The Fix

 Baldacci, David. The Fix. New York: Grand Central Publishing. 2017. Print.

First Sentences:

It was normally one of the safest places on earth. But not today.

Description:

OK, I admit it. I am a huge fan of David Baldacci's Amos Decker character, the ex-policeman/football player with the perfect memory. Having nothing to read that could quite match the intensity of the brilliant 787-page The Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes that I had just finished, I returned to my old reliable crime-solver, Amos Decker in Baldacci's The Fix. This is the third book in the 7-book Amos Decker detective series, the crime-solver introduced in Memory Man, the first (and in my mind the best in the series), and then the second book, The Last Mile. The Fix, I found, was a fine chaser to my Amos Decker thriller binge reading.

In the first four pages of The Fix, Decker is walking in front of the J Edgar Hoover building, home to the FBI, heading to a meeting. Several yards ahead, he notices a well-dressed man, Walter Dabney, walk up to a woman, Anne Berkshire, pull out a gun and shoot her in the head. Then, before Decker could intervene, Dabney put his gun under his chin and shoot himself.

Wow, what a start. Two deaths, sudden, intentional, in front of the FBI Headquarters, and  with memory-perfect Decker as an eye-witness.  Seems an easy case. But the only question is who were these two people? Why did Dabney kill Berkshire? And why did he choose the very public FBI building for this action?

Not much to go on, but Decker is roped into the investigation of these questions mainly due to one other minor point. The FBI has intercepted messages that very soon there will be a terrorist act on the magnitude of 9/11. And it is scheduled to take place sometime very soon. Where, when, how, and by whom are a new set of questions. Could these recent shootings and terrorist threat somehow be linked?

Slowly, slowly, Decker and his partners on the FBI investigation team, uncover tiny nuggets of interesting information that may or may not contribute to these investigations. As they peel back layers based on new discoveries, the two cases become more and more unclear. Rather

than getting closer to a solution, Decker and his team feel increasingly confused with the disjointed information.

And the day of the terrorist event is rapidly approaching.

Highly recommended for readers who love to watch detailed crime procedure, grapple with tiny clues, and then try to puzzle out for themselves who is telling the truth and who is involved in these events up to their necks. The Fix, through Baldacci's terse writing and dialogue, encourages readers to immerse themselves and binge read until their eyes droop. But what a pleasant way to stimulate your mind and wear out your eyes.

 

P.S. If you are new to the Decker series, start with the first and second books, Memory Man and The Last Mile to get some background on Decker and his partners, The Fix can clear up their backstories on its own, but it is more satisfying to start at the series' beginning and read the first two equally complex and brilliant Amos Decker books, then dive into The Fix as a dessert.

 

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

 

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Baldacci, David. Memory Man.   

The first book in the Amos Decker mystery/thriller series. Decker, due to a football accident, cannot forget anything: words, pictures, faces, events. After his wife and child are brutally murdered, and even though someone has confessed to the crime, Decker takes on his own personal investigation and uses his perfect memory to identify key clues to unravel the event and find the true killer(s). Highest recommendation. (previously reviewed here)

 

The Art Thief

Finkel, Michael. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession. New York: Knopf 2023. Print.

First Sentences:

Approaching the  museum, ready to hunt, Stephane Breitwieser clasps hands with his girlfriend, Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus, and together they stroll to the front desk and say hello, a cute couple. Then they purchase two tickets with cash and walk in. 

It's lunchtime, stealing time, on a busy Sunday in Antwerp, Belgium, in February 1997.


Description:

The details behind true crime and the people audacious enough to attempt and often pull them off successfully is always a fascinating topic to me. In Michael Finkel's The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, we readers are presented with the almost unbelievable details of Stephane Breitwieser and his girlfriend Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus, both in their twenties, who in the late 1990s and early 2000s stole hundreds of art pieces from museums throughout Europe. They took paintings, chalices, firearms, crossbows, teapots, tapestries, figurines, coins, and even a 150 pound wooden statue. In short, they made off with anything that caught their discerning eyes.

The tools they used? A second-hand Hugo Boss overcoat, a large woman's handbag, and a Swiss army knife. That's it. Usually their grabs are right in front of guards, shielded from any security cameras, during regular museum hours full of tourists. They considered themselves artists, scornful of burglars who overpower guards (like the "savages" who committed the Gardner Museum heist) or sneak around in the dark (such as the theft of the Mona Lisa). 

