the Book Brothel

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover, 439 pages, 2008

Rating: 10/10

Reason for Reading: Always happy to try out a new thriller author - especially one who had a big-name director (Ridley Scott, American Gangster) attached to the movie adaptation a year before his debut novel was even in stores.

Synopsis: It’s hard for atrocities to stand out in Stalin’s brutal Russian regime during the 1950s - everyone is a potential enemy of the state, and men, women, and children are routinely rounded up and killed with no more than the fear-induced pointing of a finger. But staunch supporter of the regime, Leo Demidov, has found something that may stand out as horrific even amongst his own brutalities: the possibility of a serial killer who focuses only on children. The problem? According to the ideologies of Stalin, there is no crime, and all efforts to investigate the killings make Leo a rebel and betrayer of state policies. In order to pursue a criminal, he must become one, endangering his life and those of his family…

(more…)

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Mass market, 277 pages, 2008

Rating: 8/10

Reason for Reading: New book in the Harry Bosch series! New book in the Harry Bosch series!

Synopsis: It’s the middle of the night when LAPD detective Harry Bosch receives a call about a murder - a doctor with access to radioactive substances was found shot in the back of the head. The entire city may be in trouble if Bosch can’t find out who killed him - all while dodging the FBI, who have their own agenda…

(more…)

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Mass market, 482 pages, 1992

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: After having read Connelly’s Harry Bosch series for years I finally decided to start at the beginning of the series.

Synopsis: When Detective Harry Bosch is called to the scene of an apparent overdose, things just aren’t adding up for him. Sure, the deceased, a fellow ‘tunnel rat’ who fought alongside Bosch in Vietnam, had his share of problems after returning from the war, but things had been looking up. Someone wanted this man dead and they were prepared to kill him and do much more to hide their secret, and the renegade cop Bosch might be the only thing standing in their way…

(more…)

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover, 453 pages, 2006

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: I like a good thriller, and the fact that it was set somewhere that I don’t often read about (Spain) was also a motivator.

Synopsis: Inspector Jefe Javier Falcón is investigating an unusual murder, in which the body has been stripped of all means of identification in a very professional manner, when the town of Seville, Spain, is sent into a panic from a massive explosion. It looks like a terrorist attack, but Falcón is about to discover that nothing is as it seems in a world where mind games matter as much as, if not more than, the horrible physical realities they inflict upon innocent lives.

(more…)

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in mass market May 2007), 510 pages, 2006

Rating: 10/10

Reason for Reading: I own The Zero Game but haven’t read it yet, so on to my usual bad habit of reading newer books first.

Synopsis: Wes Holloway was a presidential aide ready to take over the world until a would-be presidential assassin destroyed his face with a bullet and took out Ron Boyle, one of the president’s oldest friends. It’s now eight years later, and Boyle seems to be alive and a massive conspiracy underway, but unless Holloway can figure out who’s being targeted and what exactly is being covered up, he’s just a disposable pawn who might be in the way of the most powerful government in the world…

(more…)

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade, 282 pages, 2006

Rating: 8/10

Reason for Reading: I read the first chapter online here after hearing the Carl Hiaasen comparisons, and I knew I had to keep reading.

Synopsis: Tara realizes it’s not normal to start robbing banks with your dad at the age of nine, but that’s everyone else’s problem - she quite enjoys the rush of success that the ‘47 rules’ have brought them. At least, it’s not a problem until she’s twenty-two and beginning to wonder if her dad is about to go completely off the deep end, a matter not helped by the fact that she’s taken a shine to the local sheriff’s son, Max. The heist of a lifetime is right in front of them, but there are cops, criminals, and love interests hot on their trail. Everyone is after someone and something, but not everyone can win, as they’ll find out the hard way…

(more…)

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover, 404 pages, 2005

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: I haven’t read any fictional books about lawyers since John Grisham scared me away from the genre about a decade ago, but Michael Connelly? I’m there!

Synopsis: It’s L.A. lawyer Mickey Haller’s worst nightmare - a client that seems to be innocent. Strange thinking, maybe, but there’s a lot more pressure to keep an innocent man out of jail than there is to make sure a real criminal gets a reduced sentence. It helps, too, that his client, accused of viciously beating a woman, is rolling in money and doesn’t mind Haller racking up billable hours looking with his investigations, but when a close friend is murdered, Haller begins to see that every man may have his price, and if he underestimates anyone around him, he may find he’s the next murder victim…

(more…)

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in mass market), 310 pages, 2005

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: It looked like it would be fun in an Ocean’s Eleven kind of way.

Synopsis: It’s bad guy vs. bad guy vs. bad guy as groups of criminals plot to come away richer at the expense of the other bands of criminals. The story’s ‘likeable thief’ is John Dortmunder, who’s called in to do a heist for Arnie Albright at a very high percentage of the take. Arnie’s feeling generous because his target is Preston Fareweather, a rich jerk hiding out in an island resort to avoid being taken to the cleaners by his five furious ex-wives. While Fareweather is out of the country trying to avoid legal action, he’s left millions of dollars in valuables in his Manhattan penthouse, a tempting score that looks laughably easy for Dortmunder and his crew. But Dortmunder is distracted by the presence of some New Jersey mobsters looking to close down his favourite bar after milking it for all it’s worth, and it’s putting the heist in jeopardy. Nobody’s making any new friends as this large assortment of criminals all look to go home the winners.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

href="http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/031615931x/qid%3D1109145238/702-9921862-5528030"

alt="The Man in My Basement by Walter Mosley" />

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade, 249 pages, 2004

Rating: 8/10

Reason for Reading: Mosley’s name rang a bell from the movie based on his book

Devil in a Blue Dress…even though I never saw it. I was also in the mood for

something nice and short.

Synopsis: Charles Blakey is a thirty-three year old black man who has accomplished

exactly nothing in his life beyond boozing and lying, and it’s never really bothered him

until a middle-aged white man shows up on his doorstep asking to rent his basement. He’s

willing to pay a lot of cash to Charles, but the secretive man with the bizarre demands will

turn Charles’ life upside down, for better or worse, in ways he never would have

imagined.

(more…)