As a lover of all books of murder and mayhem I am unsure of why exactly these books intrigue me – especially when I have no wish to see them on the big screen. Somehow reading about them is far more palatable to me, and a bit addictive…
I have quite a few books to review this month and have been wondering how to split them up into two separate articles as writing (and reading) about ten books in one go simply wouldn’t do them justice and it would probably bore you, oh gentle reader, to tears.
I had thought of books for the gents and books for the ladies. But, as a lover of all books of murder and mayhem, I know that these books do not fall into a neat male category. I am unsure of why exactly these books intrigue me, especially when I have no wish to see them on the big screen. Somehow reading about them is far more palatable to me. And also slightly addictive.
We will start off with the two female authors of the bunch.
Naked Cruelty – Colleen McCullough – Harper Collins $39.99
Colleen McCullough is a name we haven’t heard much from in the last many years. She wrote the hugely successful ‘Thorn Birds’ series. I have already reviewed the previous book (book two in the series) and this the newest book about Captain Carmine Delmonico, set in the America in 1968, centres on the vicious rapes of the female residents in Delmonico’s district. Finally one surviving victim decides to speak out and the case moves forward. I thoroughly enjoyed this book as much as the previous one I read as it is set in such an interesting (and slightly unusual) time and the characters have a slightly genteel quality to them. There are no fancy CSI types to fall back on – so it is truly the pitting of wits, as it were – simple brainpower to solve the crimes. A good read.
The Red Wolf – Liza Marklund – Random House $39.99
Second of the female authors is Liza Marklund with ‘Red Wolf’. This book is set in the snowy confines of Iceland with its journalist protagonist Annika Bengtzen. This is the fifth book in the series and in it Annika is still suffering after being attacked in book four , ‘The Bomber’. In this book she is choosing to write about terrorist plots, much to the concern of her editor who thinks she is seeing conspiracy theories everywhere. She starts looking into a terrorist cold case when one of her contacts winds up dead even before she gets to speak face to face. When it is revealed the contact was murdered, Annika continues to move forward with the story against the wishes of her editor, and her philandering husband. Single-mindedly she tracks Red Wolf down to a climactic ending. A true thriller in every sense of the word! The books have been in print for a while, and have only recently been translated into English. Liza Marklund has just released a new book with the prolific writer James Patterson. She could be considered a better writer than he is – so lucky him!
The Calling of the Grave – Simon Beckett – Random House $39.99
‘The Calling of the Grave’ by Simon Beckett is another one in a slightly similar vein. Whether this is because the author is English I’m not entirely sure but it somehow also has a simpler, slower, yet realistic edge to it. Not quite. But close. The story is about Dr David Hunter, Forensic Anthropologist, and a botched case (not his botching I might add) that 10 years later comes back to haunt him. During the intervening ten years, Hunter loses both his wife and daughter, and is the shell of the man he once was. He had originally helped to search for the two victims of serial killer Jerome Monk without success. Ten years later Monk wishes to go back to the moors again and show them where the bodies are really buried this time. With him again are the bitter DI Terry Connor and psychologist Sophie Keller. Things go very wrong with Monk escaping with basically no-one hot on his trail. This is a good solid book and I will be searching out any of the previous three books, as they will be perfect holiday/travel reading.
The Fall: Book Two of the Strain Trilogy – Guillermo del Toro, Chuck Hogan – Harper Collins $39.99
The last book in this lot is definitely a murder and mayhem book but with a very good dose of fantasy thrown in. The master of the macabre Guillermo del Toro (who wrote two of my favourite films, Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy) co-writing with Chuck Hogan (Prince of Thieves) has chosen this time to write about our current fantasy addiction, vampires. These are definitely NOT of the morally conflicted, human-loving variety, in fact they are very much the anti-Twilighters – they are Darkness in every sense of the word. This book is also a sequel (I am definitely sensing a pattern here) after ‘The Strain’ opened up the Pandora’s box that is vampires of the worst kind being quickly and quietly being unleashed on the world. In ‘The Fall’, book two of a trilogy, we again meet Dr Ephraim Goodwater as he tries to stem the vampiric infection spreading across the US and the world.
It even mentions good old NZ and I understand del Toro holds us with a great affection after settling in Wellington for a time as he worked on the screenplay of ‘The Hobbit’. The book revolves around the power struggle that of the old and the new vampires as the world falls into chaos and old order collapses. By the time it is all over the world will be a completely different place. Eph Goodwater is helped by the holocaust survivor Professor Abraham Setrakian and rat exterminator Vasily Fet as they battle to keep Eph’s son Zack safe from the vampire tracking him at every turn – Zack’s mother, Kelly Goodwater. The vampire lore in this book is complex and unusual – and I loved it. The characters are quirky yet believable too.
But then I do love anything to do with vampires, and fantasy, and mayhem – so this was always going to be a winner for me!
By Anya Brighouse, 28 January 2011
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