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2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


30 / 30 books. 100% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas (1)
- California (11)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (2)
- Delaware (1)
- Florida (3)
- Georgia (4)
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho (3)
- Illinois (4)
- Indiana (4)
- Iowa (1)
- Kansas (1)
- Kentucky (2)
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts (4)
- Michigan (1)
- Minnesota (2)
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri (1)
- Montana (1)
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada (2)
- New Hampshire (1)
- New Jersey (1)
- New Mexico (1)
- New York (10)
- North Carolina (4)
- North Dakota (1)
- Ohio (3)
- Oklahoma (2)
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania (2)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota (1)
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (4)
- Utah (5)
- Vermont (2)
- Virginia (2)
- Washington (3)
- West Virginia (1)
- Wisconsin (1)
- Wyoming (2)
- Washington, D.C.* (2)

International:
- Argentina (1)
- Australia (6)
- Austria (1)
- Bolivia (1)
- Canada (4)
- China (2)
- England (27)
- France (2)
- Ghana (1)
- India (1)
- Indonesia (1)
- Ireland (4)
- Italy (1)
- Poland (2)
- Russia (2)
- Scotland (4)
- The Netherlands (1)

My Progress:


51 / 51 states. 100% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 50 books. 104% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


36 / 50 books. 72% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


51 / 52 books. 98% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


37 / 40 books. 93% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


18 / 40 books. 45% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


25 / 25 cozies. 100% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


5 / 26.2 miles (4th lap). 19% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


51 / 100 books. 51% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


99 / 109 books. 91% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


139 / 165 books. 84% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

My Progress:


88 / 100 names. 88% done!

The Life Skills Reading Challenge

My Progress:


45 / 80 skills. 56% done!
Saturday, May 08, 2021

Second Series Installment Almost As Gripping As the First

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Note:  Although this review will not contain spoilers for The Dead Season, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from its predecessor, Death in the Family.  As always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.

After certain decisions made on her last case, Shana Merchant—a senior investigator with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI)—is on administrative leave pending a psychological evaluation.  Unsure quite what to do with herself, she's itching to get back to what she does best: work.  When the remains of her uncle, who disappeared twenty years ago, are discovered in Swanton, Vermont, Shana returns to her hometown.  While pondering her uncle's case, she learns that a young boy has been kidnapped near her current home in the Thousand Islands area of New York.  It's clear to Shana that the incidents are connected and that a challenge is being issued to her by serial killer Blake Bram.  He wants her to solve her uncle's murder in order to save the missing child.  With little choice in the matter, Shana begins two intense investigations that will lead her into the one place she never wants to visit—her past.

I enjoyed Death in the Family, the first book in Tessa Wegert's Shana Merchant series, so I was all in for the second installment.  Although the latter didn't suck me in quite as much as the former, I still found The Dead Season to be a tense, gripping read.  Shana's an intriguing character, so it was interesting to learn more about her childhood and her relationship with Bram.  Both of the cases she works in this one are compelling, with twists that keep the story from getting dull or stale.  The identity of Shana's uncle's killer caught me by surprise, even though it shouldn't have—when I thought back over the story, I could clearly see all the clues Wegert dropped along the way that I totally missed.  All of these elements make The Dead Season a compelling page turner.  It held my interest and made me even more eager to see where this engrossing series goes next.  


Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for language, violence, depictions of illegal drug use, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find

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Reading

<i>Reading</i>
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth



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2024 Reading Challenge

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2024 - Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction

2024 - Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction

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2020 - Middle Grade Fiction

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