PAPERBACK PAGE

Books reviewed on this page are current paperback releases that were reviewed in
                                                             when they were released in hard cover.

THE CRAZY SCHOOL         
CORNELIA READ         
Grand Central Publishing Trade pb 1/10

Madeline Dare, the heroine of Cornelia Read's much lauded debut, A FIELD OF DARKNESS, has moved on to the Berkshires where she is teaching history at a boarding school for disturbed teens.
Everyone at the Santangelo Academy, student and staff alike, has to attend therapy sessions, which leads one to believe the teachers are as wacked out as their charges. Actually, that is pretty much an accurate assessment of the situation, as one discovers the further into this novel one gets.

Poor Maddie has her own psychological problems, which are not made any easier by the school's authoritarian director, volatile students and somewhat confrontational staff. If one more person asks, "And how does that make you feel?", Maddie may be charged with doing someone bodily harm.

Things go from bad to totally terrible when the double suicide of two students rocks the campus. Since Maddie formed a tight relationship with the boy and girl, she is convinced that they didn't take their own lives but were actually murdered.

A little digging confirms the fact that there are plenty of skeletons hidden away in various closets at the school and there are a few staff members who don't want their secrets exposed to the light of day. In fact, the body count goes up rather drastically before the local police, with Maddie's help, of course, can stamp the case closed.

Read saves the biggest surprise of all for the novel's final page and even the most astute reader probably won't see this ending coming. Stop and think back, though, after you finish the novel. The author does "play fair" and the conclusion is nicely, albeit subtly, set up along the way.

It is not really a major problem, but after such a great ending why, you might ask, did the author's editor allow her to tack on two pages of "acknowledgments." Read mentions a whole range of folks from family members, and famous authors to book store owners and writing group colleagues. I stopped counting after fifty names! Not only is this not very professional, but it also comes across as rather tacky.

WILD SORROW          
SANDI AULT          
Berkley Prime Crime Trade pb 1/10

WILD SORROW is Sandi Ault's third book in the Wild series. The first two racked up several awards and this one is probably her best yet. What can I say?

Jamaica Wild is a Bureau of Land Management agent in New Mexico. Ten days before Christmas she is miles away from everyone tracking a wounded mountain lion when a blizzard forces her, her sorrel and her (I would call him a pet but Jamaica would be offended as she calls him family) wolf to seek shelter in an old Indian boarding school. There she finds a freshly frozen older woman strangled and scalped. The victim has sage bracelets on her ankles.

In the first week, Jamaica endures getting thrown from her horse, finding the body, going without sleep, fighting off a wounded big cat, she also battles incredible cold weather, has no electricity or running water in her desolate log home, is called out to an eviscerated elk, survives an Avalanche and misses a bullet with her name on it. She also explores rich Native American culture and enjoys sensory awareness of sights and smells that are so real I can almost smell the pine. The old school was a torture chamber for all those forced to attend and every conceivable cruelty was practiced there, yet the person responsible for the murder is hard to track.

Native American New Mexico Christmas events steal the show for a bit and then the heartbreak and some wickedly conceived betrayals fill the scenes. I cannot wait for the next WILD book!.

                                                                                             - Carolyn Lanier

THE MANUAL OF DETECTION           
JEDEDIAH BERRY          
Penguin Trade pb 2/10

As I ponder this book and try to find a way to encapsulate the story or plot, I find myself discouraged and befuddled. I think, probably, that the author would be pleased that the reader, and especially a reviewer, are confused. In the 19th century a common toast was "Confusion to our enemies." Well, confusion, absurdity, surrealism, chaos and the like are this writer's stock in trade. Whether or not such attributes are qualities useful to the construction of a mystery novel, if mystery novel this be, is certainly questionable.

There are certainly many facets of the crime novel present here. There is a huge detective agency whose logo is the ever-open, always watching eye, and there are certainly a lot of detectives within the pages. There are also crimes to be solved. All this is very well. But the biggest mystery the author puts forth is what is reality; if reality can actually be defined.

