“A Drink Before the War” is not in the same leagu.. Visa hela

“A Drink Before the War” is not in the same league as “Mystic River” or “Shutter Island”, but it’s a very good Noir mystery that shows all the potential of Dennis Lehane at the beginning of his career. After reading it and having read the two aforementioned books before I ordered the rest of the series without even thinking twice.

Crime Fiction as I like it… In your face who-du-nit keeping you at the edge of the seat.


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Cristian

Beautiful, yet so very sad. Like a Radiohead song.. Visa hela

Beautiful, yet so very sad. Like a Radiohead song.

Once again R. J. Ellory doesn’t disappoint.

“A Quiet Believe in Angels” is a excellent blend of Crime Mystery and literature. According to the author it is his tribute to Harper Lee. I haven’t read “To Kill a Mockingbird” so I can’t tell if he has ripped-off Harper Lee. Let us hope not!

I usually never talk about the plot, and this will not be the exception. So instead I’ll say that if you like superior mystery/Crime Fiction that’s been written by a talented and intelligent author I suggest you to get a serious look at “A Quiet Believe in Angels” and R. J. Ellory.


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Cristian

This is not an easy review for me, believe me. H.. Visa hela

This is not an easy review for me, believe me.

Have “A Quiet Vendetta” been my first experience with R.J. Ellory, hands down I’d have given it 5 stars, hell, even 100 stars. This book is truly excellent.
But when all come down to expectations and if those are of the finest kind then it’s not difficult to fall short. And I think that’s exactly what happened in this case.

The aftermath of having read “A Simple Act of Violence” was great. I thought I was lucky to come across such a great Crime novel. It’s not easy to put an unknown author among your favorites after only one book, but R. J. Ellory gave me the kind of satisfaction authors such as Martin Cruz Smith and Robert Wilson had given me in the past.
That being said… “A Quiet Vendetta” had a lot of weight to bear on its shoulders. A lot!

The novel, like I said before is truly excellent, but there are a few things that spoil the superb dark and almost claustrophobic atmosphere of such amazing organized crime tale. Because that is what “A Quiet Vendetta” is — a superb journey through more than 50 years of La Cosa Nostra.

I’ve read a lot of reviewers that compare “A Quiet Vendetta” to “The Godfather”. That’s completely wrong, because while R.J. Ellory’s book is an in-your-face Mafia story, Mario Puzo’s feels glamorous in comparison.

So what is it that I don’t like about this “amazing” book?
I think the fact that R.J. Ellory wanted to give the plot a great twist at the end spoils the superb story about Ernesto Cabrera. It feels like a cheap ending à la “The Usual Suspect”. The other part of the plot I find forced is the story behind Ray Hartman.

Anyway, I’ll say this for the third and last time, “A truly excellent crime novel”, but in my case it all came down to wanting to read a perfect book about La Cosa Nostra.

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Cristian

The best Crime Fiction Mystery I’ve read this yea.. Visa hela

The best Crime Fiction Mystery I’ve read this year. 2009!
Sorry Jo Nesbo!

“A Simple Act of Violence” is so good I’m going to buy everything I find from this superb author.

R. J. Ellory is a very talented story teller and quite intelligent when it comes to creating a plot full of clever turns and suspense. He also seems to have his heart and mind on the right side when it comes to politics. Either that or he is very objective, which is also fine by me.

When thinking of “A Simple Act of Violence” I think of books such as “Gorky Park” or “A Small Death in Lisbon”. In other words, books that transcend the Noir Mystery Crime Fiction world, books that make me proud of being a big fan of this genre.

Excellent!


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Cristian

Excellent!! “A Small Death in Lisbon” ranks its.. Visa hela

Excellent!!

“A Small Death in Lisbon” ranks its self up there amongst books like Mystic River and Gorky Park.

This is that good!

Part who-du-nit mystery and historical novel Robert Wilson is a superb crime fiction writer. He is going to the top with Cruz, Lehane, Burke and Connolly.

No doubt about it!

A page turner not because you want to know about the mystery, but because this book is just a pleasure to read. And when the end comes you’ll have the same feeling you got when you realized who the real Keyser Söze in "The Usual Suspects" was... SO GOOD!

Highly recommended!

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Cristian

Michael Koryta got 3 stars for “Tonight I Said Go.. Visa hela

Michael Koryta got 3 stars for “Tonight I Said Goodbye”, 4 stars for “Sorrow Anthems” and now 5 stars for his third book. Do the math, one extra star for each book. Not bad ah, especially for a guy that’s what 23 or 24 years of age?

Are we in front of a mayor Crime Fiction Mystery talent? I do think so!

“A Welcome Grave” is a very clever and entertaining mystery. It will surely catapult the author to the universe of Dennis Lehane and John Connolly. Perhaps Michael Koryta lacks the noir-poetry of Connolly and the social view and hardboiled aura of Lehane, but when it comes to the plot, “A Welcome Grave” is Koryta’s most remarkable Lincoln Perry and Joe Pritchard Crime novel.
Every time you think you are near the truth you will be wrong. You’ll never be able to guess who the culprit is, and if you do, then you’re good, actually, very good.

I’ll be waiting for “Envy the Night”, Michael Koryta’s first stand.

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Cristian

Brilliant! You might think I am exaggerating? Ma.. Visa hela

Brilliant!

You might think I am exaggerating? Maybe! But to me “Already Dead” is a brilliant book.
Punk Rock in-your-face raw dialogues, Chandler’s unique and fascinating Noir Hard-boiled crime fiction style and Bram Stoker’s Vampire legacy.

— Ladies and gentleman let me introduce to you: The Joe Pitt series!

This is so good I’ve already bought the rest of the series and “Caught Stealing”.

´Nuff said!

If you like the idea of Quentin Tarantino writing the script to a movie based on The Philip Marlowe series, Dracula and the music of Sex Pistols and The Ramones, then fucking read this book motherfucker!

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Cristian

“Altered Carbon” is my first Sci-Fi novel. In or.. Visa hela

“Altered Carbon” is my first Sci-Fi novel.

In order to vary my Mystery PI/Detective readings I’ve tried to read horror and fantasy. Horror didn’t go well. I tried King, Maberry, Preston/Child and I’m now reading Dean Koontz’s “Watchers”. I’ve to say that after seven books I’ve come to realize that the horror genre isn’t for me.
Fantasy, introduced through Jim Butcher’s “Storm Front” worked a lot better though; and the reason is very simple, Jim Butcher uses the PI-genre as platform. So in order to follow a similar path with the Sci-Fi genre I gave it a go to “Altered Carbon”, which according to the author should be labeled as Future Noir.

The first 100 pages kept me reading at a slow pace because Sci-Fi is a whole new concept for me, besides “Altered Carbon” is not only influenced by classic Sci-Fi but also by Cyberpunk — a subgenre that’s a bit difficult to follow.

Despite my slow start I thought the book was interesting, but little by little “Altered Carbon” started to seem less like a mystery and more like a Hollywood action movie. Toward the end I’d lost all interesting in the book.

I think Richard K. Morgan wrote this book thinking about “Universal Soldier” rather “Blade Runner” or “The Matrix”. You may think that “The Matrix” has a lot of action and that is true, but it is also groundbreaking Cyberpunk as never “seen” before. Besides, the action in “The Matrix” blew away everything that had been done before.

For first rate Cyberpunk try “Neuromancer”.

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Cristian

“American Gods” is not an easy book to review. Fi.. Visa hela

“American Gods” is not an easy book to review. First, my knowledge about Fantasy is not vast. And secondly, though I didn’t like it I cannot ignore the quality of this book.

“American Gods” wasn’t an easy read either, at times I even found it boring but kept reading it just because I’d heard so many good things about it.
The main character is too shy for my taste and walks with a depressive “shadow” over his shoulder. The pace of the story is very slow, which I think is because there is lots of information of gods and mythology. Nothing that really interest me.


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Cristian

“Angels and Demons” is the book that Dan Brown s.. Visa hela

“Angels and Demons” is the book that Dan Brown should have written after “The Da Vinci Code”.

— Unfortunately, he didn’t.

The author makes too many silly mistakes in this book, many of which, I think, are consequence from the first of Dan Brown’s aberration called “Digital Fortress”.

I’ve read a lot of comments that say that “Angels and Demons” is better than “The Da Vinci Code”, and I can agree with it until a certain point.
The plot of “Angels and Demons” is more of an edge-of-your-seat plot while “The Da Vinci Code” is a bit slower, but the way Dan Brown wrote it is far more amateurish. I got to a point in which I said… “Shit, that is hard to believe, but ok. I’ll give the author that… and then shit… again, ok, I’ll give him that too”, but when I came to the scene with the helicopter, I said enough is enough!
That big and incredible stupid mistake spoiled everything . I just couldn’t read the rest of the book with the same eyes. I know that this is Fiction, but we are not stupid, are we?

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Cristian

When I finished reading J. Macberry’s “Ghost Road.. Visa hela

When I finished reading J. Macberry’s “Ghost Road Blues” and started reading “Bad Men” I’d a feeling that both books had something in common. For that reason I waited until I finished John Connolly’s book to have a better idea of how good or bad J. Macberry’s “Ghost Road Blues” was.

What these two novels have in common is that both deal with the supernatural and horror and both are thrillers. As for as quality goes I would say that J. Macberry is not a threat to John Connolly, at least with “Ghost Road Blues”.

“Bad Men” is a so-so thriller with a good moments of suspense although I didn’t find the story compelling. What I really didn’t like was that I guessed to many times what was about to happen, not many surprises here. That doesn’t happen when reading a good mystery.

I liked “Bad Men” as it served as escapism from the Charlie Parker’s series, but I would rather read a book that leaves me dumbfounded, with the feeling that force you to say: “shit… I didn’t see that coming”.

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Cristian

Mixed feelings! Having to weight the fact that I.. Visa hela

Mixed feelings!

Having to weight the fact that I find “Blood Memory” to be a very good mystery and “Mortal Fear”, a very bad thriller, I wasn’t sure about reading “Black Cross”.
After reading Ken Follett’s “Eye of the Needle” I said to myself that I wouldn’t read this book, but for some reason I can’t remember, I changed my mind.

Greg Iles surely understands the word “suspense”, but for me this thriller is too graphic, too much action scenes for my taste. He also tends to overdramatize things. The plot of “Black Cross”, having the Holocaust as its engine and center, is so horrifying that just knowing what happened in those camps is enough. But in spite of that, Greg Iles wastes too many words in cheap drama that’s completely unnecessary.

I think “Black Cross” is better than “Eye of the Needle”, but my opinion about Ken Follett’s book isn’t great which should put this review in the right context, for me.

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Cristian

Really good! Despite some silly reasons behind th.. Visa hela

Really good!

Despite some silly reasons behind the horrible actions of “the culprit” this book one of the best Crime Fiction mysteries that I've read lately.
From start to finish “Blood Memory” takes you by the throat and doesn’t let you go until the very end. A plot concerning with child abuse and wicked ***, “Blood Memory” is indeed quite explicit on issues that carry no beauty. Female Heroine!

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Cristian

After knowing that the movie “The Crimson Rivers”.. Visa hela

After knowing that the movie “The Crimson Rivers” was based on the book “Blood-Red Rivers” I ordered it without hesitation. You know the rule… the book is always better than the movie. Beside, the author is French, which gave the whole scenario something a bit exotic.

Everything changed as soon as I started reading it!

I find the translation horrible; it makes me wonder if Ion Monk (translator) has ever read a PI/Detective Crime Fiction novel.

Jean C. Grangé is the other one guilty to why I ended almost hating “Blood-Red Rivers”. He had a great idea, but in the end, it became too much to compromise.
The beginning of the book is really good and I kept turning the pages, but toward the end it was like reading a conspiracy within a conspiracy within a conspiracy, and as I continued reading I felt like the ice below this heavy plot became thinner and thinner. In the end it just collapsed by its own weight, or should I say stupidity.

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Cristian

I suppose W. K. Krueger is very capable of captur.. Visa hela

I suppose W. K. Krueger is very capable of capturing the wilderness of Aurora, Minnesota, also, the culture of the Anishinaade Indians. I say I suppose because I’ve never been in Aurora and I know very little of Indian cultures, but I do can, in some way, picture what the author describes and I find myself liking a place I’ve only seen on movies.
W. K. Krueger do is so well he even makes me like winters, which I hate not for the snow or the cold but for its darkness.
But beyond that “Boundary Waters” is just a so-so mystery. Beyond that, the very human and honest former sheriff Cork O'Connor is a bit boring. When I read the first book in the series, “Iron Lake”, I though he was an interesting character though not in the league of Charlie Parker or Arkady Renko, but I had hopes that he would become more alive during the second book.
Cork O'Connor does very little of investigation, that throws me off. A lot! I can imagine why W. K. Krueger has in some way been in the spotlights when it comes to crime fiction. The two books I’ve read are very human and they try in some way to give an insight of how a very unlucky minority sees our civilization, or maybe I should say, the American way of life. The whiteman. But as a crime fiction/mystery book I believe the writer has a bit to learn in order to reach the talent of Dennis Lehane, Robert Wilson, John Connolly or Martin Cruz Smith.

I really hope the next book brings the same beautiful descriptions of the landscapes of Aurora and the same feelings when it comes to the Anishinaade culture, but I also hope he plots the book in a way that I don’t feel like I’m reading a Scooby Doo sort of mystery.

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Cristian

I’ve never been a great fan of thrillers. I know.. Visa hela

I’ve never been a great fan of thrillers. I know that mysteries are often sold as thrillers and to be honest I’m not quite sure how the line that separates these two genres looks like. The things is I know “Caught Stealing” is a thriller or a suspense novel just because it doest have a mystery to be solved. Unlike “Already Dead” and “No Dominion”, Charlie Huston's first two Joe Pike novels — The PI Vampire.

I bought “Caught Stealing” after reading the first two aforementioned Joe Pike novels. At that time I thought Charlie Huston was a very talented young writer. But since this book and the rest of the Joe Pike series (3 books) I’ve changes my mind.
The plot of “Caught Stealing” is a straight line of unfortunate events that a character named Hank Thompson has to endure. If you want a much better way to appreciate a tale like this I suggest you see the movie “True Romance” instead. It was written by Quentin Tarantino and it is a brilliant story about a guy that has to endure a series of unfortunate events. Charlie Huston's attempt seems almost childish compare to it!


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Cristian

— What started as a superb mystery ended as a med.. Visa hela

— What started as a superb mystery ended as a mediocre thriller.

The tension until four-fifths of the book is so terrifyingly good I though “Child 44” was on its way to dethrone Martin Cruz Smith’s masterpiece, “Gorky Park”. The comparisons are of course inevitable since both books are based in the USSR. People were actually saying that Tom Rob Smith’s debut was better, and, taking into consideration Martin Cruz Smith is one of my favorite writers I was seriously worried.
Luckily for me and Martin Cruz Smith and sadly for Tom Rob Smith the book started to fall to pieces toward the end. How such a good book got this kind ending I’ve no idea, but for me, the writer and his editor must’ve completely lost it.

