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click on titles for buying info High Season by Jon Loomis Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur ISBN-10: 0312367694 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader It's been years since Frank Coffin left his post as a homicide detective in Baltimore for the relative calm of his home town of Cape Cod's Provincetown, a move that remained mostly uneventful for eight blissful years. But it all comes to a crashing end when an anti-gay evangelist is found dead on the beach, his body clothed in a rather unbecoming outfit of sensible pumps and a colorful muumuu. And while the outfit is far from shocking to this progressive resort town, especially in high season, murder is. Asked by the city council to look into the murder, behind the backs of the State investigators, Frank is wary but without choice, and so he begins an investigation that will eventually lead him to uncover some disturbing secrets, a greedy conspiracy or two, and some very deadly and dangerous threats from someone he only thought he knew. In his debut mystery novel, Loomis puts together such an intelligent and witty plot so chuck full of endearing characters, provocative and timely issues, and vividly rendered scenic details, that readers will find themselves clamoring for more. And while the battle between generations of land-owners and greedy developers is nothing new, Loomis' approach to it reads as both fresh and immediate - this is not a gentle reminder he provides us with, but a warning. Highly recommended, this first novel from Loomis shows great promise for what's to come.
Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay Publisher: Doubleday ISBN-10: 0385518331 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader Lindsay brings back the dark and deadly Miami forensic technician and engaging serial killer, Dexter Morgan, in his third outing in the wildly successful series. This time out, Dexter is confronted with not only a new case in which the victims are decapitated and burned, but he is also faced with his upcoming wedding and, worst of all, the possible disappearance of his "dark passenger," the voice in his head that has aided him throughout the years in seeking down the bad guys and killing them. And as Dexter struggles to uncover the latest killer to hit Miami, an investigation made a lot more difficult without the aide of his dark passenger, his fear of losing his abilities to track and to kill becomes only stronger as does the danger to his new family, and unless he's able to find the connection, if any, he might just lose it all. Lindsay once again makes it oddly easy to empathize with this charming psychopathic serial killer; this time out raising the intensity up a notch through Dexter's self-doubts of what little might remain of himself should he be robbed of his dark passenger. And the creepy crawly fear brought on by the "watcher" who is targeting Dexter and his burgeoning serial- killer soon-to-be stepchildren adds yet another enticing element. Combine all this with the humorous moments of both preparing for a wedding and Dexter's awkwardness at actually feeling something, and you end up with an addition to the series that fans will definitely want to add to their shelves.
Night Work by Steve Hamilton Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur ISBN-10: 0312353618 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader It was just days before his wedding when Joe Trumball's life came crashing down, his fiancée found brutally murdered by an unknown attacker, leaving Joe heartbroken and grieving. But after battling the loneliness and despair for two long years, with only his job as a juvenile probation officer and his love of jazz and boxing to sustain him, he's finally ready to date again. A decision he's soon to regret when she too is found murdered shortly after their first date. And when yet another woman Joe has ties to is found strangled as well, not only will Joe become a suspect, but he'll also be forced to realize that he's the sole reason these woman have been targeted by a killer bent on seeking the ultimate revenge. Eager fans who have been waiting for the next outing in Hamilton's successful Alex McKnight series might initially be disappointed that he's chosen to go in a new direction with this latest. However, it's a sure bet that the disappointment will turn into extreme enthusiasm within the first couple of pages, an enthusiasm that is easily sustained throughout this intensely thrilling and satisfying read. By combining a noir type atmosphere - including the wailing sax in the background, the lonely apartment above the gritty boxing gym, and the blue collar neighborhoods of mid-state New York - with the haunting portrayal of an everyday nice guy drowning in grief but still hopeful of life, Hamilton has created a read that you can almost see, smell, and taste; it's that alive. Highly recommended, Hamilton proves he's got what it takes to enchant and satisfy the reader, and he doesn't need to rely and the safe and familiar to do it.
