Yes!!!

This weekend two new books arrived by (snail) mail.
About two weeks ago I ordered these books (and some more) on The Book Depository. It is always nice to buy books cheaper on the internet, it is just the waiting that sometimes gets to me.

Alright, my two new books are in. They are:

• Robin Hobb, Blood of dragons
• Tad Williams, The dirty streets of heaven

I'm particularly curious about the Tad Williams one. I'm a huge fan of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, but not of the Otherland-series. We will see.
I saw Blood of dragons in the Waterstone's store in Liverpool. Wasn't quite sure whether I bought it or not, so I decided to wait until home (and I didn't have the space in my lugage to bring it along).

Now I have to find to time to read them (as always).

Disappointed

It’s been a while since I’ve last read a book from the Scarpetta-series by Patricia Cornwell. I wasn’t very impressed with her latest books. I did buy the newest ones and I thought it was time to give her another try. Well, I was kind of disappointed again!

Scarpetta starts very, very long-winded. The first 200 pages are nothing more than Scarpetta examining Oscar Bane, the murder suspect and Scarpetta and Benton discussion what Marino did to her in the previous novel and how this might affect their current case. It is only talk, talk, talk. After 200 pages the action very slowly takes over. Around page 300 another murder takes places. And around page 400 Lucy gets such a brilliant inspiration that the story can be concluded within 50 pages. This inspiration came kind of out of the blue. The previous chapter you were reading about a discussion the whole police team about how to find the murderer. The start of the next chapter sees Lucy on the roof examining video streams and discovering the murderer. Out of the blue, yeah. It felt like Cornwell getting out of control of the story and she needed an excuse to round up. The only reason I finished the book, is because a friend of mine said the book would improve later on. Well, it did some, but not so much. The twist of Lucy finding the murderer really killed the whole book for me. Early on in the book it was pretty obvious who the murderer was, which makes this twist was too easy and too lazy. Oh and of course Oscar wasn't the murderer - something that was quite obvious from the start. Then why waste 200 pages on his character...

Fantastic Fiction (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/patricia-cornwell/scarpetta.htm) describes the book as: “Throughout, Cornwell delivers shocking twists and turns, and the kind of cutting-edge technology that only she can provide. Once again, she proves her exceptional ability to entertain and enthral.” Twists? Turns? Entertain? Maybe they’ve read another book than I did. I still have 3 more Scarpetta-books to read (The Scarpetta factor, Port mortuary  and Red mist), but I think it will take a long, long time before I try anything by Patricia Cornwell again. For now, I prefer Tess Gerritsen over Cornwell. Sorry.

All in all disappointed again. 

It's a kind of magic

A friend of mine gave me digital copy of Jim Butcher’s Storm front, the first novel in The Dresden Files. The series is about a world, similar to our own, but where wizards and magic are very normal. Harry Dresden is a wizard for hire. He finds lost things, is terrible with anything electronic (and that includes his VW Beetle car), has an awful track record concerning women, has trouble paying his bills (don’t we all) and he consults for the police. He lives in a basement along with his cat and has a dungeon for making spells. All in all a nice guy.

In this first book Harry receives the request from a lady to find her lost husband. Later, the police asks for his assistance in a very brutal murders: the hearts of two lovers were ripped out during the act. Ai. The Wizard Council suspects Harry of these murders, due to something that happened in Harry’s past. The precise nature of what is hinted at. Harry has some difficulty proving his innocence, maintaining his health – being attack by some other worldly troll isn’t very good for your physical and mental health – and in the meantime don’t get himself killed. Of course, in the end all ends well (otherwise, there wouldn’t be a series). It takes a time before Harry realizes both causes correspond to eachother: the lost husband is the murderer. 

The book is fun and has a good pace. Harry is a nice enough guy to get interested in. Magic in our world is highly underrated. The idea of magic and how this will affect our world and those who live in it, is well figured out. Not only can magic be off assistance to Harry (but not in the Potter way of things, here magic has a price), it can also be a hindrance. His magic is not always the easy escape you might think. All in all fun/light enough for a bed time snack and I don’t mind reading another one of the series.

Home again

My colleagues don’t even ask anymore where we’re going, when Dear Hubby and I are going on holiday. As usual: England. 

Last week we had a mini cruise to York with a one night stay. That meant almost two whole days in England. This time I didn’t buy too many books, because I bought a very expensive Lego Star Wars kit: the Millennium Falcon. Long time ago, when I went to college, I was a huge fan of Star Wars and particularly of Han Solo. If this had anything to do with a young Harrison Ford… Ah well, I always wanted to own a Millennium Falcon and this is kit is very beautiful and detailed. So I’m very happy.

Besides this beautiful kit I also bought 3 books:

• Tess Gerritsen – The sinner (£ 2,50)
• Tess Gerritsen – Life support(£ 2,50).
• J.D. Robb – Salvation in death (£ 2,00)

We’ll be back again in England in 6 weeks. Another change to buy more books.

Ps. I’ve finished two more books, just need the time to write the blogs…

P.p.s. These are not the covers of the Tess Gerritsen' books I bought, but the only ones I could find on the net.

Winter cold

I’m not very enthusiastic about the winter. I don’t like the cold, I don’t like the snow (except when I can stay at home and watch it from indoors), I don’t like the wind, and I definitely don’t like the darkness.

Tess Gerritsen (what a very Dutch name) writes about Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles. Also known from the television series ‘Rizzoli and Isles’, where Angie Harmon plays Jane and Sasha Alexander plays Maura. I was familiar with television series, but not with the books. And that is the great thing about the Book Festival. It gives you the opportunity to try out new authors for not too much money. I bought The killing place, just to give it a try.

