The Omega Factor

I finished listening to The Omega Factor by Steve Berry. This book is a standalone book and not part of the Cotton Malone book series. I still wanted to read/listen to it anyway.

Big Warning: there is talk about child sex abuse by priests and some violence.

In this book, a man named Nick Lee wanted to see his ex girlfriend Kelsey who became a nun after they broke up. She had called him to talk about a major project she was working on. She is an art restorer. She was asked to clean the Ghent altarpiece Just Judges.  When she was cleaning it, she discovered the original painting was underneath. When Nick arrived, there was a fire happening. Someone set the painting on fire. Nick went into the building to search for Kelsey. She told him to get her laptop back. He went after the person who stole the laptop. That person was nun. The nun throw the laptop in the water below and Nick followed it to a convent. He did get the laptop back. On the laptop was copies of the painting. Kelsey and Nick begin their own investigations on who stole the laptop and why the painting was set on fire. The convent set the painting on fire to protect a secret that had sought to protect for many years. Nick and Kelsey find out that secret and they promise to keep it a secret. Kelsey joins the convent.

I loved this book. I’m reading next King of Fools by Amanda Foody. It is the sequel to the book Ace of Spaces which I read  a long time ago.

Gone for Good

I finished read Gone for Good by Harlan Coben. There is a tv show on Netflix that is loosely based on the book. Harlan Coben has written many books.

Big Warning: there is some violence and a twist at the end.

In this book, a guy named Will is in love with a woman named Shelia Rogers. She ends up becoming a missing person and the police think Will had killed her. Then Shelia’s fingerprints are found at murder scene. The police think Will is hiding Shelia. Also Will’s brother had went missing eleven years earlier following a murder of girl that Will had loved. Will finds out the shocking truth that his brother is alive. Then Shelia turns up dead. But when Will goes to Shelia’s funeral, the body was not his Shelia. Apparently the woman he loved was alive and she used Shelia’s ID. That woman also knows Will’s brother. With the help of his co-worker and the sister of his ex, Will finally finds out what happen to his ex who was killed.

Note: there were some differences between the Netflix tv show and the book:

1. The tv show was based in another country.
2. The names were changed
3. Katy Miller kills herself in the show and I think she was like a medium. She kept seeing her dead sister.

I liked both the show and book. Now I’m going to listen to The Omega Factor by Steve Berry.

Burglar

I watched Burglar. It is very loosely based on the book The Burglar in the Closet by Lawrence Block (the book I just read). I didn’t know there was a movie based on it until I read a comment on goodreads about it. This movie has Whoopi Goldberg, Bobcat Goldthwait, G.W. Bailey, Lesley Ann Warren, James Handy, Elizabeth Ruscio, Vyto Ruginis, and Larry Mintz in it.

Note: Like I said this is very loosely based. The whole book was flipped. Bernie is a man in the books, this movie he is a woman (Whoopi). In the books, Bernie doesn’t have a best friend like this movie. In the book, the dentist was a man. In this movie, the dentist was a woman. The victim in the book was a woman. In this movie, the victim was a man. Frankie dies in the book. Plus the script was a little bit bad.

Big Warning: there is a little bit of violence.

In this movie, Bernice is looking for a good job because Ray is bugging her about money. Her jewelry fence suggests a job involving a dentist. So she goes the dentist who says her ex husband stole her jewelry. Bernice ends up taking the job. She gets trapped in the closet and then the man gets killed. Her best friend helps her find out who killed the man. They both find out who did it.

I sorta liked this movie. Next week I’m watching The Student.

The Burglar in the Closet

I finished reading The Burglar in the Closet by Lawrence Block. It is the second book in the Bernie Rhodenbarr book series. Lawrence has written many books.

Side Note: When I started reading this book, it reminded me of the song Trapped in the Closet by R. Kelly. I have been listening to the song lately.

Big Warning: there is some violence.

