Bone Dust White - Karin Salvaggio's first book

by Karin Salvalaggio

St. Martin's Press - Minotaur Books (May 13, 2014)
304 pages - 15.80 $

Someone is knocking at the door to Grace Adams’s house and won’t stop. Grace thinks she knows who it is, but when she looks out her bedroom window, she sees a woman she doesn’t recognize walking on the trails behind her home. The woman isn’t alone for long before a man emerges from the dark of the surrounding woods and stabs her, then retreats into the shadows, leaving her to die in the snow. Frantic, Grace calls the police but knows they’ll never arrive in time, so she herself goes to the woman and is shocked to find she’s not a stranger—and that only raises more questions.

Badly shocked, Grace is taken to the hospital, and Detective Macy Greeley is called back to the small town of Collier, Montana, where she worked a case once before. She needs to track down the killer and find out what the murder has to do with Grace, a troubled young woman whose harrowing past may have finally come in from the cold. But the town of Collier is just as hard-bitten now as it was years ago, and Macy will have to reopen old wounds as she investigates a murder that looks like it took eleven years to come to pass.

Karin Salvalaggio’s outstanding crime fiction debut, Bone Dust White, is an absolutely stunning work that signals the entrance of a major new talent.

What's about that book?

This is a first novel for Karin Salvalaggio and having read a first few books of authors, I must say it's pretty good. Even if sometimes the scenes follow without much transition which can be confusing, the story unfolds smoothly and continuously.

I enjoyed the well made depiction of ​​the city of Collier which main source of income seems to come from meth labs. It reveals the flip side of what makes the greatness of the United States. Here it's abject poverty, quarter with unfinished homes, rows of trailers, different traffic organized by truck drivers, hard people who prefer to remain silent and helpless victims. It's gritty, oppressive and depressing and it makes me feel awfully glad I don't live in such a place (which exists unfortunately).

There are a whole slew of characters in the book but we mainly follow Macy, the detective and Jared, the first paramedic on scene. These two are ex and their relationship, between memory, regret and acceptance, is well brought. I still have to admit that I think Jared takes up too much place in a detective novel that is supposed to be about a new detective, Macy. Especially as she teames up with the local Sheriff. Jared goes along with Macy in her investigation and we follow him out of the investigation, as if he were the main character. Certainly, he's the link between Macy and Grace - touching and all in fragility - but it seems to me that normally civilians do not accompany the police  during an investigation and he takes too much space.

The story is very gloomy, like the city, the atmosphere and the weather (freezing). Complicity are multiple and the silence - so strong in small communities - hinders Macy's work. Between disillusioned victims who no longer believe in the police and thugs who take advantage of their silence Macy has trouble finding the answers to her questions. For those who love novels where the characters are the heart of the story it's perfect. Here, the plot is mainly used to show the misery of small-town  in America and the decay of the human being. Quite black, but very human at the same time. A little regret, some questions - that are not relevant to the investigation - remain unresolved.

In a nutshell

A first novel altogether successful, a well writen context, the relations between characters are realistic and take the upper hand in this novel. This is a 3.5 / 5 for me.

Warning: An e- galley of this title was provided to me by the publisher. No review has been promised and chronic above is an unbiased review of the novel.

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 .

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 .

The Ghost Riders of Ordebec

by Fred Vargas

Vintage Books (25 mars 2014)

ISBN-13: 978-0099569558

448 pages - 16.99 $

I discovered Fred Vargas - a French author known around the world who has received the International Prize Dagger Award in 2013 for this novel - after reading several books by Patricia Cornwell... Vargas, you like it or not (I rarely heard mixed reviews about her!) And personally the Adamsberg's wacky and offbeat style, after the scientific rigor of Scarpetta, was sheer bliss! I also appreciate that her stories are often related to fears or old stories (fear of the wolf in Seeking Whom He May Devour, of the plague in Have Mercy on Us All). This time, it's about a legend about the ghost riders...

