The Bomber Mafia is about all of the minds that met up to come up with the bomber planes that did so much work during World War II. The planes had to be designed, produced, and outfitted. Strategies for bombing runs, and precision bombing had to be thought up and tested out. Without these planes and the people behind them, World War II would have looked very different at the conclusion. It was interesting to read about the way they came up with it, though this writing style left a lot to be desired for me. I'm not sure if it was the formatting, the storytelling, or the fact that it was put together like a series of blog posts or a serial editorial, but I just wasn't really a fan. I have nothing negative to say about the research or information presented though, which is why I rated it a three star.

This book was recommended on a World War II page that I follow. I had every intention of buying this, but I found it at the library while my girls were doing a summer reading program activity, so I just checked it out. I am glad I didn't buy it, or I would be more disappointed. 

 This book is done in the format of a photo essay, which I really enjoyed. Brian Boitano delved into his life as a skater, what it took to move through the ranks, and struggles and triumphs that he achieved. I liked this book a lot, and learned quite a bit about Brian Boitano, who is not a skater that I recall watching. The photography in this book was beautiful. I have a similar photo essay style book from Sasha Cohen, and I am very much looking forward to it. 

 Wayne Adam Ford was born in California in 1961. He was in a car accident, having a head injury. His family and friends made several statements about how his personality changed after this accident. He was married two times, both ended in divorce. He served six years in the United States Marine Corps, gaining an honorable discharge in 1985. He ran into several issues with the police, and during this time, he also murdered four women. He wound up turning himself in to police, with body parts in his pocket.

I didn't want to go into too much detail about his brushes with law enforcement or the other weird things that he got up to, but he certainly got up to some things. I cannot imagine being a police officer and someone coming in with body parts in their pocket. What a day that must have been! The author did a really good job of letting the reader get into the mind of Wayne Adam Ford, and learn about his history. The facts of the case were very accurate and presented well. I had never heard of this case, though I did search for pictures of what these people looked like, and to see if Ford was still alive since this book was published some time ago. During that search, I found that this case was mentioned on several television shows, so if you are interested in that, look it up really fast to see where it is available. This book is available currently on Audible Plus to listen to for free. 

 In this second book of the Kay Scarpetta series, she finds herself attempting to avoid a killer in nearly the same way that one of the victims attempted to avoid the killer. A romance writer is murdered in her home after turning off her alarm and opening up the door to someone outside. The victim's lawyer, who is an obnoxious person, accuses Scarpetta of absconding with the last manuscript written before her murder. Marino is up to his same nonsense, and the descriptions of his rude comments and gross behavior in other reviews are accurate. One can hope that he grows up a little at some point and stops being so boorish. 

 I live about an hour away from The Body Farm in Tennessee, and I have always wished they would open a museum or something to allow the public to tour. I think the work they do at these facilities are vital for the understanding of the human body in various states of decay. I am certain that the work they have done has been vital in the resolution of thousands of cases, and it was really interesting to read about in this book.

In this fifth installment of the Scarpetta series, Kay finds herself in North Carolina to help out on the case of a murdered girl who was murdered in a manner that resembled the work of a serial killer that the FBI has yet to catch. Lucy, Kay's niece, has now started an internship with the FBI and comes along with her to be equal parts helpful and annoying. Benton and Kay carry on an affair. Lucy enters into a relationship with Carrie Grethen, who is just about the worst person in the entire series. 

 I watched the television show before I read this book. I enjoyed the show quite a lot, and hoped that I would enjoy this book, especially as a historian and lover of nonfiction. That was simply not the case. I found this book to be completely tedious. I did not enjoy it at all. 

 In book eight, Richard shows his face again, and, this time, he is charged with rape. Anita rushes to Tennessee to help him, though I would certainly not have if I was her. In addition to getting to the bottom of the framing of Richard, there are tensions between the vampires of St. Louis and Myerton, and relationship drama between Richard, Anita, and Jean-Claude. 

 I looked this book up after watching the Scientology show on Netflix with Leah Remini. I learned so much from everyone's personal experiences on the show, and looked up everyone to see if they had written anything. I got this one on Audible, and I wish that I would have gotten a physical copy. I was not really crazy about Marc narrating it, but it did put a personal spin on it. I will say that the Church of Scientology loves some acronyms for everything they can come up with one for. The stuff that Marc went through was insane to me. I cannot imagine living this way and getting so caught up in anything, any religion, like this. I am glad that I was never exposed to the Church of Scientology, because I would have been in some serious trouble if I was. I just do not have the personality for that. 

 Blow Fly is book twelve in the Kay Scarpetta series. In this book, we find Kay living in Florida after having resigned from her office in Virginia and leaving her crime scene home. She is now working as a private forensic consultant, and, as always, the advancements in procedures and technology are interesting to read about and congruent with the time period. I dislike Marino's estranged son, and I dislike Lucy and her shenanagins. A lot of other people who read this series really like Lucy and her tenacity, but I am not one of those. There are things about her character that I appreciate, but I just dislike her. There are a lot of shifting points of view in this book, and I wasn't super wild about that. Kay's suffering about Benton comes to a head, and that whole arc frustrated me to the point that I smacked the book down and didn't pick it back up for a couple of days. It just made me cross. We learned some valuable things about our familiar characters in this book, though, and it was overall a decent read. 

 This is the story of George Jung, a United States citizen who became involved in the drug cartel of Pablo Escobar. He got his start with marijuana before linking up with others in the cocaine business. I have seen this movie a thousand times, but I somehow never realized this was a true story or that there was a book that it was based on. I was so excited to find this one included in the Audible Plus catalogue. This book appeared to be well researched. It was engaging and provided more detail than the film did. I really liked this book a lot.