[Side note: We learn from author Finkel that Pablo Picasso was the first person accused of masterminding the Mona Lisa theft since he had previously hired a thief to grab two ancient stone figures from the Louvre. The figures "had distorted faces, and Picasso kept them in his studio as templates...for the groundbreaking Les Demoisells d'Avignon."]

Breitwieser and girlfriend Kleinklaus averaged three heists every four weekends (when Anne-Catherine was off from work) for a decade, amassing a collection valued at over $2 billion (yes, "billion" with a "b"). But they never tried to sell even one piece of their accumulated art. Instead, they placed each piece in their attic apartment (the upstairs unit in Breitwieser's mother's house), and just admired the beauty of the art in a quiet, uncrowded environment all by themselves. No one else, maybe not even his mother, knew about their attic collection. "They lived in a treasure chest."

What were the origins of this crime spree, the motivations or psychological causes? How did they do it? Why did they pursue this behavior? And when, if ever, will they be caught? Author Finkel searches through newspaper articles, interviews, psychological reports, and courtroom transcripts to offer possible factors that brought Breitwieser to this obsession with art theft. And its a wild ride he takes us on to understand these two art thieves and to provide details of their escapades.

You cannot help but be caught up in this couple's boldness, their love of art, and their obsession to possess it and keep it secret from the world. Heist after heist unfolds in casual detail by Finkel, giving us readers an insider's view of the crimes and the minds of these two young people. It's a riveting, audacious book that is difficult to put down for the tension as well as for the descriptions of the beautiful art it presents. 

Stealing art for money, [Breitwieser] says, is disgraceful. Money can be made with far less risk. But liberating for love, he's known a long time, feels ecstatic.

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

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Dolnick, Edward. The Rescue Artist.   

When Edward Munch's The Scream painting is stolen from the National Museum in Oslo in 1994, Scotland Yard's Art Theft Department steps in. Led by Charley Hill, the department slowly tries to track down the thieves and recover the painting. Dolnick covers this chase as well as many other art crimes Hill has investigated. Riveting.(previously reviewed here)

 

The Old Woman with the Knife

Gu, Byeong-Mo. The Old Woman with the Knife. Toronto: Hanover Square Press. 2013. Print.

First Sentences:

So this is what it's like on the subway on Friday nights. You feel grateful to discover space just wide enough to slide a sheet of paper between bodies stuck together like mollusks. You're bathed in the stench of meat and garlic and alcohol anytime anyone opens their mouth, but you're relieved because those scents signify the end of your workweek.

Description:

I cannot recommend Gu Byeong-Mo's assassination novel, The Old Woman with the Knife, to just everyone. Some readers may be put off by the idea of the elderly woman narrator who is actively-employed as a professional assassin. 

 

But for those who are intrigued by this concept of a 65-year-old "disease control specialist" (as the company terms its contracted killers), this is a calm, not-very-violent story that will keep you alert right up to the last sentences. It might help to know she has an equally old dog named "Deadweight." Well, maybe not.

 

Hornclaw, the elderly female assassin, is the founder along with her lover Ryu, of this "disease control" elimination business forty years ago. She was the first person Ryu trained to effectively knock off evil people. The motto on their business cards is: "Extermination of vermin and pests." Corporate enemies, double crossers, cheating spouses all fall into these categories, so are contracted by outsiders to have them eliminated. 

 

Hornclaw often uses a variety of razor sharp knives, hence her nickname. The book opens with her completion of an assignment in a crowded subway. Naturally, no one notices, much less suspects an elderly woman of utilizing a quick, poisoned jab into an unknown passenger, or pays attention to a man who seemingly faints in the crush to exit the subway.

She is anonymous and prefers to know little about her victims. But an accident causes her to seek medical attention and contact an outsider doctor, potentially risking her anonymous life and profession. Throw in an upcoming, brash fellow assassin from her organization who brags of his own prowess and boldly hints that Hornclaw should retire due to her age, diminishing speed and skills, and you have the barest bones of this gripping story.

 

Don't worry, there's less blood and graphic violence than in any Jack Reacher novels or Jo Nesbo's detective tales. The Old Woman with the Knife is subtle, quiet, almost soothing read in its precision and spare style.

