Tuesday, August 30, 2011

The CONFESSION by John Grisham ***

I found it very dry and it had an agenda, promoting a commission to review cases in TX to see if people are innocent or guilty. So it was a case study of a sort and the entire beginning you feel as though you've read this book before. Someone was convicted of a crime, declares innocence. You meet all the players; judges, lawyers, prosecutors and their entire dull families. Then the case is upset when the real murderer confesses. O by the way, the not real killer also confessed, people lied under oath, other people fudged the truth.

So anyways I skimmed thru the entire book. It wasn't that intriguing for me, I didn't find it unique or exciting and barely worth pursuing. Grisham is usually very good reading but this time I wasn't into it for whatever reason. Honestly not sure why that was. The actual story with the priest, his wife, the murderer showing where the grave was (too late of course to save the innocent guy) was long, long boring, long, dragged on and on and wasn't the least bit interesting.

That's my take.

Monday, August 29, 2011

A NOSE FOR JUSTICE by Rita Mae Brown **

Um a pipe bomb doing barely any damage. People buying water rights. Which I never heard of anything so strange. Do they own underground water? Land the water is underground of? Water coming from clouds and landing on the ground someone owns?  Some sort of you gotta live in a desert to understand it and I don't GAS. So that part of the novel is nothing to me.

Then we got someone dug up a 100 yr old or something murdered body. Means diddly squat to me. I could care less. So they're about to go tracking his ring, ID'ing him and making a huge production about finding his killer. How it sat in her barn for 100 yrs who the F knows. No no I mean who the F cares.

So I don't really care about any of it. Nor the jumble of characters saying "Pardon me ma'am" and "here's the thing pardner." Permission given to other people to be fans. Just not me thanks.

SILENT MERCY by Linda Fairstein ***

Hard to focus on a centerpoint of the novel. It wanders back and forth from decapitation, cop house flirtations, bad girls having sex then turning it into rape. Lots and lots of speculation enough to make me crazy. Shit like this bores me: blahblah "the sculpture garden," I said. My mother Maude raised on a dairy farm in Mass by her Scandinavian parents was confirmed in the Episcopalian Church blahlblahblah you lost my interest. This "losing interest" thing just happens to me on almost every page, or at least every 3 pages. I skip a lot of crap.

Half the time I can't tell if her "French" boyfriend is in the bedroom with her or she's on the phone or somehow spirited him into her room while she's on the phone with someone else. He confuses me as much as she does.

I find it verbose, slow, tedious. Not focused enough for me, too many characters non-distinctive at best.
I don't know the story I'm supposed to be caring about. Headless females, gangs interviews, churches, priests and/or religion, her interactions at the station, partners, whatever. I don't really care. I'm tossed from wave to wave on the whim of the writer and lost interest pages ago and I'm not half thru it. Not sure I'll finish.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

FIRE SPIRIT by Graham Masterton **

I wasn't enthused. I would have finished it but it was slow going. Too many background details, too many long drawn out victim scenarios, very few clues as to what's going on. Cryptic daughter sentences. I take it the people from hell are escaping. Didn't have time to finish and no inclination to renew. Not my style at all.

Friday, August 19, 2011

KISSER by STUART WOODS ***

MCP to the max. Meets a chick and within 12 hrs she's naked in his bed, then meets 2 new chicks (don't know each other) who then "explore" his home and he goes upstairs to find them BOTH naked in his bed waiting for him. So true to life. O wait...must be fantasy novel trying to be a mystery. The mystery is; does he dope them up before they fall naked into his bed or does his dick dangle out the bottom of his pant legs.
Screw #3 is a cop for gods sake.

One part of the story is about an actress (screw#1) and her revengeful ex. The other part of the story (screws#2&3) is about a painter and his young about to be wealthy girlfriend that daddy wants to protect. And Stone really really likes to 'take care' of women. Wonder how often he's checked for STDs. In two novels I've read ZIP on the VD check and boy he's gotta be going blind any book now. (syph)

So it's pretty incredible that Stone in ONE NIGHT meets the most beautiful woman he's ever seen (as they all are), screws her, hears her life story, arranges body protection for her, gets her travel arrangements and moves her into his house. Which is weird cuz while he's stuffing the other girls in his crib she's not there. He really sounds like a stalker doesn't he? At minimum oink oink.

