Reviews (26)

Good Old Harry
I just finished reading Echo Park and really enjoyed it.I like the way Michael Connelly keeps the action moving and keeps the reader wondering what is going to happen next.I usually have some of the villians identified but in this case I did not see Abel Pratt involved in the plot.I too feel it would have been good to see what happened to those corrupt people.However, I used my imagination which perhaps is what the author intended.

What a disappointment!
Having read several of Connelly's books, I expected this one to be a cut above the usual crime thriller genre.I was sorely disappointed.Although the plot is somewhat interesting, the characterizations are weak and there is just too much tough cop talk and unbelievable heroics.The narration is weak, especially the personification of the FBI agent girlfriend, which is absolutely grating.I did finish it, but wish I could get my money back.

Harry Bosch remains one of the best cop characters in fiction
Settling in with a new Harry Bosch book by Michael Connelly is like getting together with an old, close friend you haven't seen in a long while.Harry is still with LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit along with his partner, Kiz Ridder. Returning to the police force after a short, unsatisfying retirement, Harry still looks at cases from long ago, cases that he had a hand in, but were never solved.
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Subjects:  1. Bosch, Harry (Fictitious character)    2. California    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    5. Los Angeles    6. Missing persons    7. Mystery & Detective - General    8. Mystery & Detective - Police Procedural    9. Mystery/Suspense    10. Police    11. Suspense    12. Fiction / Thrillers   

Reviews (22)

Weak and disappointing..
I never miss an Evanovich book.She is the only author I actually buy in harcover.I want my money back !!!This is a pale shadow of her usual writing.Maybe her publisher was pressuring her for a book so she tossed this one off.I don't know but I do know I was very disappointed.

Great Read!
This book is really funny and a quick read.This would be a good book to take on vacation or lounge by the pool because it is light and funny.I like all of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books and also Metro Girl, so I felt this book was comparable to those.If you want a laugh, this book is for you!

Another great book by Evanovich!
I LOVED Motor Mouth!It was such a fun read and I greatly enjoyed the characters.Being a NASCAR fan, I love the theme of these books even more.I greatly enjoyed Metro Girl, but have to say that I loved this one even more!I can't wait for the next Evanovich to come out!!I look forward to each of her releases and have yet to be disappointed!I highly recommend this one for a fun read full of laughs! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    3. Fiction - Romance    4. Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths    5. Romance - General    6. Thrillers    7. Fiction / Thrillers   

Reviews (18)

A fading voice
Unfortunately the Sid Halley of old did not appear on a single page of Under Orders.The edgy, brilliant jockey-turned-investigator has turned into a boring, spectacularly non-verbal character who tells us things the Sid Halley of the earlier books would have ridiculed.For example, he describes for us his evening meal in long-winded, elementary school level prose.This may just be the natural end foretold in the previous books: over time the books became blander and sometimes boring.
Great to have Francis back
It is great to have Dick Francis (and Sid Halley) back. Unlike other reviewers, I think it is obvious that the person who wrote this DID write the other Francis (and Halley) books.

Sadly disapointing
I was so looking forward to a new Sid Halley story.What a disapointment.Who wrote this mess?It doesn't have the tone of the author's previous books.The same characters are back but with totally different personalities. Their behaviours and dialogs just do not mesh with the earlier Sid Halley stories.Is Mr. Francis past his writing prime or did his late wife write the earlier books?I suggest taking this out of the library instead of purchasing it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. England    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    4. Francis, Dick - Prose & Criticism    5. Halley, Sid (Fictitious character)    6. Horse racing    7. Mystery & Detective - General    8. Private investigators    9. Suspense    10. Thrillers    11. Fiction / Thrillers   

Reviews (5)

Did not work for me.
I have been a big fan of Mr. Woods since "White Cargo."His books are not great literature, but fun reads with interesting characters and the outcomes are never obvious.This book fail in that I was not able to relate to the characters, too much sex with nothing to do with the story (I am not against sex but it should be relevant, not sensationalistic).Well, you cant hit one out of the park every time.If you Like Woods still of writing and storytelling you need to check out the cult favorite "Tourist in the Yucatan" cool thriller!

Short Straw
Although Stuart Woods is one of my favorites reads, this book wasn't up to snuff. It's hard to believe Ed Eagle would have ever been married to such as low life woman and not know it, especially after her sister had already [...]his best friend. I knows it's fiction but I like to believe it could have at happened.

