Book review: Pitch Black - Alex Gray

Title: Pitch Black

Author: Alex Gray
FICTION

Genre: Thriller

Ranking: 7.5 out of 10.0

Buy: Maybe

Borrow: Yes

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005KKWBOS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Summary:  When Chief Inspector Lorimer returns from his holiday on the island of Mull, he feels a satisfying sense of calm. But it doesn't last long. Kelvin Football Club's new star midfielder is found stabbed to death in his home and, with his wife apprehended trying to leave the country, a seemingly straightforward case begins. 

But the murder of a referee soon after a Kelvin match throws light on some dark secrets at the ground. And when the latest signing to the club becomes the next victim, Lorimer knows there's a serial killer on the loose. As lies emerge and tensions build, the players and managers live under the constant threat of becoming the next Kelvin fatality.

Main review: 

Pitch Black opens with a footballer's wife, Janis Faulkner, escaping the scene of her abusing husband's murder. Her path crosses that of DCI Lorimer of Strathclyde Police as he and his wife Maggie return from a holiday in Mull. Janis is quickly arrested. Her husband, Nicko, one of two new signings for First Division Glasgow club Kelvin Football Club, was murdered in the couple's home with their bread knife. Lorimer is put on the case, which seems open and shut – except Lorimer's brief encounter with Janis has led him to doubt she could have done it. 

Some time into the investigation of this case, the referee of Kelvin FC's latest match, a cup defeat to Queen of the South, is shot dead in the driveway to his house. The referee had made a number of controversial decisions during the match that led directly to Kelvin's defeat, and the list of suspects include not only the whole of the Kelvin FC playing and backroom staff but also the innumerable Kelvin Keelies (as the team's fans call themselves). 

Any doubt whether the two murders are linked is dispelled with the shooting dead of the second of Kelvin's summer signings, Jason White. There is definitely a serial killer on the loose. As the investigation moves on, the Kelvin Chairman, Patrick (Pat) Kennedy seems to be next on the killer's hit list. The climax of the novel then becomes a race against time – can Lorimer and his team apprehend the killer before he carries out his evil plan?

Alex Gray employs a number of interesting techniques in the telling of her story. Newspaper cuttings, emails, chat room exchanges, the banter of football commentaries. Sometimes these devises come off. Sometimes, though, they feel contrived and repetitive, annoyingly summarising or explaining what the reader has already surmised. 

On the plus side, the whodunit element of the novel works well. There is a full cast of suspects and the novel is littered with clues, motives and red herrings. I didn't know until the very end who the killer was, so full marks to Gray.

Further reading suggestion: Shadows of Sound - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006WB7HWA/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Book review: Gamble - Felix Francis

Title: Gamble

Author: Felix Francis

FICTION

Genre: Thriller

Ranking: 7.5 out of 10.0

Buy: Maybe

Borrow: Yes

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005GET4XO/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Summary:  Nick Foxton once won the Grand National, but a terrible accident cut his career short. Years later, he returns to Aintree as a spectator and to meet his IFA clients.

Minutes before the big race, Nick's colleague, financial adviser Herb Kovak, is shot dead and the gunman vanishes into the crowd. The police want answers but Nick can't explain why anyone would want Herb dead.

When he finds a threatening message crumpled in Herb's coat, Nick begins questioning all he knows about his friend. And on learning that he is the benefactor of Herb's will, Nick is certain that something is not right.

A fact confirmed when Nick discovers he's the next target of the killer.

Main review: 

Felix Francis, son of jockey/suspense writer Dick Francis’s son coauthored his late father’s last four novels (Crossfire, 2010, etc.), turns in a solo performance worthy of the family name.

There’s nothing like having a colleague murdered in front of you at a racecourse to turn a financial advisor at Lyall & Black into a freelance investigator. Nicholas Foxton's friendship with Herb was just beginning to deepen when he was shot minutes before the Grand National was to be run.

