Paranormal Nonsense

tags: humor, mystery-crime, supernatural, urban fantasy,vampires 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads

If Jack Reacher was a paranormal investigator…

The paranormal? It’s all nonsense but proving it might just get me killed. I won’t tell you what I used to do in the army, it’s not important. Let’s just say I picked up some skills. Now those skills are proving useful, but I didn’t choose my second career as a paranormal investigator; I don’t even believe in vampire and werewolves.

Sometimes though, I secretly worry that I might be wrong. People call on me to solve cases too weird for the police to take on. Take today for instance; a third victim was found with a bite mark in her lifeless throat. It’s happening in my town and I take that sort of thing personally. I’ll take the case on without having a client, but one soon arrives in the form of Amanda Harper, a disillusioned police officer who wants the killing stopped just as much as me. Together, and with back up from a cast of friends, we are going after whatever is behind the deaths, but my probing draws its attention and now my family are the hunted. But when someone I know is taken, a race against time begins which will pitch me into a battle for my life. Good thing I have some skills then.

If you are a fan of fast-paced paranormal thrillers, then this urban fantasy series is sure to please.

This is the first novel written in 2017 by the author, Steve Higgins. I read 2 of his newer books and I find them just so so. 

I like this one better than the "culinary tour" murder mystery series. The ex military main character, Tempest Michaels, reluctantly opened a private investigation office for paranormal activities because of a typo in the advertisement. He let the mistake pass so he started accepting jobs with supernatural complaints, not to validate or solve them, but to prove they are nonsense and that they don't exist. 

He lives alone with his 2 cute dachshunds, Bull and Dozer, Dozer being the dumb one but very sweet. (aren't all dachshunds dumb? My sister-in-law had a dachshund that was not smart at all. LOL) He visits his parents in their home regularly and vice versa. Sometimes, he is assisted by a group of male friends in uncovering some incidents. 

The guy is very health conscious, flirts with several women, and a bit annoying but I can't help but compare him to M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin who has a sharp tongue and can't stand insufferable people. The author just like Beaton, is not afraid to be politically incorrect specially when he described  one female character as overweight, oversexed, and unattractive because she has a Lando Carlissian moustache. Too funny. 

The writing is not very good but it is fine with me. It is his first book published and he just needed to polish his writing. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series.

JJ Cale And Leon Russell

 

79 minutes. Recorded live at Paradise Studios, Los Angeles, 1979. 

I bought the DVD after watching this recording. We made music CDs from the DVD.

The Final Problem

 

tags: murder mystery, Netflix, Spanish

4 less than an hour episodes

⭐⭐⭐⭐

An isolated hotel. A mysterious death. Thirteen guests under suspicion. And only one person capable of solving the enigma. The game is afoot!

The Final Problem is the period mystery thriller starring Jose Coronado, María Valverde, Martiño Rivas and Maribel Verdú, based on the novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. Premieres September 25, only on Netflix.

Spring, 1959. A storm cuts off a small island near Mallorca. At the hotel where the guests take shelter, Elisa Mander, a quiet English tourist, is found dead. What looks like a suicide soon turns out to be something far more disturbing: a murder. Basil (Jose Coronado), a retired actor who once played Sherlock Holmes on the big screen, is drawn — almost against his will — into unravelling what happened. Alongside Adela Figueroa (María Valverde) and Foxá (Martiño Rivas), he searches the halls of the luxurious hotel for answers, testing the composure of the hotel's manager, Mrs. Ausländer (Maribel Verdú).

In a place no one can leave and no one can reach, every guest and every member of staff becomes a suspect in a crime that grows more complex by the minute.

An actor who played Sherlock Holmes was invited by a producer to an island in Mallorca to discuss possible future projects. When a guest was murdered, originally ruled as suicide, the actor Benjamin Basil started to investigate just like his role as Sherlock. He keeps saying he's just an actor but he can't help himself when 2 more guests were murdered. 

The mystery is good and has a different angle than other Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie mysteries. It has a little bit of similarity to And Then There Were None. I guessed correctly the murderer but not the twist and the reference to a famous Sherlock Holmes adversary.

Highly recommended.

***********************************************************************************

I recognize the actor Martino Rivas playing the young novelist Foxa who acts as Benjamin Basil's Dr. Watson. I saw him in the 2007 Spanish telenovela El Internado with the young Ana de Armas, Blanca Suarez, and my idol, Yon Gonzalez.

In Plain Sight

tags: magic, paranormal, runewright, urban fantasy, YA

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads

When a magical plague is released in a Depression-era New York soup kitchen, private detective Alex Lockerby finds himself in a desperate hunt to catch a madman before he can strike again.