Despite the many possible roads she could have taken to relax and sink into an armchair, she has insisted on hands-on disease control work all this time....What gets in the way of safe retirement is the unique nature of disease control....Trying to picture someone who has been killing people for forty-five years frying chicken or dry-cleaning clothes is like trying to imagine an old wolf incubating an egg.

If it sounds interesting, it definitely is. If it sounds intriguing, mesmerizing, subtle, unpredictable, and captivating, it is all of these and much more. A rare gem of a story, with plenty of action and complex characters to fully engulf you.

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

About The First Sentence Reader blog

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Swanson, Peter. The Kind Worth Killing.   

A thrilling, suspenseful yarn of pride, disrespect, and revenge involving a woman plotting to kill the men who wronged her. (previously reviewed here)

 

City of Windows

Pobi, Robert. City of Windows. New York: Minotaur. 2019. Print

First Sentences:
 

Nimi Olsen made the mistake of trying to cross Forty-second half a block before the intersection and missed the light.

 

She was now stranded on the spine of frozen slush that snaked down the middle of the street, freezing her ass off. Cars snapped by with homicidal vigor, and every few seconds a mirror brushed her hip. 

Description:

I confess to a certain addiction to thrillers, especially when they involve police procedures. I'm not a fan of gratuitous, bloody violence (although with Scandanavian authors, I seem to be more willing to compromise). 

So it is with great enthusiasm that I recommend Robert Pobi's City of Windows, an almost bloodless series of murders investigated by a astrophysicist who doesn't carry a gun. The murders, and yes, there are killings, are conducted with one shot only, by a shooter using a long-range rifle from over 700 yards away. The target is dead before the sound reaches any observers. The victims seem to be random selections, and of course the shooter is long gone by the time the police can even guess which window the shot came from.

Enter former FBI agent Lucas Page, a university professor who left the service after an "incident" left him with a prosthetic leg and arm. But he still retains a unique ability of seeing the world and situations broken down into geometric patterns, angles, and makeup. He is reluctantly recalled into service because the first shooting victim was his former partner.

Page pokes around, digging into files, looking for some connection between the targets before another person can fall to a long-range head shot. But the trail is cold and the victims keep falling, forcing Page to enlist help from unusual sources: computers and small town people who hate government intervention into matters best left in the past.

I loved this book because, while there are people being shot, it is relatively bloodless. No eyeball gouging, no street fights, no stabbings, and certainly no gun battles. Just someone picking off victims, eluding FBI and Page throughout the book. There are hints to solving this, but they are very subtle - until Page starts to see the light.

So if you are fan of nail-biting suspense crime stories, even ones that involve murders, but might be a bit hesitant to leap into another book with over-the-top violence, then City of Windows is for you. 

P.S. There are now two other Lucas Page novels, Under Pressure and Do No Harm I just finished reading both of them and can eagerly recommend each of these twisty, thoughtful serial murders. Best to read them in order, starting with City of Windows. He's just a great character trying to untangle complex, unsolvable cases, exactly the scenario I enjoy.

Happy reading. 

Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Child, Lee. One Shot.   

Five random people are shot on a public street in only a few seconds by a person using a long-range rifle. The police make a quick arrest based on the evidence found. But the  prisoner claims innocence and ask for Jack Reacher, former Army MP, to investigate. Breath-taking in its thoroughness of investigation, thrills, and toughness. Another great one from Lee Child.

Golden State

Winters, Ben H. Golden State. New York: Little, Brown 2019. Print.

First Sentences:

Somebody's telling lies in here, and it's making it hard to eat. In a perfect world, a man should be able to sit down at a favorite spot and eat his breakfast without the weight of professional obligation coming down on him, ruining his morning, pulling him right into the thick of it before  he can so much as get a good hot sip of coffee.

Description:

 

People in the city of Golden State in the near future believe that it was the lies told by government and other powerful figures that led to the devastating "Calamity" that destroyed much of their world. 

Therefore, in this new city erected from the embers of the old world, they have designated lying as the highest of crimes. The punishment for someone uttering a falsehood? Imprisonment for years or even banishment to the Outside, an unknown territory beyond the city limits from where there is no return. 

