#IWSG Cliffhangers: Thumbs Up or Down?

 

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG

The awesome co-hosts for the December 4 posting of the IWSG are Ronel, Deniz, Pat Garcia, Olga Godim, and Cathrina Constantine!

The IWSG question for Dec. 4, 2024 is:

Do you write cliffhangers at the end of your stories?

Are they a turn-off to you as a writer and/or a reader?

I have never ended a story with a cliffhanger and am not a fan of cliffhangers as a reader. Even Kathy Reichs’ endless “cliffhanger” chapter endings were irritating to me because they felt so contrived. 

Recently I read a C.J. Box “Joe Pickett” novel that ended with a main character’s plotline ending in a cliffhanger. The continuing plotline obviously required a novel of its own to tell the story and I had the next book already on the shelf so was not faced with a long wait. (And, after all, it was C.J. Box!) However, several reviewers were not so forgiving.

These days my writing is confined to researching and composing short stories - with no cliffhangers. And soon after the start of the Covid era, I began binge-reading series novels that have a beginning, middle, and satisfying ending in each book – again, no cliffhangers. But authors who choose to use the cliffhanger technique to keep their fans interested and returning for more are aware of the success of cliffhanger endings in serial stories of olden-day newspaper weeklies and radio presentations. And their willing fans are aware of each cliffhanger, a win-win relationship of their choosing.

*****

SPEAKING IN BONES with Temperance Brennan #FridayReads

Kathy Reichs’ Speaking In Bones is her 2015 novel involving alter ego Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist based in North Carolina and Quebec, Canada. And, of course, the template for the television series, Bones, for which Reichs is writer and advisor and role model.

Brennan's latest case is set in the backwoods, cliffs, and towns spread throughout her home state of North Carolina. The events covered in this story are well-researched: web-sleuthing; religious fanaticism; and personality disorders - specifically DID - dissociative identity disorder.

Once again, Brennan becomes actively involved in the investigation and places herself prominently in harm’s way.

I haven’t watched the television series since Season Four, when they did those really weird things to poor Zak. That’s when the shift occurred and I found Kathy Reichs’ novels more entertaining than the series. Reading her medical thrillers is a cross between experiencing tension-filled entertainment and attending an uncredited college course.

The shorter length of this review is no reflection on the quality of the story’s plot or the writing. I’ve just run out of words. Actually, I’m eager to watch more DVD replays of the (original) X-Files - Mythology Collection. My taste in entertainment reflects multi-levels of weird.

 

Next up for review is:

The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland

 

FLASH AND BONES #FridayReviews

This week advances my quest to read 71 books between October 2015 and October 2016. I am posting my reviews here to keep myself honest!

 

Today’s review is for one of Kathy Reichs’ Temperance Brennan mysteries:

FLASH AND BONES

 

Over the years, I have read many of Kathy Reichs “bone” novels. With the recent heavy rains here in Honolulu a match for the weather in this novel, Flash and Bones seemed a perfect fit for my next read. The story opens with a thunderstorm, and forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan is digging up a corpse. 

Obvious from the opening is that there are no wasted scenes. Something is always happening, either to Tempe or with her current assignment. The backdrop of the NASCAR world gave this story a twist that I enjoyed, having followed stock car racing in my younger years along with Indy car racing in the 70s. 

The interaction between Tempe and Detective Slidell entertained me throughout with subtle bits of humor and sarcasm as they worked the investigation. Several funny lines came from Tempe’s soon-to-be ex-husband’s soon-to-be wife, the bridezilla character named Summer. Although the scenes featuring Summer were short, I found the comic relief a bit distracting. Overall, though, Kathy Reichs’ novels remain a fast and fun read.

 

Next up for review:

LOVE Beyond Measure

&

PRISM POISON

two books by D.V. Whytes

 

 

 

BAGS of BONES Mini-Reviews

Mini-reviews for my A-to-Z BLUES, PUPUS, and REVIEWS theme

appear on Monday and Wednesday.

This Wednesday is also #IWSG day!

 

Often I get stuck in my writing or start to feel less than confident with a current WIP. That’s when I like to pick up a book that will entertain me without making me feel guilty for not working on my own project. I am a sucker for any book with the word “bones” in the title. 

Admittedly, Kathy Reichs cornered the market with the television series BONES, and her novel Flash and Bones is high on my reading list. At the top of that list is Keri Hulme’s The Bone People, but several other authors with “bones” novels have also entertained me over the years. 

 

My A-list of “bones” books includes

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold,

heralded by the Chicago Tribune as saying

“. . . there are more important things in life than retribution.

Like forgiveness, like love.” 

Jan Burke’s Bones: An Irene Kelly Mystery offers a controversial story that moves forward at a steady pace. The Bone Collector: The First Lincoln Rhyme Novel made best-seller Jeffrey Deaver a favorite on many lists. The kindle edition is scheduled for release in May, 2014. Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell offers a look at poverty in the Ozarks that gives me a chill even now. 

Other guilt-free favorites are:

Bag of Bones by Stephen King

City of Bones (A Harry Bosch Novel) by Michael Connelly

The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen 

At a book sale, I came across Bones: A Forensic Detective’s Casebook by Dr. Douglas Uberlaker that demonstrates how bones can speak for the dead. It is a good reference book for mystery writers.

What is your favorite “BONES” title?