Category Archives: books

daylight

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Daylight (Attlee Pine #3) by David Baldacci

This post may contain spoilers.

Not a bad book but just very formulaic and dull. This series is starting to feel like it should have been two maybe three books but has been stretched out to four.

Don’t get me wrong, there are loads of twists and turns and plenty of action with people getting shot, abducted, murdered and buildings blown up, there’s a massive blackmail scheme involving politicians, judges and cops but it’s still dull. I get the feeling that the author has a formula for writing by now but has no passion for it any longer.

To try and spice up the bizarre relationship between Pine and her grandmother style sidekick, Carol Blum, the author brings in the Pullers. John Puller’s investigation crosses Pine’s and they soon figure they need to work together. The second Puller brother, Robert, also gets pulled in and we have a sad scene between John and his father. Despite bringing these guys into the story it can’t seem to raise the excitement levels at all.

In the second book I found the character of Carol Blum to be very unrealistic. If anything she has become even more so in this one, following Pine around like a sad shadow of a mother and seemingly only useful as a sounding board for Pine to work through theories, come to conclusions and move the story ahead to the next step on the author’s plot list.

I will read the last installment but, as my only interest now lies in how they manage to complete Mercy’s story, I’m in no rush.

More on Goodreads and Amazon.

My Rating: ⭐⭐

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dragon keeper

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Dragon Keeper (Rain Wilds Chronicles #1) by Robin Hobb

This post may contain spoilers.

I’m a fan of everything I’ve read from Robin Hobb but this is definitely one of the best fantasy books I’ve read for quite some time. The author takes elements from the three previous series Liveship Traders, Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies and focuses them all on the Rain Wilds. It’s also a perfect example of why you should take reviews by other people with a big pinch of salt as I’ve seen many reviewers pan this book.

The story is told from the point of view of three brand new characters and in a very pleasant change to the norm all three are female. The first is Alise, daughter of a lower status Trader family that catches the eye of a prestigious and wealthy Trader son. Her stroke of fortune soon becomes a marriage of loneliness and abuse but she manages to make an escape on an adventure to the Rain Wilds that looks like it will change her life for ever.

Thymara is a deformed child of the Rain Wilds that was saved at birth by her father. He went against all tradition by bringing her home when she had been left out to die because of her deformities. Unfortunately, she is shunned by the Rain Wilds community and has a very isolated and lonely life. She is given a suspiciously profitable chance to change her life when the Trader Council recruits a team of Rain Wilders to escort the new dragon population away from the ancient buried city of the Elderlings.

The third POV is one of the newly emerged dragons. Female dragon Sintara is the dragon form of serpent Sisquara from the earlier stories. Like the rest of the newly emerged dragons she spent much too long as a serpent, cocooned much too late in the year and emerged with deformities. Now abandoned by Tintaglia and unable to fly the dragons are stranded and have become a very unwelcome burden on the Rain Wilds.

Another dragon (Mercor who was Maulkin as a serpent) carries memories of the ancient city of Kelsingra (sounds very like the city Fitz visits via the travelling stones) and convinces the others to trick the Rain Wilds council into providing them assistance to reach there. This brings the three strands of the story together and we join them as they start the first part of their journey.

Most of the characters are new and the setting of the Rain Wilds is expanded much more than in previous books but there is a familiarity also that links the earlier stories. Add in cameo appearances by Althea, Brashan, Paragon and Malta and it creates a perfect mix of old and new. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this story develops further.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

More on Goodreads and Amazon.

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white nights

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White Nights (Shetlands #2) by Anne Cleeves

This post may contain spoilers.

We’re back on the Shetlands once again with DI Jimmy Perez thrown into the midst of an apparent suicide that quickly becomes a murder investigation. It’s set against the backdrop of Jimmy’s developing relationship with Fran and the complex relationships between the small community in an isolated area of Shetland called Biddista. The people living there include an eccentric, high flying but now reclusive artist, her nephew who is a celebrity fiddle player and a fantasy author.

