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Genetics was a strange thing, he thought. And while he looked like his father, he felt nothing. Jake didn't hold a grudge because his father was an alcoholic, workaholic, or womanizer. He may have been all of the above, but Jake didn't know. And it is hard to be upset about something you don't know or can't remember. He wasn't angry, hurt or disappointed-he wasn't close enough to the man in front of him to have any of those emotions. Everything happens for a reason and Jake tried to leave the past in the past, a skill he learned from his mother.~~~Page 26
Title: The 12th Victim
Author: Katia Lief
ISBN: 9780091944780
Publisher: Ebury Press/2012
Pages: 368
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back Cover:
The police call him the working girl killer. But no woman is safe…
The 11th victim is found only a short distance from Karin Shaeffer’s house. At the crime-scene she discovers a local prostitute stabbed to death, the knife left embedded in her body.
It is the signature of the ‘Working Girl Killer’ – a serial killer who has terrorised New York City for the last three years. The police are clueless but when Karin’s best-friend becomes the lead investigator, she finds herself drawn into the investigation as a consulting detective.
But as she struggles to understand the dark twisted mind of a murderer, next time the killer is going to strike all too close to home…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My views:
The 12th Victim is the second novel featuring Karin Schaeffer. She seems to have recovered from the dark phase of her life with her second husband, Mac and son Ben.
A local prostitute is killed with a knife, Karin finds the body and then the body count keeps adding up. When her son's part time nanny too is found murdered, it is too close home
for her. She is not new to murders or serial killers.
When her best friend becomes a suspect, Karin cannot keep still. She has to find the killer at any cost. And unravels something sinister which involves children. She makes it her goal to protect Dathi, her son's nanny's child.
Just when one thinks that the killer has been identified, there is a twist. With a good, racy pace, the novel takes us into a roller coaster ride and keeps us totally engrossed. We also like the single minded way of Karin to achieve her goal to nab the killer.
Katia Lief gives us great moments too despite the grisly murders and grim situations. She also tries to tell us about cultural differences and the common thread running between those. I am going to read more of her novels....
Title: Arctic Fire
Author: Paul Byers
ISBN: 9780615504070
Publisher: Fortress/2011
Pages: 377
When there is a water shortage, Nigel Cain decides to get it from Arctic in the shape of Massive icebergs. He builds a 5-star hotel and casino in an iceberg and invites the media and important people to witness the event. He hires Gabriel Pike, an Engineer to make it viable.
Pike feels privileged but after sometime, he finds sinister going on's in the form of a double homicide. Now Pike's main work is to save his own skin along with others.
The novel was a bit slow in the beginning but picked up pace after some time. Cain's madness can only be controlled by Pike. And he does it with aplomb. Then there is this question of man trying to play God by controlling nature. The novel makes us think.
With a cover like that, Arctic Fire beckons one to pick it up. The premise is not for everyone. However, once one picks it up, he/she will not leave it halfway through.
"Two sons and two fathers now," he said. "plus one girlfriend. McKnight, I think we've something terrible going on here."
~Page 92
Title: Misery Bay
Author: Steve Hamilton
ISBN: 9780312380434
Publisher: Minotaur books/2011
Pages: 304
On a cold miserable night, a college student hangs himself from a tree in the middle of a snowy, deserted field called Misery Bay near Lake Superior. He doesn't leave a note, but then suicide victims seldom do. The boy's father, a federal marshal and who happens to be an old friend of Alex McKnight's rival Police Chief Roy Maven, asks Alex to look into his son's suicide. But what appears to be a simple suicide, gets them embroiled in something sinister. Alex and Chief Maven find themselves working together, trying to find and stop a cold-blooded killer, who is hell bent on targeting law enforcement officers via their children. Meanwhile Alex tries to put the demons of his past behind him.
Hamilton’s drawing of characters or plot-line is superb and very believable, Alex McKnight’s relationship with police chief Roy Maven changes to grudging mutual respect as the novel progresses. The twists and turns in the story line keeps the reader on the edge. WE observe that the victims are the real focus, and although McKnight and the FBI search frantically for that elusive link that might lead them to the killer, we do see a hopelessness and bleakness in the characters.