There is a central character, Charles Unwin, who works for the giant detective agency, not as a detective, but as a clerk. He is responsible for recording and writing up the cases of the ace detective, Sivart, who has solved such mysteries as that of the Oldest Murdered Man. Unwin, who has never met Sivart, nevertheless receives his reports and cogently arranges them. He is very good at his job and enjoys it, which is probably why he is suddenly, without warning, promoted to the rank of a detective himself - a job for which he is not prepared and feels must have been done in error. So he goes up to the 29th floor where the "watchers" have their offices to check things out with the watcher who watches Sivart, whose office he is supposed to take over. Unfortunately he finds the watcher has been brutally murdered. At a loss as to what to do (after all he's not really a detective) just as he hears a knock at the door, he manages to stuff the body under the desk and greet the beautiful woman who enters, who is looking to employ a detective.

Unwin decides he must find the now missing Sivart and reinstall him as detective in his rightful place so that he, Unwin, can go back to being a clerk. During his adventures he meets the femme fatale adversary Cleopatra Greenwood, a magnificently beautiful and dangerous woman. He also learns that an evil magician, who was thought to be discovered and put out of commission by Sivart, may still be around. This magician is responsible for stealing an entire day out of the calendar, by getting inside everyone's dreams, having them sleep walk and take their alarm clocks and depositing them on a large barge in the river, so they don't wake up that day and he can steal the day and a lot of money while he's at it.

Okay, hopefully you get the idea of this book by now, and if you haven't then my further babbling won't get the job done. I think the perfect description for this novel is that it's a Kafkaesque mystery. It deals in levels of realities. One of which is its own title. THE MANUAL OF DETECTION is both the name of the book and the manual Unwin receives when he becomes a detective. Each chapter heading is about how to be a detective, such as "On Evidence" and "On Surveillance" and the chapter title is followed by a quote from the Manual of Detection itself. So the single book is both a novel and a handbook for the detective.

We can't really completely understand this book because, as Unwin thinks to himself: "...if everything is knowable, then nothing is safe, and the sentinels (i.e. clerks, such a himself) are unwelcome guests, mere trespassers. Not an antidote to the enemy-only his mirror." (P. 161)

This is a first novel that shows a lot of inventiveness and promise, but at times Berry tries a bit too hard and his work becomes convoluted rather than philosophically complex and therefore less than intriguing. However, most of it does succeed, especially if the reader does not approach it as a standard mystery or detective novel, whatever that might be. RECOMMENDED (AS THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY).

                                                                                           - Laurence Coven

AUNT DIMITY SLAYS THE DRAGON           
NANCY ATHERTON         
Penguin pb 2/10

Borrr-ing. That's the way that Lori Shepherd feels about her life in the quaint little English town of Finch. Nothing changes here, Lori thinks as she heads off to a meeting to finalize upcoming events. Lori even wants to skip the meeting but she is, unfortunately, the sergeant at arms. Barely able to stay awake, Lori is thankful the meeting is almost over when Horace Malvern, Lori's neighbor, says he has more business. He whistles, and the meeting quickly turns exciting as the double doors open and in sprints a jester doing handstands, cartwheels, and all sorts of acrobatics before landing in front of the group with a hearty, "Arise, gentle folk... His majesty, King Wilfred the Good!"

Now fully awake and engaged, Lori is excited to hear about their idea to host a Renaissance Faire on Malvern's land. King Wilfred is, in fact, Calvin Malvern, Horace's nephew. Lori is thrilled that there will be something new to look forward to attending this summer. Yet, as the Faire gets ready to open, King Wilfred is almost killed when part of the structure acting as the gates and tower breaks off. While others catch him before he falls, the accident is blamed on how quickly the structure was put together. However, as more accidents keep occurring, Lori wonders who is trying to destroy the Faire, or has an even more deadly target, King Wilfred. Can Lori fit into the Renaissance group so that she can figure out who's trying to sabotage the Faire and kill Calvin?

Atherton is on top of her game with this fun frolic into the Renaissance Faire world that continues to intrigue the country. Her characters are always multi-faceted and this story is a bit of departure from previous entries. While Aunt Dimity is still a part of the storyline, she has been relegated to a very small inclusion in this story. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
   
                                                                                                  - Vikki Walton

FROM DEAD TO WORSE        
CHARLAINE HARRIS         
Ace Trade pb 2/10

Sookie Stackhouse is back and things have never been more crazy. Her boyfriend, Quinn, is still missing from events that took place in the last book and now it seems as if all the supernatural beings are going to war. Unfortunately, Sookie is stuck in the middle. Now that the vampire community in Bon Temps has been compromised, other Vamps are looking to take over Eric Northman's territory and since Sookie is blood-bonded to him, many of these attacks are including her. On top of that, Sookie has just met a new family member and learned that the witch council has finally decided to punish her roommate, Amelia, for her misdeeds. Sookie is going to have to be on top of her game to survive all that is coming her way.

