Books - Book Aid
Nine Lives by Frank Lean. Crime Fiction 7/10
Books By bookworm on 11/28/2006 6:05 PM
Frank Lean’s Nine Lives [ISBN 0 7493 1679 9] is another case by the Manchester Detective Dave Cunane. Overall its rather too clever for its own good, the twists and turns of the plot were so numerous the reader gets left behind if the book gets put down for a minute. However, the plot is not bad if not entirely believable (!) but in crime fiction one rarely worries about reality. The narrative zips about so one is aware of many threads and concurrent action that at some time will be knit together
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Long Lost by David Morrell. Mystery thriller 8/10
Books By bookworm on 11/27/2006 1:36 PM
David Morell’s thriller Long Lost [ISBN 0 7553 3493 0] is a nail biting read. The plot is tight and the narrative is a masterful example of fast-moving, well-planned suspense building up to a heart-stopping climax – the characterisations aren’t brilliant, but drawn well enough to support the plot.
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Just a Corpse at Twilight by Janwillem Van de Wetering. Idiosyncratic Eurocrime 6/10
Books By bookworm on 11/23/2006 11:20 AM
Janwillem Van de Wetering’s novel Just a Corpse at Twilight [ISBN 1 56947 016 2} is a quite late is his series of his Grijpstra and DeGier mysteries – where the two policemen are now retired (supposedly on the profits from crime they found). The book is idiosyncratic, to say the least – the plot is not particularly strong, and the strange behaviours of his ex-policemen are even more strange than I remember from his last novel.
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Death of a Dutchman by Magdalen Nabb. Mystery crime fiction 8/10
Books By bookworm on 11/22/2006 1:24 PM
Magdalen Nabb’s Death of a Dutchman [ISBN 0 09 848991 0] is a quite early book (written in 1982) in her Marshal Guarnaccia series, and is as pleasurable to read as the others in the series I have read. Wonderfully atmospheric, set in Florence, Guarnaccia is a Marshal in the Carabinieri –(though the intricacies of the roles of the different police forces escape me, it does mean that he is not able to investigate some crimes) –
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Midas by Russell Andrews. Political conspiracy thriller 7/10
Books By bookworm on 11/18/2006 3:16 PM
Russell Andrews’ political thriller Midas [ISBN 0 7517 3466 8] is really quite a good read if you can suspend your disbelief at some of the devices he uses to solve his plot problems – it’s a brilliant way of dealing with stuff you don’t understand yourself. The plot, given my provisos, is OK, up to date Al Qeda lookalike, deep and dark machinations led by don’t have a clue until near the end folks.
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Almost Blue by Carlo Lucarelli . Eurocrime 10/10
Books By bookworm on 11/16/2006 1:52 PM
Carlo Lucarelli’s thriller Almost Blue, translated from the Italian by Oonagh Stransky [ISBN 0 099 45943 4] is so good I didn’t want to finish it. It is also so scary that I left it at the tension point to leave for the next day – something I rarely do. This was his first novel to be translated into English, but I bet it will be one of many - I have read at least one other.
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Dead Simple by Peter James. Mystery/crime thriller 6/10
Books By bookworm on 11/13/2006 9:01 PM
Peter James’s novel Dead Simple [ISBN 1 4050 5163 9] has a series of excellent ideas – good plot, good beginning, suspenseful and engaging narrative, thrilling action – but I have to say that altogether they just didn’t work for me. The action seemed to stall and take too long to get going, and it was easy to just get bored and wish something would happen whether positive or negative. The ending is pretty well conceived but by the time I got to it I didn’t appreciate it as much as I would have done with a much slicker and tauter narrative.