Alex McKnight is one of the best fictional investigators that has been created in a novel. I am going to read as many books I can, written by Hamilton.
He disappeared into a utility closet, came out the other side onto a landing which led to another hidden staircase. In decades past, this had been used to haul convicts from the jail to the main courtroom to face the wrath of the judges, but now it was seldom used.
Title: Theodore Boone: The Accused
Author: John Grisham
ISBN: 9781444757194
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton/2012
Pages: 288
Synopsis: [From the back cover]
Theodore Boone is the thirteen-year-old who knows more about the law than most adult lawyers. He certainly never expected to be a victim of crime himself. But then his bike is vandalized, he's attacked while doing his homework. and, worst of all, framed for robbery.
When stolen computer equipment turns up in Theo's school locker, the police start leaning on him hard. And he is the only suspect. What if he's found guilty? What about his dreams of becoming a lawyer?
In a race against time, aided by his renegade uncle, Ike, Theo must find the rel felon and reveal the true motivation behind the crimes of which he stands accused.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My views:
Theo's bike is vandalized, someone throws a rock at his window while he is doing his homework, and most of the stolen computer equipment are found in his school locker. The police get an anonymous call and Theo is the prime suspect for the robbery.
Theo has nightmares of being put in jail and everyone calling him a jailbird. It went on and on. Then his Uncle tells him to steal the password of his parents filing system in the computer. Pre-teens are easily influenced and might end up thinking it is the done thing!
I do like Grisham novels but this one did not appeal to me.
Bleed For Me by Michael Robotham
The story starts with Sienna. Sienna cuts herself. “you want to know the reason? you want to know why someone would want to bleed in secret? it’s because i deserve it. i deserve to be punished. to punish myself. love is pain and pain is love….you think you understand me. you don’t. i bleed for you.”
This book gets right to the business of sucking you in as a reader as any good crime fiction should. Ex-detective Ray Hegarty is found in a pool of blood in his teenage daughter Sienna's bedroom. She is found covered in his blood. It looks like a clear cut case of the daughter murdering the father. The protagonist, Professor Joe O’Loughlin is made investigating psychologist on the case. Sienna happens to be his daughter Charlie's friend. When Joe starts his work of analyzing Sienna, murky details start coming up, with the murderer being someone totally unexpected.
Professor O’Loughlin is battling the onset of Parkinson’s disease, along with battling separation from his wife and daughters. Parallel to the main story, we also get to know about the trial of a boy who has been accused of burning an entire family of immigrants to death. It seems like a racial hate crime. There are many issues dealt with in the book, e.g., psychopathic murderers, child abuse, and racism all dealt in a very plausible manner.
I teach young girls like Sienna and Charlie. At certain points, the novel scared me. It does deal with teenage issues, like anguish, conflicted emotions and confusion. The novel resonated with me. Yes, I recommend this novel. To all crime fiction readers and also for teachers as well as parents. Do you really know what goes inside your child's mind?
"Beth was beset by disturbing dreams; rapid firing images flashed before her eyes – a car screeching down a country road, a yellow duck, her father’s face. She awoke with a start. Why am I dreaming about my father after all of these years?”
Title: Firefly Beach
Author: Meira Pentermann
ISBN: 978-0982417089
Publisher: Lyrical Press/2009
Pages: 316
Beth moves into a small town in the coast of Maine. She rents out a house and sets up a deal with the local antique store to sell her paintings. She is preparing for a new start to her life. She needs to escape the demons in her life. And then she meets a "firefly’ who is seemingly is awaiting her arrival. The Firefly leads her to a diary of a girl Katherine, who was the daughter of her landlord and had disappeared 36 years ago. No one knows what happened to Katherine.
Beth sets about to find the mystery behind Katherine's disappearance. With a unique plot, a bit of supernatural element and good writing, one gets engrossed in the story.
Mary and Abigail, are another two characters which are typical ladies from a small community running the only inn in the town. Then there is this jeweller Kenny, who is an enigma. The novel is not as simple as it seems. It has a complicated plot, weird and interesting characters and a firefly which is the thick of things.
