“In a movie there might have been more warning. I might have heard a tiny mechanical click, the sound of him releasing the safety. But in reality that single impatient breath was the only warning I got. Then the muzzle brushed my side and he pulled the trigger.”

Book Review:

Review by Eleanor Bukowsky  (AUG 7, 2011)

David Loogan lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with his girlfriend, Detective Elizabeth Waishkey and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Sarah. Loogan edits a mystery magazine, and he has made the mental leap from writing and critiquing stories about crime to tracking down villains in real life. In Harry Dolan’s latest novel, Very Bad Men, David tells us a story that will explain “the motives people have for killing one another.” As we will see, the reasons for taking someone’s life can vary from a matter of convenience to a thirst for revenge. Loogan, who is a witty first person narrator, gets embroiled in his latest adventure when someone drops an unsolicited manuscript at his office, in which the anonymous writer confesses to committing murder and even provides the name of his next victim.

An emotionally disturbed individual has targeted particular men whom he believes must die; if he has to dispatch others who are not on the list, so be it. When Elizabeth and David become familiar with the case, they discover that it is far more complex than it at first appears. Very Bad Men involves a seventeen-year-old bank robbery, corrupt public officials, an aspiring senatorial candidate, and an ambitious young newspaper reporter who stirs things up.

Harry Dolan has created a large cast of characters, each of whom plays a role in what will turn out to be a Greek tragedy, Michigan style. The author is good with details: how to kill someone who is locked up in prison; what it is like to live with excruciating migraine headaches; a fine description of the landscape and inhabitants of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula; and the tricks that tenacious journalists use to get their stories. Although the plot is ridiculously convoluted and not particularly believable, Very Bad Men is entertaining enough to hold our interest. As bodies pile up and events occur that shed new light on what is happening, David and Elizabeth decide to dig deeper into the past. They suspect that the slaughter will not stop until secrets that have been hidden for many years are finally revealed.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 22 readers
PUBLISHER:	Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam (July 7, 2011)
REVIEWER:	Eleanor Bukowsky
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Harry Dolan
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: We All Fall Down by Michael Harvey Misery Bay by Steve Hamilton

Bibliography:

• Bad Things Happen (2009)
• Very Bad Men (July 2011)

“Not much had been said during the meeting, no new progress had been made. They were now working from the theory that the killing spree was over and that the deficit for the Swedish business world was going to stop at three and only three entries: Kuno Daggfeldt, Bernhard Strand-Julen, and Nils-Emil Carlberger.

They were wrong.”

Book Review:

Review by Bonnie Brody (JUL 13, 2011)

Misterioso by Arne Dahl is a unique and wonderful book. It is part mystery, part police procedural, part existential philosophy and part comedy. There is something so distinctive about this book that it resists categorization. On the surface, it is a mystery but so much of the novel lies below the surface, getting into the characters’ minds and thoughts as they live their lives and work at trying to catch a serial killer.

The title of the book comes from a piece of music composed by Thelonius Monk, a famous American jazz pianist and composer, now deceased. There is a serial killer on the loose in Sweden who is killing very rich and powerful men. The killer waits for his prey in the victim’s living room listening to Monk’s Misterioso on the stereo and when the victim arrives he is shot in the head two times. The killer views the music as “a pantomime, a peculiar dance of death.” The Swedish police put together what they call an A-Team to find this killer.

Paul Hjelm is one of those chosen for this select group. It is ironic for him as on the afternoon he was picked, he expected to be fired. He was with his colleagues that morning and there was a hostage situation in a building near police headquarters. An Estonian immigrant, here illegally, was holding a group of people in the immigration office hostage. Paul decides to take matters into his own hands and he goes into the office and shoots the man holding the others hostage. Paul feels very badly about doing this and expects Internal Affairs to fire him for his impulsive action. He acted on his own without waiting for back-up. Instead of being fired, he becomes a national hero.

The group gathered to form the A-Team is very original. There is a singer – a man who used to be Mr. Sweden when he took steroids; there is a Chilean who is called black-head because he is not blonde like most Swedes; there is a woman who also sings and likes to masturbate in her office; there is a Finn who has a secrets from his past life prior to coming to Sweden; there is a pedantic idealist who loves to give his political views. The reader sees how the team interacts and gets to know one another. Hultin, the team leader, always enters the room through a mysterious door that no one knows about. Where it comes from and where it leads to is a mystery.

As the team works together, there are four victims dead. The A-Team checks out all kinds of leads including the Russian and Estonian mafia, the victims’ businesses and personal lives, and they find out a lot of information. One of the victims is a pedophile, together the three of them tried to rape a woman who later committed suicide, and some of their businesses are involved in mafia corruption. “An amphetamine-babbling proprietor of a video store with private viewing booths in Norrmalm had cheerfully offered them some child porn films with Russian subtitles, even though they had shown him their police ID. He was arrested.”

Paul is in the midst of a marital crisis, an existential aloneness where he and his wife of many years, Cilla, can no longer communicate and find themselves totally separate. Paul has this “dreadful, unbearable feeling that we can never really reach anyone else. Never ever, not even those closest to us. The horrifying sensation of absolute existential aloneness. And now he saw this same emotion in Cilla’s eyes.”

