Quick Review – The Apprentice

 
Published in 2002

Boston Detective Jane Rizzoli hunts for a serial killer whose gruesome method is disturbingly similar to that of imprisoned murderer The Surgeon. (pub'd 2001)

Rizzoli works hard to act as tough as her male colleagues, despite being haunted by the terror-filled moments she spent at the hands of the Surgeon before she captured him. Showing the weakness and vulnerability she often feels is not an option.

Complications arise when Rizzoli must work with FBI agent Gabriel Dean, and she battles both her belief he will usurp her role in the investigation as well as her burgeoning attraction to him.

A further complication-- and horror-- occurs when the crafty Surgeon escapes prison and it becomes apparent the two serial killers have become a team

When Rizzoli is captured by the unholy duo, I confess I almost expected the white knight (Gabriel Dean) to save her.

I'm so glad I was wrong. Rizzoli is the hero of her deadly predicament and she disposes of the vermin in a beautiful manner. I cheered!

Gerritsen is a superb writer. She has created a complex, easy-to-identify-with character in Jane Rizzoli. Forensic methods, investigative instruments, medical exams, are realistically presented in a thorough and interesting manner.

Conclusion: Compelling characters, a well-executed taut, suspenseful thriller






--Cat

Quick Review – Unspeakable

 

 

Published in 1999

The Players:

Two convicts, one E-V-I-L personified, the other a sad mental deficient, break out of prison and go on a vicious crime spree.

The slightly smarter brother of E-V-I-L, who joins in on the crimefest.

A small-town sheriff forced to retire, obsessed with the case he couldn't solve thirty years ago.

A gruff rancher who harbors a secret love for his widowed daughter-in-law.

Said daughter-in-law, a beautiful deaf woman, accomplished and self-sufficient, who has put her ambitions on hold and with her five year old son remains at the ranch from a sense of duty.

A rugged drifter with painful secrets

A slick banker who covets the rancher's land

Stereotypical characters aside, this is a suspenseful thriller with graphic violence and sex, remorseless cruelty and murder aplenty. Amidst the mayhem a tender love story emerges.

I had a slight problem with Brown's tendency to insert comprehensive past histories of minor characters, and the two-steps-forward-one-back approach as movement halts to detail a character's morning. Did some skimming, which is a shame as the book is well written.

And I can't define why, but I felt the drifter's big secret was, for want of a better word, bogus.

Conclusion: Not for the gentle reader. Stock characters in stock situations, redeemed by Brown's powerful writing.

--Cat

Quick Review HONEYMOON

Chosen 2005 International Thriller of the Year by the International Thriller Writers

The same organization named Patterson Thriller Master of 2007.


HONEYMOON follows an oft used plot, the beautiful Black Widow who marries rich then offs the husbands for their millions. An equally common plot addition is the handsome FBI agent who, while investigating the Widow, falls in lust with her, placing both his job and his life in jeopardy.

The chapters are short, two to three pages long, ensuring a fast pace, a fast read.

Patterson/Roughan give us the viewpoints of several different characters. The FBI agent, working undercover, is shown in both first person POV, and third. An interesting device to reveal character.

The beautiful villain is well drawn, and because of her traumatic childhood becomes an almost sympathetic character despite her deadly activities. She starts truly falling for the agent, but when she discovers she's been played no one seems safe. A black widow scorned...

An odd character, a killer identified as The Tourist appears in the book and his scenes seem unrelated to the Black Widow mystery. Later it becomes clear he is the hero/FBI agent working on another case at the same time.


There's also an unidentified female character following the Black Widow. My first guess as to her identity proved correct.


I expected a big showdown at the end between the agent and the widow, perhaps on a sailboat (per the cover). No such showdown. No sailboat, either. Sure, the widow is dispatched in the same gruesome manner she killed her men. But the end was a wee bit anticlimactic for me.


Conclusion: a good quick summer read. All's well that ends well.




--Cat

 

Quick Review – Daddy

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             Daddy
            by Loup Durand
            1987

            Translated from French by J. Maxwell Brownjohn

            This nifty, complex thriller is a true cat and mouse chase through
            France, Switzerland, and Germany in 1942. The cat, recruited by
            Nazis, is Gregor Laemmle, a brilliant, somewhat dissipated,
            philosopher, who has the German army and the French police at his
            disposal. The mouse is eleven year old multilingual genius Thomas
            von Gall. He has memorized bank codes that access 350 million
            dollars in gold hidden by Jews at the start of the war, money now
            coveted by the Germans. Laemmle is to do anything he must to find
            the boy.

            Thomas uses his superior brain to outwit Laemmle, a difficult task
            given the latter’s vast resources and his knack for foreseeing
            Thomas’s every move. Likening the hunt to a challenging chess game,
            with moves and countermoves, Laemmle bears a grudging respect for
            the talented boy, even grows to love him. After his beloved mother
            is killed in a trap, Thomas hates Laemmle with a fury he has never
            known

            Enter a third party with a vested interest in the situation:
            American David Quartermain, who received a letter from Thomas’s
            mother, informing him that the boy is his son and he may be the only
            one to save him. One of a large family, said to be America’s
            wealthiest, Quartermain has led the idle life of a rich, carefree
            playboy, and now must get involved in a serious quest that may kill
            him. He does an admirable job, as does Thomas, whose distrust of the
            American grows into respect, and finally love. Suspenseful twists
            and turns throughout lead to a satisfying ending.



            ~ Loup Durand, 1933-1995, first published at the age of forty-two.
            He wrote several French adventure novels under a pseudonym. Daddy
            became an instant bestseller in France.

            ~ A 1989 review in The New York Times took exception to the Indiana
            Jones/James Bond heroics David Quartermain displays. Some readers no
            doubt agree. Millions, however, loved this book. I count myself
            among the latter.

            ~ In 2003 a TV movie based on Daddy--Entrusted--was produced
            (UK/France).


            ~ Other Novels:

            The Angkor Massacre - 1983
            Jaguar - 1990
            The Grand Silence - 1994