Books - Book Aid
The Streetbird by Janwillem van de Wetering. Eurocrime 6/10
Books By bookworm on 9/29/2006 12:12 PM
Much as I like Janwillem van de Wetering, this book, The Streetbird [ISBN 1 56947 093 6] is not particularly satisfying. Though the ambience of Amsterdam and the psychological quirkiness is still in abundance, the plot and narrative of this particular novel are just hard work to plough through. Its been a day or two since I finished it, and already I’ve forgotten some key motives and action.
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James Patterson – Cross. Serial murder/Crime fiction 6/10
Books By bookworm on 9/28/2006 2:05 PM
There’s been a lot of hype on TV ads about this new book of James Patterson – Cross [ISBN 0 7553 2315 – 7] which leads to great expectations which are not particularly realised. The Alex Cross novels have been going a long time, and the plots are looking tired round the edges, but this one is a back-in-time Alex Cross and is predictable (as it follows the formula of the previous novels) and not nearly as enjoyable or even scary as it could have been (possibly without the hype).
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Killing the Shadows by Val McDermid. Serial murder/Crime thriller 10/10
Books By bookworm on 9/27/2006 2:23 PM
Val Mc Dermid’s Killing the Shadows [ISBN 0 00 776852 4] has been around a while (2000?) , but has been well worth a re-read . McDermid’s plots are always excellent, and she possesses such expertise in the narrative that you know you will be holding your breath during almost all the chapters wondering what on earth is going to happen next. I’m not over-fond of some of her characters – the males, especially in this book, do seem to be pretty passive, wimpy and truly supportive guys, which is good for role modelling, but not always authentic
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The Memory Box by Margaret Forster Literary Fiction 5/10
Books By bookworm on 9/24/2006 11:45 AM
I found Margaret Forster’s book, the Memory Box [CN 9166] to have an interesting story idea (the Memory Box) strung out into a long book which so attenuates the spare ideas they become too thin to sustain real interest. It may have been much more interesting had the main characters been believable – sympathetic or complex enough to hook the reader into the seriously slow narrative.
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Sam Bourne – The Righteous Men. Mystic Code breaking thriller 6/10
Books By bookworm on 9/23/2006 2:07 PM
The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne [ISBN 0 00 720330 –6] is one of the new genre of religious code-breaking end-of-the-world if it isn’t found out kind of mysteries, but this time is about a sinister serial murderer triggering on information in the Bible related to Jewish and Christian beliefs. It has a similar plot and pace to The Da Vinci Code, where the hero only becomes gradually aware of the mystery and uncovers parts of the story bit by bit as he travels and follows clues.
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Empire State by Henry Porter. Spy thriller 9/10
Books By bookworm on 9/22/2006 2:24 PM
Henry Porter’s spy thriller Empire State [ISBN 0 75285 892 0] is an exciting, multi-faceted, well researched and authentic sounding novel with an excellent plot, and compulsive narrative that pulls you along. The book hits all the current buttons – al Qa’ida, internet espionage and hacking – but there are all kinds of bluffs and double bluffs and pages of red herrings – or are they? The reader is led by the nose backwards and forwards
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The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory. Historical Fiction 7/10
Books By bookworm on 9/21/2006 11:22 AM
Philippa Gregory’s historical fiction novel, The Constant Princess [ISBN 0 00 719031 X] is very much in the same style and period as her previous book The Other Boleyn Girl about Mary Boleyn, Anne’s sister – and this book is about Katherine of Aragon, and covers the same Tudor time period as the previous novel following the life of Henry VIII’s Spanish first wife.
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Stephen Leather – Pay Off. Adventure thriller 7/10.
Books By bookworm on 9/20/2006 6:03 PM
Pay Off by Stephen Leather [ISBN 0 340 92216 8} is in this volume of two stories with The Tunnel Rats - but its no where near as good a read as the Tunnel Rats, though its still a good weekend read. The plot is based on a plan of revenge that doesn’t quite go as planned, and has some good twists which makes for quite scary suspense situations at times. Action moves quickly and Leather’s real narrative strength lies the way he can focus on moving the plot forward so that any incongruities (and there are a couple in this book) are barely noticed.
