Lee Allen's Blog, page 34
August 13, 2017
Patricia Cornwell's Chaos - Review
Chaos by Patricia CornwellMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Chaos is a gripping, fast-paced forensics thriller - the twenty-fourth in Patricia Cornwell's series featuring Kay Scarpetta.
From the very beginning we know this will be a story with personal ramifications for Scarpetta - her sister, Dorothy, often mentioned, but less frequently seen, is on her way to visit; and we soon learn that Scarpetta has been receiving messages from a stalker, who we wonder, along with Scarpetta, may or may not be connected to an insidious character from previous novels.
The central crime - the unexplained death of a woman riding her bicycle - is investigated in the procedural and forensic detail that always proves the strength of Cornwell's novels, building to a climax that wraps up the case and leads Scarpetta into a confrontation of her own. The chapters at the crime scene stand out and prove in every entry of the series to be some of the most gripping elements as evidence is sifted and the crime is reconstructed.
*POTENTIAL SPOILERS*
I've always enjoyed the serialised elements running through the Kay Scarpetta series, recent novels reminding me of the superlative arcs running through earlier novels - particularly 'Cruel and Unusual' through to 'From Potter's Field', the fantastic 'Point of Origin', and 'Black Notice' through to 'Blow Fly'. In the same way that a significant character from the latter arc returned in 'The Scarpetta Factor', a significant character from the earlier arc returned in 'Flesh and Blood' and 'Depraved Heart'. and continues to have a presence in 'Chaos', which draws the current plotline to a satisfying conclusion. The final twist is a brilliant revelation, one that tells the future will not be free of the tightly-woven web of past events.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down - I hope there will be many more cases for Kay Scarpetta to come.
View all my reviews
August 11, 2017
Patricia Cornwell's Depraved Heart - Review
Depraved Heart by Patricia CornwellMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another thoroughly enjoyable and engrossing forensics thriller by Patricia Cornwell.
'Depraved Heart' picks up just two months after the events of 'Flesh and Blood' and continues plot elements from the previous novel, whilst in the midst of a new investigation into a death at first not believed to be a homicide.
There were some quite nostalgic moments in the novel - for the reader, not necessarily for the characters - referencing events that took place in and around some of the earlier novels in the series. The detailed forensics is fascinating as always, taking centre stage along with the paranoia that perhaps nothing and no one can be trusted.
I've very much looking forward to reading 'Chaos' - awaiting its paperback release this summer.
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July 30, 2017
Helen Callaghan's Dear Amy - Review
Dear Amy by Helen CallaghanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Proving a perfect companion for long train journeys over the past week, Helen Callaghan's debut novel is a hugely enjoyable thriller, which keeps you hooked until the final pages. It deftly manoeuvres many twists and turns in the plot, while keeping the characterisation grounded and realistic.
I particularly liked the main character, from whose point of view we experience the majority of the novel, while the opening abduction scene was chillingly effective. Throughout the book, I was often left considering how easy it is to simply one day disappear, whether by your own will or, more frighteningly, by the will of someone else.
What pulled me initially toward this book, was the premise of the mysterious letter writer that began and drove the plot, the initial mystery that gained weight as the story developed. Are the letters from an abducted girl, her abductor, or is the mystery deeper and more complex?
I hope to read more books by Helen Callaghan in the future, and will be looking out for her next novel.
View all my reviews
July 23, 2017
Mo Hayder's The Treatment - Review
The Treatment by Mo HayderMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Chilling...gripping...disturbing...compelling.
Mo Hayder has delivered another crime fiction masterpiece with 'The Treatment'. Following closely from the events of 'Birdman', this second in the series takes us deeper into Jack Caffery's haunted world, both personal and professional, as a case involving an imprisoned family and missing child proves to be too close to events of his own past.
I love the attention to detail of Hayder's books; procedural and forensic - the often graphic, visceral descriptions conjure images that stay with you, urging you to keep reading. The themes of the novel - child abuse, paedophilia, rape - are dealt with in a serious, psychologically authentic way, demonstrating that Hayder will not shy away from the realities of the subject matter.
This is a must-read police procedural and psychological thriller.
View all my reviews
October 19, 2015
The Jack O'Lantern Men - Preview
Read on for a preview of my new novella, The Jack O'Lantern Men, publishing Hallowe'en 2015:
The Jack O'Lantern Men
---
Life is but a whisper on a long forgotten wind.
They were the final words my wife spoke to me, as she lay on her death bed and limply held my hand, as mine grew tighter on hers. It is true, is it not? In that moment I forgave her all; her heresy, her infidelity, all the wounds she’d opened up in me over those long years. I stayed because I believed in my vows, and I cherished my daughter. Thus, I buried my hatred for this woman I had loved with all of my heart. Yet they were not the only reasons. I still loved her so, and though I never spoke of it again, my love sat with my hatred, and they shared the heart that belonged to that woman.
