DECEMBER 2014 READING LIST AND PICK OF THE MONTH

A great month of reading to end the year and after failing on all of my other reading challenges, I managed to read 18 books, novellas and short stories etc to hit my year end target of 120 reads.

 Do I care if I manipulated the length of the pieces read to get to the line.......no not really.

I got a bit jaded during the middle of the month and took myself away from  blogging for a fortnight, so for half of these books I haven't yet jotted down any thoughts. The OCD monster inside dictates that I address this, so I think I'll still be blogging on December reads when February come around.

Two 5 star reads among the 18 - Antonin Varenne's Loser's Corner and Lawrence Block's Borderline. I can't choose between them, so they both get one hand on the December pick of the month trophy.

Loser's Corner - Varenne's dark account of France's messy and brutal entanglement in Algeria in the late 50's, something that still haunts to this day.

Borderline - a 50 year-old Lawrence Block pulp-cum-soft porn tale from the master.

All the others were enjoyed and time well spent.

Honourable mentions for Brian Garfield - entertains me every time, Paul D Brazill - shocks and laughs in the same sentence, Christina James - Sausage Hall - one of my titles of the year, but much more than that - an enjoyable and thought provoking mystery, Danny King and John Nelson - for barrels of laughs and some light relief.



Of the 18, 9 authors were new to me, and shockingly but probably not too much of a surprise for me only 1.5 were penned by women authors. I'll see what my stat is for the year at some point, but I don't think I have addressed the gender imbalance in my reading really this year.

Tom Kakonis (aka Adam Barrow) - Flawless (4)

Paul D. Brazill - 13 Shots of Noir (4)

Lawrence Block - One Thousand Dollars a Word (4)

Max Austin  - Duke City Split (4)

Christina James - Sausage Hall (4)

Charles Allen Gramlich - Killing Trail (4)

J.W.Nelson - LA Limo Tales (4)

Danny King - A 4-King Cracker (4)

Lee Thompson - When We Join Jesus in Hell (4)

Lawrence Block - Like a Bone in the Throat (4)

Janet Evanovich/Lee Goldberg - The Heist (4)

Lawrence Block - Borderline (5)

Earl Javorsky - Down Solo (4)

Brian Garfield - What of Terry Conniston? (4)

Nigel Bird - Smoke (4)

Antonin Varenne - Loser's Corner (5)

Mark Sennen - The Boat House (4)

Scott McKenzie - A Gitmo Nation Christmas Carol (3)





Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise hosts a meme, collating together other crime fiction bloggers monthly book choices. Well worth heading over there to add recommendations to your TBR pile!

2 BY RICK GAVIN

Rick Gavin is another new author on the shelves and one that I haven't yet tried.


Gavin is actually a pseudonym for author T.R. Pearson, not that I have read him under his real moniker either, though having looked at his books over at Fantastic Fiction there's a few that look interesting. (Only the first week of January and my resolution to cut-back if not stop totally adding new books is already in jeopardy!)










Gavin has had three Nick Reid books published so far. Reid, his main character is a repo-man.


Humorous crime fiction, which isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I do like a lighter mystery fairly often to keep me from descent into too many dark thoughts.

I will try these before perhaps allowing myself a peek at his Pearson novels......steely resolve prevails!

Ranchero

Repo man Nick Reid had a seemingly simple job to do: talk to Percy Dwayne Dubois - pronounced "Dew-boys," front-loaded and hick specific - about the payments he's behind on for a flat screen TV, or repossess it. But Percy Dwayne wouldn't give in. Nope, instead he saw fit to go all white-trash philosophical and decided that since the world was stacked against him anyway, he might as well fight it. He hit Nick over the head with a fireplace shovel, tied him up with a length of lamp cord, and stole the mint-condition calypso coral-colored 1969 Ranchero that Nick had borrowed from his landlady. And he took the TV with him on a rowdy ride across the Mississippi Delta.