Is “Child 44” worth reading?
I think so, despite the horrible ending.

Is “Child 44” better than “Gorky Park”?
“Gorky Park” can be considered literature as much as a mystery. So No, there is no chance “Child 44” is better. It’s like comparing Marilyn Monroe with Pamela Andersson.

What’s the biggest sin of “Child 44”?
In my humble opinion it’s not the ending. The ending is just a consequence of what really made this book so fascinating: the biggest sin is the terror of living in Stalin’s Russia. In the end the supposed killer/bad guy is just nothing compared to the real culprit in this book: the sociological nightmare you have to experience by living under such society.


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Cristian

“City of Lies”(4) is my fifth encounter with Brit.. Visa hela

“City of Lies”(4) is my fifth encounter with British Crime Fiction writer R. J. Ellory. I started with “A Simple Act of Violence”(6), a mystery I find fascinating, and worked my way back to “A Quiet Belief in Angels”(5), another triumph, and “A Quiet Vendetta”(3), perhaps the best fiction tale about La Cosa Nostra together with “The Godfather”. I recently read “The Anniversary Man”(7), another compelling mystery.
I would say that “City of Lies” has more in common with “A Quiet Vendetta” than “A Simple Act of Violence” or “The Anniversary Man”. I would also say that this is the weakest book I’ve read from this author, which hopefully means that R. J. Ellory has gotten better since he wrote it.
There were too many events during the story to which I´d to compromise. I also felt that more than a few pages could’ve been cut out without spoiling the book. These are issues the three latest releases I’ve read don’t have.
I’ve already bought “Saints of New York”(8) and I´m positive that it will show that R.J. Ellory is one of the best Crime Fiction writers at the moment, which perhaps means that a book like “City of Lies” is just one of the steps he needed hit in order to accomplish that.

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Cristian

This is a sort of one-time-only for me. I mean mo.. Visa hela

This is a sort of one-time-only for me. I mean most of the time I read Crime Fiction Mystery, fantasy and SF happens once in a while. But "a novel" of what-ever as "City of Thief" is, happens rather never.

I’m happy I had the bollocks to buy this novel and read it. Great escapism! Not only because it's a book that’s different from what I’m used to read, but simply because it's a great story. A story that’s sometimes a bit unbelievable and a bit heart breaking, but it always carries, also, a bit of humor. And it's that what make this terrible and horrific tale enjoyable. Because let’s be honest, if David Benioff hadn’t used a comical undertone, then we would be reading a book that would turn our day into something very depressive. Instead we get to follow the adventure of a few people that in a really hard time of their existence did the best they could in order to survive and take a bit of revenge.

Great work!

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Cristian

I’ve had “Crusader’s Cross” quite a while in my b.. Visa hela

I’ve had “Crusader’s Cross” quite a while in my bookshelf.
Why haven’t I read it?
The answer is very simple; I wanted to like James Lee Burke. Not even I know why I’d that feeling.
The problem is that 2008 was a rather good year for James Lee Burke. The book “The Tin Roof Blowdown” got ovation everywhere. So the expectation I started to create became bigger and bigger and expectations kill and “Crusader’s Cross” kept looking right at me every time I looked towards my bookshelf.

All I’ve to say after reading “Crusader’s Cross” is that James Lee Burke didn’t disappoint me and that right know I am rubbing my hands together as I am thinking that I’ve a whole new mystery-Noir-world to discover with Dave Robicheaux.

For those who haven’t discovered the Dave Robicheaux series I advice you to start it right away. Do not by any chance make the same mistake I did keeping a James Lee Burke book in your bookshelf more than a year.

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Cristian

What a big disappointing this book was! The reas.. Visa hela

What a big disappointing this book was!

The reasons why I wanted to read “Cypress Grove” was because I’ve read very good reviews of this book, there were few but good reviews nevertheless. Besides the author is kind of unknown which in my case instead of being something bad it’s more appealing, but the most important reason was because I’ve read that James Sallis was something of a James Lee Burke. Big words there… big!

Being honest and perhaps a bit harsh I’d say that the only similarity between the authors is that both write books, besides that, I think James Lee Burke is in every aspect in another galaxy when speaking of Crime Fiction/ Mystery.



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Cristian

I guess “The Da Vinci Code” is not as bad as many.. Visa hela

I guess “The Da Vinci Code” is not as bad as many readers so emphatically want to make it seems, neither is it a piece of Fiction that will transcend in time or will leave you breathless or in tears.

The “The Da Vinci Code” is the king of the books in this new thriller-religious-conspiracy genre. Period!

What is appealing about “The Da Vinci Code” is the controversy. The idea that it challenges an entire institution such as the Catholic Church is just enough to get readers interested. At least me.

Dan Brown, true or not, tells us that many of the things the Catholic world has taught us are not true. Even worst, that the Catholic Church’s foundation might be false.
That is what Dan Brown does best, he is good at controversy. As a writer though he is mediocre but at least in this book he didn’t commit the same mistakes as in “Angels and Demons”, he stayed away from the super intelligent bimbo helping Robert Langdon and the action scenes are a bit more believable.

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Cristian

You gotta love Charlie Parker! Whatever he does,.. Visa hela

You gotta love Charlie Parker!

Whatever he does, right or wrong… mostly wrong in pursuit of good, he does it with such a big heart and humility that it’s impossible not to like him. Despite him being a killing machine or the way Rachel put it in this book — “The avenging Angel”.

John Connolly continues writing with the same lyrical quality as in “Every Dead Thing”. Influenced by Ross McDonald, Noir, but also with a fascination for the sick and evil mind of serial killers and the supernatural, I’m pretty sure “Dark Hollow” will delight anyone who calls himself a Crime Fiction fan.

“Dark Hollow” brings the unfinished past of Charlie Parker and just like in the previous book, dead is hunting people around him, and there is nothing he can do, but to solve the mystery and strike back.

Excellent!

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Cristian

Serial Killerrrrrr!!!! I thought Lehane’s novels.. Visa hela

Serial Killerrrrrr!!!!

I thought Lehane’s novels didn’t deal with serial killers. Surprise!
I read this book after Montanari’s Rosary Girls and Cody McFadyen’s Shadow Man. Let me tell you that though I’ve read that Darkness is quite explicit when it comes to describing the murders, I feel that both Montanari and McFadyen are more into rotten flesh and blood. Now if you want even more blood and evilness, then try Connolly’s Every Dead Thing.
Darkness, take my Hand is about catching someone that’s killing people linked to Patrick Kenzie, and though the building up is a bit slow and seems to go nowhere, forget it!

Real Good Crime novel the way only our friend Lehane is able to deliver. Enjoy!


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CristianHC
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

This must be one of the worst books I’ve ever rea.. Visa hela

This must be one of the worst books I’ve ever read.

The plot isn’t that bad actually, but Dan Brown’s capacity to think that we are stupid really amazes me. I read this book because I’d read “The Da Vinci Code”, which I think was an entertaining book when I read it, but “Digital Fortress” is definitely a few steps below.


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Cristian

After “Neuromacer” I thought I’d give a try to “D.. Visa hela

After “Neuromacer” I thought I’d give a try to “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, a book that not only inspired the movie “Blade Runner”, but also, according to some, the Cyberpunk genre. Since I loved William Gibson’s book so much I wanted to know how good Philip K. Dick was.

I’ve to say that Ridley Scott, director of the movie, did an amazing job with “Blade Runner”. He seems to have taken the best ideas from “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, but then added some of his own creating a movie that in essence is something completely different from the book.

Something much better!

To say that “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” in some way influenced the Cyberpunk genre is like saying that Blues Music inspired a band like Pink Floyd. As long as my knowledge goes, Blues Music did inspire Rock Music, but all Rock Music with the same intensity? No.

I guess what I want to say is that I don’t see myself reading another book from this author.


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CristianHC

Good book! I got a few laughs with the psycho pers.. Visa hela

Good book!
I got a few laughs with the psycho persona that Lefty Ruggiero was. Lots of information so if you aren't into the whole mob-thing, maybe you will find it a bit too match to the point, if you get what I mean.
On the other hand, if you though the movie was good, this is for sure better. Shows that Pistone never ever had second thoughts about who he was while being undercover, and Lefty (Al Pacino in the movie) wasn’t the poor mafia-guy they portrayed in the movie.

Recommended if you want to know more about the life of wise guys!

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Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

It’s hard for me to admit that Bram Stoker’s “Dra.. Visa hela

It’s hard for me to admit that Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” disappointed me.

The first time I read the book was such a thrill that just thinking I was going to repeat it put a big smile on my face. So, before starting reading the book I rubbed my hands together in sheer joy for what was about to happen: “I was going to read Dracula again”.
The problem is, I think, I postponed the reading of the book far too much. The waiting didn’t do me well.

I felt the pace rather slow; I came almost to hate the corny professor Van Helsing and the suspense was left after the first part of the book when Jonathan was in the Dracula’s castle.
I don’t dear to say that “Dracula” is a bad book. No! I still think the whole idea of the count based on a myth is terrific, but at the same time I can’t deny the fact that I felt nothing after reading it. Absolutely nothing!

I’m sorry!

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Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

Michael Koryta is a young, talented author whose.. Visa hela

Michael Koryta is a young, talented author whose writing career started like a dream. Everything suggests that he will be able to sit beside great Crime Fiction Mystery writers such as D. Lehane, John Connolly or J.L. Burke. That’s something I truly believe in, but it isn’t going to happen if he writes books like “Envy the Night”.

Michael Koryta’s best book is without any doubt “A Welcome Grave”, a mystery that I devoured in only two days and that left me wondering what this guy would be capable of in the future. My only complaint is that Michael Koryta hadn’t been able to give Lincoln Perry (main character), within three novels, the likeable qualities of main characters like: Charlie “Bird” Parker, Dave Robicheaux, or Arkady Renko, but beside that, kudos for Mr. Koryta.

“Envy the Night” is Michael Koryta’s first stand-alone novel, but it is also his first suspense/thriller novel. I had the hope that since Lincoln Perry wasn’t part of the plot, the new main character could have better charisma, but I was wrong.
“Envy the Night” is a boring blend of Crime drama and action packed thriller and main character Frank Temple III lacks too many of the good qualities that the aforementioned characters possess.

There is no mystery to resolve and as in most suspense/thriller books I’ve read there is no surprise and although you expect that someone has to die, it is never the main character. So I wonder, what is the idea to write so many scenes in which people want to kill him?.
The plot if sort of flat and there are too many characters that hinder the development of the story, which by the way is already slow.

Michael Connelly says: “… and this (“Envy the Night”) is his best yet”. George Pelecanos seems to have the same impression. I don’t get it!

If Michael Koryta, in some way, thought that he was ready to write his own “Mystic River” or “Gorky Park”, he failed in biblical proportions.

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CristianHC

Excellent! Charlie “Bird” Parker must be one of.. Visa hela

Excellent!

Charlie “Bird” Parker must be one of the most fascinating characters in today’s Crime Fiction. Everything surrounding this ex-cop turned Private Investigator is, to say the least, bizarre.

“Every Dead Thing” isn’t a fast paced book, actually it is more like two novellas in which you follow the main character from New York to New Orleans. The more you read the more you fall into a deep web of evilness and supernatural events few writers can deliver.

If you are new to John Connolly I’d recommend starting the Charlie “Bird” Parker series with “Every Dead Thing”, you just have to hang on a little bit, get through a few chapters and your regard will be the beginning of a great series and an amazing Crime Fiction mystery writer.

Highly recommended!

Next up is “Dark Hollow”

cheers
CristianH

Sort of back to basic! Not to form, though! “Ha.. Visa hela

Sort of back to basic!
Not to form, though!

“Half the Blood of Brooklyn” is a bad entry in the Joe Pitt series, but the bitter truth is that if you like Charlie Huston you are going to read it anyway.

Charlie Huston seems to have gotten some harsh critics for that book because “Every Last Drop” is better. This time I didn’t have problems with the dialogues and the plot has a good rhythm, which is essential to understand Charlie Huston’s punk-hardboiled style. But once again the author makes the same mistake as in “Half the Blood of Brooklyn”, “Every Last Drop” feels again like a period of time in the life of Joe Pitt, rather than a novel. It doesn’t have a beginning nor does it have a proper ending.
“Every Last Drop” starts with Joe Pitt going back to The Bronx. From there he gets the opportunity to return to Manhattan. Once again on the island he’ll do everything to rescue Evie, a vampyre like him now. This is not a joke but “that is” supposed to be “a great” secret that no one else has to know. But we do. Plop!
The other big secret is to know from where The Coalition gets its blood, which, although it has never been mentioned before it is predictable.
So, no mystery to resolve, just suspense and a new chapter in Joe Pitt’s life that shows only glimpses of the quality of “Already Dead” and “No Dominion”. Honestly I’m not dying for the next entry in the series.

I think Charlie Huston got an idea in his head that became too big to be captured in just one book. It started with “Half the Blood of Brooklyn” and I hope that he ends it with “My Dead Body”.

I think something similar happened to Robert Wilson’s Falcón series. Same problem had John Connolly in trouble with his Charlie Parker series.
All I know is that when books are too connected with one another, the plot of the latest book will always carry the unsolved questions of the previous book. Eventually these questions will need closure, but when you finally are getting near the ending it comes with no surprise.
That is exactly what happened with Robert Wilson’s “The Ignorance of Blood”, a book that seems more written to give answers to questions asked two books before, rather than to give Javier Falcón a new mystery to resolve.
In the case of John Connolly, I think the “The Black Angel” was a really good book, but if I compare it with “The Unquiet”, it is of less quality and feels in a way forced, which perhaps isn’t a surprise since John Connolly had to give closure to the a circle that started with “The Killing Kind”.

I want Chandler back, I want Mystery back, and I want intelligent plots. I want the quality he showed in “Already Dead”.


Cheers
CristianHC

“Eye of the Needle” is a good WWII spy thriller... Visa hela

“Eye of the Needle” is a good WWII spy thriller. The thing is I was expecting a great WWII spy thriller.

The plot is well thought but it lacks suspense. “Eye of the Needle” is not a bad book, it’s a page-turner at moments, but I can not deny the fact that it never surprised me.

I have Greg Iles’ “Black Cross”, which I intended to read after this one, but since “Eye of the Needle” didn’t left me hungry for more WWII thrillers, it will have to wait for another opportunity.



Cheers
CristianHC

“Flood” is the first book in the long series of P.. Visa hela

“Flood” is the first book in the long series of PI and antihero Burke. Also, it is my first experience with Andrew Vachss.

A thriller! A genre I like a lot less than mystery, because the lack of surprise!

So, a thriller it is, but although I’m not an expert in the genre, I’m pretty sure “Flood” is not your average thriller. The way Andrew Vachss writes and what he writes about is beyond what conventional thriller crime author talks about.

Child abuse, prostitution, pedophiles and sadomasoquism are the kind of issues he brings up on this book. Light issues. Indeed!

The book kept my attention throughout most of the book, although I’ve to admit I’d a hard time with the annoying fact that this book was written in an era when Karate and Kung Fu were seeing as lethal self-defense weapons.

