Before L.A. cop Bruno Johnson had to break numerous laws, become a fugitive from the U.S. government to save the lives of a dozen children, and flee tBefore L.A. cop Bruno Johnson had to break numerous laws, become a fugitive from the U.S. government to save the lives of a dozen children, and flee to Costa Rica with his girlfriend and elderly father, he was just a young, tough, idealistic cop in the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.
The fifth book in David Putnam's excellent series to feature his protagonist Johnson, "The Innocents", is actually a prequel, diving into Johnson's background, illustrating how and why he became the man he became in subsequent books.
It's the first day of his new assignment in the L.A. County Sheriff Violent Crimes Unit, and Johnson awakens to find a life-changing surprise on his doorstep. An ex-girlfriend that he hasn't seen in about a year shows up at his home with a baby girl, a daughter that Johnson didn't know he even had. She hands the infant off to Johnson and is gone, asking that he doesn't try looking for her.
As if it wasn't stressful enough to be saddled with a newborn, Johnson's new assignment is to go undercover in a narcotics unit where some of the cops are secretly being paid by drug cartels to assassinate competitors on the street. Johnson's job is to ingratiate himself with these bad cops, find hard evidence that would build a case, and report back to the select few superiors in the know. The problem? Some of the very superiors he is reporting to may actually be in on it.
Johnson's life is fucked, and the prospect of enjoying his role as a new dad may be short-lived if he can't figure out how to get out of this mess.
People underestimate Johnson, though. Sure, he's big, tough, and a hothead, but he's also a lot smarter than people give him credit for.
Another excellent action thriller from Putnam, a former cop himself who uses his own experiences on the streets to create authentic and ultra-suspenseful cop stories....more
Patricia Cornwell is on fire! Well, not really, but some of the victims in her ninth Kay Scarpetta thriller "Point of Origin" are on fire, and---basedPatricia Cornwell is on fire! Well, not really, but some of the victims in her ninth Kay Scarpetta thriller "Point of Origin" are on fire, and---based on Cornwell's gift for clinically graphic descriptions of murder, torture, and mutilation of human bodies---fire seems like the worst possible way to die.
The book literally starts with a bang, as Chief Medical Officer Kay Scarpetta is called to examine the aftermath of a housefire of one of the wealthiest men in America. The house and the neighboring horse stables---along with dozens of prize horses---were wiped out in seconds by a powerful conflagration, source unknown. All evidence points to arson, though. The charred body of a young woman is found on the property, making it murder, too.
When another intense housefire happens shortly afterwards, Scarpetta and the FBI are now on the manhunt for a serial killer, one who happens to be a pyromaniac.
On top of that, Lucy's former lover (and the late serial killer Temple Gault's protege), Carrie, has escaped from prison, with clear designs of revenge against Scarpetta and her niece.
Another exciting, and fiery, thriller from Cornwell. ...more
James Tynion IV has made his career on killing children. No, wait---that sounds horrible.
Tynion himself has not killed any children. He just writes abJames Tynion IV has made his career on killing children. No, wait---that sounds horrible.
Tynion himself has not killed any children. He just writes about killing children, lovingly, and in graphic detail.
So, yeah, that doesn't sound any better.
Anyway, his graphic novel series Something is Killing the Children has come to an end (maybe) in Volume 7, and it's, as expected, great.
It's exciting, bloody, and a tear-jerker all in one.
Now, Mr. Tynion, please stop killing children in your comic books. You've done it really well, but take a break for a while. It's emotionally draining for all of us......more
In Patricia Cornwell's eighth novel to feature Kay Scarpetta, "Unnatural Exposure", Virginia's chief medical examiner confronts a more terrifiying foeIn Patricia Cornwell's eighth novel to feature Kay Scarpetta, "Unnatural Exposure", Virginia's chief medical examiner confronts a more terrifiying foe than the serial killers she has fought in previous books.
