The Literate Kitty

So let's get this out of the way, right off the bat: anyone expecting a stellar follow-up to Andy Weir's immensely-entertaining debut, The Martian , with his sophomore outing (the soon-to-be-released Artemis ), may be a little disappointed... not because it isn't a fun read, but because the bar was set SO very high from the get-go. The Martian was in my top-five books for 2014, because it hit on all cylinders. Smart, funny, smart-ass, regular-guy hero? Check. Fascinating setting, depicted in glorious detail so that it felt like I was there, too? Check. Seemingly-impossible snafus to get out of? Check. Thrilling, edge-of-my-seat kind of ending... that also seemed plausible? Yep, check. On paper, Artemis has most of the same kinds of things going for it. Bright, wise-acre, ordinary-gal hero (a young female protagonist who's on the shady side, but close enough)? Roger that. Cool setting, given ample descriptions to make it "real" (a little town on the moo...

Sometimes life is just crazy-pants busy—so full of a million and one little things, that tasks I was (almost) certain had been accomplished, instead wound up getting completely overlooked. A "for instance," you ask? Take my failure to review any of the books in the Detective Helen Grace series by M. J. Arlidge—something I was positive I’d managed to do at least a couple of times over the past few years… but which, in fact, seems never to have happened, at all. With that said, this is actually the perfect time to rectify my rather unfortunate little bout of forgetfulness, because the sixth entry in this consistently-engaging and well-written series, Hide and Seek , is, to my mind, the best one, yet. ______________________________ Without spoiling things too much for anyone unfamiliar with the series (certainly no more so than reading the back of a book jacket or synopsis on Amazon would do), a brief bit of backstory is necessary… Detective Inspector Helen Gr...