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The Pirate Ghost
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Nov 30, 2011 12:25PM
I'll remember that next time I read a review I like and post it here.
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Kim wrote: "My review of The Alienist is here. For those involved in the current group read of this book, the review isn't spoiler-y."Your review revealed to me why I could never get more than seventy five or so pages into The Alienist. I'd get part way and then just lose interest, stalling out three times. When you pointed out the anachronism of having modern day characters and attitudes 'dropped' into the historical 1890s, I said to myself "yeah, that's why I don't like it."
Hugh (A.K.A. Hermit the Curmudgeon) wrote: "Is there a page where I can call attention to a review by someone else that I enjoyed?"
Kim wrote: "Hugh, if the person whose review you like is a member of this group, I can't see any reason why you couldn't put a link in this thread. "
In any case I think you should ask the person first before posting the review.
If you click "like" on the review all of the people who are your friends and followers will see that reveiw in your "friend feed" (kinda sounds like a zoo, doesn't it?).
Kim wrote: "Hugh, if the person whose review you like is a member of this group, I can't see any reason why you couldn't put a link in this thread. "
In any case I think you should ask the person first before posting the review.
If you click "like" on the review all of the people who are your friends and followers will see that reveiw in your "friend feed" (kinda sounds like a zoo, doesn't it?).
Hayes wrote: "Hugh (A.K.A. Hermit the Curmudgeon) wrote: "Is there a page where I can call attention to a review by someone else that I enjoyed?"Kim wrote: "Hugh, if the person whose review you like is a membe..."
I am aware of the semi-socio-politics of calling notice to someone elses review. I will manage that with all of the sensitivity and diplomacy waranted.
I am also aware that friend and followers always see reviews and comments on reviews (which is a way of spreading things through the daisy chain too). Every now and then, someone says or writes something that's worth giving some sort of semi-official notice to for their hard work and brilliant insight. For me, as the giver, that often means going out of my way to do something different than the norm. People tend to take the "norm" for granted.
I lifted some quotes from one reviewer to use in a post. I contacted them first for permission and invited them to participate. Everything very sociable. Just give them credit by linking back to the review.
Ken wrote: "Your review revealed to me why I could never get more than seventy five or so pages into The Alienist...."I'm really glad my review had that effect, Ken. It's great to get that kind of feedback. It's also good to realise something about a book (whether it's positive or negative) which you haven't been able to put your finger on before. I get that a lot from reading reviews on GR.
This is a question/criticism and I am not sure where to post it. When I read a review, I don't like to read a summarized version of the plot and a desdcription of the characters. I like to read a "critique". Is this out of line to ask for? These are not book reports like we had to write in High School and Junior High; these are reasons to read or not to read. Yes I am asking for your subjective review of the book, the author and his writing. Tell me if I am out of line, please. Thanks!
Tim wrote: "This is a question/criticism and I am not sure where to post it. When I read a review, I don't like to read a summarized version of the plot and a desdcription of the characters. I like to read a ..."Generally speaking, I think you're right. I certainly don't want the plot retold--that's what reading the book is for! I'm mostly interested in another person's viewpoint about the book.
Mod
I've just posted my most recent review, that of Brett Halliday's
Murder and the Married Virgin
. It's a vintage paperback in the Michael Shayne series of hardboiled detective novels originally published in 1944.I'm also hosting a giveaway of another vintage Michael Shayne paperback, Framed in Blood over at my my blog, I Read a Book Once.... If these types of vintage mysteries interest you (or even if you don't and you just want to win a free book), please come on over and register for the drawing.
Jonathan wrote: "I've just posted my most recent review, that of Brett Halliday's Murder and the Married Virgin. It's a vintage paperback in the Michael Shayne series of hardboiled detective novels originally publ..."I'm one of those cretins who bends the paperback cover over into a 'U' shape. Can I still enter?
