FIVE CRIME FICTION TITLES
My reviews of these titles appeared in the Sunday Star Times today (2 September).
THE SLEEPING DOLL Jeffery Deaver
Hodder & Stoughton $39
It is standard practice for writers of crime fiction to develop a character whom they use as their protagonists in all their novels. Deaver, an American best-selling author who has some 22 novels to his credit, is a little different in that over the years he has used four main characters. The latest, Kathryn Dance, a special agent at the California Bureau of Investigation, makes only her second appearance in this latest title. We first met her as the main player in his 2006 novel, The Cold Moon, and from that title we know she is something of a specialist in interrogation and kinesics – the scientific examination of the hidden clues in body language.
It may be more accurate to describe The Sleeping Doll as a psychological thriller and one thing is for sure once you start reading you do not want to stops; arresting from page one.
The story begins with the escape of Daniel Pell, a psychopathic killer, a self-styled Charles Manson, complete with “family”, who had been jailed for life for the 1999 murders of a couple and two of their three children. Nine year old Theresa, known as the Sleeping Doll, is the only survivor, and now Pell is on the loose.
As Dance and her colleagues interview the former “family” members for clues and try to predict his moves Pell carriers on his vicious way constantly eluding capture.
Deaver is a master of plot twists and this one is full of them
A surprising, fascinating, and chilling read.
BONES TO ASHES Kathy Reichs William Heinemann $37
This is the tenth whodunit from Reichs featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (Tempe to her friends). These books intrigue me because the author is herself a world-rated forensic anthropologist. She is a professor of anthropology at The University of North Carolina, a forensic anthropologist in the same state, and she is a frequent expert witness in criminal trials.
Bones to Ashes is a superb investigative thriller and I was hooked from the first page. Brennan, who has an uncanny ability to read clues left behind in a victim’s bones, has been called in to help the Canadian police investigate the disappearance of three young women and the possible murder of three others. Some of these are cold cases and there is a fear that a serial killer may still be operating freely after many years.
There is an entertaining personal story running through the book too with Brennan’s relationship with Detective Ryan being somewhat shaky. The two sub-plots work well and the story is action-packed from page one.
Reichs, who is in New Zealand in September to promote this latest title in the “Bones” series is invariably likened to Patricia Cornwell but for my money she is in a league of her own. “Bones” is a popular television drama series in the US.
CHASERS Lorenzo Carcaterra Simon & Schuster $35
This novel is a sequel to Carcaterra’s 2005 novel Apaches.
The Apaches are a cadre of former NYPD cops with outstanding records all forced to retire before they were ready by injuries sustained in the line of duty. They are pretty miserable in their retirement and in Chasers, as with Apaches, they get together again as a result of a heinous crime. These days they are prepared if necessary to work outside the law in order to gain results.
In this new novel set in New York city in 1985 the innocent niece of one of the Apaches is gunned down in a mob-style type massacre while working in a New York restaurant as a waitress to put herself through university.
Giovanni ‘Boomer’ Frontieri, her uncle, takes one look at the scene and decides to call in the Apaches to help revenge his niece’s death.
It is all pretty fast paced stuff, the culprits prove to be two mob rulers, one Russian, the other Columbian, and the plot is littered with bodies as the story draws to its inevitable outcome.
This guy can write but I must say it defies belief at times the way these ex-cops can go anywhere, do anything and literally get away with murder.
SKIN PRIVILEGE Karin Slaughter Century $37
30’s something author Karin Slaughter lives in Atlanta and claims to spend her time between the kitchen and the living room but my guess is that in fact she spends a good deal of time in front of her PC because this is the 6th title in her well-regarded Grant County series in as many years. And they are big fat novels too.
Always set in rural Georgia the Grant County series feature Dr.Sara Linton, the town’s pediatrician and coroner, Jeffrey Tolliver, her wayward ex-husband and chief of police, and Lena Adams, the county’s only female detective, a woman with a somewhat chequered past.
The twist in this latest title is that following a murder in the small town of Reece, the only suspect is Lena Adams. When her boss, Jeffrey Tolliver, learns of her arrest he and Sara Linton go to Lena’s aid.
A lean, mean and gripping story from page one. Crime fiction almost as good as it gets.
The author is another who is visiting New Zealand in September to promote her book.
THE NAMING OF THE DEAD Ian Rankin Orion $25
This is Ian Rankin’s 16th novel featuring Detective Inspector Ian Rebus and it is arguably his best. His characterisation skills and his wonderful descriptions of Rebus’ Edinburgh are quite superb. And then there is the story which is set against the background of a week in July 2005 when the G8 leaders gathered in Scotland to face the inevitable daily marches and demos, the scuffles generated by the anarchists ensuring the police will be fully stretched. It is an intriguing backdrop to the novel.
When it appears there may be a serial killer on the loose the authorities are keen to hush it up until the world leaders, and the world media have left town.
Rebus has other ideas, and as usual is at odds with his boss but of course pursuing a criminal investigation in the week of the G8 summit poses extra problems.
This is a big fat book at over 500 pages but it is a real page-turner and I relished the read.
This may be the last Inspector Rebus novel as he is to retire from the Scottish police force in 2007.
He would be a great loss.
Interesting to note that Rankin got the name for his novel from a ceremony to honour those who had died in Iraq which took place in Edinburgh in 2005.
