4.5 stars out of 5
Quandary time: I really enjoyed this book - in fact, perhaps more than the last two or three from this popular author. For openers, there's a noticeable absence of the industry-bashing that's been common of late (much to my dislike), and the focus is almost entirely on legal procedure that's reminiscent of earlier and, IMHO, more enjoyable works.
On the other hand, it struck me as different enough that it may not sit well with die-hard fans. Can I call it, for instance, a "high-stakes thrill ride" as claimed in the description? Simply put, no.
Don't misunderstand; there's plenty of action, beginning the minute Lacy Stoltz, an attorney and investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct, is contacted by Greg Myers, a lawyer who claims that a Sunshine State judge is the most successful judicial thief in U.S. history. The judge, he reports, for years has been taking huge cuts from a large casino operated by the Tappacola Indian tribe, construction of which was financed by a secretive organization called the Coast Mafia. But there are complications; first, Myers was at one time disbarred, so his reputation is questionable. And, he's representing the whistle-blower only by way of an unknown intermediary, whose name he refuses to reveal (he insists he doesn't even know the name of the whistle-blower). Because of the threat to his own life, he's been on the lam for years (Myers isn't his real name); and he admits his only motivation for coming forward now is that he and his client stand to rake in millions by filing a complaint with the Board of Conduct.
Painfully aware of those limitations as well as touchy jurisdictional issues between Florida law enforcement and Native American property, Lacy and her partner, Hugo, tentatively begin to investigate. Some of the dirt they dig up early on suggests that the FBI should be called in to help, but Myers threatens to back out if that happens. So, the partners set off to learn what they can given the legal restrictions - and from the git-go run smack dab into a hornet's nest that quickly turns deadly.
As I said before, the action is pretty much nonstop after that. So why isn't it a nail-biter? I'm not sure, except to say it's the style of writing. Dialog makes the characters seem real, but everything in between is pretty much a narrative so matter-of-fact that it's almost - but not quite - to the point of bland. This "just the facts" approach keeps the plot interesting as all get-out to me, but at the same time I never felt any particular excitement or sense of imminent danger; in other words, nothing that put me on the edge of my seat. That said, though, I finished the book in a day and a half just because I didn't want to put it down - hence my dilemma in writing a review.
In the end, I come down strongly on the side of well done. But in the final analysis, I guess other readers will just have to decide for themselves. Sorry, guys and gals, but it's the best that I can do.
The Whistler by John Grisham (Doubleday, October 2016); 384 pp.
4.5 stars out of 5
Is this one good? Yes, actually - so much so that I read the whole thing on a day when we were having guests for dinner (well okay, it was just slow-cooker veggie-beef soup, crusty bread and store-bought brownies with ice cream washed down by easy peasy apple cider mimosas, but still...)
Once I started, in fact, I really didn't want to put it down. So, it helps that it's under 300 pages which - according to the running tally on my Kindle Fire that turned out to be accurate - would take me just over 3 hours to finish. While I'm thinking about it, I'll give a big thank-you to the author and publisher (via NetGalley) for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Amanda Sinclair is a lab technician at an on-the-brink of big-time breakout cosmetics company in Chicago. She loves her job, and she's happy that no one there knows her real identity: The daughter of a woman who murdered her young son (Amanda's brother). As a result, for the past decade, her mother has been confined to a psychiatric hospital. Then out of the blue, Amanda gets a dreaded phone call; apparently, despite the hospital's tight security measures, her mother has committed suicide.
As Amanda sifts through her mother's meager belongings, she finds a couple of items suggesting that her mother was upset about the upcoming parole of charismatic leader Patrick Collier, who was convicted of embezzling substantial funds from his cult to which her late mother, and Amanda herself, once belonged. Not a bad theory, obviously, but since this isn't the first time her mother has tried to kill herself, Amanda - and her mother's hunky psychologist - question how was she able to succeed on this go-round.
