Title: Bad Blood
 
Author:  Linda Fairstein
Publisher: Scribner
ISBN: 0-7432-8748-7
Price: $26.00
 

RECOMMENDATION: MUST READ

 

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Reviewed by Theodore Feit
Premise and Originality: 10 out of 10
Characterization:   10 out of 10
Dialogue:   9 out of 10
Storyline:   10 out of 10
 
Alex Cooper and her sidekicks, detectives Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, have been with us now for several excellent novels.  In Bad Blood, they are fine-tuned to the nth degree.  Combining a fast-paced mystery with little-known facts about underground New York City, the author has created perhaps her best work to date.
 
The story starts off with Alex trying a murder case that is beginning to look hopeless, with the defendant likely to get off.  However, as in previous novels, the investigation is ongoing even as the trial progresses.  The defendant, accused of murdering, or arranging the strangulation of, his wife, a few days into the trial overpowers the officer guarding him and grabs her pistol, shooting her in the head, harming two other court officers and escaping custody.  [Not a spoiler – this happens very early on in the novel.]
 
Meanwhile, Chapman and Wallace uncover facts relating to a prior strangulation many years before following a blast in Water Tunnel #3, in which three workers were killed, one of whom was the defendant’s brother.  The body of the earlier victim is exhumed, allowing the author to discuss the latest forensic breakthroughs involving DNA evidence.  Needless to say complications abound, especially with a blood feud between two families of tunnel workers.
 
An exciting finish to this narrative takes place in a little-known subway station—the original—but abandoned—City Hall stop of the city’s first rapid transit system, still probably the most elegant ever constructed in the Big Apple to which nobody has access anymore.  This time there’s less courtroom drama, but more legwork to tell the story.  But the reader races along never tiring right down to the final page.

Title: The Commission
 
Author:  Michael Norman
 
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
 
ISBN: 1590583582
 
Price: $24.95
 

RECOMMENDATION: EXCELLENT READ

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Reviewed by Theodore Feit
 
Premise and Originality: 9 ou of 10
Characterization:   9 out of 10
Dialogue:   9 out of 10
Storyline:   9 out of 10
 

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The murder of the Chairman of the Utah Board of  Pardons sets off a wild and wooly story in which kinky sex throws Sam Kincaid, who heads the Special Investigations Branch of the Utah Department of Corrections, off on a series of tangents, before he and his counterpart, a female Lieutenant from the police department on the right track.  But not before two suspects, one of whom actually did the initial killing, also are murdered.
 
The mystery unfolds slowly, as each investigative step uncovers new facts, with twists and turns to keep the reader in suspense until the mystery’s conclusion.  This well-written and constructed  tale is very much worth reading.

Title: Lisey’s Story

Author: Stephen King

Publisher: Scribner

ISBN: 0743289412

Price: $28.00

REVIEW RECOMMENDATION: MUST READ

The master of all things horrific and gory has once again accomplished a tour de force in his latest novel, Lisey’s Story. Crossing the barrier of conventional suspense and horror―King’s regal trademark―this work shows a much deeper, more emotional and powerfully personal side of the author.

Lisey’s Story is one of supreme tragedy and destined fate, a character study of grief. Two years after the death of her husband Scott, an esteemed author and Pulitzer Prize winner, Lisey Landon discovers a plethora of clues that lead her deeper into her husband’s life and into the chaos of his past. The emotions that the author wrings from his main character provide a heartrending read, one filled with the inherent discovery of truth and the anguish over the loss of a loved one.

Flashback sequences take the reader on a journey of Lisey’s marriage, Scott’s near murder and ultimately his death. But along the road, we learn he hoarded secrets and a life of mental illness. Here is where King’s propensity for supernatural suspense takes over, moving the story along at rapid pace, with heart-stopping moments of sheer terror.

As strangers approach Lisey, desperate for Scott’s unpublished work, her life is endangered and she comes face to face with pure evil. Her journey takes her to Boo’ya Moon, where she finally witnesses what her husband had to face. And thrown into the mix, is Lisey’s own struggle with her sister’s mental illness and deterioration. It is her relationship with her family that pulls at the reader even more, drawing us into Lisey’s world.

