Monday 26 March 2018

FULL HOUSE - THREE KINGS AND A PAIR OF JACKS

Five more from the library in storage.....

John King, Danny King, Jonathon King, Jack O'Connell and Jack Ehrlich


With the exception of Ehrlich I've read all these guys before but not been near a book by any of them for a few years.

Jack Ehrlich - Slow Burn (1961)
No blurbs on those older books and my copy isn't to hand.
Jonathon King - Acts of Nature (2007)
Hailed for his "extraordinary" writing (Publishers Weekly) and his "incisively chiseled characters" (The New York Times), Jonathon King returns with a chilling new thriller featuring Max Freeman, the most thoughtful, well-read, and multilayered private eye hero since Spenser" (Booklist, starred review).

Craving some quiet time together, Max Freeman and Detective Sherry Richards retreat to Max's shack deep in the Florida Everglades. No television. No cell phones. No neighbors. It seems like the perfect getaway until a violent hurricane rips through South Florida, obliterating everything in its path. And that is just the beginning of the nightmare. With Sherry severely injured and no way to call for help, the couple begins a treacherous trip back to civilization only to find that the hurricane's devastation is the least of their worries. The isolation they sought becomes a deadly enemy as undesirables invade the Glades. Some have come to pillage and loot what remains, while others are desperate to protect secrets. All are willing to kill to get what they came for, and Max and Sherry are smack in the line of fire. Evoca- tive and gripping, Acts of Nature traces their race against time and the elements to escape before it's too late.



Danny King - Blue Collar (2009)

What happens when white van man meets gold card girl? Charlie's great. She's everything Terry has ever dreamed of in a woman and more. She's sophisticated, intelligent, funny and beautiful. She enjoys dinner parties and hanging out in the West End's trendiest night spots. She is, for want of a better word, wonderful. Terry simply can't believe his luck. And neither do the lads on Terry's building site. As far as they're concerned this Charlie's just out for a bit of rough. And they're loathe to see Terry fall for such a trickster, particularly after his recent heartbreak. Charlie's own friends seem just as wary as Terry's. They can see this Jack the lad's just after her money. Why can't she? When North London meets South, gastro-pub meets local boozer, and white collar meets blue, Charlie and Terry's love is built on the shakiest of foundations. But it'll take a reality film crew to bring the whole thing down around their ears.

John King - White Trash (2001)
A classic tale of good against evil, John King's new novel pits nurse against consultant; a working-class woman against an upper-middle-class man. Ruby is a locally-born nurse, who enjoys life to the full, lives in the present and likes to find the best in everyone. For her, the hospital in which she works is society in microcosm: a chaotic, exciting landscape of work and play where everyone has a story to tell. For Mr Jeffries, the consultant, however, the patients he attends and the staff he has to deal with are all tarred with the same brush: an ignorant, lazy, drunken, violent, drug-crazed rabble. White trash. One of his main responsibilities is to allocate resources and cut down on expenditure; what he sees as streamlining is, in effect, a terrifying policy of social cleansing. Arrogant and elitist, Jeffries hankers after a class system that has gone - but that he wants re-established. When Joy becomes suspicious about the death of a patient, a clash between the two is, suddenly, inevitable.


Jack O'Connell - Word Made Flesh (1998)

In Quinsigamond, a worn-out New England factory town, a soulless cabal has come to rule the streets. Gilrein knows this dark world, and experienced its treacheries firsthand when his wife, a fellow police officer, was supposedly killed in the line of duty. Now Gilrein has exchanged his badge for the wheel of a Checker cab, yet he still cannot let go of the past or the long-buried instincts he honed on the beat. When he discovers startling and dangerous evidence concerning his wife's death, he begins an investigation that will plumb the deaths of a macabre conspiracy and pit him against a force more sinister than any he's encountered before. Gilrein has only an eccentric grab bag of alleged allies, including a refugee from an Eastern European country who is haunted by memories of a terrible day there; the aloof Inspector with his uncanny ability to make criminals talk; and Gilrein's ex-lover, a young academic obsessed with a century-old murder.


6 comments:

  1. I really like the title of this, Col - very clever! And you've got some interesting books there, too. I'll be especially interested in what you think of Blue Collar once you get there. That one really does look good.

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    1. Thanks Margot - amazing what you can come up with when you've too much time on your hands! Blue Collar does seem a bit different from my usual fare, but I've enjoyed this author before.....

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  2. I am not familiar with any of these authors. I look forward to seeing what you think of them. Blue Collar does have an interesting cover.

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    1. Blue Collar and Slow Burn probably appeal to me the most from this bunch. I thought you might have read some Jonathon King, but maybe not. There's too many authors to try and keep up with or try.

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  3. The O’Connell goes on the list. And Jack Erlich is a new name. I looked him up (b 1930—d 2003). SLOW BURN sounds right up my alley. Some of his other books from the 1970s I can get through my library’s links. Thanks, Col.

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    1. I don't really know much about Ehrlich only this book which appeared on a list of 100 noirs from Al Guthrie. I'll look up his other stuff, not that I need more books.

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