Oh Year, one which was so full of pain to enter, and shall be evermore agonising still to feel die. What secrets have you left to share with us in your final days? As the winter creeps upon us now that autumn has done its worst.
The fate of men resides in my hands once again. My keys grow heavier at my side, as I stalk the dark and dingy corridors, checking each cell to see if men still breathe so that we can take their last breaths from them. They are all sentenced to hang, all the men under my care.
Today, I was delivered the latest of these damned souls. Frank was his name. He said hardly a word as he was brought down to his cell and I unlocked the one farthest down the corridor. He turned and looked at me as I locked it behind him, looked me right in the eye and spoke to me without a word.
My day of reckoning had come.
Before leaving for home, I returned to his cell and looked through the bars. He sat motionless in the corner, and only stirred when I had stood at the bars for an endless five minutes.
“You know, don’t you?” His voice sounded as if it clawed over a thousand needles to escape his throat. For the first time, I noticed his nose and mouth were bloody; one blackened eye could only manage a squint to share vision with the other.
“I do,” I replied to him.
For I knew they haunted him too. I could feel them just out of sight at the end of the corridor. I ignored them, fixing my eyes on Frank.
“Find my daughter,” he implored me, finally moving from his corner toward me. “Find that she understands it was not of my doing.”
I nodded and said nothing further, moving from the cell into the darkness of the corridor.
The Jack O’Lantern Men followed me, their mouths grinning wickedly at my back. Long, tapered, fingers brushed my neck as I hurried from the prison.
“Leave me!” I cried into the dark, as I had done every night since she had gone.
They were not words that met my ears, more drifting thoughts that met my mind.
---
The Jack O'Lantern Men, available October 31st.
Hear our words. Say your prayers.
Late on Hallowe’en night, Frank is delivered to the Jailer, standing accused of a crime for which he will hang. He has a tale to tell, and begs the Jailer to speak to his daughter.
His daughter, Laura, has her own tale to tell. Through their words, the Jailer hears of the events that will lead him to his last execution.
All the while, the Jack O’Lantern Men wait in the wings for the last act to play out and the curtain to fall.
The Jack O'Lantern Men
---
Life is but a whisper on a long forgotten wind.
They were the final words my wife spoke to me, as she lay on her death bed and limply held my hand, as mine grew tighter on hers. It is true, is it not? In that moment I forgave her all; her heresy, her infidelity, all the wounds she’d opened up in me over those long years. I stayed because I believed in my vows, and I cherished my daughter. Thus, I buried my hatred for this woman I had loved with all of my heart. Yet they were not the only reasons. I still loved her so, and though I never spoke of it again, my love sat with my hatred, and they shared the heart that belonged to that woman.
Oh Year, one which was so full of pain to enter, and shall be evermore agonising still to feel die. What secrets have you left to share with us in your final days? As the winter creeps upon us now that autumn has done its worst.
The fate of men resides in my hands once again. My keys grow heavier at my side, as I stalk the dark and dingy corridors, checking each cell to see if men still breathe so that we can take their last breaths from them. They are all sentenced to hang, all the men under my care.
Today, I was delivered the latest of these damned souls. Frank was his name. He said hardly a word as he was brought down to his cell and I unlocked the one farthest down the corridor. He turned and looked at me as I locked it behind him, looked me right in the eye and spoke to me without a word.
My day of reckoning had come.
Before leaving for home, I returned to his cell and looked through the bars. He sat motionless in the corner, and only stirred when I had stood at the bars for an endless five minutes.
“You know, don’t you?” His voice sounded as if it clawed over a thousand needles to escape his throat. For the first time, I noticed his nose and mouth were bloody; one blackened eye could only manage a squint to share vision with the other.
“I do,” I replied to him.
For I knew they haunted him too. I could feel them just out of sight at the end of the corridor. I ignored them, fixing my eyes on Frank.
“Find my daughter,” he implored me, finally moving from his corner toward me. “Find that she understands it was not of my doing.”
I nodded and said nothing further, moving from the cell into the darkness of the corridor.
The Jack O’Lantern Men followed me, their mouths grinning wickedly at my back. Long, tapered, fingers brushed my neck as I hurried from the prison.
“Leave me!” I cried into the dark, as I had done every night since she had gone.
They were not words that met my ears, more drifting thoughts that met my mind.
---
The Jack O'Lantern Men, available October 31st.
Hear our words. Say your prayers.
Late on Hallowe’en night, Frank is delivered to the Jailer, standing accused of a crime for which he will hang. He has a tale to tell, and begs the Jailer to speak to his daughter.
His daughter, Laura, has her own tale to tell. Through their words, the Jailer hears of the events that will lead him to his last execution.
