Hangtown - The Second Detective Janelle Watkins Mystery

by Karen Sandler

ANGRY ROBOT Ltd - Exhibit A - 24 juin 2014

416 pages - 6.99 $ (kindle edition)

Hangtown is the second book with Janelle, ex-cop now private detective, who fight against the consequences of an injury and her demons. Demons that change radically from what we usually see in a private detective! When I read Clean Burn, the first book in the series, I already enjoyed the characters and humor distilled in the book which made ​​me want to read the second installment to follow Janelle and Ken in their investigations.

The blurb

Marooned in her despised hometown of Greenville, California, private investigator Janelle Watkins wants nothing more than to keep her head down and make enough money to move back to the City. But even in the sleepy town of Greenville, the edgy, smart-mouthed private investigator seems to attract mayhem.

It starts with the apparent suicide of a nineteen year-old off a highway bridge. Then another young man goes missing and Janelle begins to suspect that there might be a connection between the incidents. With the help of her former SFPD partner and occasional lover, Sheriff Ken Heinz, Janelle begins to follow the convoluted trail, not realizing that the darkness of her past might finally be catching up.

What's good in that book

The first advantage is that it's not necessary to have read the first book to read this one. Although the two volumes relate to the same city and the same characters, it's two independent stories. I also liked to know more about Janelle's past. In Clean Burn we learned more about Janelle's childhood and in Hangtown, her most recent past is revealed. This book talks about the secrets that can hide in a small town, the silences and unspoken. Although the plot is not the strength of this novel it's precisely the unspoken history of Greenville that allows to make it plausible. 

Again, several investigations which seem separated eventually become one, adding more victims and suspects to the list of characters involved. Janelle and Ken, who team from the begin, are investigating a suspicious death and a suspicious disappearance, Janelle also receives mysterious and aggressive texting from a person from her past that she does not recognize, add to this an accident that should not have taken place and another corpse... we really don't get bored reading this book! 

Janelle is THE central character of the book. She's complex and has more depth than the others. Even Ken seems fairly bland beside her, although he's the town sheriff. I love the way the author portrays Janelle and how she approaches her demons. Janelle, because of her past, sometimes needs to burn herself to calm her emotions but Ken managed - more often now - to make the need go. There's no misery in the way this issue is addressed and this is what I like. This makes the character less typical than usual ("Hello, I'm PI so I drink / play / hit on pretty girls / have problems with my ex / etc.) and more human. 

In a nutshell

Another good book from Karen Sandler, whose strength lies in her characters - mostly Janelle Watkins, a very endearing character. A book where the action never stops and where humor is always present. It's a 4/5 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.

Interview: Carrie Pattel, author of The Buried Life

Please welcome Carrie Pattel, a young author whose first book will be out on July 29 in North America and on August the 7th in print in UK. 

Carrie writes game by day and book by night. She's the kind of person who stand for what she thinks on her funny blog and who can prove that Maverick is a dick and that Iceman is the good guy! (So now you know)

Cheers for that great new author!

Will you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?

Sure! I’m originally from Katy, Texas, and I grew up in a family of readers. My dad always has something with a library barcode on his nightstand, and my mom’s a mystery reader and recent audiobook addict. I caught the bug early (as did my sisters), so it wasn’t really a surprise when I started writing.

What about "The Buried Life" how did you came upon that idea?

I started with the underground city setting and an atmosphere of mystery, conspiracy, and disarming gentility. From there, I thought about the kinds of characters that would test the boundaries of that world and what kinds of trouble they would get into together. In retrospect, it feels like building the novel backwards, but it gave me a clear idea from the start of the kind of book I wanted to write and the kind of experience I wanted the reader to have.

Did you use your travels or stays in your book to build your setting and why?

Indirectly, yes. The name and the original inspiration for Recoletta, the fictional underground city of The Buried Life, is the Recoleta Cemetary of Buenos Aires, Argentina. I visited it on a brief study abroad trip and got a really compelling sense of place from it. It’s solemn and majestic, and it’s full of stories—so many important people from Argentina’s history are buried there. The inspiration I took was pretty impressionistic, but it was the genesis for the book.

