“Last to Die” by Tess Gerritsen / Friday, December 7, 2012 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Today’s featured book is Last to Die by Tess Gerritsen.

Save the kids.

Why Clay Stafford chose this book:

Let’s hope there is no “three’s the charm” in this book. Twice in a row, Teddy Clock has survived a massacre of his family: first his real family and then his foster family. Was this coincidence or was something amuck? Come to find out, it was not only Teddy’s two families that were being stalked. Other children have lost their families. Finally, we learn, it is not the families being stalked, but the kids and not only Teddy. This is a story with more twists and turns than a carnival fun house.

Detective Jane Rizzoli, Medical Examiner Maura Isles, and some smart fellow orphans work together to keep the orphaned children safe. But they must find the killer before something happens that no one can take back. Readers of Gerritsen will happily note some reappearances of characters from previous novels and Rizzoli and Isles, of course, from their own TNT breakout television series. (Oddly, these two characters have almost grown more famous than their creator.)

Because kids were involved, this was a fast page-turner for me. I couldn’t wait to get to the end of the story, not because I wanted it to end, but because I wanted to know how it turned out. I’m not going to tell you the ending, but it did come and I did have to stop.

Here’s my only gripe.

For years, I’ve been a fan of Tess Gerritsen. Nobody writes a thriller better. I’m like a kid when I finish her books. I want to sit down on the floor and start screaming until she gives me more. In this case, I was screaming while I was reading because she was torturing me with suspense. And then, of course, I screamed when I had to close the book because there was no other place to go.

What better gripe can you have than that?

Beginning with her first novel that went straight to the bestseller list, Tess Gerritsen has only given the best. For many reviews, I note that someone’s last book is their crowning glory. In Tess Gerritsen’s case, they’ve all been out of the park. “Last to Die” is no exception and continues her exceptional norm. If you like suspense, this is a book you need to read.

From the publisher:

“For the second time in his short life, Teddy Clock has survived a massacre. Two years ago, he barely escaped when his entire family was slaughtered. Now, at fourteen, in a hideous echo of the past, Teddy is the lone survivor of his foster family’s mass murder. Orphaned once more, the traumatized teenager has nowhere to turn – until the Boston PD puts detective Jane Rizzoli on the case. Determined to protect this young man, Jane discovers that what seemed like a coincidence is instead just one horrifying part of a relentless killer’s merciless mission.

Joining forces with her trusted partner, medical examiner Maura Isles, Jane is determined to keep these orphans safe from harm. But an unspeakable secret dooms the children’s fate – unless Jane and Maura can finally put an end to an obsessed killer’s twisted quest.”

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

– Clay Stafford, Founder of Killer Nashville

“Far North” by Michael Ridpath / Thursday, December 6, 2012 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Today’s featured book is Far North by Michael Ridpath.

What if greedy investors wiped out your life’s savings and walked away unscathed?

Why Clay Stafford chose this book:

What if greedy investors wiped out your life’s savings and walked away unscathed? Well, this is a rather timely book no matter what continent you are on. This story just happens to be set in Iceland.

I enjoy discovering new authors. Such is the case with Michael Ridpath and “Far North.” I am familiar with Michael Ridpath through Killer Nashville and the British Crime Writers’ Association. However, I (shamefully) have never read one of his books until now. This was an incredible introduction.

I’m enthralled with what he has done with what he had to work with. I’ll explain. The advice to writers has always been “write what you know.” He is an Englishman, proper, polite, and humble, as one might expect. Ironically, he writes about an American (Boston-based) detective of Icelandic heritage returning “Far North.” The amount of research put into it to pull it off is impressive. Even more impressive is that this was a #9 bestselling book in Iceland. They loved it! If you can sway the locals, you have to be doing something right.

This is Ridpath’s second foray into mystery. Prior to this series, he has written financial thrillers. The first in this series was “Where the Shadows Lie.” In “Far North,” there are several unrelated murders (appearing that way on the surface) that are neatly tied together through the ample efforts of Detective Magnus Jonson. There is also a backstory murder that at first may seem in odd coherence to the plot, but makes sense nicely in the end.

I’m not sure I have ever read a mystery set in Iceland before, in a land where police officers do not carry guns. As an American, police not carrying firearms boggles me. The plotting is full of such details. For learning the culture of a different country mixed with a blast of a suspense story (trying to stop future killings), this is a wonderful introduction to a wonderful writer. I wish I had experienced Ridpath’s work sooner.

From the publisher:

“In Iceland, revenge is best served at arctic temperatures… Iceland 1934: Two boys playing in the lava fields that surround their isolated farmsteads see something they shouldn’t have. The consequences will haunt them and their families for generations. Iceland 2009: the credit crunch bites. The currency has been devalued, banks nationalized, savings annihilated, lives ruined. Grassroots revolution is in the air, as is the feeling that someone ought to pay…ought to pay the blood price. And in a country with a population of just 300,000 souls, in a country where everyone knows everybody, it isn’t hard to draw up a list of exactly who is responsible. And then, one-by-one, to cross them off. Iceland 2010: As bankers and politicians start to die, at home and abroad, it is up to Magnus Jonson to unravel the web of conspirators before they strike again. But while Magnus investigates the crimes of the present, the crimes of the past are catching up with him in Far North, the newest heart-stopping mystery from acclaimed author Michael Ridpath.”

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

– Clay Stafford, Founder of Killer Nashville

“Luther: The Calling” by Neil Cross / Monday, November 12, 2012 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Today’s featured book is Luther: The Calling by Neil Cross.

