CELL 8
Anders Roslund & Borge Hellstrom
9781402787157 384 Pages
Sterling Publishing Company
January 3, 2012 $24.95
US available as e-book, price unknown
P.J. Coldren
Fans of Swedish crime fiction can add another author to their list of “must reads”, although in this case it is really two authors. Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom have written two novels featuring Detective Superintendent Ewert Grens; CELL 8 is the second.
Cell 8 is a cell on Death Row in Ohio, the cell in which John Meyer died before the state could kill him. Vernon Eriksen was a guard in the prison 16 years ago, when John Meyer was sent there to await his sentence. Eriksen is still there. Meyer is not.
Meyer is, apparently, in Sweden. He is found because he was arrested for kicking a man in the face, aggravated assault. His wife had no idea he wasn’t John Schwarz, that he was from the United States, that he had ever been in prison. She is stunned when his past comes into their lives.
Grens is investigating the aggravated assault charge. When he learns that John Schwarz is really John Meyer, the higher-ups get involved. This is not a situation that Grens enjoys. He believes that Schwarz/Meyer should stand trial for the assault; Sweden doesn’t execute prisoners any more, so there is no reason to send him back to the US to be killed.
The US believes otherwise, from the father of the murdered girl to the governor of Ohio to the State Department. They insist, and Sweden does an end-run around the highly unpopular option of returning John to the US. They send him instead back to Russia, where he entered Sweden. Russia, of course, sends him back to the US. He is again on Death Row in Ohio, with Vernon Eriksen there.
CELL 8 is all that anyone could want in a mystery novel. The situation, while highly unlikely today, is certainly within the realm of possibility sixteen or seventeen years ago. The characters are believable. The ethical considerations surrounding the death penalty haven’t really changed in that time; people almost always feel very strongly about it, no matter which side of the issue they take.
The authors, while they kept my attention and made it difficult to put down CELL 8, also made me crazy. John keeps insisting that he is innocent of the original rape and murder. The evidence against him is strong, and still nobody makes any real attempt to find out whether his statement is true or not. Why not? The last few chapters give the reader the answer, but I think it is a serious flaw in CELL 8 that the authors never address this question. There certainly would seem to be a way to bring it up, shoot it down, and go on with the story. Because they don’t, the question never goes away and draws the reader away from the story.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Review: He Died with His Eyes Open
He Died with His Eyes Open
Derek Raymond
9781935554578 available on Kindle
304 Pages
Soho Press
September 2011
$9.99 Kindle price
P.J. Coldren
If British noir is your thing and you haven’t read Derek Raymond, you are missing some wonderful writing in the genre. His characters are people, not people anyone would want to know up close and personal, but very real. His setting is the part of London a tourist hopes never to see, especially after dark. The odds of finding a helpful soul are slim, at best.
EYES OPEN is a police procedural. The Detective Sergeant (DS) of the Unexplained Death division (A14) is currently working the case of Charles Sandiland, brutally murdered one nasty March afternoon by people who really wanted him to suffer. There are few leads, most of which go nowhere. This is realistic in and of itself. The one clue that untangles the whole mess is a box of cassette tapes recorded by the victim. As the DS listens to them, his understanding of the victim grows. There are leads on the tapes, leads which take the DS to parts of Sandiland’s past, ancient and recent. Ultimately, they result in the DS knowing who killed Sandiland.
Raymond had a background in illegal activities. His personal knowledge brings an air of authenticity to his work. His ability to generate atmosphere, ambience is very good. His plotting is superb. Truly, if you love noir and haven’t read Raymond, you have a treat in store for you.
Derek Raymond
9781935554578 available on Kindle
304 Pages
Soho Press
September 2011
$9.99 Kindle price
P.J. Coldren
If British noir is your thing and you haven’t read Derek Raymond, you are missing some wonderful writing in the genre. His characters are people, not people anyone would want to know up close and personal, but very real. His setting is the part of London a tourist hopes never to see, especially after dark. The odds of finding a helpful soul are slim, at best.
EYES OPEN is a police procedural. The Detective Sergeant (DS) of the Unexplained Death division (A14) is currently working the case of Charles Sandiland, brutally murdered one nasty March afternoon by people who really wanted him to suffer. There are few leads, most of which go nowhere. This is realistic in and of itself. The one clue that untangles the whole mess is a box of cassette tapes recorded by the victim. As the DS listens to them, his understanding of the victim grows. There are leads on the tapes, leads which take the DS to parts of Sandiland’s past, ancient and recent. Ultimately, they result in the DS knowing who killed Sandiland.
