Back to the first.

Another book I recently knocked out was Lee Child's first Jack Reacher novel, Killing Floor.

Floor was pretty good, but you can tell that Child has come a long way in both his writing and the Reacher character.

One good thing about Floor is it goes into what happened to Reacher's brother--something I didn't really know as I have read the books out of order. But, say this for Child, my not reading the books in order did not affect my enjoyment of each one.

While there are a few plot holes, it's still a quick and enjoyable read.

Endless depravity

I've read a couple books since the last post, one of which being Richard Laymon's Endless Night.

Laymon has a knack of being pretty brutal in his novels, but this one seems to be a little more brutal than usual (not that that is a necessarily bad thing).

Jody is sleeping over a friend's house, when a group of lunatics break in and slaughter everyone in the house--except for Jody and her friend's younger brother, as they manage to escape.

But, as it goes, just because they escaped doesn't mean they are safe. No one is ever really safe in a Laymon novel. Simon, one of the killers, is under orders to find the two and bring them to the leader of the little Manson gang.

The interesting thing about Night is it's told in both third person (Jody's story) and first person (Simon's tale). And Laymon segues between the two voices with ease.

If you've never read Laymon, this is not a good place to start, as he takes a little getting used to. Start with The Traveling Vampire Show and come back to me.

Pendergast keeps entertaining.

The Cabinet of Curiosities, my third venture into the world Preston and Child, left me wanting for more of Agent Pendergrast--the mysterious FBI agent who seems to get the coolest cases.

As I was warned by my buddy, Ace, there were definitely things that happened in some previous books that I missed out on. But it didn't seem to affect the book in any way. I'm thinking it's one of those things where you don't need to read the previous books, it just adds to your enjoyment more.

In Cabinet, Pendergast investigates what seems to be a century year old string of murders. But things take a turn when a copy cat killer shows up for the party.

I'm going to take a quick break from Preston and Child, but I have no doubt I will be paying them another visit in the near future.