“You can’t go to the prom. What would people think?”
When I reviewed PIECES OF HER, the debut novel in a new series introducing Andrea Oliver, a y“You can’t go to the prom. What would people think?”
When I reviewed PIECES OF HER, the debut novel in a new series introducing Andrea Oliver, a young woman with a troubled past and a less than loving relationship with her mother, I didn’t pull any punches:
“For Karin Slaughter's sake, I fervently hope that PIECES OF HER is that rock-bottom effort which will make anything else she produces look better by comparison.”
I’ll admit it took a great deal of self-persuasion to pick up the next novel in the series, GIRL, FORGOTTEN, in which Oliver, now a newly minted US Marshall is assigned to the protection of a federal judge in the face of death threats. But all’s well that ends well. Karin Slaughter rewarded my courage with a brilliant thriller that unfolded along two timelines separated by forty years and all is DEFINITELY forgiven. I’m back on the “looking forward to further Karin Slaughter novels” list.
The first case, obviously, was the resolution of the death threat issue with respect to the judge but it was the historical case that really put GIRL, FORGOTTEN over the top. Slaughter developed the stone cold case of the rape and murder of a late 20th century teen girl with a veritable bucketful of accompanying bells and whistles – teen cliques, friendships, and the intensity of young love; misogyny; date rape and statutory rape; abortion; the miserable treatment of pregnant teens as little as forty years ago; and, believe it or not, cults and human trafficking. Emily Vaughn, the pregnant teen whose murder was to wait four decades for a solution definitely stole the show. A thoroughly brilliant bit of characterization!
Well done, Karin Slaughter. Definitely recommended. When is the sequel coming? The circumstances of the ending and the intentionally frayed endings on some of the undone knots make it crystal clear that one is in the works!
“It wasn’t just a young, pretty, and smart woman driving away that night;”
“... she was a bookmark in the novel that was his life, showing him where h“It wasn’t just a young, pretty, and smart woman driving away that night;”
“... she was a bookmark in the novel that was his life, showing him where he was currently and holding the place from where the story could or should be started again.”
It’s tough not to gush about the sheer brilliance of COLD! A straight-up horror novel by a Canadian aboriginal author that riffs on some not unexpected aboriginal themes – university level indigenous studies programs; racism and xenophobia; hockey as a typical sport for aboriginal young men; isolation of northern aboriginal communities; and, of course, survival in that most contemptible of institutions, government and church run residential schools.
The horror? Well, what else? Serial murder and a man-eating wendigo, described in Wikipedia as “a supernatural being belonging to the spiritual traditions of Algonquian-speaking First Nations in North America. Wendigos are described as powerful monsters that have a desire to kill and eat their victims. In most legends, humans transform into wendigos because of their greed or weakness.”
And the title COLD? Well, aside from the generic widespread association of cold weather with Canada, “the wendigo was a personification of cold and hunger in a time when human survival relied on banding together and sharing resources, particularly during the long, harsh winters of the northern wilderness.”
And the nature of the wendigo curse? ”The curse transforms any person who eats human flesh of another human being in the Canadian wilderness into a massive, fur-covered humanoid beast with fangs and razor sharp claws.”
COLD is a murder mystery, a suspense thriller, a police procedural, a brilliant portrayal of a handful of compelling characters, a dollop of humour that never seems out of place or capable of disrupting the flow of an extremely high-speed narrative stemming from a plane crash in the Canadian sub-arctic AND some very, very skilled atmospheric writing. Kudos to a Canadian author who is definitely on my radar screen for future reading.
“She was a slut, she was loud and crass, and she had the attention span of an insect … but she was so good, so much fun to have around.”
This was o“She was a slut, she was loud and crass, and she had the attention span of an insect … but she was so good, so much fun to have around.”
This was obviously not a murder victim it was easy to get a read on! But DCI Erika Foster, a young widow still in mourning, recovering from the untimely murder of her husband, and dealing with her own personal demons, is on the job and on the hunt for a relentless serial killer.
THE GIRL IN THE ICE is a gripping suspense thriller with a well-crafted compelling and suitably bizarre and gruesome plot. How could one fail to be drawn in by the death of young wealthy socialite followed by a series of three prostitute murders in which the victims were found hog-tied and strangled with the corpses unceremoniously dumped in bodies of water around the city of London? But, more than that, it’s also a brilliant, personality-driven series debut with a masterful “show, don’t tell” bit of character development that will serve as the superb foundation for what is obviously going to be an exciting series to follow.