I watched my father closely and at one point saw something that did not surprise me. With Joe flat on his back, unconscious, seriously injured and convulsing, I saw my father smile.
Title: Calico Joe
Author: John Grisham
ISBN: 9780385536073
Publisher: Doubleday/2012
Pages: 208
Calico Joe is unlike any other novel written by John Grisham. It is novel based on baseball and what happens off the field touches the heart. So much different from his legal thrillers, Calico Joe makes a moral statement, speaking of good versus evil.
It is told in the voice of Paul Tracey, son of Warren Tracy who is a Mets baseball player. Warren is not a role model for anyone. He is abusive towards his family. No one seems to like him,not even his children. Whenever Paul watches his father playing, he feels good and proud but Warren does not give a damn. The Mets and Cubs are locked in a mid-season pennant race. Paul is a huge Mets fan for obvious reasons, and always roots for his father.
The clubs call Joe Castle to replace one of their regular players who has been injured. Castle becomes a sensation overnight and Paul is torn between his loyalty towards his dad and admiration for Joe Castle. Warren feels threatened by Castle and what happens in the field between him and Castle has tragic consequences. Castle's career ends as abruptly as it had started. Paul's relationship with his dad takes a nose drive. Warren goes away from their lives.
Thirty odd years later, Warren has cancer and Paul wants him to face what he did to Castle. Joe has disappeared from public life and now leads a quiet life, fiercely protected by his brothers. The novel epitomizes the rise and fall of an upcoming baseball player. The forgiveness of a person to the one who did him wrong. I do not know baseball but that did not deter me from reading it. It is as interesting as his legal thrillers.
Title: Tempest in the Tea Leaves
Author: Kari Lee Townsend
ISBN: 978-0425242759
Publisher: Berkley/2011
Pages: 304
Sunny Meadows, 29 year old amateur sleuth leaves her parents place in NYC for a small town called Divinity, New York. She is a psychic and wants to make a niche for herself, away from her well known parents. Her first customer is the librarian Amanda Robbins. Sunny uses tea leaves to give a reading for Amanda, which turns out to be a bad omen for Amanda, where she sees Amanda being murdered by a man. Soon after, Sunny informs the police of her reading, hoping to prevent the crime from happening. but she is too late. Amanda is murdered within half hour of leaving Sunny's place. Detective Mitch Stone is assigned to investigate the murder. He does not believe her and accuses her as the prime suspect. (she is the only suspect). Sunny has to make use of her powers in order to find the murderer and clear her name. And discovers that Amanda had many suitors and any of them could have killed her.
Sunny is a quirky character. Half the time she does not know what she is doing. But she is determined to find out the murderer. Her way of doing detective stuff is very different. She does not hide anything from anyone and that kinda gets her in trouble. Detective Stone and Sunny rub each other the wrong way but we do see some kind of attraction between them. Then there is this almost human cat Morty, who comes into Sunny's house from nowhere...Here we see a bit of supernatural element.
Tempest in the Tea Leaves is an enjoyable cozy mystery, with well etched characters. It is first in the Fortune Teller mystery series and I look forward to more....
"I hated it when he gave me the Cutter Shark name. Even if it is catchy. I have to admit, he does get results. He's already been on Fox, CNN and the BBC."
~ Page 247
Title: Cuts Like A Knife
Author: M.K. Gilroy
ISBN: 9781936034697
Publisher: Worthy Publishing/2012
Pages: 410
Cuts like a Knife is totally a character driven novel. The psychopath has killed 47 people in six cities, mostly females before he arrives in Chicago.
The book opens with the voice of the psychopath, who speaks how he is going to be after his victim. How he is going to use his knife on the victim. Then there is a Vlogger, who kind of taunts the authorities for not catching the killer. He questions the police and the detective. And he is the one who names the psychopath as Cutter Shark....
Kristen has a weird family, one of her sisters is the wife of a pastor, the other sister is a model and their mother keeps inviting her so-called boy friend even after she tells him off. When Kristen is not doing anything interesting, she works as a soccer coach for her 7 year old niece's team. Kristen is no way perfect, she has anger issues and a wry and dry sense of humour. She has to keep her wits around to deal with her madcap family. All this while investigating the serial killings.