Will I read another book of Mr. Andrew Vachss? Probably not! But you never know…


cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

Like I said regarding “Storm Front”, Jim Butcher’.. Visa hela

Like I said regarding “Storm Front”, Jim Butcher’s first book in the series:

“I like Jim Butcher’s premise behind his main character”

Unfortunately “Fool Moon” is just more of the same but with less quality, less fun and definitely less believable. I think the author got a bit confused with the differences between the word “fantasy” and “fantastic”.

While I really liked “Storm Front” and had big expectation for this book, I must say that only time will tell if I ever read another book written by Jim Butcher.

Cheers
Cristian

I wouldn’t say that this first book in the "Found.. Visa hela

I wouldn’t say that this first book in the "Foundation" trilogy is not good, though, what I would say for certain is that I don’t think I will be reading the next one.

I’ve always have trouble reading old books; say from the sixties and backward. Sometimes I venture into some from Raymond Chandler or Fyodor Dostoyevsky, but most of the time the aftertaste comes in form of: I don’t really much care how people thought at time and in consequence, how they portrait the moral dilemmas, amongst other things, in their literature. In few words, I don’t feel a connection I feel for more contemporary authors such as Dennis Lehane(Crime) or William Gibson(SF).

This is science fiction you think and it's based on a story that happens in the future, well, in spite of that I feel a disconnection just as I felt when reading “Crime and Punishment”(Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

"Foundation" is a very fast-moving story about premonition and perhaps even fate in a distant galaxy. Characters pass by and are dumped very quickly, which was another problem I had with the book. Whenever I started to like someone he/she was taken away.

Perhaps for the more die-hard science-fiction fanatics, but nor for me!

Cheers

Cristian

I would not say that I’m disappointed, but I’ve t.. Visa hela

I would not say that I’m disappointed, but I’ve to admit that I expected more of this book. Must be because when ever you read that a book/author is brushing the status of extraordinary, it isn’t hard to fall short.
Besides what I just said this crime novel is quite different to what I’m used to. The main character is not the usual cop/PI but a normal citizen that seek revenge and justice for what was done to her and other women. All in all the plot and the way Mina tells the story are ok, but I get the sense that either I expected too much from this or it didn’t have the same punch as others crime book such Blood Memory or Shadow Man. Two book which also have female main protagonists.

It will be hard for me to give a try to the sequel because there are so many good books out there, but who knows… says that time cures everything.


Cheers!

CristianHC
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

When I finished reading J. Macberry’s “Ghost Road.. Visa hela

When I finished reading J. Macberry’s “Ghost Road Blues” and started reading “Bad Men” I’d a feeling that both books had something in common. For that reason I waited until I finished John Connolly’s book to have a better idea how good or bad J. Macberry’s “Ghost Road Blues” was.

What these two novels have in common is that both deal with the supernatural and horror and both are thrillers. As for as quality goes I would say that J. Macberry is not a threat to John Connolly, at least with “Ghost Road Blues”.

So, I really don’t know what to make of J. Maberry.

I though I’d a great horror novel in front of me when I started reading “Ghost Road Blues”. But the more I read the more I lost my interest in the story.
I don’t know if the writer is aware that “Ghost Road Blues” is not “The Lord of the Ring”. I’m questioning his motives because this first (of three) book leaves too many unanswered questions. Fact is you’re forced to read the sequel and most certainly, the third book in order to get a piece of satisfaction. If there is any.

I like series that follows a certain character but “Ghost Road Blues” is merely an introduction to something that will probably develop into a whole in the third book. Like I said before I don’t know what to make of J. Maberry. The only thing I know is that he isn’t J. R. R. Tolken I don’t think I’ll be reading any other of his books.

I didn’t even get scarred!


Cheers
Cristian

A couple of months ago I went to downtown Stockho.. Visa hela

A couple of months ago I went to downtown Stockholm and bought lots of books. “Gone for Good” was one of them. Like I usually do when reading a book from an unknown author, I did some research on Harlan Coben and it seemed that “Gone for Good” was his best book.

I liked the way Harlan Coben is able to spin the plot. When you think you’ve everything figured out, he make a turn there and another here and you’re lost. He is really good at that, but “Gone for Good” is too light, too two dimensional. You can forget about finding the emotions author like Dennis Lehane(Gone Baby Gone or Mystic River) or Martin Cruz Smith (Gorky Park or Red Square) brings with their books. It feels like it was written by a talented fifteen year old writer. Very talented indeed, but a fifteen year old kid nevertheless.
In the end the only worth in this book are those great twists that surely will mess with your mind.


cheers
Cristian

Splendid! This is the first book of the Kenzie/G.. Visa hela

Splendid!

This is the first book of the Kenzie/Gennaro series I give full-point. It’s, I would think, with this book that Lehane started to give the real shape to his writing style.
Gone, Baby, Gone is almost depressive, so dark and full criticism against the human nature, and our society that one can wonder if this book is healthy in any aspect.

― For me? It surely is because I don’t take everything Dennis writes up to the point. But also, because I can look myself in the mirror and see that at least I’m not on the line of fire. Lehane uses his literature as a weapon to remind bad or evil people that they should be punished that they shouldn’t escape justice. And for me that works just fine!

Highly recommended!


cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

― Best mystery suspense thriller of the 80'.. Visa hela

― Best mystery suspense thriller of the 80's?


I’ve been reading mysteries and a few thrillers for some time now and each time I’ve to face a new author I hope that he/she brings something different. Something that makes me believe that somewhere out there there’re words so brilliantly written that you can once again evoke that same first amazing feeling you got when first experiencing one of your favourite books, or movies or piece of music.
Thanks to “Gorky Park” and Martin Cruz Smith I feel that everything I’ve read before, and I really mean everything, must be re-evaluated having this book as parameter. This book goes beyond the term Crime Fiction. Beyond everything I’ve read before. Only books like “Mystic River” and “A Small Death in Lisbon” can be compared to “Gorky Park”. This is so good!

Arkady Renko is an amazing character that will surely share a place amongst Charlie Parker, Dave Robicheaux and Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. Terrific!

Cheers
Cristian

This is a bad one for Mr. Huston! It’s actually.. Visa hela

This is a bad one for Mr. Huston!

It’s actually a shame Charlie Huston got to publish this sort of Noir suspense novel. Notice that I use the word “suspense” and not “mystery”.

“Half the Blood of Brooklyn” is something that should have been sold as a dossier in order to understand “Every Last Drop”. Nothing of great matter happens in this short novel. But the fact that the book is only 220 pages isn’t an issue because great novels have been written in fewer pages. What is an issue though is that “Half the Blood of Brooklyn” contribute with very little to the life of Joe Pitt. Most of the substance in this book happens towards the end, so the whole expedition to Brooklyn which I guess gives the book its name feels completely meaningless. The meeting between Joe and the radical Jewish lost tribe of Gibeah is to say the least laughable. It got to wonder if Charlie Huston just wanted to fill a few pages. There is no mystery, no purpose with this novel more than to tell you what happens in the last 50 pages.

Another issue is the language, which is too hard to follow. Too many people talks at the same time which make more than a scene difficult to understand.

Toward the end I thought that Charlie Huston would come with a surprise that would leave me speechless; like a sort of compensation for the mediocrity of the novel, but no surprise.
“Half the Blood of Brooklyn” ends and you keep turning the pages thinking that it is a joke. But no joke. I honestly felt as though Charlie Huston and Del Rey had ripped me off of money they don’t deserve.

I’m sorry Mr. Huston but in this novel, as Joe Pitt would say: you fucking suck!

Cheers
CristianHC

“Hands of Stone” or even better “Manos de Piedra”.. Visa hela

“Hands of Stone” or even better “Manos de Piedra”

Robert Duran is without doubt the most talented Latin American fighter in boxing history. People these days remember him for his lost again Sugar Ray Leonard, twice, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns, but during the eighties and just at 135 pounds, lightweight, Duran was “KING” during 13 years. No man could even come near him… everybody feared him and he was too damn good for the weight. Also, he was too damn crazy for his own good!

Jumping not one, but two weight classes he when to challenge the best in the welterweight division, at 147 pounds. The best fighter of that class was no less than Sugar Ray Leonard: the darling, the golden boy, the successor of the great Mohammed Ali. In an amazing fight that took place in Montréal, Canada, Duran won that fight hands down. After that, he became king in Panama and everything became very difficult for him.

As a fighter he was better than every fighter he lost to, I’m pretty sure about that. But he was so good, that people thought he could fight at heavyweight just because he was Roberto “Manos de Piedra” Duran. The last great fight he had in him was against Sugar Ray Leonard and he was 30 years old at that point. Those who know about boxing, those who know about the career Duran had to endure since what, 18 years of age and forward, know that at 30 you have little left in you to give. Still, the guy fought until he was like 45-50 years old. Crazy, completely out of question… but that was Duran. Like I said before, too damn loco for his own good!

Ahh… one last thing, IF Roberto Duran would’ve been American, we would’ve be talking about him in the same category of Joe Luis and Sugar Ray Robinson. For those who don’t understand boxing and think that Ali was the greatest, the two aforementioned boxer were way better than Ali and so was Duran.

Cheers
CristianHC

I remember when I finished “Gorky Park” I though.. Visa hela

I remember when I finished “Gorky Park” I though that Martin Cruz Smith, after just only one book, was one of my top five favourite authors. The book went up there amongst my favourites with, Lehane’s “Mystic River” and “Gone Baby Gone”, Wilson’s “A Small Death in Lisbon” and Connolly’s “The Unquiet”.
At the time I had a rule that I tried no to break: To never read the same writer consecutively.

I broke it of course with Lehane’s Kenzie/Gennaro series and Connolly’s Charlie Parker series. But after “Gorky Park” I didn’t have the sequel, “Polar Star”, so even if I wanted to break the rule I wasn’t able. In my frustration I ordered all the Arkady Renko books up until “Stalin’s Ghost”. Since then I’ve been reading them without giving space for any other author. I think I’ve become addicted to this series and to the capacity and style of Martin Cruz Smith as a writer. He suits me perfectly: plot, characters, settings and politics. I wish he gave Arkady Renko a bit more of joy from time to time, but then again, maybe the proletarian feeling and the almost depressing yet heroic atmosphere of his personality is just what make him being Arkady Renko.

By the way, “Havana Bay” is not as good as “Gorky Park” or “Red Square”, but it is still better than 90% of the “thriller” books out there.

Next up is “Wolves eat Dogs”.

cheers
CristianHC

jjjjjjjjjjjjjjj

I’ve mixed feelings about this one. I don’t know.. Visa hela

I’ve mixed feelings about this one. I don’t know what I thought. Maybe I should, in some way, have predicted this was going to happen.
What I am trying to say is that what Pelecanos showed me with “Right as Rain” is just the preamble of what “Hell to Pay” is. I am a big crime fiction fan, but also, a big mystery fan.
Pelecanos is so raw in his writing and manage to handle the whole black vs. white problem in America in a magnificent way as well as others crime-issues that you’ve to be made of steel if you don’t get touched by it. But this book doesn’t have that turn-the-page effect mystery-suspense novels have.

That is something I miss in this book!


cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

I was very excited when starting this book. All t.. Visa hela

I was very excited when starting this book. All the good words were telling me that Peter Robinson is a great crime writer. Who am I to say the contrary? Nobody!
Thing is… I found In a Dry Season too slow. I’ve read books that are slow but at some point they accelerate and during the final chapters everything come together and pang! you get hit with the sledge hammer and think, “that was worth waiting”

― Nothing of that happens here!

I though I was the only one thinking like this because I know Robinson is kind of well-known here in Sweden, but another guy from my work told me the same. Don’t know, perhaps I’m being a bit unfair…

Cheers!

CristianHC
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

Part Irish part Anishinaade Indian, Corcoran "Cor.. Visa hela

Part Irish part Anishinaade Indian, Corcoran "Cork" O'Connor is a hell of a character. I’ve been very lucky lately, first Bob Lee Swagger ― “Point of Impact”, though the book isn’t that good, then Arkady Renko ― “Gorky Park”, who is perhaps the most charismatic proletarian police officer in Crime Fiction history and now Cork O’Connor, former sheriff of Aurora, making of “Iron Lake” a very pleasant read.

This is the first book of the series and I am sure it won’t be the last for me. Author William Kent Krueger had, to say the least, a quite difficult task at hand thinking that I’d just read Martin Cruz Smith’s “Gorky Park”, a mystery book that was almost perfect and still so vividly fresh in my mind that I thought that whatever I read after it, would feels mediocre.

William Kent Krueger isn’t Martin Cruz Smith and “Iron Lake” is definitely not “Gorky Park”, but I think the author did a very nice job and I’m looking forward to reading more of his books.
I only wish he hadn’t killed a character I became very fond of, it was a bit cliché, but it’s this is his debut so kudos Mr. Kent Krueger.

Cheers
CristianHC

Also known as “Tainted Blood”, this is one of tho.. Visa hela

Also known as “Tainted Blood”, this is one of those books you come across, start reading and when finishing it, you go something like: “that’s a great surprise, let’s try another one”.

Iceland with its razor-sharp climate and depressive long winter darkness, a down-to-earth chief inspector and an attractive mystery… that’s what “Jar City” is all about. Perhaps the end is visible, doesn’t really matter because the book as a whole compensates for it.

Really good European Crime Fiction.

Cheers
CristianHC

After reading four books of James Lee Burke I’m g.. Visa hela

After reading four books of James Lee Burke I’m getting the feeling that in order to “enjoy” him you’ve to like the aura he creates around his antihero, David Robicheaux. Also, the way he writes, which is, superb compared to the average crime fiction writers.
Those two aspects, I believe, are more significant than plots and scenes in James Lee Burke’s mind. I’m saying this in spite of giving him what could be seen as bad review. I mean a good plot can sometimes save a book full of two dimensional characters and without depth. Harlan Coben’s “Gone for Good” comes to mind, which is in my opinion a book with some really good I-didn’t-see-that-coming twits but also with characters that left me nothing.
I’ll continue reading David Robicheaux’s series because as long as James Lee Burke continues writing books such as “Jolie Blon's Bounce” I’m pretty sure that it’ll be a pleasure loosing myself in one of his Noir adventures.

cheers
Cristian

jjj

After reading “Shadow Dancer” and with the knowle.. Visa hela

After reading “Shadow Dancer” and with the knowledge that perhaps the review I wrote about that book wasn’t a very objective one I wanted to see what Tom Bradby was really capable of.

Big disappointment!
Shanghai, 1926. That’s it!

The plot is boring, it never comes alive and the mystery was very easy to guess. If you’re Russian or English and like rugby and has an interest in Shanghai’s political situation at that time, then read “Master of Rain”, otherwise try finding joy else where.

Cheers
Cristian

Big disappointment! After George Pelecanos’ poor.. Visa hela

Big disappointment!

After George Pelecanos’ poor in every aspect “Hell to Pay” and Simon Becket’s hyped “The Chemistry of Death” I was hoping that Greg Iles would bring a bit of satisfaction to my Crime Fiction heart.