The killing place – also known as Ice cold – takes place in Wyoming, during winter. It is cold. Maura is on a conference when she meets an old study friend. Out of a whim she decides to join him and his daughter along with two friends to go skiing not far away.

Of course you know things will go wrong. As they follow the instructions of their sat nav during a snow 

storm, they crash. As it is impossible to get the car out of the ditch, they decided to walk to what seems the nearest village. This village – Kingdom come – however is abandoned. Food is left on the tables to rot, loving pets lie dead. As one of their attempts to leave the village fails and one of them gets seriously injured, it all goes from wrong to worse. It is obviously clear something is not right in the village. One of them tries to go for help. After several days Maura sees no other option than to give it a try. As she reaches their stranded car, she gets knocked in the head and abducted.

Jane – in the main time – first neglects the worries of Daniel, Maura’s priest friend. As Maura does not fly home, she finally gets concerned. The police in Wyoming however isn’t very impressed. The story then enfolds in twofold: besides the search for Maura by Jane, the story also tells what happens to Maura.

The story actually has a deeper layer: what people will do to others to get what they want. In this case it is the Prophet, Jeremiah Goode. He will get you to heaven. In the mean time you shun your adolescent son and your daughter is abused. But hey, heaven awaits, just turn a blind eye.

This is what happened to the young man – nicknamed Rat – who abducted Maura. Later you find out he only abducted her to help her. Prophet Goode can only run his affairs with paid assistance from the local police and justice department. A local policeman was looking for Maura. His only intentions were to kill her as she was an unwanted witness.

In the end it turns everybody at Kingdom Come is indeed dead, but that Goode wasn’t responsible. A company dumped chemical weapons in the valley. The containers rusted and released their deadly gas. That is what killed everyone in Kingdom Come. That is why so many measures were taking to cover things up. Greed. Greed for money, greed for young girls. The lesser things a human can do.

Of course it all turns out alright, even for Rat.

Is this a good book? Yes, it made me forget about time. I wanted to finish the book. It definitely tastes for more. 

Not sure

Last Sunday I finished Faye Kellermans Hangman. I’m not really sure about this book. The cover states ‘For all fans of Kathy Reichs’. Alright, I’ve read Kathy (and also have some books of her I still have to read). But I think this ‘compliment’ did not do justice to the books Kathy writes. Furthermore, The Mirror should have labelled this book as ‘Sensational’.  Why?

Well, Hangman is a nice book. It has some pace and some interesting plot twitches. The funny thing however, is that the story on the back speaks of ‘sociopathic husband Chris Donatti’. To me he wasn’t so sociopathic at all. I’ve read stories of much more disturbed people (remember mr. Pudd from the Charlie Parker series by John Connolly). And Chris is a very minor character in the book. Not that very active, more on the background. The main character is LAPD Lieutenant Peter Decker, also called The Loo, or Rabbi, as he is Jewish. Him being Jewish is by the way a very minor factor in the story.

What happens? A young friend – Teresa McLaughlin – contacts Deckers. She is afraid of her husband – the sociopathic Chris – and only want to meet him if Decker is present. Decker agrees. They all meet, very civilized and Teresa is satisfied she can live on her own. Decker then gets involved in a homicide and does not think about Teresa and Chris again, until their son Gabe calls that his mother is missing. Then the two stories start to entwine. The murdered nurse is found near the place where Chris as a kid is thought to have murdered someone. So the search for the murderer, Chris and Teresa begins. Chris does not really want to be found and sort of communicates with Decker through Gabe. Teresa doesn’t want to be found at all. In the beginning they think she is dead, but Decker becomes more and more sceptical.

The search for the murderer of the nurse is actually more interesting than the search for Teresa. She liked to party and fool around. Her boyfriend isn’t exactly faithful. Her friends hides information. In the end of course all comes together. And that is the funny twist of the story. The most important witness – the man who found our nurse hanging in the construction side – has his own secrets to hide. He is a serial killer who liked to suffocated his victims. He had however nothing to do with the death of our nurse, that was her serial killing boyfriend (which she did not know). So you have one serial killer as a witness for another serial killer. The chances for that are of course very slim.

In the end Teresa is also kind of found. She escaped her sociopathic husband and fled to India to live with her new beau. What made her run and leave her kid behind? She was pregnant and not by her husband.

So all is well in the end. But did this make this an sensational book creating ‘a claustrophobic atmosphere against a background of seediness, violence and distrust’ (Sunday Telegraph)? No, not for me. I know taste can differ, but these qualifications do not fit the book I’ve read. It was a good read, but to say it was sensational. It did not keep me awake at night, nor was one of those book you cannot stop reading. It was just nice. And that is not entirely what Kellerman had in mind, I think. So all in all it is a pleasant read, but not a keeper.

Room on the shelves is decreasing

I have told you before about the Book Festival I go to each year. These Festivals are in several cities around The Netherlands and Belgium. Last time was Nieuwegein's turn.
I do not always go to the Festival in Nieuwegein, because the offered books aren't always to my liking. But this time I had nothing to do so Dear Hubby and I paid Nieuwegein a visit.
And to my surprise I found more books (especially hard back), then I thought I would. And it is very easy to make this girl happy. Just let her buy books.

So... what did I buy:

• Patricia Cornwell, Red mist
• David Hewson, The killing
• David Hewson, Death in Seville
• Tess Gerritsen, The killing place
• Philippa Gregory, The lady of the rivers
• Raymond Khoury, The devil's elixer
• Karen Miller, A blight of mages
• Cinda Williams Chima, The demon king

Dear Hubby also found a book he liked:

• Stephen Bungay, The most dangerous enemy

It's an illustrated history of the Battle of Britain.

Besides these we also bought:

• Britain. The ultimate guide

Our holidays in England will never be unprepared.