The best Shardlake yet.

Having read the previous Matthew Shardlake novels I was eager to read this one. I wasn't disappointed - it is easily the best one yet. <br /><br />What I liked most was the brilliant evocation of the cruelty of Tudor England. The religious fanaticism has been done before, as has the treachery and power politics along with the corruption, but the way these were all melded together and the thorny subject of judicial torture thrown in it made the story basically become a lot darker.<br /><br />The idea of the events taking place within the enclosed world of the Royal Progress was a nice way of taking a murder mystery staple plot device and making it relevant to the period, a kind of Tudor"Murder on the Orient Express" if you like.<br /><br />CL Sansom is a very good writer, he keeps the suspense up well and uses a lot of period detail. overall excellent, although I have to admit working out who the killer was quite a way before the end, even if I hadn't worked out exactly all the details.

Goodbye and Thanks For The Memories

What a fantasic send off for one of the great creations of modern literature. <br />I have read all the Rebus books in sequence over the years and fans of the series will be delighted to know Ian Rankin has written a a suitable finale. <br />We join Rebus with one week until his retirement and in a great device the chapters count down the days no surprising the pieces don't slide together until the final day of the week. <br /><br />A murder of a Russian poet in Kings Stable Road gives Rebus one last case to solve soon ties are being made to big business, politicians and the criminal underworld led by Rebus' nemesis Big Ger Cafferty. Is this the last chance saloon for John to finally nail Edinburgh's gangster ? <br />As has been the case with the last few Rankin books the reader is left guessing right until the final pages who has commited the crimes. I can say that I guessed part of it but I doubt anyone will be able to predict all the conclusions. <br /><br />The early books in the series were enjoyable but it's been the last half dozen that have really elevated the series the introduction of DS Siobhan Clarke I feel was where it really kicked in giving Rebus a genuine partner to bounce off. This book is no exception with the scenes with them together being the strongest. It's real shame in some ways that Rankin's decision to age Rebus in real time deprives us of further INSPECTOR Rebus books but if you haven't ever read any of the series you are so lucky to have twenty books available to you. <br /><br />For the rest of us here's looking forward to the first of the DI Clarke stories which if Ian Rankin decides not to write then there really will have been a crime committed.

Holds your attention throughout

Simon Kernick writes books that start like a Bugatti Veyron, going from 0 to 100 in 6 seconds flat. Deadline is an excellent, well paced thriller that will grab and hold your attention from the very first chapter, when Andrea Devern arrives home to find her husband and daughter missing. Almost immediately she received a phone call telling her that her daughter has been kidnapped. Is her husband involved? Who can she turn to for help? What should she do now?<br /><br />When I read the synopsis of this book I thought that it was going to be a lot like Kernick's previous novel, Relentless, which also opens with a missing spouse, but it's actually quite different (although both feature policeman Mike Bolt). I really liked Relentless, but I think that this a better written novel. One thing I liked about Deadline was that I never knew where it was going to go - even quite close to the end, I had no idea how it would wrap up. I thought I'd been terribly clever spotting clues along the way, but it turned out that most of those were red herrings! Mike Bolt is a likeable main character and I hope that he'll make another appearance in another Kernick novel soon.<br /><br />Kernick does seem to have one problem as an author and that is ending his books. He tends to rush his endings and tries too hard to make them too neat. This was the big flaw with Relentless. Here he makes the same error, but he does redeem it somewhat with a final epilogue that works well. However he also opens the book with a totally unnecessary prologue, which never gets successfully integrated back into the plot. Why Simon, why? Thankfully, the 300 odd pages in between are terrific.

A Mordant Commentary

Barbara Vine never fails to write an engrossing tale. Her writing is as good as it gets, and she builds a gripping story. The reader is carried along, not knowing where he or she is going, but unable to stop reading.<br /><br />This new novel is essentially a character study of two people --- a rising star in the Conservative Party heirarchy, and a lonely young woman whose life and sanity are rapidly crumbling; but these two central threads fit into a more complex mosaic that includes Vine's typically keen characterizations as well as some biting political commentary.<br /><br />This is not to say that there's an endorsement of a political viewpoint or issue. The book is more a look at how appearances trump substance in politics. It doesn't matter so much what you've done; it's how that is perceived, how it's spun in the media. It's all about perception.<br /><br />I thoroughly enjoyed this, as I do almost everything Vine has written, and highly recommend it for her fans.

Formulaic and lazy. Only good for a really long flight.