We learn about the Palme murder that is a huge deal in Sweden. It is mentioned several times in this novel. Olof Palme, the Prime Minister of Sweden, was assassinated in 1986 and the murderer was never found. The A-Group does not want to be seen as ineffective like the investigation of the Palme murder turned out to be. It is very much in the back of their minds as they search for the serial killer. When they do not have luck finding the murderer after a month “either they were doing something fundamentally wrong, or else they were dealing with another Palme murder.”

We also learn about the prevalence of xenophobia in Sweden. The term black-head refers to anyone who doesn’t have blond hair as do most of the Swedes. There is a great deal of prejudice against immigrants and looking like a Swede is considered very important.

“The more they got to know each other, the harder it becames to understand each other. As always.” This background of existential ennui reminded me of Sartre and Camus, especially Sartre’s book Nausea. Paul becomes obsessed with a mark on his cheek, most likely a common pimple. However, he worries it’s melanoma and the mark takes on different shapes depending on his mood and the different crises he is facing.

Much of the dialog is tongue in cheek and I found myself laughing at the oddest moments. Tiina Nunnally did a wonderful job of translation and the book flows throughout. There is not a dull moment. It seems like the Scandinavians are having a true renaissance in crime writing and Arne Dahl is right at the top with this first in a 10 book series finally available to US readers.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 18 readers
PUBLISHER:	Pantheon (July 12, 2011)
REVIEWER:	Bonnie Brody
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Wikipedia page on Arne Dahl
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	More Scandinavian mysteries:  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson The Shadow Woman by Ake Edwardson The Snowman by Jo Nesbo

Bibliography (translated only):

• Misterioso (1999; July 2011 in US)

“It was so different from the digs in glum Earl’s Court that I had taken when I first moved down here. The houses here were similar to those, early Victorian stucco turned almost black with dirt and soot, carved into guesthouses and cheap rooms to accommodate as many transients as possible. But there was an aura of dank melancholy that hung over the rooftops like a shroud there. It was full of pubs catering to a steady trade of dispossessed alcoholics, ancient prostitutes and hobbling war veterans with hollow, staring eyes. Here it was far, far different. A secret world where every doorway was hiding a new intrigue and different types of music pumped under every floorboard, from American jazz to Jamaican ska to Irish rebel songs.”

Book Review:

Review by Guy Savage  (FEB 19, 2011)

I’d heard of Jack the Ripper and the Yorkshire Ripper, but before I read British author Cathi Unsworth’s crime novel, Bad Penny Blues, I’d never heard of Jack the Stripper. Jack the Stripper was the name given to a serial killer who operated in London during the 60s. His victims were young women–6 in all–whose bodies were found in 1964 and 1965. The crimes–also known as the Hammersmith Murders or the Hammersmith Nudes were never solved, but they had some features in common. The women were prostitutes and they died from strangulation. Some had teeth missing and some of the bodies bore traces of industrial paint. The police eventually connected these 6 murders with two other similar, earlier crimes. They acknowledged that the total murder toll might stretch back to include an unsolved murder committed in 1959, and that a dead woman found in 1963 was possibly yet another victim of the same killer.

When serial killers hunt, kill, and then seem to disappear from the planet, questions are raised. These predators don’t reform, so where did they go?

Bad Penny Blues examines the crimes of Jack the Stripper in an unusual fashion. This is not a police procedural–instead the novel is the tale of a vast array of characters in London of the late 50s and 60s. The lives of these characters–along with the drama of love, marriage, friendship and affairs–take place against the backdrop of crime, murder, and evil unleashed in the seamy, secret side of London.

The story unfolds through the lives of its two main characters: Pete Bradley and Stella. The novel begins in 1959 with Bradley, a new Police Constable, on patrol with another young PC and their lazy, slovenly Sergeant. Pete, who’s keen and ambitious, spots what appears to be a “collection of bags” underneath a tree on the banks of the Thames. He insists on stopping and investigating. Instead of a pile of rubbish, he finds the half-naked body of young girl. There’s a discrepancy in the case that nags at Bradley, and as the years pass and Bradley is transferred to another division, he never forgets this unsolved crime.

The other main character is young designer, Stella. In 1959, she’s a newly wed, married to fellow student, artist Toby. They strike up a number of relationships, including a lasting, but strange friendship with the very beautiful Jenny–the daughter of one of London’s richest and most powerful men. To observers, Toby and Stella appear to have the ideal marriage, and the swinging 6os bring both Toby and Stella fame and success while happiness eludes them.

The lives of Pete Bradley and Stella run parallel through the events that take place. Pete, taking the advice of another policeman, learns to keep his mouth shut about some of the shadier things he experiences. In time, he marries and rises through the police force to make detective. Meanwhile Stella and Toby drift apart as they pursue their separate careers. Stella stands firm with her old friends, becoming a designer and opening a boutique. Toby, however, is swept up by his fame and begins drinking heavily. As the years go by, Stella intermittently experiences terrifying nightmares. These nightmares appear to be portals to the violent deaths of young women, and Stella relives the last terrifying moments of the murdered girls. In desperation, she turns to her Spiritualist past for answers from the dead.

