Posts Tagged ‘mystery’
Friday, April 26th, 2013
Pros: Fantastic character interplay; gorgeous world-building. I think I’m falling in love with Ritsuko and Mikani.
Cons: Occasional difficulty telling which of the partners is speaking
Rating: 5 out of 5
Release date: April 30, 2013
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Celeste Ritsuko and Janus Mikani solve murders for the Criminal Investigation Division. She’s the division’s first female inspector, and an orderly, meticulous detective. He’s a sloppy, charming pain-in-the-ass with an extremely useful—and very debilitating—sixth sense. The two of them have forged an unlikely and delightfully symbiotic partnership as they work to protect people from harm.
Then a daughter of one of the great Houses goes missing, and they’re under the gun to find her—or else. When she turns up murdered in a particularly unusual and gruesome fashion, traces of magic polluting the scene, Ritsuko and Mikani realize they’re hunting a madman. And if they don’t find him soon, losing their jobs will be the least of their worries.
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Tags: A.A. Aguirre, Andres Aguirre, Ann Aguirre, Apparatus Infernum, fairies, Fantasy, mystery, paranormal, steampunk
Posted in Fantasy, Horror & Paranormal, Science Fiction, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, January 30th, 2013
Pros: Fun tale with some intriguing twists, enjoyable turns, and interesting characters
Cons: The “impulsive” bad guy was a little too predictable at the end
Rating: 4 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Eve has a difficult new case to crack. It isn’t particularly gruesome, but the victim was a mother, a wife, sister-in-law to a judge, and much beloved by those around her. For once, Eve can’t find any hidden enemies, resentful spouses. Yet everything indicates that this woman was specifically targeted, and her death wasn’t the mugging-gone-wrong it was supposed to look like. Investigating the murder takes Eve deep into the confusing world of accounting, investing, and big business, where she’s sure to anger some very wealthy, very well-connected players.
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Tags: Eve Dallas, in death, J.D. Robb, mystery, Nora Roberts, Roarke, romance, thriller
Posted in Romance & Erotica, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | No Comments »
Friday, February 24th, 2012
Pros: A complex murder mystery involving a remarkable web of personalities
Cons: Not really the “suspense” the book cover would have us believe; most of these characters are seriously non-likable
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Also posted on Epinions.com
Kat, Perri, and Josie have been inseparable friends since third grade. They had their own place largely outside the school’s clique-based structure. Everyone loved Kat for her beauty and kindness. Josie is an athletic cheerleader. And Perri’s the sharp-witted theater geek. They live in a well-to-do suburb and their families can afford good schools, special athletics programs, and more. But as the end of their senior year draws close, one of them brings a gun to school. One girl ends up dead. One gets shot in the foot. And one is in critical condition after apparently blowing half of her face off. Only the three of them knew what really happened in the school bathroom that morning, only one girl is capable of saying, and she’s sticking to a story that doesn’t quite hold water. Now everyone’s looking for answers: the police, who can’t let go of the pieces that don’t add up; the father of the dead girl, who wants someone to blame; and the parents of the girl who’s still in critical condition, because they want some proof, any proof, that it might not have been her terrible act that caused all of this tragedy.
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Tags: Laura Lippman, mystery
Posted in Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
Pros: So totally in tears! An emotional roller-coaster tied to a dark mystery and some wonderful characters
Cons: …
Rating: 5 out of 5
Hope Carson is a survivor of domestic abuse, still battling her demons and trying to get her feet under her. It was her terrible luck to try to piece her life back together while visiting her friend Law, whose small town has just become the site of a terrible killing. As if that weren’t enough, Law was attacked and Hope was made to look as though she’d tried to kill both him and herself.
It takes golden-boy local DA Remy Jennings a while to catch up to the fact that she’s innocent. He feels it in his gut, but he also knows he’s having trouble remaining objective about her, and that means he needs to be particularly careful about basing his decisions only on the evidence at hand. Thankfully that evidence does eventually turn up, leaving him free to think about whether or not to pursue his interest in her. He knows she comes with baggage, maybe more than he can handle. But he just can’t seem to stay away from her.
