Corpse In The Kitchen - D.J.Reid

 

 

 

 

Synopsis:

 

Off-duty police officer Danny Sullivan comes home from shopping to find a corpse lying on his kitchen floor.

 

 

Review:

 

So what can I really say its like a 20 page short story which was really something I read just because it seemed like it could have been funny and just because I was intrigued by the one line synopsis as it allowed me to start thinking about what happened etc. before I even read it.

 

It kicks off automatically as it should when only being a short story and in honestly I cant understand why I was really thinking so deep into the story but I was anyway. First off Danny reacts kind of too casually to a dead person lying in his kitchen yet alone the fact when the police actually arrive followed by the 'lab guys' Danny is just treated like he was a cop who had been called to a dead body in a kitchen it was just so weird for me to read that he wasn't technically treated like anyone should be when in those circumstances but hey ho I watch too much crime related TV shows its my fault I expected it to be those standards.

 

After following a trail of blood they find where the victim worked and was staying where they find further evidence and also gain information on how could have done it. Turns out in this neighbourhood you can run into a cops house when you're in trouble, in some stories that's really not something a character would do unless they were family or really trusted which Danny must have been. In the end they find who does it literally sat on ice which to me was something I laughed at, it was a funny ending for me I suppose.

 

What really did my nut in though is the fact the questions and theories the officer and Danny put together always seemed to go too nicely together and to plan and all questions they both had were answered exactly how they wanted them to be which I just started to ignore in all honesty.

 

Altogether I have to give it a 3 out of 5, it was well written and the plot had substance I just wish it wasn't a short story and then it could have been padded out more and possibly altered so everything could have been done how it really would have been done. I recommend it if you want a quick read to pass the time or fill in a short break its bound to work for you in those circumstances.

Top Ten Tuesday - Ten Things Books Have Made Me Want To Do/Learn About After Reading Them

1. Become a Apprentice (Spooks Apprentice - Joseph Delaney)
2. Model and travel to several countries and experience new friendships, I know, big chance... (Geek Girl Series - Holly Smale)
3. Ride the train, make friends and learn magic and play Quidditch (Harry Potter Series - J.K.Rowling)
4. Become a Vampire or live in a vampire town ( True Blood/ Sookie Stackhouse Series - Charlaine Harris)
5. Fight to die or survive the Hunger Games (The Hunger Games Series - Suzanne Collins)
6. Visit the Children at an Orphanage (The Unwanted from The Black Water Tales - Jean Nicole Rivers)
7. Move away from home and become independent (Outspoken - Lora Richardson)
8. Become allergic to literally everything?!?! (Everything, Everything - Nicola Yoon.)
9. Fall in love with a band member (The Heartbreakers - Ali Novak)
10. Morph into a better, prettier, popular version of me. (Being Layla Hart - Amanda McKelt)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke And The Bookish

Something Like Happy - John Burnside

Well I couldn't find the synopsis or any sort of descritption for the short story I read. I'm pretty confused by it all right now. I downloaded this free book that was only 36 or so pages long which is great for a short story. I downloaded it and begun reading it in the first hour of my 4 hour flight but then I forgot I had begun reading it and instead continued reading Let There Be Linda. After returning home I found this short story on my phone and got right back into reading it. It sounds silly but somehow I didn't forget what I had read, as soon as I loaded up the story i was able to remember what had happened in the previous 12 pages so i didn't have to go back and beging reading from the start.

From what I know John is a poet and writer, he has several short stories out that are based around lonliness of men and women trapped in certain situations. From what i read in this, Authur McKechnie who's brother (Stan McKechnie) was dating Marie who is Fiona (our main characters sister)

The sisters argue a little over how stan isn't exactly the best Marie could do but she loves him and wants to marry him. near the middle end of the story, Authur begins to change, he begins taking clothes from his brother who has told him he cannot do so. Marie tells Fiona that Stan is looking for his brother so when Fiona later spots Authur she tells him but he doesn't seem to care at all and soon leaves.

The damamge ends up getting done and Stan ends up behind bards and Authur in the hospital but once hes healed he withdraws all of his money from the bank where Fiona walks, obviously avoiding her before disappearing for good. It seems like all along Authur just wanted a reason to leave town and never look back so when Stan finally gives him the reason he doesn't let it go to waste.

this leaves Fiona picking up the pieces of her sister who is depressed over the fact her boyfriend is behind bars Fiona is left feeling like she has nothing, fading into the snow she sits watching fall. It seems like now just like Authur all she wants to do is to get out.

