I decided to review these two romantic mysteries together, since if you like one you'll like both. (And conversely, if you think one is too sappy, stay away from the other.)
Let's start with Nora Roberts, since she is, of course, the genre queen. Fiona Bristow has made a wonderful life for herself on Orcas Island, in the Pacific Northwest. She trains dogs for a living and, with her own three labs, volunteers on search-and-rescue missions. But life wasn't always so idyllic. Several years back, she was attacked by a serial killer who already had a long track record of killing his victims. Fiona managed to escape, and the killer was captured. Although he's behind bars, the killings have resumed. Someone, it seems, has picked up where the killer left off. Soon it becomes clear that Fiona is the unfinished business, and the new killer wants to finish what his mentor started.
Meanwhile, a handsome stranger has moved to the island. Brooding artist Simon Doyle has an incorrigible puppy that needs training fast. Imagine the reader's surprise when Simon and Fiona fall in love! Who would have ever guessed? (Well, I did, actually. But I've been doing this kind of work for a while!)
There's a reason why Nora Roberts is so wildly popular--she can somehow make a hackneyed theme seem fresh. (Boy meets girl, then conflict drives them apart, then they live happily ever after.) Pick up any of her books and you won't be disappointed; this one is particularly down-to-earth and exciting.
Catherine Coulter's latest wasn't quite as satisfying. Ballet teacher/sleuth Erin Pulasky's latest assignment is to obtain evidence that a drug company has deliberately caused a shortage of their cheaper medicine in order to force cancer patients to take a more expensive (i.e. lucrative) drug. She breaks in to steal documents and makes a clean getaway. In an amazing coincidence, a company official is murdered at roughly the same time and location. The police figure that whoever broke in must have either murdered the guy or seen who did it.
And here's where it gets sort of silly. One of Erin's ballet students has a father who is an FBI agent. He asks Erin, whom he hardly knows, to babysit his daughter for several days while he's out working the case of the murdered drug exec. He then compounds the problem by inviting the other agents on the case over to her house, where they proceed to discuss the case in front of her. One of the agents even invites her along when she's interviewing a witness. Although the mystery itself was sound, the absurdity of the agents' behavior ruined the book for me.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
End-of-Summer Wrap-Up
Sorry for all you mystery fans who have wondered where I've been. No, I've not been kidnapped: I was actually on vacation for a while. And yes, even on vacation, I still read mysteries! Because what's the alternative? Non-fiction? Like that's gonna happen!
In my next several blogs, I'll review the books I've read while I was gone. In the meantime, my stack of books to read has grown higher, and some of the books are getting a little ripe. So I'm going to clear out the stack with these short blurbs about the books that look the most interesting.
Crossfire, by Dick Francis and Felix Francis (Putnam; $26.95): Former jockey Dick Francis, who died earlier this year at the age of 89, left behind a legacy of wonderful mysteries set in the world of horse racing. His latest, written with his son, focuses on a soldier injured in Afghanistan. When Captain Tom Forsyth returns to England to help out on his mother's horse farm, he soon learns that his mother is being blackmailed. While learning to walk with a prosthesis, he must figure out which of his abrasive mother's many enemies are behind the threats before the focus switches to him.
Cure, by Robin Cook (Putnam; $26.95): NYC medical examiner Laurie Montgomery's first case after taking leave to deal with her son's serious illness puts her between organized crime and two nascent biotech firms.
Ice Cold, by Tess Gerritsen (Ballantine Books; $26): Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli learns that medical examiner Maura Isles and some friends have met a terrible fate when their SUV became stranded on a remote Wyoming mountain near the freaky town of Kingdom Come. Spoiler alert: since Rizzoli & Isles is now a series on TNT, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that Isles may actually be okay.
Procession of the Dead, by Darren Shan (Grand Central Publishing; $19.99): YA novelist Shan, whose books fly off the shelves at the middle school library where I work, branched out into adult fiction with this strange little book. Capac Raimi can't remember anything from the time before he came to the City, a brutal, lawless place run by the ruthless Cardinal. As the Cardinal's protege, Capac becomes more and more bloodthirsty himself, while trying to understand why friends disappear as if they've never existed. I'm not one for this alternative universe, fantasy stuff, but as such books go, it was a decent summer read, but definitely not for kids.
Live to Tell, by Lisa Gardner (Bantam; $26): Three women facing dark secrets from their past must face threats that hit close to home.
Frankenstein: Lost Souls, by Dean Koontz (Bantam; $27): Victor Leben, the creature formerly known as Frankenstein, is on a quest to populate a brave new world of superhumans using stem cells, silicon circuitry, and nanotechnology.
The Cobra, by Frederick Forsyth (Putnam; $26.95): Paul Devereaux, former head of the CIA's counterterrorism division teams up with Army hero Cal Dexter to beat the cocaine industry using any means possible.