Mr Woods, please.....
I love to read his books! This was a disappointment to me. The basic story is ok and I like Ed Eagle as a character but at every turn this was about men thinking with their organ. Mr.Woods you can do better than this stupidity and have over and over and over again. Skip this one, save your money, read anything else! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Attorney and client    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - Espionage / Thriller    4. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    5. Legal    6. Mystery & Detective - General    7. Mystery fiction    8. Mystery/Suspense    9. Santa Fe (N.M.)    10. Suspense    11. Woods, Stuart - Prose & Criticism    12. Fiction / Suspense   

Reviews (285)

Back On Her Game
After a disappointing 11th book, Janet seems back on her game, maybe taking it to another level with TWELVE SHARP. This one is about Ranger, who it turns out has been married and has a daughter. The daughter has been kidnapped, and it appears she was kidnapped by Ranger. But looks can be deceiving, and it's Stephanie to the rescue.
The Love Triangle HAS to go.
I read all of the Stephanie Plum novels in a month and cannot wait book 13 (which I would love to be named Lucky 13)!The Ranger, Stephanie, Morelli trianlge is KILLING me!
Twelve Sharp
I really, really, really love the Stephanie Plum series. And I love Janet's other series as well. I really disliked this book. I felt the whole time I was reading it that Janet is just pushing out another book because we fans are waiting for more.
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Subjects:  1. Bail bond agents    2. Bounty hunters    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    5. Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths    6. Mystery/Suspense    7. New Jersey    8. Plum, Stephanie (Fictitious character)    9. Trenton    10. Fiction / General   

Reviews (9)

Legal thriller set in Rome
Imperium tells the story of the adult life of Cicero as seen through the eyes of his faithful slave Tiro. At first I found this story pretty boring. Cicero is sort of a dull character, and for a story set in Ancient rome there wasn't a lot of 'color.' After a while though, the book really began to hook me. The narrator does an excellent job of pulling you into the story, especially the legal details.
Good for the history, but a little flat on the story
I enjoy Harris's work and looked forward to this one, though with a slight hesitation that came from my disappointment with his last Roman novel, Pompeii. The book is interesting in terms of the history; it places Cicero in the political context of Pompey that precedes the era of Julius Caesar. It gives Cicero presence and depth.
Great tale
This is a very engaging tale - quite an enjoyable read and very relevant to today's political climate.Highly recommended!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. (Marcus Tullius),    2. Cicero, Marcus Tullius    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - Historical    5. Historical - General    6. History    7. Mystery & Detective - General    8. Political    9. Republic, 265-30 B.C.    10. Rome    11. Tiro, M. Tullius    12. ca. 104-4 B.C.    13. Fiction / Historical   

Reviews (5)

A Fish Out Of Water

BEWARE Lynley & Havers fans -they aren't in this book! Don't buy it!
How could Elizabeth George even think of letting her fans down like this? I've never before been moved to write a review but this book is a literary crime that cannot go unpunished!(Wish it had gone unpublished though.) Ever since I read George's first Lynley mystery, I've bought each subsequent new one as it was released. I've never been disappointed - until now. That's not to say I don't have some gripes with George; I do. For one, she's long-winded and seems to get more so with every passing book. Readers don't need a description of every locale on a given London road to believe that the author, self-consciously and insurmountably American, has been there. More irritatingly though, and no doubt stemming from the same self-consciousness, her overuse of Brit vernacular and colloquialisms is forced and rings false compared with true British writers, who have no need to prove where they are from. But to her credit, she has created a cast of winning characters and I tune in every time to see what has happened in Lynley's and Havers' worlds. Especially after the last book shockingly killed off a major character, we deserved to be rewarded for waiting and plunking down our money. I want to know how Lynley is coping with the death of his wife, and what is happening with emotionally-scarred Deborah, who was first on the crime scene? And what about Barbara Havers, the character with whose creation George struck pure gold? Both Havers' professional and private lives are utterly engaging ongoing sagas (when will she get together with that neighbor of hers?) and I feel completely ROBBED not to have received the next installment. Worse yet is the book itself, which I dumped after a tedious first chapter (and after I flipped through the rest of it thinking I could find the parts with Lynley et al. Trust me, they aren't there).George's attempt to write completely outside her milieu and misleadingly foist it on her loyal mystery-reading public strikes me as pretentious and patronizing - towards both the subject and the audience.She is off my "authors to trust for a good read" list. True British mystery lovers, wondering what to read now, might try Kate Atkinson's "Case Histories" and "One Good Turn" for superb writing and storytelling. The latter, her newly published sequel about detective Jackson Brodie, kept me up all night, entertained and awed. If only Ms. George's latest had done the same.

