Corktown

by Ty Hutchinson

Abby Kane FBI Thriller

272 pages (ebook version) - 0.97 $

Gangkruptcy Press (January 23, 2013)

En français ici

I had that book thanks to NetGalley, I found the synopsis appealing and wanted to discover Abby Kane.

Synopsis

She's short. She's feisty. She's sexy. She's Mom. Meet FBI Agent, Abby Kane.

In the quiet Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, a mutilated body has the residents nervous and for good reason. Detroit Metro Police recognize the handiwork of the serial killer known as the Doctor. But there's a problem with that. They locked him up seven years ago.

Because of her expertise with serial killers, former hotshot detective and now FBI agent, Abby Kane, is tasked with figuring out how this madman is able to kill again. When she visits The Doctor behind bars, he swears he's innocent and not the psychopath everyone thinks he is. Oddly enough, Abby believes him.

Corktown is a page-turning mystery thriller that dives headfirst into the grit of Detroit, exploring government corruption and deadly violence. Certainly a Mystery and Thriller Top 100 Must Read.

Available in ebook and paperback

What I think of it

I enjoyed Abby Kane, a (very) small, but strong character with a lot of humor, to whom the author attributes regularly thoughts or feelings rather masculine, but it works fine anyway. Abby is a character that you appreciate quickly. She obviously has some weaknesses: her size and her guilt about her children she thinks she does not take care enough. Her children are also present throughout the book (by SMS). There was even a time when we feared for their lives when they are very far from the place of the investigation, I found it good from Hutchinson.

As for the other characters, there is a choice between not very smart cops (as often where the cops have to team up with the FBI, there is always a smarter team, have you noticed?) and crooked politicians. In short, an array of characters quite well written, but with not enough depth to make you appreciate them more or feel for them. Abby is the central character and her colleague mainly serves to give her a humanity and a vulnerability which she usually does not show. This helps to make her a more credible and endearing character, she is not a GI Jane!

The atmosphere is tense, heavy, mostly due to the corruption which prevent Abby to investigate normally but she's doing it anyway. Folders are hidden, characters disappear at the right time, attempts at intimidation are made: all the elements of corruption are present. The atmosphere is tense but raised by Abby and her - sometimes - caustic humor.

The pace is fast, even when the perpetrators are known as the chase to stop them is unabated. Instead, knowing who will be the next victim, Abby and her colleagues are trying to protect them and arrest the culprits, except that - as in life - human error will ensure that things do not go as planned.

A novel that differs from what I have read, since we know very quickly who is the culprit, but the guilty shares the chapters of the book with the officers of the law. Thus we discover the investigation on both sides of the coin - through the eyes of the guilty and the forces. There are three types of chapters, according to the characters that we follow in the chapter: those where we follow the investigation through Abby (told in the first person), those where we take conscience of concealment and political corruption and finally the murders (from the point of view of the culprit). The murder scenes are quite hard boiled and sometimes disturbing. I'm used to read books in which sometimes the crime scene discovered is fairly bloody, but there the murder was live feed, it's very different!

In a nutshell

A book that reads quickly, a heroine one appreciate, a cold and heavy atmosphere, a good old duel FBI vs police: I give it a 3.5 / 5.

My thought on closing the book: not bad!

Thy Kingdom Fall (After Eden Series, Book #1)

by Austin Dragon

Well-Tailored Books

359 pages

ARC

I requested the book because I thought it could be a change to read a mystery novel set in the future (kind of like the serie Continuum). I must say I was a bit afraid of the religious side. 

Synopsis

It is the morning of September 11, 2125. The New York City police commissioner stands on the 170th floor of the Three Towers, clutching his chest in shock. The sky goes dark, filled with dozens of them—the opening attack of World War III. Not merely the planet’s third global war, but the first one of the Tek Age— a hell we have never seen before.

How did we ever get to this place?

In 2089, a former skin-runner-turned-star-reporter quietly investigates the Washington DC daylight murder of the most powerful political king-maker in the nation. It is just the tip of a wider conspiracy and the start of a chain of events leading to this world catastrophe.

