Review Archive for author's that start with ... B
Review Archive for author's that start with ... B
Reviewed on this page:The Chinese Girl (John Baker). White Skin Man (John Baker), The Meanest Flood (John Baker), Meltdown (Martin Baker), Hour Game (David Baldacci), The Camel Club (David Baldacci), The Collectors (David Baldacci), Simple Genius (David Baldacci), Stone Cold (David Baldacci), Sleep Before Evening (Magdalena Ball), The Caller (Alex Barclay), The Virgin (Erik Barmack), Baggage (Emily Barr), Leaving Bondi (Robert G Barrett), The Lace Reader (Brunonia Barry), Murphy's Law (Colin Bateman), The Cleaner (Brett Battles),Undertow (Sydney Bauer), Gospel (Sydney Bauer), Alibi (Sydney Bauer), Death of a Dentist (M.C. Beaton), Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist ( M.C. Beaton), The Chemistry Of Death (Simon Beckett), Written In Bone (Simon Beckett), Stacking in Rivertown (Barbara Bell), Isabella Moon (Laura Benedict), The Uncommon Reader (Alan Bennett), Havoc In Its Third Year (Ronan Bennett), The Faithful Spy (Alex Berenson), The Third Secret (Steve Berry), The Romanov Prophecy (Steve Berry), One Night at the Call Centre (Chetan Bhagat), The Silver Swan (Benjamin Black), Bloodless Shadow (Victoria Blake), Darkness Peering ( Alice Blanchard), Hope to Die (Lawrence Block), Hit List (Lawrence Block), The Burglar On The Prowl (Lawrence Block), All The Flowers Are Dying ( Lawrence Block), , Hit Parade (Lawrence Block), The Fields of Grief (Giles Blunt), Death By Hollywood (Steven Bochco), The Last Testament (Sam Bourne), Blue Heaven (C J Box), Restless (William Boyd), Talk Talk (T C Boyle), The Sleep Of The Dead (Tom Bradby), The Master of Rain (Tom Bradby), Bleedout (Joan Brady), The New Glucose Revolution. What Makes My Blood Glucose Go Up And Down? (Brand-Miller, Foster-Powell, Mendosa),The Cat Who Robbed a Bank (Lillian Jackson Braun), The Cat Who Went Up The Creek (Lilian Jackson Braun), Digital Fortress (Dan Brown), The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown), The Switch (Sandra Brown), Rendezvous At Kamakura Inn (Marshall Browne), Inspector Anders and the Blood Vendetta (Marshall Browne), Priest (Ken Bruen), Cross (Ken Bruen), The Prosecution (D. W. Buffa), The Judgment (D.W. Buffa), The Legacy (D.W. Buffa), Star Witness (D.W. Buffa), Breach Of Trust (D.W. Buffa), Trial By Fire ( D. W. Buffa), The Evangeline (D W Buffa), Bangkok 8 (John Burdett), Bangkok Tattoo (John Burdett)Clare's War (Anita Burgh), Judgment Calls (Alafair Burke), Missing Justice (Alafair Burke), The Best of Robicheaux (James Lee Burke) , Bitterroot (James Lee Burke) Purple Cane Road (James Lee Burke), Last Car to Elysian Fields (James Lee Burke), White Doves At Morning( James Lee Burke),In The Moon Of Red Ponies (James Lee Burke), Crusader's Cross (James Lee Burke), Pegasus Descending (James Lee Burke), The Red Cardigan (J.C. Burke), Frozen (Richard Burke), Redemption (Richard Burke), Legends of the Baggy Green (Alexander Buzo), The Sacred Bones (Michael Byrnes),
THE CHINESE GIRL
by John Baker
Orion
ISBN 0-75284-373-7
$17.95
August 3 2001
reviewed by Denise Wels
John Baker grew up in Hull which is the location for The Chinese Girl. His first novel, Poet in the Gutter featured Sam Turner and was the foundation for the series. Walking with Ghosts, King of the Streets and Death Minus Zero were written after Baker turned to full time writing. Shooting in the Dark, which is not yet published, will continue the Turner series unlike The Chinese Girl, whose hero/anti-hero is ex-convict Stone Lewis. Baker's books have been translated into French and German.
The author has been quoted as saying that he seeks the perfect sentence on which to build his books. Certainly, the section and chapter headings seem to have a lot of thought put into them. In order to reproduce what Baker considers his perfect sentence I suppose it is necessary, then, to say that the first sentence of Chapter One, A Bundle Of Old Clothes, in Section One, Too Many Movies, is "Stone Lewis left the bar of the Minerva three minutes after the landlord called time."
When Lewis arrives back at his basement flat he discovers what initially appears to be a bundle of old clothes in the entrance. Then he perceives it is a Chinese girl who has been severely beaten. Stone takes the girl inside, cleans her up and puts her in his own bed. Going through her possessions, he finds that her name is Virginia Bradshaw. He reads letters that have been sent to her from her friend Juliet. He further discovers that Ginny has come back to Hull, where she previously shared a flat with Juliet, from L.A. Ginny, on awakening, tells Stone that Juliet has disappeared and she has returned to Hull in order to look for her. Stone decides to help her.
Stone is a convicted murderer who has not long been released from prison and is now trying to make a life for himself. He is keeping an eye on his mother, Sally, and his aunt, Nell. When in prison, Lewis was brutalised and tattooed at the behest of Shooter Wilde, the former lover of Stone's mother Sally. When Sally had displeased Shooter he had slashed her face with a razor.
It soon becomes evident that Shooter is somehow responsible for Juliet's disappearance and Stone's family plus his Aunt Nell's new boyfriend Heartbreak, decide they have been victimised by Shooter for too long and are tired of it. They resolve to help Shooter and Ginny.
It is very obvious that a great deal of care has gone into the writing
of this novel. A lot of thought has been put into the actual use of
words. For that alone it would deserve to be read, but the story itself
is also rewarding. The characterisation is good and the pace fast.
It must also be said that Baker has a good eye for irony. It is, however,
only fair to warn the prospective reader, that there are some exceptionally
grisly scenes and concepts. Corrupt police and the drug trade are the least
off-putting of these. And the overall verdict? Well worth reading.
WHITE SKIN MAN
by John Baker
ISBN 075284749X
245 pages
Orion
May 7 2004
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 7 2004
Writer John Baker has. as he has ably demonstrated in previous novels, a highly developed social conscience. Given the quantity of wrongs that need to be righted in the climate of today, he must be frustrated in only being able to tackle bite sized pieces at a time in each of his Sam Turner and Stone Lewis series.
Convicted murderer and ex-con, Stone Lewis, is happily resident in Hull where both his mother, Sally, and his aunt Nell live. He works at an Internet cafe for Eve Caldwell and has been living with Vietnamese Ginny Bradshaw (from The Chinese Girl) for more than a year. At present Ginny is in the United States so Stone is, perhaps, more receptive to the plight of Katy Madika than he would normally have been. Photographer Katy is experimenting with her new digital camera. As she is snapping subjects almost at random, she is horrified to discover she has witnessed a murder. She has captured the images of both victim and (less clearly) murderer, then has to surrender her camera to the murderer. Unbeknownst to the latter, she has removed the Flash card from the camera. Terrified and intimidated she goes to Eve to confide the awful thing she has seen. Stone takes an interest and, in Ginny's absence, recognises the attraction Katy has for him.
