Review: The Lost Girls

The Lost Girls by Allison Brennan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Pre-Ordered (as is the next one in this excellent series) this as soon as it was possible.
Another one in my favorite "Lucy Kincaid"-series by Allison Brennan.
This might just work as a standalone, but I advice against it.

Excellent twists and turns, although one twist was obvious for me, I will not mention it, so as not to spoil it. Romance between Lucy/Sean takes a left turn, while in the beginning planning the marriage.
Complicated, and with Lucy a bit over the top, both her inner turmoil and her actions. So what, it is very well written, as always and even with the distressing themes a real page-turner.
Highly recommended, but it helps to have read some or all of the books in the Lucy Kincaid-series, or even some of the others in the Universe of Kincaid/Rogan.

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Review: Bitter Moon

Bitter Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! As dark as it gets, with horrifying crimes committed and described in detail.
Alternating POV between Cara (Past) and Agent Roarke (Present), who takes the same path which Cara took Age 14, growing up and killing IT whenever she can, IT being people with the evil inside, like a demon or the devil in disguise. The FBI-Agent is on sabbatical in the beginning of the book, but gets sucked into Cara's past and is as conflicted about her, as ever.
Page-turner if you can stand it. My guess is, this will be an easy 5star recommended for hard-core readers, who have read Mo Hayder, Simon Beckett, Michael Slade etc. . Can be read as a standalone, and out of order, as most what happened is hinted or repeated during the telling, without being boring or repeating too much - granted it has been a rather long time since I read the last book in the series, so I maybe wrong.
Extremely recommended, one of my favourite books this year, 5stars strong and easily.
Not too much action, but the search for one of the killers and the decision wether to kill him or not and how the story may go on in the next book (there is strong indication that there will be next book), keeps this real and I like the way the decision falls. The Cara - Roarke relationship is together with Chelsea Cain's Archie - Gretchen one of the strongest and best pairs in crime, as unusual as female serial-killers are (wether Cara is one may be up for debate). My only regret is the waiting time till the next book.

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Review: Matt Helm - The Intimidators

Matt Helm - The Intimidators by Donald Hamilton
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Not the book I searched for.

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Review: Mord am Mikro: Steiners fünfter Fall

Mord am Mikro: Steiners fünfter Fall by Martin Olden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Adult crime, not available in English, I think.
Interesting take after the turn in the last book, after the MC gets cut badly and (view spoiler)[ends as a paraplegic in a wheelchair (hide spoiler)].
The crime is ok, but the side-story how the MC copes with his situation (btw. I am disabled myself, sitting in a wheelchair) is very detailed and even with the sex-scenes maybe something not everyone wants to read. The radio-moderator is interesting and the playlist would contain music I grew up with, shows how old I am (currently 50), and most music I like, I even searched some songs and listened to them when they where mentioned in the book.
Adult read, not very fluffy, but romance and as mentioned sex does happen.
The crime-story is rather straight forward, you get to know the murder nearly at the beginning, and the only little twist is how he will be caught. Nice touch would have been if he got away with it.
Not very suspenseful, recommended for the back story and the insight how to live with a wheelchair.

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Review: Without Mercy

Without Mercy by Jefferson Bass
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As per the afterword my guess is, this might the last book in the series - which given the age of one of the two authors of the duo, something I expected, but still regret.
For that, 1 star extra, not entirely warranted, as it dragged from 30% till the first real twist at 50% or so. And then again shortly after that.
Still, interesting as usual and quite up to date with the extremists, hate, KKK, (neo) Nazis, militia, etc. But quite a lot in the book, while presented in an interesting way, and connecting dots, which may help uninformed readers, I was familiar with a lot of it. Nicely done, though, but not very suspenseful.
Probably more realistic for being sometimes a bit dull (real police work may consist of waiting for results, like DNA takes time to be processed, as it is stated in the book).
Still recommended, even if this is not a page-turner, like some others in the series, or Kathy Reichs.
And not entirely worth 5 stars, as stated above, at some time I might even have given 3.5 star rounded down to 3, but the ending saved it for me.

