1) comments are moderated for obvious reasons (had one spammer get through while I wasn’t looking)
2) I’m really enjoying Adrian McKinty’s newest stand alone title, The Cold, Cold Ground (excellent reading so far)*
3) comments are turned off for this post because it is a sticky and a throwaway post (plan to delete it)

Hope everyone is doing well and I hope to catch up with you all next week

*This book was available for Kindle (US) last week but now it’s not. Strange.

The basic premise is this: two brothers and a friend come across a downed plane in a nature’s preserve and inside the cockpit of the plane, there’s a crow nibbling away on a dead body and a bag with 4 million dollars in it. Hank (Bill Paxton) wants to call the police and turn it in. Their friend, Lou, played by Brent Briscoe convinces Hank to keep the money while Hank’s brother Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton) doesn’t say any one thing for or against it for keeping the money. He just goes along with the plan and what a simple plan it was too: just sit on the money till spring and then each go their own way.

Review: I’m sure you are all thinking what could go wrong? Everything as you might expect. We watch these men as they deal with the consequences of their actions. We watch as common sense fly out of the window and people start to suspect each other. Bridget Fonda plays Hank’s wife who’s expecting their first baby. When Hank brings home the money, she initially says that it’s wrong to keep it. But overnight she changes her mind and starts helping him so that the money can’t be traced back to them.

Jacob and his friend Lou are the two weakest ones in keeping to the plan. Lou is an unemployed drunk as well as Jacob, who is a needy, lonely man who is looking to restore the family home so that he can be a farmer. There are quite a few quiet moments in here but beneath the surface is where evil lurks, ready to strike at any given opportunity. The themes are nothing new. Greed. How money is evil and destructive. The American Dream and what it costs to be happy. This is a great movie and if you haven’t seen it you should.

Favorite scenes? When Hank asks Jacob to help him trick Lou into a confession so that he can record it. Jacob had me fooled when he acted like he was going to betray his brother for their reason for being there. I thought that was a very suspenseful scene where Hank bared the brunt of what I think is Jacob’s unfiltered and unflattering thoughts about their strained relationship. Hank is always coming off surprised or stunned by some of the revelations that come out of Jacob’s mouth. About their father and his death and about Jacob’s love life. How he felt about Hank being the one to go off to college while his dad had to mortgage the house twice to pay his tuition. All Jacob wants to do is be a farmer and settle down with his own family someday.

At the end of it all, you’d have to ask: was keeping the money worth it? They all paid a high price to keep it, I know that much. And then there were the complications that were generated because of the plan that kept cropping up one after another and it didn’t feel forced at all but was a natural progression of the story. And here we sit and watch/witness good people doing bad things for the sake of money. The irony of it all is that the money didn’t make anyone happy at all. I am no film critic but each actor in here was outstanding in their performances.

The look of the film, the cinematography, was beautiful, with the snow falling and blanketing the ground. The story is set during the winter in rural Minnesota. This is a quiet film that is taut and suspenseful crime drama. A SIMPLE PLAN is of the greats in crime thrillers that shouldn’t be missed and should be re-watched if you haven’t in awhile. B+.

Notes: The U.S. box office receipts for the film barely made it’s money back. So it didn’t have wide appeal and explains why I didn’t hear about it. The movie was nominated for two Oscars: one for Billy Bob Thornton for “Best Supporting Actor” and one nod for Scott B. Smith for “best screenplay” based on his book which you can buy digitized if you have an interest.

Additionally, I enjoy watching crime films and will occasionally review them here on the weekends.

One False Move (1991), a movie directed by Carl Franklin that stars Billy Bob Thornton (he co-wrote the screenplay), Cynda Williams and Bill Paxton, is one of my favorite movies. Have any of you seen it? This is a movie that doesn’t waste any time getting your attention for the first few minutes in. The premise: a drug deal goes bad and six people are murdered in the city of Los Angeles.

The film mostly follows the police officers as they track down the killers to a small rural town in Arkansas. Bill Paxton plays the small town sheriff there who enthusiastically welcomes the LA cops who fly down ahead to catch the dangerous trio who are making their way there. This is a major case for Dale Dixon (Bill Paxton’s character), who in his six years of being sheriff, has never had to use his gun. But Dale is star struck by the LA cops from the big bad city, often looking up to them as if they are heroes (and they are far from it). This film is well acted and directed and has a big secret towards the end. There is some humor within the story to lighten up the mood. Overall this film is one that I re-watch on a occasion and enjoy recommending to people.

I tapped Maili who offered to put together a list of other noir-like movies that would be of interest to fans like me who enjoyed One False Move. She knows everything about film (s). *g* Her list begins after the break. And please, don’t hesitate to share your thoughts or add recommendations. We would love to hear from you!

The List

On Twitter, Keishon asked if I had seen One False Move (1991), starring Billy Bob Thornton, Cynda Williams and Bill Paxton. I had. Not only that, I still think it’s one of best crime films of the 1990s. Of course, Keishon asked for similar crime films. How could I resist?

I didn’t think to ask Keishon whether she meant the ones with the similar plot or did she want a list of noir films that feature characters manoeuvring through the consequences of their – or others’- actions? I decided to opt for the latter.

Here’s a list of films not based on novels:

• The Lookout (2007) (once a school football star, the slightly brain-damaged janitor is being roped into a bank robbery by a former school friend who may not what he seems)
• Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007) (two brothers organise a robbery of their parents’ jewellery shop and to their quiet dismay, it doesn’t go in a direction it’s meant to go)
• As the Blood Run Deep (2010) (formerly known as Meskada) (a small-town police officer investigates a house burglary that left a little boy dead)
• Hard Eight (1996) (a.k.a. Sydney) (A down-and-out man is introduced to gambling by a slightly mysterious young woman and soon, he slips into a murky world of crime)
• The Square (2008) (a married middle-class man and a married low-class woman, stuck in their adulterous affair, decide to cut ties loose and run off with a spouse’s drug money, not realising how far the consequences can reach. A compelling Aussie small-crime film.)
• Lone Star (1997) (a Texan sheriff investigates after the buried skeleton of a former sheriff is found and he soon unearths secrets that some people want to stay buried)

A list of film adaptations:

NB: I’m limiting this list to two things: it has to be made after 1990 and – since we’re on Keishon’s crime fiction blog – it should be a film adaptation. Why not? Kill two birds with one stone and all, heh.