Definitely recommended. DCI Erika Foster is obviously a character with plenty of literary mileage to come that will appeal to lovers of the suspense thriller and police procedural genres. I’m definitely looking forward to the second novel in the series, THE NIGHT STALKER.
Newly minted FBI agent, Caitlin Hendrix, on her first assignment with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit hHis wife “… had vanished. She was the fifth”
Newly minted FBI agent, Caitlin Hendrix, on her first assignment with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit has obviously been tossed into the deep end with no PFD. She’s facing her first Unsub, a savage serial killer who seems to have the ability to grab his victims within sight and sound of dozens of witnesses but to make them disappear more quietly and more completely than David Copperfield’s Statue of Liberty. INTO THE BLACK NOWHERE leaves the proverbial station on a single track, the engine puffing slowly but steadily, checking each clue, gaining traction and steam with each turn of the wheels, inevitably closing in on the suspect, a solid but really quite fascinating and compelling police procedural. Then, just past the halfway point of the novel, the wheels come off, the tracks split into a wild and twisted myriad of possible routes, turns, dead-ends and sidings. INTO THE BLACK NOWHERE has definitely become a high speed, edge-of-the-seat, hang-onto-your-hat suspense thriller.
If you’re a fan of television forensic shows such as CRIMINAL MINDS, or forensic thrillers à la Jeffrey Deaver or Tess Gerritsen, then INTO THE BLACK NOWHERE will be right down your alley. And (no big surprises here), there’s clearly a sequel coming. Definitely recommended.
A horrifying psychological thriller that rivals Truman Capote’s true-crime masterpiece IN COLD BLOOD!
Three young teenage girl friends, sworn to eternaA horrifying psychological thriller that rivals Truman Capote’s true-crime masterpiece IN COLD BLOOD!
Three young teenage girl friends, sworn to eternal secrecy under a blood pact, commit a brutal mass murder and enter what most Canadians think of as a very flawed young offender justice system.
Rick Mofina, now definitely on my list of favourite thriller authors (with special kudos to his being a fellow Canadian), has crafted a high-speed thriller that took me into the proverbial wee hours and refused to allow me to set it down. Grisly mass murder, social work, suicide, dysfunctional families, wealth vs poverty, young offenders, legal and police procedures, jurisdictional issues, forensics and technology, psychology, revenge … THEIR LAST SECRET has it all. An extraordinarily easy 5-star recommendation and a solid addition to my Top Ten 2024 Favourites list.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet THE WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB - Lindsay Boxer, police sergeant and homicide detTo make a bad pun, this one is definitely a bust!
Ladies and gentlemen, meet THE WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB - Lindsay Boxer, police sergeant and homicide detective; Yuki Castellano, prosecutor and assistant district attorney; Claire Washburn, medical examiner and forensic scientist; Cindy Thomas, writer and investigative journalist. Their novels are as predictably formulaic as the proverbial Hallmark movie but that formula (as of the writing of THE 19TH CHRISTMAS) was (note the intentional use of that past tense) working like a well-oiled high speed machine so don’t expect authors Paetro and Patterson to be breaking the pattern any time soon.
Think of a WMC novel as a mash-up of two or three novellas or short stories, each involving one of the WMC ladies as a lead protagonist – a murder, trial or legal issue, medical drama, rape, breaking news story, kidnapping, bombing, arson, social issue … you get the idea. The stories weave in and out of one another in real time to produce a single larger novel but the interaction between stories is typically minor, incidental, or coincidental (or in this case, nonexistent).
Story #1 was an intriguing drama involving an illegal immigrant, a wrongful conviction for murder, and, of course, WMC attorney Yuki Castellano. Story #2 is a straight-up police procedural in which a nefarious, ostensibly über-intelligent mastermind criminal (à la Moriarity) leads the police on a twisted maze of red herrings, false leads, and police resource gobbling distractions as he works his way toward zero hour and the ultimate payday, a heist forecast to net its perpetrators a multi-million if not billion dollar payday! As the bloody body count also ratchets through the roof, it’s obvious that this nasty piece of work is intent on eliminating any possible witnesses along his twisted path to the target booty.
"What are we looking for? We have a bunch of pieces and parts that add up to a big fat pile of nothing."