 

Laszlo Ratesic is a highly-regarded veteran of the Speculative Service in Golden State. His talent? He has a special sense that alerts him to when people around him are telling lies. Laszio's skill lead's naturally to an job with the Speculative Service whose legal purpose is to root out anyone voicing statements against the "Objectively So." In other words, they identify and arrest anyone caught lying, then determine whether they should be removed from the new society of Golden State.

And that is just the beginning of Ben H. Winters' brilliant, challenging novel, Golden State.

Just to be safe from accidently telling a falsehood, people greet each other with agreed-upon truths like "It's nine o'clock now" or "Twenty is twice ten." And each person records all daily activities in a personal diary which is deposited each evening into the city's permanent Record for preservation and future reference for what actually happened in any historical instance.

Imagine if each person was allowed the luxury of claiming their own truth, building a reality of their own in which they can live. Imagine the danger that would pose, how quickly those lies would metastasize, and the extraordinary threat that would pose to the world.

But when a death occurs to an ordinary roofer who fell from a housetop, there are some unanswered questions, possibly lies, which the thousands of surveillance cameras may not have captured. Enter Ratesic and his tag-along rookie partner, Aysa Paige. In their routine investigation, they notice some small incongruities and "dissonance" that hint at a conspiracy which might entirely change the world of Golden State. 

And then, Ratesic discovers an actual book, a physical copy of a fictional work that is by definition ("fictional" = "not true" = "lie"), an item outlawed by the government. He decides to hide it ... and read it.

Ratesic has his own demons as well, from a marital separation to conflicts with the local police who resent the power of the Speculative Service. Ms. Paige also has mysteries, particularly her unmatched ability to sense lies and suggest solutions to confusing situations. 

But, of course, their investigations poke their noses into dangerous areas, attracting the attention of powerful people who would prefer the matter be settled quietly. 

It is an odd premise for a culture, but one that author Winters describes logically and thoroughly in Golden State. We readers are yanked into this protected world to follow the thoughts and actions of one of its staunchest supporters in Laszlo Ratesic as he purses a case that threatens his life and his world. Surprises abound right to the very end. 

Completely unpredictable, exciting, and challenging in its premise and setting.

But the world has never been accused of being perfect, has it, and so here we are and here is what actually happens -- here is reality.

Happy reading. 

Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Mullen, Thomas. The Last Town on Earth.   

During World War I and the 1918 Spanish Influenza outbreak, historically several towns tried to isolate themselves from outside infection. This is the fictionalized story of one such town and the choices of individuals when they face strangers who show up seeking refuge. Highly recommended. (previously reviewed here)

Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451.   

In the near future, books are banned to such an extent that there is a fire department with men charged to burn any books found. One fireman, Guy Montag, begins to doubt this practice and discovers a secret world of book lovers trying to desperately preserve the contents of the world's literature. Highly recommended. 

The Count of 9

  Fair, A.A. (Erle Stanley Gardner). The Count of 9. London: Titan 1958. Print.

First Sentences:

As I opened the door and stepped into the reception room, a flash bulb blazed into brilliance and blinded Big Bertha Cool, who had been facing the camera with a fatuous smile on her face, whirled angrily, glared at me and turned to the photographer.

"Did that hurt anything?" she asked.

 

Description:

Everyone is probably familiar with author Erle Stanley Gardner and his most famous creation, the brilliant lawyer, Perry Mason. But Gardner also wrote under the pen name A.A.Fair. creating the hard-boiled detectives Bertha Cool and Donald Lam operating in the grimy world of the 1940s.

Bertha Cool runs a small time (just her) detective agency inherited from her dead husband which focuses on small paperwork jobs, serving subpoenas, tailing cheating husbands, and the like. That all changes when she hires Donald Lam, a fast-talking go-getter with no detective experience. Lam proves to be clever, resourceful, and dogged in his pursuit of answers to the investigations. But the ordinary cases of Cool and Lam now seem to evolve into much deeper crimes. They start to take on larger cases that come to their grubby office, mainly because they allow Cool to reap more lucrative retainers, her primary goal for her detective agency.

In The Count of 9, Cool is hired by a globe-trotting millionaire to protect his valuable collection of international souvenirs from theft by any guests attending a party at his residence. For security, there is a separate elevator to his apartment which Cool personally guards. All attendees are x-rayed (unbeknownst to them) in the elevator to make sure they are not filching any items. But still, a 5-foot long ancient blowgun and poison-tipped darts, along with a small precious jade statue somehow turn up missing right under Cool's nose. A small statue and darts could possibly be swiped, but who could smuggle out a very long blowgun?