Meanwhile, Amanda's work life is taking an unexpected turn as well, with questions arising about the efficacy (and safety) of an about-to-be-launched product that's been generating considerable buzz in the industry. Could it be that someone - one of Amanda's trusted co-workers, perhaps - is trying to put the kabosh on a potential company takeover that would mean a financial windfall for the entire team?
Needless to say, everything gets resolved in nail-biting fashion - but you'll just have to read it for yourself to learn the details because I'll never tell. FYI, Rendahl also writes under the names of Eileen Carr (romantic suspense) and Kristi Abbott (cozy mysteries). Well, guess that means I've got a few more of her books to check out!
Cover Me in Darkness by Eileen Rendahl (Midnight Ink, December 2016); 264 pp.
4 stars out of 5
As I've mentioned before, I'm always on the lookout for a good series; these books make great fill-ins when I want a break from tackling my ever-growing list of free-for-review books and standalones from favorite authors that I read just because, well, they're from my favorite authors. Besides that, I'm hoping to find a series that will appeal to my husband, who loves to read the same types of books I do but, for better or worse, is much harder to please.
When a Goodreads.com friend made me aware of this series, then, I didn't waste much time grabbing this, the first one. Without question, I enjoyed it. And while the gory serial killer aspect probably won't entice my hubby to try it, I'm sure he'd like the main man, homicide Detective Robert Hunter (as did I, especially since he was a child prodigy who earned a degree in psychology at age 19 and a Ph.D. in criminal behavior analysis and biopsychology four years later). On top of that, any guy who loves single-malt Scotch can't be all bad.
This story begins with the discovery of a young woman's body; she's been gruesomely tortured, mutilated (all the skin was ripped off her face while she was alive, for instance, which gives you a good idea of the tenor of the book) and has a double cross design cut into the back of her neck. The latter is a huge cause for concern for Hunter; it marks the signature of a serial killer he helped capture two years earlier - a man who was executed for his grisly crimes. Hunter had a few misgivings back then, but now he's afraid the wrong person was convicted and the real psychopath is back plying his gruesome trade.
This time around, Hunter - who is dealing with issues of his own including doubts about his former partner's supposedly accidental death - is working with a newbie partner Garcia. The first chapter sets out what Hunter is up against, and from that point on, the action never stops. People are biting the dust right and left and Hunter and his partner are sure something "connects" them all; but how long will it take (and how many more murders) before can they find out what that is and correctly identify the killer this time around?
To be honest, I had a few issues with the book, such as the occasional grammatical error and terms that are more British than American (the author lives in the U.K. but the story is set in Los Angeles, so there shouldn't be any language crossover). Another niggle is that all the characters are exceptionally well spoken, so every time the word "ain't" popped out of their mouths - which was quite often - it elicited a discord reminiscent of fingernails running down a chalkboard. But I also figure some of that goes with the territory for a series debut - and I'm confident the books will get even better as they go along (as of this writing, there are seven in all, I believe). Now, I just have to find time to read them!
The Crucifix Killer by Chris Carter (Simon & Schuster UK, October 2009); 448 pp.
4 stars out of 5
To be sure, this is a solid, well-thought out and well-written debut novel that held my attention right to the end. There's plenty of action, and even some chuckle-out-loud lines.
But all those positives aside, at no time did I really "like" reading it.
That's largely because, for better or worse, the setting - high crime rate East Long Beach, California - is almost impossible for me, a WASP from America's heartland Midwest, to comprehend. I just can't relate to guys who frequently call each other the "n" word (which apparently can be both derogatory and a term of endearment, depending on who's talking to whom). I wrestled with concepts like the young man whose IQ is at near-genius level but who earns money by ripping off local shops and long-time friends whose loyalty disappears at the drop of a dime bag or a busty young woman's tube top.
No, this definitely isn't my world, nor, to tell the truth, is it a world I want any part of. But that doesn't change the fact that this is a really good book; if I could award it 4.5 stars, I would, and I thank the author and publisher, via NetGalley, for giving me the opportunity to read it in exchange for an honest review.