How do you manage to combine work and writing (knowing that your job is also writing)?

It’s a pretty fantastic marriage, actually. I work as a narrative designer for Obsidian Entertainment, a game development studio, and it’s every bit as fun as it sounds. I write characters, dialogue, and other story elements for our upcoming RPG, Pillars of Eternity.

It meshes well with my novel-writing because it keeps me working on characters, plot, and prose throughout the day, but in new stories and settings. There’s a collaborative aspect to writing for games, which is a nice change of pace from the solitary nature of novel-writing. The main challenge in balancing the two is carving out time for novel-writing, especially when things pick up at the office, which is why I try to schedule regular writing time every morning.

Which subjects are more difficult to write about?

Anything technical or procedural can be a challenge, because you want to get the details right without sacrificing your freedom with the characters and plot. This was one challenge when I realized I was writing something that was, in part, a detective novel. I needed Malone to be believable as both a professional detective and as a professional detective that goes rogue.  

Which events will you attend in the next months?

I’ve just gotten back from Apollocon in Houston, and I’m headed to CONvergence for the Fourth of July weekend. Detcon (or NASFIC, since Worldcon is in London this year) will be the last convention on my schedule. I’m excited about all three of these, and I’m actually relatively new to the convention circuit—Apollocon and Worldcon in San Antonio last year were my first two conventions.

What are you reading now?

I’m double-fisting N. K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms for some fantasy and George Wright Padgett’s Spindown for some hard science fiction.

What do you look for in a good book? Is there anything that will make you put a book down, unfinished?

Even though I’ve got a special relationship with speculative fiction, I like a pretty wide range of books, so it’s hard to talk about really specific things that I look for—I enjoy pensive character studies, fast-paced pots, fantastical world-building. So it’s probably easier to talk about what I don’t like!

The process of revising and editing my own work has made me more attentive to prose overall and more impatient when it’s weak. Writing doesn’t have to be astounding to tell a good story, but when it’s bad, it’s distracting. It makes me doubt the writer, which makes it almost impossible for me to enjoy the story, no matter how interesting it might otherwise be.

Similarly, I get bored with meandering characters. Unless they’re meandering somewhere really, really interesting, I lose interest if it doesn’t feel like there’s some sense of direction or motivation.

If you could experience one book again for the first time, which one would it be?

Dune. There are so many books I’ve enjoyed, but the world of Arrakis was so rich, and the conflicts so layered, that it would be rewarding to experience it fresh. 

What's next for you?

I’m working on Cities and Thrones, the sequel to The Buried Life. I’m having a lot of fun extending the conflict from The Buried Life and observing how the characters cope with their new situations.

Why so serious questions

What would be your desert island read?

War and Peace. I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t read it yet, and as long as it is, it would keep me busy for a long time.

Your favorite villain?

The best villains are the ones you root for (on some level) despite their roles and vices. Hannibal Lecter is a great villain because he’s so charming and intriguing that it’s easy to forget how depraved he is. You look for explanations for his brutality because it’s tempting to believe that there’s something benign (or at least predictable) in him.

Whose hero do you wish you had created?

Like everyone else, I read a fair share of Dickens in school, and while I didn’t have a particularly strong appreciation for most of it, I loved Sydney Carton. Most of the girls in my ninth-grade English class (myself included!) bawled through the end of A Tale of Two Cities. He was noble and tragic in the end, and yet he didn’t seem to care whether people thought of him that way. While I suspect I’d respond differently to his self-pity and his obsession with Lucie if I read it today, I’d love to write a character that affects others the way he affected me at the time.

Which one of you characters is more like you?

I never actually write myself into my fiction, but I suppose it’s impossible not to recognize bits of myself in some of my characters, especially when I’m telling the story from over their shoulders. With that in mind, I feel like I can see more of myself in Jane Lin, one of the perspective characters. She’s inquisitive and determined, and she’s an incurable eavesdropper, which anyone in my family could tell you is one of my worst habits!

-----

To follow Carrie on her blog or Twitter

The Red Hot Fix - A Justice Novel

by T. E. Woods

Random House Publishing Group - Alibi (June 10 2014)

284 pages - 2.99 $

In the white-knuckle follow-up to her explosive debut novel, The Fixer, T. E. Woods returns with another tense, intricate thriller.

