The End of October by Lawrence Wright

The End of October by Lawrence Wright
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Scary and prescient. But as someone living in the pandemic times, he missed some key things. For example, there is a point where two educated scientist characters embrace-- no freaking way that's happening in a pandemic more deadly than this one. In general, he failed to capture how horrendously people would behave and how quickly a more fatal pathogen would wipe out (non-science-believing) people who refused to help themselves.

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A Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer

A Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fun at the beginning but drags in the middle so so much. In the end, it's kind of fun again. At the very end, it was so stressful because some days it feels like "the conservatives" might do something like throw out a cure if the cure somehow limited capitalism the least little bit, or cost some huge company a few dollars. I am jaded.

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The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm a reverse review on this one. Unlike most other reviews, I liked the beginning and not the end. I was intrigued at first and guessed some of plot points. I was interested in the characters as well. But then things got silly and the writing simultaneously went downhill.

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Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really liked this book! It fails to fall neatly into any categories; it's a mystery/ not-quite-a-thriller with many literary qualities. From the beginning, you know who has died and only subsequently do you grow to know the players involved. But the real theme of the book is media, society, art, and death.

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Carlucci's Edge by Richard Paul Russo

Carlucci's Edge by Richard Paul Russo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked this one much better than the first one in the series, Destroying Angel. The characters were interesting and a bit more developed than in the first, though not much. The scary scenes were thankfully not so scary nor frequent.

The whole Mixer story was ridiculous. I blame him for Suki’s life choices in the first book, so I didn’t have the most sympathy for him. But still, what happens to him and how he reacts is absurd. Also, why didn’t Carlucci arrest Saint Catherine, Saint Lucy, and the entire cult?

It was all very silly but kind of fun.

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Destroying Angel by Richard Paul Russo

Destroying Angel by Richard Paul Russo
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Perhaps I am the wrong audience for this book as I don’t particularly enjoy horror-thrillers, but even more than being the wrong audience I thought the almost-ending was bad. It’s a trilogy though so I am a bit tempted to continue since I’ve already invested this much.

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Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the most complete and up-to-date book on everything related to sleep. You know the thing we're supposed to spend 1/3 of our life doing? Everyone needs to read this. It's one of a few books I'd consider a necessary owner's manual to the human body. That said, a lot of it- but not all- was a repeat for me because I do a lot of science reading and sleep especially interests me.

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Nine Minutes by Beth Flynn

Nine Minutes by Beth Flynn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I decided to read this because it was free to download on Amazon and some reviewers on Goodreads were going crazy for it. If you want to read something very different, go for it. It reads like a memoir. It has romance, but it's not successful in that genre. It is good at horror, and I kept mentally screaming GET OUT!!! GET OUT!!! I think it's mostly about Stockholm's Syndrome while denying to be about Stockholm's Syndrome.

The ending is just weird enough that I'm a little tempted to read the sequel. Again, the book is definitely different.

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Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas Preston

Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas Preston
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Maybe 3.5? I did like it. It was almost a relaxing read for an action/ adventure story. I loved the parts about dinosaurs. The government's reaction to what was happening seemed a bit of a stretch though.

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