Mort, Gaz and Ginner are white supremacists. Not recognising the irony in their ill educated selves despising foreign, well educated blacks, they have vowed to destroy such people. For sport, they terrify a young black man, Chaz, attributing to him (mistakenly, since the lad is gay) a liaison with the white teacher for whom he babysits. Chaz's family is friendly with Heartbreak, Stone's aunt Nell's lover, so when Mort and his cohorts are approached by Omega, the man ultimately responsible for the murder witnessed by Katy Madika, the two main threads of the novel become intertwined.
Pale skinned Katy is married to a black doctor, Daniel. Had she not witnessed the murder it seems almost inevitable that she would have eventually come to Omega's notice but he has a double reason now to intimidate her. There has been no body reported to police so Katy is beset by doubts about what she really did witness. The doubt is soon removed when her own safety and that of her husband and baby are threatened.
There are some unpleasant concepts and scenes dealt with in this very
well told and thoughtful tale. One possible criticism is that perhaps the
author has dwelt over-long on philosophical musings. Baker has, over several
novels, crafted intriguing and likable characters - not the least Stone
himself as well as his erratic mother Sally, his more conscientious aunt
Nell and her whimsical boyfriend Heartbreak. The plight of racial minorities
within Britain has been tackled in this novel and some of the abuses to
which they are routinely subjected examined. The plotting is good, the
characters believable and some of the situations humorous. John Baker does
not disappoint his readers with this episode in the life of Stone Lewis.
THE MEANEST FLOOD
by John Baker
ISBN 0752856626
313 pages
Orion
May 2 2003
$29.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
July 21 2005
Sam Turner, John Baker's private investigator protagonist, is once more in dire peril in his sixth outing, THE MEANEST FLOOD. He has been established, in preceding books, such as POET IN THE GUTTER and WALKING WITH GHOSTS as someone who, like his creator, has a strong social conscience and moral ethic. While homelessness scarcely rates a mention in this book, Geordie, whom Sam rescued from homelessness in a previous novel, plays a key role in helping his former saviour.
Diamond Danny Mann, a magician, picks a woman from his Nottingham audience to help with one of his illusions - or did she somehow pick him? Marilyn Eccles takes an unusually close interest in Danny's activities both during and subsequent to the magic act, to her mother's dismay. Sam Turner is also in Nottingham as is, unbeknownst to him, his ex-wife Katherine. Not that that knowledge would have done him any good had he wished to make use of it for during the night in which Sam is in Nottingham, Katherine (or Kitty, as her current lover Ruben Parkins prefers to call her) is murdered in a particularly gory and distinctive manner. Sam is questioned by the police but denies he was present in Nottingham. Later, he is unable to deny being in Leeds when another of his wives one who, like her predecessor in death had been lost to him because of his alcoholism, is murdered. Someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to ensure that people are well aware of Sam's presence in the vicinity of the Leeds killing.
Sam realises that he is being set up by the murderer but is somewhat bruised in more than spirit to find a stranger is interested in having Sam's face on film. Discretion being a recognisable part of valour, Sam flees to Oslo, a city well known to John Baker, but is Sam safe even there? For that matter, are Sam's former wives all in need of protection?
Baker has a talent for creating attractive characters. For all his jagged edges, Sam is a masterpiece. I was particularly taken, too, by Ruben, who, to my mind at least, shares some qualities with another of Baker's people, Stone Lewis. There are some very flawed personalities in this tale but the author always provides reasons for their behaviour, the mix seasoned with a goodly portion of compassion. Invariably, too, Baker instills a certain amount of wry humour into the story but, overall, the narrative plumbs some very dark and unpleasant crevices of human nature including some heartbreaking glimpses into the minds of the psychologically disturbed.
Despite THE MEANEST FLOOD being part of a series, it holds up
well as a stand alone. If readers haven't before come across this writer's
truly addictive work, they could do far worse than to begin here.
MELTDOWN
by Martin Baker
ISBN 9780230703971
390 pages
Macmillan
February 1 2008
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 14 2008
For those of us who are labouring under the impression that money is dull, Martin Baker will cheerfully rip the shade of deception from our eyes and show how truly exciting the Market can be. Perhaps Real Life would not hold quite as many dangers for earnest young academics as those inflicted on Samuel Spendlove, but the reader is certainly made aware of possibilities.
Samuel (not Sam) Spendlove is an Oxford don possessed of an eidetic memory. He is also just emerging from a failed marriage when he is approached by one of two large, rival publishers and asked to go undercover to work as a research analyst/assistant to a financier in Paris, a city beloved by Spendlove. That organisation is effectively owned by the second publisher.The academic assents then must break the news to his mentor, Peter Kempis, a man who has been a friend to three generations of Spendloves at Oxford. Like so many in the tale, Kempis is not quite as he seems on the surface.
Samuel travels to Paris to take up his employment as a trainee assisting Khan, a mysterious but successful figure in finance. He makes a good impression on the trading floor but then strikes up a rather warm acquaintance with Kaz, a colleague with whom he wishes to become even better friends because he feels she might be able to gain him access to secrets he would need to penetrate in order to promote the downfall of Khan. Then Kaz disappears.
Spendlove has already seen that Kaz is very close to another woman, Lauren. She is a beautiful creature, a lawyer, but someone who, quite possibly, would be a rival to Samuel for Kaz's affections.
The narrative is certainly absorbing and I found it far more exciting than some other books falling into the genre of "thriller". Just what percentage of the tale might accurately reflect publishing and finance in the Real World is possibly a different matter but it gave me more of an idea than I'd previously had of the possibilities inherent in the murky world of high finance.
Just how much influence sex has in driving money is a moot point. Nevertheless, the author has incorporated hefty chunks of that motivator in with all the other adventures that befall the hapless Spendlove.
The characterisation is, to my mind, very well done. Samuel's suffering as a betrayed husband, his willingness to take on a new employment and his excellent ability in the world of finance, given his trick of memory, is completely credible. The women, too, are painted beautifully and one could imagine meeting them -- should the reader mix in such circles -- in the real world. Perhaps the publishers, with their limitless ambitions and view of the business world as a game, might seem a little exaggerated, but then what, in high finance, does seem plausible to those of us with limited knowledge of the world of money.
Baker is the author of non-fiction as well as fiction. He has, however, promised two more books in a series featuring Samuel Spendlove. I trust the reading public doesn't have to wait too long for a sequel to this financial thriller.
HOUR GAME
by David Baldacci
ISBN 033041173X
723 pages
Pan Books
September 3 2005
$19.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
August 30 2005
David Baldacci is another of the formidable array of lawyers who have found their way into the realms of (official) fiction in order to instill excitement into their lives and provide bread for their table. A best-selling author, he has also written screenplays and had his novels turned into fodder for the cinema. He is one of those writers who provides a puzzle at every turn, if HOUR GAME is a representative sample of his work.
There is a killer on the loose, one who is mimicking the chefs d'oeuvres of serial killers of yesteryear. Strangely, this man has a conscience. He apologises to the first corpse for whose slaughter he is responsible, telling her she is "all I had" and reassuring her that she did not "die in vain". I suppose that depends on one's viewpoint. A quick prayer, an exhaustive cleanup and the killer bustles off, leaving a watch on the hand of the dead woman, set to 1.01. Former Secret Service agents, Michelle Maxwell and Sean King, the latter being an 'attorney' (as the Americans have it) have set up their own investigation agency. Their fame from the adventures detailed in SPLIT SECOND ensures them a healthy clientele. A less healthy indirect client is the murder victim in the woods, upon whom Michelle stumbles. Maxwell and King are drawn into the investigation while at the same time being hired by a lawyer friend to try to prove the innocence of one Junior Deaver, a man accused of stealing from former employers. King is interested in the female Medical Examiner who doubles as a town physician and both he and Maxwell invigilate upon post mortems to do with their commission.
