Review of The Death Collectors by Jack Kerley

2005, Signet
382 pgs
Suspense/Thriller
Rating: (Very Good)

First Sentence: Detective Jacob Willow dodged a sign proclaiming DIE YOU DAM MURDRER, ducked another saying REPENT SINNER!

Reason for Reading: I wanted to knock off another of my series book, and this one sounded like a good one to read. I had enjoyed the first book in Kerley’s series, The Hundredth Man, and had decided it was a series I wanted to follow-up on.

From the Publisher: In 1972, on the day of his sentencing, renowned artist and serial killer Marden Hexcamp is shot dead in the courtroom. Members of his Mansonesque band of followers are imprisoned or simply disappear.

Fast-forward more than thirty years: A suspected prostitute is found murdered in a candlelit motel room, the first in a series of horrors suggesting Hexcamp's art remains alive and treacherous. Following a trail of beautiful - and profoundly disturbing - artwork, homicide detectives Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus descend into the shocking world of the Death Collectors, people who spend vast sums to collect serial-killer memorabilia. As Ryder and Nautilus race to solve a thirty-year conspiracy, it becomes sadly evident that at the intersection of art and madness, death is beauty, tragedy a memento, and suffering suitable for framing.

Comments: I had not expected to read this book in just over a day. While I enjoyed The Hundredth Man and saw it as a promising start to a new mystery series, I was even more impressed with Jack Kerley’s The Death Collectors. I was swept away in the story, which was entertaining, at times morbid, and always interesting.

Carson Ryder by himself would probably get on my nerves after awhile, but the addition of his faithful partner, Harry Nautilis, who deserves a starring credit all his own, takes off the edge of Carson’s personality, which borders on arrogant and reckless at times. They make a great team. There was a lot less bureaucratic politics in this novel than in the last, with the plot line staying close the mystery itself. The mystery builds on itself throughout the book, taking the story into unexpected directions, becoming more and more involved as it went. Readers are taken a little bit deeper into Carson’s past as his brother, Jeremy, is pulled into the investigation for help, adding that extra personal touch. Readers also get a taste of the morbid world "death collectors," a world I gladly am not a part of.

After finishing The Death Collectors, it is taking a lot of energy out of me not to rush out and pick up a copy of the latest Jack Kerley novel, which is out in hardback at the moment.

Favorite Part: I wasn’t too keen on DeeDee Dansbury at first, but she grew on me after awhile. Harry Nautilus is probably my favorite character in the series. He’s got a good head on his shoulders and keeps Carson Ryder in check. I wish he could have played a bigger part in the novel this time around.

Review of Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

2005, Vintage Crime
292 pgs
Suspense/Thriller
Rating: (Very Good)

First Sentence: It's that moon again, slung so fat and low in the tropical night, calling out across a curdled sky and into the quivering ears of that dear old voice in the shadows, the Dark Passenger, nestled snug in the backseat of the Dodge K-car of Dexter's hypothetical soul.

Reason for Reading: This is one of the four books I had selected to read after finishing Eragon. It was calling my name, and it helps that it’s another series I can say I’m all caught up with before the end of the year.

Comments: Dearly Devoted Dexter is the second book in this unusual series. The main character and narrator of these darkly humorous but at times gruesome novels is Dexter Morgan, a blood splatter expert for the Miami Police Department, who also just happens to be a serial killer. Raised and mentored by his police officer foster father, Dexter only targets “deserving” victims, other predators who prey on the innocent.

This time around, Dexter’s patience is put to the ultimate test when he has to suppress his killing urges and lead as normal a life as possible. His archenemy, Sergeant Doakes, is determined to catch Dexter red handed and so begins to follow him around, watching his every move. Just when Dexter begins to believe he’ll have to settle into his role as a beer drinking coach potato, a mutilated body is discovered. Dexter’s curiosity at the cleanliness and uniqueness of the crime is peaked instantly. When his sister is assigned to work the case with Chutsky, a Fed working for an unknown agency in Washington D.C., Dexter has the perfect in to learn more about the crime and perhaps even go on a little hunt of his own.

Do I dare admit that there were several moments during my reading of Dearly Devoted Dexter when I was laughing out loud? The novel is full of dark humor, however, the subject matter can be disturbing at times. Jeff Lindsay’s character Dexter Morgan is witty and charming. Dexter is a likeable character who can easily spark empathy in the reader, although it should never be forgotten how dangerous he is. He is a ruthless and methodical killer. Jeff Lindsay makes sure the reader does not forget that.