Unsworth recreates an effective cultural and social history of the 60s through the lives of her numerous characters. Bradley and Stella live in a troubled London plagued by race riots, Moseley running for election (again), the Profumo Affair, and the landmark boxing match between Cassius Clay and Henry Cooper. This is a London of the have and the have-nots. The inviolable rich, decadent, and powerful live in their mansions while the girls from impoverished Northern towns flock to London by the thousands. The underground communities of artists and homosexuals straddle both worlds and hide some of the uglier secrets.

While Bad Penny Blues is most certainly a crime novel, it’s much meatier than typical entries from the genre. Some criticism of the book is directed towards the failure of the plot to effectively and convincingly bring the lives of the detective and Stella together. I don’t share that criticism; on the contrary, Unsworth knits together the main characters and the supernatural theme very well, and the sense of unease and imminent danger courses through the pages from the novel’s beginning until its conclusion. My biggest complaint is the sheer number of characters here: the victims, their pimps, the crims, the coppers, the hoity-toity crowd, the pals and the hangers-on. This is a panoramic view of vastly different lives, an ambitious novel with a huge cast of characters. Sometimes characters are mentioned but they don’t appear for huge chunks of the novel only to surface much later. A list of characters printed at the beginning would have helped tremendously. Bad Penny Blues is a haunting read, and in spite of its ambitious design which doesn’t always work, Unsworth does a credible job in reconstructing a unique, colourful time and place.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 6 readers
PUBLISHER:	Serpent’s Tail (August 17, 2010)
REVIEWER:	Guy Savage
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Cathi Unsworth
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Another novel based on an unsolved serial killer: Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

Bibliography:

• The Not Knowing (2005; 2006 in US)
• The Singer (2007; 2009 in US)
• Bad Penny Blues (August 2010)

As Editor:

• London Noir edited by Cathi Unsworth (August 2006)

“I thought again of the promise I had made in the hospital: I would be a better man. No more Demon Dexter—I was Dex-Daddy now, dedicated to the welfare of Lily Anne and my fledgling family. For the first time human life seemed rare and valuable, in spite of the fact that there was so much of it, and for the most part it consistently failed to prove its worth. But I owed it to Lily Anne to change my ways, and I would do it.”

Book Review:

Review by Eleanor Bukowsky (SEP 19, 2010)

In Dexter Morgan’s fifth outing, Dexter is Delicious, our devilish and alliterative slasher and narrator is in danger of becoming a mushy and sentimental softie. His wife, Rita, has given birth to an adorable baby girl named Lily Anne, and Dexter is head over heels in love with his brand new bundle of joy. As he stands in the nursery gazing at the baby, he suddenly wants to embrace life, not death. “I want to hold her. I want to sit her on my lap and read her Christopher Robin and Dr. Seuss.” In short, he decides, “I don’t want to be Dark Dexter anymore.” If he were to kill again, it would be to protect his beautiful child from any predator who would dare to touch a hair on her lovely head.

Paternity leave is short-lived, however, since Dexter’s bossy and demanding sister, Sergeant Deborah, summons him to an address in Old Coconut Grove. She drags Dex into a room “so spattered with blood that it looked like a large animal had exploded.” An eighteen-year-old girl has disappeared and Deborah wants her brother to help analyze the blood splatter to determine what might have happened. At first, he is bewildered, but further inquiries reveal that there are some serious weirdoes loose in Miami who are engaged in nefarious activities, including cannibalism.

Parts of this novel rank up there with the best of Lindsay. These include the sections that deal with Dexter’s newfound feelings of humanity and his repressed, but still active, impulse to slice and dice; and Dexter’s love/hate relationship with Deborah whom he would do anything to protect but who drives him up the wall. A few new characters spice up the story, including Deb’s partner, Deke Slater, a slow-witted but sinfully good-looking cop. To add to the excitement, one of Dexter’s long-lost relatives arrives unexpectedly and shows no signs of leaving any time soon. In addition, Deb’s boyfriend, Kyle Chutsky, and Dex’s nemesis, Sergeant Doakes, make brief but lively appearances.

On the other hand, the villainy in the book is disappointingly predictable. The bad guys have no depth and the “surprises” that the author springs on us are telegraphed well in advance. The territorial infighting between Deb and federal agents trying to wrest jurisdiction from her is a tiresome cliché that has been done to death, and Deb’s constant use of profanity is irritating. Nor are we terribly shocked when Dexter and Deb get themselves into hot water by rushing into dangerous situations without sufficient backup. Still, we keep reading, since we want to know if Dexter will revert to his bad old ways. Read Dexter is Delicious to enjoy the delightfully satirical humor, observe the evolution of Dexter’s personality, and empathize with Dexter’s struggle to resist the increasingly urgent whisperings of the Dark Passenger. No matter how much Dexter would like to believe that the sun will come out tomorrow, it is all too apparent “that the sun is nearly always hidden by clouds, flowers have thorns, and rainbows are always out of reach.”

