The Friend Of The Family

tags: historical fiction, mystery, thriller

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads 

A girl liberated from a carnival sideshow discovers her mysterious purpose in a moving novel about family, sacrifice, and transcendent love by #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz.

The human “oddities” in the Museum of the Strange are less wondrous than the gawking rubes had been promised. But Alida is something else. The real thing. Traveling Depression-era America from carnival midways to speakeasies, Alida is resigned to an exploited and lonely life on the road as the museum’s golden ticket.

Until she’s rescued by two compassionate strangers. Franklin and Loretta Fairchild see in Alida a gifted and uncannily well-read girl in need of a loving touch and a family. With the openhearted couple and their three precociously imaginative children, Alida finds it.

Yet despite everyone’s overwhelming generosity and acceptance, Alida knows she is still a very different kind of girl. Her dreams bear that out. They’re vivid, unsettling, and threatening. Alida fears that they’re also warnings. And that it’s the Fairchilds who may need rescue from a bad, bad world.

Alida will do anything to help those she now holds nearest and dearest. Empowered with a purpose to vanquish evil, she will not fail her family.

The Friend Of The Family is different from all the Dean Koontz books I have read. The first person narrative is a first for me from Koontz. It is written as a sort of journal by the main character, Alida/Adiel.  

Alida is physically deformed but her mind is excellent. She has certain uncommon skills such as remembering word for word the books she has read, and she has read tons of books. She also has a precognitive ability and what the Japanese call Satori. Her dreams are very vivid that foretell future events and although she cannot prevent them, the family can prepare for their coming. She also did something almost supernatural as though she was an angel sent from heaven to help her adopted family and their German shepherd, Rafael. Her deformity was revealed only at the very last few pages which I think is just proper for the readers to see her as she is seen by the Fairchild family, a normal person.

The story is set from 1930 to 1944 when the USA was still suffering from the effects of WWI and up to the tragic WWII. The Fairchild couple work in the movie industry and the novel has many Hollywood biggies such as  Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Groucho Marx, Laurel and Hardy and their wives. etc. These people sort of lighten the story amid the dark events during that time. 

Highly recommended.

Iranians Worldwide Celebrate

 

Iranians all over the world celebrate the death of their oppressor doing the Trump dance, thanking the president, USA, and Israel. 

The left and the democrats meanwhile are devastated and do nothing but whine and cry hard that their beloved terrorist is gone forever. 

Sudden Marriage (Ikinari Kon)

 

tags: Amazon streaming, Japanese dorama, romance

⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Amazon

"Sudden Marriage" follows plain office worker Mao Koshiba. After being cheated on and drinking herself numb, she wakes in a handsome stranger's bed: Hajime Ando, her new boss.

There are so many questionable things in this Japanese romance dramedy. The male lead, Shirota Yuu is 190 cm (6'3") tall and the lead female, Saito Kyoko is 155 cm (5"). Yuu is 40 years old and Kyoko is 28. 12 year difference in age and she looks very young. But I don't mind and I like the mystery-ish vibe. What's funny and strange is Shirota is shown as pure Japanese and that's how all the characters also see him. I think it is deliberate.

Shirota Yuu is half Japanese, half Spanish (mother). I first saw him in Hana Kimi when he was just 22 years old. I'm not sure if this his first lead role in a Japanese romance series. He has several supporting roles in many Japanese movies and TV shows.

 

Yuu is also a singer. Yuu's Mentirosa featuring his younger brother Jun

Headhunters

tags: crime, mystery, thriller

⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

Roger Brown has it all: clever and wealthy, he's at the very top of his game. And if his job as a headhunter ever gets dull, he has his sideline as an art thief to keep him busy. At a gallery opening, his wife introduces him to Clas Greve. Not only is Greve the perfect candidate for a position that Brown is recruiting for; he is also in possession of one of the most sought-after paintings in modern art history. Roger sees his chance to become rich beyond his wildest dreams, and starts planning his biggest theft ever. But soon, he runs into trouble - and it's not long before the hunter becomes the hunted...

I read this book in December 2012 after watching the movie based on this book. I never heard of Jo Nesbø before that. I really liked the movie and I had to read the book. I became a fan and I have read almost all of his books since, except the children's books. 

I'm rereading it after 13 years although I've seen the movie 3 times already and it is still on my Hoopla watch list where it streams in its original Norwegian language. Other streaming sites are English dubbed.

Roger Brown is an arrogant unlikable character, acts as though he is the most clever person in the world, and has expensive taste in everything but does not have the means to sustain his luxurious lifestyle and his wife's art gallery. He bought an expensive house and the art gallery for his wife and to pay for them, he steals expensive artworks, replaces them with copies, then fences them with the help of a weird character.

The writing is fast paced, humorous, and full of [sometimes gross  but funny] surprises and twists.  

The Art Of Sarah

tags: con artist, crime, Korean drama, mystery, Netflix, psychological thriller

complete 12 episodes

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Synopsis from Wikipedia

Sarah Kim, a woman who has created a false identity based on wealth and social status, whose life is thrown into confusion when a body believed to be hers is found in a sewer beneath Seoul's upscale district. Detective Park Mu-Gyeong investigates the case and discovers that Sarah has no clear personal records, leading him to uncover inconsistencies in her background and evidence that she has lived under multiple identities. As the investigation progresses, Sarah's constructed life begins to collapse, revealing the consequences of long-term deception and raising questions about identity, truth, and self-invention.

Wow. This new psychological thriller from Korea is mesmerizing. Sarah is a true fictional con artist like no other. She is played by one of the best actresses in Kdramaland, Shin Hae-sun., who is perfect for this role.