It is standard practice for writers of crime fiction to develop a character whom they use as their protagonists in all their novels. Deaver, an American best-selling author who has some 22 novels to his credit, is a little different in that over the years he has used four main characters. The latest, Kathryn Dance, a special agent at the California Bureau of Investigation, makes only her second appearance in this latest title. We first met her as the main player in his 2006 novel, The Cold Moon, and from that title we know she is something of a specialist in interrogation and kinesics – the scientific examination of the hidden clues in body language.
It may be more accurate to describe The Sleeping Doll as a psychological thriller and one thing is for sure once you start reading you do not want to stops; arresting from page one.
The story begins with the escape of Daniel Pell, a psychopathic killer, a self-styled Charles Manson, complete with “family”, who had been jailed for life for the 1999 murders of a couple and two of their three children. Nine year old Theresa, known as the Sleeping Doll, is the only survivor, and now Pell is on the loose.
As Dance and her colleagues interview the former “family” members for clues and try to predict his moves Pell carriers on his vicious way constantly eluding capture.
Deaver is a master of plot twists and this one is full of them
A surprising, fascinating, and chilling read.
BONES TO ASHES Kathy Reichs William Heinemann $37
This is the tenth whodunit from Reichs featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (Tempe to her friends). These books intrigue me because the author is herself a world-rated forensic anthropologist. She is a professor of anthropology at The University of North Carolina, a forensic anthropologist in the same state, and she is a frequent expert witness in criminal trials.
Bones to Ashes is a superb investigative thriller and I was hooked from the first page. Brennan, who has an uncanny ability to read clues left behind in a victim’s bones, has been called in to help the Canadian police investigate the disappearance of three young women and the possible murder of three others. Some of these are cold cases and there is a fear that a serial killer may still be operating freely after many years.
There is an entertaining personal story running through the book too with Brennan’s relationship with Detective Ryan being somewhat shaky. The two sub-plots work well and the story is action-packed from page one.
Reichs, who is in New Zealand in September to promote this latest title in the “Bones” series is invariably likened to Patricia Cornwell but for my money she is in a league of her own. “Bones” is a popular television drama series in the US.
CHASERS Lorenzo Carcaterra Simon & Schuster $35
This novel is a sequel to Carcaterra’s 2005 novel Apaches.
The Apaches are a cadre of former NYPD cops with outstanding records all forced to retire before they were ready by injuries sustained in the line of duty. They are pretty miserable in their retirement and in Chasers, as with Apaches, they get together again as a result of a heinous crime. These days they are prepared if necessary to work outside the law in order to gain results.
In this new novel set in New York city in 1985 the innocent niece of one of the Apaches is gunned down in a mob-style type massacre while working in a New York restaurant as a waitress to put herself through university.
Giovanni ‘Boomer’ Frontieri, her uncle, takes one look at the scene and decides to call in the Apaches to help revenge his niece’s death.
It is all pretty fast paced stuff, the culprits prove to be two mob rulers, one Russian, the other Columbian, and the plot is littered with bodies as the story draws to its inevitable outcome.
This guy can write but I must say it defies belief at times the way these ex-cops can go anywhere, do anything and literally get away with murder.
SKIN PRIVILEGE Karin Slaughter Century $37
30’s something author Karin Slaughter lives in Atlanta and claims to spend her time between the kitchen and the living room but my guess is that in fact she spends a good deal of time in front of her PC because this is the 6th title in her well-regarded Grant County series in as many years. And they are big fat novels too.
Always set in rural Georgia the Grant County series feature Dr.Sara Linton, the town’s pediatrician and coroner, Jeffrey Tolliver, her wayward ex-husband and chief of police, and Lena Adams, the county’s only female detective, a woman with a somewhat chequered past.
The twist in this latest title is that following a murder in the small town of Reece, the only suspect is Lena Adams. When her boss, Jeffrey Tolliver, learns of her arrest he and Sara Linton go to Lena’s aid.
A lean, mean and gripping story from page one. Crime fiction almost as good as it gets.
The author is another who is visiting New Zealand in September to promote her book.
THE NAMING OF THE DEAD Ian Rankin Orion $25
This is Ian Rankin’s 16th novel featuring Detective Inspector Ian Rebus and it is arguably his best. His characterisation skills and his wonderful descriptions of Rebus’ Edinburgh are quite superb. And then there is the story which is set against the background of a week in July 2005 when the G8 leaders gathered in Scotland to face the inevitable daily marches and demos, the scuffles generated by the anarchists ensuring the police will be fully stretched. It is an intriguing backdrop to the novel.
When it appears there may be a serial killer on the loose the authorities are keen to hush it up until the world leaders, and the world media have left town.
Rebus has other ideas, and as usual is at odds with his boss but of course pursuing a criminal investigation in the week of the G8 summit poses extra problems.
This is a big fat book at over 500 pages but it is a real page-turner and I relished the read.
This may be the last Inspector Rebus novel as he is to retire from the Scottish police force in 2007.
He would be a great loss.
Interesting to note that Rankin got the name for his novel from a ceremony to honour those who had died in Iraq which took place in Edinburgh in 2005.
1 comment:
great reviews, read them in the sst earlier today, thanks!
Lee
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