A killer he must find before another life is lost.
With The Chill of Night James Hayman returns to tell a gripping tale of evil and deceit and creates characters so real and so human, we want to meet them again and again.

While I have to admit at first I didn't remember much about The Cutting, as soon as I started The Chill of Night, McCabe and his life came rushing back to me. The mystery was well done and I have to admit to being surprised at who the bad guy was. It was suspenseful, and I was surprised more than once when looking up at the page number and couldn't believe how much I'd read... the story moved that fast! All of the characters were enjoyable and I hope Mr. Hayman continues the series.

Burn by John Lutz

I have liked John Lutz's books for quite awhile and when I was browsing at the library I found a whole slew of books by him that was part of an old series. I had to try one and decided to pick it up. While it was a quick read, I was a bit disappointed with it and ended up skimming the end of it. I give it a B-.

Inside cover:
Disabled Florida P.I. Fred Carver takes on his new client, Joel Brandt, who reminds him of the handsome and deceptively charming mass murderer Ted Bundy- and that's the least disquieting aspect of the case. Brandt has been charged with stalking Marla Cloy, a woman he claims he's never met, and he hires Carver to find out why she's falsley accusing him. At his wit's end, Brandt is convinced she's out to get him so she can kill him, claiming self-defense. But why?
When Carver can find no connection between the two and no reason for either's vengeance, he begins to wonder who is stalking whom and finds himself caught in the middle of a deadly game of cat and mouse. A personal crisis takes Carver and the reader by surprise rounts out this tense and complicated tale.

This is an older book, written in the early 90s and is an old fashioned detective story. The mystery is solved by detective work, before the internet, where clues can be found by visiting the neighborhood bar or corner store. Carver is a likeable character one who I found charming and kind. The personal story was a little confusing and not really worth it and I rather have had it left out. Mr. Lutz does a great job of having me go back and forth trying to decide who was really at fault, Brandt or Marla. While it was a quick and easy read, I probably won't keep reading any out of the series even though the library has most of them. I much rather stick to Mr. Lutz's newer thriller books that he seems to come out with once a year.

Up next is probably going to be another library book. I went to the library today to pick up one book and ended up finding Flesh Wounds, a new book and new to me author that I think I may grab that one to read first. I doubt I will get it finished by the end of the year, but I am going to try. I hope everyone has had a great weekend and New Year's week and Happy Reading!