Slowly it dawns on Kristen that he is setting his sights on having her as the next victim. It becomes doubly important for her to identify him and catch him. There is that nail biting tension, yet there is humour. It sets a good pace for reading.
Title: Sons and Princes
Author: James LePore
ISBN: ISBN: 978-0984190522
Publisher: The Story Plant/2011
Pages: 332
Chris Massi is the son of legendary Mafia hitman Joe Black Massi, who has been murdered. Chris has stayed away from organized crime despite his family affiliations to it and also he had been married to the daughter of Anthony “Junior Boy” DiGiglio, who is the last of the Mafia dons. Ed Nolan, a U.S. attorney, and former childhood friend of Chris, has a grudge against him and falsely indicts him in security fraud which gets Chris disbarred from practicing law. When his former father-in-law offers Chris a chance to take revenge on the man who got his father killed, Chris has to choose between his law-abiding existence or live up to his legacy.
Before he can make a choice, his son seems to be enamoured by the mafia and organized crimes. And it is his job to get Matt out of it. Without taking help from anyone, he plunges into the midst of it all. All this leads him into snuff films, and drugs, which somehow connects to his ex father-in-law. The plot thickens with lots of murders, shoot outs, double crossing and totally unexpected revelations.
The line between good guy and bad guy gets blurred. James LePore has created believable characters, realistic, and those who hurt or can hurt. The plot has many twists and keeps the reader on the edge. The loyalty and honour within the mafia is commendable. Outside of it, is what is disturbing. LePore has the ability to make us think what is good about the bad and vice versa. I have read all his novels and he has mastered the craft of keeping his readers enthralled.
Roy looked at his crippled cousin with tears running down his face. "Jesus, I think I killed her."
Theodore pushed himself closer and pressed the back of his dirty hand against her face. "She is dead, all right."
~~Page 36
Title: The Devil All the Time
Author: Donald Ray Pollock
ISBN: 9780385535045
Publisher: Doubleday/2011
Pages: 304
It is one of the most compelling novels I read in recent times. The characters are weird, bizarre, almost menacing at times. Almost all of the characters are poor and very much real. It is not a commentary on religion or evil. It is about people we see around us, fanatics, over the edge, yet living a normal life.
The setting is in West Virginia and Ohio, the backroads of rural America where people are poor and down-trodden, homes are ramshackle and filthy. We get to meet Willard Russell who has served his time in the South Pacific and can't get over the brutality of war. He puts all of that behind him when he meets and falls in love with the beautiful Charlotte. Willard and Charlotte have a son, Arvin Eugene. Then we meet Carl and Sandy Henderson, married psychopaths who have a terrifying and disturbing hobby of murdering males they meet while driving around. Carl has this habit of photographing the victims before they are killed. . Two other weird characters are, a so-called preacher, Roy, and his wheelchair bound cousin and partner, Theodore. Both are running away from the law after murdering. How the life of Arvin Eugene is connected with all of this is the main highlight of the novel.
All of these lives become entangled together, which propels the story forward in a very good pace. Pollock's descriptions of the characters were so vivid that you can almost see their gestures, features and idiosyncrasies. The novel is gut-wrench at times. And the negatives and positive aspects of the characters gets blurred. The writing is too good and the characterization of a whole cast of people is finely-tuned. A mixture of religion, southern Gothic and haunting people, as well as places and the plots create a dark story. This novel is not for those who like happy endings. However, I found the ending totally apt, as I thought there can't be anything better.
Here I leave you with young Arvin's thoughts about his father, before Willard committed Suicide, after his wife's death:
“Unless he had whiskey running through his veins, Willard came to the clearing every morning and evening to talk to God. Arvin didn't know which was worse, the drinking or the praying. As far back as he could remember, it seemed that his father had fought the Devil all the time.”
"She died maybe a day before she entered the water. And she was thrown in the water naked," Millard repeated.