• A Simple Plan (1998)

I love this IMDB summary so I’ll reproduce it here:

“Two brothers and a friend find $4 million in the cockpit of a downed plane. The pilot is dead. No one is looking for the money. To keep it, all they have to do is wait. IT ALL SOUNDED SO SIMPLE…”

Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton, fresh from One False Move, appear together again in this seemingly similar film. They didn’t simply repeat their earlier roles here. Instead, they blew it out right off the water with their performances as an opportunistic lowlife and his socially awkward brother, who get into a situation that threatens to swallow them alive. I simply think this is the best film director Sam Raimi has given so far. His films before and after still haven’t quite lived up to this one, even though they have nothing in common. Basically, it’s a must-seen film. Also, credit to Thornton for not making a joke of – or stereotype – his character who has a learning disability. He introduced a depth I still appreciate to this day. Based on Scott Smith’s novel of same title. Also available in print and digital.

• The Secret in Their Eyes (Spanish:
  El Secreto de Sus Ojos) (2009)

A retired government legal agent Benjamín Espósito writes a novel to find closure for his first case that he had never managed to solve: the brutal rape and murder of a sweet-natured newlywed bride. While accuracy isn’t necessary for his novel, he feels his novel deserves a sense of realism, so he decides to refresh his memories by visiting people who were involved with the case including the one he believed that got away with the murder. Little he knows that his revisiting would take him into the darkest part of the past.

The Secret in Their Eyes is Argentine, but before you’d run away screaming at the idea of watching a subtitled film, consider this little fact: it’s a great little crime film. It’s also a tale of redemption, love and slow-but-surely-served justice. Even so, there’s an ongoing debate among film critics whether it’s actually a good crime film. I thought it was, so I’m firmly in the camp of Yes.

Based on Eduardo Sacheri’s crime novel La Pregunta de Sus Ojos (The Question in Their Eyes), which I haven’t read but it’s available as The Secret in Their Eyes in English, published by Other Press in 2011. Available in both print and digital, too.

• Devil in a Blue Dress (1997)

Set in 1940s-era Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is out of work and utterly broke. With credit collectors on his back, he’s offered a massive payment of $100 to find a missing woman called Daphne Monet, who has been seeing a political candidate. As he investigates, people are started to drop like flies which prompts Easy to realise he’s being framed for their deaths.

Directed by Carl Franklin, who’s responsible for One False Move. I’m actually not that keen on Denzel Washington (his performances rarely vary beyond the line from A to C), but I thought he pulled it off pretty well as a world-weary private investigator who couldn’t quite protect his heart from a siren who could be his ultimate downfall.

Well, OK, L.A. Confidential (released in 1997, based on James Ellroy’s novel of same title) is superior to Devil in a Blue Dress in many aspects, but L.A. Confidential had a much bigger budget that allowed better production values, more freedom and better support. So if we put those aside and compare LAC and DIABD again, we’ll find they’re actually equals. Good plots, decent performances, great directions and solid scripts. Do look out for Don Cheadle, who almost stole the film under Washington’s nose with his fantastic performance as ‘Mouse’, a rather edgy friend. This one is based on Walter Mosley’s crime novel of same title, and available in print and digital.

And here’s a list of film adaptations I wasn’t keen on:

• The Black Dahlia (2006) A real mess. I’m embarrassed for director Brian De Palma and all involved. Truly embarrassed. Based on James Ellroy’s novel of same title.
• U Turn (1997) It could have been so much better. I still mourn the film’s missed opportunities. Red Rock West (1993) can – and does – kick U Turn‘s arse to the moon. Easily. Based on John Ridley’s crime novel, Stray Dogs, which incidentally received similar mixed reactions.
• Drive (2010) Now, I did like this one – how could I not when Ryan Gosling is the lead and how some of the cast gave the performances of their careers? – but at the same time, I had problems with it. More to do with director’s handling than with the story itself. Based on James ‘s novella of same title, but it wasn’t a fun read. It served better as a sleeping pill, to be honest.
• The Killer Inside Me (2010) Widely billed as a noir film and – oddly – it’s been compared with One False Move, but a) I think The Killer Inside Me is a character study of a sadistic psychopath who happens to be a Texan chief sheriff, and b) it has nothing in common with One False Move. That said, it’s a well-crafted and stylish film, but the story’s not the kind I enjoy. The original 1976 version wasn’t any better. In fact, the 2010 version is much superior to the 1976 version. Anyhow, both are based on Jim Thompson’s classic noir novel of same title.

Crap, I should have put Winter’s Bone on the main list because it’s good, and based on Daniel Woodrell’s country noir novel. Although it’s a tale of a teenage girl investigating her father’s disappearance that has her meeting some resistance from the local community she thought she knew well, it’s essentially a character study of a close-knitted community and its way of life.

That community and its stomping ground actually reminded me a lot of my home town in north-east Scotland, particularly the old-but-rigid invisible code system of conduct and honour that makes no sense to anyone but the locals. The viewing experience was quite bizarre, to be honest, because Winter’s Bone made me feel I was reliving my childhood years. Anyroad, I thought Winter’s Bone was a decent (if a little jarring) little film. Somewhat similar to As the Blood Runs Deep and Lone Star.

Actually, I should give a shout-out to The Ice Harvest (2005) as well. This John Cusack film is billed as a dark comedy with a noir element, but I think it offers a little more than that. Not quite Gross Pointe Blank, but not quite The Grifters, either. Plus, it’s based on Scott Phillips’s crime novel of same title.

All right, I’d better stop before somebody bash this keyboard on my head if I dared rambling on some more.

As always, recommendations welcome.

UNTIL THY WRATH BE PAST was unputdownable. This book epitomizes all that I enjoy in Scandinavian crime fiction with its interesting locale and culture. The tone can sometimes be bleak as most books in this genre tend to be about people expressing loneliness and/or despair. I like the focus on nature and its contrasts. I like the attention to the harsh climate. I like that the characters are believable and are shown to deal with their own personal issues while investigating crimes. I liked the flow of the story and how each thread or events begin to form and connect to give a complete picture. The plot is one that uses real events about German soldiers using Swedish drivers to transport supplies to the Eastern front. The author delved into the past and unearthed some interesting facts to tell her story.