Ken: Of course! It'll be your book, so you're welcome to mistreat it however you like. ;)I only mentioned it because the spine may not be able to take that kind of punishment. It's still holding together, but fifty year old paperbacks don't hold up as well as they used to. Everyone, cretins included, are welcome to enter.
And thanks for reading, btw!
Mike wrote: "MY GUN IS QUICK by Mickey Spillane (1950)All the snide remarks and bad reviews that Mickey Spillane received during his sixty-year career couldn’t mask the passion that comes blasting through in ..."
Mike, great Mickey Spillane review. As a hard-boiled mystery writer to say I'm pleased with your comments would be an understatement. Sometimes it's nice to have heavy entertainment value and end up engrossed in a compelling story with hard prose.
Mike wrote: "TRIPWIRE by Lee Child (1999)Child writes these Reacher novels very well, keeping the reader pinned to the page with Reacher’s conflicts and wry observations on the immediate world around him.
Th..."
Mike, what a great review of Tripwire. I'm a huge fan of Lee Child and his Jack Reacher novels. I can't get enough of his action-packed prose.
Jodi wrote: "My review of Taken by Robert Crais.http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
"Jodi, great Taken review. I'm also a Robert Crais fan, although I haven't caught up with all of the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novels. But I do plan to read as many of them as I can.
My review of
by Mo Hayderis here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
After seeing that Ms. Hayder had been nominated for an Edgar this year, I decided to become familiar with the book that is receiving accolades. But since that particular book is the latest in her "Walking Man" series, and, as some of you know I am a stickler for doing everything I can to read a series in order, I felt compelled to begin at the beginning, and so I did. (smile)
Robert wrote: "Mike wrote: "TRIPWIRE by Lee Child (1999)Child writes these Reacher novels very well, keeping the reader pinned to the page with Reacher’s conflicts and wry observations on the immediate world ar..."
I am a huge Reacher fan also, but I just finished The
Affair and I have to honestly say that it was good, but I just wasn't into it like I usually am. I don't know what the problem was. Am I the only one?
Georgia wrote: " I am a huge Reacher fan also, but I just finished TheAffair and I have to honestly say that it was good, but I just wasn't into it like I usually am. I don't know what the problem was. Am I the only one? "
I enjoyed it, as well, but I feel it was a weaker effort for Child. It felt, to me, more like a "made for television" movie script.
Sterling wrote: ""
You can post this information in the Author's Corner folder. This thread is for reviews only. Thanks.
You can post this information in the Author's Corner folder. This thread is for reviews only. Thanks.
Tim wrote: "This is a question/criticism and I am not sure where to post it. When I read a review, I don't like to read a summarized version of the plot and a desdcription of the characters. I like to read a ..."You're absolutely right, Tim. A critique! WHY should I read it? WHAT'S so interesting about it? That's all I wanna know.
Currently reading Mari Jungstedt's Anders Knutas procedural series, set in my adopted homeland of Visby, Sweden.On the 3rd book now, you can check my reviews for the first two books here:
Book 1 - Unseen
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63...
Book 2 - Unspoken
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16...
Enjoy! :)
My review of how author Tony Hillerman handles Leaphorn and Chee in A Thief of Time is athttp://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I love this book.
Rogue IslandI reviewed Rogue Island when it came out last year and it made for a great read. DeSilva won the Edgar last year, and his second book will be out in May, bringing Mulligan back for more trouble. If you haven't picked this up yet, do yourself a favor and grab it. I'm waiting for the next one, Cliff Walk, to come out.
http://www.amazon.com/Hit-and-Run-ebo...Here's a review of a book that marks out Doug Johnstone as one of the UK's best.
If you want the short version, it's a thriller about a hit and run accident where the driver of the car is sent to investigate the case by his newspaper. It unfolds like a train-wreck. Brillaint.
Here's a bit more:
Billy’s driving home, a gut full of beetroot vodka and of the pills his brother nicks from the hospital. Course he shouldn’t be doing it. No wonder then, that when he knocks over a pedestrian in the early hours of the morning he feels responsible. A lump rises on his head and the guilt rises just about everywhere else.