In this book, Bernie goes to his dentist and his dentist complains about his ex-wife who was also his hygienist before they married. His dentist says he knows Bernie is a burglar and asks him to steal her jewels. He agrees to do it and he goes to steal them. But the dentist’s ex-wife comes home with another man. Bernie hides in the closet while things happen (sex). But he left the case of jewels outside of the closet. The other man leaves and the woman decides to take a shower. After getting her robe, she locks the closet!! Bernie is still in the closet!!  He gets the key and is about to unlock the closet when someone rings the doorbell. The woman goes to the door and she is attacked!! After the killer leaves, Bernie sneaks out of the closet to find her dead and his case of jewels gone!!  The police think the dentist did it because the murder weapon was a dental tool.  The dentist gives the police Bernie’s name. Bernie and the dentist’s new hygienist  try to find out who killed the dentist’s ex-wife. In the end, they do catch the killer.

I loved this book. Now I’m reading Gone for Good by Harlan Coben.

Tell No One

I finished listening to Tell No One by Harlan Coben. This is his third book. He has written many books. There is a French movie that is based on this book. Yes, I watched it.

Big Warning:  there is some violence.

In this book, a man named David Beck visited a lake with his wife and then suddenly his wife disappears when he was in the water. He gets knocked out, but someone pulls him out of the water. His wife’s “body” was found with a branded K which was the work of a serial killer, but the serial killer wasn’t charged. Eight years later two bodies was found at the lake. Those men were the ones who took David’s wife. Someone had shot them. Then David gets a crazy email that has codes of what his wife knows. The email points to a link that shows that his wife is alive!! The email says for him to not tell anyone.  Then a close friend of David’s wife gets killed. The police think David killed her and his wife. David didn’t and he shows proof that he didn’t kill the close friend. This is all connected to a case that happened before David’s wife went missing. A guy was murdered and David’s wife is involved. She ends up faking her death with her father’s help. She decides to come back (from the dead lol) when the bodies were unburied. The person behind everything gets arrested.

There were some differences between the movie and book. All the names were changed in the movie. One of the people who was hunting down Beck was Asian, but in the movie he was changed into a female. The killer is different in the movie.

I liked the book and movie. I liked the book better than the movie. Now I’m reading The Burglar in the Closet by Lawrence Block.

Miracle Cure

I finished reading Miracle Cure by Harlan Coben.  This is the second book he had written. He has written many books, some of which were made into movies and shows. This one hasn’t been made into a movie or show.

Big Warning: there is some violence and a huge twist.

In this book, a doctor named Bruce Gray founded an AIDS clinic with another doctor named Harvey Riker. They were ex-brothers-in-law and lovers. They had a medicine that supposedly treated and “cured” AIDS patients. Then suddenly a serial killer was killing off the “cured” patients.  It turns out the serial killer was a hitman. He ends up killing Bruce Gray and made it look like a suicide. (I thought Bruce’s ex was the one who hired the hitman to make the clinic look bad. But I was way off.) Then a basketball star has extreme stomach pains and is diagnosed with hepatitis B and AIDS.  Dr. Riker is friends with the basketball star and his wife.  The basketball star’s wife discovers she is pregnant also. Dr. Riker “treats” the basketball star. Then the basketball star is kidnapped by the hitman. He is rescued by a policeman and that policeman discovers who is really behind all the killings.

I sorta liked this book. Now I’m going to listen to Tell No One by Harlan Coben.

Burglars Can’t Be Choosers

I finished reading Burglars Can’t Be Choosers. By Lawrence Block. He has written many books. This book is the first book of his Bernie Rhodenbarr book series. I had read the one about Bogart and I loved it and I had been wanting to read the rest of the series.

Big Warning: there is a little bit of violence

In this book, Bernie is a professional burglar. He sometimes get hired to steal stuff for people. He gets asked by a familiar stranger to steal a blue lather box from a roll up desk.  It sounds like a easy job, but the police show up and then they find the man who owned the apartment dead. Bernie is innocent because he never moved from the desk. The blue leather box wasn’t in the desk either. Bernie runs and hides in another guy’s apartment. The apartment he stays at is owned a power player he knows. A women drops in to “water the plants.” She knows who Bernie is and what he does for a living. They decide to find out who framed Bernie and clear his name. Bernie also wants to find the blue box.  He does find the box and he also finds out who the killer is.

