Review: THE ABSOLUTION by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

4 Stars

My first reading of this author was LAST RITUALS,  and immediately I was devoted. I've also was over the top with MY SOUL TO TAKE and I REMEMBER YOU.  This one? Not so much; although the first chapter,  read immediately before bedtime,  kept me awake all night. 

THE ABSOLUTION balances a lot of violence with deeply delineated characterization and a psychological-sociological approach to one of  today's pressing societal issues: Bullying--and specifically how Social Media acts as a flamethrower on the victims of Bullying--inescapable, horrific, boxing them in, sometimes with the consequence of  suicide.

Multiple characters here conceal multiple secrets, and the backstories and the current consequences are often horrific, dangerous--and even fatal.

[Note: The flamethrower and "boxing in" analogies are solely my interpretation, and are not paraphrasing of the author. ]

Review: IMPLOSION! by Carolyn Hamilton

4 Stars

Six million embezzled dollars! It's the stuff of Legend! Missing for eleven years: three "white-collar" professional thieves,  executives and managers at a famous classy Vegas Casino Hotel opened in 1955. One dead; one missing,  presumably in a Mexican prison; one serving his 10th year in a Nevada medium-security prison. So where's the $$? Rumors say: hidden in the Desert Palace.  The problem: everybody wants it, but the building is scheduled for demolition by Implosion. Result: a mad scramble! Tension,  suspense,  lots of Action! In the end, who's gonna win?

Review: FAULT LINES by Doug Johnstone

5 Stars!

FAULT LINES is a tautly-knotted murder mystery set in a slightly alternate Edinburgh, where 25 years ago a volcanic eruption forced a new island to the surface, on the very day of future volcanologist Surtsey's birth. Daughter of a volcanologist/geologist and named for an Icelandic volcano, Surtsey can't remember a time without the Inch. Now as her mother is dying, so do other loved ones, but not from cancer. Someone offstage is orchestrating murders, taunting Surtsey, condemning her to the police, till she is entangled in a web of someone else's demise, someone possessing an agenda very ugly and dangerous.

Review: PRAY FOR RAIN by Andrew Lowe

5 Stars

Detective Inspector Jake Sawyer is a man with a horrifying past and an uncertain,  shaky, present. Formerly with London's Met, now after time away he is  a member of a Major Intelligence Unit in England 's Peak District.  Faced with a seemingly unstoppable and invisible killer with a predilection for both violence and staging, Jake has to battle his own psyche and psychology while racing to prevent yet more murders.  A well-written and character-driven psychological thriller and police procedural. 

Review: COLD FEAR by Mads Peder Norbo

5 Ice Stars!

The same caution as I gave in my review of the first mystery in this Series, THE GIRL WITHOUT SKIN, still applies: there's a high gore level, lots of violence including domestic and against women, also against men.  The author doesn't scruple to peel back the thin veneer covering ugly Societal truths, about domestic violence and incest and rape. The revelations consequently are horrifying,  and it is difficult not to rejoice when justice is applied in the form of Vengeance rather than by Law.

High praise  to author Mads Peder Nordbo and to gifted translator Charlotte Barslund for efficiently communicating the mindset, emotions, and nonlife within the physical shell, experienced for a lifetime by sufferers of rape, child sexual abuse,  domestic abuse,  and other forms of abuse of children (of both genders) and women.  Their suffering is exquisitely defined. 

Review: The Girl Without Skin by Mads Peder Nordbo

5 Ice Stars!

My first exposure to "Greenlandic Noir," a topic I've been anticipating since I discovered the beauties of Icelandic Noir, GIRL WITHOUT A SKIN is intensely Greenlandic,  AND intensely Noir. I caution ahead of time: I found the novel riveting,  with several characters I very much admired.  However,  for those with Sensitive dispositions and/or those readily triggered: this Mystery is drenched in gore, and is descriptive of it; AND the background story is heartwrenching,  heartbreaking, infuriating, and deals with Child Abuse in multiple aspects.  So be forewarned. 

Review: THE SHADOWS OF SUMMER by Samuel Flint

4 stars

There's no question of roller-coaster suspense in this mystery: the tension starts at high-powered and never releases.  Summer and Jason, a happy, well-to-do couple in the Greater Atlanta area, are suddenly and inexplicably targeted by someone unknown who tremendously hates Summer and will stop at nothing to destroy her and all she loves.