Well, they sure got that right because then came the bust, literal and literary. The immigrant murder trial is simply reported as having been won without the reader so much as sniffing the inside of a courtroom. The criminal mastermind, in a definitely anti-climactic climax is nabbed with undue ceremony (probably because Patterson and Maestro had reached the required number of pages for the novel). And guess what the objective of that heist was! I mean it … guess! Your guess will be as good as anyone else’s because, if Patterson and Maestro had anything particular in mind, they’re forgot to include it in the published version of the novel. A ridiculous ending if there ever was one.
Save yourself some grief and skip the novel. It simply isn’t worth the time. Go right to the epilogue and read that because there is a little bit of (ridiculously) unrelated personal stuff that might find its way somehow into 20TH VICTIM.
Genocidal monster or Serbian war hero? History, of course, is written by the winners!
Ladies and gentlemen, meet THE WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB - Lindsay BoxeGenocidal monster or Serbian war hero? History, of course, is written by the winners!
Ladies and gentlemen, meet THE WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB - Lindsay Boxer, police sergeant and homicide detective; Yuki Castellano, prosecutor and assistant district attorney; Claire Washburn, medical examiner and forensic scientist; Cindy Thomas, writer and investigative journalist. Their novels are as predictably formulaic as the proverbial Hallmark movie but that formula (as of the writing of THE 18TH ABDUCTION) is working like a well-oiled high speed machine so don’t expect authors Paetro and Patterson to be breaking the pattern any time soon.
Think of a WMC novel as a mash-up of two or three novellas or short stories, each involving one of the WMC ladies as a lead protagonist – a murder, trial or legal issue, medical drama, rape, breaking news story, kidnapping, bombing, arson, social issue … you get the idea. The stories weave in and out of one another in real time to produce a single larger novel but the interaction between stories is typically minor, incidental, or coincidental.
Sprinkle in a generous helping of personal issues interrupting the ladies’ professional lives – marital difficulties; flagging sex lives; questions of professional integrity or self esteem; pregnancy; professional discord in their employment; divorce or separation; commitment; changing personal objectives; morality … once again, all pretty predictable stuff!
Last but not least, toss in at least one or two coffee klatch, dinner and drinks, or purely pub meetings over booze during which the ladies meet and discuss their issues and brainstorm potential ideas and solutions with one another.
In a pretty real sense, if you’ve read one WMC novel, you’ve read them all but, darn it, they’re entertaining as hell, they manage to be quite gripping, and THE 18TH ABDUCTION is no exception to this astonishing string of successes. The story lines in this one? First, three teachers from a prestigious preparatory school, with no apparent common denominator have gone missing while out together. The clock is ticking and their deaths by excruciating torture seem inevitable as time passes. Second, a more political meta-story focused on the apprehension of a war criminal living free and easy in the USA spotted by a refugee from the Serbian genocide.
“He didn’t have skeletons in his closet, he had a crematorium.”
His name probably should have been “Gregor JOHN”! When MP Gregor Jack was rounded u“He didn’t have skeletons in his closet, he had a crematorium.”
His name probably should have been “Gregor JOHN”! When MP Gregor Jack was rounded up in an Edinburgh brothel raid in the company of a prostitute who was willing to flash her fulsome attributes to the gathered photographers and journalists, his political reputation was bound to be put through a grinder. But when his wife subsequently disappears from the local social scene and is found to have been murdered, Jack’s obvious motive and lack of an alibi has his political opponents baying like a pack of wolves for his demise, not to mention his arrest and imprisonment. Detective Inspector John Rebus remains unconvinced and, like the proverbial hound chewing at a bone, worries at the idea that Gregor Jack had been intentionally set up for a political crash and burn.
Despite the convincing realism of the novel’s underlying premise, STRIP JACK is a slow burn, purely character driven police procedural. And, make no mistake, the character development - most notably Inspector Rebus, of course – is graphic, colourful, atmospheric and quite compelling. But the sad fact is that the story itself, a slow burn as I already hinted, does nothing but smoke and smolder for the entire length of the novel. No action or suspense to speak of, no red herrings, and nary a thrill or chill anywhere in sight that might ignite the pile of kindling into a hot flame!
STRIP JACK is the third Rebus novel that I’ve read and it’s my third tepid and lukewarm reaction to a character who for many readers seems quite popular. Obviously a case of different strokes for different folks but if a fourth attempt at the series doesn’t generate a solid WOW for me, that will put paid to the entire series. At least it will make for a generous contribution to our local Little Free Library boxes. My reaction for the moment is, “Do I have the next Peter Robinson novel in the Inspector Banks series?”