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 67 readers
PUBLISHER:	Doubleday; First Edition edition (September 7, 2010)
REVIEWER:	Eleanor Bukowsky
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Wikipedia page on Jeff Lindsay
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of:Darkly Dreaming Dexter (1) Dearly Devoted Dexter (2) Dexter by Design (4)

Bibliography:

Dexter Series:

• Darkly Dreaming Dexter (2004)
• Dearly Devoted Dexter 2005)
• Dexter in the Dark (2007)
• Dexter by Design (2009)
• Dexter is Delicious (2010)
• Double Dexter (2011)
• Dexter’s Final Cut (September 2013)

TV Series from book:

• Dexter: The First Season (2006)
• Dexter: The Second Season (2008)
• Dexter: The Third Season (2009)
• Dexter: The Fourth Season (2010)
• Dexter: The Fifth Season (2011)
• Dexter: The Sixth Season (2012)

“He recognized more of the madness with each killing, each instance of unmitigated brutality perpetrated by one human being against another. Sometimes, despite all he had witnessed, he found himself still staggered by the sheer inventiveness applied to the demise and destruction of identity and individual. And he had learned that irrationality could not be rationalized.”

Book Review:

Review by Eleanor Bukowsky (JUL 10, 2010)

In R. J. Ellory’s The Anniversary Man, John Costello is sixteen when his life changes irrevocably. An unidentified assailant brutally attacks him and his girlfriend, Nadia, and although John survives, something in his soul has been shattered. Twenty-two years pass; he has somehow moved on and works as a researcher for a New York daily newspaper. He has his quirks, including a case of OCD, a tendency towards reclusiveness, and an encyclopedic knowledge of and fascination with serial killers. John’s past comes back to haunt him when a copycat starts replicating old crimes. As the number of dead bodies climbs, the police are under enormous pressure to identify and stop the perpetrator.

Ray Irving, a twenty year veteran in the New York City Police Department, is the unlucky detective who is assigned to investigate a succession of murders that may or may not be related. Irving is a loner and a workaholic. He shares these traits with Karen Langley, Senior Crime Correspondent for the New York City Herald. The two clash over the newspaper’s right to reveal information about the killing spree. Irving, whose girlfriend died suddenly, and Langley, a divorcee, are interested in one another, but tempers flare when they realize that they are operating at cross purposes. Meanwhile, Ray’s boss is impatiently demanding results and, in desperation, Irving turns to an expert, John Costello, to help him see the big picture.

What distinguishes The Anniversary Man is its realism. Irving and his colleagues expend a huge amount of time tracking down leads, but they are outsmarted at every turn. Progress is painfully slow because of a lack of forensic evidence, an abundance of red tape, and a shortage of manpower. It is rare that fictional police officers are made to look this clueless, but in a way, it is refreshingly genuine. After all, some killers literally get away with murder for years, leaving the cops baffled. Ray Irving’s rocky relationship with Karen is also convincing, since these two battle-scarred people cannot successfully bond when they are so emotionally distraught. Costello remains a cipher, although one cannot help but empathize with a man who, in many ways, never grew up. Ellory does not patronize us. In fact, in this book he makes a thought-provoking statement about the incomprehensible nature of evil, a concept that can be described and discussed, but never completely understood.

One quibble is the characters’ overuse of profanity; too many four-letter words quickly lose their shock value and serve as an unwelcome distraction. In addition, the narrative is a bit too long and drawn out; a bit of streamlining would have been helpful. Finally, a word of caution is in order. This story is not for the squeamish, since it makes specific references to horrific acts of slaughter. The Anniversary Man is a depressing but compelling novel about the profound damage that ruthless predators inflict on their prey.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 13 readers
PUBLISHER:	Overlook Hardcover; 1 edition (June 10, 2010)
REVIEWER:	Eleanor Bukowsky
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	Not Yet
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	R.J. Ellory
EXTRAS:	Independent review of The Anniversary Man
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: A Quiet Belief in Angels

Bibliography:

• Candlemoth (2003)
• Ghostheart (2004)
• A Quiet Vendetta (2005)
• City of Lies (2006)
• A Quiet Belief in Angels (2007; September 2009 in US)
• A Simple Act of Violence (2008; June 2011)
• The Anniversary Man (2009; June 2010 in US)

“Show me your hands!” Alves commanded, ducking behind another tree. He was less than ten yards away now. He put the light on the perp again.

In the artificial cone of yellow light, Alves saw that the figure was wearing a tuxedo.

Stepping from behind the tree, Alves made his way forward. The man stood unnaturally rigid. Not even a flinch as Alves stepped over brush and dry leaves to reach him. The man was ocean frank, like the girl. The scene was familiar. Nothing he had seen himself. But he had heard enough from his old sergeant Wayne Mooney to know what he had just found.