Womb raiders. A missing child. A serial killer.

Why Clay Stafford chose this book:

I’m a speed reader. I read one book a night. This one I had to take slowly like bites of a great home-grilled steak. It was too good to rush through. Even at a slower pace, though, once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. Frankly, the book is nightmarish. The bad guy will give you the willies. He’s a madman. He’s a genius.

Here’s the freaky part: as author Cross writes, “People put so much of their lives out there. On Facebook and wherever. There’s so much information on who we are, how we’re feeling, what we’re doing,” who is in our family, who we have as friends, even where we are going to be tonight. For those paranoid people such as crime writers like myself, I started looking at what I’ve been posting here and there in social media and thinking I need to cancel my Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress accounts. Unarguably, someone could learn all about you from the public information you give them and then do you in. Or worse: your family. Think about this the next time you post, for example, a picture of your child on Facebook.

For those who don’t know: “Luther: The Calling” is the prequel for the BBC highly popular “Luther” TV series. This is not for the squeamish. It is about a person who is stealing children for the most godawful reasons. It is also about a cop pushing the edge of acceptability. I wouldn’t call it vigilante fiction, but it comes very close. About page 179 of the edition of the book I was reading, you’ll be feeling the same emotions as the police detective. There are times, as you read, you wouldn’t mind grabbing a baseball bat and going along with him because it just feels justified. There are slimes in this novel with no redeeming characteristics: lots of thugs and one woman who, incidentally, is more morally disgusting though understandable than the thugs themselves. Disagree if you like, but my opinion holds. And there’s humor; for example, there’s a woman has been burglarized so she tells the police, “I’d like a dog. I’m scared to get one in case I take a fall and can’t feed it.” This stuff has to be there. You need it to break the tension.

Neil Cross is an Edgar winner and sole writer / creator of the BBC TV series, “Luther.” It’s not surprising he is an Edgar winner. “Luther: The Calling” is written in present tense so there is a sense of immediacy about it. The use of present tense when writing (for academic reasons not discussed here) doesn’t work in most fiction. It works wonderfully here. It gives the gritty piece an extra edge. (It’s also the form for screenplays, which may be a carry-over from Cross’s day job.)

In “Luther,” I love the personal story. The personal story is deep and is not just busy activity showing the personal life of the character. Lots of times, for me, the personal stories in thrillers and mysteries don’t help deepen my understanding of the character; to me, they’re a drag on the story, things best to be skipped. That’s because they are done poorly, thrown in because some editor tells some unequipped author you need some personal B stories to flesh out the characters, or some author throws it in on his/her own thinking it will help the reader identify with his/her protagonist. I’ve seen the advice in writing books and it is blatantly wrong. If the personal stories are not coming out of the spine of the story itself, then they shouldn’t be there. They become nothing more than filler. Here is an example of how it is done right. In “Luther,” the personal stories are moments to be savored for even the personal stories of the main characters relate directly to the progression of the story, the heinousness of the plot. I feel for Luther. And the way Cross has written it, you can see how Luther has become who he is. I became engrossed, watching John Luther’s life fall apart. It was like watching a train wreck. As his wife observed, looking at pictures of Luther as a younger man when they had met, the wife (Zoe) thinks “Somewhere along the line, that boy had joined the dead, and Zoe had spent years waving to him from a far shore, trying to call him back.” The story is just so real that you can’t help but empathetically self-reflect. “Our choices reveal us, don’t they?” It’s funny that, no matter how much we dream, life may not turn out that way. As Cross writes, “Closure may never come. And if it does come, it may not be what you were hoping for.”

This is one of the best crime novels I’ve read this year. The suspense keeps you riveted until the very last page. There are doubts, even as you near the end, about whether Luther will succeed or fail. I will not be a spoiler, but I will say author Cross does not care if he takes your favorite character out. If Luther wins, great. If he fails, we have to accept that, as well. Life isn’t always tied up in perfect ribbons. Regardless, this is one of those novels I’m going to have to read again just to appreciate all the workings under the hood. I can tell you: there are many.

From Amazon:

“In this stellar debut by journalist turned Washington insider and political writer Charles Robbins, an eager politico finds himself on the rise only to discover the perilous costs of success.

When Henry Hatten wangles a job as communications director for Nebraska SenatorTom Peele’s presidential campaign, he breathes a huge sigh of relief. Smarting over a recent gubernatorial campaign in which his pulling a political punch may have cost his boss the race, he’s thrilled to be back in action.

This time around, Henry is determined to shuck his ethical qualms. But he soon finds he’s facing more than he imagined. The new gig turns out to be rife with scandal and corruption – just the kind of politics Henry so fervently sought to banish. Events go from bad to worse as the depths of greed emerge, tracking the acceleration and excitement in the campaign itself. Led by a ruthless chairman and filled with warring aides, hired thugs, fractious union bosses, and snooping reporters, the Peele campaign is shaping up to be quite the circus. And that’s before Henry’s ex arrives on the scene . . .

But when someone close to the campaign is murdered, Henry can no longer turn a blind eye. As he conducts his own covert investigation, still more secrets emerge. So deeply entrenched in the politics and manipulation, Henry must face a staggering reality in which his values are no longer his own. But can he extricate himself and salvage the career he loves? And can he do so with his soul intact? A brilliantly plotted and characterized political novel, The Accomplice takes readers into the guts of a brutal presidential campaign. “

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join ourFacebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

– Clay Stafford, Founder of Killer Nashville