FROM DEAD TO WORSE is a wonderful book. Harris has the magic touch with Sookie. Although, Sookie has many disasters befall her, it never seems like too much and Harris never makes the reader weary of Sookie's plight. With every book, Sookie is becoming more mature and more interesting to watch. Her interactions with all different types of people is what really stands out. As always, the cast of characters surrounding Sookie are intriguing and very easy to fall in love with. FROM DEAD TO WORSE is one book you cannot afford to miss.

                                                                                                - Robyn Glazer
 
Ace is issuing reprints of the Sookie Stackhouse books in uniform trade paperback editions.

BONES OF BETRAYAL          
JEFFERSON BASS         
Harper pb 1/10

BONES OF BETRAYAL by that brilliant team Jefferson and Bass in the new Body Farm novel again manages to mystify and educate simultaneously.

It is winter. Forensic Anthropologist Bill Brockton is called to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, home of the Atom Bomb, where a man with no visible injuries is frozen in a cheap motel's icy swimming pool. Brockton has Miranda, his faithful lab assistant, with him as he uses his Stihl chainsaw to hack the guy out of the ice. The chainsaw smashes through the ice and becomes buried in the deep end of the murky water. The victim is frozen solid and to speed defrosting it is decided to let him thaw at room temperature for a day or two. Dr Brocton frets over how to get his chainsaw out of the ice and when he finally does, there is another body in the sludge.

When the actually autopsy begins, Dr. Garcia and Miranda slip the clothes off the older corpse and his billfold reveals Dr. Leonard Novak, the legend of the Manhattan Project, is the victim. The man did not drown. There is an extremely dangerous iridium-192 pellet in his gullet. Miranda is exposed and poor Dr. Garcia has been working alongside the body for two days. The FBI and DMORT's Weapons of Mass Destruction team are notified and the lab is quarantined. The conundrums: where did the pellet come from, how did Dr. Novak come to swallow it, was it murder or suicide, if murder then why, and how did he get in a dirty frozen swimming pool?

The education covers: the way radiation kills (Dr. Garcia is doomed and Miranda may lose her hands): all the actions in place by our government to locate, investigate and contain what might be a dirty bomb, intriguing history of the A bomb and spying then and now.
Geiger Counter or not, my heart was really ticking, as I tried unwrapping the shroud of this mystery. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                             - Carolyn Lanier

DEATH OF A WITCH          
A Hamish Macbeth Mystery
M. C. BEATON          
Grand Central Publishing pb 1/10

Police Constable Hamish Macbeth is heading home from his first ever vacation. The vacation had certainly not gone according to his plan -- to find romance in the south of Spain. He is now eager to get home to the village of Lochdubh in Scotland. Hamish loves all the familiar sites and smells of the Scottish Highlands. When he reaches the village and his home, which is also the police station, he has a growing feeling of unease. There is something going on in the village that is causing trouble.

Newcomer Catriona Beldame is being regarded as a witch, and various men have been seen visiting her. Even Hamish is charmed by her, until he finds out she has been supplying the men of the village with dangerous potions to enhance their love lives.
When Hamish tries to talk to the men about the dangers they could get into, they put his worries down to the bad luck he has had with the ladies he has gone with in the past.

The wives are up in arms and even Hamish has been heard threatening to kill Catriona. Much to Hamish's dismay Catriona is murdered and her house goes up in flames. Hamish becomes a suspect and his boss wants him off the case.

A female forensic expert is called in to see if there are any clues to be found. Three more villagers are killed as the investigation proceeds. Hamish is romantically interested in the new forensic expert, as well as two other village ladies, which leads to further complications to the investigation.

Hamish knows he has to put his love life on hold and find out what links these crimes together and who the murderer is so his little village can get back to its calm and peaceful ways.

As always, I enjoyed the continuing adventures of Hamish Macbeth and the people that live in the little village of Lochdubh. M. C. Beaton really makes the scenes come alive for the reader. As I read about the winters in the village of Lochdubh, I can feel the chill as she describes the snow and cold winds blowing. I have read all the Hamish Macbeth series in order of publication and eagerly await the next book.