His investigations lead Alex to a famous thief, a daring heist, and the search for a mythic book of ancient magic, but none of that brings him any closer to finding the man responsible for the massacre.

With the police and New York’s Council of Sorcerers desperate to find the culprit, Alex becomes a suspect himself, thanks to his ties to the priest who ran the soup kitchen.

Now Alex has his book of spells, a pack of matches and four days to find out where the plague came from, or that authorities will hang the crime squarely on him.

The book is free to borrow from Amazon Prime. I believe this is under YA category but I find it okay for adults who like reading urban fantasies, magic, private detectives, 1930s noir, mystery, etc. 

Alex Lockerby is a Private Detective occasionally working with NYPD using runes he writes and gets paid for it. The book has 3 different cases that are tied to each other. The first is a man-made bioweapon that killed a priest and several poor people his mission feeds everyday. The priest is like a father to him. He took Alex in as a child until he was of age. The second case involves the murder of a man who worked at a warehouse for imports, and the last one is a missing person who is also an amateur runewright. 

Alex helps solve the crimes with his cop friend, Danny Pak (a Japanese with a Korean name and explained later why), some FBI agents whose leader is a beautiful sorceress, and his landlord, a British doctor who is in his 70s and also knows runes and magic.

This is the first book in Arcane Series by this author. The writing is very simple, probably for young adult readers. I don't mind as long as it tells a good story, doesn't have sex scenes and bad language, and highly entertaining. 

Highly recommended.

The Ordinary Jackpot

tags: Korean dramedy 

ongoing Monday and Tuesday

Things rarely change, but everything began to change. Eun Tae, who has been working as an ordinary employee, is burnt out from everything that happens to him. Everything from work to relationships with others, his life is filled with boredom. Suddenly, he becomes a lottery winner and gets 1.3 billion won. While it is a huge amount, realistically, it is hard for him to even purchase his own house in Seoul. After reviewing everything, he decides to live his life as he used to, but with a somewhat different mindset, as he has "insurance" that he can depend on.

This new Kdrama is different from the typical romcom dramedy. It looks like there won't be romance. Thank you writers. 

The lead male is getting fed up with being a salaryman. He was promoted to his position as team manager and the more senior and older employee resents him for it. The coworker is disrespectful and ignores him everyday and doesn't include him to have lunch with the group. 

Eun Tae, the team manager does his work diligently. He is the first to arrive at work and the last to leave. Even his own family takes advantage of him always asking for financial help. He did not complain when his laundromat guy lost one of his shirts without offering compensation. In other words, he is a pushover.

He went to buy beer but the convenience store's credit card machine was not working and didn't have change. The clerk suggested to get a lottery ticket instead. He reluctantly accepted because there is nothing he can do about the situation. He asked himself when was it that he stopped getting mad. He is worried what the consequences would be if he doesn't control his anger and he couldn't afford to lose his job. He won the lottery. 

I thought this will be a revenge or a scenario of getting fed up and destroy his place of work and beat up his colleagues. It turned out it's going to be a good feel dramedy. Instead of retiring from an unhappy work environment, he decided to continue the good work he was doing but will not be a pushover anymore. He wants to make the company a better work place. He is also thinking $800,000 is not enough to retire.

Only 2 episodes are out. The drama started airing this past Monday and Tuesday. I don't know how many total episodes. I like it already. I first saw the actor Lee Jun-Hyuk in 2011's City Hunter with Lee Min-ho. He hasn't aged a lot since then. What's his secret? LOL

Lee Jun-Hyuk

City Hunter trailer with Lee Min-ho as City  Hunter. Lee Jun-Huyk is City Hunter's nemesis and appears only at the very end of the trailer. Jun-Hyuk was excellent as the relentless cop pursuing City Hunter. The series is going to be shown on Netflix soon.

Never Forget

The 25th year of terrorist attack on the USA and never forget who those America hating people were and who their followers and cheerleaders are. Many of them are now in government positions, all in the Democratic Party.

New York City

 

The Pentagon

Pennsylvania

Guilt

tags: Japanese, Keigo Higashino, mystery 

⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads

A tour de force crime novel from one of the international masters of the form, where a simple murder case questions the simple notions of good and evil, guilt and redemption.

Homicide Detective Godai of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is assigned to investigate the death of a lawyer, Kensuke Shiraishi, whose body was found on a Central Tokyo riverbank. His investigations leads him to one Tatsuro Kuraki, who claims to have had limited contact with Shiraishi - but, surprising the investigators, Kuraki not only confesses to the lawyer's murder, but another one from thirty years ago - for which another man was arrested and died in custody before trial. This brings unexpected resolution to two cases but there is one problem: to Detective Godai the confession rings false.