Review: LION'S HEAD REVISITED by Jeffrey Round (Dan Sharp Mysteries #7)

5 Stars!

Private Investigator Dan Sharp of Toronto is like a flaming arrow of justice. This man is unstoppable. He won't let go until a case is truly closed out, and this time, such determination could result in a fatal outcome. Dan is asked to take on a parallel investigation into the kidnapping while camping of an autistic three-year-old, but the facts are buried deeply and are immensely tangled. It's recommended to read this one between  AFTER THE HORSES and THE GOD GAME.

Review: SHADOW PUPPET by Jeffrey Round (Dan Sharp Mysteries #6)

5 Stars!

Wow! This mystery turned me on my head in the first chapter! Although I enjoyed THE GOF GAME, reading it just prior to SHADOW PUPPET, and found it intriguing--especially so for the villain-who-hides-in-plain-sight and said villain's eventual justification--I find SHADOW PUPPET more engrossing: not politics here, but Toronto's Gay Community: the missing, the questionable, the murdered. Author Jeffrey Round is very aware of his community, his characters, and his city, gently drawing in readers so that we feel at hime--or at least, as up close observers and witnesses. I admire protagonist's Dan Sharp's sense of justice, his striving to be self-aware despite not always achieving that, his dedication to fatherhood, the friendships he values so highly. I'd like to give this book about 10 Stars!

The author states that although SHADOW PUPPET is Book 6, following THE GOD GAME, it's time frame is between THE JADE BUTTERFLY and AFTER THE HORSES [Book 3 and Book 4].

Review: THE GOD GAME by Jeffrey Round (Dan Sharp Mysteries #5)

5 Stars 

Usually political thrillers don't excite me, but this one quite did so. Probably the added interest for me of the strong LGBT element, and likely the foundation of Conspiracy Theory had me salivating like Pavlov's experimental dogs. Then too, the story is well-written, a real puzzler; and the "hard-boiled" Noir P.I. protagonist isn't--isn't hard-boiled, I mean, until somebody in power attempts to shut him down, and then he's all Terminator. Well, mostly.

I anticipate reading all the mysteries in this series (this is Dan Sharp Mysteries #5).

Canadian Challenge 

NetGalley/Edelweiss Challenge 

Mount TBR Challenge 

 

Review: THE PURITY OF VENGEANCE by Jussi Adler-Olsen

5 Stars 

THE PURITY OF VENGEANCE, Book 4 in the Department Q Series by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsson, is a tortmentingly heartwrenching narrative exploring how horribly the past may clench its grip on the present and future, and the persistence of evil when ordinary people stand aside while others commit unspeakable acts. If you're thinking of the Holocaust, of Rwanda, of Pol Pot, such is true of these others and far too many more.  However, the focus of evil here (mind-blowing and stomach-churning and infuriating it is) is in the  1950's and earlier in the nation of Denmark, where a fairly systematized genocidal approach stood firmly in place. I've read that such a systematic approach also took place in Canada in the early 20th century, and likely also elsewhere, notably in California.  Remember that the 1920's through 1950's were a peak era for Eugenics, the theory promoting ethnic purity as the method to ensure a proper gene pool.

I am assured that it will be a rare reader who consumes this mystery with alternately raging and weeping copious tears.

NetGalley/Edelweiss Challenge  2020

Mount TBR Challenge 2020

Review: THE TENANT by Katrine Engberg

3.5 Stars

This is the second Scandinavian police procedural which hasn't engrossed me. That's sad, because I adore the subgenre of Foreign Police Procedural and the sub-subgenre of Scandi-Noir. As with a British thriller I reviewed some months ago, this Mystery just doesn't know when to stop. I wish 1/4 to 1/3 had been trimmed. Now the novel has good bones; and the large cast of characters is really  well-developed.  The plotting is truly convoluted; and introducing several characters who could possibly be the evil mastermind kept me in suspense.  Other than that, I  perked up  twice, at about 24% and I think 95%, in both cases at a shocking revelation. Otherwise I just plodded through.  The protagonist is feckless and definitely not much of a hero, and his "Woe is me" melancholy soon grew old, as did his utterly foolish behavior in a certain respect (which I will not spoil).

The best I can offer for this one is 3.5.