Monday, November 16, 2009 4:08 PM CST
Book Reviews: Three disappointments
Reviews by Juanita Sherwood
‘True Blue’
By David Baldacci
David Baldacci’s new book “True Blue” recently has been on the best seller list. Most of the time, Baldacci’s name is enough to boost a book to that level, and most of his books have deserved that status, but this one seems a bit lacking.
The book involves two sisters, one the chief of police in Washington, D.C., and another, a former police officer convicted of a felony and serving a prison sentence as the book opens. They try to fight a secret government organization that has become over-zealous in its efforts to protect America from within and without.
The police chief sister is Beth Perry; the rogue sister is Mason “Mace” Perry. A young male attorney, Roy Kingman, is soon added to the mix.
Mace was kidnapped and drugged, and then forced into committing serious crimes against her will for which she was caught, tried and convicted. She would like to solve two mysteries: who is responsible for these actions against her, and who is responsible for wreaking havoc among officials in the nation’s capital.
The chief of police warns Mace to cease investigating the actions plaguing the city, but Mace wants to solve the crimes, hoping that success will reinstate her police status.
The situation whereby Mace was drugged and forced into criminal acts seems a bit lame. Some of Baldacci’s characters in previous books who are a bit unusual in situation and temperament are endearing, but it is difficult to feel such about the Perry sisters.
‘9 Dragons’
By Michael Connelly
Detective Harry Bosch is the recurring character in many of Michael Connelly’s books. Bosch works in L.A. and is regarded by both the fictional police department as well as the reader as possessing exceptional crime-solving skills.
Harry is single, but he and his former wife, who lives and works in Hong Kong, have a daughter in her early teens. The daughter, too, resides in Hong Kong.
Bosch first is assigned to solve the murder of an elderly Chinese liquor store owner. In doing so, he discovers that a triad from China is collecting protection money from Mr. Li, the store owner. He suspects their involvement in the murder.
On his cell phone, Harry receives a video from his daughter showing her being held hostage by someone in Hong Kong. He immediately makes arrangements to travel there to rescue her, feeling guilty because she is being used to get back at him.
This plot seems intriguing to this point, but after Harry arrives in Hong Kong, his actions seem a bit far-fetched, and he leaves an enormous trail of death and destruction.
The end is surprising and satisfactory, but even Harry Bosch could not likely carry off all he does on foreign soil.
‘13½’
By Nevada Barr
The joy of reading Nevada Barr is usually centered around her recurring character Anna Pigeon, who is a park ranger serving in many national parks in the U.S. The setting is an important part of the story and learning about each park is fun and informative. Anna must solve a murder in each, sometimes coming close to being a victim herself.
“13½,” however, is not about Pigeon or a national park. It is a psychological thriller set in both post-Katrina New Orleans and, earlier, in Minnesota.
The storyline itself is good, and the reader suspects early-on the true identity of the perpetrator, but not featuring Pigeon and a park is a disappointment.
All three titles are good reads in one way or another, but they also disappoint.
Sherwood of Charleston is a retired reading teacher.
Add your comments
Not already registered?
Then click Here.
Comment policy:
JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.
In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.
We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
No comment may contain:
* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.
If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.
|
|
|
|
|
