Category: Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller Page 123 of 153

Freedom’s Child by Jax Miller

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On February 23, 2016

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Freedom's Child Freedom’s Child

by Jax Miller

Trade Paperback, 308 pg.
Broadway Books, 2015

Read: February 19 – 20, 2016

The open road gives you ample opportunity to think; in fact, the road forces reflection on a man . . . or woman, in my case. And it’s a terrifying thing, my thoughts. With each thought, each idea, each regret that makes my blood curdle, I accelerate, I race fast enough on the motorcycle so my demons can’t catch me, but they always seem just a step ahead of the game, always there to entertain my sin.

Ugh. This book set my teeth on edge from the get-go. Yet another story with a Prologue that puts our narrator in a life-or-death situation, so you can turn the page to get “X period if time earlier” (two weeks ago, in this case) to create suspense, or a sense of anticipation, or whatever. I hate those beginnings, books, movies, TV – – hate ’em all. They’re almost never worth it. This is one of those times, Chapter 1 is a much better starting point.

Once we get past that nonsense, we meet Freedom. She’s a tough-as-nails bartender outside of Portland, OR, working in a bar that’s been adopted by a biker gang. The first thing we see Freedom do, is save a girl from being raped by a large biker in a way that will keep you nervous around McIlhenny Co.’s signature product for awhile. So you know it’s not just bluster, it’s not just attitude and language — Freedom is not someone to mess around with. It turns out that Freedom’s in the Witness Protection Program, and the same Marshals that come by to tell her to stay out of trouble, are also here to let her know that the man she put away just got out on a technicality after 18 years.

It’s almost like they know that someone had gained access to their records and that her new identity is known by all the people she doesn’t want to know. Namely, her murdered husband’s family, including his newly released brother and his non-incarcerated brothers. The destruction and violence that come to Oregon are a clear sign to Freedom that the Delaney brothers are here for her and the Feds can’t help her. So she takes matters into her own hands, because it’s not just her that they’re after. She had two children with her husband, and had been forced to give them up. If her new identity is known, their identities would be, too. So she’s off to the other side of the country to try to keep them safe, although there’s enough drama in their lives without their uncles coming for them.

That’s enough of the plot to whet your appetite. It gets better from there — more twists and turns than the Publisher’s Description suggests. I can’t imagine that Miller could’ve fit in one more twist without needing to add a couple of chapters. But before you get to all that, you have to endure a lot of Miller setting up her dominoes. It was hard to slog through it all without enough context and many perspective changes (I think we could’ve just used a smidgen more context with each perspective). But you watched her set them all up, because you could tell all along that when they started to fall, things were going to be wild.

I don’t want to talk about the characters — seeing them revealed was a lot of the fun. There’s one exception to that: Freedom’s Mother-in-Law, Lynn. I felt like I needed a shower after reading the first 2 pages of with Lynn — one of the nastiest characters you’ll come across in 2016. I hoped right away that Lynn would get what’s coming to her (and that feeling only intensified). But you could tell straight-away that this was the kind of book where just desserts weren’t on the menu for everyone (oh man, when did I become Horatio Caine?), and I had to deal with this sense of dread that she’d make it. There’s a certain amount of pleasure you get from Hannibal surviving The Silence of the Lambs (but not Hannibal — while waiting Lynn’s fate, you feel the exact opposite.

This next paragraph, I’m a little apprehensive about, but I’m going to go ahead and write it: There’s a cult involved, and I have a little trouble with it (as I write it, I’m sure with some research every one of my objections can be brushed aside by someone, and I’m hoping Jax Miller is one such person). The cult reminded me of a phenomena I ran into with Flannery O’Connor in college — her Southern Protestants may have sounded like typical Baptists/Methodists/etc., but their thinking was awfully Roman Catholic. These cultists looked, sounded, and acted like Pentecostal Christians, but they were infused with an odd amount of Roman Catholic practices. So much so that it was hard to swallow. It almost felt like someone took a bunch of noticeably religious practices and terms and mixed together, assuming the reader would just accept the blend, whether or not it was consistent. I’d absolutely believe it if someone could point to a Group Z and said that Miller just ripped them off, but absent that these guys were too much to believe.