There's still a serial killer in this, but the real threat comes from the killer's weapon of choice: a deadly lab-grown mutant virus, which has potentially global repercussions as the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) aid Scarpetta in hunting down the killer and simultaneously keeping a localized outbreak from becoming a worldwide epidemic.
This book was written in 1997, nearly 20 years before the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time of its publication, the events and threats in the book were purely theoretical in this country. It was akin to science fiction.
Sadly, it's not anymore.
In terms of verisimilitude, Cornwell was frighteningly accurate, which makes this one of her more horrific novels. Edge-of-the-seat does not begin to describe its intensity......more
Former New Orleans police detective Dave Robicheaux has been arrested for murder, and he’s not even completely sure he’s not guilty.
In James Lee BurkeFormer New Orleans police detective Dave Robicheaux has been arrested for murder, and he’s not even completely sure he’s not guilty.
In James Lee Burke’s third Robicheaux novel, “Black Cherry Blues”, published in 1989, Burke continues his sadistic mistreatment of his tortured protagonist. The guy just lost his wife, Annie, after two Colombian drug cartel henchmen blew her away in her bed. Now, struggling to stay sober despite every fiber of his body telling him to take one sip of alcohol, Dave is raising his adopted daughter, Alafair, alone. When a Vegas mobster ends up dead in a hotel room, Dave is thrown in jail for the murder. He’s released on bail with the help of his old partner, Clete Purcel, who was supposed to be fleeing corruption charges in South America but is now working for the head of afore-mentioned mobsters. What the actual—-?
Needless to say, Dave’s life is a mess right now. Facing a trial date in a few months in which his own lawyer is telling him he doesn’t stand a chance, Dave and Alafair hop in his pick-up and drive to Montana, to help an old classmate of Dave’s, Dixie Lee, a has-been rockabilly star whose life has been ruined by drugs and bad career choices—-he does odd shit jobs for the mob. He’s also there to help himself, as he’s tracking the guy who framed Dave for the murder in Louisiana. Kill two birds with one stone. Maybe three or four. Maybe a dozen. Whatever it takes to clear his name of murder. (Wait, that doesn’t make any… Whatever…)
Burke’s series is one of the best detective series ever written. I’ve read most, if not all, of the Robicheaux novels. I’m just going back and re-reading them in chronological order. My second time reading this, and it’s still great....more
Late on a cold winter’s night, Dr. Kay Scarpetta receives a mysterious phone call. Hours later, she is scuba-diving in the murky waters of the ElizabeLate on a cold winter’s night, Dr. Kay Scarpetta receives a mysterious phone call. Hours later, she is scuba-diving in the murky waters of the Elizabeth River in a Naval shipyard in Virginia, where she discovers the body of a man she knew fairly well.
The victim was a local journalist. The subsequent autopsy reveals that he was killed by cyanide gas, which makes his death a murder. Investigation into his murder takes Scarpetta into some dark territories, involving a death cult with links to Libyan terrorists, a corrupt cop with a personal vendetta against Scarpetta, and illegal arms trading potentially via corrupt naval officers.
Patricia Cornwell’s seventh book in her Scarpetta series, “Cause of Death” is another non-stop thriller.
Like some of the best action/adventure heroes, Scarpetta is incapable of staying out of trouble, and it seems that every misadventure she finds herself in outdoes the last one. Jeez, if she and Jack Reacher ever got together, it would probably precipitate some impending global catastrophe. ...more
A clever premise that pays homage to George Perez’s DC series The New Teen Titans and Marvel’s “The Uncanny X-Men” from the 1980s while also creating A clever premise that pays homage to George Perez’s DC series The New Teen Titans and Marvel’s “The Uncanny X-Men” from the 1980s while also creating a fun spin-off from the universe of Black Hammer, Jeff Lemire’s graphic novel “The Unbelievable Unteens” tells the story of a comic book superhero team that mysteriously disbanded years ago and has fallen so far into obscurity that even its own members have forgotten about it.
