Book Review: The Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta 17)

This is number 17 in the Patricia Cornwell series about Kay Scarpetta. In this novel it is just before Christmas and Scarpetta is continuing to work for CNN as a forensic analyst as well as taking on some pro bono work for the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Scarpetta's increased public profile subjects her to every kind of psycho out there. She is in a broadcast but when she returns home there is a package that could be a bomb waiting for her. Soon Scarpetta is plunged into a terrifying world that has links with her niece Lucy.

We learn more about Scarpetta's life with Benton and Lucy's relationship with Jaime. I try hard to like the characters but the plots and the pace of the novels is still off key for me. The earlier novels are so much better than this one.

6/10 for me.

Book Review: Don't Blink by James Patterson and Howard Roughan

This novel is set in New York and I was there on holiday so I read it right on set so to speak. A young reporter called Nick Daniels get the scoop of a lifetime to interview a top sportsman who has not been interviewed for years. When he turns up at the restaurant he witnesses a mob killing at the next table. The sports star disappears only to commit suicide some time later in the novel.

Nick endeavours to sort out the mystery but he is soon in personal danger as well as endeavouring to help the love of his life see that her boyfriend is not what he seems. Russian and Italian gangsters are involved in this novel too.

Worth reading and 8/10 for me.

Book Review: A Cool Head by Ian Rankin

Written for World Book Day, this is a short (and cheap!) novel by Ian Rankin who is famous for his Rebus novels.

This one the character Gravy who works in a graveyard has to hide his friend who turns up in a strange car with a bullet hole in his chest. He asks Gravy to look after things before he dies. There is a gun and a bag of money belonging to someone else who is on the hunt for it.

Gravy is none too bright and he goes on the run with the money.

Quite an enjoyable read but bring back Rebus!!!

7/10

Book Review: Kill Alex Cross by James Patterson

Read this on holiday in New York so I was nearly in Washington DC where the novel is set. Another in the Alex Cross series by James Patterson. As ever with this series it is nice to know what is happening in his personal life and family as much as the action parts. The family seems relatively quiet at present but it was nice to catch up.

With regards the action, Alex Cross is called in to help find the two children of the US President as they have been kidnapped. He is personally invited by the President's wife to help but it is clear that there is someone who does not want Alex Cross on the case. He manages to get himself onto the inside track eventually.

We are also led into the terrfying world of terrorism as well, Cross and his colleagues also have to cope with this too.

Pretty good but the series is beginning to get a bit tired now, the book in some ways seems to be a parody of some of the earlier novels. However it is as well written as ever.

8/10 for me.

Book Review: Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta 16)

Kay Scarpetta accepts an assignment in New York to examine an injured man in a psychiatric prison ward. The man has asked for her and he tells her a strange tale where he explains away his injuries as incurred during a murder that he did not commit. A woman is found tortured and murdered and this is the first of further violent deaths. It is clear that someone who is committing these crimes knows what the victims are doing at all times. Who is it?

We learn more about the Scarpetta/Benson relationship as the novel unfolds as well as about her niece Lucy and her lesbian relationship too. The cases being worked on immerse us into the cutting edge of crime solving and it is quite an enjoyable ride.

The Scarpetta novels are starting to regain their earlier good reads?

I would give his novel 7/10.

Book Review: The Birthday Present by Barbara Vine

An up and coming Member of Parliament takes on a mistress. From this simple act a whole host of events ensue that result in death and the destruction of many lives.

The MP in a sex game sets his mistress up to be kidnapped. He pays a couple of men to do this but a terrible car accident results in the death of the woman and one of the men. The other man suffers a loss of memory.

The MP, due to a misinterpretation of the facts of the accident and good fortune appears to get away with it. As ever with Barbara Vine, you know this will not be as it seems. We get inside the heads of the characters to understand the psyche of who we are dealing with.

The web of deception soon unravels and it is a great tale that is set in the early 1990's and the sleaze of the then Conservative Government in the UK.

Great stuff and an 8/10 for me.

Book Review: The Watchman by Robert Crais

The first in the Joe Pike series, but really it is another in the excellent Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series, but this time highlighting Joe Pike.

Pike returns a favour by agreeing to protect a rich girl from South American drug lords let loose in Los Angeles. Cole of course helps him in this. The plot is well thought out and developed and we want to know what happens next. There is plenty of action, Crais writes about Pike in an exciting way even when he just taking cover in some bushes.