This was a well-constructed and satisfying read with characters that leapt off the pages (except for the minor Delaney brothers and a couple of other miscellaneous people). It didn’t end anything like I expected it would, but superior. I spent the whole time thinking it was a book about X, when it was about Y all along (although, it was kind of about X). The novel makes you think it’s about revenge (or the escaping from it), but at the end of the day, that’s just not what it’s concerned with. This was an entertaining read, maybe not as good as it could’ve been, but enough to make me to keep my eyes peeled for Jax Miller’s future work.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the good people at Blogging for Books for this review.

—–

3 Stars

Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham

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On February 18, 2016

In Fiction, Fiona Griffiths, Harry Bingham, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Talking to the DeadTalking to the Dead

by Harry Bingham
Series: Fiona Griffiths, #1

Hardcover, 337 pg.
Delacorte Press, 2012

Read: February 16 – 17, 2016

One thing I need to do a better job of is remembering how I found out about a book/series/author that I need to try, this novel is a great example of why. I remember putting it on my TBR, and that there was something about it that made me move it ahead of the others — but I can’t tell you when or why I did so. Sometimes, like with this book, that drives me crazy. I just had to trust that I knew what I was doing when I picked it up. Thankfully, it didn’t take long to convince me that Fi Griffiths had something special going on — mostly it was the voice, the attitude, her humor as seen when she’s going through stacks and stacks of financial documents to make a case air-tight (before the inevitable guilty plea for ripping off a private school):

My desk is covered with paper. I loathe all banks and credit card companies. I hate every digit between 0 and 9. I despise every dopily run Catholic boys’ school in South Wales. If Brian Penry were in front of me now, I would try to force-feed him my calculator, which is as large and chewable as Bakelite phone.

It didn’t take too long before the merits of the case drew me in (not the drudgery of the case above, but the one that drove the novel’s action), and would have even without Fi’s narration. But it was a lock with her as a character. The grim nature of the killings grip the reader, the way they do Griffiths’ colleagues and superiors. What really impressed me was that it is one of the sickest, grossest descriptions of a corpse this side of a Bones episode — and Bingham doesn’t dwell on it — oh, he could’ve, and most authors would have. It’s there stark enough to give the reader the willies, in a just-the-facts-fashion, but Bingham doesn’t exploit the nature of the killing or the state of the body.

To put it charitably, Fi is quirky. To be more accurate, she’s suffering from a serious mental condition — she’s (mostly) got it under control, however. Social skills aren’t really in her wheelhouse — at least not automatically — which presents an additional challenge for her work. Early on, I kept picturing Diane Kruger’s performance from The Bridge, it diminished eventually, but I think Fi will always be Kruger-esque to me. We do eventually get actual information about her condition — which is nice, but we don’t need it to understand her enough to empathize with her. There’s an Author’s Note at the end with more details about the actual condition — don’t read it until the end. Get to know her absent the condition first.

Bingham creates a good bench of supporting characters — a potential boyfriend, a couple of supervisors (who have differing levels of concern for her), a former therapist, an old friend (former trainer/sensei-type), parents, sisters, and a few other detectives. One or more of these can be summoned from the bench with ease in the future, but we don’t get to spend a lot of time with any of them here — just enough to establish them. We spend some good time with her potential boyfriend, old friend/trainer/sensei and dad — I like them all and want to see more of them. But this is really Fi’s book and the narrative weight falls on her troubled, yet capable shoulders.

We hardly get an idea for what kind of men the bad guys are here — it’s just shadowy criminals, up to shadowy criminal things. I like the idea that we only get things through law enforcement eyes, not through the killer’s — that happens far too often for my taste. Like Fi says, I know this way we don’t get the full story, but I prefer not being in the mind of the sickos at work here. We, and the police, get most of the story in the end, and that’s good enough for me.

The book closes with a couple of the most heartfelt, moving scenes that I can think of in Detective Fiction (give me time, and I could probably make a decent list of competitors, still pretty sure this would be near the top — sure, that scene in Gone, Baby, Gone has this beat, but not many others would). I had a hard time believing that it would work as effectively given the fact this is a first novel for the character — but Bingham has laid a lot of ground work to get us ready for these moments, and it paid off well.

Talking to Strangers grabbed me in just the right way. I want to devote the next few days to just reading the rest if this series (I won’t, I know I need to pace myself, but… Oh, I really want to just binge). Fi is an early leader for favorite character of the year (a thing I just decided to do).