Comic book artist Jane Ito is coming home from a comic convention showcasing her popular series The Unbelievable Unteens when she meets one of the team members. This isn’t some kid in cosplay, either. This is Jack Sabbath, the only team member to have died. Jack’s ghost does a pretty good job of convincing her that the superhero team was not only real, but that she was an original member named Strobe. Now, it’s just a matter of getting the team back together.
It’s never that simple, though.
Teen angst, unrequited love, the trials and tribulations of becoming an adult: Lemire’s teen super-team tackles it all in a fun, short five-issue series....more
As a kid growing up in the late-70s/early-80s, buying comic books was a rush. First of all, they were thirty cents. My parents would give me $5 to speAs a kid growing up in the late-70s/early-80s, buying comic books was a rush. First of all, they were thirty cents. My parents would give me $5 to spend at the town drug store, and I would run immediately to the magazine racks, where one whole section was devoted to comic books. I devoured anything: Wonder Woman, Thor, Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Richie Rich, Archie, Jonah Hex, Hulk. Occasionally, just to scare the crap out of myself, I’d pick up a House of Mystery. (The drug store rarely carried this, mainly, I think, because the covers were lurid and always had buxom half-naked women running from a mummy or a vampire or a mer-man. The store was owned by a nice old lady who more than likely didn’t approve of those things.)
Star Wars comics were my favorite, but, for some reason, the store only carried them semi-regularly. Once every three months an issue would come in, and I would snatch it up. Never mind that the storyline didn’t make sense because I hadn’t read the previous issues. More than likely, it ended on a cliffhanger, one that would forever leave me hanging because I knew I would never get the conclusion issue. I didn’t care, though. It was Star Wars. I think I read and re-read every issue of these comics so many times that the covers fell off.
Fast forward roughly forty years: I still love comic books, but I rarely buy them anymore. (A “cheap” issue is $4.) Most of the time, I get the compilation volumes from the library. I can read five to six issues in one paperback edition, for free.
There are a few titles, though, that I will dish out money for. Recently, Marvel released their “Epic Collections” of the “Original Marvel Years”. I bought Volume 1, which included the first 23 issues of the original run that started in 1977, as well as the first 16 issues of a Marvel magazine called “Pizzazz” (which I had never heard of) that ran a 3-page serial of Star Wars.
The first six issues of the original run was an adaptation of the film, written by Roy Thomas (based on George Lucas’s screenplay) and illustrated by Howard Chaykin, plus a rotating stock of other artists. The subsequent issues were original stories, many of which are so far from canonical as to be their own Star Wars multiverse, but they are still fun. Keep in mind, Lucas hadn’t divulged any secrets about what he was planning in the sequel, or if there was even going to be a sequel. (The ridiculous mega-success of the first film almost guaranteed one.)
I would love to own all of these someday, but they can be pretty expensive. (Amazon lists the second volume at $32, and the third volume is, inexplicably, $65.)
The local library is looking better every day…
P.S. This edition is NOT the kindle edition, as it states in the format bar. It's the paperback edition, but Goodreads, for some reason, doesn't have that as an option. Weird......more
I was a latch-key kid. For those of you millennials and subsequent generations who did not grow up in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s, a “latch-key kid” wI was a latch-key kid. For those of you millennials and subsequent generations who did not grow up in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s, a “latch-key kid” was a kid who had two parents that worked long hours and basically stayed at home before and after school for several hours alone. That means no parental supervision. That means having the entire run of the house yourself.
I’ll give you kids a few seconds to mull that over.
I know: it’s shocking, horrifying, and you’re wondering why our parents weren’t arrested for neglect or abuse.
See, basically, in those days of yore, our parents didn’t really give a shit what we did for six or seven hours at night. Mom would go straight to the kitchen and make Hamburger Helper (just Google it). Dad would sit in his armchair and read the paper or watch the news or fall asleep. We would eat a quick meal together, and then our parents would tell us to go do something, which included (but was not limited to): doing our homework, riding our bikes around town, meeting up with friends at the local pharmacy or shopping plaza for the express purpose of making farting noises with our armpits and/or talking excessively about girls we liked in school and how much we would love to see their boobs.
