Duma Key by Stephen King. This novel was extremely gripping and difficult to put down. The plot is a little slow for the first half of the book, but there's still a lot of great character development and then things really pick up in the back half. Overall a really solid work of King's.

Have you tried the "Terminal List" series by Jack Carr? There was a series, I think on Prime, that starred Chris Pratt based on the first book of the series. I mentioned it earlier in this thread, or last year's thread. If you tolerate Jack Ryan from Clancy, the protagonist is a SEA on a private mission that is Ryan on steroids. I enjoyed the books, and there is a pretty good diversity in locations and "missions" to keep the stories interesting.

He's also written a non-fiction book about the bombing of the marine barracks in Beirut in 1983.

Official Jack Carr site

After finishing the Wayward Pines series, which I loved, I started and stopped a few different books. Nothing was catching my attention. Found Dark Places by Gillian Flynn on our bookshelf and figured I'd give it a shot.

Thought it was really good, though a bit wordy and overly descriptive at times. Wasn't a huge fan of the final twist I don't like twists that involve characters that seemingly come out of nowhere. A good twist should involve the main characters, imo.

Either way, I found myself thinking about the book during the day and wanting to get back to it, so it was obviously gripping. Would recommend.

Books read in 2025:

January
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut (re-read)
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle (re-read)
The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides
Project Hail Mary - Andy Wier
Pines - Blake Crouch
Wayward - Blake Crouch

February
The Last Town - Blake Crouch

March
Dark Places - Gillian Flynn

On deck:
BIL is read the Red Rising series and is highly recommending it - anyone have thoughts on these books?

Read the first Red Rising but I don't know if I could tell you the name of the main character. Plot was interesting but it didn't hook me and I didn't feel compelled to continue the series.

On 2/14 HawthorneAggie posted that he finished the first two books and enjoyed them, but wasn't sure if he would read on. Spreadsheetag encourages him to continue as he's read the series 2 or 3 times, After Hawthorne reads the third book, further discussions take place. If you want some feedback,it may be worth your time to find those posts.
For myself, I have read all of the books published so far and mostly enjoyed them, but there are some times you may get extremely frustrated. I will read the last one when it is published,just to have a proper ending.

Starter Villain done. Fun quick read. Great filler book. Was going to start Murderbot Diaries next (good?) bit Kindle kept giving me an error message. So instead opted to get back to Dresden Files, Summer Knight (Book 4).

Red rising series is awesome! But I will say the first time I started it, like the poster after you, it did not grab me and I stopped. Went back later and tried again. It hooked me soundly and I poured through the first three.

Then the same thing happened the first time I started number 4. Went back later, think I did a reread of the first three because it had been a while, and that time I rolled right through 4 through 6.

I think it is one of the more unique orinogalmseries I have read in a long time. Except for the book one academy theme. Yes that has been done lots of times, but from there it becomes pretty original and engaging.


Definitely one of my all time favorite series.

I just started Summer Knight too. So far it's been a good read (listen). Also listening to the science behind Interstellar with my family.

The other day we saw something somewhere that brought up Where The Red Fern Grows.

Decided I hadn't read that since 6th grade or whenever. Checked on my kindle and it seemed to be free.

Finished it this morning. Didn't remember most of the specifics. Definitely a kids book, but holds up for the most part. And GD! That stupid dust storm leftover made it really hard to read with the allergies causing watering eyes and labored breathing!

Remarkably Bright Creatures -- Shelby Van Pelt
Nice read.

Will is a highly trained CIA assassin and Baldacci writes a good action thriller. Recently finished The Target and I am currently reading The Guilty. Both of these seem to be the best in the series.

Thanks!

13B said:

---

Remarkably Bright Creatures -- Shelby Van Pelt
Nice read.

---

Enjoyed this.

SpreadsheetAg said:

---

Just started Dungeon Crawler Carl… on Chapter 9; very entertaining so far

---

And it gets loads better. Enjoy!

StinkyPinky said:

---

SpreadsheetAg said:

---

Just started Dungeon Crawler Carl… on Chapter 9; very entertaining so far

---

And it gets loads better. Enjoy!

---

Narrators voice on the audiobook reminds me of Patrick Warburton, so that's who I see when I'm imagining the scenarios...

SpreadsheetAg said:

---

Just started Dungeon Crawler Carl… on Chapter 9; very entertaining so far

---

Just finished it. I'm lost and don't know what to do now...

You start it again and pick up on the foreshadowing you missed the first time.

I finished "Pale Blue Dot" by Carl Sagan.

I'll quickly summaraize this book about the universe:
1. First part of the book argues that there is no God and religion is proven false based on how extremely small the earth is in the universe.
2. A few chapters describing all the dust, metal, gasses, and current, past and future environmental conditions of the planets of our solar system.
3. Humans are going to cause their own extinction because we have technology without wisdom.
4. The ozone is depleting. Climate change is coming. We're all doomed.
5. For humans to survive, we have to colonize other planets and asteroids.
6. We should be able to conquer space travel by the 22nd century.
7. There's a small chance the human species destroys itself as soon as 2006, but certainly not long after that. (Book was written in 1994).
8. If we do make it to space before we go extinct, we'll mess space up as much as we have the earth unless we become a much better race of people.

There are several references to things expected to happen "in the next few decades", which is interesting considering the book was written 3 decades ago. Geopolitically and based on world events, it sounds like it could have been written today. Apparently we don't get along with others in 2025 any better than we did in 1994.

Philo B 93 said:

---

I finished "Pale Blue Dot" by Carl Sagan.

