Book-Review-Bad-to-the-Bone

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Bad to the Bone

by

Tony J. Forder

 

 

Bad to the Bone, is the first book in the DI (Jimmy) Bliss series and my second Tony J. Forder read.  Initially I was a little reluctant in taking up bad to the Bone as I have found some British set novels and television not to my taste.  However this was not the case with this book and I thoroughly enjoyed Bad to the Bone.  The story, the plot and the characters were all interesting and kept me reading well after dark.

 

There were only two negatives, one of which I will attribute to the editor.  Why was this book published with so many (often) unexplained abbreviations in it?  Abbreviations such as DI, DC, IPA, IC1, just to name a few.  I remember asking primary age student to explain anything they were going to abbreviate in their text at least once.

An unearthed shallow grave is the basis for this intriguing who dunnit!  Jimmy Bliss and his sidekick Penny (Pen) Chandler team up with one of Jimmy’s former colleagues (Bobby Dunne) to investigate the bones in the grave many years after the hasty burial.  Not an easy feat to accomplish.  There is quite a pile of present day bodies which mount up and they are all linked to the initial grave of bones in one way or another.

Those readers old enough to have watched the American television series Perry Mason, will remember that hot shot lawyer Perry always won the unwinnable trial in the last ninety seconds by explaining what he had seen, heard or done…off camera.  So it is with Bad to the Bone.  The bad dude was revealed and the rest of the book is devoted to explaining how Jimmy deduced who was bad and who was good.

Because of the Perry Mason ending

and the abbreviations

I only rated Bad to the Bone as a

four star read.

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At the time of writing my review

other Goodreads readers had awarded

Bad to the Bone

an average of 4.24 stars,

from 1,533 ratings and 151 reviews.

Bad to the Bone

can be purchased online at

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

Unfortunately Bad to the Bone is not available from Booktopia. 

However there 7 other Tony J. Forder books listed.

Book Review-Drowning-Instinct

 

Drowning Instinct

by

Ilsa J. Bick

 

 

Drowning Instinct was my first Ilsa J. Bick read and initially I thought it was not a book I would like as it was little slow at the beginning and is told through the eyes of sixteen year old Jenna.  Jenna’s mother is borderline alcoholic and her father (called ‘phsyco-dad’) is a workaholic doctor.  In other words Jenna’s family is barely functioning as a family.  Not a good beginning in my opinion.

Jenna is a troubled girl who has few, if any, friends her own age at school.  However, one of her teachers (Mr Mitch Anderson) goes out of his way to make her feel comfortable in her new school.  This friendship develops….and develops, to a stage where it is no longer just a friendship.  Lack of friends and a functioning family life all combine to make grooming this impressionable teenager fairly easy.

As a novel it was enjoyable.  However, as a ‘late to formal teaching male’ I cringed when I realised what was going on between Jenna and Mitch.  I have always believed in building on a good teacher-student rapport for better teaching outcomes, no matter where I have been training/working/teaching.  However this rapport went too far.

 

After the initial few pages Drowning Instinct moved along a cracking pace, which made it an easy read.  I think Drowning Instant was worth at least 3.5 stars…probably 4 stars.

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Other Goodreads readers have rated

Drowning Instinct

an average of 

3.94 stars

from 4,267 ratings

and 759 reviews 

 I have rated 

Drowning Instinct

a solidread.

Drowning Instinct 

can be purchased online at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

 

Book Review-Glimpse-of-Death

 

Glimpse of Death

by

Leslie Wolfe

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Glimpse of Death (Special Agent Tess Winnett, #3) is the third of the Tess Winnett books and by far the best in the series and definitely a five star thriller.

I think most of us at some time or another have seen a stranger on multiple occasions and wondered…

And so the story begins with Tess in hospital recovering from a knife wound and women being abducted.

Again we find Tess bucking the system and protocol as she works from her hospital bed, to save more young married mothers falling victim to this cold calculating perpetrator.  To go into any more depth would spoil the plot.

While I like the crime genre of novels I always wonder if this is totally the author’s imagination at work, or is the story written based on actual events.  I hope it is the latter because I would hate to hear that an author’s fertile imagination provided ideas which were translated into reality.

