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Review – Matthew – Emma Lang

02 Jan

matthewMatthew
Author: Emma Lang
Series: #1 in the Circle Eight series

Review copy donated by author

Description:
A man learns to hold what is his

It is a vast spread in the eastern wilds of the newly independent Republic of Texas, the ranch their parents fought for … and died for. To the eight Graham siblings, no matter how much hard work or hard love it takes, life is unthinkable without family…

In the wake of his parents’ murder, Matthew Graham must take the reins at the Circle Eight. He also needs to find a wife in just thirty days, or risk losing it all. Plain but practical, Hannah Foley seems the perfect bride for him . . . until after the wedding night.

Their marriage may make all the sense in the world, but neither one anticipates the jealousies that will result, the treacherous danger they’re walking into, or the wildfire of attraction that will sweep over them, changing their lives forever

Review:
I’ve been a fan of Emma Lang’s writing since I discovered her stuff under her other name (Beth Williamson), but until now, I hadn’t actually picked up any of her books. So when she offered up ARCs of book 3 in the Circle Eight series on Twitter, I jumped on the opportunity. As a bonus, since I hadn’t read the previous 2 books in the series, she sent me signed copies. So while I was in bed this past weekend, feeling sick and sorry for myself, I dug into book 1.

It was to me the ultimately comfort read and by that I mean, it went down easy – there wasn’t a lot of conflict within (although some of the females, especially Olivia were major brats – or insert other expletive here) and there was a satisfactory conclusion – although, I do feel that everything was figured out early in the series – I had kind of hoped to see the mystery behind Matthew’s (et al’s) parents death continue through a couple of books, rather than being solved at the end of this one. However, the mystery behind the missing brother still needs to be solved, so maybe that will be the common plot through-out.

I liked the romance between Matt and Hannah – it was sweet with a mail-order/marriage of convenience theme that seemed common in the time period that the book was set in. Hannah’s grandmother was a hoot – I can’t wait to see her in future book (or at least, I hope she is in future books). The introduction of Brody (who it appears is going to be the hero in the next book was intriguing – I mean, you have to have the darkly handsome, stand-off-ish law enforcement type).

I would note, however, that in a few places that language and writing just felt a bit forced – like it didn’t really flow. But it is hard to place it. I don’t know – just something that I noticed – will be interested to see if I notice anything similar in the next book. Overall, I would give Matthew 3 stars with a recommendation to anyone who likes historical romances with a western theme.

 
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Posted by on January 2, 2013 in Book Review

 

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Audiobook Review – The Silent Girl – Tess Gerritsen

18 Dec

the silent girlThe Silent Girl
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Series: #9 in the Rizzoli and Isles series

Narrator: Tanya Eby
Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Description:
Every crime scene tells a story. Some keep you awake at night. Others haunt your dreams. The grisly display homicide cop Jane Rizzoli finds in Boston’s Chinatown will do both.

In the murky shadows of an alley lies a female’s severed hand. On the tenement rooftop above is the corpse belonging to that hand, a red-haired woman dressed all in black, her head nearly severed. Two strands of silver hair—not human—cling to her body. They are Rizzoli’s only clues, but they’re enough for her and medical examiner Maura Isles to make the startling discovery: that this violent death had a chilling prequel.

Nineteen years earlier, a horrifying murder-suicide in a Chinatown restaurant left five people dead. But one woman connected to that massacre is still alive: a mysterious martial arts master who knows a secret she dares not tell, a secret that lives and breathes in the shadows of Chinatown. A secret that may not even be human. Now she’s the target of someone, or something, deeply and relentlessly evil.

Review:
I was conflicted going into my listen of this. It is one of the few audiobooks that I have started and then got distracted before continuing (mostly because I had a bad case of BSN disease – bright shiny new). So when I went back to the Silent Girl, I wasn’t sure what my overall opinion of it was going to be. Added to that, I had read a blog post by the author (or something on her website) where she talked about complaints from readers about this being similar to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (which I loved)…but it took me a long while to figure out the similarities – so to me it wasn’t that obvious.

This is one of the books in the series that I really struggled about how I felt – I did like the mystery and the solving of the crime – but it hasn’t had the same relationship between Jane and Maura that was so prevalent in previous books – which was part of the reason why I enjoyed the series. And it wasn’t similar to Ice Cold, the previous book in the series, where Jane and Maura were literally cross-country from each other – this time it was a matter of personalities, beliefs, job roles…I admire Maura for standing by her beliefs – she is definately no shades of grey kind of person – it is either right or wrong – this is one of the first times that I have been disappointed in Jane as a character – I guess after 8 books, I expected more of her (lol – I can’t believe I am talking like she is a real character).