Chapters shift from past to present, serving up details of the coming of age, if you will, of Isaiah Quintabe - or IQ, as he's called - and other shifts take place within chapters. That made it a bit more difficult for me to follow, but in this case it's an effective technique. In the present, the high school dropout is a sort of problem-solver in the style of Sherlock Holmes - a self-made investigator when the need arises and the cops don't want to get serious (which can be often in this high-crime neighborhood). He's hired by a bigwig in the rap music industry who's richer than God but believes that someone is out to get him (and being attacked and nearly killed by a pit bull the size of Texas pretty much proves he's right). He's got a couple of henchmen/bodyguards/friends with questionable intentions; could one or both of them be behind the attack? Or maybe his clearly disgruntled ex-wife hired the hit. Or not.
The flashback scenes take place a few years earlier, when Isaiah lived with his much-idolized older brother Marcus, who kept Isaiah rooted in normalcy and the hope of a better future. But then, the unthinkable happens; Marcus's life is tragically cut short and IQ is left to fend for himself. Paying for their apartment becomes almost impossible, so he finds a roommate in the not-so-upstanding Juanell Dodson. Tying in past and present, the former roommate is the one who talks Isaiah into taking the job for the music mogul.
For those who care about such things (I don't), the language is fairly graphic and the murders and near-murders are fairly grisly. But even to someone like me, who gets this kind of news only from the newspaper or NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, it all seemed very real. And that, if nothing else, makes this book worthwhile reading.
IQ by Joe Ide (Mulholland Books, October 2016); 337 pp.
4 stars out of 5
Count me as one who's never been a fan of the political scene; I'd sooner pull my fingernails out one by one than watch more than a few minutes of a debate (never more true than in this election year). Still, the process is interesting to me if only because of my background in journalism and psychology, so the description of this book was too intriguing to pass up when I was offered the opportunity to read it in exchange for an honest review.
And my honest opinion is this: While the plot doesn't rank at the top of my believability scale, it's a fast-paced, suspenseful and well-written story that I had trouble putting down and polished off in a day-and-a-half of spare time. It is, I should add, the second featuring network news host Erica Sparks (it follows The Newsmakers). But while there are a few references here to events in the other one - and it's probably a good idea to read it first - this book stands on its own quite well.
Erica, it seems, is in the throes of a rather conflicted life. She loves her job, but her significant other is off building a TV network in a faraway country. Erica's 11-year-old daughter Jenny has agreed to leave her father and come to live with her, but especially because Erica's work takes her away so often, the two are having a tough time really bonding. That issue is exacerbated when, faced with a ratings drop and the need to land a really big story, Erica turns her attention to the Presidential election. Mostly to help with Jenny, she hires Becky, a young aspiring journalist, as her personal assistant.
One of the two candidates, Mike Ortiz, has capitalized on his war hero status to become the favorite. He's got a gorgeous, wealthy and never far from his side wife, Celeste, who in turn has a beautiful, powerful close friend and adviser, Lily Lau, who's a real piece of work (in the authors' words, "her sangfroid has sangfroid").
As the final debate of the campaign approaches, Erica begins to notice that something may be amiss in the interaction between Ortiz, his wife and Ms. Lau. As she investigates, questions also arise about what really happened to the candidate during the nine months he claims to have spent in the Al Qaeda prison. But as Erica lines up people who might offer insights, her efforts are thwarted by a string of unexpected deaths and questions about who can be trusted. In between are hints of media manipulation, mind control, conspiracy theories and, of course, the threat of personal danger to Erica and those she loves.
It's a thoroughly captivating story, though as I mentioned before, more than a little far-fetched. Erica's powers of perception go far beyond those of mere humans (even those of a seasoned journalist), and others around her are far too quick to buy into her suppositions. Toward the end, the pace picks up to get to the finish but crosses the line of credibility (well heck, this is a work of fiction, after all). The bottom line is it's a fun, enjoyable way to spend a few hours, and I look forward to the next installment.
The Candidate by Lis Wiehl with Sebastian Stuart (Thomas Nelson, October 2016); 348 pp.