I made mention of the Krekula brothers because they do stand out very much in this story. Especially Hjalmar Krekula who intimidates with his height and bulk but he is nothing in temperament like his younger brother, Tore, the family favorite, who is in charge of running the family’s haulage business. Tore is pretty much an asshole. In the village, people talk about them behind their backs. Detective Anna-Maria Mella pays them a visit during her investigation and finds herself turned all around by their antics and threats. These were very well written scenes, showing Anna-Maria Mella’s vulnerability at a time when she and her partner,Sven Erik Stålnacke’s working relationship is on the rocks.

There are some great scenes in this book. The title draws it’s inspiration from the biblical phrase from the book of Job that reads: “O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past.” There is another quote I loved from Psalms that was also quoted in the book: “Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.”

The themes are about secrecy and shame along with familial obligations and loyalty. There is religious overtones but it is never preachy. Then there is Rebecka’s love life that’s an interesting side note. I like how the characters continue to grow and change. There’s an added entanglement that I find interesting in Rebecka’s personal life and I’m curious to see how that is explored. I look forward to reading the next book in the series. The change in translators didn’t cause any hiccups with Laurie Thompson taking over where Marlaine Delargy left off. UNTIL THY WRATH BE PAST is my first A read of the year. Other notable reviews: Maxine’s review at Euro Crime and she’s the one who introduced this author to me.

Source: I bought this book after reading Sun Storm, the first book in the series

Colin Cotterill – this author blew me away with his stories about a seventy year old coroner living in 1970′s Laos under the newly established socialist regime. The first book in the series is THE CORONER’S LUNCH (2004). The series has some paranormal elements in them because the lead protagonist, Dr. Siri Paiboun is housing the spirit of a thousand-year old shaman. He’s also able to see dead people even though he’s not able to speak to them. Often the dead consist of people who were murdered. As the series progresses though, those elements are not used very much. I got a chance to meet Mr. Cotterill at a book-signing this year and I’ve read all of his books with the exception of his latest, just released Dr. Siri novel, SLASH AND BURN (2011).

Patricia Melo – what can I say about this writer? I was fascinated with the story she wrote, set in Brazil, about a former contract killer who was in hiding for ten years and then he resurfaces to attend his aunt’s funeral. He discovers that his girlfriend has taken off with his daughter and he decides to track them down. That is the main plot of LOST WORLD (2009), the sequel to THE KILLER (1999). The story is very gritty and and very, very dark. He goes through many adventures and faces many obstacles until he reaches his destination point. The story is very atmospheric with an anti-hero who is rather complex. I have since went on to procure many of her earlier titles like THE KILLER and INFERNO (2003) that are in print only. LOST WORLD is digitized but is geo restricted for US customers at Amazon.

Åsa Larsson – this is a writer whose star is on the rise and I am very excited about her. I am currently reading her latest book in the Rebecka Martinsson series, UNTIL THY WRATH BE PAST (2011) and am enjoying it very much. The author’s first book, SUN STORM (2006) and the alternate title for UK folks is THE SAVAGE ALTER, was riveting. The titles in the series so far are all very atmospheric with characters that are fully developed and ever evolving (love that). She writes the type of Scandinavian crime fiction that I enjoy reading in giving us different themes with complex plots that focus on religious zealotry and financial corruption (more so on the latter). Her stories have been original thus far.

Arnaldur Indridason – this author says he writes about social criticism and he does it well each and every time. The series he writes is mainly set in Iceland and follows loner, brooder, smoker and father of two grown children, Detective Erlendur Sveinsson. He is one of the main draws to this series for me and his personal conflicts especially with his contentious relationship with his drug addict daughter is interesting and is weaved in nicely into the plot(s). He makes his first introduction in JAR CITY* (2000), alternate title is TAINTED BLOOD in the UK. Strong lead character with emotional baggage (my favorite type of characters) along with strong supportive characters, solid stories that are original and that are smart and credible.

Arne Dahl – I was blown away by this writers first published book in the U.S., not necessarily the first book in the Intercrime series, MISTERIOSO (2011) that features a serial killer (how ironic). But this serial killer has his sights set on the titans of the business industry in Sweden and when he starts killing his targets one after the other and leaving very little clues behind, a special team is set up to catch him. A team made up of the best police officers in the country. While this novel is not perfect, the pacing was excellent and the characters were interesting while many and diverse. I hope the U.S. publishes more of his books because I heard there are some that are better than MISTERIOSO *drooling*

My personal wish for 2012 is for more translated novels by talented writers and that they are digitized. I usually don’t gripe about the prices when they are coming from overseas because the price for the digital copy is often way cheaper than the paper (and I prefer digital). I wish for the marketing people at major publishing houses to quit trying to label new writers books with stuff like “the next Stieg Larsson or “writes just like Jo Nesbo.” Okay I made the last one up and I think the former is nowhere to be found now. But. Each writer is their own star. They need not be the next anything but the next great writer. I hope to discover some new writers next year so I can rave about them. Happy New Year to all of you.

*Jar City is the first translated book to be published but it is not the first book in the series. Those are still untranslated.

Having enjoyed THE BLOOD SPLIT so much, I thought I would dive right in to THE BLACK PATH, the third book in the series. Rebecka Martinsson has quit her job as a junior attorney at Sweden’s top business law firm, Meijer & Ditzinger in Stockholm and has taken up residence in her childhood home in the mining community of Kiruna after so many years in exile. After the devastating events in the last book that put her in mortal danger, she does a stint in a psychiatric clinic and is prescribed anti-depressants. Rebecka, over time, in the book it says 18 months, recovers and takes up residence in her grandmother’s home in Kurravaara.

The weather is still blistering cold and the wind is up. A fisherman finds a woman’s body in an ark a few miles outside the tourist station of Abisko. Detectives Anna-Maria Mella and Sven-Erik Stålnacke investigate the case with the help of the newly appointed prosecutor, Rebecka Martinsson. She was snapped up by the chief prosecutor in Kiruna because he thinks she would be good at the job (plus she’s a workaholic) and she is.

