Fatal Truth - Robin Burcell - I have really enjoyed this series. I love the characters and the setting.
Police corruption and violence abound in Fatal Truth, Robin Burcell's second novel (after Every Move She Makes) starring San Francisco homicide inspector Kate Gillespie. On the way to meet with a snitch, Kate witnesses his murder. The culprit, a corrupt narcotics investigator, turns up dead several hours later. Unsure of whom she can trust, Kate turns to her ex-partner, PI Sam Scolari, and Mike Torrance, an internal affairs detective and former romantic flame. Both men assist Kate as she investigates the two killings and discovers some surprising links to a 12-year-old scandal involving her brother, his wife and their young son. Through sharp, staccato prose, Burcell delivers a taut police procedural stuffed with law enforcement jargon and exhilarating action sequences.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
May, 2008 Audio Books
Cold Hit - Stephen J Cannell - Another Shane Scully book, once again I really enjoyed listening to this book. The characters were more likeable in the audio books in my opinion.
Cannell tackles the dilemma faced by police when they tangle with Homeland Security. Detective Shane Scully butts up against Robert Allen Virtue, the regional director of DHS, in the investigation of a serial killer who removes his victims' fingertips. When the fourth murder doesn't fit the pattern of the series, Scully runs smack into Homeland Security AND the FBI. Scott Brick performs this police procedural with his usual precision, while driving the details to the fore. Brick's portrays the federal agents as stony and hard-nosed and the local police as driven to find the truth behind the lies and obfuscation of the Feds' secrecy.
Cannell tackles the dilemma faced by police when they tangle with Homeland Security. Detective Shane Scully butts up against Robert Allen Virtue, the regional director of DHS, in the investigation of a serial killer who removes his victims' fingertips. When the fourth murder doesn't fit the pattern of the series, Scully runs smack into Homeland Security AND the FBI. Scott Brick performs this police procedural with his usual precision, while driving the details to the fore. Brick's portrays the federal agents as stony and hard-nosed and the local police as driven to find the truth behind the lies and obfuscation of the Feds' secrecy.
May, 2008 Audio Books
The Two Minute Rule - Robert Crais - I have been looking for this book for a while. It was worth the wait, I really enjoyed the book and hope to find others by this author at the library.
If Bruce Willis's face keeps coming to mind whenever former bank robber Max Holman speaks in this sharp and touching audio version of Crais's latest bestseller, it's not surprising. Willis starred in the movie of Crais's Hostage and would be perfect as Holman. But Graybill does a good job of making Max more than just an imitation. His Holman quickly comes to life as a bruised, repentant man seeking revenge against those who shot and killed his 23-year-old LAPD rookie son, just a day before Holman's release from prison. Graybill is also skilled at making the lesser roles real and different: the cops who worked with his son cover a range of voices and attitudes, as do the petty criminals, gang members and assorted villains Max encounters. Graybill is especially good at catching the combination of weariness, frustration and basic decency of Katherine Pollard, the former FBI agent who arrested Holman 10 years ago and is now an unemployed single mother and the only person who will help him search for his son's killers. It's one of the author's best books, and audio listeners should quickly be caught up in its subtle, ironic excitement.
If Bruce Willis's face keeps coming to mind whenever former bank robber Max Holman speaks in this sharp and touching audio version of Crais's latest bestseller, it's not surprising. Willis starred in the movie of Crais's Hostage and would be perfect as Holman. But Graybill does a good job of making Max more than just an imitation. His Holman quickly comes to life as a bruised, repentant man seeking revenge against those who shot and killed his 23-year-old LAPD rookie son, just a day before Holman's release from prison. Graybill is also skilled at making the lesser roles real and different: the cops who worked with his son cover a range of voices and attitudes, as do the petty criminals, gang members and assorted villains Max encounters. Graybill is especially good at catching the combination of weariness, frustration and basic decency of Katherine Pollard, the former FBI agent who arrested Holman 10 years ago and is now an unemployed single mother and the only person who will help him search for his son's killers. It's one of the author's best books, and audio listeners should quickly be caught up in its subtle, ironic excitement.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Books Read in May, 2008
A Grave Denied - Dana Stabenow - This was a great book, I really enjoy this series. The plot was well written, she created two good suspects and set it up so well it could easily have been either. Couldn’t figure out which one it was and when it was over the reason wasn’t what I thought and completely blew me away.
On an eighth-grade field trip to Grant Glacier in Alaska, students discover a corpse in an ice cave beneath the glacier. With too many cases, State Trooper Jim Chopin hires Aleut PI Kate Shugak to investigate. After discovering that the victim had a secret life, Kate becomes the killer's next target. In this thirteenth Shugak novel, Stabenow simultaneously builds on the series' strengths and moves in new directions. As before, she effectively combines a challenging, suspect-filled mystery with a vivid sense of place and some witty commentary on Alaskans. The field-trip premise gives her the opportunity to develop teenage supporting characters and to reflect sensitively on teen concerns. Fans will also enjoy the first tentative steps toward a wary romance between Jim and Kate.