Book Review:

Review by Chuck Barksdale (JUN 12, 2010)

Raffi Yessayan’s second book, 2 in the Hat, is a somewhat disappointing, but still enjoyable sequel to his first book 8 in the Box. This book takes place 3 years after 8 in the Box and includes many of the same characters with continuing emphasis on Assistant District Attorney Connie Darget and police detectives Angel Alves and Wayne Mooney.

Detective Alves’ daughter accidently finds a dead girl in the playground where she and other members of the Mitey Mites football team that her father coaches are running a last lap after practice. Alves quickly runs to the scene and finds not only the dead girl but a dead man posed in a way that is similar to an old unsolved Prom Night Killer case his former sergeant Wayne Mooney told him about from ten years ago. Because of his prior experience, Mooney is reinstated to the homicide division to work with Alves to see if the Prom Night killer has returned or if this is the work of a copycat killer.

While Mooney and Alves are tied up on the Prom Night killer, Detective Ray Figgs is looking into neighborhood killings that appear to be gang related. Figgs has struggled in his job lately being more interested in drinking than solving murders, but something about these cases is keeping him sober enough to make him return to his former form.

Assistant District Connie Darget is always around to help the detectives with both cases and decides to look into the past Prom Night killings and provide his thoughts about the killer to the detectives. Detective Alves finds Darget more of a pain than a help as he ignores his ideas. Alves also becomes distracted by the three year old Blood Bath Killer case. He begins to think that maybe Mitch Beaulieu who they thought was the killer, and who had committed suicide before anyone could talk to him, may not have been the Blood Bath killer as he begins to suspect someone else who worked closely with Mitch Beaulieu.

The tension builds throughout the book as the detectives all work to find the killers while the killers work to keep the detectives from finding them. Yessayan includes a few twists along the way to keep the suspense building.

As in the first book, Yessayan uses a mix of third person perspectives to show the thoughts of Connie Darget, the homicide police detectives as well as a serial killer that keeps the police busy looking for clues. Of course, that is part of the problem I had with this book as much of the story seems familiar from the first book and not just because the characters are the same. Detective Alves is still having difficulty balancing work with family as he chases clues to a serial killer, Detective Sergeant Mooney keeps the pressure on Alves to work the case instead of going home to his family, Connie is still an attorney usually working to his own benefit and, of course, a serial killer is on the loose.

I’m not sure if reading the first book is beneficial or not to reading this book. Although Yessayan provides enough detail about the characters and back story that this book can be read as a standalone, he does keep some things from the reader that would be known if the first book had been read. However, I’m thinking that knowledge was not necessarily a good thing as some of the suspense that builds in the first book and again in the second book for a new reader was not as suspenseful to me since I knew something about a key character that was not provided to readers of only the second book. This may be another reason I was somewhat disappointed with this book.

Yessayan follows the same style as in his first book having many chapters (109 total) with each chapter in the perspective of one of the main characters. No doubt, James Patterson is one of the people who influenced his writing style. I actually enjoy this short chapter approach especially if I just have a few minutes to read a chapter. The change in perspective is done effectively as I never was confused about which character was the focus of that chapter.

One thing that is missing from this book that I enjoyed in the first book is more on the legal aspects and the lives and cases of the assistant district attorneys. This book is much more of a police procedural / serial killer suspense book and less of a legal thriller novel. With Yessayan’s own experience as a Boston district attorney, he was certainly able to bring much to these parts of the book and with less about legal issues and lawyers, he’s writing in areas that I’m sure he is familiar, but likely lacks the same in-depth experience that makes the story more realistic. Hopefully, he’ll bring more of his legal experiences to his future books and leave the serial killer novels to others.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 37 readers
PUBLISHER:	Ballantine Books; 1 edition (April 13, 2010)
REVIEWER:	Chuck Barksdale
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Raffi Yessayan
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: 8 in the Box

Bibliography:

• 8 in the Box (June 2008)
• 2 in the Hat (April 2010)

“She was alive when she was put in the bath?”
“I think so. There are other ways to drain a person of her blood, but the easiest way is to have the heart do the pumping for you.”
“So he puts his victims in the bathtub and slits their wrists. Are they incapacitated in any way? Unconscious maybe?”
“No trace of drugs in the blood.”
“So maybe he hits them over the head and knocks them out. Who knows? But whoever lost that blood is definitely dead, right?”
“Angel, I can’t say so with any scientific certainty, and this isn’t my specialty, but if that was Susan McCarthy’s blood in the tub, my guess is she’s dead.”

Book Review:

Review by Chuck Barksdale (JUN 12, 2010)

New author Raffi Yessayan’s first book 8 in the Box is a solid legal thriller based in Boston, Massachusetts that is also a well done and enjoyable police procedural. With a mix of perspectives, Yessayan shows the thoughts of the homicide police detectives and the district attorneys as well as a serial killer that keeps the police busy looking for clues.

The book focuses on several young assistant district attorneys, with the lead being Conrad “Connie” Darget, somewhat more experienced than the other attorneys and one that is respected for his success by both his male and female co-workers. Connie also develops good relationships with the police and works to earn their trust when he visits crime scenes. This also helps him in assuring the cases he tries will be managed correctly in the field so he will be more successful in winning his cases.