Raymond had a background in illegal activities. His personal knowledge brings an air of authenticity to his work. His ability to generate atmosphere, ambience is very good. His plotting is superb. Truly, if you love noir and haven’t read Raymond, you have a treat in store for you.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Review: A Vine in the Blood
A Vine in the Blood
Leighton Gage
9781616950040 available on Kindle
304 Pages
Soho Press
December 27, 2011
Kindle price not available at this time
P.J. Coldren
Kidnapping is almost routine in some South American countries, as one can tell from today’s headlines about a ballplayer from an American baseball team in Venezuela. Certainly Leighton Gage could not have foreseen this when he started writing VINE, but it couldn’t be a more timely book. Tito “The Artist” Santos is Brazil’s principal striker and the FIFA World Cup is three weeks away when his mother Juraci is kidnapped. If Tito’s off his game, Brazil’s reputation in the soccer world is almost certainly down the tubes.
Chief Inspector Mario Silva has more than enough suspects to weed through and eliminate. The Argentinean cabal maintains that there would be no pride whatsoever in winning the Cup if Tito wasn’t playing; sounds good but they might be bluffing. It’s a very strong rivalry. Tito’s girlfriend, a famous model known to care more about money than love, might have a motive but Tito refuses to believe that she isn’t as pure as the driven snow. Then there are the soccer rivals: the man who would be playing if Tito wasn’t, and the man whose leg Tito broke by accident in a game. Where to start?
Gage’s writing about Brazil, about the corruption that is rampant in every area of government, about investigating crimes in that kind of environment, is enthralling. VINE is not as dark as some of his previous works, which might incline one to think that the writing is not up to his usual standards. One would be wrong. VINE is very strongly written. The plotting is amazing; the finale will leave the reader a little stunned but the motivation is so true that it all makes sense. The author’s note at the end of VINE is interesting and informative, giving the reader some idea of where Gage gets his ideas.
Buy link: http://www.amazon.com/Vine-Blood-Chief-Inspector-Investigation/dp/1616950048/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321357594&sr=1-1
Leighton Gage
9781616950040 available on Kindle
304 Pages
Soho Press
December 27, 2011
Kindle price not available at this time
P.J. Coldren
Kidnapping is almost routine in some South American countries, as one can tell from today’s headlines about a ballplayer from an American baseball team in Venezuela. Certainly Leighton Gage could not have foreseen this when he started writing VINE, but it couldn’t be a more timely book. Tito “The Artist” Santos is Brazil’s principal striker and the FIFA World Cup is three weeks away when his mother Juraci is kidnapped. If Tito’s off his game, Brazil’s reputation in the soccer world is almost certainly down the tubes.
Chief Inspector Mario Silva has more than enough suspects to weed through and eliminate. The Argentinean cabal maintains that there would be no pride whatsoever in winning the Cup if Tito wasn’t playing; sounds good but they might be bluffing. It’s a very strong rivalry. Tito’s girlfriend, a famous model known to care more about money than love, might have a motive but Tito refuses to believe that she isn’t as pure as the driven snow. Then there are the soccer rivals: the man who would be playing if Tito wasn’t, and the man whose leg Tito broke by accident in a game. Where to start?
Gage’s writing about Brazil, about the corruption that is rampant in every area of government, about investigating crimes in that kind of environment, is enthralling. VINE is not as dark as some of his previous works, which might incline one to think that the writing is not up to his usual standards. One would be wrong. VINE is very strongly written. The plotting is amazing; the finale will leave the reader a little stunned but the motivation is so true that it all makes sense. The author’s note at the end of VINE is interesting and informative, giving the reader some idea of where Gage gets his ideas.
Buy link: http://www.amazon.com/Vine-Blood-Chief-Inspector-Investigation/dp/1616950048/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321357594&sr=1-1
Friday, July 29, 2011
CAPE COD NOIR Review
CAPE COD NOIR
Edited by David L. Ulin
9781936070978
300 Pages
Akashic Books
June 1, 2011
$15.95 US
P.J. Coldren
July 25, 2011
Ibrahim Ahmad 718-643-9193 ibrahim@akashicbooks.com
Cape Cod, short stories, noir
Part of the award-winning series of original noir anthologies, this collection is set in Cape Cod.
For many people, Cape Cod brings to mind beaches, summers, the Kennedy clan and their peers, and fond memories built up over years of traditional family vacations. As anyone who has ever grown up or spent winters in a summer tourist area knows, there is a dark side to all that bliss. CAPE COD NOIR is thirteen stores about the dank, dark underside that tourists rarely, if ever, see.
