Forty Days Without Shadow: An Arctic Thriller

by Olivier Truc

Grand Central Publishing (April 1, 2014)

400 pages - 9.16 $ (kindle)

Tomorrow, the sun will rise for the first time in 40 days. Thirty minutes of daylight will herald the end of the polar night in Kautokeino, a small village in northern Norway, home to the indigenous Sami people. 

But in the last hours of darkness, a precious artifact is stolen: an ancient Sami drum. The most important piece in the museum's collection, it was due to go on tour with a UN exhibition in a few short weeks. 

Hours later, a man is murdered. Mattis, one of the last Sami reindeer herders, is found dead in his gumpy. 

Are the two crimes connected? In a town fraught with tension--between the indigenous Samis fighting to keep their culture alive, the ultra-Lutheran Scandinavian colonists concerned with propagati-ng their own religion, and the greedy geologists eager to mine the region's ore deposits--it falls to two local police officers to solve the crimes. Klemet Nango, an experienced Sami officer, and Nina Nansen, his much younger partner from the south of Norway, must find the perpetrators before it's too late...

What's good about it

The atmosphere, freezing as hell, the Sami (unknown people for me but oh so interesting!), for its landscapes, immense and wild, for the love of the sun and of the daylight so rare in Lapland winter but so desired and desirable. Olivier Truc knows how to make an unknown place alive, close and familiar. This is his strength but sometimes it doesn't do well for some readers... Honey, who was trying for the first time a crime ficton, said after reading a single page "so much writing for just a single line of dialogue! Do you have something that moves more?" Because no, it's not face-paced, even though the two officers never stop to investigate but the distances and the cold weather does not help - it must be said - and everything takes longer time in this context so special, which makes this book very realistic in the end.

Talking characters. Klemet and Nina, the two main sympathetic characters and police officer of the reindeer police, are very different, since Klemet, close to retirement, is Sami, while Nina is a cop just out of school and from a region south of the country where issues related to indigenous are unknown. Culture shock is present between these two, even if they finally manage to get along through their desire to unmask the killer. In other characters, we also have a racist cop on the edge of caricature, a particularly nasty and rude person, an unscrupulous old farmer and a few more endearing old Sami. Despite some irritating (the villain was sometimes - especially towards the end - unnecessarily vulgar as if the author intended by the language used to make us understand that this man is the villain of the story. Process altogether very unnecessary and slightly irritating in my case), the characters really help us understand the Sami reality, the difficulties of coexistence between different cultures and the fragility of some lost traditions.

I enjoyed discovering the Sami culture that I absolutely didn't know of (surprising, right?), I also enjoyed being immersed in the landscapes of Lapland, I least enjoyed the biting cold so faithfully transpose ​​(but it's probably due to the fact that the Quebec winter is too similar...) Noteworthy: the history of the mineral rush, very interesting. I least enjoyed the conclusion of the investigation, a bit fast compared to the slower pace of the book. But nonetheless Forty Days Without Shadow is a wealth of information both on the culture, geology and history of Lapland. That alone, is worth a look!

In a nutshell

Descriptive stories are not my cup of tea but I know that this book will appeal to fans of ethnological crime fiction because it's Olivier Truc's strength: being able to make us live in Lapland during the 400 pages of the book. This is a 3.5 / 5 for me.

Forty Days Without Shadow won several prices in Europe: prix du meilleur polar, prix mystère de la critique, prix quai du polar

The Fixer

A Justice Novel

de T. E. Woods

Alibi (Feb. 4 2014)

312 pages - 2.99 $ (Kindle)

T. E. Woods delivers a fast-paced thriller—the first in an electrifying new series—peopled with sharp, intriguing characters and more twists and turns than a corkscrew.