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Internal Affair by Marie Ferrarella. Romantic Crime fiction 7/10
Books By bookworm on 11/10/2006 1:40 PM
Marie Ferrarella’s novel Internal Affair [ISBN 0 373 60289 8] is from the Tami Hoag & Nora Robb school of titillating crime fiction. You know the drill: strong silent male, handsome but dismissive of heroine who is devastatingly blonde or similar, intelligent, and beddable. Hero and heroine have to work together to solve crime(s) and hero spurns heroine because of deep wounds to his psyche. Until at some stage he gives in and fireworks result (this is lucky because by then the reader is getting browned off waiting for it to happen and then the book can continue)
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The Gardens of the Dead by William Brodrick Mystery thriller 6/10
Books By bookworm on 11/9/2006 12:24 PM
William Brodrick is author of the Sixth Lamentation bestseller, though this novel, The Gardens of the Dead [ISBN 0 316-72466 –1] is not really in the same class (but I didn’t rate that too highly anyway !) The plot is very convoluted, and just when you think you are beginning to understand what is happening, things change again. This is usually a really good feature, but the information being revealed at each stage is pretty trivial –and what’s more, designed to put you off and delay you, not to tempt and interest the reader
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P is for Peril by Sue Grafton. Crime thriller 8/10
Books By bookworm on 11/8/2006 2:35 PM
Another in Sue Grafton’s consistently excellent alphabet crime series, P is for Peril [ISBN 0 330 37196 7] is as good as the rest. In fact, I think its probably one of the best ones. The plot is deceptively simple, but it has many clever twists and turns, characterisations of the PI and friends continue to be pleasurably constant book to book, and age and develop beautifully, whilst the narrative with its cynical humour and brisk lack of sentiment continues to delight
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Half Light by Frances Fyfield. Psychological thriller 3/10
Books By bookworm on 11/7/2006 1:04 PM
Frances Fyfield’s psychological thriller Half Light [ISBN 0 7515 3237 1] was a great disappointment. The plot suffers from too little room for action – or perhaps the narrative is so badly strung together that the movement forward in the plot seems interminable. The strange assortment of unlikeable, mentally unbalanced and selfish characters failed to convince me, and altogether I lost the will to live and had to read the ending so I could finish it.
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lost boy lost girl by Peter Straub. Supernatural type thriller 4/10
Books By bookworm on 11/6/2006 12:53 PM
Peter Straub’s supernatural novel lost boy lost girl [ISBN 0 00 714230 7] was a great disappointment to me – not realising his genre (I’m supposing that he regularly puts psychic stuff in his novels) I thought that this was a standard thriller. Its starts fairly well, (though early on there is clear indication of its credentials with a spirit manifestation) though the plot is overall pretty straightforward the narrative is so chopped about in its time frames the reader is always kept wondering exactly when things happened.
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A Walk in the Dark by Gianrico Carofiglio. Eurocrime 8/10
Books By bookworm on 11/3/2006 1:46 PM
Gianrico Carofiglio’s A Walk in the Dark [ISBN 1 904738 17 6] superbly translated from the Italian by Howard Curtis is an atmospheric and sensitive eurocrime novel. The plot is quite simple, but it is the atmospheric and compelling context of the Italian legal system together with the depth of analysis of the characters’ motivations and thoughts, which make this a most pleasurably literate and intelligent read.
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Heartbreaker by Robert Ferrigno. Crime Fiction 7/10
Books By bookworm on 11/2/2006 4:15 PM
Robert Ferrigno’s novel Heartbreaker [ISBN 0 09 945179 4] is a tough, edgy, often violent and quite compelling read, though the primary story of the scary pursuit of the hero does appear to be rather clumsily bolted onto another story with the strangest of circumstances. The narrative is fast and pacy, and if you like a brutal edge to your crime thrillers, this is for you, though to be truthful, I could have done with less of the description and liked the book more
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F is for Fugitive by Sue Grafton. Crime thriller 8/10
Books By bookworm on 11/1/2006 1:17 PM
Continuing my Sue Grafton backlog marathon I’ve been reading F is for Fugitive [ISBN 0 330 44671-1] which has the same kind of plot as the last two (investigation of something that happened many years before along with all the attendant problems) but still appears entirely fresh to this reader, though its much easier to compare when three are read within 4 days.