And Godai is not the only one who cannot accept Kuraki's explanation of both murders and his professed motives. The confessed murderer's son and the victim's daughter both feel strongly that both the act and the motive claimed are untrue. As Godai investigates further, he discovers that the relation between the murder of thirty years ago and the recent one is complex, raising multi-faceted questions of guilt and innocence.

Guilt is a rich novel about crime and its aftereffects on those left behind by both the victim and perpetrator, a twisting, compelling work that will surprise and astonish.

Keigo Higashino's latest novel translated into English was written in 2021 and set in 2017. For a few years now, I noticed that the newer books do not have the same vibe as the older ones. I believe it is the translation problem. I prefer the books translated by Alexander O. Smith because his translations are closer to the Japanese culture and manner of speaking, IMHO. 

The newer books have Western style conversations using cheap words and plenty of cussing even from someone not expected to use cuss words. In this new novel, there are 5 total F words which I never read in 10 previous books. I'm not sure if the author himself included those words to introduce this new detective series and I'm a bit disappointed. I guess I have to get used to it. The book now reads like a dime store mystery novel although it is redeemed by the great plot and characters, thus saving the book from a 2 star rating. I also like that he excoriates detestable social media and tabloid journos calling them the newest scourge of society.

Recommended for Keigo Higashino readers.

The Secret Woman

tags: Denmark, drama, Netflix, Nordic noir, psychological thriller

⭐⭐

The Secret Woman is a Danish thriller centered around Louise who has amnesia and is living a quiet life in Norway. She gets engaged to a local guy. 

She begins investigating her identity when a Danish man approaches her and calls her Helene. She had her DNA tested that proves she is Helene, goes back to Denmark and finds that she is an heiress to a shipping empire. Her husband, young son, and mother-in-law live in her home which belonged to her family. She learns that her father died right before she went missing that triggered her psychotic episodes.  She slowly discovers her husband has something to do with her disappearance. But of course, it's always the spouse, with assist from someone unexpected, a twist I already guessed very early in the movie. It's too predictable. 

I always wonder why characters in so-called thrillers have no common sense and self awareness. She already suspects her husband, yet she goes alone investigating in a seedy part of the city then goes walking in a very dark alleyway. Death wish? Dumb. She also drinks wine poured by the sinister husband without suspecting it might be drugged. Dumber still. 

The other woman, Louise, whose identity she assumed was not given enough back story. Her connection to the human smuggling was not expanded. Speaking of human smuggling (women trafficked as prostitutes) is a very lame story plot. 

The acting of the main female lead is middling; the only commendable acting and storyline is the evil husband.

Skip it. Not worthy of almost 2 hours viewing time. I watched so you don't have to.

I Will Always Love You

R.I.P. Dolly. I will always love you and your music.

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

tags, 18th century novel, humor, satire

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wikipedia

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, often known simply as Tristram Shandy, is a humorous novel by Laurence Sterne. It was published from 1759 to 1767, in nine volumes across five instalments. The novel purports to be a memoir, but the titular Tristram is an effusive and digressive narrator who begins the story with his conception and does not reach a description of his birth until the third volume. While attempting to explain four accidents in his early life which have doomed him to an unhappy future, Tristram describes domestic conflicts between his irritable father Walter and his gentle Uncle Toby, and inserts humorous discourses on a range of intellectual topics.

Read the rest from Wikipedia 

I read many conflicting reviews of this book and just like Ulysses, I tried to avoid reading it. It is a long-ish book at almost 700 pages. I ended up loving it. The bawdy humor, the style of writing and many digressive stories, his father, his poor Uncle Toby's unfortunate accident, fort construction, and love affair. 

I laughed out loud several times at the absurdity of some of the topics his father, his Uncle Toby, Uncle Toby's servant Corporal Trim, the pastor Yorick [alas poor Yorick], and the bumbling male-midwife Dr. Slop, and of course Tristram's four "accidents" starting from his conception, birth, baptism, and the unfortunate encounter with a window sash. Tristram even used his name as a verb, as in tristramed. The part where the household helper Obadiah made everyone annoyed for making a superior job of tying and securing the doctor's stuff that Tristram's father cursed him in so many different ways on several pages, is hilarious. His father is a book lover and seems to consult his favorite authors and philosophers in even mundane things such as a boy's breeches. 

The stream of consciousness writing style, the abrupt and unfinished/hanging end to some chapters remind me of one of my favorite books and it's no wonder I also find this book a treasure. A must read. 

Hamnet

tags: melodrama, historical fiction, Shakespeare's son Hamnet

⭐

Hamnet dramatises the family life of William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes Hathaway as they cope with the death of their 11-year-old son Hamnet.

