false 2 237 198 true 5642369 read 1 true 4807302 currently-reading 38 true 4807291 to-read 133 false 6741728 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77778567 Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased Down the World'sMost Notorious Nazi (Hardcover) by Neal Bascomb
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77778850 to: The Wrong Mother: A Novel (Paperback) by Sophie Hannah
bookshelves: 2009
What an excellent thriller this was! I got it because it had a recommendation from Tana French on the back cover. French is one of my favorite new crime writers who managed to write an amazing first book and an even more amazing second book. I figured if she liked this one, I would, too. And I did!

This is one of those books that both excels past its genre and stays firmly in it. Hannah never breaks the rules of thriller in this book, but she expands the notion of what a writer of thrillers can do. All the things that you want from a thriller writer are here - tight and intricate plotting, suspense, and unexpected twists and turns. Add to those things compelling characterizations and deft writing and the book is successful.

I especially liked that Hannah was brave enough to allow one of her characters to express the dirty little secret of mothering small children - that it's hard, back breaking, frequently enraging work; that mothering is thankless and brutal; and that small children are often tyrannical in their power over us as parents. No, this isn't the only story to be told about mothering, but it is a part of the story - it's just the part we're all too uncomfortable to express. Express it Hannah does, and she expresses it with utter skill.

This was a great thriller and now I have to go find her other two novels! You should read this - it's really really good. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77779218 to: Gallows Lane: An Inspector Devlin Mystery (Hardcover) by Brian McGilloway
bookshelves: 2009
This is the second book in a new police procedural series by Irish crime writer Brian McGilloway. The series features An Garda Inspector Benedict Devlin - a policeman in the borderlands between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The first book in the series was Borderlands and it was a decent first outing. Sometimes the second book lags behind the first, but that is not the case with this one. If anything, Gallows Lane is a better book.

This books contains hidden evidence, death threats, and an unexpected rivalry as Devlin works to solve some intertwined murders and to work out for himself whether he wants a promotion to Superintendent. The crime writing is smart and effective and the characterizations deepen (as does the sense of place). This is a book about struggle of all kinds and about the sometimes sad consequences of struggle. Ben Devlin's an interesting character and I look forward to getting to know him better as the series progresses.

My one criticism of these books is that while it's refreshing to see a cop who is a happily married father, Devlin's wife and kids get sort of short shrift as characters. I'd like to see them developed more and made an actual part of his life rather than incidental moments.

All told this was a great whodunit. Can't wait for the next one! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78559358 The Surrendered (Hardcover) by Chang-Rae Lee
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78559298 The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco, and the Culture of the Night (Paperback) by Anthony Haden-Guest
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77778135 to: Borderlands (Hardcover) by Brian McGilloway
bookshelves: 2009
In the past couple of years there has been a lot of good new crime fiction coming out of Ireland so I was pleased to find even more! Borderlands introduces us to An Garda Inspector Benedict Devlin, working on the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

I like police procedurals and this is a good one made even more interesting to me because of its setting. Borders are interesting places and border towns even more so as the people on each side spill over and influence each other. There is a perpetual sense of ambiguity that makes these places transgressive and McGilloway definitely captures that.

Benedict Devlin has the potential to be a recurring police character who will be worth reading about. He carries his own set of ambiguities that will make him interesting to read. I like that he's not a super cop - sometimes he's competent and sometimes the obvious flies by, but he keeps on banging away at the problem until he gets some resolution.

There are interesting secondary characters here, as well, as plenty of twists and turns. All in all a good read and a good first outing. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77782255 to: The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection (Hardcover) by Dorothy Hoobler
bookshelves: 2009
This was an okay read for me. I think I would've liked it better if I had never read The Banquet Years The Origins of the Avant-Garde in France, 1885 to World War One - an absolutely incredible and fascinating look at France during the same period, but in particular at the artists and writers who made things interesting there. I also would've liked it better if I hadn't read Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York - at this point it is the definitive template for how to look at crime in a city in the past. The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection sort of wants to do what each of these other books each do in their own way, but the writing was just a little too dry to hold my interest. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77152151 to: The King of Lies (Mass Market Paperback) by John Hart
bookshelves: 2009
I'm fond of Scott Turow, so when the back of this book compared the author to him, I figured it would be worth a shot (and it was). This is a combination legal thriller and portrait of a man at the end of his rope.

Our hero, Work, has always been his father's son - following his father into the practice of law, marrying the woman his father chose for him, living the life he was supposed to live. His father's disappearance and the subsequent discovery of his body (with two bullets in the head) has widened the cracks in Work's life. Convinced his sister, abused by their father and suffering from long-term suicidal depression, shot their father, Work sets out to take the blame (or at least to deflect the attention away from her).

There are times when this book is truly absorbing, but at times it is overblown and a bit melodramatic and you really want to tell Work to stop being such a pussy. Amusingly enough, shortly after you want to tell him that another character does.

This was a decent read, but I'm not rushing out to find the author's other books. Still, it kept me entertained throughout several days of public transportation and there's a lot to be said for that. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76397832 to: The Secret History (Paperback) by Donna Tartt
bookshelves: 2009
This is one of my all-time favorite books. I've read it numerous times since it first came out and I enjoy it every single time and every single time I am so sorry to finish it. It belongs to what I think of as a trio of books about school along with Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand and Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers. Let me be clear - these books are nothing alike - the only thing they have in common is their college setting. In a way, though, they are alike - they each deal with Dionysian events and their consequences in closed and exclusive college settings.

The Secret History isn't so much a whodunit as a whydunit - you know the who immediately, the why is somewhat more mysterious (and in many ways is never fully revealed). I love the sweeping romanticism of this book - set at fictional Hampden College in the eighties. I was in college at the same time and some of the characters are familiar - the punk rockers, the druggies, the incredibly annoying hippies. Our hero is a California transplant, at college on scholarship and thrust into a small group of privileged students studying the Classics with the enigmatic Julian Morrow.

This is a winter book - cold at its heart, colder in its setting. There are deaths and funerals and philosophizing - lots of masks constantly worn. At its center is the narrator, Richard, and his love of the picturesque and Henry, who may or may not be a psychopathic killer. In this reading I found Julian Morrow to be the most chilling character - he is the old man in the road with the answers you probably won't like once you get them.

If you haven't read this, it's worth reading. Donna Tartt is a good writer and a good storyteller (a worthwhile combination). It takes her forever to write a book (this one took 8 years). Her second book, The Little Friend, is an odd Southern gothic that I also enjoyed, although it doesn't have the staying power of the first. It was 10 years between the first and second novel. Her third novel is due out in 2012. I'll be interested to see how she gets past her sophomore slump. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77782495 Gods in Alabama (Paperback) by Joshilyn Jackson
bookshelves: to-read
]]>