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Melvyn Bragg – A Place in England . Literary Fiction 6/10
Books By bookworm on 9/18/2006 8:40 AM
A Place in England by Melvyn Bragg [ISBN 0 340 770092 9] is a relaxed, smoothly written account of a place (a village in Cumbria) at a certain time (before and during the second World War) seen through the life of an uneducated young man with ambition. There is little “plot” as such – it’s a lyrical story with few surprises though the characters are nicely drawn, I found it difficult to empathise but felt like an observer of the happenings,
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Jack Higgins – Day of Judgment. Vintage adventure thriller 7/10
Books By bookworm on 9/17/2006 12:56 PM
Day of Judgment by Jack Higgins [ISBN 0 00 222148 9], and now quite vintage (1978) is a typically fluent macho adventure thriller set in post-war Berlin during the cold war period Kennedy was American President –and it does seem now a little dated if only to wonder at the anachronism of the stiff upper lip Major Vaughan the hero.
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A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton. Crime fiction 8/10
Books By bookworm on 9/15/2006 1:10 PM
This, Sue Grafton’s first alphabet Kinsey Millhone thriller [ISBN 0 330 31582 x] is as skilfully written and plotted as the others. They are brilliantly conceived and entertaining and you know that you are in for a challenging detective read. Grafton manages not only to keep the action moving and engaging, but also clothes her characters in real feelings and the narrative and dialogue are cleverly used to focus and move the action
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The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier. Historical Fiction 6/10
Books By bookworm on 9/14/2006 9:06 AM
Tracy Chevalier’s historical novel – The Lady and the Unicorn [ISBN 0 00 714091 6] is a nicely written story of the creation of a work of art – a tapestry. It has an authentic feel of place and activities, though perhaps not entirely of dialogue (though I don’t know how fifteenth century French is articulated in modern English – though I thought perhaps not entirely like this).
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Ingrid Black – The Dark Eye. Crime fiction 9/10
Books By bookworm on 9/13/2006 3:02 PM
The Dark Eye by Ingrid Black [ISBN 0 7553 0704 5] is an original and complex mystery thriller with a chilling atmosphere and brilliant plot. The plot is absolutely full of twists and turns and you just think you know who must have done it when it turns out it couldn’t be. The narrative is well written and has enough detail to fully contextualise without burying the action. The characters are very nicely drawn and are well rounded enough not to make the reader trigger prejudices and cease to care what happens to them.
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AKA Sheila Doyle by Pat Jordan. Crime fiction 8/10
Books By bookworm on 9/9/2006 3:24 PM
Pat Jordan’s AKA Sheila Doyle [ISBN 0 75285 603 0] is a titillating and crowded crime fiction story, which is never particularly convincing, and yet is easy and engaging reading. The plot centres on the fact that the meeting of the main characters acts as catalyst for major changes in both their lives, and the narrative speeds along with the renewed boost this has to their criminal activities
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An English Murder by Cyril Hare. Vintage English Crime Fiction 7/10
Books By bookworm on 9/8/2006 3:15 PM
Cyril Hare’s vintage crime fiction book was published in 1951 in Greenback Penguin and is reminiscent of the vintage greenbacks, with rigid social class structure and a soft-focus picture of the parasitic upper class, with their view of superiority and importance. Many people nowadays look on the period portrayed in these books as some kind of ideal time in English society (as for Christie’s Poirot rather than the more mellow middle class Marple), whatever these views this book encapsulates most of these social contexts as background to the mystery
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Barry N. Malzberg, The Men Inside. Vintage Science Fiction 2/10
Books By bookworm on 9/7/2006 1:26 PM
Barry N. Malzberg’s The Men Inside [ISBN 0 009 912820 9] may well be vintage in age (1973 I think) but it is not one of his best. It really is a one idea book, so the concept is interesting though the presentation of it is drawn out longer than any reader should be subjected to. You can see how Malzberg’s ideas have been used by others, and so this may well be an important book in terms of ideas, but I dunno.