The series is a mash-up of murder mystery, police procedural, and a social commentary on people's obsession in having luxury name brand imported items that they are willing to line up for early in the morning or even the night before if a new item goes up for sale in an exclusive store.   

Contrails or Chemtrails?

what are these?

I woke up this morning with these trails all over the sky above our houses in Savannah GA. I have seen and heard of these but never saw a lot of them hovering above, maybe 2 or three at the most and far from us. Conspiracy theorists are saying these are chemtrails either to poison people or to cover the sun to fight "climate change". I am not a believer in these conspiracies but how do you to explain snow and temps in the 20s in Savannah GA for the last 2 Winters, 2025 and 2026? 

Maybe conspiracy theorists are right, even the Italian author Umberto Eco believed in conspiracies. He wrote about the subject in his fiction novels here and here but cautions conspiracies may turn out to be true. 

my poor ranunculus/anemone froze to death on January 31

 

Detective Hole

The wait is over! The teaser for Jo Nesbo’s Detective Hole - the first-ever series based on Nesbø’s bestselling novels - is here! Get ready to meet one of crime fiction’s most iconic detectives like never before. The series premieres worldwide on March 26.

Coming to Netflix on March 26. Actor playing Harry Hole looks accurate in height, although he has green eyes instead of blue. And he is American of Swedish descent. Aren't there Norwegian actors who will fit Harry's description and stats? I hope he will be better than the actor in The Snowman. I have read all 13 Harry Hole books and I expect an actor that will look like him. Is that too much to ask?  

The Wrecking Crew

Tags: action, Amazon streaming, comedy, thriller

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Two half-brothers, a loose cannon cop and a disciplined Navy SEAL, must work together to unravel a conspiracy behind their father's murder in Hawaii.

The new movie streaming on Amazon Prime is an old fashioned revenge action thriller. I liked it and it is worthy of a second viewing. It is bloody violent and fights are over the top as expected. Momoa and Bautista are great in their roles. Morena Bacarrin has a very short but spectacular screen time.

Highly recommended for action flicks enthusiasts. Two 👍up.

Ordinary Thunderstorms

tags: British, mystery, suspense

⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

What is the devastating effect on your life when, through no fault of your own, you lose everything - home, family, friends, job, reputation, passport, money, credit cards, mobile phone - and you can never get them back? This is what happens to a young man called Adam Kindred, one May evening in Chelsea, London, when a freakish series of malign accidents and a split-second decision turns his life upside down for ever. The police are searching for him. There is a reward for his capture. A hired killer is stalking him. He is alone and anonymous in the huge, pitiless modern city. Adam has nowhere to go but down - underground. He decides to join that vast army of the disappeared and the missing that throng the lowest level of London's population as he tries to figure out what to do with his life and struggles to understand the forces that have made it unravel so spectacularly. His quest will take him all along the River Thames, from affluent Chelsea to the sink estates of the East End, and on the way he encounters all manner of London's denizens - aristocrats, prostitutes, priests and policewomen amongst them - and version after new version of himself.

William Boyd's electric follow-up to Costa Novel of the Year Restless is a heart-in-mouth conspiracy novel about the fragility of social identity, the scandal of big business, and the secrets that lie hidden in the filthy underbelly of every city.

This book was first published in 2009. Adam Kindred got himself in a lot of trouble when he tried to be a good person for bringing a bunch of papers to a man he had a bit of conversation with at an Italian restaurant. He found the guy in his hotel room stabbed on the chest and mysteriously, the guy asked him to remove the knife (probably to hasten his death so as not to suffer). It's like in the movies, when a stupid character holds the murder weapon. You keep shouting, "No don't touch it!", and he proceeds to touch it. 😅

Adam was both unlucky and lucky as the story progressed. I thought the story is about being hunted by the police which is partially true. The bulk of the story is Adam's transformation from being a man trying to redeem himself from a previous mistake and hoping to get a new job, to a fugitive with 2 different aliases and stolen identities. He had no choice but the second one landed on his lap without any effort. Along the way, Adam and the story meandered into Big Pharma corruption (the source of his misfortune BTW).

I liked the humorous situations but had to suspend disbelief in the anti-hero's mis"adventures".

Recommended only for William Boyd fans.

Miss Sophie – Same Procedure As Every Year

 

Tags: Amazon streaming, comedy, farce, German TV series, murder mystery

⭐⭐⭐⭐
 

Miss Sophie – Same Procedure as Every Year is a German television series. The crime comedy is a prequel to the sketch comedy show Dinner for One.

At the beginning of the 20th century, on a country estate near Eastbourne in England , the young, emancipated Miss Sophie is impoverished after the death of her parents, and the castle is threatened with foreclosure. To alleviate her financial distress, she decides to marry rich. To this end, she invites five wealthy bachelors to her castle. Her suitors are the French champagne heir Mr. Pomeroy, property magnate Mr. Winterbottom, the self-proclaimed American billionaire Sir Toby, the German Admiral von Schneider, and the Hungarian Count Szabos.

Amazon Studio produced a very funny TV series, a period romcom farce making fun of several genres - murder mystery, romance and dating, nobles and servants, starving nobility, rich foreigners as husband material, hippie commune... 

The setting is in England and some of the potential husbands are foreigners but they all speak German. Kinda reminds me of Japan's Thermæ Romæ. Even the songs are so funny. The third episode played the ROSÉ and Bruno Mars song APT.

My favorite character is German Admiral von Schneider and his scene with the pigs is hilarious. The French character M. Pomeroy is played by actor Moritz Bleibtreu from Run Lola Run.

Highly recommended. In German only with English subtitles