Books I can’t wait for in 2012!

Jan 072012

This isn’t a definitive list of what is being released this year, just books I am looking forwards to in particular.  I have probably missed some and of course, there will always be authors that are new to me to be discovered.  Let the reading begin… as they get released of course ;)

January

Lothaire by Kresley Cole (Immortals After Dark #12)
Jacob by Jacquelyn Frank (The Nightwalkers #1)
Gideon by Jacquelyn Frank (The Nightwalkers #2)
Seven Princes by John R. Fultz (Books of the Shaper #1)
Unclean Spirits by M. L. N. Hanover (Black Sun’s Daughter #1)
The Duke is Mine by Eloisa James
Second Grave on the Left by Darynda Jones (Charley Davidson #2)
Copper Beach by Jayne Ann Krentz (Dark Legacy #1)
Heir of Night by Helen Lowe (Wall of Night #1)
No One Left to Tell by Karen Rose
Heir of Novron by Michael J. Sullivan (The Riyria Revelations)
Blue-Blooded Vamp by Jaye Wells (Sabina Kane #4)
Eternal Hunger by Laura Wright (Mark of the Vampire #1)
Eternal Kiss by Laura Wright (Mark of the Vampire #2)

It’s very hard to choose just one out of all the great books being released this month but my top pick for January is No One Left to Tell by Karen Rose.

February

Mass Effect: Deception by William C. Dietz
Darker Angels by M. L. N. Hanover (Black Sun’s Daughter #2)
Third Grave Dead Ahead by Darynda Jones (Charley Davidson #3)
A Walk in the Park by Jill Mansell
The Dread by Gail Z. Martin (Fallen Kings Cycle #2)
Eternal Captive by Laura Wright (Mark of the Vampire #3)

The Dread by Gail Z. Martin continues the Fallen Kings Cycle and is my top pick for February.

March

Bridge of Dreams by Anne Bishop (Ephemera #3)
Fair Game by Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega #3)
Recipe for Love by Katie Fforde
Elijah by Jacquelyn Frank (The Nightwalkers #3)
Damien by Jacquelyn Frank (The Nightwalkers #4)
Vicious Grace by M. L. N. Hanover (Black Sun’s Daughter #3)
Fated by Benedict Jacka (Alex Verus #1)
Infamous by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Chronicles of Nick #3)
Exogene by T. C. McCarthy (Subterrene War #2)
Lover Reborn by J. R. Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood #10)
A Rising Thunder by David Weber (Honor Harrington)

March is a very tough month to choose a top pick from, with books out by several favourite authors.  I am going to have to go with Lover Reborn by J. R. Ward since I love the Black Dagger Brotherhood and this is Tohr’s story!

April

Noah by Jacquelyn Frank (The Nightwalkers #5)
Killing Rites by M. L. N. Hanover (Black Sun’s Daughter #4)
Vengeance by Ian Irvine (The Tainted Realm #1)
Gathering of the Lost by Helen Lowe (Wall of Night #2)
The Love Letter by Fiona Walker
32 Fangs by David Wellington (Laura Caxton #5)

The Love Letter by Fiona Walker is my pick for April, her books never fail to amuse and entertain me.

May

The King’s Blood by Daniel Abraham (Dagger and the Coin #2)
Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison (Elder Races #1)
Born of Silence by Sherrilyn Kenyon (League #5)
Frostbite by Richelle Mead,  Emma Vieceli and Leigh Dragoon (Vampire Academy Graphic Novel #2)

By May I will be jumping up and down with excitement with the release of Born Of Silence by Sherrilyn Kenyon, the next book in her brilliant League series!

June

Darkness Devours by Keri Arthur (Dark Angel #3)
Caliban’s War by James S. A. Corey (Expanse #2)
Blackout by Mira Grant (Newsflesh Trilogy #3)
Storm’s Heart by Thea Harrison (Elder Races #2)
Lethal Rider by Larissa Ione (Lords of Deliverance #3)
Cursed by Benedict Jacka (Alex Verus #2)
Messenger’s Angel by Heather Killough-Walden (Lost Angels #2)
The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead (Bloodlines #2)
A Night like This by Julia Quinn (Smythe-Smith Quartet #2)
Silver-Tongued Devil by Jaye Wells (Sabina Kane #5)

This is not getting any easier!  June has so many books I am really excited about, but if my arm was twisted behind my back to choose (please don’t!) it would have to be Lethal Rider by Larissa Ione.

