Beat The Reaper by Josh Bazell

Beat the Reaper --3 Stars

This was an average novel because I got rather annoyed rather quickly with the constant f*** this or f*** that. Tedious and distracting from the better parts of the novel.

We meet Dr Peter Brown on his rounds at a hospital that every one hates severely, but he doesn't mind because no one has heard of Bearclaw Brnwa either. In another life, he was a hitman with a heart of gold for the mafia. He had rules, only taking out the kind of guys that no one would miss, that would actually make the world better for their not breathing the same air as decent people.

One day he has to run for it and right into the Witness Protection Programme. All is well, for a while. He's become a doctor, of all things, and is doing his best to set the scales straight. Its all find and dandy until some one recognizes him and then its all bets off.

Now I like a good redemption tale, a guy who wants to pay back his due of good to the world before the Reaper catches up to him. Who doesn't? There is a fair amount of gallows humour in this novel, something I'm also a sucker for. However the shear amount of poor language takes away from the greatness of this book.

I don't regret reading it, I just regret the fact that writers feel the need to add such vernacular to the lexicon. 

Lowell/Sheridan Series by Chelsea Cain

Lowell/Sheridan Series --5Stars

This series starts out with a serial killer kidnapping the lead of the task force assigned to catch them, well to catch her. That's right, you heard me, the serial killer is a woman. Statistically, women only account for about 15% of serial killers, its mostly a male thing. Anyway, she kidnaps him and holds him for ten days, torturing him in all the ways that she did her other victims. He's special though, she wants to make it last.

Archie Sheridan is the lead detective of the Beauty Killer Task Force. It has taken him ten years to figure out who she is and that information just may kill him in the end. Gretchen Lowell is the beautiful woman with a psychotic flair. She has no pattern and no similarities, save one. She carve the shape of a heart into all her victims. By the time she is done with Archie, he's completely damaged goods. Somehow he manages to push forward and at least look normal.

These novels are not for the feint of heart. Gretchen is one heck of a crazy bitch and will not stop unless there is a bullet in her brain. They are gruesome and  terrifying in nearly every way. Even through the page, Gretchen has the ability to mess with your head. Chelsea Cain wrote a fantastic character, and I fear to be in the same room with that author without Mase.

Honestly, I love the fact that I can be carried so quickly into that world of fear and lust, blood and passion and still come begging for more.

The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen

The Sinner 3stars

One of the few books I've read on my Nook, The Sinner was a fast read. Jane Rizzoli is called to a convent to solve the murder of two nuns one bitter winter's morning. The crime is horrifying in its cruelty and barbarity. Both women's heads are bashed in within the walls of a building that should have been a sanctuary from the evils of the world, but evil will find a way in anyplace.

There are more twists and sex in this then a James Bond film. I think that is what ultimately took away from the story. I don't care who you're having a romp with, get to the story! Who is Jane Doe, what's the connection?! Who's the killer? In the end it was a good book that kept my attention even if I did have to fast forward through a few places.Usually I do enjoy Gerritsen's books, there have been a few duds along the way, but I expect that. I'm just not a fan of too much sex in a book, I understand the biology, I don't need a description. Just get to the crime solving please and thank you.

A Wild Sheep Chase By Haruki Murakami

A Wild Sheep Chase-- 4 Stars

We follow an unnamed protagonist as he searches out a sheep with a star on its back. He searches for the sheep while also searching for a long lost friend of his. He leaves Tokyo and heads north into the mountains. There are times when you think that you know exactly what is going on then the author yanks the rug out from under you and leaves you stranded in a vacuum.

I always enjoy the novels, but honestly I find myself at a loss of how to describe them to others. The satirical talent that reigns here defies proper description. All I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and have already started on the next one.  

The mix of mystery and pure anarchy makes for a lovely adventure, one that keeps me turning pages long into the night.

The Associate by John Grisham

The Associate-- 3 stars

I am convinced that every author writes a dud novel, one that doesn't live up to the standards said author usually accomplishes. This happens on average once every ten years, could be more often if the author is rather prolific. In this case, Grisham has disappointed me. I read the novel hoping for the thrilling twists and turns that usually accompany his novels. I was sadly disappointed this time.

