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What Came Before He Shot Her by Elizabeth George. British Crime fiction 10/10 |
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By bookworm on
5/28/2008 11:50 AM
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Elizabeth George just gets better and better, this latest novel What Came Before He Shot Her [ISBN 978 0 340 93557 6] is quite remarkable. Telling a quite heartbreaking story of the life of an innocent young boy trying, even through the most chaotic of lifestyles, to protect his vulnerable brother for the tough life, and the problems this leads him into. The characters draw you in, the narrative is tight and compelling, and the reader is led into knowing about lives and ways of living few will have realised.
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What Came Before He Shot Her by Elizabeth George. British Crime fiction 10/10 |
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By bookworm on
5/28/2008 11:50 AM
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Elizabeth George just gets better and better, this latest novel What Came Before He Shot Her [ISBN 978 0 340 93557 6] is quite remarkable. Telling a quite heartbreaking story of the life of an innocent young boy trying, even through the most chaotic of lifestyles, to protect his vulnerable brother for the tough life, and the problems this leads him into. The characters draw you in, the narrative is tight and compelling, and the reader is led into knowing about lives and ways of living few will have realised.
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Never Say Die by Tess Gerritson. American Mystery fiction 8/10 |
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By bookworm on
5/27/2008 1:52 PM
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Tess Gerritson’s novel Never Say Die [ISBN 13 978 0 7783 0114 1 ] has a different kind of story line – a daughter searching for her father lost in Vietnam – and so gives an unusual interest and twist to the tale of skulduggery and political underhandedness. Characterisations are reasonable and the developing relationship between the two main characters adds a frisson of interest, but Gerritson never allows it to sideline the plot.
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Dead Heat by Caroline Carver. Crime fiction 7/10 |
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By bookworm on
5/25/2008 10:34 AM
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Carolyn Carver’s novel set in Australia, Dead Heat [ISBN 0 75285 917 X] has a fair plot with many twists and turns which makes for a pretty complex kind of process – and the narrative reveals terrifying ordeal after ordeal for our hapless heroine. Its another of those relentless books that never allows you to take a breath. Deep characterisations often get in the way of a pacy read, and that is probably why I don’t now remember much about them.
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Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell. American Crime fiction 2/10 |
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By bookworm on
5/24/2008 2:44 PM
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I cannot give Patricia Cornwell’s novel Book of the Dead [ISBN 976 0 7515 3405 4] any higher score than this as I did not get past chapter three and a half – and I’d already lost the will to live with the complexities built into the plot. Cornwell has had so much happening in each of her books that the need to put even more complications and bizarre personal happenings gets greater each time. I skipped along to find out what happened and still didn’t have a clue when I knew who did it.
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From Heaven Lake by Vikram Seth. Travel non-fiction 8/10 |
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By bookworm on
5/23/2008 2:30 PM
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Written about a journey taken in the summer of 1981, From Heaven Lake by Vikram Seth [ISBNB 07089 1290 7] tells of his journey from Nanjing to Delhi. It is a fascinating account of the politics and problems of the region, and does not sound so very different than it would do now, I feel.
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Uninvited by Richard House. Noir Literary fiction 5/10 |
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By bookworm on
5/21/2008 8:46 AM
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It is certainly true to say that Uninvited by Richard House [ISBN 1 85242 785 5] is well almost evocatively written, though it is a bleak, depressing and unrelieved view of an urban lifestyle of a gay man on the breadline and without much of a chance to rise above it (or even the aspiration). The central character’s life starts and ends in the same uncertain place.
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Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult. American literary fiction 8/10 |
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By bookworm on
5/20/2008 5:22 PM
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Jodi Picoult specialises in books written around dilemmas and deep issues, and I have found her sometimes tedious when an issue is stretched beyond its elastic point. However, Plain Truth [ISBN 0 340 83547 8] is much better than some – it is not just suspenseful with a central mystery but the context – it is set in the Amish Community in Pennsylvania – makes it an interesting and absorbing read.
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Savage Moon by Chris Simms. British crime fiction 6/10 |
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By bookworm on
5/15/2008 6:36 PM
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I would have given Savage Moon – this crime fiction novel by Chris Simms [ISBN 978 0 75288 930 6] a much higher score had I found the plot outcome just a little more believable. Not that this matters for most of the book as the story is so very well put together – the suspense is held through a skilful narrative and police procedural. I did, however, find the hero’s wife’s post natal depression interfering with the investigation really annoying – which all goes to show how well the characterisations were put together.
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