The author does a great job of building a very enjoyable plot as Jimmy wends his way carefully through the complex and historical relationships in this small community discovering many long buried secrets along the way. I’ve seen one review describe this as more of a murder mystery than a detective thriller and I can see why.

The standout of this book is the wonderful depiction of the relationship between Kenny and Edith, how they started their relationship and how it developed over the years. I also particularly liked how she described how Kenny dealt with the grief of his long missing brother.

Roy Taylor, a senior detective from Inverness, also returns in this story. I thought he was a good addition to the first book but struggled to see how he fit in here. He didn’t add much to the story for me apart from a reason for Jimmy’s insecurity which I found jarring. Jimmy’s insecurity with Fran, a constant worry about how their relationship was developing, also felt wrong to me. It was these two elements that stopped me from giving it 5 stars.

Like all good murder mysteries there is a great final reveal. Many authors struggle to avoid a “Scooby Doo” type ending but Cleeves provides a fantastic surprise at the end of this story and one for me that I found very sad. There are no happy endings here but a wonderfully enjoyable book.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

More on Goodreads and Amazon.

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the assassin

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The Assassin (Ryan Kealey #2) by Andrew Britton

This post may contain spoilers.

This was the first book for quite a while that I was going to give up on. I still don’t know how I managed to get to the end! The story picks up one year after the events of The American. Ryan Kealey has become a loose cannon acting outside the law in Iraq supposedly under the control of the CIA. He starts by placing a Special Forces team in great jeopardy during an operation where he goes rogue and pretty much gets black carded by everyone from the FBI to the President.

His arch enemy is back, he falls head over heels in love again and Vanderveen tries to kill her. This time though he also tries to wipe out half the population of New York with a huge bomb in Times Square aimed at destroying a key Iraqi alliance and causing Civil War in Iraq as the US try to withdraw. Kealey battles against the system to save America, beat Vanderveen and rescue his love. Good plot but badly written.

I just found the whole thing way too complicated and far fetched. I couldn’t keep track of all the players, way too many names on both the Arab and US sides and a plot that switched around far too much.

However, what really ragged me was how stupid Kealey and Vanderveen were at times. They’re both highly trained special forces operatives who are supposedly at the top of their game. However, the author constantly inserted idiotic, emotional or novice errors in their decisions and behaviours that were simply wrong for their characters. Lazy writing to force the story to where he needed it to be. A typical example is when Kealey leaves Naomi handcuffed in the warehouse simply so Vanderveen can capture her again. Only that I was so close to the end I would have stopped here.

Some good bits that were eclipsed by the bad and although the next book is supposed to be much better I don’t know if I’ll bother.

⭐⭐

Goodreads

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gallows lane

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Gallows Lane (Inspector Devlin #2) by Brian McGilloway

This post contains spoilers and affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a commission.

Once again I’m brought back to familiar territory. Inspector Devlin is a Gardai based in Lifford just 20min down the road from where I live. The title of the book is taken from an area of Lifford that was associated with the hanging tree used for executing condemned prisoners from Lifford Gaol which sets the darker tone of this book. As a young child we were well aware of the associated ghost stories and its place in local mythology. Unlike the previous book (Borderlands) where local areas seemed a little jarring due to changes made in places and names I found this one much more familiar and less unsettling.

There are quite a few storylines running through this book. To my mind Lifford is a pretty sleepy and dull town but the author has created something very different. There’s a serial abductor of young girls who is murdering them in a frustrated rage, drug abuse, burglary and gruesome, violent murders associated with an historical robbery. Throw into the mix some good old fashioned police intimidation and corruption and there’s a lot going on. If that isn’t enough for you there’s a creepy old ex-terrorist priest floating around and Devlin is getting a bit too friendly with his attractive partner. There’s still sub plots I haven’t even touched on!

The complicated interconnecting plots is one of the negative aspects of the book. Another reviewer stated his desire to see less happening and more detail but then again maybe this is the unique style of this author and what sets him apart from others.

