by Finzzzz
I hope you’re all having a great
summer! Along with teaching and working at the bookstore,
I’ve been to the beach a few times. I hope
you’ve managed to take time out from your busy
summer and relax for a bit. Here’s what I’ve
been reading lately:
 Icarus
by Russell Andrews
The bestselling author of Gideon reinvents
Hitchcock's classic thriller formula in this
sophisticated and suspenseful novel about an innocent man
caught up in events past and present way beyond his
control, and thrown into a terrifying maelstrom of deceit
and murder. As a young boy, Jack Keller witnessed a
life-altering tragedy, the murder of his mother. Thirty
years later, Jack has it all: a great marriage, a
successful chain of restaurants bearing his name,
lifelong friends, and good health. But in one second and
with one bullet it all becomes worthless when a second
tragedy occurs during the opening of a new restaurant. As
Jack recovers from his injuries and the resulting
psychological trauma, he is nursed back to health by Kid
Demeter, a mysterious young man who was once as close to
Jack as any son could be. As Kid trains his mentor and
father figure, he confides in Jack about the various
women in his life. Each one is identified only by her
nickname and each one is presented as appealing,
sexy...and extremely dangerous. And then a third tragedy
occurs. Kid is found sprawled on the pavement after
plunging twenty stories to his death. Jack refuses to
accept the police theory of suicide. Convinced that one
of Kid's women is a killer, he finds himself searching
for answers in Kid's world, a world of lap dancing and
after- hours clubs, of drugs and violence and
overwhelming sensuality. But as Jack's suspicions arise,
as he draws closer to the truth, an unknown threat lurks
just ahead of him, anticipating his every move and
killing whoever is in the way. As past and present merge,
as Kid's world overtakes Jack's, as Jack begins to
understand just how high the stakes are in the game he
has elected to play, he knows only one thing for certain:
he must find the killer before the killer finds him.
Following up the success of Gideon, Icarus
is a truly Hitchcockian thriller of an innocent man
pursued by an almost unimaginable and unstoppable danger.
What a great read. This kept me riveted all afternoon.
The publishers call it a Hitchcockian thriller and this
is definitely truth in advertising! The mystery is
complex, the action intense. Check out Gideon as
well, one of my favorites from last summer!
 Tell No One
by Harlan Coben
For Dr. David Beck, the loss was shattering. And every
day for the past eight years, he has relived the horror
of what happened. The gleaming lake. The pale moonlight.
The piercing screams. The night his wife was taken. The
last night he saw her alive. Everyone tells him it's time
to move on, to forget the past once and for all. But for
David Beck, there can be no closure. A message has
appeared on his computer, a phrase only he and his dead
wife know. Suddenly Beck is taunted with the impossible
-- that somewhere, somehow, Elizabeth is alive.
Beck has been warned to tell no one. And he doesn't.
Instead, he runs from the people he trusts the most,
plunging headlong into a search for the shadowy figure
whose messages hold out a desperate hope. But already
Beck is being hunted down. He's headed straight into the
heart of a dark and deadly secret -- and someone intends
to stop him before he gets there. Here’s another
read you’ll want to read from beginning to end! I
love Coben’s Bolitar series and this stand alone is
going to vault him to best seller status. Though not a
well-written book, Tell No One certainly moves
along at a great pace and its mystery is one you just
need to find out the solution...it’ll drive you
crazy!!!!