This movie is based on the death of Hamnet, the 11 year old son of William and Anne Shakespeare. I consider it fiction because there is no recorded story of Hamnet. He was born and died at 11 years of age but no record of how he died. So the whole movie is made up except for their children. According to Shakespeare historians, the play Hamlet was written 4 years after Hamnet's death.

Anne is called Agnes here for no given reason. She is an herbalist and rumored to be the daughter of a witch. Anne Shakespeare must be rolling in her grave. Authors and moviemakers think they can just make stuff up and I find taking liberties with stories of real life people a disgrace. I don't care if they tell a great story.  

The overly dramatic ending is supposed to be captivating, full of symbolism, and has deeper meaning. Sorry, I was not impressed. It is no different from ordinary tearjerkers. The only significant part is that Agnes realized that William is after all grieving for their dead son. She previously was mad at him for not being present when Hamnet died but William was in London working. What did she expect? There were no cellphones then so he didn't know. Typical unreasonable wife.

I can't recommend it. Streaming on Netflix.

The Red House Mystery

tags: A. A. Milne, mystery

⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads

The Red House Mystery is a classic "whodunit" set in an English country house. An eclectic cast of characters are gathered in the house when the owner's brother, recently arrived from Australia, is found murdered in a locked room. Two of the house guests take the investigation upon themselves and they wade almost playfully through the abundance of evidence and theories.

I never knew A. A Milne wrote a whodunnit novel. It's a locked room mystery and I liked it although a bit forgettable and formulaic. 

Recommended because of the author and it is a short read.

Black Trick: The Lawyer Who Controls Justice

tags: Gackt, Japanese dorama, legal thriller, Netflix

From MyDramaList

“If justice is crushed by lies, then let lies be used to protect justice.”

Set in a modern society where information spread through the internet and media can easily shape public opinion, the story follows Naoto Uramashi, a man who refuses to accept public judgment without uncovering the truth for himself.

When innocent people are branded as criminals and silenced by society, Naoto stands by his clients and fights to prove their innocence. In order to confront powerful figures willing to fabricate anything to escape punishment, he uses deception of his own to expose the truth hidden behind lies.

It looks quirky and it stars Gackt, therefore. a must watch for me.

Similar to Galileo series and Jun Matsumoto's 99.99%, both streaming on Netflix.

Slow Horses

tags: espionage, mystery, thriller

⭐⭐

Goodreads

You don't stop being a spook just because you're no longer in the game.

Banished to Slough House from the ranks of achievers at Regent's Park for various crimes of drugs and drunkenness, lechery and failure, politics and betrayal, Jackson Lamb's misfit crew of highly trained joes don't run ops, they push paper.

But not one of them joined the Intelligence Service to be a 'slow horse'. A boy is kidnapped and held hostage. His beheading is scheduled for live broadcast on the net. And whatever the instructions of the Service, the slow horses aren't going to just sit quiet and watch.

I tried reading British spy novels again after the death of John le Carré but got disappointed with all of them. 

I find Slough Horses just okay. It has tons of characters not unlike John le Carré​'s books and there are some humor although not as witty nor funny. The author invented his own jargon but again not as effective and unique as John le Carré's, making the book IMHO the poor man's le Carré spy novels. It's not even as good as Ian Fleming's James Bond series.

I finished reading it regardless and am currently reading the second book in the series, Dead Lions hoping it will be better than this novel. In Dead Lions, the author introduced an old lady, Molly, a character very similar to Connie Sachs who is one of my favorite recurring characters in John le Carré's Karla Trilogy. I'm not too thrilled with this copycat addition. I think I'll stop at the second installment. 

Wyrd Sisters

tags: Discworld series, fantasy, humor, parody, Terry Prachett

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads

Three witches gathered on a lonely heath.

A king cruelly murdered, his throne usurped by his ambitious cousin. A child heir and the royal crown, both missing.

Witches don't have these kinds of leadership problems themselves - in fact, they don't have leaders. Granny Weatherwax is the most highly regarded of the leaders they don't have. But even she finds that meddling in royal politics is a lot more complicated than certain playwrights would have you believe. Particularly when the blood on your hands just won't wash off . . .

Wyrd Sisters is the second book in the Witches series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order.

Wyrd Sisters is one of the 41 books in Discworld written by Terry Pratchett. It is a parody of Shakespeare's works specially Macbeth and Hamlet and King Lear's Fool. Here, the Fool is a major character. There are several references to other works like Romeo and Juliet, etc.. The travelling theatrical group's playwright is a dwarf named Hwel (William?) and just like Shakespeare is drawn to ghosts, witches, and death themed plays. 

