Tag: RATED 3/5

Bad Moon Rising by Sheila Quigley (Seahills #2)

181x293

My Rating: 3/5

Sheila Quigley is still a relatively new author to me and I only recently finished her first book in the series featuring Detective Inspector Lorraine Hunt. In the first book we meet Lorraine as well as some of her colleagues she works with such as Carter, Luke and Sara. We also see featured some of the Lumsdon family who were in the first book.

The one thing I liked about reading book two is that I already have a feel for the area and the characters and how they interact with each other. I know Lorraine’s feelings on certain people which makes me feel like I know the characters that little bit more. Having said that, it certainly isn’t necessary to read the first book as this book gives you adequate background.

The story itself sees Lorraine and her team tackling a series of murders at a time when the town is preparing for an annual event called Feast Week. There is also an interesting second thread concerning a missing young girl which made for an interesting take on all the things happening in the town.

The book, as with the first one, was very easy to read and there was plenty going on. However, this one was not as good as the first on, although I can tell you I will certainly be buying book 3! The one thing that irritated me in this book was Lorraine trying to deal with her feelings for a certain fella’. This is a woman who has numerous jobs to juggle and murders to solve, yet when it comes to a man, she seems to become a simpering wreck? That aside, the story was great and the writing style good enough to keep me turning the pages.

One thing that readers should know is that the book and characters are from the north of England, so Sheila Quigley has written the narrative exactly as the dialect is spoken. It certainly doesn’t bother me and I think adds to the realism of the people; however some may find it a little hard work. Although I didn’t think the story was as good as the first, Sheila Quigley has me hooked on these characters and I am looking forward to the third book in the series.

Pray For Silence by Linda Castillo (Kate Burkholder #2)

225x346

My Rating: 3/5

I was looking forward to reading Linda Castillo’s second book after enjoying her first so much. We see the return of both Kate Burkholder and John Tomasetti. Except this time around we are around a year after the setting for the book Sworn to Silence.

When the police arrive at the Amish farmstead in Painters Mill following the sound of screaming, they can’t imagine the horror that awaits them. An entire family slaughtered: the men shot, the young women tortured and killed. They need to work out if this is random or intentional and planned. Kate decides to call on John for help. Jon is having his own career crisis and finds that the call from Kate comes at the right time.

Linda Castillo’s writing was just as good the second time around. However, a few chapters in and I was getting the distinct feeling that I had been here and read this before. The story wasn’t as complex as the first and I found myself getting frustrated with the plot. I wasn’t however dissapointed with the characters. I like Kate Burkholder and John and think the dynamics of their friendship/relationship was the more interesting part of this book?!?!

I was over half way through and kept expecting there to be a big surprise or plot twist. Sadly, I was still expecting it right up to the end, only to be left feeling disappointed. Don’t get me wrong overall I enjoyed the book, but I wasn’t sure what the overwhelming dislike was. Was it the fact that the Amish angle to the story was now a little dull? Or was it the fact that the story just wasn’t as good as her first book? I don’t actually think I know the answer even having finished it.

As a summary, I would say that this is a read that will keep you reasonable entertained, but not gripped. Anybody looking to read another great book in this series may be left feeling a little cheated. All of that said, I will still buy and read the next book in the series which has already been released in the hope that this book was just a minor blip

The Faithless by Martina Cole

225x346

My Rating: 3/5

For the last three books that Martina Cole has written, I finish it and then promise myself I won’t waste money buying it full price. I feel terrible saying that but it’s the truth. I have always been a huge Martina Cole fan and loved the older books such as `Ladykillers’. Sadly it seems that many authors who have huge success seem to go rapidly downhill. I fear that Martina Cole is now firmly on that list. So after finishing her last book entitled The Family I swore that was it. Yet here I am a year later having broken that promise and paying full price for it. For some reason, due to Martina’s sheer talent, I always feel that maybe this is the year she will come back with a bang. 3 years on and I am still not feeling the slightest rumble, let alone bang.

Overall this book was far from terrible, but it is still lacking something which I can’t quite put my finger on. The story itself sounded fabulous from the synopsis and I was looking forward to reading this. As I started reading I had high hopes as you are drawn into the world of the loathsome Cynthia Tailor. Martina certainly still has the knack of producing some vile characters and Cynthia is one of them. Cynthia is a character that is constantly wanting more and its pretty clear from the outset that this woman will stop at nothing to get her own way.

I was very excited reading the first few chapters as the story took no time at all to pick up momentum. I was swept along with Cynthia’s sister Celeste who has bagged the ultimate prize in her partner Johnny. A local face and a man set for better things. Cynthia’s children Gabby and James Junior play a very large part in the beginning of the story as do her parents Mary and Jack.

