The woman in the window by A.J. Finn

This was a captivating book, well-written, suspenseful; a real thriller/mystery.  It was on the NY Times besstseller list for weeks and has received notable attention, and it is well-deserved.

Dr. Anna Fox suffers from agoraphobia, a mental illness in which the patient cannot leave their house.  How she got this illness is revealed later in the book, but for the first 100 pages we get a taste of how her life is limited by the disease.  She witnesses a murder across the street from her house and when she contacts the police finds that a woman she knew and saw murdered was replaced by an entirely different woman.  He credibility with the police suffers and she tries to discover the truth, limited as she is by her illness.

I thought the writing technique in this book was outstanding.  The style of the author creates a tense, almost agoraphobic view of this woman's world, barely letting the reader come up for air.  As a mystery it satisfies, although the author does setup the reader a little by limiting the descriptions of the characters (author manipulation of the reader, my favorite gripe. DL)  Still, I had a herd time putting down this story and wass thrilled to the epilogue.  The author grabs the reader and doesn't let go until the end.  Highly recommended. 5/5 stars.

Currently in publication. 

And then you were gone by R. J. Jacobs

I had a hard time reading this book.  When I thought about it, I realized that I didn't sympathize with the main character.  Although well-written, the characterization of the principals in this book made me wince.  I'm afraid I can't recommend it. 


The main character is a psychologist who is bipolar and somewhat needy.  She has a boyfriend who works in  medical research on influenza, an important, potentially devastating pathogen.   She awakens on a boat after she spends the night on the water with her boyfriend, and he is gone.  Disappeared into thin air.  Interesting, right?  The police are suspicious of her, but let her go; later her life falls apart after the loss of her boyfriend and a DUI accident, which gets her arrested; she loses her job and almost loses her license.  Later she is contacted by a coworker of her boyfriend who claims he was murdered because he uncovered a conspiracy in the lab to weaponize the influenza virus.  This coworker is then murdered and again she is suspected by the police. 


The bipolar psychologist drinks too much and has poor judgement as she stumbles from one event in the case to another.  I found it almost painful to read what she does next, digging a deeper and deeper hole for herself.  Since I couldn't identify with the main character, couldn't identify with her struggles, and couldn't sympathize with her problems, I was left cold by the story.  There may be fans of this style of writing but I am not one of them.  Not recommended. 2/5 stars.  Read this and other reviews of upcoming books at bookgeist.blogspot.com.

The Aladdin Trial by Abi Silver

The was an enjoyable book, complex and with great characters, and an excellently constructed plot.  The first half of the book grabbed my interest, and then for the last half I could not put it down until I had finished the story.  As murder mysteries go, this was a great one, really top notch.

Barbara Hennesey is in the hospital for a routine operation when she is found dead, apparently having been thrown from the twelfth floor of the hospital.  A Syrian refugee, working at the hospital as a custodian, is suspected and eventually arrested for the crime.  Constance Lamb is appointed as her lawyer and embarks on his defense, trying to determine exactly who murdered Ms. Hennesey.  In the process many characters are interviewed and and presented as possible culprits: Joe Hennesey, her son, the sleazy car salesman; Janice Hennesey, the somewhat inattentive daughter who inherits a million pounds from the estate of her mother; Barrister Brian, Ms. Hennesey's lawyer, who seems to have a private agenda; and Dr. Wolf, who performed her operation and seems to have something to hide.

I was reminded of Agatha Christie when reading such was the interwoven complexity of the plot and characters.  The author has a deft touch with characterization of the main characters, making them more than interesting, and the hard-hitting plot kept me guessing until the very last pages.  After taking half the book to set up the crime and the characters, the story turns into a courtroom drama, so there is that tension to add to the solving of the crime.

I found this book utterly gripping and a top-notch mystery.  One of my top ten books of the year.  Highly recommended.  5/5 stars.  Read this and other reviews of upcoming books at bookgeist.blogspot.com.

Publication date: September 20, 2018

The Levanter by Eric Ambler

This is a political thriller which has been available for several years now; it satisfies and has a fascinating story in its own right.  I found the book compelling and was glad I had read it.

Michael Howell is a businessman operating a family company in the Levant: Syria, Cyprus, Egypt, and other Middle Eastern countries.  In 1970, he has kept his family's business enterprises going through a decade of wars, takeovers, and revolutions, thanks in part to his office manager, Teresa, who is also his mistress.  One late night in the office, they discover men working overtime--producing unauthorized bombs for the Palestinian Action Force.  Worse, this terrorist group is not deterred by his discovery--rather the enlist Howell and Teresa's unwilling help in carrying out their plan.

The story is told through several points of view, Howell's, Teresa's, and Mike Prescott's, a journalist who tells some of the story.  The story is fascinating as it gives an insight into how businesses are run, the considerations they have, and the problems they face.  The unwilling cooperation of Howell as a 'comrade' in the PAF carries the threat of personal danger for Howell and Theresa, and requires, no matter how difficult, that they do something to stop the PAF.  This story is told with clarity and suspense and makes for a first rate political thriller.  Recommended. 4/5 stars. 