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Anthony Quogan, The Fine Art of Murder. Ageing Crime fiction 4/10
Books By bookworm on 9/6/2006 10:10 AM
The Fine Art of Murder by Anthony Quogan [ISBN 0 333 46324 2] belongs to a (hopefully) disappearing genre of lightweight plotting, flippant writing and seriously myopic amateur sleuthing, put forward for the Agatha Christie [FAILED] award. I did finish it but only because it was unchallenging reading with those thick library book pages and I didn’t want to get up for another book
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The Surgeon by Tess Gerritson. Medical Thriller 8/10
Books By bookworm on 9/5/2006 1:13 PM
The Surgeon [ISBN 0 553 81706] was one of Tess Gerritson’s first thrillers and in my opinion, her best. Good plot and gripping action, this novel hooks you in at the outset and keeps you engaged right up until the hair raising ending. The narrative piles on the suspense as the serial killer hunts his next victim without the police having any real clue as to how this is being achieved.
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Death from the Woods by Brigitte Aubert. Prizewinning Mystery/Thriller fiction 9/10
Books By bookworm on 9/2/2006 11:50 AM
Brigitte Aubert’s Death from the Woods [ISBN 0000000 188142] is translated from the French where it won a major prize. It’s a terrific, scary thriller, that keeps you guessing right up to the end. The plot has a very unusual slant, and it is so well planned that each layer keeps you interested and yet reveals only flashes of the full jigsaw. The story is told first person by a quadriplegic, who can only hear and speculate as to what is going on around her.
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Judgment Calls by Alafair Burke. Crime/courtroom fiction 7/10
Books By bookworm on 9/1/2006 12:29 PM
Judgment Calls was Alafair Burke’s first book [ISBN 0 75285 935 8] daughter of James Lee Burke her work is nowhere near as good as his (yet that is). The plot is adequate though the narrative wavers in parts – stuff keeps popping out from nowhere and sometimes appears like an afterthought. Also some of the courtroom procedure, though obviously entirely authentic, is more than I wished to know when wanting the book to move a little quicker. Having said that, she present good characterisation, and overall has written a good first novel well worth a weekend’s reading.
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The Tunnel Rats by Stephen Leather. Thriller 9/10
Books By bookworm on 8/31/2006 10:28 AM
Stephen Leather’s The Tunnel Rats [ISBN 0 340 92216 8] is one of the Jack Higgins/Frederick Forsyth genre of thriller writing that I usually avoid like the plague – and yet The Tunnel Rats was a really great, absorbing Bank Holiday read. The plot is just ingenious, intriguingly unravelled bit by bit as the narrative tension mounts – the suspense in truly exciting, and when you think you know what is happening, the ante is racked up again.
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Where or When by Anita Shreve. Romantic/Literary Fiction 6/10
Books By bookworm on 8/30/2006 9:39 AM
Anita Shreve’s novel Where or When [ISBN 0 316 906409] is based on a Romeo and Juliet theme, but where Romeo and Juliet part, grow up and then meet again. The story is simple, and the work is in the characterisation and narrative, which is quite powerful – however, though the book works through some universally significant themes to do with the issue breaking a marriage with children for new loves, what is going to happen is never really in doubt to the reader, and is pretty downbeat (which some people love, though I try to avoid).
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The Death Card by Walter Satterthwaite. Murder mystery 6/10
Books By bookworm on 8/28/2006 1:58 PM
Walter Satterthwaite’s The Death Card [ISBN 0 00 232497 0] is a light murder mystery with “laconic wit” set nicely in Santa Fe – so the context is interesting even when the book labours. The plot is quite slight but the narrative is quickly moving and when the detective’s endless questioning of the suspects gets tedious there is another happening to throw more spanners into the plot and give him even more work to
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The Light of Day by Graham Swift. Booker prize winner 6/10
Books By bookworm on 8/27/2006 10:56 AM
Graham Swift’s The Light of Day [ISBN 0 141 01201 3] has the OTT cover crits of a Booker Prize winner “powerful and gripping exploration of ……..integrity and self discovery” “sensational and romantic” “the poetry and the tragedy lurking in ordinary life” etc etc so I was very disappointed in it. The story covers a day in the life of George who is in love with Sarah, and is kept apart from her due to a major crises that happened a year ago.
