Stargazer

Philip Pullman: The Book of Dust: The Secret Commonwealth (Book of Dust, Volume 2)

John Sandford: Bloody Genius (A Virgil Flowers Novel Book 12)
Not the best Flowers mystery, but I enjoy the character, and love seeing some of the other detectives from the Prey books involved in this story. (****)

Julia Phillips: Disappearing Earth: A novel
The multitude of stories finally started to come together at the end, but in the meantime, it was essentially a book of short stories about interconnected people and disappearances from their lives. Nothing meshed, although the writing was decent. (***)

Louise Penny: A Better Man: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel

Robert Crais: A Dangerous Man (An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel)
A decent book (3 1/2 stars), although not as funny as this series used to be. Like too many mysteries, it's become a high adrenaline, shoot 'em up style versus the more character oriented books that I prefer. (****)

Anthony Horowitz: The Sentence Is Death: A Novel
I enjoy Horowitz's mysteries, although this one wasn't my favorite. Putting himself (the author) into the story was fascinating the first time, but in this sequel, it gets a little tedious. (****)

Colson Whitehead: The Nickel Boys: A Novel
A solid 4 1/2 stars for this well-written, thought-provoking book. It was a difficult and heart wrenching topic, but with a satisfying ending. (****)

Taylor Jenkins Reid: Daisy Jones & The Six: A Novel
This book is written in interview style which can get tedious in spots. However, I found it an interesting glimpse into the '70s world of rock bands. It's loosely based on Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks which makes me want to do more research on their history! (****)

Graeme Simsion: The Rosie Result (Don Tillman Book 3)
Still funny, with a lot of fascinating discussion woven in about autism and how to deal with it. Although it isn't my favorite in the series, it's a solid 3 1/2 stars. (****)

Spencer Quinn: Heart of Barkness (A Chet & Bernie Mystery)
At first I didn't think this addition would measure up to the usual Chet and Bernie mysteries, which I adore for their warmth and humor. However, it did grow on me, as did the characters and the plot. (****)

Rebecca Makkai: The Great Believers
This is a book that's difficult to get out of my mind: beautifully written, with sensitively drawn characters and a story which at times broke my heart. It paints a stark, and powerful portrait of the 1980s AIDS epidemic from within that world. 4 1/2 stars. (****)

The Body in the Castle Well: Bruno, Chief of Police 12
This addition to the series is back to the winning formula of Bruno dealing with crime in his small village, instead of dealing with terrorism. As always I enjoy the elaborate cooking rituals, and the warmth and quirkiness of the characters. (****)

Anne Hillerman: The Tale Teller: A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel
Anne Hillerman is no Tony Hillerman, although I still enjoy the characters and cultural aspect. However, her writing doesn't have the beauty of her father's, sadly. (***)

Madeline Miller: CIRCE
I don't remember the last time I gave a 5 star rating. This mix of mythology, adventure, history, cunning, joy and sorrow was woven together with excellent writing and a beautiful ending. It was exactly what I needed to read after a series of (to me) disappointing books. (*****)

Leah Franqui: America for Beginners: A Novel
My main complaint here was the shoddy writing, but I also didn't bond with the characters and found the plot less than compelling. (***)