As far as writing goes; not bad. Plot; not sure if any good or not. Bated breath factor; nope. Surprises; not many. A story is written everything is predictable and falls happily into place no conflict of which to speak. Ok on the character development but the characters share juvenile traits and behaviors. General age range should be mid 20s-early 30s according to their mindless behavior.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

DISTURBANCE by Jan Burke ****

Good library find but starts out with this indestructible scheming killer who doesn't turn out to be either. Apparently he "planned" to be caught, he "planned" his escape years ago. Everything going on was part of his original plan he made...what....10 yrs ago? Sort of unbelievable in that regard.

Apparently a person can pop sons out all over the country, check on them secretively and then scoff them up pretending they're as cold blooded as he is. Sounds weird. So these women were too stupid to abort the rape, or get them adopted out. Many times adoptions are very secretive. I'd like to know how stupid killer can find out who all kids kids are without any DNA tests. I'm sure some of them aren't even related - remotely. So he just cons people into following him around? He (Parrish) has a very minor role in the story. The protag, Irene Kelly has a past with him, is scared enough for dogs, cop husband, body guards, karate lessons and he's a feeble 50 yo with broken body parts and can barely walk. He was almost paralyzed from the neck down. I was let down because he was built up as this monster in the beginning and turns out to be a helpless scowler. That's about the jist of his power. Scowling at people.

It was ok, liked turning pages and seeing what happens next but there were slow parts or strange stuff, like the Moth club...haha....a billionaire son who disappears at the end when he was in custody at the hospital at one point. Helpless. So where is he now? Goin on a Irene Kelly hunt I suppose for the next version? No that would be too predictable right?

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A CONFLICT OF INTEREST by Adam Mitzner *****

Very good lawyer/courtroom novel with very in depth characters. There are things revealed during the story telling and a lot of the times you wish he'd share more of the main characters' thoughts (Alex Miller) and actions but eventually it all comes together even tho you were frustrated by not having info while it's progressing.

If you like courtroom, lawyer stuff you'll be satisfied, if you like murder mystery and twists and turns you'll be very satisfied. I liked it but boy it really underlines the lawyer jokes/shark stuff.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

STARTED EARLY, TOOK MY DOG by Kate Atkinson

Blah. Brit writer so aside from trying to impress a US reader with her English name dropping she's difficult to understand. The colloquialisms make one batty.

Wanders and roams off topic by the next page I have NO CLUE where we started. Everyone has a history back to their boring childhood.

I ended on page 27. Buh Bye.

DELIVER US FROM EVIL by David Baldacci *****

Was good reading. An old Nazi evil guy is still running around and a crew of vigilantes meet up with a gov't type guy and work together to put an end to him. He's very evil and he's on top of what they're next moves are, so some of them survive and some don't.

Good fast paced storytelling and good with the details and also with character descriptions. Easy to tell who is who and not so many you can't remember them all. Generally liked it.

Friday, August 12, 2011

PORT MORTUARY by Patricia Cornwell *****

As always great reading. Kay Scarpetta is on a case with her husband and Lucy, her neice. Most of the book is internal narrative (she has a healthy ego) and the case is dribbled in small snippets throughout. It's a big book so if you fall asleep make sure the book doesn't fall off the bed and hit the dog down there.

Lots of scary new technology, like flybots and air knives and nano-products. I still don't know why the corpse was bleeding long after death esp. since he was on his back and bled from his face. Did I miss something? One of her colleagues, she's known most of her professional life, becomes a suspect. Lots of people (FBI, Lucy, DoD, probably more) have her office bugged-why? IDK, cuz she's so famous? Lots of coincidences of people being where other people who are either related or in Kay's neighborhood happen.