“Blood Memory”, of the same author, was actually a pretty good ride, so after two mediocre books I thought that “Mortal Fear” was the book to put things back into place.

“Mortal Fear” has its moments, but it’s too long, too complicated in the wrong way, too unbelievable, in the end… too much to compromise. The last chapter is just ridiculous.


Cheers
CristianHC

Double standard! I guess you have heard in a movi.. Visa hela

Double standard!
I guess you have heard in a movie when someone says: “These fucking Americans”.
Well, I think after reading “Moscow Rule” the timing for saying that phrase couldn’t have been more appropriate.

Being my second novel of Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series and comparing it to “The Secret Servant” I’ve to say “Moscow Rule” feels average, tending to mediocrity.
I’d say that while “The Secret Servant” is an all-out-hyper fast action book, and for that, almost impossible to forecast what is coming next, “Moscow Rule” moves slow, being even tedious at times, it’s too cliché and predictable.
The other issue that I consider “very” important in a novel such as “Moscow Rule, is that while the political propaganda is kind-of impartial in “The Secret Servant”, I mean Silva do throw some low punches to the bad guys, but he also throw a few to the Americans and their allays. In this latest spy novel he is too pro-American and it seems that he really hates Russians. In my opinion, the overwhelming critic toward the Russian people and their history is a bit laughable and way too cynical, taking into consideration that the USA has its own quite large share of blood on their hands because of its foreign politic.

It’s a shame because I really like the character of Gabriel Allon. I suppose I’ve to go back to the beginning and see if the first books in the series carry better plots and are not so flattering toward a country that has no right to recriminate other former super power. After all, they are all the same.


cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

The last chapter in the Joe Pitt series… finally!.. Visa hela

The last chapter in the Joe Pitt series… finally!

Yeah finally… because the last two books in the series kind of sucked.

As I’ve said before, “Half the Blood of Brooklyn”, which is the third entry, is more like an essay rather than a proper Crime Fiction novel. Things got a bit better with “Every Last Drop”, but the Noir in-your-face Punk feeling never surfaced to the level of the first two books.

In my humble opinion the big issue with the two aforementioned books is that they are part of a trilogy. Books with a weak plots and no ending, more like chapters or periods of time in the life of Joe Pitt rather than proper Noir Mystery Crime Fiction novel. Like the first two.

Charlie Huston did things very easy for himself with “My Dead Body”. Actually, it’s so easy that it even amused me while reading the book. While “My Dead Body” has its own life, the author lay its foundation around (almost) every significant character from previous novels.

He brings Closure!
Still no mystery!

Although it is said that this is the last book in the Joe Pitt series I wouldn’t bet all my money on it. Joe Pitt might be done in New York, but you never know…

Cheers
CristianHC

Every reader who calls himself “a crime fiction f.. Visa hela

Every reader who calls himself “a crime fiction fans” must read "Mystic River". Must! This is so good I’m quite sure you surely will read it more than once.
Dennis Lehane writing qualities are quite amazing. I think he reached a new level with this book. A blend of Noir Mystery and literature, a barrier not many crime authors can state they have accomplished.

Do not miss this one!


cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

Bravo… Jo Nesbø… once again! “Nemesis” is the se.. Visa hela

Bravo… Jo Nesbø… once again!

“Nemesis” is the second entry in the Harry Hole series. English translated books.
It seems lots of people have gotten a bit confused with the fact that the books haven’t been released in the right order to the English speaking/reading world. So, if you are new to Nesbø and you happen to read in English, then read first “The Redbreast”, then this book and then “The Devil’s Star”, book I attempt to read as soon as I once again feel forced to read, perhaps, the best Scandinavian crime fiction author of the moment.
And who Am I to give such a statement? A guy who constantly reads crime fiction and that regardless the lack of knowledge about Scandinavian crime/mystery authors (although Mankell and Indridason must count as reference) thinks that this bold statement is what an intelligent writer like Nesbø deserve.
I must say that my favorite authors are either Americans: Lehane, Cruz Smith, Lee Burke or European (non Scandinavian), Wilson and Connolly. In my humble opinion these guys belongs to a category of their own. They write mystery, but what they write about and how they write it goes beyond the so called mystery genre.
That’s what I feel when reading “Nemesis”, I don’t think of Jo Nesbø merely as a Scandinavian author. What I think is:

“He belongs with the big guys in my list"

And that’s why I said once again… Bravo!


cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

“Neuromancer” is one of those books that you eith.. Visa hela

“Neuromancer” is one of those books that you either love or hate. Perhaps a better description should be: “a book you either understand or not understand”. I’m guessing that many readers don’t finish “Neuromancer” because of its demanding language and complex plot.

William Gibson doesn’t develop a story or characters, he rather throws ideas at you of what he think the future will looks like. This novel was released in 1984 and at that time William Gibson was already talking about something similar to The Internet. Cyberpunk is a subgenre within Science Fiction that more or less was born with this book.

I’ve to say that despite the fact that “Neuromancer” is without any doubt the most challenging book I’ve ever read and that I still don’t understand all of it, it is also one of the best. The satisfaction is huge… I promise you!

By the way “The Matrix” would have never existed if William Gibson hasn’t written this book.

Perhaps the most groundbreaking novel in modern Sci-Fi.

Cheers
CristianHC

After several attempts at reading “Night Soldiers.. Visa hela

After several attempts at reading “Night Soldiers” I finally gave up.


I followed Khristo’s journey from Bulgaria to Russia, then to Spain and when I came to France I gave up for the first time, this was a couple of month ago. I tried to read the book on several occasions, but I found it depressive and extremely boring. Finally I gave it a thought and came to the conclusion that “Night Soldiers” was nothing special when Khristo was in Bulgaria, the same in Russia and again in Spain. So would the book change while him being in France? Probably not!
People who want to read about the life of a Bulgarian spy (for the Russians) before WWII should give this book a try, but if you are looking for suspense I suggest looking elsewhere.

I guess I don’t qualify as a proper reviewer so the 3-stars are just symbolic.

cheers
Cristian

Although I was disappointed of Greg Iles’ “Black.. Visa hela

Although I was disappointed of Greg Iles’ “Black Cross”, its crudeness about the crimes committed by the Nazis against human kind, especially “the Jews”, sparked my curiosity about the Holocaust.
I started searching for a book that could bring light to my spirit. Many times have we seen movies related to that sad incident in History. I remember that when being in school I learned that more than 6 millions Jews had perished under the evilness-stupidity-humanity of the Nazis. Still, I wanted to hear it from someone that had experienced the terror face to face.
Elie Wiesel was a 15 years old adolescent when he came to Auschwitz. 1944. And as a 15 years old young man he tells his story about what he had to endure to survive.
I could criticize the fact that the book is short of details and that Elie seems to tell these brutal events without feelings. No drama. That’s what I thought when being in the middle of the book. But…

― Who da fuck am I to think something like that? I don’t think I would have survived one night at a concentration camp. One!

With that in mind, I think I saw the point of this book… which’s that the different horrifying scenarios of the suffering and of the unimaginable nightmares that all these people had to bear must be created by the reader. Elie Wiesel tells his history this way because he was just one of the millions that suffered the evil and terror that we human beings can bring upon ourselves.

― Just one, remember… just one! No drama needed…

cheers
Cristia
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

A unique author, Charlie Huston, for a unique mai.. Visa hela

A unique author, Charlie Huston, for a unique main character, ultra hard-boiled Noir anti-hero Joe Pitt. So fucking good!

“No Dominion” is just as good as “Already Dead”, a bit different but equally amazing. While the first book follows a more traditional PI-looking-for-someone-plot, the sequel is more of a conspiracy.
“No Dominion” does not chock you in the same way “Already Dead” did, though I’d say it’s equally vulgar and even more violent.

I’ve already bought the rest of the books in the series so I’m pretty sure I’ll have a great time when reading those Noir Vampyre Mysteries


Cheers
Cristian

“… there no possession more valuable than a sober.. Visa hela

“… there no possession more valuable than a sober sunrise, and any drunk who demands more out of life than that will probably not have it”

Dave Robicheaux is, as well as Charlie Parker and Arkady Renko, an amazing character.
― Humble, thugh and sincere as hell!
He represents what I recognize as “a good human being”. Very hard, if not impossible, to find in real life.
James Lee Burke on the other hand is equally brilliant as a writer. I think very few people within the hard-boiled whodunit genre have the quality James possesses. Very few!
I am very glad and proud he chose the Crime Fiction genre to vent his frustration and thoughts.
“Pegasus Descending” is a bit better than “Crusader's Cross”, the only other book I’ve read in the Dave Robicheaux series. The book is more complex, but in a good sense, a very good sense.

“I’ll always be proud of you” She said.
“What for?”
“Because you’re incapable of being anyone other than yourself”

cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

The hope. It’s always nice to find a worth readi.. Visa hela

The hope.

It’s always nice to find a worth reading series. When I started reading I found Kenzie and Gennaro(Lehane), Arkady Renko(Cruz Smith) and Charlie Parker(Connolly), all great series that introduced me to Crime Fiction in a way I would’ve never expected.

Approaching a new author is a lot more difficult than you might think; pick the wrong book from a good author and that author can go to waste. It happened to me when I read Robert Crais’ debut and mediocre “The Monkey's Raincoat”. I assume that Robert Crais got better with time but that will have to be seen the next time I pick one of his books up… but when?

So in this quest for great new characters I bought Lee Child’s “Persuader”. It’s not the first book in the Jack Reacher series — I didn’t want to make the same mistake twice — and it has got, according to amazon.com, great rates.

Reality.

“Persuader” is one of the most boring books I’ve ever read. There is no mystery, there are no turns and twists and Jack Reacher feels like a cartoon character. The plot is ridiculously simple. Lee Child seems to be a meticulous author, so an action scene that in movies takes a few seconds here in the book can be described in 3 or 4 pages. I finished “Persuader” because I cheated since as of page 350 I read only the dialogues and even these were boring.

Do yourself a favor and see “First Blood”, “Jason Bourne” or “Man on Fire” if you want to get a real action and adrenaline kick.

Cheers
CristianHC

I have to star by saying that Bob Lee Swagger, th.. Visa hela

I have to star by saying that Bob Lee Swagger, the main character in this book, is very likeable.

― A very thug and quiet man. I like that!

Whit that being said, as long as “Point of Impact” was about him, it worked as a Swiss watch for me. I have no interest in firearms, but Stephen Hunter makes it very easy not to get bored and I think that’s thanks to Bob Lee’s charisma, or, should I say anti-charisma.

Unfortunately the book being 520 pages is not all about Bob Lee Swagger. Many, too many supporting roles (representing perhaps 35-40 % of the book) in my opinion take too much space of the plot. Besides, most of these feel unnecessary and boring, sometimes even reaching sleeping pills status.
Two stars because of what I just said and also because I prefer the prose of writers such as Martin Cruz Smith or Dennis Lehane rather than Stephen Hunter. A shame because I really think Bob Lee Swagger is a cool character.


Cheers
CristianHC

There aren’t many books that can be compared to t.. Visa hela

There aren’t many books that can be compared to the colossal Crime Fiction drama that “Gorky Park” is. Nor have I read a better book than “The Unquiet” (the book I read before “Polar Star”) this year. So “Polar Star” being the second entry in the Arkady Renko series not only had a tremendous pressure to living up to “Gorky Park”, but also had to make me forget “The Unquiet”; a book with a fascinating yet controversial and very sad topic — child abuse and John Connolly’s best book.

“Polar Star” disappoints in many ways, but no necessarily for being a bad book, but because the two aforementioned books are, in my opinion, amongst the best of the best in the Mystery PI/Detective genre.

“Polar Star” is a book for readers that are looking for an atypical, ironic and clever anti-hero. Arkady Renko is a man of words rather than violence, and as Arkady, I think Martin Cruz Smith is also an atypical Crime Fiction author. He writes compelling stories that are a weird yet extraordinary blend of literature and Noir mentality.

― I just started reading “Red Square”, see you soon!

Really, really good! Family conflicts. A sick ps.. Visa hela

Really, really good!

Family conflicts. A sick psychopath mind. Revenge. A lot of Bubba. Wiseguys. And finally, Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro.
This is the last book in the series, at least until now. Words I read are that, after Shutter Island Dennis was supposed to write a sequel, but it didn’t happen. As we all know “Coronado” saw the light instead and since he didn’t keep his word, I don’t know if Lehane will come back with the Boston duo. A shame if he doesn’t, even sad if you ask me because these characters have still a lot to give.
Not as sharp as “Darkness…” in terms of facing a sick-mind and so breathtaking as “Gone…” in terms sadness, but like I said in the beginning, a really good crime mystery novel.

What am I gonna do now? Well, get down to read Pelecanos, Lee Burke, Connelly, Wilson (Robert) and the rest of Connolly´s Charlie Parker series. That’s damn right!


cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

I bought “Pretty Little Dead Things” without know.. Visa hela

I bought “Pretty Little Dead Things” without knowing anything about author Gary McMahon. I read the back of the book and liked what was written on it. Before reading it though I did little research and found all kind of opinions, names such as Stephen King and specially John Connolly were brought up. I say specially John Connolly since “Pretty Little Dead Things” is a blend of Crime Fiction Mystery and the supernatural/horror.
Since I’m a big big big fan of John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series, especially from “Every Dead Thing” until the amazing book called “The Unquiet” I wanted to read what Gary McMahon was capable off. Unfortunately he doest come near the Irish writer’s best moments.
“Pretty Little Dead Things” started rather good but towards the end I just wanted it to end. The supernatural and horror took too much space and the plot became a bit too thin in reality and even blurry. The initial mystery of who was the killer and who had abducted the little girl were just the hook, there was no real investigation. And finally, Gary McMahon slowed the pace of story in several occasions by inserting chapters of his life that were completely irrelevant.
“The Unquiet” is an amazing book, but it is in my opinion the last amazing “Charlie Parker” book. Taking that into consideration “Pretty Little Dead Things” is rubbish comparing to “The Unquiet” or any of the Charlie Parker’s books that came out before that.

Cheers
Cristian

I’m being very lucky lately ! ! ! After the movi.. Visa hela

I’m being very lucky lately ! ! !

After the moving and amazing “The Unquiet” I read the excellent “Polar Star”. And now, “Red Square”, which in my opinion is better than “Polar Star” and equally fascinating as “Gorky Park”.

You have to give it to Martin Cruz Smith, the man can really write. He is not your average PI/Detective author nor does he bring cliché plots. In his books the mystery, which is the engine of the story at the beginning dissolves itself making space for stories that, at least in the Arkady Renko series, transcend the Crime Fiction genre.
Put it in others words, I think writers such as Dennis Lehane, Martin Cruz Smith, John Connolly, James Lee Burke and Robert Wilson are bringing something that could be called class or category to the Crime genre. They are blending literature with Noir Hardboiled mentality and the hybrid is something that can only do well to the Crime Fiction genre.

Next up is “Havana Bay”.