There is plenty of blood spilt in this one and Pike shows that he is capable of love too but falls for someone just as emotionally dysfunctional as he is.

I enjoyed this read tremendously.

9/10 for me.

Book Review: The Front by Patricia Cornwell

This is the second in the series (of two) featuring Winston Garano. The ambitious publicity hound District Attorney boss has a special assignment for Winston Garano. She sends him to Watertown where he is to find a drama suitable to promote the DA. However Watertown is where there is a loose association of police departments that is called the Front. The Front is more independent of the DA than she would like.

The novel concerns Winston's exploits in Watertown. This is better than the first in the series but not a lot better.

5/10 for me.

Book Review: Suicide Run by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch Short Stories)

Three short stories from Michael Connelly that feature his main man detective Harry Bosch. The three stories are called: Suicide Run, Cielo Azul and One Dollar Jackpot.

The first of these stories, Suicide Run, I enjoyed as it was good to see something niggling at Harry for a case that seemed to be an open and shut suicide. His partner wanted to leave it there but something made Harry press on. An enjoyable quick read.

Cielo Azul was shorter and was not particularly a mystery, we knew who the killer was from the off. However the story concerns one of the drawbacks of Harry's job and it contained some human interest for me.

The last story was One Dollar Jackpot that concerned a murder of a woman in her car in her own driveway. Harry leads us through his theories about who killed her and we are shown how he proves his case. Dead end leads along the way and the evidence gathering.

Connelly is still a master and I cannot wait for the next one of his novels to be published. I will be in the Kindle queue on publication day for all of his new works.

8/10 for me for this one.

Book Review: The Complaints by Ian Rankin

I must confess I still miss the Rebus novels and I have found Ian Rankin's novels since a little disappointing. However this one is a definite return to form for me. I was put off by the title (never judge a book by its cover!) and the length of this (the longest book I have on my Kindle).

The Complaints is actually a department within the police that investigates other policemen. Set in Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland this is obviously familiar territory for Ian Rankin. The main man, Malcolm Fox starts an investigation into another cop and as a result of being set up he is suspsended. He joins forces with the man he is investigating who also gets suspsended.

A web of intrigue, doubious dealings, the old boy network are all in play. We get to see the human side of the characters too and how the police cases intertwine into their personal lives.

Good book for me and 8/10

Book Review: Quite Honestly by John Mortimer

As ever the gentle prose of John Mortimer washes over you and this is a nice easy to read novel. It concerns the man getting out of prison and his praeceptor (yes I had to look that word up too!) who is the daughter of a Bishop. Gently funny as she gets to grips with his life and the way that he lives it.

She is there to keep him on the straight and narrow to help him fulfill his potential after prison life. However, it is almost inevitable that they fall in love and it is his effect on her that causes the problems. They both change as we do in relationships, the relationship changes but will they end up together again?

A book well worth reading.

8/10 for me.

Book Review: The Vault by Ruth Rendell

The cozy world of Reg Wexford, who is now retired and living in London and Kingsmarkham. He has lost some weight as he has been walking around London a lot but he gets a call for his advice on a current case in London. It concerns some bodies found in a cellar (or Vault as the title of the book) but three of the bodies have been there for about 12 years while one has only been there for two.

Some good old fashioned policing by Wexford moves the case along and solves it. Reg is out pounding the streets and visiting people face to face. He leaves the Internet searches for others.

There are also family issues and a crisis in his family too to keep you on your toes with his family life. He also still visits the pubs and has a glass of wine or two.

I have enjoyed all of the Wexford novels by Ruth Rendell and this is no exception.

8/10 for me.

Book Review: See How They Run by James Patterson

This is one of James Patterson's early novels and is one of the better ones from that era and you can see the early seeds of the writer he has become. This novel was also called The Jericho Commandment.

It is set very much in its time of 1980 and the conflict between the Jews and the Nazis. The novel concerns a young Jewish doctor David Stauss who's brother and grandmother are murdered in a series of bloody crimes in the USA. He sets out to find out why they were murdered and by who.

He gets back together with a girlfriend who is not all that she seems and he stumbles upon a plot of the Jews to get revenge for the Holocaust and the murders at the Munich Olympics. The trail leads him across Europe.