Connie gets to work with two main homicide detectives, new detective Angel Alves and the more experienced Sergeant Detective Wayne Mooney. The two detectives certainly are challenged to solve what become a series of missing people whose blood is left behind in a bathtub of water. The “Blood Bath Killer” is careful to not leave any significant clues as the two detectives work tirelessly to solve the murder. Mooney’s continual press on the young Alves does lead to some stress in Alves’ family as the added hours often leave him unable to participate in family functions his wife Marcy plans. The story includes several twists along the way as the killer confuses the detectives with no clues and a mix of victims.

Although this book is mostly about finding the serial killer, Yessayan does spend a fair amount of time building the back story of the various characters, with an emphasis on the attorneys. This makes sense since Yessayan spent 11 years as a Boston assistant district attorney and he is obviously comfortable writing about these experiences even if fictional. Yessayan spends the most time on Connie Darget and his cases along with his relationship with law student Andi Norton. Andi spends too much time on the cases Connie gives her and this only leads to problems with her law classes. Other attorneys include Mitch Beaulieu, a sensitive African-American attorney who struggles with the many cases against African-Americans, and Nick Costa who is more interested in impressing women then in being prepared for his cases which he never seems to win.

Yessayan’s style in the book is to have many chapters (85 total) with each chapter in the perspective of one of several main characters. Since the book doesn’t really feature one main character, many different perspectives are presented; however, Yessayan does a very good job of making it clear from whose perspective that chapter is in and at no time did I feel confused. Although I wasn’t sure about this approach at the beginning, I think it worked and allowed to get into the minds of the key characters, including the killer Richter, thus allowing the reader to understand what was going on in the book. Of course, although you do learn more from being in the mind of the killer, Yessayan does not give the reader too much information too soon.

I’ve just started Raffi Yessayan’s second book, 2 in the Hat, a sequel to 8 in the Box. Many of the same characters are back and the same mix of perspectives with short chapters is in this book. I’m not sure I agree with the numbering approach of the book titles, especially since the numbers are not in order. I had to keep reminding myself to read the “8” book before the “2” book. I’d suggest Yessayan use a different approach if he continues the series since this will be nearly impossible to keep straight after a few books in the series.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 24 readers
PUBLISHER:	Ballantine Books (March 23, 2010)
REVIEWER:	Chuck Barksdale
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Raffi Yessayan
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: 2 in the Hat

Bibliography:

• 8 in the Box (June 2008)
• 2 in the Hat (April 2010)

“Using a black Magic Marker, I wrote down the date of each woman’s abduction, and beneath that, the things that linked them – – age, athleticism, and the fact that they were all nursing students.”

Book Review:

Review by Bonnie Brody (MAY 25, 2010)

Before getting kicked off the police force, Private eye Jack Carpenter served for sixteen years as head of the missing persons department for the Broward County Police Force in Florida. Kicked off the force for being too rough with witnesses, Jack still works with the missing persons department as a consultant. His specialty is finding missing children. He and his Australian Shepherd, Buster, form a team and they have a special sense for locating the missing. Jack is especially good at finding damaged children such as those who have autism, have been abused, or are handicapped in some way.

Eighteen years ago, while he was head of missing persons, he witnessed the abduction of college student Naomi Dunn but was unable to stop it. It has haunted him all this time. Just recently, he received a phone call from his daughter Jesse, a college basketball player. Jesse tells him that a creepy guy has been stalking their team, videotaping them and making them feel uncomfortable. Jack checks this out and finds a small, smelly guy named Mouse wearing a fake reporter’s badge videotaping Jesse’s team. Shortly afterwards, one of their star players, Sarah Long, is abducted by a six foot ten inch “monster.” Jack tries to stop the abduction but is no competition for this huge man who has flung Sarah over his shoulder. Jack’s worst nightmare has been replayed and he is determined to get to the bottom of this. Jack’s search for the abductors and the reasons behind the abductions form the basis of The Night Monster’s plot.

Jack lives alone in a single room over a bar. He is separated from his wife, has no money, and his home is in foreclosure. As Jack investigates the abductions, working in tandem with the police force and the FBI, he puts together some interesting clues. Both girls were nursing students and each was tall and very athletic. The same “giant” took both of them and disappeared, seemingly into nowhere. Linderman is the FBI agent that Jack works with and Linderman’s own daughter was abducted five years previously. This case is very personal for him.

Jack gathers evidence from casino tapes where Mouse and the giant have been stalking another woman and develops a dossier showing that five women have been abducted in the same manner over a period of years. All of the woman were nursing students and athletes, and they were abducted from their own apartments. Over time, Jack comes to realize that the police force is on the wrong track and he goes off on his own maverick scent.

Sarah Long’s father is one of the wealthiest land developers in Florida and he hires Jack to find his daughter. This puts a large amount of money into Jack’s pocket and also puts a helicopter and additional security cops at his disposal. Along with Sarah’s father, he begins a long and desperate search that takes him throughout Florida.