This was the Golden Age of childhood for us. It was pretty much downhill after that.
This is all, by the way, a completely irrelevant and unnecessary preface to a review of Jack McKinney’s novel “Robotech: Genesis”, the first in a series of paperbacks based on an anime series that I watched religiously everyday after school.
The show, besides being about an alien invasion of Earth and giant robots, was also the first time I ever saw people getting killed in a cartoon. So, it didn’t graphically show people getting killed, but it often showed human-driven spaceships and giant robots being blown up, so it was obvious that people were dying. Which I thought, as a kid, was super-cool.
Kids, keep in mind: I didn’t have a home computer (we didn’t get one until my senior year of high school), a smartphone, iPad, and the term “Internet” hadn’t even been coined yet. After-school cartoons were the only thing we had going for us.
“Robotech” was one of my favorite shows, if not my favorite. (Vying for second place was “G.I.Joe” and “Transformers”.)
McKinney wrote these books (close to a baker’s dozen, I think) way back in the late-80s. They were basically novelizations of the shows. I didn’t read them at the time. I waited until now, when I’m 51, to read them.
They are essentially critic-proof. I could go on about how two-dimensional the characters are, how the book spends a lot of time mired in technical detail about spaceship and robot design, how stilted and silly the dialogue is, but nobody cares. If you are reading these books, you are reading them because you are a 12-year-old kid (regardless of how old you really are) who loves giant robots fighting giant aliens.
And you are probably reminiscing how fun it was to be a latch-key kid....more
Thirty-seven years. That’s how long it’s been since Star Trek: The Next Generation aired on television. I was a freshman in high school, and I recall Thirty-seven years. That’s how long it’s been since Star Trek: The Next Generation aired on television. I was a freshman in high school, and I recall watching the pilot episode “Encounter at Farpoint” with a giddiness and delight that I’m only slightly embarrassed about today.
The show was fun. I had grown up watching and loving the original series and going to all the movies with my parents, so when it was announced that a new Star Trek series would be airing, I was stoked.
I’ll be honest, though: I stalled out on the series near the end, and, in fact, I don’t think I ever watched the last couple seasons. I never watched the spin-off shows. Part of the reason was that, while I was away at college for four years, my interests had changed. I was less interested in Star Trek and science fiction in general. I was learning about philosophy and bongs and having college girls play with my—- Anyway, I lost interest in STNG.
It’s only now, at age 51, that I have decided to read some of those old STNG novels that I had packed away in boxes.
Diane Carey’s “Ghost Ship” was the first published STNG novel, way back in 1988. Rumor has it that she wrote the book before the show even aired, so she was basing her characterizations based solely on the early teleplays of the show.
Amazingly, the book is pretty decent. It starts out on the high seas on Earth in 1987, where an alien entity skims our planet and destroys a Russian aircraft carrier. Rather than kill the crew, though, the entity “absorbs” the crew’s life force—-their individual memories, thoughts, feelings, everything that essentially makes them human—-minus their physical bodies. For hundreds of years, their “souls” are essentially trapped on the alien spaceship/creature…
…Until Counselor Deanna Troi hears their pleas in deep space on board the Starship Enterprise. Weird apparitions start appearing on board the ship. For all intents and purposes, the Enterprise has become “haunted” with these lost souls. Are they trying to warn the crew? Or do they have something else in mind? When the ghost ship appears in space, will the Enterprise and crew suffer the same fate as the 20th-century Russian vessel?
Carey’s novel would have made a pretty exciting episode, and it certainly wets my whistle for reading more of these books, of which there are literally hundreds out there....more
When unrealistic ideals of beauty, social media, and teenagers collide, the results are never good. When you throw in supernatural evil entities and rWhen unrealistic ideals of beauty, social media, and teenagers collide, the results are never good. When you throw in supernatural evil entities and rogue quantum physics, the aftermath could be worse than Thanos’s finger-snap.