This is a very exciting tale. I was quite on edge when reading the car chase involving Sean, Michelle and someone who wished them nothing good. Corpses, complete with cryptic clues, adorn the landscape but Mr. Baldacci is most generous in that he also provides a multiplicity of murderers, so much so that between the corpses and the corpse makers, I found myself becoming giddy. Threats, both veiled and naked, lie in wait for all the characters of the story, both the rich and privileged and the poor and wanting, not to mention the police, FBI and Maxwell and King. A nice glimpse into how the ultra-wealthy disport themselves is given while something sinister steals through the shadows attempting to assassinate its several targets.
Perhaps the cornucopia of mayhem and murder is a trifle overfull. While
the thrills are certainly there, a reader can be calloused if there is
too much of a bad thing. The killing logic is reasonable, when explained
but the characters leave a little something to be desired. Perhaps there
should be more emphasis on the detail of the characters than on the bloodied
guts and gory brains. This having been said, it is a good read and one
which would encourage its audience to watch for the next in the series.
THE CAMEL CLUB
by David Baldacci
ISBN 033044123X
638 pages
PAN BOOKS
September 3 2006
$19.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 8 2007
Now here is a bargain for the budget minded. For a modest sum you are rewarded by an exceedingly fat volume containing the FBI, CIA and Secret Service, a revolutionary idea on how to conduct war, an insight into the training of an assassin who used to murder in the name of patriotism, a brief look at psychiatric conditions, and some notions of the Islamic religion.
Known terrorists are being 'assassinated' yet somehow revivified into new personae, while their previous history is wiped from official records. But how is this possible? Surely the American authorities would be on their guard against such fraud? Well, ordinarily they would be, but not if one of their own is involved in the scam -- but what happens if the perpetrator is then murdered?
Oliver Stone, formerly a hit man with a different name working for the American authorities, is having a meeting with his friends Milton, Reuben and Caleb, misfits all, who comprise the Camel Club. Unfortunately, the meeting is on Theodore Roosevelt Island, the place selected by Secret Service men Reinke and Peters to assassinate their former computer analyst colleague, the man responsible for falsifying official files. He has become unreliable so must be eliminated. Unfortunately, the Camel Club witnesses the killing and are now the targets of the killers. Since the predators are in possession of all professional tools for identification, the fingerprint of one of Stone's little gathering is sufficient to set the hounds baying after them.
Secret Service Agent Alex Ford becomes interested in the murder but a lapse causes him to be reassigned to a menial job as one of the President's guards. Unfortunately, when President Brennan is kidnapped in his home town, which has recently been renamed in his honour, Alex is on duty and is seen to have been derelict in his duty in permitting the President to be snatched.
This is surely the result of an Islamist terrorist plot but there are wheels within wheels, and the mastermind is not actually a man of the Middle East. There are, too, certain aspects of the plot which are wildly at variance with the normal modus operandi of such an affair.
Mr. Baldacci is certainly a master at plotting on a grand scale. The research he has undertaken in order to produce this enthralling work must have been immense. While the chief interest in the tale is the action, the author has come up with as interesting an eclectic selection of characters as one could imagine. His idea for a terrorist plot is innovative, to say the least, but I felt that the mode of that particular action might have been the weak link in the plot so far as conviction goes. A shame I can't expand further on this but I wouldn't wish to give away a key portion of the book.
The author has, obviously, managed to gain an insight into the thoughts and motives of people of the Islamic world so that they are portrayed in a manner sympathetic in this tale. The politicians seem to be the ones catching stick in the narrative.
Baldacci has, of course, already written a sequel, THE COLLECTORS, which provided a plot hook for future additions to the series. I must admit that I found the first book the most entertaining, although the second was far from dull. Perhaps readers can hope for a further adventure for the Camel Club this year.
THE COLLECTORS
by David Baldacci
437 pages
ISBN 1405090111
MACMILLAN
November 3 2006
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 14 2006
What do you do if you were formerly a CIA operative specialising in assassinations then come to the termination of that career? What sort of retirement would you seek? Different folk come up with different solutions. Roger Seagraves, amiable and physically attractive, falls back into the role of a not very well paid public servant. He maintains a business on the side to augment his income to an acceptable standard. He enables the dissemination of American secrets throughout the world, helping countries with less brainpower to equivalent scientific achievement. Occasionally Seagraves must call into use his previous expertise since not everyone makes his path easy; thus, at the beginning of THE COLLECTORS, the mild mannered official exercises well honed skills in order to assassinate the Speaker of the House.
Life is never simple for a conscientious worker and before too long Seagraves must arrange for the demise of another victim. Jonathan DeHaven, a collector of rare books, is the Director of the Rare Books Division of the Library of Congress. He meets his fate, seemingly a victim of heart disease, in the vault housing the nation's treasures. He has appointed Caleb Shaw, notable coward and member of the Camel Club, his literary executor. Oliver Stone, who sees himself as a collector of hopeless cases, feels the death is a probable murder and sets out to help his friend, together with the other members of the Camel Club.
"Stone", in his previous incarnation of John Carr, was another CIA assassin. Stone is an idealist determined to try to keep the American government accountable to its people, hence his formation of the Camel Club as a watchdog group. The idiosyncratic crew proves an interesting resource.
DeHaven's death catches the attention of his former wife, Annabelle Conroy, now a con artist par excellence. She has undertaken "two short and one long" cons, the latter designed to bring down the man responsible for the murder of her mother many years ago. He is casino owner and all round bad guy Jerry Bagger. Having exacted her revenge, Annabelle is about to take herself beyond his reach but makes a detour in order to attend DeHaven's funeral. Learning that the man was murdered, she allies herself with the Camel Club in order to aid their investigation.
Seagraves is a collector, although his collection, unlike that of DeHaven, which includes a very valuable volume, the Bay Psalm Book, doesn't have much monetary value. Seagraves is fanatical about snaffling items belonging to each of his victims and his collection brings him as much pleasure as any other collector is likely to glean from more orthodox assemblies.
As one would expect of a work by David Baldacci, THE COLLECTORS is chock full of incident. To my mind, the author has excelled himself in his invention of the scams perpetrated by Annabelle -- I rejoice in the fact that I rarely use an ATM, given his description of possible fraud. The long con provides an all too obvious hook for a future novel featuring the artist perpetrating it. While the treason, murders and other assorted adventures provide excitement, the invention of the scams displays the author's ingenuity to its best effect. Another example of Baldacci's inventiveness is the method by which he disposes of DeHaven. I can't say I have ever seen that particular lethal approach employed in fiction before.
The characters comprising the Camel Club appear somewhat muted in this outing -- well, they are not the main focus of the novel. Annabelle Conroy, on the other hand, is a striking creation whose future appearances will be welcome.
Without being able to pin down exactly why the book conveyed this impression,
I felt there was an air of Boys' Own Adventure about the work. Nevertheless,
this may not always be seen as a disadvantage . Certainly, the eccentricities
of the individual members of the Camel Club have never been seen in more
junior protagonists of such works. In fact, it is delightful to read a
work in which both heroes and villains tend toward the more mature.