Aside from the self-aggrandizement it's good reading, page turning and interesting with the new tech stuff.

Monday, August 8, 2011

The 2 DEATHS of DANIEL HAYES by Marcus Sakey****

Well not a bad read but it seems superficial to me for some reason. Not in depth feelings-wise or heart felt or something I don't know what is lacking I just feel something is.

So a couple are, I suppose, being blackmailed into giving up a half million dollar necklace. The actress wife did some slutty photos in her past and can't let them get out into the public. So meanwhile all this crap happens where the husband is so distraught thinking she's dead that he drives across country to drown him self. Guess there's no water in California? So anywho somewhere near the end husband finds out his wife called the blackmailer and then suspects they're co-conspirators which IS NEVER explained nor dealt with again. So WHY for shits sake did she call him? WTF?

The ending was unsatisfactory and ambiguous. Some guy is left alive when 2 people are supposedly dead. Which one is alive? Guess the author doesn't know because he can't tell his readers. I got no clue. Whyever I don't know. It's a fast read, but not a very deep novel. Like i said, I can't tell you what's missing but something is. The wife has almost no personality to speak of. They seem like mannikins performing functions. My take. Get your own!! LOL

Friday, August 5, 2011

WE ALL FALL DOWN by Michael Harvey *****

Great biological weapon released in the streets of Chicago story. Lots of action, shootings etc. You follow the lead character Michael Kelly a retired cop into the poor sections of the city as he deals with drug dealers, gangs, teenage killers and trying to solve who released the bio weapon killing people who rode the subway.

Nice storytelling, good descriptions, characters are distinct and different. Page turner for sure.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

THE GUILTY PLEA by Robert Rotenberg ***

I would say this was one of the better murder mysteries I've read but I can't because the evidence throughout the entire novel was completely missing. There was a bloody knife preserved with hand and fingerprints (never mentioned) and all other hair and fibers existed but that's it. MENTIONED. No explanation about what they showed. No info on who's blood, who's fingerprint, who who who. No 'this hair belonged to so and so'. How can you write a murder mystery, have a woman put on trial with NO EVIDENCE given any weight thru the novel at all. STUPID. Thru the entire novel I kept waiting for evidence. Nada. Page 229 mentions there IS evidence. But nothing else about it. A huge part of the defense was about what order the knife wounds were. WHY? No particular reason. It made no sense to me at all why this was so important and the KNIFE/BLOOD/PRINT EVIDENCE was ignored!!! WTF?

Then the woman charged with the crime says to her attorney "Let's say 'theoretically', I told you Terry was cutting up some fruit for Simon's breakfast when I came in." Then the stupid ass of a lawyer made up some more of the story instead of asking her to continue, or asking 'is that true' or whatever. Not only that but at the end of the novel HOW DID SHE KNOW that being so innocent and all?? Later you get a confession but geez too late for me to care because I'm so pissed off the evidence is invisible. She also was described in the beginning as a cold bitch who didn't even like her own child but then she answers her lawyer in a shy demure fashion 'guilty' and whispers answers to him pathetically. This goes back and forth a lot: one second bitch, next second demure studious nerd, then sexual predator, then quietly innocent. Not consistent.

Not crazy about the book. If those things were addressed I would say the book was very good. Nice character development/relationships everywhere else, nice climax build up, ok on descriptions and stuff like that. Well enough written that I wanted to continue but without the evidence during the trial I was fed up with the whole thing. So puzzling why the elephant in the room remained invisible for 300 pages.
BIG BIG Elephant. Invisible.

Monday, August 1, 2011

HOLLYWOOD HILLS by Joseph Wambaugh *****

Great storytelling. Lots of action, adventure and comedy. About a cop station in the Hollywood Hills, robbery, blackmail, surfer cops, wannabe actor cops and it's pretty funny. A lot of stories unfold and you get to follow the precinct cops from one misadventure to another. Worth buying so you can read it again someday. Funny stuff. Wanna see the movie made for sure!