What Came Before He Shot Her
What a let down when I started reading this book, I had been waiting months for the new Elizabeth George novel with Inspector Lynley and all his sidekicks. What do I get? A lesson in class and race and why the disenfranchised have a reason to kill. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    3. Mystery & Detective - General    4. Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths    5. Mystery fiction    6. Mystery/Suspense    7. Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General   

Subjects:  1. Boston    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - Espionage / Thriller    4. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    5. Massachusetts    6. Mystery & Detective - General    7. Mystery & Detective - Hard-Boiled    8. Mystery/Suspense    9. Parker, Robert B. - Prose & Criticism    10. Private investigators    11. Spenser (Fictitious character)    12. Suspense    13. Fiction / Suspense   

Subjects:  1. American Light Romantic Fiction    2. Dallas, Eve (Fictitious character)    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    5. Missing persons    6. Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths    7. New York    8. New York (State)    9. Police    10. Romance - Suspense    11. Fiction / Romance / Suspense   

Reviews (25)

4 1/2 Stars
I thought this to be a fascinating and sometime graphic thriller. This is my first experience with Tess Gerritsen and will most likely read more from this author. As mentioned elsewhere, the characters backgrounds were shyed away from, and since I have not read any of her previous novels, I was sometimes a bit stymied. An entertaining read nonetheless.

Another Gem from Tess Gerritsen!
The Mephisto Club is a very fast paced novel, which is my favorite type of story.It brings back the recurrent main characters of Detective Jane Rizzoli and Dr. Maura Isles.This time Detective Rizzoli and Dr. Isles are dealing with an exceeding violent killer who murders his victims in a ritualistic fashion leaving clues that link him to the occult/supernatural.Is the killer a demon or is he merely a brillian sociopath who taunts his victims and the police alike?That is the question facing Detective Rizzoli and Dr. Isles as they try to track him.
Chilling!
I liked The Mephisto Club best of the books in this fine series.If you've liked any of the earlier books, you should definitely read this one.
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Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Espionage / Thriller    3. Fiction - Psychological Suspense    4. Medical    5. Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths    6. Mystery/Suspense    7. Psychological    8. Suspense    9. Fiction / Suspense   

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    3. Koontz, Dean R. (Dean Ray) - Prose & Criticism    4. Mystery & Detective - General    5. Mystery/Suspense    6. Psychological    7. Suspense    8. Thrillers    9. Fiction / General   

Reviews (49)

sleepless nights...
In "The Black Book" the reader embarks on a quest on the streets of contemporary Istanbul, together with the main protagonist, Galip.
Turkish Existentialism
Set in the soot covered trash strewn workaday streets of 1980s Istanbul, a man adrift without any depth of his own personality is abandoned by his wife, which rouses him to a realization about himself and a personal search that ends with him adopting someone else's identity.
A Search for Ruya or Turkey?
In Istanbul, the lawyer Galip returns home to find that his wife Ruya has disappeared. So has Ruya's brother, the newspaper columnist Jelal Salik. What can have happened to them and are their absences connected? Galip goes in search of them: during his search he discovers more about Istanbul, about how Jelal's writings were influenced by Turkish and Islamic history and about how those writings affected people.
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Subjects:  1. False personation    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - General    4. Literary    5. Missing persons    6. Mystery & Detective - General    7. Mystery fiction    8. Turkish Novel And Short Story    9. Fiction / Literary   

Reviews (15)

Outstanding paranormal mystery
Harper Connelly and her step brother Tolliver have been invited by Dr. Clyde Nunley to demonstrate her power for his anthropology class.She can find the dead and determine how they died and their names.He has an old graveyard at Bingham College which hasn't been used for 50 years and recently the records of the old church have been found giving the cause of death for those buried there. The records have been sealed so he is sure that like others he has invited for demonstrations he can show that she is a fake or at least not reliable.Good characters, good plot nicely done and some humor as she spooks the class and Dr. Nunley by being right all the time and by finding Tabahia's body double parked in a grave. (She had been hired to try to find her when she disappeared a year ago from her home in Nashville, Bingham is in Memphis.) And more humor when she weirds out the corner. I still like her southern vampire series better but this is very good and a little better than her first book in the series.

