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The Sergeant’s Cat and other Stories by Janwillem van de Wetering. Fiction 8/10 |
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By bookworm on
10/31/2006 12:48 PM
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The jacket blurbs on The Sergeant’s Cat and other Stories by Janwillem van de Wetering [ISBN 0 345 32873 6] say it all “Once you’re hooked, there is nothing quite like it” and my favourite “He is doing what Simenon might have done if Albert Camus has sublet his skull”. This is a surreal mixture of light crime fiction and wish fulfilment stories fuelled from his wide travel and life experience
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E is for Evidence by Sue Grafton. Crime thriller 8/10 |
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By bookworm on
10/30/2006 6:36 PM
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Another one of my backlog of Sue Grafton’s Alphabet crime series featuring Kinsey Millhone, E is for Evidence [ISBN 0 330 44671-1] is as good as usual. This one has a quick start and a nicely paced narrative, with a lot of red-herring and clue-packed action interspersed.
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The Weekenders: Travels in the Heart of Africa. Short fiction stories about Somalia. 5/10 |
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By bookworm on
10/29/2006 7:27 PM
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This book, The Weekenders [ISBN 0 9418 8180 –3] is a book containing a series of fiction short stories set in Africa, but mainly focussing on the various troubles in Sudan , written by a number of famous mixed-genre authors (Alex Garland, WF Deedes, Giles Foden, Victoria Glendinning etc). The stories come over as a mixture of political crime fiction and gritty travel writing, which is not always convincing and often boring
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Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton. Crime thriller 8/10 |
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By bookworm on
10/28/2006 1:59 PM
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Consistently good, Sue Grafton’s Q is for Quarry is one of the alphabet series of novels [ISBN 0 330 48833 3] featuring Private eye Kinsey Mulhone. The plot is typically convoluted and tight, with all kinds of twist and turns – but in this one suspense is elongated by having lots of action yet few findings in the first part of the book – what this does is to throw in the few clues and background information
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Laura Lippman – The Last Place. Detective thriller 9/10 |
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By bookworm on
10/27/2006 2:55 PM
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The Last Place, the detective thriller by Laura Lippman [ISBN 0 75284 259 5] featuring her excellent PI Tess Monaghan is a really good read. The plot is quite tricky and keeps you guessing, the appropriacy of context and place giving a sense of a city community, and the romantic-novel feel to her relationships make this a high scoring book for me.
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D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton. Crime thriller 8/10 |
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By bookworm on
10/26/2006 3:08 PM
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You, like me might have missed the early Sue Grafton books of this series but I’m now systematically reading through them and finding it a great pleasure. D is for Deadbeat [ISBN 13: 978-0-330-44671-6] featuring the PI Kinsey Mulhone has a great plot, superbly written and very fast-moving and addictive.
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Faith by Peter James. Thriller 9/10 |
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By bookworm on
10/25/2006 9:24 AM
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Peter James’s novel Faith [ISBN 0 75283 711 7] is a book about obsession, and from the outset we know that there is going to be no good outcome from this – but we become drawn into the story. A terrific, believable, plot, and a narrative that cranks up chapter by chapter, interspersed with flashback accounts. The characterisations are excellent, and the portrait of obsessive love particularly well presented and drawn
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Call after Midnight by Tess Gerritson. Spy thriller 7/10 |
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By bookworm on
10/24/2006 9:18 AM
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Tess Gerritson’s spy thriller Call After Midnight [ISBN 0 7783 007 9] is quite different from other books of hers that I’ve read which have focussed mainly on forensic issues, perhaps this early book was when she was finding her metier. It’s a spy story with a pretty good plot, and a pacy narrative with lots of suspense, and fairish characterisations
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The Soldier’s Return by Melvyn Bragg. Literary Fiction 7/10 |
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By bookworm on
10/23/2006 11:57 AM
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Melvyn Bragg’s literary novel The Soldier’s Return [ISBN 0 340 75101 0] has a row of rather OTT jacket crits that I felt were a little more than this book deserved and could well have come from his friends in the media! Perhaps its because he is so well known, but one could not believe than an unknown would necessarily had this novel published. Is this unkind ?
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Sunset Express by Robert Crais. Crime fiction 9/10 |
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By bookworm on
10/22/2006 3:24 PM
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I could have sworn that I’d read all Robert Crais’ novels, but I hadn’t read this one before. An early PI Elvis Cole novel, Sunset Express [ISBN 0 75282 753 7] has an excellent clear, strong plot with a readable and well-written narrative style that just pulls you along. Characterisations are very good too. Reminiscent of the toughy Robert B Parker though Crais has a style of his own, if you haven’t read this book, see if you can get it !
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