This is the problem that Jessica Jones faces in her first novel (targeted for adults), “Breaking the Dark”, written by best-selling author Lisa Jewell. It is the first of a proposed series of Marvel Crime novels, written by well-known mystery/crime writers. The second book, due out next year, is a Luke Cage novel written by S.A. Cosby.
Former superhero and current private investigator Jessica Jones reluctantly takes on a case of two teenaged twins who have returned from a trip from England. Their mother thinks something happened to them over there, but she can’t exactly articulate what. For all intents and purposes, the kids are fine. Perfect, really. And that’s the problem.
Before they went, they were normal teenagers. Since returning, they are more well-behaved, stronger academically, and they are performing better in sports and activities that they were merely decent in before. Oh, and they are also beautiful, with perfect skin. But they are also acting slightly weird. All of their friends say so, and even their mom notices. Something’s not right.
Jessica takes the case, and she’s soon off to the English countryside, in an idyllic little village called Barton Wallop. (Don’t ask.) The case may get her mind off some things she’s dealing with, like nightmares of the Purple Man and the fact that she’s pregnant with her on-again off-again boyfriend Luke Cage. (He doesn’t know yet.)
But her investigation soon uncovers something dark and evil lurking within the town, and her case is definitely linked somehow to a several-year-old case involving the abduction of three teenaged girls as well as a 30-year-old case of a New York serial killer called the Harlem Vampire.
Jewell, a British crime writer, tells a riveting yarn. She keeps one guessing as to what the hell is happening until the very end, and trust me: you’ll be guessing. And it’s clear that she’s a Jessica Jones fan, not just some writer assigned to write a novel featuring a comic book character. Fans would be able to see right through that shit anyway.
If the subsequent Marvel Crime novels in the series can maintain the quality started in this first one, I’m looking forward to reading them all. ...more
A cleverly disguised criticism of religion and the magical thinking associated with religious belief systems, Yann Martel's "Life of Pi" was an engagiA cleverly disguised criticism of religion and the magical thinking associated with religious belief systems, Yann Martel's "Life of Pi" was an engaging fantasy-adventure novel about a young boy shipwrecked on the high seas on a life-raft with a Bengal tiger.
This is one of those books that requires careful reading, as the narrator is, as one discovers over the course of the novel, extremely unreliable. But is his unreliability purposeful or is it a necessary and involuntary self-defense mechanism to a traumatic event that he is unable to deal with? It's up to the reader to decide.
Beautifully written and thought-provoking, "Life of Pi" was made into a decent film. The book was better....more
The third volume of BRZRKR brings to a satisfactory conclusion certainly one of the more fun if not extremely violent action-adventure graphic novel sThe third volume of BRZRKR brings to a satisfactory conclusion certainly one of the more fun if not extremely violent action-adventure graphic novel series in recent memory.
Written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt, the series is just begging to be made into an HBOMax or Netflix series or a three-part movie series, starring Reeves.
While relatively short on plot, the series isn’t vapid or one-note. There’s a surprising amount of depth. Just not a lot of actual story, and what story is there is actually kind of confusing. It has a lot of moving parts but not a lot of explanation for them. Not that this detracts from the fun in any way.
What started out as a clever pastiche of Conan the Barbarian, John Wick, and The Punisher has become somewhat more of a weird science-fictional Messiah story, as the title character—-a man simply called B.—-finds out where he came from and what his ultimate purpose is.
There’s certainly nothing ambiguous about the ending, which adequately concludes the narrative arc while leaving it wide open for a sequel....more
The graphic novel series BRZRKR, written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt, continues the story of the man known only as B in the second volume, compilinThe graphic novel series BRZRKR, written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt, continues the story of the man known only as B in the second volume, compiling issues #5-8.
The story is a mash-up of Conan the Barbarian and John Wick, if Conan had god-like powers, was immortal, and was recruited by the United States military as one of their best assassins.