All the while, the Jack O’Lantern Men wait in the wings for the last act to play out and the curtain to fall.
February 27, 2015
Determination in the Face of the Disbelievers
We all have moments where we feel like we’re not good enough, where inadequacy slithers through our psyche and takes hold of us at our lowest. We look at what we’ve achieved and we rubbish it, feel it’s not enough, are even embarrassed by it. We look at what we are working towards right now, tell ourselves it isn’t up to the high standard we set ourselves, and feel we should give up. We look to the future and see a stretching, barren canvas.
Everyone has these moments. They are sometimes difficult to see as the illusions that they are. How do we say to ourselves: “You are not inadequate. You’ve achieved a lot. And you will achieve even more” at moments when we struggle to believe in ourselves?
This is often when we turn to other people for advice and encouragement. Sometimes, this is the worst thing we can do. We’re not asking to be lied to. We’re not asking for someone to be unrealistic about what we’re saying, doing or proposing. But we don’t need to be told we can’t do something, or that we’re not good enough.
We all know such people. The self-appointed experts in everything. The self-proclaimed successful masters of their own, and everybody else’s, destiny. The people you should turn to for advice, because they must know the answers, right?
Wrong.
First reason not to trust them – people who make something of themselves, develop success by starting from scratch and never giving up, would they really say to someone “You can’t do it” or “You’re not good enough”? Of course, they would not.
It is difficult to deal with these people. We’ve met many of them already. I’ve known people who managed to make me feel so small, that I would feel I could never achieve what I wanted to. Some would go so far as to mock and to abuse. A few have even taken pleasure in it. That says much more about them, than it does about the people they victimise.
Writers get it all the time. It’s not a “real” job. It’s not something “normal” people do. Well, they’re wrong. Don’t apologise for it, pity them their ignorance. Some of the most successful people on the planet are writers – authors; musicians and songwriters; directors, screenwriters and producers; entrepreneurs; even presidents. So let the small-minded people laugh and scoff, simply smile at them and decide you won’t be allowing yourself to become their victim, simply because you are not.
No matter how you may feel, ignore them. Consider what they truly are behind the self-proclaimed grandeur. They have to bring people down to feel superior, to cause damage to the dreams of another to elevate themselves. Send a message straight back to them, to everyone who ever made you feel inadequate, saying “you are irrelevant, you are nothing to me”. Never give up; you will get there or die trying. Your life will be much more fulfilling than theirs, because you believed.
We all have low moments, but even then we must try not to lose the determination to prove ourselves wrong. It makes us stronger. If you are passionate about doing something, set out and do it. There are people who tell us that we're not good enough. They are wrong. We can achieve. We can develop. We can be the best.
Everyone has these moments. They are sometimes difficult to see as the illusions that they are. How do we say to ourselves: “You are not inadequate. You’ve achieved a lot. And you will achieve even more” at moments when we struggle to believe in ourselves?
This is often when we turn to other people for advice and encouragement. Sometimes, this is the worst thing we can do. We’re not asking to be lied to. We’re not asking for someone to be unrealistic about what we’re saying, doing or proposing. But we don’t need to be told we can’t do something, or that we’re not good enough.
We all know such people. The self-appointed experts in everything. The self-proclaimed successful masters of their own, and everybody else’s, destiny. The people you should turn to for advice, because they must know the answers, right?
Wrong.
First reason not to trust them – people who make something of themselves, develop success by starting from scratch and never giving up, would they really say to someone “You can’t do it” or “You’re not good enough”? Of course, they would not.
It is difficult to deal with these people. We’ve met many of them already. I’ve known people who managed to make me feel so small, that I would feel I could never achieve what I wanted to. Some would go so far as to mock and to abuse. A few have even taken pleasure in it. That says much more about them, than it does about the people they victimise.
Writers get it all the time. It’s not a “real” job. It’s not something “normal” people do. Well, they’re wrong. Don’t apologise for it, pity them their ignorance. Some of the most successful people on the planet are writers – authors; musicians and songwriters; directors, screenwriters and producers; entrepreneurs; even presidents. So let the small-minded people laugh and scoff, simply smile at them and decide you won’t be allowing yourself to become their victim, simply because you are not.
No matter how you may feel, ignore them. Consider what they truly are behind the self-proclaimed grandeur. They have to bring people down to feel superior, to cause damage to the dreams of another to elevate themselves. Send a message straight back to them, to everyone who ever made you feel inadequate, saying “you are irrelevant, you are nothing to me”. Never give up; you will get there or die trying. Your life will be much more fulfilling than theirs, because you believed.
We all have low moments, but even then we must try not to lose the determination to prove ourselves wrong. It makes us stronger. If you are passionate about doing something, set out and do it. There are people who tell us that we're not good enough. They are wrong. We can achieve. We can develop. We can be the best.