“It was … our first date night since Joe and I had separated six months ago.”
It would take very little to persuade me that authors of detective s“It was … our first date night since Joe and I had separated six months ago.”
It would take very little to persuade me that authors of detective series have now collectively decided that their novels must contain multiple plot lines. Is there something wrong with focusing on a single plot? Are the plots that these authors create too thin to construct an entire novel around? Or perhaps the authors are afraid that if one of the plots in a novel isn’t the zinger that they had hoped for, the second (or third?) plot will make up for the failings in the first! But I digress.
16TH SEDUCTION follows this by now firmly established series “paradigm”.
PLOT #1: A bomber, alleged to be affiliated with the domestic terrorist organization known as GAR, the Great Antiestablishment Reset, inadvertently confesses to the bombing. In his subsequent trial, he not only undertakes a pro se defense (acting as his own counsel) but he even has the gall to launch a civil suit against Lindsay Boxer for malicious arrest. An internal affairs investigation is launched and Boxer’s career is on the line. PLOT #2: A serial killer is stalking the city with a rather unique MO, using a syringe to inject a poison into his victim’s buttocks. The chosen poison, by the way, for a number of reasons, has the ability to slip by the medical examiner’s tests for toxins. PLOT #3: The mandatory continuation of the soap operas in the lives of the WMC members. The rails are still in place but the status of Lindsay Boxer’s and Joe Molinari’s marriage, definitely de-railed at the end of 15TH AFFAIR, remains in question. Will they get back together again? (Three guesses and the first two don’t count!)
On a side note, I doubt if I’m the only reader who wondered who was being seduced in this particular story and pondered who might have been seduced the previous fifteen times??
Caustic comments and sarcasm aside, 16TH SEDUCTION in spite of itself is a thoroughly entertaining winner and has definitely persuaded me to continue with the series. I’ve got #17, #18, and #19, already lined up on my shelves ready to go. Challenging literary prize winners … NOT! Compelling brain candy … oh, you betcha! On a slightly more serious note, I hope that Paetro and Patterson have not decided to relegate Yuki Castellano, Claire Washburn, and Cindy Thomas to the sidelines and convert the Women’s Murder Club to a series showcasing only Lindsay Boxer as a female homicide detective. The entire WMC team rules!
“By the time you read this, I will have hurt you beyond all forgiveness. There are no words to tell you how sorry I am.”
“Please know that I’ve always “By the time you read this, I will have hurt you beyond all forgiveness. There are no words to tell you how sorry I am.”
“Please know that I’ve always loved you – never more so than at this moment – and if there had been any other way … “
With the suicide of his wife, detective John Cardinal receives what has to qualify as the ultimate heartbreaking Dear John letter. Everyone knew that Catherine Cardinal had struggled with depression and mental illness for many years but her suicide still came as a shock. So much so in fact that the detective in John Cardinal was unable to accept it and bring himself to believe that his wife had actually chosen to end her own life. Cardinal’s off-the-record and definitely unauthorized investigation of a death that his own colleagues would not even acknowledge was anything other than what it appeared to be – a tragic suicide – is paired with the efforts of his longtime colleague, Lisa Delorme, to find the source of some very nasty child pornography.
If you're looking for a nail-biting suspense thriller, BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS definitely won't fill the bill. On the other hand, if you're looking for a profound combination of psychological thriller, police procedural, credible well-defined characters and plenty of local Canadian atmosphere, Giles Blunt has definitely scored a home-run with this novel extending and building on the partnership of John Cardinal and Lise Delorme. They're not quite as angsty as Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch but they're definitely edgy with lots of quirks to build on. As you are pulled more deeply into the story, I'm sure you'll agree that comparisons like this are both inevitable and well-deserved. If there were such a thing as the Canadian Crime Writers’ Hall of Fame, Giles Blunt and his literary creations, John Cardinal and Lise Delorme, would certainly occupy a place of honour (that’s “honor” spelled correctly – with a “u”, LOL!)
Definitely recommended and on to CRIME MACHINE and UNTIL THE NIGHT, #5 and #6 in a series that has plenty of legs and shows no indications of flagging or running out of steam. Fans will hope there’s plenty more to come.