—–

4 Stars

Some Assembly Required by Kevin Smith, Phil Hester and Jonathan Lau

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On February 17, 2016

In Comics, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Some Assembly RequiredThe Bionic Man, Vol 1: Some Assembly Required

by Kevin Smith, Phil Hester and Jonathan Lau (Artist)

Trade Paperback, 248 pg.
Dynamite Comics, 2012

Read: February 16, 2016


I was a big fan of The Six Million Dollar Man as a kid, and when I got a little older I stumbled onto — and devoured (repeatedly) — Martin Caidin’s Cyborg. Throw in a strong appreciation for Smith’s work? And I’m clearly the target audience for this (so why did it take me 3+ years to read it? Good question).

The main story hasn’t changed: Steve Austin is a test-pilot, horrifically injured — almost killed — when a test flight goes wrong. A team of experts save his life, rebuild him with bionics, and set him loose fighting for truth, justice, and the American way and so on.

The story was nothing special — good, solid action/adventure story. There were a couple of nice twists on the TV show’s story/characters. Just enough to keep it updated and fresh. I’d have appreciated something closer to Cyborg, but I understand why they made the choices they made. Austin goes up against his bionic predecessor, who has gone rogue and now is running around attacking and raiding technology companies. The battle scenes may have been a bit too big and epic — but they fit in with the current cinema trends, so, I guess they worked.

I was sure I’d seen Jonathan Lau’s art somewhere before, but from what I can tell, I haven’t. Which is a shame — it’s great. I’m not going to say that it’s my favorite comic art — but it’s exactly what I want comic art to look like. Which seems like a contradiction, but let’s move on. Yeah, some of the gestures are over-done, and a couple of the men are just too huge. But otherwise, dynamic, easy to tell character-from-character, nice detail, overall very attractive. I’d be willing to give a book a second look just because of his art in the future.

There are some nice references — visual and verbal — to the TV series that are pretty seamlessly worked in. Which I appreciated — looks like the next volume will be less subtle about it (which is not necessarily bad). I’m not going to say this was a great comic that leaves me chomping at the bit for the next, but it was worth the time and entertaining. Not much more to ask for.

—–

3 Stars

Missing Mona by Joe Klingler

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On February 5, 2016

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Missing MonaMissing Mona

by Joe Klingler
Series: Tommy Cuda, #1

Kindle Edition, 400 pg.
Cartosi, LLC, 2015

Read: January 30, 2016

I can’t put my finger on precisely why (at the very least, I probably needed to take a few more minutes between books), but the first page or two of this book really turned me off — five or six paragraphs in, and I was already groaning at the length of this book. And then I hit the line:

Where could I find a life as exciting as a detective novel? Or at least a pop song?

Nothing special, but the second question got my attention. Tommy Kelsey might be my kind of guy after all — the reference to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy at the bottom of the page just sealed the deal.

Tommy’s tired of being tethered to his smart phone, he’s not entirely sure he wants to continue with the lady in his life, needs a break from his friends and his job, he — actually, let me let his mother sum it up:

She held my shoulder with her right hand. “You just celebrated your last twenty-something birthday. You see the big three-oh coming at you down the long highway of life, so you want to run away to find something before old age pins you to the mat.” She smiled and let go. “And makes you cry uncle.”

Mom was okay. I didn’t think so back in high school, but she seemed smarter now.

Tommy grabs a few essentials (his guitar, some records, clothing, etc.), throws them in the trunk of his restored Plymouth Barracuda (with a 426 Hemi V8 ) and hits the road to some unknown destination. He’s not on the road before too long before he picks up a hitchhiker — a potentially dangerous move, but he’s clearly in an impulsive mood — and he’s clearly attracted to her. In an attempt to impress Mona Meyers, he says that he’s a Private Investigator named Tommy Cuda (Kelsey didn’t seem like a name worthy of her, and the nearby dashboard provided the inspiration he needed). Mona’s intrigued by that and hires him to find someone for her once they reach Chicago.

She disappears the next day, leaving behind some money and a photograph of herself, with a note on the back:

Find me, Tommy— M.

Finding Mona ends up being pretty easy — the challenge is in figuring out what to do with her once that’s been accomplished. Not only that, but finding her lands Tommy in the middle of a web of crime, one that leads him into investigations that will involve a shooting, grand theft auto, and several other things that I can’t say because they’d be spoilers, and you have to read the book anyway to believe my list — outlandish, strange, and yet totally logical in this world.

