The 14th Protocol by Nathan Goodman

Kindle Edition

One of the reasons I decided to read the 14^th Protocol was because of the number of favorable reviews I had seen.  Unfortunately, I didn’t come to the same conclusion as a number of other readers. 

The book is usually referred to as a fast-paced Techno thriller and I agree it is definitely that.  The basic story is simply that after numerous terrorist attacks, the American people are on edge not knowing where the next attack will happen; only that it will happen and we need the FBI to save the day.  The plot is a slightly exaggerated reflection of the times we live in and covers to some degree false flags, but remains believable. 

What I liked:

      -  The main characters are sympathetic and likeable.

      -  The plot was believable and fairly fast paced.

      -  There are some interesting plot twists.

      -  The cliff hanger ending.

What I didn’t like:

      -      Too many incidental characters.  There were times I felt they were there to up the word count and nothing else.
     -        Awkwardly worded phrases.  There were a number of places I had to reread a sentence two, or three times to be clear on the meaning. 
     -        Though fast paced, the book would have benefited from being somewhat shorter.  This would have tightened the plot and increased the pace and tension.
     -     Not finding out until half-way through who the main character actually is.
     -     Having to order the postquel (no charge) from the author in order to tie up all the loose ends.  An original idea yes, but not sure I am a fan. 

Overall an okay read that would have benefited from better editing.

Deadly Tasting - Jean-Pierre Alaux, Noël Balen

Le French Book

Now I enjoy a glass of good wine with a meal but I am certainly not a wine connoisseur though I know what I like and I can decipher a wine label.  Initially, a mystery built around the many intricacies of wine did not appeal to me.  I have however, enjoyed everything that I have read so far from Le French Book and decided that was reason enough to read at least one volume from this series.  Again, a big Thank You to Anne Trager for translating and making these enjoyable award winning reads accessible to English readers.

Deadly Tasting is book four in the Winemaker Detective Series.  Local Bordeaux police consult wine expert Benjamin Cooker,  following the discovery  at the scene of a brutal murder, of twelve wine glasses deliberately placed in a semi-circle and only one glass contains wine. Cooker needs to identify the wine in the glass to understand the message the killer is leaving.  But when a second murder occurs and this time two glasses are filled with wine, Cooker and the police realize that time is of the essence if they are to stop the killer from striking again. 

Certain the wine left in the glasses is a grand crux Pomerol from the Pétrus estate, Cooker must figure out who could have an apparently unlimited access to such an expensive wine.  Delving into the history of the wine necessitates revisiting the history of the Nazi occupation of the area and digging up secrets from this dark time in Bordeaux history. 

 

The writing is tight and the story fast paced.  There are some lighter moments involving Cooker and the cabbage soup diet that his wife has him on.  Though not strictly necessary to the story, these moments help to lighten the mood following some of the more gruesome murder scenes and the telling of the heavier aspects of the Nazi occupation.

 

Much to my surprise I became quite intrigued by the wine information and found myself researching Pomerol wine, the Pétrus estate and even the cabbage soup diet.  Everything that I learned from my investigations confirmed how well the authors had done their research and how smoothly they incorporated facts and history into the mystery.

 

My research also led me to discover that I can order the Pétrus estate's Pomerol locally but I definitely can't afford to.  At thousands of dollars for a bottle, if I should ever be fortunate enough to have a full glass of it in front of me, there is no way I will be leaving it behind for someone else to discover as a clue.  Salut!

Have a look at some interesting facts about wine and be thankful you weren't a woman in Roman times.

http://interestingthings.info/food-and-beverages/10-interesting-facts-wine-know.html



 

Summertime, All The Cats Are Bored by Philippe Georget

Europa Editions

I wish I could remember on whose recommendation I decided to buy this book, but since it has been sitting on my TBR pile for a year I simply don't remember.  Whoever it was - Thank You. 

Philippe Georget weaves a tale that involves murder and kidnapping in Perpignan, a town on the French Mediterranean near Spain.  Sebag and Molino, two tired cops who are being slowly devoured by dull routine and family worries, deal with the day’s misdemeanors and petty complaints without a trace of enthusiasm (from the book's cover). When the body of a young Dutch woman is found and another young Dutch woman goes missing as does a Spanish taxi driver she knew, the general lethargy that had an iron grip on the police department suddenly vanishes and a game of cat and mouse begins between Inspector Gilles Sebag and the kidnapper/murderer.