Quite good and 5/10 for me.

Book Review: The Minotaur by Barbara Vine

Writing as Barbara Vine, Ruth Rendell take us back to the late 1960's and to a strange house in eastern England. Populated with a highly dysfunctional family of mainly women, Kirsten joins as a helper for the autistic son, John. Her arrival starts to undermine the status quo in the family life.

Add to this the appearance in the village of a bohemian artist/lover and the family are affected even more by him. However, the real spark to the flame is an "accident" to the mother who is hospitalised for a short time. During this period the balance of the family is really put out of kilter.

What happens after this is the murder of one of the family and then another!

The book for me is a bit slow, setting the scene through about 80% of it was too much. It does not really take that long to set the stage and to get to know the characters. This novel seemed to take me a long time to read.

6/10 for me.

Book Review: Demolition Angel by Robert Crais

This novel for me was initially a standalone and I did not read this in the order that the Robert Crais novels were written. However as the novel concerns the past of Carol Starkey and an important part of her past then really you should try and read this in date order. I found it a little confusing to go back in time.

Demolition Angel at the time of writing is not available on Kindle in the UK and this is why I did not read it in order as I had to buy this in the UK and have it shipped to Qatar.

Carol Starkey worked with the bomb squad and was badly injured when a bomb went off. In this novel we get to understand her rehabilitation from the aftermath and trauma. How she finds romance and why she is such a spikey character.

All of this human interest is set against the background of a serial bomber called Mr Red and how he is tracked down. Lots of red herrings and sub plots in this novel and I enjoyed it very much.

8/10 for me.

Book Review: Mortal Remains (Or Spider Bones) by Kathy Reichs (Temperance Brennan 14)

I really enjoy reading the Temperance Brennan series written by Kathy Reichs. This one is set in Hawaii that I would like to visit sometime. Temp is on the case of servicemen and endeavouring to identify remains. A body turns up in Canada that is identified as someone who died in Vietnam in 1968. Temp relocates to Hawaii and takes her daughter as well as Ryan and his daughter with her.

The mystery takes some time to unfold as different bodies appear to have different owners. Some of the science is a bit too technical for me but I enjoyed the mystery part of this novel. I also enjoyed the suspense and the thriller parts too when the party is invaded by gang culture.

The situation for Temp and Ryan does not move on much and her private life seems a tad dull at the moment, maybe there is more in the next novel.

8/10 for me

Book Review: Toys by James Patterson and Neil McMahon

This is a novel set in the future and that is not exactly my favourite genre but this novel was easy to read. It concerns a society where there are Elites and humans, with the Elites ruling over the humans. It concerns an Elite who discovers he is a human and his changing sides, fighting his family and generally setting wrongs to rights.

Some of the futuristic touches I did not really like but I did see that there were parallels between this novel and the dictators in the world where elites are created and the population is generally kept down by toys. This novel was envigorating as the humans strove to overcome their oppressors, and good overcoming evil.

Not really my cup of tea so only 7/10 for this one.

Book Review: Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta 15)

The Book of the Dead referred to in the title is the morgue log book where all new cases are entered by hand. This novel sees Kay Scarpetta moving to Charleston in South Carolina where she opens a forensic pathology practice with her ex-cop friend Pete Marino and her irritating niece Lucy. They offer their services to solve crimes by using scientific methods as well as Pete's investigation skills and Lucy's computer skills.

However, the local politicians do not want Kay Scarpetta and her team to succeed and they try to sabotage their business.

Then the crimes start to come in that Scarpetta has to investigate. A young man jumps off of a water tower, a woman is found ritually murdered in her fancy home, a body of an abused boy is found on a marsh and Scarpetta is on the cases.

I didn't enjoy this book too much and Patricia Cornwell can do a lot better. I like it when she tracks down killers etc but I do not really want to be at the scene of the crime as we are in this book sometimes.

5/10 for me.

Book Review: Kill Me If You Can by James Patterson and Marshall Karp

I believed that I was reading a nice easy James Patterson thriller but then about halfway through there was a nice little twist to the plot that I did not see coming. I enjoyed the story of the art student caught up in a diamond theft.

The part where he was on the run with his girlfriend in Paris and Venice was great and also learning how his pursuers from the Russian underworld were on his tail. He got the support of his father in keeping the bad guys at bay.