Never a doubt. Never a mistake. Always for justice. Never for revenge.She’s the person you hire when you need something fixed - permanently. With a strict set of criteria, she evaluates every request and chooses only a few. No more than one job per country, per year. She will only step in if it’s clear that justice will not be served any other way. Her jobs are completed with skill and precision, and never result in inquiry or police investigation. The Fixer is invisible - and quite deadly. . .

In the office of a clinical psychologist in Olympia, Washington, a beautiful young woman is in terrible emotional pain. She puts up walls, tells lies, and seems to speak in riddles, but the doctor is determined to help her heal, despite the fact that she claims to have hurt many people. As their sessions escalate, the psychologist feels compelled to reach out to the police . . . but it might be too late.

In Seattle, a detective gets a call from his son. A dedicated journalist, he wants his father’s expertise as he looks into a suspicious death. Together they follow the trail of leads toward a stone-cold hired killer—only to find that death has been closer than either could have imagined.

What's good about it?

It 's been awhile since I had not been completely blown away by a book and this was the case for The Fixer. The middle of the novel was a big twist. Perhaps other readers - especially those who rack their brains to find the clues and try to solve the mystery by themselves - will not be as surprised as me. But for readers like me - the kind who likes to be surprised - this is pure happiness!

Reading the blurb of the book, I was curious to see how the killer would be written. Does she would be very too masculine or too aggressive, as female killers can be seen in much of the books or movies... Well, not at all. T.E. Woods managed to make The Fixer very effective - fatally efficient - without making a monster of her. Instead, we are surprised to be on her side of " righteousness " as some cops in the book by the way. What's good it that one enjoys as much the criminal as the police who track her and especially Mort Grant, the detective. We discover technical aspects used by the police to investigate and, again, the effectiveness shows up. No caricatures in this novel, no exaggerated characters but realistic ones with realistic motifs.

About the course of the story, again, no complaints about the accuracy and realism of the investigation. The noose tightens around the killer, as well as the link between her and the police and you want to know how she'll do to get away or what Mort will do about her. You know it's wrong to kill people... that she should stop doing that but at the same time you don't want her to go to prison for having freed the world of perfect criminals who knew how to play with the law to get their free card. At one point everything seems to be going well, then everything changes... then everything changes... Until the end of the book where, frankly, I wanted to shed a tear... then everything changes!

In a nutshell

A very good book, the first one of a series. With characters intelligently written and realistics. A series of twists and a story that keeps you going! It is a 4/5 for me!

*******

I received this book from Random House Publishing Group - Alibi on NetGalley , to make an honest critique .

Stalk me (early review)

de Richard Parker

Exhibit A (25 février 2014)

384 pages - 16.99 $

I thought the idea was original and topical... Internet is full of videos taken by people who not only stop to watch an accident, but film events with little consideration for the victims. I've seen Stalk Me on Netgalley and I thank Exhibit A for the book.

The blurb

Your worst nightmare just went viral…

After being involved in a severe car accident and a vicious roadside assault, Beth Jordan wakes briefly to discover a coach party of students recording the aftermath with their phones.

Beth furiously attacks the crowd before being restrained and lapsing into a coma.

When she wakes in hospital, Beth is horrified when she’s told the video clips have been shared online and that millions of people around the world have now seen the incident.

The driver of the car she collided with has vanished without trace and Beth needs the recordings to help piece together exactly what happened.

But somebody is viciously murdering the owners of the clips and deleting them. What is concealed within those moments and can she find the survivors before the digital fragments of the event disappear forever?

What I think of it

The story mainly focuses on Beth Jordan, who tries to understand why a person could assault when she was crawling out of her car after the accident. She is smart, resourceful and courageous and as we identify with her, we're as resolved as her to discover the truth about these videos. The other characters in the novel appear briefly, often the time of the disappearance of their video, apart from the owner of the latest video and his family that we follow a longer time. So we did not really have time to connect with them, especially since they are not, a priori, really likable. They have put their online video with touts and insulting titles for Beth they name "bitch".