The mystery was fulfilling – I had my normal jumping back and forth trying to figure out who did it and who “The Silent Girl” really was – it wasn’t who I thought that it was originally. I did figure it out maybe about 2/3’s of the way through. I’ll be interested to see if any of these characters make an appearance in later books – I was sufficiently intrigued by the character development.

I have to admit that Tanya Eby’s narration is growing on me – I wasn’t so sure if I truely enjoyed her narration – but I did like this one. I hadn’t noticed any of the issues that I had with her narration of Ice Cold (what seemed to be a slight lisp and an irksome narration for Jane’s voice). In fact, by the end of it, I was really getting into the narration and enjoying it. It was also nice to see that she is narrating the next book in the series (after the series has played musical narrators for a good portion of it)…

Overall, a good addition to the series – not my favorite one, but an improvement over Ice Cold which I just didn’t enjoy…3.5 stars overall

 
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Posted by on December 18, 2012 in Audiobook Review

 

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Review – Dead Ringer – Allen Wyler

23 Nov

Dead Ringer
Author: Allen Wyler

Review Copy provided by Blue Dot Literary

Book Description:
While speaking at a Hong Kong medical conference, neurosurgeon Dr. Lucas McCrae slips the cloth off a cadaver’s head during a routine medical demonstration, and is overwhelmed with the shock by what’s staring back at him: His best friend, Andy Baer.
Stunned, McCrae races back to Seattle to discover that Andy is in fact missing and may have been murdered by a gang of body snatchers who operate a legit funeral business and make a fortune by selling recovered body parts to medical researchers.

McCrae teams up with an unlikely pair—a beautiful but hardnosed female cop and a gang member whose family was victimized by the body parts ring—to try and expose a macabre web of corruption that involves law enforcement, politicians, funeral home curators and murdered prostitutes.

Review
After reading a previous book by Allen Wyler (Dead End Deal), I was impressed by the medical technique and familiarity that he brought to the storyline. In Dead Ringer, he managed to do that once again. Reading the description of Dead Ringer, I was like, the name of the main character (Lucas McCrae) sounds familiar, and then I realized that his name had been used as a cameo in Dead End Deal – so I liked how the author was able to tie to two books together though similar characters, without making them a true series.

But this book was for me, so much freakier than Dead End Deal. I have been an organ donor since I got my license nearly 15 years ago, and while I had thought about how my organs might be used, should anything ever happen to me – the depravity of the antagonist opened my eyes. I had read/heard about bad market deals with organs, so it didn’t really surprise me that there were ones for dead bodies as well – but wow, that’s about all I can say. I think that the author managed to walk the fine line between being dramatic, and cheesy – although, there were a few moments where I was like, uhhh ok…and personally, I felt that everything tied up in a pretty bow almost too easy…but I’m sure others would disagree with me.

I’m definitely interested in seeing more of what he writes in the future. Overall 3.5 stars.

Purchase from Amazon here: Dead Ringer (Print) or Dead Ringer (Kindle)

 
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Posted by on November 23, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Audiobook Review – Ice Cold – Tess Gerritsen

07 Nov

Ice Cold
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Series: #8 in the Rizzoli and Isles series

Narrator: Tanya Eby
Run Time: 9 hrs 51 minutes
Producer: Brilliance Audio

Book Description:
In Wyoming for a medical conference, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles joins a group of friends on a spur-of-the-moment ski trip. But when their SUV stalls on a snow-choked mountain road, they’re stranded with no help in sight.

As night falls, the group seeks refuge from the blizzard in the remote village of Kingdom Come, where twelve eerily identical houses stand dark and abandoned. Something terrible has happened in Kingdom Come: Meals sit untouched on tables, cars are still parked in garages. The town’s previous residents seem to have vanished into thin air, but footprints in the snow betray the presence of someone who still lurks in the cold darkness—someone who is watching Maura and her friends.

Days later, Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli receives the grim news that Maura’s charred body has been found in a mountain ravine. Shocked and grieving, Jane is determined to learn what happened to her friend. The investigation plunges Jane into the twisted history of Kingdom Come, where a gruesome discovery lies buried beneath the snow. As horrifying revelations come to light, Jane closes in on an enemy both powerful and merciless—and the chilling truth about Maura’s fate.

