Read it or Unhaul it - pt 1

 I was watching booktubers (Youtubers who talk about books) on Youtube and came upon a reading challenge entitled "Read it or unhaul it" on several booktuber channels. I have a long list of unread books on my shelves that need to stay and be loved or leave because they take up too much space. Let's just jump into it with both feet. 

 I picked three books at random to read. The rules go as follows:

1. I pick the book based on how they are numbered in my Excel sheet using a random number generator.

2. I read the three books and review them in this blog.

3. I decide to keep or unhaul them based on those reviews. 

Ready? Let's go! 

Book 1 - The Murder House by James Patterson / David Ellis 

   

 I started this book and loved the first two chapters, then they abruptly changed over to a character that lacked personality. I didn't care about the character, so after nine chapters I was not enjoying myself. I DNFed (did not finish) it. It hit my unhaul pile quickly. I looked at reviews and found that maybe other people like this book, but I don't. Jenna Murphy seemed to lack the personality that would have made the difference between me finishing it and me DNFing it. 

Book 2 - The Gangster By Clive Cussler/Justin Scott   

I loved this one, and it is staying in the collection. In fact, I may seek out more Isaac Bell adventures in the future as a direct result. Because I read this book, I want more of Isaac Bell. I love that character and no character in the entire book disappointed me in any way. They had depth. The plot had me going from start to finish. I didn't take all that long to read it. 

The plot is basically this; Isaac Bell gets two cases and solves them both. It is set in the early 1900s. The cases connect back to one person who is talked about in the prologue, which details young Isaac Bell being a troublesome college prankster. It connects him back to the VanDorn detective agency where all this takes place. He thwarts the assassination of President Roosevelt (Teddy Roosevelt) and takes out black hand extortionists taking advantage of Italian people. That's about it, with some added fight scenes and compelling character relationships. I especially liked that Bell's fiance was a woman of high intelligence. You can read it without the rest of the series or with it - either way, it rocks! 

Book 3 - Mirage By Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul     

Well, this one wasn't awful. It was basically a group of highly talented veterans pulling off stunts similar to NUMA files. It was more military than NUMA files and I didn't entirely connect with Juan Cabrillo "the chairman" as much as I did Kurt Austin and Isaac Bell. I'm unhauling it. I didn't hate it, but I'm unhauling it. If you are more into military operations you might like it more than I did. I know it had good reviews online. The writing was good; I just didn't fully connect with the main character. It was also a little heavy on pop culture references. I skimmed two chapters in order to finish it off. I don't agree with the five-star ratings I saw, but I'll give it a 3.5 stars for good writing. I liked some of it. 

Conclusions - 

With this batch of Read-or-unhaul books done, let's discuss. I chose not to finish Murder House because the co-author's chapters bored me for seven of the nine chapters I read. That was a clear unhaul. The other unhaul was Mirage, which wasn't awful and wasn't my favorite. I liked some of it, but not all of it. It is still getting donated to another home. The one book I loved and would give five stars to is the Isaac Bell adventure The Gangster. It had my attention hook, line, and sinker. I have unhauled two books this round and kept one. 

I will keep doing this, by the way, so be on the lookout for other blogs on this particular theme. I am trying to clean out my bookshelves via read-or-unhaul challenge. I have too many books I haven't read. I'm a book dragon. 

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I wrote a book! I am delighted to say that I have four five-star reviews up on Amazon now, which is amazing. I hope you like it, too. If you're interested in buying a paperback or ebook version go to my website link in this blog or click here to go straight to my Amazon page. 

Jack Thomas is running from a past case. He's hiding in Wrenville. Is his past case catching up with him? 

Find out in my first book, Wrenville, a stand-alone suspense novel.