I have been reading a lot this winter, so my latest Book Beat column (for the Pomp and Circumstantial Evidence magazine, from the Magna Cum Murder Mystery Conference) has plenty to chose from.
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
Somebody sent London P.I. Cormoran Strike a severed leg, and he
has several suspects to choose from in the latest thriller from J.K. Rowling
(writing under the Robert Galbraith pseudonym) Career of Evil.
Rowling was outed as Galbraith some time ago, but it's a good
thing that she is still using the name, so an unsuspecting young muggle doesn't
inadvertently wander into this story. It is chock full of adult elements,
including gruesome murders and dismemberment, spousal and child abuse, and
plenty of fighting and gunplay.
But it is Rowling's characters and situations that go beyond the
genre trappings; Strike's troubled childhood with a rock star father, his loyal
assistant Robin on the verge of making a bad-luck marriage, and various family
members and friends are well drawn and interesting.
This is the third in the series, and all are recommended to
mystery fans.
The Girls by Emma Cline
At the end of the 60s, at the end of her parents' marriage, a
teenage girl gradually disconnects from suburbia and falls in with a growingly
dangerous cult in Emma Cline's debut The Girls.
The Girls has elements of literary fiction and elements of
thriller, with the obvious parallel being to the Manson murders. But at
its center Cline's novel is really about a young girl's awakening sexuality,
and her attraction to a magnetic young woman in the cult.
How this relationship slowly, and then quickly, destroys lives
around them is the spine of the story.
This is a solid read for those with any type of fiction
interests and is recommended.
The House Husband by James Patterson and Duane Swierczynski
A cop just a day back from maternity leave stalks a serial killer
who targets families in The House Husband, from James Patterson's Bookshots
line.
Bookshots are thrillers and romances in the beach read style,
but at about one-fifth the size. All are overseen by Patterson with a
co-author, in this instance Duane Swierczynski, whose books and comics I have
been interested in on their own merits.
This story, told in alternating chapters by the cop and the
killer (who seems to lead the mild life of the house husband of the title) hits
all the expected beats, but a twisty ending and a Philadelphia setting add
value.
I enjoyed reading this quickly, as intended.
The Widow by Fiona Barton
A woman gradually begins to suspect that her husband is
responsible for a child's disappearance in The Widow by Fiona Barton.
Barton's novel is at both times a portrait of a marriage and a
psychological thriller, and the story ratchets up the tension by peeling back
the onion through one revelation after the next. Although I saw the
ending coming, it was sufficiently suspenseful throughout.
The Widow benefits from having various chapters told from
alternating points of view, mostly from an ambitious reporter and a dogged
police detective, but also including the mother and the husband.
The Widow tries to land in the same range as The Girl on the
Train and Gone Girl, with pretty good results. For fans of thrillers.
Desperado: A Mile High Noir by Manuel Ramos
A down-on-his-luck guy reluctantly helps an old high school
friend who is getting blackmailed--but when the old friend turns up dead,
things quickly go from bad to worse in Desperado: A Mile High Noir by
Manuel Ramos.
Ramos hits all of the right genre beats, including a
can't-win-for-losing protagonist, but adds interest by setting the story in the
center of Latino culture in a gentrifying Denver.
I would recommend this novel to any noir fans, especially
readers who want to hear from a different voice in the genre.
The Bastards of Pizzofalcone by Maurizio de Giovanni
A group of unwanted cops are sent to staff a precinct on the
verge of closing; but when an affluent woman is murdered, they have a chance to
redeem themselves both personally and professionally in The Bastards of
Pizzofalcone.
This is the first novel in a new Italian crime series from
Maurizio de Giovanni, bringing the lead cop over from his solid thriller The
Crocodile. Lojacono, called "The Chinaman," teams up with a
handful of tarnished heroes on this and several other cases that thread
throughout, as they try to hold various aspects of their personal lives
together.
de Giovanni acknowledges Ed McBain and his "87th
Precinct" books in the writing of this novel, and his nods to the source
material show throughout. Fans of McBain will enjoy this outing, a story
that would fit right into that series but seen through a different cultural
lens.
I thought the mystery was somewhat slight, but the characters
and situations highly interesting, making it a fast read.
Silenced by Kristina Ohlsson
An immigrant killed in a hit and run, a vicar and his wife in a
murder-suicide, and a young woman being terrorized in Bangkok are all tied
together, and it's up to a special squad of Stockholm detectives to figure out
how in Kristina Ohlsson's Silenced.
Ohlsson weaves a tangled plot, even more knotty with the complex
backstories of the team of detectives trying to solve the various cases.
One is pregnant by a married lover, another senses trouble at home, a third is
going through a volcanic divorce which is impacting his work.
Characters you can invest in, and sharp storytelling, make
Silenced a satisfying read, especially for fans of Scandinavian crime stories.
The Believer by Joakim Zander
A woman in New York is a trendspotter for hip companies; back in
Sweden, her younger brother Fadi becomes radicalized and heads to Syria; and in
London, another woman has a laptop stolen after a night of drinking.
How these three storylines connect, and are connected to shadowy
government agencies, is at the center of Swedish thriller The Believer by
Joakim Zander.
This is a big, globe-trotting book ready-made for a movie
adaptation starring Emily Blunt. In the writing world, I would most
closely equate Zander with late-era John LeCarre.
Slices of immigrant life in Sweden adds value to one of those
big conspiracy storylines it never pays to think too hard about.
The Oslo Conspiracy by Asle Skredderberget
A young woman is murdered in Rome, and her younger brother
killed in a schoolyard in Oslo; it is up to an Oslo cop with a Norwegian father
and an Italian mother to stitch the two cases together in The Oslo Conspiracy
from Asle Skredderberget.
I enjoy a lot of Scandinavian mysteries, but I'm not sure I've
ever read one with a protagonist quite like this; typically the main characters
are quite morose with myriad emotional problems, but Milo Cavalli--from a
moneyed family, with plenty of girlfriends and a penchant for
globe-trotting and other fine things--is positively breezy by comparison.
The plotting is a breezier as well, reading a bit more like a
beach thriller with action scenes with backdrops in various cities and a
storyline featuring international business,, crime gangs, and the mysterious
sinking of an Italian ship years ago.
Much lighter than the average Scandinavian thriller, for better
or worse depending on one's tastes; either way quite readable.
