December  Reviews

This is an extremely well written book-- or would be, except for one extremely sloppy error, which could have been eliminated by a quick visit to the authorís Phriendly Phamily Pharmacist. As some people may know, book reviewing is my hobby, but my job, in Real Life, is that of pharmacist, thus, to see an easily remedied error repeatedly proclaimed throughout a novel is, for me, sheer anathema. Mr Hall, you may be a barrister, but Iíve no doubt the chemist on the corner would have been very happy to help you. We are, on the whole, a helpful lot, even when inundated with prescriptions and would no doubt hate to see an otherwise useful author condemned to ruin his own work simply because of one egregious error. Temazepam is an hypnotic, i.e. it puts people to sleep. It is not used as an antidepressant, i.e. to treat ìnervesî. The number of temazepams the titular Coroner sinks in this opus, would have a horse snoring gently in perpetuity -- -or else silent. What a shame!

Jenny Cooper, newly appointed coroner, is herself in a fragile state of mind. Her former husband is a serial philanderer, with a taste for young women and Jenny must continually cope with both his succession of women younger than herself, and his having custody of their son.

Jennyís predecessor died of a heart attack. Apparently he was not too assiduous in following up some cases, perhaps out of too great a sensitivity toward the survivors of tragedy. Nonetheless, Jenny feels that at least two cases involving the deaths of young people, bear a closer look.

Quite apart  from any political aspects of the cases in which Jenny is interested, there is the cooperation --or otherwise-- of her own assistant, Alison. Why is Alisonís loyalty to Marshall so great and to what lengths would she go in order to protect his good name.

Then there is the journalist, Tara Collins. She, it is, who is particularly interested in having Jenny investigate various things-- up to and including Marshallís own demise-- and generally intruding herself onto Alisonís attention.

Were it not for the glaring temazepam error, I would have enjoyed this book. I thought the characterisation was quite good, likewise the plot structure. Of course, one would expect the legal aspects of the book to be accurate, from a man who made his living from the law  (just as I made mine from knowing the effects of drugs!) The dialogue, too, was quite convincing.

If Mr. Hall gets around to writing another novel, I shall be quite interested in reading it. I just hope he puts a little more research into any further opus!
THE ILLUMINATION
by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori
ISBN 9781405039000
309 pages
MACMILLAN
December 9 2008
$32.99
reviewed by Denise Pickles
December 18 2008

This offering from the joint authors of THEBOOK OF NAMES held some fascination for me when I expressed an interest in reviewing the opus. I enjoyed the previous work immensely but found its successor lacking something of the charm of the first novel.

An especially valuable artefact  is looted from Saddamís treasury during the chaos of April 2003. The thief  murders the artefactís caretaker, then buries the mysterious object but is, in turn slaughtered, serendipitously,before he can retrieve the priceless item.

Five years later,  journalist Dana Landau finds a leather pouch decorated with eyes on either side in Baghdadís sands. Inside is a strange pendant and Dana decides to send it to her sister, Natalie, with whom she had quarreled prior to leaving for Iraq. She gives it to a colleague, Rusty, with instructions to deliver it to Natalie. Unfortunately, a servant sees the object before it leaves Danaís possession and she is murdered-- as is, subsequently, the unfortunate Rusty.

For an object that is supposed to provide protection (as evidenced by the eyes) the Eye of Dawn doesnít appear too efficient.

Hasan Sabouri is a fearsome creature, so far as his countrymen are concerned. He has blue eyes and therefore is reputed to have the ìevil eyeî and is able to kill simply by looking at a person. Even his wife takes good care never to look in his eyes. This strange man learns of the whereabouts of the pendant and is determined to ìrescueî it from Natalie.

Various groups, motivated by religion or just plain greed are on the heels of the oblivious Natalie. She, however, is determined to learn the translation of the inscription within the leather pouch in which the pendant is housed.

There is, as in the authorsí previous work, plenty of action. The pages are littered with bodies and the streets surrounding Natalie must surely be soaked with blood. She does, however, acquire a protector in the person of a former colleague of Danaís. Or is he as devoted to her welfare as she thinks? Given the way various people who at first appear to be allies rapidly change to being enemies, perhaps Natalie should be even more on her guard than the murders have made her.

While the foundation of the tale, the notion that a portion of the Light, that was created before the creation of night and day, could be separated from the whole and put in a pendant, is quite intriguing, itís a shame that the tale descends into a bloodbath, no matter how exciting the chases. To my mind, more could have been made of the Light, rather than all the murders.

The characterisation was not particularly crash hot. The chief baddie, he of the Evil Eye, was the most impressive, but even he seemed more of  cartoon than a person.

I must say that I enjoyed the authorsí first collaboration rather more than this outing although it was, in its way, quite interesting.
7TH HEAVEN
James Patterson with Maxine Paetro
ISBN 9780099514541
473 pages
arrow books
December 1 2008
$21.95
reviewed by Denise Pickles
January 8 2009

Now out in small paperback format is another episode in the Womenís Murder Club series by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. One question that puzzles me for which Iíve been unable to discover the answer, is what role each author played in the composition of the novel. I also wonder if, perhaps, the finished product may have been more attractive had it had only one author.

The book opens rather unpleasantly, for all it is Christmas, with two men who, in normal  circumstances would present a pleasant public face, breaking into a house, tying up the owners, opening the ownersí Christmas presents-- then burning down the house, complete with human occupants. The malefactorsí nicknames, the reader learns, are Hawk and Pidge. How charming and endearing that they even possess nicknames!

Lindsay, from whose point of view the tale is told, is having a get together with her friends and fellow members of the Womenís Murder Club when her night is interrupted by a call from her boss, Jacobi. He wants her to know that they now have a lead in the case of Michael Campion, son of the former governor of California. Michael had disappeared some months previously but now a prostitute bearing the self given name of Junie Moon is claiming that Michael died whilst having congress with her and that she and her boyfriend successfully butchered and disappeared the corpse. But Junieís boyfriend, naturally enough, denies knowing more about Michael Campion than has appeared in the media.

Yuki, the ADA member of the Murder Club, has an unfortunate encounter with an unprincipled journalist (and yes, such do exist) whose interest might be unequally divided between Yuki herself and any possible book he might compose, benefiting from his knowledge of her.

The characterisation seemed to me to be a bit on the light side, although Hawk and Pidge are sufficiently evil to make up for any lack in the other characters. The incineration theme is especially shocking so that no reader  empathy with the duo is likely to evolve.

The ending, ah, the ending: in a way, I felt it could be seen as a bit of a copout, but, from another point of view, it might be seen as inevitable.

While there are some unpleasant scenes, for some reason, I felt they lacked edge.  The personal stories of the Club members, such as were told, were quite interesting but, on the whole, I didnít feel Patterson had given of his best.

I wish I knew what part Paetro played!