Pace Setter : December 2020

Books to Read After Running

by Mark Mindel and Sally Drake

The Final Cut (A Brit in the FBI, #1) by Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison 

First in the series of A Brit in the FBI series, a spin-off of the FBI Thriller series featuring Lacey Sherlock and husband Dillon Savich, The Final cut introduces Scotland Yard's Nicholas Drummond and NYC FBI Special Agent Michaela (Mike) Caine as they attempt to solve the murder of Scotland Yard's Elaine York who was on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where the Queen's Crown Jewels were on display. Besides the murder, Caine and Drummond must run down the pair of thieves who stole the Koh-I-Noor diamond, the centerpiece of the Crown Jewels. Fast action and suspense keep you on the edge of your seat as Drummond and Caine race to find the famous diamond.

Robert B. Parker's Grudge Match (Sunny Randall Book 8) by Mike Lupica

New York Daily News sportswriter Mike Lupica, a close friend of Robert B. Parker, picks up the Sunny Randall Series here with installment #8. Seriously, Lupica doesn't miss a beat, picking up all the usual characters (Spike, Richie Burke, Jesse Stone, Ty Bopp, Junior and of course Sunny's love of her life, Rosie the wonder dog) and it is actually just like reading the deceased Parker himself. Sunny is asked by crime boss Tony Marcus to find his girlfriend, who has worked herself up from prostitution to Madame for Marcus. At first, she is skeptical working with a criminal, but she justifies it by saying to herself that Lisa, the missing girl, is actually her client. Many twists and turns here as Sunny with help from Spike try to find Lisa. But bodies start heaping up and Sunny must act quickly before she becomes one of them. A very good read. Lupica also has been chosen by the Parker estate to continue the Jesse Stone in Paradise series (there's a big tie-in here) and I can't wait to see the next one in that series as well.

Robert B. Parker's Fool's Paradise (A Jesse Stone Novel Book 19) by Mike Lupica

Great follow up to Lupica's recent Sunny Randall novel as we pick up with Jesse and Sunny from where Lupica's "Grudge Match" left off. We follow two separate cases where Paradise Chief of Police Jesse Stone and his crew (Deputy Chief Molly Cane and Detective Suitcase Simpson) chase the bad guys! A visitor named Paul (Stone had met him at an AA meeting the night before) is shot to death and while investigating his murder Stone, Cane, and Simpson all become targets of attacks. Jesse calls Sunny down from Boston to watch Molly and the three along with Suitcase follow several leads. Are the cases related? Stone travels from Maine to Florida trying to track down the killer. Will he find him before the killer takes down more lives? Are Sunny and Jesse back on? Lupica is a master at keeping the Stone and Randall stories of Robert B Parker alive.

Come and Get Us by James Patterson and Shan Serafin

Shan Serafin and James Patterson have worked together before producing action filled books. A lot of twists and turns in a little bit of time as Miranda Cooper and her husband, Aaron and little girl, Sierra are run off a winding road in the Arizona desert canyon. Miranda shows off her hiking and climbing skills as she tries to rescue her family and keep them alive as it's obvious someone is out to do them harm. What has Aaron done? Action builds to a big climactic last scene. A quick and fun read.

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White Ivy by Susie Yang

A riveting thriller about a young Chinese-American woman, Ivy Lin, whose troubled childhood, family dysfunction and a strange personality disorder leads to an adult life of complicated, manipulative relationships with dark twists and turns. A very readable and chilling novel about a complex woman.

Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved my Life by Christie Tate

A funny, if maybe too telling, memoir about a woman’s therapy group. The author is a type-a perfectionist, high-functioning but struggling with eating disorders and attachment issues. She undergoes intensive group therapy while in law school where the underlying technique is communicating with “no secrets”—every part of her life is examined and analyzed by the therapist and group members. She’s self-deprecating and honest about her journey. Sometimes the stories were too revealing, almost exhibitionist, but I admired her efforts to work on herself.

Lightning Flowers: My Journey to Uncover the Costs of Saving a Life by Katherine Standefer

A fascinating memoir about a woman diagnosed in her early twenties with a rare genetic heart disease (Long QT syndrome) that required major heart surgery and a defibrillator to prevent sudden death. Her story is about managing this scary disease with no health insurance (before Obama-Care, and then the fears of losing that coverage during the Trump administration) and questioning the social and environmental ethics of the origins of the materials used to manufacture her medical devices, a struggle that brings her to remote areas of Africa to investigate the metal-mining industry. This is a thoughtful and powerful personal story about life and death, with a strong indictment of the American health care system and the costs of modern medical technologies.

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