In this volume: B laments his immortality, as everyone he has ever grown attached to eventually dies while he stays young; we find out a little bit more about B’s benefactor, an extremely wealthy archaeologist looking for an ancient artifact that may hold the key to B’s origins and immortality; an experiment results in many human casualties and sends B into another dimension…
A bit more depth in this volume, and certainly toned-down on the ultra violence compared to the first volume. I’m looking forward to the third, and final, volume of this series....more
Genetically altered super-rats are taking over the countryside, and government agents in biohazard suits are after them. While it certainly sounds likGenetically altered super-rats are taking over the countryside, and government agents in biohazard suits are after them. While it certainly sounds like James Herbert’s classic horror novel “The Rats”, it’s actually the plot of a beloved children’s classic.
Robert C. O’Brien’s “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH”, published in 1971, introduced the world to super-intelligent lab rats and mice that escaped the lab and found shelter on the Fitzgibbon farm, building an underground city beneath a rosebush, with rat-size chairs and tables and refrigerators and lamps and books.
It’s almost planting season, and Mrs. Frisby—-an industrious single mother mouse—-is in a pickle: her youngest son, Timothy, is sick and can’t be moved, but their cinderblock house is sure to be found by Mr. Fitzgibbon, so they must find alternative housing. An elderly mouse, Mr. Ages, tells her to recruit the help of the rats in the rosebush.
So, she goes off on an adventure to ask for help from the strange, reclusive rats, not realizing that she will be a part of a much bigger adventure.
I had never read this as a child, but I vaguely recall the ‘80s animated film “The Secret of NIMH” that was based on it. I may have to revisit that sometime. The book was wonderful, and I loved it.
This was a nightly bedtime book that I read with my daughter. While it didn’t have the excitement of the Harry Potter books (which she recently discovered; her favorite so far being the third book, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”), she enjoyed it. It’s got talking mice and rats: what’s not to love?...more
The list of Great Black American Crime writers is a long and honored one, and it’s getting longer, especially with a growing number of female black crThe list of Great Black American Crime writers is a long and honored one, and it’s getting longer, especially with a growing number of female black crime writers. Chester Himes, Robert Beck, Walter Mosley, SA Cosby, and Rachel Howzell Hall are just a few of the well-known black authors you will find on bestseller lists.
If the name Robert Beck doesn’t ring a bell, it may be because he is known by his more popular “street” name, Iceberg Slim.
Slim, who died in 1992, was best known for his autobiography “Pimp”, first published in 1967. Slim served hard time for his criminal life of pimping, but he swore off the life after getting out of prison. He also got married and had kids, and it was his wife that suggested he write about his experiences.
He took to writing with as much gusto as he allegedly took to pimping, and his crime novels became underground classics. They are still published today.
In 2015, one of several unpublished manuscripts by Slim was discovered. “Shetani’s Sister” was published 23 years after he died.
Slim told a whopper of a good crime story, full of gratuitous blood, guts, and sex. He also spoke the language of the street, a lingo so full of specific regional jargon and slang that previous white publishers asked him to include a glossary at the end of each book.
“Shetani’s Sister” tells the story of two men on different sides of the law: Russell Rucker, a white L.A. detective with a lot of baggage; Albert “Shetani” Spires, a notorious New York City pimp with an extremely violent reputation. The two men are runaway trains on a collision course. Between their mutual destruction, a body count of corrupt cops, hookers, and innocent bystanders ticks upward.
Slim wasn’t a masterful writer: his dialogue could be stilted at times and he was prone to over-the-top scenes of violence that sometimes defied physical laws along with good taste. But what he lacked in eloquence, he certainly made up for in sheer enthusiasm.
Slim also had a pretty innate sense of human emotion and what makes humans tick. He was fascinated by human psychology, and his years of amateur research both in and out of prison paid off.
I’m looking forward to this novel being adapted as Season 5 of “True Detective”. (HBO, if you’re listening…)...more
Corwin of Amber has escaped the dungeon of his brother, Eric, who has usurped the throne. Along his travels, he meets fellow soldiers, one named GanelCorwin of Amber has escaped the dungeon of his brother, Eric, who has usurped the throne. Along his travels, he meets fellow soldiers, one named Ganelon, and another a lost young knight named Lancelot. Corwin travels to the land of Avalon, where he meets his brother Benedict, one of the few siblings he actually likes and isn’t trying to actively kill him.