Nick and his best friend Desmond, fellow repo man in Indianola, Mississippi, have no choice but to go after him. The fact that the trail eventually leads to Guy, a meth cooker recently set up in the Delta after the Feds ran him out of New Orleans, is of no consequence - Nick will do anything to get the Ranchero back. And it turns out he might have to.


An original and ballsy road-trip of a crime novel - most of it in Desmond's ex-wife's Geo - Ranchero is an unforgettable read and a fantastic series debut.



Beluga


A few months ago in Ranchero, Rick Gavin's much-acclaimed Delta noir novel, Nick Reid and his compadre Desmond liberated some money from a nasty meth dealer, and now they need to launder it. After lending out a couple thousand dollars here and there, with hopes of getting a small return, all kinds of "investment opportunities" are coming out of the woodwork, and one of them has trouble written all over it.

The brother of Desmond's ex-wife wants a small sum to set up a scheme involving a trailer full of stolen tires. Which sets off all kinds of alarm bells for Nick, but Shawnica insists that Nick and Desmond help her brother out. In the next few days, they're set upon by a ninja schoolgirl assassin and a couple of Delta gangsters, and soon all thoughts of recouping their investment go out the window. They'll settle for just staying alive.


The twists and turns and the dry wit that made Ranchero a delight are all on full display once again in Beluga, Rick Gavin's latest.


Book three is Nowhere Nice, in case anyone wants to rush out and buy the series!

LOGGING THE LIBRARY - PART THIRTEEN

Another week, another tub, another 50 books which I'll want to read one of these years! 

Tub 13

5 authors I've not yet tried, Steve Weddle - short stories, William Gay, Chad Taylor, David Downing, Ravi Howard

A breathtaking debut, apparently

William Gay, now sadly deceased

Pascal Garnier, Barry Maitland, Allen Mattich, Tarquin Hall, Glenn Taylor

Part of a series, I've not yet started

2 from Seymour Shubin, 2 from Philip Reed, Ed McBain

Wouldn't win cover of the year, I don't think.

Gregory McDonald, Stuart Kaminsky, Jack Higgins, Michael Gilbert, Brian Garfield

Peter Steiner, Antonin Varenne, Martin Edwards, Pascal Garnier, Eric Williamson

Read two from this French author - sadly deceased, both were 5 star reads 

Will Viharo, John Ball, A.D. Scott, Tony O'Neill, John Edward Lawson

Autobiography of a musician and junkie

Ron Cooper, Tom Vater, David Downing, Helen MacInnes, non-fiction about rendition

Michael Dibdin, Ivy Pochoda, Peter Steiner, Joseph Hone, A.D. Scott

Female Scottish author

Non-Zen book

Oscar Hijuelos, A.D.Scott, Les Edgerton, Tim Gautreaux, Mick Herron

Early book from blog friend Les.

James Lee Burke liked it!

Johannes Mario Simmel

Leighton Gage, Charles McCarry, William Marshall, David Quammen

Espionage 

A Yellowthread Street mystery - 7th in series

Thoughts on the tub......nothing here I don't want to read I which I would avoid if at all possible. I'd be quite happy ploughing through this lot, which I won't

Looking forward to Charles McCarry, Peter Steiner and David Downing in particular. I'm also happy to have located Varenne's Bed of Nails and a couple more Pascal Garnier slim books as I have enjoyed reading both recently.

50 more next week.

Pronzini's Bones added in place of the Jack Higgins duplicate book!  

Full list of 50......