I loved this book. Now I’m reading Miracle Cure by Harlan Coben.

Lisey’s Story

I finished reading Lisery’s Story by Stephen King. Yes, there is a show based on the book too. My mother is a huge fan of Stephen King. I’m not really a big fan, but the show sounded interesting so I wanted to see the show, but I wanted to read the book first.

Big Warning: there is some violence and it is a really creepy book.

Note: At first, I felt like I was reading Stephen King’s diary and I felt guilty reading the book. In an interview, he says that he was close to dying when he wrote the book. Anyway, the show does have differences between the show and the book. One major one is close to the end, Lisey doesn’t use Darla in her plan to kill the crazy guy.

In this book, Lisey meets a writer named Scott Landon. They fall in love and eventually get married. Lisey doesn’t know anything about Scott’s past and he tells her during a snowstorm. He takes her to a secret place of his childhood that haunts him most of his life. Lisey even goes to the secret place on her own to bring Scott back home. Scott later dies of an illness (not mental thank goodness). Lisey has to deal with her sick sister and a crazy guy who wants to kill her. She saves her sick sister and feeds the crazy guy to a monster. Later she finds a story that Scott leaves for her and it is of how his died.

I loved this book and show. Now I’m reading Burglars can’t be Choosers by Lawrence Block.

Play Dead

I finished reading Play Dead by Harlan Coben. This is one of his standalone books and it is his first book published. Harlan Coben has written many books and some of his books are shows and movies on Netflix.

Big Warning: there is some violence and some shocking parts.

Note: I had two theories. I was half right about one theory, but I was completely wrong about the other theory. It will keep you guessing.

In this book, a woman named Laura secretly marries a man named David. David is a basketball player. They secretly go to Australia for a honeymoon. Laura’s mother disapproves of the marriage and that’s why they had to go in secret. They were having a good time until Laura is sent away to a business meeting. David then gets a call and goes to meet someone. He leaves a note for Laura and he disappears. The note said that he was going for a swim.  He was found to be dead and he drowned. It really didn’t make sense to Laura because he was known to be a great swimmer. So she digs deeper and she finds out some of David’s money is missing too. She finds out everything that happened in Australia has something to the past. She learns a terrible and shocking family secret that has led to three murders to happen. She stops the killer from killing a fourth victim. The killer ends up committing suicide.

I loved this book. I will read more of Harlan’s books. But now I’m going to read Lisey’s Story by Stephen King.

Mr. Harriagan’s Phone

I watched Mr. Harrigan’s Phone. It is on Netflix. It is based on a short story by Stephen King. No, I haven’t read the short story yet. In case you are wondering it’s in the book If It Bleeds. My mother is a big fan of Stephen King and she liked this movie and wanted me to see it. (She hasn’t read this story either.) The movie has Donald Sutherland (love him), Jaeden Martell, Joe Tippett, Frank Ridley, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and Cyrus Arnold in it.

Big Warning: there are some disturbing and creepy scenes. Big Warning 2: Have tissues ready.

In this movie, a boy named Craig and a rich man ask Craig’s father if Craig could be his companion and he will pay Craig. So Craig comes to Mr. Harrigan’s house and read to him. Mr. Harrigan gives him advice and lottery tickets as Christmas presents. Craig doesn’t stop going to his house even when he goes to high school. While he is in high school, he gets a cell phone. He ends up giving one to Mr. Harrigan. Mr. Harrigan gets addicted to using his new cell phone. Mr. Harrigan dies and that is when it gets creepy. Craig buries Mr. Harrigan with his cell phone. He gets texts from Mr. Harrigan and he asks Mr. Harrigan to kill some people. Mr. Harrigan tells him to stop and Craig throws the phone into the lake. (I would have kept the phone.)

I liked this movie. Next week I’m watching The Stepford Wives (1975).