Another in the First Family series, in which Sam comes back early from a short beach vacation to find that a good friend, Attorney Tom Forrester has bAnother in the First Family series, in which Sam comes back early from a short beach vacation to find that a good friend, Attorney Tom Forrester has been murdered and shortly thereafter, another friend, Special Agent Avery Hill is shot and badly injured. Why? What cases did they share that might indicate why they were targeted? Then there's Nick's mom (not a good one) who demands to see him to make apologies for her bad behavior. Not that Nick and Sam really want to meet with her, but hey? She did ask nicely.
As if that wasn't enough, Sam has to get pretty for the first State Dinner she hosts with Nick, and learns that the Canadian Prime Minister and his wife are cool people. She worried for nothing. But the key issue is can she identify and then capture Tom's killer? And what will Nick do when he learns what the AG is doing behind his back? More kisses in the midst of all manner of police action and political intrigue. ...more
Another in the First Family series, in which Homocide detective Sam Holland is shocked into denying her feelings when she catches a case that involvesAnother in the First Family series, in which Homocide detective Sam Holland is shocked into denying her feelings when she catches a case that involves the killing of four children and their parents. With all signs pointing to the father in a murder-suicide, Sam has to take a break and turns over her team to Freddie, who comes through for her when he begins pulling threads that suggest something else may have happened. In the midst of this action, President Nick, Sam's husband, has to deal with an attempted coup by the Joint Chiefs and the arrest of his estranged mother, whose presence has never been a joy in his life. Far from it? Should he help her get out of jail? And if so, what will that do to him? Then there are the attacks on people she cares about, prompting her to ask her team to update their personal security around their homes. But will it be enough?...more
Another in the First Family series, in which President Cappuano has his hands full as he prepares for his first State of the Union address at the sameAnother in the First Family series, in which President Cappuano has his hands full as he prepares for his first State of the Union address at the same time that Lt. Sam Holland, his wife, is trying to identify the man assaulting and killing women in one of the local DC parks.
Additional stressors also exist with their bonus son, Elijah, who makes contact again with the young woman he'd been accused of raping when she was 15 and he was 18. Now she's of age. Will they get together again?
But the biggest question is will Sam make it to the SOTU address when she suddenly has a chance to catch the killer before he strikes again. And what will happen if she doesn't make it?...more
Another winner by the author who is so proficient at plumbing the depths of relationships; this time of friendship, what it is and isn't, and how it cAnother winner by the author who is so proficient at plumbing the depths of relationships; this time of friendship, what it is and isn't, and how it can both enhance and hurt--so deeply--when no one seems to be watching.
The death of one brings the other three women (who used to be besties when girls) together at the summer camp where they first met and which means so much to each of them.
I saw a bit of myself in each of those women and regret that I have yet to grow as much as these characters did. A great story from first page to last....more
I kept hoping this book would end on a positive note and it does--in a way--though mostly it offers a challenge. (p. 253) "...the hopes of our FounderI kept hoping this book would end on a positive note and it does--in a way--though mostly it offers a challenge. (p. 253) "...the hopes of our Founders have never been proven fully right...Once again, we are at a time of testing. How it comes out rests, as it always has, in our own hands."
This book is divided into three parts, the first of which is the longest and most frightening, as it lays out how democracy has been undermined from the earliest days following the Founding of the country.
Part two focuses on authoritarianism, which has always been with us, and which rose alarmingly when attached to both racism and the Civil War that killed 600,000 soldiers and cost the US government about $5 billion dollars. That authoritarianism is still with us and seems to have become stronger under the aegis and continuing lies of the Trump administration and its followers in Congress, business, and the Supreme Court.
Part three reviews how a changed Democratic party (originally the party of the segregationists and racists of the South and the Lost Cause perpetrators) renewed the vision of Republican Abraham Lincoln through the work of FDR and LBJ and how that awakening of democracy coincided with significant growth of the country and the improvement of so many people in both health and wealth, although not completely.
The author, an historian, provides plenty of background for her views about how all this might play out, but she leaves it to every reader to ask which is the more attractive outcome: authoritarianism under a single leader who controls everything at the expense of all the rest of us, or democracy, in which the governed enjoy the benefits of a country whose wisdom places the support and care for all above the riches of a select few.