It becomes clear before long that the story is set over quite a long time period and as w hole the story itself was great, as were the characters. Halfway through and I was still loving the writing but felt that the major difference between this and her older book sis the sheer volume of narrative. I am certainly no book expert, I just know what I like. I don’t recall Martina Cole’s earlier books ever being this descriptive. If you were to weigh up the descriptive narrative and the characters actually speaking I think people would be shocked. It felt like there was an awful lot of repetition and I really didn’t need to be told hundreds of times how much Cynthia wanted everything!!!

I genuinely feel so torn about this book. I actually liked the story and the characters and her writing is still as strong as ever. However, I really disliked the amount of description everything had, and I had that sinking feeling that I was just reading a re-hashed story I had read a million times before. I am still really unsure whether Martina Cole has changed her writing, or whether the competition out there has just got better. These days with the likes of new writers such as Kimberley Chambers and Dreda Say-Mitchell coming along, maybe people expect more. I know it sounds a little sad, but I can’t help wishing that Martina would make a monumental comeback with a book that blows everybody away.

Overall I can’t say that I disliked this book, but it just isn’t as good as some others. No doubt I will still (stupidly) continue paying full price for Martina’s new books praying that it’s the best ever! I imagine that this book will get really mixed reviews and would suggest seeing her better work you should try her earlier stuff.

KILL ALEX CROSS BY JAMES PATTERSON (ALEX CROSS #18)

My Rating: 3/5

Mmmmm, let me think on it for a minute. I feel very torn trying to write a review on this book and if I am being honest I really wanted to like it. Like many readers, when you have read a series as long as this you want things to be great all the time, but inevitably there will come a point when maybe things just don’t sit right any more. I think that maybe I am leaning towards that opinion more than anything right now. Cross Country I absolutely loathed, I, Alex Cross was better but certainly not his best. With this one, I just feel it was mediocre.

The story itself had all the right ingredients, the kidnapping of the two most famous children in America and a terrorist attack on D.C. But somehow it just seemed too much like we had been there before and Alex Cross is maybe going over old ground. The writing style still has the magic Patterson touch with the short sharp chapters that keep the pages turning. That certainly wasn’t lacking, I just felt that there was a major `something’ missing and I cannot for the life of me place exactly what it is.

The character himself was lacking the magic sparkle this time around and I didn’t particularly think he was written in the same manner either. Alex Cross has always been a man who works hard, but this time round his family were a very poor second to his work and that made me think badly of him.

I know it sounds ridiculous to some, but when you have read 18 books over as many years, as a reader you feel you know the character. I certainly finished this book feeling like I didn’t know Alex Cross at all. The terrorist element of storylines in general is wearing a little thin with me as there seems to be so much of it around. I also felt that this part of the story, although very realistic, was a little rushed, and almost like an afterthought to bump the original storyline up a notch.

I am left feeling like I don’t know what just happened. Has Alex Cross finally run out of cases to solve, or has Mr Patterson bitten off more than he can chew with the amount of books he writes and co-writes? In my opinion it has to be one of the two, I just can’t make my mind up which one it is!

Dead Mans Grip by Peter James (Roy Grace #7)

228x346 (3)

My Rating: 3/5

Now the first thing I want to point out is that I am a huge Peter James fan and in particular of this series. Roy Grace is a fantastic character who I have studiously followed in each book. Peter James has always done a fantastic job of creating stories that capture you and the recurring characters that I have slowly fallen in love with. However, this book failed to leave me with the same satisfaction as others in the past.

The story itself starts off with quite a dramatic car accident. We have a short introduction of the main characters and then the accident itself is described in all its horrific detail. The beginning set the pace and as usual with a Peter James book the pace stays that way usually to the very end. This new book is as usual over 500 pages long and I felt that around the halfway mark my interest was becoming far less that it usually is.

The main storyline is centred on Carly Chase who was involved in the traffic accident that involved the death of a young man. It now seems that Carly’s life is in danger by a killer that has already murdered the other two people involved in the accident. I think the main let down for me was the killer themselves; there was a certain air of disbelief that Peter James had taken this route and I found it lessened my enjoyment of the book.

His writing style is as ever fantastic which makes a book ten times easier to read and as usual his characters are all very strong and make a lasting impression. The appearance of the much loved characters is again a sign of how good a writer he is, so from that perspective he cannot be faulted. Roy Grace along with Glenn Branson and some other recurring characters are as ever brilliantly written and people I want to continue seeing.

Roy’s relationship with Cleo is visited throughout the story and we see the glimpses of potential problems for both of them in the future. It is hard to explain why without containing plot spoilers but trust me; this element of the book is brilliant because Peter James has you so hooked on finding out what will happen you just HAVE to buy the next book he publishes.

