| Book | Review |
|---|---|
Die A Little, Megan Abbott26/05/2011 - 12:54pmDIE A LITTLE is the first in a series of books from Megan Abbott flagged somewhat unhelpfully as "modern noir". I'm not at all sure what that should imply in terms of expectation, but whatever caused it, something didn't really work about this book for me. Leaving aside the fact that the cover is absolutely wonderful and the title is glorious, the style very atmospheric and the build up interesting (woman with a "past" who marries a cop, cop's sister smells a rat, digs), something about the delivery of this story simply flat out didn't hold my interest. I suspect part ... Read Review |
|
|
|
Sex Crimes, Paul Thomas26/05/2011 - 12:23pmI'm more than a bit of a fan of books by Paul Thomas. I'm more than a bit of a fan of his short stories now as well. SEX CRIMES is a series of fantastic short stories themed around sex. As the blurb puts it "exploring the unpredictable and sometimes fatal consequences that can occur when sex rears its not-so-uly head." (To say nothing of the odd looks you get when you're sat in public places, with a book which declares it's title obviously on the cover, and you, the reader, are snickering and outright laughing at points). Needless to say - this book quickly became a home based ... Read Review |
 |
Crime, Ferdinand von Schirach25/05/2011 - 2:52pmThe author of CRIME, Ferdinand von Schirach is a criminal lawyer in Berlin. He's also an extremely good storyteller. The stories incorporated in CRIME (as the publicity material puts it) were specifically chosen to demonstrate the relationships between truth and reason, law and compassion. They are real-life cases from the author's own experience. The subject matter, frankly, is frequently much much easier to imagine as fictional - but they are not. Whilst it's clear they are tales chosen to trigger certain emotions and reactions in the reader, in von Schirach's hands ... Read Review |
 |
The Unknown Terrorist, Richard Flanagan24/05/2011 - 5:08pmFeeling somewhat cocky that I owned a copy of our f2f book for this month I was more than happy to finally get a chance to read THE UNKNOWN TERRORIST by Richard Flanagan. No matter that it turned out that the book club book was another one altogether (might make a note of that book later on), I really really really enjoyed THE UNKNOWN TERRORIST. This book beautifully illustrates the way that somebody's reputation, life and future can be trashed comprehensively by one little mistake compounded by somebody else's blatant personal interest. Not wanting to give away too ... Read Review |
 |
An Accidental Terrorist, Steven Lang24/05/2011 - 4:30pmA f2f bookclub read, I started this book with high hopes, having just finished another with what seemed like a similar concept. A scenario that had some serious potential, this book started off okay but quickly just seemed to degenerate into a mish-mash of making the reader feel sorry (attracted to / interested in) a central character that was just... well boring. Unfortunately this feeling of being bored was compounded by some extremely predictable events, actions and outcomes. Perhaps the idea was to show how somebody unwittingly gets involved with things that they shouldn't. ... Read Review |
 |
Poison Door, Steve Malley22/05/2011 - 3:17pmNot being at all adverse to a big suspenseful thriller I was more than pleased to get my hands on a copy of NZ author Steve Malley's book POISON DOOR. Even more pleased that I didn't dither around like I'm wont to do and sat down and read it. There's an awful lot to like about this book. The story revolves around three main characters - Michelle Swanston, a 14 year old girl who lives a fair amount of her life on the streets - anything to avoid her drug addled mother. Tommy Knowles is a thug - originally from London he's landed on the shores of New Zealand with a desire ... Read Review |
 |
Scream, Nigel McCrery18/04/2011 - 12:26pmI doubt it's much of a coincidence being a big fan of the scripts and the acting in the TV Series NEW TRICKS, that I'm also a fan of the DCI Mark Lapslie series. After all, Nigel McCrery is a writer and creator of both. (Along with many other excellent TV series including Silent Witness and All the King's Men.) SCREAM is the third in the DCI Mark Lapslie series, Lapslie being an unusual central protagonist who suffers from a particularly acute form of synaesthesia. In other words he experiences sounds as a variety of different flavours. Which makes receiving a very ... Read Review |
  |
1222, Anne Holt17/04/2011 - 5:50pmTake one gloriously grumpy central protagonist, add that train crash, include a massive snowstorm cutting off a train full of people 1222 metres above sea level in an inaccessible hotel, add a mysterious locked carriage and a group of shadowy unknown passengers, then kill off a high-profile passenger and see what happens. What happens is that our grumpy protagonist, Hanne Wilhemlsen, ex-police officer, in a wheelchair as a result of being shot on duty, has to work out what is going on before the body count continues to increase. With no official help from the outside, ... Read Review |
 |
Violent Exposure, Katherine Howell15/04/2011 - 4:13pmKatherine Howell is rapidly becoming one of my stars of crime fiction writing in Australia. Part of what really works in Howell's books (and VIOLENT EXPOSURE is no exception) is the way that the viewpoint is slightly skewed from the common police, detective, investigator concentration. In all the books there is a paramedic viewpoint (no surprise as she was a paramedic herself for 14 years), but I particularly like the way that even that predictable element is slightly twisted in all the books - but even more so in VIOLENT EXPOSURE. The central thread of this book is the ... Read Review |
 |
The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy, James Anderson15/04/2011 - 2:51pmYes, yes, I know. What am I doing reading a book like THE AFFAIR OF THE BLOODSTAINED EGG COSY. In my defence I used to be quite a SPLASHER (4MA speak for somebody who reads a wide range of crime book "styles") although in recent years I will admit I've moved more and more to the dark side. But every now and then I like a bit of a splash around in the lighter side of the genre, and I do rather like the eccentric side of the classic English country house sub-genre. Chuck in a slightly batty Lord; an unflappable Lady; a house with secret passages; a poor cousin / secretary / jolly ... Read Review |