Review
I figure after greatly enjoying the last few books in the series, I was about due for a dud. But even saying that, Ms Gerritsen’s dud’s are still better than a good majority of other fiction out there (oh the irony). I can’t even really describe what it was about this one that made it only ehhh for me – I think it was because I had pretty much figured out the who done it early-ish in the book (like not long after the introduction of said character). I also think that it might be the fact that one of the things I love the best about the series is the interaction between Jane and Maura and that was decidedly lacking in this series as they spent 90% of the series separated by several thousand miles. It made me realize how much Jane is the dominant character in the series – while Maura has this quiet strength and perseverance, which was highlighted in this book – Jane is like the gun powder – explosive and on the go. Which is what I prefer – maybe because she is opposite to me – I definitely identify more with Maura than with Jane, which is why I like reading about Jane’s antics. The one interesting thing for me in this book was how various cult’s and the development of Cult’s were discussed. It made me want to read more about some of the ones that have become famous in history (Jonestown specifically), so I am on the look-out for books (if anyone has any ideas – let me know).

Going into the narration, I wasn’t sure what I was going to think of Tanya Eby’s work. I had heard a few negative reviews about some of her work and I was a bit worried – but I was pleasantly surprised. I can’t say that this was my favorite narration ever, because its not, and it definately wasn’t my favorite of the series (Anna Fields has that spot all tied up), but it was enjoyable. One of the comments other listeners had made was on a lisp – but I didn’t hear anything that wasn’t easily gotten used to in listening. However, I wasn’t a fan of how Jane sounded in her parts – she didn’t have the Boston Irish accent that I had gotten used to in previous narrations, so that was lacking. However, I didn’t mind her narration of Jane and thought that she did a pretty good job with the narration of the various males voices that occurred through-out.

Overall, I would give both the book and the narration 3 stars. I liked it, but didn’t love it. It will be interesting to see how I enjoy the narration in future books, as it appears that Tanya Eby may become the primarily narrator (she has done the two most recent books).

 
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Posted by on November 7, 2012 in Audiobook Review

 

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Audiobook Review – The Stonecutter – Camilla Läckberg

10 Sep

The Stonecutter
Author: Camilla Läckberg
Series: #3 in the Patrik Hedström series

Narrator: David Thorn
Run Time: 16 hours and 58 minutes

Review Copy Provided by Audiobook Jukebox and Highbridge Audio

Book Description: The remote resort of Fjallbacka has seen its share of tragedy, though perhaps none worse than that of the little girl found in a fisherman’s net. But the post-mortem reveals that this is no case of accidental drowning!

Local detective Patrik Hedstrom has just become a father. It is his grim task to discover who could be behind the methodical murder of a child both he and his partner, Erica, knew well. He knows the real question – and answer – lies with why. What he does not know is how this case will reach into the dark heart of Fjallbacka and the town’s past, and tear aside its idyllic facade, perhaps forever.

Review:
I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical at first when I started The Stonecutter as to if I would enjoy it or not. I had previously tried several times to listen to the first book in the series and kept getting distracted – so I didn’t know if it was an issue with the author, the audio, or the fact that I was trying to listen to it at work. And normally, I am a stickler for listening to series books in order, especially ones like The Stonecutter where many of the same characters re-appear and the relationships develop through-out the books. But after talking to one of my friends who had read all three books in the series, she told me that I should be ok to listen to The Stonecutter without too much trouble and then went on to say that it was her favorite in the series to date. I’m glad that I listened to her advice and now I am debating going back and trying to listen to the previous two, because I am curious enough about the some of the things that were mentioned in this third book to know the context in which they originally occurred.

There were lots of twists and turns presented during the book, and at one stage, I thought I had the who done it, narrowed down to one of three people, but to my surprise when I did finally figure it out, it wasn’t any of the people I was expecting. Läckberg did a great job of laying a foundation of multiple people playing a role in the crime where it could have easily have been any one of several people. I also liked the fact, as with other Nordic authors, the case isn’t presented as a wham bam solve it in one day, but rather it is extended, many different people get questioned and mistakes are made. I also found that the transition between the past and the present flowed relatively smoothly once I got used to it and I could easily see that the chronological progression of the sections from the past meant that it was going to be significant in the ultimately solving of the crime.