One of the amazing things about Georget's writing is his ability to create tone and atmosphere.  Georget is himself a resident of Perpignan and his intimate knowledge of the city permeates his descriptions of the residents and the city and surrounding areas. You feel the lethargy that has set in from the heat and humidity of summer. You sense the impact on the burgeoning small town invaded by summer tourists. You feel the pressure of a small police force under the microscopic eye of the international press. You witness the kidnap victim slowly acquiesce to her situation  - and you understand, completely.  You experience all these things not just through Sebag's eyes and thoughts, but also those of the kidnapped Dutch girl and her kidnapper. 

Sebag is an observer of life  who listens to his instincts about people and events.  He doesn't always immediately realize the significance of his observations and needs to let his thoughts ferment for awhile. He underestimates his own ability as a police inspector, as his wife, his partner and his boss often remind him.  The image of Sebag sitting beside the family pool with a glass of wine while he quietly mulls over the day's developments in his case, is reminiscent of Inspector Morse sitting in a pub with a pint, thinking things through. 

This is a police procedural and a well-written one that kept me reading late into the night.    The laid back atmosphere disguises a deceptively complex narrative.  The investigation is well thought through and develops at a very natural pace, but it is the characterizations that make this such an enjoyable read.  The relationships between Sebag and his colleagues, Sebag and his wife, Sebag and his children, all come together to create a character that you look forward to meeting again.

 

I am kind of happy I only recently got around to reading this book since the next book in the series, Autumn, All the Cats Return, will be released this October.  With a bit of luck I will read it before next spring.

 

 

 

 

Herbie's Game by Timothy Hallinan

Soho Press/Soho Crime

Sometimes a fictional character comes along that you simply connect with. Maybe you admire the character, share a common life experience or just outright fall in love with the character.  Well, I am in with love Junior Bender, he is my Hero.  He's intelligent, decent, tall and handsome, vulnerable and in touch with his feminine side. Except for the small detail that he is the thief's thief, giving him that bad boy appeal, he is perfect.  He is always on the side of right even when he's on the wrong side of the law.

This case is extremely personal for Junior.  He is hired to find out who stole a list of names from the safe of Wattles the "executive crook".  The list contains a chain of names that Wattles uses when he sets up hits.  He uses this chain of people to pass along the instructions at blind drops so that nobody in the chain knows who the actual killer is, except the killer. As soon as Junior sees the aftermath in Wattles' office he knows who stole the list - Herbie Mott.  The same man who took a seventeen year old Junior under his wing and taught him everything he knew, his mentor and substitute father has his signature unmistakeably all over the job.

Junior sets out to confront Herbie and find out what is going on, except he is too late. Someone has tortured Herbie in an effort to get him to reveal where he hid the list. But Herbie's heart gave out and he died before revealing the whereabouts of the list or becoming the next murder victim.  Once Junior begins the investigation, the people on the list start turning up dead, one after the other, and Junior wonders if he is next.

In thinking about Herbie’s Game I was struck by the fact that the story is the classical Hero’s quest.  Junior receives The Call to go down a path that he is Reluctant to pursue.  After all, this investigation means dealing with people who murder for a living and that’s not something that leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling.  The Quest itself is, on the surface, about revenge and finding whoever tortured Herbie, but it is also about Junior’s emotional journey and how he discovers things about Herbie that he never knew.  We the readers meet Herbie through Junior’s reminiscences and Junior Re-Meets Herbie through the stories of others he encounters along the way.   He does not journey through the ordeal alone; he has his archetypical allies and helpers (especially female), most of whom we have met in previous stories, as well as a few intriguing new ones. 

The Road Back from the quest is life-changing.  Junior learns to reconcile the Herbie that he didn’t know with the one that he did and Junior matures and comes to terms with other relationships in his life.   Like all Hero quests, conquering the outer world entails mastering the inner world and Junior eventually finds peace and acceptance in his new found knowledge of Herbie and Herbie’s game.

 

I don’t want you to think that this is a serious deep book with the raison d'être to enlighten you as to the meaning of life. But it is multi-layered and Hallinan does his usual job of great characterizations, incredible dialogue and wonderful humour to demonstrate his  keen and sensitive insight into human nature as the characters come together to direct and tell the story.

 

I don’t know where Hallinan draws his inspiration from to create his characters but I hope it is a very deep well so that he can keep them coming.

Reading a book written by Timothy Hallinan is just great fun – don’t miss out.

Thank you NetGalley and Soho Press for the copy of the book. I want to mention that I love the cover art created by Katherine Grames for this series.