Cheers!
CristianHC

Wanting a detour from the more classic hard-boile.. Visa hela

Wanting a detour from the more classic hard-boiled Detective crime genre I asked a girl, that worked at a really good sci-fi book store in Stockholm’s Old Town, what to look for if I wanted to read horror. Without hesitating she went straight for this book, “Relic”.
She told me she really liked Preston/Child and that every book in the FBI agent Pendergast series was great entertaining.

―I believed her. And I thank her!

I didn’t scare me the way I though it would, but it sure was fun reading this book. I kept turning the page from the very beginning. Part mystery, thriller and horror, this duo of writers seems to complement each other perfectly.
The charismatic Pendergast and Sergeant Vincent D’Agosta, together with brilliant scientist Dr. Frock and Margo Green are such likeable characters that in spite that I am not used to the techno-thriller genre, I could digest the plot without compromising too much. In other words, I dove onto the story and was, at times, completely fascinated by it.

Next up is Reliquary!

cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

Very disappointing! Indeed! After reading “Relic.. Visa hela

Very disappointing! Indeed!

After reading “Relic” and comparing it with “Reliquary”, saying that this book was a letdown is the least I could say. Too many characters that didn’t add anything to the plot, I repeat, too many characters that didn’t add anything to the plot, made “Reliquary” longer that it should have been and believe it or not, boring; which is a word I though didn’t go together with the duo Preston/Child.
But as long as Lieutenant D'Agosta, FBI agent Pendergast and with Dr. Margo Green were in search of the pseudo-Mbwuns, this book was fun to read. Though without the exotic mystery of what was making the killings.
At the middle of the book I wished that a few of the support characters would just die. First on my list were Bill Smithback, the reporter, and the mother of the first victim they found.
By the way, the whole riot episode Wealthy-people vs. Moles was just ridiculous.


cheers
CristianH
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

My first book with mister GP Pelecanos and though.. Visa hela

My first book with mister GP Pelecanos and though, when I started reading it, I was like… “Ok, when the hell is gonna happen something? When will I get that turn-the-page anguish?” I realize that Right as Rain isn’t the typical mystery crime novel.
Pelecanos not only restrain himself to put hard-as-nail street-wise talk into the dialogues, he does it all the way through. Even when characters are thinking or he’s explaining something related to them.
The other characteristic that attracted my attention is his capacity to see small things from different point of views, specially related to racism, giving the plot a few twist not in the way the typical mystery does. I’ve to read more of this guy to call him something like a master at that, but he is good indeed.

cheers
CristianHC
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

Last week I read “The Cabinet of Curiosities”. No.. Visa hela

Last week I read “The Cabinet of Curiosities”. Nothing I’d recommend even to my worst enemy. That book’s as much literary quality as David Hasselhoff’s as an actor.

Anyway, looking at my bookshelf, I saw that I’d three more books from the duo Preston/Child that I hadn’t read. Three! Can you believe that? Three whole books. So, as I am a bit stubborn, I picked “Riptide” up and slowly, very slowly, I started reading it. In my world, after “The Cabinet of Curiosities” the chapter Preston/Child was closed, but amazingly, “Riptide” had a completely different pace and the writing was a lot more… yeah, mature.
Being fair I think “Riptide” is a good mystery/adventure book until the last 100 pages. It kept me turning the pages and even if it isn’t a superb read, it was a book that didn’t insult my intelligence (by the way… I consider myself being a normal person) every 5 minutes.
I don’t think that I am going to read the other two books that I’ve left to read, which are “The Ice Limit” and “Still Life with Crows”, so feel free to email me if you’re a fan and maybe we can work something out.
I think that when you constantly read books you become, not aware of it, a bit demanding. I think that every time you read a great/superb book ― whether it is a crime novel such as “Mystic River”, “Gorky Park” or “A Small Dead in Lisbon”; or more classic literature such as “Dracula” or “One Hundred Years of Solitude” ― you open a door that’s very hard to close. Sometimes I feel like I just want to read a book for fun, but even then, I don’t want to read such crap as “The Cabinet of Curiosities”, “Reliquary” or “The Righteous Men”. The line for me goes very near this book. A book that is entertaining although like I said before, the last 100 pages are a bit boring because the action was predictable and the mystery behind the sword was a big joke.

cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

Good Crime Fiction! No wonder “River of Darkness.. Visa hela

Good Crime Fiction!

No wonder “River of Darkness” was nominated to so many awards in 1999.

The story takes place after WWI, around 1920. John Madden is a Scotland Yard inspector that is given the task to catch a cold and relentless meticulous assassin. “River of Darkness” will not only take you to a beautiful adventure through England’s countryside, but also to an unknown era.
Rennie Airth writes down-to-earth Crime Fiction mystery, so do not expect fancy explosions or a certain Harvard professor jumping from a helicopter with the help two squares meter of plastic, and making it.
I would suggest this author to someone who reads Mankell (The return of the Dancing Master).

Cheers
Cristian

Montanari’s Rosary Girls came to me after reading.. Visa hela

Montanari’s Rosary Girls came to me after reading Lehane’s A Drink Before War, Pelecanos’ Right as Rain and Crais’ The Monkey… so what I needed was a bit more of blood and evilness.
I bought this book and Shadow Man the same day, and lucky me I picked this one up to read first(why? ’cus Shadow Man is a bit better).
Somebody is killing young catholic girls and that’s all you need to know to try Rosary Girls. Montanary is very good at throwing small clues so that you always think who the bad guy is… you will be wrong, again and again!
Only complaint is that the main characters should have been more real. Don’t get me wrong they aren’t paper-characters, but Montanary doesn’t dig deep enough into the soul of Kevin Byrne and his rookie partner, Jessica Balzano, the way other writers do.

cheers
CristianHC
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

Lehane does it again! Though I’ve read lots of c.. Visa hela

Lehane does it again!

Though I’ve read lots of complaining about Sacred it’s still a great ride down the “whodunit” crime fiction genre. I mean come on… this might be the author’s weakest book, but it doesn’t make it a bad book for that. To me, it’s always a pleasure to follow Kenzie and Gennaro whatever they go.
The book is indeed a bit different from the two previous books, but it is still Lehane all the way.


Cheers!

CristianHC
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

I started reading "Savage Season" while reading C.. Visa hela

I started reading "Savage Season" while reading Charlie Huston's "Caught Stealing".
Why? Because I forgot the book in my car on a Friday and I didn’t bother to go back and get it. Had it been a better book I'm pretty sure I couldn’t’ve been without it during the weekend. So I read around 100 pages of "Savage Season" before finishing "Caught Stealing". Already then I knew I would like R L Lansdale better than Charlie Huston, at least when it comes to writing thrillers.
R L Lansdale seems, only read this book though, a bit more intelligent regarding plot twist and turn. Still, this book is a thriller, so don’t expect that your mouth will be wild open when finishing it. This isn’t “Shutter Island” or “A Small Death in Lisbon”, or “The Usual Suspect”. Don’t expect Kaiser Söse kind of surprise. But like I just said, L R Lansdale paints an interesting story behind the characters making it interesting to read. Besides, Hap and Leonard are two characters that don’t go unnoticed. Black humor… I love that!
Will I ever read another book in the Hap and Leonard series or from R L Lansdale? I don’t think so, unless I’m 100% sure that the book I’m going to read is a mystery. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thriller, but I’m getting more and more into the realization that I like to watch thrillers while I like to read mysteries.


cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)


cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

“Shadow Dancer” is kind of special for me; it’s m.. Visa hela

“Shadow Dancer” is kind of special for me; it’s my first book in English.

In my opinion this isn’t a great suspense thriller, but since I’ve always been interested in the whole “Irish Republican Army” versus England conflict, I like it some.

“Shadow Dancer” is an unpretentious and easy read that tells the sad story of an Irish woman who tries to cut relations with her IRA family in pursue of something better.
I got a strange feeling while reading this book, a blend of beauty and sadness, like being listening to “street spirit [fade out]” of Radiohead.

“When you know that something bad or even evil might be waiting for you at the end of a road and you still have go there because that’s what you heart tells you, then I don’t know many other things I've to learn in life”

So tragic!

Cheers
Cristian

If you read the Rosary Girls review you’ll notice.. Visa hela

If you read the Rosary Girls review you’ll notice that I mention Shadow Man. Both these books are related cus they deal with the same issue, Serial Killers. But Cody Mcfadyen has written a book that’s a bit more compelling, chilling and even believable, despite the fact that the bad guy in this book has, to say the least, a very very unbelievable past. This is thanks to Mcfadyen’s way of getting into the heart and soul of FBI agent Smoky Barrett.
A magnificent good read! If every woman where as thug as the ones described here, then I wouldn’t want to be a man.


cheers
CristianHC
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

"Shutter Island" is my first book of Dennis Lehan.. Visa hela

"Shutter Island" is my first book of Dennis Lehane and despite that at the beginning of it I was like: “What the-hell is this guy trying to tell…”, I was completely astonished by its end.

Sort of the same feeling I got when the movie "The Usual Suspects" ended.

Big smile !!!

Many hardcore fans will surely be a bit disappointed with the line of the plot, which carries a different direction in term of Lehane’s more Noir PI inspired novels. But honestly, who care… be sure to read "Shutter Island" and be also sure, to keep in mind every little details because the sledgehammer that will hit at the end will hit you hard, very hard. And if you're not prepared you will have to call for help so you can close your mouth.


cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

Wow! “Silence of the Grave” is better than “Jar.. Visa hela

Wow!

“Silence of the Grave” is better than “Jar City”.

So much tragedy… You just want to get inside the book and smack the hell out of “one” of the characters. Just remember that!

Chief Inspector Erlendur & CO together with Reykjavik, one of the most depressive urban landscapes ever portrait in Crime Fiction, are once again back.
Arnaldur Indriðason tells the story through two parallel plots that seem without connection, but… just read it.

Once again. Really good European Crime Fiction.

Cheers
CristianHC

I bought "Sleepers" because of the movie… of the.. Visa hela

I bought "Sleepers" because of the movie… of the same name. That’s a good one, the movie I mean. The book doesn’t work, at least not the second part of it. I enjoyed and could believe that this book is based on real and terrible life events until after the time in juvenile jail. But after that the book fell apart completely. It somehow worked on the movie but not in the book. It’s impossible to compromise so much in order to believe that the story takes the curse it takes, and have a climax like the one "Sleepers" has.

Sorry Lorenzo Carcaterra, I’m one of those who think your story is made up and not based on real events.

Cheers
Cristian

“Snow Crash” is supposed to be a Cyberpunk novel... Visa hela

“Snow Crash” is supposed to be a Cyberpunk novel. In my humble opinion everything that makes “Neuromancer” an amazing groundbreaking book is exactly what this book doesn’t possess.

I though “Snow Crash” was so stupid, and I will not waste time explaining why, that after almost 300(of 440) pages I just gave up. I took me weeks to come to that and I think that the feeling that I was reading rubbish was there from the very beginning. But I didn’t want to quit because according to many readers this book belonged in the same Cyberpunk universe that was created thanks to “Neuromancer”.
So since I wasn’t getting the same effect that William Gibson is able to impose in me with his books and short stories, I read some bad reviews of “Snow Crash” in Amazon. All of them had something that reflected my discontent, so I thought it would be healthier for me just to leave the book.

What a relief!


Cheers
CristianHC

Michael Koryta is for real! ”Sorrow’s Anthem” is.. Visa hela

Michael Koryta is for real!

”Sorrow’s Anthem” is the author’s second novel and it’s definitely a step up for him. I’m really glad I found this writer, he brings the kind of PI Noir feeling Dennis Lehane used to bring with the Kenzie/Gennaro series.

Lincoln Perry, main character of this series, could easily be Patrick Kenzie’s cousin, but believe when I said that it isn’t just a rip-off, Michael Koryta possesses his own voice and seems clever enough to write a good quality Crime Fiction Mystery.

Next up is “A Welcome Grave”.


Cheers
CristianHC

Martin Cruz Smith must be one of the most underra.. Visa hela

Martin Cruz Smith must be one of the most underrated Crime Fiction writers. Perhaps Robert Wilson is even more underrated, but let concentrate us on "Stalin's Ghost".

As usual, Martin Cruz Smith delivers a very unusual whodunit. The book doesn’t reach to the level of “Gorky Park” or “Red Square”, but it is in a way a return to what fascinated me about “Gorky Park”, an analysis about the Russian way of life.
Back when the first book of the series of Arkady Renko came out almost everything about the old and powerful Soviet Union was a mystery, at least for me, now we know a lot more about everything thanks to our modern communication system, yet still, I was once again fascinated about what Martin Cruz Smith has to tell us through the eyes and heart of one of the most magnificent characters in Crime Fiction, Arkady Renko.

It’ll probably be a long wait until the next book in the series sees the light, but who cares, I’ll be waiting for it right here.
It’ll be a long wait until Martin Cruz Smith gets the recognition he deserves, but who cares, as long as he write books like "Stalin's Ghost", that’s all I care about.

Cheers
CristianHC

Don’t be mislead by the 3 stars, please don’t. In.. Visa hela

Don’t be mislead by the 3 stars, please don’t. In the case of “Storm Front” it’s a good thing. At least it’s good start.

I like Jim Butcher’s premise behind his main character and the world he moves about. Think of a gentler Patrick Kenzie (Dennis Lehane) with less power than Gandalf the grey, resolving mysteries and fighting against wizards, vampires, werewolves and the likes.

I loved it!

Next: Fool Moon.

Cheers
Cristian

This is really bad! I thought about taking a tim.. Visa hela

This is really bad!

I thought about taking a time off of Crime Fiction Mystery and give an historical thriller a chance. Big mistake! At least if the book is “The Amber Room” and the author is Steve Berry.

Dan Brown, being the “mediocre” writer that he is, creates at least stories that entertain you. Steve Berry can’t write, his characters are 1.5-dimentional and you would be smart if you just stayed away from at least this book.

Cheers
Cristian

”El Juego Del Angel” or “The Angel’s Game” is a s.. Visa hela

”El Juego Del Angel” or “The Angel’s Game” is a satisfactory read until the last 100 pages. At moments I even felt I was reading a story equally amazing to the one of “The Shadow of the Wind”, but those last 100 pages, at least for me, spoiled a great deal of the pleasure Carlos Ruiz Zafón offers with his beautiful prose and gothic Barcelona mysteries.
Whether you love the entire book or have, in a way, the same opinion I have, those last 100 pages leave as many unanswered questions as dead people, both unnecessary.
Why degrade the book to the level of a cheap thriller spilling so much blood?
Why complicate the compelling story of David Martin with characters that added very little to the main story?
Who is who?
These are few of the questions I hope Carlos Ruiz Zafón can clarify in the two books that are left of the “The Cemetery of Forgotten Books” series. I will definitely read the next book and I hope that the many negative critics ”The Angel’s Game” has gotten help him to create a story that is equally or better than “The Shadow of the Wind”.

