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Posts Tagged ‘crime’

‘The Lost Swimmer’ by Ann Turner

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , on May 8, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Rebecca Wilding is Professor of Archaeology at a coastal university in Australia and is happily married to Stephen, her husband of 25 years. However, her life is about to get shattered when she gets accused of fraud by her boss Priscilla, who seems to have it in for Rebecca. To add to her misery, Rebecca suspects that her husband is having an affair and is desperate to find out who he is seeing.

Rebecca and Stephen decide to get away from it all on a working holiday to Greece, but while she is there her situation only gets worse and she has to uncover the layers of deceit and confusion that have followed her across the world.

I had high hopes for this one; I used to read thrillers all the time, but these days not so much. But there is nothing like a good mystery to draw me into a book and this certainly had all the hallmarks of a story I could lose myself in. Unfortunately though I was disappointed and got quite frustrated with this.

A main character doesn’t necessarily have to be sympathetic or even likable (an extreme example is Bret Easton Ellis’s ‘American Psycho’ which I loved, and which had a monstrous main character) but Rebecca was just plain irritating. For someone who is presumably meant to be a strong and intelligent woman to have achieved her position in her career, she came across as weak, indecisive and inconsistent. She decided that her husband was having an affair because…why? I’m not sure – her suspicion seemed to arise from nothing and then she became obsessed with the notion.

Accused of a serious banking fraud, she decides that taking off to Greece is a better idea than staying put, cooperating, and trying to clear her name, and some of her actions while in Greece are totally illogical (and thinking about it now that I have read the book, there are actually a number of plot holes and loose ends that were never explained).

Her husband Stephen goes missing while swimming – this is not a spoiler as it is in the blurb on the back of the book and is presumably the reason for the book’s title – but this doesn’t happen until 2/3 through the book. There are also several examples of minor characters behaving strangely which are never explained.

Despite all of this, I did want to keep reading to see what would happen in the end, but it was all an anti-climax.

There seem to be very mixed reviews to this one on GoodReads and LibraryThing which are my go-to book websites, so maybe this is quite a polarizing book. Unfortunately, not one for me.

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‘Black Water Lillies’ by Michel Bussi

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

This murder mystery is set in the small town in Giverny in France, where Claude Monet lived out his years, and where his house is still a tourist attraction today.

The mystery starts when the body of a well known philanderer is found murdered in the river. The police investigation is headed up by Inspector Laurenc Serenac, a newcomer to the village, and he is assisted mainly by Inspector Sylvio Benavides. Complications arise when Serenac is attracted to the local schoolteacher Stephanie Dupain, who is pivotal to his investigation.

Meanwhile, a young girl named Fanette, who also lives in the village, dreams of one day becoming a famous painter like Monet; a large part of the story revolves around Fanette and her various schoolfriend, who are pupils of the aforementioned Stephanie.

Finally, there is an old lady, who watches the police and the various goings on in the village from a detached viewpoint. She has lived in the village all of her life but is clearly something of a recluse, with her dog Neptune being her only companion.

The old lady’s chapters are told in the first person, but the rest of the story is told in the third person.

I had high hopes for this book, but sadly came away disappointed. The story seemed very disjointed and the police investigation seemed ludicrous. The book was originally written in French and I’m not sure if it was the translation or not, but the writing seemed very clunky and didn’t flow well. Like Bussi’s book ‘Don’t Let Go’ there is very little in the way of characterisation, but while that book did at least have a lot of action, this one seemed to stagnate in a lot of places. I kept reading until the end, as the blurb on the cover promised a huge twist. Well…..there is one and I’m not going to reveal it, but suffice to say that it was ridiculous and just made me really annoyed. Twists are great when they are revealed and then you look back and see that the clues were there all along, but this was not one of those and I ended up feeling cheated.

The one thing I did enjoy were the descriptions of Monet’s house and gardens, as well as Giverny itself. I would like to visit there one day. Other than that though, this one is a thumbs down from me.

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‘The Sudden Appearance of Hope’ by Claire North

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Hope Arden is a woman who everyone forgets – quite literally. Someone can meet her, have a conversation with her, sleep with her even, and when she goes away they have no recollection of her, so every time she meets someone it is the first time for them. This makes it hard for her to make friends, forge relationships or hold down a job, but it’s very useful tool for an international jewel thief, which is what Hope becomes. She then becomes embroiled in a plot to steal an app called Perfection. The app awards points to people for improving themselves or their lives, such as having the right cosmetic treatments, going to the right gym enough, or buying the right food; it tracks your every movement – and quite frankly sounds awful, and perilously close to where we are in real life.

There are some interesting ideas about what it means to be perfect, and what it means to be memorable, and there is no doubt that some of the writing is very beautiful and clever. However, this book did not really work for me – I did not like the stream of consciousness style of narrative (although I have previously written other books written in a similar way and enjoyed them) and I did not like the constant flying off at tangents.