The victim is a woman in her forties who held a important position in Kallis Mining, a company that is a major player in the mining industry. She was an information specialist. There are very few clues in Inna Wattrang’s death. The victim’s brother, Diddi Wattrang arrives to identify her body along with their boss, Mauri Kallis, an overseas investor who heads Kallis Mining. He brings along his security team. The two men are upset at Inna Wattrang’s death but manage to remain guarded and tight lipped to the police. Neither of them claim to know Inna Wattrang’s whereabouts before her death and offer the police very little in helping them track down this opportunistic killer.

The story then shifts to give us background info on Inna Wattrang, Mauri Kallis and Diddi Wattrang and a few others. The relationship between the three bears special scrutiny as their business/personal relationships have many highs and lows and go way back. I felt that the bulk of the prose at this point in the story was expository. I understand that the writer wanted to give us a full and complete picture of her characters but some of it was overkill and significantly slowed down the pacing of the story.

The plot is rather complex and didn’t really come together until the last fourth of the book. Between investigating the crime and unearthing a motive seemed to have a pace that felt uneven to me. But the story is gripping and features financial and political corruption, insider trading, the dangers of the mining industry and foreign businessman funneling money to fund a military coup in exchange for protecting their mining interests in Uganda.

The motive for the murders of Inna Wattrang and a journalist (who got wind of a story and started asking questions to his detriment), doesn’t show itself until you get close to the end of the novel. The big reveal isn’t so much who the killer is but why they were killed. I just want to say that my suspicions proved to be correct thereby making the denouement not all that surprising. The turn of events that led up to the crime felt somewhat forced to me, too.

At times the story is very gripping and at other times – not very (like I stated already). I can’t say that this entry in the series was as captivating as the first book in the series, SUN STORM, a book I couldn’t even put down. The author strengths lie within her characters though. She has made them as real as one can in fiction. Both Rebecka and Anna-Maria Mella are strongly built characters. Anna-Maria’s musings on her family is often interesting. She’s happily married with four children with a husband who’s a good father but a slacker on helping her with the household chores but in the end she reaffirms her decision to have a family and a career and tries to balance both as best she can.

Then there’s the series star, Rebecka Martinsson, who I find fascinating and a relatable character. She is Anna-Maria’s complete opposite. Rebecka’s fears are that she doesn’t want to be alone and she’s hung up on her boss. *g* I find that last development quite interesting. For once the ending of THE BLACK PATH took a turn that I didn’t see coming making the ending quite suspenseful. So in the end, I give THE BLACK PATH a B. The novel entertained me but not as much as the two earlier novels in the series. I think I will go ahead and read UNTIL THY WRATH BE PAST and then I will be caught up.

Source: I bought this book after reading Sun Storm, the first book in the series

Washington Post: “The Leopard” is a bloated, near-total disaster. ”

The Washington Post review of The Leopard written by Jo Nesbø, is the eighth book in the Harry Hole series, written by Patrick Anderson (a review I don’t agree with) highlights a problem I see coming with the commercialization of Scandinavian writers for U.S. audiences. Just to quickly pick on the review: I read the review and thought it quite harsh and incorrect. For starters, his dismissive tone or remarks about the “pointless memories of people’s childhoods” ignores a key aspect to the pathos that is Harry Hole. A man who is beset with demons and who uses alcohol to chase them away. His past is a significant part of his character development and that to me is not “pointless.”

Moving on. Admittedly, I have enjoyed other books in the Harry Hole series more but The Leopard was not a near total disaster but then that is my opinion of course. Was it the best in the series? Probably not. Patrick Anderson is welcome to his opinion and I don’t dispute many of his claims of how far afield Jo Nesbo’s plots have strayed from the rest of his other titles. Reading the criticism in the review does bring to mind a fear that I have in that Scandinavian writers will probably lose much of what made them different and respected in the first place if they are to succeed in a U.S. market. I say that with scant evidence to back it up and am only going by what I perceive and I am no industry insider. I am just a reader with an opinion.

With the word starting to spread or people thinking that Jo Nesbø has “jumped the shark”, I actually started seeing some signs of this with The Snowman (which is being adapted to film and will be directed by Martin Scorsese). The Snowman is a book I liked but didn’t love. Jumping the shark is not new in this genre as we all know from our own personal reading experiences. It’s happened with other writers I’ve enjoyed namely Janet Evanovich who some profess never wrote mysteries to begin with and to counter that, I say they are wrong. Her books did have a plot, well, at least in the first three books they did. When her books started to get mainstream, out went the plot and everything else for that matter that made them original and worth reading. I quit reading them.

The Redeemer, which was the next book published after The Devil’s Star, was passed over by a U.S. publisher in favor of The Snowman. Publishers know what sells because the book did land on the NYT bestseller list. The Snowman has everything in it to make it sell: more violence and more action and it features a serial killer and a high death count if memory serves. The Redeemer, sans serial killer, has yet to have a publishing date and to me that is the best book in the series.

Like I’ve said earlier, I fear that Scandinavian writers who gain the attention of American audiences will probably lose what made them great in order for them to succeed here. Do you agree or disagree? I couldn’t come up with a better title for this post but in my mind there is some process to package books a little differently here to make them sell or be more mainstream. To me that isn’t always best. Too many times I’ve enjoyed a series that when it gets to be mainstream it loses much of its appeal.

The crux of my problem: I dislike when good writers are discovered for their originality and then when they are introduced to a new audience they no longer provide that something special that made them a hit in the first place. I’ve never liked writers writing to a market but that’s the business of publishing. Before The Snowman was published, none of Jo Nesbø’s books had ever featured a serial killer before now. His plots were very complex and the endings were not overly dramatic or anti-climatic like they are now. There are discernible differences in his writings now that has fed my fear that maybe he is jumping the shark. Time will only tell. His writings pre-The Snowman were smart and he had the gift of writing in depth characters along with plots that were full of suspense and twists. Another author, Colin Cotterill, who writes smart and politically dense novels set in 1970′s Laos wrote a book featuring a serial killer as well and in my mind that seemed odd (maybe not to others) but most of his villains before that point were people within the ranks of government.

I still think Jo Nesbø is a talented writer and I’m picking on him because of the harsh review he received for The Leopard. I just need Jo Nesbø to not believe his own hype. *g* I have my misgivings that he is writing to a market that will leave his loyal fans disappointed. I hope that isn’t the case, however. My fear and I hope it doesn’t come true is that to write for the American market, one must throw in tons of violence, improbable action scenes and gore with villains who are one-dimensional and hardly worth remembering. Writing stuff like that will probably get you onto someone’s bestseller list but I certainly won’t be the one helping you to get there.