The world is a very different place: Western Europe has fallen to the Islamic Caliphate, Israel is gone, Eastern Europe has merged with Russia and Beijing runs the anti-American Chinese-Indian Alliance. America is very different too. The US Constitution has been found unconstitutional and replaced, presidential term limits are gone, and the culture wars are over. The three-term American president is obsessed with keeping the nation safe at all costs—by ending religiosity. But the Resistance stands in his way.

Thy Kingdom Fall is Book One of the epic After Eden Series.

What I think of it

I wish I was able to read more of the book but I couldn't. I abandoned the book on page 94. Too much sanctimonious and religious for me. Dragon describes at length why religions collapsed, how they're now organised, what they should have done... Pages and pages on the subject. 

Sad, because the characters are well described. We easily know who are the good guys and the bad guys. The reporter is likable as well as his boss. The way they interact, the way Dragon describes them in their daily routine is cool. I wanted to know how the investigation would go on but the investigation is completely lost in the details. 

Dragon sets his world (which is 80 years from now) but it's quite the same world I must say except for the religious part of course. USA are now governed by pagans, people rejected all religions, which is difficult to accept knowing it's set in less than 80 years. I mean, some people in the books don't know nothing about religion... have they killed all the old people? That's not believable. Maybe he should have set his world in a future more distant. 

I didn't like reading whole paragraph about the way people dress (mostly when they dress like nowadays bare a few change) or paragraph about the way people behave (which is mostly like nowadays one more time). For example, everyone has an e-pad and spend time reading his message including while discussing with someone else. Does it not remember you something? 

In a nutshell

Dragon's book is the first in a series to come so obviously he needs to set the decor. Elmore Leonard, one of the finest author of crime fiction, wrote his 10 rules for writers. One of them is not to drown the reader in descriptions of characters, places and objects. An advice that Dragon did not follow unfortunately. It's not that it's bad, it's that it's too much. So I won't give a rate but I won't recommend it unless you're really fond of religion and plot. In that case, you should really like it!

The Leopard

by Jo Nesbø
Thriller
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
Knopf and Vintage Books - 2012
688 pages - 19.95 $

En français ici

I bought this book with a gift card received for my birthday. I had decided to buy only authors I did not know. Jo Nesbø was one of them but he's so well known by lovers of good thrillers, it was absolutely necessary for me to read one of his book.

Synopsis

Two women are found murdered in Oslo – both of them have drowned in their own blood. What mystifies the police, is that the puncture wounds in the victim’s faces have been caused from the inside of their mouths. Kaja Solness from Homicide is sent to Hong Kong to track down a man that is the Oslo Police Department’s only specialist on serial killings. The severely addicted detective has tried to disappear in the vast, anonymous city. He is on the run and haunted by his last case

What I think of it

I love it! Nesbø became one of my favorite authors. He now stands next to Chattam and Holm (that is something!) In less than ten lines, I was caught up by the story, I could not take it down. So beware, once again, this is an author who does not hesitate to stage violence. This is not for everyone, because honestly, some scenes are difficult to read because they're very graphic. As I love this style, it was pure happiness through the 688 pages that scroll at an extraordinary speed. Yes, 688 pages for a thriller can be scary, but do not worry, it devours quickly! (I've read the French version which contains 848 pages...)

But what makes this book so good, dear reader?

The characters, especially Harry Hole, disillusioned inspector, alcoholic, drug addict, but oh so endearing! This was my first encounter with him, and not in the best conditions, it must be said, since he's found drugged in Hong Kong. Yet, the depth of his character brings us to love him, because we can sense that there is something else behind this fucked facade. The other characters are equally well written, complex, a little predictable for some and they emphasize different aspects of Harry.

The story gets off the a good start, a really good one. We are in the action since the first page, we live the crime through the eyes of the victim, it's pretty intense, thank you! The pace did not falter. We travel a lot: in Asia, the Congo, Rwanda, Norway, as the investigation goes along. Nesbø gives us a very clear idea of ​​the countries Harry visits, their history and particularity, which makes an even more gripping story. We feel that there is a solid basis to the story, which makes it more concrete, more realistic.