SIMPLE GENIUS
by David Baldacci
ISBN 9780230017788
421 pages
MACMILLAN
June 3 2007
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
May 31 2007
Lawyer Sean King and his partner in investigations, Michelle Maxwell, the former Secret Service agents who starred in Baldacci's HOUR GAME are back again to work their considerable magic in an even more complex case than their previous.
Michelle is bedevilled by demons from her past. Presumably operating on the same principle that forces unhappy people to inflict physical harm on themselves, she goes into a bar which the bravest of white men would think twice about entering, then picks on the largest and meanest looking man there. While she inflicts considerable damage on the fellow, she is far from unharmed. Sean is appalled by her actions and persuades her to enter a private psychiatric institution run by a psychiatrist friend of his, Horatio Barnes.
Sean 's generous action provides the entrée for the pair into the chief mystery of the piece: just what is going on at the CIA facility of Camp Peary. Sean needs money to pay for Michelle's confinement and his only means of obtaining it is to look to his former lover, Joan Dillinger, and apply to her for employment. She tells him of the death of mathematician Monk Turing. He was employed at Babbage Town yet found dead, an apparent suicide, at Camp Peary. The FBI are happy with the suicide theory but someone in Babbage Town thinks it was a cleverly executed murder.
King starts his investigation but Maxwell, not happy with the notion that she is psychiatrically challenged, uncovers some baddies within the institution and sails off to Babbage Town to aid King. Horatio Barnes, appalled at Michelle's defection when she is so psychologically frail, follows her and himself becomes enmeshed in the case.
There are quite a few intriguing sub-plots in this outing, not the least involving Viggie, the mathematical genius savant, daughter of the murdered man but a child exhibiting symptoms of autism. She has a lot in common with Michelle, to whom she takes an instantaneous liking.
Sophisticated computers, secret codes, repressed memories, drug smuggling, even hidden rooms are all grist for Mr. Baldacci's very talented mill. His main characters, not excluding Horatio Barnes, are beautifully drawn while his plot, although complex, is quite credible.
This is one book which can truthfully be described as gripping, containing
characters who are completely credible, faults and all. While the
maths may be beyond most of us, the plot is one which will doubtless stay
with any reader for quite some time.
STONE COLD
by David Baldacci
ISBN 9780230017795
388 pages
Macmillan
November 3 2007
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 7 2007
I have to confess that the motley and ill-assorted collection of characters comprising David Baldacci's Camel Club are particular favourites of mine. The combination of brain, cowardice, bravery and brawn makes an endearing mix.
Annabelle Conroy returns in this adventure. In the previous outing, The Collectors, Annabelle had conned Jerry Bagger, the casino owner who had murdered her mother, out of forty million dollars. She has always carried a grudge against her father, Paddy, for not protecting her mother but Paddy makes an appearance in this tale and an uneasy truce is established.
Oliver Stone's alter ego, John Carr, assassin for the government elite's Triple Six outfit, is also disinterred and plays a major part in the adventure. This time, he becomes the target of another killer, Harry Finn, son of Rayfield and Lesya Solomon. Rayfield had been assassinated by John Carr, thinking he was under orders from the government. Lesya remains alive but determined to avenge the murder of her husband.
Annabelle knows she must be on her guard against Bagger but the Camel Club are still doing their best to protect her. She is not terribly interested in the forty million odd dollars out of which she conned Bagger but is reasonably convinced he will eventually catch and kill her. Bagger never lets any money out of his grasp when he is unwilling to do so
Oliver Stone is far from being a cute and cuddly character. He possesses abilities to kill that, at times, seem almost supernormal. He is motivated to assassinate by way of revenge against the people who killed his wife. His daughter is lost to him but not through death -- she has been brought up by one of his most loathed enemies.
Annabelle, for all she is a female character created by a male author, is a credible person (given her profession, she needs to be). Her ability as a con artist is admired even by her reprobate father, Paddy.
Reuben, the Vietnam Vet, complete with killing skills that could rival John Carr's own, is surprisingly vulnerable. Caleb Shaw, the rare books expert and coward extraordinaire, is very endearing in his cowardice but Milton Farb, the genius, is difficult to differentiate from his fellow Camel Club member, Caleb. Alex Ford, an honorary member of the Club and also of the Secret Service has, fortunately, been stripped of the love interest he acquired in the previous adventure and so is available as a potential interest for Annabelle.
The reader must, naturally enough, suspend a certain amount of disbelief for the story to work -- but then, given the machinations we so frequently read about in the popular press, perhaps that is not too hard. The plot is excellently constructed and not always predictable.
As previously mentioned, the Camel Club trilogy comprise my favourites of Baldacci's work so I trust, most sincerely, that he doesn't make this the final volume in the series.
SLEEP BEFORE EVENING
by Magdalena Ball
ISBN 9781904492962
296 pages
BeWrite Books
July 24 2007
UK£8.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 21 2008
SLEEP BEFORE EVENING is described, by the author, as a ìbildungsromanî. My Oxford English dictionary defines that as a novel dealing with someone's early life and development while my Oxford Düden claims it is a novel of character development. Be either as it may, the book deals with the decrepitation of the character of Marianne Cotton subsequent to the death of her beloved grandfather, Eric Cotton.
Marianne's grandmother has died recently, leaving Eric alone but then Eric's dies suddenly. He and Marianne play chess every Friday but a stroke curtails the game and Eric is taken to hospital in an ambulance. Marianne's mother Lily and her stepfather Russell are given the option of prolonging Eric's life, in a vegetative state, or switching off the life support. They decide, without consulting Marianne, on the latter course - a cause for much resentment and confusion on Marianne's part as she is convinced her grandfather's life could have been saved.
Lily is a self-absorbed artist: gifted but with a talent that, while it appeals to the critics, does not seem to have much commercial potential. The women are fortunate -- up until that time-in that they can rely on Russell to earn their keep. Russell, however, is a womaniser and one fight too many sees him desert the Cottons. This double bereavement is particularly traumatising for Marianne who had never known her real father and has always regarded Russell as her father.
Lily seems to rely a lot on Astrology so certainly Marianne does not have much of a steadying influence at home.
Perhaps to compensate, Marianne has lots of conversations with her dead grandfather. These go nowhere to make up for his absence.
Academically as well as musically gifted, previously a model student, Marianne begins cutting class. During one of her illicit excursions, she encounters a busker in Washington Square Park. Miles works with a musical group and hopes they will be able to form a successful band one day.
Her encounter with Miles gives solid impetus to Marianne's downward spiral. He uses drugs, to which he introduces Marianne and gradually she become more and more needful of the high and warmth she can obtain from them. She becomes completely alienated from her old life and doesn't even bother attending school any more.
The narrative gives form to every conscientious parent's nebulous fears for his or her child. One wonders how the author performed such meticulous research on drug addicts as to be able to produce such horrifying scenarios as she depicts in the book.
The author is obviously well read, given the amount of poetry which she has Marianne quoting in every situation into which she falls. Inevitably, this annoys Miles and his friends but Marianne is oblivious of this as she continues to seek some anchor in her new, unstable life.
The characterisation is well done. Marianne is entirely credible, as are Lily and, unfortunately, Miles. Eric is, perhaps, a trifle too good to be true but he is seen, for the most part, through the eyes of his adoring granddaughter so that some idealisation is forgivable.
Some of the author's uses of words are not quite what I'd consider completely accurate, for example on p. 89 where she has Miles blowing ìalternatively into the harmonicasî. I couldn't help wondering if it was simply an idiosyncrasy of the author or a slip of the keyboard as I did pick up on several such oddities throughout the text. Of course, it could also be the changing of the English language, or else a difference between American and Australian usage.