Currently available.

Buried Lies by Chris Collett

This is the next book in the DI Mariner series, entitled as 'lies,' in this case, Buried Lies.  I had no trouble reading and finishing this book, and it is a good book as crime and mystery titles go.  There are murders, more that one, and DI Mariner is right in the middle of them.  Although this is a good book, it's not one of my favorite.

DI Mariner leaves on a walking holiday in Wales, and soon ends up in the middle of a murder investigation.  There is a long and involved set-up where we learn about the people and places of Caranwy, Wales; I thought the novel was a little slow in getting to the point.  Once the murders start, the search for suspects provides for interesting reading; eventually the answer came from a direction I least suspected, and I was taken by surprise, which is always good in a mystery/thriller.

'Buried Lies' is the sixth in the DI Mariner series by Chris Collett, and these novels usually rate four-and-a-half stars on amazon.  Since this is the first one I read, I was not privy to what was going on in previous novels.  There are number of scenes in the book that address issues brought up in previous books.  I felt a little annoyed at not being given enough information to understand these scenes, but this is a small gripe.  Overall, this is a worthy novel and well worth reading.  4/5 stars.

The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

This was a delightful book.  From the very beginning it grabbed my interest and didn't let go.  By the time I finished, I didn't realize how long I had been reading as I was thoroughly entertained.

Diana Cowper is a old, rich, retired woman who goes into a funeral home and arranges her own funeral.  Strangely enough, she was murdered only hours later.  Did she arrange for her own murder?  Anthony (Horowitz), the author, writes this book in first person, inserting himself as a central character.  He is approached by Hawthorne, a true crime detective, to write a book about his investigation of Dian Cowper's murder.  What results is a story of a criminal murder investigation from the very beginning, with all the details and red herrings, to the revelation of the murderer.  I wasn't able to figure out who did the murder, but all the clues were there.  I didn't feel manipulated at all.  If I was clever enough, I could have picked out the murderer myself.

Hawthorne the detective is a complex, interesting character who has incredible insight that rivals Sherlock Holmes.  Time and again I was amazed at the logical deductions he makes about potential suspects and witnesses.  The final solution was surprising and quite unexpected. And Horowitz writes the first person author with zest and a little self deprecation.

You won't be disappointed with this book.  Make sure you have plenty of spare time before you start reading.  Highly recommended.  5/5 stars.

Past Tense by Lee Child

 

This is the 22nd Jack Reacher novel, and this one doesn't disappoint. Reacher novels all pretty much have the same structure and story line:  Reacher hitchhikes; he investigates a problem that is of only minor interest to the reader, but of major interest to Reacher;  he runs afowl of some nasty characters who he beats up; then his investigation leads to saving the day with some tangentially related characters.  In the end, Reacher resumes hitchhiking.

Still, despite the hackneyed plot structure, "Past Tense" remains an interesting and compelling read.  You can't publish a boring book 22 times; in this one Reacher is searching for information about his father in New Hampshire (on the way from Maine to San Diego) and runs across a criminal conspiracy involving hunters of human beings.  I won't say more, except that the story is captivating and interesting in only the way a Jack Reacher novel can be.  Highly recommended.  5/5 Stars.  Read this and other reviews of upcoming novels at bookgeist.blogspot.com.

Publication Date: November 5, 2018

Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and read it virtually nonstop from beginning to end.  This book has that extra something that grabs the readers attention and doesn't let go until the end.  Unfortunately, when I got to the end I was just a little bit disappointed, but more on that later.

Maddie (Brandt) Wilson is portrayed by a narrative that jumps around to three points of view:  Past young Maddie in the Balkans, near past Maddie in Kansas with her son Thomas, and the present in which a murder has been committed, seemingly her own.  The narrative device works well; we get some fascinating background of Maddie in the Balkans as a travel writer and teacher who often visits her friend Joann in Macedonia.  The time is around 9/11/01 so the Balkans are only a semi-safe place to be.  Here she meets the love of her life, Ian Wilson, who is a military contractor and over the course of the book we learn he is a burnout with PTSD.  In the near past, Maddie has been horribly injured, and we are not sure but suspect that Ian was the culprit.  Most of the book follows Ian and Maddie's relationship until the climax where there is a murder.

I loved reading this book but when I got to the end, I realized that the author had manipulated me.  We only get to see the part of the story that the author reveals to us, and the story up to the climax led me to a particular view of the characters and their world;  after the climax, the author presents Maddie, Ian and Joann in a vastly different light.  There was no way to know this was going to happen.  I felt manipulated by this;  portraying the world one way and then completely changing the world after the climax.  I felt cheap and used.

I was happy I read this book, but disappointed in the manipulation by the author.   Nevertheless, it is a great book and well worth reading.  Recommended.  4/5 stars. 

The Forbidden Door by Dean Koontz

If you like action, this is a good book for you.  This is the fourth book in the Jane Hawk series by Dean Koontz and if anything, it is more action packed with thrills than the first three.  I literally could not put down the book for the first half of the story, compelled as I was by the action.

