Review: The Fourth Monkey

The Fourth Monkey by J.D. Barker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For over five years, the Four Monkey Killer has terrorized the residents of Chicago. When his body is found, the police quickly realize he was on his way to deliver one final message, one which proves he has taken another victim who may still be alive.

As the lead investigator on the 4MK task force, Detective Sam Porter knows even in death, the killer is far from finished. When he discovers a personal diary in the jacket pocket of the body, Porter finds himself caught up in the mind of a psychopath, unraveling a twisted history in hopes of finding one last girl, all while struggling with personal demons of his own.

With only a handful of clues, the elusive killer’s identity remains a mystery. Time is running out and the Four Monkey Killer taunts from beyond the grave in this masterfully written fast-paced thriller

Having read the sequel already (The Fifth to Die) I had a good idea of what was going to be covered in this book which took the edge off a bit. It's a good thriller but it is gory in places, not for the faint hearted.

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Friday's Fave Five - 13/9/19

It's still Friday, just, so it's time to share 5 things I'm grateful for this week. This meme is hosted by Susanne over at Living to Tell the Story. Pop over there for more details and to see who else is taking part.

Here are my 5 for this week:

1) No mishaps with Grandson Rory this week. He gave me a few scares as he's walking more and more but he's still very wobbly at times but he loves doing it.

2) Getting rid of some clutter. We took part in a jumble trail last weekend (think yard sale) and although I still have stuff to get rid of it's all gathered together now and there is a plan in place!

3) Catching up with one of my sister in laws. She had some things I needed to collect that had got left behing at the family holiday so I popped over one afternoon and we had a good natter over a cup of tea.

4) Catch up TV. I've been so tired most evenings that I've not really watched much TV but thankfully I can either record programmes or watch them on catch up when I have more energy and time. Hello Fresh meals have also been a blessing as well. The two days I do with Rory are quite long so it is tiring but I don't help myself by not going to bed very early!

5) A visit to Grandson Nathan today. It's almost 2 weeks since I'd seen him and after seeing him twice a week regularly that felt like a long time. He's attending nursery 4 days a week now and my DIL stays home with him on Fridays. He's talking more and more and today he was sporting a haircut. I had dinner there and stayed until he went to bed. He was very tired as it was a bit later than usual so hopefully he went to sleep quickly.

Talking of which, I should be getting to sleep now too.

Enjoy the weekend all.

Friday's Fave Five - 6/9/19

Well once again it's two weeks since I've done a Friday post so I'm grateful to be here, pausing to think of 5 good things from the past week (or two!).  As always this meme is hosted by Susanne over at Living to Tell the Story.  Pop over there for more details and to see who else is taking part.

Here are my 5 for this week:

1)  Holiday time with extended family.  Getting away with hubby's family is a regular thing for the end of August.  We love getting together, even if it is a bit chaotic and noisy.  For some pics see my previous post here.

2)  2 free bottles of wine!  Hubby often buys wine from our local Majestic Wine store so he's on their mailing list.  He had a letter saying that to celebrate a new venture they were giving regular clients a free bottle of wine.  Of course he went to claim it but was told at the store the offer was a free bottle if you bought 6.  Well buying 6 bottles is no hardship for hubby but he was a bit put out.  Especially when he got home to discover that yes, in the VERY small print on the back of the letter it states that in order to claim your free bottle you have to make a purchase of......ONE bottle.  Well he rattled off an email complaining about the whole episode and today they dropped off another free bottle!

3)  A successful shopping trip.  I'm going away soon with my cousins and I needed a new swimming costume (or two).   I also wanted some flip flops to wear around the pool.  I managed to get both today which was good as lots of the stores now have their autumn and winter clothing ranges in so swimwear choice was quite limited.

4)  More additions to the garden.  I've added a bird feeding station and an ornamental butterfly.  I also took down my rotary airer.  Typically hubby spotted the bird feeding station and noticed the hole where the airer had been but not that the airer was gone!

5)  No lasting damage done to Rory.  He's started walking now.  Just a few steps between the furniture etc but on Wednesday while I was looking after him he overbalanced and managed to hit his head on their wooden rocking chair.  It was one of those awful moments when you dread picking them up to see what damage has been done.  Of course he screamed the place down and there was a small mark on his forehead which was obviously going to bruise but he let me hold an ice pack on it and fortunately he seemed ok afterwards.  I felt bad but of course I know these things will happen.  

This was afterwards.  He does love looking at his books.

 
 
Have a good weekend all.

I'm back!

Well actually I've been back from my family holiday since last Friday but it's been hard to find time to blog.  Since we arrived back I've babysat Nathan, had Rory for 2 days, been househunting with Nathan's Mummies and been catching up with stuff at home.

Which is totally different from the week spent away which was very relaxed.  Well as relaxed as spending a week with more than 40 family members including all our kids and Grandkids.  Yeah it's not relaxing but it is lovely.  

We were very fortunate with the weather.  For the first half of the week we had a heatwave.  In fact for me it was too hot.  We then had rain overnight on the Tuesday but by Wednesday afternoon the sun had returned but it was much cooler.  Still warm but much more pleasant.  

The kids still loved being in and out of the pool and as usual the younger generation did their pool photo.  These are all grandchildren of Nick's parents.  There are 23 of them but a few were missing this year.  This is our seventh year at the Oast House and they always line up by the pool:

 

And then jump!

 

We had our own special water babies!

 And our own annual photo

 Family time is so special.