“He was tired of dealing with a psycho for a father, a totally unpredictable maniac with a violent temper.”
HANGMAN qualifies easily for characterizat“He was tired of dealing with a psycho for a father, a totally unpredictable maniac with a violent temper.”
HANGMAN qualifies easily for characterization as a suspense thriller but it’s based on a pretty off-the-wall premise. Nah, let’s call it downright bizarre. Peter Decker, a successful detective, has maintained an ongoing relationship with Chris Whitman, an ex-convict who served a term in prison for the murder of his girlfriend. The bizarre part is that Decker and his wife, Rina Lazarus, recognize that Whitman (now operating under the name Christ Donatti) is a successful (and extremely dangerous) contract killer who launders money through the legal front of a string of brothels. What’s up with a police detective staying in touch with somebody like that?? When Donatti’s wife goes missing and Donatti disappears (well, of course … what else?), their musically-gifted son ends up in the Decker-Lazarus household as an ex-officio adoptee. (Is the needle on your credibility meter edging into the red zone yet?)
You’d think that would be enough fodder to fuel an entire novel but what suspense thriller worth its salt is allowed to have a mere single plot line? HANGMAN certainly doesn’t break that mold. A gruesome murder case in which a woman’s body is founding hanging from the framing of an active construction site seems to point in the direction of a bloodthirsty serial killer. Now that’s more like it! Decker on the track of a psychopathic serial killer while he’s looking over his shoulder for a contract killer who could endanger his family and reappear at any time to re-claim his son!
Insofar as a rating is concerned, … well, that’s simple enough. HANGMAN is gripping, compelling, and entertaining enough that I couldn’t dream of giving it an “average” rating of only 3 stars. On the other hand, I couldn’t award it a top drawer 5-star rating either with the general reservations I had about the premises underlying the entire novel. So, 4 stars it is! But, I’ll admit I came very close to ignoring those concerns and awarding 5 stars anyway on the basis of the brilliant character development of Gabe Whitman, the teenage “adoptee” and his love-hate relationship with a mostly absent father!
I’d be very pleased to see Gabe turning up as a secondary character in a subsequent Decker-Lazarus novel.
When an elderly black man dies as a result of a savage beating, all signs point to a crime driven by unde“I specialize in making problems go away”
When an elderly black man dies as a result of a savage beating, all signs point to a crime driven by underlying hate and racism. Detective Ben O’Shea is handed the unenviable task of solving the crime (or at least appearing to do so, and right smartly in the bargain) as the Biloxi political powers that be need to get this nasty little incident out of the political limelight and into the history books. Of course, the police procedural, suspense thriller or murder mystery in which all is as it seems simply doesn’t exist. Nothing more obvious to fans of these reading genres … right? This nasty little “hate crime" is no exception.
In the meantime, Ben O’Shea’s business partner, up and coming private detective Gabriel Ross is becoming embroiled in a case of extortion and blackmail against a US Congressman, a case of wealth, privilege, and power attempting to flex its muscles simultaneously against the legal system and what appears to be a ruthless political opponent!
Despite his less than intimidating diminutive stature, Gabriel Ross has garnered some real world sleuthing experience and established himself as a detecting force to be reckoned with in his Mississippi neck of the woods. In short, he’s now got some legitimate, street cred and it suits him well. While THE MISSISSIPPI QUEEN deserves full credit as a gripping, credible mystery, Joe Hamilton also deserves kudos as an author who knows how to build his characters and add to their story, their experience, and their interest along the way. I’m a confirmed fan and I’m definitely looking forward to the next entry in the series.
Highly recommended (but be sure to start with RIGHT PLACE, WRONG TIME).
Caroline Hartley, manager of a local café and enthusiastic, talented thespian in the local amateur theaterA purely character driven police procedural
Caroline Hartley, manager of a local café and enthusiastic, talented thespian in the local amateur theater group has been stabbed to death. Her lesbian relationship with the estranged wife of a well-known classical composer seems to provide a host of motives to a “motley crüe” of possible suspects. Nor are clues hard to come by but they simply don’t seem to hang together or point unequivocally in any particular direction. Newly promoted, very much wet around the ears, Detective Constable Susan Gay has been assigned to work with Banks on the case and she’s determined to prove she’s up to the task.