The blurb

France's bestselling crime writer, and three-time winner of the CWA International Dagger, sends the unorthodox Commissaire Adamsberg far outside his jurisdication in a chilling tale of evil-doers who disappear after visitations from a band of ghostly horsemen. 

'People will die,' says the panic-stricken woman outside police headquarters. She has been standing in blazing sunshine for more than an hour, and refuses to speak to anyone besides Commissaire Adamsberg. Her daughter has seen a vision: ghostly horsemen who target the most nefarious characters in Normandy. Since the middle ages there have been stories of murderers, rapists, those with serious crimes on their conscience, meeting a grizzly end following a visitation by the riders. 

Soon after the young woman's vision a notoriously cruel man disappears, and the local police dismiss the matter as superstition. Although the case is far outside his jurisdiction, Adamsberg agrees to investigate the strange happenings in a village terrorised by wild rumours and ancient feuds.

What I think of it

We meet back in this novel with the brigade lead (or not too lead actually) by Adamsberg. Vargas knows how to create very credible characters despite their caricatural flaws. There's the Commandant himself, a kind of evanescent UFO in the police world but also the nerd Danglard, Veyrenc who speaks in alexandrine, Retancourt a nonstandard cop including in size or The Ball - the cat that spends his time sleeping and that is carried to his food - and all the others. Their flaws make them endearing and humans, They're not super cops, they're not cops who drag their past like some cannonballs. We can feel that Vargas likes all her characters, so that in spite of their flaws or perhaps because of their flaws, we appreciate them.

The story is also well done. Adamsberg is conducting three parallel investigations, one who drags him in Normandy in the footsteps of the Lord of Hellequin and his deadly riders that designate who will die next. The designated fall one after the other and Adamsberg finds the culprit thanks to a detail he banged into without understanding. I confess that until the end, I didn't know who was the killer, because Vargas, nonchalantly, leads us by the nose, throwing in front of us the most likely suspects and leaving in shadow the identity of the murderer until the denouement.

What I also like about this book is the atmosphere and the off-the-wall dialogues - often due to Adamsberg who speaks as he thinks... and thinks differently, leaving his colleagues - and us - in the fog but who thinks in a very personal and effective logic in the end. An extract in which Adamsberg mixes the suspect Christian Clermont in Paris and the dead guy in Normandy Mortembot :

- Blue striped costume for Christian. You see? Not brown.

- No.

- So why did I thought that Mortembot's jacket was blue?

- By mistake.

- Because he changed Danglard. Can you see the link now?

- Frankly, no.

- Because I knew, deep down, that Christian had changed. As well as Mortembot.

- And why Mortembot has changed?

- But we don't care about Mortembot! Yelled Adamsberg. One would think that you deliberately don't understand.

- Do not forget that I almost died under a train.

- It's true, briefly acknowledged Adamsberg.

In a nutshell

A fast reading, not complicated but much less simple than it seems. We let ourselves be carried away by the crazy atmosphere of the book and we end up being had by the conclusion! I give it 4/5.

My thoughts on closing the book : He's a really great guy that Adamsberg!

The Clearing

by Dan Newman

Available October 29, 2013

ISBN: 9781909223523

Format: Large (Trade) Paperback

336 pages - $ 16.99 CAN

I received an email informing me of Exhibit A's future release of this book. I liked the summary and I wanted to discover the author. So I ask and received and ARC (and was so happy to have a real book instead of an ePub!) This book is the last in the challenge R.I.P. VIII.

Synopsis

In 1976, four boys walked into a jungle. Only three came back alive.

Haunted by terrifying childhood memories he doesn't fully understand, journalist Nate Mason returns to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia where he grew up.

Back then, as the son of a diplomat, he was part of an elite social circle. But during a weekend of whispered secrets and dares in a decaying jungle mansion staffed by the descendants of slaves, Nate’s innocence was torn apart.