The novel is, on the whole, a very impressive debut. While it may not
be precisely enjoyable it certainly demonstrates a remarkable understanding
of the depths to which traumatic events can plunge a young and impressionable
teenager.
THE CALLER
by Alex Barclay
ISBN 9780007195350
336 pages
HarperCollins
April 1 2007
$19.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
March 14 2007
The prologue introduces the reader to the murderer. The killer is in his basement -- which apparently serves as his bedroom and workroom. He plays with a model of human teeth which the reader is led to believe is of the mouth of one of the victims.
Detective Joe Lucchesi is visiting the dentist. He is in pain but the mental pain is greater than the physical: he has just taken a call from Duke Rawlins the man who, when Joe and his family were in Ireland, had been responsible for the death of the girlfriend of Joe's son Shaun. Now Duke is threatening to kill Anna, Joe's wife.
The tragedy in Ireland took its toll of Joe's family. Shaun, mourning his loss, is having difficulty relating to his peers at school while Anna is withdrawn, working from home and unable to cope when she tries to go outside.
There is a serial killer plying his trade in New York. At least two victims have let a killer into their homes and had their trust repaid by having their faces beaten to a pulp during their murder. Both victims had made a telephone call not long prior to their death. Joe learns that a third victim is apparently the prey of the serial killer.
The cops receive mysterious letters which could have been written by someone with an inside knowledge of the violent deaths so Joe and his partner Danny track down the writer.
The mystery of the murders seems almost at times to be secondary to the problems suffered by Joe Lucchesi. Given all the worries about his wife and his son, not to mention the pain he is suffering, it is a wonder he manages to concentrate long enough to try to track down the killer.
The path leading to the killer is rather a convoluted one. Joe and Danny must both deal with domestic problems at the same time as solving the mystery of the horrible murders.
The characterisation in this work is well done. The atmosphere evoked is suitably grisly and the worries of both detectives made convincingly real. The motivation driving the killer is perhaps not quite as believable.
To my mind, since so much of the present story is rooted in the previous
adventure, not enough space is given to a reprise of that adventure. Perhaps
the author could, in future narratives, devote a little more time to establishing
the past. Regardless, she displays a great deal of promise and it is very
likely that future books will be even more polished. Ms. Barclay has certainly
left plenty of scope for future tales, given the number of plot hooks left
in place.
THE VIRGIN
by Erik Barmack
ISBN 1863255788
244 pages
Bantam
February 1 2005
$22.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 25 2005
Have you, Dear Reader, been tempted by some of the soi-disant 'reality TV' shows which have proliferated on the small screen in recent times? Have you switched channels just to see what they are like, disdainfully curled your lip, flared and raised a supercilious nostril and hurriedly turned back to an equally manipulated 'current affairs' program? Or have you sunk back in your chair, remote in hand (just in case) and attempted to suspend disbelief for long enough to become enmeshed in the savage attempts to remove contestants from some unlikely scenario? Whatever, Erik Barmack may have beaten you to it.
The narrative is detailed in several methods. Joseph Erin Braun, Jewish boy who never had a bar mitzvah (now that is a thread that might have been followed but wasn't) has been unemployed for eleven months. The story is told mainly in the first person from his point of view. Then there is the series of e-mails told between the titular Virgin and her best friend Mitch. If that were not enough, there's a viewer's eye perspective of the program, told as a commentary by a female aficionado of the program.
Joseph, a finalist in the series, with the aid of his friend Allison has created a character, Jeb Brown, whom the duo feel could well capture the heart and hymen of Madison, the Virgin. Madison is, with the unstated aid of the producers of the show, offering up her virginity as a prize (have any of the less fictional reality shows actually sunk to that depth of tackiness?) to the fortunate one of twenty contestants on the show. At the end of every installment, the happy few are awarded a tulip while the unsuccessful are banished to 'Purgatory', where they must remain, in order to preserve the secrets of the ongoing action. As said action progresses, the enigma of the actual personality of the personalities is solved and almost all is laid bare. Madison even has to meet the families (or are they?) of the contestants before the final deflowering occurs - and just how has a woman in her twenties retained her hymen for such a long time?
From the egregious Dodge, the presenter, through all the mediocre aspirants for the hand (or other parts) of the Virgin as well as the manipulative Andrea who choreographs the show up until the last surprise twist, readers will find aspects of the novel that resonate with what is available in their own living rooms. Barmack has interviewed many people on both sides of the game in order to produce this cruelly funny account of the horrors now besieging the public if they are sufficiently unwise to become enmeshed in the alternative fictitious and factitious lives of the offerings presented to them.
This is a debut novel but Barmack has previously created short stories
as well as articles. It will be interesting to see if his next offering
can reach the high standard of his virginal attempt at longer fiction.
BAGGAGE
by Emily Barr
ISBN 0-7472-7061-9
$29.95
346 pages
April 11 2002
reviewed by Denise Wels
Former journalist, now full-time writer, Emily Barr had, until now, only one novel, Backpack to her credit. She had given up her job as a journalist in order to travel around the world for a year, filing stories at regular intervals about her journey. Along the way she met her future husband and when they returned, jobless, to the U.K., Barr was able to turn her hand to a novel that used the places the author had travelled as its location.
Baggage is told in the first person present from two points of view: Lina Pritchett, whom the reader later discovers to be runaway English girl Daisy Fraser, and a truly revolting journalist, Lawrence Golchin. There are quite a few books currently around written in the first person present and usually I find the technique most annoying; not this time, however. It works admirably.
Lina, as Daisy, had been attending ballet school for years and had become something of a rebel. She and her then best friend Leila had run with a wild crowd which regularly indulged in drug parties. One fateful night it had been Daisy's turn to get the drugs, which she had done, and they were shared around. One batch was poisonous and all the friends but Daisy and Leila died. Since Daisy had procured the drugs, she was held responsible and would have to stand trial. Determined to begin a new life, Daisy faked her suicide then travelled to India where she said she adopted a young Caucasian baby, Red. She eventually travelled to Australia where she met and married Tony Pritchett and went to live in Craggy Rock, an opal mining town near Coober Pedy in the north of South Australia. The action of the book begins when Lina, now a schoolteacher in Craggy Rock, discovers she is pregnant.
Daisy's former best friend Sophie, from when they were both prepubescent, is backpacking around Australia, and comes to Craggy Rock. She encounters and recognises Lina, who denies her identity. Sophie returns to England and confides in her boyfriend Lawrence. Lawrence swears not to write a story on Daisy and takes Sophie back to Australia to search for her one-time friend, but he has every intention of breaking the story, and does so, to disastrous effect on the Pritchett family as well as on his own relationship with Sophie.
I enjoyed Barr's description of the fictional Craggy Rock, capturing, as it did, the authentic atmosphere of a town like Coober Pedy (although there was not much reference to opal). Her characterisations were excellent, most convincing, with never any jarring note in her portrayal of Australians. I would think Barr had harboured some not-so-secret animosity toward some of her former journalistic colleagues, however, from the descriptions and characterisations of the press corps that harassed the reincarnated Daisy. While the book could only loosely be described as belonging to the mystery fiction genre, the plot was well contrived although somewhat predictable and the action fair galloped along. The writing itself was excellent although the ending was rather weak unless Barr intends hanging a sequel on the numerous available hooks. There was plenty of humour in a tale well told.
Leaving Bondi
by Robert G. Barrett
Harper Collins
ISBN 0-7322-6871-0
$24.95
October 2000
reviewed by Denise Wels
Let me say at the outset that Leaving Bondi is not a book for the squeamish. Let me add that I am a notorious squeam.