July

Thirteen by Kelley Armstrong (Women of the Otherworld #13)

July is a bit of an obvious one!

August

Time Untime by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Dark-Hunter #22)
Shadow Blizzard by Alexey Pehov (Chronicles of Siala #3)
Seawitch by Kat Richardson (Greywalker #7)
Kitty Steals the Show by Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville #10)

Kitty Steals the Show by Carrie Vaughn is my pick for August, I just love this series so much!

November

Death’s Angel by Heather Killough-Walden (Lost Angels #3)

This month speaks for itself ;)

Sister

Nov 302011

I’d heard a lot about this book from various sources, usually with complete enthusiasm but never much about the plot.  Having just finished it, I totally get why.  You can’t say much about it beyond the main character’s sister has gone missing and it’s about her journey to find her.  Any more than that and it would completely ruin it for someone who wants to read it (and you really do!).

Sister is an amazing book that gripped me and I just couldn’t put it down.  I started it Sunday morning and finished it in the afternoon and I was left with that lovely ‘Wow’ feeling and then had to think about it for a while.  I didn’t see the ending coming at all and once I had finished I could see the tiny and very subtle hints leaning towards it but for the life of me, I totally missed putting them together.  Rosamund Lupton is a master at getting you to look the wrong way.  For that very reason I think the ending has that much more of an impact, when the dawning realisation mixed with horror hits you.

As a debut novel, it’s nothing short of amazing; the plot was intricate but easy to understand and the writing so clean and smooth, I didn’t realise how much of it I had read until my husband commented.

It’s hard to put a label on Sister.  It’s part crime, part thriller but with a little edge of future-science to wrap it up into a book that I now want everyone to read so I can talk about it!  I might find I was the only one who missed the clues but that’s not unusual because I get so caught up in the story.

Lupton’s characterisations were extremely well done.  I loved Beatrice and the changes she undergoes throughout her journey, how much her life alters through her solid refusal to believe what she’s been told, and her determination to find out the truth.  She was both believable and real, and the love she has for her sister got to me in a deep and profound way.

The supporting cast were as solid as Beatrice; her mother who has already been through enough tragedy with the loss of a son at an early age, her safe dependable and boring fiance who just wants her to accept things as they are so they can go back to the States.  The police she encounters repeatedly in her search were well written and their actions were understandable, even as you felt her frustration with them.   The best character other than Beatrice was Mr Wright, the CPS Lawyer who takes her through the events of her search.  They make up the most of the book along with narration or a letter to her sister.  He was utterly believeable and I loved him.

I can only briefly mention the ending in that it left me shocked and speechless but with the feeling that I had just read something incredible.

Sister is a fascinating and enjoyable book that will pull you in and refuse to let you go until you know the truth.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Book Information

Malicious Intent

Oct 202011

Malicious Intent is a novel set in Australia and focuses on Forensic Physician Dr. Anya Crichton.  I found her interesting and she was easily the most well rounded and likeable character in the story.  Her own struggles throughout her life made her seem more believable.

The subject matter she has to deal with, especially when she is called to assess and collect evidence of rape victims is quite traumatic and I couldn’t quite engage with it.  Perhaps because Fox had to write Anya as detached from what she was doing, while still being sympathetic, it also left me unable to invest emotionally in the story, feeling as if it was mainly analytical.

I also didn’t connect with Kate the cop at all, I thought she was brash and the explanation that she rubbed everyone up the wrong way didn’t quite cut it.  Her decision to betray Anya’s confidence was, in my opinion, reckless and stupid and more importantly didn’t enhance the story for me.

The pace was very slow and it seemed to take a long time to get to important pieces of plot, and the gaps were sometimes filled with technical and procedural descriptions that didn’t really add much to the story.  When it was focussed on Anya’s life, it became a lot more interesting, and I wonder if Fox got lost in the technical detail.

