Finlay Donovan Knocks "Em Dead; World Travel

 

Whelp, so far March is not off to a great start, reading wise. I managed to finish two books over the weekend, though, so perhaps I can keep this train rollin'.

The second book about Finlay Donovan, after "Finlay Donovan is Killing It", was a bit of a let down. The first book was just so darn good my expectations were very high for this one. Cosimano talked a little bit in the acknowledgements about how hard it was to write humor during the pandemic lockdown and I can totally understand that. It just felt like she was trying too hard, whereas "Killing It" just seemed organically funny. 

Finlay discovers an online women's forum where people complain about their husbands. She finds a post about her ex, Steven. Someone is offering $100k to take him out. As much as Finlay loathes her ex she most definitely doesn't want him dead. Especially if someone tries to kill him while he's watching their kids, so she and Vero set out on a mission to discover who posted the message. Another contract killer seems ready to take Steven out, so time is of the essence. 

Can I just say how much I love Vero? Where can I get a best friend/sidekick like her?

At any rate, Finlay is also juggling her increasingly complicated love life. Law student Julian is MIA in Florida and hot cop Nick is sniffing around more aggressively. I'm declaring my flag for Nick right now (Julian is too young). Although Nick is a cop, which given Finlay's proclivities for getting accidentally mixed up in crime scenes, might make things a bit awkward between them. 

Here's hoping the next book doesn't feel quite so forced. 

"World Travel" by Anthony Bourdain (finished by his assistant Laurie Woolever after his death) was a fun hybrid of travel guide and Zagat's. He talked about places he'd gone all over the world and the food he enjoyed. It was interesting and made me miss traveling. Hopefully if things stay pretty good COVID wise, I can make a big trip later on this year. One of the places he talked about that I never really considered going was Singapore. He just had such an interesting perspective on things and was such a gifted storyteller.