You knew it wasn't going to be easy!  Worth it?  Yes.  Easy?  Not a chance.  Even before the first people move to the new town, murder and mayhem ensue.  Casey and Eric walk into a double disappearance, a murdered woman who turns out to be an extra layer of mystery and a cranky site manager.  I like the new cast of characters in this book, it refreshes the series.  Combining the new and old will make for some interesting situations to come, I'm sure.  Being able to build this new town from scratch the way they want is exciting and nerve wracking for our dynamic duo.  There is still the fear they won't be able to pull if off and that the whole endeavor will fall apart around their ears.  

The mystery itself is an interesting one.  Where did the missing workers go and why?  How did they end up with an extra body?  The first Haven's Rock book kept my interest, which is no mean feat for a series that has gone on this long.  I haven't found myself getting bored with the characters and the mysteries are staying fresh and interesting.  This change up breathes new life into the series without losing the features that made it great.  Can't wait for more!!

 

I keep thinking about this.  When I first started the book, I mentally rolled my eyes a few times because I THOUGHT I knew where it was going.  Boy was I wrong.  There was almost a "Village" movie vibe at first.  Isolated community where only a few "elders" know what is really going on behind the scenes.  That was why the mental eye roll started.  Trust me, that only lasted a few chapters.  Cronin is one of my all time favorite authors, his world building is complex and layered.  I really should have known that it wouldn't be that easy to figure out.  There are a lot of characters in the mix here, but I never felt that any of them were one dimensional or not fleshed out.  As the story unfolds and you think you understand motivations, there is always an undercurrent of confusion, both Proctor's confusion and mine.  So many elements seem mystical and shrouded in secrecy in Prospera it's hard to know if Proctor is slowly going crazy or if there is a reason behind the madness.

The reason behind the madness blew my mind.  I literally had to put the book down and think it through.  Re-read some pages.  Think about it some more.  I am in no way going to spoil this, but holy cow!  Buckle up.  The social and political unrest of the Support Staff was a biting backdrop to Proctor's personal issues.  I'm so impressed with how Cronin tied everything together and delivered another completely original engrossing story. 

 

The last Rockton novel?  Say it ain't so!  Going into this book, we knew the town was in trouble. The powers that be had stopped sending new people to town and no one was getting extensions to stay longer.  The writing was on the wall.  Does that mean things will slow down and get boring out there in the middle of nowhere?  Of course not.  Put together a pile of people who needed to disappear for one reason or another and tensions always rise.  This time around, there is blackmail, secrets exposed and, of course, murder.  

Casey and Eric need to make some decisions.  First and foremost, what are they going to do when the town shuts down?  Who is going to be part of their new and improved refuge?  Oh, and how hard do they want to investigate missing persons and murders when the missing and murdered were doing their best to cause as much trouble as possible?  The Deepest of Secrets concentrated mostly on the "core" townies.  There were touches about the supporting cast of characters, but I liked that the mystery was mainly kept local this time.  The conflict of wanting to do the right thing even when no one cares anymore was interesting.  But now I need to know what happens next!  Yes, this is the last Rockton novel... will there be a town X novel?  I will be very disappointed if this is the end of the story, the characters are too interesting and the concept of the whole story is too intriguing to leave as is.  This was another winner, Armstrong is definitely on her game and having fun with this!

 

So, seriously, my only complaint is that I have to wait for book three for HOW LONG?? I need to know how this is all going to go! Novik throws you right back into the action, no deep breaths, no nice long summer break for the students to relax and build up their strength. El's growth is exponential in The Last Graduate. She's still the same snarky, sarcastic girl you know and love, but she's letting that tough exterior shell crack enough to let in her new friends and maybe boyfriend. I really like the additional background offered for the Enclaves and how the home politics rules over nearly every aspect of students' school experience. All the action and relationships are deeper in this sequel, at one point it's practically frantic. 

I did get a little bogged down about halfway through, I felt like there was maybe too much detail and exposition, but the further I got into the plot the more it all tied together. I needed all those details to truly appreciate the effort the seniors had to put forth and what ultimately was at stake.  I thoroughly enjoyed this continuation and look forward to being able to get my greedy hands on book three!

 

Oh, this was fun! What can you add to the college experience to make it more exciting? Seven psychopaths with full ride scholarships participating in a psychology study. They don't know who is in the program, but it becomes important to find out after two of them end up dead. I really enjoyed the dynamics between Chloe, Charles and Andre.  The varying ways of dealing with their diagnoses, the consequences not fully trusting each other (after all, who would trust a psychopath?). There were enough red herrings for me to not have guessed the ending, but it didn't come completely out of left field, which is always frustrating.  The plot clipped along nicely, I wasn't bored and may have stayed up passed my bedtime a night or two! I definitely recommend this as a great summer read.

The Storm of Echoes

 

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I started to read the final book in this series. I WANTED everything tied up in a nice bow, I WANTED to know exactly how every character I loved in the first 2 books ended up, I WANTED to love this book. What did I get? Not what I wanted, but sometimes that's ok! The majority of this book was Ophelia trying to figure out what the heck is going on, which makes me feel better since I wasn't sure what the heck was going on, either. Who exactly was destroying the arks and why? What turned God into God? Were Ophelia and Thorn going to get their happily ever after?? There were so many complexities in the story line, so many questions to be answered, I understand that the author had to let some things go.  But really, I wanted more about Ophelia's not so merry band of friends from the previous books.  

I also struggled with the vast amount of detail and side adventures that turned out to be completely not needed.  A good pruning would have made the story easier to follow.  I'm sad the series is finished, I feel like there could have been two books instead of this one cramming everything together.  Not perfect, but still a completely original fascinating concept and characters that I cared about.   

 

I've been reading this series from the very beginning, so my opinions are a blend of what I think about this particular book and how I feel it fits into the overall Pendergast world. I've missed the partnership between Pendergast and D'Agosta, his old friend from New York.  Pendergast needs someone from the "normal" world to play off of and to keep him from going too far off the deep end. Agent Coldmoon is a good substitute, I think his character adds to the dynamics of the story. I'm enjoying the discreet mysteries, there were so many books tied to the arc of Pendergast's past, his wife, that I missed the smaller cases where there was resolution. That being said, this mystery is a doozy! Mild spoilers here... having the antagonist be a vampire would have been less outlandish than what was really going on!

I was truly surprised and confounded by this mystery. Preston and Child really went out there this time. It's impossible to talk about what truly happened to the bloodless bodies without ruining it, but summer in the South has a whole new meaning! I'm going to be honest about what eventually happens to Constance, she has never been a character I liked or enjoyed having in the books. If she never comes back, I'd be just fine.  This was a great addition the world of weird, I'm so happy these books keep coming out year after year!