Jane Hawk is trying to expose a conspiracy by a group called the Arcadians, who want to rule the world by injecting nanobot devices into people to control their minds.  The story in this installment revolves around Jane's son, whose hiding place in Borrego Springs, CA is suddenly exposed.  She must retrieve him; but he surrounded by Arcadians posing as FBI and Homeland security agents.  How can Jane get to her son without being exposed as the fugitive as she is?

The action begins when Jane is spotted by an Arcadian who wants to take her in by himself.  When she shakes him there is the thornier problem of getting her son out of Borrego Springs.  Also, the Arcadians go after Jane's parents in Texas, hoping to inject them with mind control devices so they can reveal his hiding spot.   In a two-tracked plot, the chase is on for Jane and for her parents.

Although I enjoyed this book, there came a point about three-quarters in where the plot devolved into a frenzied free-for-all.  There seemed, to me at least, an overuse of gore and gratuitous sex that made me wince.  I made it through this rough patch, but I have to admit, it turned me off the book.  As the story ends, there is more excitement, but by this time, there is no question that the book will have a happy ending and the bad guys will all be punished.  So, for me, the end was anticlimactic.  Also, it seemed to me that the Jane Hawk Series was being drawn out deliberately so more books could be sold.

If you enjoy Koontz, this book is for you, especially if you read the first three Jane Hawk novels, but if not, I suggest you start at the beginning with the first Jane Hawk novel, "The Silent Corner,' which was a great book.  3/5 stars. 

Broken Ground by Val McDermid

This book was a rich source of entertainment.  The novel contains some of the best writing I have seen in a mystery, and its characters, particularly DCI Karen Pirie, the protagonist, were full and complex characters that seemed very much like real people.  I thoroughly enjoyed this well-written book, the thirty-second from Val McDermid.

Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie is the head of the 'Historical Crimes Unit' or HCU in Edinburgh, Scotland.  As the book begins she and her sidekick, Jason, are actively searching for a car which was seen at a series of rapes twenty years ago.  A new member of the HCU, McCartney, arrives and is, in reality, a spy from her boss who is trying to fire her.  As the three pursue leads from this cold case, DCI Pirie is called in when a body is found in a bog in the wilds of Scotland.  She is able to date this well-preserved body to 1995 as soon discovers he was a strength athlete who went missing all those years before.  Since he has two bullet wounds in the chest and neck, this was obviously a murder.

The investigation leads to some unlikely places.  One of the interesting things about this book is how far-fetched the leads in the case are, so as a reader, I was surprised when some of them actually pan out.  The investigation at times seems unlikely, but then the author ties the loss ends up logically so that the result is an interesting story.  The plot is complicated by the constant sabotage of the new member, McCartney and the intrusion of DCI Pirie's new boss (affectionately named 'The Dog Biscuit').  Throw in a Highlander love interest, who may or may not be involved in the murder, and the intersection with the rape cases; the book is wonderfully complex and interesting.

One of the devices used in the book to put the reader ahead in the mystery is the flashbacks to WWII where the crime of the murder had its origin.  Subsequent flashbacks occur to let the reader see the origin of the actions that led to the cold case.  At first I was like 'what? how is this related?' but this is part of the wonderfully woven story of this murder.  The effect is to let the reader see what DCI Pirie suspects was the case twenty years ago.

This was a great book and well worth the reading time.  I'm now looking for more Karen Pirie novels to sink my teeth into.  Highly recommended.  5/5 stars.

Dark Tide Rising by Anne Perry

This book is another of the William Monk mystery series by Anne Perry.   As historical fiction, it does not disappoint.  I had never read any of the books in this series, and I was a little put off by the setting, mid-19th century London.  I generally don’t read books with this type of setting.  But as I read, I began to greatly enjoy the pace and the plot of the book, which has a number of plot twists that made for entertaining reading.

William Monk, the chief of the Thames River Police in mid-19th century London, is visited by Rathbone, his lawyer friend and confidant.  Rathbone has been approached by a friend, Exeter, a rather rich developer, for help from the Thames River Police.  It seems that his wife has been kidnapped and a ransom, which he can barely raise in time, is to be delivered in.a particularly nasty neighborhood.  Would Monk oversee the exchange.  Monk does and is waylaid by the kidnappers as are his men who he brought with him.  Exeter and he are separated during the exchange, and when Monk finds him, his wife is dead and the ransom is gone.  Monk soon realizes that one of his men must have tipped the kidnappers off, and so begins an investigation into murder and betrayal.

The characters of this book are well-drawn; Hooper, Monk’s right-hand man, is a former sailor with a dark secret.  He falls in love with Celia Darwin, one of the witnesses to the kidnapping.  Hooper does much of the investigation along with Monk and his other men.  Just when I thought I had nailed the murderer, the plot twisted and new possibilities were presented.  I was never sure about the culprit to the end of the book, and I have to say it was a surprise. 

This is an entertaining book and well worth reading for any fan of mysteries.  Highly recommended, 5/5 stars.