Nick has the computer skills to follow the money and the physique of a former jockey sidelined when he broke his neck seven years ago. In his unexpected capacity as Herb’s executor and sole heir prompts Nick into looking into Herb's estate, and it’s one unholy mess. Herb, a transplanted American, owed thousands of pounds on a dozen credit cards and had only a nominal savings account. 

With some help from Herb’s twin sister Sherri Nick realizes that Herb also had a large income stream he kept carefully off the books. Meantime, Col Jolyon Roberts, a client at Lyall & Black, has asked Nick to look into a hospital the Roberts Family Trust had supposedly built in Bulgaria—a hospital the Colonel’s nephew Ben claims doesn’t exist. 

Meanwhile, Nick’s artist girlfriend Claudia, who’s been suspiciously distant lately, dismays him when she tells him why. As the plot unfolds, Nick falls into the hands of his enemies, comes to terms with a dark family secret and gets one more chance to climb on a horse and ride him to glory.

If all this sounds familiar, Francis fans can be assured that, like Nick’s mount, they’re in expert hands.

Further reading suggestion: Front Runner - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00XOA7IN0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Bok review: Gone Tomorrow - Lee Child

Title: Gone Tomorrow

Author: Lee Child

FICTION

Genre: Thriller

Ranking: 7.5 out of 10.0

Buy: Maybe

Borrow: Yes

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gone-Tomorrow-Jack-Reacher-13/dp/0553824694/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Summary:  Former military policeman Jack Reacher is riding the New York subway when he spots a woman in the carriage who ticks all the "suicide bomber" boxes. In the end, she kills only herself, but Reacher is a witness and, his subsequent interrogators believe, the recipient of a piece of information from her in the seconds before her death. 

What does any of this have to do with an ambitious young senator who downplaying of his own military career? Gone Tomorrow has the twisting plot that is Child's trademark. Reacher's lone-wolf habits and brusque, technophobic interpretation of the world are always a pleasure, though how he maintains fighting fitness on a diet of pancakes, bacon and coffee and continual lack of sleep is one of the world's great mysteries.

Main review: 

Featuring Jack Reacher, hero of the new blockbuster movie starring Tom Cruise, as he faces his most intractable enemy yet.

Suicide bombers are easy to spot. They give out all kinds of tell-tale signs.There are twelve things to look for. No one who has worked in law enforcement will ever forget them.

New York City.The subway, two o'clock in the morning. Jack Reacher studies his fellow passengers. Four are OK.The fifth isn't; she is exhibiting all the signs of a suicide bomber. But in the end she only shots herself.

Reacher's unrelenting search for the truth leads on to a senator seeking presidential election and a pair of foreign women who seem to be linked with the suicide woman. The NYPD, the FBI and two undeclared federal agencies are involved though they seem to be more interested in Reacher than these two women.

In the end all is resolved, including the demise of 20 assistants of these two women, not all at Reacher's hands.

Further reading suggestion:  61 Hours - https://www.amazon.co.uk/61-Hours-Jack-Reacher-14/dp/0553825569/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1475498694&sr=1-1 

Book review: Name to a Face - Robert Goddard

Title: Name to a Face

Author: Robert Goddard

FICTION

Genre: Thriller

Ranking: 7,5 out of 10.0

Buy: Maybe

Borrow: Yes

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003ARUTTW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Summary:  When Tim Harding agrees to do a friend a favour by bidding for an antique ring at an auction on his behalf, he is unaware of the secrets that date back three hundred years.

But the ring is stolen before the auction, and a murder follows. Harding is quickly thrown into a series of conspiracies surrounding the ring. As he draws closer to the heart of the mystery, he meets a young woman he is certain he recognizes, even though they have never met. 

As he searches for her identity, things begin to unravel. A dangerous truth awaits him, together with a realization: those who uncover that truth cannot be allowed to live.