The Spanish Bow by Andromeda Romano-Lax Publisher: Harcourt ISBN-10: 0151015422 Reviewed by Dana King, New Mystery Reader Advance warning: Andromeda Romano-Lax’s novel, The Spanish Bow, is not a mystery. Those who are only interested in mysteries and care not a jot about the rest of the literary world may stop reading and go on to more bloodthirsty endeavors. You’re welcome. Not that The Spanish Bow lacks gore. Bullfights, Spain’s Moroccan war, the Spanish Civil War, and parts of World War II provide ample carnage as Romano-Lax follows world-renowned cellist Feliu Delargo through his life of musical peaks and personal valleys. Delargo is born in a small Catalan village in 1892, his hip malformed due to a birthing mishap that left him presumed dead. His father, a government functionary stationed in Cuba, is killed in the Spanish-American War. A small trunk of gifts is all that returns to Spain. Given his choice, Feliu chooses a cello bow, even though he’s not sure what it is. He eventually learns to play and proceeds to move from studying with a former master cellist to the royal court, where he catches the eye of Spain’s master pianist, Justo Al-Cerraz. The rest of the book explores Feliu’s life, as told by himself to a journalist as his end approaches. Romano-Lax was inspired to write the book by research she did for a non-fiction book on the great Spanish cellist and Republican champion, Pablo Casals. The depth of her knowledge of Spain flows through every chapter. Famous characters abound: King Alfonso and Queen Ena of Spain, Francisco Franco, Adolph Hitler, the “American Schindler” Varian Fry, Picasso, and composers Edward Elgar and Manuel de Falla all appear in Romano-Lax’s historical tapestry, woven around the life of a cellist who is welcomed everywhere in the world. Except Spain, once his political views become clear. Banished from the court for embarrassing the king in protest over the Moroccan disaster, Feliu has even less time for Franco, and spends most of his adult life in Paris. Feliu’s principled stands are honorable and his refusal to deviate from his heartfelt principles are admirable. Unfortunately, they’re not all that interesting. He lives in the periphery of history, moving from the shadow of one great event to another like a bow-wielding Zelig, never affecting anything much, except for frustrating himself over his perceive inability to do what needs to be done. As usual, the more flawed characters are more interesting. Al-Cerraz, musical genius, charlatan, rake, and hedonist, steals all his scenes, reducing Feliu to playing Dr. Watson to his Sherlock Holmes. Feliu’s Jewish love, Aviva, and her restless quest to find the child she had to give up for adoption in Germany, provokes more interest, even though she doesn’t show up until well past the halfway point. Any book that covers almost eighty years makes some skips. Romano-Lax chooses to leave many pivotal events occur off stage. Feliu loses his royal indulgences at the end of one chapter; the beginning of the next is eight years later, and he’s a European sensation invited to play at the White House for Herbert Hoover. Everything is told in Feliu’s words and seen through his eyes, yet it all seems glossed over, held at arm’s length so the reader never fully embraces the pain Feliu must have gone through. Some comes out in the touching ending (which I’ll not spoil), but by then it’s too late to ratchet up the interest in how we got there. Romano-Lax is an amateur cellist with a good understanding musicians, although how she can write a book about a cellist, make as many Don Quixote references as she does, allude to Richard Strauss, and fail to even mention his great work of that name for orchestra and cello is beyond me. The Spanish Bow is an informative look at Spanish and European history that will be an eye-opener to many Americans, with our often parochial view of the world. The characters are well-drawn and believable, though the supporting players seem more real than the narrator. For those with a literary interest in music and history, it’s a worthwhile read.
Heart Sick by Chelsea Cain Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur ISBN-10: 0312368461 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader It was ten long years ago that Portland homicide detective Archie Sheridan was held hostage and brutally tortured by a female psychopathic serial killer. And although, for reasons known only to her, she eventually allowed her own capture to prevent Archie's death, the horror that destroyed his soul remains. Forced to visit her weekly in order to find out who and where her many undiscovered victims lay, the pair's mutual obsession only seems to grow, with the chances of Archie ever reclaiming his once happy life, including his family, growing more distant with time. But when a series of young teen girls begin to disappear off the streets of Portland, Archie will have to put his demons aside in order to track down this new danger in an investigation that will either save him or destroy him completely. This terrifying and heartbreaking tale from Cain not only provides all the ingredients needed to keep the reader enthralled throughout, but also successfully adds some unique dimensions to the overly familiar serial killer novel. It's not often that we get to see a woman doing the nasty deeds, and this particular one makes many of her male counterparts look like choir boys in comparison. And even if that was all that distinguished this remarkable read, it alone might be enough, but Cain pulls the reader in even further with her affecting portrayal of a broken and selfless man attempting to put it all back together. For readers who want something different, who like their characters fully realized and their suspense nonstop, this one comes highly recommended.
The Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child Publisher: Warner Books ISBN 978 0 446 58028 1 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader Readers of supernatural thrillers will no doubt be familiar with this team who are both best-selling authors in their own rights. Perhaps best known for the spine-chilling “Relic”, this is their 12th collaboration. As with most stories that have a vein of the supernatural, this one requires the reader to suspend disbelief higher than a Cirque du Soleil acrobat. You have to swallow the basic premise that not only is there a monastery in Tibet that has escaped the notice of the Chinese occupying troops, but also that the monks in this place would accept a young, beautiful Western woman as a student. Gulp. If you got that down, the rest is easy. Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast brings his ward Constance Greene to the Gsalrig Chongg monastery in a hidden valley in Tibet. Constance is recovering from some heavy spiritual and physical damage from a previous adventure. Two months pass in a paragraph; then one of the senior monks tells Aloysius a frightening story. A relic of sorts has been stolen from the monastery by a young Westerner. This thing, the Agozyen, supposedly has the power to bring about the end of human life on earth. So begins a hunt across the world for the young man and his horrific burden. The job is made more difficult because the monks cannot describe the artefact. All they can tell Aloysius is that it is in an old, narrow wooden box covered with ancient writing. Much of the story takes place on a huge ocean liner, the Britannia, which is on her maiden voyage to New York from England across an iceberg-infested North Atlantic, captained by a single-minded fanatic. (Don’t say it.) Strange things begin to happen aboard the ship, which Aloysius suspects are tied to the mysterious Agozyen. People disappear, are murdered, go mad—and then the ship has a nervous breakdown. The Britannia is reminiscent of Hal in “2001: A Space Odyssey” –but without the personality. Once she’s locked into an action, nothing and no one can stop her. Have Aloysius and Constance gone through so much, only to die in a common shipwreck? The final chapter of the book contains another gobbet of incredibility that you’ll have to gulp even harder to get down, but it brings things to an end in a nicely rounded manner; so open that mental gullet and make an effort. The secondary characters are a good mix of believable people, but you may find Special Agent Pendergast rather wooden, a bit like David Duchovny before he discovered sleaze. All in all not a bad read.
The Reincarnationist by M J Rose Publisher: MIRA ISBN: 978-0-7783-2420-1 Reviewed by Anne K. Edwards, New Mystery Reader A keeper!! If you enjoy trips into the paranormal or the possibilities of reincarnation, you'll really like this fascinating tale of Josh Ryder, a photographer, who finds himself caught between the past and the present in more than one life. I found it hard to put the book down once I started to read. Talented author M J Rose has a style that lets the story flow like a swift stream, bearing you from one lifetime to another as Josh and others seek to understand what is happening. Josh finds that he once lived in ancient Rome as a priest who loved a priestess forbidden to all men. During this time Rome was in turmoil as soldiers were used to destroy the old religions and their beliefs forbidden. Temples were destroyed and sacred artifacts lost or secreted until such time as the old religions could reestablish themselves. One such artifact was the memory stones that became the stuff legends were built on. The stones gave people the power to see their past lives. As the plot of The Reincarnationist develops, Josh learns the stones are sought by different individuals, both in the past and the present. The question of whether they are real or only a myth must be answered first and Josh learns the truth as he revisits Rome. There are many subplots and enough mystery and suspense to satisfy any reader who enjoys a well told tale as lived by characters who are both interesting and realistic as you step into their world. More than one surprise awaits the reader. I'm pleased to highly recommend this book as well worth the time. You'll want to read other books by this very imaginative author. I know I will. Enjoy. I certainly did.
Flawless by Joshua Spanogle Publisher: Delacorte Press ISBN-10: 0385338546 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader After his last nearly lethal case working for Atlanta's Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Nate McCormick decides it's time for a change, and so heads out to San Francisco to see if he can make a go of it with his lover, Dr. Brooke Michaels. And while his first couple of months are more quiet than he's used to, things quickly change when he's contacted by his ex-best friend from med school, Dr. Paul Murphy, now a research doctor with a successful company. And even though the two haven't spoken since Nate's shameful exit from college for cheating ten years previous, now Murphy needs Nate's help; something strange is going on at his company, and people are dying as a result of an underground new beauty treatment. But before Nate can get the full story, Murphy and his family are brutally slaughtered, and so Nate, not being able to let the matter drop, will be forced to investigate the few ambiguous clues he has on his own. And in his dangerous search for the truth in which nothing or nobody is what they seem, Nate will all too soon discover just how deadly the true price of beauty can be. Fans of medical thrillers will no doubt find this latest from Spanogle just as good, or better, than anything Cook or Crichton have put out lately. It seems like it would be all too easy for knowledgeable authors to either talk either above or below their readers' intelligence level and, fortunately, Spanogle adeptly avoids both, striking an even balance throughout that makes it easy to understand the science behind the mystery. This is not only a fascinating and timely tale of just how powerful the allure of beauty can be, but also an exciting and fast moving story full of realistic characters and gripping twists and turns, and one that will keep the reader thinking long after its over.
