The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion
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Currently Reading? Just Finished?
Sharon wrote: "Georgia wrote: "... since these two authors got together they have combined their characters and their books really don't end. They are just set ups for another book. The way I see it is life is to..."which is worse, though: a bad or weak ending? or a cliff-hanger? Or a non-series book that ends with unanswered questions?
Having just finished a book with an ending so bad it ruined the whole, otherwise not-bad book for me, I'd say bad ending. (Gone Girl)
Georgia wrote: "Erin, keep reading, I have read 6 Mitch Rapp books, love them. My fav is Act of Treason
"I'm reading Kill Shot now. Hard to say which is my favorite-- maybe Consent To Kill?
Finished Murder With Puffins
. I like these but they're the sort of series I can't read more than one every few months of. Too much to do any more often.In the middle of Sand Sharks
. About to start Out on the Cutting Edge
.
Derek wrote: "just finished: Star Island by Carl Hiasin.now reading: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline"
But I thought she had the sperms frozen?
Carlos Ruiz ZafonFour Cemetery of Forgotten Books:
The Shadow of the Wind
The Angel’s Game
The Prisoner of Heaven
The Rose of Fire
Enjoying them very much...
Renee wrote: "which is worse, though: a bad or weak ending? or a cliff-hanger? Or a non-series book that ends with unanswered questions?"I don't like any of the three, but for me a cliffhanger is by far the most annoying. Close second for me, since I read for entertainment is an unexpectedly grim ending, something I definitely do not find entertaining.
Finished Might As Well Be Dead by Rex Stout, started The Snake, the Crocodile & the Dog by Elizabeth Peters.
Picked up the latest by Tana French, "Broken Harbor". Read about 30 pages but realized I was going to enjoy the series, so I returned it to the library and picked up her first one, In the Woods (no link found for this title) which was written in 2007 about the Dublin Murder Squad.
I've been wanting to try a Dennis Lehane novel for a long time now and just scored an ARC of Live by Night. 80 pages in so far and really enjoying it.
Mod
Hi Anita, After you finish In the Woods you might want to check out our group read discussion of the book at http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5... These threads never close so you can continue the discussion.
In the Woods (found the link)
Just finished
and am now reading
. Both by Heather Graham.
had a week away and read
and
both of which were good solid reads.Also read
which is more like a 'cozy' (am still getting used to that term!) I found the fluffiness a bit distracting from the murder plot - there was an awful lot of shopping and cake and gossip!
I just finished
and will start
and I am about a quarter of the way through
which is classified as a cozy , but IMO it is more spy/intrigue and romance.
I stayed up later last night than I should have because I wanted to finish The Baker Street Letters. It was a bit convoluted at the end -- too many twists when it came to figuring out who was actually behind everything -- but I still enjoyed the book enough to read the next in the series. Now I'm reading Shoofly Pie.
I just finished
and I loved it. I am now planning to start the second in the series,
.
I started reading Last to Die by Tess Gerritsen. Its really good so far.
Finished two today -- Kill Shot
which means I have only one unread Flynn left. And he's been ill, so I hope he's able to overcome and forge ahead. Also The Hollywood Canteen: Where the Greatest Generation Danced With the Most Beautiful Girls in the World
, the primary effect of which was to make me feel like I was there-- which is exactly what I wanted from it.
Sharon wrote: "Carlos Ruiz ZafonFour Cemetery of Forgotten Books:
The Shadow of the Wind
The Angel’s Game
The Prisoner of Heaven
The Rose of Fire
Enjoying them very much..."
Great Writer, didn't realise he'd written anything other than The Shadow of the Wind.
???!!! wrote: "Derek wrote: "just finished: Star Island by Carl Hiasin.
now reading: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline"
But I thought she had the sperms frozen?"
Just finished Zo White and the Seven Morphs a humorous mystery and The Kult which was very gruesome in parts but an excellent story nonetheless.
Just finished Gone GirlGone Girl I thought it dragged a bit in the beginning, but then Wham, I was hit with a great plot twister. I couldn't put it down after that. Then the ending. The author seemed to have exhausted all her creative forces and just ended the book with the minimal effort and some small character twists that I personally hated. Good book though, not alot of characters to like when all is said and done. Can't wait to read her others, I've heard they were good too.