As interesting as that all is — and it was quite the knot to untie — what sold this book for me was the characters, starting with the people that Tommy ends up surrounding himself with — there’s the waitress/aspiring criminologist who helps Tommy enough that you could almost say he tags along with her; the librarian/artist/personal stylist who helps him around town; the B&B employee (yeah, typical hard-boiled P.I. stays at a B&B); the coat girl who wants to be a police officer, the eccentric mechanic, a hotel valet/blues musician who can connect you with anything on the street that you need; and of course, Mona. Almost any one of these would be enough of a pal/associate for a P. I., but Klingler gives us all of these in an embarrassment of riches. I would willingly, maybe eagerly, read another 100-200 pages with any of them.

And then there’s Tommy — the poor guy who is clearly in over his head, but knows it and is doing whatever he can to find the girl, earn his money, maybe save the girl — and play a little guitar while enjoying his new friends. Tommy reminded me a lot of Harry Lockhart, from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, especially when he said things like,

Now I knew why private eyes in novels were always smoking a cigarette: it was nerve-wracking having no idea what was going on.

I enjoyed watching him flounder around, trying to figure out how to do this thing that he’s read about and watched movies about, but is honestly clueless. about. Yet somehow — with a little help from his friends — he gets the job done. Sure, the ladies threw themselves at him in a way that was tough to believe, but that goes with the genre territory.

I will read better books this year, though this was a good one — but I will not read many that will be more fun. Missing Mona was a great ride, and I’m hoping that Tommy Cuda gets behind the wheel of his Barracuda again soon. Klingler has a couple of other books on his résumé that I’ll be getting my hands on pronto, too, just to see if he has the same touch there. Check this one out, folks, you’ll thank me.
—
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for a fair review, which was awfully generous of him, and it’s really appreciated.

—–

4 Stars

The Intern by Dale Wiley

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On February 2, 2016

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The InternThe Intern

by Dale Wiley

PDF, 200 pg.
Vintage Burn, LLC, 2014

Read: January 30, 2016

So I went to the Watergate. I did it because it seemed the thing to do when one was just getting embroiled in some amazing Washington scandal. You don’t hide out at the Hampton Inn; you go straight to the source, the same place Howard Hunt and G. Gordon
Liddy did.

There were other reasons for choosing the Watergate as well. I didn’t want to drive far, and increase the chance of being pulled over and found out. Even if I had wanted to drive, I didn’t know the suburbs that well, and the hotels probably weren’t that much cheaper anyway. I knew of hotels I assumed to be cheaper in the city, but they were in such wonderful neighborhoods that I didn’t want to take the chance of avoiding my pursuers only to succumb to some random mugging. I also knew right where it was, and could get there without wasting a minute of time. I had been to the Watergate once before, to drink with my college friend Susan, so, along with remembering their overpriced gin and tonics, I knew it had a parking garage the size of Philadelphia, which would probably keep my car from being discovered during the night. And most importantly, I thought it would be really cool to stay at the Watergate.

Trent Norris is not crazy about living in Washington, D. C. He’s working as an intern at the National Endowment for the Arts , which isn’t horrible — but the general atmosphere, the parking, the expenses and so on — it’s just not for him. He has a plan for what to do to get out, but we’re not really told what that might be (later, there’s discussion of an unsuccessful novel — that might be part of it). He likes his job well enough, he’s started dating someone that he could see himself falling for in a big way — so life’s not all bad.

The day after one of the best dates of his life, Norris is covering the desk and phone for a higher-up’s secretary, and is in the right place at the wrong time to take the wrong phone call. Then, because he’s just that kind of guy, he plays a silly prank as a feeble act of protest for a decision the same higher-up just made that will impact people all over the country. As pranks are wont to do, this one is mis-interpreted and Norris finds himself framed for heinous crimes he didn’t commit — and plenty of media coverage demonstrating that he did. He enlists the help of an escort, Tabitha, to help him in his time of need — which she more than does.

Running from the Law — he’s out to prove he didn’t do it, clear his name, not get killed by law enforcement…and hopefully still have a shot at getting the girl.

