Series
Speak of The Devil - Richard Hawke ($7.99/$.25, copyright 2006, 376 pages, Paperback)
I'm always willing to read the first book in a series and was happy to come across this one. Fritz Malone is another detective cut from the first-person, witty Spenser mold. This starts with Fritz going out to get some bagels. He stops to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan and winds up witnessing a mass killing, chasing and shooting the gunman, and then getting whisked away by the police. What follows are blackmail threats, bombs, and dirty cops. Because of his "connection" to the Department, he's brought in to help in the investigation and he brings in his own people to help him. Hawke has created a fast-paced, suspenseful read and the characters are well defined. I particularly liked a couple of the supporting ones although the relationships are not clear. The ending wasn't much of a surprise and I thought it was rushed. It was OK.
I'm always willing to read the first book in a series and was happy to come across this one. Fritz Malone is another detective cut from the first-person, witty Spenser mold. This starts with Fritz going out to get some bagels. He stops to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan and winds up witnessing a mass killing, chasing and shooting the gunman, and then getting whisked away by the police. What follows are blackmail threats, bombs, and dirty cops. Because of his "connection" to the Department, he's brought in to help in the investigation and he brings in his own people to help him. Hawke has created a fast-paced, suspenseful read and the characters are well defined. I particularly liked a couple of the supporting ones although the relationships are not clear. The ending wasn't much of a surprise and I thought it was rushed. It was OK.
Johannes Cabal The Necromancer - Jonathan L. Howard ($15.00/$4.48, copyright 2009, 290 pages, Trade Paperback)
This popped up in my Facebook newsfeed because I follow a couple of used book sites. It sounded so interesting that I ordered it immediately. Johannes Cabal has sold his soul to the devil - with immediate possession - in exchange for mastery of the Necromantic Arts but, after a while, decides that he wants it back. He goes back to Hell and haggles with Satan who, being bored, offers him a new deal. Cabal can have his soul back if he gets 100 other people to sell theirs - and he only has one year to do it. And just because he's an okay guy, Satan gives Cabal a carnival to do it with. He agrees but then finds out that the carnival is in bad shape and he's going to need help so he literally unearths his brother Horst to help him. The rest of the book is so unexplainable that you're just going to have to trust me on this. Howard writes in that dry, British, Gaimanesque style and his characters are stereotypes which makes them immediately identifiable. My only objection is that, at times, he seems to be so taken by his own writing that he drags a scene out too long. Still, I really enjoyed it.
Miscellaneous
The Genius - Jesse Kellerman ($9.99/$.50, copyright 2008, 548 pages, Paperback)
I'm a fan of both Jonathan and Faye Kellermans' works so I thought that I'd give their son's a try. A successful young NYC art dealer named Ethan Muller discovers a vast series of bizarre drawings in an abandoned apartment in Queens. The artist, Victor Cracke, has gone missing and Muller takes advantage of that. He sets up a show that quickly becomes the toast of the contemporary art world. He soon has cause for alarm--a retired cop sees one of the drawings in the newspaper and recognizes the little boy in it as a long-ago victim of a serial killer who was never caught. Is the artist the murderer? Muller needs to find out and someone needs to keep it secret. Kellerman does a great job setting this in the New York art world and his characters are sharply drawn and memorable. I enjoyed it.
I'm a fan of both Jonathan and Faye Kellermans' works so I thought that I'd give their son's a try. A successful young NYC art dealer named Ethan Muller discovers a vast series of bizarre drawings in an abandoned apartment in Queens. The artist, Victor Cracke, has gone missing and Muller takes advantage of that. He sets up a show that quickly becomes the toast of the contemporary art world. He soon has cause for alarm--a retired cop sees one of the drawings in the newspaper and recognizes the little boy in it as a long-ago victim of a serial killer who was never caught. Is the artist the murderer? Muller needs to find out and someone needs to keep it secret. Kellerman does a great job setting this in the New York art world and his characters are sharply drawn and memorable. I enjoyed it.
That's it for now.
October is coming up and the leaves are starting to turn. Halloween is just around the corner. Till then ..........
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