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The Sergeant’s Cat and other Stories by Janwillem van de Wetering. Fiction 8/10
Books By bookworm on 10/31/2006 12:48 PM
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
Books By bookworm on 10/30/2006 6:36 PM
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
Books By bookworm on 10/29/2006 7:27 PM
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
Books By bookworm on 10/28/2006 1:59 PM
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
Books By bookworm on 10/27/2006 2:55 PM
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
Books By bookworm on 10/26/2006 3:08 PM
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
Books By bookworm on 10/25/2006 9:24 AM
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
Books By bookworm on 10/24/2006 9:18 AM
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
Books By bookworm on 10/23/2006 11:57 AM
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
Books By bookworm on 10/22/2006 3:24 PM
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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Union Jack by V.L. McDermid. Crime fiction 7/10
Books By bookworm on 10/21/2006 1:38 PM
Val McDermid’s quite early novel Union Jack[ISBN 0 00 775506 6] features her PI Lindsay Gordon. I’m ambivalent about this book – the context and plot – based on happenings at a union conference after merger of a print and journalists’ unions – come over as authentic and relevant – and its obvious that McDermid has been there and done that many times – she peoples the novel with the most bitchy and competitive folk (so like unions at the top we feel).
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Alexander McCall Smith – Blue Shoes and Happiness. Light crime fiction 6/10
Books By bookworm on 10/18/2006 9:06 AM
Blues Shoes and Happiness [CN 145062] in the latest book in Alexander McCall Smith’s famous No1 Ladies Detective Agency Series, set in Botswana and featuring Mma Ramotswe. Much in the easy and sympathetic style of the others – its just like the latest chapter in this African story, dealing with a series of small issues that are the very stuff of life.
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The Reluctant Investigator by Frank Lean. Detective fiction/serial murders 5/10
Books By bookworm on 10/15/2006 2:01 PM
Frank Lean’s crime fiction novel The Reluctant Investigator [ISBN 0 7493 2180 6] is the first book I’ve read of this writer, and I do welcome a new British author –especially one using the north as his canvas (not that Manchester is so very north in the scheme of things but action did cover quite a lot of northern territory). However, it is not a brilliant read: the plot is passable, and the context is good, and the narrative does keep the reader going forward with questions and queries, but
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Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan. Science fiction 10/10
Books By bookworm on 10/12/2006 12:52 PM
Richard Morgan’s Altered Carbon [ISBN 0 57508 390 x) is the best science fiction book I have read in 20 years. For once I agree with every one of the jacket crits – an astonishing first novel – completely blown away – addictive and bone crunchingly in your face …etc (bone crunching ? perhaps not). The book is full of ideas and speculative science, the plot is brilliant, and the narrative starts off fast and then takes off. I found myself holding my breath for whole pages. This might be a first novel, but I will be reading whatever he writes. It’s a kind of amalgam of cyperpunk
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Perfectly Pure and Good by Frances Fyfield. Crime fiction 8/10
Books By bookworm on 10/11/2006 11:06 AM
Frances Fyfield’s crime fiction novel, Perfectly Pure and Good [ISBN 0 7515 3431 5] is an excellently written book, about 12 years old now, but still a readable and together book. The plot is intricate and deceptively straightforward – several times we think we understand what is going on, only to find we don’t really – the narrative hooks the reader in as the initial catalyst sets of a chain of happenings.