AUTHOR		TITLE	YEAR	SERIES	FICTION/NON
BALL	JOHN	THE COOL COTTONTAIL	1966	VT2	F
COOPER	RON	PURPLE JESUS	2010		F
DIBDIN	MICHAEL	THANKSGIVING	2000		F
DOWNING	DAVID	LEHRTER STATION	2012	JR5	F
DOWNING	DAVID	MASARYK STATION	2013	JR6	F
EDGERTON	LES	THE DEATH OF TARPONS	1996		F
EDWARDS	MARTIN	ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE	1991	HD1	F
GAGE	LEIGHTON	THE WAYS OF EVIL MEN	2014	CIMS7	F
GARFIELD	BRIAN	THE LAST HARD MEN	1976		F
GARNIER	PASCAL	THE A26	2013		F
GARNIER	PASCAL	THE PANDA THEORY	2012		F
GAUTREAUX	TIM	WAITING FOR THE EVENING NEWS	2010		F
GAY	WILLIAM	PROVINCES OF NIGHT	2000		F
GILBERT	MICHAEL	DEATH IN CAPTIVITY	1952		F
HALL	TARQUIN	THE CASE OF THE MISSING SERVANT	2009	VPMPI1	F
HERRON	MICK	WHY WE DIE	2006	ZB3	F
HIJUELOS	OSCAR	MR IVES' CHRISTMAS	1995		F
HONE	JOSEPH	THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST	1980	PM3	F
HOWARD	RAVI	LIKE TREES, WALKING	2007		F
KAMINSKY	STUART M.	A COLD RED SUNRISE	1988	IR4	F
LAWSON	JOHN EDWARD	LAST BURN IN HELL: THE DIRECTOR'S CUT	2005		F
MACINNES	HELEN	PRELUDE TO TERROR	1978	RR1	F
MAITLAND	BARRY	THE MARX SISTERS	1994	B+K1	F
MARSHALL	WILLIAM	PERFECT END	1981	YS7	F
MATTICH	ALEN	ZAGREB COWBOY	2012		F
McBAIN	ED	WIDOWS	1991	87P43	F
McCARRY	CHARLES	SHELLEY'S HEART	1995		F
McDONALD	GREGORY	FLETCH'S MOXIE	1982	F5	F
O'NEILL	TONY	DIGGING THE VEIN	2006		F/N
PAGLEN/THOMPSON	TREVOR/A.C.	TORTURE TAXI	2006		N
POCHODA	IVY	VISITATION STREET	2013		F
PRONZINI	BILL	BONES	1985	N14	F
QUAMMEN	DAVID	THE ZOLTA CONFIGURATION	1983		F
REED	PHILIP	LOW RIDER	1998	HD2	F
REED	PHILIP	BIRD DOG	1997	HD1	F
SCOTT	A.D.	A DOUBLE DEATH ON THE BLACK ISLE	2011	JR2	F
SCOTT	A.D.	A SMALL DEATH IN THE GREAT GLEN	2010	JR1	F
SCOTT	A.D.	BENEATH THE ABBEY WALL	2012	JR3	F
SHUBIN	SEYMOUR	WITNESS TO MYSELF	2006		F
SHUBIN	SEYMOUR	THE GOOD AND THE DEAD	2000	BN1	F
SIMMEL	JOHANNES MARIO	DEAR FATHERLAND	1965		F
STEINER	PETER	L'ASSASSIN	2008	LMM2	F
STEINER	PETER	THE TERRORIST	2010	LMM3	F
TAYLOR	GLENN	THE BALLAD OF TRENCHMOUTH TAYLOR	2008		F
TAYLOR	CHAD	ELECTRIC	2003		F
VARENNE	ANTONIN	BED OF NAILS	2012		F
VATER	TOM	THE CAMBODIAN BOOK OF THE DEAD	2013	DM1	F
VIHARO	WILL	LOVE STORIES ARE TOO VIOLENT FOR ME	1993		F
WEDDLE	STEVE	COUNTRY HARDBALL	2013		F
WILLIAMSON	ERIC	EAST BAY GREASE	1999		F

LAWRENCE BLOCK - BORDERLINE

Synopsis/blurb………

THE SCORCHING PULP NOVEL BY LAWRENCE BLOCK, AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 50 YEARS!

On the border between El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, five lives are about to collide - with fatal results. You'll meet 

MARTY - the professional gambler who rolls the dice on a night with...

MEG - the bored divorcee who seeks excitement and finds...

LILY - the beautiful hitchhiker lured into a live sex show by...