Unfortunately for both of them, Hope’s ex-husband, the one who battered her, the one who tried to convince Remy she was violent and manipulative, now knows where she is. And he’s determined to bring her back home, no matter what he has to do to accomplish it. He isn’t counting, however, on an unlikely protector who doesn’t want to see Hope hurt…
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Tags: mystery, romance, Shiloh Walker, suspense, thriller
Posted in Romance & Erotica, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
Pros: Gets better and better as it goes, with a tear-jerker climax
Cons: Rough start, with some too-perfect characters and stilted writing
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Mariah Sayers fled the small town of Plains Point when she was just seventeen, escaping an abusive family and the aftermath of a brutal attack. Now that both of her parents have died, she’s returned with her teenaged daughter to set the house in order for sale. At first she enjoys the warmth of old friendships, the satisfaction of turning the old home into something beautiful, and even the sizzle of chemistry with the hot veterinarian who takes an interest in her. Then a terrible crime makes her realize that the man who attacked her not only isn’t gone, but may have been attacking, brutalizing, and even killing young women ever since she left. All Mariah wants to do is flee back to Chicago, but she might run out of time…
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Tags: Carla Cassidy, mystery, romance, thriller
Posted in Romance & Erotica, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
Pros: Good rationale for personal involvement this time; backs off of the dark personal stuff a bit; enjoyable murder mystery
Cons: …
Rating: 5 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Also posted on Epinions.com
A movie is finally being made based on one of Eve’s prior cases, and she’s the guest of honor at a dinner party attended by the stars, director, and producers. While her partner, Peabody, is delighted to experience Hollywood glamor, Eve almost hopes for a murder to get her out of it. Be careful what you wish for, Eve—the evening isn’t yet over when K.T. Harris, the actress playing Peabody, is found drowned on the roof. No one particularly misses her; she was beyond rude, she stalked those she supposedly cared about, and she used blackmail and violence to get her way. In fact, the problem isn’t finding a suspect—the problem is sorting out which one of many might have done it. And this isn’t easy when all of the suspects are such good actors, and quite accustomed to circling the wagons to keep outsiders at bay. Things become more urgent, however, when another person turns up dead, and Eve begins to suspect a larger pattern at work…
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Tags: in death, J.D. Robb, mystery, Nora Roberts, romance, Sci-Fi, science fantasy, suspense
Posted in Romance & Erotica, Science Fiction, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 25th, 2011
Pros: Interesting bad guy and race against time; some great side characters; we get to see the original case that made Eve the cop she is
Cons: Too many coincidences; too much small world syndrome; too much Eve trauma
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Way back when Eve was a rookie, she had the misfortune to stumble across a gruesome crime scene—and the good fortune to rescue the victims of a madman. That madman has spent the years since then behind bars—until now. Somehow he escaped, and the prison was too busy trying to cover its ass (excuse me, “conduct an internal investigation”) to notify Eve. Now he wants revenge on the cop that stopped him so many years ago, and he’s decided that the city of Dallas, scene of Eve’s own most horrific memories, is the place to achieve that goal.
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Tags: crime drama, drama, in death, J.D. Robb, mystery, Nora Roberts, romance
Posted in Romance & Erotica, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | 4 Comments »
Friday, July 22nd, 2011
Pros: Great mystery and characters, wonderful relationship, fascinating subplots
Cons: So many people and names that I got a bit confused!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Special Agent Jaid Marlowe of the FBI has a long and storied history with Adam Raiker of Raiker Forensics. It was all a long time ago, and they’ve tried to forget each other, but somehow neither of them has ever been able to quite let go. Now, a case has thrown them back together again. A killer is stalking DC, leaving slips of paper at each scene pointing to one of the seven deadly sins. At first none of the victims seem to have anything in common—a judge, a financier, a religious leader. The far-flung list of suspects is even flimsier—a US senator, a priest, an Iranian professor, and perhaps even someone within the FBI itself.
As Jaid and Adam dive into the case, they start to fear that the only link between the victims might be Adam himself. And when he becomes a suspect, Jaid has to risk everything to prove him innocent. No one is safe—not Jaid, not Adam, and not even Jaid’s son, Royce. To make things just that much harder, Adam, who always preached the philosophy that love and sex complicate and cloud a person’s judgement, may be forced to realize that giving up Jaid was the worst mistake he ever made.
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Tags: forensics, Kylie Brant, Mindhunters, mystery, police procedural, romance, serial killer
Posted in Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | 2 Comments »
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
Pros: Funny, touching, sobering, thoughtful, inventive, delightful!
Cons: Make sure it’s the kind of zombie novel you’re looking for!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Review book courtesy of Penguin Group
Angel Crawford is a pill-popping, beer-swilling, high school dropout who lives with her alcoholic dad and can’t keep a job to save her life. She even managed to blunder her way into a criminal record. In short, she’s a loser—and she knows it. Then one day she wakes up in the ER after an apparent overdose, even though she’s sure she remembers being in some sort of accident. She receives an anonymous letter telling her she has a job waiting for her at the county morgue, and that if she screws it up before a month is out, she’ll end up in jail.
She’s determined to make that month work, but it certainly isn’t easy. One of her co-workers is an arrogant jerk, but that’s nothing next to the fact that she seems to be developing an overpowering craving for brains! Add in a bunch of headless corpses courtesy of an apparent serial killer—just when she’s hungriest, naturally—and Angel’s going to have to think fast if she wants to keep her job, keep her new lease on life, and maybe, just maybe, catch the eye of that cute deputy she likes!
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Tags: Diana Rowland, Humor, mystery, paranormal, rednecks, urban fantasy, white trash, zombies
Posted in Horror & Paranormal, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | 1 Comment »
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
Pros: Gorgeous, cinematic story with a great deal of personality
Cons: Might start a little slow for some; I wanted a little more about Jericho
Rating: 4 out of 5
Visit Rob Thurman online.
Also posted on Epinions.com.
Stefan Korsak is a bodyguard for the Russian Mafia in Miama, Florida. Once he would have preferred to join the police, but since his younger brother Lukas was kidnapped ten years earlier, this is the only way for Stefan to easily make enough money to continue the search. Even Stefan’s well-connected father has given up. Then finally one of his contacts pays off—Lukas was sighted and trailed back to some sort of armed compound.
Now Stefan is going to have to draw on all of his resources. He needs to liberate his brother from the mysterious armed compound, but as daunting as that seems, it might end up being the easy part. Lukas has been brainwashed, and no longer remembers his brother. He’s also been trained and medically altered in ways that could make him very dangerous to Stefan, himself, and anyone else they come across. Toss in a very angry mob boss since Stefan ran off, as well as the armed men trying to retrieve Lukas, and the brothers’ reunion could be short indeed.
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Tags: adventure, futuristic, genetic engineering, Korsak Brothers, mystery, near future, Rob Thurman, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, SF, thriller
Posted in Science Fiction, Thriller, Adventure & Mystery | Permalink | 4 Comments »
