Tag Archives: Crime

Point of Hopes by Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett

American Literature February 16, 2009 Superfast Reader 1 Comment

Synopsis: A host of missing children prompts an investigation led by Adjunct Pointsman Rathe, in a world reminiscent of 17th Century Europe where astrology is the governing religion and worldview. Review: Point of Hopes was a refreshing change of pace from the fantasy I’ve been reading lately. Instead of an epic tale spanning the whole of the human experience in the midst of catastrophic upheaval, Point of Hopes is a simple police procedural set among the ordinary middle class. Within the genre, it’s a fairly…

Everything You Know by Zoe Heller

British Literature February 10, 2009 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: After the suicide of his troubled daughter, a British journalist heads out to recuperate in Mexico and flee the ghosts that still linger even after he was acquitted of the murder of his wife. Review: Everything You Know is a much better book than its title would indicate. Author Zoe Heller is well-known for Notes on a Scandal, which became a great movie with Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. Everything You Know lacks that book’s tawdrily catchy premise, but goes much deeper into its…

The Tree of Hands by Ruth Rendell

British Literature February 2, 2009 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: A bereft woman’s mother’s desperate act triggers a violent spiral affecting a whole community. Review: The Tree of Hands was lesser Ruth Rendell. It dates back to 1986 and she’s really grown as a writer since then. It definitely has her trademark nuanced characterizations but the story wasn’t as gripping as later works like The Rottweiler have been.

The Likeness by Tana French

Irish Literature December 2, 2008 Superfast Reader 3 Comments

Synopsis: When a detective goes undercover to impersonate a murder victim sharing her face, she finds the family she’s always dreamed of and risks blowing everything. Review: I was a big fan of Tana French’s In the Woods, so I leapt at the chance to read The Likeness, her followup featuring several of the same characters. Former detective Cassie Maddox is stuck in Domestic Violence after being forced off the Murder squad due to her role in the catastrophe outlined within In the Woods. A…

In the Woods by Tana French

American Literature October 30, 2008 Superfast Reader 3 Comments

Synopsis: A murder investigation cuts too close to the bone for a detective who was once part of a missing persons case himself. Review: The other Sunday, Superfast Husband had to go to Home Depot after church, and since Superfast Toddler would certainly fall asleep in the car, I needed a book to read while listening to her dulcet snores. We stopped into the murder mystery bookshop nearby, where I asked if they could request anyone who loves Barbara Vine, and likes Ruth Rendell but…

Testimony by Anita Shreve

American Literature October 21, 2008 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: A sex scandal rocks a prep school. Review: I did not care for Testimony. I felt like the writing was on the nose and even lazy. I’m sure Anita Shreve can do better.

In the Face by Lorelei Armstrong

American Literature October 1, 2008 Superfast Reader 1 Comment

Synopsis: When a famous movie star appears to have dumped a body on his plastic surgeon’s balcony, a simulation-obsessed detective delves into a seamy world where there are no limits to what people will do for fame. Review: Babies getting plastic surgery–that’s all I needed to hear to get interested in Lorelei Armstrong’s debut, In the Face. Melding a hard-boiled style in the tradition of James M. Cain and Andrew Vachss with a cyberpunk sensibility, Armstrong delivers a fast-moving, intellectually stimulating thriller with a strong…

Madapple by Christina Meldrum

American Literature July 16, 2008 Superfast Reader 2 Comments

Synopsis: Accused of murder, a troubled young woman tries to piece together the odd facets of her life, starting with her supposed immaculate conception. Review: The chapters in Madapple alternate between a teasingly opaque courtroom case, and defendant Aslaug’s reminiscences about life with her disturbed mother and eventual reunion with her long lost aunt and cousins. Nothing about Aslaug’s life has been ordinary. Her mother claimed that Aslaug had no father because she had never had a lover. She raised Aslaug in the woods, among…

The Minotaur by Barbara Vine

British Literature September 20, 2007 Superfast Reader 1 Comment

Synopsis: Hired to be an au pair to a schizophrenic man, a Swedish girl watches as interfamilial tensions come to a boiling point, with deadly results. Review: Barbara Vine (the alter ego of best-selling crime novelist Ruth Rendell) has carved out a niche as deft portrayer of tightly interwoven groups of people who are all set to go poof! in spectacular and surprising ways. The Minotaur concerns a family that revolves itself around the supposed schizophrenia of the only son and heir to the family…

Tin Angel by Shannon Cowan

Canadian Literature August 6, 2007 Superfast Reader 4 Comments

Synopsis: Accused of murdering her family’s benefactor, a teenage girl caught in the legal system explains what led to her arrest and indictment. Review: Author Shannon Cowan has done a remarkable job researching the Canadian legal system viz. young adults around the time that Tin Angel takes place (late 1960s). However, the emotional component of the story never quite came together for me.

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