His search leads him to an abandoned psychiatric facility for the criminally insane called Daybreak. Daybreak was closed several years ago and the patients placed in other facilities. There were problems with the management of Daybreak and the patients were mistreated. Jack finds out that the giant and Mouse were both patients there and that they escaped the facility nineteen years ago. Lonnie is the giant’s name and he was sent to Daybreak when he was a child. Not only was he a giant but he was “retarded.” When Lonnie was thirteen years old, “he came upstairs when his mother and sisters were eating dinner. Had a sledgehammer in his hand. He bludgeoned his mother and one of his sisters to death.” Mouse is described as “crazy like a fox” but not actually criminally insane.

As Jack follows the trail from Daybreak to the present, he ends up in the town of Chatham, Florida where he believes Lonnie and Mouse are hiding. Chatham is surreal. As Jack sits in a restaurant having dinner, he looks outside. “The sidewalk outside The Sweet Lowdown was filled with people out for an evening stroll. Over a third of them were missing an arm, a leg, or a hand, with some even missing two limbs. They all seemed to know each other, and had stopped to chat or have a smoke. It was a parade of the maimed.” How is Chatham linked to Lonnie and Mouse? Do the people there know that kidnappers are living among them? Why are there so many maimed people?

While the procedural aspects of this book are interesting, the characters are never well-developed. They are mostly outlines without any depth. Some of the plot seems a bit silly but the book traverses a lot of interesting ground as well. Will Jack find the abductors and be able to save any of the women? This aspect of the book holds the reader’s interest and keeps an exciting pace. James Swain writes an interesting mystery and keeps readers guessing until the end making it a perfect vacation read.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 74 readers
PUBLISHER:	Ballantine Books (May 25, 2010)
REVIEWER:	Bonnie Brody
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	James Swain
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: Loaded Dice

Bibliography:

Tony Valentine series:

• Grift Sense (2001)
• Funny Money (2002)
• Sucker’s Bet (2003)
• Loaded Dice (2004)
• Mr. Lucky (2005)
• Deadman’s Poker (2006)
• Deadman’s Bluff (2006)
• Wild Card (2010)
• Jackpot (2010)

Jack Carpenter series:

• Midnight Rambler (2007)
• The Night Stalker (2008)
• The Night Monster (2009)
• The Program (2010)

Magic Stand-alone thrillers:

• The Man Who Cheated Death (2012)
• Dark Magic (2012)

“Harry had felt the gnawing ache for alcohol from the moment he woke up that morning. First as an instinctive physical craving, then as a panic-stricken fear because he had put a distance between himself and his medicine by not taking is hip flask or any money with him to work. Now the ache was entering a new phase in which it was both a wholly physical pain and a feeling of blank terror that he would be torn to pieces.”

Book Review:

Review by Eleanor Bukowsky (FEB 24, 2010)

In Jo Nesbø’s The Devil’s Star, Harry Hole is an alcoholic who will be lucky to reach his fortieth birthday. His job as an inspector in Oslo Police Headquarters is hanging by a thread. He would not have a position at all if his supervisor, Crime Squad Chief Inspector Bjarne Møller, did not feel sorry for him, especially since he knows what a terrific detective Harry is when he manages to stay sober. Harry’s self-loathing is deepened by regret over his crumbling relationship with his lover, Rakel. He is all too aware that he cannot offer Rakel the stability and security that she and her young son, Oleg, need and deserve.

It is summer in Oslo, and the city is in the grip of a debilitating heat wave. In addition, the police force is working with a skeleton crew since so many people are away on vacation. When a fresh homicide falls into Møller’s lap, he calls Beate Lønn, a forensics whiz and a straight arrow who practically lives in the lab and is blessed with a photographic memory. Next, he contacts Inspector Tom Waaler, a rising star who is handsome, self-confident, and respected by everyone in the department. Møller hesitates before telephoning Harry Hole, “the lone wolf…the department’s enfant terrible.”

Harry is still reeling from the death of his colleague, Ellen Gjelten. Although Ellen’s case is closed, Harry is obsessed and will not let it rest; he has some disturbing theories about what really happened to her. He spends hours pursuing leads that turn out to be dead ends. Out of frustration, he goes on a binge and Bjame covers for Harry by placing him on leave. However, Harry’s boss cannot protect him indefinitely.

Circumstances bring Waaler, Hole, and Lønn together on a strange case of a serial killer who seems to be fixated on pentagrams, “devil’s stars.” The perpetrator appears to pick his victims randomly and his motive is unclear. As the killings continue, the police remain baffled. Harry, who gradually emerges from his alcoholic haze, uses his keen insight and out-of-the box thinking to shed some light on this murky investigation. As he does so, he butts heads not only with a cold-blooded psychopath but also with a sworn enemy who has a great deal to lose if Harry succeeds in unmasking him.

