Brunner's Bar

It's my favorite time of year again. Fall is just around the corner which means Pumpkin beer chilling in my fridge, leave turning on the trees, and the first cold breeze pushing the back drenching heat of Summer. As I anxiously await my favorite holiday Halloween and the beginning of Winter, I have the distinct pleasure to participate in the R.I.P. challenge. R.I.P. is known as Readers Imbibing Peril, and it is a challenge to read Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, and Supernatural. This challenge is put on by  Stainless Steel Droppings , and if you are like me and These genres just happen to be your favorite, then head over to Carl's blog and check it out. This challenge officially runs from September 1st to October 31st and I'm ready to get going. This is such a cool challenge, and since this is a category I mainly read anyway I am taking the plunge. I am going to pledge to be part of: Peril the First means I will be reading four boo

Cop Town I'm a big fan of Karin Slaughter's. I have loved her Sara Linton and Will Trent series. When the two character series became one I was really excited and those books have just gotten better. As always, when I see a new book of hers coming out I get all excited and look forward to it being released. This time around I found this was on Net Galley. I immediately requested it and was fortunate enough to be granted this. Sadly, things in my life got crazy and I didn't have time to read as much so unless it was on an audio book I wasn't going to be able to read it. I finally got a chance to read this and I was a little underwhelmed.  I have read some of Karin Slaughter's short stories that haven't been part of her series and I loved them. She is an amazing writer so I had high hopes for this. In the last Will Trent book, Unseen, we got a glimpse into what it was like to be in the police force back in the 1970's. This book is that story. Karin

We Find Ourselves If you read my review of Vol 14 then you might remember me saying that it would be easy for Robert Kirkman to make a purely character driven story. This is that book. It wasn't even a great character story. Again Rick was really big into the monologues. A lot happened in the last book so I understand taking a breather to let our group recoup a bit and take stock after a huge Zombie attack. I just wish there was a better story to this book instead of a lot of complaining.  To top off my list of complaints, there wasn't a single Zombie attack. There were one or two to loose their heads but I thought the Walking Dead was about zombies and not my attention span. There are more Zombies on the cover than in the whole book. I struggled to get through this one. I kept finding things I needed to do instead of read. I was let down by this book, there are ways to make a character driven story interesting. Ask Stephen King and Jeffery Deaver. You could ask Geor

Inferno I'm going to be honest. I was not a fan of the Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons. I'm not a religious man so it wasn't religiously offensive to me I just couldn't get into them. The Robert Langdon series turned around for me when I read Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. I'm fascinated by the Masons and their history even if this book gave a fictitious history. I really liked that book and when I saw this was going to be based on Dante's Inferno I was looking forward to this as well.  This book was really well written. I was hooked very early on and the story never gave up. We start off with a very confused Robert Langdon. He has been shot in the head and now has amnesia. No idea what he has stumbled into and how he ended up in another country. As Robert stumbles onto clues it begins to pan out that he needs to stop a plague. This is a terrifying premise and perfect to read during this time frame. We have stories in the news about those trying to help

No Way Out It would have been very easy for this book to fall back into a rut with marginally advancing the story. Our heroes are living in a gated community with the zombies safely kept out. Life is slowly returning to normal and finding new relationships. I just described the the first half of this book. I was really excited that the story was finally building up and getting exciting again, then I started this one and started to worry that I would fine the next few books dull and full of feelings.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the character development and getting to see these characters fleshed out with real emotions and problems. I just felt that Rick's monologues  were a little over the top and kind of long. I kept wondering where this plot is going. Everything seemed o perfect and very well explained. Kirkman could have made this about the struggles people living in a confined space would face as they slowly go crazy.  When I thought I was going to fall asle

The Flash Vol 4 The Flash has had some amazing story lines and even better characters who have wielded the Speed Force. Jay Garrick, Bart Allen, Wally West, and of course Barry Allen. When the New 52 started I had given up my comic book obsession because I have had to manage my money a bit more wisely. As anyone who reads my blog would know I am slowly catching up on all that I missed. The Flash is one of the series I haven't kept up on, partially because I like other super heroes more, but also because I had heard some less than favorable reviews of the series.  As you know I'm a blogger and I try my hardest to keep up on the people's blogs that I follow. Some of them review comics and I have seen some reviews that have just torn apart this series. When I saw this offered on NetGalley I jumped at the chance to request it, and was granted an ARC of this book. Thank you to DC Comics for giving me this chance. Starting at volume 4 did leave a few questions about wh

The Murder at the Vicarage I'm just going to say it. This book was just Meh. I'm a huge fan of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Those are really the only classics I enjoy. Because of my love of the classic detective story I have been interested in reading Agatha Christie. This was a Kindle sale and I got it for free. Looking for a quick read I decided to go for it. I wasn't impressed. This is labeled as Miss Marple #1 but other than a few scenes with her in it, the Vicar is really the main character of this story. Miss Marple's character isn't anything more than a nosy spinster. Maybe this is intentional but I was definitely more interested in our main character the Vicar. The book follows your classic detective story formula which made it a little predictable. There are quite a few attempts to miss lead but I wasn't swayed.  There are some really horrible characters in this book that irritated me. Of course the main headache is the victim in th

