Thoughts on Dublin Dead

I read Gerard's novel The Priest at the beginning of this year and it was dark, well paced and distinctly Irish. I rarely take arcs with when I travel but I was happy to make an exception for this. Dublin Dead is a worthy follow up set bang up to date in the midst of the Irish financial crisis and as each twist and turn of the story unfolded, I couldn't help feeling that this book would translate well to TV, I was even casting actors in my head. O'Donovan is a great writer he has the gift of letting you think you know what's going on, giving you the facts and allowing you to jump to the wrong conclusions. If you like Tana French or Irish crime in general the you are going to love Dublin Dead (released in March full review then)

Christmas count down

Gearing up to fly away for Christmas but I'm still reading. Arcs of Budapest Noir (which drops in February) and The Confession by Charles Todd (An Inspector Rutledge novel, coming January). I bought John Verdon's Shut Your Eyes Tight, the follow up to Think of a Number sight unseen and then there's an arc of the new Gerard O'Donovan (The Priest) novel Dublin Dead (coming in March).

Working every day this week - come by and say hi.

Time to tell A**zon to dry up!

If you've read Jasper Fforde you'll know about Goliath, the uber corporation that controls everything in Fforde's Thursday Next novels.. Think of Goliath as the love child of Microsoft, the stasi and the worst control freak you can imagine. From now on I'm going to call A**zon Goliath because they want to control everything, they want to destroy any competition and they want their customers to spy for them. We can defeat "Goliath" by shopping local.

Now there are some of you who will read this and say "ah she's just worried about her job" and for those of you who think that "meet me at camera three."

I have always loved books, I am an avid reader and until I found out what damage A**zon can do I used them for all my book purchases. Now I sell books, I am passionate about putting a good book in the hands of a person who will enjoy reading that book. If there is only one source for everything god what a boring world we'll have, we'll all dress alike and read the same books and have the same appliances because there is no other choice. I'm extrapolating to worst case scenario here but I'm making an early new years resolution. From now on I'm going to use A**zon's search engine to find books or DVDs or whatever I'm after and then I'm going to source it locally or through another website that isn't them and (gulp) that includes Zappos and I encourage you to do the same.

Update 1/13 - Abe books is also a front for A**zon - so down to Alibris and Powells for my used books.

Desperately seeking Rook

I read a review of The Rook by Daniel O'Malley in shelf awareness yesterday and since then I've been searching high and low for an advanced reader copy and so far no luck. I don't have any contacts at Hachette or Little Brown so it looks like I'm going to have to wait until January.

A new discovery

John Verdon’s Think of a Number quite literally landed at my feet the other day. I picked it up, read the blurb on the back and bought it on the spot. I was not disappointed, Verdon’s lead Dave Gurney is an investigator who has put away numerous serial killers before taking early retirement and moving to the catskill mountains at the urging of his beautiful, but long-suffering wife. However, retirement doesn’t sit well with Dave and an old friend from college is about to dump a fascinating puzzle in his lap. The puzzle, the plot and the pacing are all top-notch. I love a mystery that keeps me guessing but allows me a few small victories in working out what’s going on and this delivers. So much so that I’m buying his latest Shut Your Eyes Tight in hardback tomorrow.

Flavia's back with a bang

Alan Bradley's new Flavia De Luce novel, I am Half Sick of Shadows (the title is a line from Tennyson's Lady of Shalott) is a Christmas treat. You don't have to read the first three to 'get' Flavia. All relationships are nicely summarized and it's  hard to believe that Bradley is packing so much into Flavia's 11th year.

Christmas is coming to Buckshaw and Flavia is determined to prove to her older sisters that Santa Claus does exist but before she can put her sticky plan into action a film crew descends and even Flavia is captivated by leading lady Phyllis Wyvern. With the entire village trapped at Buckshaw by a snowstorm and a very dead leading lady on the first floor, Flavia, ably assisted by Dogger the gardener offers Inspector Hewitt help with his enquiries. Bradley isn't afraid to plunge his plucky young heroine into danger and will have you turning the pages until the fireworks at the end.

The Demi-Monde:Winter, Rod Rees

The year is 2018. The Demi-Monde is a complex  heuristic computer simulation designed to train US army recruits in an asymmetric war environment and save the US army billions of dollars a year. And what the sales pitch doesn’t say? That the most evil, cunning strategists history has witnessed from Henry VIII to the embodiment of the final solution have been digitally recreated to wage war all over again, that they have weapons and ambitions beyond the Demi-Monde and they have Norma Williams.

Singer Ella Thomas thought she was auditioning for an army gig, instead she’s thrust through a backdoor in the Demi-Monde, a reluctant one girl rescue team. Her mission? Recover President Williams’ daughter before she is sucked dry of blood and information. She’ll encounter hordes and hordes of SS, a debutante turned revolutionary heroine, a charming fake Russian physic, his holiness Alistair Crowley, the legendary Josephine Baker, and a whinging prima donna whom Ella may have to stand in line to put a bullet into. And if Ella succeeds in saving Norma will the army generals back in the real world believe her Cassandra-like warnings. They are coming. Or are they already here?

Dead Man’s Grip, Peter James

Road traffic accidents in Brighton, Sussex are never simple, but when all four people involved in the accident were in the wrong and the victim is connected to the Giordano crime family; things are only going to get more complicated.  Superintendant Roy Grace is sure that one of his trusted team is leaking information to the press and when the victim’s mother puts up an eye-watering reward for identity – not information, the case takes a murderous twist.  With the new assistant chief constable breathing down his neck and a potential threat to the mother of his child stealing his attention, Grace gets a break.

The police think they’ve identified the next target but they’re wrong. Dead wrong.

1222, Anne Holt

The engine driver was the first casualty of the Finse train disaster but not the last.  Dazed and bleeding the 196 passengers are taken to the safety of the Finse 1222, an old Norwegian hotel close to the railway line, to await rescue. Among the passengers is former detective inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen, confined to a wheelchair since two bullets shattered her spine.

Finse 1222 has been cut off by the worst winter storm in living memory. Snow gradually buries the hotel, and Hanne watches as the passengers begin to turn on one another – and then one of them turns up dead.  Hanne is grudgingly drawn into the investigation and she has a pool of 195 suspects, 194, 193, 192, 191….

New for December

These titles will go fast - get 'em while they're hot.

Pleasure - without the guilt

I have always been wary of TV tie ins, they usually don't have a handle on the characters (some of the Torchwood novels have pretty good characterisation but I digress) However there is an exception to every rule. Those of you who know my viewing habits know that 'Castle' is must see TV for me but the books I thought were a marketing gimmick - until I read them and whether you are a fan of the show - or not - these are straight up and down well plotted police procedurals. Tom Straw is the writer abc has used - read his novel the The Trigger Episode if you don't believe me - and he has picked themes from the show and of course the main characters Heat and Rook are Beckett and Castle but the books work even if you don't watch the show. I have all three in hardback and I used to refer to them as my guilty pleasure but I'm revising that and taking out the guilt.