K is for ......
King......... Stephen or John or Danny and Jonathon
Danny King it is and one of his standalone novels which might be more of a laddish book than crime.
I did enjoy a few entries in King's series of diary books many years ago....... Burglar, Pornographer, Hitman and Bank Robber.
The last thing I read from him was a short collection of stories - A 4-King Cracker
 |
| 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.
K is for .....
Jonathon King - an American author and not the dirty, disgusting paedophile DJ - has a seven book series featuring Max Freeman under his belt. Pretty sure I've read and enjoyed one of them a few years ago - the title of which escapes me.
Acts of Nature is the fifth. I do like books set in Florida.
 |
| 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.
K is for ......
Korea
Funny enough I haven't come across any Korean crime fiction authors in my collection of books so far, I'm sure there are some out there. Next best thing is a police detective series with the unlikely setting of North Korea
Author James Church (a pseudonym) is an American and a former Western intelligence officer. He has six books in his Inspector O series, which provide "a vivid window into a mysterious country".
 |
| A Corpse in the Koryo (2006) |
A Corpse in the Koryo is the first in the series.
Sit on a quiet hillside at dawn among the wildflowers; take a picture of a car coming up a deserted highway from the south.
Simple orders for Inspector O, until he realizes they have led him far, far off his department's turf and into a maelstrom of betrayal and death. North Korea's leaders are desperate to hunt down and eliminate anyone who knows too much about a series of decade's-old kidnappings and murders---and Inspector O discovers too late he has been sent into the chaos. This is a world where nothing works as it should, where the crimes of the past haunt the present, and where even the shadows are real.
Author James Church weaves a story with beautifully spare prose and layered descriptions of a country and a people he knows by heart after decades as an intelligence officer.
“. . . an outstanding crime novel. . . . a not-to-be-missed reading experience. ”
---Library Journal (starred)
“Inspector O is completely believable and sympathetic . . . The writing is superb, too . . . richly layered and visually evocative.”
---Booklist (starred)
K is for ....
Keeper - the first in an untried series by Greg Rucka featuring bodyguard Atticus Kodiak
Finder is the second
 |
| Keeper (1996) Finder (1997) |
Keeper (1996)
In a heartbeat, a crowded auditorium or a city street can become a killzone, where life and death are separated by a split second. For AtticusKodiak, professional bodyguard, the object is to keep people alive, and thereis no margin for error. Now Kodiak faces his toughest challenge: to protect awoman and her daughter from a killer with a fanatic agenda of his own....
Tense, taut, and as brutally real as this morning's headlines, "Keeper" marks the debut of a talented young writer of tough, unflinching prose--and thebeginning of an electrifying new series.
"An impressive debut... "Keeper" is one to hang on to."
"--People"
Previous Alphabet entries.....
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - A IS FOR.... AX, ABBOTT, ABERDEEN
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - B IS FOR ....... BOSTON, BIRD, BONES
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - C IS FOR.........CAPE TOWN, CONFIDENCE MEN, CROSS
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - D IS FOR ....... DETROIT, DISHER, DEAD
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - E IS FOR ....... EDINBURGH, EXCESS, ELLIS
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - F IS FOR ....... FLORIDA, FRANCIS, FLOATERS
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - G IS FOR ....... GALWAY, GUNS, GRAFTON
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - H IS FOR ....... HAMBURG, HAMMETT, HIDDEN RIVER
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - I IS FOR ....... ICE, ICELAND, IZZO
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - J IS FOR ....... JAPAN, JACK CARTER. JELLO SALAD
Col, I'm going to have to look at the James Church books. They sound interesting. But North Korea as a setting? I'd to read that twice.
ReplyDeleteNot too much crime fiction set there I would hazard, Prashant.
DeleteYou have some interesting choices here, Col. I'm interested in the Church, too, as I don't know enough about North Korea as a setting. I hope you'll enjoy all of them.
ReplyDeleteMargot, thanks. Maybe you'll join me in North Korea!
DeleteCol: I read A Corpse in the Koryo over a decade ago. In my notes I thought it was alright but I did not read more in the series. Life in North Korea is so tense with the overwhelming paranoia of the authorities.
ReplyDeleteBill, thanks for stopping by. I'm curious to read something based in such a closed and claustrophobic setting. I'm hoping I like it a bit more than you, fingers crossed!
DeleteThanks
ReplyDeleteGlen and I both read A Corpse in the Koryo years ago and loved it. Then we read later books in the series and they were disappointing.
ReplyDeleteI was just reading an article in the LA Times about five Korean thriller writers. I have a book by one of them: Your Republic Is Calling You by Young-Ha Kim.
And I have actually read a book in the Max Freeman series by Jonathan King.
I'm glad to hear about A Corpse in the Koryo. The rest - less so. I did enjoy the Max Freeman book I read previously, but I never seem to be that good at picking up another one and reading. I'm a bit flaky, seemingly distracted by other books and authors.
Delete