The plot itself was quite clever and the need to find out what on earth was going on, combined with liking Anya as a character, were the two things that kept me reading.  The way Kathryn Fox sent her characters through identifying and then eventually finding how the victims connected to each other was really well done and I didn’t spot the bad guy at all; it was a complete shock and surprise.

The psychological research must have been extensive, and it was well incorporated into the story allowing Fox to give us a truly disturbed and disturbing killer.  As the author is a GP with an interest in Forensic Medicine, the medical side of things was pretty spot on but again I couldn’t quite engage with it, that same feeling of detachment.

A sign for me that I wasn’t totally engrossed is that I kept putting it down to do other things.  I did want to finish it though so kept reading and in the end my impression was that Malicious Intent isn’t an amazing book but is a decent enough read with a very interesting, if disturbing plot.

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

Fallen

Sep 152011

I always expect great things from a Karin Slaughter novel.  She raises the bar with every book she writes and Fallen is no exception.  Right from the first chapter I was drawn in and if life had allowed it, I would have read it in one sitting.

The majority of the story takes place in just three days and every one of them is nail biting, on the edge of your seat and utterly gripping.

It was great to see Faith Mitchell back in action again after she took an amusing but back seat role in Broken due to having a baby.  Being a mother again has definitely increased her ferocity!  Will Trent is another character who I just can’t get enough of, he’s such a wonderful mix of quiet confidence, capability and vulnerability.  Karin always developes her characters so naturally over time, and after showing signs of coming out of his shell in Broken, Will continues to improve in leaps and bounds in Fallen.  The change in him is partly due to my favourite doctor, Sara Linton who I hope Karin adds as a permanent member of the cast in this series.  The attraction between Sara and Will is undeniable now and so sweet for many reasons.  With Grant County now behind her she continues to build her life in Atlanta.

In my opinion it is a major feat bringing two such distinct series together and has been a painful pleasure to read and watch it happen.  As the Grant County series started to draw to a close and the cast of the other started to merge with it.  It’s a testament to Karin Slaughter’s powerful writing that out of the ashes, we now have a new one, a blending of both.

The plot itself is amazingly intricate and extremely clever.  The crime is against Faith Mitchell’s own family and secrets that have been kept for nineteen years start to emerge.  I love how the book was like one big puzzle with the pieces almost fitting together, only to find you have pieces that don’t belong or are missing a few others.  By the time the missing pieces were found, I don’t think I had any nails left!

I’m sure there were hints along the way as to what was really going on but I was willingly led into trying to get those odd pieces to fit.  Karin did the reveal really well and the eventual outcome hadn’t even crossed my mind but made complete sense in the end.

I can’t finish without touching on the Will/Crazy Angie subject.  Trying not to use spoilers, a lot happens there, even with everything else going on and I wanted to cheer when he makes his decision.  I’m sure there will be a lot of fallout in the next book but wow, the end of the book made me cry!

Karin Slaughter is without doubt one of the greatest Crime authors around at the moment and you will really miss out if you don’t read Fallen.

Rating: ★★★★½ 

Book Information

The Silent Girl

Aug 152011

This book has so many layers to it.  It’s not just a great crime novel but also gives an insight into Chinese culture and mythology.  I don’t know if I am biased because I heard Tess Gerritsen speak about her heritage and what it meant to her, but it felt like a very personal book nonetheless.

It was great to catch up with Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles and find out where they were at in their lives.  I thought it was interesting how differently the two friends view the world, and this is something that becomes a theme throughout the book.  Maura sees things in black and white, that evidence is fact and she follows the evidence, even if she, and others, might not like the outcome.  Rizzoli is more practical and can see the grey areas in between.  Again she might not like it, but having been a cop for so long, she doesn’t have the luxury of seeing things the way Maura does.

I loved the new additions to the cast; Bella Li, Iris Fang, and Detective Johnny Tam.  All three were well rounded, believable and likeable, in spite of the subject matter they were having to deal with.  Detective Tam in particular is a character I hope we see again as he is very personable.  I hope his quest to join Homicide full time is realised in future books.

