The reckoning - James Jauncey

Technically this is a book for teenagers (it's in my library's teenage fiction collection) but like so much teenage fiction it is eminently readable by teens and adults.

I can't remember why i decided to read it - I must have heard about it somewhere but boy am i glad i tracked it down cos it's a pretty awesome read. One I think that would appeal to adults as much, if not more than, teens.

THE REVIEW!

18 year old Fin lives on a small island off the British coast.

One morning he is out for an early morning walk on the beach thinking about how his life will change (soon) when he goes off to university.

His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of car doors slamming and angry voices from the bridge above. Then there’s a sort of scream and Fin sees a body falling through the mist. The young woman dies in Fin’s arms.

Fin doesn’t really believe the official verdict of suicide and decides to find out more about the girl.

He discovers that she worked on Seal island where the Green Energies Institute is researching clean energy sources. When he goes to the Seal Island to he thinks he sees his sister (who disappeared several years ago when she went off to university).

Meanwhile Fin’s friends have been caught up in several bomb attacks on the mainland.

The more Fin investigates, the more these events seem to be linked.

A story of a young man coming of age and dealing with family, terrorism, racism, life and death.

Sharp Turn

I still haven't decided yet whether to take part in Polyxena's #librarytwittermysteryamonth challenge or not (based on Tara Moss's 13th street book club) but the February book is Sharp Turn by Marianne Delacourt (& it was on my tbr list, cos i enjoyed Sharp Shooter, the first Tara Sharp, outing ) so I bumped it up the list and gave it a go.

Sharp turn is the second book in the Tara Sharp series (following on from Sharp Shooter).

Tara Sharp is a PI with an ability to read auras. She still lives in her parents' garage but as her PI business is starting to take off she is hoping that the garage will soon be a thing of the past.

This time Tara has been hired by local motorcycle racing boss Bolo Ingnatius to investigate reports that someone is out to sabotage his racing team.

At the same time Tara has been hired by a local madam to explain the art of reading body language to the girls at the local (high class) bordello.

Throw in Perth gangster Johnny Viaspa who has (allegedly) hired a hitman to clean up some unfinished business and Tara has a lot on her plate.

Tara Sharp is very much an australian version of Stephanie PLum (from Janet Evanovich's one is for... series) - no secret there as this is pointed out on the cover of the books.

The paranormal aspect doesn't really interest me all that much but I still found the book(s) to be funny, clever and worth reading.

Fans of Evanovich and Strohmeyer will probably enjoy Delacourt.

Outwitting Trolls

Outwitting Trolls is the 25th (and final) novel in William G Tapply's Brady Coyne series.

Boston attorney Brady Coyne is surprised to get a phone call from former neighbour Ken Nicholls. The Coynes & Nicholls had lived next door to each other many years earlier and had not kept in touch. Brady meets Ken for a drink and a catchup on old times.

The next night Ken's ex wife Sharon finds Ken's body in his hotel room.

Sharon hires Brady as her attorney as she thinks she will be the prime suspect in Ken's murder.

This novel is typical Tapply (perhaps not quite as tightly written as earlier in the series - Tapply was undergoing treatment for leukaemia whilst writing this novel) and typical Coyne.

Plot driven and with interesting & engaging characters this is an easy read. It kept me interested and wanting to know what happened even though I picked the murderer about halfway through.

William G Tapply passed away shortly after completing this novel.

I have always enjoyed the William G Tapply's novels (and can re- read them as a comfort read) and will miss not having a new Brady Coyne to look forward to.

I'd know you anywhere

by Laura Lippman.

Laura Lippman is one of my favourite authors - so much so that I went to the Sydney Writers Festival a couple of years ago to hear her speak. I took TappingBetty with me (who doesn't read much crime fiction) and she has now read pretty much all of Lippman's books.

I'd know you anywhere is a standalone novel (ie not one of her Tess Monaghan series).

The main character is Eliza Benedict. Happily married with two children, Eliza and her family have recently moved from England back to Maryland.

All seems to be going well until Eliza receives a letter in the mail. She doesn't recognise the handwriting but she does recognise who the letter is from.

The letter is from Walter Bowman, a serial killer on Death Row for his crimes - he kidnapped and murdered several teenage girls.

Some 20 years ago he kidnapped a then 15 year old girl called ELizabeth Lerner. He held her captive for six weeks. Elizabeth Lerner grew up, got married and became Eliza Benedict.

This letter (via a third party) starts a chain of events & worries for Eliza - why is Walter trying to contact her? What does he want?

As always Laura Lippman writes a good taut novel. The story alternates between Eliza in the present day and the 15 year old Elizabeth.

An excellent read.

4.5

Murder on the Orient Express

I haven't decided yet whether to take part in Polyxena's #librarytwittermysteryamonth challenge or not (think i'll wait and see what books are being read) but the January book was Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, which is one of my favourite Agatha's so I thought "what the heck..."

Poirot is travelling on the Orient Express between Istanbul and Calais when the train is stranded in a snowdrift.

A passenger is found murdered in his locked compartment on the train and with the train cut off it is up to Poirot to solve the murder.

His job is complicated because the victim is widely loathed and several passengers on board the train have a motive for murder.

We were in Salzburg about 20 years ago and heard that the Orient Express would be at Salzburg station for a 30 minute stop at midnight that night.

Guess who was at the station at 11.45pm and when the train pulled in we leapt on board and walked the length of the train (twice) .

We didn't find any dead bodies in locked compartments (nor did we see Hercule Poirot) but it did bring the book to life for us.

And re-reading the book now makes we want to go and find the photos we took at the time.

Hamlet's Blackberry. - William Powers

Hamlet's BlackBerry:A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age

Back in the 1800s, Thoreau wrote that the man who constantly and desperately keeps going to the post office to check for correspondence from others ``has not heard from himself in a long while.''

Hamlet's BlackBerry argues that the same can be said these days for those who are doing the modern equivalent: incessantly checking e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and the like.

In Hamlet's BlackBerry tech writer WIlliam Powers argues that technology has made us less productive cos we are constantly interrupting ourselves to check email, twitter, fb etc. - although he does admit that tech has made some things easier (eg billpaying).

Having recently read Susan maushart's Winter of our disconnect this is an interesting contrast.

Both advocate regular offline time - Powers & family observe a weekly no-internet day which at first the family dreaded but now look forward to; Maushart's family were deliberately offline for six months.

I enjoyed this book - it did make me think about how 'addicted' I am to being online which is always a good thing. It also got me thinking about why I spend so much time online.

All in all a good read.

The "Hamlet's Blackberry" of the title is what was called a writing table or table book and consisted of some plaster-covered pages bound in a pocket-sized book. A metal stylus came with it and was used to write down notes or lists. The pages could be sponged off like a slate and used over and over again. This was cutting edge technology in Shakespeare's time, a time before pencils and ballpoint pens were available.

Snow Blind - PJ Tracy

Book 4 in the Monkeewrench series.

The corpses of two cops are found hidden in snowmen in a park. When a third body similarly staged is found in the rural upstate region, it seems it might be a serial killer case.

Minneapolis detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth head up the investigation with the help of the Monkeewrench team.

We also meet Iris Rikker, the extremely inexperienced new sheriff of the county where the third body is found.

The police are searching for a battered wife whose ex husband is after her. She is living at Bitterroot (which at first glance is a company but is actually a 'town' for battered women). The security at Bitterroot is top notch (having been designed by Monkeewrench) yet every lead on each of the three murders leads back to Bitterroot.

4.