Thus begins Roger Zelazney’s 1972 novel “The Guns of Avalon”, the second book in his high fantasy series Chronicles of Amber.
Guns and ammo from our world (which is part of the Shadow realm) don’t work in Amber. Corwin, however, discovers an alternative magical resource to replace gunpowder which allows guns to work in Amber. This could change things dramatically for the forces fighting against King Eric.
A strange young woman named Dara comes across Corwin in the woods. She claims to be the great-great-grandchild of Benedict. If true, her very existence could be a threat to Benedict. Corwin and Benedict have brothers who have no scruples and could use that knowledge against Benedict…
More fun Tolkein-esque fantasy adventure abounds within these pages, and fans of the sword-and-sorcery genre will probably love this. I’m enjoying the series so far, but I’m only in the second book. I’ll be honest: I may grow bored with the same old stuff in later books, as there are 10 books in the series....more
If Lee Child, Blake Crouch, and Brad Meltzer ever collaborated on a novel, the result would end up something like a James Rollins novel. Rollins deftlIf Lee Child, Blake Crouch, and Brad Meltzer ever collaborated on a novel, the result would end up something like a James Rollins novel. Rollins deftly combines action/adventure, hard science, and well-researched history in his contemporary pulp novels that are reminiscent of Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard, if Burroughs and Haggard were actually decent writers.
“Kingdom of Bones” is the 16th book in Rollins’s Sigma Force series, but it is the first of the series that I have read. Basically imagine if G.I.Joe routinely worked with Fringe Division to solve international X-Files cases, and you kind of have an idea of what Rollins is going for in these books.
The plot of this novel—-like most Rollins novels—-is too detailed and convoluted to go into, other than to say it is set in the heart of the Republic of the Congo, and it involves a supervirus, mutated baboons, a lost kingdom of gold, a legendary Congolese Christian king, pygmies, aardwolves, robotic killer dogs, and a life-giving Mother Tree that may have provided the genetic material that helped in the jumpstarting of the evolution of humanity. There’s also, of course, a stock Bond-type villain who is plundering the Congolese natural resources for his own avaricious desires. There’s also a lovable military dog named Kane.
It’s not totally necessary to know the main characters. They are all kind of cardboard cut-out Action Heroes with names like Grey, Frank, Tucker, and Kowalski. These are the recurring characters, and I don’t know their back-stories.
Despite its silliness, “Kingdom of Bones” is an exciting action thriller with a lot of fascinating science and African history to keep you turning the pages, assuming the heroic dog isn’t enough to do that.
I “read” this as an Audiobook on CD. It was narrated wonderfully by Christian Baskous....more
Detective Renee Ballard works the night shift, a.k.a. “the late show”. Not necessarily by choice, but she doesn’t mind it. Interesting cases often popDetective Renee Ballard works the night shift, a.k.a. “the late show”. Not necessarily by choice, but she doesn’t mind it. Interesting cases often pop up during the midnight hour. She also meets a lot of interesting people.
Case in point: one night, Renee hears noises coming from an area of the station that is normally closed off after day shift. She comes across a strange older man rifling through filing cabinets. His name is Harry Bosch, a former detective with the LAPD. He is looking into a cold case: a young girl that was murdered years ago named Daisy.
Something intrigues her about this guy. She decides to offer her assistance on the case, carrying on the investigation at night after Bosch’s early shift ends. Thus begins an exciting new relationship in Michael Connelly’s novel “Dark Sacred Night”.
Connelly creates a whole new dynamic in this novel with this partnership between two detectives who are notoriously not good with partners.
Fortune or fate has brought Ballard and Bosch together, and woe to any criminals who get in the way of them meting their brand of justice.
I really dig Ballard, who is a young, fresh, fun foil to the set-in-his-ways old-school Bosch. I hope Connelly keeps going with this series for a long time....more
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