Mod
Hi Dottie, If you haven't already, be sure to check out the discussion of Gone Girl in our Group Read folder.
Jennifer wrote: "Having just finished a book with an ending so bad it ruined the whole, otherwise not-bad book for me, I'd say bad ending. (Gone Girl)"I agree wholeheartedly. I felt like the author just ran out of ideas so she just ended it as easily as she could, plus she changed the characters somewhat into ones I ended up not liking. After going thru that whole messed up book I really was liking certain characters, only to end up disgusted with them in one or two paragraphs. Very disappointing ending.
Donna wrote: "Dottie wrote: "Just finished Gone GirlGone Girl I thought it dragged a bit in the beginning, but then Wham, I was hit with a great plot twister. I couldn't put it down after that. Then the ending..."Thanks Donna - how did I miss it!!! Probably why I loaded this one on my kindle to begin with! I'm getting old and forgetful!
Just finished The Hunger Games (it was pretty good, but I doubt I will read the others in this trilogy.Now reading The Sand Castle Girls Never read this author.
Curlyhair wrote: "Just finished Echo Park by Michael Connelly. One of the Harry Bosch series and a fab read."Great book! I read it several years back then decided to pick up the audio book a couple of months ago. Len Caribou does an outstanding job of telling the story.
Curlyhair wrote: "Just finished Echo Park by Michael Connelly. One of the Harry Bosch series and a fab read."
Me too! I finished it yesterday. Just loved it. It was my first book from Michael Connelly...I'm looking forward to more.
Me too! I finished it yesterday. Just loved it. It was my first book from Michael Connelly...I'm looking forward to more.
Lori wrote: "Curlyhair wrote: "Just finished Echo Park by Michael Connelly. One of the Harry Bosch series and a fab read."Me too! I finished it yesterday. Just loved it. It was my first book from Michae..."
I love his books. Why don't you maybe think about starting at the beginning of the Harry Bosch series? Mind in my opinion they get better as they go on.
Curlyhair wrote: "I love his books. Why don't you maybe think about starting at the beginning of the Harry Bosch series? Mind in my opinion they get better as they go on."Really? Wow!! I've read the 1st few and they do seem to keep getting better. I'm still at the beginning of the series so to know that they continually get better is so great to hear!!
Seventy Times Seven is billed on the cover as ‘one of the finest debuts of the decade’. To my mind, it really isn’t that. It might be better seen as the debut of a writer who shows a fair amount of potential within the thriller genre.It tells the story Danny Maguire who has worked in parallel with the IRA in the nineties, but never been one of their ranks. He’s a killer and has been since the death of his brother Sean. Danny’s resolved to revenge his brother’s death and the opportunity arises when information emerges about the identity of the key players from the time. It’s a journey that will take him to America, where we’ve already witnessed a number of attempts on the life of Danny’s new target.
The idea of the story is a strong one and it’s easy to see why Sinclair was offered a publishing deal on its basis.
The main positive of the book for me is the skeleton of the story; as a storyboard or in synopsis, there’s a lot to like about the way Sinclair plays things out. The way it keeps switching location and characters to reveal aspects of the plot is pretty well handled. It has some of the energy and the drive that one would want from such a book and the core issues are left well-disguised right up until the points at which they are revealed.
The book also describes violence in a realistic way and avoids creating any romantic notions of pain and death.
It also has some pleasing humour running through it that provides a good deal of entertaining material.
I get the feeling that there’s also been a lot of research involved with this project and that creates a believable foundation to the piece, though at times the insertion of such information might be a little crude.
Where I think the work falls down a little and reveals the author’s lack of experience in novel writing is with the pacing, the dialogue and the way the key information is pointed out a little too boldly (at least for my taste).
Essentially the book could be shorter and, with a good edit, leaner and meaner (while still maintaining the warmer elements of the relationships and the very human perspective on ‘The Troubles).
Some of the description is heavy-handed. There are too many strings of adjectives which slow things down imperceptibly in a similar way that the friction caused by tiny air molecules will eventually bring a moving object to a halt.