Ten-Year Plan by William Hastings gives a behind-the-scenes look at a busy
restaurant, provided by an ex-con who is an outsider in more ways than the obvious.
Second Chance by Elyssa East takes reader a look to an unusual reform school with unusual precepts.
Ardent by Dana Cameron is a look at the role of women, and how a woman of
intelligence can change her life if given the chance.
Nineteen Snapshots of Dennisport by Paul Tremblay demonstrates that not all family albums capture good times.
Variations on a Fifty-Pound Bale by Adam Mansbach brings life, however improbably, to an urban legend.
Bad Night at Hyannisport by Seth Greenland takes readers into the world of the summer people, although in this case it's the world of a young summer construction worker, and he's been drinking a lot.
Spectacle Pond by Lizzie Skurnick is a story of betrayal and mourning.
La Jetee BY David L. Ulin is a story of déjà vu, one that does not end well at all.
The Occidental Tourist by Kaylie Jones is a tale of summer love, love that recurs for a while and then becomes memory.
The Exchange Student by Fred G. Leebron is told by a young man from Denmark; his experience as an exchange student is certainly not what he expected when he signed up.
Viva Regina by Ben Greenman plays out line by usually short line, tension building slowly and then fading.
When Death Shines Bright by Dave Zeltserman is ironic, yet comforting in that irony.
Twenty-Eight Scenes for Neglected Guests by Jedediah Berry takes place in and around a summer theater; the play in the story and the plot of the story are almost hallucinatorily intertwined.
Previous entries in the Noir anthology series have been, at least in my limited experience, good reads. Taken individually, the stories in CAPE COD NOIR are well written, good reading. Taken as a whole, I found it difficult to believe that the stories defined Cape Cod. They did not, to me, make me feel I had experienced Cape Cod in a way that was markedly different than my experience as a townie in another summer resort community. I've never been to Cape Cod; perhaps that would change my
mind.
Edited by David L. Ulin
9781936070978
300 Pages
Akashic Books
June 1, 2011
$15.95 US
P.J. Coldren
July 25, 2011
Ibrahim Ahmad 718-643-9193 ibrahim@akashicbooks.com
Cape Cod, short stories, noir
Part of the award-winning series of original noir anthologies, this collection is set in Cape Cod.
For many people, Cape Cod brings to mind beaches, summers, the Kennedy clan and their peers, and fond memories built up over years of traditional family vacations. As anyone who has ever grown up or spent winters in a summer tourist area knows, there is a dark side to all that bliss. CAPE COD NOIR is thirteen stores about the dank, dark underside that tourists rarely, if ever, see.
Ten-Year Plan by William Hastings gives a behind-the-scenes look at a busy
restaurant, provided by an ex-con who is an outsider in more ways than the obvious.
Second Chance by Elyssa East takes reader a look to an unusual reform school with unusual precepts.
Ardent by Dana Cameron is a look at the role of women, and how a woman of
intelligence can change her life if given the chance.
Nineteen Snapshots of Dennisport by Paul Tremblay demonstrates that not all family albums capture good times.
Variations on a Fifty-Pound Bale by Adam Mansbach brings life, however improbably, to an urban legend.
Bad Night at Hyannisport by Seth Greenland takes readers into the world of the summer people, although in this case it's the world of a young summer construction worker, and he's been drinking a lot.
Spectacle Pond by Lizzie Skurnick is a story of betrayal and mourning.
La Jetee BY David L. Ulin is a story of déjà vu, one that does not end well at all.
The Occidental Tourist by Kaylie Jones is a tale of summer love, love that recurs for a while and then becomes memory.
The Exchange Student by Fred G. Leebron is told by a young man from Denmark; his experience as an exchange student is certainly not what he expected when he signed up.
Viva Regina by Ben Greenman plays out line by usually short line, tension building slowly and then fading.
When Death Shines Bright by Dave Zeltserman is ironic, yet comforting in that irony.
Twenty-Eight Scenes for Neglected Guests by Jedediah Berry takes place in and around a summer theater; the play in the story and the plot of the story are almost hallucinatorily intertwined.
