Review: The Fifth Risk

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For the most part, I steer clear of politics. But my friend tore through this one and as that is unlike him, it made me curious enough to read it especially because I have another book by Lewis on my "to be read" list.

I think it is safe to say this is a book Trump supporters will not like. However, I wouldn't necessarily call this an Anti-Trump book per se, in that the events laid out could have been done by any president; it just so happened that Trump is the one who did them. While the point of the book is to point out the pitfalls and consequences of Trump having not had a transition team in place to learn how to run the government, I felt Lewis tried to make this more about the facts than a personal bias.

For me, the book was eye-opening in that it showed me how much I, as your average American citizen, did not know about what some of the major departments (DOD, Department of Commerce) really do vs what I, like most people, just assumed they do. While change is not necessarily a bad thing, the departments looked at in this book are some pretty big ones to not have at least a basic understanding of prior to taking them over! I was definitely turned off after learning some of the things that are acceptable practices (in general and not at all related to the current administration) and fascinated by other aspects (those dealing with the weather, which takes up a good portion of the last half of the book).

Overall, I would say this is a pretty eye-opening look at how the transition from one president to the next typically happens, a good behind-the-scenes look at the day to day operations of the government with a touch of dystopian life thrown in. It's a short book, so it's a pretty quick read but it did make me wonder what the ripple effects of the current administration's disregard for the norm will be down the road.

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Review: Ocean Beach

Ocean Beach by Wendy Wax
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars. I absolutely loved the first book in this series so I was excited to dive into this one as well. While, as another reviewer pointed out, there is nothing wrong with this one, I liked it well enough but I didn't love it. It just didn't draw me in like the first one but I did still want to know how things were going to turn out.

In this book, due to Kyra's filming of the restoration of Bella Flora, the ladies have been offered a pilot for "Do Over," which Lifetime has presented to them as a restoration show, but they soon find out is actually a reality TV show, much to their displeasure. Still, they set out to bring "The Millicent," a house owned by a 90-year old retired vaudeville performer (Max) back to life so he can fulfill his wife's dying wish.

You can't have a reality TV show without drama and the ladies certainly have their share of that - but not necessarily that they want aired for the entire world to see: Maddie's 27 year marriage to Steve is still incredibly strained. Avery still feels the sting of Deirdre's abandonment and does not want to work beside her. Nicole is introduced to a potential client who she hopes will reboot her matchmaking service while being pursued (romantically this time) by FBI Agent Joe Giraldi who doesn't trust the guy. And Kyra is now mom to the infant son of one of the world's most famous movie stars (who also happens to in South Beach shooting a movie) and she immediately butts heads with the Lifetime cameraman, much like Avery did with Chase Hardin in the first book.

In places it felt like there was a formulaic approach happening (potential "hatred to romance" plotline, impending crisis which threatens everything), which was a bit disappointing, though I was pleased when some things didn't turn out the way I was expecting them to based on what happened in "Ten Beach Road." There was also a mystery aspect to this one (what happened to Max's son, who was kidnapped at age 3) and I liked how the ladies managed to find ways to try to figure that out without the watchful eye of the film crew. I also liked how that was the real driving force in Max wanting the house restored. Max's bond with Kyra's baby was incredibly sweet and endearing.

There really was a lot to like about this book. I can see how it would be hard to write a series in which the main characters are restoring houses and keep it fresh. One can only talk about that process so much before it gets old - I know as I've been remodeling my own home while reading these books. I was trying to imagine how "Do Over" would be as a reality show, and quite frankly, I thought it would be pretty boring!

The jokes about Maddie's inability to text coherently became old by the end of the book and there were some things that just didn't ring true: like a famous designer not coming up on a Google search under her maiden name, but when found by searching her married name, articles came up listing her maiden name as well. That had me shaking my head in total disbelief.

Overall, this felt like catching up with old friends, which is a great quality to have in a series! I look forward to see what is going to happen next for these ladies, just with lower expectations than the first book gave me for this one. And if this series were adapted for TV, I'd still totally watch it.

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Review: The Big Kahuna

The Big Kahuna by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

2.5 stars. On one hand, this book was what one would expect from this series: campy fun. After listening to the Adam Walsh story, that's exactly what I needed!

On the other, there were a lot of little details that were a bit confusing. I'm guessing that comes from Janet's son being the co-author on this one instead of Lee Goldberg and I'm wondering if Peter read the first five books in this series before agreeing to help write this one.

The premise was good - instead of searching for stolen items or trying to stop a heist, this time Kate and Nick are sent after a missing person. What's supposed to be a quick assignment, basically to keep them from wracking up any more huge expenses for the FBI, turns out to be a case of not only a missing person but also of stolen intellectual property that takes Kate and Nick around the world starting in Hawaii and ending up in Prague. So much for keeping those expenses down!

The book did include the head-shake worthy absurdities that makes this series fun and the descriptions of Hawaii were breathtaking. But other things just did not jive: apparently Kate's boss forgot that Nick's involvement with the FBI is beyond top secret. And Kate apparently forgot that she and Nick have crossed the line into a romantic relationship. There's also a comment Kate makes to her father that actually made me say out loud "Not to mention, he lives with your sister." Apparently, she forgot that too.

I'm not sure if the departure from the regular crew was deliberate or not. Jake was the only one recruited, which was good as it allowed him to get to meet and get to know Nick a little bit...oh wait. That already happened. He's the one who pointed out to Kate she's in love with the man!
Vicky, the Instagram supermodel trophy wife of the missing person, and Kate's cubicle mate, Cosmo, were more annoying than funny and were definitely poor substitutes for Willy and Boyd!

The premise of this series is supposed to be that in order to stay out of jail, Nick has to help catch the FBI's 10 most wanted. Which is genius, in that once Kate and Nick catch one, another moves into that place allowing this series to go on for as long as the authors want it to. And the authors have an out: if they want to end the series, they simply write it so Nick has to go to jail and Kate either gets reassigned or resigns. Hopefully, there will be a book 7 and it will start with Kate or Nick waking up from this book having been a bad dream and the series will get back on track!

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