Stephen King has demonstrated that his natural talent as a writer far surpasses creating works of horror or suspense, such as Carrie, The Shining or Christine. He is a prolific writer with a seemingly inexhaustible source of ideas that appear to take root almost effortlessly. His novels have noticeably evolved over the years, becoming profoundly more emotional and multifaceted, stockpiling layer upon layer of character development and story elements. Lisey’s Story is indeed a rich tapestry, woven with the finest threads.

A Must, MUST READ!

Reviewer Jack Anthony is a freelance writer, film and book critic, currently residing in Bermuda with his lovely wife, three spoiled children and a Siamese cat with attitude.

Title: The Collectors
 
Author: David Baldacci
Publisher:  Warner Books
ISBN: 0-446-53109-X
Price: $26.99
 

RECOMMENDATION: EXCELLENT READ

 
Reviewed by Theodore Feit
 
Premise and Originality: 9 out of 10
 Characterization: 9 out of 10
  Dialogue: 10 out of 10
 Storyline: 10 out of 10
 
The Camel Club has reconvened in this sequel to the book of the same name.  The unusual foursome, led by Cemetery caretaker Oliver Stone (nee John Carr, former CIA operative), also includes Caleb Shaw, who works in the Rare Book Room of the Library of Co1ngress, which provides the starting point of this mystery.
 
Caleb comes to work one morning to discover the body of his boss, Jonathan DeHaven, dead, of undetermined but apparently natural causes, perhaps a heart attack (although he had received a clean bill of health the previous day at Johns Hopkins).  This death followed the assassination of the Speaker of the house, and the burning of his home.  These seemingly unrelated events set the stage for a haphazard investigation by the Camel Club.
 
Joined in their effort by Annabelle Conroy, con artist par excellence, the group encounters a master of murder who leads a spy ring selling secrets to foreign terrorists.  Along the way, Oliver is kidnapped, as are Caleb and Annabelle, by the opposition.
 
A couple of side stories provide some amusement.  Caleb is named executor of Jonathan’s rare book collection in which he discovers a very rare book—the first ever printed in the United States.  Only 12 are known to exist and this is the 13th.  Is it real or a fraud?  Then there is Annabelle’s long con in which she bilks a murderous Atlantic City casino operator out of $40 million.
 
Tightly written, this novel is as entertaining as its predecessor.  After it is all over, Oliver and Annabelle (who was married to Jonathan for a year and gave him the gift of the rare book), are left musing about the past and the future.  She came to Washington to attend Jonathan’s funeral, changing her plans to flee the country to avoid capture by the casino operator.  Why is she still there?  Perhaps to set the stage for a third Camel Club adventure?  If so, we’ll look forward to it.

Title: Ask the Parrot, a Parker Novel

Author:  Richard Stark

Publisher: Mysterious Press

ISBN: 0-89296-068-X

Price: $23.99

RECOMMENDATION: GOOD READ

 
Reviewed by Theodore Feit
 
Premise and Originality: 9 out of 10
  Characterization: 9 out of 10
Dialogue: 10 out of 10
Storyline: 10 out of 10
 
Master criminal Parker encounters  more troubles in this follow-up to Nobody Runs Forever by Richard Stark, better known as Donald Westlake.  It seems that if anything can go wrong, it will.  The story opens with Parker trying to evade a wide search for him and two confederates following a bank heist in Massachusetts that went wrong.  Just as the dogs are about to find him, he is rescued by a man pointing a rifle at him, who takes Parker back to his house.
 
Then the fun begins.  Right off, his rescuer is visited by a neighbor to inform him that the State Troopers are asking everyone to join in the hunt for the fugitives.  So he and Parker join the posse.  One of their team members mistakenly shoots a harmless bum in the belief that he is one of the bank robbers, and Parker has to talk him out of giving himself up to the troopers (since Parker obviously would be exposed).
 
Later, Parker’s rescuer tells him he is a whistleblower to whom nobody listened, was fired from his job at a local racetrack and knows how to get his hands on the weekend’s take—a couple of hundred thousand dollars, if Parker would help him (the reason he rescued Parker).  Meanwhile twin brothers have come to the conclusion Parker is one of the bank robbers and would like him to share his ill-gotten wealth.  The only problems are that the loot was abandoned and the .serial numbers are known, even if the money were available.
 