CASSIE - the redhead with her own private agenda...

and WEAVER - the madman, the killer with a straight razor in his pocket,  on the run from the police and determined to go down swinging!

This is MWA Grand Master Lawrence Block at his rawest and most visceral, a bloody, bawdy, brutal story of passion and punishment--and of lines that were never meant to be crossed.

PLUS: Three of Block’s rarest short stories from the pulps, mapping the border between sanity and depravity…..THE BURNING FURY, A FIRE AT NIGHT and STAG PARTY GIRL

My second 5 star read from December was Lawrence Block’s Borderline, a short novel written back in the early 60’s. I think I’d be entertained reading this guy’s shopping list.

Sometimes it’s hard to define what I like about books. This one ticked a lot of boxes though…..interesting characters, especially Marty our professional gambler and Lily our young hitchhiker, drifting south from a feckless boyfriend who had her turning tricks, to becoming a participant in one of the legendary Mexican stage shows. Our other characters, including our killer were slightly less interesting to me….still you can’t have 5 leads can you?

With the action unfolding in our border towns of El Paso and Juarez and our characters criss-crossing the divide between the two countries, setting was a massive plus for me also.

One of the main characters or drivers in the book was SEX. I’m no prude but I was surprised by the amount of it in this one. I think a lot of my previous exposure to the pulps has been mainly at the bash ‘em and beat ‘em end of the spectrum as opposed to the strip ‘em and screw ‘em end. Block does have a way with words though, and I’m sure my ears tinged pink as I read, feeling like a ring-side viewer at our live sex-show! You've got to love this guy.

With our characters, Block serves up their pasts and presents in surprisingly quick order. When they intersect and collide, sparks fly and without spoiling, it’s fair to say our climax doesn't see a happy end for most of our participants.

Borderline was short and kind of ended surprisingly abruptly – I’d forgotten the extra stories at the back of the book and was still expecting an inch of story judging by the number of un-thumbed pages still to come. Once I got my wits back, my verdict was – fantastic.

The 3 extra stories entertained as well. Perfect reading material for a grim December.

I'm definitely hoping to get back to more from Mr Block in 2015, picking up where I left off with Scudder..... somewhere around book 5 or 6.

5 from 5

I did get access (sort of) to an Audible version after responding to an offer on one of the author’s newsletters, unfortunately I was incapable of downloading the correct programme properly in order to listen to this. I went to my local library instead and borrowed.

ANTONIN VARENNE - LOSER'S CORNER

Synopsis/blurb…..

2008. George “The Wall” Crozat has racked up thirty-eight victories (twenty-three of them by knock-out), eight defeats, and an empty bank account. Finally ready to hang up the gloves and focus on his career as a police officer, his chief concern is how to fund his prostitution habit.

When a shady bouncer offers him a photograph, an address and a chance to finally turn a profit with his fists, the temptation is irresistible. Before long the money is flowing, but Crozat has unknowingly become a pawn in a very dangerous game.

Powerful forces are using his brutality to keep their own secrets, and Crozat teeters on the precipice of an abyss that stretches fifty years into the past, to the darkest chapter of France’s colonial history.

Switching effortlessly between past and present, and drawing on his own father’s experience of the Algerian War, Antonin Varenne’s darkly personal thriller shines a light on corruption, torture, conspiracy and revenge.

My first encounter with this French author, though his previously translated Bed of Nails (2012) lurks somewhere on the shelves.

This is dark, fierce, brooding, violent and very, very good, with the additional bonus of coming in at around 300-odd pages. Varenne delivers a fantastic tale and for me a history lesson into the bargain as well; increasing my previously zero knowledge of the Algerian War, which waged from 1954 to 1962, before De Gaulle granted Algeria its independence.  

We have a split narrative with our present day boxing, police officer, George “The Wall” Crozat lurching from one bout to the next and from one joyless encounter with a prostitute to another, gradually finding himself manipulated into inflicting violence on named targets in return for the regular white envelopes of cash pushed through his door.

