Reader Indecisiveness

Posted on June 19, 2013 by

I am somewhat of a Dean Koontz fan and I have been wavering over reading another book in his Odd Series that started with ODD THOMAS in 2003. I did read the first book and enjoyed it for the most part. It’s about a young fry cook who can see dead people (remember The Sixth Sense?).
Read More Here

Posted in Opinion | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Book Review: A Conspiracy of Faith (Department Q), Jussi Adler-Olsen

Posted on June 17, 2013 by

conspiracy of FaithA CONSPIRACY OF FAITH won the author, Jussi Adler-Olsen the 2010 Glass Key Award. It’s an award that’s given out to the best stories set in Nordic countries. I enjoyed his debut, THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES that introduced his difficult to work with, chain-smoking lead protagonist, Carl Mørck, the detective inspector of Department Q that’s headquartered in Copenhagen.

A CONSPIRACY OF FAITH with translation by Martin Aitken is the third book in the series, following last year’s THE ABSENT ONE. I didn’t finish THE ABSENT ONE due to its lack of ability to keep me engaged. However, A CONSPIRACY OF FAITH runs at about 505 pages long and is told in third person and mostly succeeds where the last book failed. I finished reading this book in about a week.

The story has Carl and his assistants, Assad and Rose, looking into another cold case where a message in a bottle that stretches back 13 years is found off the coast of Scotland.  The detectives try to decipher the message and eventually end up connecting the clues from this cold case to the present day where there’s a kidnaping in progress. There are two other subthreads where one involves a rash of arsons involving some banks and to a lesser degree, some gangland conflicts, that didn’t really get no more than a mention here and there. Read More Here

Posted in Book Reviews, Denmark | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

“If that’s how an author loses fans, those particular fans can stay lost.”

Posted on June 14, 2013 by

I love reading Christopher Fowler’s blog and I recently ran across this very interesting post he wrote, titled ” How Authors Are Expected to Look.” I found the article quite informative. I’ve honestly never given a thought about what the writer looks like.  This explains why some author’s pictures are decidedly missing from their books. Not photogenic enough? This reader just cares about  the words on the page (or screen):

Ideally, no-one should know anything about an author, but that’s no longer a possibility. We all have to be, if not actually attractive, at least presentable. We have to know how to conduct interviews, do live radio shows, appear before audiences and wear a tuxedo.

and the paragraph that has the quote that I used for the title:

Some writers discreetly vanish as they become aware of the disparity between their ‘bad boy’ writing and their actual looks. We see fewer pictures of Brett Easton Ellis these days. I’m not going to. Honesty is my natural mode, not a schtick, and you’ll get the Arthur Bryant me eventually. If that’s how an author loses fans, those particular fans can stay lost.

You can read the entire article here. 

Posted in Opinion | 8 Comments

Remembering Derek Raymond

Posted on June 12, 2013 by

Derek_Raymond_SmokinAccording to my RSS feed, today is Derek Raymond’s birthday (June 12, 1931 to July 30, 1994). His real name was Robin Cook but he had to change it since another writer was using that name. Raymond is said to be the pioneer of British noir with the publication of the five books in the dark, dreary and often gritty Factory series that starts with the excellent entry, He Died With His Eyes Open.  I read the first four books back to back. They were some of the best writing I’ve ever read. The books are set during the 1980′s while Margaret Thatcher was in office. Read More Here

Posted in Author Spotlight | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Politi, Jo Nesbø

Posted on June 10, 2013 by

Politi

Here is the Norwegian cover for Jo Nesbø’s latest book in the Harry Hole series, Politi (or The Police as it’s known elsewhere). I knew you were just as curious as I was to know what the cover looked like. So when is this bad boy coming to the US? It hasn’t been translated yet. My guess is sometime next year. I can guess better when there’s a UK date.

On his website, they released a video of the release party. I watched it. Understood nothing being said but still, what a huge crowd coming out to see him! Also, it’s stated on his website that the first print run made history is Norway with 270,000 copies and after one day of sales, the book went into a second print run of 110,000 copies. Haven’t read Jo Nesbo yet? He writes police procedurals set in Norway. Start with The Redbreast and go from there. You won’t be disappointed. Video after the break.

Read More Here

Posted in Author Spotlight | Tagged | 13 Comments