BOOKS
BOOK REVIEWS ARE BASED ON PERSONAL CHOICE WHETHER YOU WORK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES OR A BLOG THAT PRACTICALLY NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT. IT'S GOOD TO HAVE AT LEAST ONE OTHER OPINION, EVEN IF IT'S JUST SO WE CAN DISAGREE.
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THE WHITE ROAD
In this the fourth Charlie Parker outing, John Connolly takes a definite step nearer to the supernatural. The move from Maine to the deep south adds another flavour to the tale and allows Connolly's lyrical style to flourish. He makes good use of the combination of standard crime thriller and supernatural horror story to maintain his own brand of thriller.
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THE TREES
I have to confess it was the amazing cover that attracted me to this book in the first place. It deserves to be framed and put on a wall so that every time you pass it by you can pause and see something new that appeals to your eye. Happily the novel, The Trees, actually lives up to the cover and in many ways is equally appealing on a visual level. The descriptives passages immerse you in the forest setting without distracting in any way from the story itself.
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THE KILLING KIND
The third instalment in the Charlie Parker detective series introduces us to Elias Pudd and his secret weapon of eight-legged assassins. A long-time arachnophobe I squirmed my way through the passages where Pudd does his dirty work. Enough to keep me awake and begging for more.
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DARK HOLLOW
The second in the Charlie Parker series is every bit as chilling and thrilling as the debut novel. Connolly, rather cheekily some might think, manages to move his hero to Maine and then turn the dial up on the supernatural elements of the tale. Cheeky because the master of horror, Stephen King, based his tales of the unexpected in Maine also. The risk paid off though and this novel holds its own in comparison to anything King has produced.
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HEART SHAPED BOX
This is Joe Hill's debut novel and as such it justifies all of the nice things said about it by other authors. The writing is articulate without falling into the trap of being pretentious and it spares the reader from the over descriptive prose that ghost stories often subject us to.
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CITY OF THE LOST
Kelley Armstrong is best known for her supernatural thrillers but on this occasion she ventures into the world of detective fiction giving us a new hero in Detective Casey Duncan. I've reviewed other novels by Kelley Armstrong and the vast majority of them I really like and for a very good reason. She delivers on plot, keeping you interested in the "what happens next" element of the story, but most of all she creates characters that you connect to and care about.
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EVERY DEAD THING
Charlie 'Bird' Parker is as robust a detective fiction character as any of the greats - including Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade and Harry Bosch - with a complexity that satisfies the reader and avoids any of the cliches. Parker is a sympathetic bad boy with a reason for revenge and an unapologetic approach to how he achieves it. Former cop turned less than stunningly successful private eye, he takes on the real world villains while searching for the focus of his vengeful anger.
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NORSE MYTHOLOGY
Neil Gaiman introduces us to his collection of Norse Myths by pointing out his introduction to this rich mine of fantastical stories was through Marvel's Thor™ as a child. I had an immediate resonance with the book because I too became aware and subsequently engrossed in Norse mythology in exactly the same way. Despite the limited source material available to him he manages to make the strange adventures of Odin, Thor and Loki fresh and modern.
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BRYANT & MAY-PECULIAR CRIMES
As with all book series some novels are better than others, but without a doubt, the Bryant & May series of detective novels deserve their place amongst the best of the genre. If you like well written British crime novels with a cast of quirky characters and tonnes of twists and turns then this series is most definitely for you.
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THE SEA OF SHADOWS
The Otherworld series of novels really placed New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong on the map and deservedly so since every one of the 13 novels maintained a standard of writing that made the characters and plot accessible without stooping to formulaic repetition. I admit I was hooked early on and eagerly awaited the publication of each instalment in the series.