Glimpse of Death is definitely a five star read as long as you like this genre.

~~~~~

Other Goodreads readers have rated

Glimpse of Death

an average of 

4.34 stars

from 1,808 ratings and 134 reviews 

 I have rated 

Glimpse of Death

a solidread.

Glimpse of Death 

can be purchased online at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

 

Book Review-Crimson-Lake

 

Crimson Lake

by

Candice Fox

 

Crimson Lake, by Candice Fox sees a then teenage girl convicted of murdering another teenage girl and an ex-cop accused of abducting and assaulting another teenage girl join forces in an interesting murder mystery set in Australia’s Far North Queensland’s city of Cairns.   Although a convicted murderer Amanda is a licensed private investigator who takes ex-cop, Ted under her wing while they investigate local deaths.

Because Ted has been accused of abduction and assault (no conviction) of a teenage girl he draws a fair amount of attention from both do-gooders and two ageing cops who have not been promoted during their years of service.  Ted wonders why the beat cops have not been promoted?

 

Amanda notices inconsistencies with Ted’s case and quietly looks into that, with fresh eyes.  Together they try and solve a local disappearance which may have been murder or accident.

 

Narrator Lani Tupu does a good job of narrating Crimson Lake.  His vocal range captures everyone from hot headed, disrespectful teenagers and Ted’s gravelly cadence, to the oozing slime generated by the aforementioned cops.

 

I thought Crimson Lake not quite a four star audio book.  However, a half star for the narrator’s contribution and it scrambles into the four star category.

I have rated

Crimson Lake

 as aaudio book.

Three and a half for the story

and half a star for

the narrator’s  contribution.

Crimson Lake

can be purchased on-line at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

At the time of writing my review,

other Goodreads readers

had awarded

Crimson Lake

an average of 3.98 stars

from 4,839 ratings

and 854 reviews.

Book-Review-The-Killing-Game

The Killing Game

by

J. S. Carol

Picture that you have been invited to lunch at the swankiest restaurant in town.  It is the restaurant where you not only have to wait months for a table but also the restaurant which is the most expensive in town.  The restaurant where only the A+ of Hollywood’s A-listers would visit.  Now you have the setting for this novel and the wealth to which these diners have access.

Surrounded by Hollywood royalty your meal has barely commenced when in walks an armed man claiming to be wearing a clearly visible suicide vest.  Your meal has just taken on a sour taste.

This is the scene/setting for the entire novel and although it may sound difficult to maintain a plausible story with only a few characters involved, possibly less named, J. S. Carol kept my interest for the entire story.

I often do not attentively listen to prologues.  Again this was the case with The Killing Game.  As driving and selecting a new book is not conducive to safety I listened to the prologue again as my book recommenced.  Be attentive when listening, or reading, the prologue.  Any more would spoil the plot.

Narrator, William Hope, does a good job of his character voices.  He had enough difference in each voice to make it clear which character was speaking.

The Killing Game was my first J. S. Carol book and, I think, worthy of a four star rating.

I think

The Killing Game

is definitely a

read.

At the time of writing my review other

Goodreads readers have rated

The Killing Game

 an average of 4.08 stars

from 812 ratings

and 151 reviews

The Killing Game

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon

Book Review-Taker-of-Lives

Taker of Lives

(Tess Winnett  #4)

by

Leslie Wolfe

 

Taker of Lives (Special Agent Tess Winnett, #4) is the fourth of the Tess Winnett series.

Is it a suicide, or the murder of a beautiful girl?  Tess goes against all the experienced heads and decrees it is murder.   And there commences a chase for a killer.  A killer who uses the internet, especially the dark web, to announce thee crimes committed and to distribute photos of the girls murdered to the general public.

The Taker of Lives uses social media as means as of selecting victims and as a means of distributing photos and live steaming of girls being murdered.  Beauty and social media popularity appear to be the main reasons the Taker is killing…..but why?

I thoroughly enjoyed Taker of Lives all the way to the end, which was a letdown after the build-up.  It was what I called a ‘Perry Mason’ ending.   An ending where the killer was caught and you realise there were clues but so scant that they were unrecognisable.  I think I suspected nearly every one of the main characters a various stages.

Even the killer chapters, first introduced in The Watson Girl, while giving a clear insight into the killers mind did not reveal the villain.  I only make this comment because due to previous research into the differences between Mystery and Thriller novels and according to writersdigest.com (today) a major difference between both genres is that in a thriller the villain, or killer, is usually known very early on in the story.  By this definition, many novels claiming ‘thriller’ status are only ‘mysteries’.

This was my third back to back Tess Winnett book and it was heading for five star rating until the end.  However, a definite 4 star read, maybe even 4.5.

Goodreads readers have rated

Taker of Lives

an average of 

4.19 stars

from 1,544 ratings and 96 reviews 

 I have rated 

Taker of Lives

a solidread.

Taker of Lives 

can be purchased online at 

Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon

 

Book-Review-The-Chain

The Chain

by

Adrian McKinty

 

 

Adrian McKinty’s The Chain was my introduction to this author thanks to a Goodreads friend.  And what a read it was!

Imagine arriving home one night to find your 12 year old child is not home as he/she should be.  To no avail friends and neighbour’s are called as panic begins to set in and is exacerbated by a ransom call which not only demands money, but also to conduct a kidnapping of your own.  Any form of law enforcement involvement will certainly be a death warrant for your child and perhaps family members.  However as in all good stories there is always someone willing to break The Chain, or die trying.

The Chain is a fast paced novel which captured my interest on page one and held it until the final word.  The Chain is a story of intrigue and mystery with several unforeseen twists.  The Chain is the kind of book which would make one frightened to let their child walk anywhere by themselves.

I think The Chain is worthy of a star rating.

Other Goodreads readers have awarded

The Chain

an average of 3.94 stars,

from 5,617 ratings

and 1,235 reviews.

 

 

 

The Chain 

can be purchased on-line at

Fishpond, Booktopia and Amazon