Unlike many of the books that fall within the Nordic Noir genre, Camilla Läckberg tends to place a bit more of a focus on the character interactions and relationships, as well as the solving of the crime. At times this was a bit distracting and it felt to me like everyone had some kind of psychological issue (and that I could have been reading symptoms in the DSV-IV). But ultimately many of these issues ended up playing kind of a role in the development of the crime and the eventual solving of it. I wasn’t necessarily a fan of some of the secondary characters and felt that there was some extraneous plots going on (Erica’s sister for one), but with how the book concluded, I think those are going to play a role in later books in the series.

This is the first time that I had listened to a narration by David Thorn (aside from my failed attempt with The Ice Princess which didn’t have anything to do with him as I reflect back). But it won’t be the last. For the most part, I thought he did a good job with the various voices, in particular the male characters. His female voices tended to be weaker than the male ones but that didn’t really surprise me at all. He managed to maintain the continuity of the narration through-out and it was an easy listen.

The production by Highbridge Audio was really good and I didn’t have any complaints about the quality. Just one of my tiny pet peeves is that I like it when CD’s end at the end of a chapter because I routinely try to finish listening to the current chapter on my commute to work in the mornings (or afternoons) and have been known to sit in my car to finish up one – but that is really hard to do if the chapter doesn’t end with the CD – but that is probably just a personal pet peeve of mine and may not bug others.

Overall, I’d give the story a 3.5 and the narration a 4.5 – so an overall score of 4 stars for the book. I’m looking forward to re-trying the earlier books in the series and seeing where she goes in the future.

 
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Posted by on September 10, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – Cold Comfort – Quentin Bates (@graskeggur)

28 Aug

Cold Comfort
Author: Quentin Bates
Series: #2 in the Gunnhilder Mystery

Narrator: Davina Porter
Run Time: 12 hours, 12 min

Review Copy Provided by AudiobookJukebox Solid Gold Reviewer program

Book Description:
Officer Gunnhildur, recently promoted from her post in rural Iceland to Reykjavík’s Serious Crime Unit, is tasked with hunting down escaped convict Long Ommi, who has embarked on a spree of violent score-settling in and around the city. Meanwhile, she’s also investigating the murder of a fitness guru in her own city-center apartment. As Gunna delves into the cases, she unearths some unwelcome secrets and influential friends shared by both guru and convict. Set in an Iceland plagued by an ongoing financial crisis, Gunna has to take stock of the whirlwind changes that have swept through the country—and the fact that at the highest levels of power, the system’s endemic corruption still leads, inevitably, to murder.

Review:
I have to admit after reading the first book in the series, I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue. The author provided an interesting look into the world of financial crime, but for some reason it just didn’t really work for me. It wasn’t in the writing style, but rather the subject. However, I typically have a rule of trying at least 2 books in any series before deciding one way or another whether I’ll continue or not. So when the second book showed up as a review copy, I jumped on the chance to listen to it, and see if maybe that changed my level of enjoyment of the series (as it has been known to before – either for the good or the bad). And I was pleasantly surprised.

Cold Comfort pick up a few months after the events of Frozen Assets, and for me, it was like seeing into the lives of Gunnhildur and her family and friends. When it came to character development, I found that this installment had much more description and I felt like I got to know them. Having the narration of Davina Porter also helped, because I can only assume that she received training in how to say certain names and words in Icelandic – although since I don’t speak the language, i can’t say so for sure…The mystery is the story kept me guessing until the very end and the person who did it, wasn’t the one that I expected it to be.

I’ll have to admit that i have a certain bias when it comes to Davina Porter’s narration – to me, she is the epitome of an audiobook narrator and I judge many of the other books that I listen to against my experiences listening to her. And her narration of Cold Comfort didn’t disappoint. For a non-Icelandic speaker, the pronunciation of certain names/words sounded authentic (although, I would love to hear the authors take on that) and it helped me be able to visualize in my head how to sound them out in the future. Although Icelandic, Finnish or another Scandinavian language is on my to-learn pile for sometime in the future. Although I have to admit that a few times while I was listening, I thought that I picked up on more of an English accent than what I assume an Icelandic one would be – but it wasn’t enough to distract me from the narration.

I have been impressed with previous audiobooks released by AudioGO in the past and this one was no exception. I’ll definitely continue to look to them for more audiobooks in the future. All in all, I have to say that I was glad I continued with the series and hope to see book 3 in the near future (the author has the title posted to his website, so I can only hope). I would recommend this series to people who like the slower pace of Henning Mankell, vice the faster Steig Larsson, as well as anyone who likes James Thompson, although Bates isn’t quite as dark.