Even worse, the millionaire soon is found dead, killed by, you guessed it, a poison dart. Is it his wife? His secretary? A girlfriend? The fence? Someone else?

It's up to Lam to find to missing blowgun, darts, and jade statue, and while he's at it, uncover the murderer. A tall order, but Lam is so clever, so quick-witted, that he is soon hot on the trail of solving all these mysteries. 

But there are, of course, bad guys and gals along the way with their own agendas that include keeping nosy detectives from discovering their roles in these crimes.

Noir detective fiction is captivating to me. Simple stories told in a street-wise language of a bygone era: what's not to love? The Count of 9 a great page-turner full of nefarious crimes, gritty bad guys and gals, along with seemingly innocent everyday people which keep the action moving forward at breakneck speed. There's never much violence, although the threat of it is always hanging over everyone's head, and sometimes there is a dead body in a locked room. And in most Cool/Lam books, Donald Lam usually gets beaten up by thugs as he gets closer to the truth. Nothing life-threatening, though, and he always comes back eager as ever.

The Count of 9 is just one of twenty-nine (!) in the Cool/Lam detective series, so if you love this style of clever writing, tough characters, and unusual crimes needing be untangled, you have plenty more wonderful stories in this series to keep you busy.

[P.S. This is the first re-publication of the Cool/Lam detective stories in 50 years. Wonderfully, the publishers have reproduced the original lurid cover art, often depicting mysterious ladies in various stages of undress with weapons nearby. The artwork doesn't have anything to do with the story, but I find it fascinating to see the style of covers from the 1950s. Hope you aren't too outraged.]

 

Happy reading. 

 

Fred

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Fair, A. A.. Cats Prowl at Night.   

With Donald Lam serving his military requirement, Bertha Cool must take on a case herself without the assistance of Lam's problem-solving powers. Another great on in the series.  (previously reviewed here)

 

The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling

Block, Lawrence.The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling. New York: Random House 1979. Print.

First Sentences:

I suppose he must have been in his early twenties. It was hard to be sure of his age because there was so little of his face available for study.


Description:

Quite a good opening line to Lawrence Block's wonderful private investigator crime novel, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling. And the plot is a doozy, too. Can there be a more enticing scenario than a petty burglar turned book dealer working with a bribable cop on an investigation of a local crime?

 

Bernie Rhodenbarr is a known thief who apparently has gone straight, setting himself up as owner of a small book shop that seems to have few customers and even fewer sales (which doesn't seem to concern Bernie in the least). Where he got the money to invest in this store is questionable, but he assures everyone that he is out of the burglary business. 

That is, until he is quietly offered a job to steal a rare book and deliver it to his contact. All goes well...except for the part during the delivery of the stolen merchandise when Bernie is drugged to sleep, then awakens to find himself alone with a gun and a dead body next to him.

What ensues is a twisty-turny series of events: burglaries, set-ups, lies, and non-stop action. Bernie is in the middle of it all, trying to avoid the police who are looking for him as the murderer, as well as doggedly searching for the stolen book to redeem some sort of financial gain and prove his innocence. Of course, he would prefer not to blow his cover as a used book dealer in the process, but that gets trickier with each page.

I'm all in on this book. After initially being captivated by the title, I was pleased to discover this quirky novel was only one of many in the Bernie Rhodenbarr series written by author Block. It's exactly the kind of rollicking, funny, edgy mystery full of shady characters and settings that I love. Can't wait to try his other ten adventures, each with an even more enticing title, including The Burglar Who Studies Spinoza, The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams, and The Burglar Who Painted Like Modrian.

Happy reading. 

Fred

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Block, Lawrence. Burglars Can't Be Choosers.   

Our hero/burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr is on a simple caper: steal a leather-covered box sitting inside a roll-top desk. At least it was simple until he finds the desk contains no leather box, the cops break in while Bernie is still working...and there's a dead body in the bedroom. Only his fast-talking and quick wits can keep Bernie out of jail until he can find the murderer. (This the first piece in the 11-book  Bernie Rhodenbarr series.)