Two characters from a previous book came to visit Maura and I loved seeing Rat and Bear again.  I love that Maura, for all her logic, wanted to maintain the connection with them, even if she struggles with what to do.  Rat proves he has a sharp intelligence as he spots some things in the case files that Maura hadn’t seen.  I believe the next book by Tess Gerritsen will feature the boy and his dog as the central characters when Maura visits and realises that all is not well at the school.  I can’t wait for that!

The pace of the story was a little odd, not Gerritsen’s usual style but the reason is very much bound up in the story.  The flow gets interrupted by monologues and memories of one of the new characters but rather than jerking me out of the story, I found it made it more intriguing.  Brief glimpses into a complex personality that has been strengthened by more grief than anyone should know.

The crime itself starts very simply, a hand found in an alley in Boston’s Chinatown.  It builds from there into something far bigger and shocking as each piece of the puzzle is found.  I didn’t actually want to believe the picture the puzzle was revealing.  Interwoven with the crime is the history of a tragedy decades ago, starting with a massacre at a restaurant in Chinatown.  The attitudes and racism of the time meant things were missed, assumptions were made which led to mistakes in the investigation.  Families that had been torn apart suffered, and with long memories and deeply seated grief, they refused to let it rest.  What really happened that night? Was it as it seemed? And how did it connect to this disembodied hand now?  It was fascinating and gripping and I couldn’t stop reading until I knew, even as disturbing as it was.

The Chinese mythology of the Monkey King was brilliantly used and added one of the layers I mentioned before.  It was both compelling and confusing, which I think was the intention.  Monkey was as mischievous as he was helpful in the legends, and the use of that throughout the book was really well done.

Not a book in Gerritsen’s usual style but just as gripping a read and it really proves why she is at the forefront of the Crime genre.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Book Information

Before I go to Sleep

Jul 292011

I wouldn’t have naturally picked up this book as it doesn’t really sit comfortably in any of my regular genres, but after hearing S. J. Watson talk about it at his joint signing with Tess Gerritsen, I was intrigued.

Having just finished it, words honestly fail me.  A lot of clichéd phrases go through my mind and while most of them fit, I don’t think they could do this book justice.  It was quite simply phenomenal.

From the start you are drawn in to the world of a woman who wakes up every day and has no idea where she is, or the identity of the man she is sleeping next to.  She’s shocked by the older woman she sees in the mirror each morning.  A daily process of seeing pictures and notes left for her by her husband, to piece together just enough so she can get through the day.  She can retain memory for just that day but once she sleeps, it’s all gone again.

We follow Christine as she discovers that she has been keeping a journal, that a man who calls himself Dr. Nash has been working with her to try and regain some memory and that he rings her every day to remind her where she hides it.

We experience the story through Christine’s journal, and as she reads through it, she finds out things she can’t remember having written, but has the proof in front of her.  It leads to questions and then confusing and often contradictory answers about how she ended up this way, and why she is working with Dr. Nash to try and regain some semblance of life.

The story is moving and tragic and powerful.  Perhaps sometimes there are things we would rather forget but to imagine not remembering anything at all is beyond distressing.

Finally, towards the end of the book, just as you think you know what is happening, as Christine thinks she knows what is happening, it all changes.  The twist is monumental and incredible but utterly believable.

The entire book was gripping and thought provoking and I couldn’t put it down.

As a book, it’s brilliant.  As a debut novel for S. J. Watson, it’s just amazing.

Read it…  Just read it.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

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Halting State

Jun 122011

Halting State is a book that ticks all my “I’m interested” boxes.  Its has lots of technology, virtual reality, augmented reality, on-line gaming, intrigue, mystery, crime, tabletop roleplaying references and a protagonist who’s full of self doubt.  So I keep having to ask myself why I found it so hard to finish.  The story is set in the near future and augmented reality is an essential part of every day life, the best example in the book is a network used by the Police to drive heads-up displays and overlays on their goggles/glasses.  The result being they always know who they’re talking to, their past history and everything they do is recorded and analysed.  The whole thing is so pervasive that the author tells us people can’t even find their way around big cities any more without their augmented reality map overlays.  Massively Multi-player Online Games are huge business, telephones are insanely powerful and provide all your local computing needs, everything is highly-connected, pervasive computing is the norm, and taxis drive themselves to your destination.

