Seconds Away by Harlan Coben ( and BBAW Giveaway!)

 

Mickey Bolitar is not sure how trouble finds him… but it most certainly does.  Now, a school friend of his has been shot and the police are not too appreciative of Mickey’s interest in the case.  After all, Mickey is just a teenager with not much else to do but go to school and hang out with his friends, Ema (pronounced E (long E) ma) and Spoon. 

As Mickey gets closer and closer to the truth, the truth is making its way closer and closer to him…

and it wants to shut him up.

Harlan Coben and I New York 2011

Why did I want to listen to this audio?  I always tell people when I was in High School and a few years beyond my “go to” author was Stephen King.  In my twenties I started to find King to be a bit too high on the creep factor so I made my way to Dean Koontz who I found to be a little lighter than King and a bit more sense of humor (plus I love the end of Koontz books where he explains more about the book and the idea behind it).  Then Koontz came out with a few that were more like King and I discovered Harlan Coben.  Coben is lighter than Koontz, has a quick wit that I love and I have not found a book of his yet that I have not enjoyed.  I am also finding it brilliant how he slid into YA reads by creating a nephew for his star series character, Myron Bolitar.

 

First of, I did not realize this was a second in a series and knowing that now, it explains a bit of what I found missing : 1.  how did Mickey come to be living with his uncle?  2.  What happened to Mickey’s dad?

That said, other than those two things I picked up on in the beginning the story flowed wonderfully.  Mickey is a great character that I think will be a great lead in to young adults who enjoy mysteries, as well as connecting to his older character Myron who can keep these same readers moving right from Mickey to Myron (nicely played Harlan Coben, Nicely played!)  And I enjoyed this book too so I will definitely continue on as well as get my hands on that first book, Shelter to catch up completely.

The narrator of this audio was Nick Podehl and I am nowhere near a narrator snob (YET) but as I was listening to this one I swore I knew that voice.  Once home I checked it out and sure enough, Nick has narrated some of John Green’s books and I see he also narrates the Chaos Walking series of Patrick Ness which makes me want to pick up that first book again but this time in audio because I hear they are WONDERFUL.
This book will be released September 18th, normally I do not review before a book is released but I did not notice I was ahead of the game until I was writing this post – so note that it will be available soon! 

I have a new copy of this audio in my home that I would like to put up for giveaway in honor of BBAW this week.  Please leave a comment here letting me know if you have read Harlan Coben before and if so which book(s).  This winner will be announced Saturday morning. 

BBAW: Pimp That Book

Good morning.  Yesterday totally got away from me… I started writing a poem for yesterdays BBAW post and then I had to go to work… it was a big day – annual meeting day and I am in charge of special events so between working, texting my son in Florida who has gull bladder surgery yesterday, and then finally coming home last night at 9 pm from work… I was exhausted and was hardly on-line at all.. let alone write a post.

However – here we are on Thursday the sun is shining and due to my busy work hours this past week, I have a bonus day off – today!  SO… you are getting me chatting for BBAW and let me warn you… I know how to pimp a book. 

I have two books that came to mind right away… both are YA, and there was a time (and there still might be) where I was going to write a post called “I am Patrick Ness’ Baby Mama.”  Ok, ok… totally not true and probably border line inappropriate, but you have to admit… that post title would catch your attention.    My point is – have you read his Chaos Walking Series?  If not… you must!  They are The Knife Of Never Letting Go, The Ask and The Answer, and Monsters Of Men and yes all three are available and yes, you do want them all at once because when one ends you will be all like “HOLY COW!!!!!  WHA???????” and you will want to jump into the next book right away.

(Oh and look how nice of me to link those titles to my reviews….. ahhhh. Sheila.  So thoughtful.  LOL )

When I first was drawn to the books Monsters Of Men had just hit the shelves.  People told me I needed to have all three at once so I ordered all three at once. 

Then… I worried about that.

I thought that was a bit extreme, what if I am into book one and I am thinking “ugh” and not I have a beautiful “ugh” set?  Well, no worries there, awesome awesome awesome series that I have pimped out to all my friends – told them not to get scared about the talking dog in the early pages…. its different, but you will find out it works.

Ok…I, am not finished.

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green led to perhaps my only 2012 (so far) book melt down where I loved that book so much I have been pushing John Green like crack – and I guess, devouring his books in much the same manner.  (No, no-no, I am not a crack user, I just play one on this blog.  )

So there is my input on today’s topic. 

 

 

In other news, I wrote a post on Community on the BBAW site.  It sums up my past three years on book blogging and how it is the community of awesome book bloggers that keeps me going.

Be sure to check out my BBAW giveaways if you have not already.  I have this one going, and a giveaway for Gods Of Gotham as well as another one coming up in my review later today.

I have a nice fairly lazy day planned of reading blogs, writing a review and reading. I have a birthday dinner tonight and will be making cupcakes later but for the next few hours… I think I will be right here in this chair.