At any rate, I plan to read The Phantom (March 2012) the next Harry Hole book in the series, even though my expectations for it will not be as high as they were before. I think with reading this next book, I’ll get a better feel for what direction Jo Nesbø is going in his Harry Hole series. While I may love his work and rave about his earlier books to other fans, I know when to walk away when the author has decided to go in a direction that I have no interest in following when they decide to go “mainstream.” I don’t do mainstream well. Please share your thoughts. I’m curious to know what other readers think about this issue or if this is even an issue at all. Thanks.

pic credit – LOLcat’s ‘n’ Funny Pictures

Just curious what other readers out there think. The American version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo will be released on Dec 21st and I wanted to ask you all to share your thoughts with others who might be unfamiliar (yes they are out there) with the books or the author if they should read the book first before seeing the film or not. Your advice is appreciated. Of course I recently read where the sales have surged for the book so maybe people are preferring to read the book first.

The reason for the post: I was recently asked if I would recommend reading the book first before seeing the movie. I would say yes for several reasons with one of them being that you would be better served to know what to expect as the book is very dark. Also, I found The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a page turner. The prologue of the book with the pressed flowers set a sinister tone for the novel. I found parts of the book very hard to read for obvious reasons. Enough of what I think. What do you say? The film promises to be just as dark as the book, so that’s why I say read the book first but I’d like to hear what you all think if you happen to pass through here today. Thank You.

Poll is now closed. Thank You! Results are below the break.

Just a gentle reminder to US mystery readers that Jo Nesbo’s latest Harry Hole novel, The Leopard will be released next week, Dec 13th. I’ve already read it and it’s good. The Redeemer still holds the top spot for me though and I still don’t see a publication date for it on Amazon.

Also, Jo Nesbo’s website just released news that The Redeemer, is a hit in Croatia. I imagine so since it has one of the most memorable assassins I’ve read in crime fiction and he was, you guessed it, Croatian. It is a fascinating storyline with a semi-sympathetic villain. Wish the US would get a move on and publish it soon.

I don’t usually follow the Bad Sex in Fiction awards unless someone mentions it and this year, David Guterson gets handed the title for retelling the Oedipus story. It’s the other titles that were nominated that got my attention though: Haruki Murakami’s “1Q84, Lee Child’s “The Affair” and Stephen King’s “11/22/63.” The award is given by the Literary Review which in and of itself says it all. I’m more amused that they even have this type of award.

Fight! Well, email fight. Online fight. Whatever. Film critic David Denby decided to ignore the film review embargo on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and that resulted in a volley of words going back and forth between Denby and producer Scott Rudin. Director, David Fincher jumped in to say that if he had his way, no one would see the film until release day. Here is the offending review for your perusal. I had to do a double take on the actress, Rooney Mara, playing Lisbeth Salander. She’s the same girl who played Erica Albright in The Social Network. What a transformation eh? I can’t wait to see this film. Sony is remaking all three it seems.

Views

It seems everybody loves to hate on Amazon and I’m not saying that people are not without their reasons. But it gets tiring to read how evil Amazon is. Lets just face the facts, people tend to gravitate to where there is: lower prices, good customer service and accessibility. It doesn’t help any to accuse consumers of conspiring with the enemy (read as Amazon) in shopping in their brick and mortar stores and having the audacity to check on their smartphone to see if Amazon has it cheaper. It’s always been that way people. We shop where it’s cheapest. There is nothing new to see here.

I had recent interaction with the support staff at Kobo online bookstore. I had a formatting issue that according to them doesn’t need fixing. IOW, they found nothing wrong with the ebook. The title I bought, the latest Diana Gabaldon book, had really huge, large type font that I couldn’t adjust on my digital reader. So, I put in a ticket on Friday and didn’t hear anything back until I emailed someone higher up on Tuesday. It didn’t get resolved to my satisfaction so that’s one retailer I have crossed off my list. The truth is that except for Amazon – all the others have crappy customer service to some degree – B&N and The Sony Reader Store are the other places I usually shop at. I quit going to B&N because they had two ebooks that were falsely advertised and I wanted my money back. It wasn’t a great experience trying to do that. Sony Reader Store – same issue, it’s hard to get these people on the phone and even when you do, they don’t inspire much confidence to get things resolved in a timely fashion. What are you to do? I don’t like Amazon’s Kindle so that is not even an option.

I’m reading Asa Larsson’s The Black Path. My plan is to read all of her books. Well, she only has one more after this one, Until Thy Wrath Be Past. This author is just great and I am really excited about her. I can understand why some people don’t like her but I find no issue with her storytelling abilities. She does tend to put her main character, Rebecka through hell but hey, I’ve read worst. Asa Larsson is a name you will be hearing a lot about. This year, I’ve found some great writers. Just see my sidebar, they are all listed over there.

Yes, I changed my blog look again. I got tired of all the whitespace. I needed something different.

Anything you read online that you want to share? or rant about? Share it with me.

Sources: Ye Toilet Bowl, Jo Nesbo’s official website and PW (as linked in the article)

Professor Andersen’s Night is an unsettling yet highly entertaining novel of apathy, rebellion and morality. In flinty prose, Solstad presents an uncomfortable question: would we, like his cerebral protagonist, do nothing?

While Professor Andersen is drinking his cognac and letting the “Christmas spirit fill my mind”, he peeks out his window and sees a woman being strangled. He hides behind the curtains and eventually picks up the telephone to call the police but he changes his mind. He thinks: what’s done is done, the woman is probably dead anyway:

“I can’t tell them about this. The only outcome would be the murderer’s arrest.” And the murderer might well be caught, but not on account of him, Professor Andersen, intervening and notifying them that the man had committed a murder. The idea was distasteful to him.