Main review: 

In 1707, the HMS Association was lost off the Isles of Scilly with no survivors. Nearly 200 years in 1996, a dive on the wreck results in a fatal accident. Ten years on Tim Harding agrees to return to Cornwall, to go to an auction, to bid on a low value lot, as a favour for his employer and friend Barney Tozer. Seemingly disconnected events come together to form a trail of deceit, murder and greed, initiated when the auction lot is stolen.

The plot of NAME TO A FACE comes close to stretching the bounds of credibility. I enjoyed this book, but felt there were too many sub-plots. Part of the problem was the multiple time frames already described in the summary. But then Goddard introduced another towards the end, a legend from the 12th century, that almost confused me. 

It took a long time to finally tie everything up, and even then a murderer goes free, and another escapes retribution. 

Book review: Memory Man - David Baldacci

Title: Memory Man

Author: David Baldacci

FICTION

Genre: Thriller

Ranking: 8.0 out of 10.0

Buy: Yes

Borrow: Yes

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00SN934U8/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Summary:  Amos Decker is a former professional football player whose career was ended by a terrible accident on the field which caused him to become the 'memory man' whereby he can remember everything to the finest detail.Now a police detective, Amos comes home from a stakeout to find his wife, young daughter and brother-in-law horrifically murdered. Obviously scarred and nearly broken, Decker has to use his skills as a detective and his unusual brain capacity to try and catch the monster who killed his family.

Main review: 

Amos Decker's life changed forever—twice.

The first time was on the football field. A big, towering athlete, he was the only person from his hometown of Burlington ever to go pro. But his career ended before it had a chance to begin. On his very first play, a violent helmet-to-helmet collision knocked him off the field for good, and left him with an improbable side effect—he can never forget anything.

The second time was at home nearly two decades later. Now a police detective, Decker returned from a stakeout one evening and entered a nightmare—his wife, young daughter, and brother-in-law had been murdered. There was no clue or any reason for these murders.

His family destroyed, their killer's identity as mysterious as the motive behind the crime, and unable to forget a single detail from that horrible night, Decker finds his world collapsing around him. He leaves the police force, loses his home, and winds up on the street, taking piecemeal jobs as a private investigator.

Over a year later, a stranger turns himself in to the police and confesses to the murders. At the same time a horrific event involving the mass murder of high school kids and a few teachers nearly brings Burlington to its knees, and Decker is called back in to help with this investigation. Decker also seizes his chance to learn what really happened to his family that night. To uncover the truth, he must use his remarkable gifts and confront the burdens that go along with them. He must endure the memories he would much rather forget. And he may have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

MEMORY MAN will stay with you long after you read the final page.

Further reading suggestion: The Target - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00HPYMVD8/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Book review: The Obsession - Nora Roberts

Title: The Obsession

Author: Nora Roberts

FICTION

Genre: Thriller

Ranking: 7.5 out of 10.0

Buy: Maybe

Borrow: Yes

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Obsession-Nora-Roberts/dp/0399175164

Summary:  Naomi Bowes lost her innocence when she was 12, the night she followed her father - Thomas David Bowes -  into the woods. In freeing ashley the girl trapped in the root cellar, Naomi revealed the horrible extent of her father’s crimes and made him infamous. 

 
Now a successful photographer living under the name Naomi Carson, she has found in Sunrise Cove a rambling old house in need of repair, thousands of miles away from everything she’s ever known. Naomi wants to embrace the solitude, but the friendly residents keep forcing her to open up—especially the determined Xander Keaton. 

Naomi can feel her defenses failing, and knows that the connection her new life offers is something she’s always secretly craved. But the sins of her father can become an obsession, and her past is never more than a nightmare away.

Main review: 

Just before her 12th birthday, Naomi Bowes followed her father into the woods at dead of night and discovers that he was a serial killer, which sent him to jail for life. Naomi, her mother, and her brother, Mason, moved in with her uncle Seth and his partner, Harry, ultimately settling in New York City and changing their surname to Carson. But her mother never quite recovered from her husband’s horrid influence, and commits suicide.