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My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Literary Fiction 7/10
Books By bookworm on 10/10/2006 1:17 PM
Jodi Picoult’s novel My Sister’s Keeper [ISBN 0 340 83546 x] was a Ruchard and Judy choice, and you can see why. Typical Picoult the novel explores an emotional and moral dilemma. Sara and Brian had a third child created through genetic engineering of the embryo to be compatible with their second child, Kate who has genetically-based aggressive leukaemia and needed a compatible tissue match for bone marrow transplant
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Sue Grafton – I is for Innocent. Murder mystery 7/10
Books By bookworm on 10/9/2006 1:14 PM
I is for Innocent is one of Sue Grafton’s famous alphabet series murder mystery novels featuring her private detective Kinsey Millhone. It has her usual excellent plot – with several clever twists before the end, and a really good scary climax. Grafton also manages to make her main characters interesting as well as likeable, and well rounded as well, without spending too much energy on building up the descriptive background to behaviours, but managing to deliver a great deal in choice of language and great dialogue
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The Island by Victoria Hislop. Literary fiction 8/10
Books By bookworm on 10/7/2006 2:28 PM
Victoria Hislop’s novel The Island [ISBN 0 7553 0951 0] is a nicely readable story that rewards the reader with depths of emotional and historical information as well as a sensitive background to Crete at a moment in its history. The story engages the reader who becomes involved in finding out the mystery behind the central character’s family lives, and the shameful reason for the secrets
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The Pure in Heart by Susan Hill. Murder mystery 5/10
Books By bookworm on 10/6/2006 1:18 PM
Susan Hill’s murder fiction [ISBN 978 0 099 46210 1] is a substantial book (though probably about 25% too long). It has a very loose plot which is without resolution, a quite fast-paced narrative – which leads the reader to expect more of the plot – and in-depth characterisations of a family with a strange set of interrelationships and personalities which make you less than concerned about hearing any more about their phobias and problems.
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The Pure in Heart by Susan Hill. Murder mystery 5/10
Books By bookworm on 10/5/2006 1:17 PM
Susan Hill’s murder fiction [ISBN 978 0 099 46210 1] is a substantial book (though probably about 25% too long). It has a very loose plot which is without resolution, a quite fast-paced narrative – which leads the reader to expect more of the plot – and in-depth characterisations of a family with a strange set of interrelationships and personalities which make you less than concerned about hearing any more about their phobias and problems.
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The Lighthouse by P.D. James. Murder mystery 8/10
Books By bookworm on 10/4/2006 11:43 AM
P.D. James’s The Lighthouse [ISBN 0 571 22918 2] is similar in style and feel to her other books – again a case for Adam Dalgliesh and his sidekicks. As most of P.D. James’s books, this has an intricate plot, with clues and red-herrings strung through it, it has a good descriptive feel and a steady narrative – not fast paced, but eked out dribble by dribble with lots of characterisation and typical police interviews giving little or no information.
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Robert Ludlum’s The Moscow Vector. Post cold war spy/adventure story 8/10
Books By bookworm on 10/3/2006 1:18 PM
The Moscow Vector,[ISBN 0 7528 7689 9] is another of Robert Ludlum’s successful formula of boys own adventure comics meet Armageddon kind of story. Even though I really don’t like the genre, I must admit that he is a great story writer and can keep a reader pretty well stuck to the page EVEN when the plot is clearly OTT and much of the trappings of the story not necessarily believable even after an evening drink or two
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The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez Trans from Spanish/ Mystery murder 7/10
Books By bookworm on 10/2/2006 12:23 PM
Guillermo Martinez’s intellectual mathematical-puzzle serial murder mystery, The Oxford Murders, [ISBN 0 349 11723 3] apparently won a prize in the author’s native Argentina, and I can see why. The plot is well-structured and the narrative moves along quite quickly unravelling the mathematical puzzle, though it isn’t necessary to follow the mathematical logic to follow the plot, as the background is nicely woven in the story to give you the knowledge you need to understand the clues.
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Sahara by Michael Palin. Travel book of TV programme 8/10
Books By bookworm on 10/1/2006 6:07 PM
Michael Palin’s travel book Sahara [ISBN 0 75381 739 X] is his diary of his trip filmed by the BBC across the Sahara in Africa. I did watch the programmes (though out of sequence on Sky) and I found both media – the book and film – to both be excellent but give a quite different ambience. The book even with its still photographs lacks the ability to present the grandiose scenery as argument or motivation for travel across Africa.
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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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