JackM Crime 2013

[dex]

Readathon

The Hypnotist - Lars kepler, 601 pages

Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm. Detective Inspector Joona Linna is faced with a boy who witnessed the gruesome murder of his family. He suffered more than one hundred knife wounds and is comatose with shock.
Linna's running out of time. The police do not want him on the case. The killer's on the run and there are seemingly no clues. Desperate for information, Linna enlists disgraced specialist Dr Erik Maria Bark, a hypnotist who vowed never to practice again.
As the Hypnosis begins, a long and terrifying chain of events unfurls with reverberations far beyond Linna's case.

I'll probably only read the one this time.
The chapters are quite short.

It had a weird start but has settled down now. It seemed to be telling the story in stages, but backwards. Maybe they both wrote a start each?

76 Pages to ch 18 1hr 15 mins.
20 pages 15 mins.
97 ch 22 to 162 ch 34 1hr.
163 ch 34 to 230 ch 50 1hr.
231 ch 50 to 290 ch 62. 1hr.
291 ch 62 to 364. 1hr.
365 to 443 ch 75 1hr 15, (ch 74 began on 346)
Why have a really long section towards the end of a book, when most of the chapters have been 4 to 7 pages long?
444 to 504 1hr
505 to 601 1hr 10

Total 9 hrs app. It was okay, but didn't really enjoy it as a whole.

I keep coming across the phrase, The Mind's Eye now, even when the book isn't written by nesser.

Edited September 8, 2013 by dex

[dex]

The next author I'm thinking of looking into is Anne Holt, but I might have to concentrate on my TBR first. I seen some in the library

[frankie]

Great pics, dex, I love the unusual design of the wall on the library! Pretty modern

Edited September 6, 2013 by frankie

[dex]

Readathon

Mary Burton - I'm Watching You, 430 Pages

His victims
The first kill was easy. The second even easier. No guilt, no remorse, just a rush of adrenaline surging through him as each life drained away, and the pleasure of knowing their deaths would help his beloved Lindsay. And there are still so many more who deserve to die.

His game
The first twisted gift to Limdsay O'Neil arrives hidden in a bouquet of flowers. When her estranged husband, Detective Zack Kier, is assigned to the case, Lindsay's past comes back with a vengeance. Because only Zack knows the dark secret she lives with - or so she thinks.

His obsession
Everything Lindsay's stalker does, every life he takes, is for her. But when Lindsay spurns his gifts, she and those she loves most become targets of a depraved madman whose rage is growing, and who is waiting, watching, closer than she ever feared...

65 pages 1hr near the end of ch 6
62 pages to 127 1hr to ch 10
63 pages to 190 1hr to ch 15
78 pages to 268 1hr 15
It had quite a good start, compared to the hypnotist.

Total Time - 13.25 hrs
Total Read - 869 pages

 

I've now completed this book and it was a good read, except for The Soppy Ending. So instead of a 4 it gets a 3. It was well written and I did enjoy it.

Edited September 10, 2013 by dex

[Athena]

You've read a lot during the read-a-thon!

[dex]

Thanks Athena, I wish the first book had been better.

Edited September 9, 2013 by dex

[pontalba]

The next author I'm thinking of looking into is Anne Holt, but I might have to concentrate on my TBR first. I seen some in the library

 

I've only read her 1222, and enjoyed it.  Good character. 

[dex]

Before She Dies - Mary Burton, 412 Pages. 1.50

 

He Is Their Judge

In death, they are purified. Holding his victims underwater, he washes away their sins as they struggle for their last breath. Then he stakes their bodies to the ground, exposing them for what they really are. Witches sent to tempt the corrupt...

 

Jury...

No one knows about defence attorney Charlotte Wellington's murdered sister, or about her childhood spent with the carnival that's just arrived in town. For Charlotte, what's past is past. But others don't agree. And as a madman's body count rises, she and detective Daniel Rokov are drawn into a mission that's become terrifyingly personal...

 

And Executioner

At last, she is within his reach. All his victims deserve their fate, but her guilt is greatest. And with every scream, he will make her see what it means to suffer and repent - Before She Dies...

 

Why did I leave, I'm Watching You on my tbr so long?

So I started this on the 10th and and on the 11th, I started it again as there seemed to be a lot of characters introduced within the first few pages of the book, and I'm already confused.

I'm not finding this one BSD to be as good a read as IWY .It isn't a bad book, It just hasn't had the same impact.

Edited September 15, 2013 by dex

[dex]

I'm going to lend the Jo Nesbo set, to the chap at work who introduced me to Chris Carter. Do you think think he will prefer Chris to Jo? The lady is still on the Rebus set. She's got another 5 to go.

Edited September 14, 2013 by dex

[dex]

I've just taken my Iris Johansen, Andrew Gross, Lawrence Block books to the charity shop as I wasn't going to read them.

[dex]

I've just bought 5 more zen mysteries for £10 from the market in birmingham.

[Athena]

Wow, pretty cheap!! I hope you enjoy your new books .

[Little Pixie]

I've just bought 5 more zen mysteries for £10 from the market in birmingham.

 

Brilliant ! Love those. I think my favourite was Dead Lagoon.

 

Happy reading.