Danse Macabre I really had no idea what to think of this book at first. I want to read every book from Stephen king so this was on my list. The reason I read this recently is for the simple reason that out of all the books I wanted to read this was the only one available at the library when I needed a book. I have always wondered what movies King thinks are worth watching in the horror genre and what his favorite novels are so I was anxious to see what he had to say. At the same time I wasn't sure how I would feel about a lecture on the subject. Would it take all the fun out of horror siting there reading about it broken down to its simplest forms? I liked this book, King is one of those celebrities that I wish I could have dinner with. Just to talk about life, writing, and the subject of horror. Of course there would be no place for baseball in our dinner conversation. I'm a Cardinals fan and he is a Red Sox fan. We don't get along and the rivalry is almost as b

Dandelion Wine One of my favorite books is Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked this Way Comes. Every Halloween I read or listen to that book. It is a fun story that helps remind me of being a kid with an endless imagination. This book is just like that. As much as I like Ray Bradbury's books I had never heard about this one until my wife's book club chose it for this months meeting. I decided to read this with her and that way we could compare notes.  This book is told from the perspective of a twelve year old boy. This boy is the self proclaimed master of summer. He wakes up the town and ushers in Summer early in the morning on the first day of Summer break. This particular summer he swears it will be the best summer ever. On the first night of summer a stranger finds his way into town and seems to know an eerie amount about everyone in town.  The writing in this book is very lyrical like it could be sung instead of read. It at times reads like poetry. I will ad

Today is my birthday. I have been blogging for over a year now and didn't bother with a Birthday post last year. Why write one now you might ask? The reason is because a lot has happened over this past year and I have changed. I figured I would share more about myself and let you get to know the man behind the posts.  To start with I'm not afraid or ashamed of my age. Today I turn 31. There were times last year where I felt that I should have accomplished more in my life and then I realized that I have just begun to realize my dreams and goals. I want to be a writer, I want to write the next bestseller and I worried I was getting to old to do it. So Stephen King started writing at 19, he is 66 now and still cranking out some of the best books I have read so I hold hope that I will be able to at least get a book published in the future. Now to get off my butt and start writing. I'm still a young guy even though I find more and more grey showing up at my temples ever

Too Far Gone When last we left our band of zombie slayers they had just stumbled upon a community or people living behind walls to keep the undead out. We've been through this before. For those who have read the series all I have to say is "Woodbury". As much as everyone wants this new community to be the real thing, all of them are skeptical and plotting to get their weapons back just in case. Rick has begun to settle into his old job as Sheriff in the new community but still fears that something is coming and that this place really is too good to be true.  This book took an interesting turn. As a reader I really want these characters to find someplace safe were they can settle down and work towards getting their lives back. However, that would mean the series is over and I'm definitely not ready for that. They have been through so much in their little fictional world that even I think this is too good to be true. Rick may be settling into his role but wit

Lure of the Dead The last book allowed us to follow the Witch assassin Grimalkin as she tried to keep the head of the Fiend from falling into the hands of his followers. We also got to learn more about her past and why she has decided to join Tom as he tries to defeat the Fiend for good. This book brings us back to Tom and the Spook. Finally the war is over and they can begin rebuilding the house that will one day be Tom's when he takes over as the county Spook.  Tom is running out of time to figure out how to defeat the Fiend for good so he has to work fast and take all the help he can. He will get some of that help in the most unlikely way. I got chills and that's all I am going to say. We get to see a stronger side of Tom in this book. Finally he is getting it into his head that he can be the spook , and that he will do it well. He is going to need that confidence because he has the most powerful vampire god he has ever faced coming after him in this book. Tom has

The Copper Bracelet This is amazing for the simple reason that this was written by 16 different authors. This is the sequel to The Chopin Manuscript bringing Harold Middleton back for another adventure. The Chopin Manuscript was originally a serial audio book. Every week there was a new chapter written by a different author. My favorite author, Jeffery Deaver, Wrote the first chapter in that one and this book setting the story. After he set every thing up each author wrote the next chapter and steered the story in the direction they wanted. At the very end Jeffery Deaver wrote the last chapter to finish off the book. This book has a much more intense plot line that takes the story all around the world. In this book there isn't just adventure and action but a massive threat of nuclear war. Some of my favorite characters are back in this book but we also get to meet a few more. The way that each author is able to seamlessly mesh these chapters together and make it seem like

Traps and Trapezes You wouldn't know that Nightwing is my second favorite hero right behind Batman, but how long it took me to get around to this book. I loved Dick Grayson stepping into the Role of Batman when Bruce disappeared. That had some of the best story lines I have read in the Batman comics, but I knew it would be temporary. Bruce Wayne is the only Batman and I was anxious to see Dick Grayson back in the Black and Blue Nightwing suit. I was a little surprised to see the red instead but it makes sense. When he first hung up the Robin suit and became his own man the costume fit the times. The first suit was a blue and yellow with feathered wings across the chest. Then DC Comics redid Nightwing's series. #1 spun out of the Batman Legacy story line. This saw the edgier modern black and blue Nightwing suit. So why wouldn't DC Comics bring Nightwing back with a new look.  I was so excited to finally get around to reading this. I kind of held off to save th