Presidio

Kenedy, Randy. Presidio. New York: Touchstone 2018. Print

First Sentences:

Later, in the glove box, the police found a folder of notes. It said: 

Notes for the police:  (Or anybody else who finds this and wants to read it.): My name is Troy Alan Falconer. These are the things I love most: I love checking into a motel room on a hot afternoon, when the cool air inside smells of freon and anonymity. (They always leave the A/C running for you.) I love checking out at dawn, my hair combed wet to meet the world. I love hard-shell luggage and Swiss-made watches...I love driving cars down empty highways in the middle of the night, listening to the music of sincere-sounding country singers like Wynn Stewart and Jim Reves....I love these things for their own sake. But I can enjoy them only when they posses a certain additional quality...of belonging rightfully and legally to comeone other than myself.

Description:

There are a few more items Troy Falconer records in his "Folder for the Police" left in an abandoned car in the opening sentences of Randy Kenedy's Presidio. Right away, we getr a picture of, and maybe even like, this audacious man -- at least, I did. The reference to the police finding these notes in an abandoned car was a bit ominous, probably foreshadowning that this man might not be a person worthy of affection. But that's what pulled me into this character and plot.

Turns out, Troy is a car thief traveling through the desert expanse of the Texas Panhandle region in the 1970s. He is a man who loves cars and is quite good at taking them from unsuspecting people, usually fellow travelers staying in cheap motels. He loves driving, too, especially "full-size automatic sedans with electric windows and bench seats, upholstered in breathable fabric, not vinyl." He has his standards.  

I'd like you to believe that I started out with some kind of justification, a reason better than anger and want. But that was mostly it -- same old story. It wasn't until later that it changed from a profession into a way of life, a calling that felt almost religious if I'd been inclued that way.

If I had, I would have been its reverend. Preaching my message of freedom through loss from my pulpit behind the dashboard.

Troy returns after many years away to his bleak hometown to help his estranged brother, Harlan, find his wife and get back the money she took when she ran away. Of course, they first steal a car before setting off after the woman. Unfortunately, they inadvertantly make off with something else hidden in the stolen car. When the brothers discover their unexpected cargo, they realize their plans must change and they head on backroads towards the Mexican border town of Presidio.

With the police right behind them.

Part diary entries (remember, the notes left in the glove compartment for the police?), part stream-of-consciousness narrative of his history, and part meditations by Troy, Presidio offers non-stop tension and personality for the travelers. These are really "alive" characters, vivid in all their faults and dreams. Beautifully written, the story also throws in fascinating details about cars, car stealing, cheap motels, and the flat Texas desert that they blow past on their drive.

The land no longer seemed actively hostile. It just seemed like one of the places on the earth that had long ago stopped bothering to hide its indifference.

This is a debut novel by Randy Kennedy, so I sincerely hope this is the first of many more stories to come from him. I'll be right there ready to read them all.

Happy reading. 

Fred

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Lutz, Lisa. The Passenger.   

Tonya, the narrator, takes to the open road to avoid police who might question how her husband ended up dead after a fall down the stairs. Tonya changes her name, cars, living accomodations, jobs, and lifestyles on her odysee for a new, anonymous life away from pursuit. Gripping and unexpected on every page. (Previously reviewed here)

The Talented Mr. Ripley

Highsmith, Patricia. The Talented Mr. Ripley. New York: Norton. 1955. Print.

First Sentences:

Tom glanced behind him and saw the man coming out of the Green Cage, heading his way.

Tom walked faster. There was no doubt the man was after him. 

Description:

It's marvelous to curl up with a great book like The Talented Mr. Ripley by Daphne du Maurier. Even though it was written in 1955, almost 65 years ago, it is timeless and still grips readers on every page. Of course, it has everything: great plot, unpredictable characters, lovely settings, and wonderful writing. Who could ask for more? Even if one is familiar with the story or has seen the movie, Highsmith's inimitable writing adds so much pleasure to the experience that the book should not be missed for any lovers of mystery, plot twists, and cunning characters.

Tom Ripley, a shady character living by his wits and a few minor schemes, spends time looking over his shoulder for the police to finally catch up with him, dodging in and out of bars, wistfully dreaming of the better, much more opulent life he feels he deserves.