~~Page 233
Title: Cut Short
Author: Leigh Russell
ISBN: 978-1842433546
Publisher: No Exit/2009
Pages: 352
DI Geraldine Steel has been recently promoted and arrives in the town of Woolsmarsh with a lot of baggage. As soon as she arrives, she is called to investigate in Lyceum Park where a body has just been found in the bushes. The victim is Angela Waters, a woman in her early 20′s with long blond hair. She gets headlong into the case and it soon becomes obvious that the first strangled victim will not be the last, so it's a race against time.
Geraldine Steel, is part of a team and not the leader. DI Steel does not enjoy a simple domestic life but has various problems of her own. DI Steel is assigned to listen to the messages from the public responding to the appeal. Nothing offered appears to have any relevance to the murder. To add to Geraldine’s problems, she is being stalked by someone whose appearance is vaguely familiar. She is on the fast promotion track, a route that encourages jealousy and resentment. She is too new to the town and to the Murder Investigation Unit to know if the stalker is someone from her personal life or someone who wants to unsettle her in her professional life.
This is not a really a whodunnit. We get to know the killer as he hides the body of the first victim and we are let inside his head, which isn't a good place to be.
The strengths of this novel lie in the author's powerful ability to get you up into the story and produce a cast of cameo characters that feel so real. The chapters are short and we may not dwell upon each victim's family or each witness's circumstances, but what we get is enough to feel the reality of a police investigation.
Title: All He Saw Was The Girl
Author: Peter Leonard
ISBN: 9780571255740
Publisher: Faber and Faber/2011
Pages: 304
After reading Voices Of The Dead by Peter Leonard, I decided that I was going to pick all his books. So when I was offered to review All He Saw Was the Girl, I was thrilled. I was notdisappointed at all!
I had a roller coaster ride throughout the novel. It has the ingredients of an action movie. Drug Mafia, kidnapping, car chasing, and a love story. And all that happens in Italy, that too due to a misunderstanding! One American exchange student is kidnapped by mistake and ransom is paid for him. He feels bad about that and decides to get back the money. Without any help from anyone, he takes on the kidnappers and gets involved with the drug mafia, all by himself.
What appealed to me most was the sarcastic way of thinking by the various characters. That alone makes the novel very delightful!! I am going to read all of Peter Leonard's novels!!
"But for now it would wait till tomorrow's funeral. We'd bury Stephen in peace, without a father, the way he was born."
~~~~Page 185
Title: Murder in the Ashram
Author: Kathleen McCaul
ISBN: 9780749953638
Publisher: Piatkus/2011
Pages: 320
Stephen Newby's body is found in River Yamuna. His best friend and flatmate, Ruby Jones cannot understand the reasons. She goes sleuthing on her own to find out. As the title suggest, it is supposed to be murder mystery, which should keep the reader in tenterhooks. But no such thing happens. Ruby Jones, who aspires to be an international news journalist, is not interesting enough. Her musings do not do anything for the suspense element which should have been there.
As ashrams go, this shows the dark side of a well known one. Stephen and Ruby were regulars there, both in love with a wannabe Guru, Rani. Stephen was in search for his unknown father. The reader can make out, who is his father right from the beginning.
I live in Delhi, and the geographical descriptions left much to be desired. There are major discrepancies. Wazirabad bridge is no where near Dakshinpuri. Mckaul did not do much research in that arena. This fact alone made me want to shout!!
One can read it as a travelogue if one is so interested, but I say don't waste your time. I am not going to pick any other book by this author. EVER. Unless you pay me million dollars!
"They say Man's first tool was a hammer,
which makes sense since I can't
imagine apes working a protractor,
much like a sextant under the wet stars."
~~Page 7, The Trouble with Hammers
Real Courage is a chapbook and the poetry in there is very very different, with many layers. At one place, it might seem very simple and next line completely surprises us.
Ode To Dogs (Page 22)
I am tired of hearing about dogs
used as metaphors for the uncivilized.