As disinterested as I was in the crime (which was sensational, but seemed almost tertiary to everything), as much as I cared nothing for the protagonist, once I got to the part where things are falling apart for Norris, when he’s starting to see the accusations pile up, I really admired the way Wiley had set everything up. It was very well constructed and executed.

Until I was typing this post up and read the Publisher’s Description, I had no idea when this was set. A reference to Borders Bookstore threw me, and little later, I noticed the utter lack of cell and/or smartphones. A few chapters later the protagonists ordered a laptop with a Zip drive and floppy disks! Wow. I didn’t realize I was reading historical fiction. Taking me out of the action long enough to flip back and forth through the pages looking for time references . A little more text on page 1 would’ve gone a long way to help the reader (or, at least, me).

Early on, Norris rubbed me the wrong way, and while I didn’t like him, I found the situation he was in interesting enough to keep going. Some of his redeeming — humanizing — qualities were brought out late in the book, but by that point it was hard to overcome my initial misgivings. Stephanie was nice enough — not that we got to spend much time with her. Tabitha was the only character I really liked at all — even if she seemed to serve as a shortcut more often than not for Trent to get what he needs — oh, you need a hacker? Let me make a call. How do we bypass a security system? I have just the client willing to do me a favor? And so on. (and maybe the large amount of gold content in her heart was difficult to believe). Still, she was more interesting and likable than anyone else around.

This was a great depiction of the havoc that the media (especially in a 24-hour news cycle) can wreak on an individual with very little evidence — see Richard Jewell, for example. Wiley seemed to capture the impotent rage and disbelief at how quickly one’s whole life can be turned upside down in hours when the media decides you’re the villain.

Just entertaining enough, just well-written enough, with characters just intersesting enough to keep the pages turning — Wiley gives the reader just enough to entertain, and be open to reading more from him. I do want to stress, how well constructed this was — every seemingly stray detail is there for a reason, and no strings are left untied. I’ve read novels from seasoned authors that can’t pull off that level of construction, and Wiley doing so in his first time to bat is no small thing.

—
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for a fair review.

—–

3 Stars

Opening Lines – Staked by Kevin Hearne

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On January 27, 2016

In Blog Series, Currently Reading, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, News/Misc., Opening Lines, Quotations, Spenser

Head & Shoulders used to tell us that, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” That’s true for wearing dark shirts, and it’s especially true for books. Sometimes the characters will hook the reader, sometimes the premise, sometimes it’s just knowing the author — but nothing beats a great opening for getting a reader to commit. This is one of the better openings I’ve read recently. Would it make you commit?

I didn’t have time to pull off the heist with a proper sense of theatre. I didn’t even have a cool pair of shades. All I had was a soundtrack curated by Tarantino playing in my head, one of those songs with horns and a fat bass track and a guitar going waka-chaka-waka-chaka as I padded on asphalt with the uncomfortable feeling that someone was enjoying a voyeuristic close-up of my feet.

from Staked by Kevin Hearne

Reposting: Where It Hurts by Reed Farrel Coleman

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On January 26, 2016

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

It’s Publication Day for Where It Hurts, so I thought I’d better throw this up again. Go get your hands on it.
—

Where it HurtsWhere It Hurts

by Reed Farrel Coleman

Series: Gus Murphy, #1
ePub, 353 pg.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2016

Read: November 26 – 27, 2015

I honestly don’t know where to start with this, once again Reed Farrel Coleman has provided me with a book that I really want to talk about, but I’m not sure how to proceed, beyond saying that this is really good.

Where It Hurts is gritty, bleak, tragic, and tense with a strange sense of hope filtering though the depression, pain and grief. If that miasma makes sense to you, you’ll get the feel for this book. If it doesn’t, you’ll understand why I struggled for almost a month with this.

Gus Murphy is a retired uniformed police officer — retired young, I should add. His life has been shattered by a calamity that struck without warning and without mercy; bringing an end to his career, his marriage, his faith, and his relationship with his daughter. His ex-wife and daughter aren’t faring too well in the aftermath, either — you could make the case that Krissy, his daughter, is worse off than Gus.

Two years after his world came to an end, it’d be nice to say that Gus has started to put his life back together — he hasn’t. He has, however, figured out how to exist, and honestly that’s about it.