The survivors of that gathering blamed what happened on a myth, an unseen terror from the bush. No one believed them. But now. almost forty years later, is the truth finally about to come out?

Within hours of arriving back on the island, Nate becomes convinced he’s being followed. He soon discovers that his search for answers could cost him his sanity as well as his life, as he realises that some childhood nightmares never go away.

Can childhood nightmares haunt you for the rest of your life? How much do you need to believe in a monster for it to become real? The Clearing is a dark and atmospheric psychological thriller, full of intrigue, terror and superstition, which examines our deepest fears of the unknown. A potent mix of the friendship and bravery of Stand By Me and the betrayals and fear of Angel Heart.

What I think of it

We follow Nate who returns several years later on the island - where he lived a dramatic story in his youth - to end a series of galleys in his life that are bound to the famous event. We follow him but at different times through flashbacks (at the time of the event when he lived in the island, at a crucial period of his recent past and nowadays). What may seem confusing actually let us understand the current events, the reason for his return to the island and to be closer to him. Because we discover the young boy, full of joy, excitement and terror, we learn to appreciate him, we want to protect him (I confess : the fact that I'm the mother of a pre-teen of the same age had a lot to play in this part !)

Facts, old and new, are discovered along the story. There's that idea that we can't understand the present without knowing the past and that premise is good. There is also a supernatural hand (it is an island!) Voodoo is never far away, odd situations are never exactly explained but are well designed to create a distressing condition for Nate who don't understand them because he's not native. Nor are we, so we very well put ourselves in his shoes, living a surreal adventure (have you ever get a chicken leg thrown in your face?). We do not understand but we feel very uncomfortable. So there is a rise of feelings of discomfort, fear and misunderstanding well conducted by the author, who knows the islands, having lived there.

There are some lengthy parts although the space does not falter. How so? It takes a lot of time for Nate to get to his goal and of course many things happen but at times I felt that the author could have not included some mishaps. Fortunately, the atmosphere of the book, how Newman tells the story and the back and forth in time are so well done that every time I began to find it long, the story bounced, the pace accelerated and I was reconciled with the book.

Nate wishes to return to the place of origin of his bad luck to solve all his problems. I admit that when I discovered why he wanted to go back I found it a bit superfluous. The fear experienced by the children is enough to explain their tell at the time and Nate's desire to return was largely explicable by his guilt associated with the event 25 years ago. The end is not as thrilling than is suggested by the story, even if the author manages to make it more enjoyable by adding a final touch of mystery.

One of the characters in the book (if you can talk about character) is the island itself. Certainly there are other people in the novel but in my opinion the island holds the upper hand with Nate. The author has described it as scary as a spot paradise. As much with a joyful atmosphere as a strange one and just as simple in relationships than full of several customs and beliefs that complicate things. We understand and share the joy of Nate who revisit some places, the longing for his childhood but also his fear. That island has two sides to its coin and it can turn very quickly!

In a nutshell

A good novel with its particular and pleasant atmosphere. A character we learn to like, an island that puts a spell on you. I give it a 3.5/5.

My thought on closing the book: what a good dive into the Culture of the islands!

Don't look back

by Karin Fossum

• Inspector Konrad Sejer #2
  Paperback: 324 pages - 13.35 $
  Publisher: Mariner Books (June 1, 2005)
  ISBN-10: 0156031361
  
  
  I bought this book after having heard of it by Sofia Marina (again, a big thank you Marina!) I didn't know this Norwegian author, but I appreciate more and more Scandinavian thrillers. So I thought that I did not risk too much by trying a new author! This book is the third book of my challenge RIP VIII .