I like the humor throughout maybe because I already like Pratchett's witty fantasies and satires. There is an animated series based on the book which you can watch on YouTube. I haven't watched the entire video but it looks true to the book.

Happy 250th Birthday USA

Several countries are celebrating our 250th birthday with red white and blue lights on their most well-known buildings. Beautiful!

Enola Holmes 3

 

tags: Enola Holmes 3, Netflix movie

⭐

In 1886, Enola and Tewkesbury prepare for their nuptials, with the ceremony in Malta honoring Tewkesbury’s late father’s service there.

Enola insists she can be both a wife and a detective, but her brother Sherlock, already skeptical of the marriage, is secretly working on another case.

On the wedding day, Sherlock is abducted, and Enola must drop all plans to find him.

I think I'm done with Enola. This third movie is woke to the max. Haven't they heard woke is passe. I also don't like the Moriarty Moriarty Moriarty theme. It is overdone and also the reason I stopped watching Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock series. It got boring. Enola Holmes 3 suffers the same too much Moriarty. Adding to the negative is that Moriarty is played by the ugliest Black actress I have ever watched. And not a good actress either. Dr. Watson played by an Indian actor is not so bad but I've had enough. 

The movie is full of political correctness nonsense and I think the faithful followers of Enola will all go away. People are tired of being lectured about the sins of White people in the 19th century and making the you know who their victims.  

It's a pity because Enola and Tewkesbury are getting married and the movie should have been fun but it was ruined by the script and Moriarty story.

Citizen Vigilante

Citizen Vigilante is a 2026 vigilante action thriller film produced, written, and directed by Uwe Boll. It stars Armie Hammer as Michael Sanders, a vigilante enraged by the breakdown of law and order and the violence perpetuated by criminals, mostly migrants.

He decides to take justice into his own hands, killing criminals and corrupt officials. The film was inspired by a 2016 case in Hamburg where a 14-year-old girl was gang-raped by migrants while they received only suspended sentences.

The film was released in select theaters and digitally on June 19, 2026. It received negative reviews from critics while audience reception was positive.

It did not receive an age rating in Germany, effectively banning it in the country. Boll said this was due to concerns the film would incite violence against immigrants. Elon Musk released the film on X, boosting its reach. 

Streaming on Amazon and Apple TV 

Communion

tags: JD Vance, Catholicism, memoir, nonfiction

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Amazon

From the bestselling author of Hillbilly Elegy—an intimate account of why Vice President JD Vance strayed from the Christianity of his youth and what led him back to faith.

Communion is a spiritual exploration of what it means to be a Christian in all the seasons of life JD Vance has experienced—as a child, a young man, a husband, a father, and a leader. Picking up in some ways where Hillbilly Elegy left off, Communion recounts how Vance's pursuit of material privileges ultimately led him into a secular wilderness.

Communion reveals how Vance regained his faith and discusses his conversion to Catholicism, how his faith guides his work in public life, and how it shapes his thoughts about the future.

I liked his first memoir, Hillbilly Elegy and of course I want to know what made him reject Christianity and became an atheist for 10 years, returning to the faith and eventually was baptized a Catholic instead of returning to the Protestant denomination he and his family grew up with.

He lost his faith right after the death of his grandmother. Poverty also contributed to it. He started getting interested again in Christianity after the birth of his first son but couldn't decide which one to join. Although he has an uncle who is Catholic, he didn't particularly know anything about Catholicism. His birth father's religion is I think Pentecostal Christianity but he rejected that. His beliefs are more aligned with Catholicism although he didn't know it yet. He had conversations and discussions about religion with a friend, a Jewish convert to Catholicism. Two years hence, he started considering being a Catholic with the encouragement of his own wife, a Hindu, who thought Catholicism might be the best for what he is looking for according to his needs and beliefs.  He was baptized in 2019 to the Catholic religion. He once was lost and now was found. Amazing grace indeed.

Highly recommended for people who have open minds and are willing to set aside politics. 

I Will Find You

tags: crime drama series, Harlan Coben, Netflix

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The story centers on David Burroughs,  a father serving a life sentence for the murder of his young son. Although he was convicted of the crime, David maintains his innocence. His world changes when evidence surfaces suggesting the child may still be alive. Determined to uncover the truth, he sets out on a dangerous search that pulls him into a web of hidden connections, long buried secrets, and unexpected revelations.

I binge watched yesterday this 8 episode drama series based on Harlan Coben's novel I Will Find You. I read it in 2023. I enjoyed the Netflix series regardless of already knowing the who and why. 