She moves to Sunrise Cove, Washington State, into a rambling ramshackled house that she starts to renovate with local expert help - who become friends. Thanks to new friends, a lover - Xander Keaton, Tag a dog she reluctantly rescues, and Mason her FBI-agent brother, she might weather this dangerous situation, but discovering someone has been shadowing her gives her an appreciation for her own strength, resilience, and many blessings. 

Bestseller Roberts explores the experience of a serial killer’s family and, more subtly, the true natures of trust, friendship, and loyalty.

A little uneven and with an abundance of detail - especially about renovating an old huge house and the intricate aspects of expert photography - that occasionally slows the pace, this is still an appealing story from a romantic-suspense favorite.

Further reading suggestion: The Bay of Sighs - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bay-Sighs-Guardians-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B01B1Q3QCA/ref=la_B000APK6EU_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475169536&sr=1-1

Book review: The Shadow of Your Smile - Mary Higgins Clark

Title: The Shadow of Your Smile

Author: Mary Higgins Clark

FICTION

Genre: Thriller

Ranking: 8.0 out of 10.0

Buy: Yes

Borrow: Yes

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003HTNCO2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Summary:  When a deceased nun, Sister Catherine, becomes a candidate for sainthood , Monica Farrell, a 31-year-old Manhattan pediatrician, becomes the target of those who don't want her to inherit what's left of a fortune created by her unknown grandfather, Alex Gannon, with whom Catherine had a secret love child before she took up holy orders. That child, given up for adoption, became Monica's father. Monica must now testify whether a boy became cancer-free due to prayers to Sister Catherine so she can qualify for beatification. 

Olivia Morrow, Catherine's 82-year-old dying cousin, meanwhile wonders whether to tell Monica she's Alex's granddaughter. Spiritual questions are mixed with down and dirty deeds as Gannon Foundation funds are revealed to have been steadily siphoned off by greedy heirs and trustees who will stop at nothing, even murder, to hide their criminal misbehaviour.

Main review: 

Mary Higgins Clark brings us another bestselling novel that she “prepares so carefully and executes with such relish” (The New York Times Book Review) about the search for identity by the daughter of a man adopted at birth, who may be the inheritor of his large fortune.

At eighty-two and about to die, Olivia Morrow knows she faces a tough choice: expose a long-held family secret, or take it with her to her grave. 

Olivia has in her possession letters from her deceased cousin Catherine, a nun, now being considered for beatification by the Catholic Church—the final step before sainthood. In her lifetime, Sister Catherine had founded seven hospitals for disabled children. Now the cure of a four-year-old boy dying of brain cancer is being attributed to her. After his case was pronounced medically hopeless, the boy’s desperate mother had organized a prayer crusade to Sister Catherine, leading to his miraculous recovery. 

The letters Olivia holds are the evidence that Catherine gave birth at age seventeen to a son, and gave him up for adoption. Olivia knows the identity of the young man who fathered Catherine’s child: Alex Gannon, who went on to become a world-famous doctor, scientist, and inventor holding medical patents. 

Now, two generations later, thirty-one-year-old single pediatrician Dr. Monica Farrell, Catherine’s granddaughter, stands as the rightful heir to what remains of the family fortune. But in telling Monica who she really is, Olivia would have to betray Catherine’s wishes and reveal the story behind Monica’s ancestry. 

The only people aware of Olivia’s impending choice are those exploiting the Gannon inheritance. To silence Olivia and prevent Monica from learning the secret, some of them will stop at nothing—even murder. 

Clark’s riveting novel explores the conflict between modern medical science and religious faith, and the search for identity by the daughter of a man adopted at birth.

Further reading suggestion: Just Take my Heart - https://www.amazon.com/Just-Take-My-Heart-Novel/dp/141657087X