To read an excerpt go to the author's web site:
http://www.timothyhallinan.com/index.html

Great interview:
http://www.omnivoracious.com/2014/08/amazon-asks-timothy-hallinan-author-of-herbies-game.html

The Truth Will Out by Jane Issac

Legend Press

This book hooked  me right from the start.  Imagine two best friends skyping when one, Naomi, says to the other, Eva, that she thinks she hears an intruder in her place.  No sooner does Naomi say this than a mysterious figure attacks her from behind.  To her horror, Eva is a witness to what is happening to her friend until the intruder turns the screen off.  Frantic, she takes off in her car, panicking as she realizes that the intruder will be coming after her next. Eva thinks Naomi has been badly beaten as a warning that is related to their recent misadventure in France.  She doesn't know Naomi has been brutally murdered.

DCI Helen Lavery is assigned to the case.  A case that is not just about murder by a psychopath, but also involves organised crime, drug smuggling, and police corruption.  This is a psychological thriller and a police procedural at its best.  But what really holds the story together is the character of Helen Lavery.

DCI Lavery is reminiscent of Lynda La Plante's Anna Travis in her tenacity to get to the truth.  Also, like Travis, she had a father who was in the police force and that she looked up to and admired as an officer. Both Travis and Lavery are strong female characters, common in British mysteries. However, Lavery is original as she is older and widowed with two teenage sons and an ageing mother to look after.  She strives to balance work and home and is familiar with the politics of the glass ceiling.

 

There are moments in the story when dealing with police work seems a lot easier than being the mother of a teenage boy with raging hormones or a daughter handling the health issues of an ageing parent.  It is easy to relate to Helen - she makes mistakes at home and at work,  she enjoys her family and her job and is often caught between the conflicting demands of the two.  Lonely, and missing the closeness of being in a relationship, makes her a vulnerable, very believable and sympathetic character.

 

The story is told primarily from the viewpoints of Helen and Eva, shifting back and forth between the two as the plot unfolds.  Eva is also a well-developed character. At the start, I didn't particularly care for her, finding her immature and selfish.  But as the story progressed, I began to like her more and to appreciate her resourcefulness. A number of other characters are also well drawn and I especially liked Lavery's assistant, Sean Pemberton, whose loyalty to her rivals the loyalty of the long-suffering Detective Sergeant Lewis in the Inspector Morse series.

 

Even though this is a police procedural, Jane Isaac's strong characterizations make this a more enjoyable read than the typical heavy focus on hows and whys.  The crime scenes are intelligently described without relying on lurid details and the plot moves along at a quick, fluid pace.

 

A truly engrossing read.
 

http://www.legendtimesgroup.co.uk/legend-press

Love Story, with Murders by Harry Bingham

Random House Publishing

Detective Fiona Griffiths takes us across Southern Wales in a bizarre search for body parts.  The parts start showing up in a freezer, a shed, a loft and are eventually identified as belonging to a young female university student who was reported missing five years prior to the first gruesome discovery. The young woman also worked as a waitress and dancer in the local Cardiff bars, like the one owned by Fiona’s father. Soon more body parts are discovered, but this time they belong to a young male metallurgist, who worked for a firm with links to the arms trade.

As Fiona works on the investigation she begins to believe there is a connection between the two murders.  Suffering from Cotard’s Syndrome, Fiona has developed her own peculiar investigative process that helps her relate to her victims and understand their lives. Bingham is clever in how he reveals the story behind the murders all the while using the investigation to reveal more about Fiona. How she struggles in her relationships with family, boyfriend and colleagues, to understand, analyze and respond to their emotional signals (think Sheldon in the Big Bang Theory), and how her reflections on these relationships as well as her self-reflection, are connected to the unravelling of the murders. Because I haven’t read the first book in this series, I may not have appreciated the aspect of Fiona’s personal growth as much as readers who have read Talking to the Dead.

Eventually, Fiona discovers the connection between the two victims and how that connects to the export of arms.  The development of this political aspect to the story brings her into contact with the UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation (UKTI DSO) that actually does exist and whose aim is to help UK companies to export arms.  Apparently, they aren’t too picky about where they export to, even though they are using tax dollars.  The selling and export of arms/technology is a key aspect of the plot.

 

I found this book to be a little over ambitious in the amount of ground the author wanted to cover.  There is a lot of information, the descriptions are very detailed and the plot itself is complicated. As a result, I didn’t find the writing to be as tight as it could have been.  The suspense is there, and it did hold my interest, but I was able to put the book down and return to it a day or two later.

 

Bingham’s characterizations are definitely his strong point.  I felt each character was distinct and that I knew each one well.  It is also clever how the title can refer to both the victims and Fiona herself. 

 

Definitely a worthwhile read.