The pace intensifies progressively. Initially, the novel focuses on the return to life of Beth, on her discovery of the death of her husband and the fact that life went on without her. This part is very well led, it allows us to feel Beth's feelings and to understand later how horrible are the online videos. When Beth understands that they disappear go, she tries to contact the owners to find that they die one after the other. From there, the tempo accelerates as Beth must find the other owners before they disappear. Her purpose is both to warn them of the danger and finding what, in the video, is so compromising. What was once a simple quest for Beth who wanted to see the last moments of her husband, while she passed out, eventually became a real enigma. Knowing who wants to remove the video and witnesses and why doing so become her priority... and ours.

I do not like movies where the main character risks her/his life by systematically taking the wrong decision and in which the villain keeps coming back. It has the knack of getting on my nerves - literally. I usually end up yelling at the character "come now, don't go there", "c'mon, end him, or he'll come back!" I must say it's very rare that a character listens to me (if not ever) and when the film ends, the cushion of the couch lost some feathers. This book makes me feel the same way. Beth runs after the truth and harvests trouble but carry on her race anyway. So for fans of this kind of suspense, this book is excellent: go buy it! I must say that the author is very good to describe vivid scenes, especially those of fear and panic.

One thing I liked about Stalk me is the thought behind the story. What society do we form when people film others's misfortune, use it to collect crumbs of glory on the Internet or even make money with it. When people allow themselves to insult a person seen in a video without knowing his history, without knowing the context in which that person is. The ease with which people, sheltered behind the screen, criticize, injure, insult or demean others is present in the book and it reflects reality.

In a nutshell

A very interesting story, a main character in which it's easy to identify yourself, a never ending irritating suspense that blows you away. This is a 3.5/5.

Runner (early review)

by Patrick Lee

Minotaur Books (18 février 2014)

337 pages - 28.99 $

The blurb of this book, offered on NetGalley, immediately hooked me up. I liked the cover simple and effective (I'm the kind of people who thinks that covers often reflects the book). It also was a change from my reading: no murder to investigate but a chase, a desperate flight... and a mystery to break anyway. Thanks Minotaur Books for this book!

The blurb

Sam Dryden, retired special forces, lives a quiet life in a small town on the coast of Southern California. While out on a run in the middle of the night, a young girl runs into him on the seaside boardwalk. Barefoot and terrified, she’s running from a group of heavily armed men with one clear goal—to kill the fleeing child. After Dryden helps her evade her pursuers, he learns that the eleven year old, for as long as she can remember, has been kept in a secret prison by forces within the government. But she doesn’t know much beyond her own name, Rachel. She only remembers the past two months of her life—and that she has a skill that makes her very dangerous to these men and the hidden men in charge.

Dryden, who lost his wife and young daughter in an accident five years ago, agrees to help her try to unravel her own past and make sense of it, to protect her from the people who are moving heaven and earth to find them both. Although Dryden is only one man, he’s a man with the extraordinary skills and experience—as a Ranger, a Delta, and five years doing off-the-book black ops with an elite team. But, as he slowly begins to discover, the highly trained paramilitary forces on their heels is the only part of the danger they must face. Will Rachel’s own unremembered past be the most deadly of them all?

What I think of it

I must consider myself particularly fortunate early this year because I keep coming across very good books. Runner is one of them. I loved this story that has no downtime. Sam Dryden is a character we want to know in real life, not just for his fighting qualities but for his intelligence, his strength, because he's a trustworthy good guy. He's not infallible, which makes him very realistic and avoids the hero-who-never-lost-even-though-it-is-not-probable kind of character. As Sam, I also wanted to protect Rachel and help her to regain her memories. One feels that she has suffered, that she's afraid and that meeting with Sam brings her a lot, as meeting her allows Sam to regain a taste for life. So two very realistic and endearing characters we want to keep reading about, which is good since this book is the first in a series based on Sam Dryden. I can't wait to read more of his adventures !