Synospis

Don't Look Back heralds the arrival of an exotic new crime series featuring Inspector Sejer, a smart and enigmatic hero, tough but fair. The setting is a small, idyllic village at the foot of Norway's Kollen Mountain, where neighbors know neighbors and children play happily in the streets. But when the body of a teenage girl is found by the lake at the mountaintop, the town's tranquility is shattered forever. Annie was strong, intelligent, and loved by everyone. What went so terribly wrong? Doggedly, yet subtly, Inspector Sejer uncovers layer upon layer of distrust and lies beneath the town's seemingly perfect facade.

Critically acclaimed across Europe, Karin Fossum's Inspector Sejer novels are masterfully constructed, psychologically convincing, and compulsively readable, and are now available in the United States for the first time.

What I think of it 

Although the pace is slower than the thrillers that I love, I enjoyed the human side of this book. The author skillfully depicts us the different characters and especially Konrad Sejer, inspector, widower, who does his best to be a good father, a great grandfather and a dedicated dog owner. Even said dog gets to play a role in this book! This shows the importance given to the characters, relationships between them and their own demons.

The heavy atmosphere, the suspicion and the procedure required to make the investigation give us an addictive atmosphere. Like in English novels which atmosphere is so recognizable and sometimes bombastic, this novel makes us understand the relationships and the way small towns (or villages actually) interact. The isolation, the fact that everyone knows everyone, that it's so difficult to keep to yourselves your little secrets and the very present nature (the forest, the bottomless lake... ), give a very unique atmosphere.

About the pace of the book, despite the lack of action, Karin Fossum managed the feat of making the discovery of the corpse very stressful. Subsequently, the suspects will succeed based upon discoveries, unsaid things and spilling of secrets. I appreciated the smartness of the dialogues, interviews that never seem to be ones, trick questions formulated with precision. Here, nothing is fast, there is no action in each chapter but Konrad who worms truths out of suspects.

In a nutshell

A very good book that I highly recommend especially if you love unique atmosphere, well-constructed dialogues and reason over action. I give it a 4/5.

My thought on closing the book: that was well lead

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 Torment of Others

by Val McDermid

Tony Hill & Carol Jordan #4
Crime fiction

Harper Collins - 2005

556 pages - 9.99 $

En français ici

Why this book

Or why this author in that case. I follow Mark Billingham on Twitter who often tweet with Val McDermid. As he praised her work I decided to give it a try, knowing that he wouldn't praised bad books. 

Summary

Two brutal killers with the exact same MO.
For the one twisted mind behind it all, there is nothing more pleasurable than the torment of others.

The blood of prostitutes stains the streets of Bradfield, and two young boys have disappeared into thin air. With grisly crime scenes that mirror the MO of a killer long since incarcerated, it's a hell of a time for Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan to find out if her new elite crime squad is up to snuff.

With help from friend and clinical psychologist Dr. Tony Hill, Carol rises to the occasion and launches an undercover sting operation to solve the crimes. But when the operation goes terribly wrong, tension reaches an ultimate high. Tony must penetrate the mind of one of the most perverse serial killers he has ever encountred, and Carol must block out the echoes of a haunting past in order to catch a murderer before the blood of a detective is on her hands.

What I think of it

That was something! It's gripping, sometimes difficult to read - I won't recommend that book to some people who don't feel to read about rape and its consequences - but it is very well written and the emotions are very realistics - perhaps too realistics for some people. In my case, I appreciated the accuracy of tone and though some passages were difficults, they are just more interesting because they put us in the shoes of the protagonists. We feel Carol's fears, the discomfort of the other cops towards her or the Tony's guilt. The different characters - even the minor ones - are fairly well described so that we can get an idea of ​​the atmosphere that prevails and we can see how the individuals within the team will react. 

The story, or rather stories, since we're following two investigations are also well written. Boths are very sensitive subjects, as it concerns children for one and murder of sexual nature for the other one. We plunge into the horror of these investigations and the frustration experienced by police officers who can't track the culprit fast enough for their liking. The course of the investigation is also a strong point as the methodology and procedures are very well explained. There is no rabbit out of the hat, the results are found through methodical work, although sometimes the searches are based on the reasoning of Tony.