What do you say, Morton Grant, Chief of Detectives? You got what it takes to find me? Show me a move. . . . Or I’ll have to show you one of mine.

A little more than a year after the Fixer killings, Detective Mort Grant of the Seattle PD once again has his hands full. In the last four months, seven men have been murdered in seedy pay-by-the-hour motels: first strangled, then tied with rope and set on a bed of crushed mothballs, with a red lipstick kiss planted on their foreheads. Speculation abounds that the killer is a prostitute who’s turning her tricks into dead men. The press has taken to calling her “Trixie.”

As Mort follows scant leads in the case, he can’t help but feel continued guilt over his involvement with the Fixer. Though the public holds her up as a folk hero, a vigilante who seeks justice when the system fails, Mort cannot shake the fact that serious crimes have been committed. And though legend says she has vanished, Mort knows exactly where the Fixer is—and he’s conspiring to keep her hidden.

As Trixie strikes again, Mort suddenly finds himself and his family in the crosshairs. Because these new murders are not random, and their perpetrator is hell-bent on luring Mort into a sick and twisted game. If he’s not careful, he’s going to need Fixing.

What's about that book

I found it nice to meet again with Mort and Lydia, two characters I enjoyed in The Fixer. Mort's son also plays a more important role which is very nice, since in the first volume he seemed to be a very nice guy! (He even married a French girl... so he's necessarily a good guy, mwahaha!) Among the new character, Trixie of course, hateful to perfection but also a female character who becomes closed to Mort... and there TE Woods plays well with innuendo and misunderstandings, so that one begins to be sure to have found Trixie to better realize that one's been having.

There are two parallel stories in this book, two investigations that meet at one point, one bait to another. The first follows Trixie and the leads to find her. The second follows the murder of the owner of a basketball team. I must admit that I struggled to get interested in the second story, mainly because we follow an awful lot the basketball team before the murder. I couldn't see the point to know in detail the sultry life of the owner, his wife's depression, or even attend a basketball game live, with a lot of technical terms. It happens regularly in TV series that an inspector follow several investigations at the same time and this is often done well but here I often asked "but what they have to do with the story those ones? "

A third story is also present in this book and it's about Lydia who is recovering from her near death (read The Fixer!) This part is very interesting and allows you to see a more human side of Lydia. I found it very good how she "fixes" the problem she encounters. Lydia manages to find back the sensations she felt when she Fixed things while finding a new way to do it. The character evolves and it's cleverly done. Once again, the author confuses us by leaving us guessing what will happen... to twist the situation better.

In a nutshell

Basketball fans will enjoy reading this book, the characters are well written, the story is going well but, for my part, the Trixie investigation would have sufficed. 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.

The Murder Farm

by Andrea Maria Schenkel

Quercus (June 3 2014)
208 pages - 12.85 $

The Times Literary Supplement said of The Murder Farm, “With only a limited number of ways in which violent death can be investigated, crime writers have to use considerable ingenuity to bring anything fresh to the genre. Andrea Maria Schenkel has done it in her first novel.” 

The first author to achieve a consecutive win of the German Crime Prize, Schenkel has won first place for both The Murder Farm and Ice Cold.

The Murder Farm begins with a shock: a whole family has been murdered with a pickaxe. They were old Danner the farmer, an overbearing patriarch; his put-upon devoutly religious wife; and their daughter Barbara Spangler, whose husband Vincenz left her after fathering her daughter little Marianne. She also had a son, two-year-old Josef, the result of her affair with local farmer Georg Hauer after his wife’s death from cancer. Hauer himself claimed paternity. Also murdered was the Danners’ maidservant, Marie. 

An unconventional detective story, The Murder Farm is an exciting blend of eyewitness account, third-person narrative, pious diatribes, and incomplete case file that will keep readers guessing. When we leave the narrator, not even he knows the truth, and only the reader is able to reach the shattering conclusion.

What's about that book?

