Power Play, by Joseph Finder, is a book full of a very specific charm. The strong male protagonist uses his ingenuity, wit, and determination to save the day and rescue the damsel and takes the reader for an engaging and suspenseful ride along the way. The story explores social politics and dynamics in the business world, as well as what bigwigs do when the lives they play with suddenly get a little too close to their own.
Annihilation, by Jeff VanderMeer, is a stylistically incredible story of survival. The novel follows a Biologist, thrown into an anomalous environment that seems to have a mind of its own. She is set to discover the source of the anomaly along with several other specialists with dubious motives. With a rich exploration of the Biologist’s mind, an environment that falls perfectly into the uncanny valley, and undercurrents of mystery, distrust, and unreliability, VanderMeer creates an incredible and engaging story.
Jurassic World is a good movie with a decent story. The movie starts off twenty-two years after the original Jurassic Park and introduces a new park full of visitors. Facing a decline in the park, the park’s team of researchers creates hybrid dinosaurs to draw in more visitors. However, this ends up proving disastrous to the park and its visitors.
Five Survive is a thriller novel about six friends who are going on a road trip for spring break. On the way, their RV breaks down in the middle of a forest at night. They quickly realize that it was not an accident. There is a sniper outside of the RV who wants one of the people in the RV to reveal one of their secrets. Throughout the book, many secrets are uncovered, trust is broken, and tensions rise.
Till Human Voices Wake Us, by Rebecca Roque, chronicles the twisting journey of seventeen-year-old Silencia “Cia” Lucero as she attempts to uncover the secrets buried in her hometown, Summerset. Cia has her own dark history, her own secrets. Including a traumatic past as Silence Bennett, living in a house with three sisters and a father that ended up blowing it all up. And when her best friend Alice says that she has answers to secrets that lead back to the Bennett house, Cia isn’t ready to hear any of it.
Naomi is forced to leave her life in the city after a family crisis and ends up in the small town of Knockemout. She soon meets the grumpy and mysterious Knox Morgan who has a reputation for being closed off and the town’s bad boy. Despite their differences, they end up bonding over past trauma and other things they never got over.
Millie Calloway has had a rough go at life. She was just released from prison and lost her job and apartment but finds a job being a housemaid for a wealthy family. Nina Winchester, the wife and mom of this family, forces Millie to sleep in the attic that only locks from the outside. Millie then notices Nina’s incredibly wild and erratic behavior. As she stays with this family longer, she discovers the very unusual things that go on behind the scenes.
Alicia Berenson murders her husband, Gabriel Berenson. However, she does not deny her guilt or explain the murder because she does not speak at all. Her only form of communication is with her paintings. Theo Faber, a psychotherapist, decides to investigate this case and attempt to uncover what truly happened to Gabriel Berenson.
Flight 714 to Sydney is an adrenaline-filled adventure that kicks off when Tintin, Snowy, Captain Haddock, and Professor Calculus board a plane headed for Sydney. Midway through the flight, their plane is hijacked by an unknown group of criminals, and they are forced to land on a remote, uncharted island. As they explore the island and dodge danger around every corner, they uncover a secret base which introduces them to an entire new web of conspiracy and an unexpected encounter with a criminal mastermind.
Stalingrad (1993) offers a grim and unflinching look at the Battle of Stalingrad from the perspective of a group of German soldiers. The film depicts their initial optimism turning into horrific disillusionment as they become trapped in the relentless urban warfare and brutal Russian winter. Following a small platoon, the narrative showcases their descent into despair, hunger, and moral decay as they witness the systematic destruction of their comrades and the city itself.