Born in Scotland, M. C. Beaton is the author of the Agatha Raisin mystery series. She has also achieved fame under her own name, Marion Chesney, as the author of Regency romances. She and her husband divide their time between a cottage in the Cotswolds and an apartment in Paris.

                                                                                           - Deanna Spencer

THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE          
ALAN BRADLEY          
Bantam Trade pb 1/10

This novel won the Debut Dagger Award from the British Crime Writers' Association and I would guess it blew away all the competition. You don't have to get more than a couple of chapters into this novel before you realize the heroine, eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, is someone very special.

With two older sisters who love to make her life a trial, Flavia has learned to fend for herself in a household where her mother has passed away and her taciturn father often retreats to his study to work on his stamp collection.

Outspoken and not afraid to "give" as good as she "gets" when harassed by her siblings, Flavia's passion is chemistry and puttering around in her home laboratory. In this first of what will hopefully be many future "investigations," the youngster saves her father from what looks like a lengthy stay in prison.

After finding a dead man in the garden, a man who was last seen alive arguing with her father, Flavia finds the authorities have arrested Colonel de Luce. While her older sisters can do little more than wring their hands and shed buckets of tears, the spunky novice chemist decides she'll clear her dad's name.

Flavia's knowledge of the scientific method comes in handy as she makes a number of discoveries that elude the local police. At the heart of the murder are two exceedingly valuable and rare postage stamps. One disappeared years ago from the collection of a local school's headmaster while the other was owned by royalty before it recently disappeared.

Because she is brash, quick-witted, exceedingly clever and has a delicious, sardonic sense of humor (perhaps "irony" would be a better word), it is easy to forget that Flavia is a preteen. Compared to her older sisters, she is light years ahead in maturity, plus she has an uncanny way of making the adults around her look rather juvenile.

Although Alan Bradley has concocted a clever plot, what sets this novel apart is the appealing new sleuth he has created. This is not a young adult mystery novel, nor was it intended to be. Granted Flavia's age might suggest this, but it doesn't take long to realize that from the outset, this little, not-so-innocent, young girl is meant to entertain an adult audience.

An encore appearance, THE WEED THAT STRINGS THE HANGMAN'S BAG, is set for next year and I want my name at the top of the list for a review copy. Having made her acquaintance, Flavia de Luce is a character whose exploits I definitely want to follow. As amateur detectives go, she is in a class all by herself. I'd be willing to bet Flavia will win a few more awards for her creator before she gets too much older!

                                                                                                      - Bob Walch

BLEEDING HEART SQUARE          
ANDREW TAYLOR          
Hyperion Trade pb 1/10

When young aristocrat Lydia Langstone interrupts her husband's meeting to tell him her important news, he coldly batters her, physically and emotionally, and thereby brings their unhappy marriage to an end. She finds her way to her biological father's down-and-out flat in Bleeding Heart Square, a sleazy part of London, and even though she and her parent have never met, she settles in with him and tries to figure out what to do with her life. Also moving into a flat in the same rundown building is Rory Wentwood, an educated would-be journalist who has just returned from India. Even though he and Fenella, his fiancée , are semi-estranged, he has determined to find her missing aunt, Miss Penhow, who might assist with her financial problems. The two young transplants to Bleeding Heart Square are each involved in a search and attempting to plan their futures, and their lives and quests intersect in fascinating ways. At the center of both searches is Joseph Serridge, owner of the building where they live, romantically involved with the missing Miss Penhow, somehow linked with Lydia's father, and always looming in the background. The reader is privy to selections from Miss Penhow's diary, which painfully describe her ingenuous involvement with Serridge, and his diabolical seduction. Set in London in the decade before World War II, the splendidly detailed backdrop includes the rise of the British Fascist Party and their conflict with left-wing radicals, along with descriptions of the changing society where old stratifications are beginning to break down, and woman's place is rapidly metamorphosing. As is always true with Taylor's books, the plot is convoluted, the intriguing characters are clearly drawn, the setting is realistically depicted, and I am glued to the pages in my own quest to get to the denouement. This one was a stunner that I didn't see coming.
 
                                                                                            - Carol Howell

BLEEDING HEART SQUARE won Sweden's Martin Beck Award for the Best Translated Crime Novel, translated by Jan Malmsjö . It has also received nominations for the CWA Historical Daggar and the Barry Award.

CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT           
EARL EMERSON          
Ballantine pb 1/10

It would be easy to dismiss this novel based on its somewhat incredible plot. But then there have been revelations of torture and worse sponsored by the US government, so that the premise that some rogue or quasi-official federal agents used nefarious tactics, including assassination and a plane crash, to influence a U.S. Senate race in the State of Washington might not be so far-fetched. After all, conspiracy theories abound from the Kennedy assassination to 9/11, and while many, if not most, may seem absurd or far out, many make for a good story.

As does this novel, in which Thomas Black, a PI, and his wife, Kathy, find themselves on the opposite sides of the Senatorial campaign: she for the popular incumbent, he, although his sympathies lie with his candidate's opponent, works for the challenger, fulfilling a long-standing obligation. The incumbent is running far ahead in the polls, and Thomas' side runs a more and more negative campaign. Then, the Senator and her staff, including presumably Kathy, take off in a chartered plane. As Thomas watches it takes to the air, only to plunge head-long into the Pacific, with all passengers obviously dead.

Thomas, himself, is the victim of a bomb blast, but he recovers from serious wounds and begins to investigate the plane crash, and the seemingly obvious may not be, in fact, the truth. If one can get beyond the incomprehensibility of the premise that murder and other dirty tricks can be a norm, this tightly written political suspense story makes for an exciting read. Certainly, it is original, and RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                                 - Theodore Feit

CRUEL INTENT         
J. A. JANCE          
Pocket Star pb 1/10
 
In CRUEL INTENT, Ali Reynolds finds herself involved in a deadly game of cyber hide-and- seek. Best-selling author J. A. Jance's newest novel is the fourth tale in the series featuring Ali Reynolds. As Ali is renovating her house her contractor's wife is found murdered. The victim's young twin daughters find the body of their mother, Morgan, on their return home from school. The contractor, Bryan Forrester, is the prime suspect.
Ali believes Bryan when he swears that he did not kill his wife. She thinks he is innocent and also needs to have her house finished by Thanksgiving, so she sets out to prove that Bryan is not guilty. Everyone else thinks Bryan did it including Ali's boyfriend, Dave Holman, homicide detective. Dave and Ali are working against each other through much of the story.

I loved Jance's style. Ali, her female protagonist, is a most likable character. Ali's mother is a delightfully strong elder character. Both women are practical and clever. This reader's delight! The teaser prologue was an excellent ploy as well. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND CRUEL INTENT, and I plan to look for more of Jance's Ali Reynolds series as well as the J. P. Beaumont and the Joanna Brady series.

                                                                                           - Maureen Bouffard

SHOW NO FEAR             
PERRI O'SHAUGHNESSY          
Pocket Star pb 1/10
 
Nina Reilly has it all... both good and bad. A single mother of a lively, precocious four-year old son, a paralegal in a firm she finds stimulating, a student taking night courses on the way to her own law degree; all of this leaves little time for anything else, including sleep. And then there's Richard Filsen, a ruthless attorney and father of the child, who suddenly shows up to claim visiting privileges with a son he'd never before shown any interest in nor provided support for. Meanwhile, Nina discovers that her brother has become a drug addict, their mother is suffering from a fatal disease, and their father - long since remarried - announces the coming birth of a child by his trophy wife. When Filsen is murdered, it isn't surprising that Nina and other members of her family are prime suspects. Fortunately, the list of those who also would have been only too happy to assist Filsen along to the next life is a long one. SHOW NO FEAR begins in a conventional manner with a homicide, and the reader left in the dark regarding the identities of both victim and perpetrator. From there on, the novel shows a remarkable uniqueness. Nina Riley is a protagonist whose efforts at juggling the many irons she has in the fire are complicated by her attraction to another member of the law firm... a man who himself is caught up in an affair with one of his colleagues. She and the detective investigating the crime are also lusting after each other. O'Shaughnessy is at her very best in describing these and other interpersonal relationships, while interweaving a believable plot and providing a surprise ending. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                            - John A. Broussard

FUGITIVE          
PHILLIP MARGOLIN         
Harper pb 2/10
 
Amanda Jaffe and her father are leading criminal defense attorneys in Oregon, having won high profile cases outlined in previous novels in the series. Each is separately presented with another challenging defendant in the current novel.