I must say i am pretty confused about the whole thing but i think that's down to the fact ive only read one short story by John and that it may make sense if i read more? I'm not sure but ill possibly give it a go. What i read wasn't bad, and its clear John has a skill when it comes to writing short stories and can really make you connect with the characters he focuses on. For my lack of understanding but the greateness of what i read i give the book an overall 3 out of 5 but if i manage to understsnd this more after reading more short stories that rating would proabably go up.

Top Ten Tuesday - Books Set Outside of the US

1. Geek Girl series by Holly Smale although themail books do include going to several other countries.

2. The Girl In The Red Coat by Kate Hamer

3. The Humans by Matt Haig

4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

5. Harry Potter by J.K.Rowling


Top ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The broke and the bookish

Let There Be Linda - Rich Leder

Synopsis

Leder's black comic caper tells the tall tale of estranged brothers Mike and Dan Miller—accountant and con-man talent agent respectively—up to their necks in the virtual quicksand of LA's San Fernando Valley during the hottest summer in Southern California history.

The root cause of their problems could be the missing seventy-five thousand dollars, or the sadistic, loan shark dwarf and his vicious giant, or the psycho comedian cop on the case, or the coke-snorting dentist, or the deranged zombie real estate developer. Or perhaps it’s the poodle—the poodle is suspect, no doubt. Or maybe it's the grocery store checker who breathes life into death. Oh yes, it could be her too.

And so to repair the head-on collision the Millers have made of their personal and professional lives, the brothers summon their mother back from the dead to clean up the wreckage. But what the Miller men discover is that screwing with the laws of nature is forever and always a violent, bloody, hysterical, and hilarious idea.

Review:

I don't think I've ever gone through so many emotions in one book. I read this whilst on holiday and I had been feeling quite sick and so I went to bed and got to reading. It was nearly 12pm but I got into it anyway. You do not understand how much more sick I felt when I read the part about to god damned poodle. My stomach ended somewhere in my feet next to my brain.

Good looking talent agent Danny Miller owes a hefty amount of cash to the sadistic Harvey Mineral and his muscle Omar, but Danny gets an idea from Jenny Stone who is looking for representation for her (very literal) unbelievable ability to bring dead things back to life.
Danny has seen Jenny’s power work and knows that some people will pay top money to have loved ones returned. Like Danny’s dentist, Donald Greenburg, who lost his poodle, Chachi, to Harvey’s cruelty.

Danny brings his brother Mike who is an accountant into the picture after he was recently let go due to accusations of embezzlement. Donald unfortunately pays the $75,000 resurrection bill by borrowing from Harvey, so the loan shark and Omar keep a close eye on the cash. But it all doesn't end there, even more people are interested in the money, a cop who is also a stand-up comic named Gary Shuler and a very crazy real estate developer called Judd Martin, who blames Mike for bankrupting him.

The book is a tale that tosses logic far out the window and it makes it so much better that way, I have tried over and over to portray my thoughts about this book but none of them seem to actually hit the spot. its a lovely mix of humour, gore and family values. You really have to read it to understand how hard it is to fathom words to describe it. I do recommend it to anyone who wants laughter and gore mixed into one. Although you may think you wont like the book, you have to be persistent and I promise you'll get hooked eventually.

I'm not sure what else I can say, its a funny read but somehow it didn't hit the spot completely and therefore I'm going to give it a 4 out of 5.

Top Ten Tuesday - Books We Enjoyed That Have Under 2000 Ratings On Goodreads

I would have included the photos but I'm currently on holiday and the internet isn't really the best so I thought I'd just run up this list quickly.

Mistwalker - Saundra Mitchell

Black Water Tales:The Unwanted - Jean Nicole Rivers

No Rest For The Wicked - Dane Cobain

Last Years Resolution - Robert Lampros

Murder and More - Gerald W Darnell

The Sign Of One - Eugene Lambert

Gravedigger - Michael Israel Jarvis

Eyes Like Lighthouses When The Boats Come Home - Dane Cobain

Both Of Me - Jonathan Friesen

The Dean Machine - Dylan Lee Peters

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke And The Bookish.