Some aspects of Devlin’s character I find hard to accept. He’s portrayed very much as a dedicated family man with a strong religious streak but he’s had two different relationships with female characters that don’t fit this and stoops to some illegal activity himself in this story. I find these different personas jarring and they don’t fit together. I hope this settles more as the series progresses.

The author’s depiction of women is weak also. Devlin’s partner, Caroline Williams, is strong but she eventually succumbs to the pressure of the job after being injured and it looks like she is leaving. Devlin’s wife Debbie is woefully ignored except as a bit of a nag (in fact I couldn’t even remember her name and had to look it up!) and his ex-girlfriend is depicted as a shallow, scorned lover out for revenge for being rejected in the first book.

It does need to be remembered that this is still only the second book by this author. There are three more to come featuring Inspector Devlin as well as a second series with a female police officer as the lead character.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (3.5 in reality)

Buy on Amazon UK

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the great hunt

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The Great Hunt (Wheel of Time #2) by Robert Jordan

From Amazon:

Rand al’Thor and his companions set out to retrieve a powerful magical artifact from The Dark One’s Shadowspawn.

For centuries, gleemen have told the tales of The Great Hunt of the Horn. So many tales about each of the Hunters, and so many Hunters to tell of…

Now the Horn itself is found: the Horn of Valere long thought only legend, the Horn which will raise the dead heroes of the ages.

And it is stolen.

In pursuit of the thieves, Rand al’Thor is determined to keep the Horn out of the grasp of The Dark One. But he has also learned that he is The Dragon Reborn—the Champion of Light destined to stand against the Shadow time and again. It is a duty and a destiny that requires Rand to uncover and master magical capabilities he never imagined he possessed.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The second instalment is described as following on directly from the first but some time has obviously passed. The story starts with Rand and company reasonably settled in Fal Dara and Rand having enough instruction from Lan to become at least a competent swordsman. Overall with all the characters there is a feeling that they have all grown up a bit since the last time we saw them.

***SPOILERS AHEAD*** A lot happens in this book. The main focus is Rand coming to terms with his destiny, accepting that he can channel and that he is the Dragon Reborn. How he goes from denial and rejecting this to giving in to the forces of the Pattern and finally accepting his fate is really well done with a powerful ending that sets the scene for the next book.

Another important strand gives us our first insights into Aes Sedai society and politics both within Tar Valon and outside, how the different Ajahs work together while still striving to be in control. This is just a first glimpse of what is to come. We also get first impressions of the process whereby girls in training pass through the different stages and the trials this involves.

Finally we meet The Seanchan. They seem like the real wild card with nobody in the Westlands knowing anything about them or that they even existed. They come with strange customs, armour and beasts and with a determination to reclaim the world of Artur Hawkwing for the Seanchan Empire. Part of this strategy is to capture and enslave all women who can channel thereby threatening the entire social structure of the Westlands just as it appears The Last Battle is approaching.

Overall this book widens the scope of the story tremendously with many new strands introduced. When I first read this series the first book intrigued me but it was this one that really hooked me and returning to it now I can see why.

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the general’s daughter

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The General’s Daughter (Paul Brenner #1) by Nelson deMille

From Goodreads:

Captain Ann Campbell is a West Point graduate, the daughter of legendary General “Fighting Joe” Campbell. She is the pride of Fort Hadley until, one morning, her body is found, naked and bound, on the firing range.

Paul Brenner is a member of the Army’s elite undercover investigative unit and the man in charge of this politically explosive case. Teamed with rape specialist Cynthia Sunhill, with whom he once had a tempestuous, doomed affair, Brenner is about to learn just how many people were sexually, emotionally, and dangerously involved with the Army’s “golden girl.” And how the neatly pressed uniforms and honor codes of the military hide a corruption as rank as Ann Campbell’s shocking secret life.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall a very good story and well written. It’s a difficult task to take on with two topics you don’t see much of in books – murder/rape on a military base and the impact of introducing women into the armed services. I thought that they were both handled pretty well.