The wife of a U.S. Congressman is charged with conspiring to have her husband murdered, but Frank Jaffe obtains evidence to convince the DA to drop the charges "with prejudice." Meanwhile, her co-defendant, accused of committing the murder, flees the country to an African nation ruled by a sadistic dictator whose idol is Idi Amin. After twelve years, he returns to face the charges (and to escape the wrath of his erstwhile benefactor). Amanda's challenge is not only to exonerate her client, but to protect him from being killed by two separate, but equally dangerous, persons who wish him dead.

The combination of the author's intimate legal knowledge and his ability to maintain a suspenseful pace in a firmly written story keeps the reader intrigued from start to finish. RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                             - Theodore Feit

LIARS ANONYMOUS            
LOUISE URE          
Minotaur Books Trade pb 2/10

Pathological liar, guilty-but-acquitted murderer, a misfit rejected by her adoptive mother and siblings... Jessica Dancing Gammage seems an unlikely choice for a crime novel's hero. And yet she comes off as an amazingly sympathetic figure in the hands of this talented writer. Finally freed from a lengthy stay in jail while awaiting trial, Jessie is bitter and unrepentant, having killed the uncle of her closest friend who told her about the sexual abuse she had suffered at his hands. Even so, she has now settled down to a job she enjoys as a Tucson roadside assistance operator. It's there she receives a call from Darren Markson. His airbag has deployed as a result of a rear-ender. Over the open line she hears Markson's subsequent quarrel with whoever rammed his car and what sounds like physical violence. Then the connection goes dead. Unsatisfied with the police's response, or lack of it, to what appears to be a crime scene, Jessie undertakes some investigating of her own -- a search which leads her into Arizona's criminal underworld, with its drug trafficking, illegal immigrant smuggling and something far worse. Ure does a remarkable job of conjuring up the barrenness, deadly heat, and conflicting cultures and values of this troubled border area. LIARS ANONYMOUS combines suspense and mystery with a very different kind of ending. Best of all, it contains at its core a profound moral lesson. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                           - John A. Broussard

REVELATION           
C. J. SANSOM          
Penguin Trade pb 2/10

Lawyer Matthew Shardlake has promised himself that he'll never again get involved in matters dealing with King Henry VIII's court. But when a colleague and close friend is viciously murdered and the corpse put on public display to carry some kind of terrible message, Shardlake feels compelled to accept Archbishop Cranmer's offer for yet another assignment. Knowing that Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak were well regarded by Cromwell is enough to recommend him, and Cranmer reveals the complexity and dangers that are involved. Shardlake's friend's death may be the work of someone trying to cast a shadow on Lady Catherine Parr, the young woman selected by the monarch, despite her reluctance, to be his new marital partner. She's a staunch supporter of religious reform, and Cranmer and the Seymour brothers, powerful Protestant courtiers, are eager to have the marriage take place. Shardlake's investigation takes him all over London and always, permeating the city, are the tendrils of religious and political factionalism, with the threat of arrest, torture and hideous death lurking for dissenters. In one of several parallel plot threads, Shardlake is also attempting to ensure the safety and fair treatment of a young man in a thrall of religious fervor, confined to Bedlam, but viewed by the authorities as a heretic who would provide fuel for a fiery example to those who would thwart the King's will. As always, Sansom has provided vivid details of the life and times of London citizens, high and low, in the mid-16th Century. Preoccupation with religion and jockeying for power and wealth are ubiquitous, and Shardlake's daily life activities and concerns bring into focus the tribulations endured by those who simply struggle to survive. The writing is splendid, and the attention to historical detail makes for a fascinating read. The fourth in this series lives up to all expectations, and the exploration of Shardlake's character is no small part of the pleasure. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

THE TOURIST            
OLEN STEINHAUER          
Minotaur Trade pb 2/10

The real problem with lies, even for the best liars, is that after a while, the truth and the lies become indistinguishable. At a certain level of consciousness both the lie and the reality become equally true and influence actions and emotions in the same way. Olen Steinhauer uses this concept to give his readers the new gold standard in espionage thrillers, THE TOURIST. The novel, essentially the life and works of retired spy Milo Weaver, is told in a narrative that uses about a month of narrative real time to tell the story of the last forty years of spying.