Against this backdrop of near-future technology is the theft of a bunch of digital assets which drags our little band of protagonists into a deadly hunt for what’s really going on.  Mix in some spy-vs-spy style espionage, some politics and a little bit of big business and we have what seems to be an engaging and complex backdrop for what should be an excellent journey.

Sadly, Charles Stross manages make it hard going.  The book is written in the 2nd person, with chapters alternating between the main protagonists.  Sometimes there’s even some overlap, so the end of one chapter from Elaine’s point of view in the second person, is then covered by Jack in the start of the next chapter.  This is particularly frustrating when one chapter ends, “You squeeze his hand tightly”, and the next starts, “You feel her hand in yours” (those aren’t in the book, just my example).  The 2nd person structure might work in some circumstances, but here it just adds to the overall confusion.  The rest of that confusion is delivered via the plot which is straggly and badly connected, and the technical jargon.  In an interview, Stross suggests that when he wrote this in 2008, only one of the technologies mentioned in the book wasn’t actually commercially available.  That may be true, but the sheer amount of jargon and technology mentioned is overwhelming.

I kept reading because I liked Jack (the burned out games developer), and Elaine (a forensic accountant), I even liked Sue (a Scottish policewoman). However, thanks to the 2nd person delivery and the rest of the structure, the characters don’t grow and remain pretty shallow.  Sure, they have their moments, and there are some brief flashes of what they could have been, but every time I felt I was getting to know them the 2nd person style threw me back to the real world.

The pace is okay, there’s humour, some amusing revelations and some excellent examples of what technology might turn into – but it’s all wrapped in such a chaotic and confusing plot that it’s too well hidden to fully enjoy.  I was not at all surprised when the end turned out to be nothing that we expected and it had to be explained de-briefing style in the last chapter.

The actual conclusion was a real let down after the build up and it felt like Stross just didn’t know where to take the whole thing in the end.

Having said all of that, I read the whole thing, and I laughed out loud a few times.  I enjoyed the technology when I could get past the jargon and I think Stross has provided an interesting insight into how things could turn out.  This book is absolutely not average – but I’m going to give it a squarely average score.  It could have been so much better and it’s saved only by the touches of brilliance amidst the chaos.

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

Book Information

You Belong to Me

Apr 252011

When a mutilated body is left close to her home, Forensic Pathologist Dr. Lucy Trask is shocked, but the eventuality is just another day at the office.  As she performs the autopsy puzzling things are revealed.  The figure ‘I’ has been burned into the victim’s back, the heart, eyes and tongue all carefully removed,  actions that appear to have obvious meaning for the killer.  Neither Lucy, nor Detective JD Fitzpatrick, have any clue what the message is supposed to tell them.  When the body is finally identified, Lucy realises she had a connection to him, and finding him was no accident.  Another body is left for her, with the same mutilations, and that additional connection leads Lucy to something from her past.  Tragic events, hidden truths and cover-ups from her childhood resurface, and a simple bracelet is her only clue to to the killer’s mysterious intent.

I had a list of things to do today, nothing that important, just usual day to day things.  I started reading You Belong to Me with a morning coffee and everything else went out the window, I could not put it down!  Right from the first page I was intrigued, and got completely caught up in the story.  I even had to stop myself from flipping to the back page to see how it turned out, it was that intense, and I’m glad I didn’t in the end.

The main characters were superbly brought to life and I cared so much about JD and Lucy, at times I didn’t want to turn a page for fear of what was going to happen to them.  The moments between the two were so sweet and powerful, it left me a little breathless.  The supporting characters were just as well written, and I had a lot of affection for some of them, but as it should be, they didn’t hold quite as much of my heart as JD and Lucy.

The story itself was amazing.  The plot was both intricate and simple, almost as if two layers are going on at the same time, and I honestly don’t know how Karen Rose kept it all straight.  It was never confusing, however, and I think that is where this book went from a great read, to an outstanding one.

It was truly chilling at times, especially when the antagonist was centre stage or when his handywork had been left to be discovered.  Getting ‘into’ the killer’s head can’t have been easy, nor describing his deeds, yet Rose managed it in a believable and convincing manner.