Just as Michael Connelly has done with the Harry Bosch persona introduced in THE BLACK ECHO, Banks continues to grow and evolve as a person and skilled investigator. Alan Banks is a real man with real characteristics – he loves his music, opera, choral, jazz and blues; he enjoys a jar or two of his favourite beer; he’ll even indulge in a scotch if the problem he’s considering is a little deeper or a little more pressing; he’s happy to be in a small town away from the dank, depressing, and jarring crowds of London but, as far as the Yorkshire men and women are concerned, he’s still a ‘Johnny Come Lately’ and his acceptance is minimal and reserved. He seems to have settled into a comfortable level of happiness with his wife and his relationship with his children although he’s constantly aware of the difficulty of their lives in terms of living with a policeman.
PAST REASON HATED is definitely a modern mystery in its approach to modern themes – adultery, lesbianism and same sex relationships, violence, forensics and pathology, divorce, domestic abuse, misogyny, police politics and administration, the indoctrination of organized religion, and problem drinking, for example. In short, it’s a modern police procedural but it’s very much character and personality driven and is not in any sense a suspense thriller. The calm pastoral ending will remind readers that, aside from a well-crafted mystery, they’ve been reading a story about the life of the man who solves those mysteries!
Enough said! If you enjoy police procedurals, then pick up your copy of PAST REASON HATED. It’s a sure-fire winner!
“Most jumpers aim to land on their head since it’s the best way to ensure a fatal end. This girl took a flat dive.”
Something about the apparent su“Most jumpers aim to land on their head since it’s the best way to ensure a fatal end. This girl took a flat dive.”
Something about the apparent suicide of a teenage runaway and new single mother at an isolated construction site just isn’t passing Kala Stonechild’s sniff test. As she begins the process of putting together the timeline of her final days in order to come to a final determination as to whether her death was murder or suicide, Stonechild finds herself pitted against the misogyny of her colleagues, the uncertainty of a team member leaking vital investigative information to the media, loan sharking and extortion, financial corruption and human trafficking. And to put the first layer of icing on a very nasty cake, Stonechild’s niece, Dawn, (against the wishes and advice of her mother and her aunt) is surreptitiously meeting with her father, out on early parole and living rough in the woods near Stonechild’s home. The final layer comes when Dawn’s friend, Vanessa, finds herself in an inescapable relationship with an older man, in fact a pimp and human trafficker, who has set his sights on Dawn as his next victim.
The quality and credibility of the development of her characters’ individual story lines and how those stories mesh so seamlessly with the sixth in a series of brilliant, gripping police procedurals is, in a word, awesome. I’m definitely looking forward to what I fear may be the final book in the series, CLOSING TIME. That said, hope springs eternal! Kudos to a skilled Canadian author who definitely deserves space on the shelves of mystery, suspense thriller and police procedural fans.
When I reviewed the 14th installment of James Patterson’s and Maxine Paetro’s long-running and ext“Do you have any idea what you’re poking into?”
When I reviewed the 14th installment of James Patterson’s and Maxine Paetro’s long-running and extraordinarily successful WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB series, I wrote:
“It’s a formula that James Patterson and his co-author (or is it lead author?) Maxine Paetro have down pat. 14TH DEADLY SIN is, you guessed it, the 14th installment in a well-established, long-running, and, in this reader’s opinion, wildly successful and thoroughly enjoyable series. “Ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is obviously the rule of the day.”
No sooner did I express that opinion than Patterson and Paetro seem to have reached the decision to break that very mold with 15TH AFFAIR. With lawyer Yuki Castellano, journalist Cindy Thomas, and medical examiner Claire Washburn relegated to little more than cameo walk-on appearances, police detective Lindsay Boxer and her erstwhile husband, Joe Molinari, are given front and center starring roles in a novel that, by any reader’s standards, is pure suspense thriller of the espionage and murder variety. Unlike what would probably happen in reality, the SFPD, FBI, and CIA (normally each prone to jealously protect their jurisdictional turf) join forces to hunt down a femme fatale Mata Hari and a cabal of Chinese spies and double agents suspected of the mass murder of over 400 innocent victims by a missile attack on a landing passenger jet.
While 15TH AFFAIR does seem to break the mold, at least it doesn’t smash it into unrecognizable smithereens. Patterson and Paetro obviously reached the decision to retain the trope of including a self-questioning Lindsay Boxer trip down Angsty Lane by including Boxer’s husband in the spy vs spy shenanigans and, at least for the duration of 15TH AFFAIR breaking up what had seemed to be an idyllic marriage. The resolution of that personal drama (at least for the time being) has been left as an open-ended question to be resolved (or not!) in future episodes of THE WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB.
