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JackM Crime 2013


dex

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Target - Simon kernick, Like his other books it starts with a crime that someone either has to prove they haven't committed or that has been committed at all. In this one you're not sure if someome has been kidnapped or not as a character has witnessed it, but there is no proof at the moment that it has actually happened. I was wondering if Jeff Abbot wrote like this? If so Kernick will remain my only author who writes in this style.
I've put Target down for now at 217,chapter 31 on a handy cliffhanger. Managed to read another 128 pages on Sunday.

Read-a-thon,
I'm going to start with John Harvey - Now's The Time.
1 Now's the time
11 Dexterity
25 She rote
65 Confirmation
91 Bird of Paradise
119 Cheryl
139 Work (Lunchtime!)
167 Stupendous
195 My Little Suede Shoes (Pub and Bus)
214 Pages

Saturday
213 Cool Blues
229 Slow Burn
269 Billies Blues

297 end of book
83 pages, (11 and all others are Title Pages like when you do a school project)

Rebus, Ian Rankin - A Good Hanging
1 Playback
23 The Dean Curse
49 Being Frank
63 Concrete Evidence (Which reminded me of Fleshmarket Close)
87 Seeing Things
109 A Good Hanging
137 Tit For Tat
157 Not Provan (About 5 Hours spent reading +174 pages
257Pages
Sunday ( It's Called That +14)

Sunday
189 Auld Lang Syne
205 The Gentleman's Club

225 Monstrous Trumpet

253 End of book
65 pages

(1,23 are all start pages of story)

I read these collections, because they'd been hanging around on the shelf for a while. I prefered the Rebus 253 Pages to the Resnick 297 Pages , although this collection had more related stories in it.
I'm going to return to Target now. ;) +128 pages. Finished now Total 493.

The read-a-thon was interesting, maybe I shoud read short novels next time.

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I've finished Target now, It was like the rest of his books, He seems to come up with some covnoluted plots, but I enjoyed it . I will be reading The Last Ten Seconds next.

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The Last Ten Seconds - Simon Kernick

36 hours ago A brutal serial killer is arrested

24 hours ago Undercover cop Sean Egan has infiltrated a notorious criminal gang

12 hours ago Di Tina Boyd has discovered a criminal conspiracy

10 seconds Man, Woman, a sadistic Killer , They're all going have to fight very hard just to stay alive

Yeah...

 

Well I've got to page 175/474 and all the plotlines seem to be coming together, He's tried to pack quite a lot into the first 1/2 ,He's doing the timeshift thing Today, Yesterday etc. Quite a fast read, but everyone seems to have an agenda of their own.

317/474, The pace of this book is relentless (ahem) and the twists are non-stop. I agree with harlan coben 'Simon writes with his foot pressed hard on the pedal. Hold on tight!'

 

Page 400 chapter 51, night

 

Finished it, So many twists that I'm surprised he knew what was going on while writing it. I enjoyed it though. 3.5

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If I do take part in the next Read-a-thon, I might read Patterson or choose some of my Single books like my Asa Larsson or The Hypnotist, even Blue Heaven. I'm probably going to read my Linwood Barclay after I've finished Simon Kernick and then Montanari or Leather.

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The Payback - Simon Kernick, Two cops , one city, no mercy.

Dennis Milne is a former cop and part-time assassin. He kills the bad guys - people who in his opinion, deserve to die. Now he's in Manila waiting for his next target: A young woman who's made some deadly enemies.

Tina Boyd is in manila hunting down the man responsible for the death of her lover.She knows he's dangerous. She knows he's ruthless. But she's determined to bring him to justice - even if it kills her.

Two cops with pasts that haunt them - and a present that could see them both dead.

They are about to meet. And when they do ,it's payback time.

 

well another fast paced story and I'm on chapter 21 page 183 already :giggle2:

I enjoyed it as it was a simple read and wasn't to complicated or demanding.

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No Time For Goodbye - Linwood Barclay

The house was silent. No sound of her parents getting ready for work, or her brother late for school. Were they punishing her for last night? She'd been out on a date when she should have been studying, and had a huge fight with her father. So where was everyone now? Why had her family disappeared?....

 

I've reached Page 148/437 chapter 17, No idea why a person would wait 25 years to look into the disappearance of their family. At the start of the book Cynthia is 14 so fair enough, but why wait until being 39 to look into the mystery?  Anything seems possible because you know so little about the characters that, what you seem to know can be changed without hesitation.

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Never Look Away - Linwood Barclay
It starts with a trip to a local amusement park. David Harwood is hoping a carefree day with their young son will help dispel his wife Jan's recent depression. But Jan disappears. No one can find her - and when police find no evidence that she was ever at the park, David's story starts to look suspicious.... 
To prove his innocence, and keep his son from being taken away from him, David must confront a terrifying possibility: that someone is prepared to destroy him and his family in order to keep a dreadful secret.
 
 
After leaving it a day since I finished No Time For Goodbye, I've now started Never Look Away - Linwood Barclay. I did pick another book to read, but couldn't start it. I've only got to page 65 at the moment.