The novel starts off with a decent enough twist, a man from some agency blackmails Kyle McAvoy, law school graduate, by using something from his past. His job is to infiltrate a law firm, the largest in the world, and steal documents. But that is where the adventure and twists end, really. Boring and straight forward. Sure we see what happens to every law student after they pass the bar exam. They are over worked, but they get paid well, so there's reason to complain. Unless of course, you have some guy telling to betray everything you've ever known.

Not one of my favourite books by Grisham. I haven't read one of his books in some time and was depressed by how predictable the entire thing was. Most of the time, I have to run to catch up with him, but not this time.

The Thirteenth Tale by Dianne Setterfield

The Thirteenth Tale-- 5 Stars

How could this book have been sitting, languishing on my shelves for so many years? How had I managed to deprive myself of such a story for so long? Its inexcusable, simple as that.

Upon suggestion from a fellow book-aholic on GoodReads, I picked up The Thirteenth Tale. I was not disappointed. We follow a young woman by the name of Margaret Lea, who is contacted by the author Vida Winter to write her biography. Margaret doesn't read books written by authors still among the living when there are so many others to read by authors who will never write again. However, she is intrigued by Ms. Winter and accepts the commission to "tell the truth".

The story unfolds of strange relationships, feral twins, a governess, a ghost, a garden and fire that destroyed it all. All too often, I found myself, or rather lost myself, in this telling of gothic strangeness and I loved it. I would come up from this story only to eat or drink and that begrudgingly. I stayed up late last night reading, it was well after two in the morning before I turned the last page and shut out the light. I've not done that in some time and it was a joy. Our protagonist, Margaret, left no stone unturned and even told us what happened to all the side characters in this tale, something that most authors don't bother to do. I had to find out what happened to everyone.

The Thirteenth Tale pulls you with a strange magnetic force into the pages of the story and doesn't let you go. You find yourself thinking about the characters long after you've had to set the book down and go back to work. You find yourself wondering what is going to happen next. Will Margaret finish the commission before time runs out? Will we ever know what really happened in that house so long ago? Will Margaret find the peace she is looking for? Questions such as these haunt you until you reach the last page and smile at the complete story, happy that everything worked out in the end even if it wasn't how you thought. In a rare fashion, I actually cried when this novel reached its conclusion. I was sad that the story was over.

There are books that we find a few times in our lives, if we are very fortunate, that have a power over us, that mystical power of a story. It fills us, guides us down it's own path and when we reach the end of that journey, we are left feeling a sense of both joy at completion and sadness that these characters we have met will go on without us. You see, their story is over for now and ours must continue. We have to say good-bye and good-byes are rarely kind and happy affairs in their entirety, but a cloud of sadness always lingers. Always, and I wouldn't change it for anything.

City Of Bones by Michael Connelly

City Of Bones -- 4 Stars

Yes, yes, yes... I know I read them out of order, but oh well. Good thing about the Harry Bosch novels is that they can stand alone, though I really do think I should have read them in order. Oh, well...

Anyway... when a dog digs up an old bone from a small child, Detective Bosch is assigned the case. It turns out to be a cold case, the bones buried twenty-five years ago. Harry is distracted slightly by a beautiful young "boot", a probationary officer. We follow a budding romance and a gruesome murder of a young boy. Will Harry be able to find his killer after all this time?

Again my only major complaint is the amount of swearing in this novel! Its demeaning. I like a good mystery, the more twists the more I like it. My wish is granted in a Connelly novel, but that amount of swearing is just getting on my nerves.

The Closers by Michael Connelly

The Closers -- 4 Stars

This is one of the books in the Harry Bosch series and the first of which I've read. Detective Bosch has just returned from a three year retirement and he has been assigned to the Open-Unsolved Unit, also known as Cold Cases. His first case is one that is seventeen years old. A teen girl is found dead in the hills behind her home, an apparent suicide. The detectives on the case at the time botched the investigation and her killer was never caught. Now its up to Harry Bosch and his partner Kizman Rider to give this young girl a voice once more.

The investigation unfolds in so many ways and leads the reader down the path to the truth, not the fabrication that everyone else was led to believe over the years. There are so many twists in this book that a map may be required.