The story will delight fans of conspiracy, SF and other techno-biological warfare. Note, however, that the SF side here is very well done, making it very plausible! We have all heard of military or government laboratories history, hidden scientific researches to find new weapons, to create better soldiers, etc. It's in the same vein and then I say no more, not to spoil the story! But know, dear reader who doesn't like this kind of story, the SF side is only a part of the book and serves as a basis to hunt down Sam and Rachel and if we know early a part of why an armed group is hunting Rachel... we learn much later the rest of her story. It follows a race against those determined to kill them and a time trial because they only have the time of their flight to hope to discover Rachel's secret. The narrative tension rises progressively along what they discover about Rachel and the arrival of new players that we don't know the intentions.

It's difficult to talk about Runner without revealing the story but one thing is for sure, it's one of those books that you'll closed by saying " blimey! I would have stayed a little longer with them." The ending is very well done, nostalgic with a touch of hope and positiveness. A too happy ending would not be realistic and a too dark end... too depressing (I hate stories that end too bad!) The author managed to make me want to read more adventures of Sam, while allowing me to close the book without an aftertaste of unfinished business that we sometimes experience in series. This is probably because the next book won't be about unanswered questions, but about a character, Sam, with whom we want to live another adventure.

In a nutshell

An excellent book, fast paced, characters that you appreciate rapidly, a well-crafted and believable story. Runner has it all, this is a 5/5!

House Bathory

by Linda Lafferty

Lake Union Publishing (January 14, 2014)

486 pages - 9.95 $

I chose this book on NetGalley, because it's about the famous Countess Bathory whom I had just discovered the crazy story in a book by Sire Cédric Of fever and blood. I told myself that this was an opportunity to mix two things I enjoy: suspense and history. Thank you Lake Union Publishing for the book!

The blurb

In the early 1600s, Elizabeth Báthory, the infamous Blood Countess, ruled Čachtice Castle in the hinterlands of Slovakia. During bizarre nightly rites, she tortured and killed the young women she had taken on as servants. A devil, a demon, the terror of Royal Hungary—she bathed in their blood to preserve her own youth.

400 years later, echoes of the Countess’s legendary brutality reach Aspen, Colorado. Betsy Path, a psychoanalyst of uncommon intuition, has a breakthrough with sullen teenager Daisy Hart. Together, they are haunted by the past, as they struggle to understand its imprint upon the present. Betsy and her troubled but perceptive patient learn the truth: the curse of the House of Bathory lives still and has the power to do evil even now.

The story, brimming with palace intrigue, memorable characters intimately realized, and a wealth of evocative detail, travels back and forth between the familiar, modern world and a seventeenth-century Eastern Europe brought startlingly to life.

Inspired by the actual crimes of Elizabeth Báthory, The House of Bathory is another thrilling historical fiction from Linda Lafferty (The Bloodletter’s Daughter and The Drowning Guard). The novel carries readers along with suspense and the sweep of historical events both repellent and fascinating.

What I think of it

The story seemed promising and in a sense it keeps its promises. It actually has a wealth of details and travels back and forth. The historical details are so well written and the characters so realistic that I felt like I was living in the seventeenth century. According to some research I've done, the details about the Countess appear to be real, something I like in a book of historical flavor. Countess Bathory is a true horror story in herself. I don't know if the facts are true or if they are the result of rumors at the time, but it's an incredible story, rich and very fascinating for horror fans!

I was less affected and moved by  the characters in today's times, unlike those of the Bathory time. This may be because of the short chapters that move from one period to another and from one character to another . The change of point of view is a difficult exercise and its disadvantage is that it can lead the reader to not create a link with one or more characters, which was my case for this book. The other concern is towards the end, a little fast (which is a shame given the time it took to reach a confrontation !) and that gives us an explanation a little too easy in my sense.