As in most TV series adaptations from books, there are a few changes in some characters which are okay and make for great viewing: the lead FBI agent is changed from a male to a young Black female whose father is also an FBI agent played by Chi McBride whose funny one liners give a lighter tone to the tense scenes; the rich matriarch grandma is replaced by the mother; additional police characters and their stories. 

Highly recommended specially for viewers who haven't read the book.

Wolf Hour

tags: mystery

generous ⭐

Goodreads

Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2016. When a small-time criminal and gun dealer is shot down in the street, all signs point to Tomas Gomez, a quiet man with a mysterious past—and deep connections to a notorious gang—who has seemingly vanished into thin air. Other murders soon follow, and it appears Gomez is only getting started. Meanwhile, Bob Oz, a down-and-out suspended police officer with a dubious past of his own, becomes fascinated by the he is obsessed with the notion of hunting down a serial killer who only he can understand, a killer with a story as tragic as his own. 

Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2022. An enigmatic Norwegian man with ties to Minneapolis—a self-described crime writer—has traveled to the United States to research the Gomez case, in the hopes of writing a book about it. But as his investigation progresses, the writer’s seemingly neutral position reveals itself to be more complicated than the reader is initially led to believe.

I can't believe I gave a 1-star rating of a book written by one of my favorite authors. It is hardly a thriller. The title is not even relevant to the story because it is not about El Lobo, the Hispanic thug who is a minor character in the book, only appeared once to slaughter a family eating in a restaurant where only the father survived. Anybody with normal understanding of the text will be able to guess who the vengeful murderer is from the characters being introduced in the story. It's not very subtle and seems to be written for idiots.

The story is incoherent and reads like Nesbo made a check list of things that he doesn't like about the USA and ticked them off one by one, then wrote a dull book. I specially hated that Nesbo is now praying at the altar of Saint George Floyd. Giant eye roll here. It was not necessary to include this incident but you see, Nesbo hates the USA, guns, and police. Nesbo even defended the fraudulent Somalis and made one Somali character a very good cop. [I guess Nesbo missed the news when a Somali cop for no good reason shot dead an Australian female who reported a possible assault near her house.] This heroic portrayal of a Somali did not age well because of the recent billion $ fraud committed by mainly Somali immigrants in Minneapolis, aided and abetted by democrat politicians. 

The book was written mainly to criticize guns in the USA. Nesbo should stay out of American politics because he revealed his ignorance and contempt for Americans and should just continue writing fiction that are about crimes in Norway because he knows his own country and its criminals. 

Recommended only for woke leftists who hate America. Not recommended for normal people.

Positive Diagnosis

🚨 THE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO IS HERE 🚨@tashaowensmusic's viral new anthem "TDS" just dropped its OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO — and it's every bit as bold, hilarious, and unapologetic as you'd expect. 🔥

Watch now on our YouTube channel and see why everyone's talking about it. 🎶🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/DZ3SYO9US6

— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) June 5, 2026

Sounds Greek

I'm still listening to these songs after more than 15 years. No need to know the lyrics.

Six Singles Under One Roof

Tags: Korean, movie and TV actors, reality show

Drat. I'm hooked again on a Korean reality show with 6 TV and movie actors almost and in their 40s and never been married except one male. They lived alone for between 7 and 20 years. It's like Roommate  for older singles. Once again Jang Keun-Suk is the main reason I am watching. But I have seen the works of the other 2 males and one female, Lee Da-Hee. Jang Keun-Suk has been a favorite of mine since I first saw him in You're Beautiful and Beethoven Virus. He disappeared from KDramas for several years making only 2 or fewer series a year to focus on his solo music career. I only found out from this show  that he had thyroid cancer 3 years ago. That's probably the reason he looks bloated and unhealthy. He takes a cocktail of vitamins, minerals, and a variety of supplements daily like a 90 year old person.

The first episode is hilarious. Keun-Suk ordered an almost 50 pound live octopus for their first night dinner together and it started crawling out of its box. Everybody was shouting and running away from it as though it is a monster. They had a wonderful dinner cooked by Keun-Suk, using all the parts of the octopus.

One of the funniest housemates is Choi Daniel who has no filter and just blurts out his observations of his new roommates without thinking if he might offend them. But these actors are very polite and they don't quarrel or argue at all. 

Lee Da-Hee is the oldest among them at 42. She is tall at 5'8" and very thin, almost skeletal although she eats a ton, very slowly, that she's the last to finish eating. She is also a neat freak, cleaning up everything while they were still cooking, washing and wiping surfaces and walls, all the pans and pots once they have served their purpose. I've only seen her in several series and movies and I have the impression that she is a bit anal in her neatness from just watching one of her reality shows.  