Cheers
Cristian

I was a bit worried for the impact Raymond Chandl.. Visa hela

I was a bit worried for the impact Raymond Chandler would’ve on me. You see, this is one of those times I didn’t want to go against the tide. I definitely wanted to like him!
Raymond Chandler together with Dashiell Hammett and Ross Macdonald are the trinity of hardboiled Noir Crime Fiction. These writers paved the way for the likes of John Connolly, Dennis Lehane, James Lee Burke, Robert Wilson, George Pelecanos and so many other authors that it would be impossible to name all of them. Not only did they influence Crime Fiction writers, the PI/detective novel can be read within genres like Fantasy, Horror and even Science Fiction. But most important these authors gave Crime Fiction a certain quality. They gave the genre a face.

So, did Chandler disappoint me? No!
The book grew more and more as I approached the final chapter. Of course it was a bit annoying having to deal with Marlowe’s extreme-cool manners. It seemed that he always has everything under control even when being at disadvantage. And since the story happens around the 20’s it’s not easy to understand the way of thinking of the time. Noir!
I must say that “The Big Sleep” didn’t blow me away. I think the mystery and plot was rather weak, but on the hand, word by word, Raymond Chandler can probably beat 99% of the writers in the genre… so many cool metaphors.

cheers
Cristian

“I won’t bring harm upon you and my daughter, not.. Visa hela

“I won’t bring harm upon you and my daughter, not by my choosing, yet still it comes. That’s what I’m afraid of. It has found me before, and it will find me again. I am a danger to you, and to our child, and I think you know that”

“We are coming apart”

“I love you, but we are coming apart”


I really admire John Connolly’s writings skills, and even more, his dark and good hearted hero, Charlie “Bird” Parker. After five books I feel for him as though he was a beloved friend of mine. It’s quite strange because until now he is the only fictional character that has moved me in such relentless way. For the same reason and the fact that Charlie Parker is mostly sad and in pain I wish things could develop in a different way for him. Strange, isn’t?

I think “The White Road” was, a bit, less than “The Killing Kind”, but with “The Black Angel” John Connolly has written his most ambitious mystery yet and arguably his best.
The only aspect of the book I didn’t like was that too many pages were wasted on unimportant characters. I can understand that the stories behind the pimp and the WWII soldiers and their families had their points, but not the way John Connolly gave life to them. Even more was I bothered of the fact that the author tried to personify these characters transforming his voice (the voice of Charlie Parker) into the one of a gangsta-pimp and two old odious guys.

Besides that I loved “The Black Angel”. And to anyone who is going to embark themselves into the world of Charlie Parker, read this series in order. Please don’t make the mistake of reading any of these books as standalones, specially “The White Road” and “The Black Angel”


Cheers!
CristianHC

Checking at a poll on Crime Fiction Dossier a cou.. Visa hela

Checking at a poll on Crime Fiction Dossier a couple of moths ago, this book, “The Black Echo”, was mentioned as one of the best ten PI/Detective novels ever written.

I think this is a good book though very meticulous in a bad way. But it’s Michael Connelly’s debut effort so that makes this a bit hard to judge. But being honest I think both author and book are overrated.
Perhaps “The Black Echo” didn’t work for me because the focus of attention is Vietnam. It doesn’t identify me. I’ve no relatives that went there so for me it wasn’t a unique experience reading this book.
But leaving Vietnam aside I found the pace of the book slow and the mystery weak. Michael Connelly describes too many unimportant things taking away the suspense. At times I felt I was getting nowhere. I even predicted some of the plot, which I think is not my virtue but the author’s failure.

So, does “The Black Echo” rank amongst my favourite PI/Detective novels?

In no particular order:

Mystic River, Darkness, Take My Hand, Gone Baby Gone, The Killing Kind, The Unquiet, Gorky Park, Red Square, A Simple Act of Violence, A Quiet Belief in Angels, Already Dead, No Dominion, Silence of the Grave, A Welcome Grave, The Neon Rain, A Small death in Lisbon.

Answer: NO!

cheers
Cristian

Perhaps it’s a harsh appreciation after only read.. Visa hela

Perhaps it’s a harsh appreciation after only reading two of his books, but I think Michael Connelly is an overrated Crime Fiction writer. “The Black Ice” is a good crime mystery but nothing extraordinary. The book will not transcend like “Mystic River” or “Gorky Park”. Fact is a more accurate word to describe this author would be ordinary.

“The Black Ice” follows the same pattern as “The Black Echo”. Michael Connelly slows the pace of the story with his perfectionist way of describing things, many of which are irrelevant for the plot. He also has big issues when it comes to describe people’s feelings such as love, despair or fear, or reactions to different situations that aren’t tangible.
Harry Bosch isn’t the most appealing person either, he definitely lacks the charisma of characters such Patrick Kenzie, Charlie Parker or Dave Robicheaux.
I would say that “The Black Ice” has a stronger ending, but nothing spectacular here either.

But Michael Connelly will have more chances to prove how good he is, I’ve “The Concrete Blonde” waiting to be read. Hopefully I’ll see this author with the same eyes lots of people see him.


cheers
Cristian

This was really disappointing!!! I’m giving this.. Visa hela

This was really disappointing!!!

I’m giving this 3 stars, though I should give it 2, just because it’s Sakey’s debut. Otherwise this is worth no more than 2, at best.
The story is good, but it’s so predictable I can’t believe what the-hell is all the noise about The Blade Itself. Comparisons to the likes of Connelly and specially Lehane, perhaps my favourite writer, are out of place. No way Sakey is in the league of those guys.
The plot is full of clichés and I was always a few steps before the writer. I want to be behind. Always waiting for the twists and turn... you’ll find nothing of that in this. There’s no mystery in here... just a story you sure have read or hear plenty of times before.

Skip this one!


CristianHC
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

E x c e l e n t e ! ! ! I’m pretty sure Javier.. Visa hela

E x c e l e n t e ! ! !

I’m pretty sure Javier Falcón would have said that if he read “The Blind Man of Seville”. I’m not sure though if Wilson refers the title to the murders or the main character. You’ll have to figure out for yourself.
I’m not an expert but after spending some time reading books, mostly crime fiction/mystery, I’m quite sure Robert Wilson is one of those writers, he could have been musician, film maker or a dancer… the profession is irrelevant, that’ll never get the real status that he deserve within the crime community yet still his capacity as a writer is the envy of many authors.
He is the kind of guy that do not fit the mainstream crime fiction world… therefore many will find Wilson’s books too complicated, dark and with a style that even sound a bit pretentious. He brings the real evil and most repulsive of human beings. A big shame because many will miss this amazing author.

E x c e l e n t e ! ! !

cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

What a pathetic book! Indeed! Ok, it wasn’t as p.. Visa hela

What a pathetic book! Indeed!

Ok, it wasn’t as pathetic as “Reliquary”, the second entry in the series, but it was close, very close. I don’t know how to say what I feel about “The Cabinet of Curiosities” without sounding Italian. I mean Arrogant. But what I feel is that the duo Preston/Child must really thinks we are stupid, otherwise I don’t understand how they think we can compromise so much in order to believe all the nonsense written in this book.
Please, if you consider yourself a person with normal intelligence, don’t read this book. It will insult it time and time again. What started as a really good premise, ended in an even more ridiculous manner than a certain Harvard symbologist jumping from a helicopter thousands of feet over ground without getting killed.


cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

Expectation kills? Yes they do! I thought “The C.. Visa hela

Expectation kills? Yes they do!

I thought “The Chemistry of Death” would introduce me to the world of CSI. Not the one we see on TV, but the real one.
The book is just an average murder mystery that attempts to be something different and fresh, but doesn’t bring it. It is not a bad reading though, but like I said before, I waited great stuff from young author Simon Beckett, but there isn’t any subliminal aftertaste.

A good book for being a debut, but nothing tells me that the author has gotten that edge that will catapult him into something extraordinary.


Cheers
Cristian

I give this an average 3. I was quite exited whe.. Visa hela

I give this an average 3.

I was quite exited when I started reading the book. The prose, the mystery and the humour Perez-Reverte throws into the blend was magnificent. But as the book developed I got a bit tired reading about old books and Dumas.
If his idea was to write a book in which he paid tribute to what had influenced him in younger years, he surely managed but in my humble opinion he sacrificed a bit of the essence in a good mystery, the plot.

cheers
CristianHC
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

Declan Hughes is for real… Too! “Sorrow’s Anthem.. Visa hela

Declan Hughes is for real… Too!

“Sorrow’s Anthem” is the second novel of Michael Koryta and “The Color of Blood” is the second novel of Irish Noir author, Declan Hughes.
Comparing these two young writers ― that’s the reason I read this book direct after “Sorrow’s Anthem” ― I would say that Declan Hughes pulls the longer stick.

“The Color of Blood” is complex. The intrigues, the suspense and the turn n’ twists are there from the beginning. It is maybe for that very reason that the end of the book arrives with dashes of anticlimax.
Declan Hughes mounts layer after layer of melodramatic conspiracies revealing the mystery little by little, but the real knock-out punch comes at the end when the whole truth is uncovered. This is not the kind of lame Crime Fiction Mystery in which the killer comes out from nowhere; Declan Hughes is, as I’ve said before, a very clever writer.


Declan I am fan!

Cheers
Cristian

A love history! Hah! Who would’ve thought? Espio.. Visa hela

A love history! Hah! Who would’ve thought?

Espionage is what gives the plot live, but at the end of the day, Robert Wilson has delivered a beautiful yet dark and almost depressive romance novel between spies.
“A Small death in Lisbon”, also of Robert Wilson, is still one of my favourite crime books ever, and I am glad that “The Company of Strangers”, though also based in Lisbon, is not just a sequel or amble in the genre. This book is completely different from the previous mentioned and therefore it is hard for me to compare, but if you put a gun in my temple, I would say “A Small…” is better, yet if you ask me, you should read everything this author has written.

… And then again, Robert Wilson is not for everybody. Don’t get me wrong thinking that his plots are too complex for the average beach readers or that I am a very smart guy. No, not that. But his books are very dark, and deal with the real evilness of people. His heroes in both “A Small…” and “The Company…” are the kind of heroes that at the end you wish them all the goodness in the world, but unfortunately, English writer Robert Wilson, doesn’t like Hollywood endings…

A very gifted writers… I am a fan!

PS. This is my second novel involving espionage. The other one was “The Eye of the Needle” of Ken Follett. Quite different in quality regarding writing style, suspense and plot. All in all, this novel is at least ten times better. At least!

Cheers

Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

My third book of Michael Connelly and Harry Bosch.. Visa hela

My third book of Michael Connelly and Harry Bosch!

I haven’t had great experiences when reading this author before. Both “The Black Echo” and “The Black Ice” are good mystery Crime Fiction books, but nothing extraordinary.

After reading “The Concrete Blonde” I get the feeling that Michael Connelly writes without taking many risks. The story is well written and as usual he describes things in great detail, even unimportant things that add nothing to the story.
But I was in for a surprise when I found myself liking “The Concrete Blonde”, at least more than I’ve expected. Both the courtroom drama and the search (who-du-nit) for the killer were working for me. Even Harry Bosch came across as less pedant and sometimes even simpatico, but everything good that I was feeling fell to pieces when I reached for the last 50 pages and the identity of the killer was revealed. Once again Michael Connelly showed sings that he is just an average writer.

Perhaps it is that simplicity with which Michael Connelly writes his books that is so appealing for so many other readers. They get everything and have to think very little for themselves.
They get a good mystery. Perhaps I’m just too demanding and want a great mystery!

Cheers
CristianHC

— Boring as hell! — Meticulous as hell! — Slow as.. Visa hela

— Boring as hell!
— Meticulous as hell!
— Slow as hell!
— Cero twist!

I don’t understand the hype behind this novel. I’d heard so many good things about it that I thought I was in for the ride of my life. I got the same feeling that when reading another hyped thriller from the past, “The Eye of the Needle”.

The plot is a straight line and since it’s seen from the point of few of The Jackal and those who want to stop him, you get the version of the events not once but twice. Superb.

No more Frederick Forsyth for me thanks!

Cheers
CristianHC

I read “The Draining Lake” perhaps a year ago, but.. Visa hela

I read “The Draining Lake” perhaps a year ago, but I must have forgotten to write the review. I remember the book clearly; the plot I mean, and also, that I thought it was better than “Voices”.

Arnaldur Indriðason takes the story from Iceland to the former Communist East Germany. He leaves the cold landscapes of Iceland and the life of Chief Inspector Elendur for left-wing Icelandic students and Cold War.

As usual with Reykjavik Murder Mystery series, “The Draining Lake” does not disappoint.


Cheers
CristianHC

What a big… BIG disappointment! After “The Color.. Visa hela

What a big… BIG disappointment!

After “The Color of Blood”, Declan Hughes’ second entry in the Ed Loy series, I thought that this rather unknown Irish hardboiled Noir author was going to reach locations meant for great Crime Fiction Authors. I’m talking about James Lee Burke, old Dennis Lehane, old John Connolly or R.J. Ellory. Unfortunately it’s not going to happen with “The Dying Breed”, also known as “The Price of Blood”

There is too much to compromise if you are to believe the story behind “what happened to Patrick Hutton”. It is ridiculous how the author think that we, the readers, are going to believe in the horrific events that accumulate one after another throughout the story.

In the end it’s all about believing or not believing. Crime Fiction is just that: Fiction, but it has to be told a sense of veracity, of truth, of telling about real Criminal events with, of course, modifications so that we can find it entertaining. Fiction! Which “The Dying Breed” is not!

Cheers
Cristian

I committed a huge mistake by seeing the movie be.. Visa hela

I committed a huge mistake by seeing the movie before reading the book. Yet still, I’d a good time reading “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”. That must mean something, mustn’t it?
It means, I suppose, that the book was good enough despite the fact that I fairly knew (you can never be sure that the movie version is exactly the same as the book) who the bad guy(s) was — which is, to say the least, essential in a mystery.

I like the book a lot although I still don’t understand why translators (the book is written in Swedish originally) aren’t brave or clever enough to translate so that a joke or a idiom that of course will have sense in Swedish also has sense in English, instead of just translate it word by word and think that people who aren’t Swedish will understand it.
My other complaint has more to do with the author. Good plot, at moments very good plot, but nothing fancy when it comes to his writing skills. Scenes that should have ripped my heart apart didn’t have the quality of writers such as John Connolly or James Lee Burke and lost part of its in-your-face bitter essence.

Anyway, not the masterpiece lots of people are talking about. no No NO!
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is a really good book, though it falls short if I compare it with what I see as mystery Crime Fiction masterpieces like “Gorky Park”, “A Small Death in Lisbon” or “Mystic River”.


Cheers
Cristian

I’m a big Lehane fan so it was clear that I was g.. Visa hela

I’m a big Lehane fan so it was clear that I was going to read “The Given Day”. That, despite the fact that I knew the book was “a novel” and not a crime mystery book, as his previous work are. I know, I know, I’m a bit narrow-minded!

“The Given Day” had its moments. Very few though! I’m thinking of the affair between Danny and Tessa, that part of the book brought good suspense. Apart from that I must confess that I mostly struggled to get through it. The fact that the book is around 700 pages doesn’t help much either.