How he escaped his pursuers once and for all was good, or is the door still open for a sequel?

A well paced thriller that you will enjoy a few escapist hours reading.

8/10 for me.

Book Review: Where There's A Will by John Mortimer

A lovely read that I zipped through quite quickly. Saw John Mortimer on stage in Jersey, Channel Islands some 15 years or so ago and he was thoroughly entertaining as a ractoneur. He is thoroughly entertaining in print too.

The book in each chapter discusses a different theme and John Mortimer guides us through in his usual witty fashion what he likes or dislikes about the theme. This can be such diverse matters such as making a fuss, listening, causing an offence, his time spent in Morrocco, fox hunting, lying or drinking a glass of Champagne at 6am.

You are in the hands of a master and the prose as ever is endearing. If you haven't read any of his Rumpole books then get some now!

8/10 for me.

Book Review: Predator by Patricia Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta 14)

The usual characters turn up in this novel: Scarpetta and Marino who are endearing characters and Wesley and Lucy who are frankly just irritating.

Scarpetta and Marino are working down in Florida working on a case where a man has been shot but the pattern of the shot blasts is a mystery. Another thread of the novel is that a woman is held against her will in a house in the South. Lucy is also having some feelings that she has made a dreadful mistake.

The plot concerning a lesbian serial killer with personality disorders that gives some tension in places but you end up not really buying into the plot or the novel at all.

Still waiting for the upturn and high points of the early Scarpetta novels.

6/10 for me.

Book Review: For Kicks by Dick Francis

Danny Roke becomes a stable boy in Yorkshire, a complete change of scene for him. This 1965 novel sees Danny investigating a suspected doping scandal. As ever with the cosy world of Dick Francis we are in the horse world.

Danny gives up his life in Australia breeding horses to take on the investigation for a Lord. However although the doping is suspected the tests are all proving to be negative. Danny uncovers the facts and we are along on the ride with him.

The usual high standard for Dick Francis.

8/10 for me.

Book Review: Thirteen Steps Down by Ruth Rendell

A thoroughly chilling book that features a young killer called Mix Cellini who has a room in an old house with an eccentric old spinster. He is obsessed with the killer Reginald Christie who lived in the same area some fifty years preiously. His landlady had met Chistie once too.

We are inside the minds of the characters and this gives the novel the air of the film 10 Rillington Place. The most frightening thing for me is that we begin to believe in the killer and feel with him. In some ways we do not want him to be caught, we feel his fears as he experiences them.

Normal, righteous people are also in the book and they are like a tide ebbing and flowing into Cellini's life. He fends them off for most of the book to avoid discovery of his crimes. Unfortunately in life people like this exist and the telling of this story is mastery by Ruth Rendell.

9/10 for me.

Book Review: Odds Against by Dick Francis

This novel sees the first in the Sid Halley series and is a great read, set as ever in the world of horses. Sid is one of the best steeplechase jockeys in Britain but he injures his hand beyond repair when he was riding forcing him into a change of career as a private investigator.

He starts to work for his father in law who considers that someone is trying to financially bring down Seabury racecourse so that it can be sold to property developers. Sid is on the case.

The other novels in the Sid Halley series are: Whip Hand, Come to Grief and Under Orders so if you like this one then you will want to read these in order.

8/10 for me.

Book Review: At Risk by Patricia Cornwell

This book features Winston Garano who is a State Investigator who works for the District Attorney in Tennessee is a woman. This novel deals with the problems a mixed race man has to deal with working for a woman DA with ambitions and little scruples.

The novel concerns Winston being called back to Tennessee from a course in Massachusetts where he is instructed by his boss in her At Risk policy that is "any crime, any time". The DA wants to employ cutting edge DNA technology and wants to hone in on a unsolved murder from 20 years ago. If they solve the case then this will vindicate the policy.

However before the reinvestigation is barely underway a shocking piece of violence occurs that affects all of the characters and their lives.

This is the first of two William Garano books. I didn't enjoy it much!

4/10 for me.

Book Review: The Forgotten Man by Robert Crais (Elvis Cole 10)

There were a few loose ends at the end of the last novel, particularly with Elvis's love life. These went round in a circle a bit in this novel too and I am still none the wiser where he is going with Lucy or Starkey!