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The Perfect Husband by Lisa Gardner. Crime fiction 8/10
Books By bookworm on 8/26/2006 10:27 AM
I’m ambivalent about Lisa Gardner’s The Perfect Husband [ISBN 0 75281 430 3] – it has an excellent plot, and the narrative is fast and scary and I must admit I was gripped from beginning to end. However, this is from the stable of the Tami Hoag school of writing, that is gratuitous scenes of high octane titillation between flawed little women who need protection plus large mute strong men with problems - style (funnily enough there is a quote from Tami Hoag on the book cover).
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Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles. Vintage English crime fiction 6/10
Books By bookworm on 8/25/2006 3:17 PM
Francis Iles crime fiction novel Malice Aforethought [ISBN0 75286 478 5] was first published in 1931 and is a book of its time. With the genteel middle class context of Agatha Christie, but without the detective, Malice Aforethought is a nicely woven murder story, where the reader knows the murderer and who he wants to murder from the first page, and then the narrative details the background motivation, characters (and how it was that there weren’t more murders of folks like these appallingly patronising parasites I really don’t know ) and building bricks of acti
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The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly. Crime fiction 6/10
Books By bookworm on 8/24/2006 2:32 PM
Michael Connelly’s courtroom fiction drama The Lincoln Lawyer is cleverly put together: an excellent twisty plot, pretty good characterisation and very expertly contexted in the criminal defence courtroom system of the USA. The narrative has some excellent devices for keeping the reader interested and the writing is literate and fluent. However
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The Devil’s Feather by Minette Walters. Crime thriller 10/10
Books By bookworm on 8/23/2006 1:48 PM
Minette Walters thriller The Devil’s Feather [ISBN 0 330 43648 1] is the best book of hers I have read. The plot is many-layered: overtly simple but deeply considered with psychological turns and twists; the characters complex and well drawn, and the various contexts believable and engaging. But the narrative is key: brilliantly chilling and exciting, breath-holdingly charged with tension.
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Harvest by Tess Gerritson. Medical Thriller 6/10
Books By bookworm on 8/22/2006 11:25 AM
Harvest [ISBN 0 553 81772 –8] was Tess Gerritson’s first thriller and is in the same vein as her others – based on hospitals and medical practice gone wrong – and written with great assurance and expertise given her background. The plot is pretty open – its one where the reader pretty well can work out what is happening near the outset – and then follows the unfolding of the plot to see how and when the baddies are going to get their comeuppance – and indeed – who exactly the baddies are.
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Sea Change by Robert Goddard. Historical mystery fiction 8/10
Books By bookworm on 8/21/2006 12:23 PM
Robert Goddard’s Sea Change [ISBN 0 552 14602 1] is somewhat of a departure for him. The book is set in London just at the time of the financial scandal of the South Sea Bubble – the collapse of a company supporting a fraudulent major funding scheme bought into by the rich and important. The plot takes this context and a range of real historical characters and weaves and enthralling story around the various attempts to hush up the scandal, bring “culprits” to justice and avoid threat to the crown
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The Rattle Rat by Jan Willem van de Wetering. Vintage Eurocrime 7/10
Books By bookworm on 8/20/2006 3:12 PM
Jan Willem Van de Wetering’s The Rattle Rat [ISBN 0 345 32872 8] is one of the series of books featuring the Amsterdam Murder Squad policemen, de Gier, Grijpstra and the Commisaris – delightful, quirky detective stories, of which this one is one of the quirkiest. The plot is based around the context of the regional differences between Frieslanders and the rest of the Netherlands
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The Drowning Man by Michael Robotham. Crime Fiction 9/10
Books By bookworm on 8/19/2006 2:22 PM
The Drowning Man by Michael Robotham [ISBN 0 7515 3478 1] is an excellent read, and grips the reader from the outset. The plot is cleverly set up at the outset and even though the mechanics of denouement and elucidation seem a little contrived, the narrative is so well written, with such believable characterisations and events that the reader is just swept along to the next thrilling action.