The suspense escalates regularly and ended up really stressing me. This is because we feel empathy - thanks to the talent of McDermid to make us feel the emotions of the characters - just as much for Carol who finds herself in a situation she knows too well as for a character in the book whose life is at stake. I spent a few very short nights, because I tried to read as much pages as possible to move forward in the investigation and it must be said to finish the book as quickly as possible to know the outcome. To close this book before the end - which I had to do because I had to go to work the next day, argh! - it's a bit like putting a thriller film on pause just when the protagonist opens a door and yells when he discovers ...       (yes, that is a pain huh?)

One extract (see how she puts tension just for a friend to say hello? The whole book is like that!)

A few minutes later, he saw what he’d been waiting for. A gleam of blonde hair caught in the security lights by the back door, and he was on the move. He shoved the file back into his briefcase and stood upright, moving towards the back of the car to cut off his target before she could reach the driver’s door.

She looked over her shoulder, calling out a farewell to a colleague. When she turned back, he was only a few feet from her. Shock and astonishment shot across her face and she stopped dead. Her mouth formed an exclamation, but no sound emerged.

‘Hi, Carol,’ Tony said. ‘Fancy a curry?’

‘Jesus,’ she exhaled, her shoulders dropping. ‘You nearly gave me a heart attack. What the hell are you doing here?’

Let's be brief

This book can create some discomfort, of course, but it remains an excellent and gripping book. The suspense is intense: you'll have trouble to put this book down! Personally, I enjoyed it very much and I'll definitely read other books by this author.

Death du jour

by Kathy Reichs

Crime fiction

Pocket star - 2006

451 pages - 10.99 $

En français ici

Why this book

Because Darling offered it to me for christmas... and he remembered that I love crime fiction!

Summary

Assaulted by the bitter cold of a Montreal winter, the American-born Dr. Temperance Breman, Forensic Anthropologist for the Province of Quebec, digs for a corpse where Sister Elisabeth Nicolet, dead over a century and now a candidate for sainthood, should lie in her grave. A strange, small coffin, buried in the recesses of a decaying church, holds the first clue to the cloistered nun's fate. The puzzle surrounding Sister Elisabeth's life and death provides a welcome contrast to discoveries at a burning chalet, where scorched and twisted bodies await Tempe's professional expertise. Who were these people? What brought them to this gruesome fate? Homicide Detective Andrew Ryan, with whom Tempe has a combustive history, joins her in the arson investigation. From the fire scene they are drawn into the worlds of an enigmatic and controversial professor, a mysterious commune, and a primate colony on a Carolina island.

My opinion

An easy reading. There's a lot of information and it's clear that the author is a forensic anthropologist. This is probably her strength: no smoke and mirrors, but proved forensic techniques. However, I found the text too technical at times. I read the first volume Déjà Dead in English and I struggled to understand everything, but now I know why because even in French, I found it difficult to understand due to tecnical term!

As for the plot, nothing surprising and it's similar to her first volume. I just hope that a member of the Brennan family will not almost die in each book, it would become boring ... The culprit is easily identified, the dialogues are sometimes hollow or too predictable.

Let's be brief

I had a good time reading it, but not a great time. Maybe because I've became a bit difficult after reading some very good writers lately (like Chealsy Cain). Reading Death du jour is a bit like watching a cop show on TV that is good enough to keep you awake, but too predictable to make you want to buy the DVD.

He Lover of Death

by Boris Akunin

Phoenix - 2011

336 pages - 8.56 $

Lu en français ici

Why this book

Quite frankly, I didn't know the author and I bought his book because it was offered at a bargain price in a shop of used books and because it was part of the collection "Great detectives" of 10/18' edition - a French one - which is usually a guarantee of quality.