I did think that for someone who is forgettable, Hope was a very fully fleshed out character who the reader got to know and essentially root for, even if she was not always likeable. But none of the other main players were ever really more than cardboard cutouts. I stayed up late to finish this book, which usually means one of two things; either I am loving a book and can’t put it down, or I want to get to the end of it, precisely so that I CAN put it down. This was a case of the latter. It’s not badly written, far from it, and I liked the two main threads – Hope’s forgettability and the Perfection app. But it never really worked and I didn’t feel any sort of connect. I do have another book by Claire North, and I will give it a go at some point.

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‘The Colorado Kid’ by Stephen King

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , on June 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »

The Colorado Kid is definitely not your typical Stephen King novel. For a start, it’s not scary, there’s no sci-fi or dystopian element, and there’s nothing supernatural here. It’s pulp fiction and an interesting crime noir.

It opens in 2005, when a young female newspaper intern on a small island in Maine is chatting to her two colleagues, who have lived on the island their whole lives, discussing the subject of local unsolved mysteries. They tell her the story of the man they nicknamed the Colorado Kid, a young man who was found dead on the beach one early morning in 1980. The story revolves not only around identifying the man and finding out how he died, but also what he was doing there in the first place.

Due to the fact that the story is being told 25 years after it happened, there is no sense of urgency or danger, it’s just an interesting story. Although it’s not typical Stephen King fare, you can feel his writing come through – mainly in the description of the small town characters with their quirks and idiosyncrasies, and of course the fact that, like so many of his stories it is set in Maine.

It’s short – coming in at 180 pages, but in reality not even that, as my copy had a long introduction from the publisher, so the story itself actually started around 30 pages in, and there are several full-page illustrations of events throughout the book.

It’s not classic crime and it’s not one of King’s best, but as his books always do, it pulled me in and held my interest throughout. I also really liked the typically pulpy cover picture! Recommended to Stephen King fans as well as those who might not always enjoy his books, but like crime fiction.

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‘Lethal White’ by Robert Galbraith

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , on April 21, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Lethal White is the fourth book in the Cormoran Strike series written by J K Rowling under a pseudonym. In this story, Strike and his former assistant turned business partner Robin, are trying to uncover the truth behind a mentally ill man’s assertion that he saw a child being murdered years ago, and how it ties in to the blackmailing of a government minister named Jasper Chiswell, who hires Strike to find out what the blackmailers have on him. The case takes them into the Houses of Parliament, and leads to them becoming involved in Chiswell’s family, who all have plenty of secrets of their own. Inevitably, it puts them into personal danger too, but these two determined investigators will not be put off.

Meanwhile, the fame brought about by their previous investigation (from book three) means that Strike how struggles with undercover work, as he is now publicly known and easily recognisable, while Robin’s personal life is starting to disintegrate.

This book is the longest and most labyrinthine Strike novel yet, but it’s no less enjoyable than the ones before it; in fact I believe this series improves with each instalment (and that’s coming from someone who really enjoyed the first one). There are plenty of twists and turns, but without the sensationalism that some crime/mystery novels have – it really does feel as though they are working the case and finding clues and evidence slowly but surely. I still adore the friendship and working relationship between Strike and Robin, and look forward to seeing how this pans out in future books.

The ending was a surprise, in a good way!

If you are a fan of crime thrillers or mysteries, then I do recommend the Strike series very highly, but would also suggest that it is advisable to read them in order.

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‘A Good Month For Murder: The Inside Story of a Homicide Squad’ by Del Quentin Wilbur

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 28, 2021| Leave a Comment »

In February 2013, journalist Del Quentin Wilbur spent a month with the Homicide Squad in Prince George’s County, which borders Washington DC. PG County (as it is referred to in the book) is in a fairly deprived area with a high crime rate, especially gun crime.

Wilbur gives details of the cases that the detectives investigate during the month of February, with maybe extra focus on the particularly heinous and apparently unmotivated murder of a young female in her own home.

I loved this book. The descriptions of the crime scenes, and how they affected the detectives was so well described, and more than just giving details of the work that these incredible people do, it also demonstrated how it affected them personally. I did feel that it must have clearly been influenced by David Simon’s ‘Homicide: Life on the Street’ (which for my money is one of the best non-fiction books ever written), and indeed, Wilbur does reference this book and explains that he wanted to see how the job of homicide detective had changed since Homicide was written in the late 80s.

This book made me thankful that I live in a country where gun crime is not prevalent – in PG County it’s basically part of life, and many innocent people get caught up in it – and made me wonder what it must be like to live your life constantly in fear.