I'll quickly summaraize this book about the universe:
1. First part of the book argues that there is no God and religion is proven false based on how extremely small the earth is in the universe.
2. A few chapters describing all the dust, metal, gasses, and current, past and future environmental conditions of the planets of our solar system.
3. Humans are going to cause their own extinction because we have technology without wisdom.
4. The ozone is depleting. Climate change is coming. We're all doomed.
5. For humans to survive, we have to colonize other planets and asteroids.
6. We should be able to conquer space travel by the 22nd century.
7. There's a small chance the human species destroys itself as soon as 2006, but certainly not long after that. (Book was written in 1994).
8. If we do make it to space before we go extinct, we'll mess space up as much as we have the earth unless we become a much better race of people.

There are several references to things expected to happen "in the next few decades", which is interesting considering the book was written 3 decades ago. Geopolitically and based on world events, it sounds like it could have been written today. Apparently we don't get along with others in 2025 any better than we did in 1994.

---

In 1992, they were convinced HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons) were going to destroy the ozone layer. HFCs are used in a lot of things, like refrigeration, but also in hair spray. They were convinced the era of 'big hair' of the '80s and '90s was going to destroy the world.

I believe they switched from aerosol to pump hairspray, and the ozone 'healed', but someone can back me up on that.

Lots of "believe the science" political bullcrap in that.

FIRST IS WAS RUSSIAN NUKES!

THEN THE ACID RAIN WAS GOING TO KILL US ALL!

THEN IT WAS APPLES AND EGGS! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

THEN IT WAS THE RAIN FORESTS OMG!

THEN IT WAS GLOBAL WARMING!

THEN IT WAS ......

RED AG 98 said:

---

FIRST IS WAS RUSSIAN NUKES!

THEN THE ACID RAIN WAS GOING TO KILL US ALL!

THEN IT WAS APPLES AND EGGS! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

THEN IT WAS THE RAIN FORESTS OMG!

THEN IT WAS GLOBAL WARMING!

THEN IT WAS ......

---

Don't forget the killer bees!!

Backyard Gator said:

---

RED AG 98 said:

---

FIRST IS WAS RUSSIAN NUKES!

THEN THE ACID RAIN WAS GOING TO KILL US ALL!

THEN IT WAS APPLES AND EGGS! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

THEN IT WAS THE RAIN FORESTS OMG!

THEN IT WAS GLOBAL WARMING!

THEN IT WAS ......

---

Don't forget the killer bees!!

---

OMG AFRICANIZED KILLER BEES HOW COULD I FORGET? We had to install those blue boxes all over South Texas

RED AG 98 said:

---

Backyard Gator said:

---

RED AG 98 said:

---

FIRST IS WAS RUSSIAN NUKES!

THEN THE ACID RAIN WAS GOING TO KILL US ALL!

THEN IT WAS APPLES AND EGGS! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

THEN IT WAS THE RAIN FORESTS OMG!

THEN IT WAS GLOBAL WARMING!

THEN IT WAS ......

---

Don't forget the killer bees!!

---

OMG AFRICANIZED KILLER BEES HOW COULD I FORGET? We had to install those blue boxes all over South Texas

---

The OZONE HOLE was all the rage if I recall as well.

crazy to me that Flynn wrote 3 novels in six years (the third making her famous) and hasn't written another novel in the past 12 years.

The Marksman said:

---

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance. I don't usually read a lot of non-fiction, but I've been meaning to re-read this ever since the election. I first read this when it came out back in 2016 after Trump's first victory, but I had not read it since. It is truly remarkable to read about where Vance came from and how he made it out, especially in the wake of him becoming our Vice President. I'm personally a big fan of Vance's, and I think this memoir really gives us some insight in where he's coming from, both figuratively and literally.

---

I really enjoyed learning about our VP and what makes him the leader he is today. A few of those Mamaw quotes had me laughing good.

I assume she's probably good with her $12 million and is living the good life

I started "The Elfstones of Shannara" by Terry Brooks. Seems fun so far.

With the new Netflix series out I just finished Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden

Would highly recommend.

schwabbin said:

---

The Marksman said:

---

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance. I don't usually read a lot of non-fiction, but I've been meaning to re-read this ever since the election. I first read this when it came out back in 2016 after Trump's first victory, but I had not read it since. It is truly remarkable to read about where Vance came from and how he made it out, especially in the wake of him becoming our Vice President. I'm personally a big fan of Vance's, and I think this memoir really gives us some insight in where he's coming from, both figuratively and literally.

---

I really enjoyed learning about our VP and what makes him the leader he is today. A few of those Mamaw quotes had me laughing good.

---

I listened to it on audio. I enjoyed the book. It was somewhat intriguing to hear the VP speak and say some of things he said in the book and some of the language he used. I'm not being prudish, just you don't hardly ever hear someone in that high of a position speak like the rest of us.

Philo B 93 said:

---

I started "The Elfstones of Shannara" by Terry Brooks. Seems fun so far.

---

"The Sword of Shannara" was the first "real" book I read as a kid. Don't remember why I picked it up, but I was hooked. I read the next two or three as well, but I remember they ran out of steam so I never finished the series.

Philo B 93 said:

---

I started "The Elfstones of Shannara" by Terry Brooks. Seems fun so far.

---

Remember reading those after the original series. Remember liking them. Was a long time ago.

Makes me wonder if it would be worth picking up some of the other Shanara stuff. Don't honk I read anything after the elfstones series.

Philo B 93 said:

---

I started "The Elfstones of Shannara" by Terry Brooks. Seems fun so far.

---

wow! That's a blast from the past. Totally forgot about those books. Read them in the 80s and loved them.