Summary

Senka Skorikov, orphan and urchin, has been abandoned to the murky world of Moscow's gangster district. While picking a pocket or two, he glimpses the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, and joins the gang of her overlord lover, The Prince, so desperate he is to meet her. Senka climbs the criminal ranks, uncovering a stash of precious metal, and gradually capturing the heart of his beloved Death - so named for the life expectancy of her lovers. But as the bandit community balks at his success on both fronts, threats on his life begin to pour in . A dandy and his 'Chinese' sidekick seem to be taking an inordinate interest in Senka's welfare, and it becomes clear that those threatening Senka are linked to a spate of murders, grizzly even by underworld standards. Fandorin must unweave a tangled web of narcotics, false identities and organised crime - but can he survive an encounter with the ever-alluring Death unscathed? Find out in the darkest Fandorin to date!

What I think about it

I liked the writing style, especially the beginning full of slang. I sometimes had the impression of being in an Audiard's film as dialogues are very imaged (even if it was sometimes difficult to understand). As we go along the rise of Senka, the dialogue becomes more chastened, which makes the book more easy to read and allows us to see Senka's progress in society.

The chapters begin with a title which describe the action to follow, even if sometimes what we imagine is not what happens: the author plays with words to destabilize us and keep us from being too confident about our ability to know in advance what will happen. The titles all contain the name of Senka, since it is through him that we live the story. An example title: "How Senka became mamzelle" (A mamzelle is a prostitute).

The plot goes slowly but surely. Because we follow the investigation through Senka and not Fandorin, we do not have all the cards in the progression of thought. We do not know what the detective does when he's not with Senka, making us witnessing the outcome, so it is difficult to find the culprit by yourself.

Last point to add, this book makes us live from the inside (through Senka) what life in Russia was at that time, with its codes, its hierarchy, its neighborhoods. Life was harsh and corrupt, at least in slums as beautiful areas were protected. It feels a little like in Les Miserables - Russian version - and with an investigation for bonus.

Let's be brief

An author worth reading that allows us to discover a brutal Russia and to enjoy a nearly extinct language nowadays. Besides, I take hats off to Paul Lequesne (the French translator) who did a remarkable job to find the French slang which corresponds to that used by Akunin.

An investigation in which the twists abound. A Russian detective as British as can be. A true atmosphere specific to the author. In short, Akunin, considered the idol of Russian literature, collects readers and I understand why: to try!

Good to know

He Lover of Death is a mirror novel whose double is called She Lover of Death. Both books can be read in any order because the two investigations are conducted at the same time and same place, but with different characters - apart Fandorin and Massa. There are also allusions to the other investigation in He Lover of Death when Fandorin announces that it had to deal with another investigation to explain his absence.

A taste for death

by P. D. James

Adam Dagliesh mysteries no7

Vintage - (reprint edition ) 2005

480 pages - 15.95 $

En français ici

Why this book

Well, mostly because a friend gave it to me and also because it's a crime fiction and the name P. D. James was not unknown to me even if I had never read a book from her. 

Description 

When the quiet Little Vestry of St. Matthew's Church becomes the blood-soaked scene of a double murder, Scotland Yard Commander Adam Dalgliesh faces an intriguing conundrum: How did an upper-crust Minister come to lie, slit throat to slit throat, next to a neighborhood derelict of the lowest order? Challenged with the investigation of a crime that appears to have endless motives, Dalgliesh explores the sinister web spun around a half-burnt diary and a violet-eyed widow who is pregnant and full of malice--all the while hoping to fill the gap of logic that joined these two disparate men in bright red death. . . .

What I think of it

I found with pleasure the quaint charm of Victorian crime fiction - like in Anne Perry or Agatha Christie - the very decorated mansions, the traditional tea and sandwiches ... For that matter, PD James is very good to bring us into her world. The descriptions are very well done, very realistic, the vocabulary is precise, concise, so it is very easy to imagine the room, the scene or picture the scene described.