Anyway, my review cannot do this book justice, but I do highly recommend it, especially for fans of true crime. There is no sensationalism here, just an interesting narrative of the facts, showing how the detectives go about their jobs, while trying to keep their own lives and minds intact.

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‘The Outsider’ by Stephen King

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , on March 21, 2021| Leave a Comment »

A young boy is violated and murdered in the most horrific manner, and all the DNA, eyewitness and fingerprint evidence points to the culprit being much loved sports coach Terry Maitland. But Terry has a rock solid alibi. Detective Ralph Anderson is tasked with finding out the truth behind the matter, but one huge question confounds him at every turn – how can one man be in two places at exactly the same time?

As always with Stephen King (especially his more recent books), this novel is compulsively readable and hard to put down. The first part reads more like a straightforward murder mystery, but things take an even darker turn in the second half when evil forces outside of our realm come into play.

King has a knack for making his stories flow, and also for creating a ripple effect – the horrendous crime committed in the book is shown to affect those not in it’s direct trajectory, and has a knock-on effect upon the people living in the town, who are shocked that such a despicable person could live in their midst.

This does feature characters from the Mr Mercedes trilogy, which I have not read, but you certainly don’t need to have read those to enjoy this. The socially awkward investigator Holly is one of my favourite characters from this story, as well as police officer Yune Sablo, but all of the characters are distinctive and well drawn.

This novel has very much got Stephen King’s stamp on it, so if you like previous books of his, I would certainly recommend this one too.

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‘Cherringham: A Cosy Crime Series – Playing Dead’ by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , on December 20, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Another short audiobook mystery from the creators of Cherringham. In this ‘episode’ Sarah and Jack investigate when a series of unfortunate incidents threaten the Cherringham Players Amateur Dramatics Society. Sarah’s mother Helen is one of the players and asks the two self-styled detectives to step in and investigate whether or not someone is trying to sabotage them, or if they are just having a run of bad luck. Of course, it’s not very spoilery to say that everything that’s happening is deliberate – but who is behind it, and why?

I enjoyed this story a lot – it’s filled with the usual cast of characters, with their own personal secrets and disputes rising to the surface as events pile up one after the other. Jack and Sarah continue to grow close. It’s not very realistic, but it’s decent cosy escapism. Another solid entry in this series.

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‘Cherringham: A Cosy Crime Series – Snow-blind’ by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , on November 14, 2020| Leave a Comment »

This is the eighth instalment in the Cherringham Crime Series, narrated by Neil Dudgeon. Our intrepid detectives Jack and Sarah find themselves investigating suspicious goings on at an old people’s home after one of their residents escapes and dies in the worst snow blizzard to hit Cherringham for years.

As usual, this is an enjoyable mystery, with some surprises along the way. The more I listen to, the more I think this would be super as a TV programme along the lines of Midsomer Murders or The Brokenwood Mysteries – quirky and generally inoffensive, but with an interesting plot running through. I don’t know how or if Jack and Sarah’s relationship status as good friends will change, but I do sense the two of them getting closer in this book. We will see…

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‘The October List’ by Jeffery Deaver

Posted in Book Reviews, tagged , , , , on August 31, 2020| Leave a Comment »

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This audiobook, narrated by Todd Boyce, follows an unusual format, in that it starts at the end of the story and then goes backwards in time, with each chapter being set earlier than the previous one. It’s an interesting idea, and I’m not sure that it completely worked. The ending (or the beginning, as it were) was very satisfying and provided lots of ‘aha!’ and ‘wow!’ moments, but for the first few chapters (or indeed the last few!) it was confusing and somewhat frustrating. Jeffery Deaver has written some excellent books, and I don’t think this is one of them. It was good in the end, but I was tempted to give up on it after listening for the first hour or so.

Anyhow, the story revolves around a woman named Gabriella MacKenzie, sitting in a room with a man who is obviously there to look after her, while she anxiously awaits to hear if her kidnapped daughter Sarah has been rescued. Sarah was taken by a mysterious man named Joseph, who demands a huge sum of money and a mysterious document called The October List, which Gabriella’s boss has ownership of, and which contains details of people he had been dealing with in criminal financial activity. The boss has disappeared with the list and with Joseph’s – and several other people’s money – and Joseph wants it back. The story covers Gabriella and her new boyfriend Daniel’s attempts to retrieve the mysterious list and get it to Joseph before her daughter comes to any harm.

The narration was fine and the story was clever, but as mentioned above I’m not sure I would read something else written in this format. Normally when people are introduced into a story, there is some background or information provided about them which gives the reader an idea of the role they are going to play. Not so here however; characters are introduced with no explanation of how they fit into this story. It’s kind of like piecing together a jigsaw without ever having seen the picture you’re trying to make.

So a bit of a mixed bag. If you manage to get halfway through then it’s definitely worth sticking with it, but be prepared to be a bit lost at first.

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