Easy reading, top flight, and definitely enjoyable non-literary suspense thriller brain candy. Another winner in a winning series that definitely that will have me coming back for the next one!
“He calls himself the Dark Wind Killer” and he’s “just getting started”.
Claire Bowen, a troubled but compassionate psychologist with plenty of psychol“He calls himself the Dark Wind Killer” and he’s “just getting started”.
Claire Bowen, a troubled but compassionate psychologist with plenty of psychological baggage in her own past, helps other troubled women rebuild their lives. But that past and her new husband’s past are unwilling to let her go. Detective Tanner, also rebuilding his life, struggles with continuing grief over his wife’s death and typical single parent issues raising his young daughter alone. Tanner’s and Bowen’s lives become inextricably entwined as a sleeping serial murder, responsible for five gruesome unsolved and ice cold murder cases, has awakened from his slumbers. Claire Bowen and the women on her patient list are in the macabre murderer’s sights. The hunt is on but it isn’t clear who is the hunter and who is the hunted.
While many readers will characterize INTO THE DARK as a suspense thriller or a psychological thriller, I’m inclined to disagree as Mofina has made no great secret who the killer is. The only questions are who will win the game of “hunter v. hunted”, how many victims will the Dark Wind Killer claim, and who will they be. But, as a straight-up police procedural that outlines Tanner’s efforts to corral a psychopathic monster, INTO THE DARK is a gripping, compelling, high-speed, easy-reading page-turner. Along the way, readers are treated to instructive and entertaining sidebars of police techniques, domestic abuse, father and daughter relationships, journalism, and more.
Three cheers for another successful Canadian author along with the expressed hope that he finds a much broader global readership. Goodness knows he deserves it.
The most polite word for the McKenna family is “dysfunctional”. There are certainly other less clinicalLots of suspects and plenty of reasons to kill!
The most polite word for the McKenna family is “dysfunctional”. There are certainly other less clinical (and less polite) adjectives which one might use – mean-spirited, nasty, selfish, narcissistic, perhaps even ugly and evil. Lauren borders on normal but perhaps that’s only because she’s unquestionably a problem drinker who souses herself in alcohol to block out the problems of the real world and her relationship with that family. Although her brother, Tristan, was acquitted of the murder of Lauren’s best friend Zoe fourteen years earlier, Lauren is still suspicious that Tristan was the killer.
When Tristan’s pregnant wife disappears into a Canadian winter storm on the shores of Lake Ontario, Lauren’s suspicions crystallize into a belief verging on certainty. The gathering of the family to attend the imminent death of their father becomes a pitiful reunion peppered with hate and scorn and it becomes clear that the father intends to pass away with more information concerning the long cold murder case than he let on to the police so long ago. In short, BLEEDING DARKNESS is a brilliant police procedural driven by a full cast of memorable and sublimely well-developed characters, each of whom seems to have the requisite means, motive and opportunity to be included on Kala Stonechild’s lengthy list of possible suspects.
Aside from the gripping murder case, BLEEDING DARKNESS continues the development of Kala Stonechild and her gaggle of orbiting friends and family. Kala Stonechild is damaged and complicated carrying the memory of a background of alcohol, absentee parents and violent sexual abuse. She’s still a lone wolf and still difficult to understand but she’s unquestionably a self-assured, strong-willed survivor who has matured into a valued and highly skilled member of the Kingston homicide unit. Despite considerable uncertainty regarding the mothering decisions she has to make, she’s grown more or less comfortably into her role as a loving surrogate parent for her niece, Dawn.
And what would such a series be without the possibility of developing romantic entanglements? – Stonechild with her colleague, Paul Gundersund and Stonechild’s boss and mentor, Jacques Rouleau, with a crusty and feisty local journalist, Marci Stokes. Last but not least, just as young Dawn seems to be reconciling herself to living comfortably with Stonechild and accepting the fact that her mother is cooling her heels in prison, Dawn’s father is released from prison and may be looking to re-establish his parental rights. A complicated but thoroughly fascinating series universe!!
Definitely recommended. BLEEDING DARKESS is the fifth in a series that moves from strength to strength and seems to be just getting better with each outing. A caution to potential readers … do yourselves a favour. DON’T START HERE. Head back to the beginning and treat yourself to Kala’s full story by starting with COLD MOURNING. Number six TURNING SECRETS is already on my shelf and I’m looking forward to it with considerable anticipation.
