29 July 2008

3: The Mystery Writer

Mann January was a good month. My third retrospective book review is of The Mystery Writer by Jessica Mann. If you like the sound of the excerpt, read the whole review here.

"Jessica Mann has written an intriguing, interwoven story of a wartime evacuation and its aftermath, cleverly bridging the class divide between past and present, and exploiting wartime confusion to create a haunting yet dramatic whole. The plot is a series of overlapping themes told from multi perspectives and from various times. These shifts provide a telling testimony to the psychological effects of the Second World War on a group of Cornish characters."

29 Jul 2008 18:13:00 | Book review

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2: The Coffin Trail This is the second of a daily series of book-review retrospectives. This one is also from January 2008, and the book is The Coffin Trail by Martin Edwards. For the full review, please click here. "THE COFFIN TRAIL an absorbing read, full of local detail and vignettes of Lake District life. Hannah and Daniel are plausible characters, and if the hints here are carried forward, they are surely destined to become more closely involved with each other in future books. The central mystery is satisfyingly resolved, with a clever twist in the tale."
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4: The Overlook My fourth pick for this series of book-review retrospectives is another January book, The Overlook by Michael Connelly. For the complete review, please see here. "Michael Connelly has written another work of pared-down genius. The Overlook covers twelve hours in the life of LAPD detective Harry Bosch, from his taking of the case of a man being found dead on the cliffs overlooking Los Angeles, to his solution of the case. The book is simple, with few if any special effects and a simple, direct writing style, but the overall effect is very powerful. Harry Bosch is 56 years old: he is a Vietnam veteran (a “tunnel rat”) and a long-standing policeman before taking early retirement in a fit of disillusionment with LAPD politics. A few books ago he was persuaded back to serve, working cold cases. The most recent of these, described in Echo Park, ended in a bit of a mess, as a result of which Harry is transferred back into the main business of police work. Harry stands for the victim. It is impossible to deflect him by political or emotional means, hence he is the eternal outsider, not promoted, and unsuccessful in his relationships outside work...

Maxine

Science editor who likes reading crime fiction

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