Although Harry is something of a stereotype (the brilliant cop who needs a big case to give him an excuse to go on the wagon), he is likeable, honest, and compassionate. Unsurprisingly in a book that exceeds four-hundred and fifty pages, the mystery is complex, with red herrings galore, clues scattered throughout to tantalize the reader, and of course, a climactic and violent final confrontation. Although The Devil’s Star is far from realistic and breaks little new ground in a well-worn genre, it is evocative and suspenseful, with detailed and vivid descriptive writing and a fascinating look at the minutiae of forensics, interrogation, and surveillance. Nesbø’s characters are varied and intriguing, there is plenty of action to hold the reader’s interest, and the twists and turns keep us guessing, even after we think that the crime is solved. Aficionados of novels that feature a talented cop who lives on the edge, a sadistic and devilishly clever serial killer, and a plot that teases and surprises us until the truth is finally revealed, will find much to like in this multi-layered thriller.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 422 readers
PUBLISHER:	Harper (March 9, 2010)
REVIEWER:	Eleanor Bukowsky
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Jo Nesbo
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: Police The Snowman Nemesis

Bibliography:

• The Bat (1997; 2013)
• The Cockroaches (1998; 2014)
• The Redbreast (2000; 2006 in UK; 2007 in US)
• Nemesis (2002; 2008 in UK; January 2009 in US)
• The Devil’s Star (2003; 2010 in US)
• The Redeemer (2005; 2009 in UK; not in US)
• The Snowman (2007; 2011 in US)
• The Leopard (2011)
• Phantom (2012)
• Police (October 2013)

Stand-alone Novels:

• Headhunters (2008)
• The Son (May 2014)

“Love? He was bewildered. Something which had begun in a half-hearted way, something he had dared himself to do, had turned him inside out and he had no experience, no knowledge, no emotional resources to draw on for help. He felt churned up, with anxiety, confusion, regret even at having started this in the first place.”

Book Review:

Review by Eleanor Bukowsky (OCT 29, 2009)

In The Vows of Silence, the fourth Simon Serrailler mystery, Susan Hill picks up where she left off in The Risk of Darkness. Detective Chief Superintendent Serrailler remains a loner who relishes his job and enjoys his passion for drawing. His warm and compassionate sister, Dr. Cat Deerbon, her husband, Chris, and their three small children return from their nine-month stay in Australia, and Simon resumes his old habit of dropping by to hang out with Cat and her family. However, there are changes in store for the residents of the cathedral town of Lafferton, and not all of them are pleasant.

Hill has never shied away from depicting life’s tragedies. Characters whom we have come to care about experience misfortune and heartbreak, and the author makes no attempt to sugarcoat their grief. The whodunit involves an expert marksman who shoots young women and then disappears, leaving behind no forensic evidence. As the number of victims rises, Simon and his team pull out all the stops to catch the predator. However, without witnesses or any helpful leads, the detectives are frustrated by their inability to apprehend the killer.

The strength of this book lies in its lucid prose style, beautiful descriptive writing, smooth dialogue, and superb characterizations. There are touching scenes between a fifty-two year old man and a forty-six year old woman who are dating for the first time after losing their spouses. Hill sensitively captures their reluctance to take a risk with someone new, lest they experience further heartbreak. The author suggests that all change brings with it an element of uncertainty. When someone takes on a new job, establishes a new relationship, or moves to a new location, there is always the possibility of disappointment. However, if we remain mired in our comfortable and familiar routines out of fear, we may miss out on wonderful experiences and satisfying relationships.

Even for a Serrailler novel, The Vows of Silence has an overabundance of gloom and only a tiny glimmer of light to counterbalance it. It is unlikely that so many catastrophes would happen to so many people in so short a time. Still, Susan Hill draws us in and keeps us in thrall, as we eagerly wait to learn what will happen next.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 4 readers
PUBLISHER:	Overlook Hardcover (October 29, 2009)
REVIEWER:	Eleanor Bukowsky
AMAZON PAGE:	The Vows of Silence
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Susan Hill
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: The Risk of Darkness The Shadows in the Street If you like this author, try these: Karin Fossom Tom Rob Smith Elena Forbes

Partial Bibliography:

• The Enclosure (1961)
• Do Me a Favor (1963)
• Gentlemen and Ladies (1968)
• A Change for the Better (1969)
• I’m the King of the Castle (1970)
• The Albatross : stories (1970)
• Strange Meeting (1971)
• The Bird of the Night (1972)
• A Bit of Singing and Dancing : stories (1973)
• In the Springtime of the Year (1973)
• The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story (1983)
• Air and Angels (1991)
• The Mist in the Mirror (1992)
• Mrs. de Winter (1993)
• The Service of Clouds (1997)
• Listening to the Orchestra (1997)
• The Boy who Taught the Beekeeper to Read (2003)
• Farthing House: An Other Stories (2006)
• The Man in the Picture: A Ghost Story (2007; September 2008 in US)
• The Beacon (October 2008; May 2009 in US)
• The Small Hand (2010)

Simon Serrailler Mystery Series:

• The Various Haunts of Men (2004; 2006 in US)
• The Pure in Heart (2005; 2007 in US)
• The Risk of Darkness (2006; March 2009 in US)
• The Vows of Silence (2008; October 2009 in US)
• The Shadows in the Street (2010; September 2010 in US)

Nonfiction:

• Howard’s End is on the Landing : A Year of Reading from Home (November 2010)