Then along comes Herbert Greenleaf, a wealthy industrialist, who approaches Tom with a plan. Greenleaf will finance a trip to Italy for Tom for him to convince Greenleaf's son, Dickie, to quit his lollygagging life in a small beach town and return home to work in Greenleaf's business. Tom readily accepts the job, although he barely knows Dickie (but doesn't share that info with Greenleaf), and off he goes, sailing first class with expense money in his pocket.

After meeting Dickie and his friend Marge, he is able to ingratiate himself into Dickie's life of wealthy leisure using Greenleaf's money. Definitely this is what Tom has dreamed about and thus easily gets used to his new world. For his part, Dickie has no intention of ever leaving Italy, much less working for his father. Tom realizes that his new lifestyle will soon end when father Greenleaf gives up on Tom ever convincing Dickie to return, and decides to cut off Tom's expense account.

Unless ...

A scheme develops in Tom's mind to keep him in wealth, in Italy (or wherever he wants to go), and in a new life. All could come about ... if only Dickie weren't around.

That's the start of this thrilling plot involving Tom in a crime or two, constant waging of wits with police, and easing into a completely new lifestyle. In the hands of Highsmith, each page is full of clever thinking, snappy dialogue, narrow escapes, and spontaneous actions to preserve the world Tom now inhabits.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It grabs you immediately and doesn't let go until the very last page, with plot swerves that keep readers on their toes to try to follow, much less predict Tom's mind and dirty deeds. It is a great, great read that will turn you on to the world of Highsmith and Ripley, a deliciously thrilling combination.

The very chanciness of trying for all of Dickie's money, the peril of it, was irresistible to him....Risks were what made the whole thing fun.

Happy reading. 

Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

du Maurier, Daphne. The Scapegoat

Two unrelated strangers have a chance encounter and realize they could be twins. After a night of drinking, one man wakes in his room to find all his clothes missing, replaced with the other man's possessions. No one to believe his story that he is not the other man. He then is brought to his doppelganger's family estate and gradually, grudgingly, assumes the other man's identity.

Lying in Wait

Nugent, Liz. Lying in Wait. New York: Scout 2016. Print

First Sentences:

My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it.

After we had overcome the initial shock, I tried to stop him speaking of her. I did not allow it unless to confirm alibis or to discuss covering up any possible evidence. It upset him too much and I thought it best to move on as if nothing had happened.

Description:

If you are looking for an ordinary thriller or good mystery, then Liz Nugent's novel Lying in Wait, may not be exactly what you might expect. Why? Well, from the first sentences, the reader knows about the crime, who committed it, and who successfully covers it up without a trace.

What Lying in Wait offers that is so intriguing, however, is the psychological effects such a perfect crime has on both the perpetrators, the families of the victim, and innocent bystanders who get roped into the whole affair.

After Annie Doyle is killed for mysterious reasons by the husband and wife team of Andrew and Lydia Fitzsimons, it falls to Lydia to face the reality of the crime and make sure everyone resumes their normal lives, a task not easily acceptable to Andrew. They do agree it is important to keep the crime secret from their son, Laurence, who is becoming curious about some irregularities stemming from the lies of his parents, not to mention the new garden mound that appears in their back yard.

Also, there is Annie's sister, Karen, who simply will not let go of the disappearance of her sister in spite of the disinterest from the police, her family, and friends. That all changes when Karen's life becomes inadvertently intertwined with the Fitzsimons in the most clever, nerve-tingling way. 

Lying in Wait is not a thriller exactly and certainly not a gruesome mystery in any way beyond the quick murder on the first page. Rather, it is a book chock full of nail-biting anxiety as people dip closer to each other and towards untangling the mystery so near them. 

Readers simply cannot predict how these characters will react or how it all will end, whether for better or worse. But I am here to tell you it is one of the most satisfying, interesting endings of any book I have ever read. You have to love a story that keeps you guessing right up to the last pages, then fulfills your expectations for resolution in an completely unexpected way.

A gripping, unique read that I highly recommend.

Happy reading. 

Fred

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Lutz, Lisa. The Passenger.   

Tonya, finding her husband dead at the bottom of the stairs in their home (presumable from a fall), decides the police will never believe she didn't murder him. So she takes it on the lam, driving through the country, changing identities, jobs, and her own back stories as she goes. But she knows that someday she will be caught and then what? A compelling story with a clever, unique narrator.  (previously reviewed here)