Robert G. Barrett is, according to the biographical notes, a former script writer, columnist, author of feature articles and now novelist. His original trade, prior to an accident that robbed the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney of one of its resources, was that of butchery, which could account for the ease with which he produces words strung together to produce large amounts of gore and other offputting bodily substances. He did time as an actor in movies, which, of course, would have given him some background material for this novel; he also worked as a DJ and a barman... all valuable reservoirs of reference material on which he could draw for the adventures of his (very) ocker anti-hero, Les Norton.
Like his protagonist, the prose of the narrative is determinedly ocker, so much so that this fair dinkum Aussie had some difficulty in translation: but then, I am only a poor weak sheila. Non-Aussie readers might find themselves a trifle bushed by some sentences, or even paragraphs, but on the whole, the text is self explanatory.
Les Norton, large, sometime Queenslander, now living in Bondi but working at the Cross, invests $50,000 in a movie entitled Leaving Bondi. The plot is somewhat convoluted and improbable (who, after all, would want to leave Bondi?) but Norton wanted to impress his drinking mates, so he anted up the cash. It was not as though he had anything to lose: the means through which he had come by the money were somewhat shonky.
Barrett's book could well serve as a street map. He goes into great detail about just how Norton makes his way through Bondi (and later through other places) in order to get to Bondi Public School where the movie is being put together. There Les and his cobber Eddie observe the chef responsible for the catering for the film, Albert Knox, put something disgusting in the food. Norton and Eddie decide to get revenge on the chef by manufacturing a cracker cake comprising even more disgusting ingredients than those employed by the chef. The cake is rigged so that when the chef opens the box, the bomb cake will go off, showering him with the loathsome contents. At least, that is the plan. As it happens, someone else with a grudge against Knox manufactures a real bomb that goes off almost simultaneously with the prank explosion, killing Albert Knox.
Les has been captured on the security cameras with the suspect box and is also identified by people working on the set. He is picked up for questioning by the police and decides he must solve the mystery in order to exonerate his large and not very law abiding self.
Norton's search leads him to Medlow Bath in the Blue Mountains, where he seduces a would-be poetess who thinks he is a publisher about to buy her book of pretentious and unintelligible verse, while he waits to break into the house formerly belonging to Knox.
Les is a violent person, frequently outside the law in the exercise of his nature. He displays this violence before discovering a vital photograph in the Medlow Bath house. This clue leads him to Sunny South Australia, and the breaking of his bail conditions.
Perhaps it was Barrett's apostrophising Adelaide as a creepy city that put me offside with his book: more likely it was the violence and grue pervading it, as well as his misogyny. (Mind you, he was kind enough to solve our notorious Family murders.) There was a great deal of humour in the narrative, which I really appreciated.... at first. The antics of the Avis Navigator really turned me on. I just wish Barrett had reined in the yukkier characteristics of Norton. I doubt they would appeal to a female audience, but then, this is obviously a man's book for male chauvinists. (The blurb accompanying the book makes it clear Barrett is very anti-political correctness: but so am I).
In summary, if you are an action male with a strong stomach and few sensibilities as well as an aficionado of graphic sex as opposed to romantic love, this tale is probably for you.
THE LACE READER
by Brunonia Barry
ISBN 9780007287093
384 pages
WILLIAM MORROW
September 1 2008
$32.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 18 2008
Sophya Whitney, or Towner, as she prefers to be known, warns that the reader must never believe her, as she lies all the time. Unfortunately, having no other reference point, the reader must, perforce, believe some of what Towner relates.
Towner explains how her family has managed to profit by their quirks, turning them into industries in their own right. May, Townerís mother, for example, has resurrected the lace making industry. May is an agoraphobe, but has, nevertheless, gained widespread fame because of her lace and also because of the refuge she has set up for abused women. Not only that, Towner explains that when May was delivered of twins, she kept Towner and gave away Townerís twin, Lyndley, to her barren sister Emma.
When her great aunt Eva dies, Towner must return to Salem, whence she had fled some time previously. She had stuffed the lacemakerís pillow, which Eva had sent her, into a plain pillowslip, lest she inadvertently look at the lace and read her fortune, for the women of Townerís family have the ability to read the future in lace.
Lyndley, meanwhile, has drowned, a central point of the tale and one which affects Towner greatly. When Towner returns to Salem, after Evaís death, it is to a place resonating with the history of both twins, with many sad overtones of the joint history.
A cult dubbed the Calvinists, because of the name of their leader, a relative of Townerís, has formed and thrives in Salem. It is an ominous body preaching fire and brimstone, despite the leaderís obvious lack of sexual morals and self control.
There are spooky overtones to this story. There are also psychological truths which must be confronted by both the reader and Towner. I donít know about other readers, but to me the resolution of the tale was a surprise-- well, perhaps not completely a surprise, but surprising in bits.
The characters of Towner and Calvin as well (thankfully) as Rafferty, a relative newcomer to Salem and a law enforcement officer, are carefully constructed. Eva herself, although referred to only in flashback, is the pivotal person of the work and, for me at least, the most impressive.
The book is a mystery thriller with supernatural attributes which are
not overdone. I found it enthralling and was very pleased to hear it is
the first in a trilogy. No doubt I shanít be the only reader anxious to
see the remaining books.
MURPHY'S LAW
by Colin Bateman
ISBN 0755312435
345 pages
Headline
January 2003
$18.95
reviewed by Denise Wels
August 2003
Former journalist Colin Bateman has proved to be a prolific writer. He was born and lives in Northern Ireland and formerly wrote a column for the Co, Down Spectator. Incredible though it may seem he can probably claim the crown for being the only journalist ever to be sued by the Boys' Brigade - and that for an innocent, joking remark he made to introduce a travel piece in his column. His bibliography includes Best In The Business, Wild About Harry, Mohammed Maguire, Shooting Sean ,Turbulent Priests , Maid of the Mist, Empire State, Of Wee Sweetie Mice and Men, Cycle of Violence, Divorcing Jack (in reverse order of writing.) Divorcing Jack won the Betty Trask award. He has also won the Northern Ireland Press Award and a Journalist's Fellowship to Oxford University. Add to this the fact that he has written successful screenplays for his own books and you will begin to comprehend the talent of the man. Amazingly, for years he was convinced he would never be able to write a novel so confined himself to short stories. Besides his writing, he also managed punk bands and his interest in music is reflected in his prose.
I was unable to determine if Murphy's Law, the book, was written before the TV series of the same name. Bateman has been quoted as saying that he feels he was able to put a good deal more of Murphy's background into the book than he was able to do with the TV series. In the TV series, Murphy bears a different given name - Tommy - while he answers to Martin in the book. Another difference I couldn't understand is that in the book, the undercover cop has lost a son while the television version sees him bereaved of a daughter.
The tale is set in London. Murphy has come to live here in an attempt to escape his past. It was his work in Ireland that saw the death of his son. Sadly reflecting the lot of so many couples who have had a child die, Murphy and his wife have divorced. Murphy is unable to accept that he is permanently parted from Lianne and causes her severe embarrassment because of his turning up at unexpected times at her house - usually drunk.
The narrative begins with Murphy being summoned to New Scotland Yard. While he wants to go back to his work as an undercover police officer he does not wish to cooperate with the psychiatrist who is attempting - clumsily - to rehabilitate him. He shows her that he has more idea of her difficulties than she has of his. He is reinstated.