However this novel does not seem to start like the other novels, all jokey and wise cracks. It is much darker and sombre. Elvis's father apparently comes on the scene, or a man purporting to be his father who he has never known. The man is murdered in an alley. It soon becomes apparent that Elvis is not the man's son but why was the man said to be looking for him?

As the case unfolds we find that it is another family history that Elvis investigates. However in some flashback series we do get to learn a bit more about Elvis's childhood. No doubt in future novels some more parts will be filled.

I enjoyed the novel as usual with this series by Robert Crais but it is not as enjoyable a some others. However with the loose ends still hanging out I will be on with the next one soon!

7/10 for me

Book Review: Nerve by Dick Francis

The Dick Francis novels are of a consistently high standard and this 1964 outing is no exception to that. Time has not dulled the thrill of the writing.

Mysterious accidents start happening to jockeys and one man is killed while another is seriously injured. Robb Finn begins to investigate these happenings and he soon finds himself in a dangerous world.

Robb Finn is a jockey too and when the accidents start happening to other jockeys in his circle he gets some extra rides. Then his rides begin to lose and rumours start to circulate that Robb has lost his nerve.

8/10 for me.

Book Review: The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly (Mickey Haller 4)

I bought this book from the bookstall at Heathrow and read it from cover to cover very, very quickly on the flight back to Doha, Qatar and a little bit after that. Simply not able to put it down or do anything else!

This novel features Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer (he works in his Lincoln car) and it sees him on slightly fallen times and he is working on foreclosure work. One of his clients, Lisa Trammel is accused of murdering the man who was dealing with her loan.

Mickey takes on her defence and is meticulous in his planning of the defence and attacking the prosecution and their witnesses. However, there are always some nagging doubts about his client, she is a very vocal protestor against the loan companies/banks and has headed up many campaigns including street protests. She is also barred from going near the offices of her loan company. However, the prosecution witnesses put her in the vicinity at the time.

Everything is very circumspect and Mickey is like a dog with a bone. The courtroom scenes are fantastic and the pulling of the strings outside adds to the tension. Does Mickey win the case or not? You will need to read the book and you will also have to enjoy the surprise party afterwards.

If this is Michael Connelly's current standard of writing then I cannot wait for the next Harry Bosch/Michael Connelly release "The Drop" on 25 October 2011. I will be knocking down the doors of Amazon for my Kindle copy then hoping that the internet connection gets it to me in less than 2 minutes.

A superb book and 10/10 for me!!!

Book Review: Trace by Patricia Cornwell (Kay Scarpetta 13)

In this novel, Kay Scarpetta returns to Richmond in Virginia after five years to help the new Medical Examiner solve the case of a young girl found dead in her bed. The Medical Examiner is not all he seems and shows incompetence and has a few skeletons in the closet.

Benton Wesley is in Aspen trying to solve a criminal attack on one of Lucy's friends. Neither of these are my favourite characters and I prefer the interaction between Kay and Marino so they were better off in a different location for me!

This novel seems to meander along and does not really have the bite and freshness of the early Scarpetta novels.

6/10 for me and only because I like Kay Scarpetta and Marino and I want to know what they are up to!

Book Review: The Reversal by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch 16 and Mickey Haller 3)

Bosch and Haller are half brothers and they both feature in this 2010 novel, that I avidly read in Doha in hardback.

Mickey Haller the lawyer decides to switch sides and becomes a prosecution lawyer rather than his usual defence lawyer side of the fence. For the case which is the retrial of a convicted killer on new DNA evidence he has Maggie McPherson his ex-wife as co-prosecutor and Harry Bosch his half brother as his investigator from LAPD.

The case concerns the murder of a 12 year old murdered in 1986, and unbeknown to the killer the victim's sister had witnessed the abduction. The evidence at the time was conflicting, implicating both Jason Jessup a truck driver and the girl's stepfather Ken Landy.

Jessup is bailed and Haller has him tailed by the police to try and break the case. Jessup proves to be a shady character but the police cannot quite catch him in the act to get the evidence. Jessup then hangs around Bosch's house and both Bosch and Haller become concerned for their own daughter's safety.

The original victim's sister is an unreliable witness as she has drug convictions and has been a prostitute.

The trial scenes are great as well as the dramatic turn of events that help to flush the killer out into the open.

A great read and 9/10 for me.