[dex]

dead lagoon, a long finish, blood rain, medusa, cosi fan tuti

Thanks Little Pixie and Athena,

Edited September 14, 2013 by dex

[dex]

Once I've finished BSD, I'll read Woman With A Birthmark by Hakan Nesser. Then I'm thinking of reading Ann Cleeves and Michael Dibdin. I might alternate between the two, but I'm not sure.

Edited September 16, 2013 by dex

[dex]

Woman With A Birthmark - Hakan Nesser

 

A young woman shivers in the December cold as her mother's body is laid to rest in a cemetary.

A middle aged man is killed at his home, shot twice in the chest and twice below the belt. He had recently received a series of bizarre phone calls in whichan old song is played down the line, evoking an eerie sense of both familiarity and unease. Before the police can find the culprit, a second man is killed in the same way.

 

 

 

 

So far ch13 page 105 I'm enjoying it so far. It's better than the return because Van Veeteren is actually hands on in this one. Still not sure about the title, although it was written before the girl with the dragon tattoo.

It was a good story, but I've read it before.

Edited September 19, 2013 by dex

[dex]

Stuart Macbride's - Close To The Bone is out now so hopefully I'll get this and the lost boy in a deal soon.

[dex]

The Crow Trap - Ann Cleeves 535 Pages. Re-Read

 

At the isolated Baikie's cottage on the North Pennines, three very different women come together to complete an environmental study. Three women who each know the meaning of betrayal...

For team leader Rachael the project is the perfect opportunity to rebuild her confidence after a double betrayal by her lover and boss, Peter Kemp. Botanist Anne, on the other hand, sees it as a chance to indulge in a little deception of her own. And then there is Grace, a strange, uncommunicative young woman with plenty of secrets of her own to hide.

When Rachael arrives at the cottage, however, she is horrified to discover the body of her friend Bella Furness. Bella, it appears, has committed suicide - a verdict Rachael finds impossible to accept.

Only when the next death occurs does a fourth woman enter the picture - the unconventional Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope..

 

I've got to page 153 at the moment. page 229 now. Part 2.

It sets up the situation of the three women working together, then someone is found hanged. Then it's gone into the past of the characters, Rachael, Anne and Grace in separate sections.

I've managed to read about 54 pages now, Vera turned up at the start of part two.

I've got to the last Part now which is called Vera and only have about 100 pages left. There's been another death and Vera will undoubtedly solve it.

 

Vera barely seems to have been present, during the course of this book as compared to what I remember of this episode and others I have watched of the tv series. Maybe I'm misremembering.

 

 

Having recently bought all her other books (in 2 of her 4 sets) cheaply and, because I've read it before and I like the tv series I want to read the books. I'm not sure if I should read them in one go or mix them with her shetland series or with the zen series.

Edited September 24, 2013 by dex

[dex]

Hakan Nesser - Various

None of the books I've read so far have made me feel that he is a great author, but they haven't been terrible. Having 2 more to read means I'll probably fit them in somewhere.

[dex]

Dex have you read Miss Smillas Feeling For Snow by Danish author Peter Hoeg? It's a murder mystery and really exciting, I enjoyed it a lot.You can read it in English obviously [it came out in 1992 but think you could still get hold of it.]

No I have never read any Peter Hoeg, I'll have a look. Thanks for the recommendation. 

[dex]

Telling Tales - Ann Cleeves

 

I'm still not sure where in the country Vera actually works, because some of the places mentioned seem a fair distance apart to me. It says Northumberland and then she talks about Newcastle and this one starts in Yorkshire.

I'm not really making much progress with this one. After leaving them so long and thinking I was missing out by not reading them, I've found it disappointing so far.

I was about halfway in and enjoying it a bit more when by coincidence, a characters history sounded familiar, so it's gone back to being just okay.

Finished 10:15 3rd.

Edited October 5, 2013 by dex

[dex]

my name 3 were Glenn Morshower, Gregg Henry, and there was a woman who turned up in later seasons of LV as a tech. Greg Itzin was also in both. James Badge Dale? was in a Ny ep.

Edited September 26, 2013 by dex

[pontalba]

No I have never read any Peter Hoeg, I'll have a look. Thanks for the recommendation. 

Just adding my vote for Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow...aka Miss Smilla's Sense of Snow.

[dex]

Okay Thanks, gardengirl and pontalba. for the peter hoeg suggestion.

[dex]

Readathon

 

Hidden Depths - Ann Cleeves

 

Julie stared at him, submerged beneath the bath water, his hair rising like fronds of seaweed towards the surface. She couldn't see his body because of the flowers...

A hot summer night on the Northumberland coast and Julie Armstrong arrives home from a night out to find her son strangled, laid out in a bath of water and covered in wild flowers.

The stylized murder has Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope intrigued. But then another body is discovered in a rock pool, the corpse again strewn with flowers. Vera must work quickly to find this killer who is making art out of death.

As the local residents are forced to share their deepest, darkest secrets, the killer watches, waits and plans to prepare another beautiful, watery grave...

 

I think it's because I've seen the adaptations on the tv, Vera doesn't seem to have a team behind her in the books. It's mainly just Joe and the Pathologist.

Edited October 5, 2013 by dex