I admit I read with pleasure 80% of the book, then I droped it for Phoenix Island that I devoured in two days, which is not a good sign. The end of the book seemed to drag on and I skimed through some paragraphs. I was anxious for the story to end and that's a shame. Sometimes I like a book to last because the atmosphere, the characters or the context is so rich that it is a pleasure to hang out in the world of the author. But not this time. As I was not particularly attached to the characters in the present time, which was less well written and less rich than the past, I did not particularly want to stay longer than expected there.

In a nutshell

I liked the historical part of the book and I feared for the characters of the time, unlike the present part of the book that dragged towards the end. A good book to learn about the Countess Bathory, but perhaps a little too long. This is a 3.5 / 5 .

Phoenix Island

by John Dixon

320 pages - 22.99 $

Gallery Books (7 janvier 2014)

I've received a mail from NetGalley informing us that a new book was available. Then I've read that that book inspired a TV show, so I looked on the Internet what was that TV show, it sounded promising and knowing that books are always better that TV... So I must say, between the cover (really cool) and the story around that book... I was intrigued enough to decided to give it a try. Thanks Gallery Books !

The blurb

The story that inspired CBS TV’s Intelligence. Phoenix Island was supposed to be a boot camp for troubled children. But as one boy learns, the secrets of this jungle are as vast as they are deadly.

When sixteen-year-old boxing champ Carl Freeman jumps in to defend a helpless stranger, he winds up in real trouble—a two-year sentence at an isolated boot camp for orphans. Carl is determined to tough it out, earn a clean record, and get on with his life. Then kids start to die.

Realizing Phoenix Island is actually a Spartan-style mercenary organization turning “throwaway kids” into super-soldier killers, Carl risks everything to save his friends and stop a madman bent on global destruction.

What I think of it

I can't think straight... so much was I blown away by that book! It's brilliant. The writing, the pace, the characters, everything was great. In fact, I've started this book at 3 am one night, thinking that it would help me go back to sleep and I stop reading because of my alarm clock: I had to go to work (duh). As I've already said to John Dixon on Twitter, he should include some excuses in his book that we can bring to our boss not to go to work (what with not being very effective...) I must say that I'm not into YA books, in fact I didn't notice that Phoenix Island is a YA book. As the TV show is about adult, I thought it was an adult book (lame I know). Then, I went back to check the book more seriously after an all night session of reading it and discovered it's YA. Well, that book is so much darker than I thought a YA was! 

Well, so what's so good about that book? For starter, the characters. You'll love Carl, one of the toughest and bravest guy possible. OK, he did get into trouble a lot of time, he did hurt people, but always to defend the weaker and fight the bullies. Who wouldn't love that kind of guy? (well, the bullies obviously!) Granted his young age, he's still got a lot of wisdom and keeps deeply rooted in reality. Then, there's Ross who fights his way through life with his humour which gives us some very good replies. Octavia, the girl in the trio, is more enigmatic but she's still able to fight for what's right. These are the good guys. Then, there's Drill Sergeant Parker, Stark, Decker and his gang. Those, you don't want to know them nor to meet them! Parker is one of the most loathsome character you'll met. The worst part is that a lot of us have meet that kind of guy: a bully who reach some authority and overuse it. In any case, I've met some Parker in my life, maybe that's why I could relate to Carl. 

Then, it's not all good vs evil in Phoenix Island (some of the bad guys turn good). Stark can be good for his people, in his wicked way. In any case, it sure is a dark book! Dixon, like George R. R. Martin, is that kind of author who's able to kill one character you'd love to see to the end. So, in some way, it's realistic. In an island where bullies are kings, you can't expect the good guys to win without some casualties, right? Still, it's heart breaking to read some part of the book. And there, I've said too much already! 