The plot progresses and Parker and his rescuer, who is more interested in revenge than the money, undertake the caper—but not without several more mishaps.  The story is a lot of fun, and is a fast read.  Parker certainly is a different type of character than the usual protagonist.  After all, he is one of the bad guys.  Nevertheless, you can’t help but liking him—he has principles.

Reviewed in New Books due to rising popularity of Dexter, the HBO TV adaption. This review refers to a paperback reprint.

 Title: Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Author: Jeff Lindsay

ISBN: 0307277887

RECOMMENDATION: MUST READ

Most critics latch on to the originality of the premise – a serial killer who preys on serial killers – in a “tired” genre. There’s nothing tired about the genre, which thematically probes our darkest natures and ultimately thrill us, and the originality of concept is real, although it’s been touched upon before in other “monster” genres. Anne Rice achieved it in in Interview with a Vampire and many other horrors where monster hunts monster, or Thomas Harris with Dr. Lecter in Silence of The Lambs and Red Dragon, a serial killer who is coerced into helping the FBI. Bret Easton Ellis’s Patrick Bateman was similarly constructed. However, originality of voice and humor is where this blackly wonderful novel truly excels. There is a lyrical quality to the writing, a compelling urgency to the narrative: “Moon. Glorious moon. Full, fat, reddish moon, the night as light as the day, the moolight flooding down across the land and bringing joy, joy, joy… All calling to the Need. Oh, the symphonic shriek of the thousand hiding voice, the cry of the Need inside, the entity, the silent watcher, the cold quiet thing, the one that laughs, the Moondancer…”  

Darkly Dreaming Dexter opens with the narrator Dexter waiting and watching the priest, his first victim, but also a sick perpetrator. From this stunning opening, Lindsay never lets go, demands to be read in one sitting. The flaws? Yes, there are flaws. Secondary characters are thin. Lyndsay manages to make a sociopath somewhat sympathetic and totally engaging, but the first person narrative, while fun, cannot drill deep into other characters because – well, Dexter’s a sociopath, with no feeling for other humans. Still, the entire mix works stunningly well.

Dexter grew up with his “dark companion” his alter ego, and he can recognize this “companion” in others. He channels his need to kill into the deserving. His foster father, a  Miami cop, saw the monster in Dexter and taught him to hunt the hunters. The entire experience, narrative and original plot, is “must read” all the way, although the ending feels a little rushed. Don’t miss this wonderful novel if you enjoy your thrills mixed with laughs, and your frights mixed with fun. Darkly Dreaming Dexter is satisfying at a level most thrillers don’t achieve. How unfortunate Hollywood didn’t think to buy the rights to Dexter. Although the HBO show is the best on the small screen, and destined to be a hit, this is a novel that deserved adaption to the big screen.

Title: A Corpse in the Koryo

Author: James Church

Publisher: St. Martin’s Minotaur

ISBN: 0312352085

Price: $23.95

RECOMMENDATION: MUST READ

Review: Karen Moyers, Book Review Editor

A must read for mystery readers, and a stunning debut. Inspector O? Well, cool. Inspector O, a state security man, must risk life and limb against intelligence operatives in North Korea. Forget how timely the location is, this is just a great read, a good mystery, and a character who is staunch, practical, and, ultimately, heroic. This is no soft mystery, but it’s a must read for the fans of exotic mystery.

Title: The Road

Author: Cormac McCarthy

Publisher: Knopf

ISBN: 0307265439

Price: $24

RECOMMENDATION: MUST READ

Reviewer: Films and Books Book Review Editor Karen Moyers

This is McCarthy’s masterpiece, although I have no love of post-apocalyptic novels. This is really the story of a man and his son, desperate survivors, against a devastated and too-real imagined world of cannibals and a scorched landscape. To call this ‘haunting’ or disturbing hardly captures the mood, and I rate this a “Must Read” only for those who can take the grim and dark. Black prose, but also illuminating love and hope. This is literary speculative fiction at its best, rich in details. The death of a civilized world, the starvation of spirit and body, the rawness of survival, a world dying, yet the reader can take away inspiration from this magnificent novel.