Monday: Mailbox/What are you reading?/Musing

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at A Girl and Her Books. Jennifer of Mrs. Q Book Addict is hosting MM for the month of July.

I received three books, thanks to the authors/publicists:

1) The Drop by Howard Linskey:

David Blake is no gangster, or so he likes to think—the trouble is, when money and a man go missing, his gangster boss blames him

David Blake is a white-collar criminal, working for gangster Bobby Mahoney, enjoying the good life while the money keeps on pouring in. The trouble is, a big chunk of that money has just gone missing, along with Geordie Cartwright, and Blake is getting the blame. Has Geordie run off with the drop, or has he been killed by a rival gang? As Blake goes deeper into the Newcastle underworld, a seedy and violent place filled with dodgy clubs, pubs, lap-dancing bars, and brothels, he slowly starts to uncover the truth—there's a rat in Bobby's crew and someone else is planning a take-over. Meanwhile with the crime squad and an ambitious D.I. both closing in on Bobby, it's just a matter of time before he's finally nicked for good. If that weren't enough, he has to choose between his girlfriend and his boss's gorgeous young daughter, who could be the most dangerous person in his life right now, if her dad finds out. In a desperate and bloody finale, Blake has to make an agonizing choice, and someone has to pay the ultimate price.

2) The Damage by Howard Linskey:

David Blake is a worried man. He should be enjoying the high life now he's Newcastle's 'Top Boy', the man who controls everything in the city that's worth controlling. He lives in exiled luxury, while his brother Danny and trusted right-hand men, Palmer and Kinane, take care of business and make sure no one steps out of line. The money keeps on rolling in and Blake is sharing his life with the girl that he loves, Sarah Mahoney. Shame he had to murder her father to save his own skin but at least she doesn't know anything about that.

Blake never wanted to be boss but who else is savvy enough to deal with all of the firm s problems; like Braddock, the rogue drug dealer, who s keeping too much of the take, and The Turk , Blake s new source of product who s taken a million Euros down-payment on a shipment that never arrives. Newly-crowned Glasgow crime lord, Alan Gladwell, wants to do business with the firm and the deal makes sense but can Blake really trust the man whose brother he brutally murdered. Then there is his obsession with the beautiful but troubled Simone, who chooses to work in one of the firm's massage parlours when she is so much better than that. 

When one of his men takes two bullets in the back and someone tries to kill him, Blake struggles to stay in control. 

3) Suzy's Case by Andy Siegel:
Introducing Tug Wyler, a dogged and irreverent New York City personal injury and medical malpractice attorney. He is as at home on the streets as he is in the courtroom, and larger than life in both places. Once you’ve met him, you won’t ever forget him.

When Henry Benson, a high-profile criminal lawyer known for his unsavory clients, recruits Tug to take over a long-pending multimillion-dollar lawsuit representing a tragically brain-damaged child, his instructions are clear: get us out of it; there is no case. Yet the moment Tug meets the disabled but gallant little Suzy Williams and June, her beautiful, resourceful mother, all bets are off.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila of Book 

I finished reading:

1) California Man by E C Seedy
2) A Regency Holiday by Allison Lane, Alicia Rasley, Lynn Kerstan, Rebecca Hagan Lee
3) A Lesson in Passion by Jennifer Connors
4) Ruthless by Cheryl Douglas
5) Past Forward by Chautona Havig
6) Defiant Imposter by Miriam Minger

I am in the midst of reading:

Arctic Fire by Paul Byers
The Virgin Journals by Travis Laurence Naught (poetry)

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Have you ever read a book that, at the time, you didn’t feel a strong connection towards, but as time goes by you find yourself thinking about it a lot?

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. I could not connect with it while I was reading it. But as time went by, I started to think about it a lot and found myself re-reading certain passages. 

The Blind Assassin opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental. But just as the reader expects to settle into Laura?s story, Atwood introduces a novel-within-a-novel. Entitled The Blind Assassin, it is a science fiction story told by two unnamed lovers who meet in dingy backstreet rooms. When we return to Iris, it is through a 1947 newspaper article announcing the discovery of a sailboat carrying the dead body of her husband, a distinguished industrialist. Brilliantly weaving together such seemingly disparate elements, Atwood creates a world of astonishing vision and unforgettable impact.