The pace of the story was excellent, utterly gripping and tuned just right to keep me turning the pages as fast as I could read.

You Belong to Me has now become one of my favourite books from Karen Rose and is quite possibly the best one she has written… so far!

Rating: ★★★★½ 

Book Information

 

Mortal Remains

Dec 022010

Being called to a bizarre drowning in Quebec is nothing new to Temperance Brennan.  Identifying the body as John Lowery, a man who had died in Vietnam and had been buried 40 years ago in North Carolina was more out of the ordinary.  Who was buried in Lowery’s grave if the body they had recovered was the real Lowery?  With only questions, Tempe sets out to find answers that lead her to an exhumation, then to Hawaii for reanalysis.  When another set of remains is discovered, this time accompanied by Lowery’s dog tags,  Temperance grits her teeth and digs in deep to get to the bottom of the puzzle.  Three bodies which can’t ALL be John Lowery, so who is the real one, who are the others and how were they involved in this?  Detective Andrew Ryan, ex-lover and friend joins her in Hawaii to help unravel the mystery, one that might just have Tempe at a loss for the first time.

It’s always a pleasure starting a new book about Temperence Brennan.  The only downside is, once you start, you can’t put it down until you’ve finished.  Mortal Remains is the latest installment in the series and it’s very good.  I always admire the character’s tenacity, intelligence and compassion along with her professionalism and need to find answers, especially for those who can no longer answer for themselves.

The pace of the story was spot on, tense and emotional and my only complaint would be the number of acronyms it contained but I do have to say they were always well explained, especially for people like me, who aren’t American or familiar with the agencies involved.

I can only imagine how much of Kathy Reich’s own history as a forensic anthropologist finds its way into her books but it must be considerable as the procedures and methods are explained in clear, rich detail.

It was good to see some familiar ‘faces’ from previous books and of course, how could the book be complete without Andrew Ryan.  His attempts at trying to reconnect with Tempe did make me laugh and I do feel a bit sorry for him but he did bring it on himself.  He really is going to have to try harder, our dear Tempe isn’t a pushover!

Having Tempe’s daughter along for the Hawaii trip was good even though she was grieving, she is a character I like a lot and enjoyed seeing more of her.  Adding Andrew’s daughter to the mix did get a little irritating at times but I guess was necessary for how some of the story played out.  I did want to smack her at times though!

A great read, full of the things we have come to know and love from Kathy Reichs.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Book Information

The Killing Place

Jul 162010

With Maura Isles missing, a burned car with four bodies and the local police insisting nothing more sinister was going on than an accident, Detective Jane Rizzoli refuses to accept the evidence that her friend could be dead.

A wrong turn in the snow led Maura and her companions to Kingdom Come, a place of questions and mystery.  A town abandoned, seemingly in an instant and no evidence of the occupants other than a few unsettling clues.

Will Rizzoli find her friend alive and uncover the truth behind Kingdom Come?

It was great to see a new ‘Rizzoli and Isles’ book.  I’ve definitely enjoyed the re-releasing of Gerritsen’s romantic thrillers but she creates something very special when she gets these two characters together.  Their shared history makes them very good friends and I love how that closeness was portrayed when Jane Rizzoli realised her friend was in trouble, possibly dead.  Two such different personalities yet they work very well together.

As to the story, well I read the whole book in one day and couldn’t put it down.  It was gripping, absorbing, emotional and kept me on the edge of my seat hoping that things were not how they seemed.  After the initial build up, the shocks kept on coming in Gerritsen’s usual style yet they were all natural progressions, nothing forced or out of line with what I thought the characters would do.

The pace worked really well, starting at an easy flow then increasing until I had to take breaks to have a reality check before diving back in again.  The twist at the end was outstanding and I was completely oblivious to it until it arrived, although I did have the sense that all was not right, I just couldn’t put my finger on why.

It’s always hard to know how much to say without spoiling it for others but there were a few moments that really got to me, and I’m sure you will know exactly what I mean when you read The Killing Place for yourself.

And you really need to, it’s a good one!

Rating: ★★★★½ 

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