CBR 12 #2 The Trespasser by (Dublin Murder Squad No. 6) by Tana French

When I like a book, I have the tendency to obsessively read everything the author has ever wrote.  Such was the case after I read In the Woods by Tana French.  I loved the atmosphere, the mystery, and especially the characters.  I of course, read all the Tana French books I could find.  When I was going through the epub files in my laptop to find a quick read, I was pleasantly surprised to find a French book I haven't read yet.  Or have I?This is still set in the same Dublin Murder Squad as most of the French books are.

The books are not strict sequels to each other but have a shared universe.  Minor characters in a book basically have spin offs and become major characters in the next book.  This particular book focused on Detectives Antoinette Conway and Stephen Moran, who were also characters in the previous book, The Secret Place.  In the secret place, Moran was the main character while The Trespassed focuses on Conway.

Conway and Moran are partners in the Murder Squad (the newests members).  Moran is mild mannered and likeable.  Conway is another matter altogether.  She is of mixed race and had a difficult childhood.  An incident early in her tenure at the Squad had her feeling ostracized and she felt that everyone in the squad except for Moran was after her.  She is prickly and distrustful, building walls and never letting anyone in completely, not even her partner.  In fact, the bullying she felt at the squad was so bad that she was contemplating leaving.

The murder of a young woman, with very little physical evidence but a very good suspect seemed routing at first but suspicions that their perfect suspect seemed too perfect would turn their investigation in different direction.  Gangs, disappeared fathers, and even one of their own.  The case provides not only a good mystery to solve, but an opportunity for Conway for self discovery and growth.

Reading the book, I was struck by how familiar the Squad drama was and even remembered the ending to the drama.  However, while the murder was familiar, I could not remember the end at all.  In the end, I decided that I have read the book before but completely forgot abour it.  I don't know if that says something about the book or myself.  But seriously, Conway is a bit of a struggle to get to like.  She is super prickly and even a tad paranoid.  The story was ok, if a but implausible, but well, aren't all her books, really?  Fortunately they are saved by good writing and characterization.   This is my least favorite among the Murder Squad books that I've read.

CBR 12 # 1 The Stand (Uncut) Stephen King

When I was as kid, like maybe 12 or 13, every Sunday after church, my family would go the the mall where we had a store selling outdoor equipment.  Across our store was a used bookstore.  I would spend hours reading while my parents did errands or whatever.  At the end of the day, they let me choose one book that I could buy.  I was a very fast reader and devoured books so for practicality's sake (to make the book last longer), I always chose the thickest books with the smallest letters.  Which led to me reading a whole lot of James Micheners and of course, Stephen King.  But somehow, I missed The Stand.  I remember enjoying his work a lot when I was a kid, plus, I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic literature so I decided to read it.True to form, I got the longer, uncut version.

An artificially engineered superflu virus has ravaged the US, and most probably the world.  The survivors gather together for human connection and survival but end up having to face an epic showdown between good and evil.  The book follows the different survivors  until they meet up in small groups and finally into two communities, those who follow Mother Abagail and those who follow the Dark Man.

In typical King fashion, there are a lot of digressions and long backstories, which I quite enjoy. I like to guess which ones of the characters that are introduced will ultimately become important to the story. There were some digressions I did not particularly enjoy, like the Trashcan Man parts were not for me (from what I gather those parts were not part of the shorter version, in which case, I probably would have enjoyed that version better).  I enjoyed the the stories that don't really move the plot along but flesh out the post flu world, the horror of it.  I liked the parts when they were travelling and was excited for everybody to meet up.  I liked all of the background stuff better than the parts when they were gearing up for the final confrontation and the final confrontation itself.  There is also a lot of familiar stuff if you've read a lot of Stephen Kings.  The Dark Man, the shining, destiny, supernatural stuff, good versus evil, etc.  

I enjoyed reading it and it didn't feel that long (except for the Trashcan Man parts).  Likeable characters and interesting premise, and lots of backstory.   This is vintage Stephen King.