I did enjoy the action and the way the plot unfolded in such an intriguing way. However, I personally think that Bosch swears far too much for my liking. I understand that he's an old man, left over from Vietnam and a resident of L.A no less, but seriously? I don't hear sailors swear so much. That was a real detractor for me. The story has great merit but all that useless and stupid language was unnecessary.  

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

The Lincoln Lawyer -- 4 Stars

This is the first Connelly novel I've read and I must say it was thoroughly enjoyable! We start by meeting Michael Haller, a defense attorney in L.A. His job is to not just get you off for possession, but to neutralize all evidence that the District Attorney's office may have on you. And he's not too bad at it.

Enter his latest client, Louis Roulet (pronounced roo-lay) who is accused of attempted rape, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Its clear that he's guilty, but guilt and innocence is not Haller's job, acquittal is. Roulet isn't the type of guy we thing he is, though and Haller may in over his head this time.

I read this book rather quickly, but it took me a bit to get the review up. After reading this novel I would absolutely read another by Connelly. I was completely wrapped up in his character and the plot. Speaking of which, the twist at the end had me almost "No way!" at the lunch table at work. It was that unexpected. I'm looking forward to another Michael Haller novel. He's a very sound character, even if he is a defense lawyer.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

The Scarlet Pimpernel  -- 5 Stars

A story that caught me from the beginning and did not let me go! I was struck by how wonderful this novel was. The French Revolution, 1792: People are being offered to the guillotine daily, sacrificed in the name of liberty. Aristocrats in particular are being slaughtered; they are called "traitors" simply for being wealthy. One man risks his live to save them, men women and children, from their engagement with Madame La Guillotine. He is called The Scarlet Pimpernel!

He is a cleaver man, who has a small band of his English companions to help him save these poor souls from death. He risks everything to go back to France again and again. No one knows who he his and one man, Chavelin, will do anything to catch him red handed in smuggling people across the Channel. Chavelin employs  woman to find the identity of the Pimpernel. What will she do? Give him up to his enemies and death, or risk her life for his?

I love the mystery that goes throughout the novel, never truly knowing who the Pimpernel is until the final chapters. I was disappointed by another French novel not long ago and was dread to read this one. Oh how glad I am I did! What a wonderful mystery! Full of royal court life, high society and intrigue.

This book is on the challenge to read twelve books that have been on my shelf for a year or more and I believe 1001 Books To Read Before You Die.

Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs

Break No Bones -- Four Stars

This is the ninth book featuring the character Temperance Brennan, now a lead character in the Fox show Bones. I love crime thrillers, its my weakness. Give me a good murder and a decent plot twist and I will be a pathetic reader, begging for more. Yes, I have found all that in this novel.

Tempe is on an archeological dig in South Carolina when she finds a body that is not like the others, Much too young to be Pre-Colombian, still intact as well. This sends Tempe on a modern investigation that leads her down a road she never thought she'd be on when she agreed to go to the sea-side in the first place.

Full of technical jargon that is blessedly dumbed down for we poor regular folks, the story is one twist after another. Between the bodies that keep turning up and the boy friend/ex-husband in her life, Dr Brennan has no time to relax. I rather enjoyed the book and look forward to the next Brennan novel patiently waiting on my shelves.

The Chicago Way by Michael Harvey

The Chiago Way
4 Stars-

This was a happy accident sort of purchase. I bought it in a major book sale for a few dollars and figured why not. What a wonderful "why not"!

Michael Kelly is a private investigator in Chicago. His old partner shows up one day with a cold case for him, the next he finds himself dead. Kelly isn't simply investigating a murder, he's thrown into a case that had its origin twenty years ago and the bodies just keep dropping. Kelly now has to question everything. Is someone a friend, lover, enemy? All three?

The novel has a great feel to it, like reading something from Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler. The "hard boiled" detective had its hey-day in the 1930's and 1940's and it is a delight to have a modern equivalent. I'm a fan of the masters and have the entire "Philip Marlowe" series (that's by Chandler, so you know). Michael Kelly has the same sort of attitude and tone as Marlowe. This is the mystery novel I have been waiting for! Now I have to go and find book two in the series. I'd grumble, really I would, but I enjoyed the story and lead character far too much.