According to the blurb of Professor Andersen’s Night, Professor Andersen runs into the murderer at a sushi bar several days later. Sadly, I didn’t make it that far into the story. Red flags went up immediately when I found myself setting this book aside after reading the first two pages. This is a book about a man and his conscience. He doesn’t phone the police but continues to rationalize his actions. The following day he attends a dinner party and plans to share the night’s events with his friend. He keeps going back and forth in his decision to say to his host/friend that he witnessed a murder and didn’t report it to the police. This is where my interest started to wan. I stopped reading at page 18 because I got bored with reading stuff like this:

They sat down at the dinner table. The seating arrangement had been fixed elegantly and with an experienced hand so that their being an odd number went unnoticed, but gave them an added sense of well being, since Nina, their hostess, had two companions at the table. Jan Brynhildsen, sitting on her left, and Per Ekeberg on her right, both of whom could then cheerfully compete to win her favour and attention, while Bernt, their host, had one female companion, Judith Berg, on his left, who for her part could enjoy this, while at the same time she had Per Ekeberg on her left. Trine Napstad could likewise enjoy having Professor Andersen as a table companion, but she also had Jan Brynhildsen, the comedy actor with leading roles at the National Theatre on her right side and he could converse with her if, or rather when, their hostess Nina was deep in conversation with Per Ekeberg sitting on her right, and in that way was able to relieve Professor Andersen, who then could take the opportunity to exchange a few words with his old friend, Bernt Halvorsen, the host whom he had sitting on his left or just stare vacantly into space if the latter was deep in conversation with Judith Berg, his table companion. In this manner, the conversation could flow easily from one to the other, with plenty of opportunity for all of them to get involved in one single topic, if most found it sufficiently interesting because the responsibility of having a fixed female table companion hadn’t been laid on anyone, apart from Bernt, but since he was-

I couldn’t read another word of this. To continue would be torture.

Who is Dag Solstad? According to the book info page, Solstad is one of Norway’s leading contemporary authors. He’s received the Norwegian Literary Critic’s Award three times. While the premise is interesting and made me purchase this book, the execution of it was sorely lacking sorry to say. Plus I didn’t like the protagonist all that much. He tries to justify his actions and I think he was morally wrong. Who knows. Other readers may agree with what he did except I wouldn’t know who that would be. If that paragraph I quoted didn’t bore you then this might be a great read for you because yes, there is more of that in store for you. However, this is my loss for sure, to pass over such a profoundly, enlightening story. DNF.

Source: I bought this book

The Blood Split takes place during the mildly warmer summer months and about a year and a half later after the event(s) of the last book. This series is best categorized as police procedurals even though the main star is a lawyer. Rebecka’s path often intersects with detectives Anna-Maria Mella (married with children) and her partner, Sven Erik Stålnacke (lives alone with his cat). There is something about Ms. Larsson’s stories and her storytelling abilities that keeps me riveted. The truth is that she’s really good about writing human drama and its triumphs and tragedies. Her prose/narrative is full of energy. Conflicts, secrets and regular people who react impulsively from their inner demons and rage make up the majority of her stories thus far. A lot of the secrets aren’t hard to figure out but that didn’t stop it from being an engrossing read.

The crime in this novel involves another member of the clergy. This time it’s a female priest who was a polarizing figure within the community. She’s described as being “fearless”, “passionate” and a “feminist” in which that last accusation has something to do with her starting a women’s group. Her body is found inside the church in a way that is described as something you would see from the “Middle Ages” as a warning to others. What others? and more importantly, what is the warning about?

The author through the vehicle of her characters try to shed some light on a motive and point us in the direction of the culprit. As a reader you can’t help but wonder why anyone would kill a priest and a woman at that. The police assume that there’s a copycat only to rule that out later. The red herrings are plentiful because the priest had so many enemies. Mainly it was the men she pissed off royally with her ideas and influence.

I like that the story acknowledges the coincidence of two crimes involving priests within the same community. The likelihood of that happening in life would be. . . very unlikely. Like other Scandinavian crime fiction writers, the author does a good job in giving readers a sense of time and place. The contrasting weather is always freezing cold with the ground covered with snow and the sun blazing brightly in the sky.

As for the characters in the story, they are well written and fleshed out very well. Rebecka Martinsson shares characteristics with the author in that she is an attorney in Stockholm who grew up in Kiruna, a city in the northernest part of Sweden. Rebecka was forced to leave Kiruna due to some strife in the church community (see Sun Storm). She left in disgrace. She still has unresolved issues of her past that continues to be an emotional obstacle for her. Her internal anguish has more to do with her not belonging and being considered an “outsider.” For a successful career woman she seems disenchanted with her life choices and yearns for something quiet and simple.

The author continues to use flashbacks to give us a better idea/understanding of her characters. I don’t mind it and I typically hate flashbacks. The story does incorporate some light paranormal elements. It’s barely there to even notice so I shouldn’t probably mention it but I am. Since I’m a romance reader, yes, I am very anxious about the development between Rebecka and her boss, Måns Wenngren. In this scene, Rebecka has been confronted by some locals who find out her true identity. She’d been shielded from the media scrutiny and her involvement with the three pastors who were found killed from the last case. So, Måns reaches out to give his support/advice to her. The two can’t seem to communicate very well though.

“Do you want me to sort it out for you?”
“No.”
No, of course not, he thought. Can do it herself.
“Then you’ll just have to go back there and pay it,” he said.
“Yes.”
“You haven’t done anything wrong, you don’t need to go crawling.”
“No.”
“Even if you have done something wrong, you shouldn’t crawl,” Måns went on.
Silence on the other end of the phone.
“This is turning into hard work, Martinsson,” said Måns.
“Sorry,” she said

There are recurring themes in Ms. Larsson’s novels. Mostly having to do with the conflict between men and women and religion. Duplicity and/or deceit and secrets are a big part of her stories especially with the church and the clergy. Within this institution there are power struggles and in this story, the possible disruption of the hunting club and it’s finances. You get the feeling that anyone who fooled with these people, especially since the leader of the hunting club is an imposing ex-police officer with a high standing in the community, would tread very carefully here. Some of the men felt threatened by this woman priest and her wanting to make some dramatic changes. In retaliation some of them slashed her tires and vandalized her property but obviously this didn’t deter her one bit.

As for the police investigation, it is interweaved nicely with the other threads in the story. After all, the series star is Rebecka and she is more front in center here just like in the last book. Her relationship with the detectives is still under development. Meaning that there really isn’t a real relationship there yet but Rebecka does risk her job to give the police evidence that the church was trying to possibly keep secret. The church hired her firm to help them out with legal issues and Rebecka came along to help but ended up staying for a short holiday, living in a chalet near the local bar.