4 stars out of 5
Three emotionally damaged characters: A female serial killer, a psychiatrist, and a detective, all driven to some extent by past personal trauma. The latter two want to catch the former; the psychiatrist in the hope of getting a new book out of it, and the other because he's convinced that she's having way too much fun to stop on her own.
But first, they have to find her. From the start, readers know that Sarah Silver is on the surface a highly successful U.K. hedge fund manager in who plies a very different trade in her spare time: hunting men and killing them. But she's no fool; she's changed her identity, her looks and her license plates so often that no one has a clue who she really is and certainly not what she does in her time off.
The psychiatrist, Karl Gross, has written best-selling books on serial killers. Whether it stems from jealousy or a perceived lack of professional ethics, though, he's far from the most popular brick in the medical chimney. The detective, Martin White, is watching his career and personal life go down the tubes (easing it along by guzzling alcohol and smoking pot), largely because he can't come to grips with things that happened to him in the past.
Somehow they all come together, crossing paths in ways that force them to deal with emotions they'd rather not acknowledge. They don't start out happy, nor do they end that way. But the in-between twists and turns of their "relationships" make for one heck of a good story.
Frequent scene shifts keep readers aware of what's happening from each of the character's perspectives - sometimes an effective technique but, at least in the early chapters of this book, seemed a little disjointed to me. I'm also not fond of fiction written in the present tense, but that's just a personal preference.
The ending probably won't satisfy everyone (and some of the gory details aren't for the really squeamish). No problem on my end on either score, though - I found this to be a very engrossing debut novel. I thank the author and publisher, via NetGalley, for giving me the opportunity to read it in exchange for an honest review.
PsychoAnalysis by V.R. Stone (Silverwhite Press, October 2016); 312 pp.
4 stars out of 5
This is the latest entry into the life of British Horseracing Authority investigator Jeff Hinkley, and it brings him to the U.S. shores "on loan" to help the U.S. Federal Anti-Corruption in Sports Agency find a mole in its organization. Apparently, someone is leaking confidential information that's giving horse owners and/or trainers a heads-up on planned raids and drug tests.
As the title suggests, the investigation begins at the Kentucky Derby, where yet another bust goes bad; worse, a human is murdered. On Derby Day, the unthinkable happens as three of the four most favored horses mysteriously fall ill and are scratched from the race. With two more legs left in the Triple Crown - the Preakness in Maryland and the Belmont Stakes in New York - Hinkley decides to go undercover [rather thinly] disguised as a groom, getting a job at Belmont Park where he can keep an eye on what's happening from the perspective of an insider.
While there, he runs afoul of an exceptionally nasty groom who appears to be protecting his beautiful sister, who also works at the track, from nonexistent romantic advances from Hinkley (or perhaps there's another, more sinister reason for the attacks). Hinkley also runs into evidence confirming that the Derby horses didn't get sick by accident. But neither proving that nor uncovering the identity of the mole isn't a walk around the track; in fact, Hinkley finds himself in what could be the race of his own life. In short, it's an enjoyable and sometimes nail-biting romp through the ins and outs of the racing world.
As he works toward completion of his assignment in the United States, Hinkley begins to consider where his career will take him next and I, for one, rather hope it's not a permanent move to my side of the Pond. While I totally agree that everyone is entitled to his or her opinions, Hinkley's U.S.-bashing (as seen through the author's eyes, of course) really started to get on my nerves. Even so, I was able to overlook his anti-gun views, digs at the flaunting behavior of "rich" folks (especially at Triple Crown events) and the fact that we levy taxes on gambling/racing winnings whereas the U.K. does not. When he tasted grits for the first time, I actually chuckled when he proclaimed he'd rather chew on a rusty nail to get his quota of iron. I can even tolerate, though barely, his declaration that Americans are a "rum lot."
He crossed the line, though, when he declared that a U.S. TV show - a not-so-veiled reference to the long-running and extremely popular "Jeopardy!" - was so boring that it put him to sleep. Them are fightin' words, sir - and I have just three words in return: Kiss MY grits!
Triple Crown by Felix Francis (G.P. Putnam's Sons, October 2016); 382 pp.
4.5 stars out of 5