In our other timeframe, we follow reluctant conscript, Pascal Verini and live through the brutality of his two year’s participation in the conflict….his friendships, his disconnection from his family in France, the perils and dangers of his role as a driver, his involvement with his Algerian prostitute/girlfriend and their unrealistic dreams for a future together when the war has finished. We see the contempt he is held in by most of his comrades for his unwillingness to debase himself and join in with the mistreatment and torture of the Algerians held prisoner at his base. Dark arts at which the brutal Rubio is extremely skilled and proficient at. We wonder at his friendship with the mysterious, manipulative Algerian Rachid. We follow him on his journey home when his two-year stint has finished.

For long periods of reading, I was puzzled at the alternating time narratives because of the lack of a common protagonist connecting the two together. I was needlessly fretting though, as Varenne joins the dots up and weaves a coherent climax where all the bits of the puzzle fall satisfyingly into place.

Great setting, decent plot albeit a tad confusing until the last section of the book. Interesting characters that are never truly likeable. No out and out heroes here with the bad guys fully dressed head to toe in black and the good guys wearing various shades of grey. Probably all the more real because of that.

5 from 5

Loser’s Corner - best book of last month for me, though it may tie with another read December yet to appear on the blog.

Acquired via Net Galley

LEE GOLDBERG/JANET EVANOVICH - THE HEIST

Synopsis/blurb…….

FBI Special Agent Kate O'Hare is known for her fierce dedication and discipline on the job, chasing down the world's most wanted criminals and putting them behind bars. Her boss 

thinks she is tenacious and ambitious; her friends think she is tough, stubborn, and maybe even a bit obsessed. And while Kate has made quite a name for herself for the past five years, the only name she's cared about is Nicolas Fox - an international crook she wants in more ways than one.

Audacious, handsome, and dangerously charming, Nicolas Fox is a natural con man, notorious for running elaborate scams on very high-profile people. At first he did it for the money. Now he does it for the thrill. He knows that the FBI has been hot on his trail - particularly Kate O'Hare, who has been watching his every move. For Nick, there's no greater rush than being pursued by a beautiful woman . . . even one who aims to lock him up. But just when it seems that Nicolas Fox has been captured for good, he pulls off his greatest con of all: he convinces the FBI to offer him a job, working side by side with Special Agent Kate O'Hare.

Problem is, teaming up to stop a corrupt investment banker who's hiding on a private island in Indonesia is going to test O'Hare's patience and Fox's skill. Not to mention the skills of their ragtag team made up of flamboyant actors, wanted wheelmen, and Kate's dad. High-speed chases, pirates, and Toblerone bars are all in a day's work . . . if O'Hare and Fox don't kill each other first.

I've read and enjoyed a couple of introductory short stories by this author combo which acquaintainted me with O’Hare and Fox prior to this full-length adventure.

The Shell Game

Pros and Cons

Well how was the full-length novel then? Best book ever?

No, but a steady 4 from 5. Fast-paced with an interesting premise at its heart, infused with humour, which TBH didn't always make me laugh, but wasn't so over the top that it turned me off either.  

Our once adversaries are paired together in a kind of FBI-esque black-op, totally deniable operation to recover missing millions which a banker has disappeared with in connivance with his slightly less dodgy lawyer.  

O’Hare and Fox recruit a crew of talented misfits to their team to enable them to outwit the lawyer initially, before setting their sights on the elusive banker with his hand on the funds.

Slightly unbelievable and unrealistic, but you know what? I was happy enough to suspend disbelief and get entertained as long as the ride lasted. Never a dull moment and well worth the time invested in it.

Satisfied and amused at the end of it all and ready for a future adventure with this pair of protagonists and this pair of co-authors. Ideal reading to banish some wintry December blues.

4 from 5

The second full length O'Hare and Fox book is The Chase, which has been followed recently by The Job.

Janet Evanovich has written several successful series of books, most notably the ones featuring Stephanie Plum. 