The third male is the "unfortunate" actor Ahn Jae-Hyun who had a very public wedding and nasty divorce story and maybe the reason the shaman proclaimed he had lost his former self and needs to rediscover it. Poor guy. 

There are 5 an hour and 30 minutes episodes with subtitles so far. Episodes 6 and 7 are already out but still raw (no subtitles). 

This reality show is surprisingly airing simultaneously on HBO, Amazon, and Apple TV. I wonder why Netflix didn't join the party.. 

The cast

 

Murder By Design

Tags: Amazon First Reads, humor, murder mystery, thriller

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads

In a world carefully constructed for murder, solving crimes takes a keen mind and eye in a witty, clever, and fresh reinvention of the whodunit.

Edison Bixby is wealthy, handsome, and, due to a traumatic brain injury, impulsively rude. He’s also a brilliant insurance investigator who solves baffling crimes by figuring out how the design of the man-made world around us makes them possible.

Enter Wally a struggling actor hired to keep Bixby from offending everyone he meets. Their first case together looks like a simple accident. Caroline Crowley took a nasty fall down a staircase at a shopping mall in front of dozens of witnesses. Video clearly shows the deadly misstep. But Bixby is certain she was murdered by design, subtly manipulated into causing her own demise. The mall itself made the crime intentional, if not inevitable. Now Bixby must prove his outrageous theory before a very cunning killer gets others on his hit list to murder themselves, too.

I'm glad Amazon First Reads included a male writer in maybe 6 months of nothing but female authors. Month after month all the free books for First Reads are written by untalented female authors. The only other time I downloaded was 2 years ago in 2024 Dean Koontz' The Bad Weather Friend. When I visit the First Reads page, I look at the authors' names and if the choices are written by a sea of females, I just skip it. Why bother downloading when they are 99% stupid. Sorry for the rant. 

I didn't expect to like this humorous short novel but I did and recommend it highly.  The pair a la Sherlock and Dr. Watson complement each other very well. Very funny duo. Bixby is a combination of Sherlock Holmes, M. Auguste Dupin, Lord Peter Wimsey, and Agatha Raisin. Teaming with the failed actor Wally as his assistant is brilliant IMHO. There's a twist at the end that I guessed early on. Still a great read for readers who have a sense of humor.

Nobody's Fool

Tags: murder mystery, thriller

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads

In this stunningly twisty thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben, a secret from former Detective Sami Kierce’s college days comes back to haunt him.

His memory is clear, but all these years later, the facts don’t add up…which is something he cannot ignore. Sami Kierce, a young college grad backpacking in Spain with friends, wakes up one morning, covered in blood. There’s a knife in his hand. Beside him, the body of his girlfriend. Anna. Dead. He doesn’t know what happened. His screams drown out his thoughts—and then he runs. Twenty-two years later, Kierce, now a private investigator, is a new father who’s working off his debts by doing low level surveillance jobs and teaching wannabe sleuths at a night school in New York City. One evening, he recognizes a familiar face at the back of the classroom. Anna. It’s unmistakably her. As soon as Kierce makes eye contact with her, she bolts.

For Kierce there is no choice. He knows he must find this woman and solve the impossible mystery that has haunted his every waking moment since that terrible day. His investigation will bring him face-to-face with his past—and prove, after all this time, he’s nobody’s fool.

This is the second book in a series featuring Sami Kierce, and ex NYC cop. I read the first book, Fool Me Once, in 2017 and I don't recall Detective Sami Kierce at all. He was not prominent in the book nor in the Netflix series. 

Harlan Coben decided to write a series that has him as the lead character together with a bunch of students who are wannabe amateur sleuths. They help him in their own way to solve mysteries, crime, and murders. Kinda like the ongoing trend similar to Thursday Murder Club. I like the story of one of the students, Golfer Gary. If the book is successful and the  author continues with the series, he might feature the students' personal stories one book at a time. I like that idea because Golfer Gary's story is almost a heartbreaking tragicomedy IMO.

Sami Kierce's trauma from the "dead" Anna lasted more than 20 years until she appeared in his classroom. He is of course relieved that he didn't murder her after all but he wants to find out why he was made to believe that he killed her. Any normal person who suffered from the guilt for 20 years will have the same reaction. At the same time, he is dealing with a murderer who was let out of prison and a missing girl from 20 years ago. The novel is definitely twistier than pretzel and very entertaining.

Recommended for Harlan Coben fans.

Project Loki

tags: crime, Filipino drama series, mystery, thriller 

7 episodes so far, every Saturday, ongoing

From Viva One

One of Wattpad’s top mystery-crime thrillers comes alive with Viva One stars Dylan Menor, Marco Gallo, and Jayda Avanzado. Join Loki and Lorelei as they crack puzzles, solve cases, and uncover dark secrets within the halls of Clark University.

