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Quick review - Graveyard Shift

The seventh book of the Hope Sze medical mystery series is the first I read. I was hooked on page 1, an action packed scene in which the young resident doctor is nearly strangled by a psychotic drug addict screaming for her next fix.

The night gets wilder in the ER with an array of patients, some with simple ailments, some more complicated. Dr. Sze is nearly kidnapped, an ER doctor is murdered, threats are received.

Dr. Sze believes someone has it in for the busy Montréal hospital ER, and between working her diverse emergency cases she tries to determine this person's identity. Complicating matters is her frustration at the disappearance of a man she loves, and her uncertainty about other staff members.

I enjoyed the deep first person POV--the interior monologues gave me a "you are there" feeling. And I liked her explanation of the terms used for various ailments. There's humor among the pathos.

A definite page turner with a likable, complex main character. I'm going to start with the first book and read them all!

--Cat

Remembrance Day

     In Flanders Fields

     BY JOHN MCCRAE

     In Flanders fields the poppies blow

     Between the crosses, row on row,

         That mark our place; and in the sky

         The larks, still bravely singing, fly

     Scarce heard amid the guns below.

     We are the Dead. Short days ago

     We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

         Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

              In Flanders fields.

     Take up our quarrel with the foe:

     To you from failing hands we throw

           The torch; be yours to hold it high.

          If ye break faith with us who die

     We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

             In Flanders fields.  

--Cat

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Quick Review – Against the Storm

Against The storm by Kat Martin

The fourth book in a series, yet reading it as a stand-alone book is easy. I didn't find any requirement to read the previous books.

Beautiful redhead Maggie O'Connell is a prominent and popular Houston professional photographer with an annoying problem: a stalker whose penchant for leaving her messages has increased to an alarming level.

She hires handsome ex-Army Ranger security expert-private investigator Trace Rawlins to find the stalker and stop him before he can carry out his latest chilling promise – that soon he and Maggie will be together.

Maggie's life becomes infinitely more interesting when her younger sister, who she hasn't seen in years, shows up on her doorstep with a baby. On learning that her sister has escaped an abusive relationship and needs help, Maggie takes them in and discovers she has a strong protective streak.

Trace, whose weakness for redheads has always been his undoing, is wary about taking the job for Maggie, especially when he finds out she didn't tell him the truth about why Houston Police did not take her complaints seriously.

But he takes the case out of feelings of duty, all the while fighting both his distrust of Maggie and a strong attraction  to her. Maggie has an equally strong attraction to Trace, but is certain he is seeing someone else. She can't see a future for them.

As they go about searching for the stalker, planning to lure him into the open, they fight their attraction. Until they cannot any longer.

The stalker is caught, yet Maggie's life is still in danger. Her townhouse catches fire; all her camera equipment and computers are ruined. After some digging, they determine this new threat comes from something in one of her photographs, and they work together to catch the culprit.


Conclusion: well-written, fast-paced twisty suspense, lots of will-they-or-won't-they stay together anxiety, scads of steamy sex. The appearance of the sister with the baby makes a nice subplot, though her instant hookup with a kind, selfless young billionaire isn't easy to believe. Also, the reasons that Maggie and Trace initially distrust each other are flimsy. But there is much to enjoy here.

Quick review – The Butcher's Theater

The Butcher's Theater
by Jonathan Kellerman
1988

Said to be one of Kellerman’s best, most ambitious works, his fourth novel is huge, not in size but in its panoramic scope. Part police procedural, part suspense thriller, part intense analysis of a psychotic killer, the story plays out vividly in an exciting city seething with passionate racial, political, and religious differences.

When the mutilated body of a young Arab girl is discovered in the hills around Jerusalem, Chief Inspector David Sharavi and his crack team, a cross section of the rich ethnic composition of the city, swing into action. The mutilation-murder of a second Arab girl drives the press to focus on the political significance of the case, resulting in turmoil--an Arab-Jewish riot and more bloodshed. The investigation leads Sharavi through the darkest recesses of the sprawling city and of his own mind, before ending in a chilling showdown where he and the killer meet in a gruesome fight to the death.

Wonderfully detailed descriptions of the culture, history, and life in modern-day Jerusalem bring the city to vibrant life, as strong a character as those who inhabit the pages of this book.

Conclusion – I've read many Kellerman books, and this is my favorite. Great story, well told.

~ Jonathan Kellerman was born in New York City in 1949. He now lives in Los Angeles with his wife, mystery writer Faye Kellerman and their four children.

~ “I didn't want to do another book about Israel but I did bring Sharavi back in Survival of the Fittest as a fairly major character and I may bring him back again as a side protagonist in other books.” – from an interview on Bookreporter.com, May 2003

~ “Whether you're a writer creating fiction, or a musician, or a painter, the whole thing about being creative is doing something new. We call them novels for a reason: they're novel, they're new! I think creative people tend to have low tolerance for repetition. It gets boring. Thrown into the mix in my case is that there are a lot of built-in constraints to writing a series. There are limits to what I can do to Delaware [The Alex Delaware series]. I can stretch him up to a point but not past it. Given those limitations I'm always trying to move those boundaries and make things interesting.” – from an interview on Bookreporter.com, May 2003

~ Faye Kellerman on her husband’s work: "Jonathan's strength is his consistency in always writing a fantastic story, his ability to keep the story moving and his wonderful prose. He uses the perfect metaphor -- not five perfect metaphors. He's able to inject much more into his thrillers than the average thriller-writer because of his training as a psychologist and his keen insight into people." – from an interview on BookPage, Dec 2000

 

– Cat

Quick review - Silent Witness

Silent Witness  [A Dylan Scott Mystery]  by Shirley Wells



In Lancashire, England, Ex cop turned private investigator Dylan Scott is hired by the parents of a man they claim is unjustly serving a life sentence for murder. Once unjustly jailed himself, Scott is determined to find the truth and free the man, if indeed he is innocent.

And Aleksander Kaminski claims he's innocent, despite strong evidence that places him at the scene of his ex-wife's murder. Kaminski's second wife Sue supports the claims of her incarcerated husband, despite knowing he was still involved with his ex.

Scott's investigation turns up several suspects, and he diligently follows each lead. He discovers a complicated web of secrets, passions, self-delusions, and deceit that he must unravel to help the imprisoned man.

Interspersed with Scott's detective work is his sometimes strained relationship with his wife Bev, who has just had their second child and is suffering from postpartum depression. This is an honest and natural depiction of a husband and wife who love but often don't understand each other.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, apparently third in the series. Scott is a great character, likable, human, caring. The other characters are also well developed and given their chance to tell the story in their own unique points of view.

Great twist at the end – one I didn't see coming.

Conclusion: I read this book quickly – could not put it down for long, and found myself often thinking about it. I wanted Scott to solve it and set Kaminski free. I wanted Bev to bond with her baby, and all to be happy. Wonderful writing by Shirley Wells. I want to read more of her work, more about Dylan Scott.

--Cat