Previous entries in the Noir anthology series have been, at least in my limited experience, good reads. Taken individually, the stories in CAPE COD NOIR are well written, good reading. Taken as a whole, I found it difficult to believe that the stories defined Cape Cod. They did not, to me, make me feel I had experienced Cape Cod in a way that was markedly different than my experience as a townie in another summer resort community. I've never been to Cape Cod; perhaps that would change my
mind.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Review: DEED TO DEATH
Deed to Death
D. B. Henson
ISBN 978-0-375-89987-4 available on Kindle
288 Pages
Touchstone
July 5, 2011
$9.99 US Kindle price
P.J. Coldren
What do you do if the man you are going to marry in a few days commits suicide by jumping off the top floor of a building he is building? No note. No indication to you that he is having doubts about your wedding, problems with his business, that he is anything but what you know him as: a successful architect who is madly in love with you. If you are Toni Matthews, successful realtor in Nashville, you refuse to accept the decision of the police, or of Scott Chadwick’s friends and family (family you didn’t know all that well). Toni is convinced that Scott was murdered and she’s bound and determined to prove it. One of her associates is killed for looking too much like Toni and being someplace Toni was supposed to be. This only makes Toni more determined, not less.
Toni finds out a lot about Scott, a lot that she didn’t know. Was he really having an affair right under her nose? How bad was his business doing? Why is his brother Brian suing for the entire estate? Who can she trust? Was her entire relationship with Scott a sham?
DEED TO DEATH is a fairly good thriller. The plot is good, the pacing is excellent. The characters are reasonably believable. I do have a major problem with Toni. She is, by all measures, an intelligent woman. She didn’t inherit her money, she earned it. She’s a top performer as a realtor, which implies an ability both to read and to manipulate people. During her investigation, Toni does a lot of stupid things. She doesn’t check things out with some of the connections she has. She talks to people alone when she suspects they have killed Scott. She does this repeatedly. She can’t decide which of the two finalists the real killer is. She keeps giving each of them information they don’t need to have, information she should keep to herself. Yes, I know she’s upset by Scott’s death, but all sense of reason does not have to leave her body. If TSTL characters don’t faze you, read on. It’s a good thriller once you get past that. According to the jacket blurb, this is a bestselling self-published e-book; Henson did the work necessary to take this from self-published to a traditional publishing house.
D. B. Henson
ISBN 978-0-375-89987-4 available on Kindle
288 Pages
Touchstone
July 5, 2011
$9.99 US Kindle price
P.J. Coldren
What do you do if the man you are going to marry in a few days commits suicide by jumping off the top floor of a building he is building? No note. No indication to you that he is having doubts about your wedding, problems with his business, that he is anything but what you know him as: a successful architect who is madly in love with you. If you are Toni Matthews, successful realtor in Nashville, you refuse to accept the decision of the police, or of Scott Chadwick’s friends and family (family you didn’t know all that well). Toni is convinced that Scott was murdered and she’s bound and determined to prove it. One of her associates is killed for looking too much like Toni and being someplace Toni was supposed to be. This only makes Toni more determined, not less.
Toni finds out a lot about Scott, a lot that she didn’t know. Was he really having an affair right under her nose? How bad was his business doing? Why is his brother Brian suing for the entire estate? Who can she trust? Was her entire relationship with Scott a sham?
DEED TO DEATH is a fairly good thriller. The plot is good, the pacing is excellent. The characters are reasonably believable. I do have a major problem with Toni. She is, by all measures, an intelligent woman. She didn’t inherit her money, she earned it. She’s a top performer as a realtor, which implies an ability both to read and to manipulate people. During her investigation, Toni does a lot of stupid things. She doesn’t check things out with some of the connections she has. She talks to people alone when she suspects they have killed Scott. She does this repeatedly. She can’t decide which of the two finalists the real killer is. She keeps giving each of them information they don’t need to have, information she should keep to herself. Yes, I know she’s upset by Scott’s death, but all sense of reason does not have to leave her body. If TSTL characters don’t faze you, read on. It’s a good thriller once you get past that. According to the jacket blurb, this is a bestselling self-published e-book; Henson did the work necessary to take this from self-published to a traditional publishing house.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Review: THE BLACK HEART CRYPT
THE BLACK HEART CRYPT
Chris Grabenstein
ISBN for e-book: 978-0-375-89987-4
336 Pages
Random House
August 23, 2011
$16.99 US
P.J. Coldren
Zack Jennings is not an ordinary child. He can see ghosts. This is a trait probably inherited from his father, George Jennings. His aunts Virginia, Hannah, and Sophie have the skill to make that gift go away; they are herbologists. The three sisters are visiting the Jennings family over Halloween, when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. This will bring problems for Zack, especially after his friend Malik helps unleash the ghosts of the very unpleasant Ickleby family. The Ickleby family seeks revenge on the Jennings, seeing as how it was the Jennings sisters who sealed them up in that crypt for so long. Unpleasantness is bound to ensue.