Here’s a small illustration:
‘The bed looked deep and comfortable with large sky-blue satin pillows resting against its tall, pink-velvet button-fronted headrest.’
There’s nothing wrong in this, but the bed plays little or no part in the scene and it could be much plainer and slicker.
My thought on the dialogue is that the characters need to be more distinctive. Everyone has a very witty repartee that shows off that talent for humour and this might be worthy of attention. There’s also rather a lot
of exposition through the conversation and it’s a little clunky in that way:
‘God that seems like it was about two weeks ago,’ replied Marie. ‘It’s hard to believe that was only two days ago.’
With a little attention Sinclair’s dialogue could be a real strength – there’s a thin line here that shouldn’t take much to get across it.
Here’s another example of something that could be ironed out in an edit. It identifies a lot of things that are stated as obvious when they’re not – a little show-not-tell might not go amiss:
‘It was obvious from her expression that checking people in and out of the Lakeshore Hotel didn’t require too many qualifications.’
I wonder what the expression actually was – I’ve been practising in the mirror, but don’t think I’ve mastered it yet.
All-in-all, it’s a mixed bag. Lots to please a reader and enough room for improvement to suggest that Sinclair has what it takes to make it as a thriller writer if he’s prepared to work on a thing or two. I know that there’s a second novel on its way at some point and do feel that is likely to step up on this. Writing is a craft and those skills can only be learned through the doing and by being well-mentored and with these things in place I think that Sinclair can move on up the ladder at a fair rate.
Elizabeth wrote: "Reading "Gone" by Mo Hayder . Interested in comments?"I love Mo Hayder. Have read all her books. Gone is excellent.
Tay wrote: "Kari wrote: "I am reading Defending Jacob
I kind of am indifferent to it so far."I thought it was just okay. I don't really know what the hype is about. Yeah the endin..."
I really disagree on that. I loved the book and thought it was very emotional and hard-hitting even beyond the ending. The impact was really watching the family crumble as the parents struggle with their feelings about their son's guilt or innocence. Very powerful stuff.
Just started
Picked it up as a free download last weekend, which was nice as it was on my 'get around to it' wish list as I liked the first book in this series Blood Orchidsquite well.
I was on a cruise and was able to read 4 books. I finished Last to Die by Tess Gerritsen. I thought that was a great book. I also read
,
, and
. I liked all of the books. I also started
and am still working on it.
Jannene wrote: "I was on a cruise and was able to read 4 books. I finished Last to Die by Tess Gerritsen. I thought that was a great book. I also read 
, , and [boo..."I really enjoyed The Way of Shadows.
Read
and am currently reading
Sharp Objects was a definitely a good book, since it's such a creepy story it's so hard to review - you almost feel bad if you give it a good review because you don't want to LIKE anything about it. I guess that's the sign of a good writer. So for I will say that Dark Places is my least favorite but this author has stumped me with her plot twisters before so we'll see what happens.
Just finished The Solomon Key, which really involved me. Great characterizations -- gotta love that. So found another one by Shawn Hopkins which I think was his first book, Progeny, which I'll start on now.
Just finished
and am now starting
.
Mod
Next up, was my first ever BBC radio dramatization. Agatha Raisin The Curious Curate and The Buried Treasure by M.C. Beaton. Penelope Keith portrayed Agatha and did a wonderful job, of course, I'm a big fan of Keith from her days on To the Manor Born.
I've just finished Snake Skin by CJ Lyons. Very much enjoyed the central character. Likeable (and detestable) supporting/opposing characters, and obviously well researched. The glimpses of the truly awful aspects of human behaviour were nicely balanced by the portrayl of determination, selflessness, and grit that many of our real life protectors no doubt bring to their chosen law enforcement professions on a daily basis.
Donna wrote: "Recently listened to Brought to Book by Anthea Fraser. Interesting premise, a biographer who becomes the "detective" while researching her latest subject. Lots of twists and turns and just maybe a ..."Is Anthea Fraser's book comparable to, say, The Thirteenth Tale?
I love Diane Mott Davidson's books!! Always an entertaining read with some good recipes too.
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The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group
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now reading "The Hunger Games"