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Review: Dark Water

Dark Water by Robert Bryndza
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Had this one pre-ordered and was looking forward to it, and although I just started today I am already at 40%, and reading this just after Pulse: A Kate Redman Mystery: Book 10, I see the difference, why this will probably get 5 deserved stars, and the other got 3.5 rounded to 3: more mystery, page-turner, more suspense, better heroine (way better, and my kind of MC). Very little romance, and what is made of that, keeping it real. This book is way longer, but being a real page-turner with the case always taking more space, you do not feel it (one thing that did not bother me, with the other book, that was a fast read). The whole, cold Sunday (October 23d, 2016, with temperature outside 8 degrees Celsius/46 degrees Fahrenheit) I read till I finished the book with minutes to spare till Midnight. There was no dragging in the middle, as sometimes even by very good authors, where I could have stopped.

Comparing this to the other book, it is obvious for me, why I like this a lot more and gave 5 stars, oh well, I mentioned it above. There are a few short hints of sex-scenes, one explizit gay sex-scene, but nothing fetish or kinky (sadly). Also, even though the MC commits nearly the same mistake as the MC in Pulse, it does seem more real to me and also it plays out differently (so far, that may change). And the MC is not weak, rather stubborn and headstrong, one of the reasons she is advancing in the Police. Even her Sister plays a strong part here, with a nice turn during the final night in Erika's flat.
Also, with the tea-drinking, and the places and all, it does feel way more like the UK than the descriptions in Pulse, although the difference is minor.

The crime is rather twisted, with quite a few deaths, a few twists could be guessed, I did not, and some twists need the tell-all (Agatha Christie-like) in the end by one of the guilty parties, as not all facts are discovered by the police.

Highly recommended and can be read as a standalone, as Erika (the MC) has changed jobs, as was the ending of the book before, where she took her superior up on his offer to quit (minor spoiler if you have not read that one yet).

This author is on my lists for auto-email when a new book is published. New books in this series are an instant buy, and also, not too expensive. This is surely a book I will recommend to my family, but so far this is not available in our native German.


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Review: Dark Water

Dark Water by Robert Bryndza
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Had this one pre-ordered and was looking forward to it, and although I just started today I am already at 40%, and reading this just after Pulse: A Kate Redman Mystery: Book 10, I see the difference, why this will probably get 5 deserved stars, and the other got 3.5 rounded to 3: more mystery, page-turner, more suspense, better heroine (way better, and my kind of MC). Very little romance, and what is made of that, keeping it real. This book is way longer, but does being a real page-turner with the case always taking more space, you do not feel it (one thing that did not bother me, with the other book, that was a fast read).

This was a page-turner, but long, although it did not feel like it. The whole, cold Sunday (October 23d, 2016) I read till I finished the book with minutes to spare till Midnight.

Comparing this to the other book, it is obvious for me, why I like this a lot more and gave 5 stars, oh well, I mentioned it above. There are a few short hints of sex-scenes, one explizit gay sex-scene, but nothing fetish or kinky (sadly). Also, even though the MC commits nearly the same mistake as the MC in Pulse, it does seem more real to me and also it plays out differently (so far, that may change). And the MC is not weak, rather stubborn and headstrong, one of the reasons she is advancing in the Police. Even her Sister plays a strong part here, with a nice turn during the final night in Erika's flat.
Also, with the tea-drinking, and the places and all, it does feel way more like the UK than the descriptions in Pulse, although the difference is minor.

The crime is rather twisted, with quite a few deaths, a few twists could be guessed, I did not, and some twists need the tell-all (Agatha Christie-like) in the end by one of the guilty parties, as not all facts are discovered by the police.

Highly recommended and can be read as a standalone, as Erika (the MC) has changed jobs, as was the ending of the book before, where she took her superior up on his offer to quit (minor spoiler if you have not read that one yet).

This author is on my lists for auto-email when a new book is published. New books in this series are an instant buy, and also, not too expensive. This is surely a book I will recommend to my family, but so far this is not available in our native German.


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