The last part of these books is the element of Roy’s past concerning his wife Sandy. At the end of his last book I was convinced we would see a conclusion to it in this book. I was wrong! In a way I was irritated by the fact as a reader I didn’t get the answers I wanted, but boy does Peter James throw in a shocker at the end of this book! It was enough of a shocker to nearly make me forgive him the weak killer element of this story.

Overall I really enjoyed the writing style and elements of the story, but the weak element of the killer really made it feel a bit of a let down for me. Finding it hard to rate but will probably say middle of the road. Not his best book in this series, but a crucial element in the ongoing saga of Roy’s past! My advice is to start at the beginning of the series and work your way through.

Destiny by Louise Bagshawe

226x346

My Rating: 3/5

I only recently started reading Louise Bagshawe. I know that she has written for many years but have not read any of her earlier books. The most recent book I read was named Desire and had a suspiciously similar cover to this one. I enjoyed the last one and felt that it was chick lit with an element of `thriller’ thrown in for good measure. I felt that this book was firmly rooted back to the solely chick lit genre which is not necessarily a bad thing.

The first thing that struck me in the first half of the book was how much I disliked the main character Kate Fox. As a main character I almost expect to instantly like them and this was not the case with this book. Although I didn’t warm to her the story was easy to absorb yourself in. Kate is a typical money-grabbing woman. The only difference with her to other stereo-typical gold-diggers was that she seemed to be a very independent and intelligent woman. It kind of made me wonder why she was choosing this path for her life.

Sure enough it becomes apparent that this life is not for her but to extract herself from it means a long and dirty fight with her husband Marcus Broder. Broder was a despicable character that had wealth and power and absolutely zero respect for women. The second half of the book we see Kate struggle with her decisions and then a major event impacts her life in a way that she is unsure how to deal with.

This particular event is one that I didn’t see coming so adds to the element of surprise which is a good thing. I can’t say that this book throws up anything particularly new in this genre (which is very hard to do anyway) but Bagshawe has created characters that you find easy to get to know which is always a plus for me. The story is paced pretty well and towards the latter part of the book it picks up pace.

The ending was a little predictable but written well and I enjoyed it. The one thing that threw me a little bit was the amount of sex in the book. Don’t get me wrong you see it countless times in this genre and it is par for the course, but I just don’t remember Louise Bagshawe writing this raunchily in the last book. If you are a little prudish then maybe this isn’t for you. However, this book was pretty readable but with the amount of competition out there, I’m not sure its at the top of the selections!

10TH ANNIVERSARY BY JAMES PATTERSON (WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB #10)

My Rating: 3/5

In the last book 9th Judgement I was not a happy bunny. The lead character Lindsay seemed to have had a personality transplant and had become this wimp overnight. Thankfully she seems to have got some of her backbone back in this latest book. Her and her work partner Rich are a good fit and the case they worked on was the main thread of this book in the beginning. Thankfully the story was somewhat better than some of the others in the series although a long way off as good as they could be.

Yuki is the other character I just cannot get my head around. For a start she is an Assistant District Attorney so the true nature of somebody in that position doesn’t fit with how she is being written. The main thread for her was again not a bad story, but we keep seeing the insistent `pushing’ of her becoming involved with somebody and having to find herself a man. There is something about it that just doesn’t sit right with me.

Cindy is the one character that I think has become stronger and her relationship with Rich played a bigger part this time round. The last book I read their relationship felt like an added extra that was dumped in the book at the last minute but thankfully now it all seems to have taken an upward turn and fits her character and the story a lot better. Cindy was by far the best part of this latest read which isn’t that positive a sign seeing as the book features Lindsay a lot more.

Medical Examiner Claire was the only character that was missing for the largest part of the book. It felt like they had forgotten her or maybe it was the fact that there were a lot less dead bodies in this one for her to autopsy. Either way I think she should have featured more that she did.

Okay, I feel like I do this every time I read a Patterson nowadays. It’s almost like I get a shock if I love the book. The thing with Patterson books is that the writing style is genius. They are short sharp chapters which manage to pique your interest and keep you turning pages. However, the real heart of the stories seems to be somewhat missing. Is this down to Patterson losing his touch or down to the co-authors who some people claim are the real `writers’ to these books? Who knows?

The three stories that ran were okay, but just that, okay! They were interesting enough to keep me reading and in truth the only thing that made me that bit more interested were the characters I have grown to understand and know the more I have read.

The pace was as usual pretty good but there were no great surprises and like I mentioned before the body count was low! If this was the first in the series I think there would be less of a following and I think that people go back to these books time and time again because they are `easy readers’.

If you look at the overall rating of these Murder Club books you may be surprised. Amazon ratings show the majority of the series to be `middle of the road’ and I can understand why. Love him or loathe him, you won’t find many people that haven’t heard of or read a James Patterson.