The strength of the author, however, is what I least liked in the novel. I'm not a fan of endless and recurring descriptions and this is a very large part of the book. The arrival of Dalgliesh in the widows's lover clinical takes several pages ... no juicy, scathing dialogues full of innuendo as I hoped, but descriptions of each piece Adam passes through, people encountered, paintings on the walls - and not to miss visuals - even what Dalgliesh sees through the window: the gardens of the clinic ie, a patient who walks with a nurse. 

The description is worth, however, when PD James draws a portrait of English high society, but also of gender relations or old age and its implications for the family. The analysis of characters and relationships is so very well done, this is obviously a strong point with the author.

That said, we know the murderer fairly quickly thanks in part to how well the author make us feel the unspoken and discomfort during interrogations - and partly because the Commander Dalgliesh announce it before the end . So no resounding end, not "damn I've never seen it", no reversals shock situations, but still there is a time when one begins to fear for potential victims.

Let's be brief

This is a book where you find the famous British phlegm, but not the famous British humor - as found in the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, for example - to liven up a bit. This is a must read if you prefer the atmosphere to actions and if descriptions delight you. This is a very classical novel, the characters are very well described, but not enough original or spirited to be left with a lasting impression.

Good to know

The novel was awarded the Silver Dagger in 1986. As for P. D. James, she is, according to the Times, the biggest writer of detective novels of our time ...

Another thing to fall

by Laura Lippman

Crime fiction

Harper; Reprint edition (February 24, 2009)

352 pages - 7,99$

En français ici

Why this book

Another writer I've met at the QuebeCrime Festival.

Summary

The California dream weavers have invaded Charm City with their cameras, their stars, and their controversy . . .

When Tess Monaghan literally runs into the crew of the fledgling TV series Mann of Steel while sculling, she never expects to be hired to serve as bodyguard/babysitter to the young female lead, Selene Waites. But the company has been plagued by a series of disturbing "mishaps" lately. And the discovery of a corpse surrounded by photos of the beautiful, difficult superstar-in-the-making is causing Mann's creator and Hollywood legend, Flip Tumulty, considerable distress.

Keeping a spoiled movie princess under wraps may be more than Tess can handle, since Selene is less naive and far more devious than she initially appears to be. But murder is an occurrence the fish-out-of-water P.I. is all too familiar with—and a grisly on-set slaying suddenly threatens to topple the wall of secrets surrounding Mann of Steel, leaving lives, dreams, and careers scattered among the ruins.

What I think of it

When I read a thriller, I do not like having to wait half the book for something to happen ... and this was the case. The majority of the book is a credit to the limitless knowledge of the author in film but she lost us in her endless quotes. There is little action and no suspense, because the majority of the book consists of discussion about films or TV shows. The private detective does not investigate the murder, leaving it to the police, even if she eventually finds the culprit in a (very) few pages.

When I read a thriller, I like to read a thriller ... not an encyclopedia about movies, even if it's very interesting. There I found that the author goes a little too far : in the excerpt that I submit to you, the heroine catches red-handed some youngsters into the home of a dead guy as they were about to commit sins of the flesh and spirit (house, she herself is trespassing but that's another story). Tess asked them how they managed to get in there and the answer is such a completely atypical response from a teenager that it becomes detrimental to the credibility of the text! I mean : do you know a lot of teens who would have not  answered "so what! whatever..."

Abstract

He shrugged, almost proudly. He wasn't altogether dimwited. Tess stared him down.

"The first time, I came through the cellar," he admitted. "He has them Wizard of Oz doors."

It took her a second to get that reference, but it made her smile. Some old Baltimore houses did have storm cellar doors, although tornados were rare.

In a nutshell

Lovers of old movies or TV series will surely love this book that allows you to associate thriller and film and I must recognize the knowledge and / or research work of the author. However, I did not get into it, because I had trouble keeping the thread of the plot, drowned as I was in quotes.