Dexter’s sister, Deborah offers Dexter balance in many respects. She’s sort of his conscience, helping to keep him on track, which she has to do many times in this particular novel. And then there is Rita, Dexter’s girlfriend, and her children, Cody and Astor. The family seems to adore Dexter and he is peculiarly drawn to them, especially the children.

Dearly Devoted Dexter hit the spot. It seemed to be the perfect reading choice for this moment in time. I eagerly await the third installment in the series, Dexter in the Dark, which is scheduled for release in August of next year.

Favorite Part: I just love Jeff Lindsay’s dark humor. Dexter’s quite a character. My favorite scene in the novel was when Dexter caves in and drinks the beer his girlfriend Rita offers him. He doesn’t just stop with one and what follows was a comical scene.

Least Favorite Part: There were two very clear parts of this novel that I did not care for, although, after much thought, I think it goes along with my earlier point that the author does not want readers to forget who—and what—Dexter is. Because I don’t want to spoil the book, I will not actually say what those two parts are. I’m such a tease, aren’t I?

Miscellaneous: Showtime is running a TV series based on the Dexter character, of which I’ve seen the first episode. I do not subscribe to Showtime, I’m afraid and so haven’t seen any episodes beyond that.

Review of Cat & Mouse by James Patterson

1997, Warner Books
451 pgs
Suspense/Thriller
Rating: (Good +)

First Sentence: The Cross house was twenty paces away and the proximity and sight of it made Gary Soneji's skin prickle.

Reason for Reading: I wanted the comfort of a series read (and to at least make an effort towards my catch-up goal before the end of the year). I set four books in front of me, each one pretty much the same type of book. I posted on a yahoo book group I belong to my choices and overwhelmingly the response was to read the James Patterson novel. Even my husband cast a vote for it. Now, it could be that that was only because Cat & Mouse was the only book among the four that most everyone is familiar with. Regardless, I knew this was the time to re-visit my old friend Alex Cross and see what dangers he faced this time.

Synopsis by Amazon.com: That monstrous villain Gary Soneji is back in Cat & Mouse, the fourth book in James Patterson's series about Alex Cross, a police forensic psychologist, but he's not alone. In seeming support of the premise that you can never have too much of a bad thing, Patterson has thrown a second serial killer into the mix: Mr. Smith, a mysterious killer terrorizing Europe while Soneji practices his own brand of evil along the Eastern Seaboard. With two killers to track, Cross has his hands full--and Patterson has another hit.

Comments: It has been a long while since I last read an Alex Cross novel, much less a James Patterson novel. I knew that I could count on his novel to be suspenseful and thrilling right up to the very end. With an occasional slow down for Alex to try and fit in his family and love interest, Cat & Mouse was the fast paced thriller I expected. In two seemingly independent cases, Patterson brings them together in a way the reader will more than likely not anticipate. Alex is at the top of his game, putting his psychology and law enforcement backgrounds to good use as he tracks down two vicious killers who seem to have engaged him in a game of cat and mouse, which puts not only him, but also is family in the gravest of danger.

Favorite Part: I loved all the author and book references throughout the novel. I’m a book junkie, what can I say?

I have always been a big fan of Alex’s family. It is no wonder Alex finds so much comfort and peace with his family.

Miscellaneous: With just five pages to go, I heard a loud crash as two vehicles slammed into one another not too far outside my house. I ran to the window to see what had happened, and Hubby reached for the flashlight to offer assistance redirecting traffic. I watched as neighbors flocked out of their houses and down the street to see the action. It reminded me of a much more gruesome scene from Cat & Mouse that I’d read earlier today, about how the hundred's of people all came out to watch the authorities comb Parc de Montsouris in France for a dead and most likely mutilated body at 2 a.m. in the morning.

One other thing: I know, I know. I am not supposed to try and figure out part of the whodunit, but I did. Immediately. Fortunately, I’m not the kind of person who is disappointed by a book just because I figure it out early on.

Review of Eragon by Christopher Paolini

2003, Alfred A. Knopf
509 pgs
YA Fantasy
Rating: (Good +)

First Sentence: Wind howled through the night, carrying a scent that would change the world.

Reason for Reading: When Eragon first hit bookstores and the online discussions more often than not sang the praises of this young writer’s epic fantasy novel, I had to get in on it. With so much else to read around me, it’s taken me a while to get to it, but with the movie being released this month, I didn’t want to put reading Eragon off any longer.