They move the body, go home, take more pills and sleep it off.
Next day, Billy is called to the scene of a suspicious death, a possible jumper from Edinburgh’s Crags. It’s not a jumper though, it’s the victim of Billy’s driving who managed to get to the bottom of the cliff before his body gave up on him.
Billy’s there in his role as a newspaper’s novice crime reporter. His mentor, a seen-it-all-before kind of woman called Rose, finds out the name of the dead man; it’s one Frank Whitehouse, Edinburgh’s big, bad wolf.
From this point on the story is simply thrilling.
Johnstone writes with a fairly spare style, yet manages to explore a range of issues to the full.
It’s a very visceral book.
I was reminded many times as I read of the pleasures of being young and of alcohol and drugs, and I’d like to thank the author for some of the flashbacks he induced.
All the experiences are through the mind and body of Billy, the man who earns the nickname ‘Scoop’ from his older hack partner due to his success in getting incredibly close to the case. There are shades of pain I don’t think I’ve even contemplated before. The smells and sights of the city bring the scenes to life. It’s so well written that at times I felt I was inside Billy’s skin, and inside Billy’s skin was rarely a good place to be.
This book is fast-paced, yet thoughtful. Everything happens in a short space of time within a small area of the city. The world outside is full of pressure and, on the inside, the pressure inside Billy’s head builds to a crescendo.
I came out of the end of the ride fully satisfied.
I’d suggest it’s a kind of Hard-Boiled ‘Crime And Punishment’ for the post-ecstasy generation, the love-child of a Dostoevsky/James M Cain/ Allan Guthrie triangle.
The characters are brilliantly drawn and explored. What I like about the way they are brought to life is that it’s not because of the wedging in of detail that we come to know them, rather it’s through their interactions. The ways they bounce off each other. Boss and underling; boyfriend and girlfriend; two brothers; one man and his dog; lovers; feuding gangsters; dead and living; car and driver...
In particular, I think Billy and Rose are a brilliant pairing. Either of them would make ideal characters for future books and I’d certainly rush to read any story Doug writes where they’re present (if sequels aren’t your bag, how about a short story or a novella, sir?). In fact, this is such a great pleasure of a read that I’ll be rushing to read anything Doug Johnstone put out.
Superb.
As part of my promotion of reasonably priced Kindle reads, here's my review of "Murder déjà vu" by Polly Iyer
Published 2011
$2.99 Kindle/Indie author
Catherine Coulter, Sandra Brown, move over! Polly Iyer has a winner in this romantic suspense novel.
In Reece Daughtry, Dana Minette finds a man who is as passionate about creating the beautiful fireplaces featured in national magazines as he is about saving wounded and abused animals. But Reece isn't only an artist and builder, he's also a man who's spent fifteen years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. Now he takes work as it pleases him, and living secluded on a piece of land up in the Carolina mountains seems to please him.
Dana Minette lived twenty-some years in her own prison, married to an abusive, manipulative husband who is now the district attorney in a jurisdiction that encompasses three small counties. But when Dana comes calling to see if she can convince Reece to build her one of his rock-wall masterpieces, it is no surprise that these two lonely people should find an instant attraction to each other. The surprise comes when Reece is charged with a copy-cat murder much like the one he was accused of so long ago.
Now it would be natural that the romance will be tested, as it should be, since their relationship is so new. But here is where a clever author will do her job—and this author doesn't disappoint as she weaves in the history of two people who have been forged by fire into new and stronger individuals, the kind of people who are now of a much tougher metal.
The pacing for the suspense picks up as roadblocks are tossed in their way and Reece struggles against an unjust system. It is the allies that helped me root for Reece, like Frank, Reece's old prison buddy, now dying of lung cancer, and Jeraldine, his motherly lawyer (who reminds me of a black Kathy Bates of the TV show Harry's Law) and her very smart investigator, Clarence Wright, and the local sheriff (who has no love for Dana's ex-husband) who works to vindicate Reece.