Strange enough, at the end of the day I don’t feel disappointed. I think I knew exactly what I was going to get into. I knew “The Given Day” wasn’t the typical book I read and that Dennis Lehane wrote it because it was in his nature to do so. I mean, every talented man has the right to get bored if they have been doing something for too long. My hope though is that these 700 pages get him into thinking something like “Ok, so writing good crime fiction wasn’t so bad after all”. I really hope so, because if that isn’t the case then I think I’ll have to re-read the Kenzie and Gennaro series.


cheers
Cristian

Another winner from Robert Wilson! More complex.. Visa hela

Another winner from Robert Wilson!

More complex than his previous books in the Javier Falcón series and rich in contemporary facts regarding Muslims and their way of using terrorism and Christians and their way of handling fanaticism.
Nothing is what it seems to be and as usual with Robert Wilson’s book, you’ll have to read until the very end in order to the get the whole picture.
I believe “The Hidden Assassins” to be an amazing book in terms of “true” information about the characters that are part of the plot, but when it comes to a spectacular ending I still think “A Small Death in Lisbon”, followed by “The Silent and the Damned” are a bit better, just a bit though. Still this book is the proof that Robert Wilson is a very, very, very underestimated gifted writer and the best in the series.

Hopefully the last chapter will be even better. That’s at least what Robert Wilson has promise, one last Javier Falcón book.


cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

The last chapter in Javier Falcón’s series, at la.. Visa hela

The last chapter in Javier Falcón’s series, at last!

To be honest, I´m glad I won’t have to read another crime novel of Falcón, even more in the case of Consuelo Jimenez, whom I always thought had an overrated role in the series. But the main reason I’m glad is because I find Falcón a very boring main character. Too political correct and too, I don’t know how to put it... perhaps, Spanish for my Latino way of seeing things.
The book will close a circle that started with “The Blind Man of Seville”, so DO NOT think that you can read “The Ignorance of Blood” and understand the amalgam of small plots that, eventually, will converge into a few resolved mysteries. So the right way to go with this series is to start from the beginning.
I’ve always been a big fan of Robert Wilson and I think he is one of those writers that are underrated in our crime fiction world. He is not always easy to read because he brings evilness we don’t want to know about, the one that can be living in the house of your neighbor or even in your own family, but he is superb when it comes to create intelligent plots. And it is because of that that I’ll give “The ignorance of Blood” just four stars instead of the usual five I give Wilson’s books. I’d to compromise more than I’m used to when it comes to Robert Wilson and he leaves a few loose ends. But that’s the least you can ask for trying to achieve such a crime fiction saga that started with “The Blind Man of Seville”

What’s next? Hopefully a character that is more charismatic, like Zé Coelho in “A small Death in Lisbon” or even, Karl Voss in “The Company of Strangers”

cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

I never read two books of an author/series in a r.. Visa hela

I never read two books of an author/series in a row, and the reason is simple ― it’s a rule I have. Beside I think it’s better to feel the need of reading a new book of the same author/series rather than perhaps lose some the originality or surprises an author has to offer just because he becomes monotonous. The rule had a short life though. I liked “Dark Hollow” so much that I had to read “The Killing Kind”.

“The Killing Kind”, which is John Connolly’s third entry in the series, is without doubt his best book yet. Evilness reaches new levels in the world of Charlie “Bird” Parker, and the beginning of the book is just amazing. Read the first page and you’re not going to be able to stop. Nice work John Connolly, nice work.

Like I’ve said before, you gotta love Charlie Parker, one of the most humble and likable PI I’ve got the chance to read about. I’ve already ordered “The White Road”, “The Black Angel“ and “The Unquiet”.

Cheers
CristianHC

Being nice I’d say that Asensi’s only merit is th.. Visa hela

Being nice I’d say that Asensi’s only merit is that “The Last Cato” was written before “The Da Vinci Code”. And that is it folks, it doesn’t get better than that. And I am just commenting this because these books are put in the same category: “Religious thriller”

The book never caught my attention, and at 600+ pages it became boring too many times during the reading process. “The Last Cato” is perhaps for the die-hard Dan Brown fans, not for me though.

Cheers
Cristian

After "The Reapers" I was in no mood for reading.. Visa hela

After "The Reapers" I was in no mood for reading a book written by John Connolly. I was so let down by that book that it took a couple of months in order to get myself a bit of courage and try another Charlie Parker mystery.

Like I said in the review, "The Reapers" is a book that shouldn’t have a place within the Charlie Parker series. First, because it is an action/thriller book not a PI mystery Crime novel. And second, because the main character is Louis, one of Charlie's sidekicks, and not Charlie Parker. But for some reason I can’t comprehend, John Connolly wanted that mediocre action packed thriller to be part of an amazing Crime Mystery series. So of course I was skeptical regarding this new book.

As I see it "The Lovers" goes back to what John Connolly has always offered when writing a Charlie Parker novel, but the heart is not there. This is a mediocre mystery novel that possesses all too many scenes that are really hard to believe. The supernatural and horror are back, but the story is not polished enough.

Hopefully John Connolly will recover his old status, but it’s not going to happen with "The Lovers". He is long way from the standard of books like "The Unquiet" or "The Killing Kind". Far too long!

Cheers
Cristian

Not what I expected from Robert Crais. Main char.. Visa hela

Not what I expected from Robert Crais.

Main characters in “The Monkey's Raincoat”, Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, are kind of likable, but the plot is very weak and the mystery is almost a joke.
A good whodunit needs to have cool characters but even more important is a compelling story and an intelligent mystery. Robert Crais doesn’t accomplish that with this book. I waited in vein for those twists that keep you guessing, but nothing.

I don’t know if I’m going to read another book from this author, but if I happen to do it I think I’m going straight for “L.A. Requiem”, a book many readers think is Robert Crais’ best.


Cheers
CristianHC

“The Neon Rain” is the best James Lee Burke book.. Visa hela

“The Neon Rain” is the best James Lee Burke book I’ve read!

I haven’t read all the books in the Dave Robicheaux’s series, but of the few I have, this is the one I like the most. There is a punch in the prose that I didn’t notice in the other books: The Thin Roof Blowdown, Last Car to Elysian Fields, Jolie Blon's Bounce, Pegasus Descending and Crusader's Cross.

“The Neon Rain” is Noir mystery at its best, with the classic self-destructive antihero, a good plot and an amazing writer.

Great surprise!


Cheers
CristianHC

"The Oxford Murders" is not as bad as the "Amber.. Visa hela

"The Oxford Murders" is not as bad as the "Amber Room" or "Digital Fortress", but it comes damn near.

Jumping on the "Da Vinci Code" wagon, Argentine author Guillermo Martinez unleashes yet another mystery in which the protagonists have to crack a series of symbols to get to the killer.

You know what, the description I just wrote is the best you will get from this book; it doesn’t get more exciting than that.

You'd have thought that Guillermo Martinez would at least set his story in Argentina; I mean if the worst came to the worst, like in indeed is the scenario of this mediocre book, you would at least have read about a new country. But not, he set his book in Oxford. Plop!

Do not waste your time.

Cheers
CristianHC

In my opinion “The Unquiet” is John Connolly’s be.. Visa hela

In my opinion “The Unquiet” is John Connolly’s best book. As I said before it is a mystery executed almost to perfection. That being said “The Reapers” didn’t have an easy task to accomplish, I was aware of that. I expected less, but honestly, I didn’t expect this kind of less.

It’s a shame, I repeat, a shame that “The Reapers” is part of the Charlie Parker series. The reason why John Connolly didn’t publish this book as a standalone is beyond my comprehension. “Bad Men” is a supernatural thriller, in which Charlie Parker has a small role, the same could have been done with this book taking into consideration that it’s a thriller about Louis and Charlie Parker, again, has a small role.

In my opinion “The Reapers” is a mediocre and sometimes even laughable thriller book within a mystery series. Everything John Connolly has built around this amazing series falls to pieces because he wanted to give Louis, one of Charlie Parker’s sidekicks, a whole book. Forget about the supernatural aura, the lyrical and beautiful noir-poetry of the author, the complexity of the story and most important, the quality of a series that always offered great books. “The Reapers” is such a bad thriller that it makes Daniel Silva or Harlan Coben looks like Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Such a shame!

Cheers
Cristian

What a nice surprise! Jo Nesbo went straight up.. Visa hela

What a nice surprise!

Jo Nesbo went straight up there with authors like Martin Cruz Smith and Robert Wilson. Two of my absolute favourite crime fiction writers!
“The Redbreast” is a great crime and war saga that moves from WWII-period to present time just before the millennium. A crime committed in present time bounce back all the way to the Eastern front.
Being complex at times ― Norwegians fighting for Hitler’s Germany ― and a page-turner for the most― the plot is at times is absorbing―, “The Redbreast” is an accurate achievement of what a perfect blend of history and hard-boiled whodunit should be.
Arnaldur Indridason was my first experience with a Scandinavian country as location, but I got to admit that although I really like Erlendur and his beloved Reykajvik I think Harry Hole is a character that has the potential to be on level with Arkady Renko.

I’ve already ordered “Nemesis” and after that, “The Devil Star”. What more can I ask for!

cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

This is my first mystery novel written by a Swedi.. Visa hela

This is my first mystery novel written by a Swedish Crime Fiction author. I live in Sweden so I thought — who seems to be the best? Mankell.

The book started very promising, but as the story developed I began to get the feeling that I wasn’t much interested in what was going on or what was going to happen next.
I don’t know if it was the charisma of main character Lindman (and his illness), the depressing atmosphere of Sveg(town) Mankell tried to draw or the slow pace of the plot, but something did it.
Another issue that didn’t help much either is that the translator had a serious problem when it comes to the word “some”. Please, even I who don’t speak perfectly English know a few substitutes for that word.

I was hoping that after reading this book I’d feel forced to run to buy the entire Wallander series, but it won’t happen.

As I write this review I’m currently reading Charlie Huston’s “Already Dead”. So much fun, Joe Pitt, cool lead character!
That makes me think that good plots can be, if not completely destroyed, damage because of bad translations and boring characters. That’s is what I think of “The Return of the Dancing Master”

Cheers
CristianHC

This book is on the level of Steve Berry’s “The A.. Visa hela

This book is on the level of Steve Berry’s “The Amber Room”. In other words pure garbage! It must be that damn “The Da-Vinci Code” fever.

The only interesting part in this book is when the original story about the Righteous Men is told. But that story was written a long time ago and by another author.

This is just a mediocre author jumping on the Da-Vinci Code train. What a waste of my money and time!

Cheers
Cristian

I´m a great mystery fan, that’s what I’ve always.. Visa hela

I´m a great mystery fan, that’s what I’ve always told myself anyway.
I thing I’ve read, in the recent past, a few thrillers though. I certainly wasn’t aware that these books were in essence thrillers, but ignorance have cure, you know. So doing a PI job over the internet I started looking for thriller authors. I didn’t want an author that flirted with both genres so I came with two suitable candidates for the role, Daniel Silva and Barry Eisler.
I chose Silva’s “The Secret Servant”, which is the seventh book in the Gabriel Allon series, because it was the only book I found when being in downtown Stockholm.
This book is certainly not a mystery, the plot is actually quite simplistic, but as soon as I started reading it I was glued to the book and the pages started to turn very, very fast. A rollercoaster of fast paced action and twists that will leave you, at times, breathless. A guy over the net said that thrillers have to give you a thrill, in contrast to mystery books that are based in the “surprise”.

So kudos to Mr. Silva! I certainty got thrilled!

If his other books are super entertaining political thriller such as “The Secret Servant” then I’m a fan.
We will see that soon!
Comparing this book to the thrillers I’d read before, it’s by far the best I’ve read. And to get some proportion of that statement you´ve to think that were are talking about books such as: The Day of the Jackal (Forsyth), The Eye of the Needle (Follet), Black Cross (lles), The Amber Room (Berry), Point of Impact (Hunter) and The Blade Itself (Sakey), amongst others.

So, once again, kudos to you Mr. Daniel Silva!
(For more references, check the review of “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold”)

cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

The historical facts about the secret supper and.. Visa hela

The historical facts about the secret supper and Leonardo Da Vinci are cool, fiction or not.
The characters are well developed and all in all this is a good thriller in the vein of...you know… Da Vinci Code. But I missed heart. Too cold most of the time!
Nothing ground breaking, sometimes I lost myself not know if cus of the so many names or cus it didn’t really catch my attention. A bit of both perhaps!
A must for a fan of the genre, not a must at all for a fan of splendid crime/thriller fiction.

cheers
CristianHC
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

I read The Shadow of the Wind in Spanish so I’m n.. Visa hela

I read The Shadow of the Wind in Spanish so I’m not sure how much that significant/insignificant matter really mattered in case of this book. But I’ve heard no complaints regarding it so I suppose the translator have done a fine job.
I wasn’t sure about this book, see… I’ve never been so hot on Spanish writers. Why would you ask? Well, while living in Chile, my country of birth, you get to read all these supposed super-writers, all from Spain of course, and to tell you the truth if you don’t like to read in old-Spanish language then it’s not a pleasure to do it just cus you need the grade.
Anyway, Zafón doesn’t write in old-spanish and this book is excellent. Read it, enjoy it and tell every friend and enemy about it. They’ll for sure thank you!

PS. I saw The Shadow of the Wind related to the much commented, hyped and ultra sold “Da Vinci Code”. Please do not believe such depravity. Nothing again wannabe author Dan Brown, just he is way far from writing such a good book as The Shadow of the Wind.

cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

Stephen King… at last! I remember buying this bo.. Visa hela

Stephen King… at last!

I remember buying this book together with Jonathan Maberry’s “Ghost Road Blues”, but since that book was such a letdown I postponed the reading of “The Shining” a few months with the intention of feeling ready for yet another horror/thriller novel.

Unfortunately, this was also a letdown.

I didn’t get scared; fact is I felt more interested in Jack Torrance and his relationship with his father and son than the central plot. Many pages could’ve been avoided.

I feel kind of weird because I thought “The Shining” was going to be “The Book” that would open the door to a world of Horror. Maybe I should just stick to my noir-hardboiled- PI-detective Crime novels instead.

Cheers
CristianHC

I never thought I’d read this book! And the reas.. Visa hela

I never thought I’d read this book!

And the reason for it is quite simple, I’ve always have issues with what is well-known. I sort of prefer things that are kind of “quiet”. To give you an example, when I was a kid a never went to see E.T. because every damn kid wanted to see that movie. Call it stupidity but that’s the way I am and because of that it never ever occurred to me to read “The Silence of the Lambs”. But one day when walking towards home I found this book on a second-hand bookstore for 5 Swedish kroner. I guess that my stupidity was sleeping.

The only problem I encountered when reading this book was that I’d already seen the movie. And as all of you know that movie is no bad movie, fact is, it is a very good movie. So it was impossible for me to imagine my own version of characters such as Hannibal Lecter, Buffalo Bill or Clarice Starling.
But “The Silence of the Lambs” is still worth reading despite if you’ve seen the movie or not. It is a very, very good read. Fact is, it is only after reading it that I can understand why it got so popular and I’d even say that it’s better than the movie. How about that?


Cheers
CristianHC

Speechless… to say the least! Brilliant too! Th.. Visa hela

Speechless… to say the least!

Brilliant too!

