RED WIDOW by Alma Katsu

I give it 3.5 stars out of 5. Hats off to author Katsu for giving us mostly unpredictable and — more importantly — plausible plot twists. Reminded me of Michael Crichton at his finest.

* * * SPOILERS * * *

Some minor quibbles:

• Theresa slapping Eric (seemed out of character for her because she was cool, calm, and collected).
• When Lyndsey was at Theresa's house for dinner, Lyndsey asked permission to look around while her host cooked dinner. I dunno, it seemed Theresa would have said no and she would have showed her guest around after dinner. Might have been more plausible if Lyndsey went to the bathroom and snooped around without Theresa's permission.
• Theresa constantly thinking that she's doing everything for her son. Duh.
• More showing rather than telling. For example, near end, Theresa goes over to Lyndsey's apartment with the same bottle of alcohol that Lyndsey already has and points it out with inner monologue. 

And the ending of Red Widow rang a little hollow, but I enjoyed the book overall and will read future novels by her.

Cure: "odds & bits" playlist

I'm still obsessing over The Cure and Robert Smith. Yesterday I created a playlist of their singles and soundtrack/compilation appearances from the nineties and early aughts. I like it!

No Artist Is an Island

Since I've been listening to my Robert Smith playlist, I've been thinking about him, like how his image was influenced by Siouxsie Sioux, but another influence that seems to go unnoticed by fans is The Associates' Billy Mackenzie, who Smith immortalized in The Cure's "Cut Here". After seeing Smith's top 30 songs from the '80s, I pulled up The Associates' "Tell Me Easter’s on Friday" on YouTube, and you can hear how Mackenzie's singing style influenced Smith. Kinda funny when people say someone is an original. Most artists don't develop in a vacuum.

MY FRIEND NATALIA by Laura Lindstedt

I usually try to read 50 pages before giving up on a book, but I only made it to around page 41 on this one. Not an enjoyable read. I think the whole novel is going to be a therapy session. Boring! Plus I read her Wikipedia page that her second novel (not My Friend Natalia) took eight years to write. Maybe that's why the prose comes across as so clunky. Could have something to do with the translation too.

THE STARS MY DESTINATION by Alfred Bester

I give this sci-fi novel three out of five stars. Thank goodness again for the Books & Boots blog for explaining things because some of the plot went over my head. An interesting read because it's allegedly an influence on The Expanse books.

MARE OF EASTTOWN

Today's Tuesday. Sunday night I finished binging Mare of Easttown (watched the first episode on Thursday, second episode on Friday, three episodes on Saturday [didn't go to bed till 1:30], and last two of the seven episodes on Sunday). Wow, what a miniseries — oh, I'm sorry, a limited series as they're calling it nowadays. I'm still thinking about it.

* * * SPOILERS * * *

Let's get the negativity out of the way. I didn't like:

• the creep who abducted the girls; would've preferred it be one of the already introduced characters
• Mare approaching the mother of the dead detective; I felt Kate Winslet's character was smarter than that
• Mare and Lori making up; didn't seem realistic . . . felt like forced drama so everything wrapped up nicely

Also, why did Mare delete the security footage of the kid vandalizing her neighbors' shed? And Billy Ross confessing to the murder and his brother trying to kill him seemed like questionable plotting.

All of that said, it was awesome! It's days later and I'm still thinking about it. The characters reminded me of the people I grew up. The acting was so good that I got a bit choked up when characters were crying in the penultimate episode. Well worth the $14.77 to purchase the series on Amazon in SD. I'm even gonna watch all of the extras, which I hardly ever do anymore. Lives up to the hype!

Robert Smith playlist

Because The Cure's Robert Smith teamed up with CHVRCHES, I created a playlist of his best collaborations. Check it!

UPDATE, Sat., 6/12: On Tuesday, June 8th, I bought Crystal Castles' "Not in Love" and Japanese Popstars' "Take Forever". I got a little buyer's remorse 'cause those two songs aren't as good as CHVRCHES, Gorillaz, 65daysofstatic, and Tweaker, all of which I purchased recently, but screw it. Below is the updated playlist.

THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET by Catriona Ward

I read about this book back in March in The Guardian. I didn't reserve or wishlist it because while it's out in the U.K., the U.S. edition isn't dropping until September. But, last night, as I was going through the book sections at The Guardian, The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and The Washington Post, it popped back in my mind. Took a while to scrounge around online for the title. Weird how the memory works.