It’s into this state of mind, state of being that we first encounter Gus and from there Where It Hurts really gives us two stories. The first is a story about an ex-cop being asked (and agreeing) to look into a months-old homicide on behalf of a father — who has a record long enough that the Suffolk County PD isn’t that interested in helping him or taking any evidence he might have gathered for them. Enter Gus. The other is a story of a grieving father dealing with the aforementioned fallout of the tragedy and — thanks to other story — a renewed interest in life beyond this grief and anger. In the end, both stories end up feeding the other as Gus remembers what living was like, what being a cop was like.

As well-written and plotted as book is — with a well-done mystery, your appreciation for this book will come down to the question of what you think of Gus. If you don’t care about him, aren’t interested in what makes him tick — the rest isn’t going to maintain your interest. If you do care, are curious, are sympathetic, are fill-in-the-blank, there’s no reason you won’t be satisfied with it.

I’ve only read 5 or so of Block’s Matthew Scudder books — and that was a while ago — but Gus reminded me a lot of Scudder. Instead of battling his addiction, he battled his loss (and, yes, I realize both are probably doing the same thing — but Scudder identifies as a drunk, Gus doesn’t). I found it particularly interesting — and on the whole, original — the way that Coleman dealt with and explored Gus’ lack of faith. Because it’s not just your garden variety atheism/agnosticism — Gus is angry about his God not existing anymore (or at least his faith in Him). He talks about it a lot — so much so that you know it’s self-delusion to think of it as a loss of faith, while it’s anger at God for what happened to him. Gus isn’t Job, he has neither the patience or the faith to react like Job — and in his grief, he lashes out at the God who would do this to him/his family. To me, this felt genuine, I think I know this guy (or at least that reaction).

The supporting characters were great — the criminals suspected of the murder, the criminals adjacent to the murder, the police (although one bordered on being a cartoonish lout — but that seemed intentional), the people from Gus’ old life, those from his new. On the one hand, I didn’t think I got a great picture of his ex-wife, but on the other, I don’t think I needed to. A little more time with Krissy, however would’ve been good. Everything else was great, character-wise.

That was actually much easier than I thought it would’ve been. Where It Hurts strikes me as the kind of book that I could go on and on for pages about, but apparently not today. It might have to wait until book two comes out, so I can see where Gus goes from here. Does he remain in essentially the same spot, or does he make big, sustained steps out of mere existence and into a new life? The last few pages suggest that he does, but I know better than to expect that to remain the case. I actually could see me revising everything I said here about this book based on the sequel.

Regardless, a heckuva book — one that could appeal to thoughtful mystery readers, or general fiction readers willing to have a hefty dose of crime in their reads.

—–

4 Stars

—–

Note: I received a digital copy of this book from the nifty people at First to Read, as grateful as I am to them, that didn’t alter my appreciation of the book or what I said about it.

Santa 365 by Spencer Quinn

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On December 16, 2015

In Authors, Chet and Bernie, Dogs, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, P-U, Spencer Quinn

Santa 365Santa 365

by Spencer Quinn
Series: Chet and Bernie
Kindle Edition, 47 pg.
Atria Books, 2015

Read: December 15, 2015


There’s not a whole lot to say about this short story, but I’ll give it a whirl. Taking place sometime before The Dog Who Knew Too Much (the duo’s adventures involving a wilderness camp), this is the story of Bernie trying to throw a Christmas party for his friends and, more importantly, his son, Charlie. Naturally, because it’s a Chet and Bernie story, crime ensues, and Bernie’s able to set things right (and take care of another problem at the same time). Sure, given that most of Bernie’s social circle are either cops or perps that he and Chet have busted, there should be a lot more crime in Bernie’s life.

Suzie, and we, get to meet Bernie’s mother, Minerva. Something Bernie’s not too excited about (well, I don’t think he cares about us meeting her, Suzie, on the other hand . . . ). She was amusing, but I think Minerva could become too much very quickly. If she returns in a novel, I hope her appearance has about the same number of words.

I trust it’s because of the size of this story, but wow, this was a shallow and rushed thing. Still, it’s a pleasant read, fun to see Chet’s reaction to a Christmas tree and what not. There are a couple of lines from this story that belong in Quinn’s Top 20 All Time lines (a contested field, I realize), so I’m glad I read it, but I was left wanting a bit more.

