BOOK BEGINNINGS & THE FRIDAY 56: “LET ME GO” — JUNE 29

Welcome to some bookish fun today as we share Book Beginnings, hosted by Rose City Reader; and as we showcase The Friday 56 with Freda’s Voice.

To join in, just grab a book and share the opening lines…along with any thoughts you wish to give us; then turn to page 56 and excerpt anything on the page.

Then give us the title of the book, so others can add it to their lists!

If you have been wanting to participate, but haven’t yet tried, now is the time!

What better way to spend a Friday?

Today’s featured  book is from next week’s stack.  An Amazon Vine ARC from Chelsea Cain’s Gretchen Lowell/Archie Sheridan series:  Let Me Go.

Beginning:  Archie Sheridan had a paper birthday hat on his head and six bullets in his front pocket.  The bullets rattled when he moved, making a clinking sound that no one else seemed able to hear.  The hat’s tight elastic band dug at his neck.  He pulled at it, feeling the imprint of a ligature mark forming.

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56:  (As Susan prepares for a party):  …Once Susan was deemed properly gussied up, Star had presented her with a rhinestone-encrusted mask at the end of a long black wand.  It was a female fantasy cliche:  being whisked off to a ball and dressed up like Cinderella.  In reality, it just felt creepy.

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Blurb:  Detective Archie Sheridan just has to get through the next few days, then his birthday and Halloween will be over. But with escaped serial killer Gretchen Lowell on the loose, the investigation into the murder of a DEA agent demanding his attention, and journalist Susan Ward showing up at his apartment needing a favor, it’s going to be a long weekend.

Soon Archie finds himself crashing a masked ball on a private island owned by Jack Reynolds, a notorious local drug kingpin. By morning, Archie is back on pain killers, a guest is dead and Archie quickly realizes that little is what it seems. One thing is clear: Gretchen is back, and Archie’s nemesis and sometimes lover has something special in mind for the birthday boy, something she’s been planning for a long, long time. On Halloween Eve, with time running out, and the life of someone close to Archie on the line, Archie knows his only chance is to give Gretchen exactly what she wants. But Gretchen will prove more horrifying, and unpredictable, than Archie could ever imagine.

Back with her most thrilling novel yet, Chelsea Cain delivers the pinnacle of what fans of this series have come to expect: sex, murder, twists, dark wit, and some of the best characters in the genre.

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I love this series!  An elusive serial killer, a determined detective…and lots of fun along the way.  Now…what are you sharing?