You can purchase the book from Amazon Cold Comfort: An Officer Gunnhildur Mystery (Officer Gunnhildur Mysteries) (Hardcover), Cold Comfort: An Officer Gunnhildur Mystery (Officer Gunnhildur Mysteries) (Kindle) or Cold Comfort: An Officer Gunnhildur Mystery (Audiobook). If can also be purchased from audible.com (account required).

 
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Posted by on August 28, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – Death By Marriage – Jaden Skye

11 Aug

Death By Marriage
Author: Jaden Skye
Series: #3 in the Caribbean Murder series

Book Description:
A well-known criminal lawyer is found dead in a back alley in St. Thomas, and Cindy and Mattheus are called in to investigate by the grieving widow. The local police have pinned her for the murder, and Cindy and Mattheus are her last hope in vindication.

As Cindy and Mattheus dig deeper into the victim’s past, they learn that all was not as rosy as it seemed. They discover mistresses, gambling debts, vendettas, and a number of people who had motivation to want him dead. Most shocking of all, as they dig even deeper, they discover a whole secret life that he lead, one so lurid that the people who knew him best can hardly even conceive it.

As a hurricane closes in and the police are insistent, despite all evidence, to arrest the widow, Cindy and Mattheus find themselves in a race against time to find the killer. When another body turns up, all involved realize the stakes may be even higher than they seem. And as Cindy and Mattheus develop feelings for each other, each grieving from the death of their own spouse, Cindy comes to realize there is even more at stake than she thinks.

Review
As an avid reader, and with the advent of Amazon’s KDP program, I am always on the look-out for new authors to check out. I discovered Jaden Skye’s first book in her Caribbean Murder series by accident when it showed up on my readers who purchased, also got this list one day (although for the life of me, I can’t remember the book that resulted in the recommendation). I read the first two books in the series, sometime in 2011, and then promptly forgot about it with all the other books that I had out there. Until I needed a book set in the Caribbean both for my Around the World challenge and another one that I was participating in, and then I was like, ohhh, must go back and take a look at this series.

Like the previous books, it focuses on Cindy, who becomes a widow in the first book, and through a series of events, ends up being a PI in the Caribbean solving various cases. This one, set on the island of St. Thomas, is the 3rd book in the series, and takes place in a period of about 6 months since the end of the first book (if I had to guess).

I liked the story in this one, but there seems to have been a decline in the editing from the first book in the series to this one, which was a bit distracted. It also seemed to take longer for me to get into it – I wasn’t immediately sucked in, like I was with the previous 2 books in the series. I also figured out the who done it prior to the final reveal, which was a bit disappointing. Either way, I have the next book in the series in the pile and am interested to see what happens to Cindy in the future.

The book can be purchased from Amazon by clicking on the following link: Death by Marriage (Book #3 in the Caribbean Murder Series)

 
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Posted by on August 11, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – The Mephisto Club – Tess Gerritsen

09 Jul

The Mephisto Club
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Series: #6 in the Rizzoli and Isles series

Narrator: Kathe Mazur
Run Time: 11 hours 14 minutes

Book Description:
PECCAVIThe Latin word is scrawled in blood at the scene of a young woman’s brutal murder: I HAVE SINNED. It’s a chilling Christmas greeting for Boston medical examiner Maura Isles and Detective Jane Rizzoli, who swiftly link the victim to controversial celebrity psychiatrist Joyce O’Donnell–Jane’s professional nemesis and member of a sinister cabal called the Mephisto Club.

On top of Beacon Hill, the club’s acolytes devote themselves to the analysis of evil: Can it be explained by science? Does it have a physical presence? Do demons walk the earth? Drawing on a wealth of dark historical data and mysterious religious symbolism, the Mephisto scholars aim to prove a startling theory: that Satan himself exists among us.

With the grisly appearance of a corpse on their doorstep, it’s clear that someone–or something–is indeed prowling the city. The members of the club begin to fear the very subject of their study. Could this maniacal killer be one of their own–or have they inadvertently summoned an evil entity from the darkness?

Delving deep into the most baffling and unusual case of their careers, Maura and Jane embark on a terrifying journey to the very heart of evil, where they encounter a malevolent foe more dangerous than any they have ever faced . . . one whose work is only just beginning.