—–

3 Stars

Winter and Night by S. J. Rozan

By

On December 15, 2015

In Fiction, Lydia Chin & Bill Smith, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, S. J. Rozan

Winter and NightWinter and Night

by S. J. Rozan
Series: Lydia Chin & Bill Smith, #8

Hardcover, 338 pg.
Minotaur Books, 2002
Read: December 11 – 14, 2015

On the whole, I enjoy the Lydia Chin novels in this series more than the Bill Smith ones, while I’d say the Bill Smith novels are better novels. Winter and Night was the best of both worlds — it was probably the best written in the series, and I really enjoyed it.

Bill gets a call in the middle of the night to come help a teen that the NYPD has taken into custody. He does brings the kid, Gary, home with him and hears a vague sob story about how Gary’s just trying to help, trying to do the right thing. And then he runs away. Bill gets Lydia to start looking for Gary in NYC while he goes to check out the kid’s hometown.

There’s more wrong in the small town Gary ran from than just a missing kid. This little town is football-crazy, I’m talking Texas football crazy, the kind of thing you think King of the Hill and Friday Night Lights is making too much of, but start to wonder if they’re not. Then there’s a dead high schooler. And seemingly every person in the town is telling Bill not to think that this had anything to do with a rape and murder over 20 years ago. Which, just gets him wondering, naturally.

This case gets under Bill’s skin, hitting close to home, and worse. Lydia compares him to a patched-up furnace that’s about to explode. He gets pretty close a couple of times, actually. Making this a rougher, more raw, more violent story (not that Bill’s books are absent violence). Because this is so close to him, he makes some really dumb mistakes — Bill, Lydia and the police spend a few chapters trying to prevent a crime that’s just not going to happen, and I spent far too much time annoyed with them from not seeing things are clearly as I could.

How does Rozan do it? Seriously, you get the same two characters in two different novels or four different always know each taking the lead and is like it’s two different series. You know, there’s a certain feel when you read a Robert Crais book — Elvis Cole book or a Joe Pike book, the books are different, and the two protagonists/narrative voiced are different. But you can tell they’re by the same writer. Not the case here — at all — it’s not even close. If you told me the two different people writing the series I’d absolutely believe you.

For my money, this is the best in the series (so far). Thoughtful, suspenseful, moody . . . everything you want in a P. I. novel.

—–

4 1/2 Stars

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

By

On December 9, 2015

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, YA/MG/Children's Books

The NaturalsThe Naturals

by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series: The Naturals, #1

Hardcover, 308 pg.

Disney-Hyperion, 2013
Read: December 8, 2015


We’ve all heard of Quantico, VA, the small town that is home to the FBI Academy, Laboratory, NCIS, and so on. What most of us don’t know is that it’s also home to a secret training ground for teenagers who are so intuitively good at profiling and other forensically-inclined psychological skills that they’re described as “Natural.” Two FBI agents and one retired Marine run this program and house, using the teens to crack cold cases. Sharpening their skills in a safe environment, so that when the time is ripe, they’ll be Super Agents.

The Naturals opens with Cassie — being raised by her grandmother while her father’s off somewhere with the Armed Services. She’s seventeen and can read people like a Richard Scarry book, which makes her a great small diner waitress. Until she’s given the chance to join program and she jumps at it, becoming the fifth member of the team.

Cassie jumps into the training, and picks things up quickly. I really enjoyed reading those scenes — she and Dean, the other profiler, sound so much like Will Graham from NBC’s Hannibal that I really got into it. Outside Quantico, things are afoot that will keep this from being all training and cold cases — and I bet, for those who survive, the next books will also pretty fresh cases, too.

Walking into a two-guy, two-gal house — and, apparently, being more attractive than she’s aware — Cassie complicates things. Soon she’s part of at least one Romantic Polygon. It’s not too painful at the moment, but I could see it overtaking things in a book or two. It’s marketed as YA, so it was likely anyway — still, you should know it’s out there.

None of the characters — including Cassie — are much more than groupings of characteristics and tics at this point, but I’d be willing to guess that they could be within another book or two. For now, they’re good enough for what the book is. It really is a fun read

A fast, fun read with just enough suspense to keep you moving, but not as much as you’d get in a Thomas Harris or Val McDermid psychological thriller — a great way to cut your teeth on the subgenre. I’ll come back for more — and I’ll pass it off to my daughter, who will likely eat it up.
—
Thanks to DanySpike for the blogpost that convinced me to give this one a try. I owe ya one.

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3 Stars

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