Joseph Zizza
Would have liked to go 4.5 stars. The most complex and multi-layered of the excellent Poe and Bradshaw series, this one is so full of misdirection and hidden depths it reached a new level of delight for me. Compulsively readable, clever and knowledgeable without being smug and condescending, it manages to baffle and enlighten in rapid succession. My favourite of the Craven books so far. Highly recommended.
This my third Jefferson Farjeon novel, the other two being Thirteen Guest and The Z Murders, and this was a bit of a letdown. I was really enjoying it until the last 40 or 50 pages, when we had a very dreary and dull diary extract, which flew in the face of the atmosphere and breezy storytelling of the previous 200 pages. Good plot, interesting characters and a slightly disappointing denouement.
Suspenseful, well-written, mostly credible thriller based on two of the most unlikely coincidences in any fiction I've read. The coincidences are very hard to swallow on their own, but together they make the whole thing untenable. It's a pity, because the story is well executed and this would be a decent novel without them, and in my opinion, might have worked with only one of them. Cannot recommend this.
It's been an article of faith with me for several years that female mystery/crime writers are often under-rated, so it wasn't really a surprise that Dolores Hitchens was another example of this. That a novel with “cat” in the title wouldn't be insufferably “cosy” was a surprise. The cat does feature in the story, in an unusual way, but it's Rachel Murdock and Lieutenant Mayhew who are the mismatched pair who make this so much fun. It is cosy, but not insufferably so, as there are plenty of unpleasant characters and situations. I am likely to read another of these eventually.
I very much enjoyed this book. Good pace, interesting setting, a lively set of characters. I didn't find it much of a detective story, though, as the “detective”, a likeable enough fellow, didn't really solve the murder mystery. In some ways that made it a more realistic story, but the Golden Age “fair play” rules weren't actually followed. This is not really important, as it didn't interfere with my enjoyment, but for those focused on the puzzle and working it out, this doesn't really play to those expectations.
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand I found it a very absorbing and credible story about two “social creatures” in NY in 2015. Unvarnished and un-sensational–not easy to do. I went back to it eagerly and enjoyed it. On the other hand, it built to a sense of a revelatory ending, and then went in an entirely different direction. I would give it 3.5 stars if I could, but the accomplishment outweighs my misgivings about the ending. Kudos to Tara Isabella Burton.
Solid and absorbing entry in the famous Perry Mason series. This one is all detective work and never sets foot in the courtroom. Breezy and brisk, the story flies along and there's no filler or wasted words. It's closer to a hard-boiled detective novel than the courtroom dramas many of the Mason stories are. Very enjoyable.
Engrossing, gripping and well-paced, this is a prime example of why so many writers think highly of John D MacDonald. I read most of the Travis McGee when I was young, but only recently started reading his non-series novels. They are tougher, grittier and less romantic. This one I can recommend quite highly.
Easily one of the worst Carr novels I've read. Characters speak as no human being speaks, as if their sole purpose is exposition. Carr's most annoying tricks (interruptions when a revelation is about to occur, characters keeping information secret for no reason) are on full display here, and by the time the “mystery” is revealed, it's hard to care any more. Stick with the early novels. They are at least fresh, both in ideas and delivery.
I have mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed it–the setting, the story, the characters–but I occasionally felt there were bum notes, things that didn't ring true or feel authentic. And I sometimes felt the main character needed a smack. It somewhat damaged my enjoyment of the book, but not completely, and I would have given it a rave but for those moments where the facade slipped. I cautiously recommend it to those who are good at suspending disbelief. It should be 3.5 stars.
The sharp decline in this series since Lee Child started co-writing with brother Andrew might be down to it being a tired formula or to laziness and lack of ideas. In any case it's reached a nadir, and I won't be reading any further books in the series. The lowest point has to be Reacher killing a guy in cold blood and in the almost next chapter saying “I won't kill anyone in cold blood”. The vigilante fantasy has played itself out and is no longer being delivered effectively. Time to shut it down.
For most of its 240 pages, this is an entertaining Gothic mystery. It falls down badly at the end, as a lengthy conversation reveals all the answers to questions raised in the story. It is curiously flat and lacking in narrative drive in the last pages, a surprisingly weak denouement from a writer famous for atmosphere and tension in his books. It is nominally a Gideon Fell mystery, but Fell is rarely in it, and the “solution” is unveiled by the main character, Patrick Butler. Butler is not a success as a character, coming across like a minor character in a forties movie melodrama, all arrogance and bluster. One of the weakest Carr novels I've read. Not recommended.
There is no denying the achievement here, recreating an era nearly 500 years ago, through the eyes of one man at the centre of the maelstrom. Imaginary conversations and made up encounters all based on history and woven together into a tapestry of fact and fiction. It is really quite remarkable, as the central “character” Thomas Cromwell navigates the politics and interpersonal mean-spirited-ness of the court of Henry VIII, enduring personal tragedy and loss along the way. My reservation about this book is that I admired and was impressed by it more than I enjoyed it. Some of the detailed descriptions and conversations were there more for verisimilitude than to advance the telling of the story and I often went from being enthralled to being bored in the space of ten pages. I can understand why this won awards, but maybe I'm not a serious enough history buff to enjoy it as much as others clearly have. I don't think I'll be reading the other two books.
The key element in this Nero Wolfe is him not only leaving his brownstone but going to the land of his birth-Montenegro. Unfortunately, this doesn't create excitement or an exotic scenario, but instead bogs the story down in unfamiliar situations requiring explanation and foreign language necessitating translation. It isn't terrible, but it's not great either.
A bit slow, but engaging story following on from the first and succeeded by two further novels in the “Sharing Knife” saga. It is more a romance than a fantasy novel but Bujold has such good ideas that it works anyway. Kept me interested (with a few slow spots) with fascinating world-building and “magic”. I will continue this series, knowing will not match Curse of Chalion.
Mandel has this ability to tell connected stories without seeming to be connecting them deliberately that provides an insight into what we all know about the inter-connectedness of lives and how a life can change in an instant with a decision or an event or an accident. I was enthralled from start to finish and want to read more of her books. Magical.
Quite entertaining and kept me interested most of the way through, but once the revelations started, the foundation and credibility came apart. It really strain credibility to have so many deeply messed up people all in one place, especially one as isolated as the setting of this one. Foley did the same thing in The Guest List, but somehow it didn't bother me as much. Or maybe it depends which one you read first. The old-friends-gathered-in-an-isolated-spot formula doesn't do well second time around. I can't recommend this novel.
From the unpromising foundation of a twenty-plus year old murder, French weaves a tapestry of personal and familial interaction that is riddled with tension, envy, resentment, fear and hatred that is horrifying and at the same time compelling and gripping. The standard set in her first two novels is met and perhaps exceeded. I look forward to more of her work. Very impressive
A mostly fun science fiction novels that is a play on a SF trope from TV. It gets very meta towards the end, when it gets perilously close to being too clever for its own good. But Scalzi keeps it entertaining and I never considered not finishing it. he's written better books, but this is pretty good, especially if you like the breaking of the “wall” in fiction.