Grabenstein has written three Zack Jennings stories; this is the third. Grabenstein’s grasp of what will keep a young (early middle school?) boy reading is quite good. There are non-ghostly bad guys for Zack and his friends to deal with - the usual middle-school bullies and jerks. Zack’s ability to cope with “real” life and the unreal world only he can see gets better as he gets older and more secure in himself. Grabenstein can also make a small New England town seem real. The plots are pretty straight-forward, although there is an occasional twist.
While these are obviously geared for male readers, female readers are more willing to read “guy” books than vice versa. Any girl with an interest in the supernatural would probably like this series
Chris Grabenstein
ISBN for e-book: 978-0-375-89987-4
336 Pages
Random House
August 23, 2011
$16.99 US
P.J. Coldren
Zack Jennings is not an ordinary child. He can see ghosts. This is a trait probably inherited from his father, George Jennings. His aunts Virginia, Hannah, and Sophie have the skill to make that gift go away; they are herbologists. The three sisters are visiting the Jennings family over Halloween, when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. This will bring problems for Zack, especially after his friend Malik helps unleash the ghosts of the very unpleasant Ickleby family. The Ickleby family seeks revenge on the Jennings, seeing as how it was the Jennings sisters who sealed them up in that crypt for so long. Unpleasantness is bound to ensue.
Grabenstein has written three Zack Jennings stories; this is the third. Grabenstein’s grasp of what will keep a young (early middle school?) boy reading is quite good. There are non-ghostly bad guys for Zack and his friends to deal with - the usual middle-school bullies and jerks. Zack’s ability to cope with “real” life and the unreal world only he can see gets better as he gets older and more secure in himself. Grabenstein can also make a small New England town seem real. The plots are pretty straight-forward, although there is an occasional twist.
While these are obviously geared for male readers, female readers are more willing to read “guy” books than vice versa. Any girl with an interest in the supernatural would probably like this series
Monday, May 2, 2011
Review: The Killing Song
THE KILLING SONG
P.J. Parrish
9781439189368
Pocket Books, available on Nook and almost certainly on Kindle
July 26, 2011
P.J. Coldren
April 24, 2011
Are you an older sibling? Do you remember the terror you felt when you were watching your kid sister and lost her? Even for a minute? Matt Owens is living that nightmare, and it gets as bad as it can get. Amanda is visiting Miami and he’s showing her the night life. He turns away for a moment and when he looks back, she’s gone. When she is found, she’s been brutally murdered.
Matt is a reporter, good enough to have been nominated for a Pulitzer. He HAS to find out who killed his sister, and he uses every investigative skill he has to do this. Following a musical clue left on Amanda’s I-Pod takes Matt to Paris. He joins forces with a French detective, Eve Bellamont. They chase over a significant portion of Europe following clues and murders. This killer has apparently been active for a very long time.
P.J. Parrish has done a stellar job with this book. The musical clues are bizarre but effective. The rapport that builds between Matt and Eve is believable without being overdone. The only minor flaw can easily be attributed to poetic license: the kinds of red tape and bureaucratic nightmares that would almost assuredly accompany this kind of investigation are relatively minor and easily circumvented. I can live with that. The pace is slow at the beginning and frantic at the end; Parrish handles that roller-coaster thriller ride handily.
Publicity info: melissa.gramstad@simonandschuster.com
P.J. Parrish
9781439189368
Pocket Books, available on Nook and almost certainly on Kindle
July 26, 2011
P.J. Coldren
April 24, 2011
Are you an older sibling? Do you remember the terror you felt when you were watching your kid sister and lost her? Even for a minute? Matt Owens is living that nightmare, and it gets as bad as it can get. Amanda is visiting Miami and he’s showing her the night life. He turns away for a moment and when he looks back, she’s gone. When she is found, she’s been brutally murdered.
Matt is a reporter, good enough to have been nominated for a Pulitzer. He HAS to find out who killed his sister, and he uses every investigative skill he has to do this. Following a musical clue left on Amanda’s I-Pod takes Matt to Paris. He joins forces with a French detective, Eve Bellamont. They chase over a significant portion of Europe following clues and murders. This killer has apparently been active for a very long time.
P.J. Parrish has done a stellar job with this book. The musical clues are bizarre but effective. The rapport that builds between Matt and Eve is believable without being overdone. The only minor flaw can easily be attributed to poetic license: the kinds of red tape and bureaucratic nightmares that would almost assuredly accompany this kind of investigation are relatively minor and easily circumvented. I can live with that. The pace is slow at the beginning and frantic at the end; Parrish handles that roller-coaster thriller ride handily.
Publicity info: melissa.gramstad@simonandschuster.com
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