Furthermore, John Dixon is a former Golden Gloves boxer and it's easy to see how he relates to his character, Carl, also a boxer. All the feelings expressed by Carl about the fighting are too well described not to be first hand experiences. I'm not a big fan of boxe but I must say that it's so cleverly writen I appreciated those parts. The fighting scene are thrilling and chilling and the reason I read all night... so that might not be a good point (just kidding!) Other than that, the pace is incredible alterning between action, fight and contextualization, I've never grew tired or bored. As for the end, I found it intelligent and incredible (talk about taking rough decisions!) 

In a nutshell

One hell of a book, suspenseful, chilling and thrilling that will keep you awake at night but guess what? You'll ask for more! I give it a 5/5. 

Saints of the Shadow Bible

by Ian Rankin

Orion (7 novembre 2013)

Vendu par Hachette Book Group Digital, Inc.

352 pages - 27.78 $

Ian Rankin came to QuébeCrime Festival and that's how I've learned about him. His main character, Rebus, even has his own TV series. So when I saw that his last book was on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance to FINALLY  know his character. Thanks NetGalley and Little Brown and Company for the book! 

The blurb

Rebus and Malcolm Fox go head-to-head when a 30-year-old murder investigation resurfaces, forcing Rebus to confront crimes of the past

Rebus is back on the force, albeit with a demotion and a chip on his shoulder. He is investigating a car accident when news arrives that a case from 30 years ago is being reopened. Rebus's team from those days is suspected of helping a murderer escape justice to further their own ends.

Malcolm Fox, in what will be his last case as an internal affairs cop, is tasked with finding out the truth. Past and present are about to collide in shocking and murderous fashion. What does Rebus have to hide? And whose side is he really on? His colleagues back then called themselves "The Saints," and swore a bond on something called the Shadow Bible. But times have changed and the crimes of the past may not stay hidden much longer -- and may also play a role in the present, as Scotland gears up for a referendum on independence. 

Allegiances are being formed, enemies made, and huge questions asked. Who are the saints and who the sinners? And can the one ever become the other?

What I think of it

It was a real favourite for Rebus! Saints of the Shadow Bible is the kind of book where the characters are so well written, realistic and sympathetic they take precedence over history. The atmosphere is also excellently written. Through this book, it was like I've always known Edinburgh inside out and particularly pubs! Add to this the excellent music listening by Rebus... The context of the book is a character in itself!

The story combines several investigations in which Rebus is involved by far, never being entirely integrated into a team because of the suspicion hanging over him and his former colleagues, the Saints. Investigations are influenced by the referendum on Scottish independence, topic  highly current since the referendum will normally take place in September 2014. They are also influenced by fears of change in the organization of the police. As for the investigation on Rebus, it's the result of the questioning of the "double jeopardy". Rankin therefore incorporates elements of Scottish life in this book that allows us to understand the society in which the characters live, but also the reality of Scots's lives.

We follows Rebus who tries, despite being thrown a spanner in his works, to investigate an accident. Who even insists to complete his investigation, while the political and the internal services investigation get involved. He must team up with Malcolm Fox and eventually even rub a little on him! Rankin manages to make us appreciate Fox, whereas initially he's here to inquire about Rebus. And that is something! 

Saints of the Shadow Bible is a book to read for several reasons. First, for the quality of the writing. Rankin is an excellent storyteller. His characters are hyper realistic and we appreciate them very quickly. The story is complex and believable at the same time. The dialogues are also super smooth and realistic. In some books the writer can overdo it and even if it makes some tasty dialogues, we can say that in real life, it wouldn't be the same. However, here all is credible and yet it's a story! The pace of the book never wanes, we follow in turn Rebus, Shiobhan, Fox and other characters, from a point of view to another, without ever catching our breath but never losing our head.

In a nutshell

A great discovery for me ... and it's a shame having waited so long to read one of Rankin's book! A book that takes you into a plot well done, an excellently transcribed context, hyper credible and sympathetic characters, why one would ask for more? So now, if you won't (re)discover Ian Rankin, the shame is on you! I give it 5/5 .