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Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Literary Fiction. Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year. 6/10
Books By bookworm on 8/18/2006 12:18 PM
David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas [ISBN 0 340 82278 3] was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize AND chosen for Best Read of the Year by Richard & Judy, though I do doubt whether they both read it cover to cover. The novel consists of a series of narratives from different time frames and situations, the stories are quite fascinating and interesting in their own right, but inconclusive. The narratives do not build on each other, but rather refer in a fragmentary or elided way at each other
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Map of Bones by James Rollins. Grail-type search thriller 8/10
Books By bookworm on 8/16/2006 2:39 PM
James Rollins’ Map of Bones [ISBN 7528 8121 3] is as much an Armageddon-type thriller, and its not about searching for a Grail, but it has so much in common with recent religious-based novels that are, that I automatically categorised it as such. It is reminiscent of so many other beat the baddies religious search books, that I was surprised to find it such a well-written and researched read.
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We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver Orange Prize for Fiction winner 2005 10/10
Books By bookworm on 8/15/2006 12:10 PM
I don’t give Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk about Kevin [ISBN 1 85242 467 2] top marks because I enjoyed it. It is harrowing, traumatising for parents, soul-strippingly analytical about whose is the blame for the misdemeanours of our children. How much fault is with the parent and their upbringing and how much the innate evil of the child is the heart of the book
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We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver Orange Prize for Fiction winner 2005 10/10
Books By bookworm on 8/15/2006 12:10 PM
I don’t give Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk about Kevin [ISBN 1 85242 467 2] top marks because I enjoyed it. It is harrowing, traumatising for parents, soul-strippingly analytical about whose is the blame for the misdemeanours of our children. How much fault is with the parent and their upbringing and how much the innate evil of the child is the heart of the book
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Reg Gadney, Mother, Son & Holy Ghost. Thriller 5/10
Books By bookworm on 8/14/2006 1:12 PM
Mother, Son and Holy Ghost by Reg Gadney [ISBN 0 571 19528 8] is a religious sect world conspiracy novel and certainly gets an A for boys own adventure stuff, but not much for sophistication of plot and ideas. One jacket blurb says that books of this kind need to be believable and this one is obviously thought to be so by the particular critic. I have to disagree
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Michele Roberts In the Red Kitchen Literary Fiction/Mystery 6/10
Books By bookworm on 8/13/2006 2:38 PM
Michele Roberts In the Red Kitchen [ISBN 0 7493 9115 4] is a winner of the WH Smith Literary Award. I do wonder why literary fiction winners feel they have to write such patchwork narrative – perhaps its because you can’t win a prize without a pretentious chopped up narrative (or possible not a recognisable narrative at all for the purists) – just a good story is no longer any good, it seems. In the Red Kitchen combines four stories of women that not only tell their own story, but in a strange contrived way also tried to knit them together in some common themes and aspects of their lives
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Henning Mankell – The Return of the Dancing Master. Crime fiction 10/10
Books By bookworm on 8/11/2006 1:27 PM
The Return of the Dancing Master is a crime fiction novel by Henning Mankell [ISBN 0 099 45546 3] again, translated from the Swedish, and is a masterpiece of suspense. The plot is exceptionally well conceived, events illuminating the plot are dribbled cleverly almost page by page, and even a second narrative of the killer hides many surprises that are revealed only sparingly
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Shena McKay – The Orchard on Fire. Literary fiction/Booker shortlist 9/10
Books By bookworm on 8/6/2006 12:38 PM
The Orchard on Fire by Shena MacKay is a deceptively slight account of a girl’s childhood in the 1950s. It is fiction but reads like biography, and is touching and eloquent, written in the child’s voice, but with aware undertones that the child has of the adult world and its sleaziness and unpleasant and often violent impinging onto childhood experience
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The Villa of Mysteries by David Hewson Crime fiction 8/10
Books By bookworm on 8/5/2006 11:06 AM
David Hewson’s the Villa of Mysteries [ISBN0 330 49365 5] is (I think) the second in his series of crime fiction novels set in Rome and featuring Falcone, Peroni and Costa, the policemen from the Questura. The Italian context is richly enjoyable and his descriptions of Rome realistic and immediate, and this is an excellent setting for a fairly astonishing but nonetheless gripping plot......