In Harm's Way, by Ridley Pearson (Putnam; $25.95): Something's up in Sun Valley, Idaho, and sheriff Walt Fleming's not at all sure what's going on. A violent former football player has been seen in the area. A woman he's fond of might have killed a guy, or maybe the killer was a damaged young woman whom everyone in the community wants to protect. Some rich playboys are causing trouble, and a marauding bear is loose, as well. Fleming's chances of untangling the mess become easier when Seattle homicide detective Lou Boldt comes to town to help.
Six Graves to Munich, by Mario Puzo, writing as Mario Cleri (New American Library; $14): As a captured intelligence officer in World War II, Michael Rogan and his family were subjected to indescribable horror. Now he wants to find and punish those responsible. Puzo wrote this book in 1967, two years before The Godfather, but the book quickly went out of print. According to the press packet, the book was "found by Puzo's longtime Polish publisher, Albatros, and is coming back into print." One wonders why it took so long for the publisher to "find" the book and capitalize upon Puzo's success. It must have been really, really lost.
The Other Side of the Door, by Nicci French (Minotaur Books; $25.99): When a friend is murdered, a music teacher who had hoped to spend the summer making music with friends finds a little more drama than she'd expected.
In my next several blogs, I'll review the books I've read while I was gone. In the meantime, my stack of books to read has grown higher, and some of the books are getting a little ripe. So I'm going to clear out the stack with these short blurbs about the books that look the most interesting.
Crossfire, by Dick Francis and Felix Francis (Putnam; $26.95): Former jockey Dick Francis, who died earlier this year at the age of 89, left behind a legacy of wonderful mysteries set in the world of horse racing. His latest, written with his son, focuses on a soldier injured in Afghanistan. When Captain Tom Forsyth returns to England to help out on his mother's horse farm, he soon learns that his mother is being blackmailed. While learning to walk with a prosthesis, he must figure out which of his abrasive mother's many enemies are behind the threats before the focus switches to him.
Cure, by Robin Cook (Putnam; $26.95): NYC medical examiner Laurie Montgomery's first case after taking leave to deal with her son's serious illness puts her between organized crime and two nascent biotech firms.
Ice Cold, by Tess Gerritsen (Ballantine Books; $26): Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli learns that medical examiner Maura Isles and some friends have met a terrible fate when their SUV became stranded on a remote Wyoming mountain near the freaky town of Kingdom Come. Spoiler alert: since Rizzoli & Isles is now a series on TNT, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that Isles may actually be okay.
Procession of the Dead, by Darren Shan (Grand Central Publishing; $19.99): YA novelist Shan, whose books fly off the shelves at the middle school library where I work, branched out into adult fiction with this strange little book. Capac Raimi can't remember anything from the time before he came to the City, a brutal, lawless place run by the ruthless Cardinal. As the Cardinal's protege, Capac becomes more and more bloodthirsty himself, while trying to understand why friends disappear as if they've never existed. I'm not one for this alternative universe, fantasy stuff, but as such books go, it was a decent summer read, but definitely not for kids.
Live to Tell, by Lisa Gardner (Bantam; $26): Three women facing dark secrets from their past must face threats that hit close to home.
Frankenstein: Lost Souls, by Dean Koontz (Bantam; $27): Victor Leben, the creature formerly known as Frankenstein, is on a quest to populate a brave new world of superhumans using stem cells, silicon circuitry, and nanotechnology.
The Cobra, by Frederick Forsyth (Putnam; $26.95): Paul Devereaux, former head of the CIA's counterterrorism division teams up with Army hero Cal Dexter to beat the cocaine industry using any means possible.
In Harm's Way, by Ridley Pearson (Putnam; $25.95): Something's up in Sun Valley, Idaho, and sheriff Walt Fleming's not at all sure what's going on. A violent former football player has been seen in the area. A woman he's fond of might have killed a guy, or maybe the killer was a damaged young woman whom everyone in the community wants to protect. Some rich playboys are causing trouble, and a marauding bear is loose, as well. Fleming's chances of untangling the mess become easier when Seattle homicide detective Lou Boldt comes to town to help.
Six Graves to Munich, by Mario Puzo, writing as Mario Cleri (New American Library; $14): As a captured intelligence officer in World War II, Michael Rogan and his family were subjected to indescribable horror. Now he wants to find and punish those responsible. Puzo wrote this book in 1967, two years before The Godfather, but the book quickly went out of print. According to the press packet, the book was "found by Puzo's longtime Polish publisher, Albatros, and is coming back into print." One wonders why it took so long for the publisher to "find" the book and capitalize upon Puzo's success. It must have been really, really lost.
The Other Side of the Door, by Nicci French (Minotaur Books; $25.99): When a friend is murdered, a music teacher who had hoped to spend the summer making music with friends finds a little more drama than she'd expected.
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