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KILLER'S CHOICE
by Ed McBain
1958, 157 pages
A twisty, hardboiled delight!
Dialogue that goes on for pages and you wish would never end
Not a huge fan of the title
The characters in this are a treat, colorful and awesome. Especially the character's names.
Fairly predictable but satisfactory ending
4/5
SHOOT HIM IF HE RUNS
by Stuart Woods
2008, 392 pages
An author I'd never read before, he writes fast paced, fairly light hearted thrillers.
Great sense of humor running through the book.
A few scenes seemed tacked in for length and tittilation, not something I generally poo-poo, but they felt out of place.
A pretty great villain that wasn't given much to do.
In retrospect, no one really did much in the entire book.
2/5
AT RISK
by Patricia Cornwell
2006, 289 pages
A somewhat hackneyed thriller about a murder, a new crime detection method and a governmental race.
I often found myself bored and distracted while reading.
All of the main characters were too full of themselves and their little quirks.
It felt at times like the author was pretty pretentious too, though that may have been influenced by her goofy photo on the back cover
I got this book at a rest area just over the Idaho border, part of the truly excellent BookCrossing program, a voluntary read and release phenomenon - check 'em out! What a fun idea! Too bad the book was a letdown, but it just inspires me to get ones out there that I do like and admire.
1/5
HONEYMOON
by James Patterson & Howard Roughan
2005, 406 pages
Goofy, obvious plot about a scheming, money-hungry black widow and a detective investigating her.
The cover and for that matter, the title really have nothing to do with the story.
Though eye-rollingly bad at times, the book was still a page-turner, moving quickly and enjoyably.
These books always make me wonder what percentage each author actually writes.
It warns you not to give away the ending. Too bad the book does halfway through...
2/5
NIGHT THUNDER
by Ruby Jean Jenson
1995, 397 pages
A chilling idea for the plot, only executed well about 3/4 of the time.
There were a surprising number of typos in the book, and a lot of phrases that were worded almost the same as previous ones, distracting my mind from the story.
80% of the story is told from the POV of children. I assume this was intended to increase the tension, but it usually just made me annoyed at the way she wrote children.
The villains were scary and I found myself wishing that I got to learn more about their backstory rather than yet another sentence describing their half-smile of perfect features.
There's something about horror novels written in the 80's and 90's that all seem to have the same feel to their writing, it's something intangible. I can only describe it as "awkward sentences designed to evoke suspense that usually don't" This book had a lot of them.
2/5
THE SOMNAMBULIST
by Jonathan Barnes
2007, 353 pages
A wry, witty and macabre detective novel, set in Victorian England.
Characters so inspired and original that you could read an entire book about them drinking tea and wandering around town and it would stay compelling.
Gorgeous narration, both clever and sneaky, poetic and evocative.
Drags a bit at the end, yet feels rushed and too pat at the same time.
I can't wait to track down Barnes' next novel!
4/5