There is a storyline that follows a wolf pack, that’s headlined “Yellow Legs” and I read/skimmed enough to ascertain that the story about the she-wolf and her relationship with the pack is a metaphorical take on Rebecka’s life. Moving on. I read this book every chance I got. There is a lot left of the plot that I haven’t mentioned. It took me longer than usual to read this book because my spare time is very limited at the moment.

Åsa Larsson is a wonderful writer of crime fiction. I think she will be a big star if she’s isn’t one already. Her writing is smart and she focuses a lot of her attention to her characters which I like. I think she should be on everyone’s must read list. Her nuanced writing style may not suit some people (from looking at the reviews as they are all over the place) and her books are connected enough to not stand alone well. I will admit to favoring crime fiction that is full of drama and angst. If I had to criticize it would be the predictable ending. It’s not bad per se but like I said, predictable. This author made me a fan after her first book so I am happy to say that she continues to entertain me. Quite thoroughly, too. B+.

Source: I bought this book after reading Sun Storm

Fire has a language.
It’s small wonder, Jack thinks, that they refer to “tongues of flame,” because fire will talk to you. It will talk to you while it’s burning — color of flame, color of smoke, rate of spread, the sounds it makes while it burns different substances –and it will leave written account of itself after it’s burned out.

The novel begins with…a house fire. The victim is a woman who is home alone. She was supposedly smoking a cigarette and drinking vodka and (accidentally) burns herself up in her bedroom. Her dog survived the fatal house fire. Since they weren’t with her, her estranged husband and their two children did too. Yes, there is background info about the marriage – it was a troubled one – and the estranged husband does act kind of weird. He’s a Russian real estate developer with a history of adultery. He tells the kids who in turn tell Jack that “mommy burned up.” Okay. There’s a lot of unsaid/said accusations towards the husband. Whispers of a possible murder.

It’s Jack’s job to decide if the fire was arson or not. The claims amount to over a million. After speaking with a couple of people – the husband of the victim especially – Jack searches for clues to dispute the police report saying that the fire was “accidental.” He finds it. The rest of the book kind of goes from there – going into detail about the victim and her life and her troubled marriage while introducing some other colorful players. And those things kind of didn’t interest me much.

I’m just gonna come out and say that the first half of this book was awesome. It was like hypnotic because I couldn’t stop reading. I see why so many people loved this book but this is not – overall a great story to me. I found some of Jack’s actions kind of out sync with his character. Some of the situations/scenes kind of out there (for lack of a better word).

Moving on.

Bottom line is that this book has a great beginning and a lackluster second half. A great start is good but that’s not enough to save this book. If you want to know learn about fire and fire investigation techniques – this is your book, right here. A lot of people remark about the first half of this book because it is very interesting. This is insider stuff, a bit dated but this is great info. You see what they see when they enter the home, what they look for and how they think. While this story started off great, it didn’t stay that way long. Despite my criticisms, I am a fan. I love the author’s voice and will be searching for a better another book by him. C+.

The events that led up to the discovery of this young woman’s body has Dr. Siri suspicious. Speaking with the officers on patrol to glean facts, Dr. Siri feels he is being lied to but he doesn’t know about what. Two more murders in the same fashion occur right after the other causing outcry and expediency to find the killer. There’s no pattern between the three murders except for one thing: all three Laotian women were given scholarship to study in the Eastern bloc. Love Songs From A Shallow Grave (2010, 304 pgs) has to be the darkest book in the series since Dr. Siri first appeared in The Coroner’s Lunch (2004, 272 pgs). As of now, I’ve read all seven books in this (ongoing) series and find this one to be the most chilling and compelling. Overall, the series on average is excellent.

Told in third person narrative, Dr. Siri and his cohorts must come together again to investigate a horrific set of crimes. Just to briefly introduce the recurring characters within the series, we have Inspector Phosy, a policeman who uses Dr. Siri in an unofficial capacity to help him solve murder cases. Then there’s Dr. Siri’s two morgue assistants, Nurse Dtui (smart, outspoken, opinionated and a very strong female character ) and Mr. Geung (his invaluable lab assistant who is said to have mild Down’s Syndrome). To round out the rest of the characters are Madame Daeng an ex-freedom fighter who now runs a popular noodle shop and Dr. Siri’s best friend Civilai.

At the start of the story we learn that Dr. Siri has made the hero “shortlist.” His boss, Judge Haeng, sees this a boon for the Justice Department. Since he was put in the position of being the nation’s only coroner in the new socialist regime (that prompted many of the educated class to leave) he’s been busy in the autopsy room. Quick background info: Siri was a surgeon on the battle-field looking to retire but the politburo thought that putting people back together again was no different than. . . taking them apart. Since he took the job (there was no point in correcting them on the various disciplines of medicine), he’s been busy, solving cases that would sometimes involve people in powerful positions of government and security.

Throughout this series there’s been some mockery at the expense of the new socialist regime implementing its policies. Their foibles and ideology is narrated in a humorous, sarcastic tone. As I mentioned earlier, this entry is darker and more sinister because our protagonist finds himself face to face with evil and accused of being a subversive and eventually locked up and tortured. His experiences are intertwined with the thread of the murder investigation. The trip to Cambodia is what changes Siri. While there he’s told of the atrocities of humanity and death of the killing fields.

This setting is fertile ground for revisiting historically significant events. Hồ Chí Minh, the Khmer Rouge and the persecution of the Hmong people are just a few of the names or events that have been mentioned or had an integral part in the series. The Lao people/culture have a strong belief in spirits and rituals. The protagonist of the series is the host of a thousand year old shaman with the ability to speak and see ghosts. It’s done in such a seamless way as to not be distracting or come off as silly or intrusive.

The motive for most of the crimes in here are similar to all other crime fiction: revenge. What contrasts this series from others are several things: 1) the writing and the politics in here is quite dense. It’s almost as if you have to have an awareness and interest in politics but he does a good job of explaining things not to leave you behind 2) this amateur sleuth is a very active, stubborn, compassionate seventy year old man 3) the author’s ability to create realistic characters is impressive as well as the dialogue. 4) the plotting is well done as well as the pacing. I can’t say that I’ve ever been bored reading these books.

There’s personal developments in the lives of all our characters especially for Inspector Phosy, who comes off as a man who is very stoic. He has some emotional baggage. I find him intriguing as well as mysterious. To say more about the personal lives of the other characters is to spoil the books for those who are still reading this series or who haven’t even started. So, I will only say that the characters in the series continue to grow and change.