 |
Zulu, Caryl Férey12/04/2011 - 12:49pmUnbelievably violent, amazingly confrontational, searingly honest and profoundly emotional, ZULU is one of those books that you may have to read through spread fingers, but it is almost impossible to put this book down until it screeches to an ending that will make you shudder. This is noir, critical, brutal writing at it's absolute best. The "Zulu" of the title refers not so much to the tribe as a whole, but to Cape Town homicide captain Ali Neuman. Heading up the investigation into the death of a young woman whose body is found with a crushed skull, Neuman accepts that ... Read Review |
 |
Shadow Sister, Simone van der Vlugt11/04/2011 - 1:25pmSHADOW SISTER is the second book translated into English from Dutch author Simone van der Vlugt. Both standalones, this one is the story of twins Lydia and Elisa, as the blurb puts it - identical in appearance, different in every other way. Starting out on a particularly dramatic note, the book opens with Lydia being threatened with a knife by one of her students. From there, and there's really no other way to explain how this book works, except to say that the book is about the events that led up to Lydia's murder. Each sister has a voice, her own perspective about ... Read Review |
 |
Operation Napoleon, Arnaldur Indridason11/04/2011 - 12:54pmReactions to an author taking a detour away from a much loved series, or style (or both for that matter) can vary. Some readers love the chance to head into new territory, others find that departure too much of a step, and long to return to the familiarity of the series, the known characters or the styling. And as with everything, for this reader, it all depends. OPERATION NAPOLEON is a thriller, set in Iceland, but based around the mystery of a plane that went down at the very end of World War II. To take this that little bit further again from the Erlendur ... Read Review |
 |
Murder on the Eiffel Tower, Claude Izner07/04/2011 - 1:07pmI suspect we all pick up a book looking forward to what is going to happen. So normally around page 50 a reader will be getting twitchy if nothing much has happened. Get to the end of the book and it still seems like you're waiting for something to happen and it's a very frustrating experience. Set during the 1889 World Expo in Paris, the Eiffel Tower has just been officially opened and is a massive attraction. When a woman dies on one of the Tower's platforms, officially she died from a bee sting. As other people also die supposedly from bee stings, the police are ... Read Review |
 |
The Ringmaster, Vanda Symon06/04/2011 - 2:39pmTHE RINGMASTER is the second in the Sam Shephard series from NZ author Vanda Symon. Sam has moved to Dunedin, is in detective training when the body of a young university student is found in the Botanic Gardens. In Sam's world it goes without saying that nothing is ever going to be straightforward, and once the possibility that this murder isn't a solitary event, the connection between murders all over the Southern South Island of New Zealand and a local travelling circus becomes a distinct possibility. Which, as it does, leads to a sympathetic relationship with an ... Read Review |
 |
Case Reopened, edited by Stuart Cope and Julie Ogden05/04/2011 - 2:27pmThis book was on my Quest List for such a long time until I finally managed to track down a copy (and was subsequently somewhat startled to find it listed on Fishpond NZ!). The reason it hit the Quest List was the premise sounded so fascinating - take a bunch of real life cases, give them to a set of fictional crime writers and see what the "solution" is that they come up with. Whilst it may seem like a bit of a weird idea on some level (and perhaps somewhat uncomfortable for some readers), the result are really very interesting. Not the least in those stories where the " ... Read Review |
 |
The Mammoth Book of International Crime, edited by Maxim Jakubowski05/04/2011 - 11:25amThis is a fantastic collection of really good quality crime fiction from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives. The compilation is made up of 36 stories (too many to list here anyway) from a diverse range of writers and countries. That's part of what's great about this collection - not just an opportunity to hear different voices and perspectives from a wide range of cultures, but to see how crime fiction is universal. Add to that the fact that there really isn't a dud in the bunch, and I found this collection absolutely terrific and can't recommend it highly ... Read Review |
 |
A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder, Shamini Flint24/03/2011 - 5:38pmThink Hercule Poirot in a Sikh turban and the tropical heat of Kuala Lumpur, but add a hefty dose of rumpled Columbo and I think that's the best description of Inspector Singh of the Singapore police that I can come up with. A MOST PECULIAR MALAYSIAN MURDER is the first in this series from Singapore based author Shamini Flint. This book is definitely on the lighter side of crime fiction, I'll have to read the next couple that I have here to be able to say if that's an ongoing characteristic, but I'm guessing it's probably exactly where the books are heading. Whilst ... Read Review |
 |
Double Back, Mark Abernethy24/03/2011 - 3:14pmI really really really hope that, in particular, local fans of spy and espionage thrillers are reading Mark Abernethy's terrific series. Firstly because each of the stories is set in our own region, and secondly because Alan McQueen is such a quintessential Aussie bloke hero type. Of course, just setting books in our region or taking current day events as a basis for your books doesn't qualify them as must reads. What does that for DOUBLE BACK and the earlier books in the series is that they are extremely good layered high-action thrillers. Part of the ... Read Review |
 |
Overkill, Vanda Symon22/03/2011 - 2:18pmWe've got this little dog... Jedda is a 3 year old Australian terrier female. She's short, red-golden haired, extremely independent, determined to the point of obsession, friendly but can switch quickly into extreme bolshie and she is absolutely and utterly incapable of stepping away from an argument. She's the sort of dog that will continue the fight after she's been physically picked up and carried away from the conflict point. I suspect if I'd read OVERKILL before we'd got that dog, there would have been a strong case put for naming her Sam. OVERKILL is written from ... Read Review |