Harris never disappoints!
Harris never disappoints and Grave Surprise is no exception. Harris's prose is both quirky and smooth as butter, and these characters really grabbed hold of me. Made me laugh, made me tear up, made me turn the pages faster and faster, and sigh when I reached the last. It's wonderful to read a writer who knows her craft as well as this. I can hardly wait for her next!

Lightening Can Strike Twice
In this, the second in Charlaine Harris' Harper Connelly series, we learn oh so much more about Harper, her paranormal ability to sense the dead and how they passed, Harper's childhood, and most tantalizingly, her relationship with her stepbrother Tolliver. It's an excellent weekend read. Read more

Subjects:  1. Brothers and sisters    2. Children    3. Clairvoyants    4. Crimes against    5. Fantasy - General    6. Fiction    7. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    8. Mystery & Detective - General    9. Mystery And Suspense Fiction    10. Mystery/Suspense    11. Occult    12. Science Fiction And Fantasy    13. Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General   

Reviews (2)

must have more...
Isabel Dalhousie.Can't get enough of this stuff!
Uh Oh... What is Going On With This One?
If, on the one hand, Mr. Smith is showing us that Isabel, despite thinking all the time (ad nauseam) over every painstaking deatil of what are usually nonessential ideas, has very little REAL sense of morality, then okay, I should really give this one four stars, instead of three, for a clever twist on the part of the author.
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Subjects:  1. Americans    2. Edinburgh    3. English Mystery & Suspense Fiction    4. Fiction    5. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    6. Housekeepers    7. Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths    8. Mystery/Suspense    9. Scotland    10. Women editors    11. Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths   

Reviews (24)

Good But Slow
The first book by Sandra Brown that I read was Chill Factor and really enjoyed it. Ricochet was a good book, but slow in the middle. I will definitely read more of her books.

Excellent story!
This is definitely one of her better romantic suspense stories.She's definitely back to the Mirror Image type romantic suspense. This definitely had more romance than Chill Factor.I thought the romance between Elise and Duncan was passionate and really heartfelt. I truly believed they loved each other.
poor character development has me ricocheting between reading Sandra's next book or not
I have read all Sandra Brown's suspense/romance novels so I feel justified in saying that although Ricochet was a better read than White Hot or Chill Factor, I was again bothered by the poor character development. Duncan was a fairly well developed character--DeeDee somewhat better, but not much for any other players. The concept of ricocheting between the lies and deceit carried out by Elise, an unreliable character, is too much to ask of the reader.I am personally insulted that I was cheated out of the inner workings of Elise's mind, thoughts, and force fed her version of everything. The concept in writing is, "show don't tell." None of that here!
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Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. General    4. Mystery & Detective - General    5. Mystery fiction    6. Mystery/Suspense    7. Fiction / General   

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    3. Florida    4. Manic-depressive illness    5. Mystery & Detective - General    6. Mystery/Suspense    7. Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge (Fla.)    8. Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General   

Reviews (4)

Intellectual Mystery
This is a well-written, intellectual mystery by a noted literary writer. The characters are thoroughly developed and believable, the plot filled with hooks and surprises.
"Change was insidious, creeping up on you as though you were playing a game of statues."
Wow! I love Atkinson's writing
I had read Case Histories and could not WAIT to get another book by Kate Atkinson. I was not disappointed. But don't take my word for it...Stephen King called this the BEST mystery of the decade (that is written on the back of the book cover) and it got superb reviews in The New York Times.
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Subjects:  1. English Mystery & Suspense Fiction    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - General    4. General    5. Millionaires    6. Mystery & Detective - General    7. Mystery/Suspense    8. Policewomen    9. Women novelists    10. Fiction / General   

Reviews (55)

