Precious Blood by Jonathan Hayes. Crime thriller 6/10
Jonathan Hayes’ thriller Precious Blood [ISBM 978 0 0995 1754 2] is not for the squeamish, and, to be truthful, it’s a little too gruesome for me – and the plot is much too fanciful, though I understand authors try to outdo their predecessors, but this does not make for brilliant reading. So, the plot is much too complex in order to explain the gruesome stuff, the characters pretty weak – and not as bright as you wanted them to be, and the narrative which is quite pacy has to make up for the problems with the other stuff.
Faceless by Martina Cole. Gritty fiction 4/10
I wouldn’t recommend Martina Cole’s Faceless [ISBN 978 – 0-7553-3753-8] to anyone wanting cheering up or generally lifting – the jacket blub says her book is about ”violence and corruption” and “the shady criminal underworld – a setting she is fast making her own”. What this doesn’t say is that the characters are the most unpleasant lot you have ever had portrayed in a novel. Rather, the women are all nasty, sleazy, obnoxious bullies, whose families hate them (and we can see why) and the men are equally repulsive, but as they are the bullied and badly-done to, are allowed a glimmer or two of nearly human behaviour. I didn’t care a jot about any of them. In fact, I don’t know why I bothered to finish it.
A Line in the Sand by Gerald Seymour. Spy/Adventure 10/10
A Line in the Sand by Gerald Seymour [ISBN 978 0 552 15878 7] is so well written it should have won a prize instead of the many tedious books that do win. Why ? It’s a strong story line, with a brilliant narrative that makes the reader keep on reading to find out what will happen – and cleverly set up so the reader’s sympathy swings from side to side, whatever the starting point. Characters develop well over the book , and our hero has more warts than most by the time the book ends.
All the Colours of Darkness by Peter Robinson. British police procedural 8/10
This is the latest in the Chief Inspector Banks series, and his character seems to be tiring Robinson – Banks is strung out, attenuated, thin and lacking in focus – know how he feels, but its got so that I can feel very irritated with him and his lacklustre lovelife and choice of music that clearly is meant to be esoteric and I just wish he didn’t make such a big deal of it and get onto the plot. Like you feel like by reading this preparatory drivel. Having said that the plot is good and the narrative is nicely planned to keep you reading through Robinson’s usual thick (in width) novels.
Keep me close by Clare Francis. Crime Fiction 8/10
Keep me close by Clare Francis is a well-plotted novel: the narrative has a nicely planned tempo that builds well and keeps the reader interested. The build up of suspense is excellent with the putative baddy changing in the reader’s mind chapter by chapter.
The Garden of Evil by David Hewson. Crime fiction 9/10
The Garden of Evil by David Hewson. Crime fiction 9/10
I really like the Rome settings of Hewson’s crime fiction novels, so atmospheric and different. His characters are not bad, though his story lines are somewhat stretched at time, and this one is too, but nonetheless a good, exciting read. The Garden of Evil is well put together, lots of suspense, no fancy narrative splitting stuff and not a bad plot. A woman art expert is found dead
Careless in Red by Elizabeth George. Inspector Lynley Crime fiction 8/10
Elizabeth George’s detective Thomas (Lord) Lynley has come a long way from the early days with the painfully manufacture British background appeared as the under researched and over-Britished beloved of the Americans, with creaky stories and wooden posh characters. Mind you, though the characters have deepened, they haven’t become entirely believable
The Hidden Assassins by Robert Wilson. Javier Falcon Thriller 10/10
I’ve not written a book blog since November – after three years of almost daily blogs I had a reader’s crisis, a wasteland of thin “bestsellers” so bad that I never felt like writing about them. Except for Robert Wilson – this is the third Javier Falcon thriller I have read and will track them all down. Set in Saville, these atmospheric, brilliantly plotted books are so very good
Kennedy’s Brain by Henning Mankell. Issue-focussed mystery/crime fiction 6/10
Henning Mankell’s novel Kennedy’s Brain [ISBN 978 1 846 55030 0] is disappointing – after the wonderful series of Kurt Wallender novels he then wrote the very strange Depths – and even though this is not on the same bookshelf as that weird book, it still is quite difficult to get into. It has a very tangential way of getting into its subject – Aids in Africa, obviously Mankells major interest – but a highly convoluted plot knit with layers of mysterious happenings set up the reader for some answers that never really arrive.
Sign of the Cross by Chris Kuzneski. Grail-type search & boys own adventure meets Enid Blyton 5/10
You have to give these Dan Brown writealikes credit for trying, but not too much. Sign of the Cross by Chris Kuzneski [ISBN 978 0 141 03084 5] has the same formula as usual, mysterious artefacts, hidden messages, baddies trying to stop them finding stuff, gratuitous violence etc etc, but does not have the research and scholarship of many of them. In addition to this also has some of the most risible dialogue for the “English” professor I have ever read (Goodness gracious, I’m flummoxed). In fact you can almost tell what its like to listen in class to English teacher Kuzneski “No verb without an expressive adverb or two no noun without obscure adjectives, and as many words in a sentence you can get away with.” After all that the plot is OK.
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