Book: The Man Made of Smoke

 Book: The Man Made of Smoke

Author: Alex North

Pages: 307

This is my 138th read for the year

What Amazon says:

Dan Garvie's life has been haunted by the crime he witnessed as a child - narrowly escaping an encounter with a notorious serial killer.  He has dedicated his life since to becoming a criminal profiler, eager to seek justice for innocent victims.  So when his father passes away under suspicious circumstances, Dan revisits his small island community, determined to uncover the truth about his death.  Is it possible that the monster he remembers from his childhood nightmareshas returned after all these years?  

That book was okay.  I like Alex North's books, and was excited for this one, but I had trouble getting into it.  Might have been a timing issue.  I found it a slow burn, which was probably on purpose, but way too descriptive with the mundane - just to fill pages.  The ending did not land for me like I was hoping.  The pace and the twists did not work for me.  I did enjoy large parts of the book - trying to figure out where it was going, but overall, it just was a bit slow.

Stars: 3.5

Book: Dr. Sleep

 Book: Dr. Sleep

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 531

This is my 137th read for the year

What Amazon says:

Years ago, the haunting of the Overlook Hotel nearly broke young Dan Torrance's sanity, as his paranormal gift known as "the shining" opened a door straight into hell.  And even though Dan is all grown up, the ghosts of the Overlook - and his father's legacy of alcoholism and violence - kept him drifting aimlessly for most of his life.  Now, Dan has finally found some order in the chaos by working in a local hospice, earning the nickname "Doctor Sleep" by secretly using his special abilities to comfort the dying and prepare them for the afterlife.  But when he unexpectedly meets 12 year old Abra Stone - who possesses an even more powerful manifestation of the shining - the two find their lives in sudden jeopardy at the hands of the ageless and murderous nomadic tribe known as the True Knot, reigniting Dan's own demons and summoning him to battle for his youn girl's sound and survival....

This was a great book.  I have actually seen the movie and really liked it, and the movie follows the book pretty closely.  It is well written and I like the character development.  A little rambly in true King fashion, but not terribly so.  It is a sequel to the Shining so we get to relive some parts of Dan's young life in this story and how he became the man he is.  It is an interesting twist on the vampire idea.  Wraps up nicely.

Stars: 5