My question is: how soon will we know in what direction will our country proceed? Perhaps the coming election of 2024 will give us one answer....more
Political enemies end up on the same small plane that crashes, killing the pilot and forcing them to work together to survive in the snowy wilderness Political enemies end up on the same small plane that crashes, killing the pilot and forcing them to work together to survive in the snowy wilderness of the high Sierras. But who knew that was the least likely of their experiences? More to the point, would you end up making love to someone just to keep warm? (Seemed a bit far-fetched to me, but hey, it's fiction.)
In any case, what Adelaide learns about her late husband is enough to make anyone weep, even as she doesn't want to believe that Maxim had anything to do with digging up such dirt. Fortunately, she takes the high road, which leads both of them to unexpected happiness; his for the second time, and she, too....more
In this year of 2024 election madness, this title is prescient for what it warns about. It's clear that Clinton shared experiences relating to the TruIn this year of 2024 election madness, this title is prescient for what it warns about. It's clear that Clinton shared experiences relating to the Trump administration, which actions serve as a mirror of what "might have been" because so many elements did occur--like his insistence on getting out of the Middle East in ways that threatened the world at large with nuclear issues.
If ever one needed a reason for voting for Dems in Congress and the Senate as well as the presidency, this novel provides one.
And with Chief Inspector Gamache playing a tiny but pivotal role in this novel, it's clear how Louise Penny informed this novel with her beautiful writing and the complications that abound. Loved this tale, but fear--greatly--that it not become a prediction of things to come. ...more
Another in the K-9: Delta Force Echo series, in which award-winning reporter, Remi Taleb is desperate to get back to Lebanon to support one of her colAnother in the K-9: Delta Force Echo series, in which award-winning reporter, Remi Taleb is desperate to get back to Lebanon to support one of her colleagues who's been tortured and is now in hospital. She hitches a ride with a senator headed there with a bunch of school girls. One of the security detail for the senator is T-Rex Landry, commanders of Delta Force Echo, who is an expert at keeping his professional and personal lives separate. That is, until he meets Remi, who is the first woman since his late wife to generate desire to get to know her better.
Remi, too, is careful about who she might consider, even if for a single night, giving her love to. But the dangers they face down begins to move them together in ways neither anticipated. A thriller that kept me glued to the last page and regretful that I reached it. Wonder what will happen with the next installment......more
Ethics investigator has a sense that something isn't right with the train travel stations currently up for expansion. But who or what gives her that sEthics investigator has a sense that something isn't right with the train travel stations currently up for expansion. But who or what gives her that sense is unclear, even though the death of her boss's son has now been deemed a murder. But who killed him and is it related to the arson that resulted in the injury of someone else and the death of a homeless man in the warehouse that was torched?
Alibi Morning Sun also has a sense, a sixth sense, that links him to a young woman whose murder near the river going through town. Who was she and why does he sense that she may be related to the other wierd things going on?
Then Emma's long-lost father shows up and soon she's head-deep in trying to figure out why he's shown up after a decade of being gone and out of her life. Does he have the answers she's been seeking--about him and the mother she thinks has been dead so long?...more
This is not the book on which the documentary of Pete Souza's photographic biography of the Obama presidency is based. Instead, this title takes pictuThis is not the book on which the documentary of Pete Souza's photographic biography of the Obama presidency is based. Instead, this title takes pictures from the numerous stores of Pete Souza as Chief Official White House Photographer for President Obama (he also served in the same capacity for President Reagan) and uses them as a counterpoint to the statements and news reports of the personal he variously calls "46 minus 1," "Minus," and "Comrade Minus."
As pictures do, they are better than 1000 words of shade, even those in Souza's Instagram account that became the impetus for this book after President Obama left office in January 2017. Many of the comparisons between the information on the left hand page (Trump) and the right (Obama) are hilarious; some project anger, and others tears (sometimes of outrage, others of how much we miss what was the essence of the 44th President's character.
But for my money, the most important message appears on p. 291, where Souza exhorts the reader to "do something...," including vote and follows it up with several other suggestions that are as prescient today and in the days leading up to the 2022 election as they were when written during Comrade Minus' occupation of the White House. To bring home the point, he ends with words from Lincoln's Gettysburg address, that government is "of the people, by the people, for the people." But will it perish from the earth? Time and our actions or inactions will determine that. This challenge is as improtant now as it was in 2020 when 81 million of us took a first step toward bringing back respect to the Oval Office and to our country....more