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beau_reads_books's reviews
203 reviews
Desert Star by Michael Connelly
dark
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
"’It's an angry world,’ Tommy said. ‘People do things you'd never expect.’"
This was recommended to me by a coworker and thought no better time to crack it open than when on a flight to sunny, sunny California: home of famous Connelly detective Bosch himself. I was also told I wouldn’t have to read any other Bosch novels to get into this one, which was absolutely correct: the beauty of crime thrillers, is however formulaic, they’re relatively easy to pop in and out of without prior reading required. Although, “Desert Star” did feel like a series culmination, or at least a hint at one, so maybe knowing key elements of the rest of the books would be appropriate. The story was multi-layered and held a great balance between emotion and factuality, the characters were genuine and complex, and the pacing was pitch perfect. You’re not getting lost in literary mechanics here: this is as straight-forward as it gets.
The repetitive over-explanation of certain processes was helpful at first but became somewhat condescending at times. Often, “He would know she said that because this,” turned into less an informative aside and more redundant handholding filler. Bosch is not exactly what I would call a good guy, either, but I suppose that’s the draw for many readers: America loves an outside of the law, gunslinger, bad boy cowboy cop. However, the reality of that was a little too on the nose and more uncomfortable than I thought it would be. ACAB, including Bosch.
3.5/5 I can never end up committing to full series because of an innate fault of my own personality :D but, I’d probably pick up another one of these for a quick weekend read, or another travel book.
Mr. Murder by Dean Koontz
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“‘Looks as if we might be standing hip-deep in gasoline, and someone just struck a match.’”
As another reviewer had mentioned, you kind of always know what you’re going to get with Koontz: fast action, soulful exploration (a bit tedious), a couple Plain Jane All-American Protagonists, and, most importantly, the good guy always wins. However, evil gets to be evil until usurped and, surprisingly, the touches of darkness in “Mr. Murder” were a hell of a lot more violent than I’d expected going in. The charming secondary and tertiary characters made up for the joyless parts of the plot, in true fashion: the man makes humans human real good…and bad.
The MC was so dorky, and I know this was Koontz’ self-masturbatory “Secret Window” bullshit, so I feel a little bad, but god it was easy to say, “Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if the bad guy, uh…won?” Another example of Koontz creating badass love interests that should 100% be the main character instead. At times, the prose in “Mr. Murder” became a little sticky, and running through sentences meant potentially losing a shoe to the muck, and having to go back and retrieve it.
3/5 This wasn’t the most batshit Koontz I’ve read, but it had its moments!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual violence
Minor: Body horror
The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
“‘Did you find what you were looking for?’
‘I did.’
‘Is it enough?’”
When I tell you that *immediately* I knew this would be in my top five books of the year for 2025…in January. Heart warming, heart wrenching, heart warmching. Never knew I needed a western/sci-fi/horror like this in my life and now that it’s here, I’m a little more complete. Busy concept, perfect delivery. A sharp and stubborn perspective of fairness in a traitorous reality, a family cleaved apart, a vow of vengeance, in space! No, I don’t care if we can’t breathe on Mars and I also don’t care that Ballingrud didn’t explain that whatsoever: the world building didn’t require it. I’m not gonna micromanage a science fiction story about a girl with a robot butler looking for her lost mom’s voice recorder that was stolen by a troop of DEATH CULT MEMBERS. Put a little wonder in your life, dorks.
Ending wrapped up way too quick ‘n’ pretty. Would have loved to see that drawn out a little more, pack a little flesh in. And I’d of course say that about any other story I really loved; I don’t ever want them to end! But, admittedly, it was typical of a western close. So, I’ll give him that.
4.5/5 Fingers crossed for some kind of “Strange” players cameo in the “Crypt of the Moon Spider” world.
‘I did.’
‘Is it enough?’”
When I tell you that *immediately* I knew this would be in my top five books of the year for 2025…in January. Heart warming, heart wrenching, heart warmching. Never knew I needed a western/sci-fi/horror like this in my life and now that it’s here, I’m a little more complete. Busy concept, perfect delivery. A sharp and stubborn perspective of fairness in a traitorous reality, a family cleaved apart, a vow of vengeance, in space! No, I don’t care if we can’t breathe on Mars and I also don’t care that Ballingrud didn’t explain that whatsoever: the world building didn’t require it. I’m not gonna micromanage a science fiction story about a girl with a robot butler looking for her lost mom’s voice recorder that was stolen by a troop of DEATH CULT MEMBERS. Put a little wonder in your life, dorks.
