the Book Brothel

href="http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446611646/qid%3D1112191697/702-1412171-1145627"

alt="The Narrows by Michael Connelly" />

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Mass market, 427 pages, 2004

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: I was running low on my supply of thrillers by the authors I

usually read; time to try someone new!

Synopsis: In a previous novel (The Poet) Rachel Walling, an FBI agent shipped off to the boonies for previous bad conduct, believed a certain horrible serial killer was finished off

and done with. But now she’s been contacted by her former FBI office with the news that the

serial killer, nicknamed the Poet, has left a message for her, along with a stash of ten

bodies.
Meanwhile, ex-detective Harry Bosch has been contacted by the widow of a former

friend and colleague, a woman convinced that her husband’s heart failure was actually

murder. Harry agrees to investigate, completely unaware that he’s blazing towards Rachel’s

investigation and possibly placing himself in the path of an experienced and highly intelligent serial

killer.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in mass market), 339 pages, 2004

Rating: 6/10

Reason for Reading: The first three books in the series (The Surgeon; The Apprentice; The Sinner) had Gerritsen sitting on top of the forensic mysteries genre, in my opinion.

Synopsis: When medical examiner Maura Isles arrives home from a trip to find cops in front of her house, gathered around a car with a dead body inside, it’s obviously not good news. It gets worse, though, as in the darkness of night the cops mistook the shot woman for her, they looked so much alike. So who is this woman? And perhaps more importantly, was the look-alike the intended victim, or is a killer on the loose and after Maura?

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in mass-market), 424 pages, 2002

Rating: 7/10

Reason for Reading: I’ve been trying to restrain myself from racing through all of Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series, but couldn’t stop myself from reading The Stone Monkey, the fourth book (of five) in the series.

Synopsis: When a ship carrying illegal Chinese immigrants into America capsizes, criminalists Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs find themselves in a race to catch the notorious human smuggler whose elusive nature has earned him the nickname of the Ghost. At stake are the lives of the surviving immigrants, because there’s no way a driven criminal like the Ghost is going to leave behind any witnesses. With all of the Ghost’s underground crime connections it’s going to prove tough to find him, much less bring his killing spree to a halt.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in mass-market), 411 pages, 2000

Rating: 10/10

Reason for Reading: I got into Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series thanks to a recommendation at Book Crazy, and I’ve found they make excellent slump-breakers. This is the third in the series.

Synopsis: Criminalist Lincoln Rhyme and his protégé Amelia Sachs abandon the bustle of Manhattan for the University of North Carolina, where Rhyme wants to try a highly experimental procedure for quadriplegics, which may be his only hope to get mobility beyond his head and one pinky finger - if it doesn’t make him worse. Before he can even finish his first consultation, the local police are knocking on the door and asking for their help. A teenage boy has been murdered, and two girls are missing. They need Rhyme and Sachs’ help deciphering forensic clues to find them before it’s too late.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in mass market), 342 pages, 2003

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: Gerritsen is the best forensic science-based thriller writer around.

Synopsis: It’s almost impossible to imagine - one nun murdered and another left for dead in a savage attack in a church in a secluded nunnery. Medical examiner Maura Isles, with the help of Detective Jane Rizzoli, must uncover the secrets the dead have left her. The criminals are hiding things, certainly, but the investigation is hampered because it seems that nuns can have secrets too…

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in mass market), 306 pages, 2003

Rating: 6/10

Reason for Reading: It’s hard to resist reading a book in a series, even if you were less than impressed with the previous book or two.

Synopsis: Tempe Brennan, forensic anthropologist, returns in the sixth book in Reich’s series. Using her forensic skills, Tempe must find out what connections exist between a baby burned to a crisp in an oven, dead drug dealers, and bags of bones containing both bear and human remains. To think, she was supposed to be vacationing on the beach with a handsome detective…

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in mass-market), 421 pages, 1997

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: I liked The Blue Nowhere so thought I should start Deaver’s Lincoln Rhymes series.

Synopsis: Quadriplegic Detective Lincoln Rhymes, able to move only a finger and his head, is discussing assisted suicide with a doctor when the police force asks him for help on a case. Despite himself, he’s intrigued. A criminal is kidnapping people and leaving clues to their whereabouts - and if the police can’t crack the clues in time, the victim dies. Rhymes uses Officer Amelia Sachs as his eyes to do the legwork on the scenes. Despite her insistence that she’s been transferred to deskwork and isn’t trained in crime scene work, Sachs finds herself bagging and tagging bones and other gruesome evidence for forensic testing in order for Rhymes to use his brilliant mind to try and save the victims.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in mass-market), 326 pages, 2000

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: Recommended at BookCrazy.

Synopsis: A number of teenagers in Algonquin Bay have gone missing, and Detective John Cardinal’s worst suspicions are confirmed with the discovery of the first body. Cardinal’s pursuit of the killer is impeded by problems at home, and his own criminal past being investigated, but he doesn’t have much time: another victim has been chosen.

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