On an eighth-grade field trip to Grant Glacier in Alaska, students discover a corpse in an ice cave beneath the glacier. With too many cases, State Trooper Jim Chopin hires Aleut PI Kate Shugak to investigate. After discovering that the victim had a secret life, Kate becomes the killer's next target. In this thirteenth Shugak novel, Stabenow simultaneously builds on the series' strengths and moves in new directions. As before, she effectively combines a challenging, suspect-filled mystery with a vivid sense of place and some witty commentary on Alaskans. The field-trip premise gives her the opportunity to develop teenage supporting characters and to reflect sensitively on teen concerns. Fans will also enjoy the first tentative steps toward a wary romance between Jim and Kate.
Monday, May 5, 2008
May, 2008 Audio Books
White Sister - Stephen J Cannell - This is the second book I have read by this author. I liked the characters better in the audio book than I did in the previous book.
With his frenetic fifth Shane Scully novel, bestseller Cannell (Cold Hit) dishes out the action in forklift-sized servings. Casting aside the rules like never before, LAPD detective Scully conducts his own seek-and-destroy mission after his wife, fellow cop Alexa, is found shot in the head. As Alexa clings to life, Scully's efforts to track down her attacker lead him into the violent, vengeful world of rap music, lorded over by two of its most feared executives, Lou Maluga and his wife, Stacy, known in the trade as "the white sister." Without pause to sleep or eat, Scully fights and claws his way along, burning friends, violating laws, using his charm as well as his fists before coming face to face with his enemy in Las Vegas. Cannell's hard-boiled, if at times over-rehearsed prose is well suited to his subject matter, though some readers may have trouble with his hero's tendency to suddenly shift character from tough guy to touchy-feely 21st-century man.
With his frenetic fifth Shane Scully novel, bestseller Cannell (Cold Hit) dishes out the action in forklift-sized servings. Casting aside the rules like never before, LAPD detective Scully conducts his own seek-and-destroy mission after his wife, fellow cop Alexa, is found shot in the head. As Alexa clings to life, Scully's efforts to track down her attacker lead him into the violent, vengeful world of rap music, lorded over by two of its most feared executives, Lou Maluga and his wife, Stacy, known in the trade as "the white sister." Without pause to sleep or eat, Scully fights and claws his way along, burning friends, violating laws, using his charm as well as his fists before coming face to face with his enemy in Las Vegas. Cannell's hard-boiled, if at times over-rehearsed prose is well suited to his subject matter, though some readers may have trouble with his hero's tendency to suddenly shift character from tough guy to touchy-feely 21st-century man.
May, 2008 Audio Books
Stone Cold - Robert B. Parker - I had previously read the book, and seen the movie but I did enjoy listening to the book.
Stone Cold is Parker's fourth novel to feature former Los Angeles cop Jesse Stone, now serving as police chief in suburban Paradise, on the Boston North Shore. Stone is just as tough and nearly as incorruptible as Spenser, the hero of more than thirty Parker novels. But Stone carries plenty of baggage along with his police shield: an ex-wife whom he can't let go, attachments that he can't hold onto, and a bottle that he can't put down. Narrator Robert Forster interprets Stone as a tarnished knight, making him both wise and wizened as he investigates a high school gang rape and tries to track down a bizarre team of serial thrill-killers before they track him down. Forster reads the book in a Midwestern drawl that fits neither LA nor Massachusetts, but he serves up Parker's hard writing with an appropriate punch that won't leave the listener cold.
Stone Cold is Parker's fourth novel to feature former Los Angeles cop Jesse Stone, now serving as police chief in suburban Paradise, on the Boston North Shore. Stone is just as tough and nearly as incorruptible as Spenser, the hero of more than thirty Parker novels. But Stone carries plenty of baggage along with his police shield: an ex-wife whom he can't let go, attachments that he can't hold onto, and a bottle that he can't put down. Narrator Robert Forster interprets Stone as a tarnished knight, making him both wise and wizened as he investigates a high school gang rape and tries to track down a bizarre team of serial thrill-killers before they track him down. Forster reads the book in a Midwestern drawl that fits neither LA nor Massachusetts, but he serves up Parker's hard writing with an appropriate punch that won't leave the listener cold.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Books Read in May, 2008
Three Shirt Deal – Stephen J. Cannell – This is a new series for me, I didn’t start with the first book but it didn’t bother me. I am listening to another one of these books on my ipod, not sure how much I like the series. I just didn’t really care much for the characters.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