Synopsis from Amazon.com: Eragon, a young farm boy, finds a marvelous blue stone in a mystical mountain place. Before he can trade it for food to get his family through the hard winter, it hatches a beautiful sapphire-blue dragon, a race thought to be extinct. Eragon bonds with the dragon, and when his family is killed by the marauding Ra'zac, he discovers that he is the last of the Dragon Riders, fated to play a decisive part in the coming war between the human but hidden Varden, dwarves, elves, the diabolical Shades and their Neanderthal Urgalls, all pitted against and allied with each other and the evil King Galbatorix. Eragon and his dragon Saphira set out to find their role, growing in magic power and understanding of the complex political situation as they endure perilous travels and sudden battles, dire wounds, capture and escape.

Comments: It never fails that when I lose myself in a fantasy novel like this one, I wonder why I don’t read more of this genre. I love being swept up into another world, meeting mythical and fantastical people and creatures not found on this earth. Fantasy is the ultimate flight for the imagination for it takes a reader outside of what is known and familiar and into a time and place that is neither here nor now. I don’t mean urban or paranormal fantasy, which plays on the world as we know it, distorting our reality. I am talking about the more traditional quest-type fantasy (like Tolkien, for example), the stories about magic, dragons, elves, dwarves, epic sagas of those types. Although I do like the other too.

Eragon is the first book in the Inheritance Trilogy. The author was a teenager when he wrote and first published the novel, which proved to be a good marketing strategy for the publisher as many readers scrambled to see just how good this kid was. Perhaps that is part of what made me hesitate so long before pulling Eragon off my shelf. I could not help but stop and wonder if the book was good or if it was just because of who the author was. I am not naturally drawn to young adult novels, and after having been disappointed by the popular Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke, I was a little gun shy. Lemony Snicket’s series was cute but repetitive and so obviously geared toward a younger crowd. J.K. Rowling with her Harry Potter series, at that point, seemed to be a fluke. Maybe her series would be the only young adult novels I would find worth my time to read. While one book does not make a trilogy, Eragon is a promising start, and Christopher Paolini has my attention. It is no wonder the book has a readership of all ages.

The story is inspiring and the characters interesting. While Eragon was slow at times, the story moved forward at a rapid rate. The novel holds the hallmarks of many traditional fantasy novels; it’s a coming of age story about your average farm boy whose talents and destiny are unknown until that fateful day when his life is irreversibly changed and he must chose his path. Suddenly he finds himself a hero, or on the road to being one at least, and it’s a fight between good and evil. While typical in that way, the fun is in getting to know the characters, caring about them, seeing them grow both in success and failure, and living their adventures with them.

Favorite Part: Is it fair to say everything? Probably not, but Eragon was a fun book to read. I enjoyed sailing through the skies with Saphira and Eragon, lessons with Brom, traversing the Hadarac Desert, and walking the halls of Tronjheim. I guess if I had to pick a favorite part it would be the scenes with Angela and Solembum. Or maybe Arya with her grace and swiftness. But then there’s the magic, which always draws me in.

Miscellaneous: I have read mixed reviews about the second book in the trilogy, and a part of me wonders if the criticism has anything to do with the fact that The Eldest is the middle book, which means it’s the bridge between the first and final book. I am not sure I am ready to jump back into Eragon’s world just quite yet.

Read what Jeane had to say about this book:
Dog Ear Diary

Booklogged's 2007 Winter Classics Challenge

I do not often go through reading slumps. While I do have slow downs in the amount of time I spend reading, I generally chalk it up as a normal part of life. It gives me the opportunity to do some of the things I have been neglecting because I am trying to sneak in "a little more" reading.

I am enjoying the book I currently am reading, and yet I find myself avoiding picking it up through no fault of the book. I think it is the time of year. So much else has my attention.

I dedicated this evening to updating my blog. Putting together some of the ideas that had been percolating in my mind for the last couple of months. I added the list of books that I have read so far this year, updated my links, and decided to join in another challenge.

I stumbled on the 2007 Winter Classics Challenge quite by accident. Recently I have felt tied to reading books outside of what "felt" right in the moment and so it was with some reluctance that I decided to take on this great challenge. I think it will be worth it though. The classic novels I have selected are ones I have been wanting to read for quite a while now. I own all of them already and therefore this is just another added way of getting more TBR books off my shelves. That should make hubby happy.

The 2007 Winter Classics Challenge involves reading five classics during the months of January and February. My selections are as follows:
1. Emma by Jane Austen [finished 02/11/2007]
2. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury [finished 01/13/2007]
3. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett [finished 02/18/2007]
4. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller [finished 01/29/2007]
5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy [finished 01/12/2007]

Emma is a crossover from the 2007 TBR Challenge I will be starting in January. I figured one duplicate would be okay in the long run.

The coming year is promising to be a good one reading wise! I am looking forward to the many adventures that await me.