The Rodchenkov Affair; If You See Her; Everyone Thought We Were Crazy

Well, July is off to a promising start! Thank you, three day weekend.

First up, "The Rodchenkov Affair", about the major Russian doping scandal. Rodchenkov ran the anti-doping drug lab in Moscow that certified athletes were drug free for major sporting events. He also put together and ran the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics anti-doping lab. He was very proud of how Russia's athletes were able to win so many victories all while being clean.

Of course, the major reason they were clean was that he was faking their results. Swapping out dirty specimens for clean ones. "Losing" dirty samples before they could be retested. He was on the verge of getting caught when he bailed and fled to the U.S. and gave up his story for asylum. 

So...is he a good guy? I'm not 100% sure I would paint him as such. He certainly does, but he has a different perspective. Leaving Russia and his family behind was brave, but did he bring down the doping empire? Or did someone else in Russia just pick up his mantle?  

I have to admit, I was disappointed with Ania Ahlborn's "If You See Her". I read "The Devil Crept In" and "Brother", and loved both of them. This one was just meh. 

In 1999, Jesse and Casey witnessed their friend Reed commit suicide by hanging himself in a creepy abandoned farm house. Now Jesse is grown up, married with a baby boy, teaching at the local high school when Casey asks him to go with him back to the house. Casey has a successful podcast where he visits haunted places. Jesse reluctantly goes and is horrified when Casey commits suicide the same way Reed did.

Now Jesse feels like he's losing his mind. He's trying to write a book and suffering from insomnia. He loses control at school and almost beats up a student. He's drinking again. His wife flees, taking their son. All Jesse can think about is the house and the possessed girl he dreamed up...or did he? Was she real? At any rate, there were a lot of spelling and grammar errors and the ending was lame. It's too bad. Hopefully she just had a one off, I'm still looking forward to reading her other books. 

"Everyone Thought We Were Crazy" was not exactly what I was expecting when I checked it out from work, but it was interesting. In the late 1950s, Dennis Hopper, an up and coming star in Hollywood, met and fell in love with old Hollywood royalty, Brooke Hayward. Brooke was barely in her twenties and already had two sons with her ex-husband. They married (much to her wealthy father's chagrin) and had a daughter, Marin. 

During the 1960's Los Angeles, Dennis and Brooke were the "It" couple. Everything they did was arty and fun and ground breaking. Their house had a revolving door, everyone was welcome. They were invited to all the fun parties, not just with celebrities their own age but old Hollywood, like David O. Selznick, too. 

All good things must come to an end, though, and their marriage burned out with Dennis's increasing drug use that fed his paranoia and anger.