Review
This past year, I have read or listened to all of the books in the Rizzoli & Isles series up to this point. In each and every one of them Gerritsen has taken the reader/listener for a ride. Sometimes I can figure out who the killer is ahead of times and sometimes not. While I enjoyed the Mephisto Club, I didn’t love it as much as I had previous books. Maybe it was the use of religious symbology and demons, maybe it was something else. I can’t quite put my fingers on it. It was good, don’t get me wrong, just not great…I did figure out early on that it was one of the members of the club that was responsible for the crimes being committed, but the original person who I thought it was, it definately wasn’t (mostly because he was killed early on…) – I also wasn’t surprised to see the psychiatrist Joyce O’Donnell killed in this installment – she had appeared in several of the previous books, but her character always just seemed to be on the periphery to annoy Jane and Maura and not really contribute. I did enjoy the character of Anthony and hope that he shows up in later books.

When it came to the narration of the audiobook, I was glad to see Kathe Mazur return to being the narrator – although, I believe that this is the last time in the series that she is the one (unfortunately). After Anna Fields, she definately has developed Jane’s voice into one that reflects her Boston Irish character, as well as Maura’s dark wit. Her diversity of character voices makes for an entertaining listen and I didn’t manage to confuse any of the characters – they all appeared to be individuals and it was almost like I was listening to a couple of different people narrate the book. I do know that I need to check her out narrating some other books to see how she does. I’m definately going to be following her as a narrator in the future.

I’ll definately continue to seek out Tess Gerritsen’s books and look forward to seeing what Jane and Maura get up to in the future

 
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Posted by on July 9, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – Dead End Deal – Allen Wyler

04 Jun

Review Copy Provided by the Publisher

When I look back at the books I have read over the last year, there has been a pretty clear shift from the romances that I used to read, almost to the exclusion of everything else, to my rather diverse reading fare, a lot of while you see mentioned on my blog. If the publisher of Dead End Deal had asked me a year ago, I probably would not have agreed to review it and that would have been a mistake.

I was immediately draw into the story of Jon Ritter who is a neuro-surgeon working towards a cure for Alzheimer’s, as well as other forms of dementia through the use of stem cells. Having following the various controversies regarding stem cell research over the last few years, I realized that I really knew nothing about it, and so entering the world created by Allen Wyler, I was immediately sucked in. As I was reading, my first through was wow, he sure knows a lot about neurosurgery and upon googling his name, I found out why, he is a Doctor in his own right.

The book brought up some interesting ideas about the use of stem cells, how pharmaceutical companies influence funding towards drugs, and what would happen if a cure was really discovered but (and this is me thinking out loud) what if the cure was never published, never mentioned, so that these companies would still keep getting money to fund their research.

The novel was well-paced, and while I was able to see some of the twists coming before they did, there were others that I didn’t see, which increased my enjoyment of it. Overall, I’d give it 3.5 stars, but I will definately be seeking out this author again in the future.

If you are interested in obtaining a copy of Dead End Deal, the following link will take you to the publishers website: http://astorandblue.com/dead-end-deal/

 
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Posted by on June 4, 2012 in Book Review

 

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Review – Last Rituals – Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

26 May

I’ll admit that I fell for the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo craze when it was released…although I did wait until all three books were out before I read any of them.  Ever since then I have been on the look out for new Scandinavian authors to check out.  I am a regular participant on Goodreads and on there, moderate (along with my co-hort in crime, Naomi Blackburn – A Book and a Review) a Nordic Noir group.  Every month we feature a different author within the genre as a way to find those hidden gems.  For May, the author was Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, so to try her out, I started with the first book in her Þóra Guðmundsdóttir series, Last Rituals.

I was hoping for a fast moving, exciting kind of Noir, similar to Larseen, Fossum and James Thompson – unfortunately, I was to be disappointed.  The plot was rather slow moving and in general it didn’t feel like there was much character development, or even explanations as to why certain characters acted the way they did.  You find out early on that she has an issue with the secretary at her law office, Bella…but aside from the statement that she came with the building, you don’t know much else aside from the animosity that is between the 2 characters.  While I have been in situations before where I have had extreme conflicts of character with co-workers, this one just didn’t seen to be as developed as it could have been.  In the end, while I didn’t quite see the whole who done it when it was revealed, I also just wasn’t that surprised with the ultimate reveal (how is that for a bit of a convoluted sentence).

Based on my experiences with this book, I honestly don’t know if I will be rushing out to read any more in the series, and since my library only had the first book in the series – I wouldn’t be buying them, even if I was interested…she will remain firmly on the library borrow list in the future.

 
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Posted by on May 26, 2012 in Book Review

 

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