Imagine a world in which humans
possessed at least twenty times
as many olfactory receptors,
able to distinguish the tang of cancer
rising musk-like from the bedsheets
next to a smoldering ash tray,
able to detect that one drop of blood
in every five quarts of water,
to know what you did last night
no matter how many times
you soap-scrubbed the evidence.
It does not take savagery
but more love than we can muster
to lick the hand you've sniffed,
to love despite the perfume of sins
we wear each day like a halo.
This well depicts who is uncivilized.
About Michael Meyerhofer: Michael Meyerhofer's third book, Damnatio Memoriae, won the Brick Road Poetry Book Contest. His previous books are Leaving Iowa (winner of the Liam Rector First Book Award) and Blue Collar Eulogies (Steel Toe Books, finalist for the Grub Street Book Prize).
He has also published five chapbooks: Pure Elysium (winner of the Palettes and Quills Chapbook Contest), The Clay-Shaper's Husband(winner of the Codhill Press Chapbook Award), Real Courage (winner of the Terminus Magazine and Jeanne Duval Editions Poetry Chapbook Prize), The Right Madness of Beggars (winner of the Uccelli Press 3rd Annual Chapbook Competition), and Cardboard Urn (winner of the Copperdome Chapbook Contest).
"You saw her that afternoon - the day she disappeared - you picked her up in the car."
The Dilated irises would have been evidences enough that there were secrets here. "Well?"
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Title: Love Thy Neighbor
Author: Mark Gilleo
ISBN: 9781611880342
Publisher: The Story Plant/2012
Pages: 438
Love Thy Neighbor deals with terrorism, which is a hard reality in the current times. No country is immune from it. It exists all over the world in one form of the other. And the neighbors we think are harmless might turn out out to be terrorists, in guise.
I live in India, our neighboring country is Pakistan. We have had too many terrorist attacks. And those are not going to stop anytime soon. The novel appealed to me as I could connect with it. Terrorist activities might go on right under our nose and we choose to ignore those. We turn a blind eye thinking it is not going to affect us.
Clay Hayden comes home to his mother Maria, who is suffering from Dementia. It is Maria who notices strange men in her neighborhood and calls CIA. No one listens to her initially. FBI follows and also a person from IRS who is looking out for tax discrepancies regarding Maria and her deceased husband. Clay finds himself in the midst of it all.
Not going into much detail, I would say, it scares us. It makes us ponder, if we can prevent terror activities by being vigilant. It does not seem that way here. Based on a true story, this work of fiction makes us question ourselves and our Govt. agencies. (For me it is the Indian Govt.)
"But what about....." I saw Savannah give a little nod in my direction.
"collateral damage, " Roy said a hushed voice, but I didn't miss it.
~~~Page 304
Title: The Good Father
Author: Diane Chamberlain
ISBN:9780778313465
Publisher: Mira/2012
Pages: 368
Travis Brown, at 23 has a 4 year old daughter Bella. He took a decision to raise her all by himself and does it very well. There may be shortage of cash flow but there is no compromise on love. He adores his little girl. Then tragedy strikes. His house gets burnt, his mother dies in the fire while saving Bella and They are left homeless as He loses his construction job too.
Then there is Erin, who has lost her 3 year old daughter and is grieving for her. We also see Robin, Bella's mother, who had a heart problem when Bella was born.
When Travis's job is lost, he comes to Raleigh as he has a good offer. But that is some short of criminal activity and he is not keen to take it. When he finds himself in dire straits, he has no option. He takes it knowing, he might lose Bella forever. He meets Erin a coffee shop and leaves Bella with her without informing Erin.
The Good Father touches us. We see that Travis might lack money but Bella does not lack anything. She is well brought up child. Travis's love for her shines through the entire novel, even when he takes a bad decision.....
Erin heals in the presence of Bella. She falls in love with this little girl and comes n term with her own grief. And Robin. She has had a heart transplant, is hale and hearty now, is engaged to rich and well known person. Yet she thinks of Travis and the girl she gave birth to. She knows what she has been missing.
Told in voices of Travis, Robin and Erin, the story impacts us, hits our guts and we all fall in love with the little girl Bella, not to forget the main three characters. Travis is indeed the good father. Although the ending was predictable, I loved the book.