This book is popular for the different way the author investigate the murder and, indeed, this is very different from the usual crime fiction. Here, no investigation, no police but a transcript of the villagers' testimony, who are more or less closed to the victims and more or less sorry for them. Between the testimonies, the story unfolds in  the point of view of different people. And between the testimonies and the course of history, sometimes lengthy prayers.

The strength of the author is to be able to convey the discomfort the old Danner family generates in the village, the unspoken turned into gossip and the murky atmosphere. Obviously, no one really appreciated this dysfunctional family and if people are horrified at the idea that a person could commit such a crime close to home, nobody really feel for the family, apart for the children.

Little warning because I know that these issues are not easy to read and put off some people, the book adresses the subjects of incest and rape. It's human darkness pushed to the maximum and the worst is that there are indeed families like that!

The downside of this story is that no character is brought out, so you can't have empathy for the Danner family or other characters. Without feeling invested in the story, I struggled to find the book gripping, stressful or really interesting. It was like reading a newspaper with a drama lived in a particularly surly village.

In a nutshell

A short novel, a well brought very dark and creepy atmosphere, the solving of the murder without investigation, all is well done but lacks depth. This is a 2.5 / 5 .

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.

I am Pigrim

Terry Hayes
Atria/Emily Bestler Books (May 27 2014)
624 pages - 29.99 $

I am Pilgrim was released in the UK in 2013 and has now been released in North America (a shame when you know part of the story takes place in New York!) I started to hear about it on the social networks and I heard only praise. I am Pilgrim is a spy novel. However, espionage is not the kind of novel I love to read (but I enjoy watching a good James Bond or Bourne flicks). So I was not a priori particularly attracted by this book... so I took my time to read it and what a mistake!

                                                             *************************

An intelligent and taut debut thriller that depicts the collision course between two geniuses, one a tortured hero and one a determined terrorist.

In a seedy hotel near Ground Zero, a woman lies face down in a pool of acid, features melted off her face, teeth missing, fingerprints gone. The room has been sprayed down with DNA-eradicating antiseptic spray. Pilgrim, the code name for a legendary, world-class secret agent, quickly realizes that all of the murderer’s techniques were pulled directly from his own book—a cult classic of forensic science written under a pen name.

In offering the NYPD some casual assistance with the case, Pilgrim gets pulled back into the intelligence underground. Meanwhile, his adversary—a man simply known as “the Arab”—is plotting his next move in service to jihad. What follows is a thriller that jockeys between astonishingly detailed character study and breakneck globetrotting. It takes us from Pilgrim’s hidden life of leisure in Paris to the Arab’s squalid warrior life in Afghanistan, from the hallways of an exclusive Swiss bank to the laboratories of a nefarious biotech facility in Syria. Secrets are exposed and tension builds until Pilgrim and the Arab arrive in Turkey—where the two masterminds inevitably meet to face off in the shocking finale.

Like #1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor, Terry Hayes takes you on an action-packed adventure to the world’s most dangerous countries in this thrilling, twisting, beautifully orchestrated novel.

What's about that book ?

Because this book is actually a blend of James Bond (for the cultural side and espionage) and Bourne (for the action and tough side). This is excellent, well paced, the outcome takes guts, it's pure pleasure!

The book is written from the point of view of Pilgrim who explains everything, really everything. That is why, even if it always happens something, it's not always in relation to the ongoing story but always linked to the story. We discover the past of the main characters which allows us to better know them and understand what brings them together.

There are books that you love the atmosphere, the pace, the characters, the tone or whatever so much, that you do not grow weary and this is the case here. While some authors could make the book tedious with details and context, Hayes managed to make me appreciate all the parts of the story because he really masters the art of story-telling. Everything is connected, everything comes together, the different experiences of the characters explain their presence in the story and the tone of the book is excellent with just the required touches of humor when needed.

Speaking of characters, we meet Pilgrim, a former very secret services agent, " retired " - despite his young age - who is being called again because he's the only one who can save the country from the imminent threat. We know that Pilgrim was one of the best agents, if not the best, since he said it... I admit that I would have liked more anecdotes about his past to get an idea of why he's the best one as the only details explaining its soaring in the hierarchy of the secret world are a little flimsy. Saracen, the terrorist, is a character that we discover as a teenager and that we follow throughout his journey leading him to his will to destroy humanity, so that you can't completely hate him. And finally, Ben, the New York cop, a hero with a big heart, loyal and reliable. There are other characters that we not follow long but just as well written and who, despite their brief appearance, leave a strong impression in the novel.

