BEACH ROAD (James Patterson & Peter De Jonge) - August 18/16

This super fast-paced easy read basically felt like one of those '90s thrillers I love so much. It zips from chapter to chapter and the story and characters are compelling. I especially loved the somewhat implausible twist that the bad guy was one of the main characters! ***1/2 out of ****

FISHBOWL (Bradley Somer) - August 15/16

Okay this one really grew on me. I enjoyed the gimmick at first but I felt like Somer just spent too much time stuck in the minutia of the novel's events. (And I never really cottoned to the stuff with the goldfish.) But because I wanted to finish the thing, I read more than half of the book in an afternoon and it really gained in momentum as it went along. *** out of ****

THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN (Garth Stein) - August 6/16

I spent a lot of time actually disliking this book because Stein was just so manipulative in terms of his plot machinations. I like the idea of the story being entirely from the perspective of a dog, however, and I have to admit that I was basically sobbing when the dog finally died. (Stein ruins even this aspect of the novel by not ending the story right there and instead flashing forward a few years as the dog has been reincarnated as a little Italian boy. Oh brother.) **1/2 out of ****