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The Death Collectors by Jack Kerley. Crime fiction 5/10
Books By bookworm on 8/4/2006 10:42 AM
Jack Kerley’s crime fiction book The Death Collectors [ISBN 0 00 720120 6] starts with loads of promise – the plot seems to be interesting and challenging, the narrative, as usual with Jack Kerley, easily readable and flowing, but the book begins to sag in the middle and you wonder where it is going
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The Death Collectors by Jack Kerley. Crime fiction 5/10
Books By bookworm on 8/3/2006 8:21 AM
Jack Kerley’s crime fiction book The Death Collectors [ISBN 0 00 720120 6] starts with loads of promise – the plot seems to be interesting and challenging, the narrative, as usual with Jack Kerley, easily readable and flowing, but the book begins to sag in the middle and you wonder where it is going – it never really gets back on any credible track.
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Forget me not by Mandasue Heller. Crime fiction 7/10
Books By bookworm on 8/2/2006 12:26 PM
Mandasue Heller’s crime fiction book Forget me not [ISBN 0 340 92320 2] is a pretty creepy story about a psychopathic serial killer. The overall context and dialogue is authentic and the book nicely plotted with a page-turning narrative
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Dennis Wheatley – The Eunuch of Stamboul. Vintage Mystery Adventure fiction 7/10
Books By bookworm on 8/1/2006 5:23 PM
I have never read this vintage novel “The Eunuch of Stamboul” by Dennis Wheatley before, and I found it absolutely fascinating and of its time. It’s a spy story set in Constantinople (Istanbul) in the 30’s. There is much interesting background of the history of Turkey and the impact of Mustapha Kemal (he called himself Kemal Ata Turk) who secularised the Islamic Turkey.
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Alex Kava – At the Stroke of Madness. Crime thriller 7/10
Books By bookworm on 7/30/2006 9:10 AM
At the Stroke of Madness by Alex Kava [ISBN 077832055 3] is a tightly plotted and well written tension-holding book, somewhat gruesome in the mould of forensic-detail psychological thrillers. The book begins with two strands of the story – a woman meeting a man late at night in scary circumstances – and disappearing
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Hard Landing by Lynne Heitman. Crime fiction 7/10
Books By bookworm on 7/29/2006 2:37 PM
Lynne Heitman’s Hard Landing [ISBN0708809529] is a very good read. Not only is the plot excellent with some subtle twists, but also the context (an airline at Boston’s Logan Airport) is quite fascinating (if horrifying – thinking such things are happening behind the scenes at an airport is scary). The narrative grips the reader and hooks one into the plot, and the characterisations are very well drawn through the narrative without scads of descriptive prose
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Due Diligence by Grant Sutherland. Crime fiction 8/10
Books By bookworm on 7/28/2006 3:02 PM
Grant Sutherland’s Due Diligence [ISBN 0 7472 5693 4] is a gripping and engrossing story. The plot is clever and sustains interest throughout the book –overtly, the main subject – financial shenanigans at high level in a bank – is not riveting, but, this author really makes it a page-turner.
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Incidents in the Rue Laugier by Anita Brookner. Literary Fiction 6/10
Books By bookworm on 7/26/2006 8:46 AM
Incidents in the Rue Laugier by Anita Brookner [ISBN 0 224 04124 X] is a well written, low-key story of youthful relationships, of love, marriage and growing up. The storyline is follows the life of Maud Gonthier, expected by here mother to make a good marriage
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Bleedout by Joan Brady. Crime thriller 8/10
Books By bookworm on 7/25/2006 2:57 PM
Bleedout by Joan Brady [ISBN 0 7432 6841 5] is a nicely written, fast paced thriller, with an excellent plot, that keeps you guessing right up to the end. There are two narratives – a historical past record and a current happenings – and though this device can be bitty, it is planned very well for information to be dripped into the plot at the right time.
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