Martin is set to try to trap a dodgy funeral director - well, plastic coffins are hardly best recommended business practice - and his undertaking accomplices who use the funeral home as cover for their more nefarious activities - carrying out diamond heists then using the proceeds to purchase heroin. Hatcher has contrived a plan whereby he convinces heads of security for diamond companies that he has kidnapped their loved ones and is about to kill them unless the protectors rob their own firms of the diamonds. It proves a very successful scam indeed.
Murphy manages to have himself hired in one of the nightclubs owned by entrepreneurial Hatcher - Murphy is a talented singer/composer - and from there worms himself into the dark side of the gang despite managing to alienate all the members other than the boss. He is amazed to run into his former best friend, now a priest, who has also migrated to London. Their friendship plays a pivotal part in the action.
Bateman has created some nasty villains. Black humour abounds in a plot about funeral directors that fair begs for comic asides. Hatcher is totally immoral and sadistic finding entertainment in the troubles of others whilst displaying the most amazing filial affection for his own deplorable parent who is on the verge of death.
The narrative is in the present tense, fast and grisly, albeit able to
generate laughs from the reader. Bateman's series about journalist
Dan Starkey has proven popular and it is highly likely that a series of
which Murphy's Law is the first book will prove equally popular.
It is incredible that someone writing such black prose should have signed
up to write children's books, but Bateman has done just this. Still the
topic is violence - teenage gangs. One supposes that the title of the first
of these -Reservoir Pups - might just give a hint as to the
nature of the content.
THE CLEANER
by Brett Battles
ISBN 9781848090064
353 pages
Preface
December 3 2007
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
November 23 2007
Debutant Brett Battles seems poised to clean up with his high tech blood and plots espionage yarn. Here he introduces super cleaner John Quinn, the man that goes into crime scenes messes caused by spies from his employers, to keep uncomfortable solutions from legal authorities not in the know.
The reader understands (if he hasn't already read the publicity hoo ha) in Chapter One that Jonathan Quinn is mixed up in something suss. When he gets off the plane in Denver, instead of getting outside as quickly as possible, catching a cab and going to the most comfortable possible place where he can relax, Quinn sits on the wrong side of the barriers and finishes the book he was reading on the plane. Eventually, he rings his boss, Peter, to get instructions on how to find the car which he will use. That car contains two men and an envelope in which are Quinn's orders -- but he mustn't open it until the two men leave his presence. All very cagey stuff.
Quinn must investigate a fire to see if it is arson -- a fire in which the body of a man known as Taggert iss killed. He contacts the police chief, only to discover he is not the sole investigator pursuing enquiries.
At the site of the fire, Quinn encounters his apprentice, Nate. That over enthusiastic young man has, as he subsequently does too frequently throughout the tale, disobeyed his orders by being there. Quinn is not pleased.
The narrative scoots around the globe. Quinn and Nate go to Vietnam, where they are joined by beautiful Oriental woman Orlando but also spend a large chunk of time in Germany. It's very pleasant to walk (or run) through the streets of a reunited Berlin even though the author doesn't spend much time describing the surroundings.
I have my usual quibbles with the wounds inflicted upon the heroes. It never fails to inspire me with tremendous awe that they can receive an injury that would lay me up in hospital for months, yet sprint away with barely a limp.
The characterisation is interesting. Certainly, Nate is Quinn's apprentice but I can't help but wonder how much patience a real person amidst the adventures visited upon the Office men, would display. Nate's puppy-like eagerness and enthusiasm, not to mention his downright disobedience, would try the most stoical master. At times, however, Nate does display a competence that verges on excellence.
As to the narrative itself, I can see why such a tidying up of threads would be necessary but couldn't help wondering at it.
If there is a sequel, I do so hope Nate will have matured somewhat.
UNDERTOW
by Sydney Bauer
425 pages
ISBN 9781405037112
MACMILLAN
September 3 2006
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
August 30 2006
UNDERTOW is the debut novel of, we are told, a Sydney based TV executive and journalist. Those who wish to know more about her will no doubt be frustrated in that it is impossible, on the Net, to discover more than that she is working on a second novel, GOSPEL. Anyone reading this review will not be surprised to learn that I, for one, will be looking forward to the publication of GOSPEL with a great deal of pleasurable anticipation.
The prologue depicts a scene between lawyer David Cavanaugh and Judge Isaac Stein, wherein the latter warns the former that the father of a dead girl is very powerful so David would do well to be wary.
Three days preceding the warning, Christina Haynes surprises her best friend, Teesha Martin (and Teesha's mother Rayna) by arriving rather late for Teesha's birthday celebration. Rayna is uneasy in that the boat she has hired for the occasion has an outboard, which the girls will launch, that can officially only accommodate three. Christina had previously been unable to accept the invitation because she had been instructed to accompany her mother on a shopping expedition to buy a dress to wear to a dinner celebrating her father's fifty years in politics. She has, however, defied her parents and happily embarks on the boating expedition.
When the girls are safely out of sight of Rayna Martin, one of their number produces a bottle of Moët, which the quartet sets about demolishing. Not long thereafter, their outboard capsizes, one of the girls appears to be in trouble and Christina swims back to Rayna to ask her help in rescuing them. Rayna wants to haul Christina on board but the girl declines, saying Rayna should first rescue the others as she, Christina, is a strong swimmer and the others are in more immediate danger.
Rayna successfully rescues the three girls but when they arrive back to where Christina was, they are horrified to find she has drowned and all efforts to revive her are fruitless: Christina is dead.
In an horrific series of events, Rayna, a black woman, is committed for trial on a charge of Murder Two. The reason given for the serious charge is that Rayna rescued the three black girls in preference to the white in an attempt to avenge blacks on whites, thereby perpetrating a hate crime. David Cavanaugh and an associate of lawyer Rayna, Sara Davis, are engaged in the defence in opposition to District Attorney Loretta Scaturro together with her rather nasty ADA, Roger Katz.
Ambitious Katz is very anxious to cooperate with Senator Rudolph Haynes, the powerful father of the dead girl, seeing his future inextricably linked with his ability to win the case against Martin.
This is an excellently written courtroom drama on a par with anything written by more seasoned authors. Bauer has ably demonstrated an ability to create believable characters and hazardous calamities to bedevil the goodies.
Perhaps it is because of my own lack of familiarity with American society that I experienced some shakiness in my suspension of disbelief with regard the possible motive for the central crime. Is racial prejudice so blatant in the US that a hate crime based on discrimination could be considered credible? Pushing that thought to the back of my mind, I read the unfolding narrative with increasing absorption.
The author's acknowledgments bear testimony to the amount of research that went into the book. The entirety is so polished (barring the occasional technical error) that one could assume far more seasoned writers would be glad to have it in their list of works.
Since the author did such a tremendous job of a tale set in Boston,
would it be too much to hope that one day she might set a future narrative
in Australia?
GOSPEL
by Sydney Bauer
ISBN 9781405038027
487 pages
MACMILLAN
July 3 2007
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
June 14 2007
One of the perks of being a book reviewer is that frequently one gets to discover the work of new authors before much of the reading public. Of course, that could include some turkeys but best not to explore that aspect. One very good but obviously underrated (her work hasn't been snapped up by Amazon) author is Sydney Bauer. Her debut novel, UNDERTOW, made quite an impression on me and I was eager to read her second work, GOSPEL, when it arrived on my desk. Bauer's protagonist, lawyer David Cavanaugh, as well as another character from the previous work, love interest Sara Davis, makes a welcome reappearance in this tale of high intrigue.