The first half of “The Silent and the Damned”, if I have to be completely honest, was a bit boring for me. I think that is because of the facts that I had just finished Martin Cruz Smith’s “Wolves eat Dogs”, an amazing crime novel that deals with Chernobyl ― the worst nuclear accident in history. And because Javier Falcón isn’t the kind of main character that is easy to like. He is a bit boring.
I must confess that I didn’t like him very much either when I read “The Blind Man of Seville”, but at least I pitied him. To understand that, read the book.
When the second part of the book started everything changed. Falcón started to get result of all his inquiries and I never thought the book would end how it did. I was speechless. This hit me in such a “personal” level that I can’t feel more grateful to Robert Wilson for having written this book. I was a fan with all his others book that I’ve read, but with “The Silent and the Damned” I am more than a fan. I won’t reveal anything about the plot, but if you want to read an intelligent mystery with an astonishing ending, then give this book a try.

By the way “The Silent and the Damned” or "The Vanished Hands" is the same book, so be aware.

Cheers

Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

On Rosary Girls, the author first book in the ser.. Visa hela

On Rosary Girls, the author first book in the series, I complained about Montanari not digging enough into the main character’s soul. In this book he does it and it’s always good to know that he doesn’t try to change the heart of someone like Kevin Byrne. This meaning… Kevin is who he is for good and bad. Antihero. Thug as nail. The heart of a lion… a good heart. But, after reading The Skin Gods I get the idea that Montanari doesn’t think thug-enough to personify a guy like Byrne.

― What I am talking about here is that some of the dialogues of Byrne are to say the least “lame”!

Otherwise I find this book a bit better than Rosary Girls, better plot, more suspense and as always you will guess and guess and never know who the bad guy is until the very end.
Last but not least, I think Montanari is on some fame?money?rollercoaster after Rosary Girls because I think he should have given a bit more attention to some passages of The Skin Gods. This book had everything to have been a real knockout-mystery, but I don’t know, sometimes it feels like Montanari is writing books for 10 year-old kids.

Cheers!

CristianHC
(punskacore@hotmail.com)


PS. I give this book 3,5

After reading Daniel Silva’s “The Secret Servant”.. Visa hela

After reading Daniel Silva’s “The Secret Servant” I thought I’d try to read “the best spy novel ever written — “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold”.
Doing a comparison based on these two books, only (I know I need more knowledge about both authors) I’d say that John Le Carré is in another galaxy when it comes to write Fiction.
While “The Secret Servant” is all Hollywood action and its plot moves like a bullet, John Le Carré uses very little of that and instead embraces his writings with a dark depressive atmosphere that hangs through the entire book. If “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” were a war movie it would carry the feeling of “The Red Thin Line” while “The Secret Servant” would be more like “Rambo”.

“The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” is a very good novel and if it’s the best spy novel ever written I’ve no idea, first because I don’t think I will be reading more books from John Le Carré and second, because this is my second and final spy novel. The other one was Robert Wilson’s “The Company of Strangers”. With that being said I don’t consider Daniel Silva in the same category of John Le Carré.

I’ve two conclusions:

1. John Le Carré has the same too-down-too-earth feeling of human evilness Robert Wilson brings in his novels. Actually I now realize how much John Le Carré has influenced Robert Wilson.

2. Robert Wilson is also influenced by Noir hard-boiled Crime Fiction, which Le Carré isn’t. So I think I prefer reading books full of dense fatalistic atmospheres from Wilson rather than from Le Carré.


cheers
Cristian

I would not recommend to read “The Thin Roof Blow.. Visa hela

I would not recommend to read “The Thin Roof Blowdown” if you haven’t read James Lee Burke before. I think only die-hard fans of Dave Robicheaux and James Lee Burke will really like this novel. If that's not the case, then I assume you have the heart of a mammoth and can see over the propaganda —pro New Orleans and its people and anti lots of authorities, specially the Bush administration— as something that James Lee Burke “had” to get it out of him and why not use his most lethal weapon, a new novel of Dave Robicheaux.
This is my third book I read in the series and I like I’ve said before, J. L. Burke isn’t just another crime fiction mystery hard-boiled author, I, humbly, rank him in the top five. Robicheaux is one of those characters you just can’t dislike and though the mystery is shadowed by the terrible fate the people of New Orleans had to endure during hurricane Katrina, “The Thin Roof Blowdown” is still an amazing crime novel.

cheers
Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

“The Unquiet”. The best mystery I’ve read this ye.. Visa hela

“The Unquiet”. The best mystery I’ve read this year, 2008. Hands down!

― Am I happy? Yes!

I usually don’t read reviews of the books I am about to read, but in this case, I wasn’t able to contain myself. I read amongst other things that “The Unquiet” was depressing, had no humour and that Charlie Parker’s tormented soul was like never before.
So, before I started reading this book I was waiting less than “The Black Angel” and “The Killing Kind”, which I consider the best books in the series. My fears disappeared as soon as I started reading “The Unquiet”. This new Charlie Parker adventure is not perfect, but in my humble opinion is a lot closer to that status than any of the other John Connolly’s novels.

Yes… it is depressing!
Yes… it has a bit of lees humour!
And Yes… the soul of the main character is in pieces.

But honestly, what do you expect when the main issue of the book is none less than “the sexual abuse of children”. You want to laugh? See Adam Sandler’s “You Don't Mess with the Zohan”. It’s a quite stupid movie but I laughed a lot.

This is real Crime Fiction seen through fictional words based on true reality. This time John Connolly left most of his supernatural horror atmosphere aside and brought “the true” evilness of this world. The kind mankind brings upon us, the kind that really scares me.

Not everything is lost for Charlie Parker though; the last part of the book tells me that better and happier days will arrive for our dark anti-hero.

Cheers
CristianHC

"The Whisperers" is a novel that has all too many.. Visa hela

"The Whisperers" is a novel that has all too many similarities to "The Lovers". If you like that previous Charlie Parker mystery, you will probably like this latest entry on the series as well.
Since I think John Connolly lost his north with "The Reapers" and didn’t recovery with "The Lovers", then you know my opinion about "The Whisperers".

John Connolly... where the hell are you?

Cheers
Cristian

“… for I was the one who arrived when all hope wa.. Visa hela

“… for I was the one who arrived when all hope was gone, offering nothing but… more grief and pain and a knowledge that perhaps would make ignorance appear like a blessing ”

John Connolly is one of my favourites Crime Fiction authors. His beautiful sort of noir-poetry is something not many writers in the genre can offer. He blends the PI style of writers like Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald, scary supernatural events and characters with such evilness and sickness that Hannibal Lecter appears like child game.

Beware of “The White Road” though. Do not read it under any circumstance if you haven’t read “The Killing Kind”. If you’re new to John Connolly, start the series of Charlie “Bird” Parker with “Every thing Dead” and get on with “Dark Hollow”.
“The White Road” is too connected to “The Killing Kind”, it will have a better meaning, believe me, if you’ve read the previous book.

The plot takes place both in Maine and South Carolina and it brig up issues such as racism, the black communities in the south, Jews, the KKK, rightwing Christians and the closure that “The Killing Kind” needed about Faulkner.

Louis: "So how we doin'?"
Charlie Parker: "Same as usual: dead people, a mystery, more dead people."

I love it!


cheers
Cristian

I’m die-hard Crime Fiction Mystery fan. There is n.. Visa hela

I’m die-hard Crime Fiction Mystery fan. There is no doubt 'bout that!
But once in a while I explore other region on this vast world of literature testing, mostly, Fantasy and Science Fiction.

“The City and the City" is a SF novel that appealed me greatly since it was a crime Fiction Mystery based on an unknown world. I think China Miéville did a great job. The novel wan the Hugo Award for Best SF Novel in 2010. But "The City and the City" was not the only novel that won The Hugo award that year. It was a tie with "The Windup Girl"

With that in mind, the artwork which is fantastic and the fact that critics were talking of "The New" Willian Gibson, I'd to read the book.

Not being a Science Fiction expert, I’d say that "The Windup Girl" is not better than "The City and the City". Where China Miéville shows brilliancy throughout the whole conception and execution of the book, Paolo Bacigalupi shows greatness in creating a believable and perhaps not so distant dystopian world, but the story is so poorly executed it even becomes tedious.

They can call “The Windup Girl” a Bio-punk novel.
They can say that the book is a reflection of what “Neuromancer” was in the eighties.
The can tell you that Bacigalupi is a worthy successor of nothing less than Gibson.

They can say whatever the hell they want. ´Cause in my mind it doesn’t work that way!

Cheers
Cristian

This is my third or fourth time I do it. I am in.. Visa hela

This is my third or fourth time I do it. I am in a bookstore and all of the sudden I get caught by a book. It may be the layout, the title or just the words that decorate the first page. And I buy it, out of the blue!
In the case of Nicholas Pekearo’s debut novel “The Wolfman”, it was the title and the comments of others authors, such as Andrew Vachss and Joe R. Lansdale and the description The Chicago Tribune (Newspaper) gave the book: “ a blend of horror and hard-boiled noir crime fiction. And as I am a sucker for Noir I thought I would give this guy a chance.
I am glad I was brave enough and bought “The Wolfman”, because without being a perfect crossover between urban fantasy horror and crime fiction mystery it was a really good book. Debut!
I liked the main character Marlowe Higgins, a werewolf, and Nicholas fresh and noirish voice. I’d some good dark-humour/sarcastic laughs, but on the downside, the surprise regarding the mystery was a bit softish(predictable) and, at times, he tried too hard on the dialogues and the jokes(scenes). The killer is also a bit paper material and so are his intentions behind the killings, but the idea behind the main character is amazing and unique, I think. It’s never been done before, a creature of the night that uses its evil heart for doing something good. Revenge!

… An eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth and a head for a head and life for a life. That’s justice!

Nicholas Pekearo died in 2007 while volunteering as an NYPD Auxiliary Police Officer, a shame because as a young writer he had all the time in the world to become the real deal.

Cheers

Cristian
(punskacore@hotmail.com)

Stay Away! This is so bad! If you want literatu.. Visa hela

Stay Away!

This is so bad!

If you want literature for the McDonals generation… then be my guest. Nothing wrong with McDonals, my five years old daughter loves it!

Harlan Coben is very good at bringing turn & twits, and that is all I can give him, but in this book there are so many it becomes ridiculous.

Worst book I’ve read this year. Hands down!


Cheers
CristianHC

Great surprise! I usually keep great books in a.. Visa hela

Great surprise!

I usually keep great books in a special shelf.

I bought this Crime fiction novel by a hunch. I wanted to give a chance to unknown and young writers. J. C. Grangé from France was one and “Red-Blood Rivers” was a big disappointment, Irish writer Declan Hughes was the other and “The Wrong Kind of Blood” was not.

Very nice PI mystery. Irish Noir.

The book starts with a complex plot and ends with great twists. The kind of surprise you never imagine or see coming. Declan Hughes seems to be a very clever writer, and not only that, his prose makes me think that he is up to great things.

Like I said at the beginning of this review I’ll put “The Wrong Kind of Blood” besides the books of Dennis Lehane, John Connolly, James Lee Burke and Robert Wilson. He is not on the same level yet but definitely deserves to be on my great-books bookshelf.

Cheers

Cristian

Nice work! My first face-to-face with Michael Ko.. Visa hela

Nice work!

My first face-to-face with Michael Koryta and I’m, to say the least, impressed. Take into consideration that “Tonight I said Goodbye” was written when the author was 20 years of age and published one year after, and you have to add a “very” before the word “impressed”. Don’t you think?

According to Michael Koryta he was blown away when he read “Gone Baby Gone” of Dennis Lehane. And who can blame him, that book is perhaps Dennis Lehane’s strongest work in the Kenzie/Gennaro series.

Other writers who have influenced him are R. Chandler, D. Hammett and M. Connelly, amongst others. That should tell you the goal Michael Koryta is aiming for.

― I’ve already ordered the next book in the series, “Sorrow's Anthem”


Cheers
CristianHC

The third book in the series and as usual Arnaldu.. Visa hela

The third book in the series and as usual Arnaldur Indriðason doesn’t disappoint.

“Voices” is a bit slower than the previous books, but if you care for Chief Inspector Elendur I’m pretty that you will enjoy this just the same. “Voices” delves into the life of Elendur and because of that, it may seem as the mystery is a bit outweighed.

If you’re new to Icelander Crime Fiction writer Arnaldur Indriðason I wouldn’t recommend you to start the Reykjavik Murder Mystery series with this book, it might give you the wrong impression.

A good mystery, a great antihero and a cold landscape… that’s all you need!


Cheers
CristianHC

I gave up after about 330(of 624) pages. In those.. Visa hela

I gave up after about 330(of 624) pages. In those pages I couldn’t manage to see the grandiosity so many fans of the author talk about. I choose to read “Watchers” because even Dean Koontz states that it is his best book.

I was enjoying the first 100 pages despite that I’d sort of gambled with this book. I knew I was reading a blend of Thriller and Horror novel, two genres that have given me very little joy in the past. But the search after a new author and fans-reviews on Amazon can be very convincing. Once again I learned the lesson the hard way.

Two reasons for not enjoying “Watchers” are: two many pages wasted on unimportant characters and scenes and the fact that I thought the whole concept of a dog being super intelligent was too much to compromise. It definitely beats Robert Langdon jumping from the helicopter in “Angels and Demons”

No more Dean Koontz for me!


Cheers
CristianHC

I once read that by reading some books you uncons.. Visa hela

I once read that by reading some books you unconsciously added a few points to your IQ. I think the author was Umberto Eco and the book, “In the Name of the Rose”. I haven’t read that book yet. I’ll though because it’s been on my bookshelf for some time now.

I wouldn’t go that far to say that by reading Martin Cruz Smith you become smarter. But, and “this” I am pretty sure about, after reading one of his books you always learn something new about a certain culture… and also, that that knowledge or reality is truthful, not fiction.
After five novels I can, without any hesitation, say that Arkady Renko is my favourite Crime Fiction character and that Martin Cruz Smith is on my top-three list of favourite authors. Hands down!

Chernobyl, or how it’s told in the Ukraine, Chornobyl, is the centre of this murder mystery. The black villages, the Zone, the red forest, post communism, capitalism. “Wolves eat Dogs” is an amazing journey to try to understand the tortured hearts of all those who suffered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history.

― Did Martin Cruz Smith manages to teach me something? To say that he did would be irresponsible and disrespectful towards the victims. No one can describe that horror. No one! But, does he give the readers something to reflect about? Most definitely!


Cheers
CristianHC

An average 3 for Zig Zag! Its aftermath will be.. Visa hela

An average 3 for Zig Zag!

Its aftermath will be equally cero, but it’ll entertain you for a couple of days. That’s how I felt about this book.
Somoza is a writer with one hell of imagination, I’ll give him that, but the plot is too much Hollywood for my taste. The book carries a bit of terror, very sexy scenes and lots of intrigues. Zig Zag’s a page turner, but the central theme (Physics), though understandable, can be rather complex at times.

A good thriller, but nothing that will knock your socks off!

cheers
CristianHC
(punkscore@hotmail.com)