The difference between crime investigation and procedure in the army versus civilian life was intriguing and Brenner is an interesting character with a surprisingly cavalier attitude towards the army and procedures, not what you would expect from a long serving soldier.

I did enjoy the book very much but found the use of leaps of intuition and guesswork to solve the case frustrating. Too much of it came out of nowhere. Maybe that’s the result of years of experience as an investigator but I found it to be lazy writing.

The book has also been made into a film. Reading the synopsis on Wikipedia it seems they have made some interesting plot changes. I’m not usually a fan of John Travolta but might be tempted to watch it.

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a cold day in paradise

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A Cold Day in Paradise (Alex McKnight #1) by Steve Hamilton

From Goodreads:

Other than the bullet lodged near his heart, former Detroit cop Alex McKnight thought he had put the nightmare of his partner’s death and his own near-fatal injury behind him. After all, the man convicted of the crimes has been locked away for years. But in the small town of Paradise, Michigan, where McKnight has traded his badge for a cabin in the woods, a murderer with the same unmistakable trademarks appears to be back. McKnight can’t understand who else would know the intimate details of the old murders. And it seems like it’ll be a frozen day in Hell before McKnight can unravel truth from deception in a town that’s anything but Paradise.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I read this entire series a while back and enjoyed it so have decided to read them again.

I read this one on a very lazy start to a couple of weeks off work and finished it in less than 24hrs. It’s a very easy book to do this with as it has a story that rolls along at a nippy pace that encourages you to keep reading and interesting enough to stop you wanting a break. The characters are well developed, although he does have a weird relationship with his best friend and wife, with a back story that isn’t completely explained. This will keep character development interesting for the rest of the series.

Easy to read and a reasonably straight forward story with a few twists. Perfect holiday reading I guess.

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in the woods

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In The Woods (Dublin Murder Squad #1) by Tana French

From Goodreads:

As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children. He is gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.

Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a 12-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox (his partner and closest friend) find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I almost gave up on this book not long after starting. The style of the first couple of chapters kind of grated on me and I wasn’t enjoying them. However, I’m very glad I persevered as either the style changed or I became used to it. Either way I ended up really enjoying this.

I also didn’t realise that this book was made into a TV series that I watched last year (Dublin Murders). I had a nagging feeling that the story was familiar but I knew I hadn’t read the book. Eventually the penny dropped, Google confirmed it and I was happier reading the story.

*SPOILER AHEAD* This is quite a dark story, dealing as it does with disappearing children, the murder of another child and dysfunctional families. The trauma of Ryan’s own experiences, how he deals with them as well as the new case, the breakdown of his special relationship with Cassie and the eventual harm to his mental health and career do not make for easy reading. However, the author does a great job of making this all very readable.

This is the first in a series of 6 books set in a fictional murder squad within An Garda Siochana but it seems that they are all pretty much standalone. Cassie does appear in the next but this is Ryan’s only one and Cassie doesn’t feature again. This is an interesting approach.

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darkspell

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Darkspell (Deverry #2) by Katherine Kerr

From Google Books:

Inextricably bound to the fate of the land, Nevyn, Rhodry and Jill struggle to unite the humans of Deverry with the mysterious and once-hostile race of Elves. But the evil and powerful sorcerers of Annwn know that any alliance between the two races will threaten their own dominion.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

It sounds like it should be confusing having multiple stories being told in 3 different time lines with the same characters reincarnated but it somehow managed to work. The three stories very much focus around Jill and her former lives this time and we see her portrayed as three very different people.

Add in the Dark Dweomer and this book is very interesting and a great read.

For such an easy going type of story there is a lot of sexual violence including sexual assault and systematic abuse and rape. There’s also the typical violence of a medieval setting and subsequent battles. However, despite all the violence and evil magic it somehow manages to escape being a dark story.

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