You've Been Warned by James Patterson and Howard Roughan Publisher: Little Brown, ISBN 0316014508 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader The large print makes this an easy-read book, especially at the end of a long day of office work, but don’t be fooled by that: it’s not a book to attempt when you’re not at your sharpest. And don’t have more than one drink while you are reading or you will lose the thread for sure. Kristin Burns, would-be world-class photographer, scrapes a living as a nanny to a really rich New York family. Oh, the kids are OK, it’s Mrs Turnbull who’s the problem. Penley Turnbull treats Kristin with that nasty-nice manner that people use to those they see as their inferiors. Little does Penley know that Kristin is more than just the nanny: she’s also the bit on the side for Michael Turnbull. Michael is the man of Kristin’s dreams, except for that tiny detail of his being married to someone else. And it’s Kristin’s dreams that are the problem: lately they have been weird and getting weirder. Photographs she couldn’t have taken turn up on her film, and strange smells and rashes afflict her body. She sees things that can’t have happened, or haven’t yet happened, or might happen, or—is she going mad? You may well ask. You may think you are going mad also, given the frequent interspersed italics, sentences all in capital letters, the almost constant use of the present tense, and the confused temporal comings and going in the Turnbull penthouse. This should have been a better book. It’s got some good moments and a spooky premise. It’s got a big name writer at the top of the jacket, and an old, respected publisher. It’s got a villain you can enjoy hating, and a couple of cute kids. What’s not to like? I wish I knew.
Reviewed by Narayan Radhakrishnan, New Mystery Reader He died, she died, they all died….or are they really, really dead? After carving a neat niche of his own in popular fiction writing- conquering the other established masters of each sub- genre including Horror (Stephen King) and Legal (John Grisham) – this time round, Patterson, along with co-creator Roughan, decides to enter the fiction territory that was once home to Ira Levin (of Rosemary’s Baby and Stepford Wives fame). The book starts with Kristen Burns witnessing the aftermath of a gruesome death of four people in an ill-reputed hotel called The Falcon. She sees the dead bodies being carried away in a gurney bag and suddenly to her shock discovers that there is some movement in one of the bags, but nobody believes her account. Now shift to the next chapter- Kristen dreams of becoming a topnotch photographer; however, her actual job is that of a nanny, and while not her dream job, it is a job she adores. What’s more her employer Michael is caring and attentive…..ok…more caring, more attentive, than necessary. The one glitch is that the missus is not too happy about that. But it seems that life is somewhat becoming blurry and hazy for Kristen. She begins to loose sense of time; it seems that she can see the future and its dead (Yup a lady version of The Sixth Sense’s Haley Joel Osmond), their translucent images appearing in her photos forewarning their impending doom. So while on one side life seems to be on the fast and right track, on the other it is giddy and confusing. Who is the real Kristen? Is there something wrong with her, or is she the only one who is ‘normal’? It's these questions that keep you intrigued throughout the book. To say I enjoyed it would be a lie; I absolutely, fabulously loved reading the book. A great read. Don’t miss it. ……..
Strip Search by William Bernhardt Publisher: Ballantine Books ISBN-10: 0345470192 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader Bernhardt brings back the highly unique pair of crime fighters, Las Vegas detective Susan Pulaski and autistic savant Darcy O'Bannon, in a creative and unusual mystery that eager fans will find well worth the wait. The pair, against all odds, have kept their unlikely friendship alive since their last dangerous case, and so when the victims of a brutal serial killer begin to turn up, Susan once again reluctantly turns to Darcy for help when the trail goes cold. With what appears to be randomly selected victims and a complete lack of forensic evidence, the only thing the police have to go on is the mysterious mathematical clues strategically left behind by the intelligent but twisted killer, clues that only make sense to Darcy. And the closer they get to solving this complex and unpredictable investigation, the closer they get to a killer who is much closer than they could have guessed, a killer whose final act has been planned with such perfectly brilliant madness, it could bring everything crashing down for good. With its distinctive and provocative plot, this cunningly written thriller manages to so adeptly combine substance and thrills that readers might be surprised at not only its ability to excite, but also its ability to inflame some hearty deliberations. Bernhardt brings forth some concepts that under less-qualified hands would be so daunting many would be tempted to just drop the whole thing. Instead, the reader is left feeling like a mathematical genius with a firm grasp of some of the beginner's basic theories surrounding some very interesting questions in the world of math and beyond. However, some readers might find it difficult to empathize with Susan and her wildly inconsistent swaying between extreme confidence and self-destructive thought patterns, patterns that are not as convincingly explained away by her addictive personality as probably intended (especially when her own best friend provides her with Valium and neither of them sees the danger in that). But, when all is said and done, what's good about this read more than easily outweighs what might be a tad questionable, at least by 90%, and that's better than most.
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New Mystery Reader Magazine editor@newmysteryreader.com
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