Recent Reads

I just finished reading “The Racketeer” by John Grisham. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads, following my ratings algorithm (see my recent post on “Rating Books”). Grisham’s books are quick reads, and don’t leave much of an impression after you’re done except that it was fun while it lasted. Yesterday at Barnes and Noble, I saw that it was #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Not shabby.

Before the Grisham book, I read Jo Nesbo’s “Phantom”, which I liked more. I gave it 4 stars as well, but it really should get 4.5 stars because I got into it quite some more than “The Racketeer”. Nesbo’s books are gritty, tightly plotted, the characters very well drawn. Harry Hole, the detective, reminds me a lot of Arkady Renko (in Martin Cruz Smith’s Moscow crime novels) but is a tad less appealing. I have read every single book of Nesbo’s and he is definitely my most favorite Nordic crime fiction writer.

Lee Child’s “A Wanted Man” was a disappointment. I gave up with about 30 pages to go. I used to be a big fan of Lee Child’s but the charm has worn thin. His books are only half-way interesting now, very repetitious. I get the feeling he’s under the gun by the publisher to churn out these bestsellers in quick time, and he is not able to do justice to his stories any more. In keeping with my policy of not giving more than 3 stars to books I give up on, he gets 3 stars. That said, the first 100 some pages are great: Jack Reacher hitches a ride, and finds himself in a car with two bad guys and a kidnapped woman. What does Jack do?

Going a little further back, in September I read Jonathan Franzen’s “The Corrections”. The book had come out ten years ago, but I never got around to reading it until now. In fact, I read his newer book, “Freedom” a few months ago, and was so impressed that I decided to read “The Corrections.” I liked the book a lot. The writing is scintillating. My only qualm in giving the book 5 stars was that I found the characters somewhat distant. So I gave 4.

I am looking forward to reading Nelson DeMille’s “The Panther” next.