Weaver is a tourist, a member of a highly secret CIA bureau charged with spying and murder on an international scale. When he is shot in the chest on September 11, 2001, during a botched defector retrieval in Venice, his career in the field ends and he becomes a travel agent, a desk bound analyst, until an old colleague is accused of being a double agent and he is irretrievably drawn back into his former life.

One of Steinhauer's skills as a novelist is his use of mundane detail to ensure the believability of his characters and settings. We learn that the smell of Chinese takeout can linger for an extended period of time in an enclosed interrogation cell, that satellite tracking can follow a cell phone as long as its SIM card is attached, even if the phone is turned off, and that customs agents tend not to bother business travelers wearing ties. Accept these and it is very easy to accept double and triple crosses, murder by an HIV-contaminated café chair and a spy rendezvous on Space Mountain. Throw in a kid's school talent show and the heat-soothing value of over sweetened lemonade and the reader is hooked, suspending disbelief willingly for a thrill ride that won't be quickly forgotten.

I will admit to being a Steinhauer fanatic. His earlier Eastern European novels combined police procedurals in an exotic location with characters so believable that the reader could almost identify them in the morning news. THE TOURIST breaks new ground for him and at first I feared that he wouldn't be as good in the new genre. My fears were unwarranted and Olen Steinhauer has produced another gem.

                                                                                                - W. J. H. Reed

FEAR THE WORST          
LINWOOD BARCLAY           
Dell pb 2/10

There is suspense and there is suspense. We find suspense in all crime novels: Will the bank robber be caught? Will the murderer be found out? Then there is suspense that permeates the novel: the girl goes missing, her searching father gets beat up and shot at, friends betray, there is no logical explanation for any of it. The suspense winds itself up into a hand grenade waiting to explode.

The latter best describes Linwood Barclay's FEAR THE WORST. Sydney Blake, seventeen-year-old daughter of car salesman Tim Blake and his ex-wife Susanne, has disappeared from her job at a local hotel. When she's late one day, Tim goes to pick her up and they tell him no one by that name has ever worked there. Likewise, when he describes her and shows her picture. It appears more ominous when Tim discovers that she took none of her personal belongings with her.

Why had she lied about where she worked? Had she just run away or was she abducted? There is no note, no demand for ransom, no rational explanation.

Tim begins searching and a lead takes him across the country from Connecticut to Seattle. This goes nowhere and he returns to find his house trashed. Sticking his nose into unwelcome places leads to a savage beating, but this makes Tim more determined than ever, as he joins up with his ex-wife and her boyfriend in the search, knowing they have violent people to deal with. Nothing is what it seems and nobody can be trusted.

Author Linwood Barclay has written a fast-paced, exciting and riveting page-turner. He wastes no time in moving from scene to scene, his dialogue is smart, his characters are well-drawn, and the suspense never lets up. He has been given the blessing of such writers as Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, and Peter Robinson. Need I say more? HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                   - Michael F. Hennessey

EVIDENCE            
JONATHAN KELLERMAN          
Ballantine pb 2/10

This novel kicks off with the discovery of two bodies - a man and a woman - wrapped around each other in a parody of passion. Set in Los Angeles, this is another in the series featuring LAPD Detective Milo Sturgis and his friend, psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware.
 
The dead man is identified as eco-friendly architect Desmond Backer, but the woman's identity remains a mystery. Searches of the usual kind turn up nothing, but eventually she is traced to a business where, again, a blank is drawn about her past.

The boss of Backer's firm, Helga Gemein, comes under suspicion. A cold hard woman, Helga seems the ideal suspect, but as Sturgis and Delaware dig deeper, more twists and more suspects appear - and the plot thickens. How they narrow down the suspects and obtain a confession features some of the finest writing by author Kellerman.

The characters here are memorable and the dialogue is smart, e.g., in speaking of an architect who built a monstrously vulgar mansion, Delaware remarks, "Must be the edifice complex."

An elusive prince from the oil-rich island of Sranil is somehow tied in with it all, and before the dust settles, we hear of eco-terrorism, arson, blackmail, conspiracy, and two missing suitcases holding $50,000 in cash.
Kellerman knows how to keep all the balls in the air, and his Sturgis/Delaware duo prove again to be two of the most entertaining personalities in crime fiction. RECOMMENDED.

                                                                              - Michael F. Hennessey