This time I won’t try to convince myself that I won’t pre-order because (for no obvious reason) I probably will (what a sucker!). I wouldn’t say this was awful, but I wouldn’t say it was his best.

Payback by Simon Kernick

225x346

My Rating: 3/5

I am a huge fan of Kernick’s after reading Relentless. I also found previous book The Last Ten Seconds was a corker of a read. With this one I feel like it was a bit flat in comparison. The story itself was okay, and we get to see Tina Boyd and her obsessions once again. I just felt it wasn’t as good in comparison to his last one.

Like I said before Tina Boyd once again makes an appearance and all of her obsessions are highlighted even more in this book. She is a really good character and with the double up along with Dennis Milne they made for great lead characters. Dennis Milne has appeared in previous Kernick books but I have yet to read them. Even if you haven’t read past books of his, this book can still be read as a stand alone.

The story is mainly set in Manila and as usual the story starts out at breakneck speed. This is one of the main things that sets Kernick apart from other authors. He managed to pick you up and chuck you headfirst straight into the thick of it. The pace hardly lets up throughout the whole book and as usual you will be turning the pages quicker than you can read.

The story itself was okay, but just okay. I loved the writing and the characters but just felt there was something missing with this book. I couldn’t even tell you what it was, just that it doesn’t read as well as some of his other books. As usual the crime scenes are gory and gritty and frighteningly realistic. This is definitely a no holds barred author when it comes to the graphic descriptions of how people die. Having said that; it’s done brilliantly and just ends up drawing you further into the story.

Overall I felt a little bit mixed about this book. On the whole it was as usual a great book from Kernick, just not as good as others he has written and was lacking that usual magic sparkle. I would still recommend and look forward to reading his other books still on my to-read pile!

TICK TOCK BY JAMES PATTERSON (MICHAEL BENNETT #4)

My Rating: 3/5

I have become very jaded with JP’s work recently, especially those that are co-written with the exception of the books following Michael Bennett. In particular his most recent Bennett novel Worst Case was a great read so I had high hopes for this one.

The greatest part of a book is when an author develops characters you like and Michael Bennett is no exception. I did find that in this book he didn’t seem quite the same. I love the fact that he is a hardworking cop that has a huge brood of children that make up his family. I also love his Grandfather Seamus who is a cheeky but lovable part of Michael’s life. I can’t put my finger on why Bennett was so different this time round, maybe it was the fact that we see him enter into dangerous territory with two women and he just doesn’t handle it all that well.

The biggest let down for me was the story itself, it was lacklustre and to be honest a wash-out compared to the last one. The plot was pretty weak and the killer was all too predictable this time round. The addition of Emily Parker to the case didn’t add much to the actual plot with the killer and it lacked being genuine. It felt like the story plodded along and there was no real urgency like there is with many other Patterson novels.

Having said that I haven’t written off the Bennett series altogether yet I just hope that in the next instalment the main plot is a lot stronger than this one. I think that the majority of fans will enjoy this book but it certainly won’t stay in your memory as being a `great’ book.

Going Dutch by Katie Fforde

224x346

My Rating: 3/5

I had never read Katie Fforde before but have seen her books many times over the years. I picked this book up after reading the jacket and had no expectations, I was just hoping for a decent read.

The book wasn’t particularly hefty at 400 pages but the cover is reasonable, although not particularly attention grabbing. I settled myself down and got stuck in, only that is a lot easier said than done sometimes.

The book is very easy to read and like many chick lit authors, Katie Fforde has an easy way about her writing. We meet Dora and Jo immediately and get to see what has led them to the barge and their current situation.

The characters themselves were `nice’, but sometimes, I kind of feel that `nice’ just doesn’t leave a good enough impression on me. Out of the two characters, Jo stood out more as she was the elder character being a woman nearing her fifties who was finding her feet again and she had some quirky aspects to her character. Dora, on the other hand, was just plain dull. For a start the name just conjures up an image if somebody older than she was meant to be (in her twenties) and she just didn’t have that much personality.

The story itself also seemed to be a bit of a non starter. Don’t get me wrong this certainly wasn’t the worse book I have read it was just too safe with not an awful lot going on in it. There was no excitement and some scenes bordered on making me snooze!

As the story progressed, it was obvious what would happen and there was no doubt in either the author or the readers mind what the ending would be. All in all, for a first book by this author it didn’t leave the greatest of impressions. It was very safe and a little on the dull side.

Once I had read this book I scouted on Amazon to see how her other books faired and was pleased to see that her other books had much more favourable reviews. I will look forward to reading another by her, but certainly won’t be rushing out to buy it from the shop.