Flashback

First, let me start by saying that I am a big fan of Dan Simmons (so much so that I have a tattoo of the original cover of 'Carrion Comfort'). With that said, somehow I totally missed the release of this novel, back in the summer of 2011. Thankfully, I came across it during a local Library Book Sale. . .

If I were to make a list of my "Top Ten Favorite Books of All Time", Flashback would definitely be on it! (Yes, I like this one even more than Carrion Comfort.) I was immediately sucked into the story; not only completely absorbed by the characters, but also by the atmosphere of the futuristic America that Simmons has created. I tore through this book! Every aspect of this novel is spectacular, and the near heart-dropping ending. . . Wow! If you have read it, then you know what I am talking about. If you have not read it, head to your local bookstore or download it to whichever device you prefer, but make this one your next read!

Here is the synopsis:

A provocative dystopian thriller set in a future that seems scarily possible, FLASHBACK proves why Dan Simmons is one of our most exciting and versatile writers. 

The United States is near total collapse. But 87% of the population doesn't care: they're addicted to flashback, a drug that allows its users to re-experience the best moments of their lives. After ex-detective Nick Bottom's wife died in a car accident, he went under the flash to be with her; he's lost his job, his teenage son, and his livelihood as a result.

Nick may be a lost soul but he's still a good cop, so he is hired to investigate the murder of a top governmental advisor's son. This flashback-addict becomes the one man who may be able to change the course of an entire nation turning away from the future to live in the past.

5/5 Skulls

The Black Echo

Michael Connelly is an author whose name I was familiar with but had never read, until now.

While at a local Library Book Sale, I was loading up on Nelson DeMille books when a stranger approached me and asked if I had ever read Michael Connelly. I will tell you the same thing that he told me. "If you enjoy DeMille, you will enjoy Connelly."

Was he correct in his assumption?

Absolutely! I loved this book. It is a fantastic mystery/thriller, and I will definitely be reading the others in the [Harry Bosch] series.

Thank you, kind stranger!

5/5 Skulls

Here is the book's synopsis:

For maverick LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch, the body in the drainpipe at Mulholland Dam is more than another anonymous statistic. This one is personal . . . because the murdered man was a fellow Vietnam "tunnel rat" who had fought side by side with him in a hellish underground war. Now Bosch is about to relive the horror of Nam. From a dangerous maze of blind alleys to a daring criminal heist beneath the city, his survival instincts will once again be tested to their limit. Pitted against enemies inside his own department and forced to make the agonizing choice between justice and vengeance, Bosch goes on the hunt for a killer whose true face will shock him.