Friday, March 25, 2016

“Deception,” by Jonathan Kellerman

FM's ratings:


          1. Premise 9
          2. Prose 10
          3. Plot 9
          4. Characters 10
          5. Overall 10


Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

Reading the blurbs (do people still call them that?) on the book covers of books is pointless, right?  They always exaggerate what’s really inside, right?  “Jonathan Kellerman’s novels are an obsession; once started it is hard to quit.” – Orlando Sentinel.  Well, guess what: I’m hooked!  Several people who know me well have told me that they think I would like Kellerman, that I would like how smart his writing is and would especially like the humor (frequently seasoned with a healthy twist of exquisite sarcasm!) he brings to a detective story.  And they were absolutely correct!  “The combination of Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis make for the most original whodunit duo since Watson and Holmes.” – Forbes .  Most original and, perhaps, most entertaining.  I have often wondered if I would eventually get jaded on the Detective Mystery format, in which you often get a long series of interrogative (Milo: “We don’t interrogate; we interview…” – Ha!) conversations between detective and suspect/witness/expert.  Here, it is done so well, I actually look forward to seeing Milo grill his subjects.  Beautifully done!  And, yes, I went to the library within hours of finishing this book to check out the one Kellerman wrote immediately following.  Just itching to start it!





And here’s the April line-up! 

“Ashley Bell,” by Dean Koontz [4-2]
“The Lunatic Café,” by Laurell K. Hamilton [4-9]
“Grave Surprise,” by Charlaine Harris [4-16]
“Adrenaline,” by Jeff Abbott [4-23]
“Born in Death,” by J. D. Robb [4-30] 

(As always, if there are any books you’d like to recommend for next month, please do so.  Also, if you have already read one on our previous lists, you are invited to send your ratings and or comments for that book!)


Friday, March 18, 2016

“The Ritual Bath,” by Faye Kellerman

FM's ratings:


          1. Premise 6
          2. Prose 5
          3. Plot 7
          4. Characters 6
          5. Overall 6


Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

This author is a “New York Times Bestselling Author according to the cover.  She is credited with 13 other books on the page before the title page, so she’s not a newbie.  I can name several worse authors that can claim the same distinction, and to be fair, this was her first novel.  The most grating aspect of this one, for me, was that many passages read almost like an infomercial for Judaism.  The ritual bath referred to in the title is itself is one the Jewish traditions that is hundreds of years old, which apparently gives it more credibility.  The book seemed to be an attempt to educate us “goys” (yes, the word was a constant reminder of how us non-Jews are looked down upon) about the wonderful world of Jewish orthodoxy.  I’m not anti-Semitic, but enough is enough.  Having a love interest as a component of a detective story is not unusual and can spice up a plot very nicely, but when the author seems to forget – for many pages – that the story isn’t a Romance, then our interest wanes rapidly.  The hero, Peter Decker is admirably portrayed and isn’t overly “damaged” by his deep, dark past as so many heroes seem to be these days.  The heroine, Rina Lazarus, exhibits too many weaknesses to command our respect.  Someday I’ll try another book by this author; one of the later ones that should show some aesthetic maturity as a writer.  In the meantime, there are lots of great books by lots of great authors out there!





Here’s the April line-up! 

“Ashley Bell,” by Dean Koontz [4-2]
“The Lunatic Café,” by Laurell K. Hamilton [4-9]
“Grave Surprise,” by Charlaine Harris [4-16]
“Adrenaline,” by Jeff Abbott [4-23]
“Born in Death,” by J. D. Robb [4-30] 

(As always, if there are any books you’d like to recommend for next month, please do so.  Also, if you have already read one on our previous lists, you are invited to send your ratings and or comments for that book!)

Friday, March 11, 2016

“A Thief of Time,” by Tony Hillerman

FM's ratings:

          1. Premise 8
          2. Prose 8
          3. Plot 8
          4. Characters 8
          5. Overall 8

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

No weaknesses, no major strengths, just good, solid writing, in this, another first-time reading of an author, for me.   What Hillerman does very well – and I had been told this before reading him – is evoke the ambience, the atmosphere of the area in which he sets his mysteries; the region of the Southwest United States centering on the famed Four Corners, where Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico all come together at one point.  There is even a map at the beginning of the copy I read that shows almost all the cities and other place names mentioned in the story.  The dual protagonists represent two generations of Navajo Indian law enforcement agents, which lends itself to some nice distinctions in world-view.  The story also includes a gold mine of fascinating information about the anthropology of the area.  For instance, I had no idea there were over 10,000 sites attributed to the vanished civilization known as the Anasazi!  Many of them have been set aside for study until enough technological advances can take place to study them properly.  Pretty interesting!  The author’s low-key prose is not a put-off here; if anything, it heightens the tension as it builds toward the climax.  I have other books by Hillerman on my To-Be-Read shelf, and it won’t be long before I re-visit him.

Friday, March 4, 2016

"'I' is for Innocent," by Sue Grafton

FM's ratings:


          1. Premise 9
          2. Prose 10
          3. Plot 9
          4. Characters 10
          5. Overall 9


Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)


As always, Grafton’s alphabetical mysteries are first-rate.  And despite the same setting, same protagonist, many of the same characters, and same investigatory/interviewing techniques, each of these gems manages to be fresh as the first.  The ending has its obligatory Investigator-In-A-Life-Or-Death-Situation, often followed by a one or two page wrap-up; in these books, appearing in the form of a short note from the protagonist, Kinsey Millhone.  (I had long presumed that her last name was just an unusual spelling of “Malone” but this story clarifies the matter - “No, it doesn’t rhyme with baloney.  It’s Mill-hone.”) – on page 41.  But each encounter between Kinsey and the other characters is fascinating to watch unfold, made realistic by pitch-perfect dialogue.  The narrative never even comes close to going stale.  Masterful crime-mystery writing from one of the legendary best.