It is a while since I read a Goddard novel, and this reminded me of all the reasons why I stopped. I finished it only because I was jetlagged and wide awake, with nothing else to get me through a night in Hong Kong. The Goddard formula has simply worn out.<br /><br />The protagonist is like virtually every other Goddard hero: middle-aged, in a rut, romantically unconnected, unprepared for the challenges ahead, but then unexpectedly resourceful when times get tough. He will also find romance along the way. There is a lame attempt to make this a surprise, but it is screamingly obvious nonetheless.<br /><br />There are far too many characters, both past and present, and their behaviour and motivations are rarely plausible. Conversations are preposterous. The plot lumbers through the cities of Northern Europe towards the inevitable one-on-one showdown with the villain. The book ends with a feeble wordplay on the title (one of the characters is called 'Wanting'.)<br /><br />There is also a lack of attention to detail. When the hero is trapped in the boot of a Mercedes, he hears a whirring sound which is explained as the electric aerial. Modern cars haven't had self-extending aerials for years. In fact, Goddard seems to have a problem with cars. In an earlier novel (I forget which) a character drove a Bentley at least 20 years before the first one was created.<br /><br />On the plus side, the basic research around the Romanovs and what became of them after the Ekaterinburg massacre seems to be quite thorough, and probably could have formed the basis of a passable thriller, but that is not what is delivered.<br /><br />Avoid. If you want some enjoyable hokum for a journey, then try Dan Brown's 'Deception Point'. It is a modern conspiracy thriller that has nothing to do with Da Vinci, and bowls along with sufficient pace that you don't notice the flaws until you have finished.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

Fantastic read

For a first novel this has been the best thing I've read this year.<br />Read it now as it will make a great film and should star Viggo Mortensen!<br /><br />It has all the ingredients of a great thriller

beware

please note this book, marketed as Bloodshot, is actually Broken Skin by another name. I have just purchased it having already bought and read Broken Skin( which was fine) am now returning my spare copy.Bloodshot (Logan McRae)

Wow!

I read this book after I saw the TV show, and the programme is almost exactly based on this book (except the ending!). I think it is a true testiment to a brilliant novel for TV producers to not have to change a thing (except the ending!).

The hype

I don't understand what the hype is all about regarding Lee Child and his character, Jack Reacher. I think I've read too much Andy McNab, Harlan Coben, James Lee Burke and others who KNOW what they're talking about to be able to put up with Child. Lee Child simply doesn't know what he's talking about, whether it's guns or surveillance or action or sex or whatever. His books are heavy with padding--meaningless description. His characters are one dimensional at best. His plots are simple and unnatural. But the main problem still is that Lee Child simply hasn't had contact with reality--hard, violent, brutal reality--and writes with a naivete that is merely stupid.

Another brilliant book!

Another Fab book from Peter James! Brilliant read...couldn't put it down,...read it in 2 days!

Another classy outing for Erlandur

If you haven't yet joined the Indridason fanclub - I'd recommend reading the Erlandur books in order (first one is Tainted Blood), because. although the stories sit well on their own, there are themes and threads that develop through the series. There's a strong similarity to the Wallender books of Hening Mankell - in particular the underlying sense of a man struggling to find his place in a world whose values are changing - but in my view Indridason stands out from any of his Scandinavian contemporaries for the quality of writing. He has a very simple style but a fantastic sense of narrative structure and characterisation; very understated (exceptionally well translated), and with a minimum of anachronistic plot devices. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys Mankell, Rankin, Jo Nesbo or Stieg Larson

squalor and pain

I haven't read Tess G before - and ordered this book in a large print edition because I was so intruiged by the premise. Then I read disappointing reviews of it on Amazon US.<br /> I read it anyway - and was glad I did so. No, it's not really a page-turning mystery. And the ending is up to the individual reader to judge on its effectiveness.<br /> The real suspense came from the depiction of the true medical horrors which existed in 1830. Doctors arriving straight from autopsy suites after handling diseased cadavers - then inspecting women in childbirth wards. Madness and ignorance. Tess G really handles this aspect of the book brilliantly.<br /> Though it is not Charles Dickens - nor meant to be - she also gets across the poverty, pain and squalor in which her characters live. I was really moved by Rose Connolly's plight throughout. <br /> In the end I read it as a novel rather than a thriller. But I learned a great deal from it and enjoyed it too. I would read another historical book from her.

Wow!

When I was told not to read this book because it would give me nightmares of course I immediately started reading it and am I glad I did. It was absolutely gripping, completely original and I read it in three days without nightmares. Peter James has a fantastic writing style that draws you in and I couldn't keep up with the twists and turns. I've just gone out and bought Not Dead Enough and I know I shall whizz through all James' detective novels.<br /><br />For me, James is up there with Robert Goddard and Harlan Coben. And that is praise indeed.

A great summer read

A great read. This is a fast paced drama with unique characters and a plot full of twists to keep you guessing. This book isnt as fast paced as something like the Da Vinci code, and not as meaningful or intelligent as many other books. But if you want a fast paced, atmospheric and clever mystery. I highly recommend this book.

Fantastic!

This was the first Peter James novel I have read, and it really didn't disappoint in any area! The plot was fast, the attention to detail superb, and I just didn't want to put the book down.<br />The character descriptions were so spot on, especially 'Potting' the un-PC DC! The frustrations of the Police doing all they can to outwit a serial killer were true to form, the chase to catch him had me on the edge of my seat ( first time ever in a book) if this is your first PJ book, you will not be left in any doubt buy his others! I am!<br />Brilliant!!!