The investigation seems to go in all directions, we are lost, we think we have figured it out and we find ourselves elsewhere, in short Nesbø play with our nerves. The motive seems confusing, the investigation complex, we do not see the threat coming, we take it in the face and bam! we remain shocked at having been deceived... again. With all that, Nesbø still manages to bring through the crime a good old feud between two services, a war in which one organization (Kripo or criminal brigade) will win, leaders who put sticks in the wheels, making the investigation more difficult. In summary, there is no dead time (but a lot of deads).

I read on blogs that Nesbø is the new Stieg Larsson (author of the Millennium). Come on! In my case, if Larsson helped the Scandinavian kind of crime fiction to be known worldwide, I have not found that his three novels were exceptional. Nesbø is, in my opinion, a much better writer! I did not experience as many emotions while reading the three Millennium that I had with The Leopard. The suspense is more intense, the dialogues are better written, the characters are very endearing, realistic and well-written (ok, Lisbeth was very well written too). I tell you, we are a notch above with Nesbø (and the notch is high!)

Here's an excerpt of the book and tell me, honestly, does it not make you want to read more?

Excerpt

The drowsiness came. Harry stopped digging. Even though he knew this spell death. A seductive, alluring death, taking him into its arms. Why protest, why fight, why choose pain when he could succumb? Why choose anything other than what he has always done? 

Harry closed his eyes. 

(entire excerpt here on Jo Nesbø's site) 

In a nutshell

One of the best books I've read this year. An author I learned to love. Amateurs of black, Nordic, complex and panting thrillers, treat yourself! A book that should be included in any good bookshelf. I give it a 5/5.

My thought on closing the book: Oh damn, that was good!

Clean Burn

de Karen Sandler

Exhibit A - 2013 (Angry Robot)

304 page - 16.99 $

ARC

En français ici

I got this book through Netgalley and more specifically thanks to Exhibit A (A for Arson!) A new branch of Angry Robot (excellent publisher and guarantee of quality!). I wanted to discover this author and her heroine, a newcomer in the world of crime fiction.

Synopsis

“No child should ever stay missing…”

Wry, smart, tough private eye Janelle Watkins swore off investigating child abductions four years ago, when she left the San Francisco PD.

But when two clients with missing children beg for her help, Janelle can’t say no. Even though it means returning to the scene of her nightmares – her hometown of Greenville.

Forced to enlist the help of her ex-partner and ex-lover, Greenville County Sheriff Ken Heinz, Janelle soon finds herself playing with fire in more than one way, and in a race against the clock to find the missing children before it’s too late.

If Janet Evanovich and the Cohen Brothers ever sat down to collaborate on a story, then this is exactly the kind of incredible novel they might come up with – one full of twists and turns and memorable characters…

Isn’t it about time you met the unforgettable Janelle Watkins?

What I think of it

An excellent first crime fiction - because Sandler is a prolix author in other kind of book - with a heroine with multiple injuries and flaws, but very endearing.

About the characters: Janelle Watkins, ex-cop, private detective, tortured (in every sense of the word) by his past. A heroine not too girly nor too tomboy, a nice mix - which is not always the case for female detectives or cops, I must say. There is also Ken Heinz, ex-partner (in every sense of the word), honest, straightforward and sincere. Two characters very sympathetic to follow. Then there is a lot of secondary characters, well thought out, which gives the impression of being part of the town and to know its inhabitants.

The narrative. Two parallel investigations, one on fire and the other on child abductions bring two former partners together again. The pace does not falter, either because a new lead opens to find the children or because another fire raged. We are taken by the adventures to a burning final (in every sense of the word!)

The author knows how to transcribe Janelle's demons and her worries. We are really feeling her emotions - and they are not all pleasant! - which leads us to understand her reactions - and they are not all pleasant either! I suspected several different people and many times the right one, but I was never really sure until the end. Latter (but not the least in my case), the humor - often cynical - is very well distilled through the story, which makes it more enjoyable to read.

In a nutshell

A very good first crime fiction by Karen Sandler. A heroine to love, despite her shortcomings (or perhaps because of them, I do not know). A story whose rhythm does not slow down. I gave it 4/5!

My thought on closing the book: some great characters!