So beautifully addictive
Since immensely enjoying Tears of the Giraffe, I quickly became addicted to the #1 Lady, and her detective series. I've purely and completely enjoyed all in the series so very much, and Blue Shoes and Happiness is another gem to be savored. My deep,and only unhappiness with each of the novels is that every turn of the page brings me closer to the end of this rare gift.
Small Things Need Lively Prose
This review is for the Pantheon Books hardback edition, 2006, 227 pages.BLUE SHOES AND HAPPINESS, was on the USA Today top 150 best seller list for 6 weeks from April 27 to June 1 2006, reaching a peak position of thirteen.It is the seventh and latest in McCall's Precious Ramotswe, No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.All seven made the USA Today list.
Another great installment in a wonderful series!
One of the best things about Alexander McCall Smith's entertaining No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series is that these aren't really traditional detective stories at all.One must read between the lines to see that the amusing tales delve far deeper than solving simple mysteries and crimes. Each book provides an enchanting glimpse into the life and times of Botswana and the series really serves as a clever study of human nature.The loveable and heavyset chief detective Mma Ramotswe is clearly large and in charge, as her unique agency helps its clients and the stories' readers themselves discover many "things they already know." This charming series is excellent light reading and especially great for planes. Take the whole series with you to make a transatlantic flight go by in the blink of an eye! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Botswana    2. English Mystery & Suspense Fiction    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    5. Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths    6. Mystery/Suspense    7. No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (Imaginary organization)    8. Ramotswe, Precious (Fictitious character)    9. Women private investigators    10. Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths   

Editorial Review

It has been said that a mystery novel is "about something" and a literary tale is not.Read more

Reviews (15)

Fascinating Historical Thriller.
This is one outstanding read if you are a New Yorker who enjoys historical thrillers the way I do!With uncanny precision, Jed Rubenfeld accurately and colorfully describes turn of the twentieth century New York City at a time many historians consider to be the `incubator period' of what has shaped to become the modern day city of the world, while providing us with a fascinating thriller filled with some of the most interesting and unique characters ever to shape the pages of the fictionalized world: true life mentor/teacher soon-to-be nemesis Dr. Sigmund Freud and Dr. Carl Jung!
A decent debut, but lacking
When I heard of the premise of this novel, I was very interested in it.Historical fiction is not an easy genre to conquer and I was intrigued by this particular author's take on Sigmund Freud and his American visit.
A Book Lover's Dream
I congratulate Mr Rubenfeld on a magnificent first novel. It is intelligent and erudite. Comparisons with the similarly themed "The Alienist" by Caleb Carr is inevitable and apt. For me, the style and plot also echoes Umberto Eco.I particularly enjoyed the references to Hamlet.Some of my fellow readers have been quick to criticise the author for his portrayal of Jung.That is a not-invalid point but Iam no apologist for the author, and would beg my fellow reader to enjoy the novel for what it is - a novel.It is another building in the City of Invention - to borrow the phrase from Fay Weldon's Letters to Alice - and it is a worthy edifice. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1856-1939    2. American Historical Fiction    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    5. Freud, Sigmund,    6. Historical - General    7. Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)    8. Mystery & Detective - Historical    9. Mystery fiction    10. Thrillers    11. Fiction / Thrillers   

Reviews (179)

not worth the time
The writing is pedestrian and the plot makes no sense.I thought something might change, that it might become an interesting ghost story, or there might be moral issues, or maybe even a character would grow or change.The heavy-handed ending is, perhaps, intended to demonstrate how the intense oppression and suppression of women in Amish culture forces them to violence against their loved ones...but that's a pretty heavy message for a book that seems full of meaninglessness.Are we supposed to take everything that Ellie says about the Amish in court (peaceful, gentle, incapable of murder, loving, child-centric, willing to accept an out-of-wedlock child into the community) as lies?The ending belongs to a much darker book.My biggest complaint though is the bad writing and editing, I kept stumbling over inconsistencies and that always inhibits my enjoyment of a story.

ANOTHER GREAT BOOK FROM JODI PICOULT!
I have read several of Ms. Picoult's books and I think this was the best yet.The writing was so great, I was taken right into the Amish countryside. The Truth About Jodi Picoult
Like all of the Jodi Picoult novels I've read to date, this one slides down as easily as ice cream. She is a masterful storyteller, with the ability to pull you into a time and place, and an extraordinary family situation. Plain Truth tells the story of an Amish girl by the name of Katie Fisher and the lawyer, Ellie Hathaway, who defends her in a murder trial. Katie is accused of neonaticide, killing a baby she refuses to admit she delivered even though it is a medically indisputable fact that she has just given birth.