Ending wrapped up way too quick ‘n’ pretty. Would have loved to see that drawn out a little more, pack a little flesh in. And I’d of course say that about any other story I really loved; I don’t ever want them to end! But, admittedly, it was typical of a western close. So, I’ll give him that.
4.5/5 Fingers crossed for some kind of “Strange” players cameo in the “Crypt of the Moon Spider” world.
The Dry by Jane Harper
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
“If I'd known, I would have done things differently. It was too late for that now. Some things had to be lived with.”
Started good, stayed good: can’t beat that. The sweltering heat, cloying drought, small town tension, old heartache, and new murders form the fist that lands this chin punch of a story. Harper sacrifices no style for accessibility: this was a really easy to follow, thorough, near perfect crime drama.
Low risk, high reward. Not bland, exactly, but it was lacking the “thrill” part of the promised suspenseful narrative. Slow build, perfectly reasonable ending, but not a lot of “wow.”
4.5/5 Looks like the books got turned into a movie starring the dreamy Eric Bana so I know what I’m doing with my evening 😍
A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
“Every time you think you have the world figured, trust me, that’s just when the world’s got you figured and is about to spring and break your back.”
First short story collection of the year and good lordt I’m glad it was this one. While “Horses” does set the bar high for collections to come, simply put: Jeez Louise this guy can write. The common denominator stitched story to story are the Schrödinger exits: elaborate what-ifs and maybes that tease and tickle your gray matter, but just enough that the uncertainty never becomes so unbearable that it spoils the stories. This grouping scaled into a multi-dimensional ouroboros, beginning and ending in a complete and utter nightmare.
Knockouts: “Past Reno,” “Any Corpse,” “The Blood Drip,” and the titular story “A Collapse of Horses.”
4.5/5 "Karsten, invite me to join you by the fire." 🥴
Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“Nobody can reach you. Not a soul. Isn't that just the best feeling in the world?”
I’ll never turn down a good, old-fashioned slasher! More than that, an urban legend driven, axe wielding ripper upper story! Loads of contemporary themes, tricky subterfuge, pop culture references, and a good amount of swoon kept the story light enough. This reaaally picked up towards the end so if you’re reading, and leaning towards giving up, stick around: the bloody fun makes up for the beginning drag.
Annoying that the narrative circled around this horrible tweet that wasn’t revealed until more than halfway through, but alluded to near constantly. If you’re going to dangle a carrot that long, it really needs to pay off. Further, I think the characteristics of “cancel culture” portrayed in the book were unrealistic at times, especially in 2024-25: you’re bisexual, not a …mass murderer.
3/5 Slap a little speed on the first half of the book, cut the cringy internal monologues in half, put a little tongue in those smooches and we’re home free.
Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
“She had always believed—vehemently, with great conviction—that the only way to change the world was to destroy it.”
Karin Slaughter is a well-oiled machine gun: precise, clinical, reliable. I told myself to take a break from her after “Pretty Girls” but “Pieces” lured me in, chewed me up, spit me out. Certainly not as dark as others in her catalog, but just as engaging and fast paced, with revelations until the very last page.
How well can you know someone? Do you really want to?
4/5 If you’re gonna watch the show, read the book first. They take a lot of liberties that really shitty it up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Sexual violence
Strangers by Dean Koontz
4.0
While this is not my first Koontz read, it was certainly the longest. For fans of his more speedy, but still thorough reads, I offer you “Velocity” or “Intensity” instead. “Strangers” was uniquely dense, and I found myself putting it down a lot as opposed to obsessively finishing other Koontz books. You’re really reading about 600 pages of character creation before the final 100 pages of closure, and even that closure is relatively open-ended. I do understand the importance of taking the time to really build the relationships between reader and characters, of which the list seemed endless. But, simultaneously we are also reading about how those characters all come to relationships with each other, so the effect can seem dizzying at times. Koontz is still a mastermind at painting exemplar, quizzical settings and scenarios, and “Strangers” is a huge example of that. Much less of a horror read than some of his other more popular books, but there were definitely veins of unsettling depictions throughout, I.e, Dom’s descriptions of his late night wandering and the thorough descriptions of such intense fear from several characters. If you can spare a little more time to really deep dive into a pretty philosophical jaunt from Mr. Koontz, I’d say give this one a whirl.