The prologue deals with a meeting of the Gospel Four, Matthew, Mark, Luke and their mysterious leader John. Luke is obviously dissenting from the majority and is, unlike the majority trio, named. The culmination of the meeting is with Luke succumbing and assenting to the murder of a very powerful man.
US Vice-President, Tom Bradshaw, is hosting a campaign dinner at a Boston hotel -- or rather, he is meant to do so. Unfortunately, something happens to the VP which prevents the dinner and soon afterward, the death of Tom Bradshaw is announced to a stunned nation, an apparent suicide.
Professor Stuart Montgomery is not only physician to Tom Bradshaw but also is the scoundrel who stole David's wife Karin from the marital home more than a decade previously. David despises and hates the man and is dumbfounded when Karin approaches him to defend her husband, newly accused of the assassination.
The ensuing tale is one comprising dangers, dastardly plots, drug addiction, drug peddling, detection and sublime misdirection. There is a satisfying number of twists and turns guaranteed to keep readers hooked as well as the protagonist guessing. There is a hint of the ongoing rivalry between FBI and CIA as well as tribute paid to the DEA.
The characterisation of the main characters (and some of the minor ones) is very well done. The reader can agonise with David as he fights his hatred of the man who fascinated Karin. Sara Davis is also beautifully drawn as she battles with ambivalent emotions -- with dislike predominating -- towards David's former wife.
I do have a single criticism. I know fiction is always about suspending
disbelief but one can only tighten the suspension to a certain degree.
This tale came just a bit too close to exceeding Hooke's law for me. Regardless,
I thoroughly enjoyed the work. Mind, I have to confess I did manage to
spot the ultimate baddie, but not too far from the conclusion.
ALIBI
by Sydney Bauer
ISBN 9781405038485
504 pages
MACMILLAN
April 1 2008
$32.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
April 24 2008
Sydney Bauerís first two books, UNDERTOW and GOSPEL were very, very good and I was prepared to encounter the same standard in ALIBI. Perhaps I am too demanding, but I felt that Bauerís third outing was not quite on the same level as her previous works. One annoying thing, which I can really only categorise as belonging to the class of ìnit pickingî is what I feel is the gratuitous use of quotation marks. For example, does one really need to qualify ìdo goodî in such a manner? And that is just one of many instances, a usage which a quick skim of Bauerís previous books did not disclose. A new editor, or subeditor , perhaps?
The body of Jessica Nagoshi, daughter of exceptionally successful businessman John Nagoshi and sister of potentially as successful a businessman, Peter Nagoshi, is discovered in the greenhouse of the Nagoshi Boston home. Her body is arranged in such a manner as to suggest the murderer is familiar with certain aspects of Japanese lore.
Unknown to their contemporaries, Jessica is the lover of fellow law student, James Matheson. It doesnít take much digging for the police to decide that James is the logical suspect, so he is arrested. Naturally enough, David Cavanaugh and his girlfriend Sara Davis line up on his defence team.
Jessica and James are students at the prestigious Deane law school. This is an institute of learning confined to the best and brightest of the children of the most affluent people so it is almost a given that David and Sara encounter some extremely obnoxious and egotistical, not to mention snobbish, people around.
Suspects are not in short supply. ADA, the abominable Roger Katz, is quite certain that Matheson did the foul deed, and even if he didnít, Katz will make him the scapegoat. After all, Matheson is the client of his deadly enemy, Cavanaugh.
Sydney Bauerís novels always follow a circuitous path, with quite a few of the twists and turns being shocking to the reader. ALIBI does not prove the exception to this rule. Mind, the author plays fair with the reader, scattering clues-- albeit a minimum of them--to the identity of the murderer. I am not absolutely certain that all of the zigzagging was completely necessary, however, but the nett effect is a rollicking good tale.
As always, the back story provides a picture of the developing relationship between David and Sara so it will be interesting to see how the future pans out for them. It might prove necessary for the author to introduce more characters to provide a future love interest.
Interesting though the setting of Boston is to readers, as I have remarked in previous reviews, I do wish the author might consider setting one of her future books in Australia.
Death of a Dentist
Warner Books
copyright 1997
Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist
St Martin's Paperback
copyright 1997
both by M.C. Beaton
Perhaps I should have waited until he had finished the polishing. Still, no one has ever accused me of having overmuch tact... or common sense, for that matter. I should have guessed, when I saw the muscles in his hand stand out as I made my first statement, but no...'I've just finished reading a book called Death of a Dentist' quoth I brightly. His face darkened markedly as his grip on the stainless steel probe became noticeably tighter. I was then treated to a short lecture on how there is too much written and broadcast about violence in our society. Nothing deterred, I went on (somewhat maliciously I must admit) 'The murderer drilled holes in all of the dentist's teeth.' It does not pay to try to be funny at one's dentist's expense. 'Ow! That hurt!'. 'That's because as you get old the gums shrink and the roots become exposed. That's what happened then.' Touché.
M.C. Beaton is one of the pseudonyms of Marion Chesney who also writes under the names of Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Charlotte Ward and Helen Crampton. Where do these ultra-prolific authors find first, their inspiration and second, their time to write? Not to mention their noms-de-plume. Her mystery writing pseudonym is Beaton and under the other noms-de-plume she writes historical romances. The only bio I have been able to discover says that she was born in Scotland and lives with her husband in the Cotswolds: not very informative.
Enthused by what she has written as Beaton I did once order two of her romances. One arrived, and I found it insipid ... but then, I am not a romance aficionado ...and the other never arrived. I am, however, an ardent fan of Hamish Macbeth.
If one is a TV watcher and has seen the televised Hamish, as played by Robert Carlyle, and his Lochdubh, it is necessary to forget about him when reading the novelised exploits. There is very little similarity between the two characters. I like them both, although my preference is for the Hamish of the books. (Any reader who wishes to gauge Beaton's feelings on the topic of what TV makers do to the work of novelists should read her Death of a Scriptwriter.)
I can never understand why TV producers have to change characters as radically as they do from those appearing in books. Even Hamish's dog, Towser (the late lamented) is, in the TV series, known as Jock. Why? Just to make him sound more Scottish? None of the other characters in television's Lochdubh share names, or personalities, with those peopling Beaton's books.
Indolent, unambitious Hamish is smitten with a toothache and has to seek out the dentist Frederick Gilchrist who practises in the neighbouring small town of Braikie. To Hamish's dismay, he discovers the dentist is unable to help since he no longer has sufficient life to be of much use to anyone, to the delight of many people.
Macbeth is always excluded from the official investigations conducted by his superiors at Strathbane because he turned down promotion. He does have a perfect record at solving mysteries, and invariably has to practise subterfuge in order to uncover murderers since he has no authorised access to official records. In earlier books he is able to further his investigations by talking things over with his sometime girl-friend, later fiancee and now former fiancee, Priscilla Halburton-Smythe. In Death of a Dentist Priscilla's place is taken by her computer hacking southern friend Sarah.
Parallel to the murder investigation is Hamish's attempt to discover who robbed a local pub of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, in cash. This was to be the prize at a Bingo night and mysteriously disappeared from the hotel safe (unsafe?) ... which had a wooden back.
There is the usual assortment of odd characters in this book as many people seem to be anxious to end Hamish's life. I think Ms. Chesney must have been watching television's Hamish since in this novel, unlike most of the previous, Hamish manages to bed a beautiful girl.
Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist shares a place in the humorous mystery gen