 

I think that reading Linwood Barclay, one after the other doesn't do them any favours. They are good books, but he has  used similar plots before and this is only the fourth book of his that I've read.

There's a review by Stephen King; 'The writing is crisp; The twists are jolting and completely unexpected' , which do sum up my feelings for this author.

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The Associate - John Grisham

Kyle McAvoy is one of the outstanding legal students of his generation. But he has a secret in his past, a secret that threatens to destroy his fledgling career and, his entire life.

That secret has fallen into the hands of the wrong people, and the only way Kyle can protect it is to play their game. They want him to become an Associate at the largest law firm in the world. With a great salary and great prospects, the job would be a dream come true for most ambitious young lawyers.

But for kyle it's a nightmare as, in addition to practising law, he must also lie, steal, and take part in a scheme that could send him to prison - if it doesn't get him killed first...

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I quite like John Grisham's books, I hope you like this one! I don't think I've ever read The Associate (my parents own some of the books in Dutch and I own some in English) but it's going on the wishlist now XD.

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Whilst The Associate uses a similar plot to The Firm, it doesn't have the excitement. Kyle never seems to be in jeopardy or doing anything to get out of it. He makes some minor attempts , but leaves it much to late to approach anyone. It just doesn't work, Rubbish. 1/5. I'm glad I didn't buy it.

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Standing In Another Man's Grave - Ian Rankin

A series of seemingly random disappearances - Stretching back to the millenium.

A Mother determined to find truth.

A retired cop desperate to get his old life back....

 

I'm really enjoying it 240/422. It's well written and it's great to have Rebus back.

 

It's the best book I've read in a while and I'm looking forward to the next. It does have a typical Rebus feel and Ending. Great.

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False Friends -Stephen Leather
The most wanted man in the world is dead. Now those loyal to him seek revenge.

 

When Navy Seals track down and kill Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan, it's obvious there was a traitor on the inside. After the false friends are revealed to be two British students - former islamic fundamentalists recruited by MI5 - they become targets themselves.

Dan 'Spider' Shepherd much teach the pair how to survive undercover with al- Qaeda closing in. But Spider is not used to playing the handler. And with the line between mentor and friend beginning to blur, and a terrorist plot putting thousands of lives at stake, can he protect everyone before it's too late?

Well I started the first chapter, which appears to be 453 pages long! :o I'm on page 70.
It's okay so far except for Spider's commemt about, How the British wouldn't shoot the No.1 target in the world even if unarmed.

A  few mentions, 'Birmingham is the UK's biggest city and if it's in the firing line there are plenty of targets, from The Council House in Victoria Square to tower blocks, department stores, stations, hotels. And, as the city is slap bang in the middle of the country, there are plenty of escape routes.'

Who'd want to escape from Birmingham?

I quite enjoyed it

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I did start Asa Larsson - The Savage Altar and got to page 23. A Pregnant Protagonist, how Original so I've put it down to read Blue Heaven - C.J. Box.

 

They were running away from home, Now they're running for their lives in Blue Heaven.

 

If twelve year old Annie hadn't been angry with her mother, she would never have taken her little brother William on a secret fishing trip deep into the North Idaho woods and they never would have witnessed the execution nor looked straight into the eyes of four executioners.

Now they're running for their lives. They can't go home: the killers know exactly who they are and where they live. They can't turn to the law: the killers are four , retired policemen, There's nowhere for William and Annie to hide and there's no one they can trust.

 

Until they meet Jess Rawlins.

An old-school rancher, Rawlins knows something is wrong with the law in Blue Heaven. But he stands alone against four men who will stop at nothing to silence their witnesses...

 

It had a similar start to Grisham's The Client, but from then on it's quite different.

It's a well written book, but I found myself speed reading it and missing bits, so I'm having a rest. I've got to Page 143, Saturday, 6.18 pm .

I've got to page 330 now, Sunday, 8.32 pm.

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Thanks Bobbly ,I hope I enjoy as much as you did, It's got a better start than the Larsson one, which reminded me more of Lackberg than the other Larsson as it proclaims on the cover.

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Read-a-thon

 

Cross Country - James Patterson. 3/5 406 pages( - 85 pages read before readathon)

I Alex Cross- james Patterson. 3/5 456 pages

Cross Fire - james Patterson. 2.5/5 452 Pages

 

Finished

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I read Blue Heaven earlier this year, and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I remember it started off feeling a bit stilted, but soon after it picked up and started to flow a lot better.

Blue Heaven was an excellent read, I really enjoyed it.

Sometimes I buy recommended books straight away, others as in this case I pick them up when I see them.

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Been to Worcester, Kidderminster and no books! Had to resort to online, where I bought some more Hakan Nesser 4. Birmingham now 20:15

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I enjoyed his first 19 or so skinner books but after A Rush Of Blood, He's decided to write them first person, Quintin Jardine, has lost the plot. I was in Waterstones worcs and again It's written first person and every chapter refers to someone Bob Skinner met in the past. I'm not going to read Funeral Note. No more Skinner, oh well.

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