Cold case? What - me worry? No problem if the retainer’s right!!
And this time round, that retainer was DEFINITELY right … $5,000 worth of right, as a Cold case? What - me worry? No problem if the retainer’s right!!
And this time round, that retainer was DEFINITELY right … $5,000 worth of right, as a matter of fact, to find a man who disappeared fourteen years ago during a hurricane! Joe Hamilton has created a winner. Private detective Gabriel Ross is a composite character informed by Hamilton’s open admiration of his literary and television idea sources – the sarcastic mouth of Nelson DeMille’s perennially snarky wise ass John Corey; the bumbling, self-effacing yet always clever and penetrating TV private eye Columbo; and, last but not least, the suave, handsome, and witty Rockford (also of 1970s television fame). It’s worth pointing out it’s no coincidence that the building blocks of Ross’s character coming from the 1970s. Of course, that’s where ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE takes place and Hamilton has done a masterful job in bringing the era to life with fleshed-out characters, credible, convincing atmosphere, snappy, colloquial dialogue that rings completely true, and a string of fabulous one-liners that are definitely laugh-out-loud funny!
In my review of Gabriel Ross’ literary debut in RIGHT PLACE, WRONG TIME, I suggested there would be readers (myself included) who rated Ross’s abilities as a rank beginner detective and his over-the-top pugilistic skills (despite his less than intimidating diminutive stature) as a little beyond the pale and lacking credibility. As some literary license is surely acceptable for a novel that was obviously intended to be a mystery steeped in humor as opposed to an exercise in realism, I let it go. But in ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE, those quibbles vanish. Gabriel Ross has garnered some real world sleuthing experience and established himself as a detecting force to be reckoned with in his Mississippi neck of the woods. In short, he’s now got some legitimate, street cred and it suits him well.
ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE is a fun read with lots of juicy plot material to wet the whistle of a thirsty mystery lover – stalking; serial murder and rape; racism; forensic psychiatry and profiling; insurance fraud; some informative and interesting history related to Hurricane Camille’s shocking devastation; and more. If I have any continuing credibility issues with the story, they now rest with Hamilton’s use of Gabriel Ross’s young friend and protégé, Travis Franklin. He’s only 12 years old, for goodness’ sake, and, in a real world, Ross would be considered as almost criminally negligent for putting him into the situations that we see in this novel. That said, I’ll rush to add that it doesn’t hurt the story line in any way but it will definitely raise your eyebrows a bit!
Definitely recommended. I’ve already got my copy of THE MISSISSIPPI QUEEN, #3 in the series, at hand ready to go. Two thumbs up to a local Canadian author who deserves some international shelf space and fans.
“Murderers don’t just appear … they’re created. To create a serial killer takes time.”
Inspector John Rebus is surprised to find himself, at the be“Murderers don’t just appear … they’re created. To create a serial killer takes time.”
Inspector John Rebus is surprised to find himself, at the behest of somebody who imagined him to be an expert in the investigation of serial killers, seconded to London to assist the local Scotland Yard constabulary in bringing a gruesome murderer to heel. A profile put together by an attractive young female (of course) psychologist adds a soupçon of romance to the mixture and TOOTH & NAIL, a workmanlike and enjoyable police procedural is off to the races.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say the character of John Rebus in TOOTH & NAIL is derivative. But it certainly doesn’t plow any new ground that hasn’t been turned over, seeded, fertilized and harvested by many, many authors many, many times before. Rebus is flawed to a fault (LOL) – a failed marriage; a loving father who can’t seem to find the time and the ability to be the father he wants to be; a lone wolf detective with a disdain for his colleagues and serious issues with authority and the protocols that a police officer must deal with; a weakness for a pretty face and the opposite sex that certainly approaches misogyny; an enjoyment of alcohol that borders on abuse, dissatisfaction with his career … well, you get the idea. You won’t be the first to see similarities to such well known literary characters as Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch or Peter Robinson’s Inspector Banks.
All of that said, I’ll confess that I still thoroughly enjoyed TOOTH & NAIL and would rank it as the best in the Inspector Rebus series thus far. I’m definitely a fan and will be looking for a copy of STRIP JACK, the next entry in a series that has obviously been successful for many years.
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