 Dark Hollow
by John Connolly
When John Connolly burst upon the literary suspense scene
in 1999, he was an immediate international sensation. His
Every Dead Thing became an instantaneous
bestseller in England, and here in America, his writing
was greeted with extraordinary accolades. He won the
prestigious Shamus Award for Best First Private Eye
Novel, and, as the San Francisco Examiner wrote,
"John Connolly's tale is as riveting and chilling as
Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs and
James Patterson's Kiss the Girls." Now,
Connolly returns with Dark Hollow, a terrifying
and ingenious novel of a murderous spree that reaches
back decades into the victims' pasts. Back again is
ex-New York Police Detective Charlie "Bird"
Parker, who has returned to his hometown of Scarborough,
Maine, after the vicious killings of his wife and
daughter; it is time to leave the bloodstained streets of
Manhattan and rebuild his family's house -- as well as
his own life. But for Bird, returning to his roots means
digging through a mountain of terror, as memories of his
father's and grandfather's untimely deaths resurface and
drive him to join the manhunt for the killer of yet
another mother and child. Though the obvious suspect is
Billy Purdue, the violent former husband of the murdered
young woman, another player lurks in this disturbing
drama, someone entangled in the dark hollow of Bird's
past. Darkly atmospheric, tense and imbued with the
page-turning ferocity that only the finest crime fiction
offers, Dark Hollow is a stunning successor to Every
Dead Thing, a testament to the burgeoning power of
John Connolly to tell stories that thrill, frighten and
haunt the soul. An awesome and spellbinding sequel to Every
Dead Thing, Connolly takes things up a notch with
this finely written, eerily moody thriller. Parker is
just a great character in crime fiction and I can’t
wait to get the next book in the series available in
England. Connolly is an Irish writer who has Maine down
pat!
 Orange
Crush
by Tim Dorsey
In his two previous novels, Florida Roadkill and
Hammerhead Ranch Motel, Tim Dorsey rode a
thousand mph whirlwind of outrageous, violent-funny crime
through the Sunshine State and delighted readers and
critics everywhere. Now he gives us a darkly hilarious,
megatwisted view of politics in the land of the hanging
chad. The race is on for the governorship of Florida -- a
bare-knuckled fistfight between pro-capital punishment
House Speaker Gomer Tatum and Marlon Conrad, the present
occupant of the governor's mansion. The Republicans'
"golden boy" -- handsome, unthreatening,
engaged to the talented ventriloquist, Miss Tallahassee
2001...and a loyal, unquestioning tool of the powerful
special interests -- Marlon seems a virtual shoo-in for
reelection. That is, until he undergoes a radical
personality shift during a bloody military action in the
Balkans. There's nothing like staring death in the face
for messing with a person's priorities. Now it's just
three weeks before the election and Marlon is suddenly
talking about "issues" and "reform"
as he crosses the length and breadth of his home state
with an amnesiac speechwriter and a chief of staff who
turns catatonic in the presence of minorities. The
governor's newfound conscience might well cost him the
election, though. And it appears that pretty much
everybody is trying to kill him. But the incumbent isn't
the only one sitting in somebody's rifle sights these
days. A murderer affectionately dubbed "the Bumper
Sticker Killer" -- for the pithy slogans found
Magic-Markered on the victims' bodies -- is leaving a
trail of very deserving corpses from the Panhandle to
Biscayne Bay. Nothing, however, is going to derail
democracy in this glorious state -- not even
coast-to-coast serial slaughter, kamikaze journalistic
shenanigans, the numbingly ordinary prognostications of
the real Joe Blow, or mayhem at the Million Parrot Head
March. And when reemergent Florida folklorist and spree
killer Serge A. Storms is thrown into the mix, things
really start to get interesting... With a warped and
manic fury that makes Hiaasen seem serious and Hunter
Thompson staid, Tim Dorsey does it again -- rocketing
Florida crime fiction forward by colliding death with the
political process as madness takes the wheel of the Orange
Crush. If you’re looking for laughs, try Tim
Dorsey. Using the same irreverent brand of humor as Carl
Hiaasen (but with a higher body count!), Dorsey will have
you laughing out loud! Check out one of his characters,
Serge, an odd serial killer, in his two previous books.
Coming
soon:
Stephen King and Peter Straub team up for a sequel of The
Talisman due out inSeptember. I’m looking
forward to Robert Crais’ Hostage in a few
weeks. For all you Jean Auel fans, book number 5 is due
out next spring! The fifth Harry Potter is coming out in
the summer of 2002.
Let me know what you’ve been reading!
Finzzzz@aol.com
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August: Finzzzz
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