The denouement of this book did take me by surprise regarding the crime of the three women and I thought the red herrings were all well done. It’s typical of the author to have several threads going independently and he does a good job of closing loose ends. Must say that Dr. Siri’s trip to Cambodia was one of the most interesting parts of the novel. Dr. Siri and his companion were sent there with the Chinese delegation to “test the waters” while unaware that The Khmer Rouge (1975 to 1979) was in power.

You can just imagine the air of oppression and human destruction going on while other parts of the world are oblivious. The best thing about reading books is that you get to travel to these different places of the world without leaving the seat of your chair. This was a trip I wouldn’t want to repeat in my reading though. Your imagination can conjure up so much more than what’s written on the page and curiosity always get the better of me so I spent a lot of time looking stuff up.

Having read all the books in the series (or caught up at least till the next one is out) my favorite would still be the first book, The Coroner’s Lunch. Surprise, surprise. Why? Well, the first three books actually had more interesting cases and were more politically suspenseful to me. My grade/impression of Love Songs From A Shallow Grave is that it is very dark book and politically suspenseful and dense as well. Very compelling storyline but not my favorite in the series. Or should I say, I wouldn’t want to reread it again when compared to the other books in the series. Still, I’d recommend this series without reservations as it’s one of the best out there now. B+.

Source: I bought this book
Other notable reviews of this book on the net: Eurocrime

What I have done is watch a lot of movies/documentaries. Here are a few of the highlights. I finally saw and don’t laugh, in its entirety, The Social Network and came away hating Facebook even more. Joking, joking. I don’t even have a Facebook account and don’t see the appeal of having one either. But I will admit to being the last person in the world to finally see this movie and thought it was somewhat entertaining. Saw PBS doc Prohibition by Ken Burns and thought it was meh. I usually enjoy his stuff and was expecting–I don’t know what– but it was okay I guess. Right now I am in the middle of watching a Steven Soderbergh film ala documentary style starring Benicio del Toro as Ernesto “Che” Guevara in the movie “Che“, about the socialist leader/physician/guerrilla leader who was a major political figure in the Cuban revolution. This movie is available for streaming via Netflix. Interesting movie. That is all.

Larry Ott is the only son of a white, middle-class family. His father is a mechanic who loves to tell stories. Larry’s life is depicted as someone who was strange, lonely and never given a chance. He didn’t have any friends so he kept to himself and read a lot. He’s a big Stephen King fan like the author. Larry was a lonesome kid whose mother would often pray that he would find a true friend someday. Then he meets Silas “32″ Jones (who prefers to be called 32 his baseball number), and the two become friends and develop a bond. Silas is black and poor and stays with his mother in a hunting cabin on the property belonging to Larry and his family. The author goes on to show how the two boys build their friendship over a brief period of time.

Then something bad happens. Larry finds himself being accused of murder. The girl he went to high school with disappears. Her body was never found and without a confession from Larry, the last one to see her alive, the case goes nowhere. For the past 25 years Larry has lived under suspicion that he kidnapped and murdered this girl and the town has ostracized him for it. When we meet Larry, he’s in his forties. He lives alone and in the same house he grew up in. His father is dead and his mother, who he visits with often, is in a nursing home with Alzheimer’s. He sticks to his routine, going to work at the mechanic shop everyday even though he doesn’t have any customers.

It’s present day and another girl is missing. She’s been missing for the last nine days. The daughter of the richest family in the town, the cops suspect Larry and give him grief by doing regular searches of his home and harass him. Silas “32″ Jones has a secret: he knew Larry way back when but doesn’t say a word to anybody about it. He even ducks Larry’s calls. The two men were friends due to circumstances that I cannot discuss but this relationship is one that Silas seems reluctant to elaborate on. There’s a reason for his silence and that’s what made this story so disappointing for me. I am planning to go into spoilers after this point. If you don’t care for spoilers then this is your cue to leave.

While the author thought it great to create non-stereotypical characters, the story was predictable and stereotypical to me. I found nothing surprising that Larry’s dad fathered a child with a black woman, out-of-wedlock and then sent her away to get rid of the problem. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together. We never did learn definitively what happened to the girl who Larry was accused of killing in high school. It was assumed that her drunken step-father killed her. I can’t figure out why Silas stayed quiet all these years later knowing how Larry was being treated. I’m not sure how long he was back but he knew the truth behind that girl being missing. He’d left town to pursue a baseball career and then comes back and is now a constable directing traffic and not doing any real police work.

Maybe I missed something but I didn’t understand why Silas avoided Larry and lied about certain things. That wasn’t explained to my satisfaction. I understand that caution was maybe needed to avoid trouble due to the attitudes of racism of the south at that time but 25 years later, come on.

I thought the plot was mediocre and the characters were not very memorable.*shrug* I thought Larry’s life was just pathetic. He reeked of loneliness and craved companionship. I was immediately sympathetic to him the more we got to know him in the story. I don’t do well with stories that have characters being ostracized. I hate it and don’t like reading it. Again, this story just wasn’t for me. I was mad when I finished this book and I’m sure that wasn’t the result the author was looking for. I urge anyone reading this post to read the book for yourself if you have an interest. I see that I am in the minority because readers whose opinions I respect enjoyed this book very much but this one didn’t work for me, sorry. My grade, C-. Average, unremarkable.

Notes: Both Maxine and Bernadette enjoyed this novel and gave it their highest marks/recommendations.
The novel was nominated for an Edgar Award in 2011 but lost to Steve Hamilton’s The Lock Artist. But, the author did recently win the CWA Gold Dagger Award for 2011. Many people cite the reason they enjoyed this book is because it is complex and full of layers and because the characters were well written and sympathetic. I agree with the sympathetic part but still thought the story was nothing spectacular. Just goes to show you who how differently we view things. Also, I bought my copy of this book, looking in Calibre, in July of this year, so I’d had it for awhile. What prompted me to read it now was hearing all the great things being said/written about it in the mystery reading community recently. While I am always glad to read a new author, this is a one time thing for me. See, this book left me depressed so with that said, I am looking for something that is the complete opposite, that is silly and funny. Might have to reread Janet Evanovich to get my smile back.

Edited: to elaborate on a point