Lee Goldberg has written for the small screen and has loads of novels to his name including some which reside on the shelves of the library, mainly featuring Mr Monk.

Borrowed from my local library in Leighton Buzzard.

CHRISTINA JAMES - SAUSAGE HALL

Synopsis/blurb……

Sausage Hall is home to millionaire Kevan De Vries, grandson of a Dutch immigrant farmer. De Vries has built up a huge farming and food packing empire which extends, via the banana trade, to the West Indies. Sleazy MD, Tony Sentance, persuades De Vries to branch out into the luxury holiday trade and De Vries and wife, Joanna, take the first cruise out. But back home a break in at Sausage Hall uncovers a gruesome historical discovery and soon DI Yates is called in as a young employee of De Vries is found dead in the woods at Sandringham. This third outing for DI Yates tackles the exploitation of African women in the nineteenth century and draws parallels with the exploitation of Eastern European women in the 21st.

My first outing with author Christina James in what is her third DI Yates book, following on from In the Family and Almost Love.

Following two or three abortive attempts to review this, I have deleted every word written and will try again for the fourth time! This time instead of trying to re-hash plot elements and twists as they unfolded, I’ll settle for answering a few questions I have asked myself.

Did you enjoy this?

Yes, an interesting tale which had me fairly engrossed at all times during the reading of it.

Best thing about it?

I liked the way the story unfolded as one initial and almost innocuous crime, developed into something far more serious and consequential. I liked how the author developed and expanded the plot and that three separate crimes with different investigations were linked. Two by virtue of current day actions and two by a case of history repeating itself.

Quite topical in terms of modern Britain and the effects of an immigrant workforce on local businesses, economies and rural communities.

Serious issues are touched upon regarding people trafficking, prostitution and exploitation.   

(Digressing slightly, as the book doesn’t actually touch upon this, but it had me considering the often frenzied media portrayal of Britain’s non-existent borders laid waste by hordes of avaricious Eastern Europeans queuing up at the door to take jobs, houses and benefits. Zero-hours contracts, minimum wages, worker’s rights, UKIP, etc,)

I often read solely for entertainment but it’s nice to have something that stimulates a bit of sideways contemplation, without being overtly preached to.  

How many boxes did it tick in terms of setting, pace, plot, character and resolution?

Setting – yes, a bit of rural Lincolnshire – not a million miles away from my own locale.

Pace – yes. I wouldn’t use the clichéd term page-turner, but we progress along fairly merrily without any obvious delays on our journey.

Plot – yes, quite clever and believable, even though the historical element of the novel was slightly less interesting to me.

Characters – an interesting bunch. Our investigative team and the support cast of police and where mentioned family, were believable and likeable and had a few things going on personally that added depth to the story without detracting the focus from the crimes in hand. I’m guessing there will be future books that develop a few of the simmering sideshows for Yates and his team. The relationship between Yates and his superior was presented well……a bit of police politics at play without over being over-egged and clichéd.

On the opposite side to the police, our main characters whether introduced to us as victims – in the case of De Vries and his family were on the whole hard to like and unsympathetic which in some ways added credence to the story. Tony Sentance was particularly odious (and as a result more interesting.)

Resolution – very good and satisfying. I like a bit of last minute tension with a neat twist at the end. Endings which don’t come gift-wrapped with ribbons and bows and all neatly parcelled up have an appeal…..that’s not to say we don’t have a resolution.

Criticisms? Minor – I didn't quite buy the complicity of the De Vries workforce in the shenanigans. The historical element whilst there for obvious reasons wasn't quite as interesting to this reader as the present day occurrences.

Score from 5? It’s a 4.

Lastly and always the tester in respect of whether I've truly enjoyed it, would you read more from the author in the future?

Unequivocably, a yes for future books without feeling compelled to back-track on the first two in the series.

Christina James has her website over here and she can be found on Twitter - @CAJamesWriter

I was fortunate to receive a copy of this from Tabitha at Salt Publishing - thanks. They are over here. Also @saltpublishing