I couldn't stop reading until the last page. And when I finished, I felt a deep satisfaction… which only served to convince this reader that this is romantic suspense at its finest, and in my opinion, the best of its kind so far in 2012. Read it. You won't be disappointed.
RP Dahlke, Kindle
Author of A Dead Red Cadillac & A Dead Red Heart
(coming in 2012: A Dead Red Oleander)
A Dangerous Harbor
Just finished Cheat the Hangman by Gloria Ferris and really liked it - 5 stars:I thoroughly enjoyed Cheat the Hangman - so much so that I didn't want it to end. Lyris Pembroke inherits her great uncle Patrick's Hammersleigh house, but not without some baggage. Jacqueline the hell-poodle, a taxidermy menangerie, and a decades old mystery set the stage for an intruiging and fun mystery. Also along for the ride are an octogenerian butler, various Pembroke relations and a troublesome ex-husband. There's no shortage of intrigue as Lyris prepares for the annual Pembroke reunion, and the ending completely surprised me. I can't wait for Glora Ferris's next book!
Patricia wrote: "Sounds interesting, Edward. Unfortunately, this doesn't have a Kindle edition."Patricia I have a Kindle also and I am in Philadelphia where we are able to get books on loan from the library on our kindles. I don't know if it is allowed in every city but you might try looking into it. It's the best of both worlds. If I can't find a book on my to-read shelf then I try the library. Good luck!
I had to put Unwanted by Christina Ohlsson away, just couldn't really get with it. Had deviant characters responding to deviant problems, but somehow didn't resonate with me.
My review of Jed Rubenfeld's The Death Instinct, follow-up to bestselling An Interpretation of Murder. Very good read, but too many underdeveloped plotlines kept it from being a 5-star read for me.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...The Death Instinct
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...The Death Instinct
I did a double review of these two novels and even though they are not a murder mystery, I definitely consider them a thriller!
Stop by my blog and check them out.
http://wp.me/p2uiv4-1Q
I did a double review of these two novels and even though they are not murder mysteries, I definitely consider them thrillers!
Stop by to enter the giveaway and check out the reviews.
http://wp.me/p2uiv4-1Q
My first Robert Parker novel but I have seen the Jesse stone Tv Movies and liked them very muchhttp://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
High Profile
As a mystery set in Florence 1963 with an ingenious crime--more how-done-it than who-done-it, Death in August: A Novel shares a lot of what I like about Donna Leon's books. My review.
Just finished reading the Bloody Chapter, its a great mystery thriller novel. Hell of a read, check it out.http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...
Reviews? I usually do review, mainly my impressions. Other than trying speak courteously and with respect for whatever or however I was impressed by the read, I don't follow any format since I am not doing this professionally only sharing with whomever wishes to share it. And I'm looking for impressions and ideas that resonate with me when I read others' reviews. No problem unless someone doesn't like my reviewing. In that case, I guess I'd point out that I'm not paid to do this, and I've never even so much as won a free book to review, no rewards, watch out exactly what you're asking me to do. So what's the big deal? Unless I've unintentionally been impolite (not having a book resound in a positive way Is not impolite), or have been discourteous in which case it was not meant personally.
Just finished Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen, and loved it. Not a mystery, but mysteries are not my only literary tastes.
When I first read Holes by Louis Sachar, I was...let's just say "decades" past the age of the intended audience. I rank it as one of my all-time favorite books. The movie's good, too.
I just reviewed Chris Pavone's The Expats...http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
And while I'm here, I loved Holes by Louis Sachar too :-)
Here's my review of The Paradise Prophecy by Robert Browne...a good read I wanted to finish. Supernatural thriller.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...Taste Of Fear by Jeremy Bates is a thriller and a story of survival. It is a gripping read
I am reading SATORI, and loving it right now
My review for psychological thriller The Suspect by Michael Robotham here .. http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
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