Book Review- Michael Connelly- The Drop

Michael Connelly- The Drop 4.75 Stars

Detective Harry Bosch has just been given his DROP date, 3 years until he must retire from the force. He has two investigations going on at once, one is a cold case from 1989 and one is a live case involving the city Councilman, Irvin Irving. The cold case involves blood found one a body of a woman raped and murdered in 1989, but the blood is that of an eight-year-old, which means that he must get to the bottom of things. The live case is a possible suicide/murder of Councilman Irvin Irving’s son. Just the kind of case Harry Bosch dreads, high jingo/politics.

I loved this book from start to finish. It starts out grabbing your attention and getting you involved in the case, not letting up at any point. I found myself curious about how it is going to turn out at every chapter. It had many twists and turns with little surprises here and there. It was very hard to set this book down, as it had me on the edge of my seat. The characters are always great and bring extra depth to the novel. I also enjoyed the reference to Castle, considering his appearances on the TV series. Overall it is definitely one I would highly recommend. One of my favourites by this author.

For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com.

Tony Peters

Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping

http://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/

Book Review- Harlan Coben - Miracle Cure

Harlan Coben - Miracle Cure 3.5 Stars

Michael Silverman is a famous basketball star, and his wife, Sara Lowell, is a TV journalist. They are connected politically and medically by her father. An AIDS clinic in Manhattan seems to be making great strides towards a cure, but now the cured patients are being murdered by a serial killer. Michael has been diagnosed with the disease and they must put an end to this murder spree before Michael becomes just another victim.

Harlan Coben has an introduction apologising for the fact that this book is not as strong as his later work, as this was actually book two by him. He wasn’t kidding. It was still a good read, but not one I would read more than once. Coben certainly has stronger books. He also says that this should not be the first book you read by him, again he is correct. If this had been my first Coben read I would not have read another. The plot had too much going on at times and got to be too much to follow. At some points you are following four things at one time. The twists were pretty good; it was a strong point of the plot. I also thought that the characters were expertly crafted, another redeeming quality. Overall the book was a good one time read, but not the best of Coben.

For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com.

Tony Peters

Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping

http://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/

Book Review- David Stone- The Echelon Vendetta

David Stone- The Echelon Vendetta 3.5 Stars

CIA Agent Micah Dalton has just been called in to clean up the scene of his mentor’s suicide. A little digging uncovers a gruesome set of murders by a lunatic; his mentor is just one of many targets. Now he must hunt down this killer, before he completes his mission and destroys Micah in the process.

An interesting introduction for this book. It was very odd, but certainly grabs your attention. The oddity carries on throughout the whole book, and I found it to be too much at times, but it was intriguing enough to encourage me to read on. The plot was a good one containing several twists, not all of which were unpredictable, but that did not take away from them at all. I was kind of surprised that the main character did not see one of these coming, considering how obvious it was. The characters were pretty good; a couple of them could have used more depth to assist the story. I did enjoy the ending of the book as it wrapped things up nicely and sets the stage for the rest of the series.

For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com.

Tony Peters

Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping

http://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/

Book Review- Lisa Scottoline- Courting Trouble

Lisa Scottoline- Courting Trouble 3.25 Stars

On a Fourth of July weekend Anne decides to go out of town to prepare for a case. Getting someone she knows from the gym to house/cat-sit for her, she is shocked when that person is murdered on her doorstep. Knowing that the person was mistaken for her, she is trying to stay dead and hunt down the stalker she is sure committed this crime.

The introduction was not one I really enjoyed; it was funny, but completely unrealistic. Pulling a stunt like that in a courtroom, would get you thrown in jail. It did get better once it left the courtroom stuff behind though. It was interesting enough to make me keep reading and had some unrealistic investigative work by amateur detectives, but I did find it kind of amusing. The characters were decent, and assisted the plot nicely. The overall plot was pretty good, with a great twist in the end. I usually prefer more twists in a book that shock you, but in this case having only a couple worked. Overall it was a decent one time read.

For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com.

Tony Peters

Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping

http://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/

Book Review- Robert J. Randisi- Curtains of Blood

Robert J. Randisi- Curtains of Blood 3 Stars

The rough streets of London are being stalked by a ruthless killer, Jack the Ripper. In the nicer end of London, Bram Stoker has been ordered to end the production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as the police suspect that it is influencing this killer. They also suspect the main actor of possibly being Jack the Ripper. Now Bram is seeking out Jack the Ripper in the hopes of proving his friend’s innocence and getting the production back onto his stage. He secretly wishes to speak with this ruthless killer to assist in his novel that he plans to write.

This novel did not immediately grab my attention, but there was something about the writing style that kept me reading. The characters I felt were decent, but could have used more development. I did enjoy that it was people we have all heard of, Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde, and Jack the Ripper. I also like how they tie in that this is the story of how Bram Stoker came up with Dracula. It gave the novel a different view of Jack the Ripper than what most books take on his reign of terror. The plot for the book was pretty good, but could have also used a little bit of tweaking as well. It did seem kind of silly how Stoker was risking everything in his life for the sake of an idea. It made me saddened for him that he was willing to sacrifice his relationship with his wife. Overall the book was an okay one time read, and a good one for Halloween.

For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com.

Tony Peters

Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping

http://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/

Book Review- Terence Strong- Cold Monday

Terence Strong- Cold Monday 3 Stars

After watching his wife, a UN employee, butchered while he was on a mission, Ed Coltrane left the SAS. He had been hunting down the killers for five years and come up empty. He had just moved when he was approached by his old boss to assassinate one of the killers. Now he has been dragged into the middle of something dangerous and sinister, but no one seems to know about. If he is not careful, friends may die, heck, he might die.

This book took me a really long time to get into. It just barely kept me interested enough to read on, but halfway through it did pick up and get to be a very intense read. The overall plot was very good, but the twists the author thought were going to be shocking, were extremely predictable, I had the whole book figured out just past the halfway mark. The surprising part was actually the information you find out in the epilogue. The characters were decent, but seemed a little shallow in parts. I did enjoy the action scenes, but the way they just squeak by at times bordered on the unrealistic side. Overall though it was a decent one-time read, likely would not choose this author again though.

For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com.

Tony Peters

Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping

http://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/

Book Review- Joyce Sweeney- Free Fall

Joyce Sweeney- Free Fall 1.25 Stars

Neil, his brother David, best friend Randy, and his brother’s friend Terry, all decide to go cave exploring. A morning of fun, and then off to work, that was the plan. They never imagined that they could possibly get lost within that cave and its network of tunnels. Now they are fighting to find a way out of the cave before it takes all of their lives.

The introduction nearly lost me. It was tedious and took too long to get to the point of the novel. It never really grabbed my attention, just plodded along barely keeping me reading. The book had a good basic plot, but was just lacking that certain wow factor. The characters were a redeeming quality. They were very well done, and had depth. I loved to see the personal struggles of each character and how the cave made them face each fear/struggle. Overall though, I would not recommend this book.

For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com.

Tony Peters

Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping

http://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/