I had not heard of Karen Rose or read any of her books before Count To Ten, but was in the bookstore one day idly browsing, and couldn’t make up my mind on choice of reading matter for the weekend – and I wanted something I could get my teeth into. So looking through the thriller paperbacks, I saw a selection of books by Karen Rose that seemed to dwarf their neighbours on the shelf, so I picked on up and took a look, and it happened to be Count To Ten! With almost 700 pages, I figured I was getting my money’s worth, if you calculated by word count at least! So avoid if you don’t like substantial reading matter!

It turns out I had a bit of readers’ serendipity going on, as Count To Ten is in fact Karen Rose’s UK debut – although she has been popular in the US for some time now, and I can see why. In Count To Ten, a murder-arsonist is stalking Chicago, with a series of murders and fires that at first don’t seem to make sense – maybe the fires are to cover up crimes? Then it turns out that the victims are actually being burned alive, to sate some apparently crazy bloodlust. As the story unfolds, however, motive becomes apparent through a web of past history. In charge of the investigation is Reed Solliday, of the Chicago Fire Department (it is interesting to have the main investigator a fire chief rather than a cop, although Solliday does team up with Mia Mitchell of the Chicago Police Department – and could there be a romantic interest there too?).

In all this was a great read, with plenty of back story and twists and turns with the characters, including a glimpse into Solliday’s tortured personal life and its eventual resolution. If I had one complaint it would be that the villain is portrayed in quite a villainous way, when in fact he turns out to be a pretty damaged individual – then again, perhaps Rose is making the point, as argued through Solliday, that people make choices – and being damaged doesn’t give you the right to choose to damage or kill others!

Enjoyed this book, and kept me going through a long weekend, so I look forward to more Karen Rose books soon!

Another crime fiction thriller hot on the heels of my last book review, and in this thriller crime fiction guru James Patterson teams up with old partner Andrew Gross to smelt another scorching story from the word processor! Judge & Jury stars features the unlikely heroine of a reluctant member of a jury Andie DeGrasse in a mob case, and in Nick Pellisante, FBI Agent, we find the hero, as they end up pursuing their own brand of justice when the system fails them and Dominick Cavallo escapes punishment from the law…

Whatever literary purists may say, James Patterson’s (and his co authors’) thrillers are incredibly accesible books and make fiction available to those who might otherwise not have an hour to site and wade through lengthy chapters of interminable prose! The books are fast paced and incredibly easy to read – on the train, in a lunch hour, even while a bowl of pasta cooks! I love escaping into these novels for short dips or long chunks, and am always ready for the next James Patterson!

Been getting into reading thrillers again lately, and in this field James Patterson needs no introduction as perhaps the master practioner of the genre at this moment in time! Cross stars (for I like to think of these books as written in a very cinematic style!) that stalwart old favourite Alex Cross in what is billed as the most terrifying and most emotional Cross ever, weaving together elements of the past and present to create a mixture of intrigue, tragedy, shock and resolution. As you might expect from a Patterson novel (I won’t add the the number of superlatives such as unputdownable, or the lightsocket image) the pages turn fast, and I was as intrigued by the story of the vicious Butcher, Michael Sullivan, as I was disturbed by this callous, terrible villain.

All in all a jolly good read for these cold winter nights, and the next Cross novel is already out in hardback! Cross is high octane, high adrenaline fiction, one of the best Alex Cross novels to date – read and see what you’re missing if your unfamiliar with the Cross series!

In all I found this a very good Bosch novel, well written and well paced, and the “closers” scenario is one which I think could work well for future novels.

I think this might well be a problem with the continuing series format – maybe if I’d read the first and others in the series I would have had more interest in Sara and Tolliver and Lena, but for me this wasn’t generated on a standalone basis in the book – and I think this book catered much more for regular readers than the first time visitor to Grant County. Fair enough, regular readers should have their loyalty rewarded, but first time readers such as myself still need to be drawn into the story, or perhaps have it pointed out clearly that it is an ongoing series, and it would be better to read from volume one. I remember picking up a copy of one of Stephen King’s Dark Tower tomes, and on the first page the author told me NOT to buy it unless I’d read the previous volumes. I know each novel in a crime series is usually a separate novel, but it can be irksome for readers who come in half way through!

For reference, I have put Karin Slaughter’s first novel, Blingsighted, beneath the links to Faithless. If I were you I would read the Grant County novels in order, and think twice before buying a book because it is presented as the latest bestseller at the bookstore without checking if it’s one of a series beforehand!

I may give it some time, and then try the first novel with a fresh mind, but for now I have a stack of books to catch up on reviewing already

And the first Grant County novel:

In Cat Ferry, a dental forensic expert, we have a flawed character, but one that is flawed for good reason. The fascination with this character however lies not in her flaws but in her strengths, for although on some levels she is not even likeable, on others she has deeply admirable qualities. A functioning alcoholic, sleeping with a married man, beset by panic attacks and blackouts, she nonetheless summons the courage and dignity to survive attempts on her life and to solve an old crime of which she herself was the victim.

Set this against a related subplot involving, curiously, the serial murder and mutilation of men, and several surprising kinks and twists in the story, and you are left with this novel set in the American deep south that is not perfect, but Blood Memory is certainly as interesting and as unforgiving as its subject matter demands.

I know some literary purists deride James Patterson’s work for its quality and the fact that, along with the occasional co author, he has turned into something of a book factory, but I have to admit he’s good at what he does – as one critic remarks, almost sticking our finger in a lightsocket.

I do have to say that I prefer James Patterson’s earlier books to those he relentlessly releases these days, and I’m not quite as keen on the Women’s Murder Club as I am on the Alex Cross novels, but this series does nonetheless have a piquancy and intrigue of its own, and the Women’s Murder Club novels are still undeniably page turners.

The 5th Horseman weaves together threads from two different plots which borrow from a number of thriller subgenres, with medical murder mystery playing out against courtroom drama with a nasty pair of serial killers thrown into the mix for good measure. The novel is punchy and fast-paced, and written in Patterson’s usual style, what I have come to regard as cinematic prose, a style which is crisp, clean and efficient, and however stripped of embellishments it may be, however abrupt (most chapters are only a page and half) it certainly does its job of propelling the reader through the story and projecting a mind movie of the events within the book into the reader’s mind. It may not be Dickens, but in my view writing that’s exciting enough to tempt a person to read rather than simply watching a movie, however movie-like the prose is, is a worthwhile thing

You might also be interested in these other James Patterson Bestsellers and audio books:

Indeed, the possibilities of terror within the book are very real and all too plausible, as is the human frailty we see in some of the major characters, particular the hero and part-time narrator Alan Gregory, the clinical pyschologist who has featured in a number of Stephen White novels, and homicide detective Lucy Tanner, a suspect in the first half and a victim in the second half of the novel, with some very human failings despite having some likeable features. The real villain of the piece is also ambiguous in that we cannot really blame his motivation even as we abhor his methods! This book is well worth a read as are other books by Stephen White!

Speaking of Stephens, I am currently half way through Stephen King’s Cell and I will be posting my review of it in the next few days!