WWW Wednesday: What Am I Reading? #AmReading

On By Teri PolenIn WWW Wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a meme from Sam at Taking On A World Of Words

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m currently reading Ink.  On my last WWW post, I was getting ready to start this, but decided to read a couple of friends’ books before diving into it.  Ink is bizarre, cringe-worthy, freaky – exactly what I’d hoped for with Maberry.

From New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry comes a standalone supernatural thriller Ink, about a memory thief who feeds on the most precious of dreams.

Tattoo-artist Patty Cakes has her dead daughter’s face tattooed on the back of her hand. Day by day it begins to fade, taking with it all of Patty’s memories of her daughter. All she’s left with is the certain knowledge she has forgotten her lost child. The awareness of that loss is tearing her apart.

Monk Addison is a private investigator whose skin is covered with the tattooed faces of murder victims. He is a predator who hunts for killers, and the ghosts of all of those dead people haunt his life. Some of those faces have begun to fade, too, destroying the very souls of the dead.

All through the town of Pine Deep people are having their most precious memories stolen. The monster seems to target the lonely, the disenfranchised, the people who need memories to anchor them to this world.

Something is out there. Something cruel and evil is feeding on the memories, erasing them from the hearts and minds of people like Patty and Monk and others.

Ink is the story of a few lonely, damaged people hunting for a memory thief. When all you have are memories, there is no greater horror than forgetting. 

I recently finished two books – the reviews will be posted here next week.

Grinders is vividly colorful and full of futuristic elements and technology.  Boyack’s creativity never disappoints.

Jimi Cabot made one mistake as a starving college student. When she went to work for the San Francisco Police Department, it nearly cost her the job. The union stepped in and they had to reinstate her. They did so by assigning her to the duty nobody wants, Grinder Squad.

Grinders are people who use back room surgeries to enhance their bodies with computer chips, and various kinds of hardware. Jimi is sure that if she can just bust one grind shop, it will be her ticket back.

Paired with veteran cop, she soon learns that Grinder Squad is a cash-cow for the department. They are nothing more than glorified patrol cops, and generally get the worst assignments.

Matchless is the most wanted grinder of all time. He disappeared years ago, leaving only the evidence of those he enhanced during his career. With these pieces, Jimi picks up the cold trail to try working her way back to more respectable duty.

Grinders is a cyberpunk story set in a world where global warming has eroded coastlines, and society has solved many of our current problems by replacing them with new ones. There are cyber shut-ins, cyber-currency skimming schemes, and more in this futuristic tale.

This book also takes the opportunity to poke a stick at current issues that seem to have lasted into the future. Entitled people, helicopter moms, overzealous homeowner associations, and lack of decent jobs are all present. Never preachy, these issues make up the day to day work of a patrol officer.

I’ve read several Mae Clair books now, but this short read is a departure from her supernatural suspense reads.  And boy, was it fun.

In search of something ugly…

All Brady Conrad wants to do is earn a few merit points with his artist girlfriend, so he volunteers to cover her gallery when she leaves town. What should be an easy day of sales goes belly up when he mistakenly sells a cherished painting.

With the clock ticking toward Vanessa’s return, Brady has less than a day to track McDoogal down. He coerces his friend Declan to tag along for moral support. How difficult can it be for an investigator and the director of a renowned institute to find a single painting in a town the size of a postage stamp?

Neither Brady nor Declan counted on a suspicious sheriff, rival baseball teams with a longstanding grudge, or a clueless kid trying to win his girlfriend with all the wrong gifts.

McDoogal is smack in the middle. But Brady’s biggest dilemma isn’t the disastrous hunt. It’s confessing to Vanessa her painting is the ugliest thing he’s ever seen. 

My next read is Magic Dark and Strange.  The MC has the ability to raise the dead, and I immediately clicked request on NetGalley.  This can’t surprise you.

The Bone Witch meets Sherlock Holmes in this thrilling historical fantasy about a girl with the ability to raise the dead who must delve into her city’s dangerous magical underworld to stop a series of murders.

Catherine Daly has an unusual talent. By day she works for a printer. But by night, she awakens the dead for a few precious moments with loved ones seeking a final goodbye. But this magic comes with a price: for every hour that a ghost is brought back, Catherine loses an hour from her own life.

When Catherine is given the unusual task of collecting a timepiece from an old grave, she is sure that the mysterious item must contain some kind of enchantment. So she enlists Guy Nolan, the watchmaker’s son, to help her dig it up. But instead of a timepiece, they find a surprise: the body of a teenage boy. And as they watch, he comes back to life—not as the pale imitation that Catherine can conjure, but as a living, breathing boy. A boy with no memory of his past.

This magic is more powerful than any Catherine has ever encountered, and revealing it brings dangerous enemies. Catherine and Guy must race to unravel the connection between the missing timepiece and the undead boy. For this mysterious magic could mean the difference between life and death—for all of them. 

63 thoughts on “WWW Wednesday: What Am I Reading? #AmReading”

  3. Teri, I’m so honored McDoogal made your reading list. I’m delighted you enjoyed it!

    I also loved Grinders. It’s my favorite Boyack novel to date.

    And I’m thoroughly intrigued by Magic Dark and Strange. It’s ticking all my read boxes, and that cover is outstanding. I’ll be looking forward to your review!

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  6. Haven’t read Ink, though it sounds intriguing, but I LOVED both In Search of McDoogal and Grinders. It was great fun seeing Mae step out of her usual genre and do such a fun story, and as I always say, Craig has an incredible imagination. Grinders blew me away! Your reviews are spot on, Teri! Bone Witch sounds pretty cool, too. Great post! 🙂

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    2. Thanks, Marcia! After reading this different path of Mae’s, I’m really excited to read her story in the new anthology that just released. Craig’s mind must be an exciting place to hang out – all sorts of things floating around, lol.

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  20. Ooo, Magic Dark and Strange looks excellent. I love the title. McDoogal was a fun one for me – it came right at a time I needed something light-hearted and certainly delivered. I’ve got a few Boyack books on my TBR but Grinders isn’t there yet. Must add it! And I’m sure I’ve said before, I love that cover art on Ink. So damn eye catching!

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    1. I’ve still got some other Boyack books on my Kindle, too. I’ll probably keep them on the backburner so I can read the new Lanternfish book next – miss those root monsters. You’re right about McDoogal – fun and light-hearted. Perfect to settle in with for an hour or so.

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