I appreciated that the tension rises gradually, as Pilgrim gets close to the Saracen and finishes with a stressful race against the clock. I really enjoyed the clues planted by here and there by the author, foreshadowing what will happen - and it sets thinking - we know that this clue is important but not why till the twist and I must say that a lot of time I found it very good! I also enjoyed the trips we made ​​to cities and countries according to where Pilgrim goes - from Paris to New York, Turkey, Saudi Arabia...

In a nutshell

A first book for this author but what a book! Humor, suspense, a race against the clock, well-written characters and travels. It is a 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.

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.

Close Reach - a frozen and soaked review!

by Jonathan Moore

Random House Publishing Group - Hydra (6 mai 2014)

200 pages - 3.15 $ (kindle edition)

Always good to know that Jonathan Moore was nominated for the Bram Stoker price (Brams: good old Dracula's daddy) (the master of Brrr). It herefore suggests a good novel... a creepy one. 

What that book's about

In a riveting tale of suspense and terror on the high seas,Bram Stoker Award nominee Jonathan Moore pits human beings against nature—and something far deadlier: one another.

Kelly Pratihari-Reid and her husband sail their yacht into Antarctic waters, thinking their gravest concerns will be ice and storms—and their cracked marriage. A British girl shrieking across a short-range VHF frequency ends that illusion. It’s coming, she screams. It saw us and it’s coming back! Her voice is drowned by a tide of signal-jamming static, and Kelly sees a target on the radar screen: A ship is coming for them.

Thus begins an unforgettable cat-and-mouse game across stormy polar seas and dire landfalls. Kelly’s pursuers will test her to the limits of her endurance—and beyond. For the ship in her wake is crewed by pirates, with a young leader trained to use the most sadistic tortures in pursuit of his ultimate objective . . . a goal as shocking as it is horrific.

What's about that book

One thing is for sure, this book has almost nipped in the bud my desires to leave one day one a cruise on my yacht - what with icy storms, pirates and other mishaps - what has totally nipped it is my distinct lack of a boat...

I am not a pro at navigation but the author and yes it shows (or rather read). The terms are technical but not in I-explains-everything-so-well-it's-becoming-bloody-boring kind of style. Kelly and her husband - Dean - make a long cruise and we sail with them, at the same time. Navigation maneuvers are present to describe the action of the protagonists and it's well done. Sailing enthusiasts will be delighted with this book because they can very easily imagine themselves on Freefall, the boat designed by Dean. Similarly, some more medical scenes are very well described and in a professional manner. The author has clearly enquired which gives an impression of professionalism that I like in novels (I don't like when an author is trying to make me believe that impossible things are real!) (it's just a case of "C'mon! that can't even exist")

Regarding the characters, I can not say too much as not to reveal the book but they are very well written. The pirates are detestable to wish and I enjoyed every problem they encountered (mwahaha). The pirates' victims are moving and we feel the horror of their situation. Dean is the good guy, always ready to help others at the risk of his life but rather subdued in the novel. As for Kelly, she is focused, efficient and her past allows her not only to be combative but also to be strong and resourceful.

As for the story, it changes constantly in a creepy game of cat and mouse. The beginning focuses on the pursuit and the collision at sea and, despite (or rather because of) the technical terms, I found it very well done. There was not a moment to stop and I really saw myself on the boat. Once the collision happened, the story takes place on land and Kelly will discover the pirates' purpose. A purpose she'll do everything to destroy. Some scenes are very hard and graphic and can bother some people but honestly, they serve to show the horror of the situation and in that, they are excellent (one should not forget Moore's nomination to the Bram Stoker price!) (it gives one an idea of his talent for horror) (you have been warned!)

In a nutshell

An excellent novel, technical and well done, a big bunch of horror, a plausible story (yes, pirates do exist...) A book that will appeal to sailing enthusiasts, horror enthusiasts or both! It's a 4/5 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.