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JANUARY - FEBRUARY REVIEWS
L.
A. OUTLAWS
At the heart of the story is a masked, modern day Robin Hood by the name of Allison Murrieta. Her celebrity status continues to grow with each daring heist that she commits, with most of the proceeds going to various charities. Despite the press coverage, no one knows who she really is; the fact that no one is physically hurt in these robberies just increases her reputation. But this somewhat innocent story soon gets derailed when a job goes horribly wrong and ten gangsters end up dead and millions of dollars of loot are missing. A high-up crime lord decides that enough is enough and he goes after her. Into the picture steps LAPD Deputy Charlie Hood, assigned to investigate this stream of crimes by Murrieta. During the course of his investigation, Hood comes across an eyewitness named Suzanne Jones. While trying to protect her, he ends up falling into a highly secret affair with the woman. Soon he begins to see hints about Suzanne that he really doesn’t want to believe and he must make some decisions that are tearing him apart. Perhaps the ending becomes almost obvious to the reader, but this does not detract one bit from the well-written novel. It may be Parker at his best. And the action does not really slow down until near the end of the book. Remember that certain criminal elements are also involved and Hood finds himself between the two parties at times. Allison Murrieta is based on a tale of a real life man called Joaquin Murrieta, whose severed head once toured the Southeast. He was known, or so the legend goes, as a murderer, a thief, a womanizer, and a madman. The truth about him will never be completely known, but readers can let themselves believe that Allison is a long lost descendant of Joaquin who is out for some kind of retribution. A great read by one of -
Tom Mayes FRESH
KILLS
Billy
has not only emotional problems but family ones as well.
His mother does not want him back – which is fine with Billy.
It is his uncle that he wants to live with anyway.
Artie makes time to spend with the boy trying to understand him as he
goes. At first the reunion goes
well. Shortly after the two of them
watch a plane crash, Billy begins to revert back.
He, as well as Artie, spend days talking about their Russian upbringing
and how many of the problems that Billy’s mother has come from their lives in Then
a young girl turns up missing and clues and events seem to be pointing in
Billy’s direction. Eventually a
dead baby shows up in a freezer after a bizarre incident of an entire freezer of
lifelike baby dolls turns up. More
bodies surface. Artie is now faced
with trying to find the truth but not giving up on his nephew.
With each passing day, it becomes harder and harder. Meanwhile,
the Shank’s family is doing all it can to see that Billy is returned to prison
forever. They want to take revenge
to the highest level possible. The
novel reaches it’s long awaited shocking conclusion in the filth, trash, and
methane gas fumes of Fresh Kills. Artie
eventually does find the truth, despite what the results may be. FRESH
KILLS is not for everyone.
It may lack the usual thrills that many of today’s mystery novels
contain, but it more than makes up for that with the details of daily life and
depiction of the struggles faced by many disturbed people, and the sympathy
generated by a main character who is far from perfect.
It is almost a throwback to some ancient Greek drama.
The reader must pay attention as events roll by or they may find
themselves lost at some point. This
is a novel for reading over several evenings. Tom's review of HURRICANE
PUNCH by SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER REVIEWS BOOK
OF THE DEAD When Patricia Cornwell began writing her genre of mystery, there really were no other writers who were strong in that area, and there were not the many TV shows that dealt with forensic science and its application to solving crime. Now she is bringing us the 15th novel in her Kay Scarpetta series and has taken the much-loved character in a somewhat different direction. Having barely survived a psycho in PREDATOR, Kay has decided that a change of pace is needed.
She moves from The story really begins in Tying in to these crimes is the case of a famous patient of Wesley’s that he is working with at the Northern hospital. How can these three crimes be connected? The seemingly impossible may, in fact, be the truth. Before Kay completes her investigations, the Book of the Dead, a morgue ledger that logs in all cases, will most certainly have additional entries – maybe even Kay herself. Kay’s life and the lives of those around her are all going to be changed – and not all will necessarily be for the good. As stated before, not everyone is happy that Kay is there – and each have their own secret reasons for this dislike. In BOOK
OF THE DEAD, Patricia Cornwell is returning Kay Scarpetta to the core of the
character that we all were drawn to in POSTMORTEM.
No longer is Cornwell alone in this genre, but she still has the pull of
her characters and her writing that will certainly keep her number one with the
public. This latest book will keep a
reader entertained for several evenings. In
addition, the richness and history of Charleston, If
anyone desires to comment about this review, this book, or this writer,
REBEL
In
his eighth novel, Rick Riordan is back with his wildly popular character, Tres Longoria is a federal marshal of whom it is said that he had killed at least six people in cold blood. He was known for capturing those he went after, although some of them tried to “escape” as he was bringing them back. There is no love lost between Jesse and Tres. Other strange and somewhat dysfunctional characters move through the shadows of the novel’s scenes as the story progresses. As a major backdrop to As the storm and action intensifies,
someone slips a cryptic note to Tres. In
a scrawled hand, all it says is, “FIND HIM.”
Then Chris, the hotel manager, turns up again.
Unfortunately for Chris, he is dead.
Tres is trying to piece together clues from past cases as well as a lot
of evidence right there on The novel finally does end, allowing
the reader to breathe once again. Various
forms of justice are enacted before the final pages.
Perhaps the average mystery reader will think, “Not another mystery set
in the middle of a hurricane.” No, If
anyone desires to comment about this review, this book, or this writer, |