I've been watching Filipino comedy and drama series lately, the ones with young people - High School and University kids. They do not have much adult drama scenarios like cheating spouses or manipulative characters. Project Loki got me interested because it's about 2 university students helping the campus police solve mysteries, murders, and crimes within the university They are like Holmes and Watson. Take note of the name - Loki (Sherlock) and he has a nemesis who calls himself M as in you know who.

I like the series, the actors, the theme song that I find myself eager to see the next episode. 

Queen Anne Is Dead

tags: historical fiction, politics, romance

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads 

First reissue in over a century of a lost classic by Patricia Wentworth • From the author of the hugely successful and enduring MISS SILVER crime series, QUEEN ANNE IS DEAD is a historical novel set England and France in 1714.Kensington Palace 1714, Queen Anne is dying. Assorted courtiers, flatterers, rogues and favourites are frantically positioning themselves ready to reap bountiful patronages from the new king. 

The scheming Lady Henrietta Clavering is in her element. But the machinations between Lady Clavering, her estranged son Philip and her much younger beau Jack Murray are about to take a surprising turn. Meanwhile, Philip is dispatched on a fool’s errand to the village of Mercy in the Duchy of Lorraine deep in rural France and into the life of the beautiful Hélène, daughter of a Jacobite exile.

The novel set in 1714 is hardly about the death of Queen Anne but more of the suffering of Philip at the hands of his own mother, the despicable Lady Henrietta Clavering. Philip was thought to be dead for 2 years and suddenly came back, His mother tried to make him disappear for good a second time but did not succeed, making Philip learn the truth about his mother's deadly schemes and find true love in young Hélène. 

Highly recommended.

Escape: Sore wa Yukai no Hazudatta

 

tags: Japanese dorama, mystery, satori

⭐⭐⭐⭐

From YouTube 

Yagami Yui, the only daughter of a major pharmaceutical company president, is kidnapped on the night of her 20th birthday. The plan fails miserably. And when the hostage looks her kidnapper in the eyes and says "Run away with me" — a nationwide manhunt begins. What starts as the worst kidnapping in history unravels into a decades-long conspiracy about identity, power, and a secret she's been carrying her whole life. 

The title is Escape: Sore wa Yukai no Hazudatta (ESCAPE It Was Supposed to Be a Kidnapping). The 2025 Japanese series is not playing on Netflix nor Amazon. I watched it in one of the Asian drama websites. 10 Episodes.

The subject of this dorama is a family with satori ability. Yui sees colors when she touches a person, dark for dark aura and light colors for maybe a good person. Her aunt hears sounds, not sees colors. When they touch each other, there are no colors or sounds, neutral in other words. 

Yui takes advantage of being kidnapped to escape not from the kidnapper but from her own father who put a GPS monitoring anklet on her and employed a bodyguard for her. Yui suspects her father of something sinister and decides to cut the device and asks her kidnapper to drive her to where her former nanny lives. From there, she also escapes from the nanny taking the nanny's child with her. The kidnapped becomes a kidnapper in order to protect the child whom she thinks is being neglected by his mother. She and the kidnapper become friends and partners in escaping together. He is not a bad person although he spent sometime in juvie custody for petty theft. They call themselves Hachi (Yui) and Linda (Daisuke). They acquire friends who help them along the way. 

Note: The video is an hour long summary of the almost 10 hour series. I couldn't find a trailer for the series.

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?  

Update: 

I was mistaken. The actor playing Harry is Norwegian actor Tobias Santelmann and he looks like the Harry I have in my mind. Joel Kinaman, the Swedish American is part of the supporting cast. I'll review the series when I'm done watching.

⭐⭐

I just finished watching and it was a slog. I forced myself to finish the series. I had to watch some Japanese and Korean series in between Harry Hole. It's that boring.

There are some things to unlike. Several scenes need more lighting. Most of the time, I was looking at nothing because it is freaking dark as though there is no electricity in Norway. Sheesh. 

I didn't mind that some of the details were changed from the book. Nesbo himself wrote the screenplay and if he decided to alter a few stuff, then, I'm fine with that. What I didn't like is the corrupt cop, Tom Waaler, has so much presence. I understand because in the book this series is based on, The Devil's Star, he was finally killed. He is  in 2 previous Hole books when Harry suspected him of being an arms smuggler